BURGOYNE Family of Plymouth (Ancestors of Cleopatra Cecilia Burgoyne, b. 1844)

[Rol]

REFERENCES TO JOHN BURGOYNE (JB) IN ULSTER

A Provisional List


Part  1


1857  Jul. 31     Holywood Public Meeting     This is the first evidence that I have so far seen of JB's presence in Ulster.  Moreover,  it is the first and last time that I have seen a contemporary reference to him with a military rank attached to his name.  The report describes a meeting held to consider applying to the government for authority to adopt additional development and rating powers under the revised Towns Improvement Act.  Its second sentence begins:  "The attendance was large,  and among those present we observed: -- Rev. Mr. Poole, Captain Burgoyne, Messrs. Henry Murney, Jonathan Cordukes, J. B. Kennedy, James M'Lean, Smith, Power, Greenfield, Chermside ... &c., &c."  --  Belfast News-Letter,  1 Aug. 1857

1858  Oct. 19     Holywood Public Meeting     Fundraising gathering in aid of the Ulster Society for the ... Deaf,  Dumb and Blind.  This time attended by plain "J. Burgoyne",  who appeared much further down the list due to the abandonment of his 1857 social precedence based on military rank.  --  Belfast News-Letter,  20 Oct.1858

1858     Directory Entry     "Burgoyne, J., Riversdale, Holywood" appears in the Alphabetical List of Country Residents:  first record of him living at that address.  (On pp. 440-1 per PRONI index,  although p.443 per image.)  Source:  Reply 67,  posted by Moatville,  and the related directory  --  Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1858-59

1859  Aug. 2     Press Announcement     Short prospectus and invitation to apply for shares in the newly-formed Holywood Gas Company Limited.  Fourth in list of ten provisional directors appears "John Burgoyne, Esq., Riversdale, Holywood".  Further down,  JB is also named as "Treasurer (pro tem.)".  --  Belfast News-Letter,  2 Aug. 1859

1860  Jan. 9     Holywood Public Lecture     A lecture about Palestine by a visiting clergyman,  hosted by the (Anglican) Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore.  Those attending include "J. Burgoyne, Esq., and family".  --  Belfast News-Letter,  9 Jan. 1860

1860   Dec 1     Gas Company Inaugural Dinner     A lengthy report about the switching-on of the gas lighting at Holywood and the celebratory dinner which followed.  Laudatory remarks made in speeches about JB's work at Holywood,  both as a director of the gas company and as Chairman of the Holywood Town [Improvement] Commissioners -- the latter office being described as Holywood's nearest approach to having its own mayor.  Modest speech in reply by JB,  with words apparently quoted in full.  (As this is the only example of JB's own words currently known to me,  I think that the relevant parts of this article are worth repeating verbatim -- which I have duly done in Reply 74 below.) --  Belfast News-Letter,  3 Dec. 1860

1861     Directory Entries     "Burgoyne, J." again recorded as living at Riversdale, Holywood (although the house name has been mistranscribed without its middle letter s), in the Alphabetical List of Country Residents.  In Holywood's own section of the directory his name seems to have been erroneously omitted from the Residents list;  but it does appear within an entry headed  "Police Commissioners" -- "John Burgoyne, chairman; John Finlay, vice chairman; J. Chermside, clerk".  --  Belfast and Ulster Directory 1861 (as recorded on the LennonWylie website)

1861  Mar. 27     Property Advertisement in Press     As follows:

TO BE LET, CHESTER HOUSE, HOLYWOOD.  It is beautifully situated, is substantially built, and finished in a very superior style, and is now being Painted and Papered throughout.  Altogether, it is a most desirable Residence.
     Apply at 3, WARING STREET; or to Mr. BURGOYNE, Holywood.

--  Belfast News-Letter,  27 Mar. 1861

1863-64     Holywood Rating Valuation     JB recorded as tenant and occupier of Riversdale;  and as immediate landlord to the occupiers of Chester,  Marmion and Stanley (although at the date of the survey no tenant was in occupation at Chester).  I have posted fuller details and an http link in Reply 75 below.  -- Griffith's Valuation of Ireland 1863-64

[Rol]

