The Murphys of Knockanemore, Ovens, Co. Cork
A Cork tenant farmer family & their landlords from the Penal era to Independence: 1700-1921
A Cork tenant farmer family & their landlords from the Penal era to Independence: 1700-1921
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Introduction
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1600 - 1799
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1800-1827
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1828-1873
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Disputes 1873
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1874-1920
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Family Tree
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Kilcrea Abbey & Castle
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Landlords
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Links
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Welcome to the story of the Murphys of Knockanemore & the Hawkes of Kilcrea
This is an exploration of the shared history of an Irish tenant farmer family and their landlords between c.1600-1920 in the townlands of Knockanemore & Kilcrea, parish of Athnowen, Ovens. Co. Cork.
This is an exploration of the shared history of an Irish tenant farmer family and their landlords between c.1600-1920 in the townlands of Knockanemore & Kilcrea, parish of Athnowen, Ovens. Co. Cork.
Intro under construction...
Prior to 2022, I knew little to nothing of a family connection to the Murphys of Knockanemore - other than Margaret Mary Murphy (1848-1915) "from Ovens" was my paternal Great Grandmother. A largely unknown if somewhat formidable figure in family history, Margaret was an astute businesswoman at a time when women were discouraged from such pursuits, a traditional Victorian era matriarch that dominated her generation but was also surprisingly prone to supersitition. Little had survived of her family story and even less research into her shared ancestry family line had been considered, that is until the summer of 2022.
Colm O'Sullivan had stumbled across this website and made a connection. Thanks to his research we discovered that we shared a great-great-great grandfather in common; Michael Murphy (d.1827) of Knockanemore, Ovens, Co. Cork, a tenant farmer on lands within a landed estate owned by the Hawkes family of Surmount, Ovens between c.1750-1827. From this paternal and maternal line, various families are inter connected and a research collaboration began resulting in this collection today.
Michael Murphy was an Irish tenant farmer leasing land from John Hawkes (1727-1803) and successors of Ovens, Co. Cork. The majority of land in Ireland until the early 1900s was held by long established families (usually of Anglo-Irish or British origin) who received or inherited grants of land confiscated from both the native Irish and Norman-Irish landholders by the British Crown during the 16th & 17th centuries. These landowners rented or leased out their lands in small and large parcels to Irish tenant farmers. Many tenants in turn were also landlords, subletting their leased land to smaller landholders. All leases held by tenants were usually for 21 years or for 3 lives mentioned on a lease, and while less secure year-on-year and even unwritten arrangements were not uncommon, on the other hand longer leases of 99 or even 999 years were sometimes made.
These landed estates were the centre of the rural economy in Ireland and the close, almost symbiotic relationship between landlord and tenant was the basis of the land system. The landlord was more than just a collector of rent, he was also expected to fulfil certain patrician duties such as the providing of relief and employment in bad times. The tenant was in return expected to pay the rent, to make improvements to the land or agricultural practices, payment of tithes not to mention the vagaries & unpredictability of the Irish weather & economy. One family member farming locally in Mologroe was evicted from his property owned by the Frekes of Castlefreke as late as 1880, however the Hawkes of Athnowen seem to have been far more benevolent and progressive than their neighbouring land-owners from the early 19th century.
With little security of tenure or prospect of ownership of the land worked over three centuries, each Irish tenant farmer and their successors were necessarily dependent on their Landlord. So, in this history of the Murphy family of Knockanemore, the history of the Hawkes family are intertwined.
Michael Murphy's sons and daughters each went on to populate some intiguing family lines but surprisingly, most with a connection to the revolutionary struggle for Irish independence from Britain between 1868-1921 - a number were active members of the Fenians, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Army volunteers. Some contributed directly to their adopted nations - one fought in the American Civil War with the Union an another as a military chaplain with the US Forces in Cuba during the Spanish American War of 1898. Today, Michael Murphy's descendants can be found throughout Ireland, the UK, Europe and the US.
The Hawkes family identified closely with the Anglo-Irish establishment and landed gentry class of the era, contributing to the British tradition and military service. From active service during the India Mutiny in 1857-58 and later with ANZAC forces in Gallipoli in 1915, the family contribution culminating with the ultimate sacrifice of both an uncle and nephew at Passchedale in 1917. While the Hawkes family connection with Ireland ended in the 1890s, today's descdendants of John Hawkes are in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.
The Rev. P.B.Murphy took part in the Fenian Raid on Canada in 1870 and later as a chaplain to the United States Army, was part of the US invasion of Cuba in the Spanish American War 1898, His cousin George Murphy, had earlier fought with the Union army during the American Civil War before capture by Confederate Forces at Gettysburg in 1863. Diarmuid Lynch went on to play a leading role in the 1916 Rising for which he was sentenced to death, commuted, jailed, released and jailed again before deportation to the United States where he became the co-organiser of the largest Irish-American political grouping at the time - the Friends of Irish Freedom and becoming the first TD for Cork South. His brother, Michael was jailed in Frongoch for his role in south Cork during the 1916 Rising and later was the officer-in-charge of a brigade of the Cork IRA.
More family members were low key but active participants included Denis Lynch who as manager of the Dublin Whiskey Distillery along with his Australian wife operated a 'safe house' during 1918-21 for members of the Irish Government and leaders 'on the run' including Michael Collins, Eamon de Valera and many others and on one occasion in 1920, hosting a meeting of the outlawed Dail Eireann.
There was also the struggle to make a living. Each tenant farmer was subject to the vagaries and unpredictability of both the weather and of course, their landlords or agents. The majority of land in Ireland were held by long established families (usually of Anglo-Irish or British origin) who received or inherited grants of land confiscated by the British Crown during the 16th & 17th centuries. These landowners rented or leased out their land in small and large parcels to tenant farmers. Many tenants were also landlords, subletting in turn to smaller landholders. Frequently a tenant would hold a lease for 21 years or for 3 lives mentioned on a lease, and while less secure year-on-year and even unwritten arrangements were not uncommon, on the other hand longer leases of 99 or even 999 years were sometimes made to tenants.
These landed estates were the centre of the rural economy in Ireland and the close almost symbiotic relationship between landlord and tenant was the basis of the land system. The landlord was more than just a collector of rent, he was also expected to fulfil certain patrician duties such as the providing of relief and employment in bad times. The tenant was in return expected to pay the rent and to make improvements to the land or agricultural practices.
security of tenure - political -
The Tenant Farmer's landlords were an integral part of each families existence. While an imperfect social system viewed from 2023, the tenant farmer held a largely symbotic relationship... lives interlinked...
Research of distant Irish Tenant Farmer ancestors is difficult, largely through the lack of primary source documents.
While the administration of estates inevitably produced large quantities of records: maps, tenants' lists, rentals, account books, lease books, legal details etc, not all records survive but as the estates were broken up and sold off during the 1890s-1900s, some collections of these records have found their way into public repositories.
Thanks to Colm O'Sullivan for his contribution to the family history and Sue Bramley of New Zealand (descendant of Richard Neville Nettles Hawkes) for contibutions of the Hawkes family history and context/timeline assistance.
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Connection to the Murphy Family
Connection to the Murphy Family
Few Irish records (particularly Irish ancestral records) survive pre 1800s.
While the first written family record for the Murphy's of Knockanemore is in early 1827 with the Tithe Applotment or Tithe Composition Books, nothing is known of earlier ancestors. However, each earlier generation had lived through tumultuous times as can be noted from our shared history and each generation had invariably farmed or subsisted on the land for centuries in much the same locality. Life invariably was short with few opportunities... The average life expectancy was just 28, when infant mortality was factored in. The countryside was heavily wooded and covered with bogs. Small areas of the best land were cleared for agriculture, with the result that the tilled area of a given lordship tended to sprawl in a series of unconnected plots. The staple crop was corn, which had the considerable disadvantage that it was difficult to grow and easy to destroy.
Cattle were the most important commodity in the country – serving as currency, clothing material and of course a food source. Such was their value, that their meat was only eaten on special occasions, except by the elite. The Irish poor’s normal diet consisted of oatcakes, milk, curds, butter and cheese. At this date the potato, in the future to be so central to Irish history, had yet to be introduced from the New World. It made its appearance in about 1610 but did not become the staple food until the mid 18th century.
We must assume that life was fairly precarious for the majority at the best of times. In zones of tillage farming, the early summer, just as winter stores of food were running out and the new crop had not yet been harvested, was known as the ‘hungry time’. In pastoral, or cattle-raising areas, the hard season was the onset of winter, when the cows’ dairy production dried up. Localised food shortages or famines caused by bad weather were regularly noted by the annals.
The Desmond Rebellion (1569-1573) and subsequent wars marked a watershed in Ireland. The southern Geraldine axis of power was annihilated after the British 'scorched earth' policy resulted in famine, endemics and warfare had decimated many towns and villages and entire rural areas were depopulated as residents were killed or fled. Munster was quickly "planted" with English colonists given land confiscated from the Anglo-Norman and traditional Irish landowners.
After a survey begun in 1584 by Sir Valentine Browne, Surveyor General of Ireland, the thousands of English soldiers and administrators who had been imported to suppress the rebellion were given land in the Munster Plantation of Desmond's confiscated estates. The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland followed the subsequent Nine Years War in Ulster and the extension of plantation policy to other parts of the country.
Ireland during the period 1536–1691 saw the first full conquest of the island by England and its colonization with mostly Protestant settlers from Great Britain. This would eventually establish two central themes in future Irish history: subordination of the country to London-based governments and sectarian animosity between Catholics and Protestants. The period saw Irish society outside of the Pale transform from a locally driven, intertribal, clan-based Gaelic structure to a centralised, monarchical, state-governed society, similar to those found elsewhere in Europe.
The English Reformation, by which Henry VIII broke with Papal authority in 1536, was to change Ireland totally. While Henry VIII broke English Catholicism from Rome, his son Edward VI of England moved further, breaking with Papal doctrine completely. While the English, the Welsh and, later, the Scots accepted Protestantism, the Irish remained Catholic. Queen Mary I then reverted the state to Catholicism in 1553–58, and Queen Elizabeth I broke again with Rome in 1559. These confusing changes determined their relationship with the British state for the next four hundred years, as the Reformation coincided with a determined effort on behalf of the English state to re-conquer and colonise Ireland thereafter. The religious schism meant that the native Irish and the (Roman Catholic) Old English were to be excluded from power in the new settlement unless they converted to Protestantism.
While the first written family record for the Murphy's of Knockanemore is in early 1827 with the Tithe Applotment or Tithe Composition Books, nothing is known of earlier ancestors. However, each earlier generation had lived through tumultuous times as can be noted from our shared history and each generation had invariably farmed or subsisted on the land for centuries in much the same locality. Life invariably was short with few opportunities... The average life expectancy was just 28, when infant mortality was factored in. The countryside was heavily wooded and covered with bogs. Small areas of the best land were cleared for agriculture, with the result that the tilled area of a given lordship tended to sprawl in a series of unconnected plots. The staple crop was corn, which had the considerable disadvantage that it was difficult to grow and easy to destroy.
Cattle were the most important commodity in the country – serving as currency, clothing material and of course a food source. Such was their value, that their meat was only eaten on special occasions, except by the elite. The Irish poor’s normal diet consisted of oatcakes, milk, curds, butter and cheese. At this date the potato, in the future to be so central to Irish history, had yet to be introduced from the New World. It made its appearance in about 1610 but did not become the staple food until the mid 18th century.
We must assume that life was fairly precarious for the majority at the best of times. In zones of tillage farming, the early summer, just as winter stores of food were running out and the new crop had not yet been harvested, was known as the ‘hungry time’. In pastoral, or cattle-raising areas, the hard season was the onset of winter, when the cows’ dairy production dried up. Localised food shortages or famines caused by bad weather were regularly noted by the annals.
The Desmond Rebellion (1569-1573) and subsequent wars marked a watershed in Ireland. The southern Geraldine axis of power was annihilated after the British 'scorched earth' policy resulted in famine, endemics and warfare had decimated many towns and villages and entire rural areas were depopulated as residents were killed or fled. Munster was quickly "planted" with English colonists given land confiscated from the Anglo-Norman and traditional Irish landowners.
After a survey begun in 1584 by Sir Valentine Browne, Surveyor General of Ireland, the thousands of English soldiers and administrators who had been imported to suppress the rebellion were given land in the Munster Plantation of Desmond's confiscated estates. The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland followed the subsequent Nine Years War in Ulster and the extension of plantation policy to other parts of the country.
Ireland during the period 1536–1691 saw the first full conquest of the island by England and its colonization with mostly Protestant settlers from Great Britain. This would eventually establish two central themes in future Irish history: subordination of the country to London-based governments and sectarian animosity between Catholics and Protestants. The period saw Irish society outside of the Pale transform from a locally driven, intertribal, clan-based Gaelic structure to a centralised, monarchical, state-governed society, similar to those found elsewhere in Europe.
The English Reformation, by which Henry VIII broke with Papal authority in 1536, was to change Ireland totally. While Henry VIII broke English Catholicism from Rome, his son Edward VI of England moved further, breaking with Papal doctrine completely. While the English, the Welsh and, later, the Scots accepted Protestantism, the Irish remained Catholic. Queen Mary I then reverted the state to Catholicism in 1553–58, and Queen Elizabeth I broke again with Rome in 1559. These confusing changes determined their relationship with the British state for the next four hundred years, as the Reformation coincided with a determined effort on behalf of the English state to re-conquer and colonise Ireland thereafter. The religious schism meant that the native Irish and the (Roman Catholic) Old English were to be excluded from power in the new settlement unless they converted to Protestantism.
Ireland in the 1650s lay in ruins. Twelve years of calamitous warfare had destroyed the country's infrastructure and resulted in the death of over 20% of the Irish population. This war, started by the rebellion of Irish Catholic gentry in October 1641, pitted Catholic against Protestant but also split the Protestant English and Scottish along the lines of Civil War raging in those countries between King and Parliament.
In October 1641, the native Irish in Ulster rose in rebellion in response to decades of widespread dispossession and dislocation, as well as systematic religious discrimination. Within months, the rising had spread throughout the island of Ireland, leading to the deaths of thousands of Protestant settlers, both English and Scottish, as well as similar numbers of Irish Catholics, killed in retaliatory actions by the colonial regime. The violence continued unabated for almost a year until the establishment of the Catholic confederate association in the late summer of 1642 helped restore order in large swathes of the country. The outbreak of civil war in England between king and parliament also prevented English military resources from reaching Ireland, forcing the colonial government to adopt a largely defensive strategy. For the next seven years, Ireland experienced a complex conflict involving confederate, royalist, parliamentary and Scottish forces. No one side could win an absolute victory but the execution of King Charles in January 1649 enabled the English parliament to focus exclusively on Ireland for the first time since 1642.
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In March 1649, Westminster appointed Oliver Cromwell to lead an invasion of Ireland in order to crush all resistance to the new English Commonwealth and to avenge the alleged massacres of Protestant settlers in 1641-2. Irish land was also a valuable commodity, almost 70% of which was still held by Catholic landowners. Cromwell arrived in August, with 12,000 troops and a formidable train of siege artillery. Over the next four years his army defeated all military opposition in a series of bloody sieges and battles, which included the notorious massacres at Drogheda and Wexford in late 1649. Catholic Irish resistance proved very stubborn and the English army resorted to scorched earth tactics to deny the enemy any sustenance or shelter. Between 1650 and 1652 Ireland suffered a demographic disaster with up to 25% of the population dying as a result of deliberately induced famine, which also encouraged the spread of diseases such as dysentery and the plague.
By 1653, when the last formal surrenders of the war took place, the country had been devastated, the population decimated, the economic infrastructure destroyed. The English had effectively created a blank slate in Ireland onto which they now sought to project a new plantation society.
By 1653, when the last formal surrenders of the war took place, the country had been devastated, the population decimated, the economic infrastructure destroyed. The English had effectively created a blank slate in Ireland onto which they now sought to project a new plantation society.
In March 1642, the Westminster parliament passed the Adventurers Act, which sought to raise money for the re-conquest of Ireland, using as security for the loans lands to be forfeited by the defeated Catholic rebels. The act was predicated on the unconditional surrender of the rebels and to ensure this, parliament alone could declare the war in Ireland to be at an end. The colonial government in Dublin received minimal assistance in 1642 as Parliament redirected the money to finance its war against King Charles in England. Nonetheless, the conquest of Ireland remained a necessity, particularly as in addition to the ‘adventurers’ parliament also promised during the course of the 1640s and early 1650s to pay English army arrears with Irish land.
As the war drew to a close in 1652, the English parliament passed the Act of Settlement, which specified who exactly would forfeit land in Ireland. The list included those who had taken part in or supported the initial rebellion in 1641-2, as well as anybody guilty of murdering civilians during the entire course of the conflict. The act also targeted prominent Catholic and royalist leaders, alongside Catholic clergy accused of inciting the rebels. Technically, almost the entire male Catholic population could have been encompassed within these terms but it soon became clear that the English parliament was more interested in dispossessing Catholic landowners than targeting those guilty of alleged crimes during the war. |
In July 1653, the Commonwealth regime issued an order for the transplantation the following year of Catholic landowners across the Shannon to Connacht, the most isolated and poorest of the four Irish provinces. This order targeted thousands of landowners and their dependants but even the most recent research on the topic has failed to produce accurate figures for the numbers who actually moved into Connacht. Catholics, however, no longer retained any land east of the Shannon. In September 1653, two months after the transplantation order, the English parliament passed the Act of Satisfaction, which began the process of distributing forfeited lands among the adventurers and disbanded soldiers. In the first instance, the land would have to be accurately surveyed.
Civil Survey
The Civil Survey, so called because it was ordered by the Civil Authority, was taken from 1654-6 in order to value the lands in Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connaught assigned to satisfy the claims of soldiers for their arrears of pay during the Civil War, and of those Adventurers who made cash available in the 1640’s to pay for the war and were promised land in Ireland in return. Leitrim was the only county in Connaught surveyed as an earlier survey from the 1630s, the Strafford Survey, was available for most of the province.
The Civil Survey is a collation of landowner records, standardised to townland level. The value of each townland was determined as at 23 October 1641, the outbreak of the Rebellion. The valuations, collated and assembled in Dublin, were based on rents and improvements; buildings, mills and market days. The Civil Survey did not involve the making of maps, but a detailed boundary description was made for each barony and parish.
The Civil Survey, based as it was on the records of the original owners and not the result of an official or government survey, was considered by many of the new owners to be inaccurate and the Down Survey, so called because a chain was laid down and a scale made, was taken from 1656-8 under the direction of William Petty.
The details listed in terriers beside the maps include the names of previous owners of the lands, religious affiliation, land valuation, and area. The maps themselves include townland boundaries, and sometimes houses/castles, roads and fields. It listed the owners of land in 1640, and the new owners. Considering the time and circumstances in which these maps were executed, their accuracy is surprising, and they continue to be referred to as trustworthy evidence in courts of law even to the present day.
The original Down Survey parish maps were lost in a fire in the Surveyor General's office in 1711, and the authenticated copies of the parish maps were lost in fires at the Public Record Office in the Four Courts during the Irish Civil War of 1922. However, the best surviving Down Survey set today is a personal set of Sir William Petty's, which is held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. It seems that set was en route by sea to London in 1707, when a French vessel captured the ship. The Bibliothèque Nationale subsequently received the maps. These maps have now been digitised by the Down Survey Project of Trinity College, Dublin.
Ireland was mapped in detail from Townland level to Parish and on to Barony and County. The overall result was a map of conquest that was 87% accurate.
The Civil Survey, so called because it was ordered by the Civil Authority, was taken from 1654-6 in order to value the lands in Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connaught assigned to satisfy the claims of soldiers for their arrears of pay during the Civil War, and of those Adventurers who made cash available in the 1640’s to pay for the war and were promised land in Ireland in return. Leitrim was the only county in Connaught surveyed as an earlier survey from the 1630s, the Strafford Survey, was available for most of the province.
The Civil Survey is a collation of landowner records, standardised to townland level. The value of each townland was determined as at 23 October 1641, the outbreak of the Rebellion. The valuations, collated and assembled in Dublin, were based on rents and improvements; buildings, mills and market days. The Civil Survey did not involve the making of maps, but a detailed boundary description was made for each barony and parish.
The Civil Survey, based as it was on the records of the original owners and not the result of an official or government survey, was considered by many of the new owners to be inaccurate and the Down Survey, so called because a chain was laid down and a scale made, was taken from 1656-8 under the direction of William Petty.
The details listed in terriers beside the maps include the names of previous owners of the lands, religious affiliation, land valuation, and area. The maps themselves include townland boundaries, and sometimes houses/castles, roads and fields. It listed the owners of land in 1640, and the new owners. Considering the time and circumstances in which these maps were executed, their accuracy is surprising, and they continue to be referred to as trustworthy evidence in courts of law even to the present day.
The original Down Survey parish maps were lost in a fire in the Surveyor General's office in 1711, and the authenticated copies of the parish maps were lost in fires at the Public Record Office in the Four Courts during the Irish Civil War of 1922. However, the best surviving Down Survey set today is a personal set of Sir William Petty's, which is held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. It seems that set was en route by sea to London in 1707, when a French vessel captured the ship. The Bibliothèque Nationale subsequently received the maps. These maps have now been digitised by the Down Survey Project of Trinity College, Dublin.
Ireland was mapped in detail from Townland level to Parish and on to Barony and County. The overall result was a map of conquest that was 87% accurate.
The Down Survey is a mapped survey. Using the Civil Survey as a guide, teams of surveyors, mainly former soldiers, were sent out under Petty’s direction to measure every townland to be forfeited to soldiers and adventurers. The resulting maps, made at a scale of 40 perches to one inch (the modern equivalent of 1:50,000), were the first systematic mapping of a large area on such a scale attempted anywhere. The primary purpose of these maps was to record the boundaries of each townland and to calculate their areas with great precision. The maps are also rich in other detail showing churches, roads, rivers, castles, houses and fortifications. Most towns are represented pictorially and the cartouches, the decorative titles, of each map in many cases reflect a specific characteristic of each barony.
The Down Survey comprises more than just maps: there is other related material, termed as 'terriers' - a term for a written, descriptive survey of an estate. Here’s the terrier for the Ovens Parish within the Down Survey:
By the end of the 17th Century, demographically the country recovered relatively quickly from the toll taken by both war and famine a century earlier. It has been estimated that by the 1690s, the population of Ireland had doubled from about one million to two million; fruits of what one writer called, “fairer terms of happiness and prosperity than [for] … these five hundred years, she had enjoyed the sweet fruits of a long peace, full of people and riches”.
If the past is a foreign country where they do things differently, then there are few places more alien to us today than the aristocratic world of Ireland’s Georgian age, the decades from 1715 to 1840, when the ascendancy ‘laid ostentatious claim to the land’
The religious struggles of the 17th century left a deep sectarian division in Ireland. Religious allegiance now determined the perception in law of loyalty to the Irish King and Parliament. After the passing of the Test Act 1672, and the victory of the forces of the dual monarchy of William and Mary over the Jacobites, Roman Catholics and nonconforming Protestant Dissenters were barred from sitting as members in the Irish Parliament. Under the emerging Penal Laws, Irish Roman Catholics and Dissenters were increasingly deprived of various civil rights, even the ownership of hereditary property. Additional regressive punitive legislation followed in 1703, 1709 and 1728. This completed a comprehensive systemic effort to materially disadvantage Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters while enriching a new ruling class of Anglican conformists. The new Anglo-Irish ruling class became known as the Protestant Ascendancy, holding some 97% of the land and dominating social, economic and political life in Ireland for the next 200 years until the great land reforms of the second half of the nineteenth century. This ruling class were viewed by the English Crown as having a positive influence over the 'unruly Gaelic natives'.
The parish of Ovens was part of the many large estates and desmesnes where the resident gentry owned and controlled both the land and residents and this extended to employment, education and welfare of all connected.
The "Great Frost" struck Ireland and the rest of Europe between December 1739 and September 1741, after a decade of relatively mild winters. The winters destroyed stored crops of potatoes and other staples, and the poor summers severely damaged harvests. This resulted in the Famine of 1740. An estimated 250,000 people (about one in eight of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and disease. The Irish government halted export of corn and kept the army in quarters but did little more. Local gentry and charitable organisations provided relief but could do little to prevent the ensuing mortality.
In the aftermath of the 1740 famine, an increase in industrial production and a surge in trade brought a succession of construction booms. The population soared in the latter part of this century and the architectural legacy of Georgian Ireland was built. In 1782, Poynings' Law was repealed, giving Ireland legislative independence from Great Britain for the first time since 1495. The British government, however, still retained the right to nominate the government of Ireland without the consent of the Irish parliament.
The religious struggles of the 17th century left a deep sectarian division in Ireland. Religious allegiance now determined the perception in law of loyalty to the Irish King and Parliament. After the passing of the Test Act 1672, and the victory of the forces of the dual monarchy of William and Mary over the Jacobites, Roman Catholics and nonconforming Protestant Dissenters were barred from sitting as members in the Irish Parliament. Under the emerging Penal Laws, Irish Roman Catholics and Dissenters were increasingly deprived of various civil rights, even the ownership of hereditary property. Additional regressive punitive legislation followed in 1703, 1709 and 1728. This completed a comprehensive systemic effort to materially disadvantage Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters while enriching a new ruling class of Anglican conformists. The new Anglo-Irish ruling class became known as the Protestant Ascendancy, holding some 97% of the land and dominating social, economic and political life in Ireland for the next 200 years until the great land reforms of the second half of the nineteenth century. This ruling class were viewed by the English Crown as having a positive influence over the 'unruly Gaelic natives'.
The parish of Ovens was part of the many large estates and desmesnes where the resident gentry owned and controlled both the land and residents and this extended to employment, education and welfare of all connected.
The "Great Frost" struck Ireland and the rest of Europe between December 1739 and September 1741, after a decade of relatively mild winters. The winters destroyed stored crops of potatoes and other staples, and the poor summers severely damaged harvests. This resulted in the Famine of 1740. An estimated 250,000 people (about one in eight of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and disease. The Irish government halted export of corn and kept the army in quarters but did little more. Local gentry and charitable organisations provided relief but could do little to prevent the ensuing mortality.
In the aftermath of the 1740 famine, an increase in industrial production and a surge in trade brought a succession of construction booms. The population soared in the latter part of this century and the architectural legacy of Georgian Ireland was built. In 1782, Poynings' Law was repealed, giving Ireland legislative independence from Great Britain for the first time since 1495. The British government, however, still retained the right to nominate the government of Ireland without the consent of the Irish parliament.
The Hawkes family of County Cork were descended from Captain John Hawkes who first settled at Bishopstown in the county. The various branches of the family are descended from John and Corlis, two sons of John Hawkes of Inchigagin and his wife Elizabeth Baldwin, who married in 1676.
By 1750, John Hawkes (1727-1803) and family were established at Surmount near Ovens, Co. Cork with the main part of the Hawkes estate in the Athnowen Parish, barony of East Muskerry, County Cork. These holdings were all on 999 year 'ownership' leases with a small annual flat rent payable to inviduals such as the Earl of Shannon. These included 454 acres in Knockanemore (where the Murphy family were tenants. This lease agreement was signed c. 1750) and were soon to be increased with holdings such as 206 acres of Kilcrea-Shanacloyne (lease agreement signed in 1752), 461 acres in Kilbrennan (1757) and 109 acres in Scart Lower (1766). These amounted to some 1,264 acres with an estimated net income of £750 or c. £220k in 2023. These holdings would double over the next century.
Hawkes also held land further afield in the parishes of Inchigeelagh and Clondrohid, barony of West Muskerry and was, along with Zachariah Hawkes, among the principal lessors in the parish of Desertserges, baronies of East Carbery and Kinalmeaky. Family members Samuel and Isaac Hawkes held townlands in the parish of Kilmaloda (Ballinascarthy near Clonakilty, Co. Cork) at the same time.
Tenant Farmers
With over 95% of land on the island of Ireland then owned by c.5,000 families known as Anglo-Irish Ascendancy or gentry and with Irish Roman Catholics & Presbyterians prohibited from land ownership, almost every Irish farmer and small-holder was a tenant on one of these large family estates.
All tenant farmers had few rights - particularly Catholic & Presbyterian tenants due to the draconian Penal Laws in legislation since 1703. Most were ‘tenants at will’, i.e. they could be ejected at the whim of their landlord. Even where landlords were prepared to offer leases to Catholics, until 1778 their leases could not be for longer than 30 years due to the provisions of the Penal Laws. These anti-Catholic laws gradually evolved & reduced over the 18th century and by 1823 the final anti-Catholic legislation had been abolished. Longer-term tenancies became more common and encouraged tenants to maintain and improve their properties, and were encouraged by progressive landlords. These long leases were also relevant for landlords with political ambitions as tenants with certain types of leases could vote - and who else would they vote for but their Landlord.
A further complication was that many of these estate owners were ‘absentee’ landlords who, while they owned estates in Ireland, they lived abroad, usually in England. However, unlike estate-owners in England and elsewhere, most Irish landlords had little interest in improvement of their estates or in assisting their tenants to become more productive. In other states the philosophy of estate owners was that ensuring the economic viability of their tenants was the best means to ensuring continued rent payments. With some exceptions, this was not the practice on Irish estates, although there were some ‘improving’ landlords.
The length of tenancies could be defined in years (usually 21 to 30), or in terms of ‘three lives’, i.e. for as long as three specified persons survived. When they died, so too did the lease. Other estates operated on the far less secure year on year lease and simple verbal agreements were also common - known as land holding 'at will'. After 1778 and the easing of some of the Penal Laws, lease lenghts for many estates increased and this was also reflected in the Hawkes estates. Many Irish tenant farmers in turn sub-let smaller holdings on a year to year lease.
Rent was payable by tenants to the Hawkes family twice per year on payment dates, known as ‘Gale Days’. These were customary on Michaelmas ( 29 September) and Lady Day (25th March) but frequently for the larger holding tenant such as the Murphys, a full rent-payment was probably made and which was commonly termed as a ‘gale of rent’. Payment practices differred between estates. Tenants in some would present themselves to an agent’s office or the landlord's residence on Gale days and make their payments. In others the agent travelled around the estates collecting rents recording payments made in rent books.
Knockanemore & Kilcrea
The two adjoining townlands of Knockanemore & Kilcrea in Ovens have had a long & chequered history. These lands were originally held by the native Irish ruled by the McCarthys, Lord of Muskerry who founded the Kilcrea Friary on behalf of the Franciscans and built Kilcrea Castle (1465 over a pre-existing Bronze Age fortification.)
