The Huguenot Settlement in Lisburn (pt3)

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

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

LXXXVI.

-- -- -- --

THE HUGUENOT SETTLEMENT
IN LISBURN.

By Hugh McCall -- 1870.

(Continued.)

For a long period previous to the settlement of the French colony at Lisburn few improvements had been introduced into the cultivation of flax, and the manufacture of linen was carried with little regard to progress. The peculiar construction of looms introduced by Earl Strafford, and which enabled the weaver to produce in a given space of time much more cloth, and that of a better quality, than could be woven on the old machine, had found no favour with the people, and until the advent of the exiled Gauls the working of fine cambrics had rarely been attempted in any part of Ulster. The highest "set" of that variety of fabric woven in Antrim or Down did not-exceed 14⁰⁰, and even this was not first-class work.

Another formidable difficulty stood in the way of advancement. Reed-making had not then been studied as a distinct art or separate branch of the trade, and the result was that great complaints were made about the inequalities of the cloth brought out for sale at the public markets. Monsieur Dupré, the first high-class reedmaker that settled at Lisburn, did good service to the weavers, as well as to the merchants, by introducing a description of work very superior to any previously known in that department of the trade, and which gave increased facilities to the manufacturers of fine fabrics.

In the course of working out his various projects and experiments Mr. Crommelin found able and expert assistants among the industrial ranks located around the scene of his enterprise. Lisburn and its neighbourhood had, by that time, been largely colonised by men of different lands and of diversity of language. William Edmundson and his family, the first of the followers of the far-famed George Fox that had ever settled in Ulster, resided there from 1676, and had made considerable way as linen manufacturers many years before the French exiles settled down in that quarter. Thus there was the impulsive Celt located side by side with the quiet Quaker; in one house resided the cool-blooded Hollander, and next door lived the light-hearted Frenchman. Across the street were sturdy Germans, hardy Norwegians, Welsh peasants, and Warwickshire farmers; and, as if to give full play to the commingling of new blood, there were also rough-looking Scottish Highlanders, flanked in by divers families originally raised in the shires of Ayr and Lanark; From the admixture of these different races sprung a people remarkable alike for their perseverance and their industry -- a people whose untiring labours gave new value to the soil, and whose enterprise inaugurated a most important era in the history of Ulster.

The erection of a bleaching concern in connection with his manufacturing establishment formed one of the principal objects of Mr. Crommelin soon after his connection with the French settlement. Lambeg --  Leamb Beg (the small hand), supposed to have been so named because five roads diverged from the centre of the village -- had been chosen as a site for the same purpose so far back as 1626, when a bleaching concern was erected by the joint influence of some English and Scotch families who had previously settled there. The exact spot where that establishment stood is said to have been on a tract of land close to the river side, and which, more than a century afterwards, became the property of Mr. Barclay, a very eminent linen merchant and extensive bleacher. Along the borders of the Bann, in the vicinity of Blackwater, and the large streams which ran in the lower parts of Antrim, Down, Tyrone, and Derry, there had also sprung up several minor "bleacheries," as they were called, but the total amount of business done in each of these was comparatively small. Mr. Crommelin's great desire was to erect a place of finish on a large scale, with all the latest improvements; and having applied to the lord of the soil for thai purpose, a grant of land was attained on the banks of the Lagan, and on the site now occupied by the Hilden flax-spinning and thread-manufacturing works. Besides this seat of finish, another plot of ground further down the river was afterwards taken for a like purpose. It was called New Holland, from the circumstance of several Dutch bleachers, who had been brought over by Mr. Crommelin, being the principal hands engaged in it.

After considerable difficulties had been surmounted in getting up the buildings for the indoor department of the process at the Hilden field, and also in the laying out of the lands for grassing the linens, the concern was set to work in the spring of 1701.

When the new concern commenced work the season for bleaching linen lasted only eight months in each year. From the close of October till the beginning of March the works were totally suspended, as it was considered that goods would be seriously injured if spread out on the grass during the prevalence of snow, or frost. The new bleachfield, however, was a great success, and its founder felt no little pride in it. Several years afterwards, and when writing a report of what had been accomplished, he requested these who were disposed "to erect bleacheries" to visit his concern at Hilden, adding, with excitation, that it would "serve them as a model."

After the Battle of the Boyne several Dutchmen who had been engaged in that campaign settled in different parts of Ulster. Two of those people, named respectively Mussen and Munts, selected Lambeg as their resting-place, and as each had been engaged in the finish of linen in Holland, their knowledge of the art of bleaching proved highly advantageous to the staple industry of that district. An interesting incident is related of René Bulmer, one of the French exiles, who had resided there for some time previous to the landing of King William at Carrickfergus. This person was a native of West Flanders, where he had attained much celebrity for his skill as a blacksmith, and also as a professor of the veterinary art. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes the elder Bulmer and his family were obliged to seek refuge in distant lands from the persecution that raged in their own country. When the Prince of Orange and his followers were on their way from Belfast to meet the army of King James, the troops arrived at Lambeg, from the centre of which five roads branched off in different directions. Seeing a person standing at one of the cottage doors, King William, who rode at the head of a troop, inquired, in language largely intermixed with French idiom, which of the roads led to Lisburn and Hillsborough. Mr. Bulmer, to whom the question was addressed, replied in genuine French. Evidently gratified at meeting so unexpectedly a native of Gaul, his Majesty entered into a friendly conversation with him for several minutes relative to his native place, and the circumstances that led to the exile of his family; and after paying a very gallant compliment to the young and handsome wife of this informant, who had come out to see the soldiers, the Royal traveller shook hands with each of them, and passed on with his troops towards their destination.

Throughout his reign, short as it was, William the Third continued to take the utmost interest in Ireland's linen manufacture, and for all those gentlemen who were so zealous in promoting its progress he entertained the highest regard. Two years before his death a patent was issued granting, for a specified period, the sum of eight hundred a year to. Mr. Crommelin as interest for the capital -- ten thousand pounds -- which he had advanced from his own private resources to carry on the different works in which he was engaged. In addition to this "grant" there were also allowed him an annuity of two hundred pounds, besides one hundred and twenty pounds a year for his three assistants. Each of these officials had a particular district under his charge. At one period of the season he watched over the culture of flax, at another he inspected the spinning and weaving departments of the trade, and through the summer his visits were frequent to the bleachfields.

The death of the King, which took place a few days after an accident arising from a falling off his charger, in February, 1702, deprived the Irish linen trade of its Royal patron. No cause was ever assigned for the ungracious act, but also immediately after the accession of Queen Anne the grant settled on Mr. Crommelin was cancelled by the Imperial Treasury. This was at once a most disgraceful proceeding and a flagrant breach of faith. The annuity could not be called a Royal pension, but rather a sum freely awarded as interest on the capital that Mr. Crommelin had invested for a public purpose, and which the late Monarch felt certain was permanently secured to that gentleman for the twelve years mentioned in the Royal patent.

When the Government of Queen Anne refused one portion of the supplies formerly handed over for the encouragement of the linen trade, Mr. Crommelin's ten thousand pounds were scattered throughout the country, in the shape of looms, spinning-wheels, machines for the preparation of flax, and bleaching apparatus, all of which had been lent to weavers, spinners, farmers, and owners of small bleachfields -- not more than one-half the value of which was ever repaid. It must, however, have been highly gratifying to the founder of the new system of linen manufacture to watch the growing success of his projects, and to see the gratifying results which extended profits and higher wages had produced in the circumstances of manufacturers and weavers.

In other quarters, too, there was abundant evidence to prove that his labours had not been in vain. The year after the appointment of the Board of Trustees the following notice was placed on the records of that institution:-- "Louis Crommelin and the Huguenot colony have been greatly instrumental in improving and propagating the flaxen manufacture in the North of this kingdom, and the perfection to which the same is brought in that part of the country has been greatly owing to the skill and industry of the said Crommelin." The dignity which that enterprising man imported to labour, and the halo which his example cast around physical exertion, had the best effect in raising the tone of popular feeling, as well among the patricians as amid the peasants of the North of Ireland. His love of industry did much to break down the national prejudice in favour of idleness, and cast doubt on the social orthodoxy of the idea then so popular with the squirearchy, that those alone who were able to live without employment had any rightful claim to the distinctive title of gentlemen. The industrial reformer, even unknown to himself, battled successfully against such fallacies. A patrician by birth and a merchant by profession, he proved, by his own life, his example, and his enterprise, that an energetic manufacturer may, at the same time, take a high place in the conventional world. This was the solution of an exceedingly knotty problem in the conventional ethics existing a century and a half ago, and on that question the Huguenot leader taught lessons scarcely less valuable than those which his more direct pupils were every day learning at his hands.

In that admirably conducted work, the "Ulster Journal of Archæology," there are to be found some very interesting records of the French exiles and their places of settlement in Ireland. Among the names of many families residing in Belfast and Lisburn there are still some which represent those of the Gallic settlers -- viz., Brethet, Bulmer, Chartres, Drewet, Dubourdieu, Dunville, Dulop, Duprey, Goyer, Jellett, Lascellas, Martine, Nobett, Perrin, Petticrew, Roche, Saurin, St. Clair, Sevigne, and Valentin.

(Next Week: The Huguenots, by Smiles)


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

The Huguenot Settlement in Lisburn (pt2)

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

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

LXXXV.

-- -- -- --

THE HUGUENOT SETTLEMENT
IN LISBURN.

By Hugh McCall -- 1870.

(Continued.)

