Bessie Reilly's Husband ~ Edmund Burke Browne

In about 1830, after years of solicitations from local businessmen, the Bank of Ireland finally opened a branch in Ennistymon.

Instead of following the lead of other banks, the Bank of Ireland had been slow in expanding to cities and towns far from Dublin.

One of the reasons for their delay was finding qualified bank managers to run these offices.

According to Philip Ollerenshaw in Banking in Nineteenth-century Ireland, the Bank of Ireland demanded that its branch managers deposit at least £10,000, as security, in Government or Bank stock together with an additional £10,000. Sometimes twice this sum was required.

It is hardly surprising that the Bank occasionally had trouble finding men able to meet these stringent requirements.

So, it was a happy day in Ennistymon when the Bank of Ireland finally opened its doors for business on Parliament Street.

Bank of Ireland, Parliament Street

The future son-in-law of our great great grandfather, Edmund Burke-Browne, was one of Ennistymon’s first managers.

We do not know exactly what year he started his position but it was before 1860.

As a prominent businessman in town, P.E. Reilly must have fostered a relationship with the 30-something unmarried gentry Banker……

Edmund Burke-Browne (1823-1891) was the fourth child and second son of Anne (Nancy) O’Grady (1789-1872) and Thomas Burke-Browne (1779-1870) of Castlepark House in Kilmihil.

The Burke-Brownes descend from the Tribes of Galway.

The Tribes were fourteen merchant families who dominated the political, commercial, and social life of the city of Galway up until the 1850s. They include the families of Browne and Blake ~ both of whom are in the Burke-Browne Family Tree.

More than likely, P.E. must have been thrilled with Bessie's choice of husband (if it were her choice) because the Burke-Browne Family was pure gentry class. 

The Browne Family Seat ~ Castlepark House ~ is located in Kilmihil, Tulla. 

Castlepark House, Kilmihil

Castlepark House is described as a 19^th century, two story, three bay home. Its front door has side lights and a central fan on top which faces Cahermurphy Lough (lake).

The ground floor corners at the back of the house are rounded so coaches would not get caught as they passed by the rear of the house.

What I love best about this description from Hugh Weir’s Houses of Clare: “The initials E.B.B. are carved on the doors.” 

From Houses of Clare by Hugh Weir

Tragically, in 1850, Edmund’s older brother, Patrick died.

He was struck by lightning while sitting in a friend’s house near the fire and having a smoke.

Newspaper Account of Patrick's Death

There were three other Burke-Browne children in the family: two daughters and another son named William.

Marcella (1818-1846) was the first born and married William O’Brien when she was 17 years old in 1834.

They had four children but when she died suddenly at 30 years of age, William ~ an unsuccessful farmer ~ could not cope.

Leaving his youngest daughter, Attie, with his mother-in-law, he took the older three with him to America.

Attie never saw her family again.

A delicate child, Attie never went to school nor had any sort of systemic education yet she became a published poet and novelist.

She was a regular contributor to a periodical called “Irish Monthly” but had trouble breaking into the English market.

In 1863, Attie moved in with her Aunt Fanny (Edmund's sister) at Kildysart House and rarely left this beautiful spot overlooking the Shannon and Fergus Rivers.

She died in 1863.

In New York, Attie’s brother, William Mahon, joined the 88^th Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and served gallantly at the Battle of Bull Run.

He mustered out in 1863 as a Captain at the age of 21.

Settling in the San Francisco area, William became the Manager of the Hibernia & Dime Savings Bank.

Years later, as he lay dying, he told those with him ~ if he could only sit on the bank of the river in the “old land” where he had fished as a boy, he knew he would recover.

Edmund’s second sister was Frances ~ Fanny (1820-1890).

In 1843, she married the manager of the Kilrush branch of the Bank of Ireland, James O’Brien, Esq.

James was the son of the manager of the Ennis branch of the Bank, Terence O’Brien, Esq.

When Terence retired in 1848, guess who succeeded him as Bank Manager in Ennis?

John Harnett Milward

John Harnett Milward ~ our great great grandfather!

Do you see the social circle that had developed with these bankers?

Edmund Burke-Browne married P E’s daughter, Bessie Reilly at the Chapel of Ennistymon on November 23, 1860.