Kilcrea Castle was first attacked by the English army in 1542 and both the castle and friary were sacked in 1584, but continued in use under MacCarthy's patronage. In 1597, the friary and townlands including Knockanemore were granted to Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy. It was twice repaired, including in 1604, and remained active until 1614 when the Friars were expelled. Charles Smith’s 'The ancient and present state of the county and city of Cork' published in 1750, reported that in 1614: "Sir Arthur Chichester, lord deputy [of Ireland], committed the care of this abbey to Charles [Cormac] Mac Dermot Mac Carty, Lord of Muskery, who was a Protestant, upon condition that he should not permit the friars to live in it, and that none but English Protestants should be admitted as tenants to the lands."
During the Cromwellian campaign of 1641, the Abbey was largely destroyed and lands changed ownership again, with Lord Muskerry divested and Lord Broghill (Roger Boyle, the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork) becoming the new holder of vast estates. These estates were again seized & forfeited following the Williamite Wars (1688-91), some including Knockanemore acquired by Richard Tonson (along with extensive lands in West Cork) and other tracts purchased c.1703 by the Hollow Blade Company.
The Hollow Sword Blades Company was a British joint-stock company founded in 1691. By 1700 the company was purchased by a syndicate of businessmen who used the corporate identity of the company to operate as a bank. ( This company was then used as a stepping stone to the foundation of the South Sea Company which set out to supplant the Bank of England as banker to the government.) In 1703 the company purchased some of the Irish estates forfeited under the Williamite settlement as well as forfeited estates of the Earl of Clancarty (McCarthy) in counties Cork and Kerry. Within 10 years the company had sold most of its Irish estates and Captain Hedges (of Macroom Castle) purchased the townland of Kilcrea. This was later sold to Richard Tonson who appears to have further amalgamated his land holdings in the area.
Under a lease dated 10th January, 1752, the lands at Kilcrea, Knockanemore and other townlands were let from Richard Tonson to William Owgan then to John Hawkes, for a period of 990 years, subject to the yearly rent of £126 16s.
John Hawkes Jnr (1727-1803) then resident at Surmount, Ovens and the local magistrate, first comes to notice in 1780 as holding lands at Grange, Kilcreagh (Kilcrea), Knockanemore and Macroom and as a subscriber to John Fitzgerald's 'Cork Rembrancer'.
However of more interesting note is a printed report that John Barter Bennett, an Apothecary and Freeman of Cork City blasted John Hawkes in 1786 accusing him of having ‘raised a considerable property from a small beginning by taking lands and parcelling them out to cottier tenants at short tenures insomuch as it has been said of him, that he broke more people than any other man in the country.'
Dickson, David. 'Old World Colony: Cork and South Munster, 1630-1830. Trinity College Dublin. 2005. p.330
Hawkes reputation as a tough, rack renting landlord in parts of his estates co-incided with a major outbreak of agrarian unrest during 1770-76 and 1784-86. Most of the unrest was led by The Whiteboys (Irish: Buachaillí Bána) a secret Irish agrarian organisation which used violent tactics to defend tenant farmer land rights for subsistence farming. They tackled landlords, their agents and tithe collectors on a range of grievances from rack-rents, the much hated Church of Ireland tithe collection, excessive Roman Catholic priests’ dues, evictions for non-payment of rent, 'land grabbing' where more affluent middle class farmers rented land to sub-let to poorer cottier tenants and other oppressive acts against tenants.
Hawkes is recorded as the local Magistrate and occasionaly features in various contemporary newspaper reports sentencing for local misdeameanours.
Also in 1786, William Wilson’s The Post-Chaise Companion noted the ruins of the friary and castle, near to which was a house called Snugborough, the residence in 1750 of a Mr French and by 1786, a Mr. Keeffe. It's believed that this building was demolished and rebuilt as Kilcrea House c. 1810-20.
Michael Murphy ( ? - 1827) also first comes to notice in this era as a large tenant farmer leasing some 161 acres in the townland of Knockanemore, parish of Athnowen near Ovens, Co. Cork. These holdings was made of three distinct blocks of land leased from two different locally resident landlords, John Hawkes and Thomas Coppinger.
John Hawkes Jnr had leased a total of 91 acres 2 roods in two blocks of land to Michael Murphy; one of 77 acres, 2 Roods and a second of 14 acres. An additional block of c.70 acres was also leased from another large land owner in the area, Thomas Coppinger.
Research note: observe evidence of small holdings in area via Griffith's Valuation & other research.
While John Hawkes Jnr may certainly have been a rack renting landlord in other parts of his more distant estates, this does not seem to have been the case in lands closer to his residence at Surmont. However in 1787, John Barter Bennett, an Apothecary and Freeman of Cork City blasted John Hawkes Jnr for being a rack renting landlord and yet at the same time, supporting the Whiteboys/Rightboys in their moves to deny the clergy their 'rightful dues' through tithes.
Slated by Apothecary John Barter Bennett 1787, for his support of Whiteboys, being a rack renting landlord. Committee Protestant Conservative Society 1832. 1791 Meeting at Kings Arms Tavern Cork of Members of Hanover Association (Landowners/Magistrates) re Whiteboys. Listed 1823.
, voted for George Travers as High Constable for Ibane and Ballyroe (Clonakilty), listed 1854. Listed 1843 as Grande, Ballincollig.
John Haukes (Hawkes) , Junior, 1779, Sirmount, Ovens. Listed supporter of Act of Union, 1799. Superseded 1810-30. Cork Summer Assizes 1828, listed 1838, said of John Hawkes,, of Sirmount, (unclear if Junior or Senior) in
1786, ‘raised a considerable ...property from a small beginning by taking lands and parcelling them out to cottier tenants at short tenures insomuch as it has been said of him, that he broke more people than any other man in the country . Slated by Apothecary John Barter Bennett 1787, for his support of Whiteboys, being a rack renting landlord. Committee Protestant Conservative Society 1832. 1791 Meeting at Kings Arms Tavern Cork of Members of Hanover Association (Landowners/Magistrates) re Whiteboys. Listed 1823.
However of more interesting note is a printed report that John Barter Bennett, an Apothecary and Freeman of Cork City blasted John Hawkes in 1786 accusing him of having ‘raised a considerable property from a small beginning by taking lands and parcelling them out to cottier tenants at short tenures insomuch as it has been said of him, that he broke more people than any other man in the country.'
Dickson, David. 'Old World Colony: Cork and South Munster, 1630-1830. Trinity College Dublin. 2005. p.330
Hawkes reputation as a tough, rack renting landlord in parts of his estates co-incided with a major outbreak of agrarian unrest during 1770-76 and 1784-86. Most of the unrest was led by The Whiteboys (Irish: Buachaillí Bána) a secret Irish agrarian organisation which used violent tactics to defend tenant farmer land rights for subsistence farming. They tackled landlords, their agents and tithe collectors on a range of grievances from rack-rents, the much hated Church of Ireland tithe collection, excessive Roman Catholic priests’ dues, evictions for non-payment of rent, 'land grabbing' where more affluent middle class farmers rented land to sub-let to poorer cottier tenants and other oppressive acts against tenants.
Hawkes is recorded as the local Magistrate and occasionaly features in various contemporary newspaper reports sentencing for local misdeameanours.
Also in 1786, William Wilson’s The Post-Chaise Companion noted the ruins of the friary and castle, near to which was a house called Snugborough, the residence in 1750 of a Mr French and by 1786, a Mr. Keeffe. It's believed that this building was demolished and rebuilt as Kilcrea House c. 1810-20.
Michael Murphy ( ? - 1827) also first comes to notice in this era as a large tenant farmer leasing some 161 acres in the townland of Knockanemore, parish of Athnowen near Ovens, Co. Cork. These holdings was made of three distinct blocks of land leased from two different locally resident landlords, John Hawkes and Thomas Coppinger.
John Hawkes Jnr had leased a total of 91 acres 2 roods in two blocks of land to Michael Murphy; one of 77 acres, 2 Roods and a second of 14 acres. An additional block of c.70 acres was also leased from another large land owner in the area, Thomas Coppinger.
Research note: observe evidence of small holdings in area via Griffith's Valuation & other research.
While John Hawkes Jnr may certainly have been a rack renting landlord in other parts of his more distant estates, this does not seem to have been the case in lands closer to his residence at Surmont. However in 1787, John Barter Bennett, an Apothecary and Freeman of Cork City blasted John Hawkes Jnr for being a rack renting landlord and yet at the same time, supporting the Whiteboys/Rightboys in their moves to deny the clergy their 'rightful dues' through tithes.
Slated by Apothecary John Barter Bennett 1787, for his support of Whiteboys, being a rack renting landlord. Committee Protestant Conservative Society 1832. 1791 Meeting at Kings Arms Tavern Cork of Members of Hanover Association (Landowners/Magistrates) re Whiteboys. Listed 1823.
, voted for George Travers as High Constable for Ibane and Ballyroe (Clonakilty), listed 1854. Listed 1843 as Grande, Ballincollig.
John Haukes (Hawkes) , Junior, 1779, Sirmount, Ovens. Listed supporter of Act of Union, 1799. Superseded 1810-30. Cork Summer Assizes 1828, listed 1838, said of John Hawkes,, of Sirmount, (unclear if Junior or Senior) in
1786, ‘raised a considerable ...property from a small beginning by taking lands and parcelling them out to cottier tenants at short tenures insomuch as it has been said of him, that he broke more people than any other man in the country . Slated by Apothecary John Barter Bennett 1787, for his support of Whiteboys, being a rack renting landlord. Committee Protestant Conservative Society 1832. 1791 Meeting at Kings Arms Tavern Cork of Members of Hanover Association (Landowners/Magistrates) re Whiteboys. Listed 1823.
In 1798, members of the Protestant Dissenter tradition (mainly Presbyterian) made common cause with Roman Catholics in a republican rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen, with the aim of creating an independent Ireland. Despite assistance from France the rebellion was put down by British and Irish government and yeomanry forces. In 1800, the British and Irish parliaments both passed Acts of Union that, with effect from 1 January 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was ultimately achieved with substantial majorities, having failed on the first attempt in 1799. According to contemporary documents and historical analysis, this was achieved through a considerable degree of bribery, with funding provided by the British Secret Service Office, and the awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure votes. Thus, the parliament in Ireland was abolished and replaced by a united parliament at Westminster in London, though resistance remained, as evidenced by Robert Emmet's failed Irish Rebellion of 1803.
Aside from the development of the linen industry, Ireland was largely passed over by the industrial revolution, partly because it lacked coal and iron resources and partly because of the impact of the sudden union with the structurally superior economy of England, which saw Ireland as a source of agricultural produce and capital.
The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was ultimately achieved with substantial majorities, having failed on the first attempt in 1799. According to contemporary documents and historical analysis, this was achieved through a considerable degree of bribery, with funding provided by the British Secret Service Office, and the awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure votes. Thus, the parliament in Ireland was abolished and replaced by a united parliament at Westminster in London, though resistance remained, as evidenced by Robert Emmet's failed Irish Rebellion of 1803.
Aside from the development of the linen industry, Ireland was largely passed over by the industrial revolution, partly because it lacked coal and iron resources and partly because of the impact of the sudden union with the structurally superior economy of England, which saw Ireland as a source of agricultural produce and capital.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Survey
- https://downsurvey.tchpc.tcd.ie/index.html
John Hawkes (c.1809 - 1872)
Son of Samuel Hawkes and Sarah Penrose
1827
By early 1827, Michael Murphy was an elderly tenant farmer working a large holding c.161 acres of land
This leased holding was made of three distinct blocks of land leased from two different landlords. John Hawkes had let a total of two blocks; one of 77 acres, 2 Roods and a second of 14 acres in addition to a block of 70 acres leased from Thomas Coppinger, all adjacent to each other and located in the townland of Knockanemore, Parish of Athnowen, near Ovens, Co. Cork.
Tithe Applotment or Composition Books were compiled in Ireland between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland (the main Protestant church and the church established by the State until its dis-establishment in 1871).
A tithe was a tax equating to one-tenth of production - due from each occupier of land, regardless of his/her religion, to support the clergy of the (Protestant) Church of Ireland. Originally, the tax was paid by the farmer in produce, but in 1823 the Tithe Composition Act was introduced and allowed tithes to be paid in cash, a practice that had already become quite widespread. The tithe was calculated on the average production per acre of oats and wheat and sale price of these between 1816 and 1823. The quality ie productivity of the land was graded between 1 and 4, from very good and very poor respectively. Acts of Parliament of 1823 and 1832 provided for the conversion of tithes into a fixed charge on land and also extended the application of tithes to pasture, where previously they had been levied only on tillage.
There is a manuscript book for almost every civil (Church of Ireland) parish in the country giving the names of occupiers of each townland, the amount of land held and the sums to be paid in tithes. Because the tithes were levied on agricultural land, urban areas are not included. Unfortunately, the books provide only the names of heads of family, not other family members. However, there is a great deal of information to be gleaned from these manuscripts, particularly if matched with the Griffith's Valuation data & maps from the 1850s.
Quite apart from the obvious dislike for paying hard-earned cash to what the majority considered an 'alien' church, the tithe was particuarly hated among Catholic tenant farmers because the poor (as ever) bore the brunt. In addition to paying rent to the local landlord to farm the land, an additional tenth of production went to another church. Indeed, some wealthy landowners didn't pay anything while some tenants had to pay even though they farmed little more than a tiny potato patch. By the end of the 1820s, anger about these inequalities had reached a new level which led to The Tithe War (Irish: Cogadh na nDeachúna), a campaign of mainly nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes, in Ireland between 1830 and 1836.
below: Tithe Applotment/Composition Book for Athnowen Parish, townland of Knockanemore, featuring the Murphy family.
A tithe was a tax equating to one-tenth of production - due from each occupier of land, regardless of his/her religion, to support the clergy of the (Protestant) Church of Ireland. Originally, the tax was paid by the farmer in produce, but in 1823 the Tithe Composition Act was introduced and allowed tithes to be paid in cash, a practice that had already become quite widespread. The tithe was calculated on the average production per acre of oats and wheat and sale price of these between 1816 and 1823. The quality ie productivity of the land was graded between 1 and 4, from very good and very poor respectively. Acts of Parliament of 1823 and 1832 provided for the conversion of tithes into a fixed charge on land and also extended the application of tithes to pasture, where previously they had been levied only on tillage.
There is a manuscript book for almost every civil (Church of Ireland) parish in the country giving the names of occupiers of each townland, the amount of land held and the sums to be paid in tithes. Because the tithes were levied on agricultural land, urban areas are not included. Unfortunately, the books provide only the names of heads of family, not other family members. However, there is a great deal of information to be gleaned from these manuscripts, particularly if matched with the Griffith's Valuation data & maps from the 1850s.
Quite apart from the obvious dislike for paying hard-earned cash to what the majority considered an 'alien' church, the tithe was particuarly hated among Catholic tenant farmers because the poor (as ever) bore the brunt. In addition to paying rent to the local landlord to farm the land, an additional tenth of production went to another church. Indeed, some wealthy landowners didn't pay anything while some tenants had to pay even though they farmed little more than a tiny potato patch. By the end of the 1820s, anger about these inequalities had reached a new level which led to The Tithe War (Irish: Cogadh na nDeachúna), a campaign of mainly nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes, in Ireland between 1830 and 1836.
below: Tithe Applotment/Composition Book for Athnowen Parish, townland of Knockanemore, featuring the Murphy family.
Tithe Applotment/Composition Books source:"Ireland Tithe Applotment Books, 1814-1855," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9396-JHSS-42?cc=1804886&wc=M6LC-3TP%3A147767101%2C147817601 : 20 May 2014), Cork > Athnowen, 1827 > image 10 of 42; Public Record Office, Dublin.
Below: a more readable transcription of the Tithe Applotment Book page for the Murphy family, Knockanemore.
Michael Murphy's land holding acreage, valuation and annual tithe due were determined on 27 April 1827.
The total holdings for Michael Murphy were 161 acres & 2 roods with just 5 roods considered as waste land.
Michael's 1827 net assessment was 160 acres & 1 rood of usable land with a valuation of 70 acres @ £1.2.0 an acre and 84 acres valued at £1.1.0 an acre, this valuation was estimated to be £172.2.3 (£21.5k/€24.6 in 2022).
Of this, one tenth or a tithe of £17.15.3 (£2.2k/€2.5k) went to the local Church of Ireland parish to support the clergy.
It's important to note that that acreages given in all the Tithe Applotment Books are in Irish or Plantation measure*, which is 1.62 times larger than statute measure.
* Units of land measurement could vary significantly from county to county, and even from place to place within the same county prior to the introduction of the Ordnance Survey in the 1830s when the 'English' acre became the standard unit of land measurement. It is evident too that different standards of measurement were applied according to the quality and situation of the land, and its proximity to such things as mills, fairgrounds, routeways, woods etc. Indeed, the whole question of land survey in Ireland down to comparatively recent times seems a confused tangle unless it is borne in mind that land was reckoned in terms of its economic potential rather than in absolute units of measurement.
The total holdings for Michael Murphy were 161 acres & 2 roods with just 5 roods considered as waste land.
Michael's 1827 net assessment was 160 acres & 1 rood of usable land with a valuation of 70 acres @ £1.2.0 an acre and 84 acres valued at £1.1.0 an acre, this valuation was estimated to be £172.2.3 (£21.5k/€24.6 in 2022).
Of this, one tenth or a tithe of £17.15.3 (£2.2k/€2.5k) went to the local Church of Ireland parish to support the clergy.
It's important to note that that acreages given in all the Tithe Applotment Books are in Irish or Plantation measure*, which is 1.62 times larger than statute measure.
* Units of land measurement could vary significantly from county to county, and even from place to place within the same county prior to the introduction of the Ordnance Survey in the 1830s when the 'English' acre became the standard unit of land measurement. It is evident too that different standards of measurement were applied according to the quality and situation of the land, and its proximity to such things as mills, fairgrounds, routeways, woods etc. Indeed, the whole question of land survey in Ireland down to comparatively recent times seems a confused tangle unless it is borne in mind that land was reckoned in terms of its economic potential rather than in absolute units of measurement.
The townland alone accounted for £108.14.1 annually to the Church of Ireland parish of Athnowen. The overall Parish composite due or tithes amounted to £426.10 (£53.2k/€61k) which was carefully calculated at the end of each register. Not a bad little earner for the local Rector, considering that there was usually an amalgamation of 2 to 3 parishes and as most were Roman Catholic, fewer of the flock to care for their spiritual needs.
The Landlords of the area were also assessed for the tithe payment, with equally careful calculations made of their payments due but these honourable gentlemen values were not included with the parish hoi-polloi. [include examples of these calculations & 1827 sign off page for the website]
The Ovens area near Ballincollig, Co. Cork was part of a Landed Estate. These estates were generally the holdings of families (usually of Anglo-Irish and English extraction) who received or inherited grants of lands originally confiscated by the British Crown in about the 17th century. The size of a landed estate varied from small local affairs with hundreds of acres (essentially large farms) to thousands of acres of land over a county or province. These larger estates were subsequently sub-let to members of the landed gentry for nominal sums who in turn further sub-let farms or holdings to the Irish tenant farmer. Not unusually, the tenant farmer then further sublet smaller plots to subsistence farmers. The largest land holder of the region were the Frekes of Castlefreke but smaller landlords included the Coppingers and Hawkes.
Michael Murphy's 161 acres were two distinct farms of land - one considered the 'home farm' of around 70 acres where Michael and his family resided and the second of c.91 acres which was located adjacent with a small holding of 1.5 acres known locally as 'Hill's Lot' owned by a Mr Hill between the two. Note that the townland leaseholder entries are listed alphabetically.
Below: a record of John Hill's small holding in Knockanemore dates from the April 1827 entry in a Tithe Applotment Book for townland of Knockanemore, Parish of Athnowen, Ovens, Co. Cork. This holding was to have repercussions within the family a generation later in 1873.
Michael's wife's name remains unknown and also unknown if she pre-deceased or survived him.
[Colm - did the family originate initially from Mullagroe or perhaps from Knockanemore? Details are unsurprisingly, a little sketchy]
Based on the Court report in the Cork Examiner, what is now known are his family details:
Michael Murphy (? - 1827) The family patriarch - farming 161 acres at Knockanemore, Ovens.
Rev. Daniel Murphy (1755-1839) Possibly brother of Michael Murphy and first holder of the 'Ballymartle Chalice'.
Another brother or possibly cousin, Michael Martin Murphy aka Martin Michael Murphy farmed 45 acres
Michael Murphy's children:
It is would appear that Michael Snr. had made some previous provision for his children through education, a farm lease for one son and perhaps in his only daughter's case, a dowry. For example, Denis & John Murphy were educated; John qualifying as a medical doctor and Denis studying for the priesthood & ordained in May 1826. For sons wishing to farm, one son - Patrick Dennis was already farming a large holding of some 154 acres in the neighbouring townland of Mologhroe leased from The Frekes of Castlefreke[1], West Cork.
Based on the 1873 Court report, Michael's intention was to sub-divide his lease holding into two farms along already familiar geographical lines - Bartholomew receiving 95 acres and Michael, the youngest son, taking the home farm with residence and 70 acres.
[1] No lease records survive relating to leases for the Hawkes lands but records for the Frekes lands do and are held in family hands in the UK today but with no public access. See earlier article on Parnell, The Murphy Family, Mologhroe, Athnowen, Ovens and The Frekes at: http://diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/parnell--murphy.html )
[Colm - did the family originate initially from Mullagroe or perhaps from Knockanemore? Details are unsurprisingly, a little sketchy]
Based on the Court report in the Cork Examiner, what is now known are his family details:
Michael Murphy (? - 1827) The family patriarch - farming 161 acres at Knockanemore, Ovens.
Rev. Daniel Murphy (1755-1839) Possibly brother of Michael Murphy and first holder of the 'Ballymartle Chalice'.
Another brother or possibly cousin, Michael Martin Murphy aka Martin Michael Murphy farmed 45 acres
Michael Murphy's children:
- Rev Denis Murphy (c.1784? - 1868). The eldest of the family.
- Bartholomew Martin Murphy (1798-1883) farming in Knockanemore townland
- John Golden Murphy (d.1854) Medical Doctor in Grenagh, Co. Cork. Married Susan Kate O'Mahony (c.1826-1899) in 1846 and had two children - Julia & Michael.
- Margaret Murphy - only daughter. Married Walter Baldwin 1839. Had two children - Walter & unnamed male. (d. unknown). Walter died c.1844. Margaret returned to Knockanemore 1852 with her sons and resided at 'Hill's Lot'
- Francis Murphy - mentioned as a son of Michael Murphy in this case report. May have been a typo. No information found to date. (d. unknown)
- Patrick Denis Murphy (c.1786-1870) farming in adjacent Mologhroe townland.
- Michael Murphy (c.1800 - 1871)The youngest of the family.
It is would appear that Michael Snr. had made some previous provision for his children through education, a farm lease for one son and perhaps in his only daughter's case, a dowry. For example, Denis & John Murphy were educated; John qualifying as a medical doctor and Denis studying for the priesthood & ordained in May 1826. For sons wishing to farm, one son - Patrick Dennis was already farming a large holding of some 154 acres in the neighbouring townland of Mologhroe leased from The Frekes of Castlefreke[1], West Cork.
Based on the 1873 Court report, Michael's intention was to sub-divide his lease holding into two farms along already familiar geographical lines - Bartholomew receiving 95 acres and Michael, the youngest son, taking the home farm with residence and 70 acres.
[1] No lease records survive relating to leases for the Hawkes lands but records for the Frekes lands do and are held in family hands in the UK today but with no public access. See earlier article on Parnell, The Murphy Family, Mologhroe, Athnowen, Ovens and The Frekes at: http://diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/parnell--murphy.html )
On 9 July 1827, Michael Murphy, unexpectedly died at an unknown age and intestate.
That Michael died without a will must have caused some difficulty within the family circle. However, as no Irish Catholic farmer was permitted to own land outright at the time, all land was leased from the area's Protestant ascendancy Landlords - in this case, John Hawkes and Thomas Coppinger.
On Michael's death, the lease agreement with both Hawkes & Coppinger appear to have immediately ended, but as was customary for no doubt model tenants as the Murphy's of Knockanemore appeared to be, the expired leases was re-offered to the family of the deceased holder to either renew at the same annual rate (or perhaps with a slight increase) or for the family to allow it to lapse. The fact that Michael had intended to sub-divide the lease of the property between his remaining two sons may also have been known by Landlord Hawkes.
As for the lease itself, it does not appear to have been a Tenancy at Will agreement [1] but perhaps was a far more beneficial lease arrangement of a number of years. However, as Michael Snr had died intestate, this did complicated matters somewhat.
Michael's brother, the newly ordained Rev. Denis Murphy now became involved, possibly to ensure a suitable lease was quickly in place with Landlord Coppinger to continue the 70 acre farm holding within the family - as their father had planned.
The Court report on the 1873 case in the Cork Examiner indicates that on 10 July 1827, the day after Michael's death, John Hawkes[2] renewed the lease of the deceased Michael's holding of 91 acres directly with Bartholomew. The remaining 70 acres of land at Knockanemore, Ovens, Co. Cork owned by Thomas Coppinger was in turn leased directly to Rev. Denis Murphy who then immediately re-assigned the lease to his brother, Michael Murphy (c.1795-1871).
However, in later testimony during this hearing, Bartholomew Murphy stated:
"After my father's death, the priest divided what he left, giving me one farm and the other to Michael. Michael was put into this farm after Father Denis got the lease, which was the day following my father's death. Father Denis was never in possession at all, but I was until the two were divided"
This statement implies that Bartholomew in fact negotiated a renewal of the Murphy lease with both landlords, on 10 July 1827, the day after his father's death. Then the Rev. Denis, no doubt following his brother's instructions, divided the land up into two farms: assigning 91 acres to Bartholomew and 70 acres of the home farm to Michael.
[1] A Tenancy at Will lease which were quite literally, the worst of all types of leases possible - where tenants resided and worked the land strictly at the will of the landlord or agent. The farmer had no legal guarantee of continuing occupation; his landlord could, in theory, eject him at any time. Without leases, landlords could always raise rents or eject a sitting tenant, giving the farmer no incentive to invest in their holdings as the landlord could appropriate the value of any investment the tenant might make such as improving land, building houses etc. Nor did tenants have any incentive to protect his landlord's investments in the holding. As a result, neither party made the long term investments necessary to increase agricultural productivity. This inability to recover the value of improvements formed a central feature of the argument for tenant-rights. Simply put - any evidence of increased prosperity on the part of the tenant, would be immediately soaked up by a landlord (or middleman) in the form of a dreaded rent increase.
That Michael died without a will must have caused some difficulty within the family circle. However, as no Irish Catholic farmer was permitted to own land outright at the time, all land was leased from the area's Protestant ascendancy Landlords - in this case, John Hawkes and Thomas Coppinger.
On Michael's death, the lease agreement with both Hawkes & Coppinger appear to have immediately ended, but as was customary for no doubt model tenants as the Murphy's of Knockanemore appeared to be, the expired leases was re-offered to the family of the deceased holder to either renew at the same annual rate (or perhaps with a slight increase) or for the family to allow it to lapse. The fact that Michael had intended to sub-divide the lease of the property between his remaining two sons may also have been known by Landlord Hawkes.
As for the lease itself, it does not appear to have been a Tenancy at Will agreement [1] but perhaps was a far more beneficial lease arrangement of a number of years. However, as Michael Snr had died intestate, this did complicated matters somewhat.
Michael's brother, the newly ordained Rev. Denis Murphy now became involved, possibly to ensure a suitable lease was quickly in place with Landlord Coppinger to continue the 70 acre farm holding within the family - as their father had planned.
The Court report on the 1873 case in the Cork Examiner indicates that on 10 July 1827, the day after Michael's death, John Hawkes[2] renewed the lease of the deceased Michael's holding of 91 acres directly with Bartholomew. The remaining 70 acres of land at Knockanemore, Ovens, Co. Cork owned by Thomas Coppinger was in turn leased directly to Rev. Denis Murphy who then immediately re-assigned the lease to his brother, Michael Murphy (c.1795-1871).
However, in later testimony during this hearing, Bartholomew Murphy stated:
"After my father's death, the priest divided what he left, giving me one farm and the other to Michael. Michael was put into this farm after Father Denis got the lease, which was the day following my father's death. Father Denis was never in possession at all, but I was until the two were divided"
This statement implies that Bartholomew in fact negotiated a renewal of the Murphy lease with both landlords, on 10 July 1827, the day after his father's death. Then the Rev. Denis, no doubt following his brother's instructions, divided the land up into two farms: assigning 91 acres to Bartholomew and 70 acres of the home farm to Michael.
[1] A Tenancy at Will lease which were quite literally, the worst of all types of leases possible - where tenants resided and worked the land strictly at the will of the landlord or agent. The farmer had no legal guarantee of continuing occupation; his landlord could, in theory, eject him at any time. Without leases, landlords could always raise rents or eject a sitting tenant, giving the farmer no incentive to invest in their holdings as the landlord could appropriate the value of any investment the tenant might make such as improving land, building houses etc. Nor did tenants have any incentive to protect his landlord's investments in the holding. As a result, neither party made the long term investments necessary to increase agricultural productivity. This inability to recover the value of improvements formed a central feature of the argument for tenant-rights. Simply put - any evidence of increased prosperity on the part of the tenant, would be immediately soaked up by a landlord (or middleman) in the form of a dreaded rent increase.
As for Michael, were there possibly issues raised on his literacy levels which necessitated the involvement of his clerically educated brother in finalising the lease or were there additional legal hurdles to clear to ensure the Coppinger lease transferred from father to youngest son?
Michael's literacy level was certainly questioned & commented on later during the 1873 Court case. This was recorded in the Cork Examiner's report, that Michael was regarded by the area's doctor as 'a good classical scholar, able to read and write' but even so, his clerically educated elder brother, Fr. Denis is noted as the person who signed the lease for the land with Landlord Coppinger, before 'immediately' re-assigning it to Michael.
Michael was unmarried at this time and was to remain a bachelor for life.
Further research during December 2022 discovered a Cork Examiner newspaper clipping, that as of 1878, Michael's farm lease for 70 acres from Landlord Coppinger had an additional thirty years to run, bringing the lease up to an expiry/renewal date of 1908. The flat rental for these 70 acres throughout the remaining lease life of 30 years (1878-1908) was noted as pre-existing at £72 per annum (an equivalent of c. £8k rental per annum in 2022 values).