Part  2


1863-64     Directory Entry     "Burgoyne, John" now recorded as living at Spafield, Holywood (p.734),  a large house that lay on the left of the main road just where it entered Holywood from the direction of Belfast.  Griffith's Valuation showed the building as being in multiple occupation,  suggesting that it was a terraced property.  (See detailed contemporary map linked to G's V.)  JB is no longer listed as one of the Town Commissioners,  having been replaced as chairman by Capt. Harrison. 
Very interestingly,  this directory has an additional JB entry,  on p.307,  recording him as follows:  "Burgoyne, John, civil-engineer, Belfast Barracks -- 43 Mountview".  As previously observed,  this is our first clear evidence of JB's connection with a barracks in Belfast.  Source:  Moatville's Reply 67 above and the related directory --  Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1863-4

1864  [August]     Evidence at Belfast Riot Inquiry     JB witnessed an incident during the Belfast rioting of August 1864,  and on 19 Nov. that year gave an account of what he had seen to a public inquiry.  I have transcribed his evidence and posted it in full as Reply 76 below.   For our purposes two principal points emerge.  JB's words seem to corroborate the foregoing directory entry by implying that he was commuting into Belfast to a place of work at the barracks there,  judging by the opening sentence of what he said:  "He saw from the window of the barrack the crowd of ship carpenters armed coming up to the head of North Frederick-street ... ".  And he ended by stating that "he was a native of England and a Protestant".  (Item found by Moatville and reference kindly passed on to me via PM) --  Freeman's Journal,  Dublin,  21 Nov. 1864   

1865     Directory Entry     "Burgoyne, John" again listed with the  Holywood address "Spafield".  John Power is now shown as one of the Town Commissioners;  and the introductory description of the town includes these words: "The principal hotel is an extensive building with large stabling and carriage accommodation, and was erected some years ago by the present proprietor, Mr. John Power."  Source:  Moatville's Reply 67 above and the related directory --  Belfast and Ulster Directory 1865,  pp.772-3

1867  Jan. 15     Newspaper Wedding Announcement     This notice records one of the key events of Cleopatra Burgoyne's life,  a ceremony central to past discussions in this and its predecessor Northumberland thread on RootsChat.  Additionally,  it provides us with critical contemporaneous evidence about the employment status of her father JB at that date -- probably in words chosen by the man himself.  Yet its exact text has not previously been posted into either thread.  So here it is:

Power and Burgoyne -- January 15, at St. Nicholas' Church, Dundalk, by the Rev. R. Hamilton, Vicar, assisted by the Rev. J. G. Rainsford, Curate, William, youngest son of John Power, Esq., Holywood, to Cleopatra Cecilia, eldest daughter of John Burgoyne, Esq., Civil Staff Royal Engineers, Dundalk. No cards.

--  Belfast News-Letter,  16 Jan. 1867

1867  May 9     Press Notice of Gas Co. AGM      JB evidently still a director of the Holywood Gas Co. -- named as one of those retiring by rotation and offering themselves for re-election at the forthcoming AGM.  --  Belfast News-Letter,  11 May 1867

1869  Aug. 13     Property Advertisement in Press     This item has already appeared above,  in my Reply 68;  but I shall repeat it here to locate it in its proper place in the sequence.

TO BE LET, DETACHED VILLA, STANDING on Three and a half Acres of Ground, MARMION LODGE, Holywood, containing every accommodation for a gentleman's residence.  An Acre of Ground can be had for a garden if required.
   For particulars, apply, by letter, to
                 JOHN BURGOYNE, Esq., Dundalk.

-- Belfast News-Letter,  13 Aug. 1869

1870     Directory Entry     Under Dundalk, Co. Louth (in the sub-part of the Trades section headed Civil Engineers),  appears the entry "Burgoyne, John, Barrack st".  Source:  Shanew147's Reply 30 in the Northumberland thread,  citing Slater's Commercial Directory [?of Ireland], 1870.
(And note that in his Reply 33 Shane also drew attention to plans &c in TNA's catalogue described as "Dundalk Barracks Married Soldiers Quarters  - John Burgoyne, Clerk of Works RE, 20-30 November 1867".)

[Rol]

GAS COMPANY CELEBRATORY DINNER,  1860


On 1 December 1860 the gas works and the network of street lamps at Holywood were all ready,  and there was a ceremonial "switch-on",  followed by a celebratory dinner.  Fortunately for us the Belfast News-Letter decided to cover this event very fully,  recording the words of many of the speeches of those present.  I think the parts relating to John Burgoyne are well worth posting into this thread.

