Eamonn Bulfin was born in Argentina to Irish parents. His father William Bulfin of Derrinlough, near Birr, County Offaly, had emigrated to Argentina in the 1880s and became the editor of The Southern Cross newspaper. On the family's return to Ireland, William Bulfin enrolled Eamonn in Pearse's school, St Enda's in Rathfarnham, and he later attended University College Dublin. Eamonn joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1913, and along with some fellow St Enda's students created home-made bombs in the school's basement in preparation for the Easter Rising.
Notable for raising the 'Irish Republic' flag over the GPO In the Easter Rising of 1916. Following the insurrection he was condemned to death, but was reprieved and deported to Buenos Aires after internment in Frongoch in Wales along with the other Irish soldiers of the Rising. In 1920 he was elected Chairperson of Offaly County Council in absentia and held the post when the decision was taken to rename King's County as Offaly. He returned in 1923 on the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 and was active in local politics.
Michael Bulfin is related to the Bulfins of Derrinlough (William Bulfin and Éamonn Bulfin). Younger brother of William. Born 1865, he remained in Derrinlough and ran the family farm. Looked after minors after death of father in 1892. Also had an auctioneering business which got into financial difficulties and disappeared suddenly in 1900 leaving all debts behind him. Nothing further is known of him.
William Bulfin of Derrinlough, near Birr, County Offaly, emigrated to Argentina in the early 1880s to work as a gaucho on the pampas. He met his wife, Annie O'Rourke, while working on the ranch of an Irish landowner, John Dowling. He later moved to Buenos Aires where he worked for The Southern Cross, an Irish-Argentine newspaper, and published stories under the pseudonym 'Che Buono'. He subsequently became the proprietor of the newspaper and its success allowed him to acquire properties in the city and suburbs of Buenos Aires. He corresponded with leading Irish nationalists, setting up a branch of the Gaelic League in Argentina and clearing some of its debts in 1903. William and Annie decided to return to Derrinlough with their young family in 1902 and continuing with his nationalist outlook, William enrolled their son Eamonn in Pearse's St Enda's school.
In 1907 he published his famous volume 'Rambles in Éirinn' based on his bicycling trips around Ireland.
Thomas Hilary Burbage was baptised on 4 March 1879 in Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary. He was the son of James Burbage and Isabella Dunne. His father was an ex-RIC Head Constable from County Longford but when he retired from the R.I.C. and settled in Portarlington and is recorded as a grocer in Main Street in 1894 and 1901. They remained there until their deaths inthe early 1920s/1930s respectively and are buried in the New Cemetery in Portarlington. Thomas received his early education in the Portarlington Christian Brothers
School and was educated in Carlow from 1896 to 1897, in Maynooth from 1897 to 1904 and was ordained in St. Patrick’s College, Carlow in 1904 for the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Father Burbage was devoted to duty, both religious and political. He was reported to be a noted speaker and writer, a charismatic and staunch republican, a prominent member of Sinn Féin and played an active role in politics. He did not confine his energy to the build up of the party but also expressed a genuine desire for the revival of the Irish language and was a noted Gaelic Leaguer in the county.
Father Burbage was a curate firstly in Carlow in his early life, and later lived in Geashill, County Ofaly, from September 1916 to June 1925. During one such speech at Philipstown (now Daingean), near Geashill, in August 1917, he made a strong attack on British cabinet ministers, comparing them to ‘Satan in furthering their own interests’ before going on the advise his listeners to ‘follow the rebels of Easter week even to death if you are true Irishmen’. Later in October, part of his speech at a meeting in Killoughy was also deleted from the also deleted from the press reports while the police again took note of his comments concerning their alleged strong arm tactics used on the occasion of the arrests of the county’s leading Sinn Féin activist, T.M. Russell, during March 1918, when Burbage announced that ‘it was clear to all the world that all tyranny did not cease when the Czar of Russia was driven from his throne’. These and similar sentiments by Fr Burbage earned him the respect of the country’s leading republicans and in November 1917, along with Fr Bergin, P.P., Philipstown, both were elected Vice President of the north King’s county Sinn Féin Executive.
