This article is a sequel
to the story of Denis O'Leary of Millstreet that appeared in Journal No.3.
We learned there that the family of McCarthy-O'Leary was created in
1811 when Helen O'Leary, only daughter of Denis O'Leary of Millstreet,
married a widower, Denis McCarthy of Glyn who was living with his three
children in Dooneen townland. Helen was a wealthy woman by then, having
inherited Coomlagane and other property from her father Denis when he died
in 1788.
The McCarthys of Dooneen were themselves descended from the
Muskerry McCarthys, and Denis was 6th. in direct descent from
Donogh, brother of Sir Dermod McCarthy, 13th.Lord Muskerry
(1501-1570). The later McCarthy-O'Learys were a bit confused about their
lineage, and various misleading versions appeared in Burkes "Landed Gentry"
over the years.
As a result of this marriage union between two of the
wealthier lineages in the Millstreet area there was established a new family
of Landlords of the same stature as the Wallises of Drishane and the Leaders
of Mountleader, which three between them dominated the local scene
during the 19th. century.
Coomlagane seems to have been a
more attractive place for the family home than Doonens. Before long we find
the McCarthy-O'Learys living in Coomlagane, and the house was enlarged
several times until it became a large mansion typical of the Ascendancy
culture.
The house was variously known as "O'Learys", "The
Lawn" or simply "The Great House". The property stood at the West end of
Millstreet town on the Killarney road, and extended Northwards for about a
mile from the main gate lodge. There was a further lodge about a quarter of
a mile from Millstreet Railway Station. There was a long avenue from the
main lodge to the house, flanked by beech trees, interspersed with the
occasional oak, lime, elm or chestnut. The present Town Park of Millstreet
now occupies much of the old demesne.
Denis and his new wife Helen,
were both quite elderly when they married, and were both dead by 1824. Denis
was succeeded as Master of Coomlagane by his eldest son, another Denis
(1774-1829) who was married to Leonora Howley from Rickhill. They were
married in 1812 and had nine children.
This second Denis died five
years later in 1829 and left the property to his eldest son, John
McCarthy-O'Leary (1814-1897). He married in 1839 to Jane daughter of John
O'Connell of Greenagh and widow of O'Donoghue of the Glens, who bore him
eight children.
This John and most of his sons and grandsons, were
sent to England to be educated at Stonyhurst, the Jesuit College in
Lancashire.
The O'Learys and the McCarthys were of Gaelic Catholic
stock. The Penal laws were now over. The newly created McCarthy-O'Leary
family managed to install themselves in the world of wealth, landownership
and privilege normally associated with the Protestant Landlord Ascendancy of
English extraction. They were joining a new breed of Irishmen such as
O'Connell of Derrynane, who were able to lift themselves above their less
fortunate countrymen who had to bear the full brunt of poverty, famine and
emigration.
John McCarthy-O'Leary was a prominent citizen of the
County set. He owned 5,896 acres of land valued at £2,034 pa. He was a
Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for County Cork. He served as
High Sheriff in 1854. He was County Commissioner in the 1890s, and much
involved in the building of the new Courthouse in Cork in 1895.
That
the family remained Catholic there is no doubt. They continued to worship in
the Parish Church in Millstreet, and indeed, unusually, the family had a
special pew for themselves, in a side chapel with a direct view onto the
High Altar. This has since been converted into the Mortuary Chapel.
Apart from being Landlords they had a long and distinguished Military
tradition in the British Army. John's third son, William, was a Colonel in
the South Lancashire Regiment and was killed in action in the South African
War. William's eldest son John was a Lt.Colonel in the same Regiment, and
his brother Heffernan William Denis, known as Donogh, served in the Royal
Irish Fusiliers and won the DSO and MC.. Many others of the family had Army
careers, and one cousin, William Serle McCarthy-O'Leary was a Captain in the
Argentinian Navy.
Meanwhile for about 100 years they were Landlords
of one third of the farms around Millstreet. Were they good or bad
Landlords? The records are silent on this point. Perhaps they were better
than most, in that there is no local folklore of hangings or other
mistreatment. The only eviction we know about was in fact countermanded as a
result of a request from the Altar given by the Parish Priest, Fr.McGinn.
Of course, the cosy era of house parties, hunting, shoots, salmon
fishing and other delights of the Landlord class had to come to an end. The
Wyndham Acts caused the loss of the land by compulsory purchase by the
tenants, although the family continued to live in the Great House until the
early 1920s. Colonel William's son, Lt.Colonel John McCarthy-O'Leary
succeeded to the property on the death of his father in 1900, and his
sister, Molly later owned the house. She died in the 1970s.
The many
descendants of the McCarthy-O'Learys were scattered around the World, and we
do not know of any in the male line who remained in Ireland. There were some
of them in London, and in the British Coloni
es. And there are still some in Ireland in the female line
of descent, but no longer called McCarthy-O'Leary.
Where are they
all now? Perhaps one of your readers will be able to throw some light on
this question.