Alderman Dawson of Dawson Grove

Times Past

Jonathan Smyth

This week, we continue with the story of the Dawsons of Dartrey. And while the era of the landed gentry may have passed into the history books, there is still much to see of their heritage. Historian Peadar Livingstone, in his book, ‘The Monaghan Story', summarises the significance of the Dawson family to the Cootehill-Rockcorry area. Livingstone’s assessment reads: ‘Dawson - An important landlord family who came to Monaghan when Richard Dawson purchased lands that had been granted to Cromwellian soldiers and established his seat at Dawson Grove in the townland of Killcrow.’ This Richard’s great-grandson, Thomas, was created Baron Dartrey of Dawson Grove in 1770, who later became Viscount Cremorne in 1785, and then Baron Cremorne in 1797. The Dawsons took an ‘intense interest in the political and social life of the county although they were frequently absentees'.

Many of the so-named undertakers who financed Oliver Cromwell’s army in the mid-17th century came looking for the repayment of loans with interest and were instead given tracts of land taken from local farmers. It did little to please some of the undertakers who sold off the land to men like the Cromwellian Richard Dawson.

Family tree

While preparing my talk on the Dawsons for Heritage Week at Dartrey Church in August, I soon realised that they had quite a complex family tree, and thankfully, with the help of a 19th century copy of Burke’s Peerage, and Evelyn Shirley's ‘History of Monaghan’ I was able to decipher most of the intricate sets of family connections. For the purpose of our present discourse it seemed advisable to avoid getting side-tracked by extended members of the family, save to mention Walter Dawson of Armagh whose son Chapell Dawson, born in 1699, married in June 1731, a lady named Hannah Maria Townley. She was the daughter of Thomas Townley Esq. of Drumroosl (sic), Co Cavan and Walter and Hannah had a family of four daughters and a son.

Aside, from that there was at least one other Dawson marriage linked to Cavan and that was to Coote of Cootehill, in the estate next door at Bellamont Forest. From Dartrey Castle you had a direct view of Bellamont House.

Burke’s Peerage tells us that Chapell had an older brother, who like the father, was also named Walter Dawson and that it was Walter Jnr who inherited Dawson Grove when he married his cousin Frances Dawson, the daughter of Richard Dawson (the Cromwellian), at Dawson Grove, Dartrey. Thereby, Walter inherited the Dawson estate in Co Monaghan.

Richard Dawson MP and Alderman

Walter and Frances Dawson children included another Walter, a John, and Richard. However, young Richard was the only son to survive, and he succeeded as owner of the Dartrey Estate when his father died in 1713. Richard was described as ‘an eminent banker, an Alderman of the City of Dublin and an MP for Co Monaghan'.

The estate's new owner Alderman Richard Dawson was married to Elizabeth Vesey, daughter of John Vesey DD, archbishop of Tuam, and a sister of Sir John Vesey, Baronet, bishop of Ossory. Alderman Richard and Elizabeth’s children were John who died in 1742; Thomas, who later “succeeded” to the ownership of the Dartrey Estate; and his younger brother Richard Jnr who inherited their father's estate at Ardee, of which we will now come to shortly.

‘Alderman of Dublin, and an eminent banker,’ was how the publication, ‘A Biographical Peerage of Ireland’, described Alderman Richard Dawson. He served for a lengthy period of years in the English parliament ‘for the borough of St Canice, Kilkenny’ and from 1761, he was elected for the ‘borough of Monaghan'.

In 1742, Alderman Richard bought the Ardee lands from Philip Tisdall and 12 years later, he increased his Co Louth holdings when he leased Cappock's Green ‘forever’ from Robert Parkinson with ‘two acres of land adjoining Dawson’s Avenue along with the portion of Cappock's Green that lay within the walls of Dawson’s Garden or upon which the wall stood'.

When his youngest son Richard Jnr married Anne O’Brien, the second daughter of Sir Edward O’Brien, Baronet, from Drumoland, Co Clare, he received the Ardee Estate from his father. Alderman Richard Dawson died on December 29, 1766. We learn from a paper written by L.D. Murray that Richard Jnr was to die in tragic circumstances while returning from the home of a friend on Sunday, March 10, 1782, whereupon he was ‘waylaid’ and given such a severe beating that he died as a result of the attack.

Both the Lord Lieutenant and the Louth Grand Jury issued proclamations to deal with the shocking event. On Tuesday, March 26, 1782, Saunders's Newsletter, reported on the shocking incident whereby two unknown ‘villains’ attacked Dawson by then ‘almost at his own door’, wounding him ‘severely’ and by those same wounds he died.

Thomas Lee, the Lieutenant Colonel, issued a proclamation: ‘Now we the Ardee Rangers, having an utter abhorrence of such execrable crimes, do hereby offer a reward of fifty pounds to any persons concerned in said horrid murder and robbery, reward to be paid on conviction; and if any person shall furnish any of the members of the Corps with such hints as may lead to a detection of these villains, such person shall be rewarded in proportion to the consequence of his information, and the strictest secrecy observed.’

Richard Jnr and Anne had had a son, and you guessed it, he too was named Richard (1762-1807) and he, then, later took charge of the Ardee Estate. It was he who was supposed to inherit the estate at Dartrey from his Uncle Thomas, the owner who became Viscount Cremorne, but Richard’s sudden death prevented him inheriting the estate. Richard who had served as an MP for Monaghan was commemorated by a monument on the Cootehill to Rockcorry road at Dartrey.