,

1836-1970 West Cork Agricultural Societies and Shows

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yoNjmDNQKT_pk3nvlCsT72YWYoDENcs–uaJxh2ber8/edit

Ms. Carrie (Caroline Mary)  Townshend, (1859 -1951).  West Cork  and Dublin.  Popularity of the Irish Harp.  Teacher of Irish. Giving evidence in America of British Brutality During Troubles in Ireland.  Member Christian Science Church.  1915 Aeridheacht at Glandore with Madeline Townshend.  The name Caroline Townshend is known to only a handful of people in Ireland but if any deserves to be a household name, surely it is hers, for it almost entirely due to her efforts that the ancient Irish harping tradition became firmly re-established.

https://wordpress.com/post/durrushistory.com/40808

When the larger past of the Island of Ireland became independent in 1922 there were no more redcoats and the land issue had been settled. In contrast in many European countries even in the 1930s a tiny minority owned most of the land as in Hungary.

This eviction was in Co. Clare note partly reroofed house

Re the transfer of Land, the Irish Land commission transferred nearly 14.5 million acres from the Landed Estates to the tenant almost 70% of the landmass of the Island of Ireland.

As an aside many literary figures such as Hugh Leonard worked there.

By my reckoning this was probably the largest voluntary land transfer in world  history.  It was motivated by the concept of killing Home Rule by Kindness. 

From around 1895 if the Estate was willing to sell the Land Commission offered market value with a premium of 25% for selling on a voluntary basis.  By that time most estates were distressed and they were only too willing to sell.

They had to produce legal title to the satisfaction of the Land Commission Law Officer. As a consequence there are 8.5 million documents stored in a warehouse in Portlaoise. The denial of  access to the public is a national scandal.  Many of these are certified copies of records the originals of which were destroyed in the Public Records Office in 1922.

Extract enclosed from submission to Dr. Robert Watt, then Secretary General D/Public Expenditure and Reform.  He called me to come and meet him with good vibes but no sign of progress.

Landed Estates

Fior anyone interested there is a really good online site maintained by UCG on the landed esta and families.

http://www.landedestates.ie/

Popularly the land struggle is remembered as grasoi landlords and evicted tenants.  The reality was different with many nuances.

In the West Cork area which am familia  what the various estates say the Beecher family in 1780 had 50,000 acres admittedly some of it mountain and bog.  The family ran up significant debts maintaining a house in London, William Wrixon Beecher married the celebrated Irish actress  Miss Elizabeth O’Neill in 1819.

It was funded from the 1790s by granting leases for 3 lives and  21 years for a capital sum.  Usually a few townlanads  were involved.  Those who got them were the middlemen and included well to do Church of Ireland and Methodist farmers as well as a significant cohort of well  to do local Catholics  some being of the old Gaelic Gentry.  Acting in a logical fashion they  extracted as much as they could  l knowing that when their lease would expire there wouldn’t be compensation unlike in Ulster.

The Beecher estate was insolvent  and ended up in the Landed Estate Court in the 1850s  it was stated that the middlemens rent was three times that received by the Beechers.

Some of the purchase of the Beecher and other local estates included

Timothy McCarthy Downing, Nationalist MP and solicitor had  7,000 acres

Samuel Levis (family of Huguenot extraction, Skibbereen, merchant and baronial constable (Tax Collector)

Wright family, Claonakilty, land agents and solicitors. 

1898.  Bantry Petty Session Court.  Stirring Days if the Land League Recalled.  Intimidation, Eviction, Boycott, Cattle Maiming.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=41714&action=edit

1886 Attempted Eviction and Siege at Tim Hurley’s Castle (Mill and Farm) , Castleview, Clonakilty.  Landlord Francis Evans Bennett, (1824-1888), Cregan Manor, Rosscarbery.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=40817&action=edit

Collections for Evicted Tenants, Castlehaven/Myross, Myross, Ardfield, Rathbarry. 1892 Collection Ballyroe. 1893, Clonakilty Evicted Tenants Fund. Like a Mini Census. Fiery address of James Gilhooley, M.P., in Goleen on Evictions. Gilhooley ‘The Irish People Have Never Acknowledged this Right of Any Nation In the World To Govern Them.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=39997&action=edit

Eviction on Wright Holding, Coolculaghta, Durrus, May 1883.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=16386&action=edit

Re the transfer of Land, the Irish Land commission transferred nearly 14.5 million acres from the Landed Estates to the tenant almost 70% of the landmass of the Island of Ireland.

As an aside many literary figures such as Hugh Leonard worked there.

