The Famine in the Strokestown Park House ArchiveAuthor(s): Susan HoodSource: The Irish Review (1986-), No. 17/18 (Winter, 1995), pp. 109-117Published by: Cork University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29735784 .

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The Famine in the Strokestown Park House Archive

SUSAN HOOD

Strokestown, with its associated Big House and adjoining demesne, is

a striking estate village which formed the core of the landed estate of

the Mahon family for over 300 years. By the early eighteenth century, the estate comprised over 11,000 acres, scattered throughout north east

Roscommon, put together from the late seventeenth century as a result

of land acquisitions by Captain Nicholas Mahon, c. 1660. Later, his

great-grandson, Maurice Mahon, purchased several additional lands,

following elevation to the Irish peerage as the first Lord Hartland in

1800. In 1847, after the marriage of Grace Catherine Mahon and Henry Sandford Pakenham of Tullynally, County Longford, they assumed

the surname Pakenham Mahon, uniting the estates of both families to

an estate of over 26,000 acres, which remained one of the largest in

Roscommon until Henry Sandford Pakenham Mahon's death in 1893.1

The family continued its association with Strokestown until 1981,

when, eight generations later, Mrs. Olive Hales Pakenham Mahon

moved to a nursing home in England, at the age of 87. Strokestown

House and the 300 acres which remained of the demesne, had in fact

been sold two years earlier to the Westward group, the local business

consortium responsible for its subsequent restoration. Strokestown

Park House is now the focus of public attention, being the site of

Ireland's first Famine Museum. The museum was opened by President Robinson in May 1994 and enjoys an international profile,

linking the past experience of famine on this Irish estate, with the

ongoing spectacle of poverty and hunger in today's developing world.

The Pakenham Mahon family's prolonged association with

Strokestown has resulted in the creation of a large collection of estate

and family papers, located both in Strokestown Park and the National

Library of Ireland in Dublin. These papers represent a unique feature

of the Irish Famine Museum and Strokestown. A wide range of docu?

ments forms the basis of the exhibition. As new documents come to

light, key archives are regularly updated, chronicling the varied

aspects of estate life for visitors.2

The Pakenham Mahon papers contain information which extends

from the seventeenth century to the later half of this century. In addi?

tion to providing valuable information on the effects of the famine on

109

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110 IRISH REVIEW

the estate, they also provide important background on the factors

which shaped local society in County Roscommon. In addition to the

Pakenham Mahon papers, documents created by the new owners of

Strokestown - the Westward Group - form another significant com?

ponent of the collection at Strokestown. These relate to various aspects of the restoration, and Luke Dodd's creative and innovative develop?

ment of the Irish Famine Museum including President Robinson's

patronage of the museum, the contributions of relief agencies to the

exhibition, as well as a substantial body of press material. The entire

collection, comprising the Pakenhman Mahon papers, located both in

Dublin and Strokestown, together with the more recent restoration

related documentation, is now referred to as the Strokestown Park

House Archive. These rich and varied documentary sources permit an

accurate reconstruction of the complex association which existed

between a succession of owners and the locality.3 A collection of legal documents relating to the charges and encum?

brances for which the Strokestown estate was liable, indicates that as

early as 1819 it had become over-burdened by family debts and other

expenses.4 This situation fits into the wave of indebtedness which

Large has shown began to affect many landed estates in Ireland by the

early nineteenth century.5 Family charges arose from the practice of

resorting to strict settlements to govern the descent of estates. In the

case of the Strokestown estate, a family settlement of 1791 had made

provision of an annual jointure of ?1,000 for the Dowager Lady Hartland, the first Baron's widow, and a further ?8,000 to provide por?

tions for their children.

The Dowager Lady Hartland outlived her husband by 15 years, (Burke's Peerage noted she had reached 'a very advanced age

- 95'), and

her long life appears to have put a considerable financial strain on the

estate budget, not only because of her jointure of ?1,000, but also some?

what extravagant spending. She resided at a fashionable address in

Merrion Square until her death in 1834, and receipts in Strokestown

reveal that ?127 was spent on a new grand pianoforte, and ?295 on

upholstery and drapes for the parlour in the Dublin town house, less

than a year before her death. In addition, the first Baron also borrowed

heavily to raise the portions for their three children, and these debts

remained as 'subsisting charges' on the unsettled part of his estate.

