Meeting of Select Vestry, Skibbereen, West Cork, 10th May 1832, to appoint Officers of Health under Statute of the 59th year of His Late Majesty, King George 3, p. 31
Early Church Wardens, 1699, Bishop Mann Visitation of Church of Ireland Dioceses of Cork. Ref D121.1. 1827 Parliamentary Return of Vestries, 1851, 1861 Visitations, p. 31
1824. Cover letter and memorial from the church wardens of the parish of Fanlobbus, Dunmanway, County Cork, concerning prosecution of Sabbath profaners, p. 32
West Cork Select Vestries. 1885-1890, p. 32
March 1798. Rosscarbery, Drimoleague, Castletownbere, Select Vestries meeting to Levy a Rate to provide Four Men to Serve in Militia and to Levy Seven and a Half Pence Per Gneeve. Further meeting August 1803 to levy £1-6-o per ploughland to raise 5 men for Militia and £5-13-9 on town of Rosscarbery. Cost of Levy for Cork City and County, p. 32
Late 18th early 19th Century Interplay of the Select Vestries of the Church of Ireland (State Church) in Local Administration, Barony of Carbery, Castlehaven, Drimoleague, Durrus, Cess Payer Representatives Named, p. 32
1851 Visitation Book West Cork, Church of Ireland parishes, Population 1834 and 1851, Schools, Parish Clerks, Church Wardens.p. 32
1830 keeping the Sabbath in Clonakilty, p. 32
Townlands and Placenames, 1794 Principal Inhabitants Thanks to Government, 1870 Registered Vestrymen, Kilmeen Parish History, 1975 Dan O’Leary, Funded by Jerry Beechinorp. 32
1793-1803. Cork Grand Jury Returns including provision for Militia from 1795., p. 32
The Military Levy was raised through parishes by the Churchwardens, the parishes were subject to a levy or a bounty to be paid in lieu. The surviving records of Drimoleague and Castlehaven Select Vestries confirm this., p. 33
1757 Castlehaven, (Skibbereen), Select Vestry Records, shows interaction of parishes in road building: Cullane, Daniel, app. Director of the High Way in CTend 37. VM 4 OCT 1757., p. 33
March 1798. Rosscarbery Select Vestry meeting to Levy a Rate to provide Four Men to Serve in Militia and to Levy Seven and a Half Pence Per Gneeve. Further meeting August 1803 to levy £1-6-o per ploughland to raise 5 men for Militia and £5-13-9 on town of Rosscarbery, p. 33
Cork Grand Jury (Civil Jurisdiction) To 1899, p.33
593.5: “Have sea east to Osseania:” HCE to Oceania! On the one hand, Oceania, the eastern sea, being about as distant as possible from Ireland, supports the claim to world-wide coverage. On the other hand, Ireland (the land of Ossian) represents the opposite. Contraries converging, or maybe just plain overweening provincialism: The Skibbereen Eagle once warned the Czar of Russia that it had its eyes on him. Compare Stephen’s sardonic “(European and Asiatic papers please copy” (P 251).
EXACTLY 125 years ago this year, in September 1898, The Skibbereen Eagle instilled fear into the Russian Tsar, a butterfly effect not replicated until the West Cork fishermen saw off the Russian navy last year.
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The eye of The Skibbereen Eagle focused on the Tsar’s success in securing an ice-free warm-water base for the Russian Navy on China’s Yellow Sea.
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But only two weeks earlier, in something akin to modern day political sports-washing, Tsar Nicolas II sent an unexpected invitation to every government accredited to his Imperial Court.
The Tsar’s rescript invited these governments to a conference ‘to occupy themselves with the grave problem of excessive armaments.’
In truth it disclosed his military vulnerability dressed up as his pursuit of world peace.
The Tsar told the world that he was keen to ensure to all people ‘the benefits of a real and durable peace, and above all of putting an end to the progressive development of the present armaments.’
With his Chinese warm water naval port now secured, Tsar Nicholas II set out to achieve this worthy ambition ‘by means of international discussion’ at his peace conference.
And it met with great success, for within only a few months the Tsar’s peace conference created the Permanent Court of Arbitration where the arbitration and peaceable resolution of (some) disputes between nations continues down to this day.
The peace conference also developed ‘Rules of War’ for the treatment of prisoners of war. It even banned, for the next five years at least, the discharge of projectiles and deleterious gases from balloons.
