LUCAS BECOMES LUCAS-SCUDAMORE

The Honourable Edward's eldest son, Francis, pre-deceased him, He died following an illness in Hamburg in 1844. His second son, Edward-William, to whom the estate passed, died unmarried in 1874. His third son, Fitzherbert Dacre had also died, at the siege of Lucknow in India in 1857, but he had married in 1852 to Laura Adelaide, only daughter and heiress of John Lucy Scudamore of Kentchurch, Herefordshire

Fitzherbert Dacre’s involvement in the Lucknow siege is recounted  in The Times of February 10th 1857.  He had been a Captain in the South Tipperary Militia but was in India for pleasure at the time, being  a “traveller and speculator and a gentleman of fortune”.  He acted as a volunteer throughout the siege and “his gallantry and  coolness under fire were conspicuous and there was no expedition  of danger for which he did not volunteer”  He was aiding in recovering captured guns when he was shot and expired within 24 hours.

Fitzherbert Dacre’s son, Edward Scudamore Lucas,  (b.1853  d.1917)

inherited the Castleshane estate on the death of his uncle, Edward William, in 1874 and he  also  inherited the very substantial Kentchurch Court estate from his mother. He married Sybil Frances Webber of Mitchelstown Co Cork in 1900 and in the same year he assumed the additional surname and Arms of Scudamore by royal licence.  Thenceforth the family name becomes Lucas-Scudamore. 

Littlebury's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire1876 has Edward Scudamore Lucas as "lord of the manor and principal  landed proprietor" in Kentchurch parish.

The Scudamore estate of over 5,000 acres had been in the family ownership for over one thousand years and is still so today. 

He (Edward Scudamore Lucas) was High Sheriff of County Monaghan  in 1879 and a Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace but in later years did not exercise has magisterial functions to any great extent. As a member of the County Monaghan Grand Jury he was nominated on to Monaghan  County Council when the councils were established .  He was also involved with many other bodies including Clontibret Church of Ireland and the County Monaghan Protestant Orphans Society.

He held similar titles in Hereford and it is evident from newspaper reports that his English estates and status in English society were his main focus. He was nominated and stood (unsuccessfully)  in General Elections in 1886 and also in 1905 as the Liberal candidate for Leominister. He also inherited another estate in 1891 – that of a granduncle, Sir Harford  James Jones Brydges of Boultibrooke in Radnorshire.

In spite of this involvement in England he was still paying attention to his Castleshane property to the extent that in a report of a meeting of his tenants in Kentchurch  there was criticism of his absence because of his Irish interests.

It appears however that he was severing his connections with Castleshane as the following notice was published in the Dublin Daily Express in Jan. 1890:

Auction by D. Wood  Auctioneer  Hope Arms Castleblayney

At Castleshane

On  the instruction of E.S. Lucas in consequence of having let the Castle.

On 7 Jan. 1890

Contents of cellar:  200 dozen of rare, choice and valuable old Port, Sherries, Clarets, Champagnes, whiskey, brandy, rum etc.

Also horse carriages, dogcarts, wagonettees, cars, one by Hatton

Harness, saddles etc

3 combined reaping and mowing machines, clod crusher, ploughs, harrows etc

(Peter McWilliam’s website)

In 1895 William McWilliam was  appointed as Clerk of the Crown and Peace in Monaghan.  He considered renting Castleshane (a house with 30 or 40 rooms) which was then unoccupied.  Suggested by his aunt as her great grandmother (Fanny Lucas) had been born there but he rented Corlatt instead.

Fanny Lucas, Fanny Ann Harris, was daughter of Francis Lucas 1723-1770  and Isabella Eccles. Francis was son of Thomas Lucas and Alicia Blayney. He was Rector of Drumgoar (Cootehill?) Cavan.

But then, surprisingly, Edward returned to live in Castleshane in 1895

Edward Scudamore Lucas-Scudamore died on 9th March. 1917.  The Northern Standard carried a lengthy obituary and report on his funeral.

He had been in failing health for some time and had undergone an operation from which he appeared to be recovering but  died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage.

The obituary tells us that, born in 1853, he was educated at Eton and Christ’s Church, Oxford before embarking on a career in the army,  rising to the rank of Colonel in the Hereford Regiment of Militia.

He retired from the army in 1903 and came to live in Castleshane.  He had married Sybil Frances Webber of Mitchelstown, Co Cork in 1900.

The Northern Standard report gives a detailed account of the removal of his remains from Castleshane to Castleblayney railway station en route to Kentchurch Court where he was interred.  The  people who attended  the removal of his remains from Castleshane are listed. As well as all the  prominent people of the county, also included are estate employees -  Jos. Whinnery, Robert Hanna,  Philip Cassidy, John Simpson, David Simpson, Robert Wright, Joseph Bowes, George Harrison and Viscount Noble.

His widow, Sybil Frances (nee Webber) was in residence when Castleshane House was ruined by fire in 1920.  She died in 1965. Her daughter Oriel Leonie, who was in the house at the time of the fire, married a Patrick Gregson in 1945 and  died in 1986. Her other daughter, Geraldine, born in 1903, died in 1982 in Bristol.  

Her son,  John Harford Stanhope Lucas-Scudamore, (Jack)  (b.1902)who was serving with the navy at the time of the fire, was heir to the estate.

In St Colman’s Church of Ireland there is a commemorative plaque in honour of about 20  men from the parish who “served their King and Country in the Great War 1914-1918”  It includes J.L. Scudamore Ms. R.N..(mid-ship-man, Royal Navy)

Jack appears to have been a colourful character among the English  upper-class society.  He is referred to as “a renowned playboy and raconteur”.  He was one of the first students in Oxford University to own a car.  When banned from driving,  he dressed up as his mother, took her passport and driving licence and drove to France for the season.[1]  He had three marriages, had to pay his second wife a huge divorce settlement and lost a fortune on Wall St.  He died in 1975.

 His son, John Edward Stanhope Lucas-Scudamore, inherited  the Kentchurch estate and his divorced wife, Jan, and their son, Joss,  who is in his twenties and heir to the estate, now manage  Kentchurch Court.

Kentchurch Court is a grade 1 listed building, regarded as one of the most important historic houses in the UK.  It has been used several times as a film location. Most recently, Jan and Joss featured in a Channel 4 television “Country House Rescue” programme in April 2011, in which they were being advised on ways of  promoting the house as a tourist attraction.

[1] www.kentchurchcourt.co.uk. House and History