Belfastiensis

Isaac W Ward (Image: Ulster Museum)

Isaac William Ward (1834-1916), born in Belfast, composed an article in 1906 for the Ulster Journal of Archæology entitled "Belfast Castle, Donegall House, and Ormeau House, the Residences of the Donegall Family." He used the pen-names "Belfastiensis" and "Linea" when contributing to Belfast newspapers and journals. I have hereby reproduced a slightly condensed version of his article.

Isaac Ward lived at 22, Camden Street. He came from a noted Belfast family which farmed land where the Malone Golf Course is now located. He was among the foremost observers of the day, despite the fact that his sole observing instrument was a 4.3-inch refractor. According to David Beesley, his chief handicap was his own modesty, a trait that prevented his genius from being more widely appreciated. 

Beesley writes: "His brain was one that registers mathematical accuracy without effort: the keen vision, the cast-iron memory were all attributes of the highest, and had ambition ever lured him away from his native Belfast, greater aims and scope of work might have placed him in the ranks of the foremost scientific men of the day."

LORD DEPUTY Arthur Chichester, who rebuilt the castle of Belfast about 1610, was not very often within its walls, on account of his official duties requiring his presence in Dublin.

He died in London in February, 1625, and was interred in the vault at St Nicholas Church, in Carrickfergus, in October following.

His brother Edward, Viscount Chichester, succeeded him, and appears to have led an uneventful life until the period of the breaking out of the Irish Rebellion in October, 1641, when he wrote to CHARLES I on account of the crisis in the north.

He left Belfast for England shortly after the commencement of the Civil War, leaving his son, Colonel Arthur Chichester, in charge of the garrison.

He died in England in July, 1648, and was interred in Devon.

He was succeeded by his son Arthur, who was created first Earl of Donegall in 1647, and who, after the Restoration, resided at his castle in Belfast, with the exception of his summer sojourns at Joymount, Carrickfergus, until his death in 1675, when he was interred at Carrickfergus.

It must have been by him (instead of the third Earl, as stated by Henry Joy), that the reclamation of the estuary of Blackstaff river was made.

Of his nephew Arthur, the second Earl, who succeeded him, very little is known.

He was attainted by JAMES II in May, 1689, as an absentee; and when WILLIAM III stayed in Belfast for five days in June, 1690, on his way to the Boyne, His Majesty was entertained by the Dowager Countess of Donegall instead of by Arthur, the second Earl, which seems to be very singular, as he must have then been alive.

He probably died early in 1692, as his son Arthur, the third Earl, who succeeded him, was admitted a free burgess of Belfast in March 1691-2, and resided in his castle in Belfast for over seven years.

During this time (which were years of dearth) he gave employment to great numbers in the carrying out of important improvements on his estate at Belfast, in various ways, and, amongst others, diverted the course of the Blackstaff river by constructing a new cut into the Lagan, called the Cromac Dock.

In 1701 he raised a regiment from his tenantry at Malone, and in the following year joined the army of Prince George of Denmark in Spain, in defence of the rights of the House of Austria.

The Prince of Hesse appointed him Major-General of the Spanish forces; but, unfortunately, he fell at the assault on the foot of Montjuïc, near Barcelona, on the 10th April, 1706.

Two years afterwards the castle of Belfast was destroyed by fire through an accident, when three daughters of the late Earl perished in the flames, and the castle was never rebuilt.

ARTHUR, the fourth Earl, was a minor when his father was killed, and, being of weak intellect, the estate was placed under trustees until his death, in Cheshire, in 1757, when his remains were brought over and interred in Carrickfergus.

His nephew Arthur, the fifth Earl, who succeeded him, was created first Marquess of Donegall in 1791, and during his possession of the estates he was a generous benefactor to Belfast, having granted the several sites of the Brown and White Linen Halls, the Old Poorhouse, or Charitable Society's buildings, and built the Old Exchange and Assembly Rooms and the Parish Church (St Anne's) at his sole expense, besides contributing some £60,000 in the extension of the Lagan Canal to Lough Neagh.

He was not resident in Belfast, but visited it at various times from 1765 until his death, early in 1799.

He probably built the residence (later demolished) called "The Castle," in Castle Place, for use when sojourning in Belfast, and also Parkmount as a country seat.

WHEN George Augustus, the second Marquess, arrived in Belfast on the death of his father, "The Castle" was occupied by the law agent, Thomas Ludford Stewart, and the Marquess took, as a temporary residence, a house situated at the south-east corner of Donegall Place, now covered by the premises of Robinson & Cleaver, and of which William McCance was landlord; but at the end of 1799, the house on the opposite or south-west corner of Donegall Place (then called Linenhall Street) was advertised to be let by its owner, John Brown, who then occupied it - (Previously General Nugent had been his tenant) - and the Marquess became the tenant at the annual rent of £128 2s, when its name became "Donegall House."

