(574) Beresford of Learmount

Beresford of Learmount

The Learmount estate in Co. Derry came to the Beresfords in 1774 on the marriage of Barbara Montgomery (d. 1795), a noted beauty, with the Hon. and Rt. Hon. John Beresford (1738-1805), second surviving son of the 1st Earl of Tyrone. John Beresford was a leading political figure in 18th century Ireland, and had his seat at Abbeville (Co. Dublin). Learmount at this time seems to have a very modest house, of which almost nothing is known. On John Beresford's death, the estate formed part of the legacy inherited by his second surviving son, John Claudius Beresford (1766-1846), a Dublin banker and MP, who commissioned designs for a castle-style mansion at Learmount in 1808. Soon afterwards, however, he became severely financially embarrassed, and was obliged to sell Abbeville altogether and abandon his plans for major building works at Learmount. He never succeeded in clearing his debts, and at some point around 1830 he sold Learmount to his half-brother, Henry Barré Beresford (1784-1837), with whom the genealogy below begins. Henry acted as agent for the Ulster estates of his kinsman, the Marquess of Waterford, and in the late 1830s he made extensive additions to Learmount Castle, creating the Tudor Gothic house which (just about) survives today. He died while work was still in progress, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Barré Beresford (1815-95), who also succeeded him as Lord Waterford's agent. Whereas Henry was a popular figure, in whose memory the estate tenantry erected a memorial obelisk at Ballyquin in 1840, John seems to have been a more divisive character, perhaps partly because of the backdrop of the famine years - he was High Sheriff of Co. Derry in 1846-47 and a long-serving workhouse Governor - and because of Lord Waterford's decision to sell the Ulster estate in the 1860s. In 1853 he took, as his second wife, Caroline Hamilton Ash (1830-1901), and on her father's death in 1866 they inherited her family's estate at Ashbrook (Co. Derry), subsequently using both properties, rather than letting either.

Both John Barré Beresford's two sons by his first marriage died in his lifetime, so at his death he left Learmount to his grandson, Ralph Henry Barré de la Poer Beresford (1886-1925), who came of age in 1907, while Ashbrook passed to the elder son of his second marriage, William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938). Ralph died unmarried in 1925, leaving the estate to his half-uncle, Marcus John Barré de la Poer Beresford (1868-1944), a career soldier. Marcus, however, never occupied Learmount but first found a tenant and then let it stand empty in the 1930s. During the Second World War it was occupied again by a girls' school, but after he died in 1944 his widow and daughter sold it to the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture. The house was let from 1953-83 to the Youth Hostels Association, which demolished one wing in the 1970s and failed to maintain the rest, and the surviving part of the house has stood empty and decaying since their lease expired.

Learmount Castle, Park, Co. Derry

The house stands at the centre of a densely wooded demesne about fifteen miles south-east of Londonderry. The first house on the site, a small low rectangular building, seems to have been erected about 1740 by Capt. Montgomery, and it passed to the Beresfords through the marriage in 1774 of Barbara Montgomery to the Hon. & Rt. Hon John Beresford (1738-1805). John's third son, John Claudius Beresford (1766-1846) inherited it, and in 1808 the architect Richard Elsam produced a scheme for a three-storey villa at Learmount. 

Learmount Castle: largely unexecuted scheme by Richard Elsam for a new house, 1808.

The plan and elevation were later published as the frontispiece to his Practical Builder's Perpetual Price-Book (1825), and show that his designs were very much in Robert Adam's castle style. The accompanying descriptive text states that:

This plan and elevation was prepared in the year 1808 for Mr ALDERMAN JOHN CLAUDIUS BERESFORD of Dublin and of Learmont in the County of Derry in the North of Ireland. The Plan which is considered nouvelle was formed to suit some delightful romantic views and at the same time to unite with part of an old favourite cottage which is appropriated to the butler's room and servants hall the rere of which consists of a kitchen housekeeper's room a series of servants bed chambers & c The principal front as represented is three stories high The ground story comprises three handsome apartments en suite consisting of dining room library and drawing room connected with a vestibule at the entrance and a conservatory at the extremity There is likewise provided a handsome geometrical stair case connecting the old and new parts The basement story comprises a magisterial room and clerk's office with a few select apartments for children nurses governesses & c and the one pair floor comprises three capital bed chambers with dressing rooms &c making altogether a gentleman's elegant compact country residence upon a moderate scale.

In practice, only the rear portion of this scheme seems to have been realised, for in 1811 Beresford got into financial difficulties which continued to plague him for the rest of his life, and he was able to make only very modest improvements to the existing house. In 1832 the Ordnance Survey Memoirs described the building as having a 'small low rectangular front, built about a century ago by Capt. Montgomery with a square building in the rear flanked by 4 small round towers built by John Claudius Beresford'. By then, J.C. Beresford had sold the Learmount estate to his half-brother, Henry Barré Beresford (1784-1837), who obtained more modest proposals for a new house in the 1830s, perhaps from John Benjamin Keane of Dublin, a former assistant of Richard Morrison. The house he designed was in Tudor Gothic style, and consisted of a five-bay main block of two storeys over a basement, with a central, battlemented porch, linked to a three-storey castellated wing with a slender round tower at the extreme end.

Learmount Castle in about 1970. Image: Gareth Austin.

In 1837, when Samuel Lewis compiled his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Learmount had become 'the elegant residence of Mr Beresford, which he is enlarging and finishing in the Elizabethan or Tudor style'. Inside, the house has a generous hall containing a staircase which rises in one flight and returns in two, with an elaborately moulded cast iron balustrade, and several other rooms with richly ornamented plaster ceilings. Some images of the interior can be found here.

The house remained in the Beresford family until 1925, after which it was let for about four years. It then stood empty until being used by a girls' school during the Second World War. In 1944 the estate was sold to the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, which in 1953 let the house to the Youth Hostels Association. The three-bay wing on the left of the photograph above was pulled down in the 1970s, and the YHA did not renew its lease when it expired in 1983. Since then the house has been sold into private ownership, but stands empty and decaying, although the the coach house to its rear has been restored as a private dwelling and self-catering holiday accommodation. Sadly, after forty years of neglect, with some floors and ceilings having collapsed, it may be almost too late for a similar restoration of the main house.

Learmount Castle: the remaining fragment of the house today.

Descent: Capt. Montgomery... Sir William Montgomery (1717-88), 1st bt.; to daughter Barbara, wife of Hon. & Rt. Hon. John Beresford (1738-1805); to son, John Claudius Beresford (1766-1846), who sold c.1830 to his half-brother, Henry Barré Beresford (1784-1837); to son, John Barré Beresford (1815-95); to grandson, Ralph Henry Barré de la Poer Beresford (1886-1925); to uncle, Marcus John Barré de la Poer Beresford (1868-1944); to daughter, Patricia Douglas Methven de la Poer Beresford (1924-2012), who sold 1944 to Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, which let it to the Youth Hostel Association, 1953-83.