Under Bismarck, the plethora of small German states had coalesced as the increasingly powerful German Empire, with the dynamo of its Prussian siege engine massed on its border with Russia.
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Acutely conscious that his guns could never match those of his neighbour, Tsar Nicholas II set out to prioritise peace over his inevitable defeat.
Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropist who built 80 libraries across Ireland also funded the construction of the Tsar’s dream home for the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.
The list of signatories to this Peace Convention today reads as an eerie who’s who of hubris and history – powerful people whose memory is neither remembered nor honoured.
It included the Prince of Montenegro and the Prince of Bulgaria and the long-forgotten Kings of Bohemia, Hungary, the Hellenes, Italy, Portugal, Serbia and Siam.
Imperial majesties, such as the Shah of Persia and Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India also signed, as did the Emperors of Of course, the ‘Emperor of all the Russias’ also signed up.
In the same month as the Tsar’s call to action in 1898, the son of a Corkman – claiming a connection to Daniel O’Connell – enrolled at Cardinal Newman’s University on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin from where he graduated in 1902. While it seems to scholars that young James Joyce was possessed of a stunning awareness and broad knowledge, much of his texts are derived from or informed by the newspapers of his time.
For the impecunious Joyce, local, national and international newspapers were readily and freely available to read in public libraries.
Today, these same public libraries act as ‘warm banks’ – places to visit to stay warm in the face of impossible domestic energy bills caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Joyce was not the only one reading English language newspapers.
They were being read in Moscow and St Petersburg as well.
We know this from the Tsar’s father, Nicholas I, who boasted during the Crimean War (1853-1856) that he had no need of spies.
He was learning everything he needed to know by reading Dubliner William Howard Russell’s account of the Crimean War published by the Times of London and read by embassies everywhere.
Joyce was nothing if not up-to-date when he weaved the Tsar’s Rescript and notions of world peace and international arbitration into Stephen Dedalus’ conversations with his fellow students at Newman House on St Stephen’s Green where they gathered around the Tsar’s portrait collecting signatures.
They were preparing to send the Tsar a testimonial of gratitude for his pursuit of world peace and the arbitration of disputes among nations. They had every reason to believe that a Tsar name-checked by The Skibbereen Eagle would read the praise of their Testimonial.
Joyce was clearly impacted by the Tsar’s Rescript and The Skibbereen Eagle as he threads the debate about world peace and international arbitration from Stephen Hero, begun in 1903 just after his graduation, to Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man published before World War I and again, after the horrors of that war, to Ulysses, published in 1922.
Clearly, the watchful eye of The Skibbereen Eagle had spawned an imitator in Joyce and a reader in the Tsar.
Perhaps, it is time now for The Skibbereen Eagle to re-send its impactful historic note to the current Tsar.
National and international papers, please copy!
Joycean Brendan Kilty, above, has examined the links between Joyce’s Ulysses and the Skibbereen Eagle’s references to Tsar Nicholas II.
• Brendan Kilty SC is a senior counsel, arbitrator and Joycean.
His human rights book ‘101 Reasons Not to Execute Someone’ is due to be released in 2023.
Dick Adams:
B 1843-1908 Richard (Dick) Adams Journalist, Barrister Inns 1873, Judge County Court Limerick 1892, Down Born Castletownbere, eldest son Brian Port Surveyor, Customs and Excise mother Frances (Fanny) O’Donovan sister of Doctor O’Donovan, Skibbereen. First cousin of Skibbereen O’Donovan family, Doctor Daniel adn his 2 Doctor sons, they are of ‘Isladn’ branch and once owned town of Ross. 1880 Munster Bar, 20 Mountjoy Square, Dublin. Born Castletownbere, eldest son Brian Port Surveyor, Customs and Excise mother Frances (Fanny) O’Donovan sister of Doctor O’Donovan, Skibbereen. First cousin of Skibbereen O’Donovan family, Doctor Daniel Famine Doctor his 2 Doctor sons, they are of ‘Island’ branch and once owned the town of Ross. 1880 Munster Bar, 20 Mountjoy Square, Dublin. “Journalist Cork and Freemans Journal, Defended James Fitzharris in Phoenix Park Murders, noted wit. From James Joyce ‘Ulysses’, ‘Dick Adams (Castletownbere born), the besthearted bloody Corkman the Lord ever put the breath of life in’ Journalist, Barrister, Defender of Parnell, Later County Court Judge Limerick
Ulysses: 7.679-80″ Buried St. Marys, Kensal Rise, London “Courtesy Ruth Cannon: from the Cork Examiner, 6 April 1908, this loving tribute to one of the Irish Bar’s most famous humorists, Limerick County Court Judge Richard Adams (b-l). Adams got much mileage out of his resemblance to King Edward VII (b-r), who he alleged once messaged him in the spa resort of Homburg requesting they dress differently to avoid confusion.