It may be interesting to mention the value of the building-ground when acquired by John Brown in 1785 from the fifth Earl of Donegall, having a frontage to Donegall Place of 60 feet for building site, and 30 feet for garden, with a frontage extending 250 feet along Donegall Square North (then called South Parade) for a term of 99 years.

John Brown was High Sheriff of County Antrim in 1783, in which year he laid the foundation stone of White Linen Hall. He was also Sovereign of Belfast in 1797, 1799, 1800, and in 1801, when he died in office.

On this site were erected five houses (in addition to Donegall House) in South Parade.

When residing in Donegall House, the Marchioness had many gatherings and festivities. On one occasion (9 June, 1802) it was recorded that "a grand ball and supper were given the the Marquess and Marchioness at their house in Linenhall Street, when over 200 guests were entertained." We fancy the house must have been overcrowded that night. Benn mentions that the only guest's name given was the Hon C Skeffington.

This nobleman [Skeffington] then resided at his official residence (as Collector of Customs) at the north-west corner of Donegall Place, the site now covered by Anderson & McAuley's premises.

He succeeded his brother, as the Earl of Massereene, when resident in Belfast, and laid the foundation-stone of St George's Chapel-of-Ease in 1813, but he died in Dublin shortly before the opening of the church in 1816.

UP to the end of 1803, Ormeau Cottage had been occupied by the family of Edward Kingsmill (nee Brice), the last resident being Captain Cortland Skinner, his son-in-law.

Edward Kingsmill himself died at Castle Chichester (Whitehead) in June, 1796, and for a long time he had held high positions here, being Storekeeper and Surveyor of the Port, and Agent to the Marquess of Donegall for his Irish estates, and also Agent to Lord Dungannon, who, in addition to his own estate, then leased Island Magee.

ABOUT the end of 1807, or beginning of 1808, the Marquess of Donegall removed to Ormeau, which he enlarged from time to time.

Ormeau House in 1832, from the engraving by Edward Proctor

His fourth son, Lord Arthur Chichester, was born there on the 30th September, 1808.

The third son, Lord Spencer Chichester, was born at Donegall House, 27 November, 1805.

The second son, Lord Edward (afterwards Dean of Raphoe, and fourth Marquess was born at the first-mentioned house in Donegall Place (William McCance's) on the 11th June, 1799.

After the Marquess left Donegall House, it was probably tenanted by Narcissus Batt for a short time, until he purchased Purdysburn about 1811, when Thomas Verner, Senior (brother-in-law to the Marquess), who was Collector-of-Excise, followed, and resided at Donegall House until he retired from his official position in 1826.

He was succeeded as tenant by Charles Kerns [Kearns?], opening it as "The Royal Hotel."

We remember seeing Daniel O'Connell, with Tom Steele and others, at one of the windows of the hotel in January, 1841.

The Hotel had many distinguished guests and visitors during the seventy years of its existence under Charles Kerns, Matt Bowen, and Miss Doyle, to its close in 1897, including the Duke of Connaught, Lord John Russell, John Bright, Father Cahill, C Dillon, J Whyte Melville, Thackeray, Dickens, S C Hall, Barry Sullivan, Adelina Patti, Titiens, Foli, E Lloyd, Nansen, etc, etc.

THE second Marquess of Donegall resided at Ormeau for nearly forty years, and when here was seen almost daily riding into town on his cream-coloured pony, followed by Brittain, his belted groom, on a big black charger, and generally alighted in Castle Place, near the Donegall Arms.

He died at Ormeau on Saturday, 5th October, 1844, and was interred in the family vault in St Nicholas Church, Carrickfergus, on the following Saturday, 12th October, when we recollect seeing the great funeral cortege passing through High Street.

HE was succeeded by his son, George Hamilton, the third Marquess, who never resided at Belfast after he came into the possession of the estates; but his relative, Thomas Verner, Junior, resided for some time at Ormeau after 1844, and its 175 acres were leased to the Belfast Corporation in 1868, at a rental of £1,752, 16s 2d per annum [about £157,000 in 2023].

WHEN on one of his visits to Belfast (during the riots in August, 1864), the third Marquess was obliged to act in his capacity as Lieutenant of the county, in quelling a disturbance when a funeral procession was passing the Ulster Club, where he was stopping; and the Mayor (John Lyttle JP) being out of town, the Marquess gave instructions to the military and the police who were stationed in Castle Place.

The Marquess died in 1883, when the estates devolved on his daughter Harriet, Countess of Shaftesbury, and was succeeded in the title by his brother Edward, Dean of Raphoe, who enjoyed it only six years, having died in 1889, aged 90, and was succeeded by his son, George Augustus Hamilton, fifth Marquess, who died in 1903.

THE third Belfast Castle (under Ben Madigan) was built in 1868 by the third Marquess.