Beresford of Learmount

Henry Barré Beresford (1784-1837) 

Beresford, Henry Barré (1784-1837). Second son of Hon. and Rt. Hon. John Beresford (1738-1805) and his second wife, Barbara, second daughter of Sir William Montgomery, 1st bt., born 25 September 1784. Educated at Eton. Joint Storekeeper of the Port of Dublin in the Customs Service by 1818; agent to the Marquess of Waterford's estates in County Londonderry. He was commemorated by an obelisk erected at the expense of the estate tenantry at Ballyquin, 1840. He married, 29 February 1812 at St Paul, Bristol, Eliza (k/a Betty) (d. 1831), daughter of John Bayly of Hambrook (Glos) and had issue:

(1) Anne Jane Beresford (1812-24), said to have been born 8 December 1812; died young, 18 December 1824 and was buried at St Marylebone (Middx), where she is commemorated on her father's monument;

(2) Mary Barbara Beresford (1814-68), born about 1814; married, 9 February 1836 at Muff (Co. Donegal), Thomas William Fountaine (1811-94) of Glenview, Hereford, second son of Andrew Fountaine of Narford Hall (Norfk), and had issue at least two sons and one daughter; died 8 July 1868;

(3) John Barré Beresford (1815-95) (q.v.);

(4) Henry Barré Beresford (1816-71), born 23 July 1816; joined the Royal Navy, 1829 (Lt., 1842; Cdr., 1856; retired 1870); died without issue at Newtownlimavady, 28 January 1871;

(5) Rev. William Montgomery Beresford (1817-68), born 17 October 1817; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1835; BA 1840; MA 1859); ordained deacon, 1840 and priest, 1840; held curacies, 1841-47; vicar of Dunany, 1847-48; perpetual curate of Tullyallen, 1848-53 and of Holy Trinity, Wilton (Wilts), 1853; curate of Templemore (Co. Derry), 1859; rector of Lower Baldoney (Co. Tyrone), 1866-68; married, 18 February 1851 at Hove (Sussex), Rosa Ellen (1821-1908), daughter of John Hornblow Turner of Brighton (Sussex), and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 4 April 1868;

(6) James David Beresford (1819-78), born 2 April and baptised at St Marylebone, 21 April 1819; educated at Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1838; Lt., 1839) and subsequently Adjutant of the Londonderry Militia (Capt., 1855; retired as hon. Maj., 1861); JP for County Derry (Chairman of Claudy Petty Sessions) and clerk of the peace for the county and city of Londonderry by 1871; married, 3 October 1868 at Ballyeglish (Co. Derry), Charlotte Melosina (c.1826-80), daughter of William Lenox Conyngham (1792-1858) of Springhill (Co. Derry), but had no issue; died at Dunmurry (Co. Antrim), 27 October 1878;

(7) Eliza Frances Beresford (1822-59), baptised at Narborough (Leics), 19 April 1822; married, 15 May 1854 at Barony (Lanarks), Capt. Albert Kövy, formerly an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army but then a political refugee; died at Waterford, 29 December 1859 and was buried at Kilculliheen Cemetery; administration of her goods was granted to her husband, 24 February 1860 (effects under £100);

(8) George de la Poer Beresford (1826-65), born 13 February 1826; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1844; Lt., 1847; Capt., 1852; retired 1855); a member of the Hon. Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, 1856; married, 15 December 1849 at Corfu (Greece), Anne (c.1828-54), daughter of Lt-Gen. Charles Edward Conyers CB, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died in Paris (France), 5 June 1865.

He purchased Learmount Park (Co. Derry) from his half-brother, J.C. Beresford, and greatly extended and modernised it. 

He died in London, 15 December, and was buried at St Marylebone (Middx), 21 December 1837. His wife died 15 December 1831.

Beresford, John Barré (1815-95). Eldest son of Henry Barré Beresford (1784-1837) and his wife Eliza, daughter of John Bayly of Hambrook (Glos), born 19 April 1815. Educated at Eton, Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1832; BA 1836; MA 1865) and the Inner Temple (admitted 1835). He succeeded his father as agent to the Marquess of Waterford's County Londonderry estates, and acted as such until they were sold c.1865. JP and DL for County Londonderry and JP for Co. Donegal; High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1846-47. A member of the Londonderry Board of Guardians, 1839-95 (Chairman, 1868-95) and a governor of the county asylum. He was a Conservative in politics, and stood unsuccessfully for parliament in the Derry constituency in 1874. He married 1st, 23 April 1840 at Derry Cathedral, Sophia (c.1817-50), third daughter of Hugh Lyons-Montgomery (1780-1826) of Belhavel (Co. Leitrim) and Laurencetown (Co. Down), and 2nd, 7 July 1853 at Glendermott (Co. Derry), Caroline Hamilton (1830-1901), only child of William Hamilton Ash (1801-66) of Ashbrook (Co. Derry), and had issue:

(1.1) Hugh Barré Blacker Beresford (1848-82), born 4 May 1848; an officer in the Royal Navy (Midshipman, 1863; Lt. 1871; retired 1875) and in the Mid-Ulster Artillery (Capt.); JP for County Londonderry; died unmarried, 14 February 1882;

(1.2) John Claudius Montgomery Beresford (1850-94) (q.v.);

(2.1) Emma Clare Beresford (1856-1927), born 18 June 1856; married, 20 December 1881 at Glendermott, Capt. Francis Coffin Macky (1847-1920) of Belmont (Co. Derry), and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 19 November 1927;

(2.2) William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938) [for whom see my article on the Ash, later Beresford-Ash, family of Ashbrook];

(2.3) A daughter (b. 1861), born 12 November 1861; probably died in infancy;

(2.4) Mary Elizabeth Beresford (1864-1936), born at Glendermott, 19 February 1864; married, 6 February 1899 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), Henry Joseph Cooke (1852-1923), of Boom Hall (Co. Derry), son of Joseph Cooke, and had issue at least four children; died 22 January 1936 and was buried at Derry City Cemetery; will proved 30 June 1936 (estate in Northern Ireland, £3,377; estate in England & Wales, £11,217);

(2.5) Marcus John Barré de la Poer Beresford (1868-1944) (q.v.); 

(2.6) Louisa Gertrude Douglas Beresford (1870-1941), born 28 September 1870; married, 22 August 1894, Maj. John Edward Pine-Coffin (1866-1919) of Portledge (Devon), and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 12 March 1941;

(2.7) Barbara Caroline Beresford (c.1873-1937), born about 1873; lived in London SW5; died unmarried, 13 May 1937; administration of goods granted 12 August 1937 (estate £205).

He inherited Learmount Park from his father in 1837 and Ashbrook in right of his second wife in 1866; they subsequently used both properties.

He died 30 August 1895; his will was proved 16 November 1895 (effects £14,249). His first wife died 21 March 1850. His widow died 13 January 1901; administration of her goods was granted 5 March 1901 (estate £1,659).

Beresford, John Claudius Montgomery (1850-94). Second son of John Barré Beresford (1815-95) and his first wife, Sophia, third daughter of Hugh Lyons-Montgomery of Belhavel (Co. Leitrim), born 3 February 1850. Educated at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. An officer in the Royal Engineers (Lt., 1870; Capt., 1882; Maj., 1889); ADC to Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1874-80. He married, 16 January 1884 at St Peter, Drogheda (Co. Louth), Rosa Sophia Montgomery (1848-1911), daughter of Ralph Smith of Greenhills (Co. Louth), and had issue:

(1) Ralph Henry Barré de la Poer Beresford (1886-1925) (q.v.).

He died in the lifetime of his father, 19 September 1894; administration of his goods was granted to his widow, 7 March 1895 (effects £600). His widow died 15 September 1911; administration of her goods was granted 6 January 1912 (estate £8,765).

Beresford, Ralph Henry Barré de la Poer (1886-1925). Only son of John Claudius Montgomery Beresford (1850-94) and his wife Rose Sophia Montgomery, daughter of Ralph Smith of Greenhills (Co. Louth), born 26 November and baptised at Rawalpindi (India), 18 December 1886. An officer in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers (2nd Lt., 1906; retired 1910). High Sheriff of Co. Derry, 1924-25. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Learmount Park from his grandfather in 1895 and came of age in 1907. At his death the property passed to his half-uncle, Marcus John Barré de la Poer Beresford (1868-1944).

