Shirley Estate
The Shirley estate, with the adjoining Bath estate, were two of the largest in the county. According to The Landowners of Ireland, 1878, the biggest landowner in Co. Monaghan in 1876 was Evelyn Philip Shirley, who owned 26,386 acres, with a valuation of £20,744, all in the barony of Farney. The Shirleys were semi-absentees although E.P. Shirley visited his estates twice a year. The next biggest was the Marquess of Bath Longleat, Wiltshire, with 22,762 acres in Farney, an absentee who seldom if ever visited his estates. The estate's origin was in the grant in 1575 by Elizabeth I to the common ancestor of the Shirleys and the Baths, Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, in consequence of his commission from her.
The 2nd and 3rd Earls of Essex, 1576-1646.
As Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl, was a minor aged ten on
his inheritance, his estates were put in the hands of trustees.
He grew up to become Elizabeth's favourite and in 1599 she
made him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He failed his sovereign,
and his fall from favour and subsequent execution, in 1600,
attainted of treason, led to the forfeiture of his estates
to the Crown.
We now find the Gaels coming back into their
own. In 1594, Ever MacColla MacMahon had illegally broken
into and taken over the whole barony of Farney. Following
the attainder of Essex, he applied to the Crown to have
this act legitimised. King James I, on ascending the throne
in 1603, immediately revoked the attainder on the Essex
family. MacMahon was allowed to lease the land from its
official owner, Essex, until 1620. Moreover, the settlement
and regrant of 1606 left the county of Monaghan largely
in Gaelic hands. The estate continued in the Essex family
until 1646, when the 3rd Earl died intestate and without
issue.
At this stage the estate underwent the first of several
partitions. It passed in two halves to Essex's co-heirs,
the Marquess of Hertford and Sir Robert Shirley. Sir Robert
himself died in 1656, imprisoned in the Tower of London
for supporting the Royalist cause in the English civil war.
His son and heir was Sir Seymour Shirley, on whose death
in 1667 the estate and the rest of the family inheritance
passed in turn to his second and only surviving son, Sir
Robert Shirley. Sir Robert entered the House of Lords in
1677, as Baron Ferrers of Chartley, and in 1711 was further
promoted as Earl Ferrers and Viscount Tamworth. This last
title related to the family seat of Ettington in Warwickshire.
The division of 1692 came out of an agreement between the heirs of the two daughters of Robert, 2nd Earl of Essex. Earl Ferrers, the grandson of Lady Dorothy inherited her share, and Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth succeeded to the inheritance of Lady Frances Devereux, the Earl's elder daughter, later Marchioness of Hertford and Duchess of Somerset. This division was uneven, and in Lord Weymouth's favour. Lord Weymouth, however, behaved generously in order to rectify this injustice to Ferrers.
The lst Viscount Weymouth died in 1714, without surviving male issue, and bequeathed his estates to Thomas, 2nd Viscount, and ancestor of the Marquesses of Bath. Robert, Earl Ferrers died in 1717, his estate, by agreement, devolving in equal parts to his four sons: Robert, George, Sewallis and John Shirley. Of these, only George survived and, as the others had died without issue, the whole estate passed to him. He was the grandfather of the Shirley brothers Horatio Henry and Evelyn Philip, the 19th-century owners of the western moiety of Farney. The Shirleys were absentees, spending most of their time at Ettington in Warwickshire. In c.1750, they built a house near Carrickmacross for their occasional visits. It was not until 1826 that Robert's grandson, Evelyn John Shirley, laid the foundations of a mansion worthy of the family and estate near the banks of Lough Fea.
E.P. Shirley, the alarming antiquarian.
The most famous of the Shirleys was of course Evelyn Philip,
the historian, antiquarian and M.P. It is to E.P. Shirley
that we look for much of our information, not only about
the Shirley family and estate, but also about the county
of Monaghan and particularly its nobility and gentry. The
richest part of the Shirley archive is that assembled by
E.P. Shirley himself, particularly his 'Antiquarian Compilations',
'Farney Bubble Books' and genealogical and historical papers.
Among the latter is a notebook (D/3531 /G/ 12) containing
obituaries of Evelyn Philip, including one which suggests
that Disraell, '... showed his knowledge of human nature
when he portrayed Shirley in Lothair as Mr Ardeene, "a
man of ancient pedigree himself, who knew everyone else's,
which was not always pleasant". ...'
A series of high-profile agents.