As well as family charges, the first Lord Hartland incurred further

debt from extensive purchases of land from c. 1800. These amounted

to another ?15,092 and by the time his son, Thomas, succeeded him as

the second Baron Lord Hartland in 1819, the latter found that a com?

bination of 'falling rents', and the 'interest charges due on several

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THE FAMINE IN THE STROKESTOWN PARK HOUSE ARCHIVE 111

bonds', made estate income 'totally inadequate to discharge the said

debts incurred by his father'. When 'pressed for payment by some of

the speciality creditors', he was then forced to encroach on the rents of

the settled estate to meet interest payments, outgoings and debts

accruing from the settlement of 1791. The second Baron's living

expenses added a further ?7,631 to estate debts by 1835. Thus, by the mid-1830s the Mahons, like many of their social counterparts, found

themselves to be 'hopelessly in financial difficulties, and their estate

heavily burdened with debts'. Family charges, land purchase debts, and general living and estate expenses incurred by the second Baron,

meant that the estate was liable to debts in excess of ?30,000, by 1835.

This financial situation was further complicated by the second Baron's

failure to produce an heir, and his youngest brother's poor state of

health. When the second Baron died without issue in 1835, the estate

passed to Maurice Mahon, who became the third Baron Lord

Hartland. Having suffered from attacks of paralysis for many years, this brother was deemed unfit to manage his estate affairs, and at a

commission de lun?tico inquirendo, held in April 1836, was declared a

lunatic, becoming a ward of the Court of Chancery thereafter. With the

estate in the hands of the court, daily business became cumbersome

and difficult, and the process of collecting rents and renewing leases

was hindered. Major Denis Mahon, a cousin of the 'lunatic', who con?

tinued to live at Strokestown House until his death in December 1845, was appointed his legal guardian and recognised as his 'heir pre?

sumptive'. When the Major finally succeeded the third Baron as landlord of

Strokestown, he found the estate in a debt crisis. Although a receiver

had been appointed by the courts to receive estate rents and profits,

daily affairs, such as renewing expired leases, had been neglected for

almost a decade. In this context, the appointment of a professional land agent, John Ross Mahon, in September 1846, was the Major's

attempt to make good the debts accumulated by his cousin's ances?

tors.6 Nineteenth-century correspondence in NLI and Strokestown, is

dominated by the exchange of letters between landlord and agent. This correspondence captures the difficulties they encountered in their

attempts to bring estate affairs back under direct supervision.7 Ross

Mahon's appointment also had a significant impact on the town of

Strokestown, as he established the first provincial branch of the

Guinness Mahon estate agency, in premises on the main street, just outside the demesne gates.

In spite of Ross Mahon's formidable business ability, there was little

he could do to counter rapid population growth and extensive sub

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112 IRISH REVIEW

division of rural holdings, which had steadily gathered momentum

since the end of the eighteenth century. Decreasing death rates

throughout provincial Ireland were related to the abundance of cheap food in the potato which became the staple diet of the people, espe?

cially in the poorer regions of the west. The massive growth of the local

population and the pressure which this placed on land occupation within the Strokestown estate, is vividly captured by an estate census,

compiled by the estate office in March 1847.8 This document, which

remains in Strokestown, accounts for no less than 11,958 people inhab?

iting just over 11,000 acres of land, attesting to the difficulties associ?

ated with population growth and almost complete dependence of at

least one third of families on the potato for food. At a parliamentary commission, Ross Mahon later explained the problem of sub-division

and sub-letting:

When I became agent to the Strokestown estate in 1846, it was covered

with paupers. The rental was ?9,000 a year, exclusive of the demesne.

The average quantity of land each tenant held was three acres one rood

plantation measure, without counting under-tenants, and almost every

tenant had one or two under-tenants.9

Failure of the potato wrought havoc with this precarious system of

landholding. Throughout the summer and winter of 1846-7 there were

repeated reports of 'a very great distress' in the Strokestown area. As

chairman of the local relief committee, Major Mahon attributed the

cause of this distress to be 'from the very large and overgrown popu? lation of this district', while food shortages were graphically described

by the parish priest, who reported 'several families contriving to make

food of Bran and go into the fields to pluck the wild herbs for their sub? sistence.'10 There was little landlord or agent could do in the famine

onslaught that ensued: 'they were all absolutely starving', remem?