The tyranny of Louis the Fourteenth, which by revoking the act of toleration call the Edict of Nantes in 1685 forced upwards of three-quarters of a million of his Protestant subjects away from the shores of France, and scattered them abroad over most of the other nations of Europe. A great number of them settled in London, where they founded the art of silk weaving in Spitalfields; some settled in St. Giles, and worked in fancy jewellery and other golden ornaments. About six thousand of them fled to Ireland, of whom many settled in Dublin, where they commenced the silken manufacture, and others sought out for themselves homes in some of the Southern counties. Most of these Huguenots, when at home, had been employed in the manufacture of silk or the finer fabrics of linen. Almost immediately after reaching the place of their adoption they commenced work, imparting to those around them the art and energy they had been wont to exercise when peacefully settled in the land of Gaul. About that date an act had been passed by the Cromwellian parliament prohibiting the import of French linen or cambric, and consequently the demand for such goods had largely increased in Ireland and Great Britain.

During the reign of William the Third, and many years after the first batch of French refugees had settled in Lisburn, Mr. Louis Crommelin joined the colony. This gentleman was a native of Armandcourt, near St. Quintin, where for several centuries his forefathers had carried on the flaxen manufacture on their own extensive possessions in the province of Picardie. Seeing in the distance the little cloud that the betokened the coming of the storm, the Crommelin family, in some degree to escape the persecutions that were commenced against the Protestant population of France, collected their movable property and fled to Holland, where they sought shelter in Amsterdam, and became celebrated there as merchants and bankers. At the personal solicitation of the Prince of Orange, Louis, the junior of the family, came to Ireland for the purpose of taking charge of those colonies of his countrymen which had been established in different provinces of this island. Descended from a long line of leather manufacturers, the members of which had for centuries been promoters of textile enterprise in France, Mr. Crommelin had peculiar claims on the fealty of his fellow refugees, and no sooner has he got settled in his new place of residence than he found himself surrounded by numbers of old friends, all of whom were delighted to acknowledge him as their industrial leader. The manufacture of linen in Ulster was then principally confined to medium and low sets, for although the description of goods made in that province was much superior as to degree of fineness to that produced in any other part of Ireland, still the trade was combined within comparatively narrow limits. Except in a few cases, the looms were badly constructed; some of the more forward weavers had adopted the improved machine introduced nearly six years before by the Earl of Stafford, but the great mass of workmen had clung with the tenacity of prejudice against "Saxon innovation" to the old and rudely-made loon. When leaving Holland for his destined home, the head of the Huguenot people brought with him a number of the newest style of looms, and after arriving at Lisburn he had vast numbers of others formed from these models. In course of that year -- 1698 -- Henric Mark Dupré settled in Lisburn. This ingenious refugee had been famed in his own country for his skill as a reedmaker, and his joining the linen weavers was a most important matter for the trade at that time, the reeds in general use being of an inferior description and unsuited to the manufacture of fine fabrics. Heddle-striking and other sections of loom gearing were re-modelled, and the spinning-wheel, the music of which for nearly a century and a half afterwards added so much to the cheerfulness of the cottagers fireside and the farmer's ingle-nook, was added to the list of improved machines. Previous to the advent of the French refugees into the North of Ireland, the distaff and spindle form to principal mode of flax-spinning; a few of the higher ranks of females, who made the spinning flax one of their sources of amusement, had possessed themselves of wheels, but these were rare and seemed more objects of curiosity than of general use. The Irish spinning-wheel, though simple in form and mechanical construction, wrought wonders for the linen manufacturer, and no sooner had it been adopted in the households of the multitude than a great improvement was affected in the quality of yarns. Then came the superior mode of measuring the thread as it was thrown off the wheel by what was called a reel -- a circular machine so constructed that one hundred and twenty rounds produced a "cut" three hundred yards long; twelve of these counted as a hank, and again four hanks constituted a spangle.

In the working out of projects for the advancement of the linen trade Nicholas De Le Cherois -- who had been Lisburn for a great many years -- took considerable interest, and he, too, had the good fortune to be a favourite with the English monarch. The respective families of the Huguenot leaders were much respected at the Court of St. James, and several of their members received special marks of favour at the hands of the king. There was some years ago in the possession of the house of De Le Cherois a captain's commission, dated the first day of August, 1694, presented by "William and Mary, by the grace of God King and Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, &c., to their trusty and well-beloved Nicholas De La Cherois, Esquire, of Lisburn, Ireland."

The family of De La Cherois originally belonged to Champagne, where they had long held a distinguished place in society. In the fifteenth century one of the most celebrated warriors at Agincourt was of the same stock. Like the other sufferers by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the De La Cherois were forced to fly from France, and leave their large estates behind them. They first took shelter at Amsterdam, and in 1689 the brothers Nicholas and Daniel ranged themselves under the banner of the Prince of Orange. Arriving in Ireland with his Majesty, they were at the meeting of the contending forces near Drogheda, and fought gallantly side by side with French troops during the battle against King James. Nicholas De La Cherois married a sister of Louis Crommelin, and his brother took for his wife a cousin of the same gentleman. King William rewarded him for his heroic conduct that the Boyne by presenting him to a lucrative appointment in India; and Nicholas, who settled at Lisburn, enjoyed the joint personal friendship of his Majesty during the remainder of that monarch's life.

Soon after the French people arrived at Lisburn several branches of the Linen Manufacture Improvement Society were opened in different parts of Ireland, and a grant from the Crown was made for the services of ministers whose duty it was to take spiritual charge of the Gaelic exiles and preach to them in their own language. Lord Conway granted the Lisburn colonists a site for the erection of a place of worship, which was known by the distinctive term "French Church," and stood on the ground later occupied with the Courthouse in Castle Street. The Government grant of sixty pounds per annum was first paid to the Rev. Charles De La Valade, a native of Guienne, who at his death, which took place at Lisburn in May, 1755, was succeeded by a relative of the own, the Rev. Sauamaures Du Bour Dieu, a gentleman of considerable talent in literature, and who left behind him many evidences of his abilities both as a divine and a local historian. The first member of the family of Du Bour Dieu that settled in Ireland was chaplain to the famous Schomberg, and stood beside that gallant soldier at the battle of the Boyne; and when he fell from his horse mortally wounded by gun-shot, the reverend gentleman carried him in his arms to the spot on which he died in a short time afterwards. The son of Schomberg's chaplain, the Rev. Saumaurez Du Bour Dieu, was for nearly half a century minister of the French Church in Lisburn, but for some time before his death, which took place in January, 1812, he held the living of Lambeg, the members of the French Church having by that time gradually merged into union with the congregation of the Lisburn Cathedral. Mr. Goyer, another of the victims of the persecuting Louis the Fourteenth, was clerk in the Huguenot Church, and continued in that situation until the service was given up. His father originally belonged to the province of Picardie, were, in the days of religious toleration in France, he was engaged in the double capacity of farmer and silk manufacturer. After having been dispoiled of all his property, he took refuge in Ireland, and in 1688 arrived at Lisburn, in which place he succeeded in establishing the manufacture of silk goods on what was then considered an extensive scale. Mr. Peter Goyer taught school for many years in Bow Street, Lisburn; and his son, the late Mr. William Goyer, was long known and highly respected as English master in the Belfast Academy.

The town of Lisburn having been one of the principal places chosen by the refugees who sought shelter in Ireland from the persecutions of the intolerant King of France, still contains many records of those Gallic colonists. In the eastern corner of the graveyard that surrounds the handsome Cathedral, the ashes of many of those exiles have long reposed. On one of the tombstones we find the following:-- "Here lieth interred the remains of Ann, wife of Samuel Louis Crommelin, who died the 3rd August, 1718, aged 31 years; also Henrietta, second wife of Samuel Louis Crommelin, who dated 19th of March, 1732, aged 37 years. Esther, wife of James Crommelin, died 2nd September, 1743, aged 41 years. And Samuel Louis Crommelin, who died 2nd September, 1743, aged 57 years." There is also the following additional record on a different gravestone:-- "Six foot opposite lyes the bodye of Louis Crommelin, born at St. Quintin in France, only son of Louis Crommelin and Anne Crommelin, Director of the Linen Manufactory, who died beloved of all, aged 18 years, 1 July, 1711." The director of the French colonists, Louis Crommelin, he whose latest days were spent in giving higher status to Ireland's linen manufacture, died in July, 1727, aged 75 years.

On another stone the following hardly legible letters may be traced:-- "Here lieth the body of John Chartrés, linen merchant of Lisburn, who died on the 31st August, 1719, aged 71 years. Also the body of Frances Marshall, wife of the above, who died December 12, 1691, aged 40 years."

The burial ground of the Obrés had an old headstone from which the ravages of time have obliterated all the characters except "Oct. 1716." On a comparatively new slab there is the following:-- "Here lieth Edward Smith Obré, who died August 1st, 1797, aged 49 years. Also his wife Elizabeth Obré, who died 12th May, 1820, aged 73 yrs." Near the same secret spot another notice says:-- "Here lieth the body of Louis Rachét, merchant, who departed this life the 13th of October in the year of our Lord God 1726, and in the 57th year of his age." In addition to these there were in the Kilrush and Lambeg burial-grounds at the commencement of the present century many gravestones bearing the name of Bulmér, Boyer, De La Cherois, D'Ermain, Du Pré, Bouchier, and St. Clair; but nearly all those mementos have fallen into decay. Many of the remnants of those people are, however, still residents in Belfast and Lisburn. A few of the descendants of the De La Cherois families reside at present in Donaghadee.

The history of the persecution which, under the despotic government of Louis the Fourteenth, spread so much desolation and distress among those whose only crime was their determination to stand by the faith of their fathers, contains some of the most heartrending instances of human sufferings ever endured by any people. In that war against religious freedom Louis Perrin, grandfather of Judge Perrin, lost nearly all he possessed. He was a native of Nonere, and owned some property there, but from which he had been obliged to fly in order to save his life. In due time the ship in which he sailed arrived at Waterford, and after spending some months in that city he journeyed towards the North and settled in Lisburn, where, for upwards of half a century, he was a highly-respected citizen. Louis Perrin, junior, conducted a classical school at the northern end of Castle Street, and while so engaged he published a French grammar which, as an elementary work, attained considerable popularity.