“Those who knew the late Judge Adams well will find it hardest to believe that he is dead. For with his personality, they associate all that was brightest and most vivifying in life.
That said, the future judge does not appear to have greatly distinguished himself in his early days. His first professional calling was that of a bank clerk in the National Bank in Cork. He was entrusted with the duty of opening letters containing bank notes in separate halves, a favourite way of sending money in those days, and then gumming the two halves together. But his lack of acumen for bank business was such that he frequently gummed the wrong halves together – a terrible misadventure in any well-organized bank.
Having regard to this, and a general unsuitability for bank life, Richard Adams decided that he had mistaken his vocation. Accordingly, he subsequently got called to the Bar in Hilary term of 1873. In actions for breach of promise of marriage his services were particularly sought, and it was one of the treats of the Four Courts to hear a speech on that congenial topic from one who was a master of humorous exposition. His admission to the Inner Bar was soon followed by his elevation to the Bench as County Court Judge of Limerick.
While not a profound lawyer, he did not himself at all mind jesting on the subject of his legal knowledge, and would tell how once he came into one of the Dublin Courts after the luncheon interval and heard a well-known solicitor proclaiming from the solicitors’ table to a cluster of minor lights ‘Adams! Oh, he has a fine nisi prius prescendi, but he knows absolutely no law,’ whereupon Adams himself put his genial countenance over the side barrier and said, ‘Look here, that’s slander of me in my business trade and profession, and it is actionable without proof of special damage, so look out for a writ.’ This was of course said with glorious good humour.
Judge Adams loved to go to health resorts on the continent. These sojourns were rendered doubly enjoyable by reason of his resemblance to the present King. ‘When in Homburg,’ he said, ‘the King’s Equerry came up to me and said ‘Mr. Adams, the King commands me to ask you as a personal favour not to be going about in a tall hat and frock coat. It is very embarrassing for his Majesty to be so often whacked on the back, and to be shouted at by gentlemen in Dublin accents, ‘Hello Dick, old man, how are all the boys in Dublin…’’
Paul DUELOS, A.M., vicar of Ballymodan. He died in 1717 or 1719.
French Prisoners, Freemasons, Bandon 1746-1747, p. 177
David la Touche Colthurst (1828 – 19 January 1907)[1] was an Irish Home Rule League politician. He was elected Home Rule Member of Parliament (MP) for County Cork at the 1879, p. 178
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From the mid 17th to early 18th century something around 5,000 Huguenots moved to Ireland from religious persecution in France. The bulk arrived after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Dr. Alicia St. Ledger the historian of the Cork Huguenot community puts the number in Cork mid 18th century at around 300. In Cork City where many settled they had a French speaking church and minister. This group tended to be well educated, affluent, and involved as merchants, apothecaries, surgeons and as property developers reclaiming the Cork City marshes. Over time they became English speaking and drifted into the mainstream Church of Ireland and gradually into the wider Catholic community.
No one knows for definite when the various Huguenot families arrived in the Mizen/Durrus areas. In the main they were unlike their co religionists in Cork as they were artisans, small to medium farmers or labourers and coopers. Oral tradition has it that they arrived by boat to Dunmanus Bay. They arrived perhaps c 1750s co incident with various attempts throughout West Cork by Landlords to develop weaving, linen and flax. The old village of Carrigbui (Durrus) was sometimes described as a weaver’s colony.
About 1750 around 60 Huguenots arrived in Cork on board the galley ‘Redhead’ destined for Innishannon with their pastor Rev. Peter Cortes.
They may have been being involved in Thomas Addisons failed silk enterprises in Innishannon and left Kilmacsimon Quay for Dunmanus Bay.