While he was stationed in Geashill, Burbage became deeply associated with the republican movement in Offaly. During this period he claimed he found a British officer attempting to ‘plant a revolver in a bag upstairs in his house’. It was also alleged he was freed on by uniformed men from a military motor lorry, while he was returning from Tullamore to Geashill. At Curragh Hill, near the village of Geashill, he met three motor lorries containing armed soldiers. When the last one had passed him, at a range of thirty yards, Fr Burbage stated that a number of shots were freed at him. ‘I was much startled’ he told a reporter, ‘and I thought I was hit when I heard the bang’. He claimed that his residence was raided on several occasions and after one search in 1920, he was arrested. He was first taken to the Curragh and from there to Arbour Hill. In January 1920 Burbage was sent to Ballykinlar Internment Camp, Co. Down. Ill-treatment at the camp led to struggles and a tribunal headed by Fr Burbage later investigated the atrocities. It was reported that the presence of the priest at the camp proved to be a big consolation to the prisoners and he often administered Holy Communion to as many as 600 prisoners in a morning .On Easter Sunday 1922, ‘to mark the occasion of his release from Ballykinlar Internment Camp’, he was presented with an address from the bishop and priests of the diocese, paying tribute to the manner in which his ‘character and judgement contributed to make these (Republican) courts represented and obeyed’ and celebrating his work for the Irish language, the revival of the Irish industries and a rebirth of a spirit of self-reliance in the people. The people of his parish also presented him with ‘a beautiful two-seater Morris Cowley motorcar as a token of their esteem.
Fr. Burbage was appointed parish priest of Tinryland, near county Carlow in 1936. Five years later he was appointed to Mountmellick, and was Diocesan Consulter in Kildare and Leighlin, and was parish priest of Mountmellick for twenty-six years. He continued his work amongst the people over his years in Mountmellick and raised over one hundred thousand pounds to extend St. Joseph’s Church. Father Burbage also helped raised monies to build the new cinema, which opened in April 1951.When on 1 July 1954, he celebrated his golden jubilee Mass, the then President, Sean T. O’Ceallaigh, attended and the Taoiseach, Mr de Valera, was represented and sent a message of congratulations. Father Burbage died on 8 January 1966 and is buried in the Church grounds in Mountmellick. It was reported that President de Valera was amongst the huge attendance at the funeral.
The earldom of Charleville (of the second creation) was granted to Charles William Bury (1764-1835) in 1806. He had inherited his wealth and estates at Charleville through his paternal grandmother, the sister and heiress of Charles Moore (1712-1764), the 1st earl of Charleville (of the first creation). Lord Charleville and his wife, Catherine Maria (widow of James Tisdall, County Louth), set about building the Gothic mansion Charleville Forest in 1800 on the site of an older 17th century house known as Redwood. The building project took many years and cost an enormous sum of money, which ultimately caused a financial burden for successive generations of the Bury family. They also continued with a lavish lifestyle, living for part of the year in London and travelling extensively on the continent.
Their son, Charles William, Lord Tullamore (1801-1851) married in Florence in 1821 and set up a second expensive household. When he inherited the estate in 1835, it was heavily encumbered. By 1844, it was unsustainable, Charleville was closed up and Lord and Lady Charleville headed for Berlin. Their son, Charles William George, 3rd earl of Charleville (1822-1859) succeeded to the estate in 1851 and returned to Charleville with his wife, Arabella at this time. Unfortunately, they both died within a couple of years of each other, leaving five young children as wards of chancery in Charleville Castle. The children's guardian was named as Alfred Bury, their uncle.
Charles William Francis Bury (1852-1874) inherited the earldom as a minor of seven years in 1859. When he came of age in 1873, there was much festivity and celebration in Tullamore, but sadly he died in New York a year later at the age of 22. The title then reverted to Alfred Bury (1829-1875), the youngest brother of the 3rd earl. He also only had one year as earl, dying in 1875 with no male heirs.
The earldom became extinct at this point but the estates passed to Lady Emily Howard-Bury (1856-1931), Alfred's niece. Her son, Col. Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury (1883-1963), who was born and raised in Charleville Castle, inherited Belevedere in Mullingar in County Westmeath from a cousin Charles Brinsley Marlay in 1912, and made it his permanent home. By the time he inherited Charleville in 1931, the family had ceased to live on the estate. In 1948 he arranged a large auction of all its furniture and paintings. On his death in 1963, he bequeathed Charleville to his cousin, Major William Hutton Bury (1914-1982) whose family have managed the estate since.