He died 18 December 1925; his will was proved 13 August 1926 (estate £5,478).

Beresford, Marcus John Barré de la Poer (1868-1944) of Learmount. Second son of John Barré Beresford (1815-95) and his second wife, Caroline (d. 1901), only child of William Hamilton Ash of Ashbrook (Co. Derry), born 10 April 1868. Educated at Cheltenham College. An officer in the South Wales Borderers (2nd Lt., 1889; Lt., 1892; Capt., 1897; Maj., 1907; Lt-Col., 1919), who served in Boer War and First World War. He married, 19 December 1914 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx), Alma (c.1881-1967), daughter of David Methven of London and Argentina, and had issue:

(1) Patricia Douglas Methven de la Poer Beresford (1924-2012), born 5 March 1924; married, 22 May 1974, Maurice William Alfred Carter (1920-94), but had no issue; died 3 January 2012; will proved 22 June 2012.

He inherited Learmount Park from his nephew in 1925, but never occupied it and after retiring from the army lived in London NW3 and at Haslemere (Surrey). He let Learmount Castle to the Osgood family, c.1925-29, and it then stood vacant until being occupied by Ashleigh House Girls' School during the Second World War. His daughter sold Learmount to the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture in 1944.

He died as a result of enemy action, 26 July 1944; his will was proved 11 January 1945 (estate £10,569). His widow died 27 October 1968; her will was proved 26 February 1969 (estate £265,080).

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 4084-92; R. Elsam, The Practical Builder's Perpetual Price Book, 1825, frontispiece; A. Day & P. McWilliams, Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol. 28 (1832), 8-9; A. Rowan, The buildings of Ireland: north-west Ulster, 1979, p. 450; T. Blake, Abandoned mansions of Ireland II, 2nd edn., 2017, pp. 46-53;

https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/12/learmount-castle.html;

https://www.archiseek.com/2024/1830-learmount-castle-park-co-derry/

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Quarterly, 1st and 4th, argent semée of cross crosslets fitchée three fleurs-de-lis within a bordure engrailed all sable (for Beresford); 2nd and 3rd, argent a chief indented sable (de la Poer).

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 5 May 2024.

(330) Maturin-Baird of Boom Hall and Langham Hall

Maturin-Baird of Langham Hall

This family rose to prominence in the early 19th century through the trading activities of Daniel Baird (c.1795-1862) of Londonderry, who was a merchant and shipowner, trading principally with the West Indies and the Baltic. He was active by the early 1820s, and grew in wealth and social status steadily during the 1830s and 1840s, acquiring a villa on the southern edge of Derry known as Cassina or Casino, which had been built as a summer residence for the Earl-Bishop of Derry in 1784. (The Casino was later adapted as a chapel for St. Columb's College, but was taken down and replaced by later school buildings in about 1890). In 1847, the year when he was Mayor of Derry, Daniel Baird bought the incumbered estates of the Earl of Blessington around Newtown Stewart in Co. Tyrone, and two years later he purchased Boom Hall from the Earl of Caledon. This house was of much the same date as the Casino, but a great deal larger, and with these two purchases Daniel joined the ranks of the landed gentry. In 1854 he cemented his position by becoming High Sheriff of Co. Tyrone.

Casino at Derry, probably photographed c.1875, before the development of St. Columb's College began.

If his social progress was smooth, his home life was more troubled. His first wife died in 1837 and several of their children also died young. He married again and had a further daughter, but she also died young. When he died in 1862, he left his estates to his widow for life, with remainder to his only surviving grandchild, Daniel Baird Maturin, the son of his eldest daughter Jane (who died in 1851) and her husband Charles Maturin, a barrister-at-law who later became the Crown Prosecutor for County Londonderrry. As his name suggests, Maturin descended from a Huguenot family who had arrived in Ireland from the Low Countries in the early 18th century. Several members of the family, including Charles' father, Henry Maturin, were Church of Ireland clergymen.

Daniel Baird Maturin (1849-1924) took the additional name of Baird in accordance with the terms of his grandfather's will in 1875. His step-grandmother's life interest in his estates ceased with her death in 1880, but Boom Hall had been let to the Cooke family since 1862 and he continued this arrangement. His father, who died in 1887, lived on part of the Newtown Stewart property, and in the later 1870s bought Mourne Lodge which stood a little west of the town. As the political situation in Ireland deteriorated in the late 19th century, many Anglo-Irish families found it prudent to establish a home in England, and Daniel had done this by 1889, when Mourne Lodge was advertised to let and he was living in London. Later in the 1890s he bought a suburban villa called Croy on the Portsmouth Road at Kingston-on-Thames and moved his family there. His property in Ireland was either let on managed by agents.

In 1924, Daniel was succeeded by his only son, Lt-Col. Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird (1899-1994), who continued to let Boom Hall, but who was obliged by the Irish land laws to sell most of his Newtown Stewart property to the sitting tenants in 1932. When he retired from the army in 1933 he bought Langham Hall near Dedham in Essex, a recently modernised late 18th century house, where he brought up his family. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Boom Hall was requisitioned by the Admiralty. It housed WRNS ratings throughout the war, and when it was returned to the family was in poor condition. Charles secured some £2,600 of war reparations money and began restoring the house for reoccupation by his pre-war tenant. Delays in obtaining building licences and materials and disputes about the restoration process led him, however, to agree in 1949 to sell the house to the tenant and to hand over the remaining reparations money so that the tenant could complete the works to his own specification. The small amount of land around Boom Hall was also mostly sold over the next few years.

Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird lived into extreme old age, and in 1993 the family decided to sell Langham Hall while retaining parts of the estate. His son, John Michael Maturin-Baird (1929-2009) retained the manorial rights, and his younger son, William Patrick Maturin-Baird still lives at one of the former estate farms.

Boom Hall, Co. Londonderry

An account of Boom Hall has already been given in relation to a previous post.

Langham Hall, Essex

Langham Hall: the house as first built, from an engraving published in 1772.

A manor house is recorded as far back as 1282, but it was presumably small as it still had only five hearths in 1671. It probably stood on the current site as the adjoining farmyard still contains a barn of possibly 13th century date and another of c.1600. The present plain, six-bay two-storey stuccoed house has a projecting two-bay centre with a pediment containing a Diocletian window, and was probably built for Jacob Hinde after his marriage in 1756. An engraving of 1772, reproduced above, shows that the centre originally had a central arched doorcase incorporating a narrow window to either side on the ground floor. This visually not very satisfactory arrangement was altered and improved in about 1900, when the present Greek Doric porch was added. At the same time, the house was remodelled and extended at the rear to provide a smoking room and gun room complex, in which 16th century panelling and beams from Valley House, a timber-framed 16th century house in the parish, were introduced. 

Langham Hall: the house today, showing the porch and rear extension added in about 1900. Image: www.langham.org.uk.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Langham Hall had 'beautiful and extensive prospects' over the Stour valley to the north. A small enclosed park and gardens (containing some 16 acres) that existed immediately north of the Hall in 1777 were no doubt laid out by Jacob Hinde. Further improvements were probably made for Alexander Baring after he bought the house in 1830, including the building of the east lodge to the estate on Gun Hill; an early 19th century classical building with the shallow slate roof extending over a veranda of thin Tuscan columns, completed by 1838. New gardens designed in the 1930s by Percy Cane for the Maturin-Bairds included a terrace, semi circular rose garden, herbaceous walk, and glade.