Belfast News-Letter, 3 Dec. 1860:

At six o'clock, the directors of the Holywood Gas Company, and several other gentlemen who had been invited to commemorate with them the successful completion of the company's works, sat down to a very excellent dinner in the Assembly Rooms ...

The chair was occupied by JONATHAN CORDUKES, Esq., and the vice-chair by JOHN BURGOYNE, Esq., Chairman of the Holywood Town Commissioners -- two of the directors of the gas company. ...

The cloth having been removed ... [Toasts: The Queen (National Anthem);  Royal Family;  Lord Lieutenant and Prosperity to Ireland; ... ]
Mr. J. A. HENDERSON -- Gentlemen, ... I rise to ask you to drink "Success to the Holywood Gas Company, and the health of the Chairman and Directors." (Great applause.) ... When I see the gentleman on my left who so worthily occupies the chair tonight, and whose name is a guarantee in itself for all that is upright and honorable -- (hear, hear) -- and when I see in the vice-chair Mr. Burgoyne -- the Mayor of Holywood I may call him -- (applause) -- when I know that these gentlemen work heart and hand together, and in unison with other gentlemen of the place, to improve this town -- once a village -- it is almost certain its improvement must proceed. ... The toast was drunk amid great applause. ...

Mr. J. G. M'GEE had to propose a toast, which he did with the greatest of pleasure. He begged to give them "The Holywood Town Commissioners," connecting therewith the name of their worthy Vice-Chairman, the Chairman of the Commissioners, or, as he might be called, the Mayor of Holywood. He then briefly glanced at the great advancement and marked improvement which Holywood had been making under the Commissioners, with Mr. Burgoyne at their head; but there was one thing which he believed that Holywood yet required very much -- namely a supply of water ... and he hoped they would take the necessary steps ... He had very great pleasure in introducing to them the toast of "Mr. Burgoyne and the Town Commissioners of Holywood." (Applause.)

The toast was warmly received and drunk.

The VICE-CHAIRMAN [i.e. John Burgoyne] -- Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, you must excuse me in responding to the toast which has been so warmly received. I am not given to speaking; but for the toast which Mr. M'Gee has proposed in such complimentary terms, and which has been so well received, permit me to return you all my sincere thanks. As Chairman of the Commissioners, I know that since I have been there it has been my earnest desire to do everything in my power for the general welfare of the town. (Hear.) But I need say no more on that point. So far as the gas company is concerned, I have done what I could for the benefit of all. (Hear, hear.) But I must say that my part in it was not so heavy as that of others. I must admit that, if my friend Mr. Hugh Rea did not devote the energy, and time, and attention which he bestowed in corresponding and otherwise acting in connexion with the project, the work would not have gone on as it has done. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Rea has had a great deal of trouble in the matter, and deserves great credit, and the thanks of all parties. (Applause.) I return you my sincere thanks on my own part and that of the Town Commissioners. (Applause.)

The CHAIRMAN then proposed the health of their worthy architect, Mr. G. Smith, and contractor, Mr Leadlaw. ...

The CHAIRMAN then proposed, in highly complimentary terms, "The health of the worthy Honorary Secretary of the Holywood Gas Company, Mr. Hugh Rea." (Applause.) He did not know how they would have got on without the indefatigable exertions of Mr. H. Rea. ... [&c., &c.]

It is probably relevant to add that towards the end of the article,  which is much longer than the extract I have reproduced,  the anonymous reporter slips in the fact that the abovenamed Mr J A Henderson was the proprietor of the Belfast News-Letter -- a circumstance perhaps not wholly unrelated to the fullness of the report.

[Rol]

GRIFFITH'S RATING VALUATION,  1863-4


Griffith's Valuation is a well known and very useful source for Irish local history,  and it casts some helpful light on John Burgoyne's real estate interests at Holywood.  However,  because of the notorious degree of sub-letting that prevailed in Ireland,  it is hard to know the true value of JB's net economic interest in the houses where he is listed as the immediate landlord.  Had he really bought the freeholds?  Or,  more likely,  was he himself but the tenant of one of the larger landowners,  perhaps having been granted vacant plots of land on building-lease terms?  If the latter,  how long were his leases,  and did he have to pay a significant running rent,  or just a token ground rent?  Questions that may be impossible to answer**,  but which we should certainly bear in mind if trying to guess what his assets may really have been worth.

There are a number of online sources that claim to offer information derived from Griffith's Valuation.  I have found the Ask About Ireland website to be much the best,  both because it offers direct access to the original printed valuation schedules and because it connects users onwards to contemporary large-scale maps.  In particular,  the fully zoomable 6" OS map of ?1860s Holywood is a fascinating resource.  Here is a link to their search page.

