Kennedy Colclough interactions, some of them.

Kennedy Colclough interactions.

Copied from  Original document from Bernard Colclough of Waterford (my uncle JC) private collection.

June 1785, County of Wexford.

Whereas it appears by a Constat of An Inquisition returned into this Court from his Majesty's Court of Common Pleas taken before Sir Edward Loftus Bart. of the said County at Moneyhore in the said County the 14th day of June 1784 that Sir Vesey Colclough of Tintern Abbey in the County of Wexford Bart. was on the 10th Day of May in the 21st year of his present majesty's reign outlawed in the City of Dublin in a plea of debt at the suit of John Kennedy on which day the said Sir Vesey Colclough was seized and possessed as his Estate in fee of and in the towns and lands of Scraughmore, Ryland, Kearn otherwise Keamtigue, Scahana, Ballylusk, Mangan, demesne of Tintern, Coolacarney, Kyle, Glaslacan, Coolree, Glebe of Taghmon, Castletown, Chapaelanane, Newtown, Priestown, and rent charged on Killoughrom, all which said land are situated lying and being in said County of Wexford and which said lands are of the yearly value of five pounds sterling in all profits beyond reprisals, which into his majesty hands the said Sheriff had taken and seized. Now upon motion of Mr. B. Thomas, Attorney on behalf of the said John Kennedy, moving on the said constat and praying that a Custodium of the said premises may be granted to the said John Kennedy, the said Sir Vesey Colclough being outlawed at his suit as aforesaid, whereupon and on reading the said constat, it is this day ordered whereupon by the Court that the Clerk of the Pipe do make out a Custodium of the said Premises to the said John Kennedy to continue during his Majesty's pleasure at the yearly rent of 5d over and above the yearly rent and arrears payable thereout to his majesty and that the chief remembrancer do issue an Injunction for putting the said John Kennedy or his assigns into the actual and quite possession of said premises whereof all officers and persons concerned are to take notice.             

A true copy W.A.Hutchinson

 Kennedy against Colclough, Duplicate of Custodian,  

Copy order dated 15th June 1785.

27 August 1792                               

Caesar Colclough, Paris to John Colclough, Wexford about the present state of the Revolutionary Wars and about his financial affairs.

‘I now begin to fear for the liberty of these people, as the combined armies have taken several towns on the frontiers and are marching towards Paris, which now begins to dread their approach and many who can quit it will, but there is at present no possibility of doing that, as all the posts are guarded, and no one suffered outside of the barriers.

When the conspirators shall all be taken, then the passports will be returned, and then I intend going to Rouen in Normandy, ready to pass into England in case any fracas should take place between England and France. There is at present no likelihood of such, but if by accident or design anything should happen to the royal family here, I fear George will contrive to join in the general suppression of liberty. Some thing is wanting much here. Really, there is too much licentiousness(?).

Have you received Kennedy’s note which I enclosed to you from London. You never mentioned one word of it. £34 would be too serious a loss not to merit of its caution. Have you received my money from John Colclough, and did not Rowe pay you the year’s annuity. (Sentence underlined for purpose of the subsequent lawsuit.) Send as much as you can to London, as I am sure of it there, and can have it from that, be where I may (?). Should I be obliged to quit this, it will cost me a great deal, and oblige me to sell my things at a great loss. Remember me to my mother and all my friends.’

23 November 1795   

John Colclough to Caesar Colclough, Lausanne,  reporting that the lawsuit against Richards has again unexpectedly gone against them, but the suit against Kennedy has gone in their favour, in spite of the fact that the jury which tried both was composed of virtually the same people.  The success in the Kennedy suit was in large measure due to the fact that one of the jurors was a relation of Peter Burrows.  John Colclough is now engaged in buying out the leasehold interest possessed by his name sake (not Uncle) John Colclough, who is ’the only one of the name’ who deserves any consideration from, and whom therefore he does not want to deal harshly with. He goes on to give an unflattering picture of the professional ability of (Jonah) Barrington.  ‘... Keogh is a great rascal. He does nothing but exclaim against us for bringing the ejectments.  John Colclough was going to kick him.  Only think at the trials of his fixing himself up by the judge, and whenever there was anything he thought that made against us, he would say to the judge, ”That is very strong, my Lord”. This is all because we did not employ Barrington, and the reason why I did not employ him is that although our house was always open to him, and we paid him every compliment in our power, he never had the manners, as often as I have been in Dublin for months together these four years past, either to call or ask me to eat a bit in his house. In truth, I was glad of an excuse not to employ him, for he is the stupidest man in Ireland.’

Letter from Caesar of Tintern to John Kennedy, 15th June 1840.

  Strictly Confidential, P.S. 

