The present article provides further details based
mainly on the 1840s correspondence of the Dublin firm of land agents
Messrs Stewart and Kincaid (denoted SK in what follows), which managed
estates in various parts of Ireland. Part I under the present title
concerned the Carlow lands of Viscount Frankfort between Leighlinbridge
and Tullow in the 1840s. The present Part II provides details on a
murder of a Frankfort tenant on the Co Kilkenny side of Leighlinbridge,
further information on the Tyndalls of Leighlinbridge and Coolcullen,
and closes with brief observations on the properties of Charles Burton
of Pollacton House. Both parts have been drawn from Chapter 12 of a
larger study entitled Landlords, Tenants, Famine: Letters of an Irish
Land Agent in the 1840s, now near completion.
Murder in Coolcullen: Victim a Carlovian?
Viscount Frankfort’s largest single property in Co
Kilkenny was that in the townland of Coolcullen, between Castlecomer in
Kilkenny and Leighlinbridge in Carlow. He owned almost all of the 3,234
statute acres in this large townland, which is contiguous to Co Carlow.
In the 1840s, this was a recent acquisition: according to William Nolan,
“the Frankfort interest in Coolcullen derived from the marriage in 1835
of the Viscount to Miss Georgiana Henchy, the female heir to the
property”. Among rural townlands in the south of Ireland, a striking
feature of Coolcullen in the 1840s was the relatively large number of
Protestant tenant farmers. Some of these families came to the townland
in the early 18th century; others arrived—from Co Wexford—around the
year 1800. Although many of these family names have now gone, traces of
their former presence in Coolcullen are easily found. There are a few
fine period houses. There is the Church of Ireland place of worship,
Mothel parish church. Opposite the former rectory of Mothel (sited on
what is now a stud farm) there is a thoroughfare called Protestant Road.
As has been indicated by McMillan and Nevin, Prospect Hall (now in
ruins) on Protestant Road was the home of William Tyndall, grandfather
of the scientist and educationalist John Tyndall, FRS (1820-93), who was
born in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow. Today the decline in the Protestant
population is reflected in the fact that only about 15 persons regularly
attend Sunday services at Mothel church.
Coolcullen was subject to several acts of violence in
the 1840s. The SK correspondence contains references to the murder of
Matthew Brennan in 1844. Along with his brother, he had in the early
1840s taken a holding previously occupied by a tenant who had been
ejected. The earliest mention of the murder is in a letter dated 26
November 1844, from Matthew’s brother, Michael, to Joseph Kincaid
(partner in the firm of SK), written from “Milfall”, and bearing the
postmark of Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, in which Michael complained:
I feel it a duty I owe towards you to communicate with
you on the late meloncholy occurrence—the murder of my brother. Although
there is not the slightest doubt of the guilt of the parties I regret to
state there is yet no evidence to convict them nor do I anticipate there
will in consequence of the bad feeling of the majority of the tenants
and others in this place whose native sympathy is for the assassins and
none for their victim. This is a lamentable state of things but
unfortunately true. The courpse [corpse] was delayed in Coolcullen for
one night and strange to say only one person came in and very few
attended the funeral, which speaks volumes for the general approbation
of the horrible deed. Nor do I believe their thirst for blood is yet
satisfied as every day’s experience proves. I hear of trets daily such
as the[y] say ... “that I shall never enjoy this land”. Such is the
feeling here that if [you] gave the house and land free of rent to a
person to care it, I could not find one. The land is under continual
trespass as I cannot go there without the police under the sneers of
every person I meet .... The prevailing report here is that Lord
Frankford thinks little of the matter as he offered no reward, nor was
there any reward offered as yet, but one Hundred [pounds] by the Lord
Lieutenant .... So far the demons rejoice. I think it right to inform
you there is evidence the four Purcells [one of whom, Thomas, had
earlier been ejected from the land assigned to the Brennans] were
together the night before the murder at Michael Purcells house. It is
evident that it was there the murder was plotted .... Paddy Purcell who
lives twelve miles from here [at Borris] in the County of Carlow was
seen returning home the day of the murder .... Truly hoping you will
addopt some means for my protection. Where the Brennan brothers had come
from is uncertain. That they had not hailed from some other part of
Coolcullen itself is suggested by Michael’s observation that “the
courpse [corpse] was delayed in Coolcullen for one night”. Furthermore,
the fact that 10 the above letter is postmarked Leighlinbridge—rather
than Castlecomer as most other correspondence pertaining to the
Coolcullen estate is postmarked—suggests that they came from Co Carlow.
