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Shirley
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The Shirleys descend from Sir Robert Shirley created Earl Ferrers in 1711. Like the Thynnes, Marquesses of Bath, they inherited their county Monaghan estate through their descent from Lady Dorothy Shirley, formerly Devereux, a sister of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. The county Monaghan estate passed to the sons of the 1st Earl Ferrers’ second marriage following his death in 1711. George Shirley of Ettington, Warwickshire, was the grandfather of Evelyn John Shirley of Ettington and Lough Fea and his five brothers and three sisters. Evelyn J. Shirley commissioned the building of Lough Fea as an occasional home for the family in the 1820s. His nephew, George Morant junior, was agent to the estate in the early 1850s. His son, Evelyn Philip Shirley, owned a very large estate in the parishes of Magheross, Magheracloone, Donaghmoyne and Killanny in the mid 19th century, while his brother, the Reverend James Shirley, rector of Frettenham, held land in the same parishes except Magheross. In 1876 Evelyn P. Shirley owned 26,387 acres in county Monaghan while his uncle Sir Horatio Shirley of London owned 4,197 acres. During the 18th and 19th centuries the Shirleys were absentee landlords but in 1904 they came to live at Lough Fea on a permanent basis until 1977. In 1906, the Lough Fea had a rateable valuation of £102 and was occupied by the trustees of S.E. Shirley. The estate now comprises about 1,000 acres and is still owned by the Shirley family. See http://www.shirleyassociation.com/NewShirleySite/NonMembers/Ireland/loughfea.html
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Thynne (Marquess of Bath)
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The Thynnes were resident at Longleat, Warminster, Wiltshire, England, from the 16th century. Longleat, an Elizabethan stately house, is still the home of the present Marquess of Bath. Sir Thomas Thynne, who was created Viscount Weymouth in 1682, acquired lands in county Monaghan through his marriage to Frances, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Winchilsea and a granddaughter of Frances, Duchess of Somerset, sister and one of the heiresses of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, who died in 1646. The correspondence of Thomas 1st Viscount Weymouth held at Longleat House, includes a letter from Baron Lüttichau, asking for a lease of 4,000 acres at Carrick, Co Monaghan, for the settlement of 200 Protestant families from Silesia, 16 May 1693 (TH/VOL/XXIV, f.245). In 1712, Viscount Weymouth leased Corlea, Laragh and Lisgall, 501 acres in the barony of Farney to Thomas Dawson of Armagh, on a lease renewable for ever. In 1832, this lease was renewed by the Marquess of Bath to Richard Thomas James Dawson of Fork Hill, county Armagh, who was in financial difficulties by the 1850s when these lands were advertised for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court (16 May 1854). The 3rd Viscount Weymouth was elevated to the Marquessate of Bath on 25 August 1789. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation the 4th Marquess’ Irish estate was mainly in the parish of Donaghmoyne, barony of Carrickmacross, but he also owned part of the parish of Killany and townlands in the parishes of Magheross and Inishkeen. In 1883 the 4th Marquess’ county Monaghan estate was the largest of all his estates in acreage – county Monaghan 22,762 acres, Wiltshire 19,984 acres, Somerset 8,212 acres, Salop 3,508 acres, Herefordshire 699 acres, Sussex 409 acres, total 55,574 acres, worth £68,015 a year, see http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F23886 The 4th Marquess was married to Frances Isabella Catherine, the eldest daughter of Thomas 3rd Viscount de Vesci in 1861.
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