There is a possibility that the lease signed in 1827 may have been for a duration of 80 years or so with a rental rate of £72 p.a. To the 21st century reader's sensibilities, this is of course, appears to be commercially ridiculous. However in the pre-inflation era of the early 19th Century, such a rate agreement and time period were not unheard of and tend to agree with the public consensus of the time that both Coppinger and Hawkes were a fair & honourable landlord, resident locally and perhaps more interested in a stable and reliable income than squeezing the Irish tenant farmer for all that they could produce.
Of course, this lease information from 1878 (70 acres at £72pa with an expiry in 1908) may relate to a lease that had been signed far later during Michael Murphy's lifetime. (More on both the 1878 newspaper clipping later.)
Michael's literacy level was certainly questioned & commented on later during the 1873 Court case. This was recorded in the Cork Examiner's report, that Michael was regarded by the area's doctor as 'a good classical scholar, able to read and write' but even so, his clerically educated elder brother, Fr. Denis is noted as the person who signed the lease for the land with Landlord Coppinger, before 'immediately' re-assigning it to Michael.
Michael was unmarried at this time and was to remain a bachelor for life.
Further research during December 2022 discovered a Cork Examiner newspaper clipping, that as of 1878, Michael's farm lease for 70 acres from Landlord Coppinger had an additional thirty years to run, bringing the lease up to an expiry/renewal date of 1908. The flat rental for these 70 acres throughout the remaining lease life of 30 years (1878-1908) was noted as pre-existing at £72 per annum (an equivalent of c. £8k rental per annum in 2022 values).
There is a possibility that the lease signed in 1827 may have been for a duration of 80 years or so with a rental rate of £72 p.a. To the 21st century reader's sensibilities, this is of course, appears to be commercially ridiculous. However in the pre-inflation era of the early 19th Century, such a rate agreement and time period were not unheard of and tend to agree with the public consensus of the time that both Coppinger and Hawkes were a fair & honourable landlord, resident locally and perhaps more interested in a stable and reliable income than squeezing the Irish tenant farmer for all that they could produce.
Of course, this lease information from 1878 (70 acres at £72pa with an expiry in 1908) may relate to a lease that had been signed far later during Michael Murphy's lifetime. (More on both the 1878 newspaper clipping later.)
1828-1873
overview - Ireland/Murphys & Hawkes during these almost 50 years
Additional historical detail links each year
overview - Ireland/Murphys & Hawkes during these almost 50 years
Additional historical detail links each year
1829: Landlord John Devonshire Hawkes marries.
Landlord John Devonshire Hawkes (c1802-1872) married a young lady of his families acquaintance, Miss Frances Nettles (1813-1874). Known within the family circles as 'Fanny', Miss Nettles was the daughter of Richard Nevill Nettles JP and Anne Gibbs. Sister to Robert Nettles and Esther (Nettles) Babbington.
Hawkes property holdings at that time were around 2,000 acres of land and generated some £1,100 (£143k in 2022 values) in land rental alone from the local Irish tenant farmers. On marriage, he gave Fanny as a wedding settlement, 25% of his then and future estates. They went on to reside at Kilcrea House, were both 'fond of field pursuits' in particular, fox hunting and in due course produced three children. All was apparently happy within the relationship - that is until the late 1830s.
In 1835 John Hawkes was the owner, who was for some time, master of the Muskerry hounds and Justice of the Peace.
The Irish Gentry played an important intermediary role in the link between Parliament and parish. Each county from c.1831 was headed by a lord-lieutenant - a substantial post headed by a peer (for example, the first lord lieutenant of Cork was the 3rd Earl of Shannon: 7 October 1831 – 22 April 1842). He in turn was supported by a County Sherriff, a largely unpopular position filled by a member of the gentry and by Justices of the Peace (JPs) who were established landowners with the minimum property qualifications of land valued at £100 per year. JPs effectively ran their region of the county through their responsibility for legal cases and administrative matters at fortnightly Quarter Sessions where dealt with a wide range of issues, from licensing pubs, road repairs, Poor Laws and relief, prisons, asylums, local militia and policiing. Many of the Gentry prided themselved on giving time freely to ensure the efficient administration of their areas of influence.
Social leadership of county society was also an important, expensive and time-consuming occupation, which included hosting dinners and balls for neighbouring gentry, occasional events for their tenantry, and coming of age occasions such as weddings, christenings and funerals. Sporting events featured highly includng fox hunting, shooting and horse racing. Naturally, the degree of involvement varied depending on the individual - John Hawkes was considered to be an extremely social and gregarious individual.
The Hawke family appeared to be quite connected with their tenants and local community. A degree of paternalism certainly existed and it would appear that the Hawke family as landlords, were a model of benevolence. In an era of developing social conscience and moral duty, a number of the more well established older gentry families were far from the traditional image of the grasping, venal and rapacious Anglo-Irish landlord.
John Hawkes fathered three sons, Captain Samuel Hawkes (c.1831 - 1868), Richard Nevill Hawkes (c. 1832 - 12 Aug 1900 Dunedin, New Zealand ) & John Devonshire Hawkes (c.1835-1883),
Marrying well was considered an important family and social duty for both the gentry and aspirational tenant class. Parents went to great lenghts to achieve a match that would be mutually satisfactory to both families in terms of status and wealth, and these became even more important as property and financial holdings increased.
In 1835 John Hawkes was the owner, who was for some time, master of the Muskerry hounds.
1837 John hawkes member of the Cork County Grand Jury The Grand Jury performed many of the functions of the modern County Council having a Treasury and Surveying Department. One way of looking at the Jurors are as a type of County Councilor the list shows a wide geographic spread.
1839: Marriage of Margaret Murphy & Walter Baldwin
January 1839, Margaret Murphy, Michael's only sister, aged c 22, married Walter Baldwin (1805-1844) of Mossgrove, near Bandon, Co Cork in Carrigrohane Church.
Landlord John Devonshire Hawkes (c1802-1872) married a young lady of his families acquaintance, Miss Frances Nettles (1813-1874). Known within the family circles as 'Fanny', Miss Nettles was the daughter of Richard Nevill Nettles JP and Anne Gibbs. Sister to Robert Nettles and Esther (Nettles) Babbington.
Hawkes property holdings at that time were around 2,000 acres of land and generated some £1,100 (£143k in 2022 values) in land rental alone from the local Irish tenant farmers. On marriage, he gave Fanny as a wedding settlement, 25% of his then and future estates. They went on to reside at Kilcrea House, were both 'fond of field pursuits' in particular, fox hunting and in due course produced three children. All was apparently happy within the relationship - that is until the late 1830s.
In 1835 John Hawkes was the owner, who was for some time, master of the Muskerry hounds and Justice of the Peace.
The Irish Gentry played an important intermediary role in the link between Parliament and parish. Each county from c.1831 was headed by a lord-lieutenant - a substantial post headed by a peer (for example, the first lord lieutenant of Cork was the 3rd Earl of Shannon: 7 October 1831 – 22 April 1842). He in turn was supported by a County Sherriff, a largely unpopular position filled by a member of the gentry and by Justices of the Peace (JPs) who were established landowners with the minimum property qualifications of land valued at £100 per year. JPs effectively ran their region of the county through their responsibility for legal cases and administrative matters at fortnightly Quarter Sessions where dealt with a wide range of issues, from licensing pubs, road repairs, Poor Laws and relief, prisons, asylums, local militia and policiing. Many of the Gentry prided themselved on giving time freely to ensure the efficient administration of their areas of influence.
Social leadership of county society was also an important, expensive and time-consuming occupation, which included hosting dinners and balls for neighbouring gentry, occasional events for their tenantry, and coming of age occasions such as weddings, christenings and funerals. Sporting events featured highly includng fox hunting, shooting and horse racing. Naturally, the degree of involvement varied depending on the individual - John Hawkes was considered to be an extremely social and gregarious individual.
The Hawke family appeared to be quite connected with their tenants and local community. A degree of paternalism certainly existed and it would appear that the Hawke family as landlords, were a model of benevolence. In an era of developing social conscience and moral duty, a number of the more well established older gentry families were far from the traditional image of the grasping, venal and rapacious Anglo-Irish landlord.
John Hawkes fathered three sons, Captain Samuel Hawkes (c.1831 - 1868), Richard Nevill Hawkes (c. 1832 - 12 Aug 1900 Dunedin, New Zealand ) & John Devonshire Hawkes (c.1835-1883),
Marrying well was considered an important family and social duty for both the gentry and aspirational tenant class. Parents went to great lenghts to achieve a match that would be mutually satisfactory to both families in terms of status and wealth, and these became even more important as property and financial holdings increased.
In 1835 John Hawkes was the owner, who was for some time, master of the Muskerry hounds.
1837 John hawkes member of the Cork County Grand Jury The Grand Jury performed many of the functions of the modern County Council having a Treasury and Surveying Department. One way of looking at the Jurors are as a type of County Councilor the list shows a wide geographic spread.
1839: Marriage of Margaret Murphy & Walter Baldwin
January 1839, Margaret Murphy, Michael's only sister, aged c 22, married Walter Baldwin (1805-1844) of Mossgrove, near Bandon, Co Cork in Carrigrohane Church.
Samuel (1783 Cork-1861 Mossgrove) and Catherine Baldwin (1847-1873) had two children: James (1809-1874) and Walter (1805-1844). Margaret and Walter lived in Mount Pleasant, Bandon. Based on the court report, they had two sons - Walter and an unnamed child (both with unknown birth dates). According to Ancestry.com, there was also a daughter - Mary Baldwin b. 25 July 1844 but death date is unknown. Mary may have died in infancy/childhood. The Baldwins were a wealthy, Protestant family with a long pedigree - and with the Murphy link worthy of some future detailed research.
Sources: http://www.bandon-genealogy.com/Baldwin-History.pdf
It would appear that a second wedding ceremony was performed in Ovens Church on 17 January 1839. Walter Baldwin to Margaret Murphy with witnesses Anne Dorgan and Nano Burk(e).
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~mturner/genealogy/cork/ovens.htm
Sources: http://www.bandon-genealogy.com/Baldwin-History.pdf
It would appear that a second wedding ceremony was performed in Ovens Church on 17 January 1839. Walter Baldwin to Margaret Murphy with witnesses Anne Dorgan and Nano Burk(e).
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~mturner/genealogy/cork/ovens.htm
1840: Hill's Lot
Around this time, Bartholomew Murphy successfully negotiated a lease with a Mr Coppinger, the land owner of an adjacent section of land to both of the Murphy farms, totalling one and a half acres with a residence.
Around this time, Bartholomew Murphy successfully negotiated a lease with a Mr Coppinger, the land owner of an adjacent section of land to both of the Murphy farms, totalling one and a half acres with a residence.
This lease was originally held by a John Hill but this agreement had been bought-out early by the landlord, Thomas Coppinger for £9 at an earlier date. It appears from Bartholomew's testimony at the 1873 court case that he had negotiated with Landlord Coppinger on Michael's behalf to take this lease and to 'complete the holding':
"I knew John Hill being in the same land of Knockanemore before my father my father got either of the farms, at the time of his death, and afterwards. He continued in possession twelve or fifteen years after my father's death. There was about an acre and a half in the bit he held. It was I got possession of that bit from Mr. Coppinger, the head landlord, who got it from John Hill for £9. I gave the key to Michael Murphy. I was not present when Michael Murphy paid the money. "
This 1.5 acres with a residence was known locally as 'Hill's Lot' and was destined to have a great deal of importance and relevance in years to come.
"I knew John Hill being in the same land of Knockanemore before my father my father got either of the farms, at the time of his death, and afterwards. He continued in possession twelve or fifteen years after my father's death. There was about an acre and a half in the bit he held. It was I got possession of that bit from Mr. Coppinger, the head landlord, who got it from John Hill for £9. I gave the key to Michael Murphy. I was not present when Michael Murphy paid the money. "
This 1.5 acres with a residence was known locally as 'Hill's Lot' and was destined to have a great deal of importance and relevance in years to come.
1841 Frances 'Fanny' Nettles Hawkes of Kilcrea House elopes with Mr. Samuel Devonshire Penrose of Farren
Consternation abounded in Kilcrea House as John Hawke's young wife, Mrs Fanny Nettles Hawkes eloped with a near neighbour and cousin of Hawkes, 25 year old Mr. Samuel Devonshire Penrose of Farren and hot-footed it to England leaving her three young children. Samuel, Richard Neville and John Devonshire with their father at Kilcrea House.
Such an action certainly had implications for the wider gentry family network and it's virtually certain that relatives on both sides had intervened before it was too late to prevent a family scandal. Fanny Nettles Hawkes, in turning her back on her husband and children and eloping with a younger neighbour, destroyed the prescribed role of the Gentry wife and was quickly shunned by her own family acting according to the code of conduct of the time. Virtuous motherhood underpinned the entire identity of both aristrocrat and gentry and once this was undermined, there was nothing left for her to be. Frances Nettles Hawkes social position in Cork & Irish society was effectively ended by her elopement.
When it became clear that there little could be rescued from the situation despite family involvement, John Hawkes went public and instructed his lawyers to proceed with legal action. These lawyers duly filed a legal petition with the Cork Assizes for what was termed then as 'Criminal Conversation' ['conversation' being a Victorian euphemism for sexual intercourse] suing Penrose for the seduction of his wife and seeking damages to the phenomenal sum of £10,000 (£1.34m).
1841 Frances 'Fanny' Nettles Hawkes of Kilcrea House elopes with Mr. Samuel Devonshire Penrose of Farren
Consternation abounded in Kilcrea House as John Hawke's young wife, Mrs Fanny Nettles Hawkes eloped with a near neighbour and cousin of Hawkes, 25 year old Mr. Samuel Devonshire Penrose of Farren and hot-footed it to England leaving her three young children. Samuel, Richard Neville and John Devonshire with their father at Kilcrea House.
Such an action certainly had implications for the wider gentry family network and it's virtually certain that relatives on both sides had intervened before it was too late to prevent a family scandal. Fanny Nettles Hawkes, in turning her back on her husband and children and eloping with a younger neighbour, destroyed the prescribed role of the Gentry wife and was quickly shunned by her own family acting according to the code of conduct of the time. Virtuous motherhood underpinned the entire identity of both aristrocrat and gentry and once this was undermined, there was nothing left for her to be. Frances Nettles Hawkes social position in Cork & Irish society was effectively ended by her elopement.
When it became clear that there little could be rescued from the situation despite family involvement, John Hawkes went public and instructed his lawyers to proceed with legal action. These lawyers duly filed a legal petition with the Cork Assizes for what was termed then as 'Criminal Conversation' ['conversation' being a Victorian euphemism for sexual intercourse] suing Penrose for the seduction of his wife and seeking damages to the phenomenal sum of £10,000 (£1.34m).
Criminal conversation or ‘crim con’ was a notorious 18th & 19th century civil action arising from adultery. British law once permitted a husband to sue for damages, any man who had sexual relations with his wife, regardless of whether she consented – unless the couple was already separated, in which case the husband could only sue if the separation was caused by the person he was suing. Such civil actions had evolved out of de facto blackmail agreements in the late seventeenth century and gained popularity among the English nobility in the eighteenth century until its abolition by the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 in Britain. As this Parliamentary Act did not extend to Ireland, Irish crim con actions endured until abolished in Northern Ireland in 1939 and in the Republic of Ireland in 1981. Criminal conversation in a form still exists today in parts of the United States.
British law pre 1857 considered marriage legally as an indissoluble union, and the first divorce granted to Lord Roos was finalised in 1670. This resulted in a five stage exorbitantly expensive procedure before a divorce could be granted. Firstly, the husband filed a suit of criminal conversation (i.e., adulterous sexual intercourse) against his wife’s partner, he next sought compensation in the Assizes. If successful, he then pettitioned for a legal separation from the Ecclesiastical Court (These courts had jurisdiction over matters dealing with the rights and obligations of Anglican church members and had jurisdiction over the personal estates of deceased persons to grant probate or administration). If granted by the Ecclesiastical Court, he was now obliged to make a parliamentary petition and if successfull, finally received Royal Assent. Small wonder there were so few divorces pre 1857 - most actions only went as far as conviction for Criminal Conversation.
In Crim Con cases of the 18th & 19th century, adulterous men and women were treated very differently by the law: although ‘adultery by either sex was a serious marital offence’, when committed by a wife it was viewed as injurious not only to her husband but also to society at large, given the importance of property, paternity and legitimacy during this era.
There was naturally, great public interest and widespread publicity in crim con actions, with high courtroom attendance sometimes regulated by ticket, and minutely detailed newspaper reports were published. Even a highly popular if short lived scandal mag of the time featured these discovered & publicised infidelities of the aristorcrat & gentry in 'The Crim-Con Gazette' (1838-1840).
British law pre 1857 considered marriage legally as an indissoluble union, and the first divorce granted to Lord Roos was finalised in 1670. This resulted in a five stage exorbitantly expensive procedure before a divorce could be granted. Firstly, the husband filed a suit of criminal conversation (i.e., adulterous sexual intercourse) against his wife’s partner, he next sought compensation in the Assizes. If successful, he then pettitioned for a legal separation from the Ecclesiastical Court (These courts had jurisdiction over matters dealing with the rights and obligations of Anglican church members and had jurisdiction over the personal estates of deceased persons to grant probate or administration). If granted by the Ecclesiastical Court, he was now obliged to make a parliamentary petition and if successfull, finally received Royal Assent. Small wonder there were so few divorces pre 1857 - most actions only went as far as conviction for Criminal Conversation.
In Crim Con cases of the 18th & 19th century, adulterous men and women were treated very differently by the law: although ‘adultery by either sex was a serious marital offence’, when committed by a wife it was viewed as injurious not only to her husband but also to society at large, given the importance of property, paternity and legitimacy during this era.
There was naturally, great public interest and widespread publicity in crim con actions, with high courtroom attendance sometimes regulated by ticket, and minutely detailed newspaper reports were published. Even a highly popular if short lived scandal mag of the time featured these discovered & publicised infidelities of the aristorcrat & gentry in 'The Crim-Con Gazette' (1838-1840).
The Crim-Con Gazette featured in it's first edition none other than Daniel O'Connell who apparently was a rakish, aggressive man when younger and cited in at least one Criminal Conversation case as a defendant. Below: An interesting selection of 'salacious' woodcuts illustrating the various goings-on recorded in the Crim Con Gazette c. 1838-40. One of the most entertaining is a case from 1838 in which Mrs. Elizabeth Harris was caught having an extremely unsubtle affair with the the Rev. John Craven. According to her servant, Mrs Harris liked to flash the Reverend from her bedroom window during his morning walks. As you can imagine, it didn't end well for either Mrs H or the Rev.
However, despite the attention these cases attracted, they were in fact, relatively rare - largely as the cost of litigation was exorbitant which meant most cases were only affordable & brought by the gentry and the aristocracy. Crim con cases peaked in England around the 1790s, partially due to a perceived moral panic but also due to a huge growth in financial damages awarded by courts between 1790-1830. If a formalised divorce was required after 1798, then a successful criminal conversation case had first to be won in the courts before Parliament could be petitioned to grant the legal separation. Although the damages awarded in succesful crim. con. cases were often used to fund a divorce, these were usually a stand-alone legal suit.
Ireland lagged behind by a couple of decades in this regard; while in 1804 crim con actions were described as ‘novel’, a lawyer in 1816 lamented that crim con actions had become ‘so flagrant, and the crime so grown, to the total disregard of conjugal rights and state’. In 1818 another lawyer remarked on the frequency of such cases and in 1820 Lord Norbury said that adultery ‘was a crime extensively growing to magnitude and depravity in this country.’ Some observers at the time attributed the low numbers of such cases due to the exceptional moral purity of the Irish, and Irish women in particular, which was a popular theme from the 1830s onward; although of course, the notion that Ireland was a country of virtuous virgins, chaste mothers, and abstemious fathers was mythical. Nevertheless, it was remarked in 1859 for example that Ireland ‘was celebrated not only for the chastity and purity of its women, but also for the honour of its men. It was seldom indeed that [a crim con] action was brought under the notice of the public.’
Irish crim con cases were usually tried by special juries, who determined whether adultery had been proven, and if so, the amount of damages to be awarded. These were cases ‘wherein juries are permitted to exercise a degree of discretion not common in other cases, and wherein they are entire judges of facts.’ Nevertheless, either party could apply for a verdict to be set aside on the basis that it went against the weight of evidence, and that it was a verdict that no reasonable jury could have reached.
As to damages, a number of facts had to be proven before a jury awarded damages. First, it had to be established that the plaintiff and his wife had in fact been married. Production of a marriage register was unnecessary; usually the testimony of the clergyman who had performed the marriage ceremony sufficed. It was unnecessary to prove that the defendant knew that the woman was married. The plaintiff then had to prove adultery between his wife and the defendant. Given the nature of the act, most cases involved circumstantial evidence, often from servants. Although neither the plaintiff, defendant, nor the wife accused of the adultery was permitted to take the stand, evidence of the adulterous behaviour was presented by servants or observers. This might include details of extended or nocturnal visits, secret letters, whispered conversations, secretly commissioned portraits or the discovery of keepsakes etc. However, It was not enough simply to show that the plaintiff had been married and that adultery had taken place between his wife and the defendant. An actual loss to the plaintiff had to be proven.
Damages awarded in crim. con. trials were based on the wealth and rank of the plantiff and defendant and legal argument refelected the changing moral values of each period. It highlighted for example, that not all wives were considered of equal value. Amounts awarded in Irish cases ranged from a farthing to £20,000, the sum depending on the alleged purity of the woman and what her infidelity denied her spouse: “a faithful wife’s value to her husband is much enhanced if she has made his home happy, attended to his children, and assisted him in life”, with her opposite, leading “a loose life before marriage”, much devalued. One farthing was, for example, awarded for the “unscrupulous and lying adventureness” at the centre of the Lynch v. Macann-Lynch trial of 1890. Nominal amounts could also be awarded when a husband was considered negligent. Dublin’s Rev. Vanston was accused of cruelty in his 1897 case brought against a man his wife married after securing a divorce in Dakota. A three-day case saw a farthing damages awarded on the grounds that Vanston should have kept better control of his “property".
Class was another consideration; an educated woman from respectable stock would merit a higher award of damages in the 18th and 19th centuries and the wealth of the parties still featured in 20th-century crim. con. suits. In many cases, wives were often depicted in courts as seducers. In 1796, for example, Lady Westmeath was presented as a “neglected beauty” seeking revenge on her spouse with the published proceedings asking: “where could be found a man resolute enough to withstand female beauty when determined to conquer?’’ But wives became more frequently portrayed as the victims of predatory men.
The ruination of a womans reputation was another common preoccupation. Phillips referred to a woman’s adultery reducing her “husband to widowhood [...] smiling infants to anticipated orphanage, and that peaceful, hospitable, confiding family, to helpless, hopeless, irremediable ruin”, with the husband allegedly insisting that the children wear mourning garb as their mother left the marital home: “poor innocents[…] to them her life is something worse than death […], far better, their little feet had followed her in funeral.” Like many subsequent cases, Phillips expressed pity for the mother, her fine dress adorning her “for the sacrifice […] Poor, unfortunate, fallen female! How can she expect mercy from her destroyer? How can she expect that he will revere the character he was careless of preserving"
The early mass media newspapers in Ireland gleefully pounced on this latest juicy tale of adultry amongst the gentry, eager to cash in on the public appetite for sensation.
The Freeman's Journal (Dublin) of Thursday, 26 March 1842 reported on the Hawkes v. Penrose 'Criminal Conversation' case held the previous day in the Cork County Record Court. It had all the perfect ingredients for a juicy scandal - illicit sex among the gentry, betrayal, remorse and punishment of the guilty couple. It also offered a glimpse into the secret existence of the gentry, which was usually safely hidden from public gaze behind the forbidding stone walls of their country estates. Even better, readers could relish all the titillating details of a sexual intrigue & misdemeanours presented earnestly in the guise of a morality tale. Delicate inter-family 'misdemeanours' instead of being kept as guilty secrets lost over time and generations, were splashed throughout the press and frequently led to far reaching and at times dreadful consequences.
In this detailed press report, an immediate impression is that the courtroom had many similarities to the early Victorian theatre, and it too was a venue for public entertainment of sorts. The costumed lawyers reciting their set speeches, the jury listening intently in a side box, the robed & bewigged judge presiding from his elevated bench. Looking down on these performers were the spectators in the packed public galleries, frequently adding to the hearing with shouted comments and stage whispers. The outcome of such adultery cases as Hawkes v Penrose largey depended on the ingenuity with which stories of infidelity were shaped and acted out within the County Record Courtroom where the complexities of personal behaviour over many years were simplified into an apparently straightforward moral tale hinging on the actions of a sinning wife.
below: further newspaper reports on the Hawkes V Penrose criminal conversation case. Wednesday, March 23, 1842.
Click to download a PDF copy.
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While the case was uncontested by Samuel Devonshire Penrose, a jury was empanelled and the courtroom was packed to hear the circumstances & all the salacious details in full (duly reported in the main press of the day).
[summary details]
After some brief consideration, the jury found for the plaintiff John Hawkes. As for damages, the jury found Mr Penrose would be obliged to pay the jilted husband not quite the £10,000 (£1.3m in 2023 values) in damages sought but one quarter of it, a sum of £2,000 (£267k) plus an absurd 6d (£7) in costs. Samuel Penrose remained in England where he next appears in 1851.
As to what happened next to Samuel Penrose - it remains unknown if any of the damages awarded were actually paid and he remained reisdent in England. His youthful indiscretion was long forgotten when, as now owner of the Penrose estates in Farran, Co. Cork, in April 1851 he married 29 year old Frances Elizabeth Jones (1822-1865), a well heeled member of the Welsh gentry from Montgomeryshire at St. George's, Hanover Square, London.
Source: The Annual Register or a view of the History and Politics of the year 1851.F&J Rivington. London. 1852.P227 https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=nwBHAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PR1&hl=en
By the mid 1850s, the move towards marital law reform was underway. The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 moved English divorce hearings from parliament to court and ended the crim. con. action, although its spirit lingered in the damages which could be claimed from a co-respondent in court until 1970. Ireland was excluded from the 1857 act and although the introduction of a separate Irish bill was mooted, fear of the popular reaction to such a move meant that this was not forthcoming. Crim. con. thus survived. Cases continued to be brought in Northern Ireland until 1939, Australia in 1975 and the Republic of Ireland in 1981. Hawkes v Penrose (1842) remained on the statute books as an example of case law in Ireland until repeal in 1981.
1844
Walter Baldwin, husband to Margaret Murphy, died.
1846
Marriage of Dr. John Golden Murphy & Susan Kate Molony
On 4 June 1846, John Golden Murphy marries Susan Kate Moloney (or Mahony as another newspaper reported) of Glouncoum, Grenagh, Co. Cork.
[To research - John Golden Murphy education/registration as an MD, effects/impact of the famine in the Knockanemore area & details on background of Molonys /Mahonys of Gloncoum]
1851
As to what happened to both Frances Hawkes & Samuel Penrose following the 1842 Crim Con case? Little has been found to date for the former Mrs Frances 'Fanny' Hawkes but as for Samuel, his youthful indiscretions were long forgotten when, as inheritor of the Penrose estates in Farran, Co. Cork, he married 29 year old Frances Elizabeth Jones (1822-1865) in St. George's, Hanover Square, London in April 1851. Frances,as with her Irish namesake, was a well heeled member of the gentry - the Welsh gentry from Montgomeryshire.
Source: The Annual Register or a view of the History and Politics of the year 1851.F&J Rivington. London. 1852.P227 https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=nwBHAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PR1&hl=en
As to what happened to both Frances Hawkes & Samuel Penrose following the 1842 Crim Con case? Little has been found to date for the former Mrs Frances 'Fanny' Hawkes but as for Samuel, his youthful indiscretions were long forgotten when, as inheritor of the Penrose estates in Farran, Co. Cork, he married 29 year old Frances Elizabeth Jones (1822-1865) in St. George's, Hanover Square, London in April 1851. Frances,as with her Irish namesake, was a well heeled member of the gentry - the Welsh gentry from Montgomeryshire.
Source: The Annual Register or a view of the History and Politics of the year 1851.F&J Rivington. London. 1852.P227 https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=nwBHAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PR1&hl=en
1852
Griffiths Valuation 1852
Griffiths Valuation 1852
By the time of Griffith’s Valuation in the 1850s Robert Gibbons was given as the occupier of Kilcrea House. He held the building (valued at £20) as part of a parcel of land leased by John Hawkes. Yet strangely in March 1851, and again in July 1853, the estate of William Edward Ellis at Kilcrea, including the house and 422 acres, was advertised for sale. It would seem the Hawkes family acquired this, and further land,
Described in 1890, Kilcrea House was noted as a handsome one, containing four rooms on the ground floor, a kitchen, and five bedrooms. At the end of the lawn were the ruins of Kilcrea Castle. On both sides of the house there were plantations of trees, and in the lawn there were ornamental trees, copper-beech and variegated holly. There was a garden and two entrances to the place, one in front from the county road, and the other from the rere, which was, however, stated to be from a " boreen," and there were extensive out-offices."
1852: Margaret & Family return
In c. 1844 Walter Baldwin died. As a result, Margaret Baldwin with her children may have lost their accommodation/home for some reason and so, with little alternative, returned to her former family home in Knockanemore c. 1852. The Baldwin's moved in with Michael and for almost the next twenty years, 'kept house' for him & she and her sons worked on his farm until his death in 1871.
It is believed that the Baldwin's lived on the residence with 1.5 acres on Michael's farm known as 'Hill's Lot' - a separate small lease holding with Landlord Coppinger.
Mr. Murphy Q.C, as Counsel for the defendant, summarised the Murphy & Baldwin domestic situation some twenty years later in court on 17 March 1873,, that Michael's…
"widowed sister, Mrs Baldwin and her children, living for twenty years with him, taking towards him, an unmarried man, the position as it were, of his own wife and children, working on his farm, and being in all respects, the persons likely to succeed him in the possession of any means he had'
1854: Death of Dr. John Golden
August 10: Dr John Golden Murphy died in Cork.
In c. 1844 Walter Baldwin died. As a result, Margaret Baldwin with her children may have lost their accommodation/home for some reason and so, with little alternative, returned to her former family home in Knockanemore c. 1852. The Baldwin's moved in with Michael and for almost the next twenty years, 'kept house' for him & she and her sons worked on his farm until his death in 1871.
It is believed that the Baldwin's lived on the residence with 1.5 acres on Michael's farm known as 'Hill's Lot' - a separate small lease holding with Landlord Coppinger.
Mr. Murphy Q.C, as Counsel for the defendant, summarised the Murphy & Baldwin domestic situation some twenty years later in court on 17 March 1873,, that Michael's…
"widowed sister, Mrs Baldwin and her children, living for twenty years with him, taking towards him, an unmarried man, the position as it were, of his own wife and children, working on his farm, and being in all respects, the persons likely to succeed him in the possession of any means he had'
1854: Death of Dr. John Golden
August 10: Dr John Golden Murphy died in Cork.
