Raising funds for the Patriotic Fund in 1854.

” The Patriotic Fund was raised to assist the widows and children of those killed in action or dying on active service during the Crimean War. ”  – Hansard (HC Deb 26 February 1901 vol 89 cc1187-8). The idea of fundraising seems to be fairly forward looking, given that the Allied invasion of the Crimea had only begun on the 14th of September 1854. Having said that, by the time of the meeting in Cobh  there had already been three battles [Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman] and British casualties were approaching 8,000 with approximately 1,500 dead.

There is a gaggle of family at the meeting, though it’s unclear how many O’Bryens are there. Henry H. O’Bryen is definitely there because of the reference to Capt. O’Bryen. But the reference to R. H. H. O’Bryen confuses things a little. Robert is R.H. O’Bryen, and Henry is H.H O’Bryen so they could well both have been there. Both were in Cobh at the time, aged forty, and thirty-nine respectively. Dr. Verling, R.N. is James Roche Verling who is their rather older [aged 67] first cousin once removed. His first cousin James Ronayne is there, who is also their second cousin.

 

MEETING AT QUEENSTOWN—THIS DAY. ( FROM OUR REPORTER.)

A meeting of the inhabitants of Queenstown was held in the Court-house, at 12 o’clock to-day,(13th November 1854)  for the purpose of receiving subscriptions in aid of the ” Patriotic Fund,” and appointing a committee to collect subscriptions through the town. The attendance was rather thin, and amongst those present were :- Rear Admiral Sir Wm. F. Carroll; W. M. Drew, J.P.; Captain Purvis, R.N.; Rev. Mr. Lombard; Wm. Cronin, M.D.; Lieutenant Williams, R.N.; John Cronin, M.D.; James Seymour;  Horace T. N. Meade, M.D.; S. Harman; Dr. Verling, R.N.; Rev. Mr. Conner, Michael Graham, Dr. Scott, Mr. Sheppard, Rev. Mr. Pounce, James Ronayne, Hugh Cole, R. H. H. O’Bryen, James Hammond.

On the motion of Dr. Meade, seconded by Capt. O’Bryen, the chair was taken by Rear Admiral Wm. F. Carroll.

Mr. S. T. French and Dr. Meade were requested to act as secretaries to the fund, and Mr. Hammond consented to act as treasurer.

The Chairman said, on such an occasion as the present it was unnecessary for him to address the meeting at any length. They all knew the purpose for which they had assembled – to assist the widows and orphans of those who had perished gallantly fighting for the cause of their country (hear, hear).

A committee was then appointed, consisting of the magistrates of Queenstown Petty Sessions, the local clergymen of all denominations, together with Capt. H. H. O’Bryen, Capt. de Courcey, Dr. Scott, and Dr. Meade.

The Chairman begged to observe that, wherever the committee might happen to go throughout the town, he hoped even the smallest subscriptions would be thankfully received ; for such sums would, from persons in humble circumstances, as expressively show the feeling that existed abroad in the cause of those who were suffering from the loss of their husbands, and the poverty of their fatherless children, as larger sums received from wealthier people (hear, hear).

A subscription list was then opened, and in the course of few minutes a sum amounting to £87 was collected ; but it expected when the returns from the committee of solicitation are received, that a large sum will be realised.

Cork Examiner Monday 13th November 1854  © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Rory Oge O’More/Ruaidhri og ua Mordha

O’MORE, RORY or RURY OGE (d. 1578), Irish rebel, called in Irish Ruaidhri og ua Mordha, was second son of Rory O’More, captain of Leix, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Butler, and granddaughter of Pierce or Piers Butler, eighth earl of Ormonde [q. v.] (cf. Lodge, Peerage of Ireland, ed. Archdall, iv. 19; and Harl. MS. 1425, f. 119b). Sir Henry Sidney once called him ‘an obscure and base varlet,’ but his family was one of the most important of the minor Irish septs, and also one of the most turbulent.

Rory O’More (fl. 1554), the father, was son of Connell O’More (d. 1537), and early acquired the character of a violent and successful chieftain. On the death of Connell a fierce dispute broke out between the three sons—Lysaght,Kedagh, and Rory—and their uncle Peter the tanist. Peter was for the time a friend of the Butlers. Consequently the deputy, Lord Leonard Grey, supported the sons; and, although Peter was acknowledged chief, Grey got hold of him by a ruse, and led him about in chains for some time, Kedagh then seems to have secured the chieftainship, Lysaght having been killed; but he died early in 1542, and Rory, the third brother, succeeded. He, after a period of turmoil, agreed on 13 May 1542 to lead a quieter life, and made a general submission, being probably influenced by the fact that Kedagh had left a son of the same name, who long afterwards, in 1565, petitioned the privy council to be restored to his father’s inheritance. Like other Irish chiefs of the time, O’More was only a nominal friend to the English. In a grant afterwards made to his eldest son his services to King Edward VI are spoken of; but they must have been of doubtful value, as an order of 15 March 1550-1 forbade any of the name of O’More to hold land in Leix (App. to 8th Rep. Dep.-Keep. Publ. Rec. Ireland). At some uncertain time between 1550 and 1557 Rory O’More was killed, and was succeeded by a certain Connell O’More, who may be the Connell Oge O’More mentioned in 1556 in the settlement of Leix (cf. Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors, i. 400, and Cal. State Papers, Irish Ser. 1509-73, pp. 135,414). He was put to death in 1557 (Annals of the Four Masters, ii. 1545). Rory left two sons, Callagh and Rory Oge. Callagh, who was brought up in England, was called by the English ‘The Calough,’ and, as he describes himself as of Gray’s Inn in 1568, he may be assumed to be the John Callow who entered there in 1567 (Foster, Reg. of Gray’s Inn, p. 39). In 1571 Ormonde petitioned for the Calough’s return, and soon afterwards he came back to Ireland, where in 1582 he was thought a sufficiently strong adherent to the English to receive a grant of land in Leix (Cal. State Papers, Irish Ser. 1574-85, pp. 392, 412).

