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LISNAVAGH
The Life of Captain William McClintock Bunbury 1800 - 1866
1. The Formative Years 1800 - 1815.
1. The Formative Years 1800 - 1815.
2. The Sea Years 1815
- 1835.
3. The Political Years
1835 - 1866.
4. The Captain's Diary
This page will be consistently updated. Comments and corrections are much appreciated.
You needed a lot of neck to be a sailor in
the 1830s. And judging by this portrait of
Captain William McClintock Bunbury, he
wasn't short of neck. The portrait is held at
Lisnavagh, the mansion he commissioned
during the 1840s. The portrait suggests a kindly
man whose sea-faring career ensured he
was well used to staring into the middle distance.
Introduction
The improbably named Captain William Bunbury McClintock Bunbury was undoubtedly one of the most important members of the family to sit upon the throne of Lisnavagh. It was, after all, he who commissioned the building of the present house at Lisnavagh in the 1840s. Born in 1800, he lost his mother to a horse-fall in Bath the following year. His widowed father, John McClintock, MP for Louth, was married again to a sister of the Earl of Clancarty, one of the most powerful men in Europe during the Congress of Vienna that followed the fall of Napoleon. Educated at Gosport in Hampshire, William entered the Royal Navy aged 13 in July 1813 as a first class volunteer on the Ajax. As a 16 year old Midshipman on HMS Severn, William took part in the Bombardment in Algeria, marking the start of a naval career focused on the liberation of slaves. In the 1820s and 1830s, he sailed the little known seas of the Southern Hemisphere as an officer on board HMS Samarang, again chasing slave ships and protecting British interests. Also on board the Samarang was his first cousin, later Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock, and the artist-adventurer William Smyth. In Brazil and Peru, the Samarang encountered the Beagle, upon which Robert FitzRoy and Charles Darwin were travelling. On the death of his maternal uncle Thomas Bunbury, MP, in 1847 he succeeded to the Bunbury family estates at Lisnavagh. As a legal prerequisite for this inheritance, he had to comply with his uncle's will, combining the surname "Bunbury" with his own family name of "McClintock". Hence, the current name of "McClintock Bunbury". It is said that the McClintocks had the cash and the Bunburys had the name. William also succeeded to his late uncle's seat in the British House of Commons and served as Member of Parliament for County Carlow alongside Colonel Henry Bruen during the unhappy era of the Irish Famine. In 1847 he recruited the services of the eccentric Scottish architect Daniel Robertson to build a New House at Lisnavagh. Robertson was also commissioned to landscape and design the gardens and grounds that surrounded the new house. He represented County Carlow in the British Parliament for the Conservative party from 1846 to 1852, and again from Feb 1853 until ill-health obliged him to retire in 1862. In 1842, William married Pauline Stronge, second daughter of the influential Orangeman, Sir James Stronge, of Tynan Abbey, County Armagh. She provided him with two sons, Tom and Jack, and two daughters, Bella and Helen, before his somewhat premature death at the age of 66 at Lisnavagh on 2nd June 1866.
NB: The Captain was a methodical man who, after he left the Navy in 1834, chronicled much of his life in a series of small pocket journals'. I plan to transcribe these over coming years. His diary page can be found here: Captain Bunbury's Diary.
Redmond Kane was one of the most prudent
men in Ireland in the 1780s, buying up land
across the country. His only surviving child,
Katherine, married William Bunbury, MP for
Carlow, and was grandmother to Captain
William McClintock Bunbury.
Childhood
Captain William McClintock Bunbury was born in Dublin on Monday 8th September 1800, the second son of John and Jane McClintock of Drumcar House, Co. Louth. Early the following year, he was christened "William Bunbury McClintock" in memory of his mothers' father, William Bunbury, a promising politician who had been killed in a horse accident near Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow, some twenty four years earlier. His death left his young widow Katherine with two small boys, Thomas and Kane, and a daughter, Jane, born posthumously some months after William's death. Katherine was a wealthy heiress, being the sole surviving child of Redmond Kane, a razor-sharp land speculator from Co. Monagahn who specialized in acquiring bishops' leases (since these were usually let at under-value), particularly under the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishop of Clogher. (For more, see Redmond Kane of Mantua).By this manner, Redmond had secured considerable estates along the Ulster border during the 1770s and 1780s. Katherine's only brother had also been killed when his robes were caught in the spokes of a stagecoach, dragging him under its wheels. After the death of her husband, Katherine Bunbury seems to have raised her three children between the Bunbury family home at Lisnavagh in County Carlow - their uncles Benjamin and George Bunbury lived nearby - and, in time, the City of Bath in Somerset. Nor would they have been strangers to the Kane family seat of Mantua at Swords to the north of Dublin City. (1) All three children settled in Ireland, with Thomas taking on Lisnavagh House and being returned to Westminster as the Member of Parliament for County Carlow. Kane Bunbury was old enough to serve during for the Crown during the Rebellion of 1798 although he did not see any action. The previous year, 19-year-old Jane Bunbury was married to an up and coming politician from Co. Louth by name of John McClintock.Footnote
(1) Kane Bunbury was actually born at Mantua.
A rather hazy view of Alexander McClintock,
the barrister who built Drumcar House in Louth.
He left the property to his nephew, Bumper Jack
McClintock, grandfather to William.
