Landed families of Britain and Ireland

This site, which was short-listed for the Society of Architectural Historians (GB) Colvin Prize in 2019, presents my research into the landowning families of the British Isles and the country houses which they owned. Comments, especially in the form of corrections, additional information or new illustrations, are very welcome. Please use the Contact Form in the right hand side bar to contact me privately or the comments facility at the bottom of the page to make a public comment.

Showing posts with label Offaly. Show all posts

Friday, 14 November 2025

(617) Biddulph of Rathrobin

Biddulph of Rathrobin

This family is believed to be a cadet branch of the Biddulphs of Biddulph Old Hall and Burton Park, although to my knowledge the connection has never been demonstrated. The first of the family to settle in Ireland was evidently Francis Biddulph (d. 1673), with whom the genealogy below begins. He received a grant of lands in Co. Wexford after the restoration of King Charles II, which was perhaps recognition of service abroad to the Crown during the Commonwealth. His lands in Co. Wexford passed to his eldest son, Richard, but it was his youngest son, Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702), who in 1694 obtained a lease of Rathrobin, renewable in perpetuity, from Lord Shelburne, and who thus first brought the family to King's County (now Co. Offaly). Nicholas is said to have built a new house at Rathrobin, but this was probably no more than a gentleman farmer's house. In 1722, Nicholas' son and heir, Francis Biddulph (b. 1690) took a lease of Fortal Castle from Lord Shelburne on similar terms to the lease his father had negotiated on Rathrobin, and he seems to have made Fortal his home. Even less is known about the house at Fortal than about Rathrobin, though its name suggests Fortal may have been a medieval tower house in origin. Apart from a very long approach drive from the south, 19th century map evidence does not suggest it was more than a farmhouse. Francis Biddulph's only recorded child was Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62), who was married twice. By his first wife, Patience Colley, he had two daughters, who were the ultimate heirs to Fortal and Rathrobin. His second wife, Alice Scott, gave him a son, Angel Biddulph, who died young and probably in his father's lifetime. As a widow, Alice married her husband's cousin, Lt-Col. John Biddulph, but had no further issue.

It was therefore Nicholas' two daughters who inherited his estates in Co. Offaly as tenants in common. Both were married: Margaret (d. 1811) to Alexander Cornwall of Lismola (Co. Limerick) and Sarah (d. 1774) to Gifford Nesbitt of Tubberdaly (Co. Offaly), but Sarah died without issue in 1774, leaving her moiety of the estate to Margaret. Alexander Cornwall died in 1779, and the following year Margaret married again, to Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815) of Castle Bernard (Co. Offaly), who was in control of events at Rathrobin until his wife's death. Since neither of Margaret's marriages produced any children, when she died in 1811 she bequeathed her estate to her second cousin, Elizabeth, Lady Waller (d. 1851), but this prompted a lengthy legal dispute with Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827), who was a great-grandson of Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702) and another of Margaret's second cousins. The dispute was eventually settled in 1824 when the parties agreed that Lady Waller should inherit Fortal and F.H. Biddulph should inherit Rathrobin. I have not pursued the detailed story of Fortal Castle after 1824 as I have no evidence it was much more than a farmhouse, but Lady Waller died in 1851 without surviving issue, after which Fortal passed to her nephew, Nicholas Biddulph (1803-88) and then to his son, Francis Edward Biddulph (1834-1919). The house appears to have been let throughout the 19th century, and was sold at some point in the early 20th century.

Annaghmore House, as altered c.1820

Rathrobin came in 1824 into the possession of Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827), who made his home at Sandymount (Co. Dublin) and seems also to have rented Annaghmore House (Co. Offaly), which nearly adjoined Rathrobin. He probably never occupied Rathrobin, as he lived only three years after gaining undisputed possession. Instead, he improved the house at Annaghmore in about 1820, adding bow ends and new windows that gave it a more fashionable appearance. Francis Harrison Biddulph and his wife Mary Marsh had an unusually large family of fourteen children, of whom only two died young, and several of whom lived notably long lives. The eldest son, Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68) inherited Rathrobin. He attended Trinity College, Dublin and became a justice of the peace. Although there does not seem to be any evidence that he was a particularly harsh landlord, in 1840 he terminated the leases of two of his tenants and later that year an attempt was made to shoot him in the road near Rathrobin. Happily he received only minor injuries and was able to give chase to his assailants. Two relatives of his ex-tenants were arrested and tried for attempted murder and they were put on trial. The first trial was inconclusive as the jury could not reach a verdict. A second trial was held at the next assizes, with the same result, after which a third trial was moved to Dublin, where the men were finally acquitted for lack of solid evidence. Biddulph was the one who suffered a penalty, for it emerged during the third trial that he had advised one of the accused men to flee justice to avoid execution. For this, he was suspended from his office as a justice of the peace, although he seems to have been restored to the role a few years later. He married in 1845, and he and his wife had four sons and two daughters, almost all of whom were still minors when he died at a relatively modest age.

Rathrobin passed to his eldest surviving son, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926), who had just embarked on a military career when his father died, which he continued to pursue until 1895. It was only then, having left the army, that he returned to Rathrobin and, finding the house neglected and forlorn, decided to rebuild it on a larger scale. The work was financed in part through Col. Biddulph's inheritance of lands in Hampshire and Lancashire from a maternal uncle. One part of the old house was preserved, but otherwise it was completely reconstructed, with experimental cast concrete walls and stone used only for the window surrounds and architectural details. His wife, Vera Flower, was a keen gardener, and an important part of the reconstruction was creating a walled flower garden immediately adjoining the house. Col. Biddulph was an excellent amateur photographer, and his scenes of life at Rathrobin and on the wider estate have happily survived and been published. He was a generous, engaged and well-liked landlord, who co-operated with the process of selling tenanted land to the occupiers in the early 20th century, and as the agitation for Irish home rule grew in the early 20th century, he found it difficult to believe that he or his estate at Rathrobin would be targetted by revolutionary forces. By 1921, at the height of the Troubles, however, he and his wife decided they would be safer in London, and in 1923 the house at Rathrobin, protected only by a resident steward, was attacked by anti-Treaty forces and deliberately burned down, as a reprisal for executions in Dublin. Col. Biddulph died three years later, his widow did not return to Ireland, and as they had no children, the estate was sold.

Rathrobin House, Co. Offaly

Rathrobin House: the OSI 6" plan of 1838 shows the footprint of the house.

The Down Survey of the 1650s marks Rathrobin as a 'castle habitable' and one of the 'five handsome houses' noted in the parish, and a small part of the old castle survives among the outbuildings today. The estate is said to have been acquired in 1694 by Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702), who built a new house at Rathrobin soon afterwards, adjacent to the old castle of the Molloy family. Despite the fact that this survived - perhaps with later additions or alterations - until the 1890s, very little is known about it. The 1st edition 6" map of 1838 shows its footprint to have been fairly regular, suggesting it was a classical block with perhaps some older and less regular work at the rear, and this is confirmed by one photograph of 1879 which shows about half the entrance front. It was a two-storey building, probably of three bays, with a lower one-bay wing to the left, and was approached by a drive from the north, where a single-storey lodge built in the mid 19th century survives in a derelict condition. Griffith's Valuation of 1854 assigns a value of just £21 to the house, confirming that it was modest in scale (Annaghmore at £53 was worth more than twice as much).

