The Lucas Family

THE LUCAS FAMILY

E. P. Shirley, in his History of County Monaghan, gives a "Pedigree of Lucas of Castle-Shane" which commences with Francis Lucas, who died in 1657 and whose widow, Mary, “ re-married a Robert Moore who on the 18th of January 1656-7 purchased from Charles Bolton and Jane his wife, and Nicholas Seaver and Elianor his wife, the lands of Shedan or Shean (now Castle-Shane)."

The Lucases were from the Bury St. Edmunds area of Suffolk in England. They were a wealthy family of  Saxon origin, related to many of the titled families of  Suffolk and having  ties with the royal Tudor family from the late 1300s.  Thomas Lucas of Little Saxham in Suffolk was Secretary to Jaspar Tudor who was an uncle of King Henry V11.   The first Francis Lucas of Castleshane who was a descendant of this Thomas Lucas  was born in Grundisburg, Suffolk and  went to Dublin with his father in the 1630s.  There were already several families of related Lucases in Dublin and in other parts of Ireland.

Benjamin Lucas settled at Ballymacuddy, Co. Clare in the 1640s and later at Philliptown, Co. Offaly.

Jasper Lucas settled at Youghal, Co. Cork in 1640

John Lucas settled at Rathdaniel, Co. Carlow in 1667.

Tradition has it that they were descended from a great uncle of the first Francis of Castleshane,  Jaspar Lucas, who is believed to have come to Cork with Sir Walter Raleigh in the 1580s.

The lands in question in Castleshane were part of the ancestral  lands of Ross Ban Mc Mahon from whom they had been confiscated following the defeat of the Irish in the Nine Years War.   They were subsequently restored to him in 1606 under English terms and then sold by him to Robert Cowell of Co. Down.  Having subsequently passed through the hands of a Joshua Downing of Dublin, the lands of Shian and adjoining tates were in the ownership  of  the heiress of  a Rev. John Symonds in 1640 and then of the Boltons and Seavers who sold to Mary Lucas in January 1657.  The Downs Survey and Book of Distribution of 1655-56, which shows the Cromwellian confiscation and disposal of lands, indicates that the tate of Grennan (Greenmount) and part of Lissdrumgolaght (Drumgolet) were disposed to Francis Lucas.

The Hearthmoney Rolls of 1663 show Robert Moore, who married Mary Lucas after the death of Francis, paying tax on three hearths. She may have had wealth in her own right.As was the case with most other settlers in the county at that time, the estate was augmented by grants under the Cromwellian settlement and later during the reign of Charles 11.

UNCERTAINTIES

It has to be said that there are many uncertainties about biographical details in this early period. Shirley, in the Preface to his History of County Monaghan,  acknowledges this:

“Of  the Pedigrees in the present volume, it may be well to observe, that some may be thought by genealogical readers to be bald and meagre, but…….in a country where sepulchral inscriptions are rare, where ancient parish registers are unknown, and where family papers have been generally very carelessly kept, one can indeed well understand…….”

Interestingly, Shirley, in his Preface, also says that he undertook the writing of the history of the county “in accordance with the desire of the late accomplished Mr. Lucas, of Castle Shane, formerly M.P. for the county and Under Secretary of State for Ireland.”As Shirley was obviously a close associate of Edward Lucas, he could be expected to have first-hand access to information on the Lucas pedigree.Nevertheless, there are inconsistencies in his records.

How many Francis Lucases?

Shirley’s pedigree has four successive Francis Lucas’s. The third line of  the pedigree appears to have been created in error. Other sources, including the History of the Irish Parliament and Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of Great Britain and Ireland  indicate that the lineage was as follows:

The first Francis (d. 1657) was married to Mary Poyntz.  She purchased the nucleus of the estate shortly before he died. After his death she married secondly a Robert Moore.

They had sons: Francis, Robert, William, Richard and Charles and a daughter, Lucy, who married her cousin Charles Poyntz. 

Their son, Francis (d.1705) was the Francis who was elected M.P. for the County in 1695 and unseated. He was married to a Mary O’Connolly.   Rushe[1] has the following:  “When the Rt. Hon. Edward Lucas was Under- Secretary he discovered in Dublin Castle evidence showing one of his ancestors had married a daughter or grand-daughter of Owen O’Connolly who betrayed the Irish Chiefs in 1641.”

