Captain Richard Hugh Smith-Barry 1823-1894

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

Fota House 2
Fota House, co. Cork

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