Chapel of Ennistymon

When they wed, Bessie was 27 and Edmund was 37.

The newlyweds moved into Castlepark House and started their family of seven daughters right away.

UPDATE: June 9, 2017

New information has just surfaced which totally negates my charming introduction to this essay.

The Archivist of the Royal Bank of Scotland (which acquired the National Bank of Ireland in 1966) graciously responded to my recent inquiry for the career information of several of our ancestors.

Evidently, the Ennistymon branch of the National Bank did not open in the 1830s but in 1871.

AND ~ Edmund Burke-Browne NEVER worked for the National Bank.... At least, she could locate no records for him.

I am sorry for the misinformation..... I distinctly remember Father Edmund O'Keefe telling me this story in 1999 when we were in Ireland at Tom McCormick's home.

In my research of the newspaper archives, I have not discovered any connection between the Bank and EBB....... or anything indicating that he held a job.

Edmund Burke Browne must have been PURE gentry ~  I have not seen any mention of his having a "land agent", either.....

He obviously lived off his land and did not need an "outside" job.

I still don't know how he and Bessie Reilly met nor how they even knew each other.

Research will continue!

EPILOGUE 

History gives a nation its bearing on what it is and how its people are affected by what has happened in the past. 

Its kings and queens, its wars - with victories and defeats - these all mold a nation’s culture into the way it views itself in the present. 

In the same way, a family history presents how a family has survived and come to terms with the great social and cultural experiences of the ages.

We hope these stories will give each member of our family a foundation and, in some small way, explain how we came to be what we are today.

Hopefully, through these vignettes, our future generations will gain a knowledge of the energy and dynamism, the loves and hates, the errors and mistakes, the victories and failures, the struggles and successes that make us what we are.

Our family history presents a fascinating read - and, hopefully, some lessons to be learned in the process.

A Beginning: Mary & Henry

When 17 year old Mary Frances Julia Milward married 34 year old Henry Patrick Reilly in 1872, he already was a well-established solicitor with offices in both his home village of Ennistymon and in the capital city of Dublin over 130 miles away.   In Ennistymon, he kept his office at 16 Parliament Street throughout his career.  

16 Parliament Street - now the Bank of Ireland

     After graduating from Springfield College in Ennis in 1859,    

Springfield College, Ennis

    Henry served a four year apprenticeship with Solicitor, Matthew Kenny, Esq at 17 Middle Gardiner Street in Dublin.       

    But, once called to the Bar in 1864, Henry seems to have preferred working from an office on one of the picturesque Quays along the River Liffey. He had several different addresses in Dublin but he favored Ormond Quay.         

          Besides having a successful legal career, in 1876, H.P. was also a prominent landowner - a landed proprietor. At a time in history when the property in Ireland was owned by only 2,000 individuals, H.P. owned 695 acres.      

If that were not enough, in 1870, H.P. had bought the hunting lodge built in 1840 by the Stacpoole family. It is still known as The Sunny-Side Cottage.          

Aerial View The Sunny-Side Cottage 1967 with the River Inagh    

  Situated on the east side of the Cascades on Old Lahinch Road, it sits directly across the River from the Ennistymon House (The Falls Hotel) - an ancient Manor House which figures prominently in our family history.       

River Inagh flowing past The Falls Hotel  

       All in all, Mary made a good match in marrying Henry Patrick.       

Although we are yet to uncover many details of Mary's childhood, the Milward family has an extraordinarily rich history which we will detail in future posts.             

The fifth of fourteen children, Mary Frances Julia was born to Ellen Maria and John Harnett Milward on August 25, 1855 at Fountain House in Ennis.       

       

 J.H. Milward was the very well respected Manager of the Bank of Ireland in Ennis.   In the 19th century social order in Ireland, bankers wielded much power and high prestige.          

 In those days, Banks customarily provided their managers with very comfortable housing in "Bank Houses" usually located above the Bank which they managed.        

 Despite their humble exteriors, these homes were very fashionable and big enough to accommodate large Irish families  - including the requisite two or three live-in servants.        

Bank of Ireland Ennis on Bank (AKA Jail) Place

        But, Mary was not born at the Ennis Bank House.          

Earlier that year, her father had bought Fountain House in Ennis. Fountain House was a 125 acre estate which J. H. farmed.             

