Great Northern Hotel, Rostrevor

Carlingford Lough lies between the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland, and the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Republic of Ireland.

The famed Victorian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray wrote that

"Were such a bay lying upon English shores, it would be a world's wonder; or if on either the Mediterranean or the Baltic, English travellers would flock to it."

Rostrevor, County Down, a small sea-port, and a most beautiful seaside resort, stands at the south base of the Mourne Mountains, on the north shore of the upper part of Carlingford Lough, and on the road from Newry to Kilkeel.

The village is delightfully situated on a gentle acclivity, which rises from a little cove of Carlingford Lough, and commands thrilling views of the woods, mountains and waters of the Lough's basin.

Rostrevor is doubtless one of the most beautiful and picturesque places in Northern Ireland.

The village - or rather in the first instance, the castle - is said to have acquired its name in honour of the marriage of the heiress of Sir Marmaduke Whitechurch to Marcus, 1st Viscount Dungannon, the lady's own name being Rose, and her husband's family name being Trevor; and the castle was, at one time, the seat of the Viscounts Dungannon.

The land was acquired from the Magenises of Iveagh by the Trevors in the early 17th century and was sold to Robert Ross ca 1690.

In the 19th century, Rostrevor became a popular seaside resort.

Messrs Norton & Shaw, who operated a horse-and-carriage transport business from the nearby rail-head at Warrenpoint, commissioned a Newry architect, William James Watson, to design a new hotel on the site formerly occupied by the Old Quay Hotel.

The style was to be 'Domestic Gothic', with a 150 foot frontage to Carlingford Lough.

The centre block was to be one storey higher than the wings.

The foundation stone of the new hotel was laid on the 3rd April, 1875, and the building was completed by Alexander Wheelan of Newry almost exactly one year later, in April, 1876.

Skating Rink Entrance

It opened to the public three months later.

Originally named The Mourne Hotel, it was acquired and re-named by the Great Northern Railway Company.

The Warrenpoint & Rostrevor Tramway company operated a three-foot gauge horsedrawn tramway service between Warrenpoint and Rostrevor from 1877-1915.

There was also a skating-rink attached to the hotel which had been built by the 3rd Earl of Kilmorey.

The rink had a capacity of 2,000.

Skating Rink

During Christmas, 1903, a catastrophic fire broke out at the rink and the adjoining public bar, causing both buildings to be burned down.

Richard Graham informs me about the hotel's more recent history as a UTA (Ulster Transport Authority) hotel in the 50s and 60s:-

"The Great Northern, along with several other former railway hotels (mostly Victorian), such as the Slieve Donard (Newcastle); the Northern Counties (Portrush); the Laharna (Larne); the City Hotel (Londonderry) and the Midland in Belfast were grouped under the new management of the UTA when the original railway companies ceased to exist."

"Although successful commercially (the hotels catered for the tourist market as it was then) UTA had no vested interest in running hotels and put little investment into modernising them for a more demanding market."

"Eventually all the above named six hotels were sold to the Hastings Hotel Group in 1971 for the total price of £440,000 (equivalent to £6.3 million in 2019)!" 

"Billy Hastings was the only bidder with the nerve and ability to raise the cash in what was now one of the most troubled areas in Western Europe." 

"The City Hotel in Derry was the first to be destroyed in 1971, followed by what had now been renamed by Hastings as the Rostrevor Hotel in 1978."

"Hastings had no interest in rebuilding the fire bombed hotels, but held onto the Slieve Donard in Newcastle, even though it threatened to pull the whole group down in the mid 70s when the troubles were at their height." 

"Hastings later sold off the Northern Counties in Portrush (to the Fawcett family) and the Laharna in Larne between 1975 and 1980, ending the historic connection between the Great Northern and the other famous properties that had their origins with the railway expansion of Ireland in the 1880s onward." 

Here is the ignominious end to a once great railway hotel.

(Image: Richard Graham)

The hotel was firebombed and destroyed during the Northern Ireland troubles in 1978.

First published in July, 2016.

Earldom of Ulster

Arms of Richard of York
(Image: European Heraldry)

Shortly after the death of Strongbow in 1176, HENRY II granted "Ulidia," the present counties of Antrim and Down, and afterwards called among the Anglo-Irish "Ulster," to

De Courcy arms

SIR JOHN DE COURCY (1150-1219),

Who having distinguished himself during the reign of HENRY II, in that monarch's wars in England and Gascony, was sent into Ireland, in 1177, as an assistant to William FitzAldelm, in the government of that kingdom. 

Sir John having prevailed upon some of the veteran soldiery to accompany him, invaded the province of Ulster with twenty-two knights, fifty esquires, and about three hundred foot soldiers; and after many hard-fought battles, succeeded in attaching that quarter of the kingdom to the crown. 

For which important service Sir John was created, in 1181 (being the first Englishman dignified with an Irish title of honour), EARL OF ULSTER.

His lordship remained in high favour during the remainder of the reign of his royal master, and performed prodigies of valour in Ireland; but upon the accession of KING JOHN, his splendour and rank having excited the envy of Hugh de Lacy, appointed Governor of Ireland by that monarch, Lord Ulster was treacherously seized while performing penance, unarmed and barefooted, in the churchyard of Downpatrick, on Good Friday, 1203, and sent over to England, where the King condemned him to perpetual imprisonment in the Tower, and granted to de Lacy all of Lord Ulster’s possessions in Ireland.

After the Earl of Ulster had been in confinement for about a year, a dispute happening to arise between KING JOHN and PHILIP II of FRANCE concerning the Duchy of Normandy, the decision of which being referred to single combat, KING JOHN, more hasty than advised, appointed the day, against which the King of France provided his champion; but the King of England, less fortunate, could find no one of his subjects willing to take up the gauntlet, until his captive in the Tower, the gallant Earl of Ulster, was prevailed upon to accept the challenge.

But when everything was prepared for the contest, and the champions had entered the lists, in presence of the monarchs of England, France, and Spain, the opponent of Lord Ulster, seized with a sudden panic, put spurs to his horse, and fled the arena; whereupon the victory was adjudged with acclamation to the champion of England.