The McClintocks
The McClintocks trace their ancestry back to Luss and Balloch on the shores of Lough Lomond in the Scottish lowlands where they are variously described as rogue highwaymen and landed farmers, often interconnected with the Lindsay clan that ruled the area. Alexander McClintock made the hazardous voyage across the north coast of Ireland to County Donegal in 1598, three years before King James conferred a knighthood on Henry Bunbury in London. 1598 marks an interesting date in Irish history, being the year of Red Hugh O'Donnell's historic victory over Marshall Bagenal's English army at the battle of Yellow Ford. However, within three years the Ulster Rebellion had been suppressed and the lands of O'Donnell and his supporters were confiscated and parcelled out to families who's loyalty to the crown was unquestionable. It is assumed that the McClintock's were loyalists, perhaps benefiting from the interesting transfer of power in London from the House of Tudor to the Scottish House of Stuart following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. Interestingly, the fort from which Red Hugh O'Donnell was to flee to the Continent in 1607 was called Rathdonnell, "Fort of the O'Donnells". The McClintock's acquired the property soon after this; more than 250 years later William's brother John McClintock was to be created Baron Rathdonnell.
'Bumper Jack' McClintock
John McClintock (1769 - 1855) was the eldest boy of four sons and four daughters born to John 'Bumper Jack' McClintock (1742 - 1799), MP, of Drumcar, by his marriage of 1766 to Patience Foster, daughter of William Foster, MP, of Rosy Park, Co. Louth, and first cousin of John Foster, Lord Oriel and Spaker of the Irish House of Commons. Bumper Jack had succeeded to considerable wealth in May 1775 on the death, without children, of his barrister uncle, Alexander McClintock of Drumcar. 'Bumper Jack' duly commissioned the building of the vast mansion at Drumcar House outside Dunleer in 1777, where the McClintock family remained until the 1940s. From 1783 to 1790 he was MP for Enniskillen and from 1790 to 1797 he held the seat as MP for Belturbet. In a famous painting of the Irish Parliament of 1790 Bumper Jack, MP for Belturbet, is seated just three to the right from Speaker John Foster. Oblivious to the all around him, Bumper Jack appears to be wearing a nun's habit and is clearly fast asleep. When Bumper Jack first met his new daughter-in-law, he made the mistake of greeting her maidservant first. That evening he may well have ruminated on Daniel Defoe's similar encounter which prompted the 'Robinson Crusoe' author to write: 'I remember I was put very much to the Blush, being at a Friends house and by him required to salute the ladies, and I kiss'd the Chamber Jade into the bargain, for she was as well dressed as the best. Things of this Nature would be easily avoided if servant maids were to wear Liveries'.
William Bunbury's grandmother,
Patience Foster, was a first cousin
of John Foster, Speaker of the Irish
House of Commons and one of the
most influential men in Georgian Ireland.
John McClintock & the Fosters
Considered a gentle and upright soul, John McClintock was heavily embroiled in the Irish political scene in this Age of Revolution. From 1794 until his death sixty one years later, he held the office of Sergeant-at-Arms for Ireland. During the 1798 Rebellion, he served as High Sheriff of County Louth and although that small county was spared the more gruesome fate which befell the south east of the country, John played his part in supporting the Crown forces in their suppression of the rebels. He owed much of his political career to his neighbour and kinsman by marriage, John Foster, later Baron Oriel. Born in 1740, Foster had risen steadily through the ranks of Irish politics since his election, aged 21, to the borough of Dunleer in 1761. In 1784, John Foster was elected Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland and duly oversaw the passage of the Corn Law, which, by granting large bounties on the export of corn and imposing heavy duties on its import, encouraged a significant shift in agricultural practice from farming to tillage. In 1785 Foster was unanimously elected Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and held that post until the passing of the Act of Union less than three months after William's birth. By this Act, the Irish Parliament consented to vote itself out of existence and relinquish control of Ireland's administrative affairs to Westminster. This decision, made effective by the Act of Union on 1st January 1801, would radically alter the state of Irish politics . (2) Foster was a die-hard adherent of the Protestant Ascendancy and strongly opposed both the Act of Union (which would ultimately put him out of a job) and Catholic Emancipation (which would unleash the majority upon the electoral polls). (3) When the Irish Parliament met for the last time on August 5th 1800, five weeks before William IV's birth, Foster famously refused to surrender the mace . (4) It is reasonable to suppose that John McClintock was of a similar philosophy to Foster in terms of allegiance to the Tory Protestant Ascendancy and opposition to Catholic Emancipation and the Act of Union. He may also have shared Foster's devotion to the advancement of agricultural techniques. (5) During the twilight of the Irish Parliament in the 1790s he had not only sat as a Member of Parliament for Louth but also performed the duties of Prime Serjeant.
Footnotes
(2) The Act of Union was signed by King George III on 29th December 1800,
uniting the Parliaments of Ireland and Great Britain for the first time.
In return for substantial cash payments and titular accessories, the Irish
Parliament had consented to effectively vote itself out of existence. The
Act decreed that henceforth Ireland would be represented by 100 Members
of Parliament in the House of Commons, along with 28 peers and 4 Bishops
in the House of Lords. The Act also amalgamated the Churches of Ireland
and England, whilst confirming the pre-eminence of the Protestant Episcopalians
by securing the continuation of the British Test Act which virtually excluded
all Non-Conformists (Catholics and Presbyterians) from Parliament and membership
of municipal corporations. Free trade between Britain and Ireland was established
in the Act of Union so that Irish merchandise was admitted to the British
colonies on the same terms as British. The effects of this were disastrous;
while Britain proceeded to enter into its industrial era, Irish agricultural
produce and estate rentals went into sharp decline. Meanwhile, the Catholic
population continued to increase dramatically.
(3) King George III's Coronation Oath highlighted his intention to maintain
the Protestant character of the Court and thus Prime Minister Pitt (whilst
he would like to have done) did not ultimately pursue emancipation for the
Catholics).
(4) The mace was preserved by his descendents, along with the Speaker's
chair, at Antrim Castle for many years. It is now in the Bank of Ireland,
College Green, Dublin, formerly Parliament House. The chair was destroyed
in a fire.
(5) John Foster's position in Ireland was such that, along with Commissioner
Beresford, he was one of the few anti-unionists to secure a seat in the
united parliament. In July 1804 he was again appointed Chancellor of the
Exchequer. He retired in 1811 and in 1821 was created Baron Oriel of Ferrard.
