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Bantry House History
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1765 Richard White (Councillor White) purchases Bantry House (then called Blackrock House).
1796 Attempted invasion of Ireland by the French, led by Wolfe Tone.
1797 Richard White created Baron Bantry.
1801 The title of Baron Bantry is advanced to Viscount Berehaven.
1816 Richard White elevated
to the peerage (1st Earl of Bantry).
1820 to 1840 Richard White, Viscount Berehaven travels extensively and creates his collection.
1840 to 1860 The Famine. Works on the gardens in progress.
1914 to 1918 First World War.
1922 Irish Civil War. During the war, the Cottage Hospital in Bantry, run by the nuns of the Convent of Mercy, was not large enough. The then owner, Mrs Leigh-White, offered the house as a hospital to care for the injured on both sides of the conflict.
1939 to 1945 Second World War. During the war years, the house and stables were occupied by the Second Cyclist Squadron of the Irish Army. See also the plaques on the north wall of the house to men and officers of the Royal Canadian Air Force who died when their plane crashed into the sea off the Fastnet Rock.
1946 House opens to the public.
1978 Egerton Shelswell-White (the present owner) inherits the house.
1997 The very extensive Archive was donated to UCC, www.booleweb.ucc.ie
2001 Archaeological findings (conducted by University of Ulster) of a medieval Gaelic village and a 17th century deserted English fishing settlement on the west lawn.
HOUSE, HOME AND HERITAGE SINCE 1690
Bantry House was the principal seat of the Earls of Bantry and is now owned by the Shelswell-White family. It has been the residence of the family since about 1765. The White family originally lived nearby on Whiddy Island, and little by little, the family acquired land in the neighbourhood of Bantry and a good deal along the wild and beautiful Berehaven (Beara) Peninsula. In 1765, the family had abandoned island life for the security of the mainland and the comforts of Black Rock House, which was then renamed Seafield House.
INVASION 1796
Over 200 years ago, in the winter of 1796, a formidable French Armada, inspired by Theobald Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen and under the command of Admiral Hoche, sailed from Brest in France. Their purpose was to invade Ireland, put an end to British rule and establish an independent Irish republic.
Almost 50 warships carrying 15,000 soldiers set sail for the South-west of County Cork. Richard White, the owner of Seafield House, alerted by rumours of the possible invasion had already raised a militia, most of them his own tenants, who were loyal to himself and the British crown. He armed and trained them and their muskets and power kegs were stored in the basement of Bantry House for safe keeping.
By mid-December that year he had posted look-outs at the furthest seaward reaches of his land (Mizen Head, Sheep's Head) and riders on good horses to bring news as soon as the French fleet was sighted. In the event the weather did his work for him. Huge storms interrupted ship-to-ship communication, the invasion foundered, the fleet eventually turning for home. Ten ships were lost., one of these the Surveillante, was too storm damaged to make the return passage to France and she was scuttled off Whiddy Island, opposite Bantry House.
The Surveillante lay undisturbed for almost 200 years, was rediscovered in 1982 and declared an Irish National Monument in 1985 when work began on her recovery, conservation and exhibition.
THE WHITE FAMILY HISTORY
Councillor Richard White, a farmer, had an only son, Simon, born in 1739. In 1766, Simon married Frances Jane, daughter of Richard and Helena (nee Herbert of Muckross, Killarney, Co. Kerry) Hedges Eyre of Mount Hedges, Co. Cork. They had two sons, Richard, born in 1767, and Simon (1768 - 1838).
Simon inherited lands around Glengarriff, including the castle, and he married Sarah Newenham, by whom he had four children. For his loyalty during the 1796 invasion, Richard White, son of Simon White - the original purchaser of Seafield House in 1765, was made Baron Bantry in 1797. In 1799, he married Lady Margaret Anne Hare, daughter of Viscount Ennismore, later the 1st Earl of Listowel. They had four sons and a daughter who died in infancy.
The two elder sons, Richard and William both became Earls. In 1801, the title was advanced to Viscount Berehaven, and in 1816 he was created Earl of Bantry. The 1st Earl was born in 1767 and died in 1851. Seafield House was renamed Bantry House. As originally built, (probably in the first half of the 18th century), it was typically Georgian in style, but extensive additions, including the wings and the outbuildings, were made by the 2nd Earl of Bantry, about the middle of 19th century.
At that time also, the grounds were laid out in their present form. The collection of furniture, tapestries etc., on view, was made by the 2nd Earl of Bantry, who travelled extensively on the European Continent with his wife, Lady Mary O'Brien, of Dromoland Castle, Co. Clare, daughter of the second Marquis of Thomond. The 2nd Earl of Bantry was born in 1800 and died in 1868.
As the couple had no children, the title and property went to his younger brother, William, who until then, lived at Macroom Castle, inherited from his great-uncle, Robert Hedges Eyre (descendant of O'Sullivan Beares, the Earls of Desmond, the McCarthys - Lords Musketry , and the Brownes - Viscounts Kenmare.) He became the 3 rd Earl of Bantry. William married Jane Herbert, of Muckross House, Killarney, Co. Kerry, and they had five daughters, Elizabeth, Olivia, Ina , Jane, Mary (who died in infancy) and an only son, William, born in 1854, who later became the 4th