By September 1854, Samuel Devonshire Penrose was in trouble again - this time financial. With an annual net income of £850 (£152k in 2023 values) courtesy of his Irish farming tenants in Farran, Co. Cork he also had outstanding debts of some £5712 (c.£1.1m) which quite possibly included the 1842 damages award of £2,000. His next stop was the Encumbered Estates Court.
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The Encumbered Estates Court was the product of another era when many Irish landlords were notorious for being both feckless in their speculation and ruthless in their extraction of inflated rents. While many Irish landlords of the Victorian era were often pitiless in their dealings with their tenants, ironically, they too were often pursued by creditors. Having frequently indulged in lavish lifestyles that their rental incomes could not afford, many landlords were heavily in debt even before the Great Famine of 1845-50. Following the onset of the Famine, however, landlords discovered that their rents had dried up while their local taxes had skyrocketed. Many of these property owners had mortgaged their estates multiple times, meaning that they owed more than the land was worth and were bankrupt. These multiple mortgages (or ‘encumbrances’) made it impossible to sell the estates as the legal complications were too great, turning off potential buyers.
To rectify this situation, a series of Acts were passed in 1848-49 which established the Encumbered Estates Court. Through this court, the state took ownership of properties and sold them on, without any drawn-out proceedings and accompanied by a fresh title deed which ensured there was no further legal threats or challenges to the new owners. Following its creation, the Estates Court was, hardly surprisngly, soon swamped with cases, and by 1854 there were fears that their location in Henrietta Street was unsustainable for the volume of business, as the street was often blocked by vehicles coming to the Court. There is a vivid account of the day-to-day activities of the Court, written in 1858, and describing it as a no-frills, no-nonsense place: ‘everything about it has the same naked unpretending air. The visitor will observe little of that tranquillity and silence which usually reign in courts of law’. The highlight of its activities were undoubtedly the sales days, when the court room located at the rear of the building would double as an auction room. An account of one of these sales described how the various lawyers and land agents used it as an opportunity to gossip, particularly about rural disturbances: ‘one idler tells another how an agent was shot here a year ago; how a process-server was beaten almost to death there; and how the population of Ballyblank generally have from time immemorial been a very rough set to deal with’.
Despite the rough-and-ready nature of the Court, commentators had high hopes that it could solve the problems of rural Ireland. It was believed that the Court was paving the way for a new landowning class, made up of businessmen who were better positioned to invest in the countryside. Obviously, the older generation of landlords felt differently. The legislation that established the Estates Court also allowed for the sale of estates without the consent of the owner, provided the level of debt was great enough. This meant that sales of an estate could be forced at a time of depressed land prices, something that existing landlords bitterly resented. The communist Frederick Engels once described how Irish landlords ‘live in fear of the Encumbered Estates Court’.
In 1858, the Encumbered Estates Court was dissolved and replaced with a new body known as the Landed Estates Court, which dealt with much the same sort of cases. This new Estates Court was moved from Henrietta Street into newly constructed premises at the Four Courts in 1860. While a mass influx of English buyers did not materialize to magically resolve the Irish land issue, these Estates Courts opened the door for a later institution, the Land Commission of Ireland. Set up in 1881 as, essentially, a rent-fixing body, the commission evolved into an institution facilitating tenant-purchase of farmland. Following a series of Lands Acts, commencing with the landmark Ashbourne Act of 1885, the Land Commission would bring about a social revolution in the Irish countryside. Between 1885 and 1920, the Commission oversaw the transfer of over 13 million acres of land through assisted tenant purchase. The Land Commission survived the War of Independence (1919-21), being reconstituted in 1923 by the Irish Free State and continuing to function until its dissolution in 1999.
The records of the Encumbered Estates and Landed Estates Courts were among the documents destroyed in the Four Courts in 1922. However, printed rentals from the Encumbered Estates Court survive, constituting an under-used source for those interested in the names of tenants on various mid-nineteenth century estates.
To rectify this situation, a series of Acts were passed in 1848-49 which established the Encumbered Estates Court. Through this court, the state took ownership of properties and sold them on, without any drawn-out proceedings and accompanied by a fresh title deed which ensured there was no further legal threats or challenges to the new owners. Following its creation, the Estates Court was, hardly surprisngly, soon swamped with cases, and by 1854 there were fears that their location in Henrietta Street was unsustainable for the volume of business, as the street was often blocked by vehicles coming to the Court. There is a vivid account of the day-to-day activities of the Court, written in 1858, and describing it as a no-frills, no-nonsense place: ‘everything about it has the same naked unpretending air. The visitor will observe little of that tranquillity and silence which usually reign in courts of law’. The highlight of its activities were undoubtedly the sales days, when the court room located at the rear of the building would double as an auction room. An account of one of these sales described how the various lawyers and land agents used it as an opportunity to gossip, particularly about rural disturbances: ‘one idler tells another how an agent was shot here a year ago; how a process-server was beaten almost to death there; and how the population of Ballyblank generally have from time immemorial been a very rough set to deal with’.
Despite the rough-and-ready nature of the Court, commentators had high hopes that it could solve the problems of rural Ireland. It was believed that the Court was paving the way for a new landowning class, made up of businessmen who were better positioned to invest in the countryside. Obviously, the older generation of landlords felt differently. The legislation that established the Estates Court also allowed for the sale of estates without the consent of the owner, provided the level of debt was great enough. This meant that sales of an estate could be forced at a time of depressed land prices, something that existing landlords bitterly resented. The communist Frederick Engels once described how Irish landlords ‘live in fear of the Encumbered Estates Court’.
In 1858, the Encumbered Estates Court was dissolved and replaced with a new body known as the Landed Estates Court, which dealt with much the same sort of cases. This new Estates Court was moved from Henrietta Street into newly constructed premises at the Four Courts in 1860. While a mass influx of English buyers did not materialize to magically resolve the Irish land issue, these Estates Courts opened the door for a later institution, the Land Commission of Ireland. Set up in 1881 as, essentially, a rent-fixing body, the commission evolved into an institution facilitating tenant-purchase of farmland. Following a series of Lands Acts, commencing with the landmark Ashbourne Act of 1885, the Land Commission would bring about a social revolution in the Irish countryside. Between 1885 and 1920, the Commission oversaw the transfer of over 13 million acres of land through assisted tenant purchase. The Land Commission survived the War of Independence (1919-21), being reconstituted in 1923 by the Irish Free State and continuing to function until its dissolution in 1999.
The records of the Encumbered Estates and Landed Estates Courts were among the documents destroyed in the Four Courts in 1922. However, printed rentals from the Encumbered Estates Court survive, constituting an under-used source for those interested in the names of tenants on various mid-nineteenth century estates.
Religious tension in Ottoman controlled Jerusalem and Russian agression in the Balkans triggered the Crimean War and Britain's entry to the brutal & disastrous confict in March 1854. A staggering number of casualties inflicted upon the British troops from a combination of the bitter Crimean winter and, more significantly, from the total breakdown of the army administration which failed to ensure the provision of even the barest necessities for the soldiers’ survival was quickly felt thousands of miles away in south Cork.
The South Cork Light Infantry Militia after a long period of neglect was re-activated due to the Crimean War to 'perform garrison duty at home freeing the regular army regiments for active service'. As a military force raised during the 1770s from the civilian population to supplement the regular army in an emergency, the various Irish militias originally were excuslively a Protestant force with certainly no Roman Catholics or Presbyterians permitted to bear arms. By 1793 with the very real threat of invasion from France, a new Militia was formed which did permit Catholics and Presbyterians in its ranks as well as membersof the established church. Many regiments as a result were largely Catholic in composition and, while there was no religious barrier to being commissioned, the majority of officers still came from the Anglican community.
These officers were appointed by the lord lieutenant largely from wealthy county families with the main qualification being financial: the property qualification of the lieutenant colonel commandant, later redefined as the Colonel, was property producing an income of at least £2,000 per annum (£330k in 2023 values) while a lieutenant colonel, appointed by the Colonel, was expected to have incomes from property as a minimum of £1,200 (£198k), a major £300 (£50k), a captain £200 (£13k), a lieutenant £50 (£3k) and an ensign £25. Lieutenants and ensigns could also be appointed if their fathers had income of £100 (£6k) per annum of £50 per annum respectively.
By March 1855, the 24 year old Samuel Hawkes, eldest son of John & Frances is recorded as a member of the South Cork Light Infantry Militia as an Ensign (the lowest military rank of officer pre 1871 when the title was replaced by that of second lieutenant). He may have joined the Militia earlier but no records have been located to date. He joined the militia as a junior officer 'without purchase' meaning he was not required to pay for the position as ensign.
That year's muster list of officers is a veritable 'who's who' of members of the Cork landed gentry & aristocracy led by Lord Freek of Castlefreek and includes such family names as Baldwin, Hosford, Tresillian, Somerville, Tuckey. Intensive training, drilling and re-arming quickly brought the South Cork Light Infantry Militia up to a resonable standard and sufficiently capable to replace garrison troops.
Some 10 companies in the South Cork Milita (around 800-2,000 men) including Samuel Hawkes were moved to Limerick City where they served as garrison troops for the remainder of 1855 before being shipped for a further 6 months of service in Dublin. With the end of the Crimean War in February 1856 and the imminent stand down of the South Cork Militia in July, Hawkes seems to have decided a career as an army office was for him and applied to join the prestigious 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot - a line infantry regiment of the British Army, first raised in Ireland in 1702.
The Cork Examiner records Hawke's success, joining the 37th Foot on 2 June 1856 where he was commissioned as an Ensign (without purchase) on 7 June.
Since the 17th century, the standard methold of an officer's commision within the British Army was predominatly through purchased commissions. By payment of a set fee, a commission as an officer from the rank of Ensign to senior positions could be secured, avoiding the need to wait to be promoted for merit or seniority. This practice continued for almost 250 years until finally abolished in November 1871, as part of the Cardwell Reforms.
As most military commissions were purchasable and salaries paid while in service so outrageously low, it was fairly obvious that only men of independent means could actually afford a career in the army. Formally, the purchase price of a commission was effectively a cash bond for good behaviour, liable to be forfeited to the Army's cashiers (the accountants) if found guilty of cowardice, desertion, or gross misconduct. Payment for a commission also ensured that the position was filled by an officer with a vested interest in maintaining the social status of the officer class but also provided honourably retired officers with what was effectively a pension when they left the service and sold on their commission.
However, commissions were subject to additional, and illegal, overpayments depending on the prestige of the regiment, its likelihood of being posted abroad (and one's increased possibility of being killed in action or receiving awards for gallantry etc) and other factors. If the service was to an officer's liking, after a formal period of time and experience, they could purchase further promotion by paying the difference between the listed price of a more senior commission to that of their current rank.
For example, Samuel Hawkes could have paid in the region of £1,200 (£165k/€186k 2023) to enter service as an Ensign in 1856 with the South Cork Militia. But as his joining the Militia was in response to what was a national emergency with the Crimean War, he had joined 'without purchase' and continued to the 37th Foot also 'without purchase'. However in his later career, he is recorded as paying (an undisclosed sum but estimated to have been in line with the standard officer commission rates at the time of c. £2,050 (£326k/€367 2023) for the commission and promotion to Lieutenant and finally £4,800 (£333k/375k 2023) to the rank of Captain (less the resale price of his Lieutenant rank.)
Within a year, Ensign Hawkes was promoted to the post of Instructor of Musketry on 4 June 1857. Specifically this was a marksmanship instructor and teaching soldiers how to shoot and mantain their rifles. This was a junior officer appointment of most British Infantry of the Line battalions between 1857 & 1883 when the post was abolished.
Ensign Hawkes stint at Battalion HQ did not last long. Poor terms of service and pensions, bad pay, lack of promotion, and increased cultural and racial insensitivity from British officers all contributed to the feelings of discontent among soldiers in the British army throughout Britain and Ireland at the time, but particuarly 8,000 kilometers away amongst the Indian soldiers of the Bengal Army in British India. This simmering discontent erupted in a rising against British rule in March 1857 and rapidly escalated to become the biggest threat to Britain's colonial power during its rule of the Indian subcontinent. This violent struggle led to over 250,000 deaths, the end of East India Company and the reorganisation of the army. For many Indians it also marked the start of a long struggle for independence almost a century later.
Ensign Samuel Hawkes along with officers and men from a number of companies of the 37th Foot soon found themselves sailing for India to quell the uprising.
As most military commissions were purchasable and salaries paid while in service so outrageously low, it was fairly obvious that only men of independent means could actually afford a career in the army. Formally, the purchase price of a commission was effectively a cash bond for good behaviour, liable to be forfeited to the Army's cashiers (the accountants) if found guilty of cowardice, desertion, or gross misconduct. Payment for a commission also ensured that the position was filled by an officer with a vested interest in maintaining the social status of the officer class but also provided honourably retired officers with what was effectively a pension when they left the service and sold on their commission.
However, commissions were subject to additional, and illegal, overpayments depending on the prestige of the regiment, its likelihood of being posted abroad (and one's increased possibility of being killed in action or receiving awards for gallantry etc) and other factors. If the service was to an officer's liking, after a formal period of time and experience, they could purchase further promotion by paying the difference between the listed price of a more senior commission to that of their current rank.
For example, Samuel Hawkes could have paid in the region of £1,200 (£165k/€186k 2023) to enter service as an Ensign in 1856 with the South Cork Militia. But as his joining the Militia was in response to what was a national emergency with the Crimean War, he had joined 'without purchase' and continued to the 37th Foot also 'without purchase'. However in his later career, he is recorded as paying (an undisclosed sum but estimated to have been in line with the standard officer commission rates at the time of c. £2,050 (£326k/€367 2023) for the commission and promotion to Lieutenant and finally £4,800 (£333k/375k 2023) to the rank of Captain (less the resale price of his Lieutenant rank.)
Within a year, Ensign Hawkes was promoted to the post of Instructor of Musketry on 4 June 1857. Specifically this was a marksmanship instructor and teaching soldiers how to shoot and mantain their rifles. This was a junior officer appointment of most British Infantry of the Line battalions between 1857 & 1883 when the post was abolished.
Ensign Hawkes stint at Battalion HQ did not last long. Poor terms of service and pensions, bad pay, lack of promotion, and increased cultural and racial insensitivity from British officers all contributed to the feelings of discontent among soldiers in the British army throughout Britain and Ireland at the time, but particuarly 8,000 kilometers away amongst the Indian soldiers of the Bengal Army in British India. This simmering discontent erupted in a rising against British rule in March 1857 and rapidly escalated to become the biggest threat to Britain's colonial power during its rule of the Indian subcontinent. This violent struggle led to over 250,000 deaths, the end of East India Company and the reorganisation of the army. For many Indians it also marked the start of a long struggle for independence almost a century later.
Ensign Samuel Hawkes along with officers and men from a number of companies of the 37th Foot soon found themselves sailing for India to quell the uprising.
Many of the 37th Foot that had already been stationed in Ceylon [Sri Lanka] were now promptly deployed to Calcutta to assist in quelling the mutiny before moving on to Benares and Cawnpore. Around the same time, three companies of the 37th Foot under Colonel Francis Skelly, including Ensign Samuel Hawkes had arrived in Ceylon and after a quick restocking of supplies and arms, set sail reaching India in early November.
Between March and May 1858, there was hard fighting between the Mutineers and the 37th Foot in the Bengal but by early May, mopping up operations had commenced. With regimental losses increasing due to heat stroke rather than enemy fire, the regiment companies had returned to headquarters to regroup in May 1858. There, Samuel Hawkes decided it was time to purchase a further commission, paying c. £2,050 (£326k/€367 in 2023 values) for promotion to Lieutenant on 21 May 1858. The previous holder, Lt. E.A. Anderson had been killed in action in the Bengal.
Between March and May 1858, there was hard fighting between the Mutineers and the 37th Foot in the Bengal but by early May, mopping up operations had commenced. With regimental losses increasing due to heat stroke rather than enemy fire, the regiment companies had returned to headquarters to regroup in May 1858. There, Samuel Hawkes decided it was time to purchase a further commission, paying c. £2,050 (£326k/€367 in 2023 values) for promotion to Lieutenant on 21 May 1858. The previous holder, Lt. E.A. Anderson had been killed in action in the Bengal.
Meanwhile in Ireland, John Hawkes Snr. around this time divided his estate holdings between two sons, Lt. Samuel and John Devonshire. John D. took up residence in Belrose, near Upton, Co. Cork, taking over most of the family land holdings in the region while Lt. Samuel Hawkes had received a cash settlement to purchase his Army commission and c.250 acres of the Kilcrea estate, Kilcrea castle and Kilcrea House.
As for the youngest son, Richard Neville Hawkes (1833-1900), while there is little to no surviving references in Irish & British archives, we discovered that he had emigrated to Victoria, Australia in his late teens, where on 13 May 1858 in Melbourne, married Jean Black (1839-1919) originally from Scotland. They went on to have four children in Australia and a further eight in New Zealand on emigration to Otago district of the South Island in 1866. Richard Neville is believed to have moved to Australia to join the great gold rushes of the early 1850s.
The Cork Examiner of June 11, 1858 writing of 'Cork Men in India' wrote of Samuel Hawkes serving in 'the disturbed area of the Bengal, India' as a Lt. with the 37th Regiment and that the regiment had recently 'engaged with the mutineers'.
As for the youngest son, Richard Neville Hawkes (1833-1900), while there is little to no surviving references in Irish & British archives, we discovered that he had emigrated to Victoria, Australia in his late teens, where on 13 May 1858 in Melbourne, married Jean Black (1839-1919) originally from Scotland. They went on to have four children in Australia and a further eight in New Zealand on emigration to Otago district of the South Island in 1866. Richard Neville is believed to have moved to Australia to join the great gold rushes of the early 1850s.
The Cork Examiner of June 11, 1858 writing of 'Cork Men in India' wrote of Samuel Hawkes serving in 'the disturbed area of the Bengal, India' as a Lt. with the 37th Regiment and that the regiment had recently 'engaged with the mutineers'.
The 37th were back in the field by July 1858 as part of a larger force dealing with rebel attacks before going on the offensive until April 1859, when the regiment returned to base at Ghazipore, where they were to remain until September 1860. As with most armies of the era, more soldiers died there from disease than in battle since arriving to fight in the Rising.
Samuel Hawkes next advancement was also through a commission purchase, that of Adjutant (an administrative officer to the Commanding Officer) based in headquarters on 20 December 1859.
Regimental losses to disease in India continued during 1860 and were only reduced when the officers and men re-located to the Rajmahal Hills, some 3,000 feet above sea level in September 1860. By February 1861, the Regiment and Adjutant Samuel Hawkes were preparing to return to England, sailing on March 7, 1861.
For the next three years, Hawkes remained as Adjutant Lieutenant to the 37th Foot based in Hampshire.
Samuel Hawkes next advancement was also through a commission purchase, that of Adjutant (an administrative officer to the Commanding Officer) based in headquarters on 20 December 1859.
Regimental losses to disease in India continued during 1860 and were only reduced when the officers and men re-located to the Rajmahal Hills, some 3,000 feet above sea level in September 1860. By February 1861, the Regiment and Adjutant Samuel Hawkes were preparing to return to England, sailing on March 7, 1861.
For the next three years, Hawkes remained as Adjutant Lieutenant to the 37th Foot based in Hampshire.
1862
By at least 1862, John Hawkes Senior had passed most of his property holdings to his three sons in what appears to be a shared ownership of sorts. Cash settlements & land purchases within the family may have caused some financial liquidity issues as can be determined from a small newspaper notice in the Cork Examiner of June 26, 1862. It appears that the brothers petitioned the Landed Estates Court (which replaced the Encumbered Estates Court in 1858) to sell their joint ownership lands at Kilbrennan, north of Bandon, Co. Cork as effectively bankrupt. As noted on the advert, these 461 acres & 1 perch were held under a lease of 999 years dating from 12 March 1757. Interestingly, the annual lease rental was £60.6.4 (£9.7k) while producing a income from tenant farmer's rental of £180.10.4. (£29.4k).
Despite these adverts, the property remained unsold.
By at least 1862, John Hawkes Senior had passed most of his property holdings to his three sons in what appears to be a shared ownership of sorts. Cash settlements & land purchases within the family may have caused some financial liquidity issues as can be determined from a small newspaper notice in the Cork Examiner of June 26, 1862. It appears that the brothers petitioned the Landed Estates Court (which replaced the Encumbered Estates Court in 1858) to sell their joint ownership lands at Kilbrennan, north of Bandon, Co. Cork as effectively bankrupt. As noted on the advert, these 461 acres & 1 perch were held under a lease of 999 years dating from 12 March 1757. Interestingly, the annual lease rental was £60.6.4 (£9.7k) while producing a income from tenant farmer's rental of £180.10.4. (£29.4k).
Despite these adverts, the property remained unsold.
1864
Lt Samuel Hawkes was based in the 37th Foot HQ in Hampshire, advertised to let his farmland as grazing in the Cork Examiner, February 1864.
By June 1864, the 37th Foot were preparing for a regimental move to Cork and Samuel appeared anxious to gain further promotion. His third and last purchased commission was completed on 14 June 1864 when we was appointed Captain. The cost? c£4,800 (£333k/€375k 2023 less the resale price of his Adjutant rank.)
Lt Samuel Hawkes was based in the 37th Foot HQ in Hampshire, advertised to let his farmland as grazing in the Cork Examiner, February 1864.
By June 1864, the 37th Foot were preparing for a regimental move to Cork and Samuel appeared anxious to gain further promotion. His third and last purchased commission was completed on 14 June 1864 when we was appointed Captain. The cost? c£4,800 (£333k/€375k 2023 less the resale price of his Adjutant rank.)
1865
With the 37th Foot due to move to Cork City in late January 1865, Samuel Hawkes decided it was time to end his army career and return to Kilcrea as a gentleman farmer. This may have coincided with his engagement to marry Elizabeth Norris (1840-1936). According to his military Statement of Service (below), on 24 January 1865, Samuel Hawkes retired from the British Army by the sale of his commission and returned to Kilcrea, keeping his military title and later that year marrying Elizabeth.
With the 37th Foot due to move to Cork City in late January 1865, Samuel Hawkes decided it was time to end his army career and return to Kilcrea as a gentleman farmer. This may have coincided with his engagement to marry Elizabeth Norris (1840-1936). According to his military Statement of Service (below), on 24 January 1865, Samuel Hawkes retired from the British Army by the sale of his commission and returned to Kilcrea, keeping his military title and later that year marrying Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, Samuel's brother John Devonshire Hawkes married Emma Eliza Taylor (1841-1881) on 19 January 1865 in St. Peter's Church, Kilgarvan, Kerry, Ireland. The bride's father was Adrian Taylor (1809-1893) of Clontough House, a medical doctor and also a JP, owning some 2000 acres in the county.
One child resulted from the marriage, Adrian Henry Hawkes (1865 Cork -1930 Dunedin, New Zealand) was born later that year on 14 November. Adrian Henry later Emigrated to New Zealand - married Helen Birch in 1907 - father of Irene Evelyn Hawkes (1913-1995) Occupation: Miner.
Meanwhile, Captain Samuel Hawkes was settling into residence in Kilcrea and determined to both exert his ownership on Kilcrea Castle and to monetise the asset through commerical arrangements with companies such as 'The Cork Refreshment Rooms' who offered special excursions by steam train from the city. (July 1865 saw a mid-week trip from the city with the Rhine String Band providing entertainment and refreshments available in the grounds.)
Meanwhile, Captain Samuel Hawkes was settling into residence in Kilcrea and determined to both exert his ownership on Kilcrea Castle and to monetise the asset through commerical arrangements with companies such as 'The Cork Refreshment Rooms' who offered special excursions by steam train from the city. (July 1865 saw a mid-week trip from the city with the Rhine String Band providing entertainment and refreshments available in the grounds.)
In March, the 1867 Fenian Rising broke out in Dubin, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Tipperary. This was followed later in the year with the arrests of Fenian leaders Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy in Manchester. A susbequent rescue attempt of both men from a police van in the city resulted in death of a policeman. In October, 62 Fenians are among the last group of convicts to be transported to Western Australia aboard the convict ship Hougoumont. 23 November: William Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O'Brien, the 'Manchester Martyrs', are publically hanged in Salford for their part in the rescue of Kelly and Deasy. This was followed on 13 December by the Clerkenwell explosion at Clerkenwell Prison,London during a Fenian escape attempt. 12 local residents are killed.
July
From July 1867, a series of events which were to have repercussions six years later occurred within the Murphy family in Knockanemore.
Michael Murphy, now aged in his late sixties and had remained unmarried, suffered a minor stroke (termed 'side paralysis' in the Court Report) c. 29 July 1867. As a result of this stroke, he moved out of his home adjacent to that of his sister, Margaret Baldwin and nephews to recuperate in the Ballinhassig presbytery of his brother, Rev. Denis Murphy, Parish Priest of Ballinhassig. As Q.C. for the Defence described in 1873: "Michael Murphy having received a stroke of paralysis being brought in a prostrate state to the house of Rev. Denis Murphy, his brother…"
Michael's brother, Bartholomew Martin Murphy recalled the event some years later, that he went to visit him in Ballinhassig the following day: "… He was disabled in bed - he was not able to know me, or at least did not pretend to know me. I asked him questions and he seemed not to know me. I saw him a day or two after that. As far as I could judge, he did not know me the second day I called. He seemed quite careless and did not appear to notice me. Went three or four times to see him. On the last occasion, he knew me, talked to me and said he would wish to be at home. That was about a fortnight or three weeks before he left the house".
Margaret Baldwin, Michael's sister recalled that when she visited, she…'…saw him afterwards in bed at her brother's Denis Murphy's. He did not appear able to talk. They were expecting his death hourly. Got up in the middle of the night and went to him. He appeared to be sleeping. He did not speak to me while I was there. He did not appear to be in his senses. Went there a second time and spoke to him. At first he appeared to understand me, and then not. He did not seem to have his senses. Went to him a third time, and he appeared much better. Bartholomew Delany, who was employed on Michael's farm at the time, also recalled visiting when called as a witness: '… saw Michael Murphy in bed at Rev. Denis Murphy's house and spoke to him. He was not asleep, but did not appear to know him'
Naturally enough, Michael's stroke caused some concern to both himself and particularly his family. It was suggested to Michael (allegedly by his brother Rev. Denis & his sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy) during early August 1867, that he 'assign' the interest in his 72 acre 'home farm' leased from Landlord Coppinger for the past 40 years, to a family member in event of his death.
Throughout the later newspaper coverage, Susan Kate Murphy appears to be quite a force to be reckoned with. She appears to push and cajole the more reluctant Michael and Rev. Denis Murphy to complete a deed, very much in her favour and at a time when the lease holder's health and mental capacity were clearly compromised. Susan Kate Murphy next asked Michael to request that his solicitor (or perhaps a nominated solicitor by Mrs Murphy), none other than John George MacCarthy prepare a deed or will for the disposal of the 70 acre land holding lease on his death.
July
From July 1867, a series of events which were to have repercussions six years later occurred within the Murphy family in Knockanemore.
Michael Murphy, now aged in his late sixties and had remained unmarried, suffered a minor stroke (termed 'side paralysis' in the Court Report) c. 29 July 1867. As a result of this stroke, he moved out of his home adjacent to that of his sister, Margaret Baldwin and nephews to recuperate in the Ballinhassig presbytery of his brother, Rev. Denis Murphy, Parish Priest of Ballinhassig. As Q.C. for the Defence described in 1873: "Michael Murphy having received a stroke of paralysis being brought in a prostrate state to the house of Rev. Denis Murphy, his brother…"
Michael's brother, Bartholomew Martin Murphy recalled the event some years later, that he went to visit him in Ballinhassig the following day: "… He was disabled in bed - he was not able to know me, or at least did not pretend to know me. I asked him questions and he seemed not to know me. I saw him a day or two after that. As far as I could judge, he did not know me the second day I called. He seemed quite careless and did not appear to notice me. Went three or four times to see him. On the last occasion, he knew me, talked to me and said he would wish to be at home. That was about a fortnight or three weeks before he left the house".
Margaret Baldwin, Michael's sister recalled that when she visited, she…'…saw him afterwards in bed at her brother's Denis Murphy's. He did not appear able to talk. They were expecting his death hourly. Got up in the middle of the night and went to him. He appeared to be sleeping. He did not speak to me while I was there. He did not appear to be in his senses. Went there a second time and spoke to him. At first he appeared to understand me, and then not. He did not seem to have his senses. Went to him a third time, and he appeared much better. Bartholomew Delany, who was employed on Michael's farm at the time, also recalled visiting when called as a witness: '… saw Michael Murphy in bed at Rev. Denis Murphy's house and spoke to him. He was not asleep, but did not appear to know him'
Naturally enough, Michael's stroke caused some concern to both himself and particularly his family. It was suggested to Michael (allegedly by his brother Rev. Denis & his sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy) during early August 1867, that he 'assign' the interest in his 72 acre 'home farm' leased from Landlord Coppinger for the past 40 years, to a family member in event of his death.
Throughout the later newspaper coverage, Susan Kate Murphy appears to be quite a force to be reckoned with. She appears to push and cajole the more reluctant Michael and Rev. Denis Murphy to complete a deed, very much in her favour and at a time when the lease holder's health and mental capacity were clearly compromised. Susan Kate Murphy next asked Michael to request that his solicitor (or perhaps a nominated solicitor by Mrs Murphy), none other than John George MacCarthy prepare a deed or will for the disposal of the 70 acre land holding lease on his death.
J.G.MacCarthy (1829-1892) was a solicitor of note in Cork at the time Michael Murphy suffered a stroke. Born on South Main Street in 1829, qualified as a solicitor in 1853. He had founded the Cork Historical Society in 1849 and the Cork Catholic Young Men's Society in 1852, served as an Alderman of Cork city in the 1850s, by the 1860s he was law advisor to the Queenstown Commissioners.
Greater political opportunities called and he was elected as a Home Rule League MP in 1874 and served until 1880 & returned to his legal practice, in 1882 MacCarthy was appointed one of four legal assistant commissioners for the Land Commission created by Gladstone's 1881 Land Act. Further details: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/128-years-ago-today-7-september-1892-john-george-cork-bill-holohan |
19 August 1867 - drafting the deed.
During the subsequent 1873 court case, on questions from Counsel for the plaintiff, Michael's solicitor, J.G.MacCarthy testified that he visited Michael at his brother's residence in Ballinhassig on 19 August 1867 to discuss drawing up a document relating to disposal of his farm lease. Present on the day in the Priest's drawing room, were his brother, Rev. Daniel Murphy, his sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy with her un-named attorney and a Patrick Daly.
