The House of Downshire, 1600 to 1868. (part 6)

SOME EXTRACTS

FROM THE
RECORDS OF
OLD LISBURN
AND THE

MANOR OF KILLULTAGH.

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

XLX.

-- -- -- --

THE HOUSE OF DOWNSHIRE:

A Sketch of its History from 

1600 to 1868,

By HUGH M'CALL.

1881.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

EXTRACTS (Continued).

Arthur Blundell Sandys Trumbull, Third Marquis.

Years rolled on, and the dawn of the 8th of October, 1809, ushered in the day on  which the heir of the Downshire estates attained his twenty-first year. Very early that auspicious morning the good people, of the town of Hillsborough were astir; it seemed as if to them the sun appeared brighter than usual as gala-day set in, and the preparations for a baronial feast which had been going on for several days were fast coming to a close. It was pretty well known that the new lord of the soil had inherited an aggregate property which was fully double that which his ancestor, Sir Moyses Hill, originally derived from the Crown, and that in addition to lands and castles he had succeeded to quite a host of titles, which came down to him as the eventual heir of many landowners in England and Ireland. These titles were -- Earl Hillsborough, Lord Kilwarlin, and Baron Hill, in the peerage of Ireland; Marquis of Downshire, Viscount Fairford, and Baron Harwick, in the English peerage. The hereditary Constableship of Hillsborough Fort was also among local honours. In all times the coming of age of an eldest son was a marked day in the calendar of Downshire estate owners, but the one I allude to was made something extraordinary. By ten o'clock that morning crowds of strangers thronged the streets of Hillsborough, farmers, who had trudged it on foot for some miles from distant parts of the estate, and were awaiting the opening scene, found friends just arrived, and the joyousness of the occasion, together with the abundance of that peculiar wine of malt which makes glad the hearts of Irishmen, and the determination of all present to make the most of themselves for that day, gave every face more than, usual brightness. Care for the time being forget current plagues, and good-will triumphed. Very extensive arrangements had been made for that noble feast. Opposite the fire, composed of a small mountain of blazing turf, an immense bullock was being roasted; some sheep were also cooked whole, and as the dinner hour approached, endless joints of beef and roasts of mutton were placed on the long array of tables that stretched over the picturesque grounds. Interspersed with those good things whole hecatombs of turkeys, geese, and fowl were laid out by an army of waiters. The assemblage of tenants, sturdy, well-to-do men, neatly-dressed women, and pretty-looking girls that sat dawn to that rural celebration was in itself a sight well calculated to delight the most enthusiastic philanthropist. As the dusk of an October twilight fell around, a stout farmer, certainly not the worse but very much the better of his libations of the national beverage, jumped up on one of the tables, and with the voice of a stentor called out: "Silence! let every man fill his glass." That order was quickly obeyed, and the speaker continued: "Now, my good friends, we have heard much to-day of the noble family under which our fathers and ourselves have lived and prospered, and I now give a concluding toast, and that is 'The health, happiness, and length of days of the noble woman who led us to victory at the election for this county in August, 1805.'" Loud, long, and lusty was the cheer that followed those stirring words, and, in one burst of exultation roused by the remembrance of that great event, the welkin rang with the honoured name, "The Marchioness of Downshire!"

When the third Marquis came into possession of the family property the

Science of Agriculture

had still continued to be in a very backward state throughout many parts of Ulster. Land drainage was little thought of; swampy meadows threw tip "sprit" and rushes in much greater quantities than natural herbage; pasture lands suffered sadly by the overgrowth of thistles and dockweeds, and the culture of artificial grasses was of rare occurrence. A few of the forward farmers of Down grew clover and vetches for house-feeding of their cattle, but these were mere isolated cases. Agricultural implements, too, were very rude in construction. The plough was most unhandy; except the sock and coulter, it consisted solely of wood, and the men who turned over the soil were generally unskilled in that art. Primitive, however, as was the construction of the plough, the wheel car seemed to be still more of an antique. That vehicle was quite a model of the barbarous in carriage-building. The shafts were about nine feet in length, with the usual space for yoking the horse, and behind the animal was a semi-concave platform, on which was placed the agricultural produce or merchandise to be conveyed. Underneath that platform was placed a pair of iron-shod wheels, the solid portions were beech or ash; these were fastened to a wooden axle, and into each end of that axle an iron gudgeon was driven, the whole apparatus revolving on those gudgeons, which turned near the end of the shafts, on the principle now seen in the railway carriage. Ten to twelve hundred weight formed the heaviest load that any ordinary horse could draw on those vehicles, and this could only be done when the roads were moderately level. Indeed, a clumsier machine than the same wheel car could hardly have been constructed, and yet it was a great improvement on the slide cars, which had not any wheels. Half a century age the slide care was almost the only vehicle to be met with in the farmyards of Donegal. The Scotch cart, as the locomotive now in general use for the carriage of heavy goods was named at the commencement of this century, was then an object of as much curiosity in the North of Ireland as a steam engine would be at this day in the interior of South Africa, and it appeared wonderful to farmers and others that the same horse could draw a ton or a ton and a quarter on the cart with greater ease than one-half that load could be drawn on the common car.

Eight-day clocks were very rare, the people in rural districts depending for their knowledge of the time on the sundials; and in a district containing 4,000 inhabitants there were only ninety watches. In one parish which contained 6,000 acres there were 300 farmers, 1,300 labourers, 350 weavers, and 1,500 women and girls, whose chief employment was that of spinning flax. The farming implements included 220 ploughs, 1,600 spades, and as many shovels, graips, and pitchforks. A farmer of Carnban was at least twenty years ahead of his neighbours. He had an iron plough, manufactured by Ned Gribben, a Lisburn machinist; also a cart that cost ten guineas from the same maker; his spades were produced by George Pentland, one of the most ingenious of workmen, and his iron harrows were quite modern in construction.