He died at Collon on 23rd august 1828.
The Irish House of Commons in 1780.
The Irish Parliament in the 18th Century
The Irish Parliament had, to a degree, enjoyed uninterrupted administration of Irish affairs since William III's victory over the Jacobites in 1691. For all that, the politicians who had represented Ireland's various boroughs and townlands during the 18th century generally maintained a disconcertingly aloof distance from the unruly land which they ruled. The 18th century was a time for money-making and profiteering. The British Empire was entering into its Golden Age and the Anglo-Irish Protestant elite was determined to secure its own slice. You generally had to be a Church of Ireland Protestant to make money, though Presbyterians, Quakers and Methodists fared okay. Roman Catholics had been in the dog-house since the Jacobite Wars, relegated to the status of second class citizens. The Irish Parliament, with the support of the King and the British Houses of Parliament, subjected the Catholic majority to a series of prohibitions and restrictions known as the Penal Laws. Catholics were forbidden from ownership, be it property or a mere horse. They were not permitted to carry weapons of any description. They were not welcome in the British Army. They were forbidden from attending public mass. Their lot, in other words, was to accept the role of subservient tenant and do as the landlord required.This is not the moment to question just how strictly the Penal Laws were actually observed. Suffice it to say, it wasn't all bad. But there can be no doubting that the gulf separating rich from poor in 18th century Ireland was as enormous as it is in, say, Mexico or India today. Yet, in terms of the economy, Ireland managed to start paying for itself for the first time since the English army had begun their colonization in the 16th century. The linen merchants of Ulster and farmers across the land were actually making money. Dublin had begun to evolve into a major city with the construction of new quaysides, bridges, parklands, residential suburbs and vital commercial, financial and administrative buildings. Even while the baby William Bunbury was letting forth his first bleats in the autumn of 1800, James Gandon was directing the masons of Dublin through the final stages of the Four Courts on the banks of the Liffey.
The Battle of New Ross, 1798, at which Lady Elizabeth McClintock's
uncle, Lord Mountjoy, was murdered by rebels.
The 1798 Rebellion
The decades immediately prior to William's birth saw many extraordinary developments in the world at large. The American colonies liberated themselves from British rule in the 1770s. The monarchy was overthrown in France, plunging Europe into the mayhem of the Napoleonic Wars until 1815. William's birth came just seven years after the shocking execution of Louis XV. Britain was contending with an unparalleled crisis in its uppermost ranks with the increasing waywardness of its' Hanoverian King, George III. Dissent amongst the lower and middle orders had not been so vocal since the age of Oliver Cromwell. In Ireland, this dissent inspired a radical alliance of Catholic, Presbyterian and Protestant thinkers who believed the time had come for the Crown Forces to pull out of Ireland and, in extremis, for Ireland to be granted independence. Over the course of the 1790s, these thinkers combined forces with a more aggressive element. They came to see their solitary option as an armed insurrection against the Crown Forces in Ireland. The process came to a head in the early summer of 1798 with the outbreak of a major rebellion in Leinster. Several months later, more than 30,000 men, women and children lay dead across Ireland. The blood of British Redcoats, Scottish Fusiliers and Irish mercenaries mingled with that of Catholic priests, Anglo-Irish aristocrats and bystanders of every faith. Lord Mountjoy, the well-meaning uncle of the future Lady Elizabeth McClintock, was murdered trying to negotiate a peace settlement with the rebels at New Ross. Carlow witnessed a period of notable unrest in February. In May, rebels on their way into Hacketstown from the battle of Carlow (in which 500 died and another 200 were executed) were ambushed by a joint detachment of the Antrim militia and English yeomanry forces, leaving another 250 dead. A counter-attack by the rebels in June proved much more successful, forcing the 170 strong yeomen garrison to retreat to Tullow. In the churchyard, there is a monument to Captain Hardy with who died along with eight fellow loyalists while defending Tullow from the rebels. There was a further series of bloody confrontations in Carlow and Hacketstown that autumn in which a thousand rebels were allegedly slaughtered. According to his obituary in 'The Carlow Sentinel', William's uncle, Captain Kane Bunbury, on active service with the Princess Royal's Dragoon Guards, 'happily escaped the bloody scenes in which so many of his comrades in arms were necessarily engaged'. The Rev. Edward Whitty 's house at Rathvilly was totally destroyed during the same rebellion although just how the original house at Lisnavagh fared is at present unknown.The 1798 Rebellion was ultimately a colossal disaster for almost everyone concerned. But at day's end, it left the Crown Forces in control of Ireland and now the British Government seized the opportunity to transfer the administration of the troublesome colony to London. Meanwhile, across the stormy seas, the French Army of Napoleon Bonaparte had crossed the Alp and conquered Italy. Admiral Nelson took the bull by the horns, advanced his fleet across the North Sea to Denmark and annihilated the French fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen. In 1800, Ireland's population stood at approximately 5 million. Within forty years, that figure had nearly doubled. A hint of the tragedy that was to come arrived with a famine shortly after William's birth. (6)
Footnote
(6) Among the witnesses to this early hunger was the author Maria Edgeworth,
daughter of the exceptionally talented inventor and educationalist, Richard
Edgeworth of Mostrim (now Edgeworthstown) in County Longford. In 1800, she
published Castle Rackrent, astonishing readers by its ground-breaking depiction
of Irish peasants as real human beings. Not that anyone knew it was Maria
who had written it; women were still very much to be seen and not heard
at this time and she had the book published under a male pseudonym., I wonder
did either John or Jane McClintock ever find the time to read this entertaining
work, caricaturing several generations of an eccentric Anglo-Irish family.