Rory Oge O’More, the second son, was constantly engaged in rebellion. He received a pardon on 17 Feb. 1565-6, but in 1571 he was noted as dangerous, and in 1572 he was fighting Ormonde and the queen at the same time, being favoured by the weakness of the forces at the command of Francis Cosby, the seneschal of Queen’s County, and the temporary absence of Ormonde in England. In this little rebellion the Butlers and the Fitzgeralds were united against him; but when, in November 1572, Desmond escaped from Dublin, it was Rory Oge O’More who escorted him through Kildare and protected him in Queen’s County (cf. 12th Rep. Dep.-Keep. Publ. Rec. Ireland, p. 78). He was mixed up in Kildare’s plots in 1574, and taken prisoner in November. But he was soon free, and Sidney, when on his tour in 1575, wrote of him: ‘Rory Oge O’More hath the possession and settling-place in the Queen’s County, whether the tenants will or no, as he occupieth what he listeth and wasteth what he will.’ However, O’More was afraid of the deputy, and when Sydney came into his territory, he went to meet him in the cathedral of Kilkenny (December 1575), and ‘submitted himself, repenting (as he said) his former faults, and promising hereafter to live in better sort (for worse than he hath been he cannot be).’ Hence we find a new pardon granted to him on 4 June 1576 (ib. p. 179). But in the next year he hoped for help from Spain, and, pushed on by John Burke, his friend, he made a desperate attack on the Pale. He allied himself with some of the O’Connors, and gathered an army. On 18 March 1576-7 the seneschal of Queen’s County was commanded to attack Rory Oge and the O’Connors with fire and sword (13th Rep. Dep.-Keep. Publ. Rec. Ireland, p. 25). There was good reason for active hostilities, as on the 3rd the insurgents had burned Naas with every kind of horror. Sidney wrote to the council the same month: ‘Rory Oge O’More and Cormock M’Cormock O’Conor have burnt the Naas. They ranne thorough the towne lyke hagges and furies of hell, with flakes of fier fastned on poles ends’ (Cal. State Papers, Irish Ser. 1574-85, p. 107; cf. Carew MSS. 1575-88, f. 110). Later in the year O’More captured Harrington and Cosby. They were rescued by a ruse. O’More’s wife and all but O’More himself and one of those who were with him were killed. Infuriated at being caught, O’More fell upon Harrington, ‘hacked and hewed’ him so that Sidney saw his brains moving when his wounds were being dressed, then rushing through a soldier’s legs, he escaped practically naked (Carew MSS. 1575-88, f. 356). He soon afterwards burned Carlow; but in an attempt to entrap Barnaby Fitzpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory, into his hands, he was killed by the Fitzpatricks in June 1578, and his head set up on Dublin Castle. He left a son, Owen McRory O’More, whom John Burke, son of the Earl of Clanricarde, took charge of. The English got hold of him after some difficulty, and foolishly allowed him to return to his own country. He became as great a rebel as his father, and, after a life of fighting and plundering, in which, however, he recovered almost all Leix, was killed in a skirmish near Timahoe, Queen’s County, 17 Aug. 1600. Moryson called him ‘a bloody and bold young man,’ ‘The Four Masters’ an ‘illustrious, renowned, and celebrated gentleman.’ After his death the importance of the O’Mores as a sept was gone.

[Bagwell’s Ireland under the Tudors; Webb’s Compendium of Irish Biogr.; Cal. of State Papers, Irish Ser., and of the Carew MSS.; State Papers; Annals of the Four Masters, ed. O’Donovan, vols. vi. vii.; authorities quoted.]

Source: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 42 O’More, Rory (d.1578) by William Arthur Jobson Archbold

Daniel O’Connell to the Electors of the County of Cork 6th July 1841

This is part of a series of posts about the 1841 election rather specifically from an Irish perspective. At the time the letter was written Daniel O’Connell was standing for election as an M.P. in Dublin City. Things changed six days later. Roche and Barry” are Edmond Burke Roche, and Garrett Standish Barry. Barry was the first Catholic MP elected to represent Cork County after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, and was elected in 1832. Roche was elected in 1837.  Edmond Burke Roche also has the distinction of being Prince Harry’s great, great, great grandfather.

TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF CORK.

Dublin, 6th July, 1841.

” Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow ?”

Fellow-Countrymen,

We have arrived at the most important crisis in the affairs of Ireland. The liberty and the religion of the Irish people are at stake. The question is, whether the Orange miscreants, who have so long plundered our country, and persecuted our people, are to trample upon us again—to outrage our venerated clergy, and to inflict the virulent hostility of their blasphemous scurrility upon the most sacred rites of the Catholic religion.

I am convinced that not one liberal Protestant in the county of Cork will refuse to vote for Roche and Barry. I am convinced that not one Catholic will vote against Roche and Barry. In fact, the Catholic who does not vote for Roche and Barry is a traitor to his country, and a renegade to his religion. 

Remember, my friends, that the exterminators have openly avowed themselves. And, although, as in this city, they have felt it prudent to qualify the bitterness of their hostility to the Catholics, yet their designs of destruction are sufficiently manifest, even from the equivocal language which they now choose to employ, instead of an open declaration of vengeance.

There is no scheme too vile — no misrepresentation too atrocious — no cunning trick too dirty or too false — for the Orange Tories of your county to make use of, in order to delude or deceive the people to their own destruction.

Amongst other dirty tricks, the Orange faction in your county have asserted that the ministerial plan on the subject of the cornlaws would be injurious to the farmers. I wish you to understand this subject as well as I do. The ministerial plan which Mr. Roche supports, and which I support, is a fixed duty of eight shillings per quarter upon wheat ; and so in proportion upon other grain.

Now, attend to me, I beg of you, my fellow-countrymen. You know me I never deceived you nor any of you : and I tell you distinctly and emphatically, that of all the plans respecting the cornlaws, the ministerial plan of a fixed duty, which both Roche and Barry will support, is the very best for the farmer ! It is so for this reason ; that at present, rents are charged upon the farmers according to the highest prices that corn can bring ; and a speculation takes place respecting rents, in which, as you well know, the landlords have always the best of it.

