Fondo P131 - Loughton Papers

Henry Trench was the second son of William and Sarah Trench of Cangort Park, Shinrone, Co. Offaly. He married Georgina Mary Amelia Bloomfield on 22 October 1836 and had 8 children. By the 1870s Trench owned 4,707 acres in county Tipperary, 2,113 acres in county Offaly, 1,926 acres in county Limerick, 1,581 acres in county Galway, 704 acres in county Clare and 432 acres in county Roscommon.

Benjamin Bloomfield Trench was born 12 November 1846 to Henry Trench of Cangort Park, Shinrone, County Offaly and Georgiana Mary Amelia Bloomfield, sister of the 2nd Lord Bloomfield of Loughton House. He was educated at Eton. He worked as a mechanical engineer for Maudsley & Fields and later with William Steuert Trench in his land agency office at Carrickmacross between 1868 and 1870. He was also employed by Verner & Holleborne stockbrokers to manage quarries in Antrim. In 1872 he was employed by Lord Bath to take over the management of the Bath estate following the death of William Steuert Trench, but was relieved of this position in 1874. He married Dora Turner in 1899 and moved to South Africa to work on the Transvaal Railway. He returned prior to the birth of his two daughters Sheelah and Theodora Trench.

Dora Trench was the daughter of Christopher Turnor MP (1808-1886), an English Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1841-1847. Her mother was Lady Caroline Finch-Hatton (1816-1888), daughter of George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea (1791-1858). Dora suffered with asthma for most of her life and was forced to spend much of her time in Europe, especially in the south of France, for the warmer climate. She was a keen diarist and chronicled her life from her childhood until her death. She married Benjamin Bloomfield Trench and had two daughters, Sheelah and Theodora.

Sheelah Trench was born to Benjamin Bloomfield Trench and his wife Dora on 25 May 1890. She married Langlois Massy Lefroy, son of Col. Augustine Hugh leroy and Isabel Mary Heppelthwaite on 15 October 1924. They had no children and Sheelah died on 13 May 1972.

Theodora Trench was the daughter of Benjamin Bloomfield Trench and his wife, Dora, and was born on 17 July 1891. She served as part of the British Red Cross from 1917-1919 and as a chauffeuse with the New Zealand Mechanical Trans. Weybridge. She travelled extensively throughout her life visit places such as Samoa, India, Palestine, and the Rocky Mountains. She never married and spent her later years living at Loughton House.

The 2nd Lord Bloomfield became a diplomat like his father and served as ambassador in Vienna from 1860-1871, after which he retired. He became a peer in the United Kingdom and was given the title Baron Bloomfield of Ciamhalta in County Tipperary, a neighbouring property to Loughton demesne. Although he died at Ciamhalta in 1879, he was buried in Borrisnafarney Church, Loughton where his father was buried. In 1845, he married the Hon. Georgiana Liddel, youngest daughter of the 1st Lord Ravensworth and they had no children. His sister, Georgiana Mary Emily married Henry Trench of Cangort Park in 1836 and he sold the Loughton estate to him in 1870.