The McClintocks and Bunburys both spent a good deal
of time at Bath in the early 19th century. Indeed, it was
here that Captain Bunbury's mother met her untimely death,
killed when thrown from her horse at the age of 21.
This painting depicts Bath in 1828.
1800 Events
· Act of Union with Great Britain (29th Dec) - Irish Parliament
votes itself out of existence, sending 100 MPs to Westminster, 28 peers
and four Bishops to the House of Lords. This also involves the union of
the Churches of Ireland and England, whilst confirming the pre-eminence
of the Protestant Episcopalians by securing the continuation of the British
Test Act which virtually excluded all Non-Conformists (Catholics and Presbyterians)
from Parliament and membership of municipal corporations. Free trade between
Britain and Ireland is established in the Act of Union so that Irish merchandise
is to be admitted to the British colonies on the same terms as British,
but the effects of this are disastrous because where the UK proceeds to
enter into its industrial era, Irish agricultural produce and estate rentals
decline in value and the population increased substantially. Hence, the
impact of the Great Famine. Indeed, thousands perished in a famine between
1800 and 1801.
· King George III's Coronation Oath highlighted his intention to
maintain the Protestant character of the Court and thus Pitt (whilst he
would like to have done) did not pursue emancipation for the Catholics.
· Napoleon conquers Italy.
· Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent.
William's Childhood
It was thus a strange new world into which William IV was born. He probably spent his childhood in County Louth at Drumcar House, the house built by his maternal grandfather, Bumper Jack, in the 1770s. Young William must have also spent some of his infancy at his mother's family home at Lisnavagh. William's uncle Thomas Bunbury achieve his majority circa 1793. I am unsure what sort of a house existed at Lisnavagh at this time though it was most likely a modest Georgian farmhouse.
Death of Jane Bunbury
Jane Bunbury married John McClintock on 11th July 1797. I do not know whether the wedding took place in Rathvilly or Dunleer. I presume the young couple then embarked on their honeymoon before settling down somewhere near Drumcar where her father-in-law, Bumper Jack, was entering the final years of his life. On 26th August 1798 Jane gave birth to a boy, John McClintock, later Baron Rathdonnell. In February 1799, Bumper Jack passed away aged 57 and Jane's husband John succeeded to Drumcar House. A second son, William, of whom we treat, followed in September 1800. A daughter, Catherine, was born early in 1801 but the baby can hardly have been off the bosom when her mother was tragically killed. On Tuesday 28th April 1801 she was thrown from her horse while hunting near the Lefroy residence at Ashley in Bath and died. Ashley falls within the boundaries of the present day Avon Vale Hunt although its secretary, John Adderley, pointed out that the Avon Vale Hunt came into existence long after 1800. Jane was most probably hunting with the Spye Park Foxhounds near Bromham village, Wiltshire, which pack belonged to the Spicer family. Jane was just 22 years old. Her death mirrored that of her father's so closely one can't help but think of 'Gone With the Wind'. Her body was laid to rest in the churchyard in Bath.
Ashe Rectory outside Bath where the Rev. Isaac Lefroy
was Rector during the years when Jane Austen's family
also lived close by. Isaac's granddaughter Anne Lefroy
would go on to marry William Bunbury's brother John McClintock
and so became the first Lady Rathdonnell.
Jane Austen & the Lefroy Connection
I do not yet know what brought Jane to Bath but her mother certainly had a fondness for the City whose roots go back to a Roman Spa based around the only naturally occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom. It was a popular resort for the well to do and experienced a tremendous boom in building in the late 18th century with such buildings as the Theatre Royal, the Royal Crescent and Pulteney Bridge. In the 1801 Census, the population of the city was recorded as 40,020, making it amongst the largest cities in Britain. One of the city's best known residents was Jane Austen who lived in the city with her father, mother and sister Cassandra from 1801 until 1805. Bath features centrally in two of her novels 'Northanger Abbey' and 'Persuasion'. (7) In Bath, the Austens became frinedly with the family of the Rev. Isaac Lefory, Rector of Ashe. Of relevance to this tale is the fact that William Bunburys' brother John, 1st Baron Rathdonnell, later married Isaac's granddaughter, Anne Lefroy. She was the daughter of the Rev. John Henry George Lefroy (d.1823) of Ewshot House (subsequently Itchel) in Wiltshire, and his wife Sophia, née Cotterell. (8) Isaac was also uncle to Thomas Lefory (1776 - 1869), the man who Jane Austen apparently had in mind when she invented the character Mr. Darcy in 'Pride and Prejudice'. (9) Indeed, Jane Austen became extremely friendly with Isaac's wife, 'Madame Lefroy', a sister of Sir Egerton Brydges, who was herself killed by a fall from her horse in 1804. (10) One wonders did the two Janes ever meet. Perhaps their petticoats rebounded as they sashayed down the streets. All these deaths from horsefalls! It makes driving cars in the 21st century seem entirely safe. Incidentally, it is worth noting that John and William's only sister, Catherine McClintock was married in 1831 to the Rev. George G. Gardiner of Bath, but died just a few years later afterwards. Her grandmother, Catherine Bunbury (nee Kane) had a residence in Bath as did Thomas Bunbury, MP, of Molye, Co. Carlow, in the 1840s.
Jane Austen, above, was in Bath from
1801 to 1805 where she befriended
the McClintocks' future in-laws, the
Lefroys. Might she also have encountered
another Jane - Jane Bunbury - thrown
from her horse and killed while
hunting at Ashely near Bath in 1801.
Footnotes
(7) Jane Austen's time in Bath and the influence which the city had on her
writing is celebrated in a permanent exhibition at The Jane Austen Centre
(8) The Rev. Lefroy was a grandson of Anthony Lefroy and Elizabeth Langlois
and a son of the Rev. Isaac Peter George Lefroy. On 22nd July 1818, he succeeded
to the estates of his uncle Henry Maxwell at Ewshot House and Ramsbury in
Wiltshire. Henry Maxwell Esq also left £1m 238.15s 2d on trust as
a fund for the endowment of a school to be called Oliver's Charity School.