The French king being informed, however, of Lord Ulster’s powerful strength, and wishing to witness some exhibition of it, Lord Ulster, at the desire of KING JOHN, cleft a massive helmet in two at a single blow.

The King was so well satisfied at this signal performance, that he not only restored Lord Ulster to his estates and effects, but desired him to ask anything within his gift and it should be granted.

To which Ulster replied, that having estates and titles enough, he desired that his successors might have the privilege to remain covered in the presence of His Majesty, and all future Kings of England; which request was immediately conceded.

He married Affreca, daughter of Godred Olafsson, King of Man and the Isles, and by Scandinavian and Irish help managed to maintain his possessions of Ulidia against all the power of the viceroy Hugh de Lacy, whom he defeated in a battle at Down in 1204; however, in May, 1205, KING JOHN bestowed the Earldom on

HUGH DE LACY (c1176-1242), who, according to Matthew Paris, a most famous soldier, obtained the earldom of Ulster from KING JOHN, by betraying and delivering into that monarch's power the celebrated John de Courcy, Earl of Ulster.

De Lacy arms

He subsequently, however, incurred the displeasure of the King, and was himself driven out of Ireland.

His wife was Emmeline, daughter and heir of Walter de Riddlesford, by whom he left at his decease an only daughter and heir, MAUD DE LACY, who wedded

WALTER DE BURGH (c1230-71), Lord of Connaught, and, became in consequence EARL OF ULSTER (second creation), in her right at her father's decease in 1242, and in his own right in 1264.

The issue of this marriage consisted of four sons, namely,

RICHARD, his successor;

Theobald, died at Carrickfergus;

William;

Thomas.

The eldest son,

RICHARD DE BURGH, 2nd Earl (1259-1326),

Usually called the Red Earl, the most powerful subject in Ireland, and general of all the Irish forces in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Gascony, was a great soldier and statesman. He founded the Carmelite monastery at Loughrea, built the castles of Ballymote, Corran, and Sligo, and eventually retired to the monastery of Athassel, where he died in 1326.

This nobleman married Margaret, daughter of John de Burgh.

De Burgh arms

The second son of the marriage,

JOHN DE BURGH, wedded Elizabeth, third daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, and died in 1313, having had one son,

WILLIAM DE BURGH, 3rd Earl (1312-33), who succeeded his grandfather in 1326, was knighted at London, 1328, and sat in the parliament in Dublin the following year. 

He was murdered on the 6th June, 1333, by Robert FitzRichard de Mandeville and his servants, near Shankill church, outside Belfast, in going to Carrickfergus. His wife and only daughter retired to England; and so barbarous an affair causing a prodigious outcry, the Lord Justice called a parliament, by whose advice he sailed to Carrickfergus; but, before his arrival, the country people had destroyed the murderers, with their abettors, killing, in one day, three hundred.

The wife of this nobleman was Maud, third daughter of Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, grandson of HENRY III; and the only issue of this illustrious alliance,

THE LADY ELIZABETH DE BURGH (1332-63), de jure COUNTESS OF ULSTER, espoused, in 1352,

LIONEL, of Antwerp, KG, third son of EDWARD III, who became, in consequence, 4th Earl of Ulster, Lord of Connaught; and created, in 1362, DUKE OF CLARENCE.

This prince went over to Ireland, and was appointed Lord Lieutenant thereof in 1361.

By the great heiress of De Burgh he left, at his decease, one daughter,

PHILIPPA (1355-82), who was given in marriage, at the age of thirteen, by her grandfather, EDWARD III, to

EDMUND MORTIMER, 3rd Earl of March, and, in consequence of his marriage, 5th EARL OF ULSTER.

The issue of this marriage,

ROGER;

Edmund;

Elizabeth; Philippa.

The 5th Earl's elder son,

ROGER DE MORTIMER, 6th Earl of Ulster (1374-98), wedded Allianore, eldest daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, and had issue,

EDMUND, his successor;

Roger;

Anne; Eleanor.

The elder son,

EDMUND, 7th Earl (1391-1425), and 5th Earl of March, died without issue, and the heir to his estates was the son of his sister, the Lady Anne and the Earl of Cambridge,

RICHARD, 3RD DUKE OF YORK (1411-60), as 8th Earl of Ulster, who wedded Cecily Neville.

The eldest surviving son of this marriage,

EDWARD (1442-83), 4TH DUKE OF YORK, 9th Earl of Ulster, ascended the throne as EDWARD IV, when the Earldom of Ulster merged with the crown.

Wodehouse Gems: III

BERTIE AND THE RT HON A B FILMER

Aunt Agatha to Bertie: "I want to have a word with you before you meet Mr Filmer."

"Who?"

"Mr Filmer, the Cabinet Minister. He is staying in the house. Surely even you must have heard of Mr Filmer?"

"Oh, rather," I said, though as a matter of fact the bird was completely unknown to me.

This man Filmer, you must understand, was not one of those men who are lightly kept from the tea-table. 

A hearty trencherman, and particularly fond of his five o'clock couple of cups and bite of muffin, he had until this afternoon always been well up among the leaders in the race for the food-trough. 

If one thing was certain, it was that only the machinations of some enemy could be keeping him from being in the drawing-room now, complete with nose-bag.

First published in March, 2012.

1st Earl of Kenmare

THE EARLS OF KENMARE WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY KERRY, WITH 91,080 ACRES 

The noble family of BROWNE was seated at Totteridge, Hertfordshire, in the reign of HENRY VIII, and at Crofts, Lincolnshire, in that of ELIZABETH I. Sir John Browne, Knight, of Crofts, entered his pedigree at the Heralds' Visitation of Lincolnshire, 1634. Since the establishment of the family in Ireland, it held a very distinguished position in the public transactions of that country.

SIR VALENTINE BROWNE, Knight, of Totteridge, Hertfordshire, Crofts, Lincolnshire, Hoxton, Middlesex, and Ross Castle, County Kerry (son of Sir Valentine Browne, Knight, of Totteridge and Hoxton, Constable-Warden, Victualler, and Treasurer of Berwick; Auditor-General of Ireland in the reign of ELIZABETH I; died 1567), received in 1583, instructions, jointly with Sir Henry Wallop, for the survey of several escheated lands in Ireland.

