| Notes |
- The Brownlow Family and the Rise of Lurgan
from Review - Journal of Craigavon Historical Society Vol. 1 No. 1
by K. Clendinning
Arthur Chamberlain, the eldest son of Lettice Brownlow, was born at Ardee Co. Louth, in 1645, educated at Trinity College, Dublin and qualified in law at Lincoln's Inn.
In 1660 when he became of age, he assumed the name of Brownlow and inherited his grandfather's estate. Under his supervision Lurgan began to grow and prosper; building was encouraged by giving tenants renewable leases and stipulating that one or more houses of 20 to 30 feet in length, 18 to 20 feet high were to be erected on the front of their own tenements. From this stipulation Lurgan began to grow and to take the shape which its main street retains today.
He took a deep interest in the welfare of his tenants by introducing linen weaving to them and buying their produce at a loss to himself. Thus he laid the foundation of the linen industry in this district and by 1675 there was a market house established around which linen was sold. In 1708, Lurgan was described by Thomas Molyneux as a town which has the greatest mart of Linen Manufacture in the North, being almost entirely peopled by linen weavers.
Besides being a man of business, Arthur was a man of culture. He spoke fluent Irish and he saved the Book of Armagh from destruction. This book was sold for a small sum of money by the infamous Florence McMoyne. Shortly after this it was discovered by Arthur Brownlow who purchased it and kept it in his own library. This Book of Armagh was written in 807 A.D. and contains the New Testament, together with the Confessions of St. Patrick, two early Lives of the Saint, and a Life of Saint Martin of Tours.
Arthur was High Sheriff of Co. Armagh 1668, and 1669 and M.P. for County Armagh 1692-1710. In 1689 during the Williamite wars he sat in the Parliament summoned by James II, and is believed to have been the only member of this Parliament to sit in the Williamite Parliament of 1692. As early as 1699, along with several others, he had the idea of building a canal between Lough Neagh and Newry.
On 6th December 1697, Arthur married Jane, the daughter of Sir Standish Hartstronge, Bart of Bruff, Co. Limerick, who survived him and died March 1720.
Arthur died 22nd February 1712, and was buried in Shankill Graveyard, leaving two daughters, Lettice and Anne and five sons, William, Standish, John, Philemon and Arthur. The eldest, William, was baptised 31st December, 1638, educated Trinity College, Dublin graduated B.A. 1703, M.P. for Armagh 1711-1715 and 1729-1739.
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Arthur Chamberlain/Brownlow
With the restoration of peace, the existing Brownlow estate was not only consolidating and prospering but also being extended, for on the death of Sir William Brownlow in 1660, he was succeeded by his grandson, Arthur Chamberlain, eldest son of Lettice Brownlow who had married Patrick Chamberlain of Niselrath near Ardee, Co. Louth. This marriage and the subsequent succession of her son brought the Chamberlain estate in the parish of Philiptown, barony of Ardee, Co. Louth into the possession of the Brownlows.
Arthur Chamberlain assumed the surname of Brownlow as directed in the will of his grandfather Sir William Brownlow and resided in Brownlowsderry. A succession of in-laws, related to his through some of his mother's four marriages, lived on the Co. Louth lands. For further details, see the County Louth Archaeological Journal, Vol. XI, pp 175-85: 'Notes on the Allied Families of Clinton, Aston, O'Doherty and Brownlow' by T.G.F. Patterson. The Co. Louth estate eventually passed out of Brownlow possession in c.1753 when William Brownlow, grandson of Arthur Brownlow, alias Chamberlain, sold it to Alderman Richard Dawson. The property contained 923 Irish acres with tenements in Ardee and Louth towns; no information is given for the purchase price though from a Brownlow rental/account book we know the half-yearly rent in 1753 was £260:12:4 and one farthing. For further information about the sale and the estate, see PRONI, D/3053/9/3/1-12.
Arthur Brownlow, alias Chamberlain, was a prudent manager and accumulated a considerable amount of money which he invested in other lands, chiefly in Co. Armagh where he acquired the manor of Richmount and thus became one of the largest property owners in the county. This land, originally known as Aghavellan, was granted by James I to John Heron in 1610. He sold it to John Waldron who received a re-grant for it from Charles I in 1629. John Waldron's grandson, Francis Stonard Waldron, conveyed the lands to Thomas Coke, Robert Burditt and Rowland Cotton in 1705, and in the following year by deeds of lease and release, by way of conveyance, the whole manor to Arthur Brownlow and John Hoope, merchant, for £13,000. Arthur Brownlow later bought out John Hoope, thus securing complete control of the manor.
The Monaghan estate
He also acquired land in Co. Monaghan. This was the Coolderry estate, near Carrickmacross, in the parish of Magheracloone and barony of Farney, and it had been part of a grant in 1576 by Elizabeth I to Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, which later descended to the Shirley family of Lough Fea (see PRONI, D/3531) and the Marquesses of Bath. In c.1618 the 3rd Earl of Essex granted John Hadsor of Keppock, Co. Monaghan, gentleman, '... the manor of Moymuck and nineteen tates of land, afterwards well known as Hadsor's fee-farm in the parish of Magheracloone in this barony [of Farney], on a fee farm rent of £40 per annum.' We know of some 17 townlands which were part of Hadsor's fee fram grant - Carrickashedoge, Carricknagoan, Derry, Drumboory, Feahoe, Killark, Leons-beg, Liscarnan, Maghernacloy, Mookeeran, Moylough, Mullaghrafferty, Mullyore, Mulllusty, Toiniska, Tullyallen and Tulleallin or Drumbore.