Lady Downshire paid marked attention to the progress of scientific, agriculture, and during the minority of her eldest son she looked after the affairs of the estate with something of the financial accuracy of one who had studied commercial ethics in a merchant's counting-house.

The Dowager Marchioness died in May, 1836.

The next great event in the history of the house of Downshire was the marriage in October, 1811, of the young Marquis, to Maria, second daughter of the Earl of Plymouth. Very soon afterwards the noble pair returned from their wedding tour, and settled down at the family seat in Hillsborough, where, far away from the excitement and temptations of high life in London or Paris, they set themselves to work for the advancement, as far as the proprietor's, influence could do, of the social and material interests of the tenantry.

James the Second granted a patent for establishing a Corporation of Horsebreeders for Down, and to carry out that project a racecourse, in which the sport of brought into play, had been formed in the neighbourhood of Downpatrick. But, beyond mere preliminaries nothing effectual was accomplished. It is a matter of history that, on the occasion of his visit to Hillsborough Castle, William the Third issued an autograph letter directed to Christopher Carleton, Collector of Customs at Belfast, empowering that officer to pay out of the Crown funds £1,200 a year towards the support of the Presbyterian ministers of Ulster. His Majesty was very fond of high-bred horses, and having understood from his hospitable entertainer that the projected Corporation for the Improvement of the Breed of Horses had not been subsidised by any Royal grant, he issued a second letter to Mr. Carleton, granting £100, to be called the King's Plate, and to be competed for at a new running ground near Hillsborough.

Education.

From his boyhood the third Marquis of Downshire entertained very peculiar ideas relating to the importance of instructing the rising generation of people in rural districts, and soon after coming into possession of his property he commenced the election of a number of schoolhouses in different parts of the estate, which to this day stand as monuments of his practical philanthropy, and that great work was being carried on long before the late Lord Derby had been inspired with the idea of forming in Ireland, his noble system called National Education. The Marquis of Downshire had taken great interest in reading about the home missionary labours which were being accomplished by Joseph Lancaster, the famous Quaker, to whom the world was indebted for the discovery of the new principle of educating the children of the poorer classes. While in Belfast on one occasion he called at the bookselling establishment of Mr. John Hodgson. Standing beside the counter there were two gentlemen, one of these Mr. F. D. Finlay, the other a remarkable-looking person attired in the broadest habiliments of Quakerism. Mr. Finlay, who was well acquainted with Lord Downshire, after a few words of recognition from the peer, said: "My lord, allow me to introduce to you Joseph Lancaster, of whom I have heard your lordship speak in terms of high eulogy." The Marquis was highly pleased to meet the educational reformer, and after a friendly chat with Lancaster invited him to visit Hillsborough Castle, but the worthy Quaker was then on his way to America and could only express his thanks for the kindly attention.

One of the first of the numerous school-houses which the third Marquis of Downshire erected in different parts of his estate was that of Hill-Hall. He took particular interest in its operations, and visited there very regularly. About sixty years ago a new teacher was to be appointed for that school, and Mr. Charles Shields, a very respectable member of the profession, and who was master of the English and Mercantile School in Castle Street, Lisburn, having been requested to act as examiner of the candidates, gave his pupils a holiday on the occasion. As any of his scholars who wished to be present had been granted permission for that purpose, myself and several other boy's walked out to the schoolhouse. It was really a gala day; the sun shone out in his summer brightness, all nature seemed joyous, for lads released from school, even for a few hours, look upon a run in the country as something paradisiacal in its way. But the great attraction of the scene lay in the announcement that the Marquis of Downshire was to take the chair, and few members of the Lisburn juveniles having ever looked upon a live lord, the occasion was one of great interest. On arriving at the schoolhouse we found nearly every seat occupied; a few of the local gentry, with several farmers, and a number of the friends of the competitors, were present. As patron of the institution the Marquis presided, the seat of honour being an antique chair which had been borrowed for the occasion. His lordship did not take any active part in the examination of the candidates, leaving that matter altogether in the hands of Mr. Shields. The boys from town felt much astonished at that part of the day's performance, their ideas having been that a real Marquis should have had complete control of the affair; but instead of assuming any such power, he seemed to look on as a mere ordinary spectator. Two hours were occupied in the proceedings, and when Mr. Shields had made his selection Lord Downshire addressed the successful competitor, and, after congratulating him on the appointment, stated that "he himself and his family had many old and cherished associations with Hill-Hall, and he trusted that, as the new master of the school of that respectable district, he would effectively discharge those high and important duties which every instructor of youth was called upon to perform."

A short time before Lord Downshire's death, Archdeacon Mant, rector of Hillsborough, had been indulging in Puseyite practices. The Marquis called a meeting of the principal members of the church, and the resolutions passed by those gentlemen strongly condemned the action of the very reverend dignitary. On the 11th of April, 1845, his lordship, as president of the Royal Society of Dublin, set off to that city for the purpose of attending the cattle show to be held there in the following week, and next day drove out to Blessington, the capital of his Wicklow estate. He was received, on arrival by his agent, who had a saddle-horse ready for him to ride round part of his property, but in a few minutes after mounting he fell off the animal in a fit of apoplexy, and when the agent rushed to his assistance the respected peer had already breathed his last.

