Will – Page 21 – Forgotten Victorians

A snapshot of Rome in 1879

September 16, 2016 WillLeave a comment

This give a nice picture of what was happening in Rome in February 1879. It is nine and a half years after the capture of Rome and the culmination of the Risorgimento. February 7th 1879 was the first anniversary of the death of Pope Pius IX, and thirteen months since the death of Vittorio Emanuele II on January 9th 1878. The Rev. Dr. Henry O’Bryen had been in Rome for about six years, and appears to be curiously absent from things. But the following cutting explains his absence: “REV. DR. O’BRYEN.—The Rev. Dr. Henry O’Bryen has left Rome for Nice for change of air after his recent serious indisposition. The Tablet Page 17, 15th March 1879″

Anyway back to Rome, on February 8th, 1879.

THE VATICAN.

The Feast of the Purification of Our Lady,

consistory — *The Consistorial Hall, Vatican*

On Sunday the 2nd, LEO XIII., received the customary offerings of wax candles front the basilicas and the various religious orders. The ceremony was attended by many prelates and parochial clergymen, Knights of Malta, Chamberlains, &c., &c. In the evening his Holiness received in private audience Monsignor Ramadie, Archbishop of Albi in France, who presented a large offering of Peter’s Pence. On Monday, February 3rd, the Consistorial Hall was filled with an immense number of ladies and gentlemen. The Holy Father made his appearance in the Hall shortly after 11 o’clock, attended by Monsignor Macchi, Maestro di Camera, and by Monsignor Boccali and Monsignor Ciccolini, the Chamberlains Partecipanti in Waiting.

Among the foreign ladies received were the Countess Elizabeth de Perchestine, the Countesses Marie Louise de Biesme, Maria Collino Mariani, and Emilia Desberger. Monsignor Kirby presented the Holy Father with the sum of £200 sterling, an offering from Patrick Power, Esq., of Halifax, U.S.

Lord George Paget, who was introduced by Monsignor Stonor, had audience of his Holiness. On the 5th of February private audience was given to the Rev. Luigi Della Valle, Director of the Pontifical Press of the Immaculate Conception at Modena, and to the Rev. Gaspare Olmi, Missionary Apostolic, who presented to the Pope several religious periodicals printed by their establishment, and also an offering of Peter’s Pence from the Direito Cattolico of Modena.

PRINCE PAUL BORGHESE AND THE QUIRINAL.

The Queen visited last week the San Spirito Hospital, of which Prince Paul Borghese, Prince of Sulmona, is Deputato Administratore, or acting manager. In this capacity the Prince accompanied Queen Margarita in her visit to the several wards. Her Majesty always addressed him as “Signor Deputato,” and never as Prince Paul Borghese. She gave a donation to the hospital funds, and the Prince sent a servant of the hospital to the Quirinal to write in the visitor’s book an entry, stating that the Deputato Administratore of the Hospital thanked her Majesty the Queen for the honour conferred on the hospital by her visit. The Prince himself has never been to the Quirinal since 1870.

REQUIEM FOR PIUS IX

A Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of Pius IX. was sung in the Sistine Chapel on the 7th. No tickets of admission were given but invitations to attend were sent to the Ambassadors and Ministers accredited to the Holy See, and to the Roman nobility, and to a few distinguished strangers. The royal tribune was unoccupied. The diplomatic benches and the seats reserved for the wives and daughters of Ambassadors and for the Roman ladies were filled. The members of the Pope’s household were all present, as well as numbers of Archbishops, Bishops and prelates and heads of Religious Orders. Six Camerieri Segreti di Spada e Cappa were on duty, dressed in their court costume. Many other camerieri were present and wore their chains of office and decorations. Among these were Commendatore Winchester, Count de Raymond, Mr. Hartwell Grissell, Mr. Ogilvy Fairlie, Mr. John Grainger, &c., &c.

All the Cardinals resident in Rome attended,except one or two, such as Guidi and Simeoni, who were indisposed. The Dean of the Sacred College sang the Mass. The Pope assisted and gave the absolutions. The catafalque was very small and was covered by a plain pall of gold cloth without any chandeliers or standards for tapers around it. Leo XIII. entered the chapel about 11 a.m. and took his seat on the throne, having on his right hand a Cardinal Deacon and Prince Orsini, Prince Assistant, and on the other hand a Cardinal deacon and the Prefect of Pontifical Masters of Ceremonies. The Mass was by Palestrina. The Dies Ire was by Mustafa. [Domenico Mustafà, the Direttore Perpetuo of the Sistine Choir was a soprano castrato].

DON279045 Cardinal Edward Howard (oil on canvas); by English School, (19th century); 143.5x105.4 cm; His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, Arundel Castle; English, out of copyright — Cardinal Edward Howard

The absolutions were by Casciolini. Among the English and Irish ecclesiastics present were Cardinal Howard, the Hon. Dr. Clifford, Bishop of Clifton, and Bishop assistant at the throne ; Bishop O’Mahony, the Hon. and Right Rev. Mgr. Stonor, the Right Rev. Tobias Kirby, Rector of the Irish College ; and Monsignor de Stacpoole. Among the favoured occupants of the seats reserved for strangers were Lady Eyre and Mr. and Mrs. Scully. The Pope seemed in excellent health, and his clear, ringing voice was heard with distinctness in every part of the Sistine.

THE MASS AT ST PETER’S.

On Saturday, the 8th, the Requiem was sung for Pius IX. in the great Basilica of St. Peter’s. The police and soldiers in the Piazza were numerous, and order was well preserved. From 9 a.m. a constant stream of carriages poured over the bridge of St. Angelo, and by half-past ten a.m. the vast Basilica was three parts full. The crowd of worshippers kept surging and shifting, and I fancy some fifty thousand persons must have at one time been within the sacred edifice. A beautiful catafalque was erected between the confessional and the altar of the chair. The catafalque was simple and at the same time majestic, and consisted of an oblong structure built in four stages, gradually diminishing in pyramidal form. At the summit was a large triple crown in silver and gold. At each angle were five bronze candelabra in the form of fruit bearing palms, and containing a vast quantity of lights. On each stage of the catafalque were numbers of candles artistically arranged. The hangings were of black and cloth of gold.

This catafalque presented a strong contrast to that which was erected in Sta. Maria degli Angeli for Victor Emmanuel’s requiem, and which was perhaps the most pagan in idea ever erected for a Christian funeral. The style chosen for the late King’s catafalque was Doric, the superstructure being raised on four imitation-granite columns, and having at the angles severely classical tripod lamps burning green flames (a custom borrowed from France, and never introduced into Rome until 1878 by the Italians). On the first stage of this heathenish catafalque was a piece of sculpture in white marble representing the wolf dead, and Romulus and Remus weeping. A meagre cross at the summit was the only Christian symbol.

In comparing the two funerals there was also a marked difference in the behaviour of the visitors. The State funerals of the late King were attended by well dressed persons, who took their place as in a theatre, talked with their neighbours and neither knelt nor said their prayers. The vast majority of those who on Saturday went to St. Peter’s went to pray for the repose of the soul of Pius IX. Rude persons there were, chiefly Protestants, who forced their way hither and thither, stared about, and consulted their Murray or Baedeker. But in spite of these tourists and idlers the devotion of the great multitude was fervent, and many eyes were moist with tears as the strains of the Requiem aternam, the Dies ire, and the Libera echoed through the nave. Cardinal Borromeo, Archpriest of the Basilica, sang the Mass, and hundreds of Bishops sat on benches at either side of the choir. There were no palchi and but few seats reserved for great personages other than those accommodated in the four tribunes round the confessional. But many nobles and church dignitaries stood unnoticed among the crowd, and many gentle ladies endured the fatigue of some two hours’ duration, in order to pay respect to the memory of the saintly Pontiff.