Two subsequent letters from Michael Brennan to SK are postmarked
Leighlinbridge.
The murder of Matthew Brennan—who appears to have been
sickle slashed to death—is still remembered in the folklore of
Coolcullen. However, although some elderly locals can still point out
the location of Michael Brennan’s house, and exactly where the murder of
Matthew Brennan took place, it seems that nobody in the Coolcullen
district knows when the murder was committed—merely “a long time ago”.
Further details of continuing enmity between Michael Brennan and the
Purcells are mainly of Kilkenny interest: they will be found in
Landlords, Tenants, Famine, when published.
Jane Tyndall and her Son
Late in 1844 and for most of 1845, the widow Jane
Tyndall, a Protestant, lived at Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow. There is no
evidence, in the SK correspondence or in the Griffith Valuations, that
Lord Frankfort owned any property in Leighlinbridge. However, as has
already been indicated, he did own the lands of Coolcullen. Coolcullen
is about five miles to the west of Leighlinbridge. Jane Tyndall was
poor. She obtained some indirect assistance from the local Church of
Ireland clergy, and was in receipt of an annuity from Frankfort -- £20
per annum, payable on the 25th of the month at the end of each quarter.
The SK correspondence does not reveal the reasons for payment of this
pension. However it seems likely that Jane Tyndall’s late husband had
been a former tenant on Frankfort’s Coolcullen estate.
On 23 February 1845 (a Sunday) Jane Tyndall wrote to
SK stating that she wanted to prepare her son Jacob, with whose family
she then resided, “to meet the Gentlemen shareholders, & the
undertakers, of the Rail Road, in the middle of this week, in Carlow
[town]. They are to commence the Rail Road on the first of March. The
Dean [of Leighlinbridge, Rev Richard Bernard] is to get him a situation
and desired him to prepare himself to go on that day, and it would be
impossible for him to go in any kind of a decent manner being so long
out of a Situation [employment] without getting some articles [of
clothing]”. She accordingly asked SK to send her “this Quarters Salary
which would be due on the 25th of next Month [March 1845] and let what
will happen during my life I shall never on any account trouble you
again until it will be due”.
On 27 May 1845, Rev Samuel Roberts, LLD, “now in
charge of the parish in Dean Bernard’s absence” confirmed to SK, in
writing, that “the Widow Jane Tyndall to whom Lord Frankfort gives an
annuity is still alive in Leighlinbridge”. On the other side of the same
letter, the widow herself indicated that it was Rev Roberts “who got the
annuity from Lord Frankfort for me as he and his Lordship are the most
ultimate friends”. She went on to state that “it is 3 Months on last
Saturday since I rec’d the last Quarters Salary. I would not trouble you
for this Quarters only the Rail Road did not commence in this County
yet, although expecting it every day”. This communication suggests,
during the Summer of 1845, that the Tyndall household had little or no
source of income, other than the quarterly annuity payments from SK on
behalf of Frankfort.
Along with her son Jacob and his family, Jane Tyndall
moved to Dunleckny Cross, about one mile from the post office in
Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, near the end of 1845. A letter from the widow to
SK, 17 December 1845, provides some details:
May I humbly beg leave on my aged bended knees, that
you will not be displeased with me, who will not trouble any one much
longer. I and my Son, and his Family, live within a Quarter of a Mile of
the Revd. Mr Grogan, Brother to the Member of Parliament for the City of
Dublin .... My Son ... has a House from Philip Newton Esq’re of
Dunleckny ... [and] he has a School since the 1st of this Month and will
go on we hope after Christmas very well as he gets very good
encouragement from Mr Newton, and the Neighbours who are his tenants
.... We will live on the Profits of the School, along with the Firing &
provision I shall buy. If your Honours will be so kind as to send me
this Quarters Salary in advance ... never [again] will I be a trouble to
your Honours until the proper time, the next not until the 25th of June
[1846] next, for during the Summer [when sowing will have ceased] he
will have a large School .... Let not my Christmas Day be a day of
Trouble, as it will perhaps be my last.
