Dalway of Carrickfergus

THE DALWAYS OWNED 2,477 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ANTRIM

JOHN DALLWAYE (1550-1618) went over to Ulster from Devon in 1573, a cornet in the army of ELIZABETH I under Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex.

John Dallwaye was Mayor of Carrickfergus, 1592 and 1600, and in 1613 was MP for Bangor in the Parliament of Ireland.

The Common Seal of Carrickfergus

He married Jane, granddaughter of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and related by the mother to Shane MacBrian O'Neill, of Lower Clandeboye.

John Dallwaye obtained from Shane MacBrian O'Neill a grant of the greater part of the Tough of Bradenisland, or Broad Island (Ballycarry), and the lands of Kilroot.

On O'Neill's death, his lands became forfeited to the Crown; but in 1603, John Dallwaye, being then Constable of Carrickfergus Castle, obtained from JAMES I for ever "the Barony of Bradiland, at the rent of xiii Engl., to hold in free and common socage, as of the Castle of Carrickfergus." 

These lands, together with those purchased from James Hamilton, Lord Claneboye, were, in 1608, erected by letters patent, into the Manor of Dallwaye.

By his marriage with Jane he had an only child, Margaret (who wedded, ca 1603, John Dobbs, of Castle Dobbs).

Dallwaye made a freehold lease to Dobbs of the lands now called Castle Dobbs.

John Dallwaye was succeeded by his nephew,

JOHN DALLWAY, the elder son of his brother Giles (he had a younger brother also named John, who was captain in the army, and High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1636).

He married a daughter of William Edmonstone, of Red Hall, and had issue,

ALEXANDER, his heir;

Robert;

John;

Archibald;

Henry;

Helen.

John Dallway was Mayor of Carrickfergus, 1660 and 1661.

He died in 1665, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

ALEXANDER DALWAY, High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1662, who espoused Anne, daughter of John Parkes, of Carrickfergus, and had issue,

JOHN, his heir;

Robert;

Elinor; Mary; Jane.

He died in 1668, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOHN DALWAY, who dsp 1687, and left his estates to his uncle,

COLONEL ROBERT DALWAY (1645-99), MP for Antrim Borough, 1696-9, who married, in 1695, Mary, daughter and heir of Sir John Williams, 2nd Baronet, of Minster, in Thanet, Kent, and widow of Charles, 1st Baron Shelburne, by whom he had issue,

ALEXANDER, his heir;

Henry;

John;

Anne; Elinor.

His eldest son,

ALEXANDER DALWAY (1669-1718), MP for Carrickfergus, 1715-18, wedded, in 1695, Anna Helena, daughter of Archibald Edmonstone, of Red Hall, and had issue,

ROBERT, his heir;

Archibald;

Alexander;

Elizabeth; Anne; Helena; Emily; Lettice.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

ROBERT DALWAY, who married, in 1718, Mary, daughter of Joseph Marriott, a brewer, of Francis Street, Dublin, and secondly, Jane Steele, of Craig's Castle, Ballymena.

By his first wife he had issue,

Robert, died in infancy;

MARRIOTT, his heir;

Mehetabella, m Noah Webb, and had issue, NOAH, of whom presently;

Anne; Eleanor; Mary.

Robert Dalway, High Sheriff of County Dublin, 1740, and a burgess in Parliament for the borough of Newry, 1721, died in 1761, and was succeeded by his son,

MARRIOTT DALWAY (c1725-95), MP for Carrickfergus, 1761-8, colonel of a volunteer battalion raised by himself, 1784; who dsp 1795, leaving his estates to his nephew, NOAH WEBB (see above), who in accordance with the will of his uncle assumed the name and arms of DALWAY.

This NOAH DALWAY (c1746-1820), of Bella Hill, Kilroot, County Antrim, espoused, in 1795, Ellen, daughter of the Ven. Conway Benning, Archdeacon of Dromore, and had issue,

MARRIOTT, his heir;

Noah, Lieutenant RN;

John Benning;

Henry;

George Montague;

Anne; Mary Margaret; Ellen; Millicent Jane; Jane; Lucy; Mehetabella.