ST. AGATHA’S DAY AT THE IRISH COLLEGE.

santagata_dei_goti_rome_-_interior — Sant Agata dei Goti, Roma

On Wednesday, the 5th of February, the Feast of St. Agatha, V. M., High Mass was celebrated in the Church of St. Agatha, the Church of the Irish College, with much solemnity. The Mass was sung by Monsignor de Stacpoole, in presence of his Eminence Cardinal. de Falloux, titular Cardinal of the Church. The Deacon and Sub-deacon were the Rev. Messrs. Hassan and McCarthy, and Mgr. Cataldi, Master of Pontifical Ceremonies, officiated as the Master of Ceremonies. The church was remarkably warm and was beautifully decorated. The esteemed Rector, Monsignor Kirby, Domestic Prelate to Leo XIII. ; Bishop O’Mahony, Mgr. Rinaldini, Archbishop Elect of Cyrene in fiartibus ; and the Very Rev. John Egan, the Vice-Rector, occupied seats in the choir. After Mass the Rector entertained at dinner his Eminence Cardinal Nina, Secretary of State ; his Eminence Cardinal de Falloux, the Hon. and Right Rev. Dr. Clifford, Bishop of Clifton ; Right Rev. Bishop O’Mahony, Monsignor Agnozzi, Secretary to the Propaganda ; Monsignor de Stacpoole, Monsignor Cataldi, Very Rev. Dr. O’Callaghan, Rector of the English College ; Monsignor Hostlot, Rector of the American College ; Very Rev. Dr. Campbell, Rector of Scots’ College ; Very Rev. Dean Quinn, the Prior of St. Clement’s, the Guardian of St. Isidore’s, the Prior of Sta. Maria in Posterula, Monsignor Rinaldini, the Marquis de Stacpoole, Mr. Scott, Mr. Mahony, the Vice-Rector of Propaganda, Dr. Ryan, Signor Fausti, Father Keogh, Rev. Dr. Stonor, Father Hayes, &c., &c.

THE DEBTS OF THE ROMAN MUNICIPALITY.

Before the invasion of Rome by the Italians on the 20th of September [1870,nine years before this was written], the city of Rome was prosperous and rich. The people fared well. Artisans artists, and traders, had good employment and made considerable gains. The poor were able to live and received help from the ample charity of the benevolent. Gold and silver coins were in daily currency. Numbers of wealthy foreigners resided in Rome and spent quantities of money. Taxes were light. The duties paid on articles of food were not oppressive. The rents of houses were low. There was no usury, nor any sign of famine, nor any extraordinary resort to the pawn office. Suicide was unknown. Rome was a fortunate city where people lived cheaply and happily.

But since 1870 Rome, as a city for resort of strangers, has completely changed. The prices of food, apartments, and of all articles necessary for comfort and luxury have advanced enormously. Fiscal exactions, duties and taxes, caused an extravagant increase in the rents of houses and lodgings, and in the cost of wine, meat, and vegetables. The wealthy Catholic and Protestant families of all nationalities ceased to reside in Rome, because the attractions of the former Roman society no longer existed. The Court of Victor Emmanuel had no charms for Catholics. The magnificent church ceremonies were suspended. The Roman princes closed their doors and either retired to their country seats or lived in their palaces in sadness, avoiding all amusements and giving no entertainments. Rome was filled with poor Italians, mostly clerks and officials unable, upon their beggarly stipends, to do more than support their families in a miserable way. The Government proceeded to impoverish the clergy and ruin the religious orders. Convents and church lands were sold, and taxes were multiplied and increased. Buildings of all kinds were erected and new streets were planned. The cost of this outlay fell on the citizens, and the municipal taxes became exorbitant. The pawn offices were filled with pledges. Suicides were of almost daily occurrence. Crimes of violence were multiplied, and the municipality, which before 1870 did not owe a shilling and had a large balance to its credit, was sunk in debt to the amount of 57 millions of francs.

Unfinished squares and streets now occupy the sites of once flourishing vineyards and gardens. Millions of francs were expended in doubtful improvements, and the Government still urges the authorities to squander further sums in useless fortifications and in street alterations which might well be let alone. Rome is about to become a bankrupt city like Florence. The report on the economical condition of Rome, lately published by the municipal committee, shows plainly the pitiable condition to which the finances of the capital of Italy have been brought under the guidance of the new rulers. That report was signed by three municipal councillors, of whom one, a tradesman, is a Roman, the other two being Italians who knew nothing of Rome before the breach of Porta Pia.

The Government is now forced to come to the aid of the beggared Corporation and to grant a pecuniary subsidy to enable the municipality to pay its way and to undertake further schemes in hope of making Rome a city worthy to contain the King and the Parliament. These schemes will fail. Rome has indeed obtained an immense increase of population since 1870 but consisting of a class of persons who are no advantage to it. The scum of Italy has flowed into the Tiber.

Freethinkers, blasphemers, and,infidels crowd the streets of the capital of Christianity. Adventurers and speculators prey upon the foolish. But the rich and the respectable shun the city wherein drunkenness, impiety, fraud and violence seem to have settled. The beautiful ceremonies of the Feast of the Purification in St. Peter’s were witnessed by extremely few of the many foreigners now in Rome, for the morning was rainy, and a very small amount of atmospheric discomfort is sufficient to check their zeal in sight seeing. There were, however, a considerable number of poor peasants from the Campagna, and many in very picturesque costumes. It is the custom on this Feast to present immense wax candles to the Holy Father—each of the great Basilicas send one, the Heads of the Religious Orders, &c., &c. When the candle comes from a church dedicated to a martyr, the ” fiocco ” or silk tassel which tops it is red with gold threads, in other cases of various colours. These candles are richly decorated with painted designs, inscriptions, &c., and are of great size.

The 3rd of February is dedicated to S. Biagio (or St. Blaize). On this day, in most of the churches, a priest is seen sitting ready to anoint the throats of all who present themselves, with oil from the lamps that burn before the relics of the Saint, as he is the Saint whose intercessions prevent, or cure, throat maladies ; the anointing with oil from the lamp burning before a Saint is a practice that dates from the first ages of the Church.

ARMENIAN MASS AT S. BIAGIO.

s-_biagio_degli_armeni — San Biagio degli Armeni

In the Church of St. Biagio, in the Via Giulia, a High Mass was celebrated according to the gorgeous ritual of the Armenians, who have a college adjoining. The rite was most imposing. There were six deacons and as many subdeacons, clad in ample red silk dalmatics, having much cloth of gold about them, and either silver or gold stoles crossing their left shoulders ; and two acolytes in similar garments, but with adornments of black and gold. These two acolytes carried the staves, on which are many little bells to announce the more solemn portion of the Mass. These and others, in all some twenty persons, in rich vestments, surrounded the venerable Bishop, who himself made a most imposing appearance, in his magnificent cope of Oriental cloth of gold, and his silver stole and jewelled mitre. Twice during the Mass curtains of white silk, with a pattern of flowers, were drawn across the sanctuary, veiling for the few most solemn moments the altar and its ministers, first at the Consecration, then again at the Communion. Twice also those who bore the bells passed round the altar ringing them. Much fragrant incense was burnt, and the Bishop blessed the faithful, not as in the Roman rite with his hand, but with his pectoral cross, which probably contained a fragment of the true Cross. The students accompanied the intoned prayers with a peculiar low chant, which was very harmonious, like an organ heard afar off. All the service told of an Oriental people to whom the many symbolical movements speak more eloquently than words. The church is an unpretending one, and is greatly in want of repair. There were no foreigners present, but the poor of the neighbourhood crowded in to witness the unaccustomed sight, and their respectful and devout demeanour was worthy of all praise. The Via Giulia was once the Corso of Rome ; the races were run from the Ponte Sisto to S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini ; it is now a comparatively deserted street.

THE CENTO PRETIS.

The ancient hospice for aged priests, by the Ponte Sisto, called the Cento Preti because one hundred aged priests formed an asylum there, is half pulled down, and the handsome church has entirely disappeared to make an approach to the public garden, which is to be made out of land reclaimed from the river, when the embanking walls shall have been completed.

PETER’ S PENCE

On Sunday, the 2nd inst., Peter’s Pence were collected at the doors of all the churches in Rome ; the result is said to have been 40,000 francs, or £ 600. Many who saw the collector standing with his bag, but saying nothing, were ignorant for what object the collection was being made ; it is probable that if more pains had been taken to let people know it was the Peter’s Pence collection many would have given who on last Sunday passed by without doing so. The returns from the churches in Italy have not yet arrived.