The obituary of the Rev. Charles ~Donovan in the Skibbereen Eagle in 1893 is most unusual insofar as it included a very detailed genealogy. Maybe the Rev. Charles or one of the family wrote it; it looks like it relies on family papers. His career is ironic as a rabid Proselytiser preying on the starving Catholics of the Mizen Peninsula; you would not imagine his genealogy. His ancestor Daniel O’Donovan, head of Clan Cahill fought with his O’Donovan Regiment for King James in the battle of the Boyne in which four of his sons dyed. HIs grandfather Richard O’Donovan on his marriage to an English woman had to change his name to Donovan, he may have been a Catholic as he had to post a bond for £1,00 to the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork. HIs son Charesl was a senior civil servant in Bengal and a Magistrate. His Indian born grandson Dr.Charles Donovan was a world renowned medical scientist. In a sense it shown family survival consequential on the Penal laws and adaptation.
Rev. Charles Donovan (1812-1893), p.1
Funeral and genealogy, p. 3
Among the funeral attendance, p. 14
Proselytiser, 16
1847 Plea for the preservation of the poor in Schull.p. 14
1849 Protection Meeting Ballydehob, p. 16
1849 Opening of Rev. Spring Protestant Church, Cape Clear, p. 18
1856 attending funeral of James 2nd Earl of Bandon, p. 19
1889 funeral of Archdeacon of Ross, Rev. Dr. Woodroffe, p. 20
Charles Donovan, JP., Bengal, died 1915 aged 74. His son known in Ballinadee as Judge Donovan, p. 21
1905 Judge Donovan, Courtmacsherry Regatta, p. 23
Grandson Colonel Doctor Charles Donovan, (1863-1951), p. 24
His ancestor Daniel O’Donovan, head of Clan Cahill fought with his O’Donovan Regiment for King James in the battle of the Boyne in which four of his sons died., p. 28
His grandfather Dr. Richard O’Donovan surgeon of Nohoval, p. 30
Canon William Waller O’Grady, 42 years, Rector of Bantry, died 1921 aged 76. POK page 7 grave 123
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His brother: Carew O’Grady (1840-1919), 1875, Carrigmanus House, Goleen, farmer, Resident, £59, son of Rev. Thomas and Susan Dowe born Berehaven, m 1884, Florence, 5th d James Hingston, Aglish, Macroom?, 4 surviving children. Magistrate from 1875, 1881. 1890 Skibbereen Quarter Sessions sitting with Circuit Court Judge Ferguson on Schull licensing appeal cases. Magistrates, John K?. Barrett, William Murphy, M.P., George Robinson, Somers. H. Payne, W.S.Payne, Henry R.Marmion, Samuel Jagoe, O’Donovan, John R. H. Becher, William Norwood, Carew O’Grady. Skibbereen Eagle 14th August 1892. 1893 Unionist meeting Skibbereen. 1883 letting Carrigmanus House with a farm of 143 acres. Re a contested burial. 1894 Patron Schull Regatta. 1901 patron Crookhaven Regatta with Marconi. Co. Grand Juror, listed 1913. Brother of celebrated author and Celtic scholar Standish O’Grady and Canon O’Grady, Bantry. Probably a bee keeper. Probate to daughter Susan Maria spinster.
Probably
Somers (Henry) Payne (1854-1920), BL, 1885, Carrigmahon, Monkstown, major business figure Cork. 1892 attending funeral of Jane Dillon nee Roycroft (1843-1892). Executor James W. Payne. Barrister, Businessman, Land Agent. Somers Payne B.L. (1853-, 1885, Carrigmahon, Monkstown, son John Warren Payne, BL. Land Agent, Beech House, Bantry, he ran against James Gilhooley in election and was defeated, Bantry, ed. Rossall, Irish Bar 1875-1883, Director Munster and Leinster Bank, Bandon Railway, m 1879 Edith d John Leslie, Lee Carrow, Passage, Paynes originate Upton, Bandon, Land Agents to Bantry and other Estates, listed 1913. Somers Henry Payne, James Gilhooly MP alleged he was sitting in Durrus Petty Sessions 1887 outside his district. 1890 Skibbereen Quarter Sessions sitting with Circuit Court Judge Ferguson on Schull licensing appeal cases. Magistrates, John K?. Barrett, William Murphy, M.P., George Robinson, Somers. H. Payne, W.S.Payne, Henry R.Marmion, Samuel Jagoe, O’Donovan, John R. H. Becher, William Norwood, Carew O’Grady. Attending Cork Grand Jury 16 times 1887-1889. Irish Bar 1875, Munster bar, 115 Upper Leeson St.