Noah Dalway, a Commander in the Royal Navy, was MP for Carrickfergus, 1799-1800, Mayor of Carrickfergus, 1806, 1809, 1811, and 1816; and was the first MP for Carrickfergus in the UK Parliament, 1801.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

MARRIOTT DALWAY (1798-), of Bella Hill, who married, in 1827, Euphemia, daughter of Thomas Henry, of Castle Dawson, County Londonderry, and had issue,

MARRIOTT ROBERT, his heir;

Euphemia.

Mr Dalway was four times High Sheriff for the county of the town of Carrickfergus, and Mayor of Carrickfergus, 1838-42.

He was succeeded by his son,

MARRIOTT ROBERT DALWAY DL (1832-1914), MP for Carrickfergus, 1868-80, High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1859, who married, in 1859, Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Armstrong Barnes, and had issue,

MARRIOTT WILLIAM;

Robert;

John;

Elizabeth.

Marriott Robert Dalway and his family emigrated to Australia in 1886, where he died at Lorne, Victoria.

Dalway's Bawn and Bellahill (historic OS map)

BELLA HILL, according to the Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland in 1844, was a demesne in the parish of Kilroot, barony of Lower Belfast, County Antrim.

Bellahill House (Green Collection/NMNI)

It was situated 4½ miles north-east by north of Carrickfergus, close to the road thence to Larne.

"The modern mansion occupies a commanding site a little west of the road; and the old castellated mansion, consisting of two large towers, connected by a curtain wall, which is perforated with the entrance gateway, stands on the roadside, and is now used as stables."

The original dwelling is today known as "Dalway's Bawn."

Dalway's Bawn (Green Collection/NMNI)

The Northern Ireland Department of Communities website describes it thus:

"A well-preserved example of an early 17th century planter’s fortified enclosure, built in about 1609 by John Dalway, constable of Carrickfergus Castle, to secure his royal grant of land in the area." 

"Now enmeshed with a working farm, only part of the bawn is in State Care – the roadside wall and three flanker towers, viewable only from the road. A dwelling house formerly stood inside the bawn, but it was demolished in the 19th century."

The Brooke Baronetcy (1764)

SIR BASIL BROOKE (1567-1633), Knight, of Magherabeg and Brooke Manor, County Donegal, went over to Ulster during the reign of ELIZABETH I. Sir Basil served under CHARLES BLOUNT, Lord Mountjoy, and was appointed Governor of the town and castle of Donegal. He was likewise one of the commissioners for the settlement of Ulster, and obtained from the crown large grants of land in County Donegal.

Sir Basil's son and successor (by Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of John Leycester, of Toft),

SIR HENRY BROOKE (c1613-71), Knight, of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Governor of Donegal, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, 1669, MP for Brooke's Borough, received, in recompense for his services during the rebellion of 1641, grants of lands in County Fermanagh.

He married firstly, Elizabeth, daughter of Captain John Wynter; and secondly, Anne, daughter of Sir George St George Bt, of Carrickdrumrusk, County Leitrim.

For his third wife, Mr Brooke espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Henry, Lord Docwra.

He was succeeded by the eldest son (by his second wife),

THOMAS BROOKE (ante 1650-1696), of Donegal, MP for Antrim Borough, 1695-6, Major, Williamite Regiment of Foot, who wedded Catherine, daughter of Sir John Cole Bt, of Newlands, County Dublin, and sister of Cole, Lord Ranelagh.

Major Brooke died in 1696, leaving a son,

HENRY BROOKE (1671-1761), of Colebrooke, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, 1709, MP for Dundalk, 1713-27, County Fermanagh, 1727-60, Governor of County Fermanagh, who married, in 1711, Lettice, daughter of Mr Alderman Benjamin Burton, of the city of Dublin, and had issue,

ARTHUR, his heir;
FRANCIS, father of SIR HENRY BROOKE, 1ST BARONET;
Lettice.

