See here for other stories relating to County Galway.
Eastwell House, County Galway
This branch of the Usshers lived at Eastwell, Killallaghtan, County Galway and descend from the Usshers of Donnybrook Castle and Portrane in County Dublin, and Mount Ussher in County Wicklow. The house is pictured here, but only the farmyard, stables and outbuildings survive, as per here. It is not yet clear what happened. The Land Commission? I don’t think it was burned, but it’s vanished in any case.
John Ussher (d. 1796) of Mount Ussher and Eastwell
Christopher’s eldest son, John Ussher, a son of Christopher Ussher (d. 1763) of Mount Ussher, had an address at both Mount Ussher and Eastwell. He served as MP for Inistioge from 1783 to 1790 and as High Sheriff of County Wicklow in 1764. He died unmarried in 1796 and was succeeded by his nephew Christopher.
Christopher Ussher (d. after 1797) of Eastwell
This Christopher Ussher was the eldest son of John’s brother Christopher by his marriage to Margaret Baillie. His younger brother John Ussher, a captain in the British Army, settled in Canada with his wife Mary Street and was probably ancestor of the Usshers of Canada, save for his daughter Mary, who returned to Ireland and in 1831 married her cousin John Ussher.
Christopher inherited the Eastwell estate at Loughrea on his father’s death in 1796. In July 1797 he married Ellis Browne, daughter of James Browne of Browne Hall, County Mayo; she died in 1820. She bore him three sons and two daughters. These included John Ussher of Eastwell, who in 1831 married his cousin Mary, daughter of Captain John Ussher and and Mary (née Street) of Canada, and died on 24 April 1851; the Rev. Christopher Ussher, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Crane Brush of Gill Hall, County Down, and had two sons and two daughters; William, who died without issue; Ellis, who married Xaverius Blake of Oran Castle, County Galway, on 25 October 1817; and Honoria, who married John Donellan of Ballydonelan Castle, County Galway.
John Ussher (d. 1851) and Mary Ussher
John and Mary had four sons and two daughters, namely:
- Edward Augustus Ussher
- William Augustus Edmund Ussher
- Mary Ussher, married Stewart Johnson MD.
- Ellis Belinda Ussher died unmarried in Mar 1885
- Christopher Ussher (1832- 21 Feb 1884)
- John Xeverius Ussher (c 1833 – 23 Mar 1878) married Isabella, daughter of Captain John Dillon of Johnstown, and died in 1878 leaving two sons and three daughters. Edmund died young, while another son was William Augustus Ussher.
Christopher Ussher (1832–1884) and Olivia Ruttledge
Christopher Ussher (1832-1884), the fifth child, married Olivia Ruttledge, daughter of David Ruttledge of Barbersfort, County Galway; Olivia died in February 1910. They were parents to:
- Agnes Mary Eleanor Ussher d. 8 Aug 1939
- Olivia Ellis Ussher married on 3 July 1901 Captain George Arthur Boyd-Rochfort of the Scots Guards, later VC, DL and High Sheriff, of Middleton Park, County Westmeath. He died on 7 August 1940 and was succeeded by his brother Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Boyd-Rochfort, DSO, MC, a veteran of both the Boer War and the Great War; another brother, Cecil Charles Boyd-Rochfort, was trainer of the Queen’s racehorses. In 1952 Olivia had an address at Ardbraccan Lodge, Navan, County Meath. She died on 9 December 1958.
- William Arland Ussher (1876- Aug 1927)
- Christopher Ussher b. 10 Feb 1879, d. 10 Sep 1880
- Alison Ussher aka Dame Alison Freake b. 28 Dec 1879, was married on 7 July 1902 Sir Frederick Charles Maitland Freake, 3rd Baronet, and died on 23 September 1935 leaving issue; he died on 22 December 1950. (See below)
- Henry Ingham Ussher of Gerardstown, Dunshaughlin, County Meath, born on 31 March 1882 and educated at Oundle. Their daughter Agnes married Francis Manley Shawe-Taylor of Castle Taylor, County Galway, on 1 June 1901.
Ussher Divorce, Dublin Evening Telegraph, 17 January 1912
Mary Ussher, née Caulfield.
William Arland Ussher (1878-1928)
William Arland Ussher (1878-1928) was a son of Christopher Ussher and his wife Olivia, née Ruttledge.
He ran Eastwell as a stud. The estate employed 12 families and was fully self reliant. The National Library holds a letter he wrote to Hugh Lane, saying he is “sending the pictures up tomorrow” and asking him to fill in a form. (See here)
On 24 April 1910, William was married by a priest in a bedroom at Eastwell to his ‘domestic servant’ Mary Caulfield (1891-1921) of Cappataggle, County Galway, who was, I think, her mother’s carer. (See her picture here). This was a famous ‘midnight marriage’ after which William, a Catholic later sought to break it up with bizarre divorce (here) and here. William also had a residence in Castleknock, County Dublin.
William gained the rank of Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Cameronians. The contents of Eastwell were advertised for sale in many local newspapers in March 1926. He died on 20 August 1928, in Ratoath, County Meath, at the age of 50.
Dame Alison Freake (sister of W. A. Ussher)
‘RECENT WILLS. ~ Dame Alison Freake, Halford Manor, Shipston-on Stour, Worcs., wife of Sir Frederick Freake and daughter of the late Christopher Ussher, Eastwell, Co. Galway, left £1,629 with net personalty nil.’
Galway Observer – Saturday 04 April 1936, p. 2.
Kathleen Mary Ussher (1911-1990)
William and Mary were the parents of Kathleen Mary Ussher, born on 15 January 1911. She married first, in 1931, Captain Joseph G. FitzGerald MC of the Royal Ulster Rifles:
IRISH RACEHORSE OWNERS MARRIED: MR. G. FITZGERALD AND MISS K. USSHER.
The wedding of two well-known owners in Irish racing took place the other day in Dublin when Mr. Joseph Gerald Fitzgerald, son of the late Mr. Michael E. Fitzgerald and Mrs. Fitzgerald, of Lansdowne Road, Dublin, was married at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington Road, to Miss Kathleen Ussher, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Arland Ussher, of Eastwell, Loughrea. President and Mrs. Cosgrave were present at the ceremony, as also was Captain Boyd-Rochfort, V.C. The bride, whose Gallant Prince has won several races this year, was given away by her uncle, Mr. Harry Ussher, the owner and trainer.
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News – Saturday 28 November 1931, p. 40.
Kathleen married, secondly, Hon. Geoffrey Charles Myles Browne, son of Geoffrey Henry Browne, 1st Baron Mereworth and Lady Olwen Verena Ponsonby, on 3 June 1946. She and Hon. Geoffrey Charles Myles Browne were divorced in 1958.
Ussher-Fitzgerald Wedding – Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 28 November 1931.
NB: My family intermarried with Usshers back in the day. One was an archbishop who dated the creation of the world to around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC, which everyone believed to be true for ages (and some still do). The Archbishop fainted when he saw Charles I being executed.
Acknowledgments
With thanks to Ed Capel-Cure, Jimmy Laffey (Skehana and District Heritage Group), Dr Patrick Melvin and Dr Terence Dooley.