The fixed duty gives, on the contrary, a fixed and steady rule of price for corn, and therefore a fixed criterion for rent ; thus giving to the farmer the surplus profits when the corn produces a price higher than in ordinary years..

I am bound to add, that after having investigated this subject with all the care and attention due to it from me, whose great object is the good of all the people—the good of the farmers when it varies from that of the aristocracy or landlords, I am thoroughly and conscientiously convinced that the best plan for all the farmers would be the total abolition of the corn-laws.

But that is not the question at present. The present question lies altogether between the plan of a sliding scale of corn duties and the plan of a fixed duty. This latter is the plan which Lord John Russell and his friends—including Messrs. Barry and Roche—will support.

Remember, my dear friends, that I, who, by counselling the people right, extorted emancipation, and put down Protestant ascendancy, in despite of the Orange aristocrats and landlords, who would now deceive and delude you on the subject of the corn-laws—remember, I say, that I, whom you have honoured with the name of the Liberator,—remember, that I tell you that the plan of a fixed duty, which both Roche and Barry support, is infinitely preferable for the farmers, than the sliding and slippery scale with which Leader and the Orange landlords endeavour to gull and deceive you.

As to Leader [Nicholas Leader, one of the Tory candidates.] himself, he is by birth and fortune a gentleman. If he remained quiet, nobody would refuse to admit him to be such. But in politics he is a shabby and despicable fellow. I knew him when he commenced his political career, and he came out not only a Liberal but really as a Radical ; and he is now endeavouring to represent the county of Cork at the head of all the Orange enemies of the people. Say to him, honest men of the county of Cork, “Shame upon thee, Leader! Shame, where is thy blush?”

Whoever votes for Leader, or for any man of his principles, votes for the extermination of Catholicity ; for the Orange Tories—for the haters of Ireland and the Irish—for the revilers of our clergy—for the blasphemers of our religion Those who refuse to vote for Barry and Roche are equally despicable traitors. They are to be loathed and shunned by every honest man.

Those who vote for Barry and Roche vote for the Queen and her ministers ;—for old Ireland and freedom;—for religion and liberty.

Recollect that the faction to which Leader has now attached himself is that which, by the most atrocious treachery, enacted the penal laws against the Catholics ; which set the same price—that is, £5.—upon the head of a wolf and the head of a priest ; which proscribed Catholic education ; which would still employ education for the purposes of trickery and exclusive proselytism.

Leader’s faction is the faction that has proclaimed in the city of Dublin the uprooting of Catholicity ; which seeks the restoration of Protestant ascendancy and Orange domination.

Leader’s faction call your priests ” surpliced ruffians “ and ” anointed vagabonds.”

Leader’s faction call the holy sacrifice of the mass ” mummery.” They call the Catholic religion an “abject superstition” and a “vile idolatry.”

Liberal Protestants of the county of Cork—and you especially, Catholic electors—shall there be found amongst you any man so thoroughly a traitor and a renegade as to give a single vote to Leader, or to the faction to which he belongs ?

Will any of you refuse to vote against the Orange faction, and in favour of my excellent and beloved friend, Edmund Roche, and of his esteemed colleague, Standish Barry ?

Let every man, then, who confides in me, who is ready to take my honest advice—let every liberal Protestant, and let every conscientious Catholic, vote for the religious liberty of Old Ireland.

That is let him record his vote for Roche and Barry.

I am, beloved countrymen, your faithful and devoted servant,

DANIEL O’CONNELL

A Bunch of Hoares

Please excuse the irresistible nod to James Bond.

The second half of the C19th seemed to spawn quite a flourishing industry in genealogy, both as a matter of research, and record, i.e. Burke’s Peerage, Burke’s Landed Gentry etc, as well as privately published family histories. There are quite a number of them, almost always complied and written by men. The quality varies hugely, some are well researched, and provide additional information to respectable sources such as Burke, or John O’Hart. Others range from the camp, and preposterous [Skeffington Gibbon] to meticulously compiled from written Quaker records [Norman Penney]. The following is extracted from

Some Account of the early history and genealogy with pedigrees from 1330 unbroken to the present time of the families of Hoar and Hoare with all their branches: interspersed throughout with anecdotes and incidents in the lives of the principal persons mentioned.” Complied by Edward Hoare. Esq. Late Captain of the North Cork Rifles, and of Factory Hill, County of Cork.  London, Alfred Russell Smith, 36 Soho Square. 1883.

The book itself is incredibly hard work because Edward Hoare provides the information, and anecdotes, under each individual, but links them via a family tree structure that is spread over 94 pages. It means you quite often find three generations of different branches of the family on the same page, and it requires going backwards and forwards to see how people are related.

Edward Hoare’s book falls somewhere in the middle of the range from camp to meticulous. He definitely has an axe to grind, and some scores to settle. He is incredibly keen to prove his noble lineage “I am entitled to quarter over one hundred coats of arms” etc, fairly disapproving of his grandfather, keen to mention two [rather distant] earls in the family, he’s the great, great, great grandson of one, and the great, great, great nephew of another, who is a complete wrong’un. He also absolutely hates his brother, and to quote Tom Leher on Oedipus “he really loved his mother.” Finally, he is remarkably anti-Catholic. An example of which are his comments on his third cousin, John William Deane Hoare: ” In Holy Orders. Curate of Saint Alban’s Church, Rochdale, in Lancashire; afterwards Vicar of Saint Philip’s Church, Sydenham, Kent. Has lately become a Roman Catholic, and a Priest of that Popish and idolatrous Church ! So much for High Church and Ritualism, with perhaps the blood of the “Donoghues ” in addition.”. The Donoghues were John William’s mother’s family, and give every impression of being a fairly respectable family. JW’s father was the [Church of Ireland] Dean of Waterford, and his mother was buried in Waterford Cathedral.

