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Armstrong of Moyaliffe and
Chaffpool |
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Heaton-Armstrong of Farney Castle
& Mount Heaton |
One finds in some Irish gentry families a cosmopolitanism that is far rarer in their English, Welsh or Scottish counterparts. In some cases it is supported by a Catholic heritage shared with our European neighbours, but most of the Armstrongs were protestants, so it is all the more remarkable that in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries they were consistently to be found in the drawing rooms of Europe. Although they never lost an Anglo-Irish identity, they perhaps did not have so close an identification with their homeland and estates as many gentry families, and whether for this reason or because of the innate qualities of the breed, they produced an exceptional number of adventurers, and several gamblers, prepared to stake all on a single turn of fate.
The founder of the family was Sir Thomas Armstrong, kt. (1603?-62), who came from a Scots border background and was perhaps fairly closely related to the forbears of the Armstrongs of County Offaly. Sir Thomas was an ardent Royalist soldier, who came to Ireland in about 1639 and was knighted by the Duke of Ormonde in 1644. He sat in the Irish Parliament in 1647 and had a grant of land in County Dublin, but was back in England in the 1650s, participating in Royalist conspiracies and being twice imprisoned in the Tower of London. At the Restoration in 1660 he resumed his post as a Colonel of Horse, but he died soon afterwards. His two sons followed in his footsteps. The elder, another Sir Thomas Armstrong, kt. (1633-84) made himself useful to King Charles II during the Commonwealth and was valued for his influence with the young Duke of Monmouth. He was hotheaded, however, and had to be pardoned three times for killing men in duels. In 1683 he was accused, seemingly without justification, of involvement in the Rye House plot to kill King Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, and fled to Holland, but he was captured and brought back to face trial by Judge Jefferys and execution in 1684, although he was later officially pardoned by King William III when the miscarriage of justice was recognised.
Sir Thomas's younger brother, William Armstrong (c.1635-90?) was also a soldier, but is of particular interest here as the man who laid the foundations of the family's Irish estates, through a series of grants from the Crown in the 1660s (recognising their losses and service during the Civil War and Commonwealth), and purchases in the 1670s. He made his home at Farney Castle near Thurles (Tipperary), and when he died he left a life interest in it to the widow of his executed brother. She died in 1693 and the estate passed to William's son, John Armstrong (d. 1707). John's heir was his eldest son, Col. William Armstrong (d. 1767), who married the heiress of the Heatons of Mount Heaton (Offaly) and subsequently made Mount Heaton his seat. In 1731 he made over Farney Castle to his younger brother, John Armstrong (fl. 1731-55), a merchant in Cork, who may have been responsible for adding a Georgian wing to the house in the mid 18th century, and the castle seems to have been sold later in the 18th or early 19th century.
Mount Heaton passed to Col. Armstrong's son, John Armstrong (1732-91), who funded a troop of horse in the army and was an MP in the Irish parliament. For these services he was twice offered and refused a baronetcy, but in 1790 he was induced to accept a peerage as Baron Dunamace. To the chagrin of subsequent generations of the family, however, he died suddenly before the patent for the peerage could pass the Great Seal, and so the peerage never came into being. It was probably John who built the present house at Mount Heaton, although no secure date seems to be known for the property.
John Armstrong was evidently the first of his family to take an interest in European affairs, and his son and heir, William Henry Armstrong (1774-1835) was born in Toulouse (France). When he came of age, William followed his father into the Irish parliament, where he opposed the union of England and Ireland in 1800, despite being offered the peerage intended for his father in exchange for his support of the measure. William seems to have been an inveterate gambler, and in 1817 he was obliged to sell Mount Heaton to pay his gambling debts. The rest of his estates went the same way in 1834, but from 1817 he chose to live on the Continent (mainly in France but at other times in Italy and Austria), where he produced a large family of eleven children.
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| Larch Hill, Ennis (Co. Clare) |
Most of his children made interesting marriages, often ones which took them back to Ireland (including Col. William Edward Armstrong, who through his marriage inherited New Hall, Ennis (Clare); and Charles Armstrong, who acquired Larch Hill, Ennis and Southville, Limerick), but his heir was John Armstrong (1815-91), who was a Lieutenant in the Austrian army 1831-39 and is said to have declined the honour of being made a Count of the Austrian Empire and Imperial Chamberlain. He spent the 1840s travelling in Australia and South America (which he is said to have crossed on foot).
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| Schloss Weyer, Gmunden (Austria) |
He then returned to Austria and settled at Schloss Weyer, Gmunden with his Austrian wife, Josephine Thérèse Mayr, although after she died in 1856 he perhaps travelled again. At the end of his life he honoured a clause in his grandfather's will and took the additional surname of Heaton. He is said to have spoken thirteen languages fluently, and his facility was evidently passed on to his sons, as the elder (who predeceased him) was working as a translator in London in 1881.
John's younger son, William Charles Heaton-Armstrong (1853-1917) must have been a remarkable man. He ran away from school at the age of fourteen and joined the merchant navy, with which he travelled the world until 1881 (he later claimed to have visited almost every British colony), by which time he was a Captain, and had also seen military service with the Turkish and Chilean navies. He then went into business and seems to have made quite a lot of money from ventures as varied as building railways in Canada (where the town of Armstrong, British Columbia is named after him) to importing German beer. He then turned to British politics, and served as Liberal MP for Sudbury in 1906-10. After one term in the house he went back to business and set up a bank, which failed during the First World War and bankrupted him, although he did eventually pay off all his liabilities before he died in 1917. His interests were as varied as his career, from astronomy to big game hunting, and he found time to publish a technical manual for sailors on calculating the sun's meridian altitude and to petition Queen Victoria (unsuccessfully) for the creation of the baronetcy which had been offered to his great-grandfather. In 1885, after being reconciled with his father - who looked askance at his son's business career as unsuited to a gentleman, but changed his mind when his son was able to help him financially - he married an Austrian baroness, and they had two sons and a daughter, who had almost equally remarkable lives.
His elder son, Major William Duncan Francis Heaton-Armstrong (1886-1969) was not generally academic but had a facility for languages. He went straight from Eton into the Lancashire Fusiliers, but his language skills led to his being poached by the Foreign Office, who needed a young man with the right languages to act as Private Secretary to the German prince whom the Great Powers had just put on the Albanian throne, thus strengthening British influence in the Balkans. He took up this post in January 1914, and when the Prince was overthrown six months later he escorted the royal family to safety in Germany before himself being interned by the Germans. After the war he returned to Vienna where he was a businessman until the rise of Nazi Germany made it clear that he would have to leave, and he got out through Switzerland just in time. During the Second World War he ran a Prisoner of War camp for Italian prisoners in Herefordshire, and bought a property at Bosbury, where he ran a pig farm for the rest of his life.
His brother, Sir John Dunamace Heaton-Armstrong (1888-1967) had a more orthodox education and qualified as a barrister in 1912. After the First World War he joined the College of Arms, where he worked for forty-five years as Chester Herald and later Clarenceux King of Arms, as well as serving as Registrar and Librarian. Even his life was not without its excitements, however: his French wife was related to the von Trapp family whose life in, and escape from, Austria is fictionalised in The Sound of Music. When the family reached safety in England it was with the Heaton-Armstrongs that they stayed while waiting for visas for the United States.
The second branch of the family treated in this post are the Armstrongs of Moyaliffe and Chaffpool. The younger son of Capt. William Armstrong (c.1635-90?), Thomas Armstrong (1671-1741), who is said to have been an MP in the Irish Parliament (although I have been unable to confirm this), bought the Moyaliffe estate near Thurles (Tipperary) in about 1695. He had a large family, but his heir was his eldest son, William Armstrong (1704-68), who never married and seems to have taken little care of estate matters. When he died, his brother and heir, Rev. John Armstrong (1708-81) found a complex and desperate state of affairs and had to go to law with several people who had taken advantage of his brother in order to put the estate back on a sound footing. His eldest son having predeceased him, his heir was Rev. William Carew Armstrong (1752-1839), who was rector of Moylough (Galway) and Chancellor of the diocese of Cashel. He had an interest in architecture and built the front range of Moyaliffe House in about 1810 as well as landscaping the grounds.
