Cross of Dartan

THE CROSSES OWNED 1,090 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ARMAGH

This Lancashire family settled in Ulster at the time of the Plantation, 1611, in the parish of Tynan, County Armagh. From a tombstone in Tynan churchyard it appears that JAMES CROSS was buried there in 16_8 (the third figure is indecipherable and the church books for a lengthened period are not forthcoming).

Two of his sons, JOHN and WILLIAM, were amongst the defenders of Londonderry, who signed the address to WILLIAM & MARY on the relief of that city in 1689, when they returned to County Armagh, where the descendants of John fixed their abode.

William Cross died unmarried.

JOHN CROSS died in 1742, having had issue by his wife, Jane, five sons and three daughters.

The eldest son,

RICHARD CROSS, of Dartan, succeeded his father, and died in 1776, having had issue by his wife, Margaret, two sons and four daughters.

The second son and successor,

WILLIAM CROSS, of Dartan, married, in 1743, Mrs Mary Stratford, of Dartan (née Irwin), and had issue,

Richard, dsp;
William Irwin (1785-1809);
JOHN, of whom presently;
MAXWELL, succeeded his brother;
Mary.

William Cross, Deputy Governor of County Armagh, 1793, died in 1812, and was succeeded by his third son,

JOHN CROSS (1787-1850), of Dartan, an army officer who saw much service in the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Light Infantry during the Peninsular War.

He accompanied the expedition to Sweden in 1807, and proceeded thence to Portugal, 1808.

He took part in the battle of Corunna, the actions preceding it, and all the subsequent campaigns wit the 52nd regiment; Battle of Waterloo, and occupation of Paris; thrice wounded; received the War Medal with ten clasps, also the Waterloo Medal; subsequently commanded the 68th Light Infantry, from which regiment he retired in 1843.

Colonel Cross, Lieutenant-Governor commanding the forces in Jamaica, was a Member of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order.

He died in 1850, and was succeeded by his brother,

MAXWELL CROSS JP DL (1790-1863), of Dartan, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1847, who wedded Sarah, daughter of William Hardy JP, and was succeeded by his only son,

WILLIAM CROSS JP DL (1815-82), of Dartan, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1860, Captain and Adjutant, 68th Light Infantry, Colonel-Commandant, Armagh Light Infantry Militia, who espoused, in 1844, Frances Jane, only daughter of Major-General Pennell Cole, Royal Engineers, and had issue,

Maxwell (1845-69);
WILLIAM PENNELL, his heir;
SARAH JANE BEAUCHAMP, succeeded her brother.

The second son,

WILLIAM PENNELL CROSS JP LL.B (1849-1906), of Dartan, married, in 1883, Beatrice Lucinda, daughter of the Rev Dominick Augustus Browne, and dsp 1906, when he was succeeded by his only sister,

MRS SARAH JANE BEAUCHAMP COOKE-CROSS (-1911), who wedded, in 1887, ARTHUR CHARLES INNES, of Dromantine, who assumed  the additional surname and arms of CROSS, and had issue,

ARTHUR CHARLES WOLSELEY, of Dromantine (1888-1940);
Sydney Maxwell (1894-1914);
Marian Dorothea (d 1965).

MRS INNES-CROSS married secondly, in 1907, HERBERT MARTIN COOKE (eldest son the Mason Cooke, of Ely), who assumed, in 1908, the additional name and arms of CROSS.

DARTAN HALL, near Killylea, County Armagh, is situated 6 miles east of the city of Armagh.

The present house was built between 1850-60 by the Cross family.

The house comprises two storeys over a basement.

It remained inhabited by the Cross family until 1906, when it was leased to a son of the Very Rev Robert Shaw-Hamilton, Dean of Armagh.

The property subsequently passed to the Knox family, when it lay vacant for many years.

John Erskine acquired the property in 1987, since when it has been extensively restored.

Dartan has recently been sold.

First published in February, 2018.