The Shirley Estate

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Shirley Estate: home of the British Shirley family and their Estate Agents. Details of the family history aren’t kept amongst the records of The State but receives preferable review in Northern Ireland.

www.carrickmacross.ie/html/About_Carrick/shirley.asp

In the history of the Shirley estate, the characters of the successive agents (or most of them) were as strong as those of the Shirleys themselves, and the agents are therefore in effect a component of family history. For instance, the article 'Estate Agents in Farney: Trench and Mitchell' by L. Mearáin in Clogher Record, vol x, 1979-1981, provides some colourful anecdotal material about two of the most controversial agents. It contains extensive extracts from a contemporary account of 28 January 1869, written by 'A Farney Man' (identified by Mearáin as Father Smollen, parish priest of Donaghmoyne). The following is a synopsis of this.
'Evelyn John Shirley was regarded as a fair landlord who fully admitted tenant-right. ... Unfortunately for his tenantry, they disregarded his admonition to cast their second vote for Colonel Leslie, his running mate in the 1826 Monaghan election. Although Shirley was elected, the tenants also put in his bitter opponent, Westenra. As a result, Shirley never showed the same friendly feelings to his tenantry from that to the day of his death. Shortly after the election, Humphry Evatt, agent of the Shirley estate, died. He was regarded favourably by the tenants and he had good relations with the parish priest of Carrickmacross, Very Rev. President Reilly.

The iniquitous Sandy Mitchell.
Sandy Mitchell followed as agent of the Shirley property from 1829 until 1843. Smollen opines: 'He was probably the most iniquitous and tyrannical estate agent that the people of Farney had known, just as in the previous century Norman Steele had been the most feared and hated, not as an estate agent however, but as the Captain of the Farney Yeomanry'. Smollen is clear that this is a turning point in the history of the Shirley estate.
'From this period may be dated the wrongs and grievances of Farney. This man seems to have proposed to himself to trample on the rights, liberty, religion and consciences of the Catholics of Farney, and being the agent of an absentee landlord there was no limit to his authority, and many harsh things were done, I am sure without the knowledge of the landlord, but his estrangement of feeling from his tenantry in consequence of the election was manifest at all his interviews.'
Mitchell at once surveyed and valued the whole estate, the bog included, with, as Smollen reports, disastrous consequences for the tenantry.
'As a result the rents were raised fully one-third and in some instances to more, and the bogs which from time immemorial were free to the tenants were now rented at from £4 to £8 per acre', and doled out to the tenants in very small lots of from 25 to 40 perches each, with an obligation of taking out at the office each season a ticket for which they paid a certain tariff. If any poor tenant had the misfortune of displeasing Sandy during the year, he was doomed to sit with his family during the long winter nights at a fireless hearth. ... He [Mitchell] insisted on the Authorised Version of the Bible, without note or comment, being read by Catholic children in those schools, a system of instruction which neither the [Roman Catholic] bishop nor clergy could tolerate. The consequence was that the bishop insisted on the children being withdrawn from the schools, while the agent used all manner of persecution against the parents for obeying their bishop. ...' Smollen reports that those who tried to get round Mitchell's prohibitions were summarily evicted.
Mitchell died suddenly of apoplexy in Monaghan town, while attending the Spring Assizes of 1843 as a member of the Grand Jury. According to our informant, when the news of his death reached Farney, 'bonfires were lit on every hill-top, expressive of the rejoicement of all Farney at having got rid of so unscrupulous a monster'. And for the Shirley tenantry there was now the hope that his successor would secure for them some reduction in the exorbitant rents imposed by Mitchell. Further information on Mitchell's exactions, injustices and proselytising activities, may be found in the evidence given to the Devon Commissioners in Carrickmacross in April 1844.

W.S. Trench.
Mitchell's successor, William Steuart Trench, was the agent alternately of the Shirley and Bath estates in the 1840s and 1850s. He was the instigator of the assisted emigration schemes [see D/3531/P]. In 1843, the rent realising commodities of the farmer were sold at very low prices. This made the payment of Shirley's increased rent, coupled with the exorbitant bog rent, almost impossible. Under the circumstances, the tenants petitioned their landlord for a reduction of rent. Eventually Shirley arranged to meet them on Monday, 3 April, 1843, at the rent-office in Carrickmacross. With great expectations raised, the tenants arrived in their thousands. However, Shirley at the last minute decided to stay out of the way, leaving Trench to face the tenants with the bad news that the landlord was not going to meet them and furthermore that no abatement was on offer.
Trench himself further exacerbated matters by announcing that 'he would collect the rents at the point of the bayonet if necessary'. At this, the disappointed tenants rushed towards Trench and carried him off to Lough Fea to get them an interview with Shirley. The landlord in fact was concealed in Shirley House opposite the rent office. On the way to Lough Fea, Trench was considerably manhandled and feared for his life. It was at this stage that Father Keelaghan CC arrived, and by his considerable influence and exertions dispersed the crowd and escorted Trench safely to Lough Fea.
This information is published with the kind permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, The Shirley Papers (D/3531). See proni.nics.gov.uk/ for more information.