bered John Ross Mahon.11

Local relief schemes, which included the establishment of a soup kitchen in the town of Strokestown, and distribution of meal from a

food depot established by the Strokestown relief committee,12 were

unable to cope with mounting distress. Ross Mahon complained that

he could not get rents,13 and that the existing poor relief system which

only made provision for the inmates of workhouses, was quite inade?

quate for dealing with the extent of local poverty. In a memorandum

about estate management he specifically highlighted the 'want of an

adequate system ... for the amelioration of the poor', with the result

that the onus for dealing with the crisis was left as a local responsibil?

ity In such circumstances, he admitted: '... I saw the impossibility not

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THE FAMINE IN THE STROKESTOWN PARK HOUSE ARCHIVE 113

only of rent being paid but of the people living.'14 It was in this context

that he put forward his controversial plans for the emigration of ten?

ants from the estate, informing the Major thus:

... I am convinced unless the greater part of the population are removed

from your estate, the poor rates of this electoral division will exceed the

receipts of rent, and the division being almost entirely your property, the

greater part of the poor rate must fall upon you.15

At first the Major was against the emigration of his starving tenants, but when his trusted agent threatened to resign, and when the inade?

quacy of relief schemes became apparent, he agreed to provide sub?

stantial financial support to implement the scheme. The Major

personally chartered two ships in Liverpool, which docked at Sligo to

collect c. 1,000 tenants from the Strokestown estate.

The economic and social rationale behind the Major's subsidisation

of emigration, although well-intended, was not understood by the

majority of tenants who remained at home. When news that the two

ships conveying Strokestown tenants had failed to reach their destina?

tion was received, rumours began to circulate that the Major had

deliberately chartered unseaworthy vessels.16 It was against this back?

ground that he was shot dead as he returned in open carriage from a

meeting of the Board of Guardians in Roscommon. Dr. Terrence

Shanley, the medical officer, travelling with him was injured in the

attack.17 The circumstances surrounding the murder remain the sub?

ject of intense speculation, and it cannot be regarded simply as a spon? taneous act in revenge for emigration or eviction.18 Although two men

who held land in the townland where the murder took place were sub?

sequently found guilty and hanged for the crime, a strong local tradi?

tion still maintains that the real perpetrators of the crime were never

brought to justice. Thus, the political repercussions of events before, and after the Major's assassination must be taken into account.

In the post-emancipation era, the polarisation of provincial gentry

society became more pronounced as issues such as Repeal of the Act

of Union, and reform of parliament gathered momentum. Anti-Repeal activities in particular were branded with the hint of Orangeism, and

the Major's grandfather, Denis Kelly of Castle Kelly, was one of the

most resolute opponents of such popular movements. Kelly was the

only member of the Galway Grand Jury who had refused to sign a

Protestant petition in favour of Emancipation, and admitted being a

Brunswicker, Tory and Orangeman. The Major's connection with the

Kelly family could not have endeared him to the local population at this time, especially as his agent, Ross Mahon, also managed the Kelly estates in County Galway.

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114 IRISH REVIEW

Documentary evidence in Strokestown House reveals that the Major was seen to be acting on behalf of central government in his capacity as

High Sheriff of County Roscommon from 1841. Following a Tory vic?

tory at the general election, it was Mahon who circulated all the county

gentry, urging them to send an address of support to the new viceroy of Ireland, Lord De Grey, on his arrival in Ireland. The address included

statements of loyalty to the government, promising to uphold the leg? islative Union between Great Britain and Ireland, to which several gen? tlemen objected. Whilst traditional supporters, such as Lord Lorton, the Croftons, Lord Mount Sandford, the Bishop of Elphin, the Willises, and the Brownes, were prepared to support and sign the address,

Major Mahon also received several refusals. The O'Conor Don, for

example, declined because he believed 'this would involve an acqui? esce in the principles of the present administration, to which, in com?

