Fonds OHS87 - Bellair Estate Papers

The branch of the Mulock family that lived in Bellair originated near Ballynakill, Meelick [Miloc] in East Galway. The Mulock family were Irish landowners, originating in the North of Ireland. Thomas Mulock [Mullock] from Ballynakill, Galway married Margaret Conran. Their eldest son, John Mulock [Mullock], acquired freehold interests of considerable extent and value in the lands of Ballyard (afterwards called Bellair), Kilnagarna, Castlerea and others, in the King’s County. John Mulock died without issue, and by his will of 1755, the Ballyard estate was devised to his nephew, the Rev. John Mulock and his heirs. Through his marriage to Anne Homan, The Rev. John Mulock acquired lands in Surrock, Westmeath. The Rev. John Mulock is credited with improving large tracts of land and with planting the trees on Bellair Hill. He also sponsored a dispensary and a school in Bellair to cater for the children of the families who were engaged in the flax growing and linen weaving industry. Rev. John Mulock died in 1803 after leaving his estates to his son Thomas Homan Mulock, who later left the estate to his nephew, Thomas Homan Mulock Molloy in 1843. After his death in 1889, his son, William Bury Homan Mulock, inherited the estate. In his will, William Bury Homan Mulock bequeathed Bellair House and the remainder of the estate to his niece, Lady Nina Hester, but she refused it and gave it to her niece Sheila Claude Beddington Wingfield, Viscountess Powerscourt.

Reverend John Mulock D.D., was born in 1729. He was awarded a B.A. by Trinity College, Dublin in 1749. He succeeded to the Ballyard, or Bellair, estates in 1757 upon the death of his uncle, John Mulock [Mullock]. He married firstly, Emily Frances, daughter of Hurd Wetherall of Castle Wetherall, King’s County, with whom he had four children; Hurd Augustus, John, Sarah, and Frances Emilia. After Emily’s death, Rev John Mulock married Anne Homan on 18 February 1764, with whom he had three children; Thomas Homan Mulock, Mary, and Elizabeth. Anne Homan was the daughter of Richard Homan of Surock, County Westmeath, through whom Rev John Mulock acquired some of the Homan estates. He is credited with improving large tracts of land and with planting the trees on Bellair Hill. He also sponsored a dispensary and a school in Bellair, to cater for the children of the families who were engaged in the flax growing and linen weaving industry.

Rev John Mulock made his will dated 17 November 1899, making certain bequests to his grandchildren (children of his son, John Mulock) and devised the residue of his estates to his son, Thomas Homan Mulock. He died in 1803.

Thomas Homan Mulock was born in 1756, the son of the Rev. John Mulock and Anne Homan. He served as a Justice of the Peace for King’s County before he was appointed High Sherriff of the county in 1822.

In 1803 he married Catherine Frances, daughter of Thomas Berry, of Eglish Castle, and Elizabeth Bury, of Charleville Castle, and a direct descendent of King Edward. They had no children. Thomas demolished the old Bellair House which stood close to the present house. The new Bellair House was designed by Richard Morrison. He was also given permission by his father, the Rev John Mulock, to build 50 slated houses in Bellair to accommodate the workers who were engaged in the Flax and Linen industry.

He made his will dated 18 October 1841, and after making provision for his wife, he devised his estates to his nephew, Thomas Homan Mulock Molloy. He directed his nephew on becoming entitled to the estates to take the sole name and arms of Homan Mulock. He died on 16 January 1843 and was buried at Liss, King’s County

Thomas Homan Mulock Molloy was born on 5 May 1798 to parents, Elizabeth Homan Mulock and Laurence Bomford Molloy. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, achieving a B.A. in 1818, M.A. in 1825 and M.D. in 1826. On 5 February 1828 he married Frances Sophia Berry, daughter of John Berry, and Elizabeth Bury, daughter of William Bury, uncle of the 1st earl of Charleville. Together they had fifteen children; Frances Elizabeth, Thomas Homan Mulock, John Berry, Elizabeth Georgina, Thomas Lawrence, Richard Homan, Mary Mulock, Lawrence Bomford, William Bury, Hester Jane, Anne Homan, Henry Pilkington, Homan, Francis Berry, and George Phillips.