(To be Continued.)


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 31 May 1918 as part of a series which ran in that paper each week for several years. The text along with other extracts can be found on my website Eddies Extracts.)

The Huguenot Settlement in Lisburn

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

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

LXXXIV.

-- -- -- --

THE HUGUENOT SETTLEMENT
IN LISBURN.

By Hugh McCall -- 1870.

The advent of the Huguenots into Ireland having been the herald of a new era in the annals of the linen trade of the Northern province, it may be necessary here to advert to some details connected with the ancient history of Lisburn, the place chosen as the seat of their principal colony. This town, formerly known as Lis-na-Garvagh -- Anglice, the Mount of Games -- was at one time a stronghold of the famed Captain of Kill-ul-Tagh; and in that part of the town which overlooks the River Lagan and the hills of Down there may still be seen many evidences of the site of his ancient fortress. Lis-na-Garvagh seems to have been even at that day the regal centre of the estate on which it stands; and under the modern title of Lisburn -- taken after the firing of the town by Sir Phelim O'Neil in 1641 -- it still continues the capital of the splendid principality owned by the Hertford family.

The Captain of Killultagh.

Previous to that confiscation of the Irishmen's landed estates which was so general during the Elizabethan reign, the greater proportion of Ulster was held, and had been owned from time immemorial, by different branches of the clan O'Neil. Con, the elder, resided at Castle Reagh -- the seat of the king -- and ruled over a territory stretching from Con's Water, near Belfast, and including the parish of Drum, to the sea coast of Down beyond Greyabbey. Shane O'Neil owned the adjoining property from Belfast to the Antrim shore by Knockfergus (Carrickfergus) to Olderfleet (Larne) and inland as far as Antrim town. The Captain of Kill-ul-Tagh, a younger branch of the O'Neils, was famed as one of the most reckless, but certainly not least popular, member of the ancient sept.

It is remarkable that in those times the Northern chiefs and their vassals were much more turbulent under what they considered the unjust exercise of English rule than their brethren of the other provinces. Con O'Neil was more of a diplomatist than a warrior. Although he occasionally did a little in the belligerent way, still his life was one of quiet and comparative ease. The Captain of Kill-ul-Tagh, on the other hand, could not brook submission to injustice, and in most of the battles maintained against "the invaders of his country," as he designated the English, he had led the way, and displayed high capabilities as a commander of the native forces. The peasantry loved him for his generous disposition not less than they worshipped him for his deeds of daring; and among his peers he was held in the highest estimation for the chivalrous sense of honour which marked his baronial character.

In October, 1585, Sir Henry Sydney, a Lord-Deputy of the Queen, visited the province of Ulster, and in course of his tour called at the castle, or rather the stronghold, of the famous chief, for the purpose of paying his respects to him. But, contrary to the traditional character of the Irish for hospitality, the reception given to the British envoy was the reverse of cordial or kindly, and the proud representative of England's Crown felt his indignation stirred up to its inmost depths at the Celtish contempt shown towards by O'Neil. "I came to Kill-ul-Tagh," said Sir Henry, "whiche I founde riche and plentifule, after the manner of these countreys, but the Captain was proud and insolente. He woulde not come oute to mee, nor had I apt reasone to vysite him as I woulde, but he shall be payde for this before longe. I will not remayne in his debt." His words were prophetic, for in some time after that unfriendly reception the chief, who had ever repudiated Saxon rule, paid the penalty of daring to fling the gauntlet before the haughty official. O'Neil had never been very scrupulous as to his treatment of those he looked upon as ruthless invaders of his native land; but those persons had not sought to win his affection, or in the slightest degree to cultivate his friendship.

The Conways.

Among the commanders of the troops sent over to enforce British rule on the Northern Irish was Sir Falke Conway, a Welsh soldier of high celebrity, and who found great favour in the eyes of Queen Elizabeth because of his prowess in different battles against the Celts. After the demise of his royal mistress, the general added much to his former fame in consequence of his victory over the Earl of Tir-owen. The Captain of Kill-ul-Tagh, having joined the Earl in that campaign, was outlawed, his estates were seized by the Crown and given over to General Conway. Some years afterwards the fortunate soldier was made Governor of Ennis Loughlin, one of the last of the native forts, and which was situate at Trumra, near Moira. Sir Falke died without issue in 1626. His brother, Mr. Edward Conway, the next heir, also found favour in the side of princes. Early in the reign of Charles the First he was presented with the lands of the Derri-Volgie, in addition to the estate which obtained through his predecessor, and in the short time afterwards he was raised to the peerage.

About the year 1627 Lord Conway commenced to erect a castle on the picturesque hill commanding a beautiful view of the valley of the Lagan, and opposite the principal street of his time of Lis-na-Garvagh. A portion of the wall which formed the entrance is yet standing, on the north side of the public walks called Castle Gardens. In the Book of Travels in Ireland published by an English gentleman in 1636, he says:-- "from Belfast to Linsley-Garvin is about seven miles, and appears a paradise conferred with any part of Scotland. Linsley-Garvin is well seated, but neither the towne nor the country thereabout is well planted, being almost woods and moors until you come to Drommoare. The town belongs to my Lord Conway, who hathe there a hainsome castle, but far short of Lord Chichester's houses. Lord Conway's house is seated on a hill, upon the side whereof is planted a garden and orchard, at the bottom of the hill runneth a pleasant river -- the Lagan -- which abounds with salmon. The land hereabouts is the poorest and barrenest I have yet seen, yet it may be made good land with labour and chardage."

The Kill-ul-Tagh and Derri Volgie estates were very thinly populated when they came into the hands of the Conway family, but in a few years afterwards they had been largely colonized by countrymen of their own. Acting on that peculiar characteristic of the Briton, which, in whatever part of the world his lot may be cast, leads him, if practicable, to bring from his native hills as many people as he can prevail on to share his trials and successes, the baron induced many English and Welsh farmers to come to Ireland and settle on his estate, and that this day there are several of the descendants of those immigrants living in that neighbourhood. Among the people then encouraged to settle in that part of Ulster there was a family named Briggs, the head of which was one of the special favourites of the Baron of Kill-ul-Tagh. This man took his place daily at the foot of his masters table -- the chief and his followers dining together -- and in the direction of affairs at the castle he enjoyed a latitude of power second only to that of the chief himself. The utmost faith was reposed in the henchman, and that trust was fully repaid by earnest devotion on the part of the favoured follower. The family of Lord Conway consisted of an only child, Edward Smith, whom the celebrated beauty, Lady Harley, described in her journal as "a fine lad, very stout and very witty, learns apace and forgets as fast." He joined the British Army when he was only 18 years of age, and gained many laurels in the campaigns of those days. His father, in the meantime, had continued to reside on the estate bestowed him by the Crown, and except occasional visits to Wales he rarely left the castle and its neighbourhood. In the great hall of his mansion he maintained all the hospitality for which the ancient lords of Ireland had been famed -- a dinner was served every day, and any sojourner or wayfaring man was welcome to a seat at the table. Towards the tenants on the lands of Kill-ul-Tagh and Derri Volgie Lord Conway is said to have displayed the utmost liberality, and as his desire to witness the progress of peaceful industry was quite as anxious as had been his exultation over the triumphs of war in other days, he made favourable covenants at moderate rents with the farmers, and the latter undertook to make all improvements on the land at their own cost.

Like other of the fortunate recipients of royal patronage, Lord Conway was bound to maintain at his own expense two troops of horse and six hundred foot soldiers, all of whom were raised on his estate. These men had ample accoutrements provided for military purposes, they were regularly drilled and kept in perfect order for immediate service under the Crown.

The Seymour's.

After the death of the first Lord, Edward Smith Conway, his son, who had then attained a high position in the army, returned to Lis-na-Garvagh, and with an only daughter, took up his residence at the castle. The young lady, said to have been exceedingly handsome, were soon afterwards engaged to Colonel Seymour, an officer then commanding British troops in Antrim. This gentleman was the direct descendant of a younger branch of the house of Somerset, which owed much of its fortune to the patronage of Charles the Second. His father being celebrated as a statesman of some mark, held a good position at Court as well as in Parliament. During Clarendon's impeachment he took a prominent part in all the debates, and was himself the bearer of the bill against that nobleman to the Upper Chamber of the Senate. The marriage of Colonel Seymour was the daughter of Lord Conway had been arranged to come off on an early day, the settlements were signed, and all other preliminaries arranged, when the lady was suddenly struck down by disease and died after a few days' illness. Her affianced lover, who was cherished as a son by his intended father-in-law, continued to reside at the castle, and when Lord Conway died in 1683 it was found that all his Irish estates had been bequeathed to him. Almost immediately afterwards he took the name of Seymour Conway, and in 1703 Queen Anne ennobled him by the title of Baron Conway, of Ragley and Kill-ul-Tagh. He was three times married, and his heir -- created Earl of Hertford by George the Second -- was famed as a statesman, and in 1762 held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Viscount Beauchamp, his son, acting as Chief Secretary. During his reign at Dublin Castle, Lord Hertford rendered very valuable services to the linen trade, and was a liberal patron of the damask manufactory, which some time afterwards was established in Lisburn. From the time of the transfer of the O'Neil property to the hands of the Conways, considerable accessions of settlers from both sides of the Tweed were made to those previously introduced as tenants on those estates. It will, therefore, be seen that at the time of the extirpation of the French Protestants the confiscating policy which preceded the distribution and plantation of land in Ulster had been nearly a century at work.

(To be Continued.)


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 24 May 1918 as part of a series which ran in that paper each week for several years. The text along with other extracts can be found on my website Eddies Extracts.)

Harry Munroe, 1758-1798

SOME EXTRACTS

FROM THE

RECORDS OF

OLD LISBURN

AND THE

MANOR OF KILLULTAGH.

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

LXIV.

-- -- -- --

HARRY MUNROE, 1758-1798.