He was subsequently sworn of the Privy Council, and represented County Sligo in parliament in 1585. In the same year, Sir Valentine purchased from Donald, Earl of Clancare, all the lands, manors, etc in counties Kerry and Cork, which had been in the possession of Teige Dermot MacCormac and Rorie Donoghoemore.

Sir Valentine married firstly, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Alexander, of London, and had issue, a son,

VALENTINE, of Crofts.

He wedded secondly, Thomasine, sister of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Nicholas Bacon, and had further issue,

SIR NICHOLAS, who succeeded his father in the Irish estates;

Valentine;

Thomas;

Elizabeth; Anne.

Sir Valentine died in 1588-89, and was buried at St Catherine's Church, Dublin; his eldest son by his second wife,

SIR NICHOLAS BROWNE, Knight, of Molahiffe, County Kerry, being co-patentee with his father of the Kerry estates, wedded Sichely Sheela, or Julia, daughter of O'Sullivan Beare, and had issue,

VALENTINE, his heir;
Anne.

Sir Nicholas died in 1606, and was succeeded by his son,

VALENTINE BROWNE, of Molahiffe, High Sheriff of County Kerry, 1623, who was created a baronet in 1622, designated of Molahiffe, County Kerry.

Sir Valentine, after his father's decease, presented a petition to JAMES I, praying an abatement of the yearly rent reserved on the estate which he held from the Crown, as an undertaker, at the annual sum of £113 6s 8d, in regard of the small profit he made of it, being set out in the most barren and remote part of County Kerry; which request was complied with; 

And he received a confirmation, by patent, of all his lands at a reduced rent, the grant from the Crown including "the Lakes of Killarney, with all the Islands of or in the same, and the fisheries of the said Lakes, and the soil and bottom thereof."

He married firstly, the Lady Alice FitzGerald, fifth daughter of Gerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, and had issue,

VALENTINE, his successor.

Sir Valentine espoused secondly, Julia, daughter of Charles, 1st Viscount Muskerry, and had further issue,

Thomas, of hospital.

Sir Valentine died in 1633, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR VALENTINE BROWNE, 2nd Baronet, who wedded, ante 1638, Mary, second daughter of Charles, 1st Viscount Muskerry (sister of his father's second wife), and had, with two daughters, 

VALENTINE, his successor;

John, of Ardagh.

Sir Valentine died in 1640, and was succeeded by his elder son,

SIR VALENTINE BROWNE, 3rd Baronet (1638-94), of Ross Castle, sworn of the Privy Council of JAMES II, and created by that monarch, subsequently to his abdication, in 1689, Baron Castlerosse and Viscount Kenmare.

His lordship, who was Colonel of Infantry in the army of JAMES II, forfeited his estates by his inviolable fidelity to that unfortunate monarch.

He wedded Jane, only daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas Plunkett, of Balrath, County Meath, and had five sons and four daughters.

The 1st Viscount was succeeded by his eldest son,

NICHOLAS, 2nd Viscount, of Ross Castle, an officer of rank in the service of JAMES II, and attainted in consequence, who espoused, in 1664, Helen, eldest daughter and co-heir of Thomas Browne, of Hospital, by whom he obtained a very considerable fortune, but which, with his own estates, became forfeited for his life.

The crown, however, allowed his lady a rent-charge of £400 per year for the maintenance of herself and her children.

Sir Nicholas died in 1720, leaving four daughters and his son and successor,

VALENTINE, 3rd Viscount (1695-1736), of Kenmare House, who recovered possession of the family estates forfeited for the life of his father.

He married, in 1720, Honoria, second daughter of Colonel Thomas Butler, and great-grandniece of James, Duke of Ormonde, by whom he had issue, Thomas, his successor, and two daughters.

Sir Valentine espoused secondly, in 1735, Mary, Dowager Countess of Fingall, by whom he left a posthumous daughter, Mary Frances.

He was succeeded by his only son,

THOMAS, 4th Viscount (1726-95), of Kenmare House, who wedded, in 1750, Anne, only daughter of Thomas Cooke, of Painstown, County Carlow, by whom he had a son and a daughter, Catherine, married to Count de Durfort-Civrac.

He was succeeded by his son,

VALENTINE, 5th Viscount (1754-1812), of Kenmare House, who was created (the viscountcy of JAMES II never having been acknowledged in law), in 1798, Baron Castlerosse and Viscount Kenmare.

His lordship was further advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1801, as EARL OF KENMARE.

He married firstly, in 1777, Charlotte, daughter of Henry, 11th Viscount Dillon, and had an only daughter, Charlotte.

His lordship wedded secondly, in 1785, Mary, eldest daughter of Michael Aylmer, of Lyons, County Kildare, and had issue,

VALENTINE, his successor;
Thomas;
William;
Michael;
Marianne; Frances.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

VALENTINE, 2nd Earl (1788-1853), PC, of Kenmare House, who espoused, in 1816, Augusta, daughter of Sir Robert Wilmot, 2nd Baronet, though the marriage was without issue, when the family honours devolved upon his brother,

THOMAS, 3rd Earl (1789-1871), of Kenmare House, who married, in 1822, Catherine, daughter of Edmond O'Callaghan, and had issue,

VALENTINE AUGUSTUS, his successor;
Ellen Maria; Mary Caroline.

His lordship was succeeded by his son,

VALENTINE AUGUSTUS, 4th Earl (1825-1905), KP PC JP, of Killarney House, High Sheriff of County Kerry, 1851, Knight of St Patrick, 1872, who wedded, in 1858, Gertrude Harriet, daughter of the Rev Lord Charles Thynne, and had issue,

VALENTINE CHARLES, his successor;
Cecil Augustine;
Margaret Theodora May Catherine.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

VALENTINE CHARLES, 5th Earl (1860-1941), CVO, of Killarney House, last Lord-Lieutenant of County Kerry, 1905-22, who espoused, in 1887, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Charles Baring, and had issue,

VALENTINE EDWARD CHARLES, his successor;
Maurice Henry Dermot (1894-1915);
GERALD RALPH DESMOND, 7th Earl;
DOROTHY MARGARET; Cecilia Kathleen.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

VALENTINE EDWARD CHARLES, 6th Earl (1891-1943), of Kenmare House, Captain, Irish Guards, who married firstly, in 1928, Doris, daughter of Edward Delevinge; and secondly, in 1943, Enid Maude (3, Lees Place, W1), widow of Roderick Cameron.