Finding I had time to spare ‘ere this can be put into the office, and finding I had subject matter to continue, I have made an extract of Mr. Goff’s half yearly accounts, so far as regards the expenditures of improvements he says cost him so much, and also the credits on his part for the dilapidation of my woods, as if money, money, money was wanting for my gratification.  But nothing can compensate for destroying my mother's Serpentine Walk. I was but 6 years old when the 12 trees now alluded to, were by her planted, my brother 10 months younger (now 69 years ago) and the last we knew of parental care, my father abandoned us all, went off in his Yacht, took up with a Welsh girl, Betty Watson, in Haverford West, and abandoned himself to dissolute habits, leaving my mother, self, and brother dependent on my grandfather Grogan for existence, yet, the trees my mother planted were the only produce of his vast estates he respected.  My brother, to the day of his death added to and cherished them, Burrows and McCord embezzled 36 thousand pounds of my revenues (from the 9th of June 1803 to the 26th of July 1841) and sent me £500 British- they still respected my trees. It remained to J Goff Esquire J. P. District Governor to make my 75th year the saddest of all my adventurous career, but as you say-what is done cannot be undone.

 In haste yours etc.,

Sir Jonah Barrington in his description of the seven Baronets of the House of Commons, amongst whom he includes Sir Vesey, thus alludes to him: “Sir Vesey Colclough, member for County Wexford, who understood books and wine better than any of the party had all of his days treated money so extremely ill that it would continue no longer in his service, and the dross, as he termed it, having entirely forsaken him, he bequeathed an immense landed property during his life, to the uses of custodiums, elegits, and judgments, which never fail to place a gentlemen's acres under the special guardianship of the attorneys. Sir Vesey added much to the pleasantry of the party, by occasionally forcing on them deep subjects of literature, of which few of his companions could make either head or tail, but to avoid the imputation of ignorance they often gave the most ludicrous proofs of it on literary subjects geography and Astronomy, with which he eternally bored them,”

Sir Vesey was neither Knight nor Baronet, and I am not certain which title he assumed, but he maintained to the last that he was Sir Vesey Colclough, challenged everyone who question it, and fought several duels on that score, but as will be seen by the pedigree he was descended, as I am (Beauchamp Henry Dudley Colclough, Lieut. Col. in the Wexford Militia born at Drummondville, Lower Canada, 9th April 1822 who is now (was then) the lineal Heir Male and representative of Sir Anthony Colclough, and through him of Richard Colclough of Staffordshire, living 40 Edward III (1367).), from a younger brother of the first Baronet of the family. Sir Vesey’s eldest son 

Caesar, (now known as the Testator) and who succeeded him, had gone to France at an early age to avoid joining his father in opening the entail. He was a Detainee there at the time of his father's death, and for many years afterwards, and the younger son John undertook the management of the Estates, and the recovery of such parts as could be recovered. His father’s apartments in the castle having become uninhabitable, he fitted up rooms for himself at the western, or entrance end of the abbey, which were afterwards added to by the agents, Mr. Goff and Mr Kennedy, and latterly by Mr. Rossborough Colclough and which formed the dwelling place of the family. John repaired the old monks dam, and built a flouring mill, and a high wall around the garden, planted trees, to replace the timber cut down and sold by Sir Vesey's orders, roofed and repaired the Crypt which had been formerly the passage from the Abbots House to the Church, and endeavoured as much as was in his power to make the place a fit residence for a gentleman. He also entered into partnership with a bank in New Ross and sought to retrieve the fortunes of the house in every way, but his law expenses in the different suits brought to recover parts of the property that had been made away with by his father, and in which he was only partially successful, and the expenses of contested elections, kept his financial affairs always at a low ebb. He was member for the County for many years, and finally lost his life in an election duel with Mr. William Alcock of Wilton in 1807.

This duel and the death of John Colclough, with the continued absence of Caesar in France left the estate being run by agents, one of which was a Kennedy, a large sum of money it was said became unaccounted for but no proof perhaps of guilt. The persisting idea was that the subsequent impressive American journey of the Kennedy’s was linked to Caesar Colclough, James Kennedy being dismissed by Jane (Kirwan) Colclough the above Caesar’s wife. But the machinations of those days would form the basis of a PhD study in itself.

 Onto a place name my dad would have known.

Killanne, Co. Wexford was the place where my dad would have spent some of his formative years, sent away from the town due to illness, off to his cousins in the countryside. There are still strong connections there. I’ve been there a few times, looking at graveyards! One time nearly, 30years ago, I went, I asked about my dad, I even went up to the farmstead where the Colclough’s were, no one was home though. I think word got to them there was a stranger about asking about Colclough’s (I would have said I wasn’t after anything, just to speak about my dad). Land is precious it seems. All sold now I think.
Photo below was taken by Bernie circa 1996, a few years after I called. Typical farmhouse of the 19th century. Sold stone walls, probably damp but generations of my family would have been there. 

Who doesn't know the PJ McCall song - Kelly the boy from Killanne.