Descent: Thomas Sleigh sold 1662 to Humphrey Thayer (d. 1682); to son, Samuel Thayer (d. c.1732); to son, Humphrey Thayer (d. 1737); to ?brother, Samuel Thayer (d. 1750); to daughter Anne (d. 1803), later wife of Jacob Hinde (d. 1780); to ?son, Charles Hinde, who sold 1829 to Thomas Cooke, who sold 1830 to Alexander Baring (1774-1848), 1st Baron Ashburton; to son, William Bingham Baring (1799-1864), 2nd Baron Ashburton; to brother, Francis Baring (1800-68), 3rd Baron Ashburton; to son, Alexander Hugh Baring (1835-89), 4th Baron Ashburton; to son, Francis Denzil Edward Baring (1866-1938), 5th Baron Ashburton, who sold in 1894 to William Nocton (d. 1921), who sold 1913 to Sir Robert Balfour MP; sold 1927 to Alfred Melson, who sold before 1933 to Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird (1899-1994); sold 1993 to Wilf Tolhurst (1944-2008); to widow, Elizabeth Anne Tolhurst (b. 1945).

Baird (later Maturin-Baird) family of Boom Hall and Langham Hall

Baird, Daniel (c.1795-1862). Son of John Baird (b. 1770) of Castlefinn (Donegal) and his wife, born about 1795. Merchant and ship-owner in Londonderry; Chairman of Daniel Baird & Co., merchants. Mayor of Derry City, 1847; Chairman of Derry City Harbour Board, 1856-61. JP for Tyrone and Londonderry. High Sheriff of Co. Tyrone, 1854-55. He married 1st, Mary [surname unknown] (1803-37) and 2nd, 9 September 1839 at All Souls, Langham Place, London, Barbara (1806-1880), daughter of Rev. Alex Delap of Ray (Co. Donegal), and had issue:
(1.1) Jane Baird (c.1825-51) (q.v.);
(1.2) Daniel Baird (c.1826-46); died unmarried aged 20 in Dublin, 16 December 1846; administration of his goods granted to his father, 26 April 1858 (effects under £200);
(1.3) Charlotte Baird (c.1827-71); died unmarried; will proved in Ireland in 1871;
(1.4) Anne Eliza Baird (c.1830-46); died young in Derry, 21 May 1846; administration of her goods granted to her father, 25 April 1858 (effects under £200);
(2.1) Barbara Watt Baird (1840-47), born 20 December 1840; died young, 20 September 1847, and was buried at Donaghmore; administration of goods granted to her father's executors, 26 January 1864 (effects under £20).
He lived at 'Casino', a villa in Derry built in 1784 for the Earl-Bishop of Derry, until he purchased Boom Hall in 1849 for £6,000. In 1847 he also purchased much of the Earl of Blessington's encumbered property north of Omagh (Tyrone). After his death his estates passed to his widow for life and then to his grandson, Daniel Baird Maturin (later Maturin-Baird).
He died 2 March 1862 and was buried at Donaghmore, Castlefinn (Co. Donegal); his will was proved 31 March 1862 (effects under £12,000). His first wife died 10 April 1837. His widow died 22 January 1880; her will was proved 25 February 1880 (effects under £12,000).

Baird, Jane (c.1825-51). Eldest daughter of Daniel Baird (c.1795-1862) of Boom Hall and his first wife Mary [surname unknown], born c.1825. She married, 11 April 1848 in Derry Cathedral, Charles Maturin (1806-87), barrister-at-law, son of Rev. Henry Maturin (1771-1842), rector of Clondevaddock (Co. Donegal), and had issue:
(1) Daniel Baird Maturin-Baird (1849-1924) (q.v.);
(2) Charles Maturin (1850-51), born 20 August 1850; died in infancy, 29 April 1851.
In the later 1870s her husband bought a villa called Mourne Lodge near Newtown Stewart from John Barclay.
She died at Queenstown (Co. Cork), 'after a lingering illness', 17 April 1851. Her husband died at Castlerock (Londonderry), 31 August 1887, and was buried at Baronscourt (Co. Tyrone).

Maturin (later Maturin-Baird), Daniel Baird (1849-1924). Only surviving son of Charles Maturin and his wife Jane, daughter of Daniel Baird of Boom Hall (Co. Londonderry), born in Dublin, 26 July 1849 and baptised at St Peter, Dublin, 15 February 1850. An officer in the Prince of Wales' Own Donegal Militia, 1869-75 (Capt.). He took the additional name of Baird by royal licence in 1875. He married, 23 December 1889 at St Peter, Regent Sq., London, Eleanor alias Ellen (1871-1919), daughter of John Parsons, builder, and had issue:
(1) Ella Jane Maturin-Baird (1891-1981), born 23 February 1891 and baptised at St Barnabas, Holland Park, London, 1 April 1891; married, 21 January 1917 at All Saints, Kingston-on-Thames, Lt-Col. Reginald George Maturin DSO (1877-1952), son of Surgeon-Col. John Maturin of Colchester (Essex), and had issue one daughter; died Jan-Mar 1981;
(2) Dorothy Lucy Maturin-Baird (1893-1989), born 8 November 1893 and baptised at St James, Holland Park, London, January 1894; married, 3 June 1915 at the Savoy Chapel, London, (Lancelot) James Clayton (1881-1921), solicitor, and had issue one son (who was killed in action in 1944); after the death of her son she became increasingly reclusive; died aged 95, Jan-Mar 1989;
(3) Gladys Muriel Maturin-Baird (1895-1934), born at Croy, Kingston-on-Thames, 13 September 1895 and baptised at St Mark, Surbiton (Surrey), November 1895; lived at Appledore (Kent); died unmarried, 7 February 1934; administration of goods granted 21 March 1934 (effects £1,825);
(4) Lt-Col. Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird (1899-1994) (q.v.).
He inherited Boom Hall and the Newton Stewart estate on the death of his grandmother in 1880, but leased the former to the Cooke family until about 1882, and later to James Corscaden (fl. 1892), Sir John Barr Johnson and H.J. Cooke. He inherited Mourne Lodge from his father in 1887, but let it from 1889 and later lived in London and from the mid-1890s at Croy, Portsmouth Road, Kingston-on-Thames (Surrey).
He died 6 June, and was buried at Kingston-on-Thames Cemetery (Surrey), 11 June 1924; his will was proved 8 August 1924 (estate in England, £19,939 and in Northern Ireland £1,106). His wife died 7 December, and was buried at Kingston-on-Thames Cemetery, 10 December 1919; administration of her goods was granted to her husband, 19 April 1920 (effects £276).

