‘P’, ‘Q’, ‘R’ and ‘T’ - including letters from the Hon. Geoffrey L. Parsons, in Basingstoke, relating to the affairs of Birr Castle Demesne, during the period in which he acted on behalf of the sixth earl in his minority (1918-1924). Also includes letters from members of the Pigott family [see V/24], Mrs Manning Robertson, the 5th and 6th Earls of Rosse, J.H. Tyler (the Womersley agent [see H/117]), etc, etc.

Original box of Birr Estate Office in-letters to the then Rosse agent, A.E. Telford, many of them from the 6th Earl and Anne Countess of Rosse. Lord and Lady Rosse’s letters do not confine themselves to estate business, but include arrangements for house parties at Birr Castle. [For the other side of the correspondence with Lord and Lady Rosse, see T/34].

Letters to the Viscountess de Vesci, mother of the sixth earl, to her brother-in-law, the Hon. Geoffrey L. Parsons, and to the agent for the Rosse estates, Toler R. Garvey Junior, (the only person permanently on the spot at Birr during the minority of the sixth earl), concerning the Civil War as it affected Birr Castle and other places; and also including a letter from the Countess of Bandon about the destruction of Castle Bernard, Co. Cork, and the kidnapping of her husband, Lord Bandon, 1921. The principal topic however, is the Free State government’s responsibility to the Rosse family for loss and damage incurred as a result of the Free State army’s occupation of Birr Castle from 1922 to 1924, which the shrewd and resourceful Garvey construes as extending to the cost of Lord and Lady de Vesci’s London house, No. 1 Hyde Park Street. Included in the bundle is a copy of a letter from Garvey to the Irish Land Commission arguing that compulsory acquisition of any more of the home farm at Birr would serve as a major disincentive to the sixth earl’s taking up residence and therefore giving widespread employment there on his coming-of-age, 1926.

Includes quotation for removal of six vans of furniture from Birr Castle to London by John Dooly, & Sons, Birr (April 1923)

Includes list of goods taken over by the National Army 28th September 1923, Property of the Trustees of the Earl of Rosse. Value of £235.16.0

Includes draft claim against Free State Government seeking rent and remedy £3000 and rent of Hyde Park (£600).

Includes letter from Office of Public Works settling claim for £3502.2.11 (7 August 1925)

Includes letter from Captain J.F. Hollins, Quartermaster No 2 Brigade, Athlon to Toler Garvey: ‘I wish to inform you that the Troops presently in occupation of the castle will evacuate same as from the 28th inst. In accordance with our regulations it will be necessary for a representative of the Owner, a representative from the Board of Works and of the Military Authorities to examine the premises after evacuation and compile a report as to its condition in comparison to that in which it was taken over by the Military (12 August 1924)

Includes a list by A. Panton Watkinson, painter and decorator, Stephens Green, Dublin, of wear and tear and damage in Birr Castle due to the military occupation. (July 1923)

Includes list of articles missing from Birr Castle May 1927.

Also includes letter from the Committee involved in arranging a plaque to be erected at the archway to the front of Birr Castle in memory of the three young men executed by Free State Troops in 1923. Appends text of the address given by Margaret Hogan, local historian, on the events of 1923. (2003)

Letters and papers of the successive Rosse agents, George and Toler R. Garvey Senior and Junior, in their capacity as agents for other estates, mainly in King's County and Tipperary, 1840-1945.

King's County estates other than the Rosse estate include the Bannon estate at Broughall; the Bennett estate at Thomastown; Malone Barrett estate at Temora; Biddulph estate at Coolinariney; the Drought estate at Whigsboruogh; Hacektt estate of Moore Park, Birr; Kemmis estate at Coolnahely and other areas; King estate at Ballylin; Head estate at Derrylahen; Holmes estate at Moneygall; Mooney estate at The Doon; and the Piggott estate at Shragh.

Outside of King's County, the Garveys represented the Briscoe Eyre estate at Eyrecourt, Co Galway; Galbraith estate at and around Loughrea, Co Galway; Kingscote estate at Newport, Co. Tipperary; Holmes estate at Nenagh Co. Tipperary; Lodwick estate at Lisheen, Co Tipperary; Piggott estate at Dundrum, Co Down and Tincurry , Co Tipperary; Purser estate of Arborhill and Clonmona, Co Tipperary; and the Toler estate at and around Nenagh, Co. Tipperary.

Copies of outgoing letters from John V. Brown, clerk of Parsonstown Union to various recipients, particularly the Poor Law Commissioners, detailing reliefs and works. Also includes copy outgoing correspondence relating to assisted emigration schemes for inmates of the Parsonstown workhouse during the course of the Great Famine.

Draft index to Birr town leases, prepared in 2005 by Margaret Hogan. Properties are arranged by street and ordered chronologically within each street. The index (copies of which are included on a CD and diskette) also
gives the name, occupation, and other particulars about the lessees.

Leases of premises in Wilmer Road and Wilmer Terrace. This sub-section also includes papers relating to the sale of properties in Wilmer Terrace to Ann Ritchie and other purchasers.

Envelope of leases of premises in Chapel Lane or described as ‘near the Chapel’. [In date order.]

Envelope of leases of premises in Mellsop Street, the last of them stating that it is now known as Townsend Street. [In date order.] The envelope also includes papers relating to the sale of Townsend Street fee farm grants to Michael Kearns
and Gerard and Evelyn Bell.