By Hugh M'Call.

The excitement and restlessness created by the political agitation that immediately preceded the insurrection in 1798 did immense injury to the country. Unsettled habits were giving a reckless tone to a large class of society, and the effect on industrial progress was most injurious. Many farms lay partially cultivated for two or three seasons, linen looms remained idle a great part of the time, and, as a consequence, the production of goods did not exceed two-thirds the usual average. Exports of finished linens, which amounted to forty-six million yards in '98. But during the intervening period preparations for open war had been stealthily carried on by the disaffected party. The Irish pike -- a rude and unsightly weapon -- was much prized by them, and the manufacture occupied many of the midnight hours of such workers at fire and forge as were engaged in that dangerous employment. A smith, celebrated for his make of weaver's shears, and who lived near Templepatrick directed much of his labour to pike-making, and was much patronised by the United men. In an entry off Ann Street, Belfast, a shuttle-maker often worked eighteen hours out of the twenty-four in turning out pike heads and handles. Hunders of dozen of these were sent to the depots in Down by the ingenious contrivance of packing them in puncheons. On several occasions the cart that conveyed a couple of these puncheons passed under the eye of Town Major Fox, that vigilant officer never dreaming but that the vessels were filled with the national beverage. According to the returns of the United Irishmen's secret committee, there were enrolled in the Country Antrim in 1797 a grand total of 26,720 men, 3,220 muskets, 1,120 bayonets, 350 pistols, 3,500 pikes, 100 swords, and 10 cannon, besides ample stores of ammunition. During the winter of 1797 and the spring of the following year a Lisburn whitesmith forged upwards of five hundred pikes, and all this was accomplished without leaving undone any of the ordinary work he was called to perform for his every-day customers.

The linen markets of the Northern districts of Ulster were attended by great numbers of buyers about this time, and of that itinerant brotherhood none were more respected than Harry Munroe and Bartholomew Teeling. These gentlemen had been members of the Lisburn Volunteers, and when that body was ignominiously put down by the State, they both felt a full share of the general indignation at imperial ingratitude. Munroe was an Episcopalian, fondly attached to his Church, and Teeling, son of Mr. Luke Teeling, of Chapel Hill, Lisburn, belonged to the Catholic creed. Their career was remarkably unfortunate. In several points of character they were much alike, but Munroe was less mercurial than his younger friend, and had strenuously opposed many of the propositions introduced by the more excitable members of the fraternity. At no period of the insurrection had he contemplated taking the field against the Royal troops, and until a few days before the fight at Ballynahinch he attended to his business as usual; but from causes which need not be explained here, he was unexpectedly called on to take the command of the Irish army, and looking upon the call as a matter of honour he accepted it, without for a moment waiting to consider the magnitude of the responsibility he was about to undertake.

The battle of Ballynahinch was fought on the 13th of June, 1798, and, as is well known, a complete victory on the part of the Royal army, and a total overthrow of the insurgents, followed that reckless attempt to meet well-disciplined soldiers in the open field. Munroe's followers were scattered like sheep, and had fled in all directions; but though sadly broken down by fatigue, and dispirited by defeat, the unfortunate general was among the last to the leave the field; nor did he finally abandon the scene until, as he had hoped, the remnant of his people had got into some place of comparative safety. For several hours he had roamed about the country, and though well known by many of the farmers, the large rewards offered for his apprehension failed to induce any of them to betray the secret of his hiding-place. To the honour of one of the loyalists he was concealed nearly two days, during which time he received all the attention a kind-hearted man could bestow on an ill-fated fellow-creature. But as the harbouring of any suspected person was at that time contrued into an offence of great magnitude, the hospitable entertainer of Munroe dare not run the risk of allowing him to stop at his place for any lengthened time, especially as patrols of cavalry were marching through the country on the lookout for straggling men of the routed army. On the morning of the 15th of June he was consequently once again obliged to seek shelter in some other quarter, and at break of day he left the cottage.

His Betrayal.

Not daring to appear except in the most unfrequented parts of the country, he at length ventured into a small farmstead situate on the borders of Dromara, County of Down, and at nearly equal distances from the towns of Lisburn and Hillsborough. In that house he met a man named Holmes, to whom he offered five pounds -- all the money he had in his possession -- and a small parcel of shirts, to conceal him for some days, and until the opinion of Government should be known us to the prospects of pardon.

To this proposal the fellow not only agreed, but he expressed the utmost sympathy for the misfortunes of the fugitive. Making sure of the cash and the shirts, he gave Munroe some refreshment, and, leading the way out of the cottage, placed him, as the fugitive had been led to hope, in a secure retreat at the end of a large pig-house, where he covered him over with bundles of straw. But as Holmes had never entertained the most distant idea of keeping faith with his captive, his first thought after leaving the place of concealment was how to make the most of that secret. With this view he set off to the next seat of military authority at Hillsborough, where he met four members of the local corps of yeomanry, known as the Black Troop because of their not wearing any uniform save a band of white linen round the left arm. To these men he reported what had taken place at Dromara. The fellows immediately armed themselves with muskets and bayonets, and proceeded to the place alluded to by the informer. As soon as they arrived there they pounced on their prey, dragged him from his hiding-place, and to guard against further they tied his hands behind his back. Finding himself betrayed, Munroe tried to soften his captors by stating that if they permitted him to get free a large sum would be paid to them by his friends. But either in the hope of obtaining a higher reward, or from the fear that, should they acceded to his appeal, the promise would not be kept, they refused to make any terms with him, and in great triumph marched their prisoner into Hillsborough.

Believers in the doctrine of retributive justice will find much material to strengthen their faith in the after-history of the men who captured Munroe and received a handsome reward for their "loyalty." It is a remarkable fact that although each of them had some property at that time, they afterwards became miserably poor, and the longest-lived of the four was a mere pauper at the time of his death. Holmes, the betrayer of the unfortunate Munroe, was held in contempt and scorn by people of every class and creed in his own neighbourhood. From the day he violated his faith to the last hour of his life he was despised for his deceit and denounced for his treachery, and after dragging out a miserable existence he died as he had lived -- a wretched outcast.

Under a strong guard the prisoner was marched off to Lisburn, handcuffed, and on arriving there he was confined for the night in a temporary prison in Castle Street. When it become known among his former friends that be had been taken prisoner, the utmost sympathy was felt for him. His clothes were much torn and his health had suffered materially under the fatigue of his fugitive life for several days before. Mr. George Whitla, a local cotton manufacturer, sent him a full suit of clothes, and the rector of the parish, the Rev. Dr. Cupples, who resided within a few doors of the guardhouse, had his meals regularly carried to him from the rectory during the period of his confinement.

The Trial.

On Monday, the 17th of June, the trial came on before a court-martial, composed of officers belonging to the several regiments then lying in Lisburn Barracks and at Blaris camp. Among those officers, General Goldie and his aide-de-camp, M'Coy, were characterised as men of great austerity. In one case it is said that when a rebel soldier was about to suffer M'Coy pushed him up the ladder. The tribunal before which Munroe was tried sat in a large room situate near the guardhouse; and it is only fair to state that, if mercy rarely found a resting-place in that august assembly, justice was rigidly enforced. Short was the period of the court's deliberations; it required little proof to convict, and it was still easier to condemn. Only three witnesses were examined for the Crown, and the deposition that the prisoner had led the native troops at the recent battles being conclusive, the sentence of death was at once written out and Harry Munroe was ordered for execution.

The culprit was immediately informed that he had not long time to live, and to make speedy preparation for the death that awaited him. On his way from that judgment-hall to the place of punishment he requested to be taken to the rectory, that he might receive the sacrament. That rite of the Church having been administered to him, he was led down the street to the Market Square, where a temporary gallows had been erected in front of Mr. Ward's stationery warehouse, and nearly opposite the woollen-drapery concern of which Munroe was proprietor. He was dressed in a black coat, nankeen knee-breeches and white stockings. A guard of the 23rd Light Dragoons, under Colonel Woolarston, and two companies of the local yeomanry, were drawn up before the place of execution. During all the preliminary arrangements the condemned patriot exhibited perfect coolness without putting on the slightest appearance of the bravado. One request alone he made, and this was -- while the executioner adjusted the fatal noose -- to beg the commanding officer's permission to see a friend who resided in the immediate vicinity of the spot where he stood. That request was granted, and when the gentleman appeared he addressed a few words to him in a low tone, just before he ascended the ladder leading to the gallows. What he said on the occasion was never known, even by the nearest relations of the friend into whose ear it was spoken.

The Execution.

The moment the preparations had been made, Munroe leaped from the street up the ladder, but the slight rung on which he alighted having given way, he fell down against some of the guards by whom he was surrounded. Recovering his balance in a moment, although having his arms firmly pinioned, he said "All-right," and, refusing assistance, again mounted the ladder. When he had reached the required height the executioner, whose face was closely veiled by a piece of black crape, also ascended to the spot, and placed the rope round the prisoner's neck with an awkwardness of manner that proved him to be a mere amateur in the art of legal strangulation. Without waiting for the final act of the finisher of the law, the doomed man suddenly leaped forward, and as the body fell, and swung to and fro, a low wail of sorrow, which the military authorities vainly endeavoured to suppress, told how bitterly the tragic their fellow-townsman was felt by the multitude that thronged the place of execution. Many of his acquaintances -- many linen merchants who, in happier days, had stood side by side with Harry Munroe in the Linen-Hall, engaged in the usual pursuits of their business -- were around him at his last moments, and though several of them looked upon his conduct as that of the wildest and most misguided patriotism, his political opponents, as well as his personal friends, mourned heartily over the sad fate of the man whom everyone respected as a worthy and amiable citizen. When the body was taken down the final vengeance of the law had not been fully satisfied -- the authorities, who irresponsibly wielded the powers of life and death, having ordered that decapitation should take place after the execution of the first part of the sentence. On that savage act having been perpetrated, a dragoon seined the head and flung it into the air, shouting "There goes the head of a traitor." In this act of wanton ferocity the operator seemed to think that, in thus outraging the remains of an unfortunate fellow-creature, he performed an achievement worthy the glory of a British soldier. Munroe's head, with the white night-cap still on it, was afterwards stuck on a spike and placed on the front of the Market-House, the military authorities carrying out a custom barbarous as any ever practised by the most savage tribes of the New Zealanders. Some weeks afterwards a Scotch nobleman, in passing through the town, and feeling shocked at the disgraceful spectacle, had the head taken down and interred in the Lisburn Churchyard, in the same grave that contained the other portion of the mutilated body.