Maturin-Baird, Lt-Col. Charles Edgar (1899-1994). Only son of Daniel Baird Maturin-Baird (1849-1924) of Boom Hall and his wife Ellen, daughter of John Parsons, builder, born at Croy, 28 February and baptised at Surbiton, 12 April 1899. Educated at Repton School and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the Irish Guards, 1918-33 (2nd Lt., 1918; Lt., 1920; Capt., 1930; Br. Maj. & Acting Lt-Col.) and served in Second World War with Military Police, 1939-45 (Deputy Provost Marshal, 1941). He married 1st, 27 February 1922, Angela Marie (1895-1979), daughter of Charles Beard Hatfield Harter of Cranfield Court (Beds), and 2nd, Jul-Sep. 1979, Evelyn (1904-97), daughter of Carl Neidhard Martin of Philadelphia (USA) and widow of Edward Jack Wilbraham, and had issue:
(1.1) Patricia Maturin-Baird (1923-2008); an officer in the W.R.N.S., 1941-45; married, 25 August 1944 at Colchester RC church, John Alastair Montgomerie DSC (1918-89) of Kilrishin, Newton Mearns (Renfrews.), only son of John Duncan Macnicol Montgomerie of Glasgow, and had issue one daughter; died at Old Cumnock, 2008;
(1.2) John Michael Maturin-Baird (1929-2009) (q.v.);
(1.3) Sheelagh Caroline Maturin-Baird (b. 1926); narrowly escaped drowning in a sailing accident, 1946; married, February 1955, Brig. Raoul Charles Lemprière-Robin (1914-99) of Rosel Manor (Jersey), and had issue a daughter.
He inherited Boom Hall and Mourne Lodge from his father in 1924. He continued to let Boom Hall until it was requisitioned for the use of W.R.N.S. ratings during the Second World War. In 1946 he claimed £2,600 war damages and began restoration of the house, but work was incomplete when he sold in 1949 to the pre-war tenant, Michael Henry McDevitt of Red House, Castlerock (Donegal). The Newtown Stewart estate was largely sold to the tenants in 1932. He purchased Langham Hall (Essex) in 1933, but sold it in 1993.
He died 20 March 1994; his will was proved 29 June 1994 (estate £23,357). His first wife died 20 May 1979; her will was proved 11 July 1979 (estate £7,960). His widow died 20 August 1997; her will was proved 22 December 1997.

Maturin-Baird, John Michael (1929-2009). Only son of Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird (1899-1994) of Langham Hall and his first wife, Angela Marie, daughter of Charles Beard Hatfield Harter of Cranfield Court (Beds), born 2 January 1929. Educated at Eton. He married, April 1955 at the Church of the Holy Redeemer, Chelsea (Middx), Bridget Jane (1928-2009), daughter of Alfred Hazell King, of HM consular service, and had issue:
(1) James Charles Maturin-Baird (1958-2014), born October 1958; freelance social and travel photographer at Bures (Suffk); married, June 2005, Pamela A. Martin, and had issue one son; died 21 June 2014; will proved 8 October 2014;
(2) William Patrick Maturin-Baird (b. 1960), born Oct-Dec 1960; lives at Glebe Farm, Langham; married, Oct-Dec 1988, Sarah J. Breen-Turner (b. 1958), artist, and had issue one son and one daughter; now living;
(3) Sophia M. Maturin-Baird (b. 1963); married, 1999, William E.H. Parker (b. 1958), and had issue one son; now living.
He inherited parts of the Langham Hall estate from his father in 1994. 
He died 6 December 2009; his will was proved 6 August 2010. His wife died 12 February 2009; her will was proved 6 May 2009.

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 93; J. Bettley & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Essex, 2007, p. 520; VCH Essex, vol. 10, 2001, pp. 248-51;  http://maturin.org.uk/Henry; http://northernscrivener.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/notes-on-boomhall-londonderry.html; http://ballymoteheritage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/43-2010.pdf; 

Location of archives

Some records are believed to be in the possession of the family.

Coat of arms

Maturin-Baird: 1st and 4th, per fesse or and gules, a boar passant proper between two crescents in chief, of the second, and a dagger erect in base, of the first (for Baird); 2nd and 3rd, argent, a chevron between two martlets in chief, gules, and a mound in base, proper (for Maturin).

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.

• Can anyone provide additional genealogical information about the people featured in this post, especially about Daniel Baird's first wife and children, or portraits of members of the family whose names are given in bold?
• Can anyone supply an image of Mourne Lodge, Newtown Stewart, which seems to have been built by 1872 but was demolished in the later 20th century.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 10 May 2018.

(198) Ash, later Beresford-Ash, of Ashbrook House

Ash of Ashbrook House

This branch of the Ash family has been settled in Ireland since the 16th century, but like all the other gentry families of this name they trace their origins ultimately to the medieval Ashe family from Devon. It was Thomas Ashe (1529-82), the second son of Nicholas Ashe of Clyst Forynson (Devon) who first moved to Ireland, where he married the daughter of Nicholas Bailey of St. John's Abbey in Co. Meath. Thomas probably had four sons, the eldest of whom, Gen. Sir Thomas Ashe (1567-1626) was active under both Queen Elizabeth and James I in defending the Crown's authority in Ireland, and who was in consequence a major beneficiary of the redistribution of forfeited lands in Ulster. Having no sons to succeed him, he gave many of these properties to his relations, and he settled the lands he received at Cornerrin and elsewhere near Derry on Josias Ashe. Josias, whose relationship to Sir Thomas is uncertain, left the estate to his elder son, John Ashe (d. 1684), who was a merchant in Belfast and served as 'Sovraign' of the borough [i.e. Mayor] in 1646; he married three times and had twenty-four recorded children, although many of them died young. It seems to have been John who first made his home at Cornerrin, which he renamed Ashbrook House, and since his surviving sons were mostly apprenticed to trades in Derry rather than Belfast, this may have been during the Civil War or soon afterwards.

John was dead before King James II's invasion of Ireland took place, but many of his adult children were actively involved in the desperate defence of Derry against the king in 1689, and two of his numerous grandchildren were killed - or at least died - during the siege. Ashbrook had been left not to his eldest son but to George Ash (1679-1729), who was perhaps John's youngest surviving son at the time of his death. George was only five when his father died and only seven when his mother remarried. He was taken to safety in Scotland during the war of 1689 with his mother's other surviving children, and the Ashbrook estate was left in the care of his half-brother, Lt-Col. Thomas Ashe (1660-c.1737), who moved into Derry during the siege and left an account of it which is one of the main sources for understanding events there.  When the King's army gave up the siege in 1689 they burned the homes of many leading Protestants in the vicinity, and Ashbrook would have been lucky to escape this, although there is no family tradition of a rebuilding after the war.

George Ash (the final e being dropped about this time) died aged 50, although not before fathering 17 children, six of whom died young. His heir was his eldest surviving son, George Ash (1712-96), who took a French wife (which may imply that he travelled on the Continent as a soldier or a tourist) but had no issue. He is generally thought to have been responsible for giving the house its present appearance by building the front range with a prominent curved central bow. When his widow died in 1803 the house passed to his nephew, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d. 1821), on condition that he took the name Ash. William's sons were the first members of the family known to have gone to University, and his heir, William Hamilton Ash (1801-66) was a JP for counties Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone, implying that he had significant landholdings in all three counties. He married into the peerage (his wife was a sister of the 17th Earl of Morton) but the couple had only one child, a daughter, Caroline (1830-1901), who married John Barré Beresford (1815-95) of Learmount Castle (Londonderry). In 1883, the combined Ashbrook and Learmount estates amounted to some 12,873 acres in Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone. When John died, the Ashbrook and Learmount estates were again divided, passing to the couple's elder and younger sons respectively. 

Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938) who inherited Ashbrook, was a career soldier who saw extensive service in India and South Africa. He married a daughter of the 5th Marquess of Sligo but they had only one child, Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976), who followed his father into the army and fought throughout the First World War, retiring in 1924. In 1930 he made a late marriage to the youngest daughter of the Earl of Stradbroke, and they also had only one son, John Randal Beresford-Ash (1938-2010), who saw the estate through the dark days of the Troubles, when the good relations he maintained with both the local Catholic and Protestant populations helped to protect the family and its property from unwanted attention. Like his great-great-uncle, he took a French wife, and they had three daughters, all now married, so it would seem that the Ash name will die out in this generation, unless a future owner follows family precedent and adds Ash to their patronymic. The family currently open the house to visitors by appointment and use it as a wedding venue.

