Ardcroney Church, Bunratty Folk Park

Private Collection

Annie Biddulph Memorial Window, Ardcroney Church, Bunratty.

Private Collection

Anne Biddulph [abt. 1843-1901], Birr, County Offaly

Anne Biddulph was the daughter of Nicholas Biddulph of Congor House, Borrisokane, County Tipperary and Fortal, King’s County. Her mother was Nicholas’ second wife Isabella La Touche, daughter of James Digges La Touche, of Sans Souci, Dublin. An item in the Nenagh Guardian of February 19^th, 1873, gives us a little insight into her life.

Late Concert at Nenagh: ...Through some inadvertence we omitted the names of Miss Anne and Miss Grace Biddulph, who sang at the Concert and are members of the Choral society.
Anne Biddulph died of uremia and cerebral haemorrhage on the 21^st of September 1901 at Birrview, Crinkill. Her brother William was present at her death. She was 58 years old and unmarried. She appears to have lived in Birr all her life. She is buried in Congor graveyard which once surrounded Ardcroney Church.

In memory of Mary Biddulph who died 1^st January 1914. Also her sister Annie who died 21^st September 1901. Birr View, Birr. ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life.’

There is  a memorial window to Annie Biddulph in Ardcroney Church.

Sacred to the memory of Annie Biddulph died September 21, 1901.

But the church itself is no longer at Ardcroney. It was moved lock, stock, and barrel, to Bunratty Folk Park. The following account of the removal of the church appeared in the Independent.[1]

Tierney is best known for dismantling a Protestant church in Ardcroney, Co Tipperary, and re-erecting it at the Bunratty Folk Park a living, working museum dedicated to capturing what life was like in 19th-century rural Ireland. Tierney says all elements of the church were carefully removed, including the cast-iron windows, the roof slates and all the interior woodwork. Even samples of the delicate stencil work on the interior walls were removed and copied. The stone from the church was moved on special pallets and stored at Bunratty for later reconstruction. In 1997 planning permission was sought from Clare County Council. Once secured, Shaffery Associates, a Dublin-based architectural firm who specialise in the restoration of historic buildings, was appointed to oversee the reconstruction of the church. The painstaking job of reconstructing the building took one year to complete and a FAS group from Roscrea, Co Tipperary, assisted in the sourcing of furniture and fittings. Now the church, which was originally built in 1824, is an integral part of the Folk Park.

---

[1] http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/moving-house-stone-by-stone-26156646.htm

William Edward Head [1864-1945]

Charles Octavius Head [1869-1952]

Michael Ravenscroft Head [1880-1950]

Anna Septima Head

Isabella Elizabeth Biddulph [1840-1911]

Derrylahan Park, Riverstown, County Tipperary.

Isabella Elizabeth Biddulph [1840-1911]

Isabella Elizabeth Biddulph was born on the 21^st of February 1840, the eldest daughter of Nicholas Biddulph of Congor House, Borrisokane, County Tipperary and Fortal, King’s County. Her mother was Nicholas’ second wife Isabella La Touche, daughter of James Digges La Touche, of Sans Souci, Dublin.

She married William Henry Head of Modreeny House, Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, in 1860.

Marriage in High Life - On Tuesday morning, William Henry Head. Esq., J.P., D.L. of Modreeny House, Cloughjordan, led to the hymeneal altar the lovely and accomplished daughter of Nicholas Biddulph, Esq., J.P. of Conger House. The ceremony was performed in the Church of Conger, by the Very Rev. Dean Head, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Falkiner, incumbent of the parish. After partaking of a dejeuner, which was given to a select company by the bride's father, the happy couple started for Bray, where they intend spending the honeymoon.

They had twelve children.

1.  Elizabeth Phoebe Head. She married George Bennett in 1882. He was a Church of England Minister, formerly Presbyterian. They had three children.

2. William Edward Head, born at Riverstown on the 8^th of April 1864. William married twice. His first wife was Mary Katherine Johns. They were married in Larne, County Antrim, in 1886.  In 1904 he married Dora Clarke. He died in 1945 and is buried in Modreeny graveyard.

In loving memory of William Edward Head, late Capt., R. A., Mount View, Rathvilly, Co. Carlow, dearly loved husband of Dora Head and eldest son of the late William Henry Head, Derrylahan Park. Birr, died 5^th June 1945 aged 81 years. Also his beloved wife Dora died 11^th Aug 1952 aged 73 years. ‘Call me not dead, my soul to Christ has fled and soon both soul and body joined shall be.’ [Parish of Modreeny St. Kieran’s C. of I. graveyard, Barony of Lower Ormond].
3. Catherine Mary Head, born at Riverstown on the 22nd of August 1865. She died on the 10th of July 1873.