The school was intended for the education of seventy-two boys of labourer
in husbandry and journeymen mechanics and twelve boys of small farmers and
master tradesmen. In 1835 the school was also made available for girls -
prior to this the girls school was conducted in the old boys school in Church
Street. It became a National School in 1875 - see www.fleethants.com/allhistory/fleet/main.htm
The impaled arms of Lefroy and Cotterell can be found in the top left
corner of Crondall Church - see www.heraldry-online.org.uk/hart_heraldry/crondall.htm
(9) Thomas's father, Anthony Lefroy, settled in Ireland in 1760. Thomas
was born in 1776, the eldest boy of twelve siblings, and in an illustrious
life was to become MP for Trinity University, Dublin; Privy Councillor to
Queen Victoria, A Baron of the Exchequer in 1841 and in 1852 Lord Chief
Justice of Ireland. He died in 1869 aged 93. Tom Lefroy went on to be come
Chief Justice of Ireland in 1852.
"I am almost afraid to tell you," Jane wrote to her sister
Cassandra, "how my Irish friend and I behaved. Imagine to yourself
everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting
down together. I can expose myself, however, only once more because he leaves
the country soon after next Friday, on which day we are to have a dance
at Ashe. He is a very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man I
assure you. But as to our having ever met, except at the three last balls,
I cannot say much; for he is so excessively laughed at about me at Ashe
that he is ashamed of coming to Steventon." She concludes her letter
by saying: "After I had written the above we received a visit from
Mr. Tom Lefroy and his cousin George. The latter is really very well behaved
now; and as for the other, he has but one fault, which time will, I trust,
entirely remove - it is that his morning coat is a great deal too light.
He is a very great admirer of Tom Jones, and therefore wears the same coloured
clothes, I imagine, which he did, when he was wounded." Writing
a few days later she remarks: "Our party at Ashe tomorrow night
will consist of Edward Cooper, James (for a ball is nothing without him),
Buller, who is now staying with us, [Page 70] and I. I look forward with
great impatience to it, as I rather expect to receive an offer from my friend
in the course of the evening. I shall refuse him, however, unless he promises
to give away his white coat." On the day of the ball she writes
: "At length the day has come on which I am to flirt my last with
Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as
I write at the melancholy idea."[1]
This leads me to suppose that the society in which the McClintocks and Bunburys
of the early 19th century operated was not dissimilar to that depicted in
Jane Austen's novels.
(10) The exact spot where the accident took place was "where the narrow
lane from Polehampton crosses the Overton Road". Chapter VII, Jane
Austen: Her Homes & Her Friends (John Lane The Bodley Head, 1923) by
Constance Hill.
1801 Events
· Nelson destroys Danish fleet at Copenhagen.· The Union of Great Britain and Ireland comes into force.
General Election of 1802
The sitting MPs for Carlow, Sir Richard Butler and W.H.Burton, are defeated
by a coalition of David La Touche and Walter Bagenal when Walter Kavanagh
brought his freehold interest in to support the newcomers - the differences
between the candidates are obscure as all four opposed the Union yet none
of them had shown any determination to oppose the ministers - Kavanagh may
have been won over by the firm support both La Touche and Bagenal gave to
Catholic emancipation (26th July).
1803 Events
· William's uncle, William Foster McClintock marries Mary Helden,
daughter of Major-General Helden.
· United Irishman, Robert Emmet launches his abortive insurrection.
He is executed later in the year.
· The Burtons build Pollacton House, outside Carlow. Burton Hall
now falls into disrepair.
1804 Events
· Napoleon crowned Emperor of France.
· Richard Trevithick produces first railway engine.
1805 Events
· The Bunbury's cousin, Hugh Gough, is made a Major in General Doyle`s
battalion, the "Faugha Ballaghs" (Clear the Way) as this
regiment was known from it`s Erse battle-cry. For more, see Turtle's History
of the Gough Family.
· Walter Bagenal, MP, makes one of his last brief visit to Carlow,
after which he remains in England, thus substantially weakening his standing
with the electorate.
· Napoleon defeats Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz.
· Nelson defeats French fleet at Trafalgar (Sept 15th), ending threats
of French invasion, but is mortally wounded in the process. The impact of such an event in Carlow was memorably recorded in the Old Leighlin register with the baptism on March 19th 1807 of
Horatio Nelson Trafalgar Vigors, son of N.A.Vigors, Esq. and Mary his wife,
( of Erindale).
Lady Elizabeth Clancarty
The passing of Jane Bunbury must have made as little sense to her nine month old baby boy as any other event whirling before his blurry eyes - the failed insurrection of Robert Emmett in 1803, for instance, or perhaps the news from France in 1804 when Napoleon declared himself Emperor. On 15th April 1805, his father married again. John McClintock's new bride was Lady Elizabeth Le Poer Trench, daughter of William Power Keating Trench, a wealthy Galway landowner and Whig politician who had been raised to the peerage in February 1803 as the Earl of Clancarty. (11) I don't know how well John McClintock knew Clancarty but he didn't get to share too many glasses of port with his father-in-law for the 64 year old Earl died on 27th April, twelve days after the wedding. The Clancartys were a curious family and I have dealt with them elsewhere. Their forbears, Huguenots from France, fought alongside William of Orange during the Jacobite Wars of 1689 - 1691 and at the conclusive battle of Aughrim near their home in Ballinasloe, County Galway. For more, see Turtle's Short History of the Clancartys.
