Trench, Thomas Weldon

Thomas Weldon Trench was born on 11 Feb 1833. He was the eldest son of William Steuart Trench and Elizabeth Susanna Townsend. Thomas Weldon was installed by his father William Steuart Trench as co–agent and local magistrate on the Digby estate in Geashill in 1857. He also acted as assistant agent on the Bath estate in Co. Monaghan. During his agency in King's County, the Barony of Geashill experienced vast improvements in both the architecture of Geashill village and the topography of the landscape. While Thomas Weldon played an instrumental role in such a transformation, he adopted a hard line authoritarian style of estate management. This is reflected in his ruthless tactics to clear the estate of small tenants and beggars, in order to create larger holdings with better drainage and more advanced farming methods. The case of Alice Dillon illustrates how the actions of Thomas Weldon Trench were ruthless and hasty in dealing with the removal of a beggar woman from the estate on Christmas Eve in 1861. His actions were questioned by the Lord Chancellor, from whom he received a strong reprimand and warning, an episode he omitted in the annual reports to Lord Digby.

Hi agency was also marked by the rise of Ribbonmen and a flame of agitation likely to be the response of aggrieved tenants towards his style of management. Similar hostilities to him existed in Co. Monaghan. By 1870, Thomas Weldon Trench resigned his post as resident agent in Geashill
and subsequently became a medical volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War. This was short-lived due to illness and he returned to Ireland later that year. He died at the relatively young age of 39 in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan on 15 August 1872, which was just shortly after the death of his father, W. S., on the 4 August 1872. They are both buried in Donaghmoyne churchyard, Carrickmacross.He remained unmarried and died on the 15th of August 1872.

Co. Laois (Queen's)
Geashill, Co. Offaly (King's)
Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan

Land agent
Medical volunteer (Franco-Prussian War 1870)

ISAAR (CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2nd edition (2011)

August 2016

Biographical history by Mary Delaney

Delaney, M., 'William Steuart Trench and his management of the Digby estate, King's County, 1857-1871', Fourt Courts Press, Dublin (2012)

Byrne, M. 'The case of Alice Delin (Dillon) of Geashill: a death in gaol without due process of law' in Offaly Heritage 7, Esker Press, Tullamore (2013)

'The case of Alice Delin (Dillon)', Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland, http://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/documents/14410/page/371901

Created by Lisa Shortall