Whatever may have been the errors of Henry Munroe as a politician, his conduct in private life was that of a perfect gentleman. Numerous are the anecdotes related of his light-heartedness and love of fun, and still more numerous are the stories told of his fearless conduct and disregard of personal danger. On one occasion, when attending the linen market of Lurgan, an alarming fire having been discovered in the church of that town, he exhibited the greatest courage in his efforts to stop the progress of the flames, and risked his life in assisting to save the building. Although warmly attached to what was then considered a righteous cause, he had never taken any direct part in the movements of the insurgent army until it became known that, at the eleventh hour, the ostensible leader of the native troops had refused to take the command. In consequence of that determination, the duty that should have devolved on another was forced on Munroe; but having accepted the office, he threw himself into it with all the enthusiasm of an over-sanguine disposition. Nothing, however, could tempt him to tarnish his fame as an honest friend and a manly foe. He was considered a very handsome man, and had ever been exceedingly fond of neatness in dress. At that time it was fashionable to wear a portion of the back hair very long, and this was tied with black ribbon and hung over the collar of the coat. Munroe continued to wear his hair in this form, but most of the United Irishmen cut off their "pig tails," hence the origin of the tern "croppie."

Ballynahinch.

During the short period of his leadership a circumstance occurred which proved that he considered the preservation of his honour as dearer than life itself. It appears by the histories given on both sides of the question that, on the eve of the Ballynahinch fight, the Royal troops were ranged on the Windmill Hill, near that town, and the insurgent lender had drawn up his forces along the north side of a mount in the demesne of Earl Moira, the town of Ballynahinch lying between the rival troops. A proposal was made to Munroe that he should attack and cut off the local yeomanry, several companies of which were then in Ballynahinch; and as numbers of them had been indulging in drunken carousal, and, of course, were unable to repel a sortie, there would have been little difficulty in overpowering the garrison and setting fire to the town. Against that proposition his generous and manly spirit at once revolted. Had he given his assent to it, a cold-blooded and terrible massacre would have been the inevitable consequence. "If we are to fight," said Munroe, "let us take the field like men, and do battle with all our might, but a national cause must not be stained by the cowardice of midnight assassins." There was the greatness of true heroism in this, but so much was the majority of the troops opposed to it that numbers of them deserted in course of the night.

After the death of Harry Munroe many of the disaffected party were made prisoners and lodged in the Lisburn Guardhouse. Two of these people were tried and convicted, the sentence of death following close on the verdict of guilty. One of the condemned was Richard Vincent, copper and tin smith, a native of Lisburn, and the other was named Maxwell. These men were executed almost immediately after receiving sentence, and their heads, after being cut off, were placed on the Market-House beside Munroe's. Not many days after his execution, a sister of the general, one who had been celebrated as a heroine in the national struggle, was passing through the town, and when opposite the Market-House she gazed for a moment at her brother's head, and exclaimed aloud, "Ah, Harry, you will be revenged for all yet!"

Harry Munroe's mother lived in Lisburn for many years after the "day of trouble," and supported herself respectably by keeping a little shop in the house situated on the Sluice Bridge, in Bow Street. She survived the death of her son about seventeen years.

A United Irishman, who gave his name as Crabbe, was the first person hanged for treason in that town. He suffered death on a lamp-post at the corner of Castle Street, and right opposite the Market-House. The charge against him was having a pistol in his pocket and a green cockade hid in his hat. Some reports went to say that he had been a clergyman, but no direct proof of the fact was ever brought forward, nor did a single secret connected with his history transpire, from that day to the present. He was taken prisoner in one of the bye-lanes in Lisburn, and in three hours afterwards was tried, convicted, and executed.


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 4 January 1918 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.)

William Henry West Betty, 1791-1874 (part 2)

SOME EXTRACTS

FROM THE

RECORDS OF

OLD LISBURN

AND THE

MANOR OF KILLULTAGH.

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

LXII.

-- -- -- --

WILLIAM HENRY WEST BETTY,
1791-1874

(The Young Roscius).

From "Ireland and Her Staple Manufactures," 1870, 

by Hugh M'Call.

(Continued.)

London, 1804.

But now comes the great epoch in the professional life of Betty. The lessee of Covent Garden had been for some time in negotiation with the elder gentleman for the purpose of securing the services of the son, and at length the matter was arranged on the terms of fifty pounds a night. Great preparations had been made for his debut on the London boards, and on the evening of the 1st of December, 1804 -- ten days after the termination of his first engagement in Manchester -- he appeared at Covent Garden Theatre, in Dr. Brown's adaptation of Voltaire's tragedy, Merope. Nothing could have exceeded the excitement produced on this occasion. It seemed as if the world of London had been taken by storm, and for the time being the "Young Roscius" was lion of the West End, and the magnate East of Temple Bar. The "Morning Chronicle" thus alludes to the first night's performance:--

"So early as ten o'clock on Saturday morning, many gentlemen began to parade the Piazzas and Bow Street, in order that they might be near the doors when the crowd should begin to assemble. Before one and two o'clock numbers had taken their stations near all the doors leading to the pit, boxes, and galleries; and long before the doors were opened they stretched out in long, thick, close-wedged, impenetrable columns to the extremity of the Piazzas, in Covent Garden, and quite across Bow Street. Peace officers were provided inside the theatre, and a strong detachment of guards procured outside. The heat in every part of the house became excessive very soon after it was filled. In the pit many gentlemen fainted, and were dragged seemingly lifeless, up into the boxes. The ladies in one or two boxes were employed almost the whole night in fanning the gentlemen who were beneath them in the pit. Frequently we heard screams from those who were overcome by the heat, but could neither get out nor obtain the slightest relief. Upwards of twenty gentlemen who had fainted were dragged up into the boxes; we observed several more raising their hands, as if in in the act of supplication for mercy and pity. It was with satisfaction that we observed but few females exposed to this distressing state in the pit; they were but thirteen, and they fortunately were placed in situations so near the proscenium as to derive the full benefit of the air from the stage. Behind the scenes were many of the first personages, both for rank and learning in the country. Besides the Lord Chief Baron, Lord Melville, and Mr. Const, the counsel, there were all the theatrical judges of merit. Numerous groups of ladies of the first fashion were also content to stand during the whole of the performance in any hole or corner where they could get a glimpse. The Prince Regent occupied Lady Miller's box on the night of the first appearance at Drury Lane, and joined several times in the applause pealed forth by the general audience. Mr. Charles Kemble assisted on the occasion. Master Betty's reception of the character was classically correct. His performance was not the successful repetition of a mere lesson, but that of an experienced tragedian, rich in understanding and discrimination. He did not appear in the least degree fatigued by the exertions, but rather increased in energy during the progress of the piece. In the third act his restrained tenderness -- his apparent transports at the praises bestowed on him by his mother -- the difficulty with which he refrains from declaring himself -- the discovery of her son being alive, and the determination of the son to revenge her wrongs, were admirably conceived, and so effectually rendered as to bring down bursts of applause from all parts of the house."

The receipts of the theatre during the twenty nights of Betty's first London season amounted to twenty-seven thousand guineas, being the largest aggregate ever before realised in any similar period at either of the great houses. Of that sum the fortunate performer received one-tenth share, which represented fifty guineas a night for three nights, and one hundred guineas a night for twenty-five nights. Besides this he had four free benefits that brought the aggregate up to three thousand eight hundred guineas, and, in addition, he received presents of plate, which made a grand total of four thousand guineas for about a month's performances.

This unparalleled success is said to have almost turned the heads of the fortunate youth's parents, and to himself the rapid change of position, the magical turn of affairs that brought him from the comparative quiet of a linen warehouse to the exciting scenes connected with theatrical life, must have appeared as the realisation of some fairy tale. The young gentleman was then little more than thirteen years of age; he had been about eighteen months on the boards, and during that time he had netted as many thousand pounds as he was years old.

Park Lane and Piccadilly turned out their hosts of patrons in all the blase of jewelled coronets and diamond necklaces.

Rubicund dowagers and red-faced aldermen from the regions east of Temple Bar migrated from the city to gaze on the "wonderful boy." George the Third summoned the youthful prodigy to attend at St. James' Palace, where select readings were given from different authors before his Majesty and the rest of the Royal household. When "Hamlet" was to be performed at Covent Garden, Mr. Pitt actually adjourned the House of Commons that he might see Master Betty in the role. Sheridan brought the lad into his box at the conclusion of the piece, and presented him as the Young Roscius to Fox, Burke, and Curran, who had left the Senate House to witness the performance.

Critics.

In the midst of all this popularity, and when wealth was pouring in on the favoured tragedian as if he had been in possession of the philosopher's stone, the whole course of events did not run in his favour without a ruffle. A few of the critics stood away from the admiring throng, and strongly dissented from the "childish enthusiasm" for the boy-player. Partisan spirit was aroused in several quarters, and the jealousy of the green-room -- perhaps the bitterest of all such feeling -- added strength to the minority. At the very time when young Betty drew immense crowds to Drury Lane, and when he was receiving one hundred guineas a night, Mrs. Siddons and her brother, John P. Kemole, were playing to thin houses at Covent Garden on the respective salaries of £30 and £25 a night. Envy, hatred, and malice followed this turn of affairs, and the advocates of the "legitimate drama" fought furiously against the mania for "infantile prodigies." Richard Cumberland, the dramatist, devotes some pages of his autobiographic memoirs to a very ungenerous critique on Master Betty, and becomes savagely facetious in his remarks on what he designates "beardless youths usurping the popularity of votaries of the stage." "How delicious," says the green-eyed Richard, "is it to be praised and panegyrised by leading critics. To be caressed by dukes, and, still better, by the daughters of dukes; to be flattered, by wits, feasted by aldermen, stuck up in the windows of print-shops, and, last of all, set astride upon the cut-water of a privateer, like the tutelary genius of the British flag."