Ashbrook House, Co. Londonderry

Ashbrook House: aerial view showing the front block of c.1760 and the probably older ranges behind.
Image: © Neil Jackman/Abarta Heritage.ie

There has been a house on this site (called Cornerrin until c.1690) since at least the middle of the 17th century, and perhaps earlier. It may have been one of the Protestant homes burned by the retreating Jacobite army after their failure to capture Derry in 1689, but the family tradition is of a rebuilding in 1686 rather than after the rebellion. Parts of the back of the house may date from the late 17th century but they have been so altered later that there are no datable features before the 18th century. 

Ashbrook House: a new front range was built about 1760 for George Ash (1712-96)

In the late 18th century (reputedly about 1760) a new front range was built, with a strongly-projecting semicircular bow in the centre; an unusual design although one which was paralleled a little later at nearby Roe Park. The fenestration is unusual, with single windows either side of the bow on the ground floor and two windows above. Despite this solecism, the new front was obviously meant to be fashionable, for the architraves to all the windows and the front door are lavishly treated with Gibbs surrounds in stone.

Ashbrook House: the entrance hall. Image: © Neil Jackman of AbartaHeritage.ie

Ashbrook House: dining room. Image: © Neil Jackman of AbartaHeritage.ie

Ashbrook House, from the 3rd edn OS 6" map.

Inside, the house has relatively simple interiors, made memorable by vivid colours and an accumulation of interesting objects. The doors and window frames have lugged surrounds. The addition of the taller new rooms to the front of the house in the later 18th century means that the first floor bedrooms in this part of the house are approached from the rear by a straight stair leading off a top-lit gallery. 

The estate, which is partly in the glen of the River Faughan, was also landscaped in the 18th century: tree planting is recorded in 1773-76.

Descent: John Ash (fl. 1686)...George Ash (1679-1729); to son, George Ash (1712-96); to nephew, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d.1821); to son, William Hamilton Ash (1801-66); to daughter, Caroline (1830-1901), wife of John Barré Beresford (d. 1895); to son, Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938); to son, Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976); to son, John Randal Beresford-Ash (1938-2010); to daughter, Melanie Anne Helena Charlotte Beresford-Ash (b. 1968), wife of Charles Cunningham.

Ash (later Beresford-Ash) family of Ashbrook

Ashe, Thomas (1529-82). Second son of Nicholas Ashe of Clyst Forynson (Devon), born at Bucknell (Oxon), 1529. He married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Bailey of St. John's Abbey (Meath) and had issue including:
(1) Gen. Sir Thomas Ashe (1567-1626) (q.v.);
(2) Nicholas Ashe of Newtown (Meath); married and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(3) John Ashe (d. 1636); received from his eldest brother the St John's Abbey estate and Talbot's Castle (Meath), Moyvalley and Dromshill (Cavan); married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Case[y] of Chester and had issue one son and one daughter; died 29 April 1636 and was buried at Trim (Meath);
(4) ?Josias Ashe (b. c.1580) (q.v.).

He settled at St John's Abbey (Meath) in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

He died in 1582, aged 53.

Ashe, Gen. Sir Thomas (1567-1626). Son of Thomas Ashe (1529-82), born 1567. He was knighted at Dublin Castle, 25 July 1603, as a reward for his part in suppressing the revolt of the Irish earls; MP for Trim (Meath). He married Elizabeth [surname unknown] (d. 1632) and had issue*:
(1) Anne Ashe; married Rev. Joseph Synge, rector of Manfieldstown and vicar of Dundalk, son of Richard Synge of Bridgnorth (Shropshire) and had issue a son.

He lived at St. John's Abbey near Trim (Meath) and Dromshill (later Ashfield Hall) (Cavan), where he was granted 6,500 acres. He was succeeded in these estates by his younger brother, John Ashe (d. 1636) or, according to some accounts, by his great-nephew, Nicholas Ashe (1608-56) of Moyrath at whose death without issue, they were inherited by his cousin, William Ashe of Summerstown. Sir Thomas was reputedly also granted lands near Londonderry including Cornerrin (later Ashbrook) after the flight of the Earls in 1607, which he gave to his relative Josias Ashe. 

He died 14 October 1626. His widow died in 1632; her will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Ireland in that year.
* Some sources say he died without issue.

Ashe, Josias (b. c.1580). A son or possibly a grandson of Thomas Ashe (1529-82) and his wife Mary Bailey (d. 1629), born about 1600. He married Mary Hogan and had issue including:

(1) John Ashe (d. 1684) (q.v.);
(2) Francis Ashe;
(3) Thomas Ashe (fl. 1680);
(4) Anne Ashe (fl. 1680); married [forename unknown] Harvey;
(5) Susanna Ashe; some sources identify her as the daughter of Josias Ashe baptised at Templemore, 13 December 1642 and as the person who married, 15 October 1657, Edmond Thomas, and as the Widow Ash who was buried 15 May 1671, but these events seem unlikely to all relate to the same person and to be too late to refer to a person of this generation.

He appears to have been given various lands in the environs of Londonderry by his relative, Sir Thomas Ashe, no doubt including Cornerrin (later Ashbrook).

His date of death is unknown.

Ashe, John  (d. 1684). Son of Josias Ashe (b. c.1580) and Mary Hogan, born about 1600. A burgess of Belfast; elected 'Sovraigne' [i.e. Mayor] of Belfast, 1646. He married 1st, Thomasin [surname unknown], 2nd,  c.1655, Sarah Williams (c.1639-68), and 3rd, 1668, Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. W. Holland, and had issue:
(1.1) John Ashe (fl. 1680); inherited Coolofinny from his father; married 1st, Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Ball and had issue four children; he married 2nd, [name unknown] and had issue three further children;
(2.1) Luke Ashe; died at sea without issue;
(2.2) Henry Ashe (d. 1711); tanner; an alderman of Derry and one of the defenders of the city during the siege of 1689; sheriff of Derry, 1687, 1690 and 1694; mayor of Derry, 1696; he married 1st, [name unknown] and had issue one child; he married 2nd, Margaret [surname unknown] and had issue fifteen or sixteen children, many of whom died young; died after 1704; will proved 1711;
(2.3) Elisabeth Ashe; married Thomas Gardiner;
(2.4) Lt-Col. Thomas Ashe (1660-c.1737); educated in Derry city; managed his father's estates from 1684; coroner for Londonderry, 1685; he moved into Derry city at the beginning of 1689 and was an officer in one of the regiments there resisting the siege of 1689, for which his journal (published in 1792) is one of the best sources; he stayed in Derry until 1693 and lived thereafter at Magherafelt (Londonderry) until 1727 and then at Ballymaguigan (Londonderry); high sheriff of Londonderry, 1694; alderman of Derry, 1704-37; JP for Londonderry, 1716-37; officer in a militia regiment from 1715 (Lt-Col., 1724); visited England, 1700, 1710 and 1720; he recorded the genealogy of his family at the end of his life, 1735-37 (published in 1890); married 1st, 13 July 1686, Elizabeth (d. 1688), daughter of Thomas Becke and had issue two daughters; married 2nd, 6 April 1693, Elizabeth (c.1672-1728), daughter of Hugh Rainey of Magherafelt, and had thirteen sons and four daughters; died about 1737, aged 77;
(2.5) Mary Ashe (b. 1661), born 8 May 1661; married 1st, George Stewart (d. 1682) of Inch (Donegal) and had issue a daughter who died during the siege of Derry; married 2nd, 1687, William Browne and had issue four sons (one died young) and six daughters; living in 1735; buried at Muff (Donegal);
(2.6) Susanna Ashe; died young;
(2.7) Sarah Ashe (1665-1726), born 24 April 1665; married 1st, c.1781, John Dougherty (d. 1684), attorney, and had issue one daughter, who died during the siege of Derry, and two other children who died young; she married 2nd, October 1689, Maj. Sam Shaltcross (d. c.1707) and had issue three children, who all died young; lived in Dublin and later Derry after her second husband's death; died in Derry aged 61;
(2.8) Margaret Ashe; died young;
(2.9) George Ashe; married and had issue one son;
(2.10) twin, Josias Ashe (1668-81), born 12 July 1668; died aged 13 and was buried at Muff (Donegal);
(2.11) twin, Capt. James Ashe (1668-1704), born 12 July 1668; apprenticed to his brother Henry, c.1683 and served with him four years; when the Jacobite invasion took place he purchased a commission in the army (Ensign, 1688; Lt., 1690; Capt., c.1691); he had an illegitimate son, who lived in Co. Down; he died unmarried at Barbados, while en route to America with his regiment; will proved 1704;
(3.1) Charity Ash (1669-82), born 23 August 1669 at Coleraine; died of smallpox in 1682 aged 13 and was buried at Clandermont;
(3.2) William Ash (b. 1671), born 18 August 1671; died young;
(3.3) Alexander Ash (b. 1672), born 16 July 1672; died young;
(3.4) Anne Ash (b. 1673), born 8 December 1673; died young;
(3.5) Stephen Ash (alias Holland) (1675-1712), born 26 December 1675; apprenticed to Samuel Leeson of Derry, tanner; had three illegitimate children (including twins by one of Leeson's maids); in business as a tanner in Derry and after his marriage at Liffoy near Coleraine; married Mary (1681-1731), daughter of Edward Edwards MP of Castlegore and had issue four sons and three daughters; got into debt and abandoned his wife and family and went to London and then joined the army; died on campaign, 1712, aged 37;
(3.6) William Ash (b. 1677), born 2 August 1677; died young;
(3.7) Martha Ash (b. 1678), born October 1678; died young;