In 1843, Thomas Homan Mulock Molloy inherited Bellair House and estate from his uncle, Thomas Homan Mulock. He was directed on becoming entitled to the estates to take the sole name and arms of Homan-Mulock. He served as Justice of the Peace for King’s County, and he was later appointed High Sheriff for the County in 1849. Following the Famine years, many of the tenants had immigrated to America or died, the estate was in poor condition. Thomas Homan Mulock Molloy died at Bellair on 25 June 1889, and was buried at Liss.

William Bury Homan Mulock was born on 19 April 1841 to Frances Sophia Berry and Thomas Homan Mulock. Educated in Trinity College and was appointed to the Indian Civil Service in 1862.

He served in Bombay in various roles, including Assistant-Registrar of High Court and later Assistant-Magistrate and Collector, 1862-1873; Assistant-Commissioner and Branch Inspector-General of Assurance, and Inspector of Education in Sind, 1873-1876; Collector and Magistrate, 1880; Senior Collector and Magistrate, 1885. In 1885 he chaired the Commission appointed to consider the workings of the factories in the Bombay Presidency. He retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1889 on succeeding to the family estates under his father’s will. He took possession of Bellair House in 1889, and in retirement he served as Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for King’s County, as well as JP for County Westmeath. In 1895 he served as High Sheriff for the King’s County.

He died in 1921 and bequeathed Bellair House to his niece, Lady Hester Nina Homan Mulock, who refused to accept it, and handed it to her niece Sheila Claude Beddington Wingfield, Viscountess Powerscourt.

A. E. or Alfred Edwin Goodbody was admitted a solicitor in 1881, having secured a silver medal at the final examinations of June 1880. He soon after set up on his own account at 15 Dame Street and later, probably in 1888 or in 1889, went into partnership with Archibald Tisdall who was based in Tullamore. He was joined in the partnership by his brother Lewis in 1891 and after this, Tisdall appears to have worked in Birr and later, after 1900, at the Dublin office. He left the partnership in 1901 and the new firm of A & L Goodbody commenced in 1902.

In 1903, the Wyndham Land Act was passed which allowed a 12 % bonus to landlords who sold entire estates to the Estates Commissioners to administer the sales under the Act. Lewis Goodbody was well placed to secure the business. He was of a Quaker family and all the other solicitors practising in Tullamore were Catholics. In 1905 Alfred sent Lewis a sum of £150, being his share of £500 secured for the sale of the Longworth-Dames estate to the Congested Districts Board. The other £200 he was holding to advance on mortgage to a client whom he was mindful of retaining. He seems to have been getting 1% on such sales but was able to quote to landlords the then Law Society scale of 2.5% and bargain thereafter. In the case of Lord Digby’s 30,000 acre estate in King’s County the firm was probably in for £3,000 fees if the matter proceeded on a total sale value of £300,000. Digby was looking for 0.75% and Lewis 1.25%. Digby had made enquiries from other landlords but so had Alfred suggesting that he would have remained firm on the 1% as is clear from a letter Alfred wrote to his brother in February 1908. With the end of the ‘big money’ estate sales, the war and the downturn thereafter inevitably the Tullamore office would have been less profitable. By this time the Dublin office was expanding and had taken in new solicitors such as G. A. Overend who was a partner in the firm by 1913 and probably commenced practice there on qualifying in 1907.

Kenneth A. Kennedy joined the firm after the death of Alfred in 1924 and was probably a partner in the Tullamore office by 1930. Kennedy was called to the bar in 1917 and qualified as a solicitor in 1924. In 1930 Kenneth Kennedy, Lewis Goodbody and G. A. Overend acquired the fee simple as joint tenants of the office premises at High Street, Tullamore held on lease since 1913. Lewis Goodbody died in 1933 and the ownership of the firm (at least as far as Tullamore was concerned) was shared between G. O. Overend and Kenneth A. Kennedy, but not necessarily in equal shares. In 1947 a new partnership arrangement was entered into between Overend and Kennedy and the following year Kenneth A. Kennedy acquired the entire interest in the building at High Street for £800. The A & L Goodbody partnership in the Tullamore office appears at this time to have comprised of G. A. Overend, Kenneth A. Kennedy and G. G. Overend. The Tullamore building was to serve the Tullamore firm, known since the late 1940s as Goodbody & Kennedy, until 1989 when the business was sold to Dermot Scanlon by Kenneth C. P. Kennedy. Kenneth A. Kennedy had remained a partner in A & L Goodbody, Dublin until his death in December 1974 at the age of 80 but the Dublin office had no involvement in the Tullamore firm probably from the late 1940s.