Emo Court

THE EARLS OF PORTARLINGTON WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN THE QUEEN'S COUNTY, WITH 11,149 ACRES

MARMADUKE D'OSSONE, the founder of the Dawson family in England, was amongst the soldiers of fortune in the train of WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.

From him lineally sprang,

RICHARD DAWSON, of Spaldington, Yorkshire (20th in descent), who married Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Lowther, Knight, of Lowther Hall, Westmorland, and from this marriage descended,

WILLIAM DAWSON, the first member of the family whom we find in Ireland.

This gentleman was collector of the revenue for the counties of Down and Antrim, and the port of Carrickfergus, in the reign of CHARLES II.

He wedded Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Jardine, of the ancient family of Applegirth, in Scotland, and was father of

EPHRAIM DAWSON (c1683-1746), who having purchased Portarlington and other estates in the Queen's County (now known as Laois), took up his residence there, and represented Portarlington, 1713-14, and Queen's County, 1715-46, in the reigns of GEORGE I and GEORGE II.

He espoused Anne, daughter and heir of Samuel Preston, and granddaughter of John Preston, of Ardsallagh, County Meath, by whom he left an only surviving son,

WILLIAM HENRY DAWSON (1712-79), MP for Portarlington, 1733-70, and, after his father died, MP for Queen's County, 1761-8, who married, in 1737, Mary, eldest daughter of Joseph Damer, of Dorset, and had issue,

JOHN, his heir;
Joseph;
William (Rev);
Samuel;
Ephraim;
Mary; Martha; Anne.

Mr Dawson was elevated to the peerage, in 1770, in the dignity of Baron Dawson, of Dawson's Court, Queen's County; and was advanced to a viscountcy, in 1776, as Viscount Carlow.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOHN, 2nd Viscount (1744-98), who was created, in 1785, EARL OF PORTARLINGTON.

His lordship wedded, in 1778, the Lady Caroline Stuart, daughter of John, 3rd Earl of Bute, and had issue,

JOHN, his successor;
Henry, father of the 3rd Earl;
George Lionel, father of the 4th Earl;
Lionel Charles;
William;
Caroline Elizabeth; Louisa Mary; Harriet; Anna Maria.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOHN, 2nd Earl (1781-1845), who died unmarried, when the titles devolved upon his cousin,

HENRY JOHN REUBEN, 3rd Earl (1822-89), KP DL, who married, in 1847, the Lady Alexandrina Octavia Maria Vane, daughter of Charles, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, though the marriage was without issue, when the titles devolved upon his cousin,

LIONEL SEYMOUR WILLIAM, 4th Earl (1832-92), DL, who wedded, in 1855, Harriet Lydia, daughter of Henry, 6th Baron Rokeby, and had issue,

LIONEL GEORGE HENRY SEYMOUR, his successor;

Montagu Francis Beauchamp Seymour;

Mary Frances Seymour.

His lordship was succeeded  by his eldest son,

GEORGE LIONEL HENRY SEYMOUR, 5th Earl (1858-1900), JP DL, who espoused, in 1881, Emma Andalusia Frere, daughter of Lord Nigel Kennedy, and had issue,

LIONEL ARTHUR HENRY SEYMOUR, his successor;

George Seymour;

Aline Mary Seymour; Christian Norah; Moyra Marjorie.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

LIONEL ARTHUR HENRY SEYMOUR, 6th Earl (1883-1959), who married, in 1907, Winnifreda, daughter of George Skelton Yuill, and had issue, an only child,

GEORGE LIONEL YUILL SEYMOUR (1907-44), styled Viscount Carlow, Air Commodore, Auxiliary RAF, who wedded, in 1937, Peggy, daughter of Charles Cambie, and had issue,

GEORGE LIONEL YUILL SEYMOUR, of whom hereafter;

Lionel John Charles Seymour.

Lord Carlow was killed in action during the 2nd World War, when the titles passed to his elder son,

GEORGE LIONEL YUILL SEYMOUR, 7th Earl (1938-), who married, in 1961, Davinia, daughter of Sir Edward Henry Windley, and has issue,

CHARLES GEORGE YUILL SEYMOUR, styled Viscount Carlow;

Edward Lionel Seymour;

Henry Lionel Seymour;

Marina.

The Emo Court Project has a comprehensive guide to the Portarlington family and Emo here.

IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, IT WAS CONSIDERED THAT AN OFFICIAL IRISH RESIDENCE BE FOUND FOR THE PRINCE OF WALES, LATER KING EDWARD VII.

EMO COURT WAS ONE OF THE PROPERTIES CONSIDERED.

The building of Emo Court (also known as Emo Park) began ca 1790 for John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington, whose name is recalled in Dawson Street in Dublin. 

The 1st Earl was interested in architecture, and invited James Gandon to come to Ireland, where he is best remembered for designing the Custom House and the Four Courts in Dublin. 

Emo Court was built to replace an earlier building on a nearby site known as Dawson’s Court, and is the only country house designed by Gandon.

The house is two storeys over a basement with attics forming end towers at each end of the building. 

The entrance front has a seven-bay centre with a pedimented Ionic portico. 

On each side on the end towers, there is a panel of Coade stone, on one side representing the Arts and on the other a pastoral scene.

In the Arts panel, James Gandon can be seen with the plans of Emo Court in his hand.

Heraldic tigers stand imposingly at the entrance steps.

The house had not been completed when the 1st Earl died in 1798, and the 2nd Earl was continually short of money, but managed, in 1834, to engage Louis Vulliamy, a fashionable London architect, to complete the dining room and garden front portico. 

However, the house was still unfinished when the 2nd Earl died in 1845. 

It was left to the 3rd Earl in 1860 to commission William Caldbeck, a Dublin architect, to finish the drawing-room, rotunda and library.

He added a detached bachelors’ wing which was joined to the house by a curved corridor.

The Portarlingtons used Emo less and less, till the 1st World War.

Thereafter, it stood empty for a decade, until 1930.

In 1930, the house was bought by the Jesuits to use as a seminary, and it underwent inevitable changes to adapt it to its new life: The wall and mahogany doors between the rotunda and drawing room were removed to provide a chapel; the library became the refectory; the dining-room became the conference room.

The marble columns in the library were dismantled and removed; statues and a marble Rococo chimney-piece were carefully put in storage in the basement; and other changes were made to turn the home into an institution.
 

In 1958, dry rot was discovered and the well-known Dublin architect Michael Scott suggested that the house be demolished to make way for a new building.

This did not happen, and repairs were made and central heating installed.

In 1969 the Jesuits left Emo, and the house was bought by  Major Cholmeley Dering Cholmeley-Harrison RM (retired). 

Major Cholmeley-Harrison had already employed the services of Sir Albert Richardson and Partners, the firm of architects, to restore his previous houses in London and Co Waterford, and at Emo they rose to the occasion.

Over a period of twenty years, Emo Court was restored to its former glory, even more glorious than before: The marble columns and chimney-piece, the magnificent doors, floors and walls were restored to a neo-Classical beauty; the entrance hall was painted in trompe-l’oeil to represent the plaster decoration that Gandon had planned but which was never carried out.

All of this was assisted by the discovery of Gandon’s original drawings for the house, which are now in the Irish Architectural Archive in Dublin. 

Major Cholmeley-Harrison presented Emo to the Irish state in 1994.

He continued to reside in the private apartments till he died, aged 99, in 2008.

Portarlington arms courtesy of European Heraldry.   First published in 2012.