Rathrobin House: entrance front as rebuilt in 1898-1900. Image: Magan-Biddulph Collection.

In the 1890s, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926) married and retired to his estate at Rathrobin, and in 1898-1900 he employed Sir Thomas Drew of Dublin to design him a new neo-Tudor mansion which was considerably larger than its predecessor. It stood on the same site and incorporated elements of the older house, including the three bays on the right of the entrance front, which continued to have Georgian-style sash windows, whereas the rest of the front was given mullioned windows with casement fittings. The new house was irregular, of two and three storeys, with gables, high-pitched roofs and pinnacles. Although a good deal of sandstone was used for the window surrounds and architectural details, the walls were cast using a pioneering mass concrete construction, disguised externally by a cement render that was lined to sugest ashlar.

Rathrobin House: watercolour of the rear of the house and flower garden by E. Crane, c.1910.

The plan was essentially L-shaped, with a flat, north-east facing, entrance front broken by a projecting single-storey Gothic porch, and a projecting cross-wing to its left that showed a blank wall to the entrance front. Round the corner to the south, however, the cross-wing had a large projecting two-storey canted bay window, which lit the principal bedroom and drawing room. The south-west facing rear of the house had irregular gables, a rather lumpen tower, and a further canted two-storey bow marking the end of the cross-wing. To complement the house, a walled flower garden was laid out on the south side of the house.

Rathrobin House: the ruins of the entrance front in 2013. Image: Mike Searle. Some rights reserved.

Colonel Biddulph had an excellent relationship with the local population and was regarded as a very considerate landlord, so that as violent agitation for Irish self-government grew in the early 20th century, he did not personally feel threatened. By 1921, however, the general level of lawlessness made a retreat with his wife to a house in Chelsea (Middx) expedient. It was perhaps because the house was unoccupied except for a steward living in one wing that on 18 April 1923 it was targetted by anti-Treaty forces and burned in reprisal for the execution of prisoners. An important library of some 3,000 books and the family picture collection were destroyed in the fire, which left the house a gutted shell. Although some parts of the structure have subsequently collapsed, much of it remains as a striking ruin, a testament to the solidity of its concrete construction.

Descent: built c.1700 for Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702); to son, Francis Biddulph (b. 1690); to son, Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62); to daughters, Margaret (d. 1811), wife of Alexander Cornwall (d. 1779) and later Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815), and Sarah (d. 1774), wife of Gifford Nesbitt (d. 1773); subject to legal dispute ended by an agreement between Elizabeth, Lady Waller (d. 1851) and Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827), by which the latter obtained Rathrobin; to son, Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68); to son, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926); burned 1923.

Biddulph family of Rathrobin

Biddolph, Francis (d. 1673). Parentage unknown, but reputedly a descendant of the Biddulphs of Biddulph Old Hall. He is said to have had a grant of lands at Kilpatrick (Co. Wexford) from King Charles II. He married Alice [surname unknown] and had issue:

(1) Richard Biddulph (fl. 1679); inherited the Kilpatrick lands from his father; married, 1679, Martha (who m2, Michael Jones of Droghenure (Co. Wexford)), daughter of John Vivors of Crosstown (Co. Wexford) and had issue two sons and two daughters;
(2) Thomas Biddulph (d. 1677); married, 1674, Elizabeth Raby, but had no issue; died 1677, when his nuncupative will was proved at Ferns;
(3) Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702) (q.v.).

He lived at Kilpatrick (Wexford).

He died in 1673. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Nicholas (d. 1702). Third son of Francis Byddolph (d. 1673) and his wife Alice. He married Charity [surname unknown] (d. 1753), and had issue, perhaps among others:

(1) Francis Biddulph (b. 1690) (q.v.);
(2) John Biddulph (d. 1741) (q.v.);
(3) Alice Biddulph (d. 1735?); married, 1701 (licence 29 January) Kildare Tarleton (d. 1711) of Geashill and Ballylevin (Co. Offaly), and had issue one son and three daughters; said to have died in 1735;
(4) Jane Biddulph.

He had a lease of Rathrobin, renewable for ever, from Charles Petty (c.1673-96), 1st Baron Shelburne, 25 October 1694, and built a new house on this estate soon afterwards.

He died 5 March 1702. His widow married 2nd, 1707, John Newcombe of Aghanville (Co. Offaly), and died 18 March 1753.

Biddulph, Francis (b. 1690). Elder son of Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702) and his wife Charity, born 1690. He married, 1712 (licence 7 April), Mary, daughter of Robert Jackson of Ballymackey, Knockinglass (Co. Tipperary), and had issue:

(1) Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62) (q.v.).

He inherited Rathrobin from his father in 1702. In 1722 he obtained a lease of Fortal Castle (Co. Offaly), renewable for ever, from Henry Petty (1675-1751), 1st Earl of Shelburne.

He was living in 1739 but his date of death is unknown. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Nicholas (c.1715-62). Only recorded son of Francis Biddulph (b. 1690) and his wife Mary, daughter of Robert Jackson of Knockinglass (Co. Tipperary), born about 1715. JP for King's County; High Sheriff of King's County, 1741-42. He married 1st, 1736 (settlement 26 April), Patience, elder daughter of Thomas Colley of Killmin (Co. Offaly), and 2nd, 1754, Alice, eldest daughter of Angel Scott (d. 1755) of Cahercon, Kilfiddane (Co. Clare), and had issue:

(1.1) Margaret Biddulph (c.1740-1811) (q.v.);
(1.2) Sarah Biddulph (c.1742-74); married, 8 February 1769, Gifford Nesbitt (d. 1773) of Tubberdaly (Co. Offaly), son of Albert Nesbitt, but had no issue; died 1774 and bequeathed her moiety of the Rathrobin estates to her elder sister; will proved 23 March 1774;
(2.1) Angel Biddulph; died young.

He inherited Rathrobin and Fortal Castle from his father.

He died 11 June 1762. His first wife died before 1754. His widow married 2nd, 30 November 1769, Capt. John Biddulph [for whom see below], but had no further issue; her date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Margaret (c.1740-1811). Elder daughter of Nicholas Biddulph (c.1715-62) and his first wife, Patience, elder daughter of Thomas Colley of Killmin (Co. Offaly), born about 1740. She married 1st, 1762, Alexander Cornwall (d. 1779) of Lismola (Co. Limerick), and 2nd, 16 April 1780 at St Mary, Dublin, Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815) of Castletown (which he renamed Castle Bernard and which is now called Kinnitty Castle) (Co. Offaly), but had no issue.

She inherited a moiety of her father's estates from him in 1762 and the other moiety from her younger sister in 1774. At her death she bequeathed her property to her second cousin, Elizabeth, Lady Waller, but this was disputed by another second cousin, Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827) [for whom see below], and the ownership remained contested until an agreement between the parties in 1824.

She died 31 March 1811. Her first husband died in 1779. Her widower died at Birr (Co. Offaly), 8 May 1815; his will was proved in 1815.