(3.8) George Ash (1679-1729) (q.v.);
(3.9) Richard Ash (b. 1681), born 12 February 1680/1; died young;
(3.10) Lydia Ash (b. 1682), born 19 February 1681/2; died young;
(3.11) Charity Ash (b. 1683), born 29 July 1683; married, Thomas Lecky (d. 1710), son of Alexander Lecky and had issue eight sons and one daughter; living in 1735;
(3.12) Phillis Ash (b. 1684), born 16 August 1684; educated in Coleraine and Dublin; married, 16 April 1718, Rev. Thomas Warburton (c.1679-1736), rector of Magherafelt and had issue three sons and four daughters; living in Magherafelt in 1752.

He lived at Cornerrin (later Ashbrook) which he inherited from his father; he is said to have built a new house there.

He died in November 1684. His first wife died in childbirth and was buried at Muff (Donegal). His second wife also died in childbirth, July 1668. His widow married 2nd, 6 July 1686, John Cromey and moved to Co. Antrim with the four surviving children of her first marriage; during the war of 1689-90 they moved to Glasgow, returning towards the end of 1690; she died in 1735.

Ash, George (1679-1729). Son of John Ash (d. 1684?) and his third wife Elizabeth Holland, born 17 November 1679. Apprenticed to his half-brother, Henry Ash as a tanner, c.1694, but did not complete his articles. Lieut. to Capt. George Tomkins in the Militia; was burgess in the Corporation of Derry, and served twice as High-Sheriff for the City & County of Londonderry. He married, c.1703, his cousin Mary (1682-1764), daughter of John Rankin of Donegal and had issue:

(1) Jane Ash (b. 1704) (q.v.);

(2) John Ash, (b. 1705); died young;
(3) Sarah Ash (b. 1706); died young;
(4) Elisabeth Ash (b. 1707); died young;
(5) Charity Ash (b. 1709); married Robert Thompson and had issue one son and one daughter;
(6) Mary Ash (1710-67); living in 1735; perhaps the Mary Ash of Ashbrook whose will was proved in 1767;
(7) George Ash (1712-96) (q.v.).
(8) Susanna Ash (b. 1714); living in 1735;
(9) Sophia Ash (b. 1716); living in 1735;
(10) William Ash (b. 1717); living in 1735;
(11) Phillis Ash (b. 1718); died young;
(12) Martha Ash (b. 1719); living in 1735;
(13) Thomas Ash (b. 1721); died young;
(14) Rebecca Ash (b. 1722); died young;
(15) Phillis Ash (b. 1724); probably died young;
(16) Elisabeth Ash (1725-1813); living in 1735; married Henry Hewey (d. 1755) and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 1813 and was buried with her husband at Eglinton;
(17) Lydia Ash (b. 1727); living in 1735.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1684 and came of age in 1700.

He died 25 June 1729. His widow died in 1764.

Ash, George (1712-96). Son of George Ash (1679-1729) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Rankin of Donegal, born 1712. A burgess of Limavady. He married, Anne [surname unknown] (d. 1803), a French lady, but had no issue.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1729, and built the new front onto the house in the late 18th century. He initially intended his nephew George Hewey (whom he educated) as his heir, but they had a dispute about a horse and so Ashbrook was left to another nephew, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d. 1821).

He died 18 October 1796 and his will was proved in December that year. His widow died in 1803; her will was proved in that year.

Ash, Jane (b. 1704). Daughter of George Ash (1679-1729) and his wife Mary, daughter of John Rankin of Donegal, born 1704. She married William Hamilton and had issue including:

(1) William Hamilton (later Hamilton-Ash) (d. 1821) (q.v.).

Her date of death is unknown. Her husband's date of death is unknown.

Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash), William (d. 1821). Son of William Hamilton and his wife Jane, daughter of George Ash of Ashbrook. He assumed the additional surname of Ash on inheriting the Ashbrook estate in 1803. He married, 29 May 1795, Elizabeth Harriet (d. 1805), daughter of [forename unknown] Henderson of Castle Dawson (Londonderry) and had issue:

(1) Ann Hamilton Ash (c.1796-1867); married, 8 March 1824 at St Peter, Dublin, Rev. Thomas William Dixon, a Roman Catholic priest who converted to Anglicanism and became curate of Drogheda; died at Drogheda (Louth), 16 November 1867;
(2) William Hamilton Ash (1801-66) (q.v.);
(3) Rev. George Hamilton Ash (1802-52); educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1822; MA 1832); curate and later rector of Ballyscullion, 1826-49; rector of Cumber Lower, 1849-52; married, 1826, Mary Elizabeth (1804-66), daughter of Rev. Thomas Spotswood and had issue two sons and two daughters; died in Dublin, 28 October 1852;
(4) Jane Hamilton Ash (d. 1848); married, as his second wife, Robert Algar, later collector of customs at Berwick-on-Tweed (Northbld) and had issue; in 1839 when they were living in Drogheda a violent storm blew down their house and they had to be rescued by neighbours; died 31 August 1848.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate after the death of his aunt in 1803.

He died 29 May 1821. His wife died in 1805.