(House of Downshire to be continued.)


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 28 September 1917 as part of a series which ran in that paper each week through 1917 and into 1918. The text along with other extracts can be found on my website Eddies Extracts.)

The House of Downshire, 1600 to 1868. (part 5)

SOME EXTRACTS

FROM THE
RECORDS OF
OLD LISBURN

AND THE

MANOR OF KILLULTAGH.

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

XLIX.

-- -- -- --

THE HOUSE OF DOWNSHIRE:

A Sketch of its History from 

1600 to 1868,

By HUGH M'CALL.

1881.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

EXTRACTS (Continued).

Arthur, Second Marquis.

The eventful reign over the family property of Arthur, second Marquis of Downshire, contains within its history some political incidents which form very exciting chapters of Ireland's annals.

The Act of Union passed the Irish Parliament on the 21st of February, 1800 and was ratified by the British Legislature in the following July.

The Marquis of Downshire voted against Lord Castlereagh's Bill, and as the head of the landed proprietors of his native county it was considered a great stroke of policy to make him a special martyr. Accordingly, a clean sweep of all official honours held by his Lordship marked the commencement of the pettiest course of vindictive feeling ever perpetrated by the Administration of any great State. The colonelcy of the Down Militia was taken from him, his name was erased from the list of Privy Councillors, and he was superseded in the office which he held as Custos Rotulorum of the county. Some appointments in the Civil Service shared the like fate; but for these he cared little.

The indignities he had suffered pressed heavily on him, and rapidly undermined a naturally robust constitution. He it was who had created the Irish Militia, at a time, too, when the Government very much required the aid of influential land-lords; the loss of the colonelcy of that troop was keenly felt by him, and preyed upon his thoughts more than all else he had endured at the hands of Imperial vengeance. Before the close of that summer the health of the noble Marquis broke down, arid after a few weeks' confinement, during which his sufferings were less bodily than mental, he died on the 7th of September, 1801, a direct victim of State persecution.

The early death of Lord Downshire (he was only in his forty-eighth year), and the very peculiar circumstances by which that event had been brought about, called forth the utmost sympathy for his widow and family, and the greatest indignation a against the English Government, the Irish Viceroy, and the Chief Secretary.

Under the short reign of Arthur, the second Marquis, the property had been much improved. Many leases granted by his father, who was lord of the Downshire estates for more than half a century, had lapsed, and in arranging the future rental his Lordship equitably kept in view the tenants' investments, which were fixed on the soil, as well as the increased value given to farms through circumstances outside the control of occupiers. And so perfectly satisfied were the farmers with the justice done to them that numbers held on then; property without accepting the new leases offered them. In these cases a very high compliment was paid to their land-lord. As a matter of local history, the fact that the agriculturists on the Downshire estates considered that their industrial rights were quite as secure when they were mere tenants at will as if they held leases of their lands, was in itself a noble testimony of faith on the one side and baronial equity on the other. The old Castle of Hillsborough had many attractions; it abounded in time-honoured associations as well as in the picturesque, and the remains of Gothic grandeur to be seen around the ancient ruin never failed to stir up in the mind of the thoughtful visitor hosts of historic recollections. A writer who published a very interesting work on Down in 1802 describes the portal of Hillsborough Castle as having evidently been the grand entrance to an extensive fortification. He says -- "The room over the gateway is elegantly fitted up in the antique style. Inside the masonry of a square fort, with its immense bastions, there is a broad and beautiful green, and a wall round the rampart, which overlooks the most admirably cultivated country, and from whence may be seen a splendid view of the noble plantations in the Park." There was something sadly touching in the circumstances under which the Marchioness in 1801 had passed into the dark valley of widowhood, and yet many incidents followed to throw light on then gloom. Four sons and two daughters were left to her charge, and three months afterwards she was delivered of a fifth son, that might have been called a child of sorrow, but whom the Marchioness lived to see happily married, a colonel of dragoons, and possessed of a handsome property. In course of the year that succeeded the death of her husband she was created Baroness Sandys of Ombersley, Worcester, on the demise of her uncle, the second baron, and at the same time she succeeded to the valuable estates of that nobleman which title and property her second son, Arthur Moyses Hill, afterwards inherited. Mary Sandys Trumbull, Marchioness of Downshire, who had also become possessed of East Hampstead Park, Berkshire, was a woman of high spirit as well as superior intelligence, very benevolent in disposition, and, like most of the fair sex, exceedingly fond of having her own way. But while usually acting on that peculiarity in the character of nearly all daughters of Mother Eve, she paid marked deference to public opinion. Her leading principle, however, was that of in all cases showing the greatest respect to the memory of her  husband, and as far as possible carrying out all his projects.

Great Election, 1805.

When Viscount Castlereagh's address to the electors of Down appeared in 1805 the Marchioness of Downshire and her family were in London.

A gentleman of high standing in Down, and one of the most ardent supporters of the noble candidate, called on Lady Downshire to solicit her aid and influence on behalf of his friend. He was received with the utmost courtesy, and after declaring the object of his visit, her Ladyship said that, in making the application for her support, some great facts seemed to have been forgotten. The most prominent of these was her being the widow of the nobleman whom the English Government, with Lord Castlereagh as its instrument had persecuted even to the death. "I cannot give your friend any support," continued the high-minded peeress, "but will oppose him, and so sure as my name is Mary, Marchioness of Downshire, effectually, too."

The candidate put forward to oppose Castlereagh, supported by the Marchioness, was Colonel Meade, son of Lord Clanwilliam, one of the most Liberal of Ulster's resident landlords, and whose name as such was worthy of being associated with that of the house of Hill, so far as related to popular representation.