 His eldest son, Francis, was MP for the Borough of Monaghan from 1713 to 1747.  He died unmarried in 1747 and was succeeded by his brother, Edward.

The Thomas shown by Shirley on the third line of the pedigree appears to be a confusion with  the Thomas,  a later generation, married to Alice Blayney.  The Lucy shown on this line was of the previous generation – a daughter of the first Francis.

Two Edward Lucases confused.

Another evident error in Shirley’s pedigree is in referring to Edward Lucas, who died in 1756,brother of Francis (b.1669, d. 1747) as having been MP for the county in 1768.According to the biographies in the History of the Irish Parliament it was his grandson, Edward, born 1723, died 1775, who was MP for the county from 1761 to 1775. We return to his career later.

[1] History of Monaghan for 200 years 1660-1860  D.C. Rushe

THE EARLY YEARS

The consolidation of the estate and the establishment of the Lucases  as one the major land-owning families in the county took place rapidly in the late seventeenth century. Francis Lucas was County Sherriff in 1672 and had sufficient influence to be elected as M.P. for the county in 1695. Francis, and later his son Edward, were prominent members of the Grand Jury, one of whose main concerns was the proclamation  of Raparees.  William Lucas of Dromantine,  Co. Down, who was a brother of  the first Francis of Castleshane, was a zealous “tory hunter” who claimed responsibility for the capture and killing of Count Redmond O’Hanlon  in 1681.

In developing his estate, Francis encouraged the settlement of English and Scottish tenants and the ancestors of many of the present population of the area were introduced  in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Scottish emigrants who settled in the Scotch Corner area c.1700 included Alexanders, Boyds, Grays, Lewers, McChesneys, McCrays, Molloaus, Niblocks, Reids, Rosses and Stewarts. (Family Treemakers.com  - Ross Family)  The First Clontibret Presbyterian Church was constituted in 1725.   St. Colman’s Church in Clontibret, which was in ruins at time of  a Trienniel Visitation in 1679[1],  in the early 1700s became the centre of a thriving Church of Ireland  community.

The early English settlers in the county like the Lucases, in addition to constant concern about hostility from the native population would have been watching anxiously, and involved with, the affairs in England as the confrontation of Parliament with Charles 1 led to Civil War and the ascendancy of Cromwell  and the eventual Restoration of the Monarchy under Charles 11 followed by the Williamite War.

The Lucases  fared quite well during this period, holding on to and expanding their estate and, unlike many other English who bought or acquired land,  settling to live in Castleshane. Francis, (born 1646 died 1705) is buried in Tehallen churchyard.   In 1678 he was granted fairs at Castle Shane.

King Charles 11 granted him about seventy tates/townlands and raised Castle Shane to full Manor status in the 1680s.

[1] Shirley

LUCASES IN PARLIAMENT

In the first half of the eighteenth century the Irish Parliament, which was renewed only on the death of a monarch, met for one six month session every two years. Completely controlled by the Protestant gentry, their main concern was enactment of legislation to outlaw “Popery” and deprive the native population of all rights. The infrastructure of the country was underdeveloped – getting from Monaghan to Dublin required a two-day horse-ride.  As the century progressed and the new landlords became more secure they concentrated  on developing their estates, bringing in new farming practices, improving roads and transport, promoting trade, commerce and education.   In Parliament they began espousing “colonial nationalism”.  They called themselves “nationalist” in the sense that they resented the fact that they could not bring in laws in the Dublin Parliament to promote the interests of Irish trade and agriculture without the approval of the London Parliament. Writings of intellectuals such as Sir William Molyneau, George Berkeley and Jonathan Swift were central to these ideas.  On the other hand, the Protestant gentry were unequivocally “colonial” in that they were committed to the Crown and the protection which this gave them as a minority against the majority native population.

Until the Act of Union in 1800, two M.P.s were returned by Monaghan County and two by the Borough of Monaghan. Winning the position of M.P. was obviously highly prized and had little to do with democracy but was a matter of  crown patronage and probably some "horse-trading" among the most powerful landowners.  J.L. McCracken (A New History of Ireland, Moody and Vaughan, Vol. iv ) observes:  “The election of county members was regarded by the great land-owners of the county as a matter of special concern to them. They were able to manipulate the return of members through their influence on the appointment of the sheriffs, who acted as returning officers, through their control over freeholders, and, if need be, by the creation of  fictitious freeholds and the use of bribery, patronage, and, since voting was done in public, intimidation”.