MONSIGNOR BOCCALI.—Monsignor Gabriele Boccali’ one of the four Camerieri Segreti Partecipanti to his Holiness, has been appointed a Canon of St. Peter’s.

A CENTENARIAN. —This week there died at the village of Skewsby, near Mahon, Yorkshire, a woman named Elizabeth Potter at the advanced age of 105 years. The deceased had gained a livelihood by taking out coals in a cart, and this laborious occupation she kept up until a short time before her death. She is reputed to have been always very hale, hearty and active.

A DWARF SOLDIER.—The smallest conscript in France is a young man named Chapeland, just drawn in the department of the Ain. He is little more than a metre (three feet three inches) in height, the stature of a boy seven or eight years of age. He drew one of the highest numbers in the canton, but otherwise would have been exempted from active service.

The above text was found onPage 17, 15th February 1879, in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

Lady RP’s Appeal for Montenegrin Families 1912

September 15, 2016 WillLeave a comment

FOR MONTENEGRIN FAMILIES.

SIR,—May I appeal through your columns for help on behalf of the families of the brave Montenegrins who are fighting in the present sad war? They are so very poor that all contributions will be welcome, either in the form of money or provisions, such as tinned food, &c. ; blankets or woollen clothing especially will be acceptable, their mountain climate being extremely severe in the winter.

I will undertake to forward any goods which your readers may be kind enough to send me. Cheques should be crossed ” Union of London and Smith’s Bank,” and large parcels should be addressed, carriage paid, to Lady Roper Parkington, Montenegrin Consulate, 24, Crutched Friars, E.C.

Yours faithfully,

MARIE LOUISE PARKINGTON. 58, Green Street, Park Lane, W.,

October 16, 1912.

The above text was found on p.28, 19th October 1912 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

Captain Richard Hugh Smith-Barry 1823-1894

September 14, 2016 WillLeave a comment

Pauline Roche (1835 -1894) has been part of the story for a while. But I’m becoming increasingly sure that she helps place a lot of things into context. This is one of a series of posts covering her marriage into the Barry family, and her daughter’s marriage into the related Smith-Barrys, and a look at where they all fit into both Irish, and British society.

Captain Richard Hugh Smith-Barry is Mary Barry’s father-in-law. Mary Barry is William Henry, and Pauline Barry (nee Roche)’s daughter, probably the third daughter, and fifth, out of seven, children. The Smith-Barrys seem thoroughly respectable, apart from the fact that John Smith-Barry was born illegitimately in 1793, his father, James Hugh Smith-Barry was born in 1748, and James’s grandfather, James Barry, (1667-1748) was the 4th Earl of Barrymore

Richard Smith-Barry was born on 21 February 1823. He was the son of John Smith-Barry and Eliza Mary Courtenay. He married Georgina Charlotte Grey, daughter of Colonel J. Grey, on 18 April 1850, and died on 23 January 1894, at age 70. The family lived at Fota House, in co. Cork, and then Ballyedmond, which Richard inherited from his unmarried uncle, John Courtenay. Richard was the youngest of five siblings

James Hugh Smith-Barry b. 27 Jan 1816, d. 31 Dec 1856. (Father of Arthur Hugh SB 1843-1925-Lord Barrymore)
Anne Smith-Barry b. 14 Mar 1817 d. 8 Dec 1834 unmarried.
John Smith-Barry b. 25 Sep 1818 d. 9 Apr 1834 unmarried.
Captain Robert Hugh Smith-Barry b. 13 Jan 1820, d. 25 Apr 1849 unmarried.
Captain Richard Hugh Smith-Barry b. 21 Feb 1823, d. 23 Jan 1894

ballyedmond-entrance-front — Ballyedmond House, co. Cork

He was a Captain in the 12th Lancers, and a Justice of the Peace (J.P.), and Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) for County Cork. He was also a J.P. in Hampshire. He was Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club for a while, as was his eldest brother James Hugh Smith-Barry (1816-1856), the father of Lord Barrymore. He inherited Ballyedmond, in Midleton, County Cork, from his uncle John Courtenay. Richard’s mother was a member of the Courtenay family who owned Ballyedmond, and he inherited it from his unmarried uncle, John Courtenay.

Richard and Georgina Smith-Barry had five children;

Robert Courtenay Smith-Barry b. 19 Feb 1858. He died unmarried,at Bar View Strand, Youghal on 13th March 1930 and lived at Bar View, and Ballyedmond, County Cork,. His estate amounted to £ 57,091. 8s. 5d. in England.

Nina Mary Georgina Smith-Barry b. 15 Jun 1859. She married Major Thomas Henry Burton Forster in September 1885 and lived at Holt, Wiltshire, England. Guy Smith-Barry is the only son of Major Thomas Henry Burton Forster and Nina Mary Georgina Smith-Barry. He lived at Holt, and Ballyedmond, County Cork. His name was changed to Guy Smith-Barry when he inherited Ballyedmond from Uncle Robert. He was given the name of Guy Forster at birth. They also had a daughter Nina Georgina Mary, she marries Dennis George Darren Darley. Thomas Henry Burton Forster is curiously absent from the record but that could be just an army thing

Aileen Emma Smith-Barry b. 25 Apr 1861, d. 1948 married Godfrey Hugh Wheeler Coxwell-Rogers and lived at Dowdeswell Court, Lower Dowdeswell, Gloucestershire, England, and at Ablington Manor, Bibury, Gloucestershire. They have two children Florence Aileen Coxwell-Rogers b.17 Jan 1883, and Richard Hugh Coxwell-Rogers b. 10 May 1884. Also a spectacular divorce case in 1889, she says he gave her the clap, and regularly physically, and verbally, attacked her, he says she was shagging the vicar in a field in Gloucestershire…… Her petition seems to have been dismissed.

Cecil Arthur Smith-Barry b. 19 Oct 1863, d. 21 Nov 1908 married Mary Barry. Pauline Roche’s son-in-law. They had two daughters Cecily Nina b 1896, and Edith b 1907

Katherine Winifriede Smith-Barry b. 25 Oct 1868 died unmarried

James Hugh Smith Barry (1816-1856)

September 13, 2016 WillLeave a comment

This is one of a series of posts covering Pauline Roche’s (1835 -1894) marriage into the Barry family, and her daughter’s marriage into the related Smith-Barrys, and a look at where they all fit into both Irish, and British society. John Smith-Barry (1793-1837) was the grandfather of both Cecil Smith-Barry ( Pauline Barry[nee Roche]’s son in law, and also Arthur Smith-Barry, Lord Barrymore. In turn, John’s great-grandfather, James Barry, (1667-1748) was the 4th Earl of Barrymore.

When John Smith Barry (1793-1837) died in 1837, his eldest son, yet another James Hugh,[like his grandfather, James Hugh Smith Barry (1748-1801)] inherited the family estates at Marbury, in Cheshire, and Fota Island in co. Cork. James Hugh,died in 1856, aged forty years old, and the estates were inherited by his thirteen year old son, Arthur Smith-Barry (1843-1925).

James Hugh Smith-Barry (1816-1856) inherited both Marbury Hall, and Fota House on the death of his father in 1837. His mother’s family,the Courtenays, owned Ballyedmond, in Midleton, co. Cork, which was inherited in turn by Eliza Courtenay’s brothers, George, and then John. John Courtenay, who appeared to be unmarried, left Ballyedmond to his nephew [and James Hugh’s youngest brother] Richard Smith-Barry in 1861. He, in turn, leaves it to his son Robert Courtenay Smith-Barry [Cecil Smith-Barry’s eldest brother], who, in turn, leaves it to his nephew Guy Forster/Smith-Barry on his death in 1930.

The gardens at Fota were begun in 1825 when John Barry-Smith, commissioned Richard Morrison and his son Vitruvius to transform an old hunting lodge into his principal Irish residence. The Morrisons were responsible for the ancillary buildings and probably also helped with the garden layout and demesne park, whose surrounding walls and plantations were largely created at this time. The spreading lawns and Walled Garden, with its rusticated piers and wrought-iron gates, belong to John Barry-Smith’s time.

