Robert Bell is in court for forgery, has a brother called John of Glenfield, and was sent to prison for 2 years. There is mention of another brother , Henry, who is insolvent. However, how can Robert be sentenced to prison in March 1843, and be awarded "in Chancery" in June, a mere 3 months later?
Not sure that you are interpreting "awarded" correctly.
He will have been given a financial judgement against him, albeit with an ameliorated implementation.
Think that "in Chancery" means that the resolution of the judgement in the case is expected to take an extended period of time (e.g. A fine was due, but could not be met immediately from extant resources), and that dependent family members are impacted (so become wards of Court). They will effectively be held under the care of the Court, while the sentence is being served and the monies levied to pay off the fine.
[Think of it as a just, yet benevolent, stewardship by the Court over a number of years.]
The Judges will have looked first at immediate family ties.
[Not sure what legal powers they might have had to "persuade" such to cough up, if any.
This is probably why brother Henry declared himself legally insolvent.]
They would have then looked at other options.
The one that they settled upon was sub-letting out the land of the farm to a new tenant for a period of 7 years. Any monies accrued from that would have been directed back to the Court, who would then have distributed such appropriately to the Landlord (rent), the Plaintiff (compensation), and the deemed needs of the (found guilty) Respondent's family.
Laws were pretty tough and unforgiving in Victorian times. You could be transported to Oz for stealing a loaf of bread, or a handkerchief, or for "issuing" a bent sixpence (after chewing some of its silver off - a common practice - trader's had to examine their change very very carefully before handing it over). Many judgements simply went by the book - Statutory Mandatory Sentencing, as directed by Laws handed out by Parliament, with little leeway left to the Judges.
[Human Rights were given scant worth. In one famous "incident" London cleared most of its ragamuffins (orphaned, pickpocketing waifs) away by locking them up in a "different" prison one Saturday night - a ship moored on the Thames. They all thought this was a marvellous escapade, 'til it sailed the next morning!]
We had kin on the island of Guernsey in the 1860s, where the laws were even more stringent. If someone got in to financial difficulty, then the Court could legally come after anyone in the family tree!
[We visit there gingerly, and try not to mention the family name when we pick up the keys to the graveyards from the Constable! We're not too worried about the outstanding value of the original fines, but are terrified by the potential accrued interest! It adds a certain "frissant" to the visits ...]
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The upshot for Robert BELL was that he lost the "worth" of the produce of the Glenfield farm for 7 years, perhaps retreating back with his family to the (original?) family farm in Aghnadarragh.
Such holdings were immediate (Southerly) neighbours to the WHITTLE homestead at Thistleborough in Ballyshannaghill (aka Ballshannochy), Camlin.
[The ancient Irish name for the area is "Ederaowen" - meaning "Between the Rivers" - viz. Glenavy & Crumlin.]
Certainly the BELLs were there a century before. A deed of Widow McNEICE in the 18thC mentions her two sons-in-law (SLOAN & WHITTLE), as well as a widow BELL who occupied a cottage on her land. Her son Conway McNEICE was resident (later?) at Pigeontown, which is nearby, along with SLOAN and OAKMAN. The McNEICE family were "big" CoI players.
[Will dig out the details for you.]
More on the BELL surname next time ...