4.  John Henry Head was born at Riverstown on the 1^st of November 1866. He studied Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and died in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, in 1912.

5.  Charles Octavius Head was born on the 30^th of May 1869. He married Alice Margaret Threlfall in Chester in 1908. They had three children. Charles died in Shrewsbury in 1952.

6.  Michael Ravenscroft Head was born on the 12^th of May 1880. He became a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army. He died on the 22^nd of April 1950 in Devonshire.

7.  Georgiana Head was born on the 16^th of March 1868.

8. Isabella Louisa Head was born in Riverstown on the 23^rd of June 1870. She married George William Dundas. She died in 1960 and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, County Dublin.

9. Anna Septima Head was born in Riverstown on the 1^st of April 1873. She married George Langtry MacLaine in 1899. She died in 1955.

10. Frances Henrietta Head, died 18 July 1876, aged 12.
11. An unnamed boy also appears in the family photograph album.
12. Maria Isabel Head, died 18 October 1875.

Isabella died in 1911, of abscess of the gall-bladder and exhaustion. 

The late Mrs Isabella E. Head, Hillbrook, Birr, left personal estate valued at £7,345 14s. The testatrix left £400 each to her daughters Elizabeth Isabella and Anna Head; £300 to her daughter Georgiana; £200 to her son Dr. John Head, M.D., £100 to her son Dr. John Head, M.D.; £100 to her son Major Charles Octavius Head, R.H.A., and he residue of her estate to her son Michael Head. [Irish Independent, Mon March 04, 1912].

Derrylahan Park, Riverstown, where the Head family lived, was designed by Sir Thomas Newenham Dean, who also designed Portumna Castle, and was built in 1862. A description of the house appeared in the Freeman’s Journal in February, 1901. The Estate was in the Chancery Court and for sale after the death of William Head.

The house is built of cut stone, and in the Elizabethan style, and is fitted with mahogany doors, marble mantelpieces, and all the latest improvements.

It contains on the ground floor four reception rooms, housekeeper’s room, cloakroom, servants’ hall, kitchen, pantries etc. On the first floor, twelve bedrooms, two dressing rooms, bathroom (with hot and cold water), and two w.c.s.

In 1921 Derrylahan Park was destroyed by fire.

Another Mansion Burned. Derrylahan Park reduced to Ashes. Col. Head “Too friendly with the English." [The King's County Chronicle. Thursday Jul 7th, 1921].

The front page of the newspaper carried a picture of Derrylahan Park.

Riverstown, County Tipperary

William Nicholas Biddulph [1848-1915]

William Nicholas Biddulph was born in 1848, the second son of Nicholas Biddulph of Congor House, Borrisokane, County Tipperary and Fortal, King’s County. His mother was Nicholas’ second wife Isabella La Touche, daughter of James Digges La Touche, of Sans Souci, Dublin.  He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (MA), and became a Clerk in Holy Orders. He married Rebecca Clarke, the daughter of William Clarke of Fimoney Lodge, Corbally, County Tipperary, on the 29^th November 1889. They had ten children.

1.  William Nicholas John Biddulph. Born 24th December 1890. He married Kathleen Louisa Taylor in 1945. He died in Canada in 1958 and is buried in Young Cemetery

Saskatchewan, Canada.

2.   Robert Richard Biddulph [1892-1959]. He was educated in Dublin. He married Gladys Maude Sherring in 1927. He died in Taunton, Devon in 1959.

3.   James George Alexander Biddulph [1894-1939]. He married Dorothy Clark in 1924.

4.   Isabella Gertrude Ann ‘Daisy’ Biddulph [1895-]. She married Robert King Flewett in 1937.

5.   Caroline Rebecca Regina Victoria ‘Queenie’ Biddulph [1897-]. She married Cyril du Cros in St. John’s Church, Sandymount, in 1925.