Footnotes
(11) William Power Keating, 1st Earl of Clancarty, was the eldest son of
Richard Trench of Garbally House, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, and . d Frances
Le Poer (or Power), an heiress twice over. Through her father, she inherited
the Power family estate at Coorheen, County Galway, while she also scooped
a large estate from her mother, Elizabeth Keating. WPK was an energetic
Whig (ie: 18th century Liberal) who represented the locality as a Member
in the Irish House of Commons for many years. He was raised to the Irish
House of Lords as Baron Kilconnell of Garbally, before being advanced to
Viscount Dunlo of Dunlo and Ballinasloe in 1800. In 1802, he was elevated
to the peerage as Earl of Clancarty. This title had previously been bestowed
upon a Munster clan but they lost it along the way, I can't remember why.
At any rate, the 1st Earl of Clancarty was clearly determined to keep his
new blue blood flowing for his good, broad-hipped wife bore him no less
than 10 sons and 9 daughters.
(12) The Trench family were responsible for setting up the Ballinasloe Horse
Fair. In the beginning, the Fair was more versatile, supplying both livestock
and labourers to local landowners, but the power of the horse rapidly came
to the fore. Indeed there is a remarkable account of how agents from the
Great Powers of Europe, especially Russia and France, would come to Ballinasloe
to seek out cavalry horses, draught horses and ponies for the baggage trains
of these great armies. Some say that anything up to 6000 horses would change
hands in a single day, which sounds like exceptional business but I guess
a lot of horses must have copped it during battles such as Fontenroy and
Waterloo. In fact, local legend has it that even Napoleon's horse Marengo
was purchased at Ballinasloe. If there's any truth behind this, it must
have produced many a fine chat around the Clancarty dinner table while John
McClintock was present.
The Aunts of William Bunbury
William had four aunts. The eldest, Mary Anne McClintock, married Mathew Fortescue. The second, Elizabeth McClintock, married Henry Le Blanc. The third, Rebecca McClintock, married Edward Hardman in 1799. The youngest, Fanny McClintock, was married (as his second wife) on 6th June 1798 to Theophilus Clive, grandson of Benjamin Clive, Vicar of Duffield, Co. Derby, and cousin of the celebrated Clive of India (1725 - 1774). See Earl Powis.
The Half-Brothers William Bunbury
John and Lady Elizabeth McClintock had six children. The eldest, Frederick William Pitt McClintock, was born in 1806, became a barrister but died aged 28 in 1834. The second son, Charles Alexander McClintock, was born in 1807 but died unmarried aged 26 on 9th December 1833. The third son, Robert Le Poer McClintock was born on 10th August 1810 and became Rector of Castle Bellingham, Co. Louth, where James and Joanna Fennell were married in June 2005. On 29th July 1856, he married Maria Susan Heyland. He died on 30th June 1879. The fourth son was Henry Stanley McClintock, of whom more anon. The fifth and youngest son was George Augustus Jocelyn McClintock, also of whom more anon.
The Half-Sisters of William Bunbury
William's eldest half-sister, Anne Florence McClintock, married Hugh Usher Tighe, Dean of Derry, on 21 Apr 1828. The next sister, Harriette Elizabeth McClintock married Richard Longfield in 1832 but died on 27th April 1834. His youngest sister, Emily Selina Frances McClintock married John Wandesforde on 16th November 1841 and died on 29th January 1909.
General Election of 1806
In the General Election of 13th November, La Touche and Bagenal maintain seats for County Carlow.
1807 Events
· William's uncle, the 2nd Earl of Clancarty, is sworn onto British
Privy Council and named Postmaster General in Ireland (13th May).
· William's cousin, Hugh Gough marries Frances Maria Stevens,
daughter of General E. Stevens, Royal Artillery, and by her had a son and
four daughters.
· Thomas Butler, Sir Richard's heir, canvassed with government
support for the elections of 20th May, but retreated from a poll at the
last moment, leaving La Touche and Bagenal still sitting.
· British Government abolishes slave trade.
1808 Events
· Richard Clancarty chosen as a representative peer for Ireland
(16th Dec) and sworn onto Irish Privy Council (Dec 26th).
· Major Hugh Gough given command of the battalion when it
embarked for Portugal, General Doyle having been sent to Spain on special
service, (Dec 28th).
· The Ormond Club, a Benevolent Society for looking after the sick,
burying the dead and supporting the families of deceased members from the
Parish of Killeshin, is founded in Graigue.
· The Tullow Hunt in Carlow is founded by John Watson of Ballydarton,
near Fenagh. This marked the beginnings of a legendary Watson association
with hunting not just in Carlow but in Co. Meath, the Cotswolds and Australia.
John Watson remained Master until 1869. He was an ancestor of the late Corona
North (nee Lecky-Watson) of Altamont.
· Beethoven, Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 (Pastoral).
· Work on the Nelson Pillar begins in Dublin.
William's uncle, Colonel Kane
Bunbury of Moyle who would
live on into his 92nd year.
1809 Events
· At the Battle of Talavera on the 28th July the Faugha Ballaghs
suffer grave losses. William's cousin Hugh Gough is severely injured
in the battle when his horse is shot from underneath him. At Wellington's
request, Gough`s commission as Lieutenant-Colonel is ante-dated to the battle.
Thus he becomes the first British officer to ever received brevet promotion
for service in action at the head of a regiment. The battalion was soon
after sent to Lisbon.
· William's uncle Kane Bunbury appointed Major on 25th October.
· In Britain, William's distant cousin Sir Henry Bunbury,
the 7th Bart, is appointed under-secretary of state for war, a position
which he held until 1816.
· William's uncle Henry McClintock marries Elizabeth Melesina
Fleury, a daughter of the Venerable George Fleury, DD, Archdeacon of Waterford.
1810 Events
· William's great-aunt Margaret Bunbury (neé Gowan),
the wife of Benjamin Bunbury of Moyle, passes away in her 60th year and
is buried at St. Mary's in Rathvilly.
