FRANCIS SPAIGHT & LAND CLEARANCES
Julie draws attention to the land clearing activities of Francis Spaight of Derry Castle. It’s something I've not heard about before and it got me thinking. Julie thought that Francis Spaight was responsible for his “tenants” arriving on the Adam Lodge in Sydney in 1841. I have a particular interest in the Adam Lodge as my g grandmother Julia Salmon arrived in Sydney on that ship.
I’ve done a quick bit of research on the internet (no libraries are open in Sydney) and have found that Francis Spaight does not seem to have purchased Derry Castle until 1844. So it would seem that the people on the Adam Lodge may have come to Sydney for other reasons.
Most of the immigrants on the Adam Lodge were bounty immigrants brought to NSW by the firm Gilchrist & Alexander who were general merchants and mercantile agents operating in Sydney. They brought in large numbers of immigrants into NSW in the 1840”s and were paid a “bounty” by the NSW Government for each immigrant.
Some interesting snippets:
The Derry Castle and Burgess estate, county of Tipperary, was knocked down to Francis Spaight, Esq, of Limerick, for £39500 at the Chambers of Master Goold, on Tuesday. The highest bona fide offer for this property at the sale last May was £37500, and it was then bought in at £38000. The estate comprises 3000 acres of land, with mansion house, and offices, on the most picturesque and frequented part of the Upper Shannon, near Killaloe.
Statesman and Dublin Christian Record
16 August 1844
https://irishwaterwayshistory.com/tag/tipperary/
There is a castle in Derrycastle called "Caisleán an locha". It is situated on an island on the Tipperary side of Lough Derg. There is a road leading from the shore to this castle but during the Winter this road is covered with water and the castle can be reached only by boat. This castle was built by the O'Brien's of Arra and opposite to it on the Clare side of Lough Derg is Kincora - where Brian Boru's Fort can still be seen. From the top of "Caisleán an locha" a grand view can be got of Lough Derg. The castle is of a round shape, there is a stone stairs going from the floor to the top and there are trees growing round it. https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922151/4856551/5012205
Thus, Landlord assistance was very low since it represented only 4% of overseas emigration. Moreover its importance varied in the different counties. The counties of Clare, Limerick and Sligo were prominent centres of landlord assisted emigration. In these counties there were important proprietors such as the marquis of Lansdowne in Kerry, Francis Spaight in Clare and Tipperary, or Sir Robert Gore Booth in Sligo who assistance was very uncommon in County Cork. Francis Spaight, a Limerick merchant and also a British magistrate who had himself transported many of his own tenants in 1847, said: “I found so great an advantage of getting rid of the pauper population upon my own property that I made every possible exertion to remove them; they were a dead weight and prevented any improvement upon the land they occupied.” Almost every landlord agreed with F. Spaight on the fact that reducing the population was the precondition for agricultural improvement. However, most of them looked to the state to help remove the people. spent £15,000 in removing 1340 tenants. On the contrary, even if Sir John Benn-Walsh and Lady Carbery spent considerable sums of money, landlord
Irish immigration to the United States of America
1815- 1850 thesis written by Ms. Antsar A. Abed
19 APRIL 1847
In Killaloe 100 families, averaging 500 people, surrender their small holdings to the proprietor, Francis Spaight, in return for a free passage to Canada. The Jane Black sails with 500 passengers for Quebec. They are principally farm labourers from Limerick, Clare and Tipperary. The Heaths Bell sails this evening for New York with 105 passengers, ‘including several independent farmers with their families from the County Kerry’.
Famine Diary Brendan O Cathoir
CONCLUSION
Francis Spaight was not the sort of landlord at tenant would need at any time particularly during a famine!
It would seem therefore that the immigrants on the Adam Lodge may not have been tenants cleared by Francis Spaight. However the immigrants on the Sir Edward Parry arriving in Sydney may have been. I’m interested in that ship also as my McKeogh’s were on that ship.
Peter