Jane Tyndall wrote another letter to SK on 23 December
1845, again requesting payment in advance. In this letter she added:
“The School will be able to support us after Christmas
when the weather will open .... If your Honours do not consider me now,
never did we see such a Christmas before .... May God Almighty bless
your Honours and send it on Christmas Day”. It does not seem that Jane
Tyndall, in December 1845, received the advance payment [due to be paid
to her on 25 March 1846] which she then sought. It was, however, sent to
her early in 1846. On 11 March 12 1846 -- in spite of the earlier
advance payments—she asked SK to send her, in advance, the payment due
to her on 25 June 1846. The letter in which she made this request
indicates that her son’s school was not successful:
My Son whom I live with has a School here all the
Winter but it is in a Country place and the Protestant Children in the
Parish lives too far away to come in the Winter, but he will have a
large School all Summer. He is to pay Mr Philip Newton £3 a year for a
House and he keeps the School on his own account and has no other
payment but a penny, and [he receives] from that to 2 ½ d per week from
each scholar .... Hon’ble Sirs if I had any [money] and only to save my
Family from Starving I would not be a trouble. The potatoes is from 11s
to 14s per Barrel and is rising every week. We have about a Quarter [of
an acre] of Land to our house and if we could sow it now we hope we
would be comfortable next Harvest .... We had no opportunity these many
years to sow until now and if we could get this next Quarters Salary we
could buy Provision and sow it and it would keep us going until the
School w’d be strong and I hope then we would not have occasion to be a
trouble until next September. Hon’ble Sirs, think, Oh think, what
happiness you will give our little family by sending it. Oh think what
must be a Parents Sufferings, to hear his [Jacob Tyndall’s] little
innocent Children crying with hunger and have nothing to give them this
hard time.
The above letter of 11 March 1846 is the last from
Jane Tyndall recorded in the SK correspondence. On 15 April, Rev Grogan
wrote to SK certifying that she had died at Dunleckny Cross, on 5 April.
Jacob Tyndall’s response was rapid: he quickly abandoned all hope for
the school or for any other future in Ireland, and decided to go with
his family to Quebec, the costs to be paid by SK on behalf of Frankfort.
At the end of April 1846, he wrote from Dunleckny Cross to SK:
I Rec’d your kind Letter on yesterday and we return
Lord Frankfort and you Gentlemen our sincere thanks. Hon’ble Sirs the
Names of my Family who will go to America are:—
- Jacob Tyndall
- Hannah Tyndall. Wife to Jacob
- Children,
- William Tyndall, aged, 8 years
- Elizabeth Tyndall, aged, 6 years
- Montgomery Tyndall, aged, 2 years
- James Tyndall, aged, 6 months
Oh Hon’ble Sirs, when you are sending any one to pay
the passage to Quebec, may I humbly beg you will give Orders to use the
greatest Economy. I have nothing to depend upon in a foreign land but
what shall be left on the passage and what will enable me to leave this
place. I have no furniture &c. &c. to make anything of, as other people
would have, being so long out of a Situation. Hon’ble Sirs I am ready to
leave this [place] the Second day after I receive your answer, as I have
nothing to live upon here only in the greatest poverty, as no one
belonging to me since my dear Mother died would hardly speak to me, but
all wishing me to leave the Kingdom for fear I should be a disgrace to
them in my Poverty, as they are all in a Comfortable way of Life.
Hon’ble Sirs, I owe upwards of £2-10s for the Medicine & Funeral
Expenses of my dear Mother, and £2-6s for to release my Clothes & my
Wife’s &c. out of the Pawn Brokers which I ... put in to support my poor
Mother during her illness and also to support us since she was buried as
I had no earning since. If your Honours would please to send me £6, I
would be in Dublin with my Family the second day after, as I want many
little necessaries for the family. If you would be so kind not to pay
for the passage in any vessel, that would sail by the 11th of May as my
Wife would wish to stop in Dublin for 3 or four days with her Brothers
whom she did not see these 12 years. Hon’ble Sirs I hope I may expect an
answer by return of Post as it is on the little furniture I am living
upon, selling, until I can leave this place. Every day I stop here is a
loss to me.