The following is my abstract of the key data recorded about the Burgoyne property empire,  such as it was:


Parish of Holywood


Page:  23
Map ref.:  7
Plot name:   Riversdale
Immediate landlord:  Rev. Henry Henderson
Occupier:  JB
Value p.a.:  £43

Page:  26
Map ref.:  5
Plot name:  Chester 
Immediate landlord:  JB
Occupier: (Unoccupied)
Value p.a.:  £72

Page:  26
Map ref.:  6
Plot name:  Marmion
Immediate landlord:  JB
Occupier:  Forster Green
Value p.a.:  £93

Page:  26
Map ref.:  7
Plot name:  Stanley
Immediate landlord:  JB
Occupier:  Hugh Rea
Value p.a.:  £58


(Note that the bracketing in the lefthand margins of the original schedules is apparently accurate;  this means that any house names shown in parentheses appear -- rather eccentrically -- above the related plot details.)

The contemporary 6" OS map linked to the search results on the Askaboutireland website (zoomable by double-clicking and also dragable) shows that most of the houses with which JB's name is associated lay well inland of the town centre,  a bit to the east of the church.  Near to each other in a roughly N-S line -- and numbered on that map in red with entirely different numbers from those specified in the pages of the valuation itself -- are marked Riversdale (41) and Marmion Lodge (56).  In contrast,  Spafield lay much nearer the Lough,  a large building (in multiple-occupancy at the time of Griffith's Valuation) which back then was the first on the left approaching Holywood from the SW,  along the coast road from Belfast (next to map plot 29) -- with a flag staff marked in the garden.  I have not yet spotted Chester and Stanley,  although they were doubtless not far away.

I might observe in passing that Hugh Rea of Stanley was one of JB's fellow provisional directors of the gas company at the time of its foundation in 1859,  as were two residents of Spafield.



** Although I do have a little idea about how we might just get lucky and track down some of the related property deeds (mentioned a while back off-thread to Grant and Barry -- fuller info in a future forum post).

[Rol]

RIOT INQUIRY,  1864


There was an unusually bad outbreak of inter-communal rioting in Belfast between 8 and 20 August 1864,  during which the casualties amounted to 12 dead and 312 wounded (source: Hansard, 13 June 1865).  A major issue examined at the subsequent public inquiry was the allegation that the magistrates in charge of detachments of the police -- and of soldiers called out "in aid of the civil power" -- had shown partiality towards mobs of protestant workmen and had made little serious effort to confront or disperse them.

John Burgoyne joined those giving evidence at the commissioners' hearing in Belfast on 18 November 1864.  Leading Roman Catholics in Belfast had briefed a well-known Sergeant-at-Law (older equivalent of a QC) called Armstrong to represent their interests,  and this is how his exchange with JB was reported in one of the Dublin newspapers:

John Burgoyne was examined by Sergeant Armstrong--He saw from the window of the barrack the crowd of [Protestant] ship carpenters armed coming up to the head of North Frederick-street; there were parties of military in the street, Sir Edward Coey [ham magnate,  justice of the peace and recently-knighted former mayor of Belfast] was there; he was spoken to by a constabulary man, the mob numbered about 250 men; they were about as fine a set of ruffians as Belfast could produce (a laugh); the troops made a movement, but not to prevent the passage of the mob; the mob could have been easily surrounded and captured; believed at the time that the military acted with cowardice; does not know who gave the orders that made the troops cowardly; the mob passed off, and Sir Edward Coey and the military went in another direction; Mr. Lyons came up afterwards with the cavalry and galloped off after the mob.

The witness, in reply to Mr. Commissioner Dowse, said he was a native of England and a Protestant.

-- Freeman's Journal,  21 Nov. 1864

The extent of the rioting that year may be judged by the fact that (as the Hansard report continues) the Irish authorities at Dublin Castle eventually concluded that the situation in Belfast had grown so serious that it required the despatch of "a force of about 1,000 infantry, a large body of cavalry, and some artillery"!


Hope the foregoing batch of data will keep everyone entertained for a bit. 



Rol

[Rol]

Just spotted the second element that creates one of those nice little historical coincidences -- quite without objective significance,  but appealing none the less.