To place him in the story, this Edward Hoare is a second cousin, once removed of Louisa Grace O’Bryen [neé Hoare, a great-aunt x3, who married Rev. Hewitt O’Bryen.] He is also the 1st cousin 2x removed by marriage of Olivia Guinness [daughter of Arthur]. She [Olivia] is Louisa O’Bryen’s aunt. Finally, John William Deane Hoare is Louisa O’Bryen’s nephew.

Over to Captain Hoare:

Edward Hoare [Capt. Hoare’s grandfather] of Factory Hill, county of Cork.: Baptized at Saint Peter’s Church, Cork, 18th May 1751. In the 13th regiment of Light Dragoons; Cornet 16th August 1770; Lieutenant 12th  December 1771; and Captain 16th August 1778; was afterwards Captain in the North Cork County Militia, and engaged in all the encounters with the rebels in 1798 in the county of Wexford, where the regiment lost 60 officers and 106 men; was J. P. for the counties of Leitrim and Roscommon, 28th May 1795, also for the county of Cork; was Deputy-Governor for the county of Cork 20th November 1807. He died at Cullen’s Wood, near Dublin, 22nd Sept. 1831, at the house of his son-in-law, Robert Newenham, aged over 80 years, and is buried at the Moravian Burial Ground, near Dublin, where his wife is also buried. Had 19 children, all christened and baptized, none being twins, but who mostly died young. He spent over £20,000 while in the 13th Light Dragoons, and ruined the property.

He married Martha Tyrrell,daughter of Edward Tyrrell,Esq., of Tyrrelstown, near Gort, county of Galway. Died at Dunville, near Dublin, 20th March 1823, aged over 60 years.

His son- Edward Hoare, Ensign in the North Cork County Militia 21st May 1797 ; Lieutenant 12th Dec. 1799; and Captain 23rd August 1803. J. P. for the county of Cork. Born at Cappavama, in the county  of Galway, 27th April 1782. Died of Asiatic Cholera, at Morrison’s Hotel, Dawson St., Dublin, on 21st August. 1834, and was buried the same day at Saint Kevin’s churchyard, Dublin.

Sir Edward Barry

Joined with his father in his debts, cut off the entails, and sold two portions of the estates to Colonel Gribbings and Warren Hastings Jackson, Esq., in the year 1814. Married, by his cousin, the Reverend Edward Henry Hoare of Limerick, who was also trustee of his marriage settlement, on 15th December 1806, at Saint Anne’s Church, Dublin, to Sophia Barry, second and youngest daughter and coheiress of Robert Barry, Esq., third and youngest son of Sir Edward Barry, first Baronet, Physician and Surgeon- General to the Forces in Ireland (who was M.P. for Charleville borough, county of Cork, 12th March 1743).

 

Gaulstown House

Robert Barry was a Barrister-at-Law and King’s Counsel, of Hume Street and Merrion Street, Dublin, and of Dalkey, county of Dublin. He was also M.P. for the borough of Charleville, in the county of Cork, 24th April 1761 and 12th July 1768. His first wife was Elizabeth Lyons, eldest daughter and coheiress of Henry Lyons, Esq., of River Lyons in the King’s county, M.P. for that county for a long series of years, and J. P. and Deputy Governor, and who [Henry Lyons] married Anna Rochfort, [these two are Capt. Hoare’s great, great grandparents] youngest daughter of George Rochfort, Esq., of Gaulstown, in the county of Westmeath, M.P. for that county (by his wife the Lady Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Henry Moore, third Earl of Drogheda), and sister of Robert Rochfort, first Earl of Belvedere. [Robert Rochfort accused his wife of adultery with his brother Arthur. Arthur was tried for criminal conversation and fined £2,000. Robert kept Mary locked up in Gaulstown House for the remainder of his life. Mary was locked in a room, and apparently, only released for brief periods and not allowed to converse with the staff or even her children. She also had to apply to Robert for permission to walk the grounds. If she was granted permission after declaring the route,  a footman was employed to travel the route ahead, whilst ringing a bell and calling out obscenities about her.]  [Not necessarily a great, great, great uncle one would proudly mention]  Robert Barry married secondly Elizabeth Guillelmine La Touche, only daughter of James Digues La Touche, Esq., of Bellevue, county of Wicklow, but by her had no issue.

Sophia Hoare, my dearest mother (by whom and by her mother also, both coheiresses, I am entitled to quarter over one hundred coats of arms, among them the Royal Arms of the House of Plantagenet). died at Factory Hill 5th March 1823, and was buried at Rathcooney churchyard on the 8th of the same month. She was the best of Mothers and of women; to her, and her alone, I owe everything; and during life I have ever cherished her memory with the purest affection, love, and gratitude.

Their sons:

Edward Hoare. Born at Number 92 (former number) the Grand Parade, Cork city, 29th October 1807. Privately baptized by the Reverend Thomas Newenham. his father’s first cousin. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In the North Cork County Rifle Regiment of Militia; Lieutenant 19th January 1846; Captain 11th January 1855. Served with the regiment for over five years on embodied service : retired 21th August 1864. Author of a volume of Poems entitled ‘ Solitary Moments(London : Longmans, 1840). [Available in Google Books, and very basic traditional rhyming poetry] Also of several Antiquarian and Numismatic Works. Is a member of a large number of Literary and Antiquarian Societies, and a contributor to several of the periodicals of the day. The collector and compiler of this volume and Genealogy of the family. Unmarried.

William Barry Hoare. Born at Limerick 14th March 1810. Is a Solicitor and Attorney ; now of Moneens, near Bandon, : in the county of Cork; formerly of Monkstown, county of Cork. The history of the life and career of this exquisite and interesting specimen of humanity is in preparation, far advanced towards completion, and will be shortly published, as a guide and caution to posterity. In the mean time parties interested are requested to examine the Prerogative Office for Wills, Dublin; the Deeds Registry Office ; and the Proceedings of the Irish Court of Chancery, “Hoare v. Hoare,” 1854, 1855, and 1856, for the means and artifices used by this pink of propriety ? fraternity ? honour ? and integrity ? ! ! !  [One can only assume from this that Capt. Hoare felt cheated out of an assumed inheritance. Certainly his brother was wealthy,  owning 2,815 acres in county Cork in the 1870’s.]