This passage gives interesting details of intra-family
relationships. Note also that the Tyndalls were willing to leave Co
Carlow on the second day after they had received a letter, as well as
money, from SK. Similar hastiness to leave what appeared to be a
hopeless country is noted in other draft chapters of Landlords, Tenants,
Famine.
In the family tree of John Tyndall, FRS, the exact
identity of the above-mentioned Jane Tyndall is a mystery. Her letters
indicate that she was elderly at the time of her death in 1846 and,
given the stated ages of his children, it is unlikely that her son Jacob
was any younger than 30 years of age at that time. If he was aged 30 in
1846, he must have been born circa 1816. If we assume that to be the
case, we would infer that he was not the son of Jane Fleming who, in
their gallant attempt (an exhaustive task using all known possibilities)
to construct the family tree of Tyndall, FRS, McMillan and Nevin state
married a John Tyndall (not the John who was father of the FRS) in 1819,
or of Jane Pinion who, according to the same researchers, married a
Henry 14 Tyndall in 1824.
As McMillan and Nevin have indicated, the father of
John Tyndall, FRS, was also named John. Circa 1820, the members of this
household lived in Leighlinbridge. William, the father of John senior,
resided in Coolcullen. It would appear that all persons named Tyndall
living in the Leighlinbridge district in the early 19th century were
descendants of, or in some way related to, this William Tyndall.
Although he lived in Leighlinbridge in 1844-5, it may
be the case that (our) Jacob Tyndall resided elsewhere during his youth.
This is suggested by a letter from the Deanery, Leighlinbridge, dated 2
December 1844, in which the aforementioned Rev Richard Bernard informed
SK:
I have been requested by Jacob Tyndall of this Place
to certify that his Mother Mrs Jane Tyndall is now [emphasis added by
the present author] living with him, in order that he may receive her
quarters Salary from Lord Frankfort. Thus, it may be the case that (our)
Jane Tyndall followed her son to Leighlinbridge from Coolcullen.
We can be confident that (our) Jane and Jacob Tyndall
were related to John Tyndall, FRS:
First, there was the common link with Viscount
Frankfort: the grandfather of the FRS resided at Coolcullen, and (our)
Jane Tyndall was in receipt of a pension from his Lordship who, in the
1840s, was owner of Coolcullen.
Second, there was a common link with Dean Bernard of
Leighlinbridge. According to the Tyndall family tree constructed by
McMillan and Nevin, an uncle of the FRS, named Jacob Tyndall, was
“vestry clerk for Dean Bernard” at Wells Church, Leighlinbridge, between
1836 and 1840, and another uncle, Caleb Tyndall, was “warden at Wells
Church” in 1842. It will be recalled that it was the same Rev Bernard
who tried to obtain employment for our Jacob Tyndall in 1845.
Third, there is a commonality of Christian names: our
Jacob’s eldest child was named William, as also was the grandfather (on
his father’s side) of the FRS and, according to the family tree of
McMillan and Nevin, an uncle of the FRS was also named Jacob. It seems
to this author that there is a very strong probability that our Jacob
Tyndall was the same individual as the person of 15 that name listed in
the family tree of the FRS, as constructed by McMillan and Nevin. In
fact, taking all relevant considerations into account, the author is
convinced that such a hypothesis is correct. Who, then, was our Jane
Tyndall? Given the presumption that our Jacob Tyndall was the same
person as Jacob, son of William Tyndall of Coolcullen, it would have to
be the case that Jane was a wife of that William, who is known to have
married at least twice. Thus, it seems that our Jacob was an uncle to
the FRS, and that our Jane Tyndall was a grandmother to him. On the
latter points, the author would be more confident if he knew with
certainty that William’s sons John and Jacob were offspring of the same
mother.