By my reckoning this was probably the largest voluntary land transfer in world  history.  It was motivated by the concept of killing Home Rule by Kindness. 

From around 1895 if the Estate was willing to sell the Land Commission offered market value with a premium of 25% for selling on a voluntary basis.  By that time most estates were distressed and they were only too willing to sell.

They had to produce legal title to the satisfaction of the Land Commission Law Officer. As a consequence there are 8.5 million documents stored in a warehouse in Portlaoise. Many of these are certified copies of records the originals of which were destroyed in the Public Records Office in 1922.

Landed Estates

Fior anyone interested there is a really good online site maintained by UCG on the landed esta and families.

http://www.landedestates.ie/

Popularly the land struggle is remembered as grasoi landlords and evicted tenants.  The reality was different with many nuances.

In the West Cork area which am familia  what the various estates say the Beecher family in 1780 had 50,000 acres admittedly some of it mountain and bog.  The family ran up significant debts maintaining a house in London, William Wrixon Beecher married the celebrated Irish actress  Miss Elizabeth O’Neill in 1819.

It was funded from the 1790s by granting leases for 3 lives and  21 years for a capital sum.  Usually a few townlanads  were involved.  Those who got them were the middlemen and included well to do Church of Ireland and Methodist farmers as well as a significant cohort of well  to do local Catholics  some being of the old Gaelic Gentry.  Acting in a logical fashion they  extracted as much as they could  l knowing that when their lease would expire there wouldn’t be compensation unlike in Ulster.

The Beecher estate was insolvent  and ended up in the Landed Estate Court in the 1850s  it was stated that the middlemens rent was three times that received by the Beechers.

Some of the purchase of the Beecher and other local estates included

Timothy McCarthy Downing, Nationalist MP and solicitor had  7,000 acres

Samuel Levis (family of Huguenot extraction, Skibbereen, merchant and baronial constable (Tax Collector)

Wright family, Claonakilty, land agents and solicitors. etc

1835 Tidal Harbours Commission.  Railway from Dublin to Bantry.  A vessel Leaving Berehaven Would command the Coasts of Spain. Portugal and the Coast of the Mediterranean as well as the most desirable spot for the West Indies or America.

..

Click here:

https://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/documents/12068/pages/287863

.

Marriage 1823 at Kilbolane Church, Neville Numan of Moyga to Miss Ann Pearse, Grand Niece of of the late Field Marshall de Lacy of the Russian Army.

Sad Case. Eugene Downing 1837-1879.  Allegedly a Member of Tem Hill Whiskey Club Skibbereen 

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Allegedly a Member of Tem Hill Whiskey Club Skibbereen 

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Death Cert Probate

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Click here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mAUKSrzQOqx-WsYXOQRs8YgRz-sv59P3yKs07TOxbgg/edit

Probate suit

.

…

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 Election Committee of McCarthy Downing, Solicitor and landlord, Skibbereen, West Cork .  He was a very influential figure in West Cork mid 19th century. It was reported that he was angling to be elevated to the House of Lords.  A major purchased of distressed estates post famine.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=22511&action=edit

1843 Skibbereen Petty Session Court Prosecution for  Cutting And Taking Away Seaweed from Skeam Rocks and Hare Island.  Defence by John Jagoe, B.L., Bantry.

1942 Patrick W. O’ Donovan, Solicitor, Clonakilty aged 74, Funeral. Came of Old Stock.

Taught by Master Madden, at The Mountain, Ardfield, who also taught Michael Collins, Sam Maguire.

Oillscoilan t-Sleigh, The Academy of Master Madden late 19th century, Ardfield, Clonakilty to Prepare Boys for the British Civil Service Exams. Pupils included Michael Collins and Sam Maguire.

Master Madden ancestor was a hedge school master who was offer employment as a Teacher in the new National schools c 1830 at a salary of £29 per annum. The family still have the letter of appointment.

Up to the mid 1960s the opportunities for second level education even for families with a degree of comfort was limited.  In the 19th century as an alternative to home farming or going to America the prospect of the Imperial Civil Service was attractive.

One of Master Madden’s great grand sons taught at second level in Dunmanway in the 1960s.

Apart from Sam Maguire and Michael Collins another pupil was Séan Hurley from Durrus.  He went to work in the Chinese Customs in Shanghai and assisted Chinese Revolutionaries. The first Irishman to be given an honorary Chinese passport.

Apprenticed to Henry Thomas Wright, Crown Solicitor whose Practice he Acquired.

