Subseries 2 - Correspondence

Identity area

Reference code

IE OCL P131/2/2

Title

Correspondence

Date(s)

  • 3 September 1853-14 March 1960 (Creation)

Level of description

Subseries

Extent and medium

Context area

Name of creator

(1807-1881)

Biographical history

Henry Trench was the second son of William and Sarah Trench of Cangort Park, Shinrone, Co. Offaly. He married Georgina Mary Amelia Bloomfield on 22 October 1836 and had 8 children. By the 1870s Trench owned 4,707 acres in county Tipperary, 2,113 acres in county Offaly, 1,926 acres in county Limerick, 1,581 acres in county Galway, 704 acres in county Clare and 432 acres in county Roscommon.

Name of creator

(1846-1926)

Biographical history

Benjamin Bloomfield Trench was born 12 November 1846 to Henry Trench of Cangort Park, Shinrone, County Offaly and Georgiana Mary Amelia Bloomfield, sister of the 2nd Lord Bloomfield of Loughton House. He was educated at Eton. He worked as a mechanical engineer for Maudsley & Fields and later with William Steuert Trench in his land agency office at Carrickmacross between 1868 and 1870. He was also employed by Verner & Holleborne stockbrokers to manage quarries in Antrim. In 1872 he was employed by Lord Bath to take over the management of the Bath estate following the death of William Steuert Trench, but was relieved of this position in 1874. He married Dora Turner in 1899 and moved to South Africa to work on the Transvaal Railway. He returned prior to the birth of his two daughters Sheelah and Theodora Trench.

Name of creator

(1858-1899)

Biographical history

Dora Trench was the daughter of Christopher Turnor MP (1808-1886), an English Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1841-1847. Her mother was Lady Caroline Finch-Hatton (1816-1888), daughter of George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea (1791-1858). Dora suffered with asthma for most of her life and was forced to spend much of her time in Europe, especially in the south of France, for the warmer climate. She was a keen diarist and chronicled her life from her childhood until her death. She married Benjamin Bloomfield Trench and had two daughters, Sheelah and Theodora.

Name of creator

(1891-1973)

Biographical history

Theodora Trench was the daughter of Benjamin Bloomfield Trench and his wife, Dora, and was born on 17 July 1891. She served as part of the British Red Cross from 1917-1919 and as a chauffeuse with the New Zealand Mechanical Trans. Weybridge. She travelled extensively throughout her life visit places such as Samoa, India, Palestine, and the Rocky Mountains. She never married and spent her later years living at Loughton House.

Name of creator

(1890-1972)

Biographical history

Sheelah Trench was born to Benjamin Bloomfield Trench and his wife Dora on 25 May 1890. She married Langlois Massy Lefroy, son of Col. Augustine Hugh leroy and Isabel Mary Heppelthwaite on 15 October 1924. They had no children and Sheelah died on 13 May 1972.

Archival history

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This subseries contains correspondence belonging to Henry Trench, Benjamin Bloomfield Trench, Dora Trench (née Turnor), Theodora Trench and the extended Trench family. The subseries contains letters sent by Sheelah Trench to Theodora Trench; letters sent to Sheelah have been placed with series 8 along with letters concerning her husband Langlois Lefroy.

The letters within this series cover a wide variety of topics and events. Dora Trench and her daughter Theodora cover mainly personal events of significance such as their travelling and family milestones. Theodora's letters also briefly cover her experience as an ambulance driver during the First World War with the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Benjamin Bloomfield Trench's and Henry Trench's letters concern mostly business topics such as rent collection and trespassing. However they too occasionally touch upon personal topics such as the death of Dora Trench.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Not chronological; extended family members, in laws and unknowns to the end of correspondence.

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