Brief Observations on Burton Lands in Carlow and
Kilkenny Apart from managing the Frankfort lands in Carlow and Kilkenny,
in the late 1840s the firm of SK also managed the lands of Sir Charles
Burton in those two counties. This estate consisted of about 380 statute
acres at Pollerton Big (on which was sited the Burton family residence,
Pollacton House) on the outskirts of Carlow town, and about 160 acres at
Knockbodaly, near Graiguenamanagh in Co Kilkenny. On 15 June 1842, a
firm of solicitors in London, Walker & Grant, sent the following
communication to SK:
We have been requested to recommend a land agent to
undertake the management of the small property of Sir Charles Burton Bt
in the County of Carlow. We have named your firm. Sir Charles Burton is
at present a minor, but he will attain the age of 21 in Jan’y 1844. The
affairs of Sir Charles are managed by Mr Elliott of 22 Harcourt St [in
Dublin] under our instructions .... An uncle of Sir Charles is the
present receiver [of rents], having been appointed by the Court of
Chancery during the lunacy of the recently deceased baronet Sir Charles
Burton. Mr Elliott is the solicitor of the present receiver.
The young Charles Burton, who had been educated at
Eton and who was in the army, did not reside at Pollacton House during
the 1840s. It may be the case that he resided there, occasionally, in
the 1850s: in 1851 he was appointed High Sheriff of Co Carlow. A letter
dated 17 June 1844, to Kincaid from the aforementioned firm of Walker &
Grant, indicates that “Sir Charles Burton will shortly sail with his
regiment to India”, and in 1860, Walford indicated that Burton (who was
still unmarried) then had an address in London as well as at Pollacton.
In 1893, Walford listed Pollacton as Burton’s sole place of residence.
Pollacton moved in the direction of decay early in the
twentieth century. The author of The Carlow Gentry has reported as
follows:
The baronetcy, created for Charles Burton of Pollacton
in 1758, became extinct after five generations with the death, aged 80,
in 1902, of Sir Charles William Cuffe Burton [the person mentioned
immediately above]. He suffered disabling injuries in a fall from a
horse while on his way to a hunt meet on a frosty winter morning, and it
was as a result of injuries sustained when he fell out of his wheelchair
in the garden at Pollacton that he died. His wife was 76 when she died
two years later.
Except for the walls which surrounded it, three gates,
a gate lodge and some farm offices, today there is little trace of the
Pollacton demesne. The house itself was demolished in the early 1970s.
SK commenced as Burton’s agent around the beginning of
1843. On 9 April of that year, William Elliott, the solicitor mentioned
above, advised Kincaid: “It is essential you should have some [local]
person in charge of the demesne & plantations [at Pollerton] or else
great pillage will take place”. For several years previously, and at an
annual salary of £5, a local man named Michael Hade had acted as bailiff
on the Pollerton property. However, on grounds of economy it seems, in
1844 SK discontinued Hade’s services, and assigned the tasks which he
had performed to James Brenan of Carlow town, who has already been
discussed in Carloviana (1998) as Part I under the present title. Hade
complained, stating that it was in expectation of his continued
employment that he had “bought fire arms and had them registered for the
purpose”.
The SK correspondence contains no evidence of any
direct communication between SK and Burton. Rather, the Dublin firm
received directions from Law Walker, of Walker & Grant in London, who
allowed SK little discretion. During the Summer of 1844, Walker
instructed Kincaid to rent Pollacton House, to a specified tenant, for a
period of seven years. In regard to the lands immediately surrounding
the house, these were to be rented to two specified tenants who,
according to Walker, “must both pay for their leases, to be prepared by
Mr Wm. Elliott & approved by me”. However, the rigid terms laid down by
Walker seem to have been unattractive to the prospective tenants.
Pollacton House remained untenanted in December 1844. On 6 January 1845,
Walker wrote to SK: “Sir Charles Burton will be obliged by your having
the family portraits at Pollacton carefully packed & removed to 17
your care in Dublin”. The SK correspondence provides no indication that
a suitable tenant for the house was found in 1845.
