The Earls Cairns: I

THE EARLDOM OF CAIRNS WAS CREATED IN 1878 FOR THE RT HON HUGH McCALMONT, BARON CAIRNS, PC, QC, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR, 1868

The disastrous ending to the insurrection of the elder Pretender in 1715 was the ultimate cause of momentous changes in the circumstances of a vast number of Scottish families.

In many cases, where the family sentiment was clearly in sympathy with one side or the other, the head of the family, imbued with the caution characteristic of the race, refrained from taking active part with either side.

Where the owner of an estate kept rigidly aloof from joining either side, his property was fairly safe whichever side won.

This commendable spirit of caution, however, was no hindrance to the cadets of families joining whichever side they desired without incriminating their chiefs.

Whatever happened the individual cadet only could be held responsible.

When the insurrection was over and the day of reckoning came, many a younger son of the old Scottish families deemed it wiser to be out of Scotland.

In Ulster, where the people had little sympathy with the rising, the consequences of rebellion were not pursued to such an extent as was the case in Scotland.

Hence the Province became a harbour of refuge for a number of Scottish refugees.

Several families, now well known in Northern Ireland, descend from Scottish settlers who arrived in the years immediately following the uprising.

Among the Records at Hillsborough Castle, County Down, are the registers of leases and the rent rolls of the Kilwarlin estate.

Among the leases granted at this period is one for three lives to William Cairns, dated May, 1716.

It seems plausible he was one of the many who fled to Ulster from Scotland ca 1716 in order to escape the consequences of the rebellion.

We have been unable to ascertain with certainty to which of the Galloway Cairns' he belonged, but there are indications suggesting that he was a younger son of William Cairns, of Kipp, who died in 1711.

He certainly was a contemporary of the two sons of this William whose names are recorded.

The Christian names Hugh and William, so frequently encountered in the succeeding generations of the Kipp family prior to 1715, reappear with equal frequency among the descendants of this William Cairns.

In fact, the name Hugh in the Cairns family seems to have been almost entirely confined to the Kipp branch.

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WILLIAM CAIRNS, a cadet of Cairnes, of Orchardton, obtained from the Marquess of Downshire a lease of the lands of Magheraconluce, County Down, in 1716.

His son,

WILLIAM CAIRNS, of Magheraconluce, left issue by his first wife, who died in 1754, with six daughters, who dsp, three sons,

John, of Parkmount, 1732-94;
Hugh, of Parkmount and Belfast, banker, 1735-1808;
William, of Magheraconluce, b 1737.

He wedded secondly, Agnes, daughter of William Gregg, of Parkmount, and died in 1775, having by her had issue,

NATHAN, ancestor of the Earls Cairns.

The second son,

Hugh Cairns, left several legacies in his will to his "kinsmen at Annahilt," and £600 to each of his six sisters.

He left Parkmount, which he acquired shortly after the death of William Gregg in 1782, to his half-brother Nathan, whose mother had been a daughter of Mr Gregg.

Mr Cairns stated in his will that "most of my property consists of money lent out at interest on security," from which it appears that he was one of Belfast's early private bankers, some of whom eventually amalgamated, thus founding what are now known as the Belfast, the Northern, and the Ulster Banks. 

William Cairns' third son, William, continued to appear as holder of the Magheraconluce property subsequent to his father's removal to Belfast after his second marriage.

It appears that he remained as tenant, and that Hugh Cairns' "kinsmen at Annahilt", to whom he left money, namely, William and Robert Cairns, were the sons of this William, and therefore nephews of Hugh.

Both appear as fathers of children baptised, in the Annahilt Register, one of the children being called Nathan, evidently after his grand-uncle.

The youngest son,

NATHAN CAIRNS, of Dublin, and Parkmount, merchant, born in 1759, of whom hereafter.

Parkmount House

Parkmount seems to have passed to Mr Gregg from the representatives of Thomas Lutford, who had a lease for three lives, renewable for ever, from the Marquesses of Donegall, in 1769. 

At some period after his marriage to Agnes Gregg, William Cairns seems to have moved with his family to Parkmount, or to a house in Carnmoney. 

After the termination of the Parkmount lease, Hugh Cairns obtained the renewal forever thereof. 

His father died in 1775, the widow Agnes Gregg surviving him, and dying in 1785.

Both are interred at Carnmoney church-yard. 

First published in February, 2011.   Cairns arms courtesy of European Heraldry.

Parkmount House

THE McNEILES, OF PARKMOUNT, OWNED 7,011 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ANTRIM

PARKMOUNT HOUSE, off Antrim Road, Belfast, was a two-storey Georgian house with a three-storey return.

It had a six-bay front, with a single-storey Ionic portico.

Coupled columns were added later.

There were also Ionic loggias at the end of the house.

Park Mount ca 1930 (historic OS map)

The portico was subsequently glazed and the loggia filled in with a one-storey projection.

The roof had a lofty, solid parapet.

To one side there was a substantial Victorian conservatory running parallel with the front of the house, though set back.

This concealed a lower service wing to the rear.

Parkmount ca 1832

Parkmount was originally (c1666) a hunting-lodge or country residence of the Chichesters, Earls (later Marquesses) of Donegall.

