Offaly (King's)

Taxonomy

Code

Scope note(s)

  • King's County reverted to County Offaly in 1920.

Source note(s)

Display note(s)

Equivalent terms

Offaly (King's)

  • UF County Offaly
  • UF Co. Offaly
  • UF Uibh Fhaili
  • UF King's County

Associated terms

Offaly (King's)

85 Archival description results for Offaly (King's)

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Birr Castle Prisoner of War Relief Scheme

Administrative correspondence relating to the prisoner of war relief scheme set up at Birr Castle under the patronage of Lady Rosse; postcards and letters of thanks from the prisoners of war from Irish regiments (but predominantly the Irish Guards) interned in Germany; and acknowledgment postcards of parcels received from same.

Parsons, William, 5th Earl of Rosse

Administration

Contains lists of Irish Guards noting their name, regiment number, rank and where interned, including a separate listing of those from Birr; letters from Selfridge's & Co., Oxford St, London to Lois, Countess of Rosse, in relation to the contents of nine parcel types assembled for sending to the Irish Guards Prisoners of War; correspondence from Mary Britton, Rosfaraghan, Ferbane and Col. Douglas Proby, in relation to subscriptions collected in her village on behalf of Private B. Anderson (Reg No 3220), who is interned in Limburg; and correspondence between Major de Vesci, Regimental Adjutant, Irish Guards to Lady Rosse, mainly in relation to the movement of Irish Guards prisoners between POW camps in Germany so that parcels can be sent to them. Also includes ephemeral material such as newspaper cuttings relating to the Irish Guards, a packet of jam jar covers, and a copy of an illuminated address presented to Queen Mary from the Women of Ireland in July 1911, and distributed by Lady Aberdeen, the head of war relief in Ireland.

Postcards acknowledging receipt of parcels

Preprinted acknowledgment postcards sent by return by prisoners-of-war in German camps on receipt of relief parcels organised by the Birr Castle scheme. Personal details recorded include name, rank and internment camp.

General political and patronage correspondence of the fourth and fifth earls

Includes letters about Disestablishment, Poor Law reform, Orangeism, Conservative registration, Home Rule and the Irish Land question. Also includes letter from M. McCormack, CC, Kinnitty to Lord Rosse concerning agrarian dispute in Kinnitty parish between Francis Foley and Delaney at Newtown (3 March 1911).

Parsons, Laurence, 4th Earl of Rosse

Copy outgoing letters from Toler Roberts Garvey (Junior)

Includes a letter from Toler R. Garvey Jr land agent at Birr Castle to ‘V.J. Beaumont Nesbitt’, Tubberdaly, Edenderry on 9 June 1921 who records agitations in Birr, and laments a former way of life:

‘...Although things are bad they are not a bit worse than I had anticipated, but we must reach an end of it sometime and we, or whoever is left, may once again be able to live in peace, though I don’t think they will ever know the comfort and good times which we had in the past.’

Also includes letter to Hon. Geoffrey Parsons on 8 December 1921, revealing the anxiety surrounding the situation for landowners following the War of Independence:

‘I enclose... Notice from the Local Government Board of their intention to take the land at Croghan after all, but in view of the Settlement just arrived at on the Irish question, it seems very doubtful that they will proceed with the matter. Things have moved rapidly since I saw you and we shall be face to face with a totally new situation.’

Garvey, Toler Roberts, Jr

In-letters from correspondents whose names begin with ‘A’ and ‘C’

Box of in-letters from correspondents whose names begin with ‘A’ and ‘C’, including correspondence about Sir Nesbitt Armstrong’s trusts, and letters from James Callaghan (a thatcher employed by the Rosse estate), from the ‘Chief of Staff, January 1923’ about the occupation of Birr Castle by the Free State Army, from W. Y. Chisholm (manager of the Rosse sawmill [see Q/327]), from Miss Edith A. Cramer, [see M/18], from Messrs Coutts & Co., etc.

Includes: Letter from Padraig Ua Maolchatha, Col. Comdt., G. O. C. 3rd Southern Command, Roscrea: I am directed by the Chief of General Staff to inform you that it will not be possible to evacuate any portion of the premises occupied by the troops before Christmas. I am at present unable to give you any idea when we may be able to evacuate Birr Castle but assure you that we will not occupy it any longer than necessary. I regret being unable to facilitate Lord Rosse’s family in this matter but trust that the owner will appreciate the circumstances which force us to remain in occupation.’ (4 December 1922)

Includes letter from Capt. F. O’Brien for the Chief of General Staff, Dublin, to Toler Garvey: ‘I have been in communication with the General Officer Commanding of the Area who informs me that we was aware of game being shot on the Rosse Estate, but did not prevent it, as he was not aware that the game was preserved.’ (8 January 1923)

In-letters from correspondents whose names begin with ‘P’, ‘Q’, ‘R’ and ‘T’

‘P’, ‘Q’, ‘R’ and ‘T’ - including letters from the Hon. Geoffrey L. Parsons, in Basingstoke, relating to the affairs of Birr Castle Demesne, during the period in which he acted on behalf of the sixth earl in his minority (1918-1924). Also includes letters from members of the Pigott family [see V/24], Mrs Manning Robertson, the 5th and 6th Earls of Rosse, J.H. Tyler (the Womersley agent [see H/117]), etc, etc.