Mr Brooke was succeeded by his eldest son,

THE RT HON ARTHUR BROOKE (1726-85), Governor of County Fermanagh, High Sheriff of Fermanagh, 1752, MP for County Fermanagh, 1761-83, Privy Counsellor, who married firstly, in 1751, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Fortescue, of Reynoldstown, County Louth, and had issue,

Henry, died in infancy;
Arthur, died in infancy;
Anne; Lætitia Charlotte; Selina Elizabeth.

He wedded secondly, at the Palace, Clogher, County Tyrone, in 1775, Elizabeth Foorde.

Mr Brooke was created a baronet in 1764, designated of Colebrooke, County Fermanagh.

He died at Dublin, and his sons having predeceased him, the baronetcy became extinct.

The baronetcy was, however, revived in 1822 in favour of Sir Arthur's nephew, Henry Brooke.

The Brookeborough Papers are held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

*****

IN HIS Brooke family history, Barton states that

... the first Basil Brooke [1567-1633] ... was a soldier-adventurer who came to Ireland in the late 16th century ... . He came as a captain in the English army bringing reinforcements to Ireland [in 1597], and later commanded a cavalry regiment under Sir Henry Docwra in the conquest of Ulster.

He distinguished himself as a servitor during the Tyrone wars and was one of those selected by the King for a proportion of the plantation. He was knighted in 1619, styled of Magherabeg and Brooke Manor, [Co. Donegal], became a Governor of [Co.] Donegal, and later was a member of the commission ordered by Charles I to enquire into how thoroughly the undertakers had fulfilled the conditions of their grants.

Thus the Brookes first entered Ulster under English arms and initially held their property in Donegal, not Fermanagh.

The former county was never truly colonised; due in part to its wildness and inaccessibility, colonists proved reluctant to attempt settlement.

Brooke appears to have been an energetic, determined and resourceful planter, eager to establish himself permanently in his adopted home.

Sir Basil's grant of 1,000 acres was in a rugged precinct set aside for servitors and natives.

The land was of poor quality, the barony in which the land was located being described in the Book of Survey and Distribution fifty years later as "mountainous, boggy, rocky and with many ... ways hardly passable".

By 1622, however, Brooke was reported as having repaired a round bawn within which a house was standing, which had been occupied by an English settler in 1619.

He also acquired other property.

One of the written complaints of the Earl of Tyrconnell was that the Lord Deputy had appointed Captain Brooke to live in his castle, and

constrained the Earl to accept such rents as he had given order of to the said Captain to pay and to pass a lease thereof and four acres of the best lands thereunto annexed, for one and twenty years unto the said Captain.

By 1611, with the help of a royal grant, Brooke had repaired the castle, voluntarily built a bawn to enclose it, and a strong house of lime and stone adjacent to it.

This relatively secure and less isolated dwelling he occupied with his wife.

He was in fact appointed constable of the castle and given the ownership of it and the town of Donegal, both of which were inherited, with his other property, in 1633 by his only son Henry, who was then married and of full age.

The latter fulfilled the confidence which the commissioners had earlier expressed in his father.

During the rising of 1641, he was successful in "preserving from plunder" the town and castle and the surrounding district.

He afterwards fought on the parliamentary side in the civil war, serving as a captain of foot.

In consequence, he acquired a substantial area of land, worth more than £900 yearly, mostly by grant.

These new estates lay in the adjacent counties of Monaghan and Fermanagh, and had become available through the forfeitures of property by two leading local native landholders.

In Fermanagh he acquired most of the confiscated estates, including the old ancestral home, at Largie, of Lord Maguire, who had been hanged at Tyburn and whose family had ruled the county for most of three centuries from their base at Lisnaskea.

The latter's property  [ca 30,000 acres], which had until then survived "as a little bit of Gaelic Ireland left untouched", now formed the basis of the future Colebrooke estate (It was confirmed to Henry by royal patent in 1667).

The Donegal estates of the senior branch of the family passed by direct descent through three generations to Henry Vaughan Brooke, member of parliament for the county in the late 18th century.