William Carew Armstrong's heir was his son John Armstrong (1791-1846), who made his home at Chaffpool (Sligo), a property which his wife inherited along with extensive lands in Sligo and Mayo. During the 1840s he was one of few resident landlords in one of the areas most severely affected by the famine, and was much applauded for the relief he offered personally in the area and for his efforts as chairman of the Upper Leyny and Tubbercurry Relief Committees. His premature death is said to have been due to sitting in wet clothing through one such committee meeting and then driving home in the open air. His estates in Tipperary, Sligo and Mayo passed in turn to four of his sons, who either did not marry or did not produce surviving children, although one of them, Capt. James Wood Armstrong (1827-89) was apparently responsible for altering Moyaliffe House and rebuilding Chaffpool. When Edward Marcus Armstrong (1829-99) died without issue, the estates passed to his first cousin once removed, Marcus Beresford Armstrong (1859-1923).
Like so many members of the family, Marcus had pursued a military career before settling down to farming and estate management. The Sligo and Mayo estates were sold to the Congested Districts Board in 1904, and as his only son, Capt. 'Pat' Armstrong (1889-1917) was killed in the First World War, Moyaliffe passed to his second daughter, 'Jess' Armstrong (1893-1982). She married the owner of the Ballinacor (Wicklow) estate in 1927 and they divided their time between the two properties until he died in 1965. In 1959 Jess broke the entail on the Moyaliffe estate and gave the property to her niece, Mrs. Bettyne Spencer, while endowing a trust to care for and manage the estate. In 1964, against Jess's wishes, Mrs. Spencer offered the estate for sale to the Land Commission, and this led to a family rift and a protracted legal battle, at the end of which Jess was able to buy back the house and twelve acres of grounds, but the sale of the estate to the Land Commission went ahead. When Jess died in 1982 her heir was a distant South African cousin, Robert George Carew Armstrong (1911-83), whose son finally sold Moyaliffe in 1999.
Farney Castle, Thurles, Tipperary
An old circular tower, reputedly built about 1495, with a later two-storey five-bay battlemented wing on a high basement, and an octagonal tower at the opposite end. The five bay block seems to date from the early to mid 18th century, and was perhaps built for John Armstrong (fl. 1731-55). It was gothicised with battlements, hoodmoulds and tracery in the windows when the octagonal tower was added. The octagonal tower has been attributed to Francis Johnston and is said to date from the 1790s, but the style suggests the building is much later and it seems to have been designed and built by Charles Frederick Anderson (1802-69) before he emigrated to America in 1849; he was also responsible for the design of Anner Castle (Tipperary) which has towers of similar appearance (although Anner was not completed until 1857 under the supervision of William Atkins). There is a battlemented terrace before the front door, with steps leading up to it.
Descent: Capt. William Armstrong (c.1635-90); to sister-in-law, Katherine (nee Pollexfen) (d. 1693), widow of Sir Thomas Armstrong, kt. (1633-84); to nephew, John Armstrong (d. 1707); to son, Col. William Armstrong (1698?-1767); given to brother John Armstrong (fl. 1731-55); to son, Thomas Armstrong; perhaps to daughter Ellen (fl. 1819), wife of Rev. John Doyne of Old Leighlin (1791-1841)...Cyril Cullen (fl. 2016).
Mount Heaton, Offaly
A castellated two-storey Georgian house, rather similar in appearance to nearby Busherstown, and built c.1780, probably for John Armstrong MP. The five-bay entrance front is symmetrical except for the corner towers, one of which us round and the other polygonal; the end bays before the towers are stepped forward. In the centre is a porch with battlements and turrets, but with the traditional fanlight above the door. In the 19th century, the windows were given hood moulds and thin mullions in place of the original sashes. The interior is plain,
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| Mount Heaton, from the 1st edition 6" Ordnance map |
with a handsome late 18th or early 19th century chimneypiece in one of the principal rooms. The house was sold by W. H. Armstrong in 1817 (according to local legend, he lost it at cards to the Prince Regent) and was subsequently bought by Count Arthur Moore of Mooresfort, who founded Mount St. Joseph Convent here. The house became the Abbey guest house, and was considerably altered c.1960, when a new attic storey was added, and the battlements, window labels and other Gothic features were removed.
Descent: Francis Heaton; to daughter Mary, wife of Col. William Armstrong (d. 1767); to son, Rt. Hon. John Armstrong MP (1723-91), who probably built the house; to son, William Henry Armstrong (1774-1835), who sold 1817..Miss Taylor (fl. 1828)...Taylor M. Read, sold 1858... Count Arthur Moore (1849-1904), who gave 1879 to Mount St. Joseph Convent.
Moyaliffe House, Thurles, Tipperary
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| Moyaliffe House: entrance front. Image: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage |
A rambling house of several periods and great character, incorporating some of the walls of an old Butler castle, remains of which can be seen on a mound immediately outside the windows of the garden front; a wing of the castle running towards the house is said to have been originally joined to it. The two-storey entrance front, on the opposite side to the castle, was rebuilt in the early 19th century and altered in 1864 by W. Ryan, who added the plate glass windows and the projecting two-storey gabled porch.
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| Moyaliffe House c.1870. Image: University of Limerick. |
The lower ranges extending at the back and side have windows with 18th century glazing bars, and enclose a courtyard with an old well in the centre of it. Inside, the long hall has low panelling around the walls, and there is a 19th century staircase in a separate hall at the back.
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| Moyaliffe House: drawing room, c.1910. Image: University of Limerick |
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| Moyaliffe House: smoking room, c.1910. Image: University of Limerick |
There is a panelled dining room, and a charming drawing room and morning room en suite. Upstairs, a long corridor leads to the gallery of a two-storey music room at the far end of one of the wings. One of the family portraits is said to come down from the wall and deposit itself by the fireplace opposite at the time of the death of an important member of the family.
Descent: ...Thomas Armstrong (1671-1741); to son, William Armstrong (1704-68); to brother, Rev. John Armstrong (1708-81); to son, Rev. William Carew Armstrong (1752-1839); to son, John Armstrong (1791-1846); to son, William Armstrong (1816-49); to brother, George de la Poer Armstrong (1823-64); to brother, Capt. James Wood Armstrong (1827-89); to brother, Edward Marcus Armstrong (1829-99); to first cousin once removed, Marcus Beresford Armstrong (1859-1923); to daughter, Winona Rosalie (k/a Jess) Armstrong (1893-1982), wife of Capt. William Daryl Olphert Kemmis (d. 1965); to kinsman, Robert George
Carew Armstrong (1911-83), of Natal, South Africa; to son, Graham Carew Armstrong (b. 1946), who sold 1999 to John Stakelurn.
Chaffpool, Ballymote, Sligo
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| Chaffpool House. Image: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage |
An unexpectedly small and simple two-storey L-shaped gabled house, built about 1880, presumably for Capt. James Armstrong, and now derelict. The main (east) front has a tripartite doorway, apparently once covered by a porch, and a single-storey canted bay window, but the north and west sides have almost no windows, just a single small lunette in the north wall, which is rather mysterious. The walls are covered in an unattractive unpainted roughcast, but the house is surrounded by extensive ranges of stone outbuildings and boundary walls, so the roughcast was presumably seen as a superior material at the time of construction.
Descent: Thomas Somers; to daughter, Catherine (d. 1868), wife of John Armstrong (1791-1846); to son, William Armstrong (1816-49); to brother, George de la Poer Armstrong (1823-64); to brother, Capt. James Wood Armstrong (1827-89); to brother, Edward Marcus Armstrong (1829-99); to first cousin once removed, Marcus Beresford Armstrong (1859-1923), who sold 1904 to the Congested Districts Board.
Heaton-Armstrong family of Farney Castle and Mount Heaton
Armstrong, Col. Sir Thomas (1603?-62), kt. Perhaps the son of William Armstrong (1565-1649) of Gilnockie and his wife Margaret, daughter of Humphrey Elliot, born about 1603. He served in The Netherlands, 1633-38; Governor of Culmore Fort in Ireland, 1639; Quartermaster-General of Horse in Ireland, 1639-40, 1660; Col. of Horse, 1649-50, 1660-62; knighted in Ireland by the Duke of Ormonde, 1644; MP for County Dublin in Irish Parliament, 1647; a tireless Royalist conspirator during the Commonwealth, he was twice imprisoned in the Tower of London by Cromwell and was released on bail in 1659; granted a patent for coining copper token farthings, 1660. He married, c.1632 in Holland, Anne Jennchen Anderson (1614-58), a Dutch lady, and had issue:
(1) Sir Thomas Armstrong (1633-84), kt. (q.v.);
(2) Capt. William Armstrong (c.1635-90?) (q.v.);
(3) Susannah Armstrong (b. 1638), baptised 31 January 1638.
