Spring-Rice

Family title

Lord Monteagle

Estate(s)

Name	Description
Spring-Rice	Smith indicates that the Spring family were originally from Lavenham in Suffolk and settled in Kerry during the reign of Elizabeth I. In the late 18th century Stephen Rice was agent to the Clive estates in county Kerry. In the early 19th century he bought the former Trenchard estate in the barony of Shanid. In 1785 his son Stephen Edward Rice of Mount Trenchard, county Limerick, married Catherine, only child and heir of Thomas Spring of Castlemaine, county Kerry. Their son Thomas Spring Rice was created 1st Lord Monteagle in 1839. He married a daughter of the 1st Earl of Limerick. The Monteagle estate was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Kiltallagh, barony of Trughanacmy, county Kerry at the time of Griffith's Valuation (formerly the Spring estate). Lord Monteagle's Limerick estate was concentrated in the barony of Shanid where he held land in the parishes of Kilmoylan, Robertstown and Shanagolden and also in the parishes of Clonagh, Connelloe Lower and Caherconlish and Carrigparson, barony of Clanwilliam. In the 1830s Lewis writes that the town and surrounding lands of Shanagolden were principally the property of the Right Honourable Thomas Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the 1840s his agent was Stephen Edward Collis of Listowel, county Kerry. Some of his main tenants at the time of Griffith's Valuation were Faithy Ebzery, Patrick Griffin, Arthur Vincent and the Reverend Richard C. Langford. Stephen Edward Collis, Octavius Knox and Robert William Jameson were agents to the Spring Rices in the 19th century. Lord Monteagle's estate in county Limerick amounted to 6,445 acres and his county Kerry estate to over 2000 acres in the 1870s.
Spring	The Spring family held estates in the area around Castlemaine, county Kerry in the eighteenth century. In 1785 Stephen Edward Rice of Mount Trenchard, county Limerick, married Catherine only child and heir of Thomas Spring of Castlemaine, county Kerry.
Rice	The estate of Justice D. Rice of Bushmount, Causeway, amounted to over 1200 acres in county Kerry in the 1870s. The Rice family held lands in the Dingle area in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and the Bushmount family were descended from them. Smith indicates that the Dingle family descend from Stephen Rice, granted lands in the Dingle area during the reign of Elizabeth I. He also notes that Edward Rice was granted an estate in Kerry under the Act of Settlement in 1667. In 1867, the rental of lands in the barony of Clanmaurice, belonging to Thomas Roche Rice, were offered for sale in the Landed Estates Court. The rental of lands held on lease from Stephen Edward Rice by John Murphy was offered for sale in May of the same year.
Clive (Co Clare)	Robert Clive, known as "Clive of India", bought an estate in county Clare from the Dublin banker Henry Mitchell circa 1760. Mitchell had bought the two portions of his estate from General John Thomas Fowke and the trustees of Henry O'Brien, Earl of Thomond about twenty years earlier. The estate was comprised of dispersed pockets of land mainly located to the west and north of what is now Shannon Airport. Clive purchased the head rent of these lands which were leased to such families as the Spaights, Hickmans, Lewins, Creaghs, Wolfes, MacDonnells. His agent was Caleb Powell. Logan estimates the estate to have been over 12,000 acres. Robert Clive was created Baron Clive of Plassey [Ballykilty], county Clare, in 1762. The 1761 rental of the estate of Robert Clive lists William Monsell as tenant of "Plassey otherwise Ballykilty". Clive died in 1774 and was succeeded by his son Edward who married the sister and heir of George E.H.A. Herbert, Earl of Powis, who held the head rent of an estate at Castleisland, county Kerry. In 1804 Edward was created Earl of Powis. In 1790 Edward Clive visited counties Kerry, Limerick and Clare. Following this visit Stephen Rice was appointed agent to the estates in Edward Clive's control in counties Kerry and Clare. Before his death in 1839 Edward Clive had specified that his Irish estates were to be sold to pay off any debts due from the consolidation of the Clive and Herbert estates. His son Edward had inherited the Herbert estates of his uncle. The county Clare estate of the Clives was sold in 1842 and Logan lists the names of the tenants in 1761, 1841 and the purchasers. The purchasers included names such as Gabbett (Ballykilty), Caswell (Rosmadda), McMahon, Hickman (Carrigoran), Roseingrave, Brady and Ball (Fortfergus).
Trenchard	In the late 16th century William Trenchard from Wiltshire was granted land in county Limerick. William Hodges was steward for the Trenchards in the early 18th century. His descendants lived at Corgrigg Castle but the male line died out sometime in the early 18th century and the estate was inherited by the Long and Hippesly families who had intermarried with the Trenchards. In 1770 the estate amounting to almost 4,000 acres was divided between the two families. The Hippeslys sold their share to the Earl of Conyngham. In the early 1800s Thomas Rice of Kerry bought both divisions.