Clements
Family title
Leitrim, Earls of.
Estate(s)
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Clements | The Clements family in Ireland were descended from Daniel Clements, a Cromwellian officer, originally granted lands in county Cavan. The three branches of the Clements family are descended from Robert Clements who died in 1722. One branch became Earls of Leitrim and held extensive estates in many parts of Connacht. McParlan records Lord Clements and Mr. Clements as the owners of large estates in Leitrim but not having a residence there in 1802. In the 1870s the 3rd Earl of Leitrim owned 22,038 acres in county Leitrim, 18,145 acres in county Galway, 54,352 acres in county Donegal and 471 acres in county Kildare. Henry Theophilus Clements, of Ashfield House, Cootehill, county Cavan, owned over 700 acres in Leitrim in the 1870s and his uncle John Marcus Clements of Monkstown, county Dublin, owned 6,773 acres in county Leitrim. In the mid 19th century John Marcus Clements also held land in the baronies of Coshlea and Smallcounty, county Limerick. These lands were advertised for sale in May 1858. Henry T. Clements inherited the Lough Rynn estate following the assassination of the 3rd Earl of Leitrim in 1878. The Clements family continued to own Lough Rynn until the 1970s although the bulk of the land had been sold off to former tenants by the Land Commission. |
| Fair (Clonbur) | The Fair family were established at Cloonbur, barony of Ross, county Galway, from the late 18th century. They were agents to the Berminghams and Earls of Leitrim of Rosshill, from whom they leased a number of townlands. The Blakes described a night spent in the half built house of Mr Fair in 1823. Later generations of the Fairs entered the legal profession and were involved in the law firm of Fair and Murtagh of Athlone and Moate, county Westmeath. Through marriage with a Hodson they were also party to a number of land transactions in the Athlone area. Some members of the family are buried in Rosshill cemetery and the Lynch family, descendants of the Fairs, run the Fairhill Hotel. |
| Clements & Caulfield | The Rosshill estate in the parishes of Ross, Cong and Ballinchalla, barony of Ross, county Galway, was inherited by the Earls of Leitrim and Charlemont through their marriages with the two heiresses of William Bermingham who died in 1799. The Fair family of Clonbur were for many years agents for the Rosshill estate. Apparently the estate was put up for sale in June 1860 to buy out the Charlemont interest and part of it was sold, mainly to the Guinness family. The remainder stayed in the possession of the Clements' family until the early 20th century. It appears to have been augmented by some purchases from the Landed Estates' Court including the Gildea estate in the parish of Ross in 1865 and in the 1870s the estate amounted to over 18,000 acres. The 3rd Earl of Leitrim left his estate in the barony of Ross to his cousin Colonel Henry Theophilus Clements of Ashfield Lodge, county Cavan and not to his nephew and successor the 4th Earl of Leitrim. By March 1916 Henry J.B. Clements had accepted an offer from the Congested Districts' Board for the purchase of his estate in counties Mayo and Galway. http://www.nli.ie/pdfs/mss%20lists/leitrim.pdf |
| Naper/Napper | In 1700 James Naper of Drewstown, county Meath, in partnership with Thomas Smith, bought the Ross estate in county Galway from Colonel John Browne of Westport, county Mayo. Naper's interest became vested in James Lennox Dutton and subsequently in his son Lord Sherborne to whom the Berminghams and later the Earls of Leitrim paid headrent. Details of the tenure of the Earls of Charlemont and Leitrim with regard to the Naper and Smith moieties is given in the sale rental of 28 June 1860. By the early 1860s the Naper interest was vested in Lord Dunsany and his trustees advertised it for sale in the Landed Estates' Court in 1863. |