6.   Georgina Elizabeth Biddulph [1899-1914]. Died aged 15.

7.   Dora Mary Eleanor Biddulph [1902-]. She married Timothy McCrohan in 1928.

8.   Grace Kathleen Marrion Biddulph [1904- 1998].

9.   Aileen Maude Beatrice Biddulph [1906- 1976].

10. Violet Sarah Margaret Patricia Biddulph [1909-1974].

William Nicholas Biddulph died of pneumonia and heart failure at 4 Florence Villas, Park Avenue, Dublin, on the 16^th of January 1915. His daughter Daisy registered his death. He was 67 years old. His youngest daughter, Violet, was six.

Robert Waller Biddulph and Caroline Julliet Studdert

Robert Waller Biddulph [1845 - 1915]

Robert Waller Biddulph was born on the 19^th March 1845, the third son of Nicholas Biddulph of Congor House, Borrisokane, County Tipperary and Fortal, King’s County. His mother was Nicholas’ second wife Isabella La Touche, daughter of James Digges La Touche, of Sans Souci, Dublin.

He married Caroline Julliet Studdert on the 13^th May, 1876. She was the daughter of Francis Paterson Studdert, Rector of Borrisokane, and of St. Patrick’s, Limerick.

Marriages. Biddulph and Studdert. On the 13th May, at St. Patrick's Church, Limerick, by the Lord Bishop of Limerick, cousin of the bride, assisted by the Rev. W. N. Biddulph, M.A., Bob Waller Biddulph, Esq., M.B., R. N.. second son of Nicholas Biddulph Esq., J.P., of Congor House, Co. Tipperary, to Caroline Julliet, only surviving daughter of the Rev., J.P. Studdert, A.M., Rector of St. Patrick’s, Limerick.[Nenagh Guardian, May 17, 1876]

They had two children.

Their daughter Caroline Isobel Biddulph was born in Bermuda in 1877. She married her first husband, George Augustus Herbert Hackett Brereton, of Clongowna, Rathcabbin, County Tipperary, in Ardcroney Church on the 8^th  of December 1915, apparently after the death of both of her parents, though Robert Waller Biddulph appears in the marriage records for both Caroline and Robert as retired and not deceased.  George Brereton died on the 20^th of April 1920. She then married William J. Lovett Ashton on the 22^nd of November 1922. She died in 1935.

 ASHTON - October 8th 1935, Caroline Isabella, of Clongowna, Birr, King's County, beloved wife of Captain W.J. Lovett Ashton, and daughter of the late Fleet-Surgeon R.W. Biddulph, R.N. Funeral arrangements later. English papers please copy. (The Irish Times, Tuesday October 8, 1935).

Their son Robert Nicholas William Waller Biddulph was born in 1883. He married Gertrude Dorothy Piper in 28 November 1912 in Woking, Surrey.

Like his father and uncle he too was a Surgeon in the Royal Navy, and became Surgeon Lieutenant Commander. He died in 1956 in Gosport, Hampshire, and is buried in Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery.

Robert Waller Biddulph was appointed Fleet Surgeon in the Royal Navy.

Staff Surgeon Biddulph  – by a memorandum of the Admiralty, dated 21^st inst., Surgeon Robert Waller Biddulph, B.A., A.M.B., son of Nicholas Biddulph Esq., J.P. Congor House, Borrisokane, has been promoted to the rank of Staff Surgeon in her Majesty’s Fleet, with seniority of 8^th inst. [Nenagh Guardian, Wed., Oct 27, 1880].

 He retired in 1893. His records are available to view in The National Archives, Kew, London. He died on the 22^nd of January 1915 in Surbiton, Surrey. His wife Caroline Julliet Biddulph died 6^th April 1915 in Surrey.

Richard Edmund Biddulph [1852-1931]

Richard Edmund Biddulph [1852 - 1931]

  Richard Edmund Biddulph was the fifth son of Nicholas Biddulph of Congor House, Borrisokane, County Tipperary and Fortal, King’s County. His mother was Nicholas’ second wife Isabella La Touche, daughter of James Digges La Touche, of Sans Souci, Dublin. He married Gertrude Charlotte Allen in 1885. They had three daughters.

Violet Emma Isabelle was born in 1888 in Weymouth, Dorset. She married Leonard Havelock Wheatley.

Hyacinth Ellen Gertrude was also born in Weymouth Dorset, 1890. She married William Richard Fenwick Ryan. They had one son, Anthony Richard Biddulph Ryan, who died in WW2 in Germany in 1945. He was a member of the Grenadier Guards [Foot Guards] having originally enlisted with the Sherwood Foresters.  He is buried in Sage War Cemetery, Lower Saxony. Hyacinth died in 1984.