In 1761 Thomas Brooke's grandson, Sir Arthur Brooke, 1st and last baronet of the first (1764) creation, succeeded.

In Sir John Blaquiere's "Members of the House of Commons 1770-1773, Notes on Same 1773", the entry under Fermanagh is:

Sir Arthur Brooke, Bt, has the principal interest in the county and will continue to do so while he unites with Archdale. He has the character of being one of the worst tempered men living and very stingy. ...

Sir Arthur inherited through his grandmother's brother, Lord Ranelagh, large and valuable property [either in possession or reversion], in the city of Dublin, Tipperary, Clare and Wiltshire, at his death in 1785 ... [little] was left but Colebrooke, denuded of trees and heavily encumbered.

First Published in January, 2011.

Old Dundonald

A Postcard of Dundonald taken about 1907

IN July, 2020, I cycled to Dundonald, County Down, formerly a village on the eastern outskirts of Belfast.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, dated 1814-45, describes Dundonald thus:

A parish in the barony of Lower Castlereagh. The surface is gently hilly, consists of excellent land, and is traversed by the roads from Comber and Newtownards to Belfast. 

The principal residences are Dunlady, Rosepark, Bessmount, Summerfield, Rockfield, Unicarval, and Camperdown. 

The village of Dundonald is the site of two places of worship and a large bleaching-green. 

About a mile from the village stands a remarkable monument called the Kempe Stone, resembling a Cromlech, yet so far unique as to seem sepulchral. 

This parish is a rectory, and a separate benefice, in the diocese of Down. Patron, the Rev John Cleland.

The approach to Dundonald from Belfast is dominated by the Ulster Hospital; though a little further along the main road stands the Norman motte, surrounded today by a peaceful and quiet park.

I climbed the steep steps to the top of this motte, said to be one of the largest of its kind in Ulster, and admired the spectacular view.

Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020

Immediately below the motte stand the impressive Cleland Mausoleum, the old and new parish churches, and the Presbyterian church.

The Mausoleum, said to be one of the tallest in Northern Ireland, was erected in 1842 by Elizabeth (Eliza) Cleland in memory of her beloved husband, Samuel Jackson Cleland (1808-42), of Storm Mount.

Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020

Eliza's desire was that her husband's memorial could be seen from Storm Mount, as the house was called until Stormont Castle was built in 1858.

The considerable wealth of the Clelands was manifested in this massive monument, which cost £2,000 to build in 1842 (equivalent to about £190,000 in 2024).

It dominates the graveyard, standing at a corner, several paces from the old derelict parish church of St Elizabeth.

This great mausoleum has no door. Its exterior is accessible by a gate, though there is no obvious means of entry to the building itself.

On closer examination I think there are steps leading down to its basement, though the ground has been concreted over.

How many Clelands are interred here, and when was the last burial?

St Elizabeth's Parish Church, de-consecrated in 1967 

I'm interested to know more about the history of the old church, though I was informed that the new church (several yards away from it) was built about 1965, and the old church was used as a church hall until it was de-consecrated on the 26th July, 1967.

Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020

A diamond-shaped stone on the tower bears the three dates of the churches built and rebuilt on this site, 1624, 1771 and 1838.

The adjacent Presbyterian church dates from about 1840.

From St Elizabeth's Church I rode along the Newtownards Road to Dunlady Road, where Dunlady House still stands, considerably altered today.

The original country house of five bays with quoins is recognizable.

Dunlady House. Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020

One of the chimneys seems to have gone.

Dunlady House might be the oldest building in Dundonald today.

Its original occupants were probably the Hamiltons, though it was acquired by the Lamberts at the very beginning of the 18th century.

George Lambert was High Sheriff of County Down in 1720; followed by Robert Lambert in 1727.

Richard, 2nd Earl Annesley (1745-1824) married, in 1771, Anne, only daughter and heiress of Robert Lambert, of Dunlady, County Down.

If any readers are interested in learning more about the history of Dundonald, I suggest 'The Most Unpretending Of Places', written by Peter Carr, first published in 1987.

First published in July, 2020.