On 13 January 1845, Walker instructed SK to spend some
£192 on repairs (mainly to the roof) at Pollacton House. These were
completed by January 1846. On 15 May of that year, Walker wrote to SK:
“There are two or three matters in your cash account with Sir Charles
Burton to January 1846 on which I must trouble you to afford me a little
explanation”. The explanations sought pertained to details of the cost
of the repairs. Walker’s letter of 15 May is close to accusatory in
tone: it suggests that SK may have been negligent, or that the manner in
which the firm spent Burton’s money may have been inappropriate.
Walker was rigid on the matter of punctuality of rent
receipts.
On 25 February 1845, he wrote to SK:
Sir Charles Burton requests me to ask you when he may
expect to receive his accounts & the rents due November last. The
greater part of Sir Charles’ [Pollerton] estate appears to be let on
leases renewable for ever. There appears no reason therefore why the
rents should at any time be more than a few days in arrear.
Following the partial failure of the potato in 1845,
Walker again expressed his disapproval on 12 September of that year,
when he wrote to SK:
I shall be glad to receive Sir Charles Burton’s
accounts at your earliest convenience. I understood from Mr Kincaid that
you furnished your accounts yearly on the 31 January & so told Sir
Charles. He is displeased & in my opinion justly so at not having
received his accounts.
Apart from a letter from three tenants early in 1846,
the SK correspondence contains little else of interest pertaining to
Burton’s estates. Dated 13 February, the letter pleaded as follows:
We the tenantry on the Pollerton Estate have been
noticed to meet you [to pay rent] on the 21st Inst. Expecting on the
season like the present we would not be called on, earlier than usual, &
following the example of others, in this part of the Country, we have
made all the Humble efforts in our power, to meet the scarcity, which is
but truly pressing. All the tenants in whose name we write would of
course, feel 18 bound to meet you, at any risk. But as the landlords in
this neighbourhood generally encouraged their tenantry this season, we
hoped for some encouragements. Should you gentlemen feel it your duty to
persevere we fear all our efforts will be frustrated, as we shall be
compelled to sell our Corn at the present low prices, or still worse, to
part with our Stock. The Kindness we have always experienced as Tenants
to the Burton Family, have induced us to lay the circumstances before
you, as a respectful Humble petition, to postpone your visit, till some
further period .... We propose on the 5th May next to forward the rent,
as we have done on a former occasion.
Given the firmness of the stance of Law Walker as
indicated in passages from some of his letters quoted above, it seems
unlikely that the firm of SK was able to show much leniency to the
Pollerton tenants in 1846. Two letters of January 1846 indicate that
some tenants on Knockbodaly (Burton’s small estate in Co Kilkenny) had
been summoned to Court for ejectment. Whether decrees were obtained, and
whether they were terminally implemented, is unknown.
The reader may find it surprising that this author has
some doubt whether the Knockbodaly tenants were actually ejected. This
is because, on the several estates throughout Ireland managed by SK,
actual ejectment was relatively infrequent, and was generally
implemented only as a measure of last resort. SK _s typical approach to
tenants seriously in arrears was as follows: First, if the tenant had
assets, SK sought to distrain those assets in lieu of rent. Second, if a
tenant had no assets of significance, and if SK believed that the tenant
was not viable in the long run, then SK sought _voluntary _ surrender of
the land. In such cases the firm usually compensated the tenant on
departure. The compensation often took the form of a contribution
towards the family _s passage to America, and/or clothing for the
passage. When SK sought _voluntary _ surrender of land from a tenant
whose viability was deemed hopeless and when the tenant refused to
surrender, then SK tended to seek an ejectment decree. This of course
involved both time and explicit legal costs. Even in such cases,
however, we cannot be sure that the tenants were terminally ejected: the
SK correspondence of the 1840s, combined with the Griffith Valuations of
the 1850s, indicate many examples of tenants against whom ejectment
decrees were intended or sought, but who were still on their holdings in
the 1850s (indicating that ejectments were not terminally executed).
Evidence on the points raised immediately above will be found in several
chapters of Landlords, Tenants, Famine.
Notes
1. The author is Senior Lecturer in Economics at
UCD.
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