He received a grant of land at Corvellis (Co. Dublin), 1642, and had a pele tower at Wolivia, Lanercost (Cumbld) and a house in London.
He died in November 1662. His wife died in 1658.
Armstrong, Sir Thomas (1633-84), kt. Elder son of Col. Sir Thomas Armstrong (d. 1662), kt. and his wife Anna Anderson, born at Nijmegen (Holland), 27 December 1633. MP for Leicestershire, 1660 and for Stafford, 1679, 1681. Captain of 1st troop of Royal Horse Guards, 1661-73; Major in King's Life Guards, 1673-78; Lt-Col. of Queen's Horse, 1678-79; Gentleman of the Horse to the Duke of Monmouth; knighted 1667/8. A hot-headed man, he killed three men in duels but was pardoned on each occasion. He was wrongly accused of complicity in the Rye House Plot in 1683 and fled to the Netherlands, but he was caught, tried for treason, attainted and executed. Under King William III the attainder was reversed and his widow was granted £6,000 compensation from the estate of Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys. He married, 1656/7 (settlement 10 February 1656/7), Katherine (d. 1693), daughter of James Pollexfen of Stanstead (Essex) and had issue:
(1) Jane Armstrong; married Adm. Mathew (d. 1685);
(2) Catherine Armstrong; died unmarried;
(3) Mary Armstrong; married D. Pollexfen.
He was executed 20 June 1684. His widow died in 1693.
Armstrong, Capt. William (c.1635-90?). Younger son of Col. Sir Thomas Armstrong (d. 1662), kt. and his wife Anna Anderson, born about 1630. Commissioner for Poll Tax, 1669. Captain of a troop of horse in the Tipperary militia, 1688. He married, c.1669, Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Deane, and had issue, probably among others:
(1) John Armstrong (d. 1707) (q.v.);
(2) Thomas Armstrong (1671-1741) [see below, under Armstrong of Moyaliffe and Chaffpool].
He obtained a grant of Farney Castle from Charles II in 1660, and another, under the Act of Settlement, of Bohercarron and lands in Limerick, 1666. In the 1670s he added the former lands of Holy Cross Abbey and Ballycahill. At his death he was succeeded at Farney Castle by his widowed sister-in-law.
He died in about 1690.
Armstrong, John (d. 1707). Elder son of Capt. William Armstrong (c.1635-90?) and his wife Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Deane. Said to have been an MP in the Irish parliament. Commissioner for poll tax, 1696. He married, 1695, Juliana (c.1676-1737), second daughter of Robert Carew of Bally Boro (Wexford), and had issue:
(1) Col. William Armstrong (1698?-1767) (q.v.);
(2) Robert Armstrong (fl. 1731); died unmarried;
(3) John Armstrong (fl. 1731-55) (q.v.);
(4) Rev. James William Armstrong (b. c.1706; fl. 1731) of Clasbakeny; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1723; BA 1727); married Sarah, daughter of William Nicholson of Turtola (Tipperary) and had issue.
He inherited the Ferney estate on the death of his father in c.1690 and Ferney Castle when his aunt died in 1693.
He died 16 May 1707. His widow married 2nd, 1707, Thomas Way (d. by 1726) and died 27 November 1737, aged 61.
Armstrong, John (fl. 1731-55). Third son of John Armstrong (d. 1707) of Farney Castle and his wife Juliana, daughter of Robert Carew of Bally Boro (Wexford). A merchant in Cork. He married, 1740 (settlement 17 July), Anne, only daughter of Anthony Blunt, alderman of Kilkenny, and had, with other issue:
(1) Thomas Armstrong; married and had issue a daughter (Ellen, who m. 1819, Rev. John Doyne);
(2) Rev. Anthony Armstrong (c.1748-1832); educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1765; BA 1770); vicar of Emly, 1782-1817; prebendary of Cashel; lived at Newtown (Tipperary) and later at Duly House (Tipperary); married, 1772, Jane (d. 1828), daughter of Nicholas Sadleir of Golden Garden (Tipperary) and widow of Richard Chadwick of Ballinard (Tipperary) and had issue one son; died 21 January 1832;
(3) A son;
(4) A son;
(5) A daughter;
(6) A daughter;
(7) A daughter.
He was given Farney Castle and some of the associated lands by his brother from 1731 onwards.
His date of death is unknown. His wife's date of death is unknown.
Armstrong, Col. William (1698?-1767). Eldest son of John Armstrong (d. 1707) of Farney Castle and his wife Juliana, daughter of Robert Carew of Bally Boro (Wexford), born 1 June 1698? [Burke's says 1688 but this must be wrong if his parents' dates are right]. High Sheriff of Tipperary, 1738; Col. of the Tipperary militia. He married, 6 March 1731, Mary, third daughter and co-heiress of Francis Heaton of Mount Heaton (Offaly) and formerly of Moorhouse (Yorks), and had issue:
(1) Rt. Hon. John Armstrong (1732-91) (q.v.);
(2) Mary Armstrong (d. 1795); married, 12 September 1755, Very Rev. George Thomas DD and had issue; died 27 March 1795.
He inherited Farney Castle from his father in 1707, but made it over to his brother John in 1731. Through his marriage he acquired Mount Heaton (alias Ballyskennagh) (Offaly), which became the seat of his descendants.
He died intestate, 1 January 1767. His wife predeceased him but her date of death is unknown.
Armstrong, Rt. Hon. John (1732-91). Only son of Col. William Armstrong (1698?-1767) and his wife Mary, third daughter of Francis Heaton of Mount Heaton (Offaly), born 1732. MP for Fore (Westmeath), 1768-74 and Kilmallock (Limerick), 1783-91; appointed to the Irish Privy Council, 1789. He raised and kept a troop of horse in the King's army, and for this and other services he was twice offered a baronetcy, which he declined. He was then offered an Irish peerage as Baron Dunamace, which he accepted, but he died before the patent had passed the Great Seal. He married, 17 July 1770, Letitia (c.1745-1820), daughter and co-heiress of Abraham Greene of Ballymacreece (Co. Limerick) and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Mary Armstrong (1773-80), born 20 January 1773; died young, 26 February 1780.
(2) William Henry Armstrong (1774-1835) (q.v.);
He inherited Mount Heaton from his father in 1767.
He died suddenly at Mount Heaton, 12 September 1791 and was buried at Ballycahill. His widow married 2nd, 1793, her son's tutor, Rev. James Hobson; she died at Sidmouth (Devon), 28 January 1820, aged 75, and was buried there.