Married, first, at Glanmire Church, county of Cork, on Easter Tuesday, 28th Mar 1837, Mary Anne Pratt, only child of John Pratt. Esq., of Woburn Place, Cork. She died at Monkstown 30th August 1872. Buried at Douglas churchyard. near Cork. She was 54 years of age. Had issue three sons and three daughters.

Married, secondly, on the 7th August, 1877, at Saint Stephen’s Church, Dublin. Man Anne Hawkes, second wife and widow of Zechariah Cornock Hawkes of Moneens, near Bandon, county of Cork, and daughter of John Hawkes Harris of Cork. She was the aunt-in-law of his first wife (Mary Anne Pratt, whose mother was sister of Z. C. Hawkes), and therefore she is now grand-aunt and stepmother to W. B. Hoare’s daughters.

Talk of a deceased wife’s sister’s connection ! What is it compared with this hitherto unheard-of alliance ? There has been no issue by this second marriage. The Lord be praised! If there had been, it would have been a puzzle for genealogists to describe the relationships ! ! !

The slightly curious reference “stepmother to W. B. Hoare’s daughters” is mainly due to the fact when the book was written only two of William Barry Hoare’s children were still living. Two sons and a daughter had died young, and the eldest son, another Edward Hoare (1838-1870), a Captain in the 5th Regiment of Foot, the Northumberland Fusiliers had committed suicide on the passage from India, by leaping from the cabin window of the ship into the sea, on the 4th January 1870.  Both the girls, Frances and Sophia, married soldiers, and both Algernon St. Leger Burrowes, Frances’ husband and  Herbert St. George Schomberg, Sophia’s husband ended up as Lieutenant Colonels in the Royal Marines. 

Requiem for the repose of the soul of Mgr. O’Bryen November 1895

PERSONAL NOTES.

Rome, Sunday, October 27, 1895. 

Mgr Henry Hewitt O’Bryen

The telegraph has brought news of the death of Mgr. O’Bryen, Domestic Prelate of his Holiness, who died two days ago at Montreal. The news has been received with the deepest regret, as Mgr. O’Bryen had passed many years in Rome, and had won universal esteem. Though believed to be suffering from apoplexy, he seemed to be in fairly good health. His death was probably caused by a stroke of apoplexy brought on by the fatigue of his travels in Canada and the United States. Until the donation of the Church of San Silvestro in Capite to the English-speaking people, Mgr. O’Bryen had the spiritual care of all the Catholics of English tongue, and the Church of St. Andrea della Valle, parochial for the Piazza di Spagna and its neighbourhood, was that in which he heard confessions. The English sermons on Sundays during the season, which have been a tradition since the days of Pius VII., were delivered in other churches such as the Gesu e Maria, and one of the twin churches, which adorn the Piazza del Popolo. Before coming to Rome, Mgr. O’Bryen had served on the mission in the diocese of Liverpool. 

Sant’Andrea delle Fratte

Sunday November 3, 1895

A solemn Requiem for the repose of the soul of Mgr. O’Bryen was celebrated at the church of St. Andrea delle Fratte on Wednesday last. His Grace the Archbishop of Trebizond, Mgr. Stanley, the Rectors of the English and Scots Colleges, were present. Mgr. Kelly, Rector of the Irish College, sang the Mass.

The above text were found on p.17, 2nd November 1895, and p.16, 10th November 1895, respectively, 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 .

The Murder of James Lawder in 1779

This is from ” The Gentleman’s and London Magazine: Or Monthly Chronologer, for January 1779 p.59.”James Lawder is the husband of a 1st cousin 8x removed; his wife’s grandmother was Catherine Goldsmith, the eldest sister of the poet, and playwright Oliver Goldsmith (1728 – 1774). 

On the morning of the 7th inst. [ Jan 1779] about the hour of two o’clock, a number of villains, with their faces blackened, and shirts over their clothes, broke into the house of James Lawder, Esq: of Kilmore, in the county of Roscommon, armed with guns, pistols, and other weapons, and immediately rushed into his bed chamber, and did then and there commit a most barbarous and inhuman murder on said Mr Lawder, by discharging a gun or pistol, or both, loaded with slugs or large shot into his left breast, of which he soon after expired. They robbed the house of cash to the amount of between four and five hundred pounds; [ the modern day equivalent is £755,000 to £944,000 ]  among which were five five guinea pieces, and two four-pound pieces. They also carried off with them a gun, and two pistols; one of which was mounted with silver, the other an old militia pistol.

Sligo Jan 15. We have the pleasure to hear that one M’Dermott, a butcher, in Carrick on Shannon, and his brother in law, were apprehended and lodged in the goal of Roscommon; and that there is a positive proof of the former’s being the villain who shot Mr Lawder. The first light it is said, thrown on that most abominable fact, was the taking up on suspicion, a servant man belonging to Mr Lawder, who confessed his being an accomplice, and turned approver.

From the Carrick on Shannon Schools Integration Project, we have the following written by someone called Malachy2. 

Kilmore Church, Roscommon

Kilmore Church is built on a dangerous bend. There is not much place to park. The building looks old and grey. Across from it is the Kilmore House. A tunnel is believed to have stretched from the church to Lowfield lake. My granny is buried in the church grounds.

There are many interesting memorial slabs inside the church. It is very dangerous in stormy weather. The hall is nearby. Next door is my Grandad’s house. My grandfather is the caretaker.

The Lawder memorial [ in Kilmore Church]  is the most interesting feature. A large white marble slab is fixed to the wall. It depicts the shooting of James Lawder on 7th January 1779. He was murdered in Kilmore House. The memorial was erected by his wife Mrs. Jane Lawder (neé Contarine). Mrs. Lawder’s mother was a first cousin of Oliver Goldsmith, the famous poet.  Jane Lawder died in Dublin in 1791. 

Captain S. A. Grehan And Miss C. Gaisford St. Lawrence. 1925

Brompton Oratory

CAPTAIN S. A. GREHAN AND MISS C. GAISFORD ST. LAWRENCE.