Rockfield House

(Image: Timothy Ferres, 2020)

When I was researching old Dundonald, County Down, in documents and old maps one particular property caught my eye.

Rockfield, 29, Greengraves Road, a few miles outside Dundonald, stands in a rural setting, presently derelict, surrounded by woods.

(Image: 28DaysLater, 2018)

This country house has an interesting history.

George Benn, in his History of Belfast, apprises us that the family of McClean, in the middle of the 18th century, was particularly well known in the town.

There were five brothers, all in trade.

Rockfield House (Image: LambertSmithHampton)

Adam McClean (c1767-1849), the son of an innkeeper, was a linen merchant and property developer based in High Street, Belfast.

This Adam McClean reputedly built Rockfield House between 1795-1800.

The house, approached by a driveway of several hundred yards, comprises two and a half storeys and five bays.

A single-storey wing has been added to one side of the house, and there is a complex of outbuildings at the rear, where there seems to be a courtyard.

There is a plain Ionic portico at the front entrance, pedimented with a central oculus.

Adam McClean, with his brothers, Samuel and Andrew, had a wine and spirit business in Sugarhouse Entry circa 1800.

(Image: 28DaysLater, 2018)

In 1831, he was appointed a committee member of the White Linen Hall.

McClean purchased the land to the rear of the White Linen Hall (now City Hall), between Linenhall Street and the future Great Victoria Street.

McClean’s Fields, as it was called, was a floodplain of the River Blackstaff and hardly any development occurred there until the land was drained in the 1850s.

McClean built a block of houses on Donegall Square South between Adelaide Street and Linenhall Street and Adelaide Street.

He also built numbers 7-11, Wellington Place ca 1830, three four-storey red brick houses (formerly a terrace of six).

7-11 Wellington Place, Belfast (Image: Alex. R Hogg, 1931)

Within three years of Adam McClean's death, in 1852, Rockfield was leased to James Shaw, a Belfast candle and soap manufacturer.

The house was subsequently occupied by Adam S Forster in 1873; and the Symington family in 1876.

Leopold and Helen Greeves lived at Rockfield from about 1909. Leopold's family ran the Conway Mill, and Helen's family owned Marsh's Biscuits.

In the late 1960s Rockfield was acquired by Isaac Agnew, who had established a Belfast motor dealership in 1931.

He died in 1979.

Subsequently Rockfield became a nursing home which, I gather, closed down about 2010.

Rockfield has been for sale since at least July, 2020; according to the estate agent, however, it could be demolished.

It's disappointing that the house could be demolished.

The grounds extend to 46 acres (almost 19 hectares), and offers  were invited in the region of £3 million.

First published in July, 2020.

Desmond Castle

THE EARLS OF DEVON WERE THE LARGEST LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LIMERICK, WITH 33,026 ACRES

 

The COURTENAYS, one of the most illustrious races amongst the English nobility, deduce their paternal descent from ATHON DE COURTENAY, who sprang himself from PHARAMOND, founder of the French monarchy in 1420, and common patriarch of all the Kings of France. This ATHON having fortified, during the reign of ROBERT the Wise, the town of COURTENAY, in the Île-de-France, thence assumed his surname. 

WILLIAM COURTENAY, de jure 3rd Earl of Devon (1553-1630), High Sheriff of Devon, 1581; who, in 1585, was one of the undertakers to send over settlers for the better planting of Ireland, and thus laid the foundation of the prodigious estate in that kingdom enjoyed by his posterity.

Sir William married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry, 2nd Earl of Rutland, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,

FRANCIS, de jure 4th Earl ((1576-1638), of Powderham Castle, Devon, who was succeeded by his eldest son,

WILLIAM, de jure 5th Earl (1628-1702).

IN THE late 16th century, the vast estates of the Earl of Desmond were forfeited by the Crown.

The Castle, Newcastle West, County Limerick, and a large amount of surrounding land, was granted to Sir William Courtenay, de jure 3rd Earl of Devon, of Powderham, Devon, in 1591.

The Courtenays, Earls of Devon, still live at Powderham Castle in Kent.