His lordship dsp 1943, and was succeeded by his brother,

GERALD RALPH DESMOND, 7th Earl (1896-1952), OBE, of Kenmare House, Major, 1st Dragoons, served in 1st World War, 1916-18, ADC to His Excellency the Governor-General of Ireland, 1921, who died unmarried, when the titles expired.

The Kenmare Estate subsequently passed to the 7th Earl's sister, 

THE HON DOROTHY MARGARET BROWNE (1888-1961), one of Her Majesty's train bearers at the coronation of GEORGE V, 1911, who married firstly, in 1914, Lord Edward Arthur Grosvenor, youngest son of Hugh, 1st Duke of Westminster, KG, and had issue,

Beatrice Elizabeth Katherine; Rosemary Helen.

The elder daughter,

BEATRICE ELIZABETH KATHERINE GROSVENOR CBE (1915-85), of Kenmare House, Killarney, County Kerry, wedded, in 1944, Major Richard Desiré Girouard; the marriage was without issue.

Her sister,

ROSEMARY HELEN GROSVENOR (1918-69), married, in 1945, Major the Hon George William ffolkes Dawney MC, and had issue,

Valentine George;

EDWARD WILLIAM;

Elizabeth Rose; Mary Isabel Dorothy.

Following Beatrice Grosvenor's death, the remnants of the Kenmare Estate passed to her nephew, Edward William Dawney (who is married to Lady Jane Meriel Grosvenor, daughter of 5th Duke of Westminster).

The original Kenmare House (above) was built in 1726, after the estates were recovered by Sir Valentine Browne, 5th Baronet and 3rd Viscount Kenmare in the Jacobite peerage.

It was a grandiose structure with the characteristics of a French château, perhaps influenced by the Brownes' time spent exiled in France with JAMES II.

Lord Kenmare designed the house himself: It was two storeys in  height, and had dormered attics and steep, slated roofs.

There were thirteen bays in front of the house, with three bays on each side of the centre breaking forward. 

A servant’s wing was added around 1775.

In 1861 Valentine, Lord Castlerosse, played host to Queen Victoria at Killarney.

During the visit of the Queen to Kenmare House, Her Majesty chose the site of Killarney House, a vast Victorian-Tudor mansion, which was the successor to Kenmare House.

The 4th Earl of Kenmare built the new mansion in 1872 (above), on a hillside several hundred yards away from its predecessor, with spectacular views of Lough Leane.

The Victorian Elizabethan-Revival mansion was erected on a more elevated site, at a cost exceeding £100,000.

Its predecessor, Kenmare House, was demolished; the stable block beside it, however, remained.

Killarney House was supposed to have been instigated by Lady Kenmare (Gertrude Thynne, granddaughter of Thomas, 2nd Marquess of Bath, and inspired by Lord Bath's genuinely Elizabethan seat, Longleat in Wiltshire (which is not red-brick).

It was not unusual for the descendants of Elizabethan or Jacobean settlers in Ireland to assert their comparative antiquity in this period by building "Jacobethan" houses.

The house, which in addition to its other defects apparently did not sit happily in the landscape as it had many gables and oriels.

The interior was panelled and hung with Spanish leather.

It was considered to be one of the finest mansions in Ireland.

Killarney House was burnt twice: once, in 1879, just after its completion; and again, finally, in November, 1913.

It was never rebuilt.

The stable block, originally beside Kenmare House, however, was converted for family use as their new residence.

Killarney House and the Browne estate in Kerry were donated by Mrs Grosvenor (niece of 7th Earl) to form Killarney National Park.

The Victorian mansion was demolished in 1872 by the 4th Earl; and its successor was accidentally destroyed by fire in 1913 and never rebuilt; instead, the stable block was converted into the present Kenmare House.

In 1866, King Leopold II of Belgium visited the Kenmares at Killarney.

Sir Edwin Lutyens (the architect for Lady Kenmare's brother, the 3rd Baron Revelstoke, at Lambay Castle on Lambay Island, County Dublin, advised Lord Kenmare to build the new Kenmare House.

This Kenmare House was later abandoned and sold, when a new Kenmare House was built.

This new manor was confusingly constructed on the site of the former Killarney House by Mrs Beatrice Grosvenor, CBE, in 1956.

Less than twenty years later, in 1974, the house was replaced.

This last Kenmare House was built on the Killorglin Road, beside the Killarney golf course and the Castlerosse Hotel.

The sale of Kenmare House in 1985 to Denis P Kelleher effectively marked the end of the Kenmare family's proprietary connection with Killarney, after 450 years.

Town residence ~ 54, Eaton Place, Belgrave Square.

First published in August, 2011. 

Herdman of Sion House

THE HERDMANS OWNED 210 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE

The first of the family to arrive in Ulster, 1688, was Captain Herdman, of Herdmanston, Ayrshire, who fought with WILLIAM III at the battle of the Boyne, and subsequently settled at Glenavy, County Antrim.

The immediate antecedents of the three Herdman brothers had owned Millfield Tannery, Belfast, which the eldest brother, James, inherited from his father.  His brother John went into  partnership with the Mulhollands in 1833, after turning round their business into profit in the Winetavern Street Flax-spinning mill in Belfast.

The Herdman brothers (James, John and George), in partnership with Andrew and Sinclair Mulholland and Robert Lyons, decided to purchase an unfinished flax-spinning mill in County Tyrone, from the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. However, they couldn’t get the land they needed on a long enough lease. Their choice fell on Sion (or Seein, meaning a Fairy Mound), near Strabane,  adjacent to the River Mourne.