The History of the Irish Parliament has biographies of the three Castleshane Lucases elected to the  Parliament:

1  Francis Lucas (b.1646 d.1705

LUCAS FRANCIS (n.d.e)

b.1646; d. 29 Mar. 1705

Family/Background:  Son of Francis Lucas and Mary Poyntz

Married: Mary (      )

Children: Francis (1278) see below; Edward, m.(1) 10 July 1691 Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Smyth,

(2) 10 Sept. 1723 Abigail, dau. of Thomas Handcock, wid. Of Rev Wlliam Brooke: Robert (killed in a duel); Anne, m. (    )Simes; Lucy, m. Hugh Savage;   Jane, m. Michael Ennis.

Career/occupation: Sheriff of Co Monaghan 19 Dec. 1672.  Clerk of the Crown and Peace, Co Kerry 5 Apr. 1676

Political Activity: He was returned for Co. Monaghan at the general election of 1695, but three weeks later was declared not duly elected.

Estates/Residence:  Castle Shane, Co Monaghan. In 1678 Francis Lucas was granted fairs at CastleShane.  His estimated income in 1713 was £500.

2  Francis Lucas  (b.1669 d.1746)

 LUCAS FRANCIS

M.P. for Monaghan Borough 1713-14,  1715-27-46

(n.d.e. Co Monaghan 1695)

b.1669  d. May 1746

Family/Background:   Eldest son of Francis (above) and Mary (  ).

Unmarried

Children: d.s.p. (decessit sine prole – died without issue)

Education: School: Mr Griffith, Castle Shane; entered TCD 16 May 1685 aged 16 years, LLD spec. grat.  1718

Career/occupation:  Sheriff of Co Monaghan  1703; Governor of the Workhouse 1732-d. Commissioner of the Tillage Act for Ulster 1735, 1739-d.; Governor of Erasmus Smith’s Schools and other Charities 1739-d.

Political Activity: Like his father (Francis Lucas) he was declared not duly elected for Co. Monaghan in 1695**, but he came in for Monaghan Borough in 1713, 1715 and 1727, and sat for it until his death in 1746.  When he came into parliament in 1713 he was classed as a Tory, and was thought likely to be an opponent to the repeal of the Test Clause against Dissenters, who were fairly strong in north Monaghan. (This was a clause in a Popery Act of 1704 which discriminated against Presbyterians as it required them to take the “Sacramental Test”).He supported the establishment of a national bank on both occasions that a vote was taken on it. He was nominated for a committee in 1713, for 33 in the parliament of George 1 and 50 in the parliament of George 11, between 1727 and 1745

In 1733 he introduced the heads of a bill, “An Act for the further Regulation and improvement of the Flaxen and Hempen Manufactures” which attempted the market regulation of the industry.

Additional Information: A foundation member of the Dublin Society 1731.

**This statement – that both father and son were returned to the two County seats - appears to be an error. Other records, including Shirley, indicate that Lucas senior was elected along with William Barton to the County seats and Lucas, declared not duly elected, replaced by Henry Tennison.

3 Edward Lucas

MP 1761-68-75

b.1723  d.1775

 EDUCATION; School; Dr Carthy; Royal School , Armagh; entered TCD 10 July 1740, aged 17 years.

CAREER/OCCUPATION; Sheriff of Co. Monaghan 1752, 1763; Magistrate of Monaghan 1758; Provost of Monaghan 1758; Deputy Governor of Monaghan Co.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY: He represented Co. Monaghan from 1761 until his death in 1775. He was against government, but in 1769 it was thought that Lord Blayney and Thomas Dawson of Co Monaghan “ have considerable influence with him. Must be applied to through them. Gone to Bath in a bad state of health.”

On his return he was still in opposition and, in 1773, “considered independent. Brought in chiefly on Lord Darnley,s influence.”  The opposition list of 1774 praised his devotion to duty, saying that he

 “never gave a wrong vote, always attends, even when in so bad a state of health that his life was endangered going out, yet he was brought twice last sessions in his flannels to support the constitution.

Voted against Popery (i.e. the 1774 Catholic Relief Bill). His health appears to have been poor for some time, and he died in the following year.