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Biddulph, John (d. 1741). Younger son of Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1702) and his wife Charity, born after 1690. He was perhaps a clothier. He married, c.1725, and had issue:

(1) Francis Biddulph (1727-1806) (q.v.);
(2) John Biddulph; an officer in the army (Capt.); married, 30 November 1769, Alice, daughter of Angel Scott of Cahercon, Kilfiddane (Co. Clare), and widow of Nicholas Biddulph of Fortal [for whom see above], but had no issue;
(3) Richard Biddulph; married, 1755, Prudence Toukes, but had no issue;
(4) Nicholas Biddulph (1737-99), of Glenkeen, Borrisoleigh (Co. Tipperary), born 1737; married 1st, 1759, Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Dempsey of Dublin, and had issue two sons and two daughters; married 2nd, 1776, Hannah (d. 1824), daughter of Joseph Cooke of Currangreny (Co. Tipperary), and had further issue one daughter; died 6 September 1799 and was buried at Glenkeen;
(5) Alice Biddulph.

He settled at Stradbally (Co. Leix).

He died in 1741, when his will was proved. His wife's date of death is unknown.

Biddulph, Francis (1727-1806). Elder son of John Biddulph (d. 1741) and his wife, born 21 June 1727. JP for Queen's County. He married, 14 February 1765 at St Peter, Leeds (Yorks WR), Eliza Harrison (c.1737-1827), and had issue:

(1) Eliza Biddulph (1766-1808), born 26 June 1766; married, 20 February 1788, Richard Grattan (c.1759-1839) of Drummin (Co. Kildare), and had issue four sons and four daughters; died in Dublin, July 1808;
(2) Mary Anne Biddulph (1769-1832?); born 9 July 1769; married, 27 December 1784 at Vicarstown (Co. Leix), John or William Scott of Graiguenaskerry (alias Fisherstown) (Co. Leix); probably the woman of this name buried at St Peter, Dublin, 8 September 1832;
(3) Patience Biddulph (1771-72), born March 1771; died in infancy, June 1772;
(4) Frances Margaret Sarah Biddulph (1772-75), born June 1772; died young, 1775;
(5) Patience Biddulph (1773-1859), born October 1773; married, 19 March 1801, Henry Warner (d. 1831) of Warner Castle (Co. Meath) and Dublin, and had issue two sons and four daughters; died 31 March 1859;
(6) Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827) (q.v.);
(7) Nicholas John Biddulph (1778-79), born 23 August 1778; died in infancy, 1779;
(8) Harriett Biddulph (1781-1850); married, 26 January 1799, Rev. Richard Clarke JP (1777-1838), chaplain of Portarlington (Co. Leix), 1801-38 and sovereign of the borough of Portarlington, son of William Clarke, and had issue four sons and five daughters; died 20 October 1850.

He lived at Vicarstown (Co. Offaly).

He died 11 September 1806. His widow died in 1827, aged 90.

Biddulph, Francis Harrison (1774-1827). Elder and only surviving son of Francis Biddulph (1727-1806) and his wife Eliza Harrison, born 26 December 1774. Admitted an attorney, 1796; Registrar of the Court of Exchequer. After the death of his cousin, Mrs. Margaret Bernard, in 1811, he became involved in a lengthy and expensive legal battle over the succession to the Rathrobin and Fortal estates, at the end of which a compromise was reached by which he succeeded to Rathrobin, while his rival, Elizabeth, Lady Waller, received Fortal. He married, 1797 (licence 10 July) at Stradbally (Co. Leix), Mary (c.1773-1861), eldest daughter of Francis Marsh, barrister-at-law, and had issue:

(1) Anne Biddulph (b. 1798), born 15 September 1798; married 1st, September 1821 in Dublin, Capt. Simon Biddulph (1793-1823), fourth son of Sir Theophilus Biddulph, 5th bt., and had issue one daughter; married 2nd, 1827, James Moilse (1798-1830), of Dublin, solicitor; and 3rd, 1835 Robert Frederick Grahame; death not traced;
(2) Elizabeth Biddulph (1799-1893), born 10 November 1799; died unmarried aged 93 at Kingstown (Co. Dublin), 10 June 1893, and was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery (Co. Dublin);
(3) Mary Biddulph (b. & d. 1801), born 10 March 1801; died in infancy, 10 September 1801;
(4) Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68) (q.v.);
(5) Mary Biddulph (1803-63), born 16 September 1803; died unmarried at Kingstown (Co. Dublin), 2 April 1863;
(6) Nicholas Marsh Biddulph (1805-99), born 20 December 1805; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1821); an officer in the Irish Revenue Police (insolvent debtor, 1831; dismissed for malfeasance, 1835); married, 25 September 1824 at Gretna Green, Elizabeth Maria Steele (1808-52), and had issue two sons and five daughters; died aged 93 in Dublin, 8 November 1899;
(7) Frances Biddulph (c.1808-1901); married, 14 April 1847 at St Peter, Dublin, Matthew Meredith (1810-69) of Killart, Clonaslee (Co. Leix), and had issue one daughter; died aged 92 on 2 February 1901;
(8) William Francis Biddulph (b. 1809), born 1 March 1809; died young;
(9) Harriet Biddulph (1810-93), born 8 November 1810; emigrated to America where she married, 1848, Rowland McBride, and had issue two sons and two daughters; said to have died 22 March 1893 and been buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Muskegon, Michigan (USA);
(10) Jane Biddulph (1812-1900), born 8 May 1812; emigrated to America where she married, 1845, George Priest (d. 1889) of Norfolk, and had issue seven children; settled in Canada but later moved back to Iowa (USA); died 13 January 1900 and was buried in Oakdale Memorial Gardens, Davenport (Iowa);
(11) Sarah Nesbit Biddulph (1814-88), born 11 December 1814; possibly* the person of this name who emigrated to Australia in 1855, where she married, 10 February 1856, William Day, an American miner, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 20 July and was buried at Kelso, New South Wales (Australia), 21 July 1888;
(12) Charlotte Biddulph (b. 1815), born 9 December 1815; living unmarried in Ireland in 1850;
(13) Patience Biddulph (b. 1817), born March 1817; living unmarried in Ireland in 1850;
(14) Caroline Biddulph (1819-74), born 16 May 1819; died unmarried at Kingstown, 28 May 1874.

He inherited Rathrobin from his cousin, gaining undisputed possession after an agreement in 1824, but lived chiefly at Sandymount (Co. Dublin) and Annaghmore, near Rathrobin, which he rented and altered c.1820.

He died in July 1827 and was buried at Curraclone graveyard, Stradbally; his will was proved in Dublin, 8 January 1828. His widow died aged 88 on 9 August 1861 and was buried at Carrickbrennan Cemetery, Monkstown (Co. Dublin).

* Statements of her age in Australian records imply a date of birth between 1823 and 1828, so if they do apply to her, she must have consistently mis-stated her age.