The wedding was celebrated at the Brompton Oratory last Saturday between Captain S. A. Grehan, O.B.E., M.C., of the Royal Artillery, only son of Mr. Grehan, of Clonmeen, County Cork, and Miss Cecily Gaisford St. Lawrence, third daughter of Mr. Gaisford St. Lawrence, of Howth Castle, County Dublin. Father Edward Pereira officiated, and Mr. T. Galwey was best man. The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a gown of gold tissue and lace, with a train of the same materials. Her veil, of old family lace, was held in position by orange blossoms, and she carried a bouquet of lilies. Her two train-bearers were Miss Bunty Whyte, niece of the bridegroom, and Miss Anne Hope Morley, daughter of the Hon. Claude and Lady Dorothy Hope Morley ; the bridesmaids were Miss Dorothy and Miss Clare Gaisford St. Lawrence, the Hon. Betty Hotham, and Miss Rosemary Rees.

Interior of Brompton Oratory

A reception was afterwards held at 34, Belgrave Square. The large company present included Mrs. Gaisford St. Lawrence, Miss Gaisford St. Lawrence, Mr. Stephen Grehan, Mrs. Whyte, Commander and Mrs. Ryan, the Misses Gaisford, the Right Hon. James Hope and Mrs. Hope, Colonel and Mrs. Chichester Constable, Mr. and Mrs. O. Riddell, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Clifford, Lady Margaret Domvile, Viscountess Gormanston, Ethel Lady Beaumont and the Hon. Ivy Stapleton, Sir Henry and Lady Jerningham, Lady Winefride Elwes, the Hon. William and Mrs. Stourton, Sir Gerald Strickland, Mrs. Molyneux Seel, Mr. Silvertop, Mrs. Eyston, Mrs. Edward Eyre, Mr. Wellesley Colley, Madame Reyntiens, Mrs. Blundell, Mrs. Blount and the Misses Blount, Miss de Trafford, Col. and Mrs. Turville Petre, and many others.

The above text was found on p. 24, 23rd May 1925  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 .

Obituary – Alderman Ernest A. O’Bryen 3rd May 1919

ALDERMAN ERNEST A. O’BRYEN.

We regret to record the death of Alderman Ernest A. O’Bryen, Mayor of Hampstead, which took place on Saturday night, at the age of fifty-three years, following on an operation from which he at first seemed to be progressing favourably. Educated at Stonyhurst and Cooper’s Hill, he spent some ten years in the Indian Forest Service in Upper Burmah, shortly after its annexation. He retired from the service in 1897 and married in the following year, Gertrude, daughter of the late Alfred Pursell. In 1913 he was elected Mayor of Hampstead, first Catholic to hold that position, and held it till his death. In 1916 he was President of the Stonyhurst Association and the same year was elected a Vice-President of the London Circle of the Catenian Association. During the war he took a leading part in making arrangements for the feeding and accommodation of Belgian refugees, and he also organised and equipped hospitals for the British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance. In 1915, Alderman O’Bryen was instrumental in raising the 183rd Howitzer Brigade and the 138th and 139th Heavy Batteries of Royal Garrison Artillery.

The funeral took place on Wednesday. The Requiem Mass was celebrated at St. Dominic’s Priory, Haverstock Hill, by Father Bodkin, S. J. Among those present were Mrs. O’Bryen and her five children, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Winstanley, Captain and Mrs. Parker, Mr. Alfred Pursell, Mrs. Edwardes, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Bellord, Mr. Frank Pursell, Mr. Alfred O’Bryen, Mrs. Rex O’Bryen, Mrs. Basil O’Bryen, the Deputy Mayor, the Town Clerk, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Hampstead, the Vice-Chairman of the London County Council (Mr. A. T. Taylor, L.C.C.), Alderman Sir William Dunn, Bart., Alderman J. W. Gilbert, L.C.C., Mr. W. Reynolds, L.C.C., Mr. John O’Connor, K.C., Canon Burton, Father Robert Bracey, 0.P., Rev. J. Keating, S.J., Father John Leather, 0.P., Mr. J. G. Bellord, Dr. Ernest Ware, Mr. Synnott, Mr. Lescher, and many others. Father Bodkin also gave the Absolutions, and officiated at the interment at Kensal Green, assisted by Father John Leather. Several communities of nuns were also represented in the church. The children from Bartram’s Orphanage lined the road near the church and the entrance to the avenue at the cemetery.

“The Catholic body in London has suffered a severe loss by the death of Alderman Ernest O’Bryen,” writes one who knew him. “The number of Catholic laymen who take a prominent share in London public life is unfortunately not very large, and the untimely death of one who had achieved such a notable success as to be elected six times in succession Mayor of the borough of Hampstead, in which he lived, must fill with deepest regret all those, interested in Catholic social effort in the Metropolis. Those who had the privilege of knowing Ernest O’Bryen intimately were not surprised that he secured the confidence and the esteem of his fellow workers, both Catholic and non-Catholic. An able administrator, with a sound judgment, a strong resolution, a persuasive manner, and a power of appropriate silence—the last a valuable gift in public life, his two outstanding qualities were perhaps his loyalty and his generosity of service. He was loyal, most loyal, to his religious beliefs and practices, loyal to his country, loyal to his friends, and loyal to those co-operating with him. His fellow Catholics know of his loyalty to his religion : Hampstead marked its appreciation of his loyalty to his country at the beginning of the war by re-electing him as Mayor five times to see the war through ; many like the writer have experienced his loyalty to his friends, which showed itself in times of anxiety and difficulty, not in word service but in practical form ; whilst of his loyalty to those co-operating with him his record in public life and in many Catholic organizations with which he was connected will bear willing witness.” 

His great generosity of service has undoubtedly contributed to his breakdown in health. Few London Mayors have exceeded his standard of effort as first citizen of a London borough throughout the difficult period of the national emergency. His achievements in connection with the Prince of Wales Fund, Red Cross and St. John Ambulance work, Belgian Refugees, recruiting for Kitchener’s Army and the Derby Scheme, the Hampstead Tribunal for exemptions from military service of which he was Chairman, the War Loan Campaign, the Food Economy Campaign and the provision of allotments—all are in the records of Hampstead public life, and it is to be deeply regretted that he has not lived to receive the official recognition of these services, which he so richly merited. The Catholic body in London, certainly, may be proud of the excellent record of public service for the common good which a Catholic layman has achieved.