Ash, William Hamilton (1801-66). Son of William Hamilton Ash (d. 1821) of Ashbrook and his wife Elizabeth Harriet Henderson, born 3 May 1801. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1822). JP for Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone; DL for Londonderry, 1837; High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1843; a burgess of Derry by 1836; Chairman of the Famine Relief Committee for Co. Londonderry, 1845-47; President of the Tirkeeran Farming Association, 1839; a Londonderry Bridge Commissioner, 1859-66. He married, 10 July 1827 at Earls Gift (Tyrone), Lady Elizabeth Emma (1794-1857), third daughter of Hon. John Douglas and sister of 17th Earl of Morton, and had issue:

(1) Caroline Hamilton Ash (1830-1901) (q.v.).

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1821, but it was let to Hugh Lyle in the 1820s.

He died 20 November 1866; his will was proved 18 December 1866. His wife died at Earls Gift, 2 February 1857.

Hamilton Ash, Caroline (1830-1901). Only child of William Hamilton Ash (1801-66) and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Emma, daughter of Hon. John Douglas, born 30 September 1830. She married, 7 July 1853, as his second wife, John Barré Beresford (1815-95) of Learmount Castle (Londonderry), eldest son of Henry Barré Beresford of Learmount Castle, and had issue:

(1) Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford (later Beresford-Ash) (1859-1938) (q.v.);

(2) Emma Clara Beresford (c.1861-1927); married, 20 December 1881, as his second wife, Capt. Francis Coffin Macky JP DL (1847-1920), younger son of James Thompson Macky of Belmont (Londonderry), and had issue a daughter; died 19 November 1927; will proved 21 March 1928 (estate £1,145);

(3) Barbara Caroline Beresford (c.1863-1937); died unmarried, 13 May 1937; administration of goods granted 12 August 1937 (estate £205);

(4) Mary Elizabeth Beresford (1864-1936), born 19 February 1864; married, 6 February 1899, Henry Joseph Cooke (1852-1923), son of Joseph Cooke and had issue one son and two daughters; died in Belfast, 22 January 1936; will proved 21 July 1936 (estate £11,217);

(5) Maj. Marcus John Barré Beresford (1868-1944), of Learmount, born 10 April 1868; an officer in the South Wales Borderers, who served in South Africa; married, 19 December 1914, Alma (d. 1968), daughter of David Methven of London, and had issue one daughter; killed by enemy action, 26 July 1944; will proved 11 January 1945 (estate £10,569);

(6) Louisa Gertrude Douglas Beresford (1870-1941), born 28 September 1870; married, 22 August 1894 at Glendermott (Londonderry), Maj. John Edward Pine-Coffin of Portledge (Devon); died 12 March 1941; will proved 20 November 1941 (estate £1,462).

She inherited the Ashbrook estate from her father in 1866. In 1883 the combined Learmount and Ashbrook estates comprised 12,873 acres in Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone.

She died 13 January 1901 and was buried at Learmount. Her husband died 30 August 1895.

Beresford (later Beresford-Ash), Col. William Randal Hamilton (1859-1938). Eldest surviving son of John Barré Beresford of Learmount Castle and his wife Caroline, daughter of William Hamilton Ash, born 19 July 1859. An officer in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (2nd Lt., 1879; Lt., 1881; Capt., 1885; Adjutant, 1890-94; Maj., 1898; Lt-Col., 1904 and Brevet Col, 1907) who served in India, 1885-86, 1888-90 and 1896-1900 and in South Africa, 1900-01 and was mentioned in despatches, 1886; DL for Co. Londonderry. He assumed the additional surname and arms of Ash by royal licence, 1901. He married, 23 October 1886 at St. Marylebone (Middx), Lady Florence Marion (1863-1946), daughter of Henry Ulick Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo, and had issue:

(1) Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976) (q.v.).

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his mother in 1901, but let it initially. His widow lived latterly at Longnor Hall (Shropshire).

He died 8 March 1938; his will was proved 5 July 1938 (estate £6,978). His widow died 22 November 1946; her will was proved 29 April 1947 (estate £3,889).

Beresford-Ash, Maj. Douglas (1887-1976). Only child of Col. William Randal Hamilton Beresford-Ash of Ashbrook and his wife Lady Florence Marion, daughter of 5th Marquess of Sligo, born 3 September 1887 in Lucknow (India). Educated at Eton and RMC Sandhurst. An officer in the Royal Fusiliers (2nd Lt., 1908; Lt., 1912; Capt., 1915; Adjutant, 2nd Battn, London Regt., 1923; retired as Major, 1924), he was wounded and mentioned in despatches in WW1. DL for Co. Londonderry; High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1950. He married, 17 September 1930 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, Lady (Betty) Helena Joanna (d. 1969), youngest daughter of George Edward John Mowbray Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke, and had issue:

(1) John Randal Beresford-Ash (1938-2010) (q.v.).

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1938.

He died in 1976, aged 89. His wife died 4 November 1969.

J.R. Beresford-Ash

Beresford-Ash, John Randal (1938-2010). Only child of Maj. Douglas Beresford-Ash (1887-1976) and his wife Lady (Betty) Helena Joanna, daughter of 3rd Earl of Stradbroke, born in London, 21 January 1938. Educated at Eton. He served in the Irish Guards. High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1976. He married, 27 March 1968 in Paris (France), Agnès Marie Colette, younger daughter of Comte (Jules Marie) Guy de Lamberterie de la Chapelle Montmoreau, of La Truchere, Soane-et-Loire (France), and had issue:

(1) Melanie Anne Helena Charlotte Beresford-Ash (b. 1968), born 9 August 1968; married, 29 September 2001 in St Columb's Cathedral, Londonderry, Charles C. Cunningham, son of Augustine Cunningham of Templemore (Londonderry); now living

(2) Louisa-Jane Marie Caroline Beresford-Ash (b. 1971), born 7 July 1971; married 16 February 2002, at Londonderry Cathedral, Thomas W.E. Leigh, son of Robert Leigh of Hartfield (Sussex); now living;

(3) Angelique Mary Elisa Beresford-Ash (b. 1978); married, 9 May 2009, at Londonderry Cathedral, Dominic Benthall.

He inherited the Ashbrook estate from his father in 1976. He and his wife also owned a house in Burgundy (France).

He died suddenly, 3 April 2010 and was buried at Christ Church, Limavady, 14 April 2010. His widow is now living.

Sources

Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976, pp. 38-39; H. Tyler, The Ash manuscript, written in the year 1735, by Lt-Col. Thomas Ash, 1890; M. Bence-Jones, A guide to Irish country houses, 2nd edn, 1988, p. 12; www.ashefamily.info;

Location of archives

Beresford-Ash of Ashbrook: miscellaneous legal papers, 1795-1951 [Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, D1550/152]

Coat of arms

Ash of Ashbrook: Argent two chevronnels gules, in the dexter chief a trefoil slipped vert; Beresford of Learmount: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, argent crusilly fitchee three fleurs-de-lis, a bordure engrailed sable (for Beresford); 2nd and 3rd, argent a chief indented sable (for De La Poer), with a crescent for difference.

The Beresford-Ashs quarter the two coats, with the arms of Ash 1st and 4th and those of Beresford 2nd and 3rd.

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.

• As so often with Irish families, the genealogical details for earlier generations are sadly deficient and I would be most grateful for any additional information which readers can supply. In particular, it would be helpful to know the dates of death of Jane Ash (b. 1704) and her husband William Hamilton, and the date of birth of their son, William Hamilton (later Hamilton Ash) (d. 1821).
• Can anyone identify Anne, the French wife of George Ash (1712-96), or explain how they met?
• Can anyone supply images of portraits or photographs of other members of the family?

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 6th December 2015 and was revised 28 January and 21 May 2016 and 3 May 2026.