JAMES HERDMAN (1809-1901), of Bath, Somerset, and Strabane, County Tyrone, a grand-nephew of Sir James Emerson-Tennent Bt, married, in 1840, Elizabeth, daughter of William Suffern, of Belfast, and was father of

EMERSON TENNENT HERDMAN JP DL (1842-1918), of Sion House, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1890, who wedded, in 1864, Frances Alice, daughter of Dr Francis John West, of Omagh, and had issue,

JOHN CLAUDIUS, of whom we treat;
Adelia Maud; Elizabeth Alice; Frances Evelyn;
Olive Mary, of the Red House, Strabane; m her 1st cousin, Sir Emerson Herdman KBE.

Sir Emerson Herdman, KBE, was the last Lord-Lieutenant of County Donegal, from 1920-22.

Mr Emerson Tennent Herdman's eldest son,

JOHN CLAUDIUS HERDMAN OBE DL (1876-1964), of Sion House, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1912, Captain, 4th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, wedded, in 1901, Maud Harriet, MBE JP, daughter of Major-General Alexander Clark-Kennedy, of Camus, Strabane, and had issue,

EMERSON TENNENT REX, OBE, High Sheriff of Co Tyrone, 1943;
CLAUDIUS ALEXANDER, of whom hereafter.

Captain Herdman's second son,

CLAUDIUS ALEXANDER HERDMAN (1903-93), of Sion Mills, Commander RN, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1959, wedded Maud Harriet, daughter of Major-General Alexander Clark-Kennedy, and had issue,

CELIA MARY HERDMAN, born in 1943, who married, in 1968, Brigadier John Gordon Goddard de Poulton Ferguson, and has issue,

CLARE JOANNA DE POULTON FERGUSON, born in 1968.

SION HOUSE, Sion Mills, County Tyrone, is an Elizabethan-Revival mansion of ca 1842, built by James Herdman.

The present house replaced a simpler dwelling.

It was re-designed in half-timbered style about 1883 by Emerson Tennent Herdman.

rebuilt in 1883 in half-timbered style, by Emerson T Herdman.

His brother-in-law, William Unsworth, of Petersfield, Hampshire, was the architect.

Sion House was sold in 1966.

The gate-house, also Elizabethan-Revival in character, is virtually a replica of Stokesay Castle's gate-house in Shropshire.

First published in April, 2014.

By Jeeves, what a Find!

PATRICK KIDD, DIARY EDITOR OF THE TIMES NEWSPAPER, WRITES ABOUT SIR P G WODEHOUSE KBE

Asked late in life for the secret to being a writer, PG Wodehouse flippantly said: “I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit.”

Sixty years earlier, however, the young Wodehouse needed more constructive advice.

The response that led him into a career as creator of Bertie Wooster, Jeeves and a menagerie of other characters can be revealed after the discovery of a letter he wrote at the age of 16.

“How can one become a journalist?” asked “Mr Wodehouse, of Dulwich” in a letter to Chums, a boys’ weekly newspaper, published on May 18, 1898.

It received a lengthy reply from the editor that began, slightly pompously, “only if Providence has willed it” before giving more helpful tips.

The reply to Wodehouse in Chums magazine on May 18, 1898.

“The first requisite is not only that a man shall be able to write about the things he sees and hears, but that he shall be able to write about them in such a way that other people will be interested in his work,” the editor continued.

“If he have this gift, the rest is easy."

“If a man can write, editors will soon discover the fact and wish to employ him. It is the man who cannot write who is the nuisance to them."

"He deluges them and the waste-paper basket with his hopeless productions.”

The editor suggested that Wodehouse study the columns of “some journal that he likes” and attempt his own pieces.

“[They] should be brief; they should be bright; and they should deal with some subject a little out of the common,” he concluded.

Assuming that this is the Wodehouse, who was a student at Dulwich College at the time, the advice worked.

He soon started to write for The Alleynian, the college magazine, and his first bylined piece, a poem entitled On the New Football Ground, was published in 1899.

It had long been thought that this poem was the first time that Wodehouse’s name appeared beneath his own writing in print, but it is claimed in the latest Wooster Sauce, journal of the British PG Wodehouse Society, that the letter to Chums should be considered his debut.

Indeed, Don Taylor, whose research is reported in the journal, suggests that his debut may even have come a year earlier, with a piece of literary criticism about a short story in Chums.

“A letter reaches me from Mr Wodehouse,” the Chums editor wrote on March 17, 1897.

"I think that Rogues of the Fiery Cross is the best story I have ever read. It knocks spots off In Quest of Sheba’s Treasure, which I didn’t think was quite up to Chums’ usual standard’.”

It went on to ask advice on how to lose weight and whether 11.30pm was a “harmful” bedtime.

The editor replied that a couple of late nights a week were fine for “any lad under 21” as long as he was in bed by 10.30 on the other five.

“Until recently we believed that Mr Wodehouse’s first published words appeared in The Alleynian but now it seems that he may have started a year or two earlier,” Mr Taylor wrote in Wooster Sauce.

Of the letter in 1897, which did not include an address, he wrote: “We can’t be certain that this is PG Wodehouse but the date is plausible.”

He suggested that the careers advice letter was more certain.

“The mention of Dulwich is pretty conclusive.”

A decline in the family finances meant that Wodehouse was unable to go to Oxford when he left Dulwich in 1900.

He started work as a clerk at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, where he filled the ledgers with scribbled thoughts and plotted his escape.

He resigned in 1902 to take a job on the By The Way column of The Globe newspaper and published The Pothunters, the first of more than 90 novels and collections of short stories.

In 1938 it was reported that he was the most highly paid author in the world.

Chums was first published in 1892 with stories on such topics as football, Harrow School and Julius Caesar.

The last edition was published in 1941.

Wodehouse wrote a serial for the newspaper in 1908 called The Luck Stone under the pseudonym Basil Windham.

In 1933, the paper listed him at No 4 in Chums Gallery of Famous Men and asked for an interview.

Wodehouse suggested they speak instead to his daughter, Leonora, saying: “She knows more about me than I know myself.”

Neither Leonora, who told the paper that he was first published in The Alleynian, nor the Chums editor of the time seemed aware that the paper had given his career a vital spark 35 years earlier.