DIVISION LISTS: 1768 Voted for army augmentation; 1771 Voted for Sir Lucian O’Brian’s motion for retrenchment; 1772 Voted for a Short Revenue Bill; 1773 Voted against the Absentee Tax; 1774 Voted against Catholic Relief.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION; A member of the Royal Dublin Society from 1766.

ESTATE/RESIDENCE: Castle Shane and (?) Moynalty, Co. Monaghan, Lands in the Barony of Cremorne.  At his grandfather’s death an estate of £2,000 devolved to him.  The estate, acquired piecemeal in the late seventeenth century, was essentially that of Hugh McMahon in 1606.

In 1841-2 lands worth £800 p.a. were sold to Lord Cremorne for £25,000.

There was therefore a Lucas sitting in the Irish Parliament for 29 years in the eighteenth century.

Francis (b. 1669  d.1746) who held the Monaghan Borough seat from 1713 to 1746 moved to Dublin about 1720 and he is referred to as “Francis Lucas of Dublin.”[1]  He was unmarried but according to Dr. Glenn Lucas he had one son by Mary Coghill, Spinster, of Drumcondra, Dublin. Mary Coghill had two batchelor brothers Dr.James Coghill and the Honourable Marmaduke Coghill. They were a very wealthy, intellectual and unconventional family. Marmaduke was a prominent member of the House of Commons in the 1730s. They lived in a massive manor house, “Drumcondra”, part of which was designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. It is now the location of  All Hallows College.

On moving to Dublin Francis left the management of the Castleshane estate to his brother Edward (b. 167?, d. 1757).    Francis controlled the finances of the estate and used the profits to purchase leases of townlands in Armagh, Meath, Louth, Cavan and  Monaghan with the result that Castleshane’s treasury was empty when he died in 1746.  His son, Francis, known as Francis of Grenan, being illegitimate, did not inherit the estate but inherited wealth and lands from his mother.

It was assumed by the general population of Monaghan, and so recorded by Shirley, that Francis of Grenan was the second son of Edward, brother of Francis of Dublin. 

This account of “Francis of  Grenan”  being the illegitimate son of Francis (1669-1746) and Mary Coghill is from Dr. Glenn Lucas’s  manuscript and is not supported by any reference to sources.

Edward Lucas M.P.

The title to the estate had passed to his brother Edward when Francis of Dublin died in 1746.  Edward is recorded as  having died in 1757. He was pre-deceased by his eldest son, Thomas.  Thomas married Hon. Alice Blayney, daughter of Lord Blayney, baron of Monaghan.   The inheritance passed  to Thomas’s  eldest son, Edward (b 1720, d 1775), who spent his years as Armiger trying to avoid bankruptcy.  He held one of the two County seats from 1761 to 1775.

Castleshane was not a prosperous estate during this Edward’s time.  He is described as being a financial incompetent, incapable of managing the estate.  He had twelve children, ten of whom survived. Trying to provide for them he borrowed money against the estate.  In the process he almost lost the estate, or part of it, to a greedy sister-in-law, Isabelle Eccles Lucas about 1770.

The History of the Irish Parliament  biography of Edward gives his place of  residence as “Castle Shane and ?Monalty”,  Co Monaghan.  It appears that the townland of Moynalty in the parish of Killanny, part of the Bath estate, was one of the properties taken on lease by his uncle, Francis, earlier in the century.

Edward died in 1775 was succeeded by his son, Francis, who died in 1789 unmarried.Francis had contested the election in 1775 but was defeated by Thomas Tenison.Edward’s second son, Charles, a Dublin lawyer, succeeded to the estate and with assistance from his in-laws – he was married to Sarah, daughter of Sir James Hamilton and after she died in 1788 to Louisa Evatt of Mount Louise– and helped by the economic boom of the late 1700s, financial stability was restored to Castleshane.

[1] In a copy of a Bill of Discovery of 1749 (Appendix X1, Rushe: History of Monaghan for Two Hundred Years) he is referred to as Francis Lucas, late of Drumcondra, County Dublin, deceased.