· Hugh Gough's battalion joins Graham at Cadiz, forming part of the
force that debarked at Algerciras.
· Speaking before the House of Lords (June 6th) Richard Clancarty
severely criticises the attitude adopted by the Irish Catholic hierarchy
since 1808.
· Economic panic sends agricultural prices tumbling across Ireland.
· Goya begins Los Desastres da la Guerra.
1811 Events
· In a closely reasoned speech, Clancarty defends the resolutions
restricting the powers of the regent, George III, who is by now mad. (Jan
4th).
· Along with the 87th and three companies 1st Guards, Hugh Gough
makes a famous charge on the French 8th Light Infantry at the Battle of
Barossa (5th March). An "eagle" - the first taken in the
Peninsular War - was captured by Sergeant Patrick Masterson of the 87th,
and an eagle with collar of gold and the figure of 8 has ever since been
worn as a badge of honour by the Royal Irish Fusiliers. At the Siege of
Tarifa (31st Oct), his battalion manage to fight off an assault by Laval
and 10,000 French grenadiers - Laval himself fell and, dying against the
portcullis which closed the breach, yielded up his sword to Gough through
the bars. An open breach between two turrets, with the British colours flying
and the word "Tarifa" are among the honourable augmentations
to the Gough family arms.
· Box 106/109 at Lisnavagh contains a document concerning the grant
of a bargain and sale of a fee farm rent at £105.5.4 pa, issuing out
of Lisnavagh, to George Bunbury of Rathmore, Co. Carlow, by Walter,
Earl of Ormonde and Ossory. The deeds were entered into the Registrar's
Office in Dublin on the 25th July 1811.
· Catholic Board established in Ireland to press the emancipation
issue.
1812 Events
· William's distant cousin Henry William St.Pierre Bunbury
is born at Brompton in London on the 12th Sept, the 3rd son of Sir Henry
Bunbury, 8th Bart, and later founder of Bunbury City, Australia.
· Hugh Gough`s battalion ordered to join Wellington (October) and
present at the battle of Vittoria, where Marshal Jourdan`s baton was captured
by it.
· John and Lady Elizabeth McClintock have a son, Stanley McClintock.
· 22 year old Henry Bruen II successfully defeats Walter Bagenal
to join David La Touche as MP for Carlow. It was the first of 13 elections
he was involved in and he would be returned almost every year until his
death in 1852. Bruen had been at Harrow with both Lord Byron and Sir Robert
Peel (Chief Secretary of Ireland from 1812 to 1818, and the Home Secretary
during the enactment of the Catholic Emancipation Bill, which Bruen apparently
supported although I had him pegged down as an anti-papist sort of chap.
Napoleon captures Moscow and then begins retreat from Russia.
· Britain at war with United States - the White House, designed by
James Hoban of Kilkenny, is burned down.
· Brothers Grimm, Fairy Tales.
1813 Events
· Hugh Gough is severely wounded at the Battle of Nivelle (10th
Nov) - his application for a company in the guards appears to have been
unsuccessful.
· Lord Clancarty appointed English Ambassador to Holland, having
accompanied the Prince of Orange back to The Hague (Nov), when latter was
proclaimed William I of the Netherlands. From this point on he was instrumental
in the establishment of, and English support for, the proposed new state
of the Netherlands (to comprise of the Belgian and Dutch provinces). He
also induced Lord Liverpools' ministry to open up reciprocal colonial trade
between England and Holland and to resume negotiations for a marriage between
the Princess Charlotte of England and the hereditary Prince of Orange. Clancarty
also receives offices of master of the mint and president of the board of
trade (Sept).
· Irish Catholic Board considering Grattans' emancipation bill including
the veto which had been added as a safeguard for the British / Protestant
establishment whereby the British Government retained the rights to approve
all Episcopal appointments and therefore ensure a hierarchy loyal to the
Crown and State. They agreed with O'Connell that this veto was unacceptable
as it made the catholic hierarchy mere pawns to the British government.
· Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice recalls life in Bath at
the time of Jane McClintock's death.
1814 Events
· William's uncle Kane Bunbury is appointed a Lieutenant
Colonel on 24th June.
· Paris surrendered to Allied forces - Congress of Vienna
meets to decide on peace terms - Napoleon exiled to Elba. Lord Clancarty
is named as one of the four English plenipotentiaries to the Congress on
August 11th - Talleyrand in a letter to Louis XVIII of 28th Dec speaks of
his zeal, firmness and uprightness.
· The 1814 Directory has Bunburys at Shannonvale, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary;
at Rockingham, Tinahaely, Co. Wicklow, at Busherstown, Co. Carlow and at
Bunberry Lodge, Co. Carlow. It also lists Rathdonnell as a County Carlow
townland, hence giving rise to the alternative view that this was where
the title originated.
· Carlow Castle blown up by "a ninny-pated physician of the
name of Middleton, who had obtained a lease of it, & who was characteristically
projected it into a Maison de Sante for the reception of lunatics, applied
blasts of gunpowder for enlarging the windows and diminishing the walls,
and brought down 2/3 of the pile into a rubbishy tumulus in memory of his
surpassing presumption & folly".
· Death of Walter Bagenal, MP for Carlow since 1802, aged 52 (18th
June).
· Death of Benjamin D'Israeli of Beechy Park, Rathvilly. He bequeaths
£3000 for the establishment and support of a non-denominational school
"for the education of the poor of Rathvilly". Bough School
is completed in 1826.
1815 Events
· William's brother John McClintock Jr being educated at RMC Sandhurst.
· In the New Years Honours, (Sir) Henry Bunbury (7th Bart) is made
K.C.B.
· Hugh Gough is awarded the C.B and knighted at Carlton House (4th
June) and receives freedom of the City of Dublin and a sword of value.
· Lady Elizabeth McClintock's extensive family became increasingly
active bible-bashers as the 19th century wore on. Lord Clancarty had a new
family mansion built at Garbally Court in 1819.