Ballynahinch Castle

RICHARD BERRIDGE WAS THE GREATEST VICTORIAN LANDOWNER IN IRELAND, WITH 160,152 ACRES

RICHARD MARTIN MP (1754-1834) owned much of Connemara, so much so that he boasted to GEORGE IV that he had "an approach from my gatehouse to my hall of thirty miles' length".

He was nicknamed "Humanity Dick" due to his beneficence towards the RSPCA.

Colonel Martin was born in 1754, the son of Robert Martin FitzAnthony, a member of an old tribal family of Connemara.

His mother died when Richard was only nine years old and his father soon remarried to Mary Lynch, who later gave Richard two brothers.

The families' combined wealth allowed Richard to receive an excellent Anglican education.

He attended Harrow and Cambridge while studying law, and afterwards started a most extensive 'Gentleman's Tour' to round out his knowledge.

With his cousin, James Jordan, Richard travelled all over Europe.

They eventually left Bordeaux bound for Jamaica, and later ended up in New England for the start of the American War of Independence.

The two young men promptly returned home, and by the end of the 1770s, Richard's education and his family's influence combined to make him an MP; a Colonel in the Galway Volunteers; and gained him a wife, Elizabeth Vesey.

His duties kept him away from home quite a bit, but the couple had several children, one of whom is rumoured to be the child of a liaison between Elizabeth and the tutor hired to educate Richard's sons, Theobald Wolfe Tone.

It was during this period that he began to acquire a reputation and nickname relating to his many duels, as "Trigger Dick", a nickname which was also held by his uncle.

In 1783, he duelled with "Fighting" Fitzgerald, a Mayo Landlord, over the man's shooting of a friend's dog.

He also apparently made friends with the Prince of Wales, later GEORGE IV, as the two men shared many ideals and both were seen in Parliament quite often.

Richard's wife Elizabeth continued to show her knack for indiscretion, and the two divorced in 1794 after a scandal over her affair with a Mr Petrie of Paris. Dick Martin remarried in 1797, and had several more children.

By the early 1800s, Martin's estate was vast and the biggest in Ireland, encompassing over 200,000 acres.

His wealth and friendship with the Prince of Wales continued to increase his influence in Parliament and elsewhere.

Dick was persuaded to vote for the Act of Union in 1800, something he soon bitterly regretted, and was responsible for excising the death penalty for forgery.

In 1809, Lord Erskine presented a bill in Parliament to prevent cruelty to such animals as horses, pigs, oxen, and sheep.

The bill failed, however and, later in 1822, Richard was responsible for the passing of the Martin Act, which applied to large domestic animals.

It is at this time that Dick acquired the nickname of "Humanity".

His friend, the Prince of Wales, later GEORGE IV,  gave him the nickname.

Two years later, Richard created the first animal welfare society - the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, with other like-minded people.

Richard Martin remained a Member of Parliament until his election to Westminster in 1826 was invalidated.

The scandal and his ensuing debt forced Richard to flee to Boulogne in France.

He died peacefully on the January 6th, 1834.

The great family estate, which he helped to create, was lost during the Great Potato famine within 20 years.

Richard Martin's life is largely marked by his efforts to attain human and animal rights.

He supported Catholic Emancipation, and is generally considered the founder of the RSPCA.

It is rather ironic, that his families' great wealth, some of which came out of human injustice, was later lost during the Irish Famine.

His estates were heavily mortgaged and, as a consequence of this, his granddaughter and heiress, Mary Martin, was ruined after the Irish famine.

Ballynahinch was disposed of by the Encumbered Estates Court. Mary Martin and her husband emigrated to the USA, where she died shortly afterwards during childbirth.

Ballynahinch Estate was bought by Richard Berridge, whose son sold it in 1925; thereafter it was acquired by a celebrated cricketer, "Ranji".

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

The seat of Richard Berridge was Ballynahinch Castle, County Galway, Ireland, which became the residence of his son, Richard, who was a justice of the peace for the county and, in 1894, High Sheriff.

Richard Berridge the elder lived for over twenty years in Bloomsbury, first at 36 Bloomsbury Square, then, from about 1856 to 1877, at 18 Great Russell Street. Prior to this he had resided in Rochester, Kent, and he acquired property in that county as well as in Middlesex.

A return of landowners in 1873 describes his holdings in Middlesex as over 300 acres with a gross estimated rental of £577, and a smaller amount in Kent, 79 acres worth £184.15s. He also had mining interests and property in other counties.

Berridge entered into partnership with Sir Henry Meux of the Horse Shoe Brewery, Tottenham Court Road. He retired in July 1878 on the establishment of the new firm of Meux and Company.

In the late 1870s Berridge left Bloomsbury for an address in Putney, Surrey, and, after a few years, went to live in Bridgewater, Somerset. He died on 20 September 1887 leaving five daughters and one son, Richard, born in 1870.

The estate was administered by trustees until Richard Berridge the younger came of age. In his will, Berridge bequeathed a charity legacy of £200,000 to be applied for the advancement and propagation of education in economic and sanitary sciences in Great Britain.

The legacy was administered by his trustees, who donated large sums to the Worshipful Company of Plumbers and the British Institute of Preventive Medicine, and smaller amounts to other institutions and societies, such as the Sanitary Inspectors' Association and Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses.

Berridge's name was legally changed to Richard Berridge when he adopted his mother's surname in lieu of his father's surname. He was born with the name of Richard MacCarthy.

Richard Berridge, a London brewer, from the Law Life Assurance Society, also acquired Clifden estate (as well as Ballynahinch Castle).

In the mid 1870s, Berridge is recorded as owning over 160,152 acres, making him by far the largest landowner in County Galway.

The Berridge family retained a house in the locality and some fishing at Screebe until the late 20th century.

A grandson of Richard Berridge married an Orme of Owenmore, Crossmolina, County Mayo; and a great-grandson currently produces well known Irish cheeses on his farm, Carrigbyrne, in County Wexford.

BALLYNAHINCH CASTLE, Connemara, County Galway, is a long mansion with an abundance of windows, built in the late 18th century by Richard Martin MP.

Both the entrance front and the garden front (eight bays) have battlements and other distinguishing features.

Inside, the main rooms have particularly thick mahogany doors; the drawing-room, a chimney-piece of Connemara marble.

First published in April, 2011.