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| William Henry Armstrong |
Armstrong, William Henry (1774-1835). Only son of Rt. Hon. Armstrong (1732-91) of Mount Heaton, and his wife Letitia, daughter of Abraham Greene of Ballymacreece (Limerick), born in Toulouse (France), 21/26 June 1774. MP for Wicklow Borough in the Irish parliament, 1798-1800. He voted against the Union of Britain and Ireland, despite being offered the peerage which had been intended for his father as an inducement to support the proposal. He sold Mount Heaton and emigrated to the Continent in 1817 (living mainly in France, although he also spent time in Italy) and sold his remaining Irish and English property in 1834; the sales were reputedly required to pay his gambling debts. He married, 7 April 1809, Bridget (1790-1860), only daughter of Col. Charles Macdonnell MP of New Hall (Clare), and had issue:
(1) Letitia Mary Armstrong (1810-11), born 11 February 1810; died 11 July 1811;
(2) Letitia Charlotte Armstrong (1811/12-72), born 21 February and baptised 26 February 1811/2; amateur artist, who went on sketching holidays in Switzerland with her husband; married, 1 June 1841 at St Peter, Dublin, Charles William Hamilton JP (1802-80) of Hamwood, Dunboyne (Meath), and had issue five sons and two daughters (who were both accomplished artists); died in Dublin, 28 June 1872 and was buried at Dunboyne, 1 July 1872;
(3) Gertrude Catherine Armstrong (1813-74), born 22 July 1813 and baptised at Roscrea; married, 17 October 1839 in Florence (Italy), as his second wife, John Bayly DL JP (1805-65) of Debsborough (Tipperary) and had issue one son, who died young; died in Dublin, 4 October 1874 and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin; administration of goods granted 8 April and 10 June 1875 (effects in Ireland under £600 and in England under £200);
(4) Bridget Armstrong (1814-80), born at Mount Heaton, 21 February and baptised at Roscrea, 13 March 1814; married, 23 March 1849 at Genoa (Italy), James Bonamy Dobrée (1790-1868) of Rock Lodge (Devon) and later of St. Helier (Jersey), younger son of Peter Dobrée of London, Clapham (Surrey) and Ashford (Kent) and had issue one daughter; died 4 April 1880 at St. Helier (Jersey); administration of goods granted 27 April 1880 (effects under £1500);
(5) John Armstrong (later Heaton-Armstrong) (1815-91) (q.v.);
(6) Mary Armstrong (1816-85), born in London, 16 July 1816; married 12 July 1842 at St George, Dublin, Ven. John Evans Johnson DD, Archdeacon of Ferns and had issue four sons; died 8 March 1885; her will was proved 27 April 1885
(7) Emily Dorothea Armstrong (1817-36), born 21 December 1817; died unmarried in Paris, 5 February 1838 and was buried there 7 February 1838;
(8) Charles William Armstrong (b. & d. 1819), born at Abbeville (France), 19 April 1819 and died there, 31 May 1819;
(9) Louisa Armstrong (1821-91) of Ballykeale House, Holywood (Down), born in Paris, 22 October 1821; married, 21 December 1861 at St Mary, Dublin, as his second wife, Rev. Francis Henry Hall (1820-80), rector of Drumcullin (Down), eldest son of James Trail Hall, but died without issue, 14 November 1891; administration of her goods granted 25 April 1892 (effects £2,735);
(10) Col. William Edward Armstrong (later Armstrong-Macdonnell) (1826-83) of New Hall, Ennis (Clare), born in Paris, 10 May 1826 and baptised at Fontainebleau (France); DL and JP for Co. Clare; High Sheriff of Co. Clare, 1853; Col. commanding Clare militia; Member of the Royal Irish Academy; assumed additional surname and arms of Macdonnell by royal licence, 1858, in recognition of his inheritance of his maternal family estates in Co. Clare; married, 20 July 1858 at Killnasoolagh (Clare), Hon. Juliana Cecilia O'Brien (1837-1925), eldest daughter of Lucius O'Brien, 13th Baron Inchiquin, and had issue five sons and three daughters; died in Dublin, 11 November 1883; will proved 18 December 1883 (effects £5,780);
(11) Charles Armstrong (later Heaton-Armstrong) (1830-1906) of Larch Hill, near Ennis (Clare) and Southville, Limerick, born in Florence (Italy), 7 May 1830; JP for County Clare; assumed the additional name of Heaton, 1884; married, 26/29 March 1856 at St Anne, Dublin, Georgina Maria (1826-1905), eldest daughter of Richard John de la Zouche Stacpoole of Eden Vale (Co. Clare) and had issue three sons (including Charles Richard Beauchamp Heaton-Armstrong (1858-1917), later of Southville) and one daughter; died 18 February 1906; will proved 11 April 1906 (estate £7,454).
He inherited Mount Heaton from his father in 1791 but sold it in 1817 and moved to the Continent, where he lived at different times in France, Italy and Austria. He sold his remaining estates in Fermanagh, Limerick, Tipperary and England in 1834.
He died at Passy near Paris (France), 21 September 1835, and was buried in the Montmartre Cemetery, Paris, 25 September 1835; will proved in Dublin, 16 April 1836. His widow died at Kingstown, Dublin, 20 October 1860, and was buried at Killone Abbey (Clare); her will was proved 8 November 1860.
Armstrong (later Heaton-Armstrong), John (1815-91). Eldest son of William Henry Armstrong (1774-1835) and his wife Bridget, daughter of Col. Charles Macdonnell of New Hall, Ennis (Clare), born 1 May 1815. He was a Lieutenant in the Austrian army, 1831-39 and declined the honours of Count of the Austrian Empire and of Imperial Chamberlain; after leaving the army he spent ten years travelling extensively in South America and Australia, reputedly crossing South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific on foot. He is said to have spoken no less than thirteen languages fluently. He assumed the additional surname and arms of Heaton by royal licence, 1890, in accordance with the terms of his grandfather's will. He married, at the British embassy in Vienna, 29 May 1849, Josephine Thérèse (d. 1856), daughter of Franz Mayr of Leoben, Styria (Austria) and sister of the 1st Baron Mayr-Meinhof, and had issue:
(1) John Childe Armstrong (1850-86), born 1 January 1850; translator; married 21 November 1885, Lucy Ann (1851-1907), youngest daughter of Maj. Charles Henry Cobbe of 60th Regt. but died without issue in the lifetime of his father, 30 March 1886;
(2) William Charles Armstrong (later Heaton-Armstrong) (1853-1917) (q.v.);
(3) Bida Louisa Armstrong; probably died unmarried;
(4) Lucy Emily Armstrong; probably died unmarried.
He was lord of the manor of Roscrea (Tipperary) but may have had no other Irish lands. In the 1850s he owned Schloss Weyer at Gmunden (Austria).
He died at Gorz (Austria), 29 April 1891, and was buried there 1 May 1891. His wife died at Eagle House, Bath St., St. Helier, Jersey, 5 April 1858.
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| W.C. Heaton-Armstrong |
Heaton-Armstrong, William Charles (1853-1917). Only surviving son of John Armstrong (later Heaton-Armstrong) (1815-91) and his wife Josephine Thérèse, daughter of Franz Mayr of Leoben, Styria (Austria), born 1 September 1853. A larger-than-life character, he was educated abroad but ran away from school aged 14 to join the merchant navy in which he served for about fourteen years, ending up as a Captain. He later claimed to have visited almost every British colony, and he also served with the Turkish navy in the Russo-Turkish war, 1876 and with the Chilians in the Chilian-Peruvian war of 1879-83. On leaving the merchant navy he went into business and was successful in various ventures, including the copper trade, Canadian railways (the town of Armstrong in British Columbia is named after him) and importing German beer into England. A strong supporter of the union of Ireland and England, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as a Conservative candidate for Mid-Tipperary in 1892, but later joined the Liberal party and was elected as MP for Sudbury (Suffolk), 1906-10. He did not stand again in 1910 and after retiring from politics he went into banking; the bank he founded did not survive the First World War and he was bankrupted, although all his liabilities were subsequently cleared in full before his death. He was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Zoological Society, Royal Botanic Society,Royal Statistical Society, and other learned Societies, and published Calculation of the Sun’s Meridian Altitude; his many and varied interests including motoring, big game shooting and billiards, and he was also an enthusiastic promoter of a Channel Tunnel. In 1892 he unsuccessfully petitioned Queen Victoria for the baronetcy which had been offered to his great-grandfather. He married, 7 September 1885, Baroness Bertha Maximiliana Zais Edelstein (1859-1949), only surviving daughter of Baron Zois Edelstein of Carniola (then Austria, now Slovenia), and had issue:
(1) Maj. William Duncan Francis Heaton-Armstrong (1886-1969) (q.v.);
(2) Sir John Dunamace Heaton-Armstrong (1888-1967) (q.v.);
(3) Bertha Grace Heaton-Armstrong (1893-1985), born 2 January and baptised 20 February 1893; served in WW1 and WW2 with Women's Auxiliary Police Corps; President of the Oxfordshire branch of the Distressed Gentlefolks Association, 1948; lived at Goring (Oxon) and Kitzbühel (Austria); married, 8 December 1923, Capt. Geoffrey Wyndham Wadham RN (1892-1942), son of Dr Frank Jesser Wadham of Emsworth (Hants) but had no issue; died 30 September 1985; her will was proved 14 February 1986 (estate £141,287).