The time allowed to make preparations for the impending contest was very limited. Lord Castlereagh's address to the electors appeared on the 15th of July; Colonel Meade's appeal was published on the 24th of the same month -- just three days before that on which the High Sheriff had arranged for the event to come off. Immense electioneering placards, each dated Hillsborough, July 24th, 1805, were posted in every district from Newry to Donaghadee. I give one extract from those notices:-- "The freeholders' of Down are especially requested to observe, that the Honourable Colonel Meade has offered himself for its representation at the coming election, which commences on Saturday next at Downpatrick, where it is hoped every Independent voter will attend, and honour him with hi vote and interest."

I have heard men who recollected that wonderful contest speak with the greatest enthusiasm about it. They said that so great was the excitement in town and country, that during all the time of its being carried on little else could have been heard, when public affairs were alluded to, than the prospect of one or other of the candidates.

The Marchioness of Downshire had a number of very intelligent men engaged in canvassing the voters, and she herself did not spare either bodily toil or expensive journeyings day or night, and most successful continued to be her visits to farm-houses. It was said that Colonel Meade called on her one day to inquire whether she had looked after the Kilwarlin electors. "The greater number of the men were working in the fields when I canvassed that district," replied the Marchioness, "but, Colonel, I did better for you than I could have done had I met each of them, for I got all the wives to promise that their husbands would vote on the right side, and the unmarried farmers' sweethearts whom I called on assured me they would induce their friends to support the Independent candidate." Lady Downshire had studied the question of women's influence to some purpose.

On Monday, the 29th, the Courthouse at Downpatrick was open for voting, but very little business was done. Fifteen votes were given for Castlereagh and ten for Meade. It was arranged that the freeholders on each side should, bring their leases with them when they came to vote.

The polling continued on Tuesday, the 30th of July, and, amidst excitement never before equalled in Down, was carried on till Saturday, when the state of the voting was announced as -- Castlereagh, 779; Meade, 712. Immense rejoicing on the part of the friends of the candidate who had made such headway was the result. All Comber seemed aroused to ecstacy. Barrels of ale were rolled into Cow Lane and Mill Street, and the worthy people drank it out of noggins, till the men and women gossipped in guid braid Scotch that would have puzzled a Paisley bodie to interpret. Newtownards men became quite wild, and thought the battle all but won. Monday, the 5th of August, Castlereagh polled 188 and Meade 177. Then came the turning-point. The Marchioness of Downshire, with her eldest son and Mr. George Stephenson, J.P., agent of the estate, arrived in Downpatrick on Tuesday, and received quite an ovation. The presence of that lady had immense influence on many wavering voters. It was considered as an omen of success, and immediately afterwards vast numbers of electors crowded the polling-booths and voted for Colonel Meade, and from that hour until Saturday, the 10th of August, and twelfth day of the election, the scale gradually turned, and at four o'clock that afternoon the numbers were -- Castlereagh, 1,481; Meade, 1,528. On Monday, the 12th instant, Lord Castlereagh ascended the hustings and declared his intention of giving up the contest; but the friends of Colonel Meade continued to poll their men till making for him a clear majority of 450. Next day, Thursday, the 15th, the High Sheriff declared Colonel Meade duly elected, and the new member was chaired through Downpatrick, followed by some thousands of freeholders and others. The arrival the same evening of the newly-elected member and his friends in the ancient town of Hillsborough was hailed with lusty cheers, and the welkin rang with "Meade for ever." Nothing could have exceeded the enthusiasm of that turnout of the people; the street in front of the park gates was one dense mass of heads. Of the multitude that crowded the vast square, a writer who witnessed the scene has recorded:-- "The shade of the late lord seemed to smile on the procession and to say, 'The grateful tribute of affection which you have this day paid to my widow and children is to me most acceptable. You have restored to its lustre that honour of my family which had been blown upon but not tarnished.'"

(House of Downshire to be continued.)

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

In a volume entitled "Irish Protestant Letters," by Robert Redman Belshaw, published in New York in 1855, appears a number of poems by "Leamh Dhearg," Lisburn, "N. G.," Lisburn, and "Boardmills." Could any reader supply Mr. Carson with Information that would lead to the identification of these writers?


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 21 September 1917 as part of a series which ran in that paper each week through 1917 and into 1918. The text along with other extracts can be found on my website Eddies Extracts.)

Tracing Your Roots

The BBC continue their excellent coverage of Genealogy and Family History with a new series of Tracing Your Roots on Radio 4 giving advice and guidance on genealogy research.

The show is presented by Sally Magnusson and Nick Barratt who "uncover personal perspectives on social history and give listeners the tools to become family history detectives."

In the first of four episodes "What's in a name?" the show investigates how family history can hit a brick wall when a name changes unexpectedly and explores stories where that change has an intriguing background.

The programme is also available through BBC iPlayer or you can download the podcast from iTunes.

The House of Downshire, 1600 to 1868. (part 4)

SOME EXTRACTS

FROM THE
RECORDS OF

OLD LISBURN

AND THE

MANOR OF KILLULTAGH.

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

XLVIII.

-- -- -- --

THE HOUSE OF DOWNSHIRE:

A Sketch of its History from 

1600 to 1868,

By HUGH M'CALL.

1881.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

EXTRACTS (Continued).

French Invasion.