1,  as we knew:

     ●     Cleo's second husband was married to her by the father of Lily Langtry *

2,  as we perhaps didn't:

     ●     Cleo's second son bought his Hampshire house from the son of Mary 'Patsy' Cornwallis-West **

_______________________________

*  ranked as Edward VII's mistress no. 4 (succeeded by Sarah Bernhardt no.5)

** ranked as Edward VII's mistress no. 1 (whose daughter Mary 'Daisy' Cornwallis-West allegedly went on to become mistress no. 6 -- and wife of the Prince of Pless)


(Sequence of maîtresses en titre in accordance with the analysis of Greg Hallett:  see extract from chapter 1 of the rather unpromisingly entitled book Stalin's British Training,  hosted on his website [here: http://www.greghallett.com/ ] -- probably not a source to bet the ranch on,  especially as the rules of accountancy in such matters can be difficult to regulate )

A more complete and authoritative list of these royal liaisons (and -- indented -- alleged resulting children) is the one produced by Anthony Camp:  see his website.  Prepare to be impressed,  very impressed . . .  According to Camp's research,  Patsy Cornwallis-West's daughter Daisy of Pless was one of the mistresses of the future King George V -- not one of his father Edward VII's as maintained by Greg Hallett.

For a potted history of Newlands Manor, Milford, near Lymington, Hampshire,  see Milford village website 1 and Milford village website 2.  (N.B. that the Power family bought it in June 1920 -- not long after Mrs Cornwallis-West had moved out to a smaller house nearby called Arnewood,  and just a month before her death;  apparently her wayward son George,  listed by Camp supra as plausibly one of the future king's offspring,  had been made bankrupt in 1913 and really did need the money.✝  The Powers are said to have sold up themselves in 1948,  two years before John Cecil's own death.)

There is a webpage about Mrs Cornwallis-West (including,  near foot,  a photo of Newlands Manor and a newspaper obituary) here.  She was née Mary FitzPatrick,  the daughter of the rector of Mohill, Co. Leitrim.

An older,  thumbnail photo of Newlands plus a para of history can be found on the website of a language school currently based in part of the house (now divided) here. 


Rol




✝ However pressing his debts,  George's sister Daisy seems to have made no secret of the fact that she thought he was behaving badly towards their ailing mother by selling off the old family home during her lifetime.  Limited Preview extracts are currently accessible via Google Books from a biography self-published in Canada by W. John Koch in 2002,  entitled Daisy Princess of Pless:  A Discovery -- a reworked version of a German-language original that was commercially published at Frankfurt in 1990.  The author,  a German immigrant whose family had lived near the Pless family castle in Silesia before WW2,  drew heavily on Daisy's published diaries and memoirs.  On p.274 he quotes from pp.298-9 in one of these memoirs (What I Left Unsaid),  which had reproduced a sympathetic private letter sent to Daisy by Queen Alexandra just after WW1.  The following brief extract from that letter demonstrates their mutual gloom about the impending sale of Newlands Manor:

                                                      Sandringham,  Norfolk
                                                                                                                         September 18, 1919

My poor dear Daisy,

I see by the papers that you have actually been allowed to come back to your beloved home and poor suffering Mother dear! ... I do hope you found your poor Mother better and ... in your old home! which I hear your brother wants to sell -- too bad and horrid! ...

                                                       Yours affectionately,

                                                                  Alexandra

So George was not a popular fellow.  But needs must . . .  And John Cecil Power was the one who was blown some good by the "ill wind".





Re-edited and expanded,  27 Jan. 2011

[bennever]

...and Augustus's great niece married Lionel Leslie, nephew of Lady Randolph Churchill in 1942!

[Rol]

 

[Limeburner Mitchell]

Quick bump and somewhat of a coda to this thread. 

Back a few pages ago - posts 37 and 40 I think - we touched on the mysterious disappearance of Cleo's mum Susan Smith Burgoyne (nee Giles) from the domestic picture. 

I can resolve this one now for the record.  By chance I came across an image of a headstone in the Western Cemetery in Nassau, Bahamas, on findagrave.com.  The inscription reads:

"SACRED to the memory of SUSAN SMITH, the beloved and affectionate Wife of John Burgoyne, Esq. C, W, R, E, Dept who departed this life July 11th 1853, (of Yellow Fever.)  Aged 34 Years.  Leaving an affectionate Husband and 3 young Children to mourn over their sad loss."

So Cleo was about 8 when her mum died in such a dreadful way. 

Grant