Biddulph, Francis Wellesley Marsh (1802-68). Eldest son of Francis Harrison Biddulph (1774-1827) and his wife Mary, eldest daughter of Francis Marsh, barrister-at-law, born April 1802. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1821). JP for King's County (from 1836). In 1840 he was the victim of an attempted murder (receiving only minor injuries); the relatives of two tenants he had evicted were put on trial for the crime, but after two inconclusive trials were found not guilty; Biddulph admitted advising one of them to flee to escape justice, for which he was suspended from his role as a JP. He married, 2 September 1845 at St Bride, Liverpool (Lancs), Lucy (1819-96), second daughter of Robert Bickerstaffe of Preston (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) Annie Adela Waller Biddulph (1847-1926), born 25 March 1847; married 1st, 24 April 1867 at Killoughy (Co. Offaly), Capt. John Willcocks JP (1833-82) of St. Lawrence, Chapelizod (Co. Dublin), eldest son of John Willcocks, resident magistrate in King's County, and had issue two sons and three daughters; married 2nd, 5 October 1898 at St Barnabas, Dublin, as his second wife, John Ouseley Bonsall Murphy (1848-1925?) of Palmerstown (Co. Dublin), accountant, son of Charles Murphy; died at Ealing (Middx), 21 April 1926; will proved 17 November 1926 and 29 March 1933 (estate £2,683);
(2) Francis Biddulph (b. & d. 1848), born 14 August 1848; died in infancy, 31 August 1848;
(3) Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra Biddulph (1849-1926) (q.v.)
(4) Assheton Biddulph (1850-1916), born 12 October 1850; lived at Moneyguyneen House, Kinnitty (Co. Offaly); an officer in the army (Ensign, 1869; Lt., 1870; retired 1873); Master of the King's County Hunt (Ormond and King's County until 1897), 1884-1916; married, 17 June 1880 at St Mary, Warwick (Warks), Florence Caroline (1858-1942), younger daughter of Rev. Cunningham Boothby, vicar of Holwell (Oxon), and had issue one son (who was killed in the First World War) and four daughters; died in Bath (Som.) from the effects of blood poisoning, 16 January 1916; will proved 6 June 1916 (estate £19.647);
(5) Franc Digby Biddulph (later Biddulph-Colclough) (1853-95), born 22 April 1853; an officer in the 3rd Middlesex Militia (Capt., 1874); assumed name and arms of Colclough by letters patent, 1886; JP for Co. Wexford; married, 15 September 1885 at Castleknock (Co. Dublin), Louisa Maria Susanna* (1848-1912), eldest daughter of John Thomas Rossborough-Colclough, of Tintern Abbey, New Ross (Co. Wexford), and had issue one son and one daughter; he died of pneumonia, 13 July 1895; administration of goods granted 30 July 1895 (effects £121);
(6) Gertrude Louisa Biddulph (1856-1945), born 22 September 1856; married 1st, 25 February 1879, George Carpenter Anderson (1854-87) of Bolham House (Devon), and had issue one son and three daughters; married 2nd, 24 January 1893 at St Peter, Tiverton (Devon), Dr. Nevil Pottow Cadell (1860-1949), physician, and had further issue one son; died 7 November and was buried at Keymer (Sussex), 10 November 1945; will proved 6 March 1946 (estate £6,158).

He inherited Rathrobin from his father in 1827. His widow lived latterly at Clare House, Tiverton (Devon).

He died 28 March and was buried at Ballyboy (Co. Offaly), 1 April 1868; his will was proved in Dublin, 21 May 1868 (effects under £4,000). His widow died 29 August 1896; her will was proved in London, 17 January 1898 (effects £802).

* A stout woman, his wife is said to have suffered a mental breakdown after the birth of her last child, and to have been confined in a tower at Tintern Abbey, where her husband kept her on a meagre diet in the hope of reducing her weight.

Biddulph, Lt-Col. Middleton Westenra (1849-1926). Second, but eldest surviving, son of Francis Wellesley Marsh Biddulph (1802-68) and his wife Lucy, second daughter of Robert Bickerstaffe of Preston (Lancs), born 17 August 1849. Educated at the Royal School, Banagher (Co. Offaly). An officer in the army (Ensign, 1867; Lt., 1871; Capt., 1881; Maj. 1883; retired as Lt-Col., 1895); JP (from 1897) and DL (from 1910) for King's County; High Sheriff of King's County, 1901-02. He was a skilled amateur photographer, whose albums of photographs of daily life taken at his home and around the estate are an important survival and have been published in Rathrobin and the two Irelands (2021); he was also a good linguist, and spoke French, German and Hindustani. He married, 21 October 1891 at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), Vera Josephine (1863-1938), second daughter of Sir William Henry Flower KCB DCL DSc LLD PhD FZS FRS (1831-99), director of the Natural History Museum and an eminent zoologist, but had no issue.

He inherited Rathrobin from his father in 1868 and came of age in 1870. In 1894 he inherited lands at Monks Sherborne (Hants) and Woodplumpton (Lancs) from his uncle, Lt-Col. Robert Bickerstaff, and it was presumably this access of fortune which enabled him to largely rebuild Rathrobin House in 1898-1900. In 1921 he moved to a flat in Chelsea because of the war of independence in Ireland and Rathrobin was burned by anti-Treaty forces in 1923 and not restored.

He died 10 May 1926; he was not buried in the tomb he had constructed in his lifetime in Killoughey churchyard, but cremated; his ashes were scattered in the Cotswolds; his will was proved 2 September 1926 (estate £32,749). His widow died 28 January 1938; her will was proved 14 March 1938 (estate £4,269).

Principal sources

Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976, pp. 108-11; T. Blake, Abandoned mansions of Ireland II, 2nd edn., 2017, pp. 220-25; A. Tierney, The buildings of Ireland: Central Leinster, 2019, pp. 181-82; M. Byrne, Rathrobin and the two Irelands, 2021;

https://offalyhistoryblog.com/2023/04/12/the-burning-of-the-biddulph-big-house-at-rathrobin-mountbolus-county-offaly-during-the-civil-war-18-april-1923-by-michael-byrne/

Location of archives

Biddulph of Rathrobin and Fortal: deeds and papers, 1655-1851 [Private collection; enquiries to National Library of Ireland].

Coat of arms

Biddulph of Rathrobin: Per pale, vert and azure, an eagle displayed ermine, armed and beaked or, between four trefoils slipped of the last.

Can you help?

Does anyone have a painting or photograph of Rathrobin before it was rebuilt in 1898?
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 14 November 2025 and was updated 27 November 2025.

Friday, 25 October 2024

(587) Bernard of Castle Bernard now Kinnitty Castle (Co. Offaly)

The origins of this family are obscure, but they seem not to be related to the Bernards of Castle Bernard (Co. Cork); certainly not closely. They were evidently settled in Co. Carlow by the early 17th century, and there are references in deeds and other documents to members of the family living in or around the town of Carlow (then known as Catherlough) from 1619 onwards at properties including Straw Hill, Clonmulsh (spelled in a bewildering variety of ways) and Oldtown. It seems, however, not to be possible to construct a coherent genealogy before the time of Thomas Bernard (c.1655-1720), who served as High Sheriff of Co. Carlow in 1708, by which time the family clearly had gentry status. Thomas married, about 1688, a widow called Deborah Humfrey, who was the daughter of Matthew Sheppard of Killerick (Co. Carlow) and his wife Mary Franck. Deborah already had five sons from her first marriage, but together they produced three more sons and two daughters over the next decade or so. Thomas seems also to have owned land in Queen's County (now Co. Leix*), and his eldest son, Charles Bernard (c.1688-1732) settled there. His two younger sons, Franks (c.1689-1760) - who derived his name from his maternal grandmother's maiden name - and Joseph (1694-1763), shared the Carlow property between them. Franks Bernard subsequently leased an estate called Castletown at Kinnitty in King's County (now Co. Offaly*), which became the nucleus of the later Castle Bernard estate, but he lived mainly in Carlow and probably sold Castletown to his nephew, Thomas Bernard (c.1719-88), the eldest son of his brother Joseph. It was probably this Thomas or his son and namesake, Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815), who replaced the ancient tower house at Castletown with a more modern residence, changed the name to Castle Bernard, and commenced the landscaping of the grounds.