England, as is her wont to this day, forgot how much she owed to the loyalty of the North; nor did she ever admit that it was by the warlike spirit and unpurchased patriotism of the landlords and tenants of Ulster that foreign foes were kept at bay during the very exciting times of the last century. Louis the Fifteenth frequently expressed a desire to invade England, and sent over spies to travel round her coast lines for the purpose of discovering by what back-door an entrance could be made into her territories. The Northern parts of Ireland were considered the most likely mode of ingress, and a fleet of three ships, commanded by Admiral Thurot, and conveying six hundred well-trained soldiers, was sent over to open the campaign. The frigates entered the Bay of Carrickfergus on the 21st of February, 1760, and immediately afterwards a detachment of the troops landed at the little jetty near the town, and from thence marched to the Fort, then very ineffectively guarded, and took possession of it. Immense excitement prevailed, and then, it was that the local forces of militia and volunteers turned out in immense numbers, the County of Down troops mustering to the extent of 2,578, the Antrim men numbered 2,249, and Armagh showed a military force of 552. The troops of each county assembled in Belfast, and, on being reconnoitred by the invaders as they marched towards Carrickfergus, the French commander took the alarm, and having unmoored his ships he hoisted sail and sheered off from the coast. Lord Hillsborough's troops mustered 465 strong on that occasion. The second Monarch of the Guelphic Hanoverians had raised his lordship to the dignity of an earl some years before; he was also a member of the Privy Council and Comptroller of the Householder. In addition to these duties he had been appointed a member of the Irish Linen Board, the headquarters of which were in Dublin, and the object was to watch over and promote the progress of the linen manufacture. Next year the noble Earl took his seat in the Irish House of Lords, and, together with the Right Honourable William Brownlow, M.P. for Armagh -- a most active member of the Linen Board -- entered into the details of the trust in the spirit of determined energy.

Linen Industry.

Both these landlords were well known as being the most liberal patrons of flax culture, flax spinning, and linen weaving, as those industries existed among the tenantry located on their respective estates. They gave liberal premiums for the largest and finest growths of flax produced by their tenants; and the Countess of Hillsborough and Mrs. Brownlow aroused such a spirit of competition in the households of farmers that the daughters of many of them became the greatest of artists in spinning high-class yarns. Once a year three different classes of prizes were given, on the market day preceding Christmas, for the best "bunches" of linen yarn, and the prizes consisted not of of money but of dress patterns, as well for maids as for matrons. Very serious losses were then sustained by linen bleachers and merchants through the defective style of yarns used in wefting the inner parts of many webs, save the lap-yard -- that was, the outside fold of each piece of linen -- which, having been carefully woven, very frequently deceived the buyer into the idea that all the other portions of the work were equally good. The effect of such dishonest practices was that several parcels of linen sent per order to London customers were returned on the bleachers' hands.

John Williamson, one of the most intelligent bleachers in the trade, had frequent interviews with Lord Hillsborough on the subject, and as a practical manufacturer the noble Earl requested him to draw up the form of a Bill to regulate the trade. A measure had already been laid before the Board of Trustees, but it so abounded with pains and penalties that it could not be entertained. Mr. Williamson's proposal simply set forth that, in order to uphold the respectability of the linen trade, inspectors should be appointed to attend the public markets, the then chief places of sale, and that no man, under a penalty, should expose webs in any market until they had been examined, fold by fold, by one or other of those officers, and if the cloth was found fairly woven and correct as to length and breadth the officer was to seal it on the outside fold. In March, 1762, John Williamson, of Lambeg, and Henry Betty, of Lisburn, having been appointed as representatives of the trade of Belfast, Lisburn, and Lurgan, set off for Dublin to urge on the Linen Board a reconstruction of the bye-law. The two gentlemen travelled by post-chaise, and on the third evening after leaving Lisburn got safe to the Irish metropolis. Some weeks elapsed before the delegates were able to report progress. At length the following letter, which gives some idea of the interest Lord Hillsborough took in the trade, was written by Mr. Williamson, and addressed to Mr. Burden, an eminent linen bleacher then resident in Lisburn:--

"Dublin, April 20, 1762.

"Dear Frank, -- We have carried everything we wished for. Very full Boards of Trustees have sat every day, and tomorrow there is to be a final settlement. It is however, my opinion that we would never have got a hearing, but would have been contemned and abused, had it not been for Lord Hillsborough, who has in all and since we came here has worked for us night and day, the effect of which has been that we are now treated with the highest respect by people who were ready to insult when we came here. He is one of the kindest of noblemen, and if the members of the linen trade have the least spark of gratitude they will never for get what he has done for us all.
         "Yours affectionately,
                    "JOHN WILLIAMSON.

    "To Mr. Frank Burden, Lisburn."

Honours had fallen in amplitude on Wills, second Viscount Hillsborough. After the death of his father he took his seat in the English House of Lords, and in 1754 the Duke of Newcastle, then Prime Minister, appointed him Comptroller of the Household of George the Second, and in course of the following year his Lordship became Treasurer of the chamber.

The King died in March, 1760. Many changes took place in various departments of the Government. Overtures were made to the Earl of Hillsborough to join the Cabinet of the young Monarch, but he refused all offers of place, and, returning home to his Castle, we find him, ere the end of that session of the Irish Parliament, taking part in the discussions at College Green. He was then a member of the Privy Council. In the third session of the English Parliament under the new reign, the Right Honourable George Grenville appointed the noble Earl First Lord of Trade, and three years afterwards he was made Postmaster-General. These offices demanded his Lordship's residence in London for at least nine months out of twelve. About the close of the Parliamentary session of 1767 he received the higher appointment of Secretary of State for the American Colonies.

Parliamentary Contest, 1783.