LUCASES IN COUNTY AFFAIRS

Administration of public affairs within the county at this time was in the hands of the Grand Jury which held three Assizes meetings in the year and here also there was a continuous Lucas presence.  The Grand Jury  consisted of two Judges, a High Sheriff and about twenty "gentlemen".  .Rushe tells us that in the early part of the eighteenth century they did scarcely any but criminal business, this being mainly to do with enforcement of the Penal Laws.  From 1711 on, Edward Lucas features regularly as a member. Referring to a letter from the Sheriff to Dublin Castle in 1714 the proclamation of  Papists carrying arms, Rushe says the communication "inferentially informs us who were the most important men in County Monaghan at that period".  In it  a list of twelve "Justices of ye County"  Lucas is the first-named.

As the century progressed, as well as dealing with criminal matters  the Grand Jury addressed themselves to carrying out improvement to the county in diverse ways including building of roads and bridges.  Records also show the members subscribing to having maps of the county made, presenting  prizes for production of flax seed, contributing to the cost of establishing a county infirmary  and Courthouse, paying fees for killing of vermin and appointing Barony Constables and Parish Police.

Edward Lucas was Sheriff in 1752.  In 1764 when members of the Grand Jury subscribed to have a map of the County prepared, Lucas, with Dawson and Leslie were the biggest subscribers.  In the 1760s when land agitation led to riots, evictions and charges of treason against farmers who were involved in the militant "Hearts of Steel" society, Edward Lucas was one of the largest subscribers to a reward fund for the apprehension of  persons charged with treason.

 Francis Lucas, son of Edward(  M.P. 1761-75)  was one of the Monaghan representatives at Convention of the Ulster Volunteers in Dungannon in 1782 and a member of the Grand Jury who passed a resolution demanding independence for the Irish Parliament. At this stage most of the landed gentry were “home rulers” However, as Livingstone observes “the independent Ireland which they visualised was an Ireland which they controlled. The possibility of the mass of the Catholic people ever gaining control appears not to have worried them. They simply did not envisage such a scenario”

Francis’s brother, Charles Lucas, was on the Grand Jury in 1789 .This Charles was one of a very large family.According to the Pedigree quoted by Shirley he had five brothers and six sisters.He died in 1796 and was succeeded in the family seat by his son The Right Honourable Edward Lucas who was to take a very prominent role in Irish political affairs in the mid-nineteenth century.

LUCASES AS LANDLORDS

 The Lucases were progressive landlords in developing farming practices and improving their estate.

Patrick J. Duffy quotes from Sir Charles Coote’s Survey of Monaghan in 1801, referring to the open and naked landscape between Castleblayney and Monaghan with the exception of the Lucas estate in Castleshane – evidence that in the 1700s the Lucases were to the fore in establishing field systems and planting hedges.

As early as 1702, Edward Lucas had introduced a colony of  professional  linen-weavers to his estate and these taught the local people all about flax production, yarn spinning and weaving. (Livingstone).  In  Economy and Society in South Ulster in the Eighteenth Century, there is reference to an account of Monaghan in 1739 by Archdeacon Cranston and Mr Lucas which points to a revolution in agriculture where the rearing of cattle and horses had given way to tillage. Lands had been cleared of brushwood and heath by burning and then with the application  of marl  made to produce good crops of bere, (Scottish barley), barley, oatmeal, wheat, rye and potatoes.

In 1763 there were 173 tenants on the Lucas estate. This increased  to 570 tenants in 1845.

105 of the 570 tenants in 1845 hadholding of over ten Irish acres.[1]

[1] Report of Commission of Inquiry into the state of the Law and Practice in respect of the occupation of land in Ireland  1845. Evidence given by Fitzherbert Filgate, Agent.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Following the passing of the Act of Union in 1800,  the Lucases, like the rest of the Irish gentry deprived of their opportunities for involvement in parliamentary politics, concentrated their attention on their estates.

Edward Lucas, (b.1787)  inherited the Castleshane estate on the death of  his father Charles in 1796.  He married Ann, daughter of William Ruxton of Ardee.  A census return for 1821 shows Edward and Ann with five children and eleven servants  resident in Castleshane.[1]

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDWARD LUCAS  M.P.

(See also separate article on The Rt Hon Edward)

Edward Lucas (b. 1787, d. Nov. 1871) became an M.P. for Co. Monaghan in 1834 .  He was re-elected in 1835 and again in 1838.  He held the seat until 1841 when he became Under Secretary of State in Peel's Tory administration.  He became entitled to use the honorific title “The Right Honourable” as a result of being elected to the Privy Council.