Title: The O Heas of southwest Cork Author: Collins, John T. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 1946, Vol. 51, No. 174, page(s) 97107 Published by the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society Digital file created: July 16, 2015
Chancery Rolls, 1624, Bantry Pilchards, c 1600 Landing Spanish Soldiers in Kinsale, Unbought Wine Left Behind, c 1600 Donnogh O’Leary, Kilbarry, Dunmanway or Muskerry, 1628 O’Driscoll, Baltimore/McCarthy, Kilbrittain, James Gallway, Ibane (Clonakilty), O’Sullivan/Coppinger/O’Driscoll, Baltimore, c 1600 Whitcomb, Merchant, Kinsale, Daniel and Dominic Roche v William and Dorothy Gage, lands at Crookhaven, Kinsale, 1625 Morrogh O’Hea
1656. Petition of The Following, ‘That Daniell O’Donovand als O’Donovane of Curraghnylickey (Drinagh), Most Knew Him before 1641 Rebellion, as a Civil Honest, and Quite Gentleman’, Samuell Browne, Edward Renys, Edward Clerke, Francis Barnett (Mark) Mathew Perrott, Amos Bennets, Robert Osborne, Dermod O’Mahowby, Samuel Skinner, William Holcombe, Thomas Attridge, Barnabe Witcherly, Der. Coughlan, Will Corlless, Thomas Recraft (Roycroft), Mathew Sweethman (Sweetnam), Geyles Smith (Mark), Timothy Coughlane, Ja? Base, Abel Marshall, John Vallyes (mark), Ralph Fuller, Teig Has (O’Hea?), Phillip Otrrydge (Attridge), John Baily, John Abbott, Philip Madoxe, Rowland Neild, William Ottrydge (Attridge), Thomas Hungerford, Samuel Poole, James Dyer, Richard Nobbs, John Chamberlen (Mark), Bart Philpot, Richard Skines (Skuse?) (Mark), Henry Abbott (Mark), Richard Chambers (Mark), Thomas Duggen.
1718. Will of James O’Hea, Killkeirane, Clonakilty, Co. Cork, be be Buried in Ancestral Tomb, Timoleague, O’Heas in Convert Rolls.
On the forfeiture of O’Hea lands due to rebellion some held in trust by Townsend family on their behalf. later substantial lot of townlands let on favourable terms
James O’Hea, 1795, Greenfield. Son of James O’Hea, Kilkerran will dated 1720. Brother James, a Barrister, other brother John, officer North Cork Militia served in Wexford 1798. 1791 Meeting as ‘James Hea’, at the Kings Arms Tavern Cork of Members of Hanover Association (Landowners/Magistrates) re Whiteboys.
John O’Hea Esq, -1847), listed 1838, Shannon Square, Clonakilty. 1828 seeking reform of the House of Commons. Honoria Deasy who was a Daughter of Rickard Deasy married John O’Hea (Magistrate from 1838-1843) in 1826 and they had 10 children, the youngest Alfred who was born in 1847 just a few months before the death of his father. Attending an 1843 meeting in Clonakilty of Cork, Kinsale, Skibbereen Turnpike Trust. Resigned 1843 over dismissal of Magistrates for attending Repeal Meetings. Following a report to the Lord Chancellor regarding the activity of Magistrates sympathetic or attending a dinner in honour of Daniel O’Connell and Roche a number were superseded or resigned. Testimonial of John O’Hea, Esq., 1847 distribution for Clonakilty of New England Relief Committee Famine Relief. Died Clonakilty, Co. Cork, 1847. Included Thomas Allen, J.P., Allin and Co Shannonvale, James Redmond Barry Fishery Commissioner, J.P. Glandore, W. J. F. Barry son of Redmond Glandore, Rev. J. Beamish, Kilmalooda, Francis Bennett, Clonakilty, William Bennett Clonakilty, John Callaghan Clonakilty, Daniel Clanchy, J.P., Charleville, John Coghlan Clonakilty, James Comyn Cobh, C. Connell and Co Ballinascarthy, J. Nelson Crofts, Clonakilty, Eyre Croke Croker, Ballyra, Thomas Deasy, Clonakilty, Patrick Desmond Clonakilty, Richard Dennehy, John Donovan, Clonakilty, Jeremiah Donovan brother of Rickard, Midleton, Rickard Donovan, Clerk of Crown (State Solicitor) Cork, Joseph Dugan, Clonakilty, William Ffolliott, M.D. Clonakilty, Henry Franks Clonakilty (Probably of extended Kearney Garretstown House