Garvey, Toler Roberts, Jr

In-letters from correspondents whose names begin with ‘W’ and ’Y’

‘W’ and ‘’Y’ - principally Edward Walsh (town clerk of Birr, who writes about all manner of local government matters), Harold J. Wiley & Co., insurance brokers of Dublin (who write about Birr Castle insurance), Mrs F. White Spunner of Milltown Park, Shinrone, King’s County (whose estate Garvey managed [although, apart from these letters, no other record of this agency survives in the archive at Birr Castle]).

Includes minor letters from Captain P. Wall, Castle Barracks, Birr (1922-1923).

Correspondence relating to sixth earl, Lawrence Michael Harvey Parsons (1921-1937)

Letters to the Viscountess de Vesci, mother of the sixth earl, to her brother-in-law, the Hon. Geoffrey L. Parsons, and to the agent for the Rosse estates, Toler R. Garvey Junior, (the only person permanently on the spot at Birr during the minority of the sixth earl), concerning the Civil War as it affected Birr Castle and other places; and also including a letter from the Countess of Bandon about the destruction of Castle Bernard, Co. Cork, and the kidnapping of her husband, Lord Bandon, 1921. The principal topic however, is the Free State government’s responsibility to the Rosse family for loss and damage incurred as a result of the Free State army’s occupation of Birr Castle from 1922 to 1924, which the shrewd and resourceful Garvey construes as extending to the cost of Lord and Lady de Vesci’s London house, No. 1 Hyde Park Street. Included in the bundle is a copy of a letter from Garvey to the Irish Land Commission arguing that compulsory acquisition of any more of the home farm at Birr would serve as a major disincentive to the sixth earl’s taking up residence and therefore giving widespread employment there on his coming-of-age, 1926.

Includes quotation for removal of six vans of furniture from Birr Castle to London by John Dooly, & Sons, Birr (April 1923)

Includes list of goods taken over by the National Army 28th September 1923, Property of the Trustees of the Earl of Rosse. Value of £235.16.0

Includes draft claim against Free State Government seeking rent and remedy £3000 and rent of Hyde Park (£600).

Includes letter from Office of Public Works settling claim for £3502.2.11 (7 August 1925)

Includes letter from Captain J.F. Hollins, Quartermaster No 2 Brigade, Athlon to Toler Garvey: ‘I wish to inform you that the Troops presently in occupation of the castle will evacuate same as from the 28th inst. In accordance with our regulations it will be necessary for a representative of the Owner, a representative from the Board of Works and of the Military Authorities to examine the premises after evacuation and compile a report as to its condition in comparison to that in which it was taken over by the Military (12 August 1924)

Includes a list by A. Panton Watkinson, painter and decorator, Stephens Green, Dublin, of wear and tear and damage in Birr Castle due to the military occupation. (July 1923)

Includes list of articles missing from Birr Castle May 1927.

Also includes letter from the Committee involved in arranging a plaque to be erected at the archway to the front of Birr Castle in memory of the three young men executed by Free State Troops in 1923. Appends text of the address given by Margaret Hogan, local historian, on the events of 1923. (2003)

Garvey, Toler Roberts, Jr

Annual Report 1882

Annual report, accounts and rental for year ending June 1882. Remarking on the 'extraordinary events in Ireland of the last 12 months', Digby reports that consequently there is a large amount of arrears, including abandoned arrears which are mainly the rents of Ballydownan and Roskeen farms which are in Lord Digby's hands having been surrendered.

Land improvements have ceased due to the suspension of rent and the generally disorganised state of the country, a new dwelling house for William Payne, Killeenmore being the chief expenditure. Thirty acres of young plantations in Derrygunnigan and Newtown woods and the maintenance of other young plantations accounted for expenditure in forestry.

Warns that the country is in a 'frightful crisis' and reports on the tactics of the Land League with their 'No Rent' manifesto (Autumn 1881), which was eagerly adopted and led to a complete suspension of the payment of rent. After an abatement was refused, tenantry on the Geashill Estate held a meeting in Killeigh in January 1882 at which a resolution was passed not to pay rent unless abatements were conceded. Proceedings were issued against nine of the principal agitators, their properties seized and put up for public auction in Tullamore. Digby reports that in seven cases, the tenants allowed him to be the purchaser, and in the other two cases, the tenants bought in their farms for the full amount of rent claimed and costs. Evictions followed, five of which required the aid of 'a large force of military and police and bailiffs supplied by the Property Defence Association.'

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