Thomas (d. 1815), 'a gentleman of large fortune' was succeeded by his only son, another Thomas Bernard (1769-1834), who was active in the militia during the 1798 uprising and became MP for King's County in 1802, holding the seat for thirty years until the extension of the franchise at the Great Reform Act weakened his hold on the constituency. He was married twice, and on both occasions his bride was of higher social status, his first wife being the daughter of a baron and his second wife the sister of an earl. After being rejected by the electorate in 1832 he seems to have decided to devote his energies to the rebuilding of Castle Bernard, and he obtained designs from the Pain brothers for a substantial and fashionably Gothic house. Unfortunately he did not live to enjoy it, for he died in 1834, barely a year into construction, and the house had to be completed under the direction of his widow, Lady Catherine Bernard, who was also left to bring up four sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Thomas Bernard (1816-82), pursued a career in the army which was cut short after the explosion of a gun while he was out shooting occasioned the amputation of his right hand. He was initially regarded as a benign landlord, but his reputation deteriorated over time as he sought to reduce the population of his estates. In 1867 he became the Lord Lieutenant of King's County, an appointment which he retained until his death. He never married, and his death precipitated something of a crisis in the affairs of the family.

Thomas had had three younger brothers, all of whom predeceased him. Francis (1818-46) died unmarried; Richard Wellesley (1822-77) had no children; and John Henry Scroope (1820-56) died from the effects of his service in the Crimea, having produced a son and daughter. However, by the 1880s it was clear that the son, Thomas Scroope Wellesley Bernard (1850-1905) was unlikely to be a good steward of the family estate, since he had dissipated a not inconsiderable inheritance, and his uncle chose instead to leave Castle Bernard to his niece, Margeurite (1852-1910), and her husband, Capt. Caulfeild French (1839-1910), although T.S.W. Bernard was in remainder in the event of their having no issue. Capt. French proved to be a harsh and adversarial landlord, who paid a lower wage for a longer day than was usual on neighbouring estates, on one occasion prompting a general strike by his labourers. He and his wife died without issue within a couple of months in the summer of 1910, whereupon the remainder in the will of Thomas Bernard (d. 1882) came into effect. Although T.S.W. Bernard had died five years earlier, he had left his entire estate to his widow, Monica Gertrude Bernard (1857-1948), with remainder to their four daughters, and the family now came to live at Castle Bernard. During the troubled years of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, Mrs Bernard became alarmed for their safety and arranged for troops to be stationed at the house to offer them some protection. Unfortunately in 1922 the troops were withdrawn and irregular republican forces took advantage of the opportunity to burn the house down in July 1922. Compensation was subsequently claimed and the house was successfully rebuilt in 1928-30, the Bernards coming back into residence until shortly before Mrs Bernard's death, but in 1946 it was sold to Lord Decies, subsequently passing into public ownership and being converted to institutional use in the 1950s.

* The historic names of these two counties were changed in the 20th century for political reasons. I have used the modern names where they describe geographical locations, but retained the contemporary names where they refer to public offices, since to talk about the 'High Sheriff of Co. Offaly' would be anachronistic.

Castle Bernard, Kinnitty, Co. Offaly (now Kinnitty Castle)

The site has a long occupation history, going back to an Anglo-Norman motte and bailey castle, which stood about 200 yards south of the present house. This was destroyed in 1207 and rebuilt, possibly in stone, in 1213. It later became one of the five chiefry castles of the O'Carroll family, and probably took the form of a tower house. It has long been demolished, but several ogee-headed windows inserted into the stableyard wall in the 19th century may be survivals from it.

The Bernard family became associated with the site, then known as Castletown, in the early 18th century, when Franks Bernard leased a small estate here. Either he or more probably his nephew Thomas Bernard (d. 1788) acquired the freehold and built the modest T-plan house which forms the south-east corner of the present building. This property, which was already called Castle Bernard by the beginning of the 19th century, was described by Arthur Atkinson in The Irish Tourist (1815) as 'one of the most interesting romantic villas in that part of Ireland', though his praise seems to have been based less on the architecture than on its 'retired beauties', notably its setting on a plain below the Slieve Bloom mountains next to the River Camcor, and 'the planting which forms an embroidery to this demesne'.

Castle Bernard: the north front of the house in the early 20th century. Image: National Library of Ireland.

A later Thomas Bernard (1769-1834), who was MP for King's County for thirty years, greatly expanded the estate and decided at the end of his life to enlarge and entirely transform the house into a Tudor Gothic mansion better fitting the name 'Castle Bernard'. He chose as his architects the Pain brothers (James and George Richard) from Limerick and Cork, whose designs were influenced by both the castle-style buildings they had erected for John Nash in the 1810s, and the Tudor Gothic buildings of Sir Richard and William Vitruvius Morrison. It

Quinville House, Co. Clare

seems likely that George Richard Pain was chiefly responsible for the design of Castle Bernard. The elevations are taller and more compact than some of the Pain brothers' earlier houses, such as Dromoland (Co. Clare) or Mitchelstown (Co. Cork), and are very similar in overall effect to the house they built at Quinville (Co. Clare) in 1827, although they were working here on a rather larger scale. Thomas Bernard died only a year after construction began, and the house was completed for his widow, as their eldest son did not come of age until 1837. The Georgian house was retained but the new house, which was nearly twice as wide, was built in front of its main elevation. The new north front was the focus for the stylistic impact: it was given battered basement walls, canted bays, steeply-pitched gables and a complex roofline with pinnacles and tall chimneystacks. At the north-west corner the house sprouted an octagonal tower crowned with machicolation and pinnacles that has Guy's Tower at Warwick Castle in its distant ancestry and Charleville Castle as a closer relation. The side elevations by contrast are fairly plain, with only hood-moulds over the large mullioned and transomed windows and crenellated parapets that are raised into a gable in the middle. All the new elevations were executed in a fine blue-grey limestone that is attractive in sunshine but rather dour in wet or gloomy weather. The older part of the house at the back was given a Gothic dress and rendered to mask the red sandstone of which it was originally built. It is thought that the house was built by Henry, Mullins & MacMahon, whose archive (now in the Irish Architectural Archive) includes some alternative designs, including one with a porte-cochère and another with a circular rather than a polygonal tower.

Castle Bernard: the house after the fire, 1922.

On 23 July 1922 the house was burnt by irregular republican forces, who gave the occupants half an hour to leave but only allowed them to remove personal possessions. Seven fires were then set in different parts of the building, and the interiors, furniture and pictures were completely destroyed, although the external walls largely remained standing. The Bernard family sought compensation of £42,000 for their losses but were eventually awarded a total of £24,000, which they thought would allow a 'partial reinstatement'. In the event, the whole house was restored in 1928-30 to the designs of Joseph John Bruntz (1881-1954) of Edenderry (Co. Offaly), but no attempt was made to recreate the lost decorative schemes, and the simplest new internal decoration was applied.