He was lord of the manor of Roscrea (Tipperary) but appears to have had no Irish lands.
He died 22 July 1917; his will was proved 19 September 1917 (estate £16,405). His widow died 10 December 1949; her will was proved 16 February 1950 (estate £6,277).
Heaton-Armstrong, Maj. William Duncan Francis (1886-1969). Elder son of William Charles Heaton-Armstrong (1853-1917) and his wife, Baroness Bertha Maximiliana Zais Edelstein, born 29 September 1886 at Schloss Egg am Faaker See near Villach in Carinthia (Austria). Educated at Eton, 1900-03 and subsequently travelled in France and Italy to acquire the languages; he became fluent in English, French, German and Italian. An officer in the Lancashire Fusiliers, 1904-20 (Lt., 1904; Capt; Major); seconded under Foreign Office as Private Secretary and Comptroller of the Privy Purse to Prince William of Weid, briefly the sovereign prince of Albania in 1914, and given rank as Capt. in Albanian Army; interned in Germany, 1914-16 but released through an exchange of prisoners and rejoined his regiment as paymaster, 1917-20 (mentioned in despatches). Businessman in Vienna, 1920-38, when he fled to Switzerland and thence to Britain; during WW2 he ran a prisoner of war camp for Italian prisoners in Herefordshire. Gold Staff Officer at coronations of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II in 1937 and 1953. His memoir of his time with Prince William of Albania were published in 2005 as The six month kingdom: Albania 1914. He married, 29 December 1920, Thelma Eileen (d. 1967), youngest daughter of Hon. Robert Steele Scott MP of Launceston, Tasmania (Australia) and had issue:
(1) Griselda Nonee Heaton-Armstong (1922-2020) of Holly Mount Farm, Bosbury (Herefs), born 27 February 1922; served in WW2 with Women's Auxiliary Air Force; married G. Adam and had issue one daughter; died aged 98 on 29 April 2020; will proved 14 January 2021;
(2) Capt. Thomas Michael Robert Heaton-Armstrong (1925-2000) (q.v.).
He was lord of the manor of Roscrea (Tipperary) but seems to have had no Irish lands. He lived in Slovakia and later in Austria between the wars, and later at Holymount, Stanley Hill, Bosbury (Herefs).
He died 1 May 1969 and was buried at Bosbury; his will was proved 27 October 1969 (estate £64,889) and resealed in Tasmania, 26 January 1971. His wife died 16 December 1967 and was also buried at Bosbury; her will was proved 28 November 1968 (estate £12,877) and resealed in Tasmania, 24 March 1969.
Heaton-Armstrong, Capt. Thomas Michael Robert (1925-2000). Only son of Maj. William Duncan Francis Heaton-Armstrong (1886-1969) and his wife Thelma Eileen, daughter of Hon. Robert Steele Scott MP, born 30 March 1925. Educated at Eton. Served in WW2 as an officer with the Scots Guards, 1943-48, seconded to Military Intelligence. Farmer, 1948-64 at Bosbury (Herefs), Gilmerton (Perths) and Couligartan, Aberfoyle (Perths); founded and ran Armstrongs of Aberfoyle (Perths), a chain of small shops, 1964-87. He married, 23 February 1952, his cousin, (Helen Gabrielle Laura) Hazel (1924-2014), daughter of Sir John Dunamace Heaton-Armstrong MVO and had issue:
(1) Patricia Mary Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1952; fl. 2014), born 8 December 1952; married, Oct-Dec 1977, Stuart A.L. Robertson and had issue one son and two daughters;
(2) Jane Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1954; fl. 2014), born 18 April 1954; unmarried;
(3) Sheila Margaret Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1957; fl. 2014), born 12 March 1957; married, 1978, Colin Duncan M.C. Whyte;
(4) Christopher John Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1959; fl. 2014), born 14 February 1959; married, 1985, Karen Ramsay, daughter of Thomas George Ramsay Davidson Clark and had issue a daughter;
(5) Duncan Anthony Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1960; fl. 2014), of Ladywell House, Falkland (Fife), born 15 October 1960; tax consultant; married 1st, 1991 (div. 1999), Elaine Patricia Crichton and had issue two sons; married 2nd, 2003, Camilla Jane (b. 1972), daughter of David Wolseley Brinton and had issue one son and one daughter;
(6) William Geoffrey Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1962; fl. 2014), born 5 January 1962; married, 1985, Priscilla Eliza Paterson (d. 2010?).
He lived in Perthshire, 1955-87, after which he retired to Portugal.
He died in Portugal in March 2000. His widow died in Portugal, 17 May 2014, aged 89.
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Sir John Heaton-Armstrong
in his herald's tabard |
Heaton-Armstrong, Sir John Dunamace (1888-1967), Clarenceux King of Arms. Younger son of William Charles Heaton-Armstrong (1853-1917) and his wife, Baroness Bertha Maximiliana Zais Edelstein, born 21 February 1888. Educated at Eton, Trinity Hall, Cambridge (MA 1914) and Inner Temple (called to bar, 1912). Barrister-at-law. An officer of the College of Arms, 1922-67 (Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, 1922-26; Chester Herald, 1926-56; Clarenceux King of Arms, 1956-67; Registrar & Hon. Librarian, 1946-53). Served in WW1 as Capt. in 20th Deccan Horse, Indian Army reserve (wounded, retired) and in WW2 as Squadron Leader in RAF Volunteer Reserve, 1939-44 (retired). In 1938, when the Von Trapp family (on whom the musical, The Sound of Music was based) fled the Nazi occupation of Austria via Italy, they stayed with Heaton-Armstrong in London while awaiting visas for the United States, as his wife was connected by her first marriage with the family. Appointed MVO 1937 and knighted, 1953; awarded the Order of the Albanian Eagle (5th class), 1914. He married, 21 June 1919, Suzanne Laura (d. 1972), second daughter of Etienne Désiré Frédéric Béchet de Balan, of Sedan and Abbaye des Rosiers, Ardennes (France), and widow of John Robert Gobertus Whitehead RFC, and had issue:
(1) Bridget Almina Suzanne Heaton-Armstrong MBE (1920-2006), born 9 August 1920; lived in Chelsea (Middx) but died unmarried, 26 August 2006; her will was proved 12 December 2006;
(2) William Henry Dunamace Heaton-Armstrong (1922-2014) (q.v.);
(3) (Helena Gabrielle Laura) Hazel Heaton-Armstrong (1924-2014), born 14 July 1924; served in WW2 with Women's Royal Naval Service, 1941-45, in Orkney and Malta; partner, with her husband, in Armstrongs of Aberfoyle, 1964-87; married, 23 February 1952, her cousin, Capt. Thomas Michael Robert Heaton-Armstrong (q.v.) and had issue three sons and three daughters; died in Portugal, 17 May 2014, aged 89.
He lived in London.
He died 27 August 1967; his will was proved 26 January 1968 (estate £41,617). His widow died 28 February 1972; her will was proved 30 June 1972 (estate £80,638).
Heaton-Armstrong, William Henry Dunamace (1922-2014). Only son of Sir John Dunamace Heaton-Armstrong (1888-1967) and his wife Suzanne Laura, daughter of Etienne Desire Frederic Bechet de Balan of Sedan and Chateau des Rosiers, Ardennes (France) and widow of John Robert Gobertus Whitehead, born 2/7 February 1922. Educated at Eton and Reading Univ. (Dip. Ag.). Served in WW2 as a Capt. in Grenadier Guards (mentioned in despatches) and as part of British Military Mission to Netherlands, 1945-46; Gold Staff Officer at coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953. He married 1st, 8 July 1948 (div. 1956), Kathleen Idonea Creswell (b. 1927; fl. 2003), eldest daughter of Sir William Hugh Stobart Chance CBE DL of The Grange, Birlingham (Worcs) and 2nd, 2 September 1972 (div.), Avril, daughter of Derek Charles Parkes of Winterslow (Wilts) and had issue:
(1.1) Mary Suzanne Bertha Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1949), born 19 April 1949; living in Australia in 1976; married, 1977, John Beresford-Iles of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia);
(1.2) Anthony Eustace John Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1950), born 27 September 1950; educated at Ampleforth, Bristol Univ. and Grays Inn (called to bar, 1973); barrister-at-law; married 1st, 10 February 1973 (div. 1977), Susan Margaret, daughter of Ian Peter Allnutt of Maidenhead (Berks); married 2nd, 20 May 1982, Ann Frances, daughter of Mrs E.E.M. Robigo and formerly wife of Marcus Hugh Lecky, and had issue one son and two daughters;
(1.3) Bridget Cynthia Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1952), born 29 May 1952; had issue a daughter, born 1973; married, 1982 (div. 1991), Michael Roger David Dancey of Auckland (New Zealand) and had further issue two daughters;
(1.4) Rachel Catherine Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1954), born 28 August 1954; in 1997 she had a son (Theodore George Bassett Heaton-Davies) by Paul Bassett Davies;
(2.1) Sarah Sophia Suzanne Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1973; fl. 2014); married, 2000, Adrian C. Ditcham;
(2.2) Nicole Heaton-Armstrong (b. 1975; fl. 2014).