In the history of the Shirley estate, the characters of
the successive agents (or most of them) were as strong as
those of the Shirleys themselves, and the agents are therefore
in effect a component of family history. For instance, the
article 'Estate Agents in Farney: Trench and Mitchell' by
L. Mearáin in Clogher Record, vol x, 1979-1981, provides
some colourful anecdotal material about two of the most
controversial agents. It contains extensive extracts from
a contemporary account of 28 January 1869, written by 'A
Farney Man' (identified by Mearáin as Father Smollen,
parish priest of Donaghmoyne). The following is a synopsis
of this.
'Evelyn John Shirley was regarded as a fair landlord who fully admitted tenant-right. ... Unfortunately for his tenantry, they disregarded his admonition to cast their second vote for Colonel Leslie, his running mate in the 1826 Monaghan election. Although Shirley was elected, the tenants also put in his bitter opponent, Westenra. As a result, Shirley never showed the same friendly feelings to his tenantry from that to the day of his death. Shortly after the election, Humphry Evatt, agent of the Shirley estate, died. He was regarded favourably by the tenants and he had good relations with the parish priest of Carrickmacross, Very Rev. President Reilly.
The iniquitous Sandy Mitchell.
Sandy Mitchell followed as agent of the Shirley property
from 1829 until 1843. Smollen opines: 'He was probably the
most iniquitous and tyrannical estate agent that the people
of Farney had known, just as in the previous century Norman
Steele had been the most feared and hated, not as an estate
agent however, but as the Captain of the Farney Yeomanry'.
Smollen is clear that this is a turning point in the history
of the Shirley estate.
'From this period may be dated the wrongs and grievances of Farney. This man seems to have proposed to himself to trample on the rights, liberty, religion and consciences of the Catholics of Farney, and being the agent of an absentee landlord there was no limit to his authority, and many harsh things were done, I am sure without the knowledge of the landlord, but his estrangement of feeling from his tenantry in consequence of the election was manifest at all his interviews.'
Mitchell at once surveyed and valued the whole estate, the bog included, with, as Smollen reports, disastrous consequences for the tenantry.
'As a result the rents were raised fully one-third and in some instances to more, and the bogs which from time immemorial were free to the tenants were now rented at from £4 to £8 per acre', and doled out to the tenants in very small lots of from 25 to 40 perches each, with an obligation of taking out at the office each season a ticket for which they paid a certain tariff. If any poor tenant had the misfortune of displeasing Sandy during the year, he was doomed to sit with his family during the long winter nights at a fireless hearth. ... He [Mitchell] insisted on the Authorised Version of the Bible, without note or comment, being read by Catholic children in those schools, a system of instruction which neither the [Roman Catholic] bishop nor clergy could tolerate. The consequence was that the bishop insisted on the children being withdrawn from the schools, while the agent used all manner of persecution against the parents for obeying their bishop. ...' Smollen reports that those who tried to get round Mitchell's prohibitions were summarily evicted.
Mitchell died suddenly of apoplexy in Monaghan town, while attending the Spring Assizes of 1843 as a member of the Grand Jury. According to our informant, when the news of his death reached Farney, 'bonfires were lit on every hill-top, expressive of the rejoicement of all Farney at having got rid of so unscrupulous a monster'. And for the Shirley tenantry there was now the hope that his successor would secure for them some reduction in the exorbitant rents imposed by Mitchell. Further information on Mitchell's exactions, injustices and proselytising activities, may be found in the evidence given to the Devon Commissioners in Carrickmacross in April 1844.
W.S. Trench.
Mitchell's successor, William Steuart Trench, was the agent
alternately of the Shirley and Bath estates in the 1840s
and 1850s. He was the instigator of the assisted emigration
schemes [see D/3531/P]. In 1843, the rent realising commodities
of the farmer were sold at very low prices. This made the
payment of Shirley's increased rent, coupled with the exorbitant
bog rent, almost impossible. Under the circumstances, the
tenants petitioned their landlord for a reduction of rent.
Eventually Shirley arranged to meet them on Monday, 3 April,
1843, at the rent-office in Carrickmacross. With great expectations
raised, the tenants arrived in their thousands. However,
Shirley at the last minute decided to stay out of the way,
leaving Trench to face the tenants with the bad news that
the landlord was not going to meet them and furthermore
that no abatement was on offer.
Trench himself further exacerbated matters by announcing that 'he would collect the rents at the point of the bayonet if necessary'. At this, the disappointed tenants rushed towards Trench and carried him off to Lough Fea to get them an interview with Shirley. The landlord in fact was concealed in Shirley House opposite the rent office. On the way to Lough Fea, Trench was considerably manhandled and feared for his life. It was at this stage that Father Keelaghan CC arrived, and by his considerable influence and exertions dispersed the crowd and escorted Trench safely to Lough Fea.
This information is published with the kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, The Shirley Papers (D/3531). See http://proni.nics.gov.uk/ for more information.