 Livingstone comments "He proved himself to be an able administrator. He tried to discourage the members of  the gentry who were encouraging the Orange Order.  He was one of those who took steps to curtail the activities of Sam Gray in Ballybay. He tried to have the literary allowance to Carleton increased.

The Under Secretary of State was effectively the senior government administrator  in the country. F.S.L. Lyons describes his function as being "primarily to oversee the ramshackle collection of boards and councils that did duty for an Irish administration and also to provide the Chief Secretary with the information, and sometimes the advice he needed if he was to keep his end up in the cabinet and in the House of Commons."[2]   Lucas held this position from 1841 until 1846.  Rushe observes that the fire which destroyed Castleshane House in 1920 destroyed much documentary evidence of the secret history of Dublin Castle during that period. 

When first reports of the failure of the potato crop came,  a Relief Commission was appointed in Autumn of 1845 and Lucas was the first chairman  He held this position until the change of government in January 1846.

He obviously has much influence within the county.  He gave public support, as foreman of the Grand Jury, to Father Matthew who held temperance meetings in the county in the early 1840s.  The Orangemen were resentful of Fr. Matthew but as Rushe observes  "The patronage of Lucas had had its effect, for respectable Protestants were no longer afraid to identify themselves with his movement". 

LUCAS RESPONSE TO ROYAL COMMISSION  ON POORER CLASSES 1836

An insight into the conditions of the very poorest of the Castleshane tenantry in the early part of the nineteenth  century and of attitudes of  establishment figures to them  is given by responses which Edward Lucas and others gave to a Committee of Inquiry of the House of Commons in 1836.  This was the Royal Commission  on Poorer Classes in Ireland, established in 1833 to investigate causes of widespread destitution in Ireland. An extensive survey was carried out over three years 1833-36.

Reports on the Parish of Clontibret (population 15,941) were given by local clergymen,  Rev. John A. Arnold (1st Clontibret, Legnacrieve), Rev. Robert Lewers (2nd Clontibret, Braddox),  Rev. John A. Russell (Church of Ireland)  and Edward Lucas.

In addition to small farmers, with holdings generally of five to twenty acres, there was also within the Lucas estate a population of cottiers who would have had less than an acre adjoining their cabins. They eked out an existence from the potatoes grown on their “cot-take” and from labouring work when it was available.  There was also a substantial number of destitute people who subsisted on begging and the charity of slightly better off small farmers.

Regarding these, the very poorest, responses indicated that there 60 to 70 homeless beggars in the parish in 1835. It appears that there had been some system of registering these beggars and issuing badges to them in previous years. Arnold reported that 45 “badges” had been issued in 1835 but some refused to take them. They survived by getting lodgings, mainly from cottiers or “cabin-holders” who Arnold says lodged them gratis “believing that the deed is recorded above”.  They sometimes made a contribution by leaving their straw bed behind or contributing a few potatoes to the pot.  Lewers comments that “none of my people lodge beggars as they are mostly R.C.; they lodge with their own sort.”  There were about 200 widows with no relations to support them,  with about the same number of dependent children, in the parish.  They had no means of support except for some income from spinning.

In response to questions about the numbers and conditions of the latter class, Lucas replies that he “has no means of knowing” and refers the query to the Church wardens. In response to a question about the cost of diet for labourers/cottiers Lucas makes the observation that prisoners in the county gaol were fed on two and a half pence per day, “on the mixed dietary which is the ordinary food of the country people” and observes that “their own wasteful habits and a larger appetite in country work could make some increase but very little” – in other words that ordinary people should be able to live on the standard of food supplied to prisoners and if they couldn’t they were being wasteful!

While the parliament of which Lucas was a part (he was an M.P. 1835 to 1841 and Under Secretary of State for Ireland 1841 to 1846) carried out these extensive enquiries into the conditions of the poorer classes in the 1830s it is very evident that they did not lead to any action by the government to alleviate the destitution which was to continue and to culminate in the famine a few years later.   Except that following this report the Poor Law Act, which provided for setting up of Poor Law Unions with a Board of Guardians and a Workhouse in each Union, was passed in 1838.

At the same time the residents of the area would have been watching the lavish reconstruction of Castleshane House which was completed in 1837.

[1] Some County Monaghan Extracts From the 1821 Census. Theo McMahon. Clogher Record 1991

[2] Ireland Since the Famine.  F.S.L. Lyons.