mon with the majority of my constituents, I am opposed.'19 This

opposition suggests a marked division of county politics. Divisions within the county continued, sometimes fracturing into

violent unrest organised by more extreme groups, including the Molly

Maguires, a secret society particularly active in Roscommon during this period. Indeed, a copy of a threatening letter signed under the

pseudonym 'Molly Maguire', which is illustrated with ominous

sketches of a rifle, depicting the recipient's 'doctor' and a coffin to

depict his 'bed', was found in the Strokestown collection, attesting to

this turbulent phase of local history.20 In September 1843, the Major was again embroiled in political controversy, following the attempted murder of a Roscommon gentleman, Mr. Richard Irwin, as he travelled

along the High Road between Roscommon and Strokestown. As

county sheriff, Mahon was responsible for obtaining signatures of

'gentlemen prepared to subscribe for the apprehension of the

attempted murderers'. He also received an alarmist letter from Irwin's

neighbour, Thomas Browne, another Tory supporter, who warned that

the attempted murder was 'the first regular Tipperary style of offence

committed' in the country, and that local gentry had to unite to pre? vent repeating such an outrage.21 In response, Mahon called a meeting of the county gentlemen at Elphin, to whom he declared:

. . . until decisive steps were taken by government, it may be expected that frequent murderous attacks, similar to the one which has brought us

together this day will be made and which can be considered in no other

light than massacre in detail.. ,22

It is interesting that the attempt on Irwin's life, in 1843, and the

Mahon murder, four years later, both took place on the same High

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THE FAMINE IN THE STROKESTOWN PARK HOUSE ARCHIVE 115

Road between Roscommon and Strokestown, suggesting that the two

events may have been linked by underlying political divisions, exac?

erbated as they were, by the social and economic problems of the time.

In the aftermath of the murder, Strokestown became the focus of pub? lic attention; the implications of the event were discussed in the House

of Commons, while the town itself became the scene for the murder

investigation. Extra military were deployed in Strokestown House

where the principal bedrooms accommodated officers commanding the 20th Dragoons, while the town house was converted into a tempo?

rary barrack. The Major's heartbroken only daughter, who had been

married just two weeks earlier, vowed never to return to her ancestral

home. In her absence, John Ross Mahon occupied the mansion house, and the demesne was leased to George White West, a Kildare

landowner, thereby distancing the landlord family from local tenants.

Tensions ran so high that John Ross Mahon had to be escorted every? where by policemen. Visitors to the estate office in Strokestown felt

uneasy there, especially after dark, when all the shutters were drawn

on the windows, 'it being imprudent to sit with lights on and unpro? tected windows.'23 In another letter in the estate correspondence, addressed to Henry Sandford Pakenham Mahon, who succeeded as

landlord of the estate, Denis Kelly provides a colourful insight to the

political backlash brought to a head by the assassination:

. . . the fact is, Society in Roscommon is completely disorganised and it

will take years to reconstruct the social fabric there, particularly under

the Laiser allier system of the Whigs, and under such circumstances my

strong advice to you is to endeavour to forget for five years at least that

you have such a thing as property in Roscommon, to leave it totally in

the hands of your agent - amuse yourself and your dear wife as well as

youth and circumstances will for the time permit and trust to a gracious Providence that... you will have a chance of returning

... In Roscommon

(particulary your part of it) I have no hopes of any real amendment for

five years .. .24

NOTES

1. U.H. Hussey de Burgh, The Landowners of Ireland. An Alphabetical List of the Owners

of Estates of 500 Acres or ?500 Valuation and Upwards in Ireland (Dublin, 1881). 2. References prefixed by the letters NLI denote material in the National Library of

Ireland, and the letters SPH denote material located in Strokestown Park House.

3. Already the papers have formed the basis for a doctoral thesis on the development of the estate town: Susan Hood, The Landlord-Planned Nexus at Strokestown,

c. 1660-1925. (Unpublished DPhil thesis, University of Ulster, 1994). 4. Original documentation relating to the affairs of the estate while it was under the

control of the Court of Chancery, 1836-45, is uncatalogued in Strokestown, but

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116 IRISH REVIEW

copies of legal papers concerning the inheritance of Major Denis Mahon with

members of the McCausland family are located in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, D. 1550/46.

5. D. Large, The wealth of the greater Irish landowners, 1750-18157, in Irish Historical

Studies, 15, (1966), pp. 37-38. 6. John Ross Mahon had formed the Guinness Mahon & Co. (land agency business)

in 1836 with his business partner Rundell Guinness, and was renowned as a capa? ble businessman and scrupulous manager. The Major and his new agent were not

related, John Ross being a member of the Castlegar Mahons who lived at

Ahasragh, Co. Galway, some 30 miles from Strokestown. Through his own family,

John Ross came into contact with the landed gentry of north Connacht, and it is

likely that the Major met him through his own family connection with the Kellys of Castlekelly, County Galway. George C. Mahon, Family History of the Mahons of Castlegar, 3, (Detroit, 1889), p 9.