James Hugh Smith Barry had the formal gardens at Fota House laid out, and was responsible for creating the famous arboretum in the 1840s. He constructed the Fernery and the Water Garden by reclaiming a large area of boggy ground, and the Orangery and Temple soon followed. James Hugh disliked the damp climate, however, and spent much of his time away from Ireland, but his son Arthur who became the first (and last) Lord Barrymore devoted himself to Fota; with the help of his gardener William Osbourne, he laid the basis of the famous collection of trees and shrubs that it now contains. Lord Barrymore’s work was continued by his son-in-law and daughter, Major and Honourable Mrs Dorothy Bell, who continued planting here until the late 1960s, adhering faithfully to old gardening traditions.

marbury-hall-aerial-view — Marbury Hall, Cheshire

Around the same time that this work was being undertaken in Cork, he made the decision to carry out extensive changes to the buildings and parkland at Marbury. In the 1840s, using the services of Anthony Salvin as architect and James Nesfield as landscape gardener, the extended 18th century house was transformed in the style of a French chateau. Both Salvin and Nesfield were highly regarded nationally in their respective fields and were prolific in their work in England.

It was a slightly curious commission because Anthony Salvin seemed to specialise in re-modelling castles , and cathedrals. In 1835 he worked on Norwich Castle, the following year he repaired Newark Castle. and in 1845 In the early 1840s,he repaired Carisbrook , and Caernarvon Castles, and in the 1850’s, he restored the Salt, Wakefield, and the White Towers at the Tower of London,and the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. Following this he was instructed by Prince Albert to carry out work on Windsor Castle. In 1852 he also started work on the restoration of Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

Salvin, also worked on Norwich, Durham, and Wells Cathedrals, and he also rebuilt the keep of Durham Castle for student accommodation, and worked on restoring Trinity College, Cambridge.

The re-modelling of Marbury cost £7,700 and housed his grandfather James Hugh Smith Barry (1748-1801)’s 1770’s valuable and grand collection. Marbury Hall apparently had elegant, spacious rooms, an impressive staircase and intricate plaster work, and according to the 1911 census return signed by Alice Knappett, the thirty eight year-old housekeeper, the house had 60 rooms. The house was demolished in 1968, and the grounds now form part of Marbury Country Park.

Lt.-Gen. James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore 1667- 1748

September 11, 2016 WillLeave a comment

Lt.-Gen. James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore was born in 1667. He was the son of Richard Barry, 2nd Earl of Barrymore and Dorothy Ferrar. The Barrys were descended from an ancient, somewhat impoverished, Irish family. His grandfather had died from a wound received at the battle of Liscarrol while fighting for the Royalists, and while Barry’s father had sat in James II’s Irish parliament of 1689, his elder half-brother Lawrence had been attainted for remaining in England. Possibly the family had wanted a foot in both camps until the result of the Revolution became clear. Once William III had emerged victorious Barry’s father took his seat in the Irish House of Lords in the parliament of 1692, and his half-brother signed the Irish Association in 1697.

James Barry married, firstly, Hon. Elizabeth Boyle, daughter of Charles Boyle, 2nd Baron Clifford of Lanesborough and Lady Jane Seymour, before 1703. He married, secondly, Lady Elizabeth Savage, daughter of Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers in June 1706. It was an advantageous marriage but they married without the knowledge or consent of her father, Lord Rivers, who was informed of the event by Sir Roger Bradshaigh, 3rd Bt., in August 1706. On 12 Aug. Bradshaigh added the more reassuring information that “I am told my Lord Barrymore has in present near £1,500, and I find he is generally well spoken of about the town and indeed seems more concerned for disobliging your lordship than those who have been most active in this affair”. He married, thirdly, Lady Anne Chichester, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall and Lady Catherine Forbes, on 12 July 1716 at St. Anne’s, Soho, London, England. He died on 5 January 1748. He was buried at Castle Lyons, co. Cork, Ireland.

battle_of_the_boyne — William of Orange, at the Battle of the Boyne 1690

James Barry’s military career started in 1689, as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the service of the army of William of Orange. It came to an abrupt and unexplained halt in 1693, though the dowry of £10,000 he received from his first marriage may have removed the necessity of military service. He succeeded to the title of 4th Earl of Barrymore, 9th Viscount Barry , and 22nd Baron Barry on 17 April 1699. After succeeding to the title, Barrymore was granted a pardon in March 1700 “for all crimes and offences by him committed against his Majesty”, though these crimes were not specified, and in March 1702 he purchased a regiment of foot for 1,400 guineas from his brother-in-law, Sir John Jacobs. He was Colonel of the 13th Foot between 1702 and 1715. The regiment was sent to Spain in 1704, and Barrymore spent much of the next few years on active service in the Peninsula, though he had sufficient leave in London to get married for a second time,in June 1706. Barrymore’s regiment remained in the Peninsula, however, and he returned to Spain.He fought in the Battle of Almanza on 25 April 1707, where he was taken prisoner.and in May 1709 he was captured at Caya, being exchanged in August that year and returning to England where he was promoted to lieutenant-general in January 1710.

He was the Tory M.P for Stockbridge between 1710 and 1713, and again from 1714 to 1715 .In December 1713, Jonathan Swift wrote to the Earl of Oxford that ‘the Earl of Barrymore’s friends say he would take it kindly to be made a privy councillor’ in Ireland, and the suggestion was acted upon the following January. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor in Ireland on the 29th January 1714. In 1715, he was arrested on suspicion of treason, but nothing was proven against him.

Following the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715, Barrymore was removed from the colonelcy of his regiment, though he was one of the few Tories retained on the Lancashire bench in the aftermath of the rebellion. He was also the Tory M.P for Wigan between 1715 and 1727, and again between 1734 and 1747, largely through property rights inherited from his second wife’s father, Earl Rivers. Lord Rivers, had died in 1712, his will making no mention of his only legitimate daughter, Lady Barrymore, and leaving his estates in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Essex to his cousin, and the inheritor of the title, John Savage, a Roman Catholic priest, and after him to a natural daughter. Lord Barrymore at once challenged the settlement, and secured possession of Wardley in Lancashire and consequently control of the Rivers interest in the parliamentary constituency of Wigan. Barrymore secured his interest at Wigan in December 1714, and was returned for the borough at the 1715 election.

In the 1740s a disillusioned and elderly Barrymore was still active in Jacobite intrigue. He died on the 5th January 1748 in his eightieth year, the family interest at the borough of Wigan having been assumed by his son, Richard Barry

James Barry, had an infant son who died aged about one, with his first wife the Hon. Elizabeth Boyle who was the granddaughter of Richard Boyle, the 2nd Earl of Cork, and 1st Earl of Burlington.

He then had three daughters with Lady Elizabeth Savage

Charlotte who died as an infant in 1708,
Anne who died just after her marriage,
Penelope who married General Hon. James Cholmondeley. Penelope ended up as the heiress of her maternal grandfather, Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers, and after her divorce from James Cholmondeley in 1737, he kept the lot eventually leaving it to his great-nephew George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley.

James Barry, and Lady Anne Chichester, who was the daughter of Arthur Chichester (1666 – 1706), the 3rd Earl of Donegall, had two daughters, and four sons. James Barry was, at best, a year younger than his father-in-law. Their children were:

Lady Catherine Barry d. 1738 who appears to have been unmarried.
Lady Anne Barry d. 21 Mar 1758, married Walter Taylor
James Barry, 5th Earl of Barrymore b. 25 Apr 1717, d. 19 Dec 1751
Hon. Richard Barry c. 1720 – d. 23 Nov 1787 M.P for Wigan between 1747 and 1761, he married Jane Hyde, daughter and h. of Arthur Hyde of Castle Hyde, Ireland, in 1749. They had an infant son who died in October 1751, just over two years after their marriage.
Hon. Arthur Barry b. 1724, d. Oct 1770 unmarried
Hon. John Smith-Barry b. 28 Jul 1725, d. 1784

3rdearlofdonnegall — 3rd Earl of Donnegall

The children’s maternal grandfather, the Earl of Donegall was an Irish nobleman and soldier. He sat in the Irish Parliament called by William III in October 1692. Made a career in the English Army, and founded the 35th Regiment of Foot in Belfast in 1701, In 1704 he accompanied the regiment to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession in Spain, and was appointed Major General of Spanish forces. He was killed in action in 1706, at the siege of Barcelona, and was buried there.