The Brownlow family ' ... were in possession probably by purchase, previous to the year 1692 ..., but the actual date and means of how it passed through to them from Hadsor is as yet still unclear. We do know however that John Hadsor was implicated in the Great Rebellion in 1641 and ' ... was seized of 19 tates of land which he forfeited as a rebel: at that time Colonel Thomas Sadler received from the usurping powers, a grant of the same in lieu of the arrears of his pay, due to him for service in England, extending to the sum of £513.10.0 the 10 tates of land were subject to a rent charge of £40 per annum.' This perhaps accounts for the change in ownership which left the way open for the Brownlows later to purchase.
Under the terms of the will, 1791, of the Rt Hon. William Brownlow, who died 1794, the land in Co. Monaghan was left to his second son Charles, with remainder to his other younger children, while his eldest son, William, was to inherit the Co. Armagh estates; the will further specified that the two properties were not to be united unless the cadet lines became extinct. Accordingly, when Charles Brownlow succeeded his elder brother, William, at Lurgan in 1815, the Co. Monaghan estate passed to the next brother James, and subsequently to the next, the Rev. Francis Brownlow. It remained in the possession of Francis Brownlow's branch of the family until Land Purchase. For documentation of the separate Monaghan estate, see PRONI D/4176 and, on the web-site, the Bath and Brownlow estates.
The Co. Armagh estate
Meanwhile through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Co. Armagh Brownlow estate in the manors of Brownlowsderry and Richmount continued to prosper and with it the Brownlows, while Lurgan continued to grow as a town. Charles Brownlow was raised to the peerage as Lord Lurgan in 1839 'for services to the Whig Party'. In 1833 he had engaged W.H. Playfair, the Edinburgh architect, to design what became Brownlow House, alias 'Lurgan Castle'. It was finished by c.1840. Visiting it in 1863, John Ynyr Burges of Parkanaur, Castlecaulfield, Co. Tyrone, recorded in his diary (PRONI, T/1282/2, p. 140), '... The interior of this beautiful mansion is wonderfully arranged. The furniture and fitting-up is most costly, the dinner exquisite and the whole establishment in excellent order'.
By 1883, the Brownlow estate, of 15,276 acres, was worth £20,589 a year. This consisted of the manors of Brownlowsderry and Richmount, the component townlands of which are listed in the table below:
Master McGrath
The Dubliners
Em / D Em
Eighteen sixty nine being the date anf the year,
G Em D Em
Those Waterloo sportsmen and more did appear,
G Em D Em
For to gain the great prizes and bear them awa',
Em / D Em
Never counting on Ireland and Master McGrath.
On the twelfth of November, that day of renown,
McGrath and his keeper they left Lurgan town,
A gale in the Channel, it soon drove them o'er,
On the thirteenth they landed on England's fair shore.
Oh well when they arrived there in big London Town,
Those great English sportsmen all gathered around,
And one of those gentlemen standing nearby
said, 'Is that the great dog you call Master McGrath?'
Oh well one of the gentlemen standing around,
Says, 'I don't care a damn for your Irish greyhound!'
And another he sneered with a scornful 'Ha! Ha!
We'll soon humble the pride of your Master McGrath.'
Then Lord Lurgan came forward and said, 'Gentlemen,
If there's any amongst you has money to spend.
For your grand English nobles I don't care a straw,
Here's five thousand to one upon Master McGrath.'
Oh, McGrath he looked up and he wagged his old tail.
Informing his lordship, 'Sure I know what you mane,
Don't fear, noble Brownlow, don't fear them agra,
We'll soon tarnish their laurels', says Master McGrath.
Oh well Rose stood uncovered, the great English pride,
Her master and keeper were close by her side;
They let them away and the crowd cried, 'Hurrah!'
For the pride of all England and Master McGrath.
Oh well Rose and the Master they both ran along.
'I wonder', says Rose, 'what took you from your home.
You should have stayed there in your Irish domain,
And not come to gain laurels on Albion's plain.'
'Well, I know', says the Master, 'we have wild heather bogs
but, bedad, in old Ireland there's good men and dogs.
Lead on, bold Britannia, give none of your jaw,
Stuff that up your nostrils', says Master McGrath.
Well the hare she led on just as swift as the wind
He was sometimes before her and sometimes behind,
He jumped on her back and held up his ould paw -
'Long live the Republic', says Master McGrath.
Notes for ARTHUR BROWNLOW:
Surname: Brownlow
Given Name: Arthur
Sex: Male
Birth:
Birthplace:
Baptism:
Baptism Place:
Father's Surname:
Father's Given Name:
Mother's Surname:
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Marriage:
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Death: 1711
Death Place: Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
Burial:
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Miscellaneous: SOG, London alias Chamberlain
Source: Civil Registration 16
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1645 - 1712 (67 years)