Lord O'Neill & Agent 007

SHANE'S CASTLE, COUNTY ANTRIM, IS THE SEAT OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE RAYMOND ARTHUR CLANABOY BARON O'NEILL KVCO TD

Lord O'Neill is related to the James Bond creator, Ian Fleming; hence, 007 has an Ulster connection, in a sense.

Raymond O'Neill's late mother, Anne, married Ian Fleming in 1952 (Lady O'Neill's third marriage), so Lord O'Neill became Ian Fleming's stepson.

Fleming lived at Goldeneye, his estate in Jamaica during the latter part of his life and, as a boy, Lord O'Neill visited the island.

O'Neill arms courtesy of European Heraldry. First published in July, 2009.

Ram's Island

Ram's Island is on the eastern side of Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Isles.

It lies across the entrance of Sandy Bay, the place where we departed on the 7th July, 2018, for our trip to the tiny island.

In fact Ram's Island used to be considerably tinier, because the water level of the lough has been lowered by about eight feet since 1847.

Prior to 1847, the island extended to a mere six acres; whereas today it comprises over forty acres, a cause of some debate between the owner of the island and the owner of the lake-bed.

Ram's Island ca 1830 (historic OS map)

This little islet was greatly beautified in the 18th century by a previous owner, James Whittle, who planted a profusion of shrubs and trees, laid out an orchard and a garden, and maintained it all most assiduously.

The short journey from Sandy Bay to the island takes less than ten minutes.

We embarked on the good boat Island Warrior and motored across the stretch of water (which occasionally froze over in the past) to a large jetty, where we all disembarked.

There is an old barge adjacent to the jetty, used as a kind of visitor centre for catering and so on.

Refreshed with a good beaker of tea and a bun, we were given a tour by our guide, Michael Savage, who showed us the ancient round tower and the ruins of Lord O'Neill's former cottage.

I should mention that the stump of the tower, about forty-three feet in height, thirty feet in circumference, stands among tall trees.

Its walls are almost three feet in thickness.

This charming islet is a haven today for doves, ducks, blackbirds, finches, even a few hens!

It had a herd of goats until twenty or thirty years ago.

Ram's Island had a monastery in the 11th century, which was seemingly destroyed or plundered by a local tribe in 1121.

Una Brankin wrote an interesting article in 2013 about life on Ram's Island and its resident caretakers.

Lord O'Neill's Cottage  (Image: Timothy Ferres, 2018)

Charles, 1st Earl O'Neill, purchased the island in 1804 for £1,000 (about £84,000 in 2024) and erected a singularly pretty and tasteful cottage.

The 1st (and last) Earl never married. He spent a great deal of time on Lough Neagh, and in a number of cottages which he built at various points in and around the lough. He kept several yachts, including one of the very first steam-powered vessels.

Lord O'Neill adopted it as his occasional residence, and converted the island into a most luxurious demesne.

The entire ground was laid out into walks, and covered with lush green flora.

Several hundred rose trees, exquisite plants and flowers all thrived luxuriantly.

Even those sides of the island which were almost perpendicular were adorned with all those creeping plants and hardy shrubs which were suitable for the location.

The 1st and last Earl also built a resident caretaker's residence.

Lord O'Neill's cottage stands almost directly below the round tower, the remains of which still dominate its roofless shell today.

It was maliciously burnt to the ground in 1944, some seven years after the last caretaker had left the island.

The O'Neill coat-of-arms proudly adorned the front of the cottage overlooking the lough, between two gothic windows, though I examined the walls myself and absolutely nothing remains today to indicate its existence.

There is still some plasterwork inside, though scorch-marks betray the ferocious fire which engulfed the cottage over seven decades ago.

Pebble-dashing (Image: Timothy Ferres, 2018)

It was pebble-dashed, with a very wide, overhanging thatched roof.

This history aroused my interest to the extent that I wrote a bit about the cottage some years ago.

In 2005, Lord O'Neill signed a thirty-year lease with the River Bann and Lough Neagh Association for the custodianship of the island.

During our tour I asked Michael if the O'Neills still had photographs of their times on the island, though he explained that in 1922 the Victorian Shane's Castle had been maliciously burnt, thus destroying all mementoes and Victorian photographs.

Lord O'Neill remarked that their first priority, naturally, had been to save valuable works of art, furniture and so on, and the likes of photographs perished.

So if any readers possess old images of Ram's Island in their attics or lofts, send them to me, please, for publication on the blog.

Our island trip concluded at about three-thirty in the afternoon, and we left a dozen or so campers outside their tents nestling in the woods.

First published in July, 2018.

Gussie's Veggie Diet

JEEVES:  'I regret to inform you, sir, that Miss Bassett has insisted on Mr Fink-Nottle adopting a vegetarian diet. His mood is understandably disgruntled and rebellious.'

I tottered. In my darkest hour I had never anticipated anything as bad as this.

You wouldn't think it to look at him, because he's small and shrimplike and never puts on weight, but Gussie loves food.

Watching him tucking into his rations at the Drones [club], a tapeworm would raise its hat respectfully, knowing that it was in the presence of a master.

Cut him off, therefore, from the roasts and boileds and particularly from cold steak and kidney pie, a dish of which he is inordinately fond, and you turned him into something fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils, as the fellow said - the sort of chap who would break any engagement as soon as look at you.

At the moment of my entry I had been about to light a cigarette, and now the lighter fell from my nerveless hand.

 BERTIE:  'She's made him become a vegetarian?'

'So Mr Fink-Nottle informed me, sir.'

'No chops?'

'No, sir.'

'No steaks?'

'No, sir.'

'Just spinach and similar garbage?'

'So I gather, sir.'

Luttrellstown Castle

THE BARONS ANNALY WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY DUBLIN, WITH 3,954 ACRES

LUKE WHITE (c1740-1824), of Woodlands, County Dublin, High Sheriff of County Dublin, 1804, and County Longford, 1806, MP for Leitrim, 1818-24, who had acquired considerable wealth, purchased Lord Carhampton's estate of Luttrelltown.