James Barry, 5th Earl of Barrymore 1717-1751

September 9, 2016 WillLeave a comment

James Barry, 5th Earl of Barrymore was born on 25 April 1717 at London. He was the son of Lt.-Gen. James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore and Lady Anne Chichester. He married Hon. Margaret Davys, daughter of Paul Davys, 1st Viscount Mountcashell and Catharine M’Carty, on 8 June 1738, and died on 19 December 1751 at age 34 in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland.

brasenose-courtyard-1 — Brasenose Courtyard

He graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford in 1736 with a Master of Arts (M.A.) He became 10th Viscount Barry, 23rd Baron Barry, and the 5th Earl of Barrymore, on 5 January 1747

James Barry, and Hon. Margaret Davys had one son Richard Barry, 6th Earl of Barrymore (1745 -1773). Richard Barry was James Smith-Barry’s (1748 – 1801) first cousin. Richard Barry, 6th Earl of Barrymore was the father of the feral Caroline (Billingsgate), born 1768; Richard (Hellgate) born in 1769; Henry (Cripplegate) born in 1770; and Augustus (Newgate) 1773.

John Smith-Barry 1793 – 1837

September 7, 2016 WillLeave a comment

John Smith-Barry (1793-1837) was the grandfather of both Cecil Smith-Barry ( Pauline Barry[nee Roche]’s son in law, and also Arthur Smith-Barry, Lord Barrymore. In turn, John’s great-grandfather, James Barry, (1667-1748) was the 4th Earl of Barrymore. Pauline Roche (1835 -1894) has been part of the story for a while, she married William Henry Barry in 1857. I’m becoming increasingly sure that she helps place a lot of things into context. This is one of a series of posts covering her marriage into the Barry family, and her daughter’s marriage into the related Smith-Barrys, and a look at where they all fit into both Irish, and British society. Pauline Roche is Ernest O’Bryen’s first cousin

John Smith-Barry’s (1793-1837) father, James Hugh Smith Barry (1748-1801) had inherited Belmont Hall, in Cheshire, on the death of his father John Smith Barry in 1784, and lived there until he also inherited the family’s estates in Ireland, and the Marbury estate, also in Cheshire, on the death of his uncle Richard Barry in 1787. James had travelled widely in Europe and the Middle East, as a young man on the Grand Tour, between 1771-6, borrowing large amounts of money and amassing a huge collection of ancient statuary, vases and paintings, mostly by Italian masters. The collection was initially housed in Belmont Hall, until it was sold. James Hugh Smith Barry spent little time at Marbury but clearly intended to make changes to the Hall. In his twenty eight page will of July 1799, eventually found in a trunk at Belmont Hall, he directed his executors to catalogue his collection and remove it to Marbury, providing it with a gallery and custodian. He also willed that all his five children, whose mother was Ann Tanner, be made legitimate and known as Smith Barry. James Hugh Smith Barry died in 1801, two years after making his will, but it wasn’t until 1814 that John Smith-Barry fully inherited the estates.

Marbury_Hall_(c1819) — Marbury Hall c.1819

John Smith Barry (1793-1837) James Hugh Smith Barry’s eldest son, inherited the family’s estates at Marbury in Cheshire, and in Ireland in 1814. He preferred to live on the family estates in Ireland, in co. Cork, and co. Tipperary, and chose to live at Fota House, co.Cork. Fota House was originally a two-storey hunting lodge set in a large estate near to Barryscourt Castle. When the Barrymore’s family home was at Castlelyons, they used Fota as a base for fishing, shooting and yachting. John Smith Barry commissioned the architect, Sir Richard Morrison to create the current house in the 1820’s and the family made Fota House their main residence.

John Smith-Barry was born illegitimately in 1793. He was the eldest son of James Hugh Smith-Barry (1748-1801). He married, firstly, Eliza Mary Courtenay, daughter of Robert Courtenay, on 21 April 1814. She died on 16 April 1828. John Smith-Barry’s sister Caroline married Eliza Courtenay’s brother George. John Smith-Barry had a second childless marriage to Mary Felicia Heron in September 1835. He died on 24 February 1837. John, and Eliza had five children.

James Hugh Smith-Barry b. 27 Jan 1816, d. 31 Dec 1856. (Father of Arthur Hugh SB 1843-1925-Lord Barrymore)
Anne Smith-Barry b. 14 Mar 1817 d. 8 Dec 1834 unmarried.
John Smith-Barry b. 25 Sep 1818 d. 9 Apr 1834 unmarried.
Captain Robert Hugh Smith-Barry b. 13 Jan 1820, d. 25 Apr 1849 unmarried.
Captain Richard Hugh Smith-Barry b. 21 Feb 1823, d. 23 Jan 1894 (father of Cecil Smith-Barry 1863 -1908)

ballyedmond-approach — Ballyedmond House, co. Cork

John Smith-Barry’s sisters all appear to marry well. But they are without doubt part of the Ascendancy.

Narcissa Smith-Barry married Hon. George William Massy, the second son of Hugh Massy, 3rd Baron Massy of Duntrileague on 28 April 1821.She drowned on 9 January 1831.The Massys were a Protestant Ascendancy family who had come to Ireland in 1641 and owned extensive lands in Counties Limerick, Leitrim and Tipperary.They were also Irish politicians, and George’s grandfather, and great-grandfather had both been M.P.’s for Limerick, and Hugh Massy, George’s great-grandfather, received his peerage in 1776. George’s great-nephew John Thomas, 6th Baron Massy inherited Killakee House, Killakee, co. Dublin from an aunt in 1880.

Killakee_house c. 1865-1914 — Killakee House, co. Dublin, c. 1865-1914

He used the house to entertain visitors while shooting game at Cruagh and Glendoo and to host parties where long lines of guest’s carriages could be seen stretched along the road leading to the house. Lord Massy employed a small army of staff, ranging from coachmen, stablemen, house servants, gardeners, cooks, and gamekeepers. During shooting expeditions, large dining shelters would be set up in the woods, where shooting parties would adjourn for lunch. Tables would be laid out there with the finest tableware, and food would be transported in pony carts from Killakee House. It was during this time that that the family’s riches reached its peak and, ironically, when it started to decline. By the time Lord Massy died in 1915, the estate was hopelessly in debt to the bank.

John Thomas’s grandson, Hugh Hamon Massy, next inherited Killakee. Hamon Massy was faced with a serious crisis, with the magnificent gardens alone requiring a large number of outdoor workers and gardeners. Massy still attended social events and drove around in the last of his grandfather’s motor cars, but by 1919, huge quantities of silver plates, jewellery, furniture, and a large art collection were sold in an auction that lasted several days. It soon became clear to the bank that the family were unable to deal with their financial problems. In May 1924 an officer and two assistants arrived to take possession of Killakee House. Massy, who was unwell, was lifted out of the house on his mattress and deposited on the nearby public road. The incident was widely reported in the national newspapers and the bank soon placed a caretaker in the house. By agreement with the bank, the family was later permitted to take possession of Beehive Cottage, a three-roomed gate lodge located near the gate to Killakee House. For thirty-four years following his eviction he was regularly seen collecting timber for his kitchen fire in the nearby woods. In 1941 the bank, unable to find a buyer, sold the house to a builder who salvaged what was left of Killakee House. Having removed the slates, timbers and floors, the builder demolished the house, in the sight of Hamon Massy who was still living in the nearby gate house. The woods were taken over by the forestry department and Massy was employed in a charcoal making business in the nearby forest.

Caroline Augusta Smith-Barry married George Courtenay on 29 July 1814. She died on the 28th May 1853. They lived at Ballyedmond, in co. Cork. George held the office of High Sheriff of County Cork in 1826, the year after his brother-in-law John Smith-Barry. George Courtenay was the son of Robert Courtenay and Catherine Nash and d. 10 Dec 1837. George Courtenay and Caroline SB have one daughter Caroline Augusta Courtenay who married Mountifort Longfield in 1840. He sounds like a parody of an appalling landowner.