MacCarthy said that in subsequent discussion with Michael, that he 'explained to him thoroughly what he was doing', and explaining further the difference between a deed and a will in a private room and that "Mrs Murphy [Susan Kate] called on him to ask me to get ready a deed or will for the disposal of the property" and later stating that he 'withdrew Murphy into a private room to explain the deed, he believed on reflection that he only took him to another portion of the same room...I believe that I executed a deed instead of a will from motives of economy to save probate duty as much as for anything else.'
So a deed was considered to be the preferable option and the lawyer drew up the necessary papers to assign the 70 acres of leased land with residence (along with the land and residence known as 'Hill's Lot') at Knockanemore, by deed, in favour of both Rev. Denis Murphy & Mrs Susan Kate Murphy.
[Estate planning in 1869 as now, is a complex matter as it’s easy to turn the distribution and rightful execution of even the simplest estates into a matter of mayhem and confusion. Simply put, legally a person can only give what they own, and if they nominate a person on a deed or sell their property then they effectively can’t possess it or pass it on in a will. In the context of real estate or property, a deed is a legal document that describes ownership over property, typically during the transfer from one person to another and used to transfer the title of a property from one person to another. A deed must be drafted, signed, and it must be notarised and filed in the public records to be valid. Like many other legal documents, a deed needs witnesses. This is to confirm that both parties were consenting and of sound mind, and to confirm that the deed was indeed signed and notarised, rather than being fabricated as an object of fraud. In this case, Michael's transfer of his leasehold to Susan Kate Murphy was legal and took precedence over any later decision he may have wished to make or for that matter, on any future will]
Patrick Daly, who knew both Michael and his brother Fr. Denis Murphy, was in the Priest's drawing room when Mr MacCarthy returned and 'read a deed aloud to the parties. Witness signed the deed and Michael Murphy was present and heard it read. Cross-examined - he appeared feeble and somewhat emaciated. Fr. Murphy was in the room all the time. Did not pay attention to what he said'
When the deed was signed by Michael and witnessed (possibly by Patrick Daly) on 19 August 1867, it was mailed to the Registry Office in Dublin that evening. However, as was to be discovered later, Michael '… did not sign the deed in his own hand, either from inability to write or read, or from illness'
As regards the possibility of Michael being of 'unsound mind' due to his illness at the time, Solicitor MacCarthy stated that:
'I remember seeing Margaret Baldwin, but nothing was said about Murphy being in an unsound mind when he signed the deed. Either she or her attorney in her presence said Murphy owed her a large sum of money, and until that was repaid she would not give up possession' Dr James Golding, Michael's Doctor assessed him shortly after he had signed the deed and considered "he was then perfectly sane and knew what he was doing'.
From the casual observer some century and half after the events noted here, it does appear unusual that no provision was made for Margaret Baldwin and her sons. Numerous questions result from this decision such as; had there been a complete breakdown in the relationship between Michael Murphy and his sister Margaret and nephews? Issues of coercive control are familiar to most today, but could this have been occurring on the Murphy farm in the late 1860s or perhaps when it came to drafting a deed in favour of Rev. Murphy and Susan Kate to the exclusion of others? Had Rev. Murphy the intention of ensuring a fair return to the Baldwin's in return for their support and unpaid labour on Michael's farm?
During the subsequent 1873 court case, on questions from Counsel for the plaintiff, Michael's solicitor, J.G.MacCarthy testified that he visited Michael at his brother's residence in Ballinhassig on 19 August 1867 to discuss drawing up a document relating to disposal of his farm lease. Present on the day in the Priest's drawing room, were his brother, Rev. Daniel Murphy, his sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy with her un-named attorney and a Patrick Daly.
MacCarthy said that in subsequent discussion with Michael, that he 'explained to him thoroughly what he was doing', and explaining further the difference between a deed and a will in a private room and that "Mrs Murphy [Susan Kate] called on him to ask me to get ready a deed or will for the disposal of the property" and later stating that he 'withdrew Murphy into a private room to explain the deed, he believed on reflection that he only took him to another portion of the same room...I believe that I executed a deed instead of a will from motives of economy to save probate duty as much as for anything else.'
So a deed was considered to be the preferable option and the lawyer drew up the necessary papers to assign the 70 acres of leased land with residence (along with the land and residence known as 'Hill's Lot') at Knockanemore, by deed, in favour of both Rev. Denis Murphy & Mrs Susan Kate Murphy.
[Estate planning in 1869 as now, is a complex matter as it’s easy to turn the distribution and rightful execution of even the simplest estates into a matter of mayhem and confusion. Simply put, legally a person can only give what they own, and if they nominate a person on a deed or sell their property then they effectively can’t possess it or pass it on in a will. In the context of real estate or property, a deed is a legal document that describes ownership over property, typically during the transfer from one person to another and used to transfer the title of a property from one person to another. A deed must be drafted, signed, and it must be notarised and filed in the public records to be valid. Like many other legal documents, a deed needs witnesses. This is to confirm that both parties were consenting and of sound mind, and to confirm that the deed was indeed signed and notarised, rather than being fabricated as an object of fraud. In this case, Michael's transfer of his leasehold to Susan Kate Murphy was legal and took precedence over any later decision he may have wished to make or for that matter, on any future will]
Patrick Daly, who knew both Michael and his brother Fr. Denis Murphy, was in the Priest's drawing room when Mr MacCarthy returned and 'read a deed aloud to the parties. Witness signed the deed and Michael Murphy was present and heard it read. Cross-examined - he appeared feeble and somewhat emaciated. Fr. Murphy was in the room all the time. Did not pay attention to what he said'
When the deed was signed by Michael and witnessed (possibly by Patrick Daly) on 19 August 1867, it was mailed to the Registry Office in Dublin that evening. However, as was to be discovered later, Michael '… did not sign the deed in his own hand, either from inability to write or read, or from illness'
As regards the possibility of Michael being of 'unsound mind' due to his illness at the time, Solicitor MacCarthy stated that:
'I remember seeing Margaret Baldwin, but nothing was said about Murphy being in an unsound mind when he signed the deed. Either she or her attorney in her presence said Murphy owed her a large sum of money, and until that was repaid she would not give up possession' Dr James Golding, Michael's Doctor assessed him shortly after he had signed the deed and considered "he was then perfectly sane and knew what he was doing'.
From the casual observer some century and half after the events noted here, it does appear unusual that no provision was made for Margaret Baldwin and her sons. Numerous questions result from this decision such as; had there been a complete breakdown in the relationship between Michael Murphy and his sister Margaret and nephews? Issues of coercive control are familiar to most today, but could this have been occurring on the Murphy farm in the late 1860s or perhaps when it came to drafting a deed in favour of Rev. Murphy and Susan Kate to the exclusion of others? Had Rev. Murphy the intention of ensuring a fair return to the Baldwin's in return for their support and unpaid labour on Michael's farm?
After a few weeks recuperation in Ballinhassig, Michael returned to his home & farm. His sister, Margaret Baldwin and her sons had remained on the property, farming the land etc. As Margaret recalled in 1873 that after Michael…'had returned from the Rev. Denis Murphy's, he was very weak and low'
In many ways, the Murphy family dynamics was similar to many generations of Irish farming families. A family member toils as an unpaid employee with the vague, unwritten promise, of perhaps, inheriting the property on a relative's demise. As Margaret commented during the 1873 court case: 'Her son Walter worked on the farm. Her children were never paid anything for what they did on his farm'.
A few weeks after Michael returned, the Baldwins discovered that a will or a deed had been made while he was recuperating that summer in Ballinhassig. This prompted Walter Baldwin to ask his uncle on the matter. As Walter recalled in 1873: '…After he came back from Father Murphy's house I questioned him as to whether he had done anything in the form of a will or a deed during his time he was at Ballinhassig, and he said he had not done anything of the kind. He afterwards said if he had done so he forgot it. We obtained a copy of the registry from Dublin and showed it to him. He said he did not think they would ask him to do anything wrong; that was about a week or a fortnight after he had come back; my mother repaired the houses and out offices'
Margaret Baldwin also recalled that while she was aware that her brother's will had been made, she '…had no conversation with him about it'. However, Margaret was sufficiently concerned of the contents of the will or deed and the potential future for both herself and her children, that she sourced a copy in an effort to discover just what her brother intended. Her testimony in 1873 included this development, that later in 1867; '…Had a search made for a will or deed she had heard he had made and through Mr. Fitzsimmons she obtained a copy of the deed. She then asked him if he had made a will making over his property away from his own? He said he had not. She told him to be sure. He then said again that he had not. Then she produced a copy of the search, and showed it to him. He bleared his eyes and then said 'Those little women and that fool of a priest made me do what I had no wish for'. Subsequently, when he wanted her boys to work for him, Walter said that he was ashamed to do so after the way he had treated them. Michael then said he would make all that right yet. Subsequently she inquired about the £50 that he owed her, to be secured in it. She then learned from Mr Fitzsimmons that Michael had gone to him to have the deed changed, but he told him it was too late, as the change had not been made within six months.'
1868 - Death of Rev. Denis Murphy.
Under the terms of his will, his sister-in-law Susan Kate Murphy became the executor of his will.
Under the terms of his will, his sister-in-law Susan Kate Murphy became the executor of his will.
Captain Hawkes died 21 December, 1868 in the Plympton St Mary, Devon, England and was survived by his widow, a son (John Hawkes), and two daughters (unknown & Frances Caroline Hawkes), his brothers John Devonshire Hawkes and Richard Nevill Hawkes.
By his will, dated the 23rd October, 1868, Capt. Hawkes bequeathed to Thomas Epinetus Crooke and Devonshire Penrose Hawkes all his property (after providing an annuity of £100 a-year for his wife for life, and after a trust for a sum of £1000, which he directed in certain events to be raised out of his estates) upon trust for his son John Hawkes, on his attaining the age of twenty-one ; in case he should not attain twenty-one, the £1000 was not to be raised, and the estates were devised to his two daughters as tenants in common, and in case of the death of either under twenty-one, then to the survivor, and in the event of the children all dying under age, the testator left his property to his two brothers, John Devonshire Hawkes and R. N. Hawkes. The testator empowered his trustees to make leases of all or any part of his estates and lands at the best rent to be got from solvent tenants for any term consistent with the term for which the same were held, and he appointed his wife residuary legatee, and his wife and the two trustees executors of his will.
Source: Leeds University Library, Special Collections
Thomas Epinetus Crooke (1817-1876) of Aghavrin House, near Coachford, Co. Cork was married to Sally Penrose Hawkes (1847-1944) daughter of Devonshire Penrose Hawkes (1815-1878).
After Captain Hawkes' death, Mrs. Bessie Hawkes left Kilcrea and went to reside at Monkstown, Cork.
1869 - Promises made
In her testimony during the court hearing in 1873, Susan Kate Murphy made the following revelation of an event in 1869 regarding her sister-in-law: "…I promised to let Mrs Baldwin have a portion of the place in consideration of £200 in 1869. I afterwards revoked that promise on finding my children would not agree to it"
This portion was undoubtedly that of 'Hill's Lot', the house with 1.5 acres that had been leased by Michael from Landlord Coppinger since c.1840. The £200 asking price in 1869 is the equivalent of £28,135 (€32,180) in December 2022.
Walter Baldwin, perhaps on behalf of his mother, had next visited Susan Kate Murphy at her residence in Sunday's Well, Cork to enquire if she would, on the basis of her earlier promise, allow Mrs Baldwin and her family 'a portion of the place' i.e. probably the 1.5 acres with house known as 'Hill's Lot': '…I served a document (produced) on Miss Murphy [presumably Mrs Susan Kate] at Sunday's Well at the same time I asked her would she stick to the agreement, and she said she would not..'
Around the same time in 1869, it seems there was an issue of debt between Michael and his neighbouring brother, Bartholomew. Unable to resolve the issue, Bartholomew revealed during the 1873 court case that around this time:
' I issued an execution against the land for debt.."
[further research ongoing on the debt issue - between loans from Margaret to Michael to help pay his annual rent, sale of stock to be commented on in the next page and Bartholomew's statement here - there is a question on just what was taking place at the time.]
In her testimony during the court hearing in 1873, Susan Kate Murphy made the following revelation of an event in 1869 regarding her sister-in-law: "…I promised to let Mrs Baldwin have a portion of the place in consideration of £200 in 1869. I afterwards revoked that promise on finding my children would not agree to it"
This portion was undoubtedly that of 'Hill's Lot', the house with 1.5 acres that had been leased by Michael from Landlord Coppinger since c.1840. The £200 asking price in 1869 is the equivalent of £28,135 (€32,180) in December 2022.
Walter Baldwin, perhaps on behalf of his mother, had next visited Susan Kate Murphy at her residence in Sunday's Well, Cork to enquire if she would, on the basis of her earlier promise, allow Mrs Baldwin and her family 'a portion of the place' i.e. probably the 1.5 acres with house known as 'Hill's Lot': '…I served a document (produced) on Miss Murphy [presumably Mrs Susan Kate] at Sunday's Well at the same time I asked her would she stick to the agreement, and she said she would not..'
Around the same time in 1869, it seems there was an issue of debt between Michael and his neighbouring brother, Bartholomew. Unable to resolve the issue, Bartholomew revealed during the 1873 court case that around this time:
' I issued an execution against the land for debt.."
[further research ongoing on the debt issue - between loans from Margaret to Michael to help pay his annual rent, sale of stock to be commented on in the next page and Bartholomew's statement here - there is a question on just what was taking place at the time.]
Following the death of Samuel Hawkes, the Executors of his estate began selling off various assets - one of the first sales was in February 1869 of 100 cattle, sheep, horses (including the pony 'Dandy, being continually driven by a lady') hay & farm equipment.
Meanwhile, the trustees having renounced their prividledge in favour of the widow, probate was granted to Mrs. Hawkes in March, 1869.
John Devonshire Hawkes, on the departure of his widowed sister-in-law from Kilcrea House, moved from Belrose, where he previously resided, into his brother's residence. Belrose was then put for letting as were various sections of the Kilcrea Castle farm. The Castle 'after the wanton mischief of last year' was declared as private and visitors were to obtain permission.
John Devonshire Hawkes, on the departure of his widowed sister-in-law from Kilcrea House, moved from Belrose, where he previously resided, into his brother's residence. Belrose was then put for letting as were various sections of the Kilcrea Castle farm. The Castle 'after the wanton mischief of last year' was declared as private and visitors were to obtain permission.
The second half of the nineteenth century saw dramatic changes in the relationship between landlord and tenant which reflected the changing, economic, social and political climate of the times. .
1870 Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act: This act sought to compensate tenants for improvements made by them to their holding or for any disturbance to their occupancy. Tenants wishing to purchase the title to their property could borrow up to two-thirds of the price, which they could repay at 5 per cent over 35 years. However, few tenants took up the opportunity to purchase; they were much more interested in security of tenure. Universally, tenants were dissatisfied with this legislation because, whilst it would compensate them for any improvements they had made if they were evicted, it did not provide them with any protection from eviction itself.
1870 Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act: This act sought to compensate tenants for improvements made by them to their holding or for any disturbance to their occupancy. Tenants wishing to purchase the title to their property could borrow up to two-thirds of the price, which they could repay at 5 per cent over 35 years. However, few tenants took up the opportunity to purchase; they were much more interested in security of tenure. Universally, tenants were dissatisfied with this legislation because, whilst it would compensate them for any improvements they had made if they were evicted, it did not provide them with any protection from eviction itself.
1871 - Michael's death & Bartholomew's Recollections
Despite Bartholomew's issues with his brother's debts, within a year or so this seems to have been resolved as Michael had moved in with his brother and family nearby.
Bartholomew Murphy recalled this period in 1873:
'It is not a quarter of a mile from my place at Knockanemore to my brother's place; the deceased used to walk about when he was staying with me; a good deal used to pass between us in conversation; the reason why he left Margaret Baldwin and her children and came to me was because I had a good reception for him... he was living with me six weeks before he died. Never heard there was any falling out between him and Mrs Baldwin. He was telling me of having signed some document at Father Murphy's house, that he did not know what it was, and that he was not in his perfect senses at the time. That was two months or more before his death. He told me frequently and used to shed tears that he did not know and had no recollection at the time. He said they brought the documents to him and that he had no recollection when he did so. He told others of it also…'
The issue of debt seemed to follow Michael in his later years. From the testimony given in March 1873, it appears that Michael owed his sister £55 (£8k) which was lent to him to help pay his land rent and was anxious to repay her. To make this payment, he was forced to realise some assets and sold his livestock, as Bartholomew explained: ... "I purchased the stock from himself a month or six weeks before his death. I believe I paid him £70 (£10.6k) for it, in my own house. He wanted to pay off a debt, and to do that he proposed to sell his stock to me. The stock was on his farm at that time. I believe it was to Mrs Baldwin he owed that debt. I don’t know that Mrs Baldwin was to remain in possession of the farm. I have £55 of the £70 to Mr Gillman to pay Mrs Baldwin. I do not know the amount of her debt, but he told me that whole £55 was to go to Mrs Baldwin.
Walter Baldwin later confirmed that funds realised from the sale of livestock was received by his mother.
Michael must have been visibly declining in his last weeks as Bartholomew had organised for his will to be made. This last will was made out by the local teacher, Pat Callaghan with Thomas Goulding of Donoughmore named as the executor. Bartholomew recalled: "...I have not the will I got Michael to make; it was made in my house the day before his death; it remained in the hands of the man who drew it - Pat Callaghan, the parish teacher. I don't know what brought him there; I was there when he came, but not when the will was drawn. Pat Callaghan kept the will until it was given to the executor, Thomas Goulding....I heard it read a day or two after his death; I did not see or hear the will read afterwards; I don't know where the will is now. Thomas Goulding lives in Donoughmore, it was he brought it to my house and read it for me, he came to look after the place and manage it.
I did not witness the will, I quite forget who were the witnesses. I don’t remember what was in the will. I don't know whether there was any mention in the will of a debt of £30 to Margaret Baldwin, and its being directed to be paid. I don't recollect anything that was in the will. I know that the will directed his debts to be paid off.
I don't know that there was no mention of Michael Murphy's farm in the will. He never told me that he had already disposed of the farm to Mrs Murphy and her children. I quite forgot whether I ever asked him to dispose of that farm. He never said to me that he had given the farm to Mrs Murphy and her children..."
The date of Michael's death is currently unknown. Bartholomew recalled that on the day his brother died: "I was present when he received the last sacraments at the hands of Rev. Mr Cotter. Mrs [Susan Kate] Murphy was then present. Did not hear anything then said as to how he was about to dispose of his property..."
As for Michael's last will, today as in 1871, a person can only give what they own, and if they had signed their home away earlier by deed or sold their property, then they effectively can’t possess it or for that matter, pass it on in a will as in most cases, the specifics of a deed take precedence over a will.
Under the terms of the 1869 deed, Michael's leasehold of 70 acre farm/residence lease combined with the 'Hill's Lot' 1.5 acres/residence lease with Landlord Coppinger which had already been assigned in this deed to Susan Kate Murphy and her children now formally passed to Susan Kate. The Baldwins had on Michael's death, immediately become adverse holders of the Hill's Lot and therefore could legally only remain there by permission of Susan Kate Murphy.
As to any questions if the Baldwins were present on Hill's Lot between Michael's death and the subsequent court case in 1873, Bartholomew clarified the domestic arrangements when he stated in court in March 1873 that: "Mrs Baldwin and her sons have been in possession of Hill's lot."
Susan Kate Murphy was then living at 122 Sunday's Well Road in 1871 (Wilkies Cork Street Directory 1871)
Despite Bartholomew's issues with his brother's debts, within a year or so this seems to have been resolved as Michael had moved in with his brother and family nearby.
Bartholomew Murphy recalled this period in 1873:
'It is not a quarter of a mile from my place at Knockanemore to my brother's place; the deceased used to walk about when he was staying with me; a good deal used to pass between us in conversation; the reason why he left Margaret Baldwin and her children and came to me was because I had a good reception for him... he was living with me six weeks before he died. Never heard there was any falling out between him and Mrs Baldwin. He was telling me of having signed some document at Father Murphy's house, that he did not know what it was, and that he was not in his perfect senses at the time. That was two months or more before his death. He told me frequently and used to shed tears that he did not know and had no recollection at the time. He said they brought the documents to him and that he had no recollection when he did so. He told others of it also…'
The issue of debt seemed to follow Michael in his later years. From the testimony given in March 1873, it appears that Michael owed his sister £55 (£8k) which was lent to him to help pay his land rent and was anxious to repay her. To make this payment, he was forced to realise some assets and sold his livestock, as Bartholomew explained: ... "I purchased the stock from himself a month or six weeks before his death. I believe I paid him £70 (£10.6k) for it, in my own house. He wanted to pay off a debt, and to do that he proposed to sell his stock to me. The stock was on his farm at that time. I believe it was to Mrs Baldwin he owed that debt. I don’t know that Mrs Baldwin was to remain in possession of the farm. I have £55 of the £70 to Mr Gillman to pay Mrs Baldwin. I do not know the amount of her debt, but he told me that whole £55 was to go to Mrs Baldwin.
Walter Baldwin later confirmed that funds realised from the sale of livestock was received by his mother.
Michael must have been visibly declining in his last weeks as Bartholomew had organised for his will to be made. This last will was made out by the local teacher, Pat Callaghan with Thomas Goulding of Donoughmore named as the executor. Bartholomew recalled: "...I have not the will I got Michael to make; it was made in my house the day before his death; it remained in the hands of the man who drew it - Pat Callaghan, the parish teacher. I don't know what brought him there; I was there when he came, but not when the will was drawn. Pat Callaghan kept the will until it was given to the executor, Thomas Goulding....I heard it read a day or two after his death; I did not see or hear the will read afterwards; I don't know where the will is now. Thomas Goulding lives in Donoughmore, it was he brought it to my house and read it for me, he came to look after the place and manage it.
I did not witness the will, I quite forget who were the witnesses. I don’t remember what was in the will. I don't know whether there was any mention in the will of a debt of £30 to Margaret Baldwin, and its being directed to be paid. I don't recollect anything that was in the will. I know that the will directed his debts to be paid off.
I don't know that there was no mention of Michael Murphy's farm in the will. He never told me that he had already disposed of the farm to Mrs Murphy and her children. I quite forgot whether I ever asked him to dispose of that farm. He never said to me that he had given the farm to Mrs Murphy and her children..."
The date of Michael's death is currently unknown. Bartholomew recalled that on the day his brother died: "I was present when he received the last sacraments at the hands of Rev. Mr Cotter. Mrs [Susan Kate] Murphy was then present. Did not hear anything then said as to how he was about to dispose of his property..."
As for Michael's last will, today as in 1871, a person can only give what they own, and if they had signed their home away earlier by deed or sold their property, then they effectively can’t possess it or for that matter, pass it on in a will as in most cases, the specifics of a deed take precedence over a will.
Under the terms of the 1869 deed, Michael's leasehold of 70 acre farm/residence lease combined with the 'Hill's Lot' 1.5 acres/residence lease with Landlord Coppinger which had already been assigned in this deed to Susan Kate Murphy and her children now formally passed to Susan Kate. The Baldwins had on Michael's death, immediately become adverse holders of the Hill's Lot and therefore could legally only remain there by permission of Susan Kate Murphy.
As to any questions if the Baldwins were present on Hill's Lot between Michael's death and the subsequent court case in 1873, Bartholomew clarified the domestic arrangements when he stated in court in March 1873 that: "Mrs Baldwin and her sons have been in possession of Hill's lot."
Susan Kate Murphy was then living at 122 Sunday's Well Road in 1871 (Wilkies Cork Street Directory 1871)
Document written by Thomas Babington, Solicitor for Bessie Hawkes, to Thomas Epinetus Crooke and Devonshire Penrose Hawkes. This record is held by Leeds University Library, Special Collections
Reference: Pearson/MSDep1999/1/57
Title: Document written by Thomas Babington, Solicitor for Bessie Hawkes, to Thomas Epinetus Crooke and Devonshire Penrose Hawkes Description Concerning the Will of Samuel Hawkes and its proving. Date: 13 May 1871
Held by: Leeds University Library, Special Collections, not available at The National Archives
Meanwhile, the Hawkes family living arrangements were also changing. Some three years later, no doubt keen to finalise some form of agreement with the resident of Kilcrea House, on 11 May 1872, Mrs Bessie Hawkes made a lease to her brother-in-law John Devonshire Hawkes, of the dwelling-house and lands at Kilcrea for a period of thirty-five years, at a rent of £310 (£44.8k 2023) per annum. The lease contained a clause of surrender every third year, excepted to the lessor all timber and other trees, and it contained a covenant to manage, use, and till the lands in a good and husband-like manner, and to yield up the same in good and tenantable condition.
Adverts found in the Cork Examiner show John Hawkes was certainly a gentleman farmer:
Bibliography
Criminal Conversation
Law, Susan C. Through the Keyhole - Sex, Scandal and the Secret Life of the County House. The History Press, London 2015.
https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/irish-legal-heritage-criminal-conversation
South Cork Light Infantry Militia, 37th Foot, British Army Commissions
Wilkies Street Directories
Archives
Criminal Conversation
Law, Susan C. Through the Keyhole - Sex, Scandal and the Secret Life of the County House. The History Press, London 2015.
https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/irish-legal-heritage-criminal-conversation
South Cork Light Infantry Militia, 37th Foot, British Army Commissions
- https://www.royalhampshireregiment.org/about-the-museum/timeline/37th-indian-mutiny-1857-1859/
- Perry, Nicholas. The Irish Landed Class and the British Army, 1850–1950. Sage Publishing. 2011.
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/26098346
- Slater, Carl G. The Problem of Purchase Abolition in the British Army 1856-1862. 1979.
- http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol046cs.html
- South Cork Light Infantry Militia: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~mturner/genealogy/cork/south_cork.htm
- Fontana, V.J.L.'The political and religious significance of the British/Irish Militias interchange 1811-1816. 2006.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20160520024659/http://www.colonialwargaming.co.uk/Miscellany/Army/Commissions.htm
Wilkies Street Directories
Archives
- Irish Examiner, Freeman's Journal, Nenagh Guardian, Newspaper Archives.
- National Library of Ireland
- British Archives, Kew
Occasionally, an old news report recording a somewhat mundane court case or other matter provides an unexpectedly surprising trove of family information and reveals some long forgotten family members - and some unusual events.
A discovery in December 2022 of a Cork County Record Court hearing in March 1873 (reported at length in the Cork Examiner newspaper at the time) has provided information on some eleven additional unknown Murphy family/extended family members from the late 19th Century. Further research and discoveries have managed to confirm details and add substance to some of their life stories, connections and in a number of individuals, their differences. While it's both a complex and complicated case, it's a fascinating insight into a long forgotten chapter of family history and adds to our shared extended family history archives.
This story begins with a court report in the Cork Examiner in March, 1873:
Cork County Record Court hearing: 15 & 17 March, 1873
Reported in the Cork Examiner Newspaper (17 March & 18 March 1873)
Hearing Cork County Record Court, Washington Street Courthouse, Cork, before Judge O'Brien.
Date Saturday, 15 March & Monday, 17 March 1873. Reported in the Cork Examiner 17 & 18 March, 1873.
Case Baldwin v Murphy & a cross action suit: Murphy v Baldwin
Baldwin v Murphy: Murphy v Baldwin:
Plaintiff: Margaret Baldwin Plaintiff: Susan Kate Murphy
Defendant: Susan Kate Murphy Defendant: Margaret Baldwin
So, what were the issues that brought two family members to court seeking a judgement in 1873?
First, it's back to 1827...
A discovery in December 2022 of a Cork County Record Court hearing in March 1873 (reported at length in the Cork Examiner newspaper at the time) has provided information on some eleven additional unknown Murphy family/extended family members from the late 19th Century. Further research and discoveries have managed to confirm details and add substance to some of their life stories, connections and in a number of individuals, their differences. While it's both a complex and complicated case, it's a fascinating insight into a long forgotten chapter of family history and adds to our shared extended family history archives.
This story begins with a court report in the Cork Examiner in March, 1873:
Cork County Record Court hearing: 15 & 17 March, 1873
Reported in the Cork Examiner Newspaper (17 March & 18 March 1873)
Hearing Cork County Record Court, Washington Street Courthouse, Cork, before Judge O'Brien.
Date Saturday, 15 March & Monday, 17 March 1873. Reported in the Cork Examiner 17 & 18 March, 1873.
Case Baldwin v Murphy & a cross action suit: Murphy v Baldwin
Baldwin v Murphy: Murphy v Baldwin:
Plaintiff: Margaret Baldwin Plaintiff: Susan Kate Murphy
Defendant: Susan Kate Murphy Defendant: Margaret Baldwin
So, what were the issues that brought two family members to court seeking a judgement in 1873?
First, it's back to 1827...
On 9 July 1827, Michael Murphy, a tenant farmer of Knockanemore, Ovens, Co. Cork, died.
A substantial farmer for the era, Michael farmed c.161 acres of leased land in the town-land of Knockanemore on an extended lease from two local landlords, Thomas Coppinger (?-?) and John Hawkes (1802 - 3 Jan 1883). Both he and his unnamed wife, farmed the property and had raised a family of at least seven children: Rev. Denis (?-1868) the eldest, Bartholomew Martin (c.1798-1883), John Golden (? - 1854), Margaret (?-?) (an only daughter), Francis (?-?) [mentioned in Court reports but no records otherwise], Patrick Denis (c.1786 ? - 1870) & the youngest, Michael (c.1799-1871).
[Michael was very probably a brother of Rev. Daniel Murphy (1755-1839) whose life story is covered in earlier chapters. However a definitive connection has not yet been established]
While Michael had educated two sons to an unusually high level for an Irish Catholic tenant's children in the early 19th century (Rev. Denis to the Roman Catholic clergy & John Golden as a medical doctor) he had also possibly assisted Patrick Denis set up a farm in the neighbouring townland of Mologhroe (148 acres leased from Lord Carbery of Castlefreke) as well as 'setting aside' the customary dowry for his only daughter, Margaret.
Michael had next planned to divide the lease rights to his c.161 acre lease holding in Knockanemore between two sons; c.91 acres to Bartholomew Martin on lands owned by John Hawkes and c.70 acres with the family home to the youngest, Michael - on lands owned by Thomas Coppinger.
However, when Michael unexpectedly died at the family home in Knockanemore on 9 July 1827, he was intestate.