He was nominated heir to his cousin, Winona Rosalie Kemmis of Moyaliffe Castle, until 1972.
He died 22 July 2014, aged 92; his will was proved 23 February 2015. His first wife married 2nd, 31 March 1956 (div. 1965), Lt-Cdr. John Timothy Fetherston-Dilke (1926-2003), son of Beaumont Albany Fetherston-Dilke of Maxstoke Castle (Warks), and had further issue one son and one daughter; she married 3rd, 4 December 1965 (div. 1975), Colin Frederick Rogers, son of Frederick Arthur Rogers of Gorleston-on-Sea (Norfk), and 4th, 1992 (div. 1996), Martin Joseph Crossley; in 2003 she was living in Perthshire. His second wife married 2nd, 1980, Meyrick B. Stephens.
Armstrong family of Moyaliffe and Chaffpool
Armstrong, Thomas (1671-1741). Younger son of Capt. William Armstrong (c.1635-90?) and his wife Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Deane, born 1671. High Sheriff of Tipperary in the reign of Queen Anne, and said to have been an MP in the Irish Parliament. He married Mary (d. 1751), eldest daughter of Robert Carew of Castle Boro' (Wexford), whose sister married his brother, and had issue:
(1) William Armstrong (1704-68) (q.v.);
(2) Andrew Armstrong (1706-40), born 1706; apprenticed to a merchant and mariner in Cork, and afterwards set up in business as a merchant by his father; he joined with others in purchasing or building a ship, the Armstrong, which he sailed himself to the West Indies with stores for the King's forces there in 1740; died unmarried on the return journey when the ship was lost with all hands;
(3) Rev. John Armstrong (1708-81) (q.v.);
(4) Rev. Robert Carew Armstrong (1709-90) of Corolanty (Offaly), born 1709; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1729; MA 1732); rector of Shinrone (Offaly); married Jane, fourth daughter of Anthony Atkinson MP of Cangort (Offaly) and had issue one son; died 1790;
(5) Peter Armstrong (b. 1711); died in infancy;
(6) Charles Armstrong (1713-31);
(7) George Armstrong (1716-39), born 1716; apprenticed to a banker in Cork; died 1739;
(8) Alice Armstrong; married, 1719, James Ellard of Newtown (Limerick) and had issue;
(9) Anne Armstrong (d. 1731);
(10) Juliana Armstrong; died in infancy;
(11) Margaret Armstrong (d. 1788); married, 1738, James Dexter, Marshal of the Four Courts, Dublin, of Brannockstown (Kildare), eldest son of John Dexter of Brannockstown and Dublin and had issue four sons and four daughters; died 14 March 1788 and was buried in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin;
(12) Elizabeth Armstrong; married Rev. John Smyth (d. 1749) and had issue two sons;
(13) Mary Armstrong; married Rev. Richard Lloyd of Castle Lloyd (Limerick), eldest son of Rev. Thomas Lloyd, and had issue;
(14) A daughter; married John Bettridge of Forest (Tipperary) and had issue two daughters.
He acquired the Moyaliffe estate in about 1695.
He died 20 July 1741. His widow died in 1751.
Armstrong, William (1704-68). Eldest son of Thomas Armstrong (1671-1741) and his wife Mary, eldest daughter of Robert Carew of Castle Boro' (Wexford), born 1704. Described as "a man who seldom refused a request", he was led into ill-advised bonds and unfavourable leases, and left his financial affairs under the dubious management of his brother-in-law, James Dexter; after his death the catastrophic state of his affairs led to extensive and lengthy litigation. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited Moyaliffe Castle from his father in 1741. At his death it passed to his next surviving brother, Rev. John Armstrong.
He died in 1768.
Armstrong, Rev. John (1708-81). Third son of Thomas Armstrong (1671-1741) and his wife Mary, eldest daughter of Robert Carew of Castle Boro' (Wexford), born 1708. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1723; BA 1727; MA 1730). Ordained, 1734; curate of Kilfaird, 1734-37; rector of Tipperary, 1737-53 and headmaster of the Erasmus Smith Grammar School. In 1753 an armed gang broke into his church while he was conducting a service to abduct a young lady in the congregation, and he pleaded with them to desist, even though they threatened to shoot anyone who moved. On another occasion, it is said that he mistook Lord Townshend, the Lord Lieutenant (1767-72), for a mere aide-de-camp and invited him to stay at the rectory; and that Townshend was so impressed by his hospitality that he promoted the rector's eldest son in the army. He married Frances (fl. 1789), daughter of John Garnett, schoolmaster, of Tipperary, and had issue:
(1) Capt. Thomas Armstrong (1744-74), born 1744; Captain in 28th Regiment; died unmarried and without issue in the lifetime of his father, 1774;
(2) Frances Armstrong; died unmarried;
(3) Rev. William Carew Armstrong (1752-1839) (q.v.);
(4) Robert Carew Armstrong (b. 1753), born 1753; died young before 1758;
(5) Edward Harman Armstrong (1754-82), born 1754; an officer in the army (Lt. in 50th regiment, 1773); died unmarried, 1782;
(6) Rev. Robert Carew Armstrong (1758-1838); educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1781; MA 1784); curate of St John, Limerick, 1783 and later assistant to his brother at Moyaliffe; vicar of Moyaliffe, 1797; rector of Templemore (Tipperary); married, Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Cooke of Cardigan (Tipperary) and had issue five sons (one of whom was the great-grandfather of the Robert George Carew Armstrong who inherited Moyaliffe in 1982) and two daughters; died 6 January 1838 and was buried at Kiltillane, Templemore (Tipperary);
(7) George Carew Armstrong (1756-57); died in infancy;
(8) Anne Armstrong (b. 1760); married, 1793, William Bagwell of Shanrahan (Tipperary);
(9) Alicia Armstrong (1762-1830); died unmarried, 1830;
(10) Mary Armstrong (d. 1822); died unmarried; will proved 23 September 1822;
(11) Capt. Alfred Francis Armstrong (1766-1804), born 1766; an officer in 9th Lancers, 1787-1804 (Ensign, 1787; Lt., 1792; Capt); died unmarried after a few days' illness at Ipswich barracks, and was buried at St Matthew, Ipswich, 17 January 1804, where he is commemorated by a monument erected by his brother officers.
He inherited Moyaliffe Castle from his brother in 1768.
He died in 1781; his will was proved 20 February 1782. His widow was still living in 1789.