Maurice Healy’s Memoir of the Old Munster Circuit he refers fondly to the 3 Clonakilty Wright brothers of Fern Hill, it is possible they descent from a branch of the Dunmanway Protestant O’Sullivan family, suggestive of them being Landlords in Dunbeacon, Durrus.

1850-1937, 1898, 1901 Henry Thomas Wright, TCD Crown Solicitor to 1912, Bankruptcy Judge Fern Hill, 1901 Clonakilty Agricultural Show. Geraldine Wright, Clonakilty, Daughter of Henry Thomas Wright, Mother Ethel Hungerford, Crown Solicitor, wife of the Baron de Penaranda, Bruges. 1888 application to Dublin Castle for special duty claim. Attending 1898, enormous funeral of Dan O’Leary, JP, aged 71, Clonakilty, probably draper Carbery Agricultural Show, Skibbereen 1893

1847-1913), 1911 George Wright, TCD Called to Bar 1871, took Silk 1884, High Court Judge At TCD, boat club. Fitzwilliam, Dublin ” George Wright (1847 – 15 May 1913) was an Irish lawyer and judge. Wright was born in Clonakilty, County Cork, son of Thomas Wright. [1] His father and brothers practiced as solicitors in Clonakilty: one of his brothers was H.T. Wright, Clerk of the Peace for Cork.[2] He married Mary Barrington in 1881. His family owned Fernhill House, Clonakilty, which is now a hotel. He was called to the Bar in 1871, took silk in 1884, and served as Solicitor-General for Ireland from January 1900[3] to 1903 in the Unionist government headed by Lord Salisbury. He was appointed to the Queen’s Bench Division of the Irish High Court in 1903 where he served till his death.[4] He was immensely popular with his colleagues and greatly respected as a lawyer. A colleague humorously described him as a man who is “”on the borderline of genius but never trespasses””; a popular verse hailed him as Judge Wright, who’s never wrong!””[5] Wright died 15 May 1913.[6] ” Probate £20,470 buried Mount Jerome Dublin

1855- ,1876, 1911 George Wright, A. B. TCD Middle Temple 1871, Barrister, 1911 County Court Judge, Co. Louth “2nd son of Thomas Wright, solicitor, Fern Hill. Dublin, Lower Baggot St., Subscriber Dr. Daniel Donovan ‘History of Carbery, 1876. ” “1901 Richard Wright Waterford District Probate Registrar, Barrister Born Co. Cork, 57 “”1843, 1844, 1845, 1847, 1858, 1860, 1865 Thomas Richard Wright Solicitor Fern Hill sons Henry Thomas 1850, Thomas William 1859, Solicitor. Signed Testimonial to Resident Magistrate, John Gore Jones, Bantry, 1844. Assistant 1879 Michael David Kennedy. Also agents for Durrus Estates. Subscriber memorial John O’Hea JP, Clonakilty, 1847. Probate 1880 to widow eliza £12,000. Standard Life Agent 1844 “” ” “s children and Rev. Richard Walton Marmion Standard Life Agent 1844 “

1843, 1844, 1845, 1847, 1849, 1858, 1860, 1865, died 1880 Thomas Richard Wright Solicitor. Land Agent to Lord Charles Pelham-Clinton, 1863, 13,600 acres. Fern Hill sons Henry Thomas 1850, Thomas William 1859, Solicitor. Signed Testimonial to Resident Magistrate, John Gore Jones, Bantry, 1844. Assistant 1879 Michael David Kennedy. Also agents for Durrus Estates. Subscriber memorial John O’Hea JP, Clonakilty, 1847. Probate 1880 to widow eliza £12,000. Thomas Richard Wright of Fern Hill, died 1880 he mentions his children and Rev. Richard Walton Marmion Standard Life Agent 1844. 1857 dinner for departing manager of National Bank, P.D. Griffin. Gave evidence Parliamentary Commission tht he persuaded Lord Shannon to withdraw his objection to railway coming to Clonakilty 1887 Chancey Court case involving recovery of seaweed at Friendly Cove, Durrus. Beamish v Crowley. Appearing for Beamish was Bewley Q.C., Trench Q.C., … Tuckey, instructed by John White. For Crowey, Piece White Q.C., , The McDermott, Q.C., Richard Wright, instructed by W. T. Wright , Clonakilty. The Crowleys are McDermotts descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages who migrated from Roscommon post 1200, to about 1600 often known as McDermott (as in Elizabeth Fiants) with a leas ainm (nickname) Crua Laoich (tough warrior) which supplant the McDermott. DNA confirms connection.