family), Alexander Grant Clonakilty, P. B. Grifin, G. F.Hardy Cork, Miss Anne Gallwey, Kilkerran, Charles Gallwey Kilcoleman, Michael Gallwey J.P. KIlkieran House, Henry Gallwey, Greenfield, William Gallwey, Kilcoleman, Major Hill Late 54th Regiment Clonakilty, Daniel Kelly Clonakilty, M. Irwin Clonakilty, J.E Lucas, Ring, Clonakilty, Dr. Lucas, Richsfordstown, O.H. Marmion, Skibbereen, Nicholas Daniel Murphy, Cork, Major J.H.O. Moore, 35th Regiment Jersey, Daniel McCarthy Skibbereen, John McCarthy Clonakilty, T. McCarthy Downing Solicitor, Skibbereen, Richard Boyle Norcott, Skibbereen, F.J. Power, Bank Manager, Clonakilty, Rev. J. Quarry, Clonakilty, Patrick Scott, Dublin, William Scott, Mamore House, Rev. Henry Stewart, Rathbarry, James Sweeny, Clonakilty, Daniel Sullivan, Clonakilty, James Toohig, Clonakilty, Winispeare Toye, Clonakilty, Thomas Richard Wright, Solicitor Clonakilty. Michael O’Hea, (1866-, 1895, Rock Cottage, Timoleague, listed 1913. Farmer, has Irish. 1896 donor Rosscarbery Church organ fund. 1901 Subscriber Clonakilty Agricultural Society. 1901 Officer Clonakilty Agricultural Show. Attending 1898, enormous funeral of Dan O’Leary, JP, aged 71, Clonakilty, probably draper. Contributor the indemnity fund 1899 for the election petition of John Walsh. Butlerstown, Vice Chairman, 1904 Timoleague Athletic Sports. 1910 member Courtmacsherry Regatta Committee. March 1916 Courtmacsherry recruitment drive. In the early years of World War 1 there was strong support from all classes regardless of religion or politics in Ireland towards recruitment to assist the British. There was hardly a townland in the country that did not have recruits. Additionally the farmers prospered due to high food prices. However at least in nationalist Ireland from mid 1916 and into 1917 when conscription was suggested the mood changed. Perhaps around 50,000 Irish born men perished for nothing, an epic disaster for young Irish men. Ireland was a colony, in contrast to another small Northern European State, Denmark was independent and neutral. It is thought that about 800 Danes died in the conflict.
Probates in Ireland are an absolute disaster zone, mostly all that survived post 1922 destruction of the Public Records Office in Dublin is a 1 line name sometime and address or occupation. This is an attempt to add to some of these listed from other sources or give information on the family.
Prerogative Wills
Prerogative and diocesan copies of some wills and indexes to others, 1596 – 1858
Before a will can take effect, a grant of probate must be made by a court. If someone dies without having made a will, the court can grant letters of administration for the disposal of the estate. Since 1858, grants of probate and administration have been made in the Principal and District Registries of the Probate Court (before 1877) or the High Court (after 1877). They are indexed in the calendars of wills and administrations (available on this website for 1858 – 1922).
Before 1858, grants of probate and administration were made by the courts of the Church of Ireland (the Prerogative Court and the Diocesan or Consistorial Courts). Almost all of the original records were destroyed in the Public Record Office in 1922. Most of what appears on this site are indexes to the original wills.
For the pre-1858 ecclesiastical courts, will books containing copies of the originals survive for the Prerogative Court (1664-1684, 1706-1708, 1726-1728, 1728-1729, 1777, 1813 and 1834) and some Diocesan Courts – Connor (1818-1820 and 1853-1858) and Down (1850-1858). The will books for Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry are in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
The records can be searched by name, date, residence and district or diocese.