As Michael had left no Last Will or other written instructions (but no doubt verbally indicated his intentions to family members and the local landowners), leases on his land holdings were urgently re-negotiated the following day, 10 July, with both John Hawkes & Thomas Coppinger. Bartholomew negotiated personally and directly with Hawkes while the newly ordained Rev. Denis Murphy negotiated with Coppinger on behalf of his brother, Michael. Both were successful and with renewed leases of unknown duration (but believed to be of at least 60-80 years), continued farming adjacent to each other.
All of the Murphy children married with the exception of Michael, who remained a bachelor for life. Margaret married Walter Baldwin in1839, Bartholomew to Margaret Batten (year unknown) and Michael Golden to Susan Kate O'Mahony of Grenagh in 1846.
Some years later in 1840, Bartholomew negotiated with Landlord Coppinger for an additional lease of a small holding previously owned by a John Hill, of 1.5 acres with a residence. This abutted both brother's farms and a lease was completed on behalf of Michael, which increased his farm holding to c.71.5 acres & two residences. This small plot became known within the family and locally as 'Hill's Lot' or 'Hill's Plot' after the former holder.
In c.1844, Walter Baldwin died and c.1852, Margaret returned to the Murphy home in Knockanemore with her two sons and with her brother's blessing, took up residence on Hill's Lot. For the next almost twenty years, she 'kept house' for Michael and she and her children worked his farm - unpaid, but with a tacit understanding that the Baldwin boys would inherit the farm leasehold from their bachelor uncle on his death. However, nothing was formally agreed or a deed finalised.
In 1854, Dr. John G. Murphy died leaving Susan Kate a widow, with a son and daughter. Of apparent independent means, Susan Kate Murphy resided in Sunday's Well but was close to her brothers-in-law, Michael and Rev. Denis Murphy, visiting both frequently.
In the summer of 1867, Michael suffered a stroke. This prompted both his brother, Rev. Denis (then Parish Priest of Ballinhassig, Co. Cork) and sister-in-law, Susan Kate to 'encourage' Michael to sign a formal will or deed, disposing of his leasehold of lands at Knockanemore on his death. This was duly completed by a deed with the leasehold on the farm and 'Hill's Lot' granted to just two beneficiaries - Rev. Denis Murphy and Susan Kate Murphy. Margaret Baldwin was not advised that a deed had been drafted and it appears that she and her family were not beneficiaries.
The following year, Rev. Denis Murphy died and Susan Kate in due course, was noted as the executor of his will in addition to now becoming the sole beneficiary of her brother-in-law Michael's deed. Michael continued to decline following his stroke and despite rumours of a will or deed having been signed, nothing apparently was discussed with his sister Margaret or her sons.
By 1869, concerned both for herself and her son's futures, Margaret Baldwin sourced a copy of Michael's deed and on discovery that she and her children were not listed as beneficiaries and that her sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy was now to be the sole beneficiary, requested that the deed be amended. This was not completed as the time limit allowing for changes to the deed had passed. Margaret next made a formal written request to her sister-in-law, Susan Kate, to buy from her, the property lease for 'Hill's Lot'. Susan Kate initially agreed to sell this lease to the Baldwins for £200 at the future date when Michael passed away. This agreement, however, was rescinded shortly afterward the agreement following objections, it was claimed, from Susan Kate's children; Michael John and Julia Murphy.
Michael died in 1871 and the entire lease holding passed to Susan Kate Murphy. With no provision made for Michael's sister and family and an earlier agreement to sell the 'Hill's Lot' lease rescinded, Margaret Batten and her sons opted to remain in adverse possession of the one and half acre residence of Hill's Lot which prompted the resultant court action in March 1873.
below: the leased lands owned by Michael Murphy & Bartholomew Murphy in 1852
Margaret Baldwin and her sons had occupied Michael Murphy's adjacent 'Hill's Lot' since c.1852 and following his death, had refused to vacate the property.
With no evidence discovered of negotiations or discussions on the matter of their occupancy, the first inkling we have of family discord was by early 1873, when Susan Kate Murphy had decided to remove by legal means, Margaret Baldwin and her sons from the holding. Margaret immediately counter-sued for a Breach of Agreement resulting from Susan Kate's refusal to honour their 1869 agreement.
A hearing was scheduled for March 1873 and both cases (Murphy v. Baldwin & Baldwin v. Murphy) were consolidated into one hearing before Judge O'Brien in the Cork County Record Court. This case began hearing on the afternoon of Saturday, 15 March 1873.
The Court report details that Plaintiff Susan Kate Murphy sought an 'Ejectment of Title' from the defendant, her sister-in-law Margaret Baldwin to recover possession & lease title of "part of the lands at Knockanemore containing 70 acres" situated near Ovens, Co. Cork which had been leased from Landlord Thomas Coppinger by Margaret's brother, Michael Murphy between 1827 and his death aged c.72 in 1871. Specifically, this referred to the plot of 1.5 acres with residence known as 'Hill's Lot' or 'Hill's Plot'. There was also a cross action or a separate and independent lawsuit brought by Margaret Baldwin against Susan Kate Murphy for breaking their 1869 agreement to sell the property.
An 'Ejectment of Title' remains as a common law cause of action by a plaintiff relating to a disputed property, who, while they did not actually possess the disputed property, claimed the right to possess or hold it, against a defendant who was in actual possession of the disputed property. An Ejectment of Title was a common case heard in Irish courts during the 19th century as the majority of land was not owned outright by tenant farmers but leased from the landed gentry or larger farmer landlords. Occasionally, an existing lease agreement became an issue, as in this case, within families on death of the holder and the lease inheritance. The plaintiff in each case, had to prove their right to exclusive possession of the property by showing evidence of holding as in a lease, mortgage or owned outright - not always easily forthcoming if the holder was illiterate or if a long standing agreement had been lost over the years or was more frequently the case, an agreement had been simply verbal.
This 'Ejectment of Title' case became even more complex as it involved members of an extended family, the existence of a deed rather than a will, insinuations of some questionable legal advice and issues as to whether Michael Murphy was of 'sound mind' in the first place when the legal arrangements were drawn up and signed in 1867.
Mrs Susan Kate Murphy's argument was that as that she was the rightful inheritor of both the Murphy farm and the 'Hill's Lot' lease agreement, she required that the occupation of the 'Hill's Lot' land and residence be vacated by Mrs Baldwin and family and surrendered to her as the legal owner. Mrs Baldwin however, claimed that by virtue of the family connection, verbal promises made by the deceased, her long term habitation of the home and contributions made by both herself and her children during their lifetime, requested the removal of Mrs Murphy as the leaseholder to the lands and property known as 'Hill's Lot' and in addition was suing for a breach of agreement to sell the leaseholder rights in 1869 for £200.
With no evidence discovered of negotiations or discussions on the matter of their occupancy, the first inkling we have of family discord was by early 1873, when Susan Kate Murphy had decided to remove by legal means, Margaret Baldwin and her sons from the holding. Margaret immediately counter-sued for a Breach of Agreement resulting from Susan Kate's refusal to honour their 1869 agreement.
A hearing was scheduled for March 1873 and both cases (Murphy v. Baldwin & Baldwin v. Murphy) were consolidated into one hearing before Judge O'Brien in the Cork County Record Court. This case began hearing on the afternoon of Saturday, 15 March 1873.
The Court report details that Plaintiff Susan Kate Murphy sought an 'Ejectment of Title' from the defendant, her sister-in-law Margaret Baldwin to recover possession & lease title of "part of the lands at Knockanemore containing 70 acres" situated near Ovens, Co. Cork which had been leased from Landlord Thomas Coppinger by Margaret's brother, Michael Murphy between 1827 and his death aged c.72 in 1871. Specifically, this referred to the plot of 1.5 acres with residence known as 'Hill's Lot' or 'Hill's Plot'. There was also a cross action or a separate and independent lawsuit brought by Margaret Baldwin against Susan Kate Murphy for breaking their 1869 agreement to sell the property.
An 'Ejectment of Title' remains as a common law cause of action by a plaintiff relating to a disputed property, who, while they did not actually possess the disputed property, claimed the right to possess or hold it, against a defendant who was in actual possession of the disputed property. An Ejectment of Title was a common case heard in Irish courts during the 19th century as the majority of land was not owned outright by tenant farmers but leased from the landed gentry or larger farmer landlords. Occasionally, an existing lease agreement became an issue, as in this case, within families on death of the holder and the lease inheritance. The plaintiff in each case, had to prove their right to exclusive possession of the property by showing evidence of holding as in a lease, mortgage or owned outright - not always easily forthcoming if the holder was illiterate or if a long standing agreement had been lost over the years or was more frequently the case, an agreement had been simply verbal.
This 'Ejectment of Title' case became even more complex as it involved members of an extended family, the existence of a deed rather than a will, insinuations of some questionable legal advice and issues as to whether Michael Murphy was of 'sound mind' in the first place when the legal arrangements were drawn up and signed in 1867.
Mrs Susan Kate Murphy's argument was that as that she was the rightful inheritor of both the Murphy farm and the 'Hill's Lot' lease agreement, she required that the occupation of the 'Hill's Lot' land and residence be vacated by Mrs Baldwin and family and surrendered to her as the legal owner. Mrs Baldwin however, claimed that by virtue of the family connection, verbal promises made by the deceased, her long term habitation of the home and contributions made by both herself and her children during their lifetime, requested the removal of Mrs Murphy as the leaseholder to the lands and property known as 'Hill's Lot' and in addition was suing for a breach of agreement to sell the leaseholder rights in 1869 for £200.
Named persons on this Cork Examiner newspaper court report
(includes details from court reports in the March 1873 editions of the newspaper and December 2022 research).
(includes details from court reports in the March 1873 editions of the newspaper and December 2022 research).
Michael Murphy (Snr) (unknown - 9 July 1827)
Father of Rev. Denis, Bartholomew Martin, John Golden, Margaret (only daughter), Francis, Patrick Denis & Michael. His wife so far remains unknown. Probably a brother of Rev. Daniel Murphy (1755-1839) and perhaps Michael Martin (Martin Michael?) Murphy. Farmed at least 161 leased acres in Knockanemore, Ovens. Michael died intestate 9 July 1827. |
Margaret Baldwin nee Murphy (unknown-unknown)
Sister of Michael Murphy (d.1871) & Sister-in-law of the defendant, Susan Kate Murphy. Margaret had married Walter Baldwin of Mossgrove (near Bandon) in January 1839. They went on to have two children together (plus possibly also a daughter per a somewhat inaccurate Ancestry.com lead); Walter and an unnamed second male child. Walter Snr subsequently died c. 1850-51 and Margaret with her two children, returned to the family home in Knockanemore in 1852, then leased by her unmarried brother, Michael. There, Margaret and her sons lived in a separate house and adjoining 1.5 acres (known as 'Hill's Lot') on a lease by Michael from 1840. Since 1827, Michael had also held the lease to farm the adjoining 70 acres of property and occupied a main residence nearby. For the next almost twenty years, Margaret 'kept house' for Michael, and worked the farm with her children, all three were understood to be dependent on him. Despite this, on Michael's death in 1871, the lease rights to the entire property at Knockanemore (70 acres and 1.5 acres of Hill's Lot & residences) were left to Margaret's Sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy - who had married John Golden Murphy and also had two children but lived elsewhere, in Sunday's Well, Cork City. No provision had been made in the deed for Margaret Baldwin and her family. Had there been some family disagreement? Margaret subsequently defended this case of Ejectment of Title on the basis of moneys owed to her by Michael, that the majority of the farm and property as held by her sister-in-law were covered by a separate lease to that of her residence at 'Hill's Lot' for the previous 20 years and 1.5 acres, and that her sister-in-law's inheritance of her brother's property may have been due to the questionable validity of her brother's Will/Deed made in August 1867. In addition, Margaret counter sued for a breach of agreement made by Susan Kate to sell the leaseholder rights to the Baldwins in 1869 had since been rescinded. |
Susan Kate Murphy nee O'Mahony (c.1821-1899)
Sister-in-Law of Michael Murphy. From Grenagh, North Cork. Married to Michael's brother, Dr. John Golden Murphy in 1846 & mother of Julia & Michael John Murphy. Executor of the will of Rev. Denis Murphy in 1869. Lease rights to lands and residences on the farm at Knockanemore & 'Hill's Lot' were left to both Rev. Denis Murphy & Susan Kate Murphy by Michael in his Deed of 1867. Susan Kate later became an extensive property holder in Cork City. |
Michael Murphy (c.1795-1871)
Son of Michael Murphy (d.1827) & an unnamed mother. Brother of Rev. Denis, Bartholomew Martin, Margaret, Francis Murphy & others unnamed in the Cork Examiner case report. Brother-in-law of Susan Kate Murphy. Farmed 70 acres of land leased from local Landlord John Hawkes, land leased originally by his father, Michael Murphy (d.1827) from an unknown date and after 10 July 1827, apparently through an Assignment of Contract made with his brother, Rev. Denis Murphy. His widowed sister, Margaret and her two children resided with Michael on his farm occupying a separate residence and land known as 'Hills Lot' between c.1851-1871 where she 'kept house' for him and both nephews worked the farm. Michael suffered a stroke in 1867 in a subsequent deed, left the lease rights to 70 acres with residence and 'Hill's Lot' of 1.5 acres with residence occupied by Margaret Baldwin & family to his sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy. Michael died in 1871. |
Rev. Denis Murphy (1801-1868)
Parish Priest of Ballinhassig. Brother of Michael Murphy. Ordained in May 1826. The home farm of Knockanemore & 'Hill's Lot' was left to Rev. Denis and his Sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy by Michael Murphy in a deed dated August 1867. Rev. Murphy's will nominated Susan Kate Murphy as his executor who later took out probate. |
John George MacCarthy. (1829-1892)
The Cork city solicitor engaged by Michael Murphy Snr and Rev. Denis Murphy to draft a deed of transfer on August 19, 1867. Founder of the Cork Historical Society and the Cork Catholic Young Men's Society. Qualified as a solicitor in 1853, MacCarthy established a lucrative legal practice with his brother-in-law in Cork and became involved in municipal politics. He was made alderman in the late 1850s and later unsuccessfully contested the mayoralty against Sir John Arnott. In 1859 he married Maria Josephine, daughter of John Hanrahan of Mount Prospect. He unsuccessfully contested the seat for Mallow in 1872 but won it in 1874 as a Home Ruler. At Westminster he devoted himself chiefly to the land question, in particular the extension of tenant right throughout Ireland and land reclamation. He also championed higher education for Catholics; arguing that Protestants had a near monopoly on higher education, as there was a virtual exclusion of Catholics at TCD and the Queen's colleges. Educationally, he saw Catholics as a disadvantaged majority who still had to compete in life and for office with a privileged minority. For his promotion of catholic interests, he was made a knight of the order of St Gregory by Pope Leo XIII in February 1880. Having retired from politics in 1880 to return to his legal practice, in 1882 MacCarthy was appointed one of four legal assistant commissioners for the land commission created by Gladstone's 1881 Land Act. The commission's purpose was to fix ‘fair’ or ‘judicial’ rents for tenant farmers for a fifteen-year period; in effect, most judicial rents were reduced rents. MacCarthy presided over the sub-commission of Mayo, Galway, and Kerry until the creation of the estate commission under the Ashbourne Act (1885). He was then appointed as one of two commissioners to oversee the financial facilities for tenant farmers to purchase their farms. He remained an estate commissioner until his death, on 7 September 1892 at the Euston Hotel, London, where he was staying on his way home from a continental trip to improve his health. He was buried at Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin. |
Dr John Golden Murphy brother of Michael, Denis, Margaret & Francis. Medical Doctor. In 1846, he was based in Grenagh, Co. Cork. Married Susan Kate O'Mahony in June 1846 at Glouncoum, Co. Cork. Died 1854 in Cork.
Julia Murphy. Daughter of Susan Kate Murphy and Dr John Golden Murphy.
Michael John Murphy. Son of Susan Kate Murphy and Dr John Golden Murphy.
Francis Murphy. Brother of Michael, Denis, Margaret. Details unknown.
Dr. James Golding. Medical Practitioner and presumed Medical Doctor to Michael Murphy.
Patrick Daly. Friend of both Rev. Denis Murphy and Michael Murphy. Possibly acted as a witness at the signing of the Murphy deed on August 19, 1867.
Pat Callaghan. School Teacher in the locality. Drew up a will for Michael Murphy c. 1871.
Thomas Goulding. Executor of Michael Murphy's 1871 will. Resident in Donoughmore.
Bartholomew Delaney. Employed by Michael Murphy on his farm.
Legal Team for Plaintiff, Mrs Susan Kate Murphy: Counsel; Mr. O'Brien QC, Attorney Mr. Roche & Solicitor Mr. J.C.[Jeremiah Charles]Blake (d.1904).
Legal Team for Defendants - Mrs Margaret Baldwin & Walter Baldwin: Counsel Mr Murphy QC & Counsel Mr Waters QC, Attorney Mr [John F. ]O'Riordan and Solicitor Mr.[Henry Bacon] Julian. (Mr. H.B. Julian had an enormous practice in Cork 1840-1890. d.1894.)
Julia Murphy. Daughter of Susan Kate Murphy and Dr John Golden Murphy.
Michael John Murphy. Son of Susan Kate Murphy and Dr John Golden Murphy.
Francis Murphy. Brother of Michael, Denis, Margaret. Details unknown.
Dr. James Golding. Medical Practitioner and presumed Medical Doctor to Michael Murphy.
Patrick Daly. Friend of both Rev. Denis Murphy and Michael Murphy. Possibly acted as a witness at the signing of the Murphy deed on August 19, 1867.
Pat Callaghan. School Teacher in the locality. Drew up a will for Michael Murphy c. 1871.
Thomas Goulding. Executor of Michael Murphy's 1871 will. Resident in Donoughmore.
Bartholomew Delaney. Employed by Michael Murphy on his farm.
Legal Team for Plaintiff, Mrs Susan Kate Murphy: Counsel; Mr. O'Brien QC, Attorney Mr. Roche & Solicitor Mr. J.C.[Jeremiah Charles]Blake (d.1904).
Legal Team for Defendants - Mrs Margaret Baldwin & Walter Baldwin: Counsel Mr Murphy QC & Counsel Mr Waters QC, Attorney Mr [John F. ]O'Riordan and Solicitor Mr.[Henry Bacon] Julian. (Mr. H.B. Julian had an enormous practice in Cork 1840-1890. d.1894.)
Over the following pages, a time-line of events and persons is reconstructed primarily from the Cork Examiner Court reports of Saturday 15 March and Monday 17 March 1873 and includes additional information discovered in various archives and library searches & research. Copies of the original Examiner newspaper reports on the 1873 court case appear at the end of each item.
Over the following pages, a time-line of events and persons is reconstructed primarily from the Cork Examiner Court reports of Saturday 15 March and Monday 17 March 1873 and includes additional information discovered in various archives and library searches & research. Copies of the original Examiner newspaper reports on the 1873 court case appear at the end of each item.
In the mid-Victorian era, law courts in both Britain and Ireland routinely sat each Saturday during law terms and Cork was no exception. The Cork County Record Court [1] in Washington Street sat before Judge O'Brien on Saturday, 15 March 1873 with two cases of 'Ejectment to recover ' scheduled for the day. The Murphy v. Baldwin and Baldwin v. Murphy title case was a little down the list after the completion of a possession hearing on Prospect Villa & Mill Farm in Carrigaline.
[1] Prior to 1924, County Courts were the main civil courts in Ireland having jurisdiction over most civil matters, except for larger actions which were heard by the High Court of Justice in Ireland or the assizes. These County Courts were abolished under The Courts of Justice Act 1924 which transferred jurisdiction to the Circuit Court. For additional information on Courts & Court Records pre 1922, see the National Archives of Ireland Guide to pre 1922 Court Records.
An unusually extensive (and no doubt expensive) selection of legal talent represented both the Murphy and Baldwin parties in this County Record Court case, with no less that two Queen's Counsel heavyweights representing the Baldwins, and just as today, legal representation in 1873 did not come cheaply. Also sitting in Court among interested parties, witnesses and the public, was an unnamed but experienced legal journalist for the Cork Examiner. His recording of the case testimony, questions and cross-examination was to provide so much key detail some one hundred and fifty years later.
This Cork Examiner report opened with details of the legal expertise arrayed before Judge O'Brien that Saturday afternoon.
The plaintiff, Mrs Susan Kate Murphy was represented by Counsel Mr. O'Brien QC, assisted by Attorney Mr. Roche & Solicitor Mr. Jeremiah Charles Blake (d.1904). Meanwhile, arranged on the defence for Mrs Margaret Baldwin & Walter Baldwin were Counsels Mr Murphy QC & Mr Waters QC, both assisted by Attorney Mr John F. O'Riordan and Solicitor Mr. [
Henry Bacon Julian. (Mr. H.B. had an enormous practice in Cork City between 1840-1890. d.1894.)
The Murphy v Baldwin case eventually opened with the highly experienced and well regarded Cork solicitor, John George McCarthy, outlining events at the presbytery home of Rev. Denis Murphy, Ballinhassig on August 19, 1867. He detailed the drawing up of a deed to transfer the lease ownership of c.71 acres of farmland in Knockanemore from Michael Murphy, on his death, to both his brother, the Rev. Denis Murphy and his sister-in-law, Susan Kate Murphy.
In cross examination it was discovered that either Mrs Murphy or Rev. Murphy had in fact suggested the drawing up of a deed and that Michael was unable to later sign the document. A further revelation was that Mr. MacCarthy 'had to guide his hand' while doing so. Michael was suffering from 'side paralysis' as his doctor, James Golding, explained, and so was unable to sign. [Today, some 150 years on from this event, we are aware that Hemiplegia involves one-sided paralysis and is largely symptomatic of stroke but may also indicate brain tumours or brain cancer. Any resultant brain damage from a stroke can cause issues such as memory problems and behavioural changes. Overall, having a person who recently experienced a stroke comprehend and sign complex legal documentation is at least today, legally questionable and quite possibly exploitative]
When Susan Kate Murphy took the stand, she quickly distanced herself from any knowledge of any special arrangement between Michael and his sister, Margaret; that she did not 'urge Mr. MacCarthy to get ready the documents quickly'; never said anything to Mrs Baldwin regarding the deed; never heard Fr.Murphy say, as was claimed, that his brother was 'of unsound mind when he signed the document' but admitted that she did promise to 'let Mrs Baldwin have a portion of the place in consideration of £200 in 1869' and that afterwards, she revoked it due to her children's opposition.
Susan Kate's daughter, Julia Murphy was next and in her testimony confirmed that she had not consented to the lease sale to Mrs Baldwin (without explaining why) and the quite extraordinary fact that she had heard Rev. Murphy 'ask Dr. Golding for a certificate of her uncle's sanity' and when asked why such a certificate may be necessary, replied; 'in case the Baldwin's should dispute it.'
Valuations had been sought as to the overall property estimated value at Knockanemore. Henry Reade, a farmer and land agent valued the lands at 26/ an acre, a figure concurred by a second agent, Daniel Murphy.(2)
(2) Land Valuation of 26/ and acre (£1.6.0) totaled £92.6.0 or c. £11.9k in 2022 values.
With the end of the court day of 6pm approaching, Judge O'Brien wound the first day's proceedings up by requesting Solicitor McCarthy should produce all records relating to the case at the next sitting on Monday morning, 17 March.
The Court rose to reconvene the following Monday, St. Patrick's Day.
While wearing of the green was fairly evenly observed throughout Ireland in the Victorian era, celebrating St Patrick's day as a national holiday did not begin until 1903 thanks to that year's Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act. Parades were very much in the future in Ireland, only making any real appearance in the 1960s but were certainly an annual event in Irish centres throughout the United States & Australia. Marking the Saint's day in the United States was viewed as a ethnic badge of pride, particularly in an era when the Irish, particularly Roman Catholic Irish were a largely despised and mistrusted ethnic group.
Meanwhile in Cork, no doubt the main topic of conversation over breakfast that St. Patrick's morning in the Baldwin & various Murphy households would have been Saturday's court reports published in that morning's Cork Examiner:
The hearing re-opens...
On resumption of the case in the Washington Street Courthouse, solicitor MacCarthy advised Judge O'Brien that he was unable to provide either the letter from Rev. Denis Murphy requesting the solicitor's attendance in Ballinhassig to draft a will or deed on behalf of his brother, Michael; or for that matter, the letter of Dr. Golding's assessment of his client's mental capacity. Unsurprisingly perhaps, he did manage to locate and produce a copy of the costs.
The first witness called on the day was Patrick Daly, a friend of both deceased brothers. He testified that he was present on the day the deed was drafted in August 1867 and how it was read aloud in Fr. Murphy's drawing room to Michael and those present. Michael's physical condition was also commented upon, that on the day 'he appeared feeble and somewhat emaciated.' Mr O'Brien Q.C. quickly put in evidence, the history of the Knockanemore property lease and with this, wound up the case for the plaintiff, Susan Kate Murphy.
Mr Murphy Q.C. now opened for the defendant, Margaret Baldwin and came out fighting with some strongly worded remarks on the entire case presented so far.
He submitted that the 1867 deed was certainly not that of Michael Murphy and ...
On resumption of the case in the Washington Street Courthouse, solicitor MacCarthy advised Judge O'Brien that he was unable to provide either the letter from Rev. Denis Murphy requesting the solicitor's attendance in Ballinhassig to draft a will or deed on behalf of his brother, Michael; or for that matter, the letter of Dr. Golding's assessment of his client's mental capacity. Unsurprisingly perhaps, he did manage to locate and produce a copy of the costs.
The first witness called on the day was Patrick Daly, a friend of both deceased brothers. He testified that he was present on the day the deed was drafted in August 1867 and how it was read aloud in Fr. Murphy's drawing room to Michael and those present. Michael's physical condition was also commented upon, that on the day 'he appeared feeble and somewhat emaciated.' Mr O'Brien Q.C. quickly put in evidence, the history of the Knockanemore property lease and with this, wound up the case for the plaintiff, Susan Kate Murphy.
Mr Murphy Q.C. now opened for the defendant, Margaret Baldwin and came out fighting with some strongly worded remarks on the entire case presented so far.
He submitted that the 1867 deed was certainly not that of Michael Murphy and ...
'the validity of which was the chief question in the case, could not, on the evidence, be held valid, so as to pass the real estate under the circumstances which it was executed ... the one sufficient badge of fraud was the very fact of executing a voluntary instrument without the power of revocation'.
Mr Murphy further outlined the relationship between his client and her deceased brother:
'his widowed sister, Mrs Baldwin and her children, living for twenty years with him, taking towards him, an unmarried man, the position as it were, of his own wife and children, working on his farm, and being in all respects, the persons likely to succeed him in the possession of any means he had, while Mrs Murphy and her children were comparative strangers to him - as showing a strong improbability of his arraigning his property voluntarily to them'
Legal counsel then came to the circumstances under which the deed of 1867 had been executed and how Michael Murphy having suffered a stroke, was brought twelve miles from his home in Knockanemore ...
'...in a prostrate state to the home of the Rev. Denis Murphy [in Ballinhassig]…and while he was suffering from that fit of paralysis, an arrangement was made that a instrument should be got from under his hand to deprive from the possibility of ever extending his bounty after his death to the sister he had left at home, and the orphan children he had virtually adopted'.
Mr Murphy next remarked that instructions on the preparation of the deed...
'...had been forwarded to the solicitors by the priest without any proof of previous consultation with the man whose property was to be assigned, and there was prepared not only a deed but also a will. What was the use of Mr MacCarthy explaining the difference between the two documents to the ailing man when both were to be executed?
Counsel when went on to refer to the transaction of the 17 August 1867 as...
'...very peculiar…the execution of a deed under such circumstances was a mere mockery and farce.
Counsel asked Judge O'Brien, on evidence, to find that neither the deed nor the will was the deed or will freely executed by Michael Murphy, but eexecuted at the dictation of the brother and sister who had him under control at the time.
Bartholomew Martin Murphy testifies
Next to appear in the witness box at the Washington Street courtroom was perhaps the most interesting witness to testify at this 1873 hearing; Bartholomew Murphy (1798-1883), brother of the Rev. Denis, Michael and Margaret (and a paternal great-great grandfather of this writer).
Appearing as a witness on behalf of his sister, Margaret Baldwin, Bartholomew outlined the family's history with a rich seam of information for both the benefit of the judge on the day but also for his descendants a century and a half later…
"I am brother of Michael Murphy. My father, Michael Murphy, lived at Knockanmore. He had this farm in dispute and the one I have. He resided in the latter. My father died without a will about 1827. The Rev. Denis Murphy was his oldest son. I am his second son. Dr. John Golden Murphy was the other. The latter died about twenty years ago. Margaret was my only sister.
After my father's death, the priest divided what he left, giving me one farm and the other to Michael. Michael was put into this farm after Father Denis got the lease, which was the day following my father's death. Father Denis was never in possession at all, but I was until the two were divided.
I knew John Hill being in the same land of Knockanemore before my father got either of the farms, at the time of his death, and afterwards. He continued in possession twelve to fifteen years after my father's death. There was about an acre and a half in the bit he held. It was I got possession of that bit from Mr. Coppinger, the head landlord, who got it from John Hill for £9. I gave the key to Michael Murphy. I was not present when Michael Murphy paid the money.
Since Michael's death, Mrs Baldwin and her sons have been in possession of Hill's lot. I went to see the deceased Michael Murphy the day after he got the stroke of paralysis. He was disabled in bed - he was not able to know me or at least did not pretend to know me. I asked him questions and he seemed not to know me. I saw him a day or two after that. As far as I could judge, he did not know me the second day I called. He seemed quite careless and did not appear to notice me. Went three or four times to see him. On the last occasion he knew me, talked to me, and said he would wish to be at home. That was about a fortnight or three weeks before he left the house [his brother's house in Ballinhassig]
He was living with me six weeks before he died. Never heard there was any falling out between him and Mrs. Baldwin. He was telling me of having signed some document at Father Murphy's house, that he did not know what it was, and that he was not in his perfect senses at the time. That was two months or more before his death. He told me frequently and used to shed tears that he did not know and had no recollection of it at the time. He said they brought the document to him, and that he had no recollection when he did so. He told others of it also.
According to the Cork Examiner his replies to Mr. Murphy Q.C. ended here. Interestingly, Bartholomew's testimony highlighted the degree of confusion experienced by Michael Murphy at the time, some weeks before his death in 1871.
Cross examined by Mr O'Brien Q.C. for the plaintiff, Susan Kate Murphy, now asked Bartholomew some pertinent questions. His replies were noted by the Cork Examiner's court reporter, beginning with just how far from his residence was Michael's farm...