Of his Catholic work it is unnecessary to write at length. The Catholic Federation, in its early days, the Catenian Society, the Stonyhurst Association, Catholic elementary schools, have by his death lost a good friend. If he had been spared, and, as seemed likely, his scope of public service had been increased, all these associations would have benefited materially from his support. His last visit to the writer was with a view to securing material assistance for a Catholic charitable institution, in the development of which he took great interest. His untimely death certainly creates a void in London Catholic life, which it will be very difficult to fill.

The above text was found on p.28, 3rd May 1919 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 .

Simon Conyers Scrope and Valentine Cary-Elwes

MR. SCROPE.

With deep regret we announce the death of Mr. Scrope, which took place at Danby Hall on Wednesday, after a short illness, during which be received all the Last Sacraments. Born in 1858, and educated at Stonyhurst and the Oratory, Mr. Scrope lived almost all his life at Danby. He was a devoted Catholic, a thorough sportsman, and a true friend. He was a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant, and for many years served in the Yorkshire Artillery Militia, in which he held the rank of Major and Hon. Lieut.- Colonel. Of the family he represented, it is probably superfluous to speak in a Catholic paper. The Times says : “Mr. Scrope was the head of one of the oldest and most famous families in English history. In the course of three centuries from Edward II. to Charles I. the house of Scrope produced two earls and twenty barons, one Chancellor, four Treasurers, and two Chief Justices of England, one Archbishop and two Bishops, five Knights of the Garter, and numerous Bannerets. Shakespeare mentions three of the Scrapes. The grandfather of Mr. Scrope, who died in 1872, laid claim to the earldom of Wiltshire, a creation of 1397, but the decision of the House of Lords was adverse, their decision not following the Devon case.” R.I.P.

MR. CARY-ELWES.

We regret to announce the death of Mr.[ Valentine]  Cary-Elwes of Great Billing, Northamptonshire, and of Roxby and Brigg, Lincolnshire. He was taken ill with double pneumonia on Sunday, and died at his Northamptonshire residence on Wednesday. Mr. Cary-Elwes, who was born in 1832, was the only surviving son of Cary Charles Elwes of Great Billing, was formerly in the 12th Lancers, and served in the Kaffir War in 1831-32. He was a magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Lincolnshire, of which he was High Sheriff in 1873. The following year he was received into the Catholic Church. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was twice married, his second wife being Alice Geraldine, youngest daughter of the Rev, the Hon. Henry Ward of Killinchy, County Down, brother of the third Viscount Bangor. He leaves two sons and one daughter. The funeral will take place at Billing on Monday. R.I.P.

The above text was found on p.14,19th June 1909 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 .

Consecration of the Vicar-Apostolic of Gibraltar 1899

THE NEW VICAR-APOSTOLIC OF GIBRALTAR. CONSECRATION AT HAVERSTOCK HILL.

All who were present on Monday last at the church of the Dominican Fathers, Haverstock Hill, on the occasion of the consecration of Bishop Bellord for the Vicariate of Gibraltar must have been impressed by the fitness of the noble edifice for so great a function. The open and spacious sanctuary, well raised above the level of the nave, presented an unrestricted view to all who thronged the enormous church. The beautiful oaken stalls, carved by Peters of Antwerp, were filled with long lines of white-robed friars, black-robed Benedictines, Augurtinians and Passionists, purple-robed Monsignori, and secular priests in their graceful lace-trimmed cottas, while moving about the altar were the officiating prelates and their numerous assistants in performance of their sacred rites and clothed in the symbolic grandeur of their sacred vestments. And through all the splendour of colour and moving forms a grand simplicity was manifest. Those who were present, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, – and not a few non-Catholics were in evidence, – must have been moved, too, by the supreme care and the many safeguards with which the Church in all the details of a sublime ritual surrounds the great act by which the apostolic commission is handed down to individuals in unbroken continuity as it was received from Christ.

The Bishop of Emmaus was the consecrator, and the Assistant-Bishops were Bishop Brindle, D.S.0 , and the Bishop of Southwark. These were attended by their chaplains, the Revv. Fathers Davies and T. Hogan for the Bishop of Emmaus : Fathers Reekes and Coote for the Bishop of Southwark ; Fathers Denny and C. Cox for the Bishop of Hermopolis ; and Fathers Amigo and Armstrong for the Bishop-Elect. The Cantors were the Revv. Fathers Pennington and Wyatt, and the masters of ceremonies Fathers G. Cox and Mgr. Dunn.

Occupying places in the stalls were the Very Revv. Father John Procter, O.P., Provincial ; Father Gabriel Whitacre, O.P., Prior ; the Right Rev. Mgri. Goddard, Moyes, Fenton and Connelly; the Very Revv, Dr. Johnstone, V.G., Provost Moore, Canons Keatinge, Pycke, Scannell and Fannan ; the Revv. Dr. Aidan Gasquet, O.S.B., Father Arthur, C.P. ; Deans Lucas, Reardon, Vere ; several army chaplains ; the Very Rev. P. r ., Kelly, O.S.A. ; the Dominican Fathers Thomas Laws, Reginald Buckler, Austin Rooke, Bernard Sears, Raphael Moss, and Gilbert Tigar ; while a large number of secular priests from several dioceses were in the body of the church.

