Pakenham

Family title

Earl of Longford

Estate(s)

Name	Description
Pakenham	Henry Pakenham, born 1611, was granted lands in county Wexford and at Tullynally, county Westmeath in the mid-17th century. In 1739 his great-grandson, Thomas, married Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Michael Cuff and niece of Ambrose Aungier, 2nd and last Earl of Longford (1st creation). In 1756 he was created Baron Longford. In 1785 his wife became Countess of Longford. Their grandson, another Thomas, [3rd Baron], inherited the Earldom of Longford from his grandmother in 1794. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (publ. 1854) Edward Michael Pakenham, 3rd Earl of Longford, owned a very extensive estate in the parish of Killucan, county Westmeath with much smaller acreages in the parishes of Castlelost, Killare and Rathgarve. In the mid-1870s the 4th Earl’s county Westmeath estate was recorded as amounting to 15,014 acres, with an estate of 4,555 acres in county Longford and 420 acres in county Dublin. The estate was among the principal lessors in the parishes of Ballymacormick and Templemichael in the baronies of Ardagh and Longford, County Longford and in the parishes of Mayne and Rathgarve, barony of Fore, County Westmeath The Honourable and Reverend Henry Pakenham was the fifth son of Edward Michael Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford. In 1822 he married Eliza Catherine Sandford, sister and co -heiress of Henry Sandford, 2nd Lord Mountsandford. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Pakenham estate in county Roscommon was in the parishes of Dysart and Fuerty, barony of Athlone, Kilbride and Roscommon, barony of Ballintober South and Ballintober, Baslick and Kilcorkey, barony of Castlereagh. It amounted to over 3,000 acres.
Sandford/Wills Sandford	The descendants of Captain Theophilus Sandford of Moyglare, county Meath, settled at Castlerea, county Roscommon, in the late 17th century and represented the county in Parliament. Henry Moore Sandford (1751-1814) was created Baron Mount Sandford of Castlerea in July 1800. The title became extinct in 1846 following the death of George Sandford, 3rd Baron and the Sandford estates which were in the parishes of Dysart, barony of Athlone, Drumatemple, barony of Ballymoe and Ballintober, Kilkeevin and Kiltullagh, barony of Castlereagh, passed to the families of his sisters Wills of Willsgrove, Pakenham and Newenham. In the 1870s Thomas G. Wills Sandford owned 24,410 acres in county Roscommon and 949 acres in county Dublin. Over 1,200 acres of the Wills Sandford estate was vested in the Congested Districts' Board on 5 Nov 1911.
Dowdall	Sir Luke Dowdall baronet, son of Lawrence Dowdall, was granted over 4,000 acres in the barony of Athlone, county Roscommon in 1677. Some of his lands were in the parish of Dysart and were in the possession of the Pakenham family by the time of Grifftith's Valuation.
Mahon/Pakenham-Mahon	In February 1666 Captain Nicholas Mahon was granted over 2,700 acres in the barony of Roscommon and in July 1678 he was granted over 3,000 acres in the baronies of Roscommon and Ballintober county Roscommon. The latter became the Manor of Ballynamully or Strokestown, 500 acres to be held as demesne. Thomas Mahon represented the borough of Roscommon 1739-1763 and the county from 1763-1782. His son and heir, Maurice Mahon, was created Baron Hartland of Strokestown in July 1800. The Honourable S. Mahon was a member of the Grand Panel of county Roscommon in 1828. The Ordnance Survey Name Books record Thomas Conry as agent to Lord Hartland. The title died out with the death in 1845 of Maurice, 3rd Baron Hartland. He was succeeded by his cousin, Major Denis Mahon, who was murdered in 1847. Grace Catherine Mahon, the heiress, married Henry Sandford Pakenham, eldest son of the Honourable and Reverend Henry Pakenham and they took the additional name of Mahon. Their only son Henry had one child, a daughter Olive. The estate of the Rev Henry Pakenham, Dean of St Patrick’s, Dublin, was partly in the parish of Killare, county Westmeath. In the mid-1870s Henry Pakenham of Strokestown, county Roscommon owned 632 acres in county Westmeath. In the 1850s Henry Sandford Pakenham-Mahon held land in the county Roscommon parishes of Dysart, barony of Athlone, Kilglass and Kilmore, barony of Ballintober North, Kilbride, Kilgefin, barony of Ballintober South, Cloonfinlough, Bumlin, Aughrim, Elphin, Kilbride, Kiltrustan, Lissonuffy, barony of Roscommon. In the 1870s the Pakenham Mahon estate amounted to almost 27,000 acres in county Roscommon. Over 8,600 acres of the Mahon estate was vested in the Congested Districts' Board in March 1911 and July 1912. The Strokestown House archive is now located at the OPW-NUI Maynooth Archive and Research Centre at Castletown, county Kildare.
Cooke (Cooksborough)	By the end of the 17th century this family was established in county Westmeath following a grant of 1,152 acres in the barony of Moycashell in 1669. John Cooke, born 1656, in his will dated 5 May 1730, mentions his wife Elizabeth (Foster), his three sons and ten daughters, some of whom were married to members of the Reynell, Rotton, Daniel, Nugent and Hudson families. In 1745 his eldest son Robert married Mary Sandford of county Roscommon and they had two children Elizabeth who married Thomas Purdon of Huntington, county Westmeath and Robert (1752-1835) who married Maria Saunders of Castle Saunders, county Wicklow. Both Robert and Maria’s sons died unmarried in their father’s lifetime and the estate was left to Robert’s illegitimate son Adolphus Cooke. A soldier and eccentric Adolphus Cooke’s estate was mainly in the parish of Rathconnell but also in Killucan and Killulagh. In the mid-1870s he owned 4,557 acres in the county. He left his estate to Edward Michael Pakenham, a younger son of the 4th Earl of Longford. Following his death in 1876 there were legal disputes about his will with his cousin Dr Wellington Purdon and the estate was sold to pay the debts.