Master Betty was very tall for his years, and when he stood before a London, audience he had considerably improved in the power of self-possession. He was exceedingly handsome in personal appearance, and highly graceful in action. His voice was round and full, and of such remarkable compass that, without apparent effort, he could make himself distinctly heard in all parts of the largest theatre. But his was a popularity as evanescent as it had been wonderful. Once on the inclined plane, the descent was rapid and irrecoverable.

1824.

It is a strange feature in his history that, from the time he arrived at the age of sixteen, his power over the play-going public began to wane, and when he took leave of the stage as the "Earl of Warwick," in the Southampton Theatre in 1824, the house was not half filled. The "marvellous boy" had by that time degenerated into a very commonplace man. It seemed as if the wand had been broken by which, in his juvenile days, he had charmed the most fastidious critics, the highest men of the theatrical world, and nearly every patron of the profession, and that the enchanter was no longer able to cast his spell over the play-going multitude. Having seceded from the stage, he commenced to study for the Church, and very soon afterwards became an ordained minister; but, not finding himself at home either in the reading-desk or the pulpit, he had the good sense to leave the field of theology and to retire into private life. His failure, in that case, forms a strange passage in the history of genius.

Betty, the favoured actor, who, when in the height of his popularity, wielded almost superhuman power over the theatrical world, was unable, when he became a Church clergyman, to preach in such a style as would Keep up the attention of a country congregation for half an hour. Mr. Betty, has, since then, lived in complete retirement, at least so far as regards theatrical life; but he never forgot either the stage or its people, and his hand was always open when actors in distress solicited his assistance.

Chambers's Biographical Dictionary.

He quitted the stage in 1808, but after studying for two years at Cambridge, returned to it in 1812. He retired finally in 1824, and lived for fifty years on the ample fortune he had so early amassed. He died in London, August 24, 1874.

(Next Week: Harry Munro.)


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 21 December 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.)

William Henry West Betty, 1791-1874

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

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

LXI.

-- -- -- --

WILLIAM HENRY WEST BETTY,
1791-1874
(The Young Roscius).

From "Ireland and Her Staple Manufactures," 1870, 
by Hugh M'Call.

W. H. W. Betty was son of a linen bleacher, and passed the early part of his boyhood amid the bustle of business at his father's house in Chapel Hill, Lisburn. His grandfather, Doctor Betty, was a celebrated physician in that town, and who, besides attending to the duties of a large and lucrative practice, was owner of an extensive bleachfield situate a few miles out in the County of Down. The old gentleman in his day had been an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and when the house of worship, still owned by the first congregation, was being erected he was himself a liberal contributor to the funds and a most successful collector from others.

The house in which the family resided is situated in Chapel Hill, and nearly opposite the property then owned by Mr. Luke Teeling. After the doctor's death his only son, William Henry, succeeded him in the bleaching concern, and in 1790 married Miss West, a lady belonging to Shrewsbury, where, in September of the following year, the subject of this brief notice first saw the light. At the end of autumn Mrs. Betty and her son returned to Lisburn, and continued there for many years. Mr. Betty in the meantime pursuing his business in the purchase and finish of linens. The embryo Roscius received the rudiments of his education in the school of Mr. Goyer, and he also attended the classical institution conducted by the Rev. Mr. Dubourdieu. It appears that during his scholastic studies he never exhibited any special evidence of that precocious talent which afterwards took the world by storm.

From the time of the Insurrection the handsome town of Lisburn had been the station for a troop of horse and a numerous company of foot soldiers. A splendid band accompanied them, and what with the daily parades, inspection of troops and periodical bugle calls, the inhabitants were bidding fair to imbibe much more of the military spirit than is usually found to exist in provincial towns. Besides these sources of excitement, a respectable company of theatricals, under the management of Mr. Robert Owenson, father of the future Lady Morgan and Lady Clarke, added largely to the intellectual amusement of the citizens. Mr. Owenson's theatre was situate in the rere of Mr. Stewart's house opposite the road since made to Hillsborough, and the lessee himself and his two daughters resided next door.

Miss O'Neill, afterwards Lady Beecher -- then a young and rapidly rising performer, took the leading parts in the cast of characters, and rejoiced in the moderate salary of thirty shillings a week. This lady, as well as the Owenson family, were frequent visitors to Mr. Betty, when the hostess, who was famed for her "love of the lamp," occasionally entertained her friends with readings and recitations from celebrated dramatic authors.

Brought up in a home-school where the military and dramatic element formed the largest share of fireside education, young Betty became strongly impressed with a desire for the stage. This feeling was still further strengthened by his having witnessed the performance of Mrs. Siddons in the character of Lady Macbeth, at the Belfast theatre, and he felt so struck with the peculiar beauty of her elocution that he came home determined to try his fortune as a player.

At that time he was under eleven years of age, yet he seemed to have had conceptions of his future career, settled and ambitious as if he had seen thirty summers. The linen bleacher entertained very different views respecting the after pursuits of his son, and when he first learned of his leanings towards the theatrical profession he expressed himself strongly against that course of life. Mrs. Betty, however, had opposite ideas on the subject -- the "green room" to her was the land of promise, and, as is usual in most cases of domestic policy, the "weaker vessel" stood out for the rights of the sex, and ultimately had it all her own way. But not only did she exult over her boy's predilection for the stage, she also undertook the charge of his dramatic education, and for a considerable period she spent some hours each day in that labour of love.

Theatre Royal, Belfast, 1803.

Under this course of study, added to his own natural taste for the art, Betty speedily became a local celebrity, but his fame did not long remain bounded by the environs of Lisburn. Mr. Atkins, who was lessee of the Belfast theatre from its opening in 1791, had heard some reports about the precocious genius of the young tragedian, and after obtaining further information on the subject from his brother manager Mr. Owenson, he was so much interested by the report that he went up to Lisburn and concluded an engagement with the elder Mr. Betty for five nights performances. In course of the following week the blank walls and fronts of untenanted houses in Belfast were nearly covered with large posters, announcing, in flaming capitals, that a wonderful performer, only eleven years of age, would appear on the local boards in the character of Osman, in Voltaire's celebrated tragedy of Zara.

The Theatre Royal on that occasion was crowded to excess. All the open space at the end of Arthur Street and Castle Lane with blocked up with anxious play goers, and so great was the struggle to secure places in the different parts of the house that before six o'clock in the evening every seat in the gallery was crammed, the upper and lower boxes had not a vacant spot, and two noblemen, then members of Parliament, were glad to get a small-area of standing-room in the pit. Master Betty had not then attained his twelfth year, but, as he was well grown, he appeared at last two years above that age. The theatrical critics of the Northern Athens were perfectly astounded at the correctness of enunciation, judicious delivery, and thorough conception of character displayed by the young gentleman. His performance was a triumphant success, the occupants of the boxes lustily applauded, those of the pit were enthusiastically delighted, and the gods sent forth peal after peal of vociferous acclamation. At the conclusion of the piece Mr. Atkins was called before the curtain, and having returned thanks to the audience for their hearty response to his notice that he had an "extraordinary novelty" to produce for their gratification, he announced that Master Betty would appear next evening (Saturday) in the same character, and that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the succeeding week he would have the honour of coming out respectively in the characters of Romeo, Rolla, and Norval. On each of these occasions the popularity of the young actor had so much increased that vast numbers of persons were disappointed in their attempts to obtain seats, and only left the doors of the theatre after all chances of getting standing places had been given up.

The marvellous success of his son and the tempting proposals which poured in on him for engagements in the theatre changed the entire current of Mr. Betty's ideas as to the lad's future pursuits. He therefore sold off all his stock of linens, as well as the farm and bleachfield, that he might be at perfect liberty to accompany his son as the keeper of his purse and the guardian of his person in a proposed tour through the kingdom.

Dublin, 1803.

In course of the autumn which succeeded Betty's debut as a public performer, many overtures were made him for engagements. Among others, the lessee of the Dublin Theatre Royal offered two hundred pounds for twenty nights' performance. This was considered liberal in the extreme; but the dread of appearing before an audience famed as the most fastidious, as well as the most accomplished, critics in Europe, and in a city where, as has been rightly said, "the wit of the gods in the gallery is usually keener than that of the author on the stage," kept negotiations in abeyance for some weeks.

At length, in November, 1803, the young Roscius went to Dublin, where he appeared in the character of Hamlet, and was received with a perfect ovation. Previous to his engagement there the local patrons of the drama had fallen into one of those periodical fits of dulness to which public communities as well as private individuals are occasionally subject. But almost immediately after the appearance of the young star the wild excitement cut of doors and the crowds that assembled in the theatre every night told that the theatrical taste which exists in such greatness on the border of the Liffey had been aroused in all its strength. This engagement proved most successful, and he left the city with a new wreath of laurels on his brow. In the early part of 1804 he visited the West of Scotland, and while performing in Edinburgh he was invited to dine with Lord Meadowbank and Mr. Home. The author of Douglass paid him the high compliment of stating that his admirable personation of young Norval proved him to be the genuine offspring of the Douglass. It should here be stated that while performing in Dublin Mr. Macready, father of the great tragedian and joint lessee of the Birmingham theatre, was present, and felt no less astonished than any of the outsiders at the remarkable genius of young Betty, and some time afterwards an arrangement was made for the introduction of the young gentleman to a Birmingham audience. He appeared there in August, 1804, and marvellous was the excitement which that event caused in the great depot of mosaic jewellery and brass buttons.