Cross examined by Mr O'Brien Q.C. for the plaintiff, Susan Kate Murphy, now asked Bartholomew some pertinent questions. His replies were noted by the Cork Examiner's court reporter, beginning with just how far from his residence was Michael's farm...
'It is not a quarter of a mile from my place at Knockanmore to my brother's place; the deceased used to walk about when he was staying with me; a good deal used to pass between us in conversation; the reason why he left Margaret Baldwin and her children and came to me was because I had a good reception for him.
I never had possession of his land, I issued an execution against the land for debts; that was between twenty and thirty years ago.
I have not the will I got Michael to make; it was made in my house the day before his death; it remained in the hands of the man who drew it - Pat Callaghan, the parish teacher; I don't know what brought him there; I was there when he came, but not when the will was drawn; Pat Callaghan kept the will until it was given to the executor, Thomas Goulding; I heard it read a day or two after his death; I did not see or hear the will read afterwards; I don't know where the will is now; Thomas Goulding lives in Donoughmore; it was he brought it to my house and read it for me; he came to look after the place and to manage it.
I did not witness the will; I quite forget who were the witnesses; I don’t remember what was in the will; I don't know whether there was any mention in the will of a debt of £30 to Margaret Baldwin, and it's being directed to be paid; I don't recollect anything that was in the will. I know that the will directed his debts to be paid off. I don't know that there was no mention of Michael Murphy's farm in the will. He never told me that he had already disposed of the farm to Mrs. Murphy and her children. I quite forget whether I ever asked him to dispose of that farm. He never said to me that he had given the farm to Mrs Murphy and her children.
I purchased the stock from himself a month or six weeks before his death. I believe I paid him £70 for it, in my own house. He wanted to pay off a debt, and to do that he proposed to sell his stick to me. The stock was on his farm at that time. I believe it was to Mrs. Baldwin he owed that debt. I don't know that Mrs. Baldwin was to remain in possession of the farm. I gave £55 of the £70 to Mr Gillman, to pay Mrs. Baldwin. Do not know the amount of her debt, but he told me the whole £55 was to go to Mrs. Baldwin.
My eldest brother, the Rev. Denis Murphy was an honest man. I don't know whether he would engage in a plot to get possession of his brother's property. I often went to see him. I never in the presence of the Rev. Denis Murphy, and Mrs Murphy ask[ed] my brother Michael to make any statement in reply to or the Rev. Denis Murphy, as to what he was going to do with his farm, or about anything else. He told me that he thought it was to his brother the priest that he gave an assignment of the lands, as it was from him he got it, that was when he had come from he priest's. He did not speak of an assignment, but said he gave the farm to the priest, as it was the priest had given it to him.
I was present when he received the last sacraments at the hands of Rev. Mr. Cotter. Mrs Murphy was then present. Did not hear anything then said as to how he was about to dispose of his property. He was in the habit of going to his brother Denis' house.
This ended Bartholomew's testimony.
Next to appear for the defendant, Margaret Baldwin, was her son Walter.
Mr. Waters, their Q.C. asked for the witness' opinion as to the frame of mind of his Uncle Michael Murphy, following his stroke:
Next to appear for the defendant, Margaret Baldwin, was her son Walter.
Mr. Waters, their Q.C. asked for the witness' opinion as to the frame of mind of his Uncle Michael Murphy, following his stroke:
The deceased Michael Murphy's mind was not I think, perfectly right up to the time of his death. After he came back from Father Murphy's house I questioned him as to whether he had done anything in the form of a will or a deed during the time he was at Ballinhassig, and he said he had not done anything of the kind. He afterwards said if he had done so he forgot it. We had obtained a copy of the registry from Dublin and showed it to him. He said he did not think they would ask him to do anything wrong; that was about a week or a fortnight after he had come back; my mother repaired the house and out offices [farm buildings]
Cross examined by Mr O'Brien, Walter Baldwin was asked if he ever heard his Uncle's will being read:
[I] never heard my Uncle Michael's will read. My mother got something over £53 from the sale of the stock of Michael Murphy; I served a document [which Walter Baldwin produced in Court] on Miss Murphy at Sunday's Well; at the same time I asked her would she stick to the agreement, and she said she would not.
With Walter Baldwin's testimony completed, next to appear was Bartholomew Delany, employed on Michael Murphy's farm. He said that he saw Michael Murphy in bed at Rev. Denis Murphy's house, and spoke to him. He was not asleep but did not appear to know him.
The next person's testimony was certainly eagerly awaited - then as also some 150 years later by a future, distant relative.
Michael Murphy's only sister, Margaret Baldwin took the stand and as the Cork Examiner reported, she was examined by one of her two Queen's Counsel as to the duration of her residence with her brother Michael. Mrs. Baldwin replied that she...
..had lived with him, and her children also, for twenty years. Never had any quarrel with him.
Saw him afterwards in bed at her brother's, Denis Murphy's. He did not appear able to talk. They were expecting his death hourly. Got up in the middle of the night and went to him. He appeared to be sleeping. He did not speak to me while I was there. He did not appear to be in his senses. Went there a second time and spoke to him. At first he appeared to understand me, and then not. He did not seem to have his senses. Went to him a third time, and then he appeared much better. His will had been made then, but witness had no conversation with him about it.
Before his death, witness got £50 from Mr Gillman, money she had lent him to pay his rent with. Her son Walter worked on his far. Her children were never paid anything for what they did on the farm.
After her deceased brother had returned from the Rev. Denis Murphy's, he was very weak and low. Had search made for a will or deed she had heard he had made, and through Mr. Fitzsimons she obtained a copy of the deed. She then asked him if he had made a will making over his property away from his own? H said he had not. She told him to be sure. He then said again that he had not. Then she produced a copy of the search, and showed it to him. He bleared his eyes and then said 'Those little women and that fool of a priest made me do what I had no wish for'.
Subsequently, when he wanted her boys to work for him, Walter said he was ashamed to do so after the way he had treated them. Michael then said he would make all that right yet.
Subsequently she inquired about the £50 that he owed her, to be secured in it. She then learned from Mr. Fitzsimmons that Michael had gone to him to have the deed changed, but he told him it was too late, as the change had not been made within six months.
Cross examined by Mr. Roche, Margaret Baldwin said that she had heard that Michael made a will at Bartholomew's but did not care and did not ask anything about it.
Mr Waters then entered some documents into the Court record and closed for the defence. He then, in reply to the court, said he claimed the full value of the farm his client had lost through the conduct of the other party. The learned counsel then addressed the court generally upon the case. Mr Roche replied for the other side.
Judgement delivered
Finally, Judge O'Brien delivered his judgement on the case:
Mr Waters then entered some documents into the Court record and closed for the defence. He then, in reply to the court, said he claimed the full value of the farm his client had lost through the conduct of the other party. The learned counsel then addressed the court generally upon the case. Mr Roche replied for the other side.
Judgement delivered
Finally, Judge O'Brien delivered his judgement on the case:
His Lordship in giving judgement, said he had no doubt that in Mr. McCarthy's opinion, Michael Murphy was quite competent to execute the deed and as to the absence of a power of revocation in the deed being a badge of fraud, he (the Judge) did not agree with that view at all. This was a deal not made in favour of a stranger, but in favour of the children of the assignor's deceased brother; and he was perfectly free to choose between them and the children of his sister, Mrs. Baldwin.
On the evidence, he believed that Michael Murphy knew what he was doing when he executed the deed. But the curious thing in the case was, what now appeared for the first time, that Mrs Baldwin had heard of the existence of the deed in 1867, a year and a half before Michael Murphy died, then the ejectment was brought and an agreement was entered into by Mrs Murphy to assign the premises to Mrs Baldwin, which agreement recited the title of Mrs. Murphy to sell the premises conveyed under the deed of 1867. Furthermore, there was actually before this action on the ejectment was brought, a notice served upon Mrs. Murphy, calling upon her to execute the assignment, grounding her title upon the very deed which was now impeached. Finally, his lordship decided that in the case of Murphy v. Baldwin and baldwin, there should be a verdict for the plaintiff as against Walter Baldwin, and for the defendant, Margaret Baldwin; and as to the case of Baldwin v. Murphy, his present impression was that the amount lodged in court was sufficient, but this point he reserved for consideration.
Summary:
The Murphy story continues - scroll to top menu and click arrow to access the next section.
References & sources
- Cork Examiner Newspaper. Monday, 17 March 1873 and Tuesday, 18 March 1873.
- Irish statutes for the registration of deeds (1869) https://arborealis.ca/records/irish-deeds/irish-statutes-1869/
- Introduction the Memorials and Transcription Books in the Registry of Deeds by Dr. Patrick Walsh https://www.tailte.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Introduction-to-the-Memorials-and-Transcription-Books-at-the-Registry-of-Deeds.pdf
- Pat Crowley. Early Legal Personnel Cork. https://www.academia.edu/73686902/Early_Legal_Personnel_Cork_Ireland
The Margaret Baldwin and Susan Kate Murphy family archive trail largely disappears after 1873.
We can but assume that the Baldwin's left the Knockanemore area and settled elsewhere. Research on this branch of the family is ongoing. As for the redoubtable Susan Kate Murphy, she was to make two further appearances in the press - in 1878 with a forced possession/execution sale of the Knockanemore farm, the subject to the 1873 court case and on her death in 1899. The Hawkes family saga has also been included here.
Firstly, a surprising turn of events which took place some five years after the family land dispute court case of 1873. We presume of course that Susan Kate Murphy continued holding the farm lease in Knockanemore, possibly sub-letting or perhaps placing another relative or extended family member as a resident farm manager/caretaker.
Research now shows there is evidence that the property lease may also have been put forward as collateral for a loan or an investment of sorts by Susan Kate. But whatever commercial arrangements were entered into, these were unsuccessful and the venture appears to have folded c. 1877 with debts outstanding. It also appears that Susan Kate was either not in a position to clear these debts or perhaps was foreclosed on, as the farm was offered for an Execution Sale by the Cork County Sheriff in 1878
Appearing in the 5 March 1878 edition of the Cork Examiner newspaper was an Execution Sale for the leasehold of the 70 acre farm in Knockanemore, Ovens - listing several creditors against the lease holder, listed only as Murphy. Here an auctioneer, R.B.Evans with the County Sherriff's Office at the Cork Courthouse lists details of the property due for public auction on 7 March 1878. The 70 acre farm lease with dwelling house and out buildings had some 30 years left to run at the rent of £72 per annum. Interestingly, the advert also advises that 'the growing crops will also be sold at the same time and place'.
Research now shows there is evidence that the property lease may also have been put forward as collateral for a loan or an investment of sorts by Susan Kate. But whatever commercial arrangements were entered into, these were unsuccessful and the venture appears to have folded c. 1877 with debts outstanding. It also appears that Susan Kate was either not in a position to clear these debts or perhaps was foreclosed on, as the farm was offered for an Execution Sale by the Cork County Sheriff in 1878
Appearing in the 5 March 1878 edition of the Cork Examiner newspaper was an Execution Sale for the leasehold of the 70 acre farm in Knockanemore, Ovens - listing several creditors against the lease holder, listed only as Murphy. Here an auctioneer, R.B.Evans with the County Sherriff's Office at the Cork Courthouse lists details of the property due for public auction on 7 March 1878. The 70 acre farm lease with dwelling house and out buildings had some 30 years left to run at the rent of £72 per annum. Interestingly, the advert also advises that 'the growing crops will also be sold at the same time and place'.
Now, an Execution Sale is the sale of property by the sheriff under authority of a court's writ of execution in order satisfy an unpaid obligation. Such a sale was subject to a strict, exacting, rigorous procedure in Ireland of the 1870s and was very much the last resort. Stiff regulations such as no entry to secure lands could be made for example on a Sunday, Good Friday or Christmas Day and a complex set of rules were to be followed by the County Bailiff accompanied by the County Sheriff in all dealings with the property holders. The sale went ahead on Thursday, March 7, 1878.
No records have beenlocated to date as to the eventual purchaser.
Financial falls from grace were not limited to tenants on the estate of John Devonshire Hawkes - the once great landowner also experienced catalysmic financial loss during the early 1880s. In 1870, he was noted as being an extensive landholder of over 2,000 acres in the Ovens area, owning multiple properties and with a reasonable, guaranteed income from his lease tenants and no doubt various other investments and financial interests. So, what caused such a financial loss?
No records have beenlocated to date as to the eventual purchaser.
Financial falls from grace were not limited to tenants on the estate of John Devonshire Hawkes - the once great landowner also experienced catalysmic financial loss during the early 1880s. In 1870, he was noted as being an extensive landholder of over 2,000 acres in the Ovens area, owning multiple properties and with a reasonable, guaranteed income from his lease tenants and no doubt various other investments and financial interests. So, what caused such a financial loss?
The larger economic situation in Ireland was certainly difficult. A great depression of British & Irish Agriculture existed between 1873 to 1896 which both exacerbated and speeded the political push for land reform and transfer of lands to tenant ownership. These economica and political events also marked the beginning of the end for the large estate holding Anglo-Irish families. By the advent of the First World War in 1914, most of the land holdings had been transferrered....
Coinciding with the global economic depression at the time, this agricultural depression in Britain and Ireland was caused by the dramatic fall in grain prices that followed the opening up of the great American prairies to intensive cultivation in the 1870s along with the advent of cheap transportation of meat from Argentina, Australia & New Zealand with the rise of steamships & refrigeration.
To these far cheaper imports impacting Irish and British markets, was added unseasonably poor weather due to the El Nino phenomenon which quickly resulted in bad harvests & crop failures. These economic difficulties compounded by a lack of formal government intervention meant that life and a living from the land became increasingly difficult for everybody - from the tenant farmer to the land owner. The usual Tenant lifesaver of remittances from family members in Britain & the United States back to family in Ireland also fell dramatically as there was little work to be had.
With poor harvests & low prices, the small holding Irish tenant farmer quickly found himself unable to pay his rent. However, recent memory of the Famine era loss, emigration and death were once again resurected in Ireland as famine and widespread evictions threatened the West of Ireland.
Standards were certainly better in the Ovens region of Cork, where the Hawkes family were by all accounts, viewed as 'Improving Landlords'. This was a rare example of where resident landlords, by ensuring the economic viability of their tenants also resulted in the best means of ensuring their own income through continuining rent payments. The Hawke estates by are believed to have been largely self-supporting, little to no tenant-landlord strife existed and no evictions from their lands were recorded. Their tenant lease agrements appeared to have been quite fair with many of at least 75-80 years duration and at what were reasonable rates for the era.
However, benevolent landlords aside, the reality remained that the land which the tenant farmer tilled, maintained and improved and paid rent during his lifetime was owned by another and this was unlikely to change in the interim - unless political action was to change the status quo.
By 1879, one of the largest conflicts in Irish history which had been simmering for decades, erupted on the issue of land and landownership. For the first time, the authority of Anglo-Irish landlords to control the land in Ireland was questioned and challenged & by 1883, a popular mass movement had dealt a fatal blow to rural landlordism in Ireland while also transforming the careers and profiles of several Irish political and social figures.
While the Hawkes estates certainly experienced some impact from the land question locally, they were at a far greater danger from their owners than any politically active tenant. It appears the John Devonshire Hawkes 'over-extended' his estate during this period with questionable investments. While the precise issue remains somewhat unclear, it seems that a number of extended family members along with John D. became involved in financial speculation that ended rather badly.
John Devonshire Hawkes died 3 January 1883, unexpectedly, intestate and by all accounts, somewhat impoverished and in debt to a number of creditors, including his father in law, Adrian Taylor of Clonlough House, Co. Kerry and his uncle through marriage, The Rev. Hume Babington (1804-1886) of Moviddy, Crookstown, Co. Cork.
Rev. Hume Babington had married John Hawkes maternal aunt, Esther Nettles (1808-1878) in October 1836.
A descendant of Captain Richard Babington, an officer in King William's army at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, Hume was educated in Trinity College, Dublin & ordained as a clergyman in the Church of Ireland. He was first appointed as curate in Derry in 1827, moving to Moviddy, Crookstown, Co. Cork as Rector in 1833 where he was to remain until his death in 1886. His father, while also a cleric, apparently led quite an extravagant lifestyle, leaving enormous debts reputed to be in excess of £40,000 on his death in 1831 (equivalent to £4.3m in 2022).
These debts were eventually paid off by the family but no doubt left an embarrasingly strong impression on the young Hume. Sufficiently so when it came to debts outstanding that in 1836, he had a local resident Michael O'Mahony described in the Freeman's Journal [9 Dec 1836] as 'over 60 years of age, has a wife and five children' jailed for non payment of tithes due to him under the Tithe Composition Act(1823) (1) Financial obligations aside, the Rev. Babington was highly regarded as an educationalist & considered a 'very forward thinking individual...part of a new wave of idealism in the 1800s towards non-secular education'. |
Even more interestingly, this concept of non-secular education was at a time when all faiths in Ireland considered such a proposal as entirely alien. As Rev. Babington argued: “We entirely admit the justice and policy of the rule which protects scholars from interference with their religious principles and thus enables members of different denominations, to receive together in harmony and peace, the benefits of a good education”. (2)
As one of thirteen children himself, he also found enough time to father a further thirteen, including the future Sir Anthony Brutus Babington QC MP & Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
(1) https://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/cork/newspapers/freemans05.html - list of tithe prisoners in Cork Jail December 1836. Source: Freeman's Journal. A tithe was a tax in Ireland equating to one-tenth of farm production - due from each occupier of land, regardless of his/her religion, to support the clergy of the (Protestant) Church of Ireland. Originally, the tax was paid by the farmer in produce, but in 1823 the Tithe Composition Act was introduced which allowed tithes to be paid in cash, a practice that had already become quite widespread. The tithe was calculated on the average production per acre of oats and wheat and sale price of these between 1816 and 1823. Quite apart from the obvious dislike for paying hard-earned cash to what the majority considered an 'alien' church, the tithe was particularly hated among Catholic tenant farmers because the poor (as ever) bore the brunt. In addition to paying rent to the local landlord to farm the land, an additional tenth of production went to another church. Indeed, some wealthy landowners didn't pay anything while most tenants had to pay even though they farmed little more than a tiny potato patch. By the end of the 1820s, anger about these inequalities had reached a new level which led to The Tithe War (Irish: Cogadh na nDeachúna), a campaign of mainly nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes in Ireland between 1830 and 1836. Non payment of this tithe tax frequently resulted in the jailing of the debtor at the instigation of the local clergyman. Its not known when Michael O'Mahony was released. According to the 1837 edition of Samuel Lewis 'A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland' for Moviddy, the Rev. Babbington's Tithe income from the parish was £507.13.10 (£72.6k/€82k in 2023 valuations)
(2) Little has changed in Ireland since Babbington's support of secular education in the 1850s.Today, education in both the Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland remains mostly denominational at both primary and secondary level. In 2016, 96% of schools in the Republic & 93% in N.I. were under religious control.
As one of thirteen children himself, he also found enough time to father a further thirteen, including the future Sir Anthony Brutus Babington QC MP & Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
(1) https://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/cork/newspapers/freemans05.html - list of tithe prisoners in Cork Jail December 1836. Source: Freeman's Journal. A tithe was a tax in Ireland equating to one-tenth of farm production - due from each occupier of land, regardless of his/her religion, to support the clergy of the (Protestant) Church of Ireland. Originally, the tax was paid by the farmer in produce, but in 1823 the Tithe Composition Act was introduced which allowed tithes to be paid in cash, a practice that had already become quite widespread. The tithe was calculated on the average production per acre of oats and wheat and sale price of these between 1816 and 1823. Quite apart from the obvious dislike for paying hard-earned cash to what the majority considered an 'alien' church, the tithe was particularly hated among Catholic tenant farmers because the poor (as ever) bore the brunt. In addition to paying rent to the local landlord to farm the land, an additional tenth of production went to another church. Indeed, some wealthy landowners didn't pay anything while most tenants had to pay even though they farmed little more than a tiny potato patch. By the end of the 1820s, anger about these inequalities had reached a new level which led to The Tithe War (Irish: Cogadh na nDeachúna), a campaign of mainly nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes in Ireland between 1830 and 1836. Non payment of this tithe tax frequently resulted in the jailing of the debtor at the instigation of the local clergyman. Its not known when Michael O'Mahony was released. According to the 1837 edition of Samuel Lewis 'A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland' for Moviddy, the Rev. Babbington's Tithe income from the parish was £507.13.10 (£72.6k/€82k in 2023 valuations)
(2) Little has changed in Ireland since Babbington's support of secular education in the 1850s.Today, education in both the Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland remains mostly denominational at both primary and secondary level. In 2016, 96% of schools in the Republic & 93% in N.I. were under religious control.
At the time of John Devonshire Hawke's death, his net effects were valued at just £60 (£9.3k in 2022) and matters were complicated further as he had died intestate. The order of entitlement therefore followed to his much reduced estate - as there was no surviving (or more correctly, estate claimant) spouse, child, grandchild, parents, siblings, children of a predeceased sibling, nieces and nephews, grandparents… the estate finally fell to an uncle, well an uncle through marriage at any rate who was also a creditor of the estate, the Rev. Hume Babbington. John Hawkes must have hit up the family for a few bob at some stage and Uncle Hume was determined to get either the loan or his return on investment back. Memories of his father's spendthrift ways probably had a great deal of bearing on this, and so he quickly moved to secure letters of administration of the estate. As for the second known creditor, his father-in-law, Adrian Taylor of Clonlough House, he was to feature again in the matter of this estate within a few years.
Once the Letters of Administration were granted on 12 June 1883, the legal statutory notices were issued and appeared in the press later that month:
Once the Letters of Administration were granted on 12 June 1883, the legal statutory notices were issued and appeared in the press later that month:
The leasehold to Kilcrea House, castle and some 200 acres of land were sold in July 1885 by Rev. Babington to Edward Magner for £1,100 which no doubt went some of the way to settling some of the estates outstanding debts. Ownership of the lands remained in the hands of Captain Samuel Hawkes widow, Bessie Hawkes.
However, the Reverend Babbington had not fully completed the task of the administrator of John Hawkes estate by the time of his death on 23 January 1886 and the letters of administration were subsequently re-granted to another creditor, John Hawkes father-in-law, Adrian Taylor of Clontough House, Clountough, Co. Kerry on 8 June 1886. |
Two of Captain Hawkes' children had died in the meantime, and the only survivor was Frances Caroline Hawkes, a minor.
The new land owner, Mr Magner in September 1887 served notice to his tenants to fix a fair rent - i.e. increase the rent charged to each lease holder. This was quickly challenged by the tenants on the grounds that their land holding was tenanted as demesne lands and therefore not subject to a rental increase outside of their existing (and probably Term of Life) agreement. The court agreed and dismissed Mr. Magner's claim in 1888 being of opinion that the holding consisted of demesne lands. However, one of the Assistant Commissioners disagreed with the majority which quite probably gave some grounds for Mr Magner to appeal the case.
On the 6th September, 1887, the lessee served an originating notice to fix a fair rent, and on the 27th April, 1888, the Sub-Commission dismissed the application on the ground that the holding was demesne land, one of the Sub-Commissioners disÂsenting. On appeal to the Land Commission, this decision was affirmed on the 5th July, 1890 (1). From that order, Edward (1) The judgment of the Land Commission, delivered by Litton, J., was as follows : LITTON, J. :- This appeal concerns the lands of Kilcrea in the county of Cork, containing 194 acres demised by a lease of 11th May, 1872, to the late John D. Hawkes, for a term of thirty-five years at a rent of £310. The tenant, Mr. Edward Magner, in July, 1885, became the purchaser of John D. Hawkes' interest under the lease, and on the 19th September, 1887, served his originating notice to fix a fair rent. The Sub-
Commission, by order dated the 27th April, 1888, dismissed the originating notice, being of opinion that the holding consisted of demesne lands one of the Assistant Commissioners differed from his colleagues in the decision come to. It appears from the evidence, and, indeed, it was not conÂtroverted, that Kilcrea House and lands, on which stand the ruins of Kilcrea Castle, have been occupied for several generations by the Hawkes family-_a LAW REPORTS (IRELAND). [L. It. I. Magner appealed. The case was argued in the Court of Appeal before the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, and Fitz-Gibbon, L. J., on the 17th of April, 1891, when the Court reserved judgment, and. subsequently the Lord Chancellor directed the case to be argued before a fuller Court. family of good position in the county of Cork ; Samuel Hawkes, the late owner, having been a captain in the army, and possessing property exclusive of Kilcrea, in the hands of tenants, to the extent of £500 or £600 a-year, his social position was not disputed. The place itself was described both by Mr. Magner, the tenant, and Mr. Babington, who was produced as witness for the owner, Miss Frances Caroline Hawkes, a young lady residing at present in New Zealand. There is a handsome house with a large extent of lands ; at the end of the lawn are the rui
After the passing of the Land Law Act, 1890, he served a fresh originating notice : Held (affirming the decision of the Land Commission) that "when first demised" in sect. 5, sub-sect. (1) (b) (ii), of the Land Act, 1896, meant first demised in relation to the tenancy the owner of which was seeking to fix a fair rent : Held also, by the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Chief IJaron, and Holmes, L.J. (Fitz Gibbon and "Walker, L.JJ., dissenticntibiis), that the circumstances of the case showed an intention that the lands should be preserved as demesne. On the 5th July, 1890, the Land Commission dismissed an originating notice served by the tenant of the holding on the ground that the lands were demesne lands. On the 24th June, 1891, the Court of Appeal affirmed this decision. The facts are fully reported, 32 L. Ii. Ir. 285. After the passing of the Land Law Act, 1896, the tenant served a fresh originating notice, and the Laud Commission, on the 25th March, 1899, hold that the lands were demesne lands, reversing the decision of the Sub-Commission. From that order the tenant appealed. The case was argued on the 10th and 11th May, 1899, before Fitz Gibbon, Walker and Holmes, L.JJ., by Sul/iraii, Q.C. and Ileal;/, Q.C, on behalf of the tenant, and Matlivmn, Q.C, for the landlord. At the conclusion of the argument the Court reserved judgment, and subsequently required the case to be re-argued. On the 22nd June, 1899, it was re-argued by Ileal;/, Q.C. aud Wahli/, Q.C, on behalf of the tenant, and Malhcwn, Q.C and Cole-Bou-cn on behalf of the landlord. Vol. II.] Q (J KEN'S BUNCH DIVISION. 467 The facts appear sufficiently from the judgments and from the previous report, 32 L. It. I. 285. Lord Ashrournk, C. : This is an interesting case, the name and facts of which are familiar to us. It came before this Court eight years ago, and upon that occasion we had many of the topics discussed which we have beard to-day. It was pointed out, then as now, that when first demised, the TIawkes family were not the owners in fee, and it was argued that that was enough to displace their rights to have the lands held to be demesne lands. We over-ruled that objection, aud decided that the lands were
Lands held to be demsne lands. The Hawkes family held them not as owners in fee, but for the residue of a long term of years created in 1752. The hakwes family had made them demesne lands, and they were let as such by Mrs Hawkes, when she made the letting in 1872 to JDH, whose interest Magner had bought. It had been argued that in consequence of a change in the law by the act of 1896 with respect to demesne land, the court found that it's earlier decision was no longer binding and that the tenant has a right to have a fair rent fixed in consequence of section 5 of the Act.
On the 6th September, 1887, the lessee served an originating notice to fix a fair rent, and on the 27th April, 1888, the Sub-Commission dismissed the application on the ground that the holding was demesne land, one of the Sub-Commissioners disÂsenting. On appeal to the Land Commission, this decision was affirmed on the 5th July, 1890 (1). From that order, Edward (1) The judgment of the Land Commission, delivered by Litton, J., was as follows : LITTON, J. :- This appeal concerns the lands of Kilcrea in the county of Cork, containing 194 acres demised by a lease of 11th May, 1872, to the late John D. Hawkes, for a term of thirty-five years at a rent of £310. The tenant, Mr. Edward Magner, in July, 1885, became the purchaser of John D. Hawkes' interest under the lease, and on the 19th September, 1887, served his originating notice to fix a fair rent. The Sub-
Commission, by order dated the 27th April, 1888, dismissed the originating notice, being of opinion that the holding consisted of demesne lands one of the Assistant Commissioners differed from his colleagues in the decision come to. It appears from the evidence, and, indeed, it was not conÂtroverted, that Kilcrea House and lands, on which stand the ruins of Kilcrea Castle, have been occupied for several generations by the Hawkes family-_a LAW REPORTS (IRELAND). [L. It. I. Magner appealed. The case was argued in the Court of Appeal before the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, and Fitz-Gibbon, L. J., on the 17th of April, 1891, when the Court reserved judgment, and. subsequently the Lord Chancellor directed the case to be argued before a fuller Court. family of good position in the county of Cork ; Samuel Hawkes, the late owner, having been a captain in the army, and possessing property exclusive of Kilcrea, in the hands of tenants, to the extent of £500 or £600 a-year, his social position was not disputed. The place itself was described both by Mr. Magner, the tenant, and Mr. Babington, who was produced as witness for the owner, Miss Frances Caroline Hawkes, a young lady residing at present in New Zealand. There is a handsome house with a large extent of lands ; at the end of the lawn are the rui
After the passing of the Land Law Act, 1890, he served a fresh originating notice : Held (affirming the decision of the Land Commission) that "when first demised" in sect. 5, sub-sect. (1) (b) (ii), of the Land Act, 1896, meant first demised in relation to the tenancy the owner of which was seeking to fix a fair rent : Held also, by the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Chief IJaron, and Holmes, L.J. (Fitz Gibbon and "Walker, L.JJ., dissenticntibiis), that the circumstances of the case showed an intention that the lands should be preserved as demesne. On the 5th July, 1890, the Land Commission dismissed an originating notice served by the tenant of the holding on the ground that the lands were demesne lands. On the 24th June, 1891, the Court of Appeal affirmed this decision. The facts are fully reported, 32 L. Ii. Ir. 285. After the passing of the Land Law Act, 1896, the tenant served a fresh originating notice, and the Laud Commission, on the 25th March, 1899, hold that the lands were demesne lands, reversing the decision of the Sub-Commission. From that order the tenant appealed. The case was argued on the 10th and 11th May, 1899, before Fitz Gibbon, Walker and Holmes, L.JJ., by Sul/iraii, Q.C. and Ileal;/, Q.C, on behalf of the tenant, and Matlivmn, Q.C, for the landlord. At the conclusion of the argument the Court reserved judgment, and subsequently required the case to be re-argued. On the 22nd June, 1899, it was re-argued by Ileal;/, Q.C. aud Wahli/, Q.C, on behalf of the tenant, and Malhcwn, Q.C and Cole-Bou-cn on behalf of the landlord. Vol. II.] Q (J KEN'S BUNCH DIVISION. 467 The facts appear sufficiently from the judgments and from the previous report, 32 L. It. I. 285. Lord Ashrournk, C. : This is an interesting case, the name and facts of which are familiar to us. It came before this Court eight years ago, and upon that occasion we had many of the topics discussed which we have beard to-day. It was pointed out, then as now, that when first demised, the TIawkes family were not the owners in fee, and it was argued that that was enough to displace their rights to have the lands held to be demesne lands. We over-ruled that objection, aud decided that the lands were
Lands held to be demsne lands. The Hawkes family held them not as owners in fee, but for the residue of a long term of years created in 1752. The hakwes family had made them demesne lands, and they were let as such by Mrs Hawkes, when she made the letting in 1872 to JDH, whose interest Magner had bought. It had been argued that in consequence of a change in the law by the act of 1896 with respect to demesne land, the court found that it's earlier decision was no longer binding and that the tenant has a right to have a fair rent fixed in consequence of section 5 of the Act.