Muriel Grace, known as ‘Boo’, was born in Bermuda in 1893. She married Charles Chevin Cumming. Muriel died in 1982.

Richard Biddulph studied at Trinity College Dublin, graduating with a BA and MB [1876] and BCh [1877].  Having joined the Royal Navy as a surgeon, he became Fleet Surgeon in 1895. He later became Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals, finally retiring in 1907.

Admiralty, 29^th April, 1907.

In accordance with the provisions of Her late Majesty’s Order in Council of 1^st April, 1881 – Fleet Surgeon Richard Edmund Biddulph, M.B., B. A., has been placed on the retired List, with permission to assume the rank of Deputy  Inspector –General of Hospitals and Fleets. Dated 28^th April 1907.  [The London Gazette, April 30, 1907]

Gertrude died in Malta in January 1931. The following obituary is from an unknown source.

With deep regret we chronicle the death of Mrs. G.C. Biddulph (nee Allen) the beloved wife of Deputy Inspector General R. E. Biddulph, R. N. (Rtd) which took place on Thursday last at the Blue Sisters' Hospital, after a very short illness, at the age of 65 years. The deceased lady had been a resident in Malta for a considerable number of years, and was a highly esteemed member of the English community. Affable and kindly the deceased lady had won the regard of all who knew her, and she will be greatly missed by a large circle of friends. She is survived by her bereaved husband and daughter, Mrs Cumming wife of Col C. C. Cumming, C. B., M.B. to whom we tender our heartfelt sympathy in their loss. The funeral, attended by many who paid their last tribute to the deceased lady, took place yesterday morning at Ta-Braxia cemetery.

Richard died in the same year as his wife Gertrude, in July, and both are buried in Ta Braxia Cemetery, Malta.

Robert Assheton Biddulph [1891-1916]

  Robert [Bertie] Assheton Biddulph was the fifth child and only son of Assheton Biddulph of Moneyguyneen, Birr, County Offaly, and his wife Florence Caroline Boothby. He was educated at Harrow, and Exeter College, Oxford. He married Derreen Ussher Holt, youngest daughter of W S Holt, of Ball Copse Hall, Brent Knoll, Somerset, in March 1916.

Robert Biddulph was a Lieutenant in the 2^nd Dragoon Guards, Queen’s Bays. He served in WW1 and suffered from deafness, caused by the explosion of a shell close by. He later died of rheumatic fever in Aldershot on the 19^th of November 1916, and is buried in Killoughey Church of Ireland graveyard.

Captain Grant, of the Queen's Bays, wrote, "It is too sad to think that such a good sportsman and man in every way should have had such a short life. He was most popular out here and everywhere, and I have lost a great friend."[1]

The local newspapers reported his death.

Lieut. R. Biddulph. Much regret over his death. Very great regret was felt in Kinnitty and district on Monday when it was known that Lieut. Robert A. Biddulph had passed away in an hospital in England. Deceased was only son of the late Assheton Biddulph, M. F. H., and much sympathy is felt with the family at his early demise. It was only in January of the present year the sad news was published of the death of Mr Assheton Biddulph, of Moneyguineen, Kinnitty, aged 65 years. We hope in our next issue to publish further particulars of the sad demise of Second-Lieutenant, Robert A. Biddulph. [King's County Chronicle, 1916.]

Lieutenant R A Biddulph. The death from heart failure has occurred at Wellesley House Hospital, Aldershot, of Lieutenant Robert Assheton Biddulph, Dragoon Guards, the only son of the late Mr Assheton Biddulph, and of Mrs Biddulph, of Moneyguyneen, King's County. Lieutenant Biddulph was 25 years of age [Westmeath Independent, November, 1916.]

Robert’s father, Assheton, had died earlier that year, in January. His first cousin, Assheton Biddulph Caddell, died in Belgium in February. His brother-in-law Jack Goold Adams, Ierne’s husband, died at Ypres in May of the previous year. It is hard to imagine how much the grief the family suffered.

Robert had inherited Moneyguyneen on the death of his father. As a result of the death of Robert, everything was inherited by his widow Derreen. His mother, Florence, and his sisters, Ethne, Ierne and Norah found themselves in changed circumstances and were forced to leave Ireland and begin a new life. They moved to Pan’s Garden, Warnham, Sussex.

Derreen married again, to Eric FitzGerald Wharton, and died in Weymouth, Dorset, England in 1979.