In a notice of the Birmingham performance the writer, said:-- "The theatrical annals of the town furnish nothing equal to the commotion which Betty's appearance excited. The hotels and inns were completely occupied during his stay by persons who came from every part of the adjacent country to witness the novelty. Nine characters were sustained by him in Birmingham."

Birmingham, 1804.

An amusing incident connected with this engagement is related by one of the biographers of the young Roscius. Mr. Jackson, who shared the management of the Birmingham theatre with Mr. Macready, had been requested to secure the services of this "prodigy" for twelve nights, at a salary of ten pounds a night; but as the appearance of the lad off the stage was not calculated to impress beholders with the idea of great excellence in the histrionic art, he had no sooner been introduced to him than he begged to be released from what he considered "a ruinous engagement." Betty's relatives expressed their willingness to cancel the affair, provided they were paid their travelling expenses from Edinburgh. During the discussion Mr. Macready proposed that the arrangement might be made in another form, "Suppose," said he, "that for general expenses sixty pounds be taken from the gross receipts of each night's performance, and the balance divided between the 'star' and the lessees." This proposal was agreed to but so immensely did the receipts exceed Macready's calculation that his colleague the over-cautious manager, found he had to pay the "star" fifty pounds a night instead of ten. From Birmingham Master Betty proceeded to Sheffield, where he was no less attractive. Doncaster races were going on at the time, and carriages labelled "Theatrical coach to carry six insides to see the Young Roscius" were stationed near the course to convey passengers from the sports of the turf to more intellectual amusements of the stage.

His next appearance was in Liverpool and there the struggle to get places in the theatre exceeded all previous excitement. On the morning that preceded his first performance, when the box-office was opened, some gentlemen had their cloth torn to tatters, others had their hats and shoes carried away in the crowd, and a third party sometimes severely bruised and almost suffocated in the attempt to obtain tickets for themselves and their friends. During the first twelve nights of his performance in that maritime capital the total receipts of the house amounted to about twenty-seven hundred pounds. Of this sum he received on an average ninety pounds a night; and, including the profits of his benefit, he realised by that engagement about fifteen hundred guines. Before he left Liverpool he was presented with two very valuable silver cups, and at the conclusion of the engagement the managers of the theatre offered to give him one hundred pounds a night for a further series of performances, but, having made other arrangements, he could not accept those very liberal terms. On Monday, the 12th of November, 1804, young Betty appeared in the Manchester theatre.

(To be Continued.)


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 14 December 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.)

A. T. Stewart, Millionaire, 1801-1876.

SOME EXTRACTS

FROM THE

RECORDS OF

OLD LISBURN

AND THE

MANOR OF KILLULTAGH.

-- -- -- --

Edited by JAMES CARSON.

-- -- -- --

LX.

-- -- -- --

A. T. STEWART, MILLIONAIRE, 1801-1876.

Extracts from a Sketch of His Life by Hugh M'Call.

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century John Turney, a very intelligent farmer, resided on the Hertford estate, at a part of Lissue near the Maze. It was usual at that time for men who had capital to spare to do a little in the manufacture of linen as well as to attend to the business of the field. As one of the descendants of the Huguenot exiles that settled in the town and about the neighbourhood of Lisburn one hundred years before, Mr. Turney inherited much of the spirit of industry and peaceful disposition of his forefathers, and, like them, had great taste for the beautiful, whether in nature or art; his garden was quite a model in floriculture, and, what was not usual in country houses, he had in his parlour two or three oil paintings of a style which was rare as the works were valuable.

One of his neighbours, Thomas Lamb, of Pear Tree Hill, greatly admired the pictures, but laughed heartily at the estimate their owner placed on them. Mr. Lamb, a sturdy Quaker, and Elias Hughes, another member of the same sect, who resided in that locality, were also engaged in the making of coarse linens.

John Turney's family consisted of his wife and a daughter named Margaret, and very happy was his household; but during the troublous times of Ninety-Eight the former, who was a delicate and rather nervous woman, had been much shocked by some local occurrence, and became very ill.

After lingering some weeks, she passed away into the Unseen Land.

There lived at that time near the Red Hill, and not far from Mr. Turney's place, Thomas Stewart, and his wife Martha, a very industrious and very quiet people. Their family consisted of five sons and three daughters.

The head of the house had been brought up on a farm situate near the Rock Chapel, but several years before he had taken some land at Red Hill, in Lissue.

The second son, Alexander, a steady-going and very energetic young man, commenced life as an agriculturist on a twenty-acre farm on the Hertford estate.

In the list of Margaret Turney's admirers young Alexander Stewart had a high place, but her father could not think of his daughter giving her hand to a small farmer who had only commenced to make his way in the world.

More than twelve months had gone by since the second marriage of her father had made the previous happy home a scene of unpleasant and divided feeling.

At length she left her father's house and got privately married to Mr. Stewart, immediately after which the young husband took her home to the farm cottage at Red Hill, a picturesque part of the Hertford estate, situate about two miles from Lisburn.


Birth and Early Life.

The young couple lived very happily together. Stewart was a good-natured, industrious fellow, and worked hard at the farm. Among the saddest years of Ireland's eventful history was that of 1801, the time of dearth, disease, and privation; the previous harvest was a failure, and every article of food had gone up to famine price. Extra exertion was necessary to keep farmers afloat, and in his anxiety to get finished some outdoor work the farmer over-heated himself, and eventually fell into consumption, which carried him off in some few months. Not many weeks had elapsed after the death of Alexander Stewart when the young wife, still in her teens, was confined of a son; and in that cottage which still stands (in 1881) on the farm of Mr. James N. Richardson, of Lissue, the future merchant prince of Broadway first saw the light, and in due time received the baptismal name of Alexander Turney, in honour of his father and grandfather.

As soon as she was able to leave the cottage her father had her and the infant removed to his own place. A purchaser soon turned up for the little farm, the stock and furniture were disposed of to good advantage, and the proceeds set apart for the young widow and her son.

Some time afterwards David Bell, a farmer, began to pay court to the widow, and in April, 1803, got married to her. The father of the bride, for a second time, was still more annoyed at that affair than he had been on the previous occasion. Bell sold his farm and stock and prepared to embark for America. He himself, as well as his wife, was anxious to take the child, then eighteen months old, along with them, but Mr. Turney would not permit that arrangement, and took it home.

Having received a good education himself, Mr. Turney determined that his grandson should enjoy the full advantages of modern acquirements, and at the proper time become a minister of the Church of England. There was then in the Causeway End a teacher of children famed for instructing them in the rudiments of spelling, reading, and writing; and all that course was to be taught juveniles without the use of the rod. That model school-master's name was William Christie, and if he lived in these days, when, in some schools, flogging is still a sort of pastime with the principals, he would deserve canonisation. MAny of the people of Causeway End -- John Hodgen, George Briggs, John Anderson, and others -- recollected the thoughtful-looking lad passing along the road that led from his grandfather's house to the village seminary, conning over his Manson's Spelling-Book as he went on his way. In due time the lad was sent to the Lisburn English and Mercantile Academy, then conducted by Mr. Benjamin Neely, one of the ablest of teachers, as well as one of the most efficient flagellators that ever flourished a ratan. Many of that gentleman's pupils rose in after days to places of high distinction in the world. Thomas Spence, the famous writing-master, was one of his early scholars; James W. Hogg, afterwards known as chairman of the East India Board, and member for Honiton, a great favourite of Sir Robert Peel, who conferred on him the honour of a baronetcy, Brigadier-General Nicholson, one of the leading heroes of the Punjaub; Serjeant Armstrong, celebrated as a chief of the Irish Bar; and several other men mark, were also taught at the Lisburn Academy.

This most popular classical seminary in the rural districts of that part of Antrim County was then presided over by the Rev. Skeffington Thompson, LL.D., of Magheragal, and on the first day of February, 1815, Alexander T. Stewart was entered there as a student. Early in the following month John Turney took ill, and it was evident his day of life was coming to a close. Thomas Lamb, his valued neighbour, visited him very frequently, and, with the never-failing attention to worldly affairs that forms the leading characteristic of Quakerism, advised his friend to settle his affairs, and in doing so not to forget his daughter, Margaret Bell, and her children.

He died on the 16th of April, 1815.

After the old man's death Mr. Lamb brought Alexander T. Stewart to reside in his house, where he became thoroughly at home, the two sons, John and Joshua, looking on the orphan boy as, if possible, something more than a brother.

Stewart had now quite given up any idea of going on for the clerical profession, and in order to fit him for business Mr. Lamb advised that, instead of emigrating to New Tork, as he proposed to do, he should go to Belfast and learn something of shopkeeping. The good old Quaker arranged with a grocer in that town that the well-educated lad should become his apprentice, and in course of a few weeks he commenced his duties there. But neither the place nor the business suited the taste of A. T. Stewart. During the short time he was at the grocery business he spent the time from each Saturday evening till Monday at the house of Mr. Matthew Morrow, whose daughters conducted a ladies' school in Chichester Street, and where he met with the utmost kindness. But before the end of April he told the grocer that he did not like the business; and, having begged his guardian's permission to carry out the project of going to America, Mr. Lamb did not stand in the way, and thus all was amicably arranged.

America, 1818.

His guardian handed him fifty pounds out of the fortune then awaiting his coming of age. With that capital, in May, 1818, he left Belfast, in a ship bound for New York, and six weeks afterwards he found himself in the city on the Hudson.

After considerable difficulty he found his mother's residence. His half-brother, James Bell, had, some weeks before, ran off from home, and gone to sea, and the family then consisted of his half-sister Mary, his mother, and stepfather. Determined not to remain a burden on the family, he sought employment as an assistant teacher, and was engaged at four hundred dollars a-year -- a sum barely equal to pay his board and maintain him in respectable clothing. Having found himself fully equal to the duties of the school, several additions were made to his salary during the next two years, and in 1820 he found himself master of an annual income of six hundred dollars.