In those days, it was not unusual for businessmen to also farm.             

Some rented large tracts of land and then would sublet to subsistence farmers or they employed people, at subsistence wages, to work the land for them.    

They - especially bankers - were able to obtain favorable terms on these leases.              

But, according to Hugh Weir in "Houses of Clare", JH Milward owned this estate.          

Here is his entry for Fountain House -        

Weir's Fountain House from "Houses of Clare"

     

Weir's Description of Fountain House

     

Detail of Milward Connection to Fountain House

   

Another Fountain House Mention

      We don't know where or if Mary went to school, but I think she might have because she had three brothers who had earned academic scholarships.        

Two went to Medical School at Queens University in Galway and the third brother became a respected Civil Engineer.             

Mary and Henry were married on August 20, 1872 at the Church of St Michael in Limerick.    

Mary & Henry's Marriage Certificate

      Jane M Whitestone and Thomas Hugh Kenny were the witnesses for the marriage.     

We do not know Jane Whitestone but Thomas Kenny was the brother of Matthew Kenny - Henry's law mentor. Thomas was connected to the Stacpoole and MacNamara families through marriage.           

Since Mary was from Ennis and Henry was from Ennistymon, we do not know why they chose to be married in Limerick City - 40 km away.........                          

The Church of St Michael, Limerick

   

Beneath the three Windows is the Original Altar where Mary & Henry were married

   

Another View of St Michael's

   

Model of St Michael's today. In 1872, the left side annex had yet to be built. As the Bride, Mary probably entered St Michael's through the small door at the bottom. The altar was positioned at the top of the model.

The week before their wedding, Mary's family was dealt a tragic blow.    

On August 14, 1872, her older brother William accidentally drowned while fishing on the Fergis River.         

According to the newspaper accounts, his boat capsized and he could not swim.  

William's widowed mother had been in Limerick and learned the tragic news when she got home that night.          

Newspaper Account of the Accidental Drowning of William Milward

   

William's Drowning

      Could Mary's mother have been in Limerick on wedding business?        

At any rate, this tragedy must have cast a shadow of sadness on the nuptials.          

As noted above -         

Henry Patrick Reilly was a successful Solicitor and a Prosperous Landowner when he married 17 year old Mary Frances Julia Milward who was 17 years younger than her new husband.         

Although she was the fifth of fourteen children, by the time of her marriage, her father had died and most of her siblings had either passed away or had emigrated.

She did not have her first child until 1886 - 14 years after her wedding.        

 It seems the newly-weds started married life at the Sunny-Side Cottage......         

But I wonder how Mary got along by herself at such a young age.         

We know she had servants and that she was an avid equestrienne.          

She kept chickens and had a garden.         

Although her husband's cousin, Ida Burke-Browne Galwey-Foley was much younger than she, a bond might have been struck between the two women with the birth of their sons at about the same time.         

We also know that Ida was well known as an accomplished equestrienne, in her own right.             

Perhaps, they rode the Clare Hunt together - side saddle, of course.     

Not our ancestors but could have been!

Edmund Galwey-Foley was Manager of the National Bank in Lahinch at this time so he probably knew Mary's father who was the Manager of the Ennis Branch of the same Bank.        

 Perhaps that was also a bond.         

We do know that Ida was appointed Gillie's Guardian so the two women must have been friends.        

 I intend to find answers to these questions, and MORE!           

So, here we go!           

Thanks for reading our first installment of the History of the Reilly Family.         

We're hoping to add stories twice a week so Stay Tuned!               

Susan  

EPILOGUE 

History gives a nation its bearing on what it is and how its people are affected by what has happened in the past. 

Its kings and queens, its wars - with victories and defeats - these all mold a nation’s culture into the way it views itself in the present. 

In the same way, a family history presents how a family has survived and come to terms with the great social and cultural experiences of the ages.

We hope these stories will give each member of our family a foundation and, in some small way, explain how we came to be what we are today.

Hopefully, through these vignettes, our future generations will gain a knowledge of the energy and dynamism, the loves and hates, the errors and mistakes, the victories and failures, the struggles and successes that make us what we are.

Our family history presents a fascinating read - and, hopefully, some lessons to be learned in the process.