The year 1783 was one of the most exciting periods of Ulster's political history. Loud demands were made by politicians of different creeds for a more equal representation of the people and a moderate participation in the rights and privileges enjoyed by the manufacturers, merchants, and shipowners of Great Britain. A general election was about to come off in course of the summer, and as the new Parliament had been notified to meet on the 16th of October, great excitement prevailed on all sides.

Viscount Kilwarlin, son and heir of the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough; the Hon. Robert Stewart (afterwards Lord Castlereagh), and the Hon. Edward Ward, of Castleward, Bangor, were the candidates for Down.

The polling commenced in Down Courthouse on Wednesday, the 13th of August. On the third evening afterwards the numbers were:-- Stewart, 690; Kilwarlin, 643; Ward, 623; and great was the exultation of Mr. Stewart's friends at the end of the second week, when the poll stood thus:-- Stewart, 1,171; Kilwarlin, 1,109; Ward, 994. Still the Independent party, though cast down, were not discomfited; they stood shoulder to shoulder. Mr. Gawin Hamilton and Mr. Moses Neilson, very influential men connected with the Presbyterian body, girt up their loins and called on the electors to muster in greater strength and stand by Ward and Kilwarlin. Desperate was the struggle in the last week, and so well did the Independents pull up their men that on Friday, the 5th of September, after a struggle of twenty-three days, the numbers showed the annexed figures:--

      Lord Kilwarlin ......... 2,831
      Mr. Ward ............... 2,071
      Mr. Stewart ............ 1,987

The result of this remarkable struggle was felt in every quarter of Down. Worthy farmers who, for years before, had attended fairs and markets and returned home sober enough to preside at a modern temperance society, spent that evening and the next day in unmitigated revels, every single voter seeming to think that he had honoured himself in supporting the Independent candidates.

In 1789 His Majesty George III. raised the Earl to the dignity of Marquis. Great rejoicing took place among the tenants in Down when that announcement was heard there. Bonfires blazed on the hill-tops and amid valleys, and in honour of the event the droughty denizens of Hillsborough drank a quantity of stiff punch which, had it been collected into one centre, would have floated a lighter load of teetotallers.

Arthur Hill, Viscount Kilwarlin, second Marquis, married in 1786 Mary, only child and heiress of the Hon. Martyn Sandys -- a lady whose name still brings with it many of the brightest recollections of devotion towards the memory of her husband, as well as many evidences of the dignity of noble-minded widowhood. He died in 1801.

Irish Volunteers, 1778.

In his earlier years, and when the second Marquis held the title of Lord Kilwarlin, he was very active in organising the enrolment, and in watching over the military discipline, of the Irish Volunteers. Civilians of Down and Antrim had frequently before, and when foreign foes threatened to invade the Northern coasts, banded themselves together for the purpose of defence, but the special system which was first inaugurated in Belfast during the last three days of March, 1778, may be noted as the origin of that celebrated embodiment which, in four years afterwards, became such a formidable host of well-armed troops as to create considerable alarm in the British Cabinet. Lord Kilwarlin was then in his twenty-fifth year, and, like most nobles and commoners, rejoiced in the patriotic spirit that formed the leading principles held by the troops. It has long since become an historic truth that the original object of those citizen soldiers in joining together, and in getting some education in military tactics, was solely for the purpose of (in case of need) defending their country from the attacks of foreign foemen. The annual review of all the different companies of Volunteers came off in a large field called the Parade Ground, situate on the Falls Road, near Belfast, and very proud was Lord Kilwarlin of the prominent place which the troops of his native county were able to take on all such occasions. But in course of years, and when Ireland's National Guards had become a great power in the country, and when through their influence several mercantile and other advantages had been conceded by England, certain officers and men connected with the troops commenced to disseminate through rank and file some seditious lessons founded on the Republican principles then rampant in France. This course had been continued until the commencement of 1792, when numbers of the peaceably-disposed members of the national army ceased all connection with it.

Wills Hill, first Marquis, died in October, 1798, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. On that occasion many peculiar feelings tended to create more than common sorrow among the tenantry resident on the Downshire estates, as well as on the part of the neighbouring farmers For mors than half a century the deceased nobleman had been the friend as well as the landlord of many thousands of agriculturists.

(House of Downshire to be continued.)


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 14 September 1917 as part of a series which ran in that paper each week through 1917 and into 1918. The text along with other extracts can be found on my website Eddies Extracts.)

PRONI Lectures at the Linenhall Library

The Linenhall Library is to be host to another series of lunchtime lectures delivered by staff from the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and guest speakers from the University of Ulster.

The lectures are free and will be held on the last Wednesday of the month as follows:

26 October 2011 

'Planting liberties and undertakers: the Ulster Scheme'

by Dr Glynn Kelso, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

30 November 2011

'Conflict Archive on the Internet'

by Dr Brendan Lynn, University of Ulster

25 January 2012

'Coughs and Sneezes spread diseases: Medical and Health Records at PRONI'

by Mr David Huddleston, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

29 February 2012

'Holy Island: the Rathlin Catechism'

by Dr Andrew Sneddon, University of Ulster

28 March 2012

'Gone for good: PRONI sources on emigration'

by Dr Ann McVeigh, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

25 April 2012

'Snap Happy: Shorts’ photographic archive at PRONI'

by Mr Ian Montgomery, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

30 May 2012

'Good Sport: PRONI’s sports and leisure archives'

by Dr Glynn Kelso, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The talks will start at 1pm in the Performance Area of the Linenhall Library.  Everyone welcome.