Kinnitty Castle: the reconstructed house in 2007. Image: Sarah777 on Wikimedia

Entering through the porch on the north front, the visitor ascends to the level of the principal rooms by a flight of steps the full width of the entrance hall, and passes through a screen of three narrow arches into a central vestibule lit by a stained glass window, which acts as the central circulation space of the house. The rooms to the west of the hall and vestibule were entirely reshaped by Bruntz, who created a new double-aspect drawing room here (now used as a dining room). On the other side of the vestibule is the top-lit staircase hall, which has a new timber staircase of the 1920s, and also the entrance to the former billiards room (now the main drawing room). The room in the north-east corner of the house is now furnished as a library but used as a bar area. Here and in the central vestibule the walls are panelled with robust oak panelling which has the look and feel of 1830s work and may have been salvaged after the fire. The room functions and decoration have been much altered to suit the present use of the house as an hotel.

Kinnitty Castle: the former billiards room (now drawing room). Image: Trip Advisor

Kinnitty Castle: the library/bar. Image: Trip Advisor

As noted above, development of the grounds began in association with the 18th century house. A map of 1809 shows a small area around the house had been landscaped, but this was greatly expanded later, and by 1859 the estate was receiving so many picnic parties that visitors were required to obtain a ticket in advance. Much of the attraction of the demesne is due to the way the River Camcor or Castletown River winds through the estate, passing just to the east of the house, where it is crossed by a (now derelict) suspension footbridge built between 1838 and 1850 for Thomas Bernard (1816-82). Another bridge, further south, carries an approach drive from the north entrance to the estate, where there is a grand carriage archway flanked by curtain walls which conceal a porter's lodge on one side and contain a postern gate on the other. On stylistic grounds, this north lodge is likely to be by the Pain brothers. The entrance screen replaced an earlier pair of lodges, which may have been contemporary with the main (south) lodge. This is thought to date from about 1811, and to be associated with a scheme by Samuel Beazley for a school and park entrance, for which he exhibited designs at the Royal Academy in that year. The lodge was extended to either side with additional gables c.1885, but the original building was a rather pretty Gothick design with a pair of blank quatrefoils either side of an ogee-headed doorcase set in a concave surround with clustered colonnettes that derive ultimately from the pattern books of Batty Langley.

Kinnitty Castle: the south lodge, perhaps originally of 1811 but extended in 1885. Image: Buildings of Ireland.

Kinnitty Castle: the pyramidal mausoleum.

South-east of the village of Kinnitty, Thomas Bernard (1769-1834) built a mausoleum in the form of a crisp four-sided pyramid, supposedly influenced by his travels in Egypt.

Descent: Franks Bernard (c.1689-1760); sold? to nephew, Thomas Bernard (c.1719-88); to son, Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815); to son, Thomas Bernard MP (1769-1834); to son, Thomas Bernard (1816-82); to niece, Margeurite (1852-1910), wife of Capt. Caulfeild French (1839-1910); to her brother's widow, Monica Gertrude Bernard (1857-1948); who sold 1946 to Arthur George Marcus Douglas de la Poer Beresford (1915-92), 6th Baron Decies; sold 1951 to Irish Government for conversion to an Agricultural College; sold 1995 for conversion to an hotel.

Bernard family of Castle Bernard (now Kinnity Castle)

Bernard, Thomas (c.1655-1720). Parentage unknown, born about 1655. High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1708. He married, c.1688, Deborah (d. 1732), daughter of Matthew Shepherd (d. 1663)* of Killerick (Co. Carlow) and widow of Edward Humfrey (d. 1686) of Clonagh (Co. Carlow), and had issue:

(1) Charles Bernard (c.1688-1732), of Bernard's Grove (now Blandsfort, Co. Leix); High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1718; married, 12 December 1711 at Marton (Ches.), Rachel Stringer of Nantwich (Ches.), and had issue three sons and three daughters; will proved in 1732;
(2) Franks Bernard (c.1689-1760) (q.v.);
(3) Elizabeth Bernard (c.1690-1755); married 1st, 1712, Henry Rudkin, and had issue two or three sons and five daughters; married 2nd, 1738, William Doyle (d. 1758); died 1755;
(4) Joseph Bernard (1694-1763) (q.v.);
(5) Ann Bernard (d. 1737); married 1st, 1722, Gayton Mainwaring and had issue one son; married 2nd, Thomas Barnes of Grange (Co. Kilkenny); died 1737.

He lived at Oldtown and Clonmulsh (Co. Carlow).

He died in 1720; his will was proved 19 May 1721. His widow died about 1732; her will was proved 5 May 1732.

* Matthew Sheapheard married Marie Franck at Saxelby (Leics) on 27 October 1654 and emigrated to Ireland soon afterwards. This explains how the unusual forename Franks entered the family.

Bernard, Franks (c.1689-1760). Second son of Thomas Bernard (c.1655-1720) of Oldtown and Clonmulsh (Co. Carlow) and his wife Deborah, daughter of Matthew Shepperd of Killerick (Co. Carlow) and widow of Edward Humfrey of Clonagh (Co. Carlow), born about 1689. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1705). He married, c.1708?, Elizabeth [surname unknown] (fl. 1761) and had issue:

(1) Franks Bernard (c.1708-82); married 1st, c.1727, Susanna (d. c.1735), probably the daughter of Thomas Bunbury, and had issue six sons and two daughters; married 2nd, 1735, Mary Grantham (d. 1742) and had further issue two sons*; will proved 1782;
(2) Susan Bernard;
(3) Mary Bernard; married, 1737, James Butler, and had issue one son;
(4) Anne Bernard (d. 1762); married Edward Pickering of Carlow; died 1762;
(5) Deborah Bernard.

He leased a small estate at Castletown (later the nucleus of the Castle Bernard estate) in the early 18th century, but seems to have lived chiefly at Clonsmulsh (Co. Carlow), and probably sold Castletown to his nephew Thomas Bernard (c.1719-88).

His date of death is unknown; his will was proved in 1760. His widow was living in 1761 but her date of death is unknown.

* It is uncertain whether a further marriage in 1750 between Franks Bernard jr. and Margaret Bonham was a third marriage of Franks (d. 1782) or a first marriage of his son Franks (c.1730-96).

