Ernest Sandford, 1913-2006

ERNIE SANDFORD: A TRIBUTE TO A DISTINGUISHED PORTRUSH JOURNALIST,
FROM Coleraine Today

Ernie Sandford, known to many friends as Sandy, was born in Portrush, County Antrim, in 1913 where he was educated at Coleraine Academical Institution.

He proceeded to Queen’s University, Belfast, and after graduation he joined the Northern Constitution as a reporter.

The younger son of local grocer, Joseph Sandford, Ernie ‘had a distinguished career spanning from local reporter in Coleraine to Reuter’s office in Paris culminating in his appointment as head of press and publicity at the NI Tourist Board’.

During this career he wrote articles on local history, was a member of the amateur dramatic society – Portrush Players and at a stage secretary of the Portrush hockey club.

In the late 1930s Ernie left Coleraine and went on to work for the Belfast Newsletter, followed by a move to Fleet Street as sub-editor on the Daily Telegraph.

He was appointed the Press Association’s first war correspondent and after the War, returned to Fleet Street as chief reporter of the Sunday Chronicle.

Ernie, who was 'recognised as one of the most distinguished journalists Northern Ireland has produced’, resigned and moved to France in 1946 where he taught English for two years in a small college on the outskirts of Paris.

During his time there, he studied French language & civilisation at the Sorbonne and wrote his first book about a canoe trip from Mâcon to Lyons.

Following this he joined Reuters as head of their Paris office before going on to become information officer for the Marshall Plan (one such assignment meant that he was present at the historical singing of the Treaty of Rome).

In 1959, Ernie joined the Northern Ireland Government's London Office as publicity officer to the Ministry of Commerce and the Northern Ireland Development Council.

Some ten years later, he returned home for his appointment as Publicity Officer to the Tourist Board.

Although Ernie retired in 1978, he continued to write the guide book Discover Northern Ireland and had articles published in the Coleraine Old Boys’ Association and the Bann Disc (journal of the Coleraine Historical Society).

Ernie is survived by his wife Joyce [died 16th January, 2019], daughter Christine and son Patrick.

Do any readers possess a better image of Mr Sandford?

First published in April, 2020.

BH Memoirs: VIII

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, NEAR BELFAST

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954

Just before the War the Belfast Corporation had bought Orangefield farmyard and 46 acres of land as park.

We leased the farm buildings from the purchasers at a very high rent, so I purchased Carrowreagh Farm of 220 acres and left Lettice and Joe Barbour (the land steward) the enormous task of carrying out the necessary alterations and moving into it.

My leave had been extended a further two months at the request of Basil Brooke, our Prime Minister.

As Roddens House was burnt down in 1939, Lettice and the children had temporarily been living in the land steward's house.

We purchased BELTRIM CASTLE, Gortin, County Tyrone, in 1944, but as it was occupied by American forces, we were unable to move in until 1946.

In January, 1945, I stood for the two member constituency of County Down, for the Imperial Parliament.

The Rev Dr Little and Lord Castlereagh were the two sitting members, but Castlereagh decided not to stand again.

I was one of thirteen candidates – Unionist – to present themselves to the delegates and came out top, with Sir Walter Smiles [great-grandfather of Bear Grylls] second.

Dr Little, annoyed that he was not automatically accepted as an official candidate would not allow his name to go forward on the official candidates list.

He then, with another man called Brown, elected to stand as an unofficial Unionist.

Smiles and I were thus the official candidates, and Little and Brown went to the polls against us as unofficial Unionist candidates.

The result, after a very bitter election, was Little and Smiles elected and I came next.

What a horrible life it would have been!

This was my second and last attempt to become an MP at Westminster.

I had been a member of the Down County Council since 1936.

I did not distinguish myself in local government but I’m sure I can claim to be the first member of the Down County Council to give a forwarding address for minutes and correspondence as Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

THIS CONCLUDES MY EXTRACTS OF THE BLAKISTON-HOUSTON MEMOIRS.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL

BH Memoirs: VII

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, NEAR BELFAST

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954

In April, 1939, Roddens House was burnt down.

We had been carrying out some alterations and were living in one corner of the house.

A high wind was blowing off the sea and one of the front windows had been removed.

It was probably caused by a smouldering beam in the chimney.

We planned to rebuild starting on the 1st September, 1939, but Hitler had different plans.

In the meantime we lived in Roddens Farm House.

Lattice and the children remained there till after the war but built on two extra rooms.

In July, 1939, some of us Reservists were invited to do some voluntary training and I did a fortnight’s attachment to the 4th Hussars commanded by Scotty Cockburn at Tidworth.

To my amusement Bunny Head, who had been a Stockbroker in New York for the previous ten years, was my instructor!

At 9pm on the 31st August, 1939, the wireless announced that all Class “A” Reservists were to rejoin.

It was my 41st birthday.

I crossed over on the evening of the 1st September, having fixed up my affairs as best I could during the day.

I was in camp with the Eton OTC on 4 August 1914, and I remember well the cheer and songs with which we greeted the declaration of war then.

But we’d learnt what war meant since.

Waterloo Station was full of reservists rejoining their units and a sad looking lot they were.

When they actually joined and met their old comrades’ things cheered up in the canteen, but I could not help being struck by difference in atmosphere to that I just remembered a quarter of a century earlier.

During these two months I found plenty to do in connection with the buying of cows; bad reports of milk, and the rejection of 41 cows at one half yearly tubercular test.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL

Castlecoote House

THE COOTES WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY ROSCOMMON, WITH 10,348 ACRES

This is the parent stock, whence the noble houses of COOTE, Earls of Mountrath, and COOTE, Barons Castle Coote, both now extinct, emanated.

The first settler of the Cootes in Ireland, descended from a very ancient English family, was

SIR CHARLES COOTE, Knight (1581-1642), who served in the wars against O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, at the head, as captain, of 100 foot-soldiers, with which he was at the siege of Kinsale.

Sir Charles was appointed, by JAMES I, Provost-marshal of the Province of Connaught for life.

