Showing 7 results

Authority record
Offaly County Library

Smith, Hester

  • Person
  • 1762 - 1832

Hester was born in 1762, the eldest surviving child of Thomas and Frances Berry of Eglish. In 1787 she married William Smith, a lawyer and member of the Irish Parliament. She was fifteen years older than Robert Fleetwood Berry, her brother. She had two daughters and two sons, lived in Hume Street, of St. Stephens Green in Dublin and died in 1832.

King's County Infirmary

  • Corporate body
  • 1788-1921

King’s County Infirmary was established under King George III’s reign with the passing of the Irish County Infirmaries Act of 1765. This act enabled the creation of infirmaries in thirty Irish counties. In an amending act from 1768, King’s County Infirmary was moved from Philipstown (Daingean) to Tullamore, the new county town. During the redevelopment of Tullamore town by the Earl of Charleville, a new infirmary building was erected in 1788 on Church Street and was further extended in 1812.

The County Infirmaries Act was enacted to provide healthcare to the poor which fulfilled the eighteenth century philanthropic ideals of the landed gentry who supported these institutions through donations and subscriptions. King’s County Infirmary was supported by an income comprising of parliamentary funds, grand jury presentments, governor subscriptions, donations, and patient fees. The infirmary was managed by a Board of Governors who paid subscriptions for their position on the board. Governors had absolute control over the infirmary including staff appointments and patient admissions. To gain access to the infirmary, Governors issued tickets of admission which were most likely given to their employees, tenants, and servants. The governors who supported the hospital were made up of local gentry and landowners such as the Earl of Rosse, Lord Digby and prominent businessowners such as the Goodbody family.

During the War of Independence, King’s County Infirmary came under the jurisdiction of the new Sinn Féin majority council, now renamed Offaly County Council. On the 21st of January 1921, the secretary to Offaly County Council attended a meeting of the board to inform them of the closure of the infirmary. It was to be closed under the Offaly amalgamation scheme whereby the workhouse hospital would become the new County Hospital. The board pleaded with the council to delay the closure in order to settle the affairs of the hospital in relation to critical patients and financial matters. The hospital eventually closed in August 1921 after it was reported by the surgeon and registrar to the board, that the bedding and beds were carried out of the infirmary by unknown persons suspected to be under orders of the county council.

Following its closure, King’s County Infirmary accommodated the civil guards and then housed the county library until 1977. The façade of the original King’s County Infirmary can still be seen on Church Street, Tullamore, which has now been repurposed into apartments.

Berry, Thomas

  • Person
  • 1737 - 1815

Thomas Berry was born in 1737 or 1738, the eldest son of John Berry (1702-1768) who was buried at Kilbeggan. In 1759 he married Frances Berry. Through her connection, he acquired Eglish Castle in the 1770. He was reputed to hold a large tract of land in the Barony of Philipstown as well as land in the Barony of Eglish. He farmed much of the land himself which for the most part was grazed by sheep. He also established a bleach green at Eglish. He died in 1815 at Eglish and was buried there.

Berry, Sterling

  • Person
  • 1771 - 1828

Sterling Berry was born in 1771, the ninth child and fifth son of Thomas and Frances Berry of Eglish. He married in 1806 and died in 1828.

Berry, Robert Fleetwood

  • Person
  • 1777 - 1822

Robert Fleetwood Berry was born on the 1st January 1777, the twelfth child and seventh son of Thomas and Frances Berry of Eglish Castle near Birr. As a young man, he was apprenticed, from 1793 until some time after 1801 to Mr John Brennard, a cotton merchant and draper, of Castle Street, Liverpool. By 1804, he lived in Ireland and was employed in the linen business in Dublin. In 1812 was living at Gallen, King's County, being employed in connection with the Grand Canal. On the 14th of November of that year he married Elizabeth Crow at St. Catherine’s Church, Tullamore. She was the daughter of Edward Crow of the Round House, Cromac Street, Tullamore. After their marriage they lived at Shannon Harbour. He died there suddenly on the 21st August 1822 and was buried in the Berry enclosure in the graveyard of the Church of Ireland Church at Eglish, King's County.

Berry, John

  • Person
  • 1770 - 1834

James Armstrong Berry of Irishtown, Eglish was born on the 13th July 1770, the 8th child and 4th son of Thomas and Frances Berry of Eglish. He lived for most of his life on the townland of Ballinagulna, about ½ a mile from Eglish in a small mill. He was a Captain in the Eglish Troop of Yeomanry in 1808. In 1818 he married Margaret. In the census of 1821 he describes himself as a farmer and miller. In March 1834 he was living in Parsontown (Birr). His eldest son William was born in 1819 and died on the 17th April 1850 at Mossfield.

Berry, Frances

  • Person
  • 1743 - 1807

Frances Berry was born in 1743, and was the only child of Knight Berry of Birr and Eglish and his wife Sophia, daughter of Captain James Sterling of Whigsborough. In 1759 she married Thomas Berry. They lived at Eglish Castle and had sixteen children. Frances Berry died in 1807 and is buried at Eglish.