Kilcrea House was described in 1891 as being owned for 'several generations by the Hawkes, a family of good position in the County Cork. The lands were held by the Hawkes under a lease dated 10th January, 1752, from Richard Tonson to William Owgan, for 990 years, subject to the yearly rent of £126 16s. The house was a handsome one, containing four rooms on the ground floor, a kitchen, and five bedrooms ; and the lands comprised 204 acres statute measure. At the end of the lawn were the ruins of Kilcrea Castle. On both sides of the house there were plantations of trees, and in the lawn there were ornamental trees, copper-beech and variegated holly. There was a garden and two entrances to the place, one in front from the county road, and the other from the rere, which was, however, stated to be from a " boreen," and there were extensive out-offices."
Bessie Hawkes remarried a Mr Pickering and with her daughter Frances Caroline Hawkes moved to Gympie and later Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Edward Magner's appeal was heard before the Court of Appeal consisting of the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice in April 1891. Magner had certainly done his homework, securing a witness, Mr. Babbington (son of Rev. Hume Babbington the original holder of the letters of administation for John Hawkes) who in turn was representing the owner of the property, Frances Caroline Hawkes.
In his testimony before the court, Edward Magner said that he did not consider the residence to be a beautiful place 'he said there were a great deal more trees than there ought to be in the place, which from a farmer's point of view, would probably be correct. He admitted that there were nine rooms in the house altogether, of which five were upstairs. He stated that as long as he remembered the place was the residence of the Hawkes family but that the late J.D.Hawkes was a poorer man than himself…"
The Court reserved judgment, and subsequently the Lord Chancellor directed the case to be argued before a fuller Court. This duly took place and after further consideration in 1892, affirmed the original decision that the lands in Knockanemore were demesne lands and that no rent increase to tenants was permitted.
Cork Examiner. Saturday, July 1, 1893. This advert further appeared in the Examiner on July 8 & 15th.
Edward Magner's appeal was heard before the Court of Appeal consisting of the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice in April 1891. Magner had certainly done his homework, securing a witness, Mr. Babbington (son of Rev. Hume Babbington the original holder of the letters of administation for John Hawkes) who in turn was representing the owner of the property, Frances Caroline Hawkes.
In his testimony before the court, Edward Magner said that he did not consider the residence to be a beautiful place 'he said there were a great deal more trees than there ought to be in the place, which from a farmer's point of view, would probably be correct. He admitted that there were nine rooms in the house altogether, of which five were upstairs. He stated that as long as he remembered the place was the residence of the Hawkes family but that the late J.D.Hawkes was a poorer man than himself…"
The Court reserved judgment, and subsequently the Lord Chancellor directed the case to be argued before a fuller Court. This duly took place and after further consideration in 1892, affirmed the original decision that the lands in Knockanemore were demesne lands and that no rent increase to tenants was permitted.
Cork Examiner. Saturday, July 1, 1893. This advert further appeared in the Examiner on July 8 & 15th.
Now Edward Magner was a determined gentleman and remained determined to secure rent increases from his litigious tenants. Another opportunity to increase his revenue from the lands finally came with the passing of the Land Law Act of 1896. Magner, no doubt with some expert legal advice decided that under this new legislation, he was finally allowed to raise the rents and so, issued a fresh notice to his tenants in Knockanemore.
The tenants, after three previously successful court cases against Magner, challenged the landlord again.
The tenants, after three previously successful court cases against Magner, challenged the landlord again.
The case was heard again in May 1899 and yet again, the courts affirmed that these lands in Knockanemore were demesne lands and so not subject to any rent increase.
His wife died February 1900 while resident in Kilcrea.
His wife died February 1900 while resident in Kilcrea.
As the old century was coming to an end, Susan Kate Murphy passed away on 27 December 1899 at her daughter's residence in 'Sandymount', Kelleher's Lane, Cork. (Kelleher's Lane was later to re-named as Watercourse Mill Road which was then later re-named again as Assumption Road in the 1920s)
This appears to be quite a social step-down from the genteel Sunday's Well to Kelleher's Lane in the largely industrial side of 1890's Cork. However, Susan Kate did hold an extensive portfolio of property in Blarney Street as was discovered once probate was granted in August 1900.
While no death certificate has been located to date, Susan Kate's funeral service was from St Patrick's Church and then on to the family burial place in St Lachteen's Cemetery, Grenagh for the burial service on 29 December 1899.
This appears to be quite a social step-down from the genteel Sunday's Well to Kelleher's Lane in the largely industrial side of 1890's Cork. However, Susan Kate did hold an extensive portfolio of property in Blarney Street as was discovered once probate was granted in August 1900.
While no death certificate has been located to date, Susan Kate's funeral service was from St Patrick's Church and then on to the family burial place in St Lachteen's Cemetery, Grenagh for the burial service on 29 December 1899.
Probate was granted on 22 August 1900 to Michael John Murphy, her son.
While that was the end of Susan Kate Murphy, D.J.MacCarthy Morrogh Solicitors were the administrators of her estate and a remarkable collection of property assets owned by Mrs Murphy came on the market within a year:
365 Blarney Street - a residence leased for 99 years
369 Blarney Street - a dwelling house with shop & yard.
370 Blarney Street - a licensed premises
371 Blarney Street - a shop, house and yard.
These went under the hammer in December 1900.
Sold by auction on 15 April 1912 to John O'Driscoll of Innane, Baltimore. He then put up his farm of 77 acres adjacent to Baltimore Harbour for sale in June 1912.
thanks to the always fascinating and entertaining Irish Aesthete blog produced by Robert O'Byrne.
Today, over a century later the descendants of the Murphy family continue through various family lines.
Bartholomew's home is long demolished and where it stood is now part of the Oven's National School and the Eire Og GAA grounds are on what was once his lands. Denis's home was rebuilt in the early 1920s and an occupied farmhouse remains on the site. Field divisions remain much the same today as in 1852 - there has been some amalgamation since the 1970s but the Murphy farmland can be easily found and mapped.
The 'Hill's Lot' residence is long gone but the site, now overgrown with trees and scrub, is still visible.
As for Kilcrea House, the once fine residence of the Hawkes is little more than a shell with a few reminders of it's former grandeur. Robert O'Byrne in his fascinating and entertaining Irish Aesthete blog described Kilcrea House in 2015 as...
Today, over a century later the descendants of the Murphy family continue through various family lines.
Bartholomew's home is long demolished and where it stood is now part of the Oven's National School and the Eire Og GAA grounds are on what was once his lands. Denis's home was rebuilt in the early 1920s and an occupied farmhouse remains on the site. Field divisions remain much the same today as in 1852 - there has been some amalgamation since the 1970s but the Murphy farmland can be easily found and mapped.
The 'Hill's Lot' residence is long gone but the site, now overgrown with trees and scrub, is still visible.
As for Kilcrea House, the once fine residence of the Hawkes is little more than a shell with a few reminders of it's former grandeur. Robert O'Byrne in his fascinating and entertaining Irish Aesthete blog described Kilcrea House in 2015 as...
'...The place is now a shell, but this decline would appear to have occurred only relatively recently. While the floors have given way and most plaster come off walls, there are still traces of the wooden window frames and joists. Of two storeys over basement, the house looks north towards the tower house and the breakfront on this side has tumbled down. Constructed of rubble and brick, it has arched ground floor windows of cut limestone, also seen in the single-storey bows on the east and west sides of the building: it would appear these bows were added at a later date. The east side has a short flight of stone steps which gave access to the house while the south and west fronts retain traces of the slates with which they were once covered. Stylistically the house would seem to date from the late 18th century (with subsequent additions) but it is now so far deteriorated that conjecture must be to the fore...'
Images above of Kilcrea House 2015 thanks to Robert O'Byrne.
Robert is a writer and lecturer specialising in the fine and decorative arts. He is the author of more than a dozen books, among them Luggala Days: The Story of a Guinness House (Cico Books) and The Last Knight: A Tribute to Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin (Lilliput Press). A former Vice-President of the Irish Georgian Society and trustee of the Alfred Beit Foundation, he is currently a trustee of the Apollo Foundation. Among other work he writes a monthly column for Apollo magazine (http://www.apollo-magazine.com), and also contributes to each issue of the quarterly Irish Arts Review (http://www.irishartsreview.com). His blog entry on Kilcrea House is here
Robert is a writer and lecturer specialising in the fine and decorative arts. He is the author of more than a dozen books, among them Luggala Days: The Story of a Guinness House (Cico Books) and The Last Knight: A Tribute to Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin (Lilliput Press). A former Vice-President of the Irish Georgian Society and trustee of the Alfred Beit Foundation, he is currently a trustee of the Apollo Foundation. Among other work he writes a monthly column for Apollo magazine (http://www.apollo-magazine.com), and also contributes to each issue of the quarterly Irish Arts Review (http://www.irishartsreview.com). His blog entry on Kilcrea House is here
Adrian Henry Hawkes. (14 Nov 1865 Cork - 26 Mar 1930 Dunedin, NZ) Adrian Henry Emigrated to New Zealand - married Helen Birch in 1907 - father of Irene Evelyn Hawkes (1913-1995) Occupation: Miner.
Bibliography
O'Byrne, Robert. The Irish Aesthete - Architectural, fine and decorative arts blog.
O'Byrne, Robert. The Irish Aesthete - Architectural, fine and decorative arts blog.
Links and articles
Kilcrea Abbey
Sources
- https://theirishaesthete.com/2016/06/11/with-panoramic-views-2/
- https://roaringwaterjournal.com/2016/02/14/illustrating-the-tower-house-a-guest-blog-sort-of/
- http://www.thestandingstone.ie/2016/01/guest-post-researching-tower-house-by.html
- https://theirishaesthete.com/2015/11/02/lo-arthur-leary/
- https://theirishaesthete.com/2015/12/26/a-path-through-the-fields/
Hawkes Family Background & Kilcrea residence
The Hawkes family of county Cork are descended from Captain John Hawkes who first settled at Bishopstown in the county. The various branches of the family are descended from John and Corlis, the two sons of John Hawkes of Inchigagin and his wife Elizabeth Baldwin, who married in 1676.
In 1750 Charles Smith’s The ancient and present state of the county and city of Cork reported that Kilcrea, formerly the seat of the Earls of Clancarty, had been purchased by Captain Hedges from the Trustees of the Hollow Blade Company. In 1786 William Wilson’s The Post-Chaise Companion noted the ruins of the friary and castle, near to which was a house called Snugborough, the residence of a Mr. Keeffe.
I just checked my photos, Thomas O’Keeffe has a massive grave in Kilcrea Friary, it says he died in 1796, also says on who’s land this Abbey is built.
My uncle believes our O’Keeffe line comes from Kilcrea, but not been as yet able to link it.
e. By the time of Griffith’s Valuation in the 1850s Robert Gibbons was given as the occupier of Kilcrea House. He held the building (valued at £20) as part of a parcel of land leased by John Hawkes. Yet strangely in March 1851, and again in July 1853, the estate of William Edward Ellis at Kilcrea, including the house and 422 acres, was advertised for sale. It would seem the Hawkes family acquired this, and further land, since by the 1870s the estate of John Devonsher Hawkes of Kilcrea is given as amounting to 2,029 acres.
At the time of Griffith's Valuation (1852), the main part of the Hawkes estate was in the barony of East Muskerry, county Cork, but John Hawkes also held land in the parishes of Inchigeelagh and Clondrohid, barony of West Muskerry and was, along with Zachariah Hawkes, among the principal lessors in the parish of Desertserges, baronies of East Carbery and Kinalmeaky. Samuel and Isaac Hawkes held townlands in the parish of Kilmaloda at the same time.
The estate of John Devonsher Hawkes of Kilcrea (including Knockanemore & Mullaghroe) amounted to over 2000 acres in the 1870s.
The Hawkes family of county Cork are descended from Captain John Hawkes who first settled at Bishopstown in the county. The various branches of the family are descended from John and Corlis, the two sons of John Hawkes of Inchigagin and his wife Elizabeth Baldwin, who married in 1676.
In 1750 Charles Smith’s The ancient and present state of the county and city of Cork reported that Kilcrea, formerly the seat of the Earls of Clancarty, had been purchased by Captain Hedges from the Trustees of the Hollow Blade Company. In 1786 William Wilson’s The Post-Chaise Companion noted the ruins of the friary and castle, near to which was a house called Snugborough, the residence of a Mr. Keeffe.
I just checked my photos, Thomas O’Keeffe has a massive grave in Kilcrea Friary, it says he died in 1796, also says on who’s land this Abbey is built.
My uncle believes our O’Keeffe line comes from Kilcrea, but not been as yet able to link it.
e. By the time of Griffith’s Valuation in the 1850s Robert Gibbons was given as the occupier of Kilcrea House. He held the building (valued at £20) as part of a parcel of land leased by John Hawkes. Yet strangely in March 1851, and again in July 1853, the estate of William Edward Ellis at Kilcrea, including the house and 422 acres, was advertised for sale. It would seem the Hawkes family acquired this, and further land, since by the 1870s the estate of John Devonsher Hawkes of Kilcrea is given as amounting to 2,029 acres.
At the time of Griffith's Valuation (1852), the main part of the Hawkes estate was in the barony of East Muskerry, county Cork, but John Hawkes also held land in the parishes of Inchigeelagh and Clondrohid, barony of West Muskerry and was, along with Zachariah Hawkes, among the principal lessors in the parish of Desertserges, baronies of East Carbery and Kinalmeaky. Samuel and Isaac Hawkes held townlands in the parish of Kilmaloda at the same time.
The estate of John Devonsher Hawkes of Kilcrea (including Knockanemore & Mullaghroe) amounted to over 2000 acres in the 1870s.
During 1937 & 1938, some 100,000 Irish schoolchildren aged 11-14 in schools throughout the state were asked to write down stories, local history, pastimes, songs and proverbs collected from their parents and elders in order to save them for future generations. This was the largest folklore collecting scheme ever mounted in the world up to that time.
"It was made part of the school curriculum during that period. The schoolchildren were encouraged to collect folklore and history material from their parents, grandparents, neighbours and older members of their community. They were given topics to research and write about. These included local history and monuments, folktales and legends, riddles and proverbs, songs, customs and beliefs, games and pastimes, traditional work practices and crafts. As a result, the stories are full of both genealogical information and colour."
The scheme resulted in the creation of over half a million manuscript pages, generally referred to as ‘Bailiúchán na Scol’ or ‘The Schools’ Collection’. There are 1,128 volumes, numbered and bound, in the Collection. A title page prefaces material from each school, giving the name of the school, the parish, the barony, the county and the teacher. These are a little goldmine of stories, legends and events and all are currently online and available at www.duchas.ie.
A shared relative of the Murphy family of Knockanemore, Colm O'Sullivan located this item from the collection, recalling an annual race in the district and highlighting the rivalry that existed between the John Hawkes and Samuel Penrose. The story came from William Fahy of Ovens and recounted to the then 13 year old Nora McCarthy of Clasanaffrin. The story has an all-together different relevance once the background to this rivalry is known.
The story text appears below & click image to view the original.
"It was made part of the school curriculum during that period. The schoolchildren were encouraged to collect folklore and history material from their parents, grandparents, neighbours and older members of their community. They were given topics to research and write about. These included local history and monuments, folktales and legends, riddles and proverbs, songs, customs and beliefs, games and pastimes, traditional work practices and crafts. As a result, the stories are full of both genealogical information and colour."
The scheme resulted in the creation of over half a million manuscript pages, generally referred to as ‘Bailiúchán na Scol’ or ‘The Schools’ Collection’. There are 1,128 volumes, numbered and bound, in the Collection. A title page prefaces material from each school, giving the name of the school, the parish, the barony, the county and the teacher. These are a little goldmine of stories, legends and events and all are currently online and available at www.duchas.ie.
A shared relative of the Murphy family of Knockanemore, Colm O'Sullivan located this item from the collection, recalling an annual race in the district and highlighting the rivalry that existed between the John Hawkes and Samuel Penrose. The story came from William Fahy of Ovens and recounted to the then 13 year old Nora McCarthy of Clasanaffrin. The story has an all-together different relevance once the background to this rivalry is known.
The story text appears below & click image to view the original.
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His chief rival, Sam Penrose, was standing by his own horse "Blucher" who was as famous in his own way as Signal. 'Blucher' was blind in one eye, but he was noted for his cunning. On hearing what Hawkes had said Sam Penrose in turn patted his horse& exclaimed "Blucher, it's your life, my life, or the Cup, & here goes in the name of the D----".
The race started for Garryhesta. It began at Taylor's farm, & moved along along by the banks of the Bride. All horses took the fence neck & neck until they reached a high fence near Garryhesta Fort. Signal took the fence, leading slightly. Blucher came next, but his hoof got caught in a hidden furze root. The horse somersaulted, & the point of the saddle came on the chest of the rider. On came, close on one hundred horses, amongst them was Sam Penrose's brother, who thought it was only a slight fall. "Never fear Sam" he said, he jumped over prostrate horse & man.
The race continued & Signal won. One of the Penrose's, on noticing that his brother Sam had not turned up, rode back to the scene of the accident. Seeing his brother in such a bad way, he jumped off his own horse & mounted Blucher & rode to Cork for a doctor. He was back under an hour with him. But when they arrived, Sam was dead. John Hawkes refused to take the cup. He told the judges to send it to Sam's wife.
Signal was killed in another race almost immediately following the fatal one for the Hunt Cup.
Landed Estates & Residences
Landed estates were generally the holdings of families (usually of Anglo-Irish and English extraction) who received or inherited grants of lands originally confiscated by the British Crown in about the 17th century. The size of the landed estate varied from small local affairs with hundreds of acres (essentially large farms) to thousands of acres of land over a county or province. Estate land was held in freehold or outright ownership by the landlord and then rented or leased in small and large parcels to tenants. Many tenants were also landlords, subletting to smaller landholders. Frequently a tenant would hold a lease for 21 years or for 3 lives mentioned on a lease, and while less secure year-on-year and even unwritten arrangements were not uncommon, on the other hand longer leases of 99 or even 999 years were sometimes made to tenants. It was common, particularly where the landlord resided elsewhere, for a land agent to be appointed by the landlord to carry out the day to day management of the estate, and this would have entailed the setting of rents and the collection of rents and arrears, and ensuring that tenants carried out the stipulations made in their leases such as the growing of certain crops, the planting of trees or other improvements. The distrainment of the goods of a tenant (in lieu of rent) or the eviction of tenants for non-payment of rent were not altogether uncommon in certain periods.
The landed estate was the centre of the rural economy in Ireland and the close relationship between landlord and tenant was the basis of the land system. The landlord was more than just a collector of rent, he was also expected to fulfil certain patrician duties such as the providing of relief and employment in bad times. The tenant was in return expected to pay the rent and to make improvements to the land or agricultural practices. It may be argued that this kind of relationship was prone to friction when the economic or political climate was unfavourable to tenants' well-being.
The mid-late 18th century to the mid 19th century was the heyday of the landed estate. Many 'Big Houses', the residences of landlord families, were built in the period from about 1720 to 1840, the typical Big House being a large three storey mansion, with a garden and demesne. Many of these houses are today a significant part of Ireland's heritage. The Big House was a physical representation of the status and role of the landlord within local and sometimes national affairs. Like much of the rest of Europe in this period, in Ireland land was the main source of political power, social prestige and economic development. The landlords were the 'backbone' of the political elite in Ireland until national independence.
The Big House was usually surrounded by extensive grounds and gardens and was the headquarters of the landed estate. It was an important source of local employment, requiring a sizeable household staff such as housemaids, footmen, a butler, governess' and labourers. The demesne was usually the household farm which was worked by labourers from the local district, and the demesne farm was often a model farm which introduced to the locality some of the latest agricultural and land management techniques and technologies.
In the Big House the family often lived in relative opulence when compared to the tenants, although there were many smaller and poorer landlords no more prosperous than a large tenant farmer. Landlord life usually revolved around the management of the estate, the local hunt, and social gatherings organised within the Big House. Many landlords would have served the State as local Magistrates and Justices of the Peace, on the county Grand Jury (a pre-cursor of the modern County Councils) and perhaps on the local Poor Law Union Board of Guardians. Some larger landlords served as MP's, Peers, and in senior civil or military State positions. Marriage often took place in a semi-arranged manner, sometimes with local families of similar status marrying into each other over various generations. Marriage was often a means to improve or preserve the social and financial standing of a family.
Landed estates were generally the holdings of families (usually of Anglo-Irish and English extraction) who received or inherited grants of lands originally confiscated by the British Crown in about the 17th century. The size of the landed estate varied from small local affairs with hundreds of acres (essentially large farms) to thousands of acres of land over a county or province. Estate land was held in freehold or outright ownership by the landlord and then rented or leased in small and large parcels to tenants. Many tenants were also landlords, subletting to smaller landholders. Frequently a tenant would hold a lease for 21 years or for 3 lives mentioned on a lease, and while less secure year-on-year and even unwritten arrangements were not uncommon, on the other hand longer leases of 99 or even 999 years were sometimes made to tenants. It was common, particularly where the landlord resided elsewhere, for a land agent to be appointed by the landlord to carry out the day to day management of the estate, and this would have entailed the setting of rents and the collection of rents and arrears, and ensuring that tenants carried out the stipulations made in their leases such as the growing of certain crops, the planting of trees or other improvements. The distrainment of the goods of a tenant (in lieu of rent) or the eviction of tenants for non-payment of rent were not altogether uncommon in certain periods.
The landed estate was the centre of the rural economy in Ireland and the close relationship between landlord and tenant was the basis of the land system. The landlord was more than just a collector of rent, he was also expected to fulfil certain patrician duties such as the providing of relief and employment in bad times. The tenant was in return expected to pay the rent and to make improvements to the land or agricultural practices. It may be argued that this kind of relationship was prone to friction when the economic or political climate was unfavourable to tenants' well-being.
The mid-late 18th century to the mid 19th century was the heyday of the landed estate. Many 'Big Houses', the residences of landlord families, were built in the period from about 1720 to 1840, the typical Big House being a large three storey mansion, with a garden and demesne. Many of these houses are today a significant part of Ireland's heritage. The Big House was a physical representation of the status and role of the landlord within local and sometimes national affairs. Like much of the rest of Europe in this period, in Ireland land was the main source of political power, social prestige and economic development. The landlords were the 'backbone' of the political elite in Ireland until national independence.
The Big House was usually surrounded by extensive grounds and gardens and was the headquarters of the landed estate. It was an important source of local employment, requiring a sizeable household staff such as housemaids, footmen, a butler, governess' and labourers. The demesne was usually the household farm which was worked by labourers from the local district, and the demesne farm was often a model farm which introduced to the locality some of the latest agricultural and land management techniques and technologies.
In the Big House the family often lived in relative opulence when compared to the tenants, although there were many smaller and poorer landlords no more prosperous than a large tenant farmer. Landlord life usually revolved around the management of the estate, the local hunt, and social gatherings organised within the Big House. Many landlords would have served the State as local Magistrates and Justices of the Peace, on the county Grand Jury (a pre-cursor of the modern County Councils) and perhaps on the local Poor Law Union Board of Guardians. Some larger landlords served as MP's, Peers, and in senior civil or military State positions. Marriage often took place in a semi-arranged manner, sometimes with local families of similar status marrying into each other over various generations. Marriage was often a means to improve or preserve the social and financial standing of a family.
By the mid-nineteenth century, most of Ireland was in the hands of about 8,000 to 10,000 landowners, mainly of a Protestant religious denomination and perhaps less than 1000 of these owned in total more than 50% of the land.
The Great Famine of 1845-48 had catastrophic effects on the rural population in many areas, and many landed estates struggled to cope with the effects of widespread starvation and death amongst smaller tenants and labourers as well as with the attendant decline in rents. By the 1850's, the rapid decrease in population due to death and emigration had facilitated a move towards the joining together (consolidation) of small holdings and a more professional approach to estate and land management.
After the Famine were the passing of the Encumbered Estates Acts. Many estates were massively encumbered with debts due to the cost of maintaining the Big House and the attendant lifestyle, and due to expensive banking arrangements, marriage settlements and financial arrangements for the upkeep of members of the family. The Landed Estates Court allowed creditors of bankrupt estates to have the estate sold so as to receive payment.
In the late nineteenth century, amid widespread economic depression and the agitation of the 'Land War', and the political context of the Home Rule movement, there were moves for the reform of the land system in the form of the various Land Acts. The 1881 Land Act, for example, altered the landlord-tenant relationship by giving many tenants more rights and fairer rents. The 1882 Arrears Act wiped out many tenants' arrears.
Agricultural depression and political agitation had helped to undermine the value of the land and of produce. The landlords' chief source of income was rent, but rents were declining. The declining income from rents made interest payments on debts difficult to meet. In the face of mounting debt and increasing hostility towards them, landlords were often keen to sell their land. By this time also, the 'middleman' or tenant landlord, had almost completely vanished.
In 1885 came the passing of the first of the Land Purchase Acts. These Acts eventually dissolved the landlord-tenant relationship. The 1903 (Wyndham) Land Act, for instance, advanced purchase money to tenants and gave a 12% bonus to landlords for selling their whole estate. Landlords were then able to pay their debts, while tenants could secure loans to purchase their farms, the annuities (repayment instalments) of which were lower than their old rents. By 1914, about 80% of tenants had purchased their holdings. Many landlords sought new income from investments in stocks and shares but many left the country having sold their estates.
The Great Famine of 1845-48 had catastrophic effects on the rural population in many areas, and many landed estates struggled to cope with the effects of widespread starvation and death amongst smaller tenants and labourers as well as with the attendant decline in rents. By the 1850's, the rapid decrease in population due to death and emigration had facilitated a move towards the joining together (consolidation) of small holdings and a more professional approach to estate and land management.
After the Famine were the passing of the Encumbered Estates Acts. Many estates were massively encumbered with debts due to the cost of maintaining the Big House and the attendant lifestyle, and due to expensive banking arrangements, marriage settlements and financial arrangements for the upkeep of members of the family. The Landed Estates Court allowed creditors of bankrupt estates to have the estate sold so as to receive payment.
In the late nineteenth century, amid widespread economic depression and the agitation of the 'Land War', and the political context of the Home Rule movement, there were moves for the reform of the land system in the form of the various Land Acts. The 1881 Land Act, for example, altered the landlord-tenant relationship by giving many tenants more rights and fairer rents. The 1882 Arrears Act wiped out many tenants' arrears.
Agricultural depression and political agitation had helped to undermine the value of the land and of produce. The landlords' chief source of income was rent, but rents were declining. The declining income from rents made interest payments on debts difficult to meet. In the face of mounting debt and increasing hostility towards them, landlords were often keen to sell their land. By this time also, the 'middleman' or tenant landlord, had almost completely vanished.
In 1885 came the passing of the first of the Land Purchase Acts. These Acts eventually dissolved the landlord-tenant relationship. The 1903 (Wyndham) Land Act, for instance, advanced purchase money to tenants and gave a 12% bonus to landlords for selling their whole estate. Landlords were then able to pay their debts, while tenants could secure loans to purchase their farms, the annuities (repayment instalments) of which were lower than their old rents. By 1914, about 80% of tenants had purchased their holdings. Many landlords sought new income from investments in stocks and shares but many left the country having sold their estates.
Today
Of course this information, while helpful, tells us nothing about Kilcrea House itself, when it was built and by whom. The place is now a shell, but this decline would appear to have occurred only relatively recently. While the floors have given way and most plaster come off walls, there are still traces of the wooden window frames and joists. Of two storeys over basement, the house looks north towards the tower house and the breakfront on this side has tumbled down. Constructed of rubble and brick, it has arched ground floor windows of cut limestone, also seen in the single-storey bows on the east and west sides of the building: it would appear these bows were added at a later date. The east side has a short flight of stone steps which gave access to the house while the south and west fronts retain traces of the slates with which they were once covered. Stylistically the house would seem to date from the late 18th century (with subsequent additions) but it is now so far deteriorated that conjecture must be to the fore. It seems strange that despite its size and prominent location there appears to be little knowledge of Kilcrea. Another example of lost history. Below is a view of the house from the nearby tower house.
Kilcrea House was still in good shape up to about 1959 when the farmer who owned the field it was in took the roof off of it so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes on it. It has disintegrated rapidly since then.
Of course this information, while helpful, tells us nothing about Kilcrea House itself, when it was built and by whom. The place is now a shell, but this decline would appear to have occurred only relatively recently. While the floors have given way and most plaster come off walls, there are still traces of the wooden window frames and joists. Of two storeys over basement, the house looks north towards the tower house and the breakfront on this side has tumbled down. Constructed of rubble and brick, it has arched ground floor windows of cut limestone, also seen in the single-storey bows on the east and west sides of the building: it would appear these bows were added at a later date. The east side has a short flight of stone steps which gave access to the house while the south and west fronts retain traces of the slates with which they were once covered. Stylistically the house would seem to date from the late 18th century (with subsequent additions) but it is now so far deteriorated that conjecture must be to the fore. It seems strange that despite its size and prominent location there appears to be little knowledge of Kilcrea. Another example of lost history. Below is a view of the house from the nearby tower house.
Kilcrea House was still in good shape up to about 1959 when the farmer who owned the field it was in took the roof off of it so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes on it. It has disintegrated rapidly since then.
Sources:
- https://landedestates.ie/estate/2591 The Landed Estates of Ireland - The Hawkes family.
- https://theirishaesthete.com/2016/09/26/kilcrea/ The Irish Aesthete is a font of information and articles on Georgian Cork history & featured the Hawkes residence in a 2016 blog post. Some of these photos have been included & credited here.
Further Reading
Four generations of the Murphy Family and their connection to The Ballymartle Chalice. Click image below.
Four generations of the Murphy Family and their connection to The Ballymartle Chalice. Click image below.