The House of Downshire, 1600 to 1868. (part 3)

SOME EXTRACTS

FROM THE
RECORDS OF
OLD LISBURN
AND THE
MANOR OF KILLULTAGH.

-- -- -- --
Edited by JAMES CARSON.
-- -- -- --

XLVII.

-- -- -- --

THE HOUSE OF DOWNSHIRE:
A Sketch of its History from 
1600 to 1868,

By HUGH M'CALL.
1881.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

EXTRACTS (Continued).

The Castle of Hillsborough, which had been remodelled by the Honourable Arthur Hill about the year 1660, continued to be the scene of general hospitality, and the ceade mille failtha of the old Celtic lords was held out to intimate friends and passing strangers as fully and as joyously as it had been in the days when only native Princes swayed the baronial sceptre in every county throughout Ulster. Colonel Hill's first wife -- a daughter of Sir Richard Bolton, Lord Chancellor of Ireland -- died early in life, leaving an only son, Moyses. Some years after her death the widower married Mary Parsons, heiress of the Lord Justice of the King's Bench, and by whom he (the Colonel) acquired much property. During the Protectorate he had been elected for an English borough, and sat in the British House of Commons, where he distinguished himself by his ability in all discussions relative to Irish affairs, and especially by his fearless denunciation of Poyning's iniquitous law. In course of that era of his senatorial life the Colonel made many purchases of lands from those soldiers of Cromwell's army to whom portions of forfeited Irish estates had been granted by the Protector. His second wife brought him three sons and one daughter. She was a lady of no common intelligence, alike celebrated for her beauty and benevolence, and at the general election in 1660 proved herself such an adept in the mysteries of canvassing the county that it was mainly to the interest she created in her tours for that purpose that her husband was chosen as one of the members for Down. He had made many additions to the stronghold surrounding Hillsborough Castle, and Charles the Second, who delighted in fortifications, raised the capital of the Hills' estate to the dignity of a garrison town, and constituted the Colonel Hereditary Constable of the Fort. In the following year he was appointed member of the Privy Council. The right honourable and gallant gentleman died in the sixty-third year of his age, on the 21st of April, 1663, and his eldest son Moyses came into an estate very much increased by the purchases which, as already, noted, had been made by the Colonel. William Hill, who ultimately became heir, and was son of his father's second wife, had for some time been married to Eleanor Boyle, daughter of his Grace the Archbishop of Armagh, who died somo time after the birth of a son. The second wife of that member of the Hills was Mary, heiress of Marcus Trevor, first Lord Dungannon, and through that alliance all his lordship's estates ultimately descended to the Hill family. Moyses, the second, married his cousin Anne, of Hill Hall Castle, a young lady said to be one of the handsomest of her sex. The family consisted solely of daughters, who were famed as the "Three Graces of Down."

Hillsboro' a Borough.

Hillsborough had by this time become a market town of considerable note, famed for its slated houses and English-like aspect. Under a patent from Charles the Second it was constituted corporate borough, with the right of electing two members as its representatives in the Irish Parliament, and also the power to appoint twelve burgesses for the municipal government of the town, these officials to select from their number a Sovereign, who was to hold the position of Chief Magistrate. The Manor, like that of all other centres of local jurisdiction, was empowered by Royal patent to hold three courts. One of these -- the Court Leet -- was empanelled in the May and October of each year, and took cognizance of many, cases the hearing and adjudication of which have since been transferred to other tribunals. All matters relating to the weight of bread and the quality of beer were brought before the jurors assembled at Court Leet. These men consisted of the with the Seneschal, formed the Court; they had the appointment of all officers, whose duty it was to look after the arrangement of public markets; they passed or threw out, as was considered right, presentments laid before them for the repairs of existing roads or the make of new ones, and also for the building or repair of bridges. And for the expense of such works they had the power of laying on a tax equitably distributed over the house and land holders throughout the Manor. Next was the Court of Record, held on the Thursday of every third week, and before which suitors who sought payment for sums -- says those under twenty pounds -- could summon their debtors, and have the case tried before the Seneschal and twelve jurors. The third was named the Court Baron, which was held twice a year, and in that court disputes about the possession of land as well as manorial rights were settled. Nearly all such jurisdictions have ceased, and except the Leet Jury no other sittings are now recognized by law.

James II.

On the death of Moyses Hill without male issue, his brother William, second son of the Colonel, came into possession of the estates. This right honourable gentleman, as history tells us, had then distinguished himself in the senatorial world. He was Privy Councillor in the reign of Charles the Second, and also in the Cabinet of the succeeding Monarch, but from various causes had resigned his appointment some time previous to the Revolution. The general tendency of the policy of King James to favour the commerce of France at the expense of that of Ireland had created much difference of opinion in the Ministry, and for the time being Mr. Hill retired into private life, and remained in the quiet of Hillsborough Castle until 1686, when he was returned as one of the members for Down. He took part against the arbitrary measures of the tyrannical Monarch, and for that act of independence all the family estates, including the lands purchased by his predecessors as well as sequestered. Students of Irish history would do well to learn the true character of James the Second, the bigotted persecutor of all who dared to cherish opinions different from those of his own creed. After his return to Dublin from the siege of Derry he called together the members of Parliament, consisting almost solely of Roman Catholics, and had an Act hurriedly passed and signed with the Royal autograph, declaring as traitors all Protestant proprietors of estates "who had corresponded with any of the King's enemies." Included in that list of the attainted were the names of more than two thousand Ulster Protestants, the estates of whom, varying from 600 to 60,000 acres, were thus forfeited to the Crown. But that sweeping enactment did not long remain on the Irish Statute Book. A new dynasty was at hand. Early on the morning of Saturday, the 14th of June, 1690, bonfires blazed on the mountain tops of Down and Antrim, and special messengers were despatched from Belfast to circulate the good news throughout the country that King William, with his bodyguards and a large muster of troops, had arrived at Carrickfergus. Landowners and other leading men met together at midday in the Town Hall of Belfast, and arrangements were made to form a procession and escort the Prince of Orange on his way to the town. That cavalcade consisted of Robert Leathe, Chief Magistrate; Major-General Kirk, commander of the garrison; William Hill, of Hillsborough Castle; Popham Seymour Conway, of Lisburn; and many others of the local gentry. Arthur, third Earl of Donegal, was then on military duty on the Continent, but on King William arriving at Belfast Sir W. Franklin, who had married the widow of the former earl, had apartments in the Castle at Belfast prepared for his Majesty's reception. After some days' sojourn in that town the King proceeded on his journey, and on the afternoon of Thursday, the 19th of June, reached the Castle of Hillsborough, where he remained till the following Monday.