Armstrong, Rev. William Carew (1752-1839). Second, but eldest surviving son of Rev. John Armstrong (1708-81) and his wife Frances, daughter of John Garnett of Tipperary, schoolmaster, born 1752. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1768; BA 1773; MA 1778). Curate and later Vicar of Moyaliffe 1789-97; rector of Moylough; prebendary of Moylough, 1796-1818 and Chancellor of diocese of Cashel, 1814-39. He had an interest in architecture and built a new church at Killvalure [unidentified] as well as extending Moyaliffe House. His portrait was painted by Gilbert Stuart c.1786-93 and hung in the dining room at Moyaliffe, where it was said to come down from the wall and cross the room when the deaths of senior members of the family were imminent. He married, 11 November 1789/91, Hon. Catherine Eleanor (d. 1837), eldest daughter of Most Rev. William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, Archbishop of Tuam, and had issue:
(1) John Armstrong (1791-1846) (q.v.);
(2) Rev. Marcus Beresford Armstrong (1794-1850) (q.v.);
(3) George De La Poer Armstrong (1801-45), born 1801; Lieutenant in 60th Rifles but was obliged to resign his commission for drunkenness, 1836; died unmarried, October 1845;
(4) Rev. Alfred Thomas Armstrong (1805-87), born 1805; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1830; MA 1833); rector of Moyaliffe, 1832-39 and Cullen, 1838-52; prebendary of Cullen, 1841-87; perpetual curate of St James, Preston (Lancs), 1852-54 and Ashton-on-Ribble (Lancs), 1854-87; hon. canon of Manchester Cathedral, 1877-87; married, 1835 at Killenure Castle (Tipperary), Frances, daughter of William Cooper JP of Killenure Castle, and had issue one son; died 25 October 1887; will proved at Lancaster, 23 November 1887 (effects in England £10,613) and sealed in Dublin 16 January 1888 (effects in Ireland, £4,545);
(5) Elizabeth Armstrong; died unmarried;
(6) Frances Armstrong; who incurred the displeasure of her eldest brother John by a love affair in 1838; died unmarried;
(7) Clara Armstrong; died unmarried.
He inherited Moyaliffe Castle from his father in 1781, and is said to have built the new wing on the house and to have landscaped the grounds. An Inclosure Act for Mealiffe was passed in 1834.
He died in Dublin, 8 June 1839, aged 87. His wife died in November 1837.
Armstrong, John (1791-1846). Eldest son of Rev. William Carew Armstrong (1752-1839) and his wife Hon. Catherine Eleanor, daughter of Most Rev. William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, Archbishop of Tuam, born 1791. Educated at Linton School (Cambs) and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (admitted 1810; gave two silver flagons to the college, 1814). DL and JP for Sligo and Tipperary. In the 1830s he acted as a Conservative election agent and in the 1840s he was chairman of the Upper Leyny and Tubbercurry Relief Committees during the famine. He married, 1815, Catherine (c.1794-1868), daughter and heiress of Thomas Somers of Chaffpool (Sligo), and had issue:
(1) Capt. William Armstrong (1816-49), born 1816; an officer in 47th Regiment (Capt., 1844); served in the West Indies and Sind, 1846; married, 20 June 1848 at the Chateau de Varennes, Angers (France), Mathilde Rose (who m2, 1 May 1851 at Cullen, Thomas Armstrong, son of Capt. William Armstrong of Moyaliffe), daughter of Joseph Lucian Bousscan, Count de la Brosse, and had issue a son (John Armstrong (1849-54), who died at Varennes, 3 January 1854 aged 4); died 7 March 1849;
(2) Thomas Somers Armstrong (1822-47), born 1822; an officer in 60th Royal Rifles (1st Lt., 1841); died unmarried at Kurrachee, Bombay (India), 6/7 June 1847;
(3) George De La Poer Armstrong (1823-64) of Chaffpool, born 16 October 1823; DL (1861) and JP for Sligo; High Sheriff of Sligo, 1854; died unmarried, 2 June 1864; will proved in Dublin, 5 July 1864 (effects under £4,000);
(4) Marcus Alexander Armstrong (1824-29); born 1824; died young, 1829;
(5) Capt. James Wood Armstrong (1827-89) (q.v.);
(6) Henry Alfred Armstrong (b & d. 1827); died in infancy;
(7) Edward Marcus Armstrong (1829-99) (q.v.);
(8) Francis Henry Armstrong (1836-83); died unmarried in Dublin, 15 August 1883; will proved in Dublin, 24 December 1883 (effects £2,165);
(9) Elizabeth Armstrong (d. 1847); died unmarried in Torquay (Devon), 27 April 1847;
(10) Kathleen Eleanor Armstrong (d. 1875); died unmarried, 2 April 1875.
He inherited the Moyaliffe Castle estate from his father in 1839 and Chaffpool (Sligo) and estates in Mayo through his wife. After his death Moyaliffe passed to his eldest son and on his death in 1849 to his third, fifth and sixth sons in turn, all of whom died without issue.
He died 2 December 1846 (the cause of death is said to have been typhus fever, but also that he "got wet, sat in committee in half-dried clothes, and then went home on a jaunting car", which sounds more like a recipe for pneumonia). His widow died in Dublin, 21 April 1868, aged 74.
Armstrong, Capt. James Wood (1827-89). Fifth son of John Armstrong (1791-1846) of Moyaliffe and his wife Catherine, daughter of Thomas Somers of Chaffpool (Sligo), born 21 November 1827; an officer in the Royal Navy, 1841-77 (Commander, 1862; Captain, 1877); he served in HMS 'Duke of Wellington' and 'Bulldog' in the Baltic during the war with Russia and was awarded the Baltic medal; in 1857 he was involved on HMS 'Cyclops' in the laying of the Atlantic and Red Sea cables. JP (1864) and DL (1870) for Sligo; High Sheriff of Sligo, 1873. He was unmarried and without issue. He was taken ill while visiting the Perceval family at Templehouse (Sligo) in November 1889 and remained in their care until he died. The chancel of Tubbercurry parish church was built in his memory.
He inherited the Moyaliffe and Chaffpool estates from his elder brother in 1864 and is said to have added the Victorian front to Moyaliffe House in 1864. He probably also rebuilt Chaffpool House c.1880.
He died at Templehouse (Sligo), 19 December 1889; his will was proved at Ballina (Mayo), 17 June 1890 (estate in Ireland £10,011) and sealed in London, 2 July 1890 (estate in England £3,714).
Armstrong, Edward Marcus (1829-99). Sixth son of John Armstrong (1791-1846) of Moyaliffe and his wife Catherine, daughter of Thomas Somers of Chaffpool (Sligo), born 20 September 1829. An officer in 55th Regiment (Ensign, 1849; Lt., 1853; Captain, 1855); fought and was severely wounded at the Battle of Alma, 1854. JP and DL for Tipperary; High Sheriff of Tipperary, 1884. He married, 19 October 1863 at Tullemallan (Tipperary), Frances (c.1825-1904), youngest daughter of Walter Steele of Moynalty (Monaghan), but had no issue.
He inherited the Moyaliffe and Chaffpool estates from his brother in 1889. At his death they passed to his first cousin once removed, Capt. Marcus Beresford Armstrong.
He died 29 March 1899; his will was proved in Dublin, 4 July 1899 (estate in Ireland £10,947) and sealed in London, 19 July 1899 (estate in England £571). His widow died in Dublin, 3 December 1904; her will was proved in Dublin, 9 January 1905 (estate in Ireland £6,563) and sealed in London, 20 January 1905 (estate in England £3,170).
Armstrong, Rev. Marcus Beresford (1794-1850). Second son of Rev. William Carew Armstrong (1752-1839) and his wife Hon. Catherine Eleanor, daughter of Most Rev. William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, Archbishop of Tuam, born 1794. Educated at Winchester, Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1812) and Trinity College, Oxford (admitted 1812; BA & MA 1821). Succeeded his father as rector and prebendary of Moylough (Galway), 1818-50, in which capacity he was in the forefront of the battle to collect tithes from the largely Catholic population of Ireland in the 1830s. He married, 1825, Emily, daughter of Rev. John O'Rorke, his curate at Moylough, and had issue:
(1) William Armstrong (1826-89) (q.v.);
(2) Joseph Armstrong (1828-55); said to have been an ensign in 11th Regiment but does not appear in the Army List for this regiment;
(3) George Armstrong (b. 1831); educated at Trinity College, Oxford (admitted 1849);
(4) Francis Armstrong (1833-60); said to have been a Capt. in the 11th Regiment but does not appear in the Army List for this regiment; died 1860;
(5) Catherine Eleanor Armstrong (d. 1850); died unmarried, 14 August 1850;
(6) A daughter; died unmarried;
(7) Clara Armstrong (d. 1869); died unmarried, 5 February 1869.
He died 28 November 1850. His wife's date of death is unknown.