Luke White, By Gilbert Stuart - http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/
Collection/art-object-page.1122.html,
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50758244

He married firstly, 1781, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter de la Mazière, of Dublin, of a Huguenot family, and had issue; and secondly, in 1800, Arabella, daughter of William Fortescue, and by her had a son, William.

His fourth son, by his first marriage,

HENRY WHITE (1791-1873), of Woodlands, County Dublin, and subsequently of Rathcline, County Longford, served in the 14th Light Dragoons during the Peninsular War; was MP for County Dublin, 1823-32, County Longford, 1837-47 and 1857-61; Lord-Lieutenant of County Longford, 1841-73.

Having succeeded to the Longford estates of his next elder brother, Luke White, in 1854, he was elevated to the peerage, in 1863, in the dignity of BARON ANNALY (third creation), of Annaly and Rathcline, County Longford.

His lordship married, in 1828, Ellen, daughter of William Soper Dempster, by Hannah, only daughter and heir of John Hamilton Dempster, of Skibo Castle, Sutherland, and had issue,

LUKE, his successor;
Henry;
George Frederick;
Francis Samuel;
Charles William;
Robert;
Eleanor Eliza; Emily Beaujolais.

He died at Sunbury Park, Middlesex, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

LUKE, 2nd Baron (1829-88), KP, who wedded, in 1853, Emily, daughter of James Stuart, and had issue,

LUKE, his successor;
Henry Frederick;
Charles James;
Robert;
Francis William;
Ellen Harriet; Alice Emily; Violet.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

LUKE, 3rd Baron (1857-1922), GCVO JP DL, who wedded, in 1884, Lilah Georgiana Augusta Constance, daughter of Henry, 3rd Viscount Clifden, and had issue,

LUKE HENRY, his successor;
Lilah Charlotte Sarah; Lucia Emily Margaret.

His lordship was succeeded by his son,

LUKE HENRY, 4th Baron (1885-1970), MC JP,

• Luke Robert White, 5th Baron (1927–90);
• Luke Richard White, 6th Baron (b 1954).

LUTTRELLSTOWN CASTLE, Clonsilla, County Dublin, dates from the early 15th century (ca 1420).

It has been owned variously by the eponymous and notorious Luttrell family; the bookseller Luke White his descendants the Lords Annaly; the Guinnesses; the Primwest Group; and, since 2006, JP McManus, John Magnier and Aidan Brooks.

The Castle has hosted visits by Queen Victoria in 1844 and 1900, and its media profile was raised when David and Victoria Beckham were married there in 1999.

Luttrellstown and its remaining 560-acre demesne currently form a 5-star resort. 

Henry, 2nd Earl of Carhampton, sold Luttrellstown Castle to the publisher Luke White, described as one of the most remarkable men in Ireland.

Luke White changed its name to Woodlands, but the 3rd Lord Annaly reverted back to its former name.

In 1778, Luke White started as an impecunious book dealer, buying in Dublin and reselling around the country.

By 1798, during the rebellion, he helped the Irish government with a loan of £1 million (at £65 per £100 share at 5%).

He became MP for Leitrim, and died in 1824 leaving properties worth £175,000 per annum.

An extract from The illustrated London News of 1864 describes a series of festivities at Woodlands, "the beautiful seat of the Rt Hon. Henry White, the newly created Lord Annaly".

These festivities consisted of theatrical and social entertainments.

A new theatre was built especially for the occasion and the festivities lasted for a fort­night.

The plays `Still Waters Run Deep' and `Samuel in Search of Him­self' were performed, and a ball to which `most of the principal families of Dublin and the neighbourhood received invitations', concluded the festivities.

Queen Victoria paid two visits to Luttrellstown: Firstly in 1844, as Her Majesty passed through to visit the Duke of Leinster at Carton; secondly in 1900, when The Queen stayed at Viceregal Lodge.

To commemorate these visits, Lord Annaly erected an obelisk made of six blocks of granite from the Dublin mountains, which together measure 8 feet, 6 inches in height.

It is at the head of the Glen, near the Waterfall, where Her Majesty drank some tea.

Prince von Puckler-Muskau (c1820) remarked,

"The entrance to the demesne is indeed the most delightful in its kind that can be imagined. Scenery, by nature most beautiful, is improved by art to the highest degree of its capability, and, without destroying its free and wild character, a variety and richness of vegetation is produced which enchants the eye. 

Gay shrubs and wild flowers, the softest turf and giant trees, festooned with creeping plants, fill the narrow glen through which the path winds, by the side of the clear, dancing brook, which, falling in little cataracts, flows on, sometimes hidden in the thicket, sometimes resting like liquid silver in an emerald cup, or rushing under overhanging arches of rock, which nature seems to have hung there as triumphal gates for the beneficent Naiad of the valley to pass through."

In the dining-room (above) the architect, Mr Harbord, used the same eagles at Oving House, near Aylesbury, that he incorporated in the plasterwork here.

As a room it succeeds brilliantly. The ceiling is painted by de Wit.

The entrance hall (above) retains its Gothic character of about 1800, but the mantel and black-and- white floor are recent improvements.

It leads on to the staircase hall, which was transformed by Mr Harbord in 1963 when a magnificent painted ceiling by Thornhill, from a house in Suffolk now demolished, was inserted; the staircase and window were altered at the same time.

The far end of the Ballroom opens into the Grisaille Room (above), created to rake the series of nine Grisaille paintings by Peter de Gree, one of which, signed and dated 1788, represents Irish trade and commerce.

The library, in the centre of the south front, was originally the entrance hall and it has an unusual eighteenth century plaster ceiling with bow and arrow in full relief.

he chief glory of the house is the ballroom, which has plaster decoration that could be eighteenth century, but was most likely done for Luke White at the time of his purchase.

The design is unusual and original, and does not fit easily into any particular category of plasterwork; it was probably done by local stuccodores working in a somewhat outdated manner.

It blends in admirably with the Adamesque Grisaille room, and the magnificent dining room, with its plaster birds and painted ceiling.

The Whites were also major landowners in County Longford, with 12,560 acres.

Former residences ~ Porters, Shenley, Hertfordshire; Baldwyn's, East Grinstead, Sussex; town house: 19, Belgrave Square.

First published in September, 2011.