The Apostolic Brief having been read, the Bishop-elect took the episcopal oath prescribed by Pius VI. for Bishops in the British Empire. Then followed the Examen, in which, response to questions of the Consecrator, the Bishop-elect made solemn profession of faith and fealty and devotion to his episcopal duties, promising to preserve humility and patience, and to be gentle and tender to the poor and to strangers, and to all who suffer want. The Mass begins, the Litanies of the Saints are chanted, the Book of the Gospels is laid open on the shoulders of the Elect in token that while he is appointed to rule over others he himself is subject to the law of the Gospel. A swift-winged moment swept by and the mighty and mysterious act has passed. The consecrating hands have been imposed and the simple word has been spoken ; ” Receive the Holy Ghost.” Almost unobserved, the great central act has been consummated. Then the Mass proceeded, interwoven with, the signs and ceremonies continued the kiss of peace and brotherhood was given, the new-made Bishop was enthroned and endowed with mitre, ring and crozier, while the praises of the Te Deum are resounding, with his new born powers he imparts his solemn benediction. A touch of human interest was there when the Bishop proceeding round the church made scarcely perceptible pause as he extended his hand to a Sister of Mercy who knelt in the foremost seat, and thus it came about that his sister was the first to kiss his hand and receive his happy blessing.

MGR. BELLORD’S CAREER.

The Right Rev. James Bellord, to give the title in full, Bishop of Milevis and Vicar-Apostolic of Gibraltar, was born In London in 1846, educated at St. Edmund’s College, Ware, an, ordained priest at Hammersmith on March 12, 1870, Like Mgr. Brindle, the new Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Vaughan, Mgr. Bellord has had a distinguished career as a military chaplain. He served with the troops in Bermuda in 1875-77, and, again in 1888-92, and also through the Zulu, the Boer, and the Egyptian campaigns. Upon him devolved the sad duty of performing the last rites over the body of the late Prince Imperial of France, who, it will be remembered, lost his life during the first mentioned war. The Bishop was present at the battle of Ulundi, at which the Zulus were finally subdued at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, in Egypt, Father Bellord was severely wounded early in the action, but, despite his own sufferings, he courageously insisted on being carried round to give the consolations of religion to the wounded and dying. For the last few years he has been attached to the garrison at Colchester. Needless to tell, he has always been most popular both with the officers and men at all the stations at which he has served. In consequence of his appointment to Gibraltar the Bishop retires from the army after near thirty years’ service.

Father Bellord is the author of some devotional works, and, last year he published a remarkable book, Meditations on Christian Dogma, founded on St. Thomas Aquinas, to which the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster contributed a preface: and which has been most favourably received. Three of his sisters are nuns, two being Sisters of Notre Dame and the other a Sister of Mercy at the convent in Crispin-street, London,

LETTER FROM THE EMPRESS EUGENIE.

After the ceremonies luncheon was provided in the Priory. Bishop Patterson, in proposing the health of the new Bishop, referred to him in warm and felicitous terms, and said he had known him man and boy all his life, and had enjoyed as well the friendship of his parents. The toast was receive enthusiastically, and drunk with musical honours. Father Amigo, on behalf of the people of Gibraltar, promised the Bishop a hearty welcome, and Mgr. Goddard, in the course of some graceful reference to the relations of the Bishop, when be was chaplain to the forces in Zululand, with the unfortunate young Prince to whom he administered the last consolations of religion, read the following letter from the Empress :

Villa Cyrnos, Cap Martin.

Cher Monsignor Goddard,—J’ai communiqué à S.M. l’Imperatrice votre lettre du 17e l’informant de la nomination du Père Bellord, à l’Evêché de Gibraltar. Sa Majesté a appris avec plaisir cette nouvelle. Elle se réjouira toujours de ce qui pourra arriver d’heureux à ceux, de près ou de loin, se rattachent à la mémoire de son malheureux fils – et elle felicite le Père Bellord de son élévation a l’Episcopat.

Sa Majesté vous remercie de votre bon souvenir. Quoiqu’elle ne pas complêtement rétablie l’état de sa santé s’est amelioré.  Veuillez agreer, cher Monsignor, l’expression de mes sentiments respectueux et dévoués.

Franceschini Pistri

The Bishop, in his reply, thanked all who had been so kind to him, and whom he held in dear remembrance. The toast of Bishop Patterson was also drank.

In the afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Bellord held a reception at their house in Belsize Park Gardens, at which, besides the Bishops and the clergy who had assisted at the functions of the morning, the following ladies and gentlemen were present with many other friends of the family : Colonel Donovan, Major Tibbs, Major Ration, Dr. Ware, Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Hallett, Mr. and Mrs. Le Brasseur, Mr. and Mrs. E. Hanley and Miss Hanley, the Hon. Mr. Parker and Lady Parker, Mr. and Mrs. E. O’Bryen, and Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Pursell.

The members of the Deanery of Colchester presented the Bishop with a handsome pectoral cross as a token of their regard. A gift highly valued for its givers and very beautiful in itself, was the episcopal ring, presented by his sisters, who, as has been said, are nuns. The exquisite Gothic mitre, which Was worn by the Bishop at the ceremony, and was much admired for its beauty, was the gift of his brother, Mr. E. J. Bellord.

The church at Haverstock Hill is full of interest to those who have watched the Catholic revival in England and the reintroduction of the religious orders into the country.

The Friars Preachers or Dominicans, commonly called Black Friars, came into England in 1221, and founded a house in Holborn, removed in 1286 to Ludgate. This was destroyed in 1538, and the Times Office is built on part of the site. Under Queen Mary they established another community in Great St. Bartholomew’s, Smithfield, in 1556, but this was destroyed by Queen Elizabeth in 1559. On the invitation of Cardinal Wise-man, in 1861, the Friars commenced a mission in Kentish Town, and in 1863 began a Priory on Haverstock Hill, which was completed in four years, and solemnly opened May 31, 1883 , It has a total length of 200ft., the nave of 6 bays being 140ft., and the choir 60ft. Fourteen chapels and the high altar are dedicated to the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, each chapel in the aisles being 15ft. wide. The lady chapel on the right side of the choir, contains the altars of the Holy Rosary, St. Joseph and St. Dominic. The church is in the style of the 13th century, built of brick, with stone dressings. There are several good stained glass windows, especially in the choir, by Hardman and Co., Birmingham. The high altar (late decorated style) Put up and consecrated in December, 1889, cost £ 2,000. The Priory was built by the late Countess Tasker.

The above text was found on p.21,6th May 1899 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 .