William III.

During his progress through the North he deprecated the previous system of plunder pursued by the troops of King James. In all those times the farmer suffered from the raids of the soldiery; his cattle were carried off, his farmstead was robbed of provisions, and if he attempted to assert his rights his life became endangered. Duke Schomberg and a portion of King William's army were quartered in Lisburn during the winter of 1689 and the spring of the following year; and in March, 1690, the Duke, who was rather pious in his way issued a proclamation warning his men to shun the company of certain civilians of Lisburn, who, he stated, were apt to fall into the crime of profane swearing. At the very same time the troops under command of the military chief made occasional incursions into the County Down, bringing back herds of cattle and sheep which they had carried off on the "good old rule"

          "That he may take who has the power,
           And he may keep who can."
          
Duke Schomberg, who had great respect for the third commandment, must have had rather loose ideas about the eighth. It does not appear that he ever inquired by what means the farm stock had been obtained; but King William, to whom a complaint was made on the matter, issued on edict warning his soldiers against all such outrages, and threatening severe punishment in every case where even a barn-door fowl would be seized upon without full value being paid the owner. Among the many interesting associations that cling round the walls of the old Castle in Hillsborough Park, there may be seen in that stronghold the bedroom occupied by his Majesty during his sojourn in the old town. King William's progress through the lower districts had been hailed with such enthusiasm by the people as to give the utmost pleasure both to himself and the troops that followed him. One of the earliest acts of legislation under the new reign was that by which the estates forfeited by the attainders of his predecessor were restored to their former owners. Vast bodies of the principal tenants of Lord Donegal, Viscount Massereene, the Right Honourable William Hill, and Popham S. Conway had respectively met his Majesty on the route from Carrickfergus, and paid him due respect in grateful acknowledgment of the favour conferred on their landlords.

The Right Honourable Michael Hill, coming heir of the Downshire estates, sat in the English Parliament, and was a member of the Government. He married the only daughter of Sir John Trevor, of Brynkinalt, Denbigh County, a gentleman of large landed possessions, and who was Speaker of the House of Commons in the later days of King William's reign. Michael Hill had succeeded his father in 1693, after which he represented his native county in the Irish Parliament. By that time, as I have previously mentioned, the admixture of Scotch, English, and native Irish, tenants on the Downshire estates had become so general, in consequence of intermarriages, that the whole people located on the property seemed to be of one nation, with this peculiar feature that the North Britons retained their manners, habits, and "guid broad Scotch" accent in general conversation, as if they still lived in fatherland by the banks of the Clyde, the Rye, or the Tweed.

Trevor Hill.

After the death of the Right Honourable Michael Hill, his eldest son, Trevor, succeeded to the Down estates, and by patent dated August 21, 1717, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hill, of Kilwarlin, and Viscount Hillsborough, of Down. This was the first honour which the English Crown had conferred on any member of the Hill family. His lordship married the co-heiress of the estate of Maxwell Hill, County of Middlesex. Lord Kilwarlin died on the 5th of May, 1742. He was an excellent landlord, as his father had been before him, and, except when attending his Parliamentary duties, always resided on the family estates. Hillsborough was his home, and the respect and fealty paid him by his independent tenantry must have added very much to the patriotic pleasure which, after all, forms one of the highest rewards of rightly-managed landlordism.

Arthur, his second son, had represented the County of Down in the Irish Parliament for many years, and in 1727 the estates of his maternal grandfather, Sir John Trevor, devolved on him. He therefore, in addition to the family name, took that of his relative, and forty-six years afterwards was raised to the peerage as Viscount Dungannon.

On the demise of the Honourable Lord on Kilwarlin, Wills Hill, the new heir, was only twenty-four years of age, and except during the time he was at college he had till then resided chiefly in Hillsborough.

It was said he took no less pride in the hereditary honour of Constable of the Fort of Hillsborough, and the weekly marshalling of the Castlemen, dressed, as they continued to be, in the uniform of the Dutch Guards, than he did in being proprietor of the family domains. Besides the men connected with that stronghold there was a large troop of yeomanry, entitled the Hillsborough Militia, that might have, been said to be the successors of the original company raised by Sir Moyses Hill one hundred and twenty years before, These men were clothed, armed, and educated in military tactics at the expense of the young heir, as their predecessors had been by his fathers.


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 7 September 1917 as part of a series which ran in that paper each week through 1917 and into 1918. The text along with other extracts can be found on my website Eddies Extracts.)