· On July 8th, Louis XVIII returned and Napoleon was shortly afterwards
exiled to St. Helena. It was Sir William's distant cousin, Sir Henry Bunbury
of Barton Hall, 7th Bart, then Under-Secretary of State for War in Britain,
who personally delivered the news of this exile to the former Emperor.
· After the peace, on 4th August, Clancarty was created Baron Trench
of Garbally in the English peerage.
· Completion of Graigue-Cullen Bridge (formerly Wellington Bridge),
Carlow.
1816 Events
· Clancarty officially appointed ambassador to the new kingdom of
the Netherlands. His main tasks were encouraging the king to expel the French
refugees and suppressing the slave trade.
· Death of David La Touche, MP for Carlow. In the subsequent by-election
on 18th April, his seat is filled by Robert Anthony La Touche.
· Ha'Penny Bridge opened in Dublin with a toll of half a penny for
users.
· Famine and typhus in Ireland.
The Congress of Vienna by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819.
William Bunbury's step-uncle, Richard, Earl of Clancarty, was
one of the principle negotiators at the Congress of Vienna which
met in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars. He is the short and stout
fellow pictured above standing five from the right.
Richard Clancarty & the Congress of Vienna
William IV's stepmother, Lady Elizabeth McClintock was one of the nine
daughters and ten sons sired by the prolific 1st Earl. Her eldest brother
Richard le Poer Trench had succeeded as 2nd Earl of Clancarty just
two weeks after she married William's father. Contemporaries considered
Richard Clancarty to be a brilliant politician. He served for many years
as a diplomat for the Crown in the capital cities of Europe. In 1807 he
was appointed to the Privy Council, a group entrusted with Britain's foreign
and domestic policies. With him in the council were men such as Arthur Wellesley
(later Duke of Wellington), the 4th Duke of Richmond, Spenser Perceval
and Lord Palmerston. From 1812 - 1814, Richard occupied the post of Master
of the Mint, the highest officer in the royal mint and a position that entitled
him to sit in on cabinet meetings. From September 29th 1812 - January 24th
1818 he was President of the Board of Trade, another cabinet level position,
that put him in charge of developing Britain's international trade. This
coincided with a European recession that followed the end of the Napoleonic
Wars. In Carlow, a series of bad winters had caused the potato crops to
fail, or at least partially fail, prompting an exodus to the New World.
In March 1815, Wellington left the Congress of Vienna to tackle Napoleon
in Belgium. The Earl of Clancarty was dispatched to the Congress to represent
Britain in his place. In this capacity, Clancarty helped reshape the map
of the world. Amongst other things, the Congress of Berlin invented Belgium
and the Netherlands, awarded Capetown to the English and substantially changed
the frontiers of Europe. They also had to delimit the Polish frontier and
to adjust the affairs of Saxony (October 1814), to mediate between Sardinia
and Genoa; to regulate the affairs of Tuscany and Parma, and to draw up
a preliminary convention (8th Feb). On 11th March (the day Napoleon
resumed power in Paris and commenced his Hundred Day rule) Clancarty wrote
to Castlereagh describing the consternation of the royal personages at the
news of Napoleon's escape from Elba, but thought it desirable to encourage
their fears with the view to bringing to an end the business of the Congress.
After his defeat at Waterloo (June 18th), Napoleon returned to Paris
where he was given an ultimatum to either abdicate or be deposed. He abdicated
(June 22nd) in favour of his son, the Infant King of Italy. (13)
Footnote
(13) At the Louvre in Paris, the Sculpture Gallery is full of soothing marbles
of flute-playing shepherds, utterly distraught pilgrims, the noble and well-hung,
the senile and the randy. These pieces become the more interesting when
one considers that each has it's own unique history. They were constantly
shuffled around the grand palaces of Europe, claimed as prize booty, injured
in revolutions, kidnapped in wars, swapped in peacetime. Lord Clancarty,
was one of those entrusted with seeing that all those collections Napoleon
had robbed during his conquest of Italy were returned to their rightful
homes. I presume some pieces were distributed elsewhere to those considered
"more deserving" There's a particularly good collection assembled
by one Gian Pietro Campana who was once very popular but then had to go
into exile.
A large number of trees were planted at Lisnavagh during
the early 19th century. In cold winters, the prospect of timber
sometimes proved too tempting for the Bunburys' neighbours.
Meanwhile at Lisnavagh
On 16th December 1814 'a great number of full grown Ash trees, the property of Thomas Bunbury Esquire' were 'blown down by the Storm on the Lands of Lisnevagh'. According to a court case sometime later, a useful man called Michael Bryan of Lisnevagh 'who has the care of the said trees' had discovered that some of these windblown trees had been 'feloniously taken'. Bryan duly tracked down same to house of John Donohoe of Little Ballyoliver 'where he found a large piece of one Ash tree to the value of 5 shillings sterling'. Bryan then called to house of Hugh Cleary of Little Ballyoliver where he found 'concealed underground two pieces of such trees of the value of two shillings sterling'. Both Donohue and Cleary acknowledged that the trees were 'part of such trees' and offered to return same. Bryan then called to James Jackson of Lisnevagh who he found 'with a Saw in his hand and said Jackson violently threatened that he would abuse and beat him and Bryan verily believes said Jackson from his behaviour would have done but for the interference of persons present and saith the Father of said Jackson acknowledged that a piece of said Timber Trees was in his place'. This matter came before the Rev. John Whitty, Clerk, one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace for Carlow, the following day. (Thanks to Michael Purcell).
**
The Life of Captain William McClintock Bunbury 1800 - 1866
1. The Formative Years 1800 - 1815.
2. The Sea Years 1815
- 1835.
3. The Political Years
1835 - 1866.
4. The Captain's Diary