1843, 1844, 1845, 1847, 1858, 1860, 1865 Thomas Richard Wright Solicitor Fern Hill sons Henry Thomas 1850, Thomas Willam 1859, Solicitor. Signed Testimonial to Resident Magistrate, John Gore Jones, Bantry, 1844. Assistant 1879 Michael David Kennedy. Also agents for Durrus Estates. Subscriber memorial John O’Hea JP, Clonakilty, 1847. Probate 1880 to widow eliza £12,000. Standard Life Agent 1844

1887 Chancey Court case involving recovery of seaweed at Friendly Cove, Durrus. Beamish v Crowley. Appearing for Beamish was Bewley Q.C., Trench Q.C., … Tuckey, instructed by John White. For Crowey, Piece White Q.C., , The McDermott, Q.C., Richard Wright, instructed by W. T. Wright , Clonakilty. The Crowleys are McDermotts descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages who migrated from Roscommon post 1200, to about 1600 often known as McDermott (as in Elizabeth Fiants) with a leas ainm (nickname) Crua Laoich (tough warrior) which supplant the McDermott. DNA confirms connection.

Admitted a Solicitor 1891. President West Cork Bar Association. 1903 One of the 3 Founders of Clonakilty Agricultural Society, Honorary Treasurer of Carbery Hunt and Race Committee. Tourism Pioneer. Built Inchydoney Hotel 1932.

Connecting through the Wrights to Lord Atkin:

Robert Travers Atkin, (1841-1871), born in Fernhill, Clonakilty, the son of William Francis Atkin and his wife Alice Hungerford (née Stewart). In 1863, he emigrated to Queensland, Journalist Member Queensland Assembly. Father of Lord Atkin, Judge 1932 in Landmark Case on Law of Negligence Donoghue v Stevenson. Died of T.B. A monument was erected to his memory by the members of the Hibernian Society of Queensland, of which he was vice-pres. Relative of Thomas Davis. The Wright Brothers of Fernhill, Clonakilty, Lawyers and some Landowners.

Donoghue v Stevenson[edit]

Main article: Donoghue v Stevenson

In 1932, as a member of the House of Lords, he delivered the leading judgment in the landmark case of Donoghue v. Stevenson concerning the alleged adverse effects from an alleged snail in a bottle of ginger beer served in a café in Paisley. The case established the modern law of negligence in the UK and, indirectly, in most of the rest of the common law world.

French DNA Laws Impede Genealogical Research Genealogy of West Cork People With Huguenot Ancestry.

Quite a number of people of all religions in West Cork or among the diaspora have Huguenot ancestry.

From a friend who has Levis ancestry Amongst my TV viewing recently was an episode of ‘DNA Family Secrets’, and one of the things mentioned was surprising news to me. Until I had seen this programme, I was completely unaware that is illegal for anyone in France to do a DNA test, I remember asking one of my Levis relatives if his DNA test had shown up his French heritage in his ethnicity background, which brought the response that it did not, which I was struggling to understand. But now I know about the fact that the population of France are not allowed to take DNA tests then this I feel explains the lack of any French heritage showing up in the Ancestry DNA tests! I have since Googled to see why this is and I have pasted in one of the items on this subject – Why is DNA testing illegal in France? Private DNA paternity testing is illegal, including through laboratories in other countries, and is punishable by up to a year in prison and a €15,000 fine. The French Council of State has described the law’s purpose as upholding the “French regime of filiation” and preserving “the peace of families.” Maybe you were aware of this issue but I was definitely taken aback by this news. Things of course may change in the future, but at the present the law is banning the tests being done in France, unless there is a medical, judicial or scientific reason but definitely not family history

Durrus, Mizen, Caheragh, Bandon, Kinsale West Cork Huguenot Families

Click Here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qeKIlUN4YVRMp2z5ZqXBCOMlyDGWgQavWIhAyqCMt3k/edit

Genealogy of Cork Huguenot Madras family post 1750 from Amsterdam to Cork 1735 by letter from India Office 1939, interconnected families Longfield Connor Fort Robert, Evanson Durrus, Travers Butlerstown, Baldwin Curravody, Alleyn

Genealogy of Cork Huguenot Madras family post 1750 from Amsterdam to Cork 1735 by letter from India Office 1939, interconnected families Longfield Connor Fort Robert, Evanson Durrus, Travers Butlerstown, Baldwin Curravody, Alleyn.

Davy Crockett, Rev. James Fontaine, Battle of the Alamo and the Huguenots of Bantry Bay, Co. Cork.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=40453&action=edit

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=20259&action=edit

Updated version:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NVA6B5c8VJH8P1ZxYN_TPL3frB_vbns4UYFmGkDAb-I/edit