Sir William was a staunch Roman Catholic and suffered persecution for his beliefs.

His son George might even have practised his faith in secret.

Their home was reputed to have had a room in which priests were hidden.

Courtenay was denounced in the House of Commons as a "papist recusant" in 1624.

In December, 1641, disturbances broke out in Newcastle West and the castle was burned down.

It is unlikely that anybody lived in the castle after that time.

The old castle house, which was adjacent to the castle and where the agents for the Courtenays lived, was probably built around 1700.

This house was burnt during the Irish civil war in 1922.

In time the Courtenays were to become the largest landlords in County Limerick, owning up to 85,000 acres in the south-west of the county; the remaining lands of Newcastle West and the surrounding countryside were known as the Devon Estate until the first years of the 20th century.

In 1908, under the 1903 Land Act, practically all the lands of the Devon Estate were sold.

The town of Newcastle West itself was sold in 1910.

The last agents on the Courtenays in Newcastle West were the Curling family.

They were agents from 1848 until the decimation and sale of the Estate.

After the break up of the estate, they bought the castle building and some of the surrounding land from Lord Devon.

The last Curling, Richard, died in 1943.

In 1944 his house house and the castle grounds were sold.

It is believed that the Castle, known as the Desmond Banqueting Hall and Castle, is now state-owned.

First published in May, 2011.

1st Viscount Strangford

The family of SMYTHE is descended from an ancient family which was long seated at Corsham, in Wiltshire, whose arms were azure, an escutcheon argent, surrounded by six lions rampant or, as appeared by a seal then 200 years old, exhibited to the heralds at the visitation of Wiltshire, 1620, which coat was allowed to the younger branches.

JOHN SMYTHE, of Corsham, Wiltshire, living during the reign of HENRY VIII, married Joan, daughter of Robert Brouncker, of Melksham.

He died in 1538, leaving issue,

JOHN;
THOMAS, of whom presently;
Henry;
Robert;
Richard;
Ann; Jane; Elizabeth.

The second son,

THOMAS SMYTHE (1522-91), left Corsham and seated himself at Osterhanger, Kent.

This gentleman was farmer of the customs, or customer, in the reign of ELIZABETH I, by which he amassed considerable wealth.

He wedded Alice, daughter and heiress of Sir Andrew Judde, by whom he acquired the manor of Ashford; and left, with other issue,

JOHN, his heir;
Thomas (Sir), Ambassador to Russia, 1604.

The eldest son,

SIR JOHN SMYTHE (1557-1608), Knight, of Osterhanger and Ashford, espoused, in 1578, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Fineux, of Hawhouse, Kent (son of Sir John Fineux), and had issue,

THOMAS, his heir;
Katherine; Elizabeth.

His only son,

SIR THOMAS SMYTHE KB (1599-1635), of Ostenhanger, and of Ashford, Kent, having inherited a considerable fortune from his father, "being a person of distinguished merit and opulent fortune", was appointed a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of CHARLES I, in 1625-6.

Sir Thomas was elevated to the peerage, in 1628, in the dignity of VISCOUNT STRANGFORD, of Strangford, County Down.

He married, about 1621, the Lady Barbara Sydney, daughter of Robert, 1st Earl of Leicester KG, and niece of the ever-memorable Sir Philip Sydney, and had issue,

PHILIP, his successor;
Barbara; Elizabeth; Philippa; Dorothy.

His lordship was succeeded by his only son,

PHILIP, 2nd Viscount, (1634-1708), who wedded firstly, in 1650, his cousin, the Lady Isabella Sydney, daughter of Robert, 2nd Earl of Leicester, by which lady he had issue, a daughter, Diana; and secondly, Mary, daughter of George Porter, groom of the bedchamber to CHARLES I, by whom he had issue,

ENDYMION, his successor;
Elizabeth; Olivia; Katherine Clare.

His lordship was succeeded by his only son,

ENDYMION, 3rd Viscount, who married, ca 1710, Anne Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Monsieur Jean Largot ca 1710.

