Sir Crawford McCullagh (1868-1948), Knight, Lord Mayor of Belfast 1914-17, 1931-42 and 1943-46, was raised to the Baronetage in 1935 as Sir Crawford McCullagh, Bt, of Lismara, in the Parish of Carnmoney, County Antrim.
In 1938 Sir Crawford negotiated the donation of Belfast Castle and its 200-acre demesne (bordering on Hazelwood and Bellevue pleasure grounds) with Lord Shaftesbury. He also opened the Floral Hall.
He was the director of several businesses in Belfast, including Maguire and Patterson, a dry goods firm (Vespa matches), and the Classic Cinema at Castle Place, as well as owning McCullagh and Co., a silk mercers, milliners and fancy drapery store taken over by Styles and Mantles in 1927.
- Company Director and Business Man
- Lord Mayor of Belfast thrice, 1914-17, 1931-42 and 1943-46
- High Sheriff of Belfast, 1911
- MP for Belfast South, 1921-25
- Member of the NI Senate
- Privy Counsellor of NI
As the Right Honourable Sir Crawford McCullagh, 1st Baronet, he lived in some style at Lismara House (above), Carnmoney, near Belfast.
General Eisenhower has been said to have been Lismara'a most famous visitor in 1945.
Now known as Abbeydene, it is a guest-house.
Lismara House was built by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1850 for John Finlay, who was a flax merchant. The house is made from golden sandstone, and has a grand front entrance with a tall wooden door and several sandstone pillars.
From 1895 until 1915 Edward Robinson, of Robinson and Cleaver's department store, lived there. Lismara was renamed Abbeydene in 1948, when it became a nursing home; now a guest-house.
The 2nd Baronet, Sir Joseph Crawford McCullagh, died in 1974 when the title became extinct; by which time his widow Elizabeth, Lady McCullagh, lived at 104 Knock Road, Belfast.
First published in June, 2010.
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1 comments:
There are still some of Sir Crawford's family (the female line) around. Edward Robinson had a terrific art collection in his day, we have a painting which came from it.
W.
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