The Longfields lived at Castle Mary, co Cork. There are many stories told in the country side that crept into the folklore. Mountiford is depicted as ill-natured and very selfish. He did not allow any to walk on his land and the story goes that a priest in the area would still always walk this way even in spite of the restrictions the story becomes something like Jack of the beanstalk and the giant. Children were not allowed to pass through to get to school.The other story is that he rode over a child that was playing in the road with his horse when he was on his way to Ballycotton.He was very hard on his tenants and evicted them if they were unable to pay the rent and destroyed their homes. 35 homes were demolished. In a newspaper article it states that 73 families were evicted that is 378 people. He also received criticism for contributing £5 to the famine relieve fund which he later denied. Mountiford married Caroline Augusta in 1840 and had 13 children – only one son. Mountiford (1858-1929) educated in Eton and Oxford. He married Alice Elizabeth Mason (1865-1946) in 1891 who had a sizable dowry.(She is often described as being forceful) In 1920 on Sunday night 19 September the estate was burned. Allegedly by the IRA from the village Ballinacurra. The possible reasons mentioned – Col Longfield did not contribute to the IRA war fund. Or that the estate may be used as military barracks or tit-for-tat burnings. The Longfields were not at home at the time and there was only a small staff present, losses were £50,000. Apparently the family was devistated as the three girls considered themselves as Irish girls. With his death the male line of Longfields came to an end. After his death much of the estate was sold. Mountiford was very disappointed when his third daughter was also a girl as he wanted a son and heir but she – Cynthia was lively and pretty. Of his three daughters Cynthia Longfield became world renown for her research on dragonfly’s. This bit is from housetorian

George Courtenay left the Ballyedmond estate to his brother John, on his death in 1837, and John left the estate to Richard Smith-Barry, his sister Eliza’s youngest son in 1861. Robert Smith-Barry seems to be living at Ballyedmond, with Sara Louise Johnston, a widow six years older than he is, in both the 1901, and 1911 censuses.

Louisa Smith-Barry married Rt. Hon. Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith, son of Sir William Cusack-Smith, the 2nd Baronet., on 7 September 1819. They had one son, William and five daughters, Hester, Marianne, Anne, Caroline and Frances. He died on 13 August 1866, at their home, 8 Merrion Square, Dublin; now the headquarters of The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. She died on 18 April 1872.

In a slightly curious irony, Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith, who, as the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, heard the appeal on Pauline Roche’s case in 1855, later became Mary Barry’s great-uncle. His wife Louisa was Mary’s husband Cecil Smith Barry’s great-aunt. Mary Smith-Barry (nee Barry) was one of Pauline and William Barry’s daughters.

Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith PC (1795 – 13 August 1866) was an Irish politician and judge. He was nicknamed “TBC Smith” or “Alphabet Smith”. He was the younger son of Sir William Cusack-Smith, 2nd Baronet, Baron of the Exchequer and his wife Hester Berry, and grandson of Sir Michael Smith, 1st Baronet, Master of the Rolls in Ireland from 1801 to 1806. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, entered Lincoln’s Inn in 1817 and was called to the Irish Bar in 1819. He was briefly Member of Parliament for Ripon (1843 -1846).

Thomas Cusack-Smith followed in his father’s footsteps as Solicitor-General in Ireland, and his grandfather’s footsteps to become Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Like his father, Thomas was a notable eccentric. He was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland briefly in 1842, and then Attorney-General for Ireland from 1842 until 1846, in which role he prosecuted Daniel O’Connell at his trial on charges of conspiracy, sedition, and unlawful assembly.

His conduct of the O’Connell trial attracted severe criticism, and the House of Lords later quashed the guilty verdict for gross irregularities. Like his father he had a reputation for eccentricity and bad temper: during the trial of Daniel O’Connell he challenged one of the opposing counsel, Gerald Fitzgibbon, to a duel, for having allegedly accused him of acting from “private and dishonourable motives”. The Lord Chief Justice, Edward Pennefather, suspended the proceedings, in order to afford the parties time for reflection, observing that “the Attorney-General is the last man in his profession who ought to have allowed himself to be betrayed into such an expression of feeling as has been stated to have taken place.” The judges, gravely embarrassed, strongly criticised Cusack-Smith for his actions and persuaded him to drop the matter.

His frequent outbursts of bad temper were often attributed to chronic indigestion. An admirer described him as having “a touch of genius” but admitted he was rough and harsh in manner. Charles Gavan Duffy described him as “dignified” but so unhealthy and ghastly in appearance as to resemble “an owl in daylight”. Daniel O’Connell called him “the vinegar cruet”.

Thomas’s father, William Cusack-Smith had also had his run-ins with Daniel O’Connell. William was an eccentric judge who offended Daniel O’Connell so much, he raised a motion in the House of Commons, carried by MPs on 13 February 1834, to appoint a select committee to enquire into the conduct of Lord Smith in respect of his neglect of duty as a judge, and the introduction of political topics in his charges to grand juries. On the count of neglect, Cusack-Smith had been accused of rarely beginning his court sessions until after noon, occasionally running them until late into the night. The accusation of introducing political topics stemmed from statements made from the bench to grand juries condemning partisan agitation practices that were, that were themselves perceived as inflammatory due to their one-sided nature. The resolution to appoint the committee was rescinded by a majority of six, a week later.

James Smith-Barry (1798 – 1861) lived at Lota Lodge, died without issue 29th October 1861 aged 63. James Smith, s. James Hugh, of Dublin (city), arm. Brasenose Coll., matric 7 July, 1815, aged 17 ; of Lota Lodge, co. Cork, died s.p. from Alumni Oxoniensis (1715-1886). He appears to have married yet another Eliza Smith Barry.

The Smith-Barrys of Fota Island, co. Cork

September 2, 2016 WillLeave a comment

Pauline Roche (1835 -1894) has been part of the story for a while, she married William Henry Barry in 1857. I’m becoming increasingly sure that she helps place a lot of things into context. This is one of a series of posts covering her marriage into the Barry family, and her daughter’s marriage into the related Smith-Barrys, and a look at where they all fit into both Irish, and British society. Pauline Roche is Ernest O’Bryen’s first cousin

The Smith-Barrys seem thoroughly respectable, certainly by the time Mary Barry [Pauline and William Barry’s daughter] marries into the Smith-Barry family in the summer of 1894. This was shortly before the death of her mother in the autumn of the same year. Both the marriage, and death are recorded in the civil registration district of Midleton, in county Cork, so almost certainly happened at the family home at Ballyadam.

Lord_Barrymore_Vanity_Fair_31_August_1910 — Lord Barrymore, Vanity Fair, 1910

This extract from “Barrymore Records of the Barrys of County Cork from the Earliest to the Present Time, With Pedigrees. London:” published 1902 rather smugly describes Mary Barry as follows

“Mary, married Cecil Smith Barry, second son of Captain Richard Smith Barry, of Ballyedmond, and first cousin of the Hon. Arthur Hugh Smith Barry, P.C. [now Lord Barrymore];”

Arthur Smith-Barry was created a peer, as Baron Barrymore, of Barrymore in the County of Cork, in 1902 the same year the Barrymore Records were published. I think there is a fair element of snobbery at work here in claiming kinship with a peer of the realm. By the late 1890’s, the Smith-Barrys were still firmly part of Ascendancy society, landed, wealthy, and members of the Church of Ireland. Arthur Smith-Barry was a major land-owner. He had almost 13,000 acres in co. Cork, and co.Tipperary.

He was the owner of Fota House, in co.Cork, as well as the family’s estates in England, based around Marbury Hall in Cheshire. In 1901, he is maintaining a large household at 20 Hill Street, in Mayfair, with a butler, valet, governess, cook, five maids, two footmen, and a hall boy; about the same number that Lord Grantham kept in Downton. The slight difference being the Smith-Barry family consisted of Arthur, his wife Elizabeth, and their six year-old daughter Dorothy.

In a slight contrast, his first cousin Cecil, and Mary Smith-Barry were living in a reasonably sized house in Castlemartyr, Cork in 1901. They had ten rooms, and a couple of stables, and a coach house. The household comprised of Cecil, and Mary, their five year old daughter Cecily Nina, and a twenty three year old house and parlourmaid, Julia Casey. Ten years later, Mary had moved to a smaller house about ten miles away at Ballynoe, on the outskirts of Cobh. She is forty-five years old, and has been a widow for three years. The house is rented from her late husband’s cousin Lord Barrymore, who seems to own most of the village. Mary seems to be living quietly in the village with her daughters Cecily who is now fifteen, and four year old Edith, and a nineteen year old servant girl.