The district now known as and called Oldpark should not be confused with the New Park, formed by the Lord Deputy's nephew, Arthur, 1st Earl of Donegall, which is recorded as having been in process of formation in 1666. It extended in an easterly direction from the Cave Hill towards Belfast Lough, terminating at Parkmount.

Thereafter it was acquired by Thomas Ludford.

This lodge was rebuilt ca 1796 by Hugh Cairns:

The finest house on this road, or perhaps in the parish, is Parkmount, built by the late Mr Cairns, on or near the site of a residence, or hunting lodge, formerly belonging to the Donegall family.

Mary Harriet, wife of 1ST EARL CAIRNS, was the eldest daughter of John McNeile, who purchased Parkmount from Captain William Cairns ca 1828.

The McNeiles were of the same family as the Very Rev Hugh Boyd McNeile, Dean of Ripon, whose brother John (1788-1855), a banker, had made his fortune in South America.

John McNeile, DL, was married to Charlotte Lavinia Dallas, daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Dallas GCB.

They continued to reside at Parkmount for most of the 19th century; while the Cairnses moved to Cultra, County Down, at the opposite side of Belfast Lough.

In 1905, SIR ROBERT ANDERSON, first and last Baronet, bought Parkmount from the McNeiles.

Parkmount House was demolished in 1932.

First published in May, 2013.

The Earls Cairns: II

THE EARLDOM OF CAIRNS WAS CREATED IN 1878 FOR THE RT HON HUGH McCALMONT, BARON CAIRNS, PC, QC, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR

WILLIAM CAIRNS became a merchant in Dublin, where he married firstly, in 1778, Sarah Hutchinson, of St James's parish; and secondly, in 1787, Margaret Keine, of St Mark's parish.

He died at Parkmount in 1819, leaving issue, besides one daughter who died young,

DANIEL CAIRNS, born 1784, became an officer in the 28th and afterwards in the 62nd Regiment, and died unmarried, at Jamaica, in 1802.

In the Belfast Newsletter of October 17, 1775, both William and his eldest son John appear in a list of subscribers to a testimonial to the Rev Matthew Garnett, Vicar of Carnmoney. 

For my references to early Belfast newspapers and some of my information as to the Gregg family, I am indebted to Mr Isaac Ward, who is probably the greatest living authority on old Belfast History. 

The Gregg family settled in Belfast in the 17th century and became prosperous in business.

In 1700, three brothers, Nathan, Thomas and John Gregg, were merchants in Belfast.

Nathan died in 1705, leaving his sons John and Thomas, then under age.

Thomas had an eldest son, Nathan, and other children, of whom probably William, of Parkmount, was one.

Nathan Gregg mentions these children in his will; also his sisters, Elizabeth, wife of James Smith, of Belfast; and Agnes, wife of John Stevenson, of County Antrim.

Book of Grants of Licenses, Dublin, in the Public Record Office, Dublin: In both these entries, Nathan is written "Nathaniel", but undoubtedly Nathan was the name.

In the first marriage Hutchinson is given as the wife's name, but in a family bible the name is recorded Hutchins.

 
WILLIAM CAIRNS, of Parkmount, born 1789,

entered the army and became a captain in the 47th Regiment. He married, when only seventeen, Rosanna, daughter of Hugh Johnston, merchant of Belfast. During his father's lifetime he lived at Rushpark, near Carrickfergus, and also had a house in Belfast, which stood on the grounds now occupied by the Robinson & Cleaver building.

Parkmount House

After his father's death, William moved to Parkmount House, which he shortly afterwards sold to John McNeill, a banker in Belfast.

He subsequently lived at Cultra, County Down.

He married secondly, Matilda, daughter of Francis Beggs, of The Grange, Malahide, and dying at Cultra in 1844, left issue, Nathan Daniel, born 1807, who married, in 1839, Mary, daughter of Thomas Miller, of Preston. 

McNeill, of Machrihanish, who came over to Ireland about 1625 with his relatives the MacNaghtens, obtained the lands of Killoquin, County Antrim, where he settled, marrying Rose Stewart of Garry, in that County, John McNeill of Parkmount, having succeeded to a large fortune as heir of his uncle General McNeill, purchased Parkmount and a considerable estate at Craigs, County Antrim, and became a private banker in Belfast, eventually forming, with others, what is now the Northern Bank. 

His grandson sold Parkmount, which, as Belfast extended, became a particularly desirable property.

The new owner of Parkmount was the prominent Belfast merchant Sir Robert Anderson Bt, DL, Lord Mayor and High Sheriff.

The Cairns family, since the Reformation, were all Presbyterian.

The 1st Earl's great-grandfather, or some members of his family at least, seem to have conformed to the established Church (of Ireland) shortly after their move to Parkmount.

In the Belfast News-Letter, dated about 1790, there is an advertisement inserted by John Cairns, of Parkmount, offering a reward for the recovery of his watch, which he had lost the previous Sunday between Parkmount and Carnmoney Church.

As early as 1775, both John and his father William appear on a list of subscribers to a testimonial to the Vicar of Carnmoney; however, the History of Belfast (supplement) records that two of John's sisters were members of Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church.

First published in February, 2011.  Cairns arms courtesy of European Heraldry.