Armstrong, Capt. William (1826-89) of Ballydavid (Waterford). Eldest son of Rev. Marcus Beresford Armstrong (1794-1850) and his wife Emily, daughter of Rev. John O'Rorke, born about September 1826. An officer in 16th Foot (Ensign, 1845; Lt., 1849; Capt., 1855; retired, 1857). JP for Waterford, 1860. He married, 27 July 1853 at Birr (Offaly), Catherine, daughter of Richard Bernard Clark of Prospect Lodge, Rathgar (Dublin), and had issue:
(1) Marcus Beresford Armstrong (1859-1923) (q.v.);
(2) Elizabeth Catherine (k/a Elise or Disi) Armstrong (1864-1924); married, December 1897, Robert Gun Paul (1856-1918), younger son of Sir Robert Joshua Paul, 3rd bt., of Paulville and Ballyglan (Waterford), but had no issue; died 17 June 1924; will proved 18 December 1924 (estate in Ireland £11,541) and 7 January 1925 (estate in England £6,410);
(3) Eleanor Campbell Armstrong (b. c.1866); married, 3 August 1893 at Great Bookham (Surrey), Rev. James D. Forde of Cullen (Tipperary), son of Daniel Forde, gentleman, and had issue one son; lived latterly at Woodcliff, Dunmore East (Waterford); died 21 November 1940; will proved 21 December 1940 (estate in Ireland £423) and 10 July 1941 (estate in England £62);
(4) Grace Armstrong (c.1868-1905); died unmarried, Jan-Mar 1905, aged 36;
(5) Mildred Alice Armstrong (1876-1940); married, 1920, as his second wife, Robert Sandford Pakenham (1866-1959), son of William Sandford Pakenham, but died without issue, 17 February 1940; will proved 22 April 1940 (estate £914).
He acquired a lease of Ballydavid House, Passage East (Waterford). In 1876 he owned 52 acres in county Waterford, 2,260 acres in county Tipperary and 413 acres in county Limerick.
He died 5 March 1889; his will was proved 28 March 1889 (effects £2,032). His wife's date of death is unknown.
Armstrong, Marcus Beresford (1859-1923). Only son of William Armstrong (1826-89) of Ballydavid (Waterford) and his wife Catherine, daughter of Gen. Clark, born 19 May 1859. A Captain in the 8th Brigade, Northern Irish Division, Royal Artillery. One of the founder members of the Achonry Co-operative & Dairy Society, 1897. DL for Tipperary and JP for Tipperary and Sligo; High Sheriff of Tipperary, 1905. He married, 11 April 1888 at Enniskillen (Fermanagh) (sep. c.1910), Rosalie Cornelia (1868-1956), daughter of Maurice Ceely Maude of Lenaghan Park, Enniskillen, and had issue:
(1) William Maurice (k/a Pat) Armstrong (1889-1917), born 10 August 1889; educated at Stoke House Prep School, Eton and RMC Sandhurst; a Captain in 10th Royal Hussars and later 2nd Cavalry Brigade; aide-de-camp to Gen. De Lisle of 1st Cavalry Division; served in WW1 (mentioned in despatches four times; MC 1916); on staff of Maj-Gen. Sir Beauvoir de Lisle at Mons and Gallipoli; but died unmarried when he was killed in action in France, 23 May 1917; buried in Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, Pas de Calais (France);
(2) Cornelia Ione Kathleen Armstrong (1891-1967), born at Achonry (Sligo), Oct-Dec 1891; married, September/October 1918 at St Peter, Eaton Square, London, Sir William Lindsay Everard MP (1891-1949), kt. of Ratcliffe Hall (Leics), brewer and pioneer aviator, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 30 October 1967; will proved 20 December 1967 (estate £22,746);
(3) Winona Rosalie (k/a Jess) Armstrong (1893-1982) (q.v.);
(4) Lisalie Maude (k/a Tommy) Armstrong (1897-1990), born at Achonry (Sligo), 16 February 1897; married, 8 June 1927 at St Peter, Eaton Square, Major Odo George Henry Russell (1899-1980) of Broadmead Manor, Folkestone (Kent), only son of George William Henry Russell, but had no issue; died 17 May 1990; will proved 24 September 1990 (estate £369,378).
He inherited the Chaffpool estate from his first cousin once removed, James Wood Armstrong, in 1889, and Moyaliffe from James' brother, Edward Marcus Armstrong in 1899. The Mayo and Sligo estates were sold to the Congested Districts Board in 1904 and he moved into Moyaliffe.
He died in Dublin, 12 September 1923; his will was proved in London, 6 February 1924 (estate in England, £45,683) and in Dublin, 24 March 1924 (estate in Ireland £25, 463). His widow died 31 January 1956; her will was proved 25 September 1956 (estate £9,084).
Armstrong (later Kemmis), Winona Rosalie (k/a Jess) (1893-1982). Second daughter and heiress of Maurice Beresford Armstrong (1859-1923) of Moyaliffe and Chaffpool and his wife Rosalie Cornelia, daughter of Maurice Ceely Maude of Lenaghan Park, Enniskillen (Fermanagh), born at Achonry (Sligo), 25 September 1893. She married, 9 November 1927 at St Margarets, Westminster (Middx), Capt. William Daryl Olphert Kemmis MC (1892-1965) of Ballinacor (Wicklow), but had no issue.
She inherited the Moyaliffe estate from her father in 1923 and she and her husband divided their time between Moyaliffe and Ballinacor. After the death of her husband in 1965, Ballinacor
passed to her husband’s maternal cousin, Major Richard Lomer. In 1959, she decided to break the entail on Moyaliffe and divide part of the capital between her two sisters and to use the remainder
to set up a trust to run and maintain Moyaliffe Castle and estate. She
then gave the property with all its contents to her niece, Bettyne Spencer
(daughter of her eldest sister Ione, Lady Everard), unconditionally but
with the understanding that Mrs Spencer would in time pass it on
to her son, Richard Spencer, to retain the property in the family. In 1964,
against Jess Kemmis’s wishes, Mrs Spencer offered the property for sale
to the Land Commission. Following a protracted legal battle, Mrs. Kemmis succeeded in buying back Moyaliffe Castle and 12 acres of demesne while
losing the farm to the Land Commission. She regained possession of her
family home on 9 June 1966, although the repercussions of the dispute
extended to 1969. When she died in 1982, her heir was her kinsman, Robert George
Carew Armstrong (1911-1983), of Natal, South Africa, whose son sold the house in 1999.
She died 13 February 1982. Her husband died 5 January 1965.
Sources
Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976, pp. 35-38, 660-62; Visitation of Ireland, vol. 4, pp. 1-5; D. Watkins, 'William Charles Heaton-Armstrong', British Columbia History, 2006, pp. 2-6; University of Limerick, Catalogue of the Armstrong papers; R. Elsie, A biographical dictionary of Albanian history, 2012, pp. 198-200; http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/armstrong-sir-thomas-1633-84; http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/97/ANDERSON%2C+CHARLES+FREDERICK#tab_works; http://longwaytotipperary.ul.ie/the-family/armstrongs/
Location of archives
Armstrong of Moyaliffe and Chaffpool: deeds, estate and family papers, 17th-20th cent. [Glucksman Library, University of Limerick: P6]; papers of W.G. Armstrong, 1840-1917 [National Library of Ireland, MSS.27660-27665]
Coat of arms
Armstrong: Gules, three dexter arms vambraced and embowed proper.
Heaton-Armstrong: Quarterly, 1st & 4th, gules, three dexter arms vambraced and embowed proper; 2nd & 3rd, vert, a lion rampant, argent.
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.
- Sadly, defects in Irish genealogical records and the lack of family papers for the earlier period mean that there are many gaps in the accounts given here of both the houses and the families. If you can supply or point me towards further information, please get in touch. Some particular queries are mentioned below.
- Is anyone able to provide details of the unnamed children of John Armstrong (fl. 1731-55) or about his son Thomas and the subsequent descent of Farney Castle?
- Does anyone know anything about the two daughters of John Heaton-Armstrong (1815-91), who were probably born in Austria in the 1850s?
- Can anyone supply any further information about the children of Rev. Marcus Beresford Armstrong (1794-1850)?
Revision and acknowledgements
This post was first published 13 September 2015 and was revised 18 September 2015, 11 February 2016, 14 September 2016 and 17 June 2025. I am most grateful to Patrick Heaton-Armstrong for additional information and illustrations.