To put things in perspective, when Cecil died in 1908, he left just over £ 5,000 [ the best current-day equivalent is £ 3.2m]. In the same year, The Old Age Pensions Act 1908 introduced a non-contributory pension for ‘eligible’ people aged 70 and over. The pension was 5 shillings a week, about half a labourer’s weekly wage, or £ 13 p.a. Cecil’s £ 5000 was the equivalent of three hundred and eighty four years of old age pension, so they were hardly paupers.

Arthur, by contrast, was ludicrously rich. Quite how he, and his family kept it all is quite astonishing. Fota House was sold, after his granddaughter’s death in 1975, to University College Cork, and is now part of the Irish Heritage Trust.

However the past history of the Smith-Barrys is rather more chequered than this rather respectable pedigree would lead us to expect. John Smith-Barry, Cecil and Arthur’s grandfather was born illegitimately in 1793; though to be fair to his father James Hugh Smith Barry (1748-1801), James lived openly with Ann Tanner, the mother of his children, and made arrangements for them to be legitimised, and to take his name, coat of arms, and to inherit. James S-B was even richer than Arthur Smith-Barry, and actually the source of much of Arthur’s money.

Following the death of his father John Smith Barry in 1784, James Hugh Smith Barry inherited Belmont Hall, in Cheshire, and continued to live there. Three years later, on the death of Richard Barry [his uncle] in 1787, James Hugh Smith Barry also inherited the family’s estates in Cork, and Tipperary, as well as the Marbury estate, in Cheshire, next door to Belmont. As a young man on the Grand Tour, between 1771-6, he travelled widely in Europe and the Middle East, borrowing large amounts of money and amassing a huge collection of ancient statuary, vases and paintings, mostly by Italian Masters, but he also had a couple of Van Dykes, I think a Reubens, and at least one Caravaggio.

James Hugh Smith Barry (1748-1801), may have lived openly with Ann Tanner, the mother of his bastard children, but at least he lived with them rather more respectably than his first cousin’s family. Richard Barry, 6th Earl of Barrymore (1745-1773) appears to be reasonable, but his children were about the most dissolute, feral people anyone could meet, and Richard Barry’s parents-in law, William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington and Lady Caroline Fitzroy were about as bad as their grandchildren.

William Barry and Pauline Roche’s children

August 28, 2016 WillLeave a comment

Pauline Roche (1835 -1894) has been part of the story for a while. But I’m becoming increasingly sure that she helps place a lot of things into context. This is one of a series of posts covering her marriage into the Barry family, and a look at where they fit into both Irish, and British society. I think it’s useful to list her children fairly plainly so I can link off it as I delve deeper.

William Henry Barry of Ballyadam, is William Barry, of Rockville’s grandson, and the husband of Pauline Roche. Pauline Roche is Ernest O’Bryen’s first cousin on her mother’s side. Her mother Jane is John Roche O’Bryen’s eldest sister. She is also his second cousin on her father’s side, because William Roche, Pauline’s father is their ( Jane and John Roche O’Bryen) first cousin once removed. So Pauline Roche’s children are EAOB’s second cousins on their maternal grandmother’s side, and third cousins on their maternal grandfather’s side

Lineage:

William Barry, of Rockville, Carrigtwohill, gentleman, fifth son of Edmond fitzGarrett Barry, of Dundullerick and Rockville, gentleman, according to his son, John, was born 1757, and died the 24th of January, 1824, aged sixty-seven years. He was married and had issue at the date of his father’s will, 30th March, 1783. His wife was Margaret, eldest daughter of James Barry, of Desert, in the barony of Barrymore, and county of Cork, gentleman, whose will is dated 21st November, 1793, but who died the 19th of November, 1793, aged sixty-five years, according to the inscription on his tomb at Ardnagehy. Said James Barry and his brother, Robert Barry, of Glenville, are mentioned in the will of Thomas Barry, of Tignageragh, gentleman, dated 16th November, 1778, and were his first and second cousins, and were great-grandsons of Edmund Barry, of Tignegeragh, gentleman, whose will is dated 22nd April, 1675, and whose father was Richard Barry, of Kilshannig, gentleman, son of John fitzRedmond Barry, of Rathcormac, Esq., and whose wife was a daughter of Thomas Sarsfield, of Sarsfield’s Court, an alderman of Cork, and a prominent Confederate Catholic in 1641. By his marriage with Margaret, eldest daughter of James Barry, of Desert, William Barry, of Rockville, had issue—eleven sons, and three daughters.

The ninth son was Patrick Barry.

The next extract comes from “Barrymore Records of the Barrys of County Cork from the Earliest to the Present Time, With Pedigrees. London:” published 1902

Patrick Barry, of Cork, gentleman, died 1861, having married Mary Anne, daughter of Stephen Murphy, of the city of Cork, draper, and had with an elder son, Stephen Barry, of H. M. Customs, Cork, and a daughter, Kate, who both died unmarried, a younger son, William Henry Barry, of Ballyadam, gentleman, J.P., who was heir to his uncle, Henry Barry, of Ballyadam, and was for many years postmaster of Cork. He married in 1857 Pauline Roche, only child of William Roche, son of Lawrence Roche, whose brother, John Roche, amassed great wealth during the French wars, and built Aghada House. John Roche’s only daughter, married to — O’Brien, of Whitepoint, Queenstown, J.P., left a daughter, who married her cousin, William Roche, and with her husband died shortly after the birth of their only daughter, Pauline, who was entrusted to the guardianship of her uncle, Dr. O’Brien, of Liverpool, and at marriage had a fortune of £7,000.

Only Edith, and Mary Barry, out of the seven brothers and sisters, marry. Both Edith’s husbands were Army Surgeons. Mary married into the Smith-Barrys of Ballyedmond. In a slightly curious irony, the Master of the Rolls who sat on Pauline Roche’s case in 1855 ( Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith) married into the Smith Barry family, as did Pauline and William’s daughter Mary, making him( Sir Thomas) and Louisa Cusack-Smith, Mary Barry’s husband Cecil’s great-uncle and aunt. It’s a small, small world…

The issue of the marriage of William Henry Barry and Pauline Roche are from “Barrymore Records”:

(Patrick)Henry, born 1862; d. poss 1930, who appears to have been unmarried

William Gerard; born 1864; d. 1940 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, unmarried.

Pauline; prob born 1865 or b.1867 – d. after 1911; unmarried.

Edith,born probably 1863, but possibly as early as 1861, and possibly as late as 1866. She married Patrick Aloysius Hayes, surgeon-major H. M. Army Medical Department, and had three sons, William Hayes 1891 – 1918, J B (Joseph Barry )Haynes 1891?-1927, and Gerard Patrick Hayes? Will and Joe appear to be twins, according to the 1901 census, both aged 9, Gerard is a year younger at 8, so probably born in 1892. Patrick Hayes Senior died in Wimbledon on the 20th March 1900.

Edith then married Lieutenant General William Babtie V.C, as a widow in 1903, and had a daughter Janet born in 1905; and possibly a son George Patrick (Babtie??)

Mary, married Cecil Smith Barry, second son of Captain Richard Smith Barry, of Ballyedmond, and first cousin of the Hon. Arthur Hugh Smith Barry, P.C. [now Lord Barrymore];

Arthur Hugh Smith Barry was the elder son (and one of two sons and two daughters) of James Hugh Smith-Barry, 1816 -1856, who in turn was the eldest son of John Hugh Smith-Barry 1793 – 1837. Richard Hugh Smith-Barry 1823 -1894 was the youngest son (4 sons, 1 daughter) of John Hugh Smith-Barry 1793 – 1837, which makes him Cecil’s father, and Lord Barrymore’s uncle.

Cecil Arthur Smith-Barry b. 19 Oct 1863, d. 21 Nov 1908 married Mary Barry, so was Pauline Roche’s son-in-law. They had two daughters Cecily Nina b 1896, and Edith b 1907

Henrietta, b. 1873/4,unmarried

Kate. b 1879 unmarried.