A course of communication was maintained between him and his guardian all that time, and in December, 1822, he received a long letter from the honest Quaker, stating that the property left him having been realised, the proceeds were lodged in a Belfast bank. Mr. Lamb also advised his ward that the money arising from the sale of the meadow and two fields, together with small cottage and garden (£140), was lent at 5 per cent. interest to a linen draper, and the seven pounds arising from that investment were paid quarterly to Mrs. Turney, his step-grandmother.

Early in the following your A. T. Stewart left New York for Liverpool, and when he reached that port in May, lost no time in taking his passage in the next steamer for Belfast, where he arrived in due course, and from thence made his way to Lisburn. The first person he called on was Fanny Fox, a Quaker lady, then engaged, in the haberdashery and millinery business. Miss Fox pressed him to remain all night, and next morning, on speaking to that lady respecting his business in Ireland, he requested her to introduce him to a lawyer, which she did by taking him to the office of Mr. Dillon. Having had some legal advice from that solicitor, the young man set off on foot -- a distance of about four miles -- for Pear Tree Hill, the residence of Mr. Thomas Lamb, his grandfather's executor, where he was received with the utmost attention, and in the course of the day all the accounts of Mr. Turney's estate, from April, 1815, were laid before him, with the several amounts received and the sums paid, and the vouchers in each case. Various estimates have been made respecting the sums paid over to A. T. Stewart; nothing definite, however, is known on the subject, but it must have amounted to several hundred, or perhaps one thousand, pounds.

It has been stated that Mr. Stewart had received from his guardian the full amount of money arising from the proceeds of property left him by his grandfather; but on getting the cash into his hands he found some difficulty in arriving at any definite conclusion as to how it should be invested. The bustle and prosperity he had seen in the everyday commerce of New York had stirred in his mind a desire for business; he therefore consulted a Belfast friend on the subject, and in doing so frankly acknowledged his ignorance of mercantile affairs. That friend told him that with his educational attainments and aptitude for learning he would soon master the details of trade. "It was most erroneous," he added, "to suppose that because a young man was a classical scholar he would not succeed when engaged at the matter-of-fact details of life as they existed behind the counter."

Acting on that shrewd counsel, the student made his first purchase from a manufacturer in Rosemary Street in that town, comprising a large lot of fancy goads, high-class muslins, insertions, tambours, and some flouncings. These articles were all of a quality which the embryo merchant was assured had rarely before been seen in any American city. He had also bought from the eminent firm of James N. Richardson & Co., of Lisburn, a parcel of the finest linens and some specialities in French cambric. Having thus invested the greater part of his capital in first-class goods, he once again sailed for New York, and arrived safe in July, 1823. There was then to be let the store afterwards known as "283, Broadway," situate between Murray and Warren Streets. The locality was central, and although the store was a mere wooden structure, twenty feet square, and the rent 37S dollars a-year, he entered as tenant, made some improvements, and in that tiny spot, with his Belfast and Lisburn purchases, and a job lot of laces, silk gloves, and general hosiery, the man who in after years became the financial counsellor of Presidents and the wonder of Wall Street commenced his marvellous career.

Marriage in 1825.

In 1825 Mr. Stewart married Miss Cornelia Clinch, daughter of a very wealthy ship chandler of New York. The young lady had received a very good education, but in the course of that sowing of intellectual seed the duty of industry had not been forgotten, and immediately after having taken upon herself the responsibilities of a wife she set about aiding in the transactions of the store, as it was on her own exertions much of the future success depended. It has been said that, on the delivery of the goods which her husband was in the habit of purchasing at the auction sales, she would refinish parcels of gloves and also the lots of ing in the transactions of the store, as if it just from the hands of the manufacturer. [sic]

The concern 283 [sic] had ceased to accommodate the customers and and contain the stock, and during the three years previous to the autumn of 1832 A. T. Stewart had made two removals, in each case to larger places of business. No 257, Broadway, was an extensive store, situate between Murray and Warren Streets, and this had been fitted up with great care and taste, the young merchant's classical education having given him a love of the decorative that was seen even in his selection of fancy fabrics. Nine years' successful commerce had made him a person of civic celebrity and a wonder to the plodding speculators of Wall Street.

In the spring of 1847 the premises of A. T. Stewart & Co. were found totally inadequate to meet the growing extension of their business. Washington Hall, a famous commercial hotel and its mercantile club, were then in the market, and at a cost of sixty thousand dollars the site was purchased by Mr. Stewart. The area of that building ground comprised two acres, and after clearing away the buildings that stood over it the erection of the world-renowned Marble Palace was commenced.


Famine, 1847.

Ireland in 1847 was undergoing one of those periodical seasons of sadness which seem coincident with her history. Two millions of her people were in the very whirlpool of destitution, dearth, and disease, and towards the relief fund which had been got up the Broadway merchant sent to the Irish Committee, then sitting in Dublin, a contribution of ten thousand dollars, and a cargo of food to the Lisburn Committee value for £5,000.

A. T. Stewart had then been in the dry goods trade for more than one quarter of a century, and his power of arranging the daily duties of an entire army of rank and file assistants showed how well the algebraic and mathematical lessons he had been taught by Mr. Benjamin Neely must have been acted upon in course of his commercial life.

The marble palace had become more than ever the resort of the fashionable and the gay of high life, when A. T. Stewart saw that it was time for him to make another move in the upward direction. He accordingly, in 1860, purchased the fee-simple of more than two acres of ground situate between Ninth and Tenth Streets and Fourth Avenue. There he commenced the erection which, when finished, stood, from the level of the street to the top cornice, eighty-eight feet in height, and was the largest store ever erected in any part of the world. It consisted of eight floors, six above and two below the ground, thus making an area of eighteen acres in all.

About the time of the commencement of the war between the Southern and Northern States of America Mr. Stewart purchased immense quantities of military stores, and when demand for such goods rose with the requirements, sales were made at very large profits, and yet, as it was afterwards proved, the purchases made by Government at A. T. Stewart's were on much better terms than any that had been bought from other holders.

Some of A. T. Stewart's biographers have written of him as if he had been a man whose only enjoyment was the accumulation of riches. Nothing could be further from broad fact than such statements. It is true that to casual observers he may have seemed cold and frigid, and that in the management of his great business he exacted scrupulous attention to details on the part of his army of assistants, but in connection with that stern love of discipline and a determination to have the line of conduct he marked out strictly adhered to, he had a heart brimful of benevolence, and a disposition which ever prompted him to distribute with no sparing hand a portion of his wealth in doing good to his less fortunate brethren.

The munificent contribution which Mr. Stewart sent to the Lisburn Relief Committee has been mentioned. He also chartered the ship Mary Edson to take over on her return voyage a number of the cotton weavers to New York. When those emigrants reached that city the Broadway merchant had temporary homes prepared for them, and until they got into employment all were supported at his expense.

Death, 1876.

He delighted to gather around him the most distinguished man of the city, and on the third Sunday in March, 1876, had his usual dinner party. On the occasion alluded to the party was intended to consist of sixteen gentlemen, including the host himself, but three of the invited guests were unable to attend, and, to Mr. Stewart's momentary annoyance, thirteen sat down to table. A very pleasant evenins was spent, however, for he was quite a different man in his own house from the plodding merchant of Broadway. Next day he felt very ill, and did not go to business. An internal disease which had first appeared three years before set in with increased severity. The family physician, Dr. Marcey, was in close attendance, and he rallied a little under that gentleman's care, but on Thursday, the 6th of April, he had caught fresh cold and became considerably worse. On the morning of the 10th he was quite unconscious, and before the close of that day the millionaire storekeeper, whose name had been a household word to every place of note in the world of commerce, had passed away to the Land of Spirits.

President Grant offered to appoint Mr. Stewart to the very important office of Secretary of the United States Treasury, but various obstacles intervened, and the matter fell through.

He died childless.

One of A. T. Stewart's peculiarities was that of being religiously reticent on the subject of his boyhood. He occasionally referred to John Turney, his maternal grandfather; but of Thomas Stewart and Martha, his paternal grandfather and grandmother, or of his four uncles and three aunts, he was never heard to speak. A friend once wrote him in favour of one of his relatives, then in poor circumstances, but he never replied to that letter. More than thirty years ago Tom Stewart, then the only surviving son of his grandfather, had got past the age of labour, and was badly off in Lisburn. On having been appealed to on the subject by Mr. Jon Owden, of the arm of J. N. Richardson & Co., A. T. Stewart sent the applicant means to pay his uncle ten shillings a week which sum was continued till the old man's death.

That disposition to ignore the existence of his relations in that country was evinced in his last will; and most remarkable is the fact that the world-renowned merchant, who is said to have died worth fifty millions of dollars, and whose benevolence towards the outside world was munificent, did not leave a solitary cent to those blood relations who, seeing that he died without issue, had direct claims on his testamentary action.

This neglect of his relations was one weak point in the character of one of the most wonderful of the world's commercialists. And yet he loved with national fervour the land of his birth, and in her times of need administered with liberal hand to Ireland's necessities. He has gone to his final resting-place, and, taking him for all in all, more than one generation will have passed before the world sees another A. T. Stewart.


Chamber's Biographical Dictionary, 1897.

Alexander Turney Stewart, 1803-1876, millionaire, born at Lisburn, near Belfast; emigrated to New York in 1823, where two years later he opened his first dry-goods store. His charities were numerous, yet at his death he left some £8,000,000. His body was stolen in 1878, and restored to his widow three years after on payment of £4,000 through a lawyer.

(Next Week: Betty, the Young Roscius.)


(This article was originally published in the Lisburn Standard on 7 December 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.)