He died in 1724, and was succeeded by his only son,

THE VERY REV PHILIP, 4th Viscount (1715-87), Dean of Derry, who espoused, in 1741, Mary, daughter of Anthony Jephson MP, of Mallow, County Cork; and was succeeded by his only son,

LIONEL, 5th Viscount (1753-1801), who entered early in life into the Army, and distinguished himself in North America.

He subsequently took holy orders and became a clergyman of the established church: Rector of Kilbrew, County Meath, 1788-1801; Prebendary of St Patrick's, Dublin, 1790-1801.

His lordship married, in 1779, Maria Eliza, eldest daughter of Frederick Philips, of Philipsburg, New York, and had issue,

PERCY CLINTON SYDNEY, his successor;
Eliza Maria Sydney.

His lordship was succeeded by his only son, 

PERCY CLINTON SYDNEY, 6th Viscount (1780-1855), GCB GCH PC, and Baron Penshurst, of Penshurst, Kent, who wedded, in 1817, Ellen, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Burke Bt, of Marble Hill, and had issue,

GEORGE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK PERCY SYDNEY, his successor;

PERCY ELLEN ALGERNON FREDERICK WILLIAM SYDNEY, 8th Viscount;

Ellen Sydney; Philippa Eliza Sydney.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

GEORGE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK PERCY SYDNEY, 7th Viscount (1818-57), MP for Canterbury, 1841-52, who wedded, in 1857, Margaret Cunningham, daughter of John Lennox Kincaid Lennox, though the marriage was without issue.

7th Viscount Strangford. Photo Credit: The National Trust

His lordship was succeeded in the family honours by his brother,

PERCY ELLEN ALGERNON FREDERICK WILLIAM SYDNEY, 8th Viscount (1825-69), who espoused, in 1862, Emily Anne, daughter of Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort KCB.

8th Viscount Strangford (Image: Merton College, Oxford)

The 8th Viscount died without issue, in 1869, when the title expired.

*****

A Selection from the Writings of Viscount Strangford on Political, Geographical and Social Subjects was edited by his widow and published in 1869. His Original Letters and Papers upon Philology and Kindred Subjects were also edited by Lady Strangford (1878).

*****

Before moving to Ashford, John Smythe had made a fortune importing wine from Spain into the port of Bristol.

John’s son, Customer Thomas Smythe, was a major financial player in England.

Customer Smythe developed the very first stock company to spread risk and advance exploration with the Moscovy Company to find a northern route to East Asia above Russia.

He became Lord of the Manor of Ashford, Kent.

When Customer Smythe died, his eldest son, John, managed their vast holdings and investments in the various exploration companies.

Customer Smythe also invested in the profitable Drake voyages with a kinsman, Admiral William Wynter, one of the first English admirals.

The Smythes previously purchased or built a very large mansion on Philpot Street, adjacent to Fenchurch Street, London, from where they managed their various investments, and were front and centre in the various investments that later followed such as the Levant Company, Bermuda Company, The Virginia Company of London, and The North West Company.

The Smythes were also involved as Undertakers during the Plantation of Ulster.

John Smythe, the eldest son of Customer Smythe, was managing the family fortune and he resided at Ashford Manor and/or their other estate at Westenhanger.

In 1603, Robert Sydney was Lord Chamberlain for the household of Queen Anne of Denmark, consort of JAMES I.

Robert Mansell of Mount Desert (E), who was knighted at Cadiz where a brother of Thomas Smythe was killed, married a Lady in Waiting to Queen Anne.

The bride was the daughter of John Roper of Kent. Captain William Roper of the Eastern Shore had married the sister of Captain William Eppes, and the Ropers held land at Ivychurch.

Robert Sydney’s daughter married the nephew of Robert Mansell, and another of Sydney’s daughters, Barbara, married the son of the elder son, John Smythe of Ashford.

His name was also Thomas, and he held the title Viscount Strangford.

First published in January, 2011. 

Franklin Maxims: VI

TELL ME MY FAULTS, AND MEND YOUR OWN.

First published in May, 2020.