Pauline Roche (1835 -1894)

August 27, 2016 WillLeave a comment

To recap briefly, she runs away from home in Bristol to Ireland in 1854, aged about eighteen. She takes her uncle, and guardian, John Roche O’Bryen to court, successfully gets her guardianship changed, and within two years of her court case has married into the Barry family. The Barrys, one way or another, trace themselves back to the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1170’s, and in various ways have managed to hold on to land, and money, or both, since then. Their original seat was Barryscourt Castle, and they were given the land from Cork to Youghal, about 50 sq. km. One of the main tactics for keeping wealth in the family was marrying cousins, or through the use of marriage settlements, so Pauline’s marriage was unusual. Having said that, she was bringing the modern-day equivalent of about £ 7,000,000 to the marriage, which helps.

So Pauline is marrying into a junior branch of an old established Anglo-Irish family. It all tends to point to her having some established pedigree, as well as cold, hard, cash. At the risk of speculating, I think it may well turn out that in Pauline’s case, the cash, as we know, comes from John Roche, who is both her maternal great grandfather, and paternal great-uncle. The pedigree, is more speculative, but here goes. Henry Hewitt O’Bryen, Pauline’s maternal grandfather, is the grandson of Daniel O’Brien (1717-1758).

Murrough_O'Brien,_1st_Marquess_of_Thomond_KP,_PC_(1726-1808),_5th_Earl_of_Inchiquin_(1777-1800),_by_Henry_Bone — Murrough O’Brien,1st Marquess of Thomond (1726-1808)

Daniel O’Brien appears to be either a bastard son of William, the third Earl of Inchiquin, or potentially more likely, the bastard son of Charles O’Brien, William’s second son. Charles is rather curiously listed as died unmarried, rather than d.s.p. (died without issue). In Irish Pedigrees by John O’Hart; 1892, O’Hart lists an otherwise unlisted elsewhere, Donal, a fourth son of William O’Brien. I don’t think we are pushing things too far to consider William O’Brien bringing up his bastard grandson as part of the household. It’s interesting that another grandson of William’s, Murrough O’Brien, the 5th Earl of Inchiquin, and 1st Marquess of Thomond was reputed to have a bastard son Thomas Carter, the composer (1769 – 1800) who lived with him at Taplow Court in Berkshire

The Irish landed gentry had a much more relaxed attitude to illegitimacy than is perhaps now realised. Henry Hewitt O’Bryen and Mary Roche were staying at Fort Richard, in co. Cork when their first three children were born, and John Galwey, who owned Fort Richard, and their probable host, and Henry’s contemporary, fathered seven children illegitimately at Fort Richard, starting in 1814, before finally settling down and marrying fifteen years later. Father O’Connor, the parish priest, wrote ‘Bastard’ next to each of those names.

So, in Pauline Roche’s case, the cash comes from John Roche who “amassed great wealth during the French wars, and built Aghada House“. We know JR was a merchant, but little more. Ireland’s exports were predominately agricultural, with a fair proportion heading across the Atlantic to the West Indies, and West Indian goods returning, so there is a reasonable possibility of part of John Roche’s money being tainted by slave labour, though no actual evidence yet.

The pedigree is rather looser; quite possibly a link to the O’Bryens at Rostellan Castle. The Earls of Inchiquin, who later became the Marquesses of Thomond lived at Rostellan, which is about a mile away from Aghada, where John Roche had built his house in 1808. In a slight curiosity, both families started spelling O”Bryen with a “y” rather than an “i” at about the same time. We’ve considered the possible link to William O’Brien earlier. Henry Hewitt O’Bryen, Pauline’s maternal grandfather, was the son of Laurence O’Brien, and Jane Hewitt. Their marriage settlement refers to Laurence having a malt house, and the Hewitt family were brewers, and distillers. There is no firm evidence to link Jane Hewitt, and Henry Hewitt, her father, directly to the Hewitt brewing and distilling dynasty, but all the signs point in that direction. The Hewitts established a distillery in 1792, and ran it until 1864 when they sold it to the Cork Distillery Company who eventually evolved into Irish Distillers, now part of Pernod Ricard.

So Pauline’s maternal great, great, grandfather seems to be the bastard son of Irish aristocracy, and Old Irish at that. Topped up with strategic marriages that bring in money at each generation. The trustees and witnesses of the marriage settlement are significant. “John Sarsfield of the City of Corke Merchant & Richard Connell of the said City Esq” are the trustees of the settlement, “Francis Goold & Wm Galway, and Richard Townsend of Castle Townsend” are signatories to Laurence O’Brien’s indentures of leases. “Thomas Hardy of the City of Corke Gent & Matthew Thomas Hewitt of Castle Townsend aforesaid Esq.,” are the witnesses to the agreements.

William Henry Barry of Ballyadam, is William Barry, of Rockville’s grandson, and the husband of Pauline Roche. Pauline Roche is Ernest O’Bryen‘s first cousin on her mother’s side. Her mother Jane is John Roche O’Bryen‘s eldest sister. She is also his second cousin on her father’s side, because William Roche, Pauline’s father is their ( Jane and John Roche O’Bryen) first cousin once removed. So Pauline Roche’s children are EAOB’s second cousins on their maternal grandmother’s side, and third cousins on their maternal grandfather’s side. All fabulously complicated…….

Pauline Barry (nee Roche) had died in the autumn of 1894, aged fifty eight,or fifty nine, almost exactly a year before the death of her cousin Mgr. Henry O’Bryen. They were both born in 1835, Pauline was born in Rome, and Mgr. H.H. was born in Montpellier, and they were brought up together in his father/ her uncle’s household.

William and Pauline Barry’s children were: (there is more detail here)

(Patrick)Henry, born 1862; d. poss 1930, who appears to have been unmarried
William Gerard; born 1864; d. 1940 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, unmarried.
Pauline; prob born 1865 or b.1867 – d. after 1911; unmarried.
Edith,born probably 1863, but possibly as early as 1861, and possibly as late as 1866. Died 19??
Mary, born 18?? d. after 1911
Henrietta, b. 1873/4,unmarried
Kate. b 1879 unmarried.

Only Edith, and Mary Barry, get married, out of all seven brothers and sisters, . Both Edith’s husbands were Army Surgeons. Mary married into the Smith-Barrys of Ballyedmond. In a slightly curious irony, the Master of the Rolls who sat on Pauline Roche’s case in 1855 ( Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith) married into the Smith Barry family, as did Pauline and William’s daughter Mary, making him( Sir Thomas) and Louisa Cusack-Smith, Mary Barry’s husband Cecil’s great-uncle and aunt. It’s a small, small world…

Edith has three sons with Patrick Hayes, and a son and a daughter with William Babtie.

Mary has two daughters with Cecil Smith-Barry.

Ballyadam House, the family home seems to be large. According to the 1901 Irish census it had 16 rooms, and the out-buildings listed are

9 stables
1 coach house
1 harness room
2 cow houses
1 calf house
2 piggeries
1 fowl house
1 boiling house
1 barn
1 potato house
2 sheds

A total of 24 outbuildings

In 1901 Pauline Barry is listed as the head of household at Ballyadam, and was living there with her sister (Henrietta) Rose and a servant, and she is also listed as the owner of 2 2-room cottages each with 2 outbuildings. In 1911, both Pauline, and Rose are still living there, and they have been joined by their younger sister Kate, and eldest brother Patrick, who is listed as the head of the household. There are two servants living in the house, and their six year old niece Janet Babtie is living with them as well.

In 1901, Cecil and Mary Smith-Barry were living in a reasonably sized house in Castlemartyr, Cork. They had ten rooms, and a couple of stables, and a coach house. the household comprised of Cecil, and Mary, their five year old daughter Cecily Nina, and a twenty three year old house and parlourmaid, Julia Casey. Ten years later, Mary has moved to a smaller house about ten miles away at Ballynoe, on the outskirts of Cobh. She is forty-five years old, and has been a widow for three years. The house is rented from her late husband’s cousin Lord Barrymore, who seems to own most of the village. Mary seems to be living quietly in the village with her daughters Cecily who is now fifteen, and four year old Edith, and a nineteen year old servant girl.