Bernard, Joseph (1694-1763). Third son of Thomas Bernard (c.1655-1720) of Oldtown and Clonmulsh (Co. Carlow) and his wife Deborah, daughter of Matthew Shepperd of Killerick (Co. Carlow) and widow of Edward Humfrey of Clonagh (Co. Carlow), born 1694. High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1730. He married, 1717 (licence 5 December), Mary (fl. 1763), daughter of John Edwards (d. 1728) of Old Court (Co. Wicklow), and had issue:

(1) Thomas Bernard (c.1719-88) (q.v.);
(2) John Bernard (c.1720-89); an officer in the Royal Navy (Lt., 1745; last recorded service, 1752); settled at Carlow (Co. Carlow); married, 20 July 1767 at St Andrew, Holborn (Middx), his cousin Frances, daughter of Sir Gilbert Pickering, 3rd bt., and had issue one son and three daughters; he also had an illegitimate son, born prior to his marriage; died at Carlow, 19 November and was buried there, 26 November 1789; will proved in the PCC, 31 October 1791;
(3) William Bernard (d. c.1790), of Straw Hill (Co. Carlow); High Sheriff of Co. Carlow, 1773-74; married, perhaps c.1755, his cousin Mary Bernard, and had issue at least two sons and two daughters; died after 8 February 1789; will proved 2 June 1790;
(4) Jane Bernard (c.1724-98); married, c.1744, William Galbraith (c.1704-54) of Carlow, merchant, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died 30 April 1798 and was buried at Carlow, where she is commemorated by a headstone erected by her daughter;
(5) Mary Bernard (c.1733-1804); married 1st, 1759 (settlement 28 November), Thomas Bennett (c.1732-78), of Ballynloghan and Viewmount (Co. Carlow), and had issue two sons and six daughters; married 2nd, 1782 (settlement 27 April), Mathew Humphrey (b. c.1730?) of Ratheadon (Co. Carlow); died 6 January 1804 and was buried at Loram Cemetery, Carlow;
(6) Deborah Bernard (fl. 1763); married, c.1759, William Rourke, and had issue at least two sons and one daughter; living in 1763;
(7) Jemma Bernard (fl. 1782); married, 1774 (licence 28 September), Rev. Robert Moffat (c.1745-c.1819) of Park Place (Co. Longford), vicar & rector of Cashel and Rathcline, 1780-c.1813 and of Tashinny and Abbeyshrule, c.1813-19?, and had issue one son and five daughters; living in 1782 but death not traced;
(8) Elizabeth Bernard (fl. 1789); married [forename unknown] Latrys and had issue five sons and one daughter; living in 1789;
(9) Ann Bernard (c.1731-1801); married, 1765, Humphrey Mitchell (fl. 1801), possibly the man of this name who was Clerk of the Barrow Navigation in 1787, and had issue one son; died suddenly, while at cards, 17 November 1801, and was buried at Carlow.

He lived at Clonmulsk (Co. Carlow) and inherited Straw Hill from his father.

He died about October 1763; his will was proved 26 November 1763. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Bernard, Thomas (c.1719-88). Eldest son of Joseph Bernard (1694-1763) of Straw Hill (Co. Carlow) and Castletown (Co. Offaly), and his wife Mary, daughter of John Edwards of Old Court (Co. Wicklow), born about 1719. He married 1st, 1740 (settlement 26 May), Jane, daughter of Adam Mitchell of Rathgibbon and widow of Joseph Palmer, and 2nd, c.1762, Mary, widow of Thomas Bernard (d. 1757) of Cloghristick (Co. Carlow), and had issue:

(1.1) Mary Bernard (b. c.1741), born about 1741; married 1st, 1759 (settlement 21 March), James Dillon (d. 1778) of Carlow (Co. Carlow) and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, before 1789, Rev. Edward Palmer;
(1.2) Grace Bernard (c.1744-1836); married, 1767, Philip Going (1741-1820) of Monaquil, son of Robert Going of Traverston, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died March 1836;
(1.3) Susannah Bernard (1745-1819); married, 1769, Bigoe Armstrong (1745-73), son of Archibald Armstrong (b. 1716), and had issue two sons; died July 1819;
(1.4) Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815) (q.v.);
(1.5) Barbara Bernard (c.1749-90), born about 1749; married, 1769 (contract 19 September) at Birr (Co. Offaly), Robert Lauder of Moyclare (Co. Offaly), High Sheriff of King's County, 1775-76, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died October 1790;
(1.6) Jane Bernard (b. c.1750), born about 1750; married, 1772, Rev. John Smith (d. 1813), vicar of Ballingarry and Uskean (Co. Tipp.), 1776-1809, and had issue three sons and five daughters;
(1.7) Jemima Bernard (c.1755-1825); married George Clarke of Birr; died in Dublin, December 1825.

He probably purchased Castletown from his uncle.

He died in 1788; his will was proved in 1788. His first wife's date of death is unknown. His second wife died before 1768, leaving four children by her first husband, to whom Franks Bernard was appointed guardian.

Bernard, Thomas (c.1747-1815). Only son of Thomas Bernard (c.1719-88) and his wife Jane, daughter of Adam Mitchell of Rathgibbon and widow of Joseph Palmer, born about 1747. High Sheriff of King's County, 1785-86. He married 1st, 15 April 1768, Mary, second daughter of Jonathan Willington of Castle Willington (Co. Offaly) and 2nd, 16 April 1780 at St Mary, Dublin, Margaret (c.1740-1811), daughter and co-heir of Nicholas Biddulph (d. 1762) of Rathrobin and Portal, and widow of Alexander Cornewall (d. 1779) of Lishmote (Co. Limerick), and had issue, with two further daughters who died young:

(1.1) Thomas Bernard (1769-1834) (q.v.);
(1.2) Mary Bernard (c.1770-1804); married, 29 April 1796, as his first wife, Col. Sir Robert Waller (1768-1826), 2nd bt., but had no issue; died 16 July 1804;
(1.3) Barbara Bernard (c.1772-1845) married, 1800 (against her father's wishes, and was disinherited as a result), John Poe (c.1773-1857) of Solsborough (Co. Tipp.), but had no issue; died at Avranches (France), 24 June 1845.

He inherited Castletown from his father and renamed it Castle Bernard.

He died at Birr (Co. Offaly), 8 May 1815; his will was proved in 1815. His first wife died before 1780. His second wife died 31 March 1811.

Bernard, Thomas (1769-1834). Only son of Thomas Bernard (c.1747-1815) and his first wife Mary, daughter of Jonathan Willington of Castle Willington (Co. Offaly), born 1769. High Sheriff of King's County, 1798-99; MP for King's County 1802-32; Colonel of the King's County (Offaly) Militia, 1823; Governor of King's County, 1828-31. He married 1st, 10 September 1800 at Kilboy (Co. Tipp.), Elizabeth (d. 1802), daughter of Henry Prittie (1743-1801), 1st Baron Dunalley, and 2nd, 29 July 1814 at St Michan, Dublin, Lady Catherine Henrietta (c.1792-1844), second daughter of the Hon. Francis Hely-Hutchinson MP (1769-1827) and sister of John Hely-Hutchinson (1787-1851), 3rd Earl of Donoughmore, and had issue:

(2.1) Frances Margaret Bernard (1815-50), eldest child, born 1815; married, 17/18 September 1846 at Kinnitty, as his first wife, Samuel Hamilton Goold-Adams (c.1814-84) of Salisbury (Co. Tipp), fourth son of Michael Goold-Adams (1778-1817) of Jamesbrook (Co. Cork), and had issue one daughter; died March 1850;
(2.2) Thomas Bernard (1816-82) (q.v.);
(2.3) Margeurite Bernard (1817-42), third child, born 1817; died unmarried at Leamington Spa (Warks), 12 October 1842, and was buried in the family mausoleum at Kinnitty;
(2.4) Francis Bernard (1818-46), born December 1818; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1836) King's Inns, Dublin (admitted 1838) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1842); died unmarried in Rome (Italy), 27 December 1846; will proved, 1847;
(2.5) John Henry Scroope Bernard (1820-56) (q.v.);
(2.6) Richard Wellesley Bernard (1822-77), born 25 March or 10 June 1822; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1838; BA 1844), Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1840) and King's Inns, Dublin (called to the Irish bar, 1844); barrister-at-law; served as a volunteer officer in the Austrian service; in the 1850s he was noted as a sportsman and particularly for his prowess in steeplechasing, but he sold his stud of horses on joining the army at the outbreak of the Crimean war, where he fought at Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman; an officer in the King's County Militia Rifles (Ensign, 1846; Lt., c.1848; Capt., 1855; Maj. c.1870; Lt-Col, 1872-77; Deputy Ranger of the Curragh of Kildare, 1868-77; JP for Co. Kildare; Chamberlain at the Vice-Regal Courts of the Dukes of Abercorn and Marlborough, c.1872-77; married, 31 August 1859 at Cheltenham (Glos), Ellen Georgina (1826-1907), daughter of Lt-Col. Henry Williams and widow of Col. the Hon. Henry Handcock (d. 1855), but had no issue; died following a heart attack at Straffan station (Co. Kildare), 24/25 September 1877 and was buried at Kinnitty, where he is commemorated by a memorial brass; will proved 19 February 1878 (effects under £5,000).

He inherited Castle Bernard from his father in 1815, and rebuilt the house after 1832, the works being completed by his widow.

He died in Dublin, 18 May 1834. His first wife died 20 April 1802. His widow died in London, 21 June and was buried at Weedon Lois (Northants), 29 June 1844.

Bernard, Thomas (1816-82). Eldest son of Thomas Bernard (1769-1834) and his second wife, Lady Catherine Henrietta, second daughter of the Hon. Francis Hely-Hutchinson MP and sister of John Hely-Hutchinson, 3rd Earl of Donoughmore, born September 1816. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1835; Lt., 1839; Capt. 1844; retired on half-pay, 1847); Col. of King's County Royal Rifles, 1855-82; High Sheriff of King's County, 1837-38, 1842-43; Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of King's County, 1867-82 (DL from 1842). In 1845 he was injured by the explosion of a gun he was reloading, which necessitated the amputation of his right hand. A Conservative in politics, he stood unsuccessfully for election to Parliament in King's County. in 1841 and 1852. Although initially regarded as a benevolent landowner and employer, he became increasingly unpopular because of measures to depopulate his estate. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Castle Bernard from his father in 1834. At his death the estate passed to his niece and her husband, Capt. & Mrs. Caulfeild French, with remainder to her brother, T.S.W. Bernard.

He died 13 December and was buried at Kinnitty, 18 December 1882.

Bernard, John Henry Scroope (1820-57). Third son of Thomas Bernard (1769-1834) and his second wife, Lady Catherine Henrietta, sister of John Hely Hutchinson, 3rd Earl of Donoughmore, born May 1820. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1839; Lt., 1840, Capt. c.1846) who served with the Turkish Contingent in the Crimea (Maj.). He married, 31 May 1849 at St Peter, Dublin, Maria Eveline Cecile Nathalie Claire Di Chiarmonte Manfredonia D'Altamura (c.1826-83), daughter of Edouard Racine, and had issue:

(1) Thomas Scroope Wellesley Bernard (1850-1905) (q.v.);
(2) Margeurite Adeline Bernard (1852-1910), born 24 December 1852; married, 15 June 1875 at the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle, Capt. Caulfeild French JP DL (1839-1910) of Castle Bernard, High Sheriff of King's County, 1887-88; eldest son of William John French of Ardsallagh (Co. Meath), but had no issue; died 18 July 1910 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin; will proved in Dublin, 24 August 1910 (estate £14,052).

His widow went by the name of Cecile Clyde, was bankrupted in 1873, and later became the headmistress of a private school for girls in Hove (Sussex), which was wound up after her death.

He died in Dublin, 12 September 1857, of a fever caught while serving in the Crimea. His widow died 7 October and was buried at Brompton Cemetery (Middx), 12 October 1883.

Bernard, Thomas Scroope Wellesley (1850-1905). Only son of John Henry Scroope Bernard (1820-57) and his wife Maria Eveline Cecile Nathalie Claire Di Chiarmonte Manfredonia D'Altamura, daughter of Edouard Racine, born at Youghal Lodge, Nenagh (Tipperary), 18 October 1850. An officer in the army (Ensign, 1868; Lt., 1871; Capt., 1880; retired 1882) and later in the Essex Militia (Capt., 1882; retired 1883) and South Lancashire Regiment militia battalion (Capt., 1890; Maj., 1893); JP for Co. Offaly. A Unionist in politics, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in the Birr constituency in 1885 and 1886. A freemason from 1876. As a young man, he evidently lived considerably beyond his means and eroded his fortune, to the point where his uncle decided not to entrust him with the Castle Bernard estate. He married, 2 December 1880 at Gowran (Co. Kilkenny), Monica Gertrude (1857-1948), sixth daughter of William Henry Darby (d. 1880) of Leap Castle (Co. Offaly), and had issue:

(1) Margeurite Cecil Elizabeth Bernard (1882-1958), born 11 October 1882; married, 25 October 1906 at St James, St Peter Port (Guernsey), Charles Johnston Alexander (1873-1946) of Marina, Norton, Yarmouth (Isle of Wight), eighth son of Robert Henry Alexander (1838-1901) of Stoke Newington (Middx), and had issue one daughter; died 9 January 1958; will proved 4 March 1958 (estate £31,174);
(2) Monica Charlotte Emily Bernard (1886-1975), born at Nenagh (Co. Tipp.), 9 May 1886; married, 1922, as his second wife, Leonard Cornwall Maguire (b. 1887) of Stow-on-the-Wold (Glos), veterinary surgeon (bankrupt 1934), son of James Maguire, but had no issue; died 24 August 1975; will proved 12 December 1975 (estate £32,505);
(3) Kathrine Anne Bernard (1889-1954), born at Nenagh (Co. Tipp.), 11 March 1889; married, 20 October 1923 at St Philip, Kensington (Middx), Lt-Col. James Stuart Harper MC (1885-1943), son of Joseph Harper of Ceylon, and had issue one daughter; died 26 June 1954; will proved 22 September 1954 (estate £43,292);
(4) Maude Mary Gertrude Bernard (1900-65), born at St Peter Port (Guernsey), 6 May 1900; died unmarried in Dublin, 16 January 1965; will proved 28 June 1965 (estate £20,874).

He was in remainder to the Castle Bernard estate after the death of his uncle in 1882, but lived in a cottage at Nenagh (Tipperary) and later at Weston House, Thames Ditton (Surrey) and in St Peter Port. Castle Bernard was occupied by his sister and his brother-in-law, Capt. French. At his death he left his entire property to his widow, who subsequently inherited Castle Bernard on the deaths of Capt & Mrs French in 1910.

He died 1 February, and his body was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, 10 February, but later moved to Thames Ditton, where it was reinterred, 11 March 1905; his will was proved in Dublin, 10 May 1905 (estate £14,759). His widow died 6 May and was buried at Thames Ditton, 8 May 1948; her will was proved in Dublin, 10 August 1948 (estate in Ireland, £145) and in England, 24 September 1948 (estate in England, £9,642).