7. Correspondence between John Ross Mahon, estate agent at Strokestown, and

Major Denis Mahon, 1846-47, NLI MS 10,102 (1/4). 8. The census as on

Major Mahon7 s estate7, compiled by the Strokestown Rent

Office, 4 March 1847, SPH uncat. 9. Report from the Commissioners of Inquiry into the Working of the Landlord and Tenant

(Ireland) Act, and the Acts Amending Same, Parliamentary Papers, HC, 1881, xciii,

p655. 10. Copy of letter from Major Denis Mahon to Richard Pennefeather Esq., Dublin

Castle, 26 June, 1846 SPH uncat.; Michael McDermott, Parish Priest, Strokestown,

to the Relief Commissioners Dublin Castle, 12 June 1846. National Archives, Relief Commission Papers.

11. Parliamentary Papers HC (1881) xciii pp 657-658. 12. Denis Mahon, Manchester, to John Ross Mahon, Strokestown, 23 Jan. 1843, NLI Ms

10,104(4). Also, see lists of persons served with Indian Meal 1846-1848, NLI MS

10,137.

13. File of letters exchanged between John Ross Mahon and Major Mahon, Jan. -Aug.

1847, NLI Ms 10104(2). 14. 'Memorandum on the management of the Strokestown estate by John Ross

Mahon Esq. in his first year as agent, from 20th November 1846, for the late Major Mahon7, dated 8th November 1848 SPH uncat. A copy is on NLI film p. 928, and it was reprinted in First Report on the Colonization from Ireland H.C. (1847-48), xvii,

pp 203-204. 15. Copy of John Ross Mahon7 s letter to Major Mahon, April 1847, NWU 10,

012(2). 16. The vessels had in fact been blown off course and it was several months before

those on board reached their destination in America. Stephen Campbell, The Great Irish Famine. Words and Images from the Famine Museum, Strokestown Park

(Strokestown, 1994), p. 49.

17. Police Report of the murder of Major Mahon. National Archives, Outrage Papers

Roscommon, 1848, document 25/671.

18. Campbell, Words and Images, op. cit. The multifaceted aspects of the Major's mur?

der are investigated in detail in the exhibition at the Famine Museum, Strokestown.

19. O'Conor Don, Clonalis, to Thomas Conry, Strokestown, 'for Major Denis Mahon7,

22 Dec. 1841, in file of correspondence relating to the address of the gentlemen of

County Roscommon to Earl de Grey, 1841, SPH uncat.

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THE FAMINE IN THE STROKESTOWN PARK HOUSE ARCHIVE 117

20. Copy of anonymous letter addressed to George Walpole Esq., Castlenode,

enclosed in Walpole's letter to John Ross Mahon, c. 1847, SPH uncat. For general

background see: Galen Broeker, Rural Disorder and Police Reform in Ireland,

1812-1836 (Toronto, 1970), p. 27. 21. Thomas Browne, Knockery, County Roscommon, to Major Denis Mahon,

Strokestown House, 22 Sept. 1843, SPH uncat. Browne warned that Roscommon

would become: 'Tipperaryised', unless the gentry united together. Tipperary was

by tradition a particularly turbulent county, where the first Whiteboy outrage had occurred in 1760, and where patterns of rural unrest mushroomed during the

early nineteenth century. For background, see J.J. Lee, 'Patterns of rural unrest in

nineteenth-century Ireland: a preliminary survey', in Cullen and Butel, N?goce et

Industre en France et en Irelande, Aux xviii et xix Si?cles, (Dublin, 1982), p. 226.

22. Resolution of a 'meeting of county magistrates, held by order of Major Denis

Mahon, Elphin Wed. 27 Stp. 1843' in file of correspondence relating to the

attempted murder of Mr. Irwin, Sept. 1843, SPH uncat.

23. Nassau, William Senior, Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland, ii,

(London, 1868), p. 40. 24. D. Kelly, Castle Kelly, to H.S. Pakenham Mahon, London, 11 June, 1848, NLI Ms

IQ103(I).

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