A meticulous conservation project has begun to safeguard one of Ireland’s oldest surviving paper documents, The Guardian writes, dating back to the medieval period.
The document in question is an ecclesiastical register, approximately 650 years old, that once belonged to Milo Sweteman, the archbishop of Armagh from 1361 to 1380. Experts at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) are now working to repair its fragile pages as part of a broader initiative to preserve vital historical records from the medieval period. The register, which contains drafts and copies of legal papers, letters, receipts, and wills, offers a fascinating glimpse into the ecclesiastical workings of the time.
Sarah Graham, the head of conservation at PRONI, explained the rarity of such documents, noting that paper of this age is incredibly scarce in Ireland. “Paper that pre-dates 1450 is particularly rare,” she said, adding that the material used in the Sweteman register likely came from Italy and Spain, regions that the archbishops frequently visited. This discovery came from research into the document’s watermarks, shedding light on the trade of paper in medieval Europe.
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast.Albert Bridge / CC licence
The Sweteman register is not the first to undergo this meticulous conservation process. The register of Archbishop John Swayne, dating from 1418 to 1438, has already been completed, with a digitised copy and translated summary now available online. This project is part of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, an effort to reconstruct the nation’s historical archive, which was largely destroyed in a fire during the Irish Civil War in 1922.
Henry Becher (1664-1738), TCD in 1683 aged 19, son of Thomas Sherkin Island, 1705, witness to 1717 deed with Emanuel Moore. Henry Becher was Thomas Becher’s eldest son. He married Henrietta Owen in 1698. His heir was John Becher. Henry died in 1738.
Henry Beecher, (1759-1780), 1779, Creagh/Creaford, Skibbereen. 1765 11 July Cork City Newspapers. “To be Let, part of the estate of Henry Becher(aged 5) during his minority. Lands of Gortadrohid, Ardnagreena on harbour of Baltimore etc. contact Michael Becher guardian. 1779 Hibernian Magazine Dec 1779 “Henry Becher of Creaghtford to be a J.P. of the Peace for the Co of Cork”. 1780 Hibernian Chronicle 25 Dec 1780 “Died Thursday last, Henry Becher at Creagh near Baltimore.” The guardian Michael Henry Becher [1735-1778 was his uncle & my 4 x Great Grandfather. He was married to Catherine French. Poor Henry is the one who died after a shooting accident on his 21st birthday.
John R. Beecher, Hollybrook, Skibbereen, listed 1856, sitting Skibbereen 1861. 1856 Ballydehob Presentment sessions. May have married Catherine Jermyn only child of Henry and Mary of Aughadown, 1805 he assigned property to Richard Hungerford and Becher Fleming to provide £225 pa should she survive him.
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John Townsend Beecher, 1760, Anne Grove, 1755 Faulkner’s Dublin Journal 22 Feb 1755 “17 Feb Married last Thursday John Townsend Becher Esq To Miss Donovan, d Rev. Morgan O’Donovan, Magistrate, Ballinacalla, with £5000. Died 1761, at her lodgings near South Gate, Mrs Beecher, relict of John Townsend Beecher of Ann Grove”. Possibly, 1771 Limerick Chronicle 10 Oct 1771, “Thursday last at Cork Colonel John Becher of Hollybrook to Miss Bab. Townsend of Skibbereen.”Michael Beecher, 1777, Creagh, Skibbereen, member Atlantic Society literary society. Subscriber of 1766 ‘The History of the Irish Rebellion’, Cork, 1766. 1778 Dublin Hibernian Journal Aug 24 1778, “Died-Near Bandon Michael Beecher of Creagh Esq.” 1789 Cork Evening Post 12 Jan 1789, ‘Last Sat George Pigott Rogers Esq. to Mary Twogood Becher, dau of the Late Michael Becher of Creagh, Esq’. Michael Alleyne Richard Beecher (1839-, 1875, Ballyduvane, Clonakilty, Resident, £130, 1870, 2,101 acres, listed 1916. Landed proprietor, widower 1901. 1884, signed a protest against the dismissal of Lord Rossmore, Head of Orange Order, Monaghan. Sampson T.
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Joycean Brendan Kilty, above, has examined the links between Joyce’s Ulysses and the Skibbereen Eagle’s references to Tsar Nicholas II.
West Cork History 