| Cooper (Killenure) | This family, originally from Surrey, settled at Butterhill in county Wicklow in the 17th century. Following the appointment of William Cooper as Registrar of the Diocese of Cashel, one branch settled at Killenure Castle, county Tipperary in the mid 18th century. William Cooper and his wife, Jane Wayland, had two sons, Samuel of Killenure, agent to the Maude, Damer and Erasmus Smith Schools estates and Austin, an antiquarian and agent to a number of landlords including the 2nd Earl of Leitrim, Baron Milton and Viscount Hawarden. In the mid 19th century Samuel Cooper held land in the parishes of Kilmaleery and Kilnasoolagh, barony of Bunratty Lower, and Kilseily, barony of Tulla Lower, county Clare. The main part of the Cooper estate was in county Tipperary, in the parishes of St Johnbaptist, barony of Middlethird, Cullen and Solloghodbeg, barony of Clanwilliam, Donohill and Oughterleague, barony of Kilnamanagh Lower. In November 1854 the interest of Patrick J. O'Kearney and others in the lands of Ballywalter was advertised for sale, Samuel Cooper was the tenant. He held on a lease dated 28 December 1852. In the 1870s Samuel Cooper of Killenure, Cashel, county Tipperary, owned 826 acres in county Tipperary and 344 acres in county Clare. His brother was Richard Austin Cooper Chadwick. [Another brother, William L. Cooper of England owned 727 acres in county Tipperary]. |
| Clements (Donegal) | The Earl of Leitrim’s estate was among the principal lessors in the parishes of Clondahorky, Clondavaddog, Mevagh, Raymunerdoney and Tullyfern, barony of Kilmacrenan, County Donegal at the time of Griffith’s Valuation in the 1850s. The Donegal estates amounted to over 54,000 acres in the 1870s. Clesham, in her introduction to the National Library of Ireland's Clements Archive collection list, states that much of this estate was purchased from Gustavus Hamilton in the 1740s. Following the assassination of the 3rd Earl in 1878, the Donegal estate became the principal Irish estate of Robert, 4th Earl. Most of this was sold to the Irish Land Commission in the 1930s. |
| Clements (Ashfield) | The manor of Ashfield was granted to Sir Thomas Ashe in 1611. [Malsomson, The Clements Archive, p 58]. In 1714, it was leased by Robert Clements of Rathkenny (1664-1722) from Thomas Ashe of the city of Dublin. The estate was bought by Nathaniel Clements in 1764 from the Ashe family. The Clements family of Ashfield, county Cavan, descend from a younger son of the Right Honourable Nathaniel Clements, father of the 1st Earl of Leitrim. In the 1850s the estate of Colonel Henry Theophilus Clements of Ashfield was in the parish of Kildrumsherdan. In the mid-1870s he owned 3,908 acres in county Cavan, 752 acres in county Leitrim and 174 acres in county Waterford. In 1878, following the murder of the 3rd Earl of Leitrim, Colonel Clements inherited the estates of the Earl at Lough Rynn in county Leitrim and at Rosshill in county Galway. |
| Clements/Lucas-Clements | In the mid-17th century Robert Clements, son of Daniel Clements, owned large estates in counties Down and Cavan. He was attainted in 1689 but his county Cavan estate was restored to him under William III. By his wife, a Miss Sandford of Castlerea, county Roscommon, he had three sons. His youngest son, Nathaniel, was father of the 1st Earl of Leitrim. His second son, Robert, held the Rathkenny estate in county Cavan and died in 1723. He was succeeded by his son Theophilus Clements. In 1795, Theophilus’ daughter Elizabeth Anne, married as his first wife, the Reverend Edward Lucas of the Castle Shane, county Monaghan, family and it was this couple’s son Theophilus E. Lucas, who eventually inherited the Rathkenny estate. Theophilus assumed the name and arms of Clements in 1823 and was succeeded in 1852 by his son, Theophilus Lucas-Clements, who held an estate in the parishes of Drung, Kildrumsherdan and Mullagh at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. In 1878, he owned 2,426 acres in county Cavan and 632 acres in county Meath. |