Robert Assheton Biddulph’s name is inscribed on the  National Roll of Honour at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin.

---

[1] http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishcavalry/queensbaysbiddulph.htm

Norah Beatrice Biddulph [1885-1972]

Norah Beatrice Biddulph [1885- 1972] and the Quantock Weavers

 Norah Beatrice was the third daughter of Assheton Biddulph of Moneyguyneen and Florence Caroline Boothby his wife.  Norah Biddulph’s life took a very different path from that of her sisters. There are many accounts of her life.

 Norah went to Egypt to live with her sister. Almost immediately her sister's husband was taken seriously ill and had to return to England. Norah left on her own found a job at Bourg el Arab in the Lybian desert where Bedouin women were being taught to weave. This fascinated her and later she went to Sweden to learn in earnest all about spinning and weaving before settling in Somerset.[1]

In Somerset she met Gladys Dickinson.

Gladys Dickinson's father was world famous for his knowledge of oriental porcelain and the family lived in Chiswick. In 1912 Frank Dickinson bought a farm near Canterbury for his sons but when war broke out they joined the navy and it fell on Gladys to run the farm. She could shear 74 sheep singlehanded. In 1921 her father died and the estate split up. Gladys was left with a few pounds and her ancient motor bike.[2] 

Norah and Gladys became friends and took over the Old Forge at Over Stowey. Life was about to change.

In 1956 the ladies were given a piece of serpentine stone by Mrs Harry Fox of Fox Brothers and Co. of Wellington, which they used for inspiration to create a length of cloth that featured the colours of this iconic stone. This saw the start of the pair taking inspiration from stones from around the country to create their cloth.[3]

Other contemporary voices can tell their story better than I can.

They obtain fleece straight from the sheep's back and spin it into yarn, wash it and dye the wool. The dye they use is obtained straight from the hedgerows and anywhere where wild flowers grow. The list of dyes and their sources is staggering. Nettle leaves give a yellow green. Dock roots brown. Mares tail bright yellow and so on. When the wool is dry it is ready for weaving. They set up the warp or the base for the materials they are weaving and with magician like fingers thread the warp through the heddles which determine the type of weave they want. The wool on a spindle is pushed between the warp and this is pushed tight against the fabric by pulling the head [?] against it. They weave tweeds for skirts, knee rugs, stoles, head squares, vestments and altar cloths some of which are in Wells Cathedral…[4]

The women became famous for their work throughout Somerset and beyond. They gave courses on their craft and subsequently set up the Somerset Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, which is still in operation today.[5]

More information about the Quantock Weavers and examples of their work can be found at:

http://weavinginthequantocks.blogspot.ie/

A more detailed account of their lives can also be found in Woven from a Stone: the story of the Quantock Weavers, by Hubert Fox, Taunton, 1968.

Norah Beatrice Biddulph died in Taunton in 1972.

---

[1] Unknown source

[2] Unknown source

[3] https://somersetrurallifemuseum.org.uk/2014/08/28/the-quantock-weavers/

/index.html accessed 10/03/2017

[4] Unknown source

[5] https://somersetrurallifemuseum.org.uk/2014/08/28/the-quantock-weavers/

/index.html accessed 10/03/2017

Ierne Grace Biddulph [1884-1958]

Ierne Grace Biddulph [1884-1958]

Ierne Grace was the second daughter of Assheton Biddulph of Moneyguyneen, Kinnitty, County Offaly and his wife Florence Caroline Boothby.

She married John [Jack] Goold Adams on the 5^th of August 1913 in Kinnitty Church, County Offaly. Born 1883, Rossdowney, Londonderry, the only son of John Goold Adams, the Archdeacon of Derry,  he served in the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). He died on the 4th of May 1915, in Ypres, France. There is no grave but his name is recorded on Panel 44 of the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial.

She married her second husband Alexander Granville, CMG, CBE, MRCS, LRCP., on the  23^rd August 1922.  He was a British physician and a colonial administrator in Egypt, and received many honours for his work, including being made a Pasha. He died on the 23rd of March 1929 after a long illness. They were then living at 34 Halsey-street, Chelsea, Middlesex.

In 1935 Ierne travelled from Vigo to Southampton on board the ALCANTARA. Travelling with her was Desiree [Desirie] Granville aged 15, the daughter of Alexander Granville, and Ierne’s stepdaughter.

Desiree died in Hindhead, Surrey in 1994.Idnhead   H

Ierne Grace Granville [nee Biddulph] died in 1958. She is believed to be buried at St. Nicholas, Chiswick, Middlesex, England.

Ethne Patricia Biddulph [1889-1974]

Ethne Patricia Biddulph [1889 -1974]

The fourth and youngest daughter of Assheton Biddulph and Florence Caroline Boothby, Ethne Patricia lived at Moneyguyneen with her parents until the death of her father Assheton in Bath in 1916.

She trained as a masseuse in Dublin. Her name can be found in the UK, Physiotherapy and Masseuse Registers, 1895-1980 ISTM Certificate holders 1917-1919. The ISTM or Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses, was to be found at 157 Great Portland Street, London.

From 1920-21 her address appears as Moneyguyneen, Birr. Perhaps her mother Florence was still living there.

She appears again in the Registers under CSMMG [Chartered Society of Masseuses & Medical Gymnasts] and CSP [The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy] 1920-1935. Additional Qualification Registered M.E. [not practising]. Her address is given as Pan’s Garden, Warnham.

In 1926 she travelled to Algeria to visit her sister Ierne and her sister’s husband Alexander Granville, a British official serving with the Egyptian government, before his early death after a long illness, in London, in 1929.

She again travelled with Norah Beatrice Biddulph, aged 47, and their mother Florence Caroline Biddulph, aged 74, from Southampton to Morocco in 1933. All three gave Pan's Garden, Warnham as their address. She was 43.

Her name appears in The London Gazette, 7 January, 1955, under the heading As Serving Sisters: Ethne Patricia, Miss Biddulph.

Ethne Patricia Biddulph died in 1974. She was 85 years old. She never married.

Biddulph, Ethne Patricia, of Court Cottage, Court La, Hadlow nr Tonbridge, died 16 September 1974. Probate Brighton 19 November. £24, 832. 74051231E [England and Wales, National Probate Calendar].

Killyon Manor, County Meath, Ireland

Private Collection.

Kathleen Jane Biddulph [1881-1969]

Kathleen Jane was born in 1881, the eldest daughter of Assheton Biddulph, of Moneyguyneen, Kinnitty, Kings’ County, and Florence Caroline Boothby. Kathleen married Shaen Magan, of Killyon Manor, County Meath, against her father’s wishes, in 1906. Assheton never spoke to his daughter again.

Magan and Biddulph - January 22nd, at St. Mary's Church, Athlone, by the Very Rev. the Dean of Clonmacnoise, Arthur Tilson Shaen Magan, of Correal, Co. Roscommon, to Kathleen, eldest daughter of Assheton Biddulph, of Moneyguyneen, Birr, King's County.

Present address: Killyon Manor, Hill-of-Down, Co. Meath.

Kathleen and Shaen Magan had five children.

Their eldest daughter Annie Sheelagh Magan was born on the 4^th of December 1906. 

She died on the 9^th of December 1969 at the age of 63, she was unmarried.

Their eldest son, William Morgan Tilson Magan, was born in 1908. He had an illustrious career in the Indian cavalry, and later joined MI5. He was the author of Umma-more, the story of Ireland, a history of the Magan family.  He died on 21^st   of January 2010 at the age of 101. He was described in his obituary in the Irish Times, March 27^th 2010, as ‘MI5 spymaster and soldier of the Raj who was born in Ireland.’

Maureen Magan was born on the 11^th of November 1914.

She married Colonel John Herbert Gillington, on the 9^th of September 1939.  She married John Donald Alexander Arthur Makgill, 12th Viscount of Oxfuird, on the 6^th of October 1955. She died on the 17^th of July 2002 at the age of 87.

Violet Mary Magan was born on the 11^th of December 1909.

She married John Clement Chawner on the 30^th of December 1935. She later married Henry Francis Chester Walsh on the 2nd of November 1956.

Francis Shaen Magan, their second son, was born in 1918. He travelled to India as a tea planter in 1938. He married Susan Patricia Colvill in 1946.

Shaen Magan died in 1965. Kathleen died in 1969.

MAGAN (U.O.). Quarterly, 1 and 4, argent, a chevron between three boars passant azure, tusked, hoofed, and bristled or (Magan); 2 and 3, azure, on a bend between
two garbs or, a mitre gules (Tilson). Mantling azure and argent. Crest — Upon a wreath of the colours, a boar’s head erased azure, tusked and bristled or. Motto
“Virtute et probitate." [Arthur Charles Fox-Davies. Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour (Volume 2)]