In 1620, he was constituted vice-president of the same province; and Sir Charles was created a baronet in 1621, designated of Castle Cuffe, Queen's County.

Sir Charles distinguished himself, subsequently, by many gallant exploits; but the most celebrated was the relief of Birr in 1642.

The surprising passage through Mountrath woods justly caused the title of Mountrath to be conferred upon his son; and the Coote Baronetcy, of Castle Cuffe, Queen's County, one of the oldest creations (1621) in the Baronetage.

Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet, Provost-Marshal and Vice-President of the Province of Connaught, greatly distinguished himself at the relief of Birr, 1642.

SIR CHARLES COOTE, 2nd Baronet (c1610-61), was elevated to the peerage, 1660, in the dignities of Baron Coote, of Castle Cuffe, Viscount Coote, and EARL OF MOUNTRATH, when the baronetcy merged with the peerage.

The 7th Earl and 8th Baronet, having no heir, obtained, in 1800, a new creation, namely Baron Castle Coote. 

This title became extinct in 1827, when the baronetcy reverted to the great-great-grandson of the 2nd son of the 1st Baronet.

Rear-Admiral Sir John Coote, 14th Baronet, CB CBE DSC, was Director of Naval Ordnance, 1955-58.

CASTLECOOTE HOUSE, near Castlecoote, County Roscommon, is situated on the site of a medieval castle, thought to have been built between 1570 and 1616.

It was a strategic site, and may have been the base of the Chieftains of Fuerty, the MacGeraghty clan. 

In 1616, it fell into the hands of Sir Charles Coote, who improved and re-fortified the castle.

The castle was attacked three times by the confederate forces in the 1640s.

Castlecoote House was built in the second half of the 17th century, within the enclosure of the old castle, which had by now fallen into ruins.

In the basement tower rooms, musket chambers still overlook the entrance steps.

In the 18th century the property passed into the ownership of the Gunnings, rumoured to have won it in a poker game.

The two Gunning sisters (one of whom was later to become Duchess of Hamilton and then Duchess of Argyll) were renowned for their beauty. Their portraits, painted by Joshua Reynolds, can be viewed in the main hall.

In the 20th century, the house was owned by Henry Strevens, a noted equestrian.

The present owner bought Castlecoote House in 1997,

The house was a cavernous ruin, with no floors, no ceilings, no stairs, no windows and crumbling interior walls. The entire basement was submerged beneath the earth and the main entrance steps had collapsed.

The restoration work took five years to complete, and included underpinning the foundations, consolidating the castle towers, rebuilding the mill race walls, landscaping the grounds and restoring the ceilings and ballroom to their former splendour.

First published in October, 2012.

BH Memoirs: VI

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, NEAR BELFAST

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954

I left the Army on the 1st November, 1935, after 19 years service.

The General Election was taking place a fortnight later.

From Chester I rang up Mr J M Andrews, Ulster’s Minister of Finance, in Northern Ireland, one evening to offer my services in the election in any capacity.

Next day I received a wire from Herbert Dixon [later 1st Lord Glentoran] asking me to contest Tyrone and Fermanagh.

It was a two seat constituency and a Lincolnshire farmer called Deane was to be my colleague.

We never had a chance unless there was a split among the nationalist opposition.

Unfortunately elections in Northern Ireland are a contest between the Roman Catholic Nationalists and the Protestant Unionists.

The election agents knew the exact voting strength of each side.

Up till nomination day we thought it might be a three-corner contest, but it turned out to be a straight fight.

Two nationalist abstentionists defeated us by about 52,000 to 46,000 votes.

We stayed at COLEBROOKE with Sir Basil Brooke [later 1st Viscount Brookeborough] for the election.

I had never made a political speech in my life before this election.

Since those days I have had quite a bit of experience in Irish Politics.

I fought a by-election in County Down on SIR DAVID REID's death in 1945, and stood as one of the Official Unionist candidates for County Down in the General Election in 1945.

I never succeeded.

As everyone knows, antagonism between the Roman Catholic anti-British Irish Free State and the Protestant pro-British North has been the dominant factor in every Northern Ireland Election since the passing of the Government of Ireland Act in 1920.

The Roman Catholics in the North with their co-religionists in Eire want Ireland to be one under an Irish Republican Parliament in Dublin; whereas the Ulster Protestants want to retain every tie that binds them to Britain.

The Ulster Unionist Party has been in power since 1921 without a break; Ulster enjoys great prosperity at present.

Agriculture is Ulster’s greatest industry, and while we are represented in Westminster and are constitutionally part and parcel of the United Kingdom, Ulster farmers enjoy the same guaranteed prices for their farm produce as do farmers in England.

From an economic point of view, therefore, we have no desire to join up with Eire.

As Protestants we have no desire to come under the control of a Roman Catholic Government in Dublin.

We are quite happy as we are.

The Ulster Government is strictly impartial to Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Unfortunately there have been one or two cases of local authorities having been not so impartial and uneducated men on both sides are definitely bigoted, but as far as government policy is concerned it is above reproach and why, then, it may be asked is Eire so anxious to absorb Northern Ireland?

On the map of the world Ireland is a very small place and, on the face of it, it seems ridiculous to have it divided into two countries.

The Irishman is intensely proud of having regained the status of Independent Nationhood.

He says “Ireland was a nation when England was a pup” etc.

Now to what extent is this claim true?

It can’t be denied that Ireland kept the flame of Christianity burning at a time when it was practically extinguished in England.

Neither can it be denied that the Penal Laws drove many fine Irishmen out of their native country.

It can’t be denied either, that the severity of those Penal Laws is still responsible for the present day hatred of England.

It is claimed that the Protestants of the North are not Irishmen at all but that they are all descendants of the Scottish and English Planters in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and the early Stewarts.

There is certainly some foundation for this, but purity of race in my belief can only be rightly claimed by a very few Celts who have been driven by a succession of invaders into the mountains and to the Atlantic Coast.

All the Eastern and Southern Counties were subjected to invasions by Danes, English, Scottish and others long before Ulster was touched.

Each invasion left its mark on the original inhabitants but like China, Ireland seemed to absorb them and they in their turn became “more Irish than the Irish”.

They adopted the Irish language and the Christianity of Ireland.

Fundamentally the Northerner is a materialist and the Southerner is a sentimental theorist.

Throughout history, however, except possibly for a very short time, Ireland never was a nation.

It was an agglomeration of three or four provinces or tribes usually warring against each other under rival chiefs.

Being unable to co-operate they never were able to keep invaders out and no one personality arose strong enough to defeat his competitors and to weld Ireland into a nation.

Far the greatest and most important claim Irishmen can make is that Ireland with England and Scotland were the foundation members of the Great British Empire.

Ireland has every right to make this claim.

It is not till one travels in America or in the British Dominions that one realises what Irishmen have done.

An Irishman is only half a man in Ireland.

We have argued the Irish question from many angles and as one always does, when Ireland is concerned, looked back into medieval history.

We have got no nearer a solution, and I’m beginning to think the present partition is the best we are likely to get for many years to come.

In spite of the fact that Eire was started off on her career with no National Debt and that she has been spared sharing in any cost of the two world wars, yet her economic position is not sound.

That is another very strong reason why she is so anxious to join up with the industrious North.

The Southern Irishman is one of the most pleasant companions in the world.

He is kind and full of good cheer and humour and is popular wherever he goes in the world.

It is a great relief to escape from the ever-present materialistic outlook of the modern world and there are few places where this can be done better than in Eire.

My father used to say “an Irishman is a man who honestly believes what he knows to be false.”

I have studied some of them for a long time now and am certain he was right.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL

Inish Rath Island

INISH RATH ISLAND is located north-west of Crom Estate on Upper Lough Erne, County Fermanagh.

It used to be called Coney Island and, more recently, it has become known as Krishna Island.

In 1915 the island comprised 23 acres.

The Victorian-Tudor style house on the island (above) was built in 1854 by the Hon Henry Cavendish Butler-Danvers (1811-91), a half-brother of the 5TH EARL OF LANESBOROUGH, of Lanesborough Lodge, near Belturbet, County Cavan.

Inish Rath ca 1915 (OSNI Historic Map)

It was subsequently purchased by the Earl of Erne for use as a hunting lodge.

During the early 20th century, the house was used for boating parties etc.

The island went through continuous change of ownership for about thirty years, when it was bought and sold.

At the height of the Northern Ireland Troubles, in 1982, property prices slumped in this border area.

A group of Hare Krishna monks, led by a German follower, Prithu Das, pooled their resources and took out a bank loan to buy Inish Rath, a perfect setting for a Hare Krishna centre.

The Hare Krishna temple was established in the west wing of the house with a magnificent gold altar at one end of the long room and a life size representation of Swami Prabhupada at the other.

Oriental arches frame the windows and polished pine floors add to the overall feeling of light and space.

The BBC has produced a short video clip of life on the island more recently.

BH Memoirs: V

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, BELFAST

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954

After a little leave at home I rejoined the 11th Hussars at Tidworth.

In the spring I got engaged to be married to Lettice Stobart, daughter of Harry Stobart of [Thornton Hall] Yorkshire.

I had applied for the adjutancy of the Yorkshire Dragoons but was turned down on the grounds that I was a bachelor.

I had wanted to be in Yorkshire to see Lattice but I could not very well give this reason to the Colonel of the Yorkshire Dragoons!

We were married in July, 1931.

Then I was appointed Adjutant of the Cheshire Yeomanry and was to take over on 1st November, 1931.

After we were married we spent a fortnight in Norway and as it was not worth setting up a house for three months we started living in the Everleigh Hotel near Tadworth.

The rooms were small and the roofs were low and I kept bumping my head, so we decided to pitch a camp on Salisbury Plain and live in it.

We borrowed a large marquee from the Quartermaster and five bell tents.

We engaged an ex-naval chef and I had my soldier servant.

We had a map reference for a postal address but actually we were only 500 yards from Trevor Smail’s house.

George Paul spent a few weeks with us as a guest and during manoeuvres we had visitors from far and wide.

My mother-in-law came and spent a few days with us.

Then we moved up to Eccleston at the Duke of Westminster’s [Eaton Hall] gate and we lived there for the next four years.

Mary and Anne were both born there.

I worked hard with the Cheshire Yeomanry and enjoyed the work with these enthusiastic yeomen.

The men were particularly keen.

We hunted with both the Cheshire and Sir Watkin Wynn’s hounds but mostly with the latter.

I did a bit more flying while at Chester and obtained my “A” certificate but I was never a good pilot.

During the time I was at Chester my father died at Roddens.

After this I had to cross over to Ireland for a three day visit each month to attend to the farms and the estate.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL

BH Memoirs: IV

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, NEAR BELFAST

 
HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954

In 1929, I was offered the post of the ADC [Aide-de-Camp] to Lord Stonehaven, the Governor-General of Australia.

After a certain amount of misgivings at first, I accepted and thus commenced one of the happiest and most interesting periods of my service.

The trip out took us six weeks but time went quickly.

Geoffrey Millar, 11th Hussars, who is an Australian, came out with me on the P&O “Multan.”

When we got to Port Said I thought I would like to go down to see my old friends in Cairo and the Royals who were then stationed there.

The Captain kindly arranged that I should join the ship again on a pilot boat in the middle of Lake Timash in the Suez Canal.

Geoffrey came with me to Cairo and after a night there we went off to Ismaïlia to wait for our ship.

While waiting I found the officers of a naval sloop which was lying there was holding a regatta and the Commander offered to allow me to sail the Captain’s longboat (or whatever it is called) in the race.

I had a sailor with me but he knew even less about sailing than I did.

After becoming becalmed I think we finished a good last but got back just in time to join our ship again.

HRH Prince Henry [Duke of Gloucester] was on board another P&O on his way to bestow the Order of the Garter or some such decoration on the Emperor of Japan.

When we arrived at Colombo, HRH and his party were there and we watched him play in a game of polo.

We also found time to motor up to Kandi, the hill station above Colombo and saw something of that lovely island.

We touched at Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne, and I reported for duty at Admiralty House, Sydney, in March, 1929.

I found the atmosphere at Government House most strained and unhappy.

Ken Nicholl was Military Secretary and there were two ADCs, David Nicholl, a gunner subaltern, and Ronald Leggett, RN, whom I was to succeed.

Ken Nicholl was exceptionally rude to Lady Stonehaven and to my mind very disloyal to His Excellency as well.

Ken Nicholl had made up his mind that Lady Stonehaven should have no private friends as it might cause jealousy, and seemed to have persuaded His Excellency to back him up in this policy.

I made friends at once with Lady Stonehaven, played tennis with her, and took her for walks.

Lord Stonehaven was a very active and conscientious Governor-General.

He was, perhaps, rather guarded and appeared to be on his dignity in his dealings with the Australians.

I think this was largely the fault of his staff.

He was intensely fond of travelling and we travelled thousands of miles by car, train, air and ship during my 18 months with him.

My first assignment was to accompany him to New England.

Here we stayed for the Inverell Carnival Week.

There were agricultural shows or Polo Tournaments every day and dances every night.

I’ve never before seen so many really lovely girls together.

Thanks to the generosity of an old Mr Ronald McKie, and Gordon and Douglas Munro I was mounted to play with them in one of the Polo Tournaments.

I was not long off the boat and was not in hard condition.

The Australians play polo in a saddle with a “roller” which I found rubbed my knees.

At that time everyone played in snaffles.

A few months later a team from India came out and defeated all their best teams.

After this the Australians schooled their ponies to play in double bridles and the saddler in Sydney told me he did an enormous trade in bits.

David Nicholl was also keen on polo and we decided that as one of us had always got to be in attendance on HE we would get no polo unless we made him play too.

David was commissioned to buy him a couple of ponies and from then on we ran a Government House team.

From time to time we had different people to make the fourth player but while we were in Melbourne we often had that good sportsman “Bran” Davidson, who I had known well in Egypt.

HE told me afterwards that this polo changed his whole outlook on life.

We stayed up on one occasion with Alan Currie for a polo week in the Eastern District of Victoria.

I still have a Cup we won there at the Caramut Tournament.

The Governor-General had three homes in those days and he divided his time between them.

They were Admiralty House, Sydney; Government House, Canberra; and Government House, Melbourne.

David and I liked Canberra best. The new capital of Canberra.

HE, David, and I used to go up to the Brindabella River in the snowy mountains to fish.

We stayed in a hut up there belonging to John Joceland.

HE was very keen fisherman.

The river was as clear as crystal and ran through one of the loveliest bit of mountain scenery in Australia.

It was all up-stream fishing and we used to catch very good baskets of rainbow trout.

Later on I started a small “bobbery” pack of hounds at Canberra.

I was given hounds by both the Findon Harriers, and the Melbourne Hunt.

We usually hunted hare.

The country was not ideal; it was mostly fenced with barbed wire and we had to gallop for the gates.

One day I remember running a hare down into Canberra, and checking opposite the Parliament House, just as all the government clerks and officials were going home from their offices.

There was an Irish policeman on duty at the crossroads when we checked.

He left his point and with his hat held high cheered us unto the line of our hare.

HE’s two daughters, Ariel and Ava, aged 13 and 11, used to come out to their ponies.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts reproduced by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL.

Tisdall of Charlesfort

THE TISDALLS OWNED 3,962 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY MEATH

This is a branch of the ancient family of TISDALL in England, which bore arms "three pheons argent on a shield sable." When, in 1679, Richard St George, Ulster King of Arms, ratified and confirmed the arms to Michael Tisdall, of Mount Tisdall, County Meath, and his brothers, he added "a thistle or," for distinction, as is stated in the original certificate in Ulster's office. 

The first of the family in Ireland was MICHAEL TISDALL, who had a sister, Catherine.

This Michael Tisdall was of Castleblayney, County Monaghan; he had issue, by his wife Ann  (née Singleton), seven sons and two daughters, namely,

MICHAEL, of whom presently;

James;

Thomas;

John;

Richard, father of Philip Tisdall;

George;

William, of Carrickfergus; father of William Tisdall;

Catherine; another daughter.

The eldest son,

MICHAEL TISDALL, of Mount Tisdall, County Meath, purchased in 1668 the Manor of Martry, County Meath (wherein the mansion of Charlesfort stands). 

He was Secondary of the Court of King's Bench in Ireland, and JP for County Meath in 1679, when arms were granted to him and his brother James by Henry St George, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms.

Mr Tisdall married, in 1666, Anne, daughter of the Rev William Barry, Rector of Killucan, brother of Sir James Barry, Knight, 1st Baron Santry, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland, and had issue,

WILLIAM, his heir;

Michael;

Catherine; Elizabeth.

The elder son,

WILLIAM TISDALL (1668-1725), of Mount Tisdall, wedded Frances, third daughter of the Hon Robert FitzGerald, and sister of Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare, and by her had issue,

MICHAEL, his heir;

George (Rev Dr).

Mr Tisdall was succeeded by his elder son,

MICHAEL TISDALL (1672-1726), MP for Ardee, 1713-26, who espoused Catherine, daughter of the Rt Hon William Palmer, Principal Secretary in Ireland, Secretary for War, and Commissioner for Appeals, MP for Castlebar, 1695-9, 1703-13, and had issue,

CHARLES, his heir;

Michael;

Catherine; Frances.

He was succeeded by his elder son,

CHARLES TISDALL (1719-57), of Mount Tisdall, who built a new house on his manor of Martry, and called it CHARLESFORT, which has since been the designation of the family.

He married, in 1754, Hester, daughter of Oliver Cramer, second son of Oliver Cramer, of Ballyfoyle, County Kilkenny, by Hester his wife, daughter of Sir John Coghill, Knight, LL.D, Master in Chancery, and had issue,

MICHAEL, his heir;

Charles.

The elder son,

MICHAEL TISDALL (1755-94), of Charlesfort, County Meath, High Sheriff of County Meath, 1788, wedded, in 1779, Juliana, daughter and co-heir (with her sister Jane, who married George, 1st Baron Headley) of Arthur Blennerhassett, of Ballyseedy, County Kerry, and had issue,

CHARLES ARTHUR, his heir;

James (Rev);

Archibald, rear-admiral in the Royal Navy;

Juliana; Catherine.

Mr Tisdall wedded secondly, the widow of the Rev _______ Crow.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

CHARLES ARTHUR TISDALL (1782-1835), of Charlesfort, High Sheriff of County Meath, 1811, who espoused, in 1807, Elizabeth, daughter of John Vernon, of Clontarf Castle, County Dublin, and had issue,

JOHN, his heir;

William;

Archibald, major-general in the Army;

James;

Juliana; Henrietta; Elizabeth; Maria; Frances.

Mr Tisdall was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOHN TISDALL JP DL (1815-92), of Charlesfort, High Sheriff of County Meath, 1841, who married, in 1837, Isabella, daughter of the Hon George Knox, and had issue,

Charles Arthur, died unmarried 1869;

John Knox, father of CHARLES ARTHUR;

George William;

Henry Chichester;

Vernon Archibald;

Richard Louis;

Arthur James;

Alfred Oliver (Rev);

Harriet Elizabeth; Isabella Maria; Anne Charlotte.

Mr Tisdall was succeeded by his grandson,

CHARLES ARTHUR TISDALL (1875-1914), of Charlesfort, Major, Irish Guards, who wedded, in 1904, Gwynneth May, only child of Charles Adshead, and had issue, two daughters, of whom one was born in 1907.

In 1914 Major Tisdall died, just a month after the 1st World War broke out, killed in action in the retreat from Mons in Belgium.

The Major's brother, William, came to live at Charlesfort in 1904, inherited in 1914 and remained there until his death in 1954.

During the 1st World War William stabled army horses at Charlesfort and tilled some of the land for vegetable growing.

William was High Sheriff of County Meath in 1921.

William's son, Michael, was in the army and was accidentally killed in 1940 during a military training exercise.

William Tisdall's wife also died the same year. Five years later William married a second time. His wife was Una Palmer Burke from Ballina.

William died aged 78 in 1954.

William was succeeded by his cousin, Dr Oliver Tisdall, who came with his family  to live on the estate in 1955 and he immersed himself in its activities.

Dr Tisdall died in 1964; his widow sold Charlesfort in 1968.

In recent years the Hogan family have rescued Charlesfort House and restored it.

Charlesfort (Image: Hogan's Farm)

CHARLESFORT, near Kells, County Meath, is a Georgian house comprising two storeys with a lower wing.

The original house is said to have been built in the 1740s; remodelled in the 1780s; and again in 1841.

The hall has Corinthian columns, and the drawing-room - in the early 18th century style -  contains panelling.

Charlesfort (Image: Hogan's Farm)

There is a frieze in the library.

The interior is said to have been rearranged by the Rev Daniel Beaufort.

BH Memoirs: III

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, KNOCKBREDA, NEAR BELFAST.

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954.

In March, 1924, I went home on a year’s leave on full pay.

DERMOT KAVANAGH also got a year’s leave.

I’m sure we were the last two officers in the British Army ever to be granted a year’s leave, except for special reasons.

Colonel Geoffrey Lockett had once praised me and said, “If ever you want anything, let me know,” so when the leave-book came round I put down March 1924 to March 1925.

The Colonel, of course, sent for me and asked me for my reasons and I reminded him of his promise.

He signed it, saying, “Of course the Brigadier will turn it down.”

However, it so happened the Mouse Tomkinson had just been appointed to the Brigade a few days before.

He came with one reputation – that he was in the habit of getting more leave than anyone else in the Army.

I suppose he thought he would not like to feel that his first act as Brigadier-General was to turn down two poor fellows leave – so it went through.

My parents were living at Finlaystone, near Glasgow in the winter and at Roddens in the summer.

My brother, George, was working in the Clyde Shipping Company in Glasgow.

I went with my father grouse-shooting and spent part of the winter hunting in County Meath.

Tommy Ainsworth [Sir Thomas Ainsworth Bt] and HOLMPATRICK were joint masters that year.

Ireland was still in an unsettled state.

The Government of Ireland Act had been passed in 1922 but the Free State Government were having trouble with the Republican element and there were frequent clashes between the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and the Free State Army.

I stayed with my uncle, GEORGE FOWLER, at Kells.

The Republicans had painted up on his wall, “FOWLER PREPARE FOR DEATH,” but that did not appear to worry my uncle.

My aunt used to tell an amusing story,

One day a taxi drove up to the National Bank in the small town of Carrickmacross, and three men got out. 

The leader produced a dirty bit of paper and presented it to the Manager. 

Written on it was “These men have been ordered to protect you, IRA.” 

Rumour flew round the town that the IRA had sent some men to protect first. 

The IRA leader replied that his orders were to protect the National Bank but he’d see what he could do to oblige, if the Manager stayed in the Bank and waited after closing hours. 

He left his two assistants in the National Bank and went on up to the Bank of Ireland. 

When he got to the strong room he took over the keys and gave the Manager a gentle push and locked him inside. 

The taxi drove up and collected the swag from both banks and proceeded on its way to Drogheda.

My aunt had another story about an unfortunate gentleman who had his house burned down by the IRA.

The house was a complete ruin but in the fire one wall had taken on a dangerous lean.

He received a letter from the IRA instructing him to take down this dangerous wall forthwith as it was endangering the lives of the people searching for “souvenirs” in the ruins.

In August, 1925, my brother George was accidentally drowned while shooting duck at Finlaystone.

His death was a great blow to me.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL 

Discover Northern Ireland

I cannot recall how long I've had a copy of this guide-book.

For me it encapsulates the very essence of Northern Ireland and the best places to visit.

Discover Northern Ireland was first published in 1976 by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

It was revised in 1977. A third edition was published in 1981. Has it been re-issued since then?

It most certainly ought to be.

Click Image to Enlarge

The book was written by Ernest Sandford.

The media has described it thus:

'A wonderful guidebook, an eminently readable guidebook ... it should be considered as a school textbook for local information ... in its detail and general comprehensiveness it is unique.'

This, to my mind, remains the definitive guide to Northern Ireland.

First published in March, 2010.

BH Memoirs: II

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, KNOCKBREDA, NEAR BELFAST.

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVORNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954.

IN 1908, at the age of ten, I went to school for one term at Mourne Grange, near Kilkeel, County Down.

I remember the journey well because we travelled in an Argyll motor car, and a great deal of stopping was necessary to allow the car to cool off on the hills.

Next term I went to Arnold House, Llandullas, North Wales, and stayed there until I went to Eton in September, 1911.

My career at Eton was not a very distinguished one: I got my Lower Boats, and passed most of my trials and made many friends, but I can’t claim that my school-days were the happiest days of my life.

In any case I was only there four years and left in December, 1915, after passing into Sandhurst, rather unexpectedly.

I had been in Army Class from the time I became an “Upper”, and I now realised how very narrow the specialized this Army Class modern school was.

It is only within the last few years that I have read any English Literature.

Of Shakespeare, of Milton, Thackeray, and of other English Classics I knew nothing.

My brother, George, was eighteen months younger than me.

We shared a room together at Bookers’ House.

The winter holidays were spent at Roddens where we used to hunt two days a week with the Ards Harriers.

CAPTAIN DICK KER was Master, and his son David hunted them.

As the Kers lived outside the hunting country my father turned his laundry into a kennels and much of our time was occupied in exercising hounds.

My father took some 42,000 acres of Grouse Shooting at Pettigo, County Donegal, for five years from 1912.

We lived in The Agency, a house in the village of Pettigo.

We were allowed to ask some of our friends from Eton over, so the house was packed from the 12th of August till the end of the summer holidays.

Two parties, each of two grown-ups and a boy shot each day over dogs, and two boats with the remainder of the party fished Lough Derg for brown trout.

It was four miles of mountain road from Pettigo to the Lough.

The Lough is one of the most beautiful in Ireland, about four miles by five, with over a hundred islands.

It is set like a blue gem in the midst of the soft brown or purple of the hills of County Donegal.

With hardly another human habitation to be seen the natural beauty of the landscape is broken by the great mass of churches and hotels clustered together on Station Island.

Here, each year up to 10,000 Roman Catholic pilgrims congregate between 1st July and 15th August to do penance at the St Patrick’s pilgrimage.

 *****

ABOUT 1909 I was invited by the Lady Londonderry of the day who, I think, was Lady-in-Waiting to The Queen, to stand on the balcony at Windsor Castle to witness the landing of the first aeroplane ever to fly across the English Channel, and it landed on Runnymede, driven by Blériot.

I was accompanied by young Bonar Law, another Eton Boy, whose father was then Prime Minister.

After passing into Sandhurst I spent about a month staying in County Meath with my aunt, Mabel Fowler, and hunting with the Meath Hounds.

BRYAN FOWLER, my cousin, who was just my age, had passed into Woolwich at the same time and so we hunted in couples.

General Powell was then Master of the Meaths.

On the days we were not hunting we were shooting snipe with my uncle, George Fowler.

In January, 1916, I went to Sandhurst.

I was only to spend seven months there as I was commissioned into 11th Hussars in August 16th, 1916, a fortnight before my eighteenth birthday.

I enjoyed my seven months at Sandhurst. It was a hard school.

As cavalry cadets we were posted to “K” Company.

Major Lomer commanded the company and John Hinde, 15th Hussars, and Jack Nettlefold was very strict and severe.

My father had given me a polo pony and, instead of keeping him in Pitchell’s livery stable, I took stabling at a “Pub” in Camberley, and looked after ponies for LUMP ALTAMONT (6th Marquess of Sligo), Blandford (9th Duke of Marlborough) and Scabbard Sword, who later on succeeded me as Adjutant of the Cheshire Yeomanry, as well as my own.

It certainly taught me something of the mysteries of Horse-mastership.

We passed out in August, 1916, and I was posted to the 12th Reserve Cavalry Regiment at Warburg Barracks in Aldershot.

Looking back my method of joining up is amusing.

 *****

AT THAT TIME I was very interested in cockfighting and had several cocks at walk in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

I brought two cocks with me to Aldershot.

Most of the time they were kept in large cages in the officers’ quarters in the passage outside my room.

Later, I suppose for sanitary reasons, they were transferred to the miniature range Nissen hut.

On Sunday mornings it was the habit of our commanding officer, Colonel Ronnie Brooke DSO (elder brother of Lord Alanbrooke and uncle of SIR BASIL BROOKE, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland) to carry out a tour of inspection of the Barracks after Church parade.

For the inspection my game cocks had been hidden in front of the target, but just as the Commanding Officer and his staff were leaving, the range of cocks gave a loud “Cock-a-doodle-do”.

The CO had gone out but wondered why his staff were tittering behind him.

I was in Eric Crossley’s Squadron “C” and soon CHARLES MULHOLLAND (later 3rd Lord Dunleath) returned to the Reserve Regiment after being very badly wounded in the early days of the War.

He became 2nd i/c "C" Squadron.

His younger brother, Harry, was also there as a lieutenant and Hotchkiss Gun instructor.

Towards the end of 1916 I conducted a draft out to Rouen.

I remember how cold the weather was.

The ice was so thick on the Seine that we had to have a thick skinned tug to proceed us.

The only person I knew in Rouen was my uncle, Charlie Blakiston-Houston, who was Major in Command of the Ulster Division, RASC.

Uncle Charlie was a well known character wherever he went.

I did not know his address but asked the first Frenchman I met on the Docks.

He immediately replied “Oui, Oui,” and personally conducted me to the suburbs of Rouen where my uncle had his camp.

He was such a character that he had made himself very well know in Rouen.

He was most unorthodox in his methods of dealing with his men and addressed them all either by their Christian names or as “My Dear."

About the middle of 1917, I was sent on draft leave preparatory to joining the 11th Hussars in France, but as I was still under 19 years old, unknown to me my mother wired Charles Mulholland, and I was waylaid and brought back to Aldershot.

About this time an appeal appeared in Regimental Orders for volunteers for the Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps, which later became the Tank Corps – I sent my name forward.

Horsed cavalry at this period of the war was not a very satisfactory arm of the service to belong to.

Trench lines and barbed wire entanglements made their employment in their true role virtually impossible and more often than not they were employed dismounted.

In August, 1917, I was seconded and posted to the 13th Battalion of the Tank Corps, and was stationed at Wareham and Bovington Camps in Dorset.

For the next five months we worked very hard forming the Battalion and attending innumerable courses.

At the end of January, 1918, we sailed as a half-trained unit to continue our training near St Pol in the Pas de Calais.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL

BH Memoirs: I

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, NEAR BELFAST

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954

I was born on 31st August, 1898, at Orangefield, Belfast.

ORANGEFIELD was then the home my grandfather, John Blakiston-Houston.

He was the father of twelve children.

His wife (my grandmother) was then dead, and about half of his children were married and away.

My aunt Nina, the eldest unmarried daughter, acted as housekeeper and hostess.

Entertaining was done on a large scale and it was not uncommon for twenty people to sit down to dinner.

My father and mother lived then at Charlesfort, Kells, County Meath, in the winter for the hunting, and at Roddens, Ballywalter, County Down, twenty miles from Orangefield by the sea in the summer months.

I remember Charlesfort well as we lived there every winter till 1907 when John Watson, the famous master of the Meath Hounds, died.

There must have been stabling for twenty horses in the yard and several friends of my father used to come and stay most winters with their horses, for three weeks or a month at a time.

A regular visitor was my father’s cousin, CHARLIE O'HARA, from County Sligo.

He brought with him a team of small horses, all of which he’d bred himself.

John Hand was the Stud Groom, one of the real old-fashioned sort.

He had a sure cure for every horse ailment.

There were some other attractive characters about Charlesfort: Johnny Fox, the gardener, was a great friend of ours as children.

He used to unlock the door of the little ivy-covered apple house and produce an apple apiece.

The box hedges were a feature of the Charlesfort garden, and one of them nicely trimmed, must have been fifteen feet high.

Another favourite was his wife, Mrs Fox, who looked after the hens and turkeys and who always wore a shawl and a red skirt, as did most of the country women in County Meath in those days.

Wages were not high then: Johnny Fox, the head gardener, got 10/- a week; and one, Willy Gahan, with a wife and seven children, got 7/-.

He lived in a labourer’s cottage for which I expect he had to pay 1/6 a week in rent.

These labourers' cottages usually had half an acre of land.

On this he grew vegetables and probably kept fowl and a coupe of goats which spent most of their time grazing on the sides of the roads.

In many cases these cottages carried “turbury” rights with them.

This gave the occupier permission to cut a bank of turf.

However he must have had a hard struggle.

The biannual move of the family from Roddens to Charlesfort and vice versa was a memorable undertaking.

The horses and polo ponies often travelled the 100 miles by road, stopping at friends' houses for two or three nights en route.

I remember my mother once driving the pony “Puck” up in the Tub or Governess Cart.

We children usually travelled by train to Belfast where we were met by the Orangefield brake [van] and taken to stay the night there.

For the remaining twenty miles to Roddens one of the farm floats from Orangefield was usually borrowed for the luggage, while a Public Long Car, drawn by two horses, was hired to covey the servants, Nanny and us children, accompanied by “Joker” the goat, and “Cooky” the rough-haired fox terrier.

Bradshaw's Brae was a severe tax on the horses and most of the party were expected to dismount to lighten the load.

From Roddens my father used to drive up to play polo at Orangefield twice a week.

He usually went the whole twenty miles by road in a dog-cart and drove back at night.

The polo ponies were kept at Orangefield and the polo ground was on my grandfather’s property.

My father was very fond of driving and was a very good “whip” with a four-in-hand.

Two coaches were kept at Orangefield and nearly every spring a coaching tour was arranged.

The party consisted of the members of the family, my aunts, and uncles, and their friends.

One year they visited the Highlands of Scotland and another they toured County Kerry and County Limerick.

Between times the coach was only taken out to go to point-to-point races and I remember how proud I was once, when I was older, being allowed to “handle the ribbons” on the way to Comber Races.

At Roddens, we children used to play on the farm and on the shore, and occasionally go fishing on the sea or on the Strangford Lough.

We also spent a good deal of time riding with my father.

First published in January, 2017.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL

Castle Durrow

THE VISCOUNTS ASHBROOK WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTIES KILKENNY AND OFFALY, WITH 16,768 ACRES

The family of FLORE, or FLOWER, formerly seated at Oakham, Rutland, represented that county in parliament during the reign of RICHARD II, in the person of ROGER FLORE MP, Speaker of the House of Commons during the time of HENRY VI, who died in 1427.

The Irish branch was founded by

SIR GEORGE FLOWER, Knight, who, in ELIZABETH I's reign, embracing a military life, was a very active and brave officer against the rebels in Ireland, having command of 100 foot-soldiers in the old army.

In 1601, he was Sergeant-Major of Her Majesty's army; and thereafter was knighted and appointed Governor and Constable of Waterford Fort, 1627; and soon after died.

Sir George was succeeded by his eldest son, 

THE RT HON SIR WILLIAM FLOWER, Knight,  also a military man in service under Lieutenant-General Michael Jones, Governor of Dublin, during the Irish rebellion in 1641, and subsequently one of the Privy Council of CHARLES II.

Sir William was born at Whitwell, Rutland, in 1600. During the Irish rebellion, he was seized, in 1648, with other officers, on suspicion of affection to the Marquess of Ormonde (Lord Ormonde was their former general at that time, upon his return to the Kingdom), where they were sent prisoners to England. 

Sir William lived to see the restoration of CHARLES II, to whose first Parliament, in 1661, he was returned as Member for St Canice (Irishtown).

He was made captain of a company of foot and afterwards lieutenant-colonel to GEORGE II's Regiment of Guards, in Ireland.

He was appointed, in 1662, one of the trustees for "Satisfying the Arrears of the Commissioned Officers" who served His Majesty in Ireland before the 5th June, 1649.

He wedded Frances, daughter of Walter Weldon, of St John's Bower, County Kildare, and widow of William Savage.

Sir William's nephew,

THOMAS FLOWER, of Durrow, County Kilkenny (son of John Flower), married, firstly, in 1683, Mary, fourth daughter of Sir John Temple, Attorney-General for Ireland, by whom he had one son, WILLIAM; and secondly, Miss Jeffries, by whom he had two other children, Jeffreys and Catherine.

He was succeeded by his elder son,

WILLIAM FLOWER (1685-1746), of Durrow, MP for County Kilkenny, 1715-27, Portarlington, 1727-33, High Sheriff of County Kilkenny, 1731, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1733, in the dignity of Baron Castle Durrow, of Castle Durrow, County Kilkenny.

His lordship espoused Edith, daughter of the Hon Toby Caulfeild, and had two sons and two daughters.

He was succeeded by his only surviving son,

HENRY, 2nd Baron, who was created, in 1751, VISCOUNT ASHBROOK.

His lordship married Elizabeth, daughter of Lieutenant-General William Tatton, and dying in 1752, left, with two daughters, a son and successor,

WILLIAM, 2nd Viscount (1744-80), who wedded, in 1766, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Ridge, by whom he had two sons and four daughters,

WILLIAM, his successor;
HENRY JEFFREY, 4th Viscount;
Harriet; Caroline; Sophia; Elizabeth.

His lordship was succeeded by his elder son,

WILLIAM, 3rd Viscount (1767-1802), at whose decease, unmarried, the honours devolved upon his brother,

HENRY JEFFREY, 4th Viscount (1776-1847), who espoused firstly, in 1802, Susannah, only daughter and heiress of the Rev William Maximilian Freind, and granddaughter and heiress of THOMAS WALKER, of Woodstock, by whom he had issue,

HENRY, his successor;
Caroline; Susannah Sophia.

He married secondly, in 1812, Emily Theophila, daughter of Sir Thomas Metcalfe Bt, and had, by that lady, one surviving daughter, Charlotte Augusta.

His lordship was succeeded by his son,

HENRY JEFFREY, 5th Viscount (1806-71), High Sheriff of County Kilkenny, 1834, who wedded, in 1828, Frances, daughter of the Ven Sir John Robinson Bt, Archdeacon of Armagh, and had issue,

HENRY JEFFREY, his successor;
WILLIAM SPENCER, 7th Viscount;
ROBERT THOMAS, 8th Viscount;
Mary Sophia; two other daughters.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

HENRY JEFFREY, 6th Viscount (1829-82), DL, High Sheriff of Queen's County, 1856, who espoused, in 1860, Emily, daughter of John Frederick Abingdon, and had issue, an only child, WILLIAM SPENCER (1875-82).

His lordship was succeeded by his next brother,

WILLIAM SPENCER, 7th Viscount (1830-1906), DL, who married, in 1861, Augusta Madeline Henrietta, daughter of George Marton, and had issue, two daughters,

Lucy Adelaide Frances; Adelaide Caroline.

His lordship was succeeded by his brother,

ROBERT THOMAS, 8th Viscount (1836-1919), who wedded, in 1866, Gertrude Sophia, daughter of the Rev Sewell Hamilton, and had issue,

LLOWARCH ROBERT, his successor;
Reginald Henry;
Frances Mary; Eva Constance Gertrude; Gertrude.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

LLOWARCH ROBERT, 9th Viscount (1870-1936), DL, who espoused, in 1899, Gladys Lucille Beatrice, daughter of General Sir George Wentworth Alexander Higginson, and had issue,

DESMOND LLOWARCH EDWARD, his successor;
Eileen Augusta Sybil.

Henry Jeffrey Flower, 4th Viscount (1776–1847);
Henry Jeffrey Flower, 5th Viscount (1806–71);
Henry Jeffrey Flower, 6th Viscount (1829–82);
William Spencer Flower, 7th Viscount (1830–1906);
Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount (1836–1919);
Llowarch Robert Flower, 9th Viscount (1870–1936);
Desmond Llowarch Edward Flower, 10th Viscount (1905–95);
Michael Llowarch Warburton Flower, 11th Viscount (b 1935).

The heir apparent is the present holder's son, the Hon Rowland Francis Warburton Flower (b 1975). 

The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son Benjamin Warburton Flower (b 2006).

CASTLE DURROW, near Durrow, County Laois, is an early 18th century mansion, with a high-pitched roof and tall chimney-stacks.

It was constructed by Colonel William Flower MP, later 1st Lord Castle Durrow. Colonel Flower commenced with the construction of the manor in 1712.

The Flower family assumed residency of Castle Durrow in 1716.

The house consists of two storeys with a dormered attic in the roof; nine bays, of which the front is divided into three groups of three bays by huge Doric pilasters, formerly crowned with urns (now erected on the porch).

Later generations of the Ashbrooks adorned the house with 18th century plasterwork and 19th century stained-glass.

There is a notable castellated entrance gate in the square of the town of Durrow.

Castle Durrow was sold by the 9th Viscount in 1922.

Subsequently, the property was sold to a Mr Maher of Freshford, County Kilkenny, who was primarily interested in the rich timber reserves of the estate.

By 1928 the old hard wood forests of Durrow were scarce.

Eventually the Irish Land Commission divided up the arable portions of the property, and the forestry department took over many of the woods for further plantation.

During this time Castle Durrow was vacant for a few years.

In 1929, with the Bishop’s approval, the parish of Durrow acquired the estate for the purchase price of £1,800 and Castle Durrow was transformed into a school, St Fintan’s College and Convent.

Peter and Shelley Stokes bought the castle in 1998 and transformed it into a hotel.

Other former seat ~ Beaumont Lodge, Old Windsor, Berkshire.
Present seat ~ Arley Hall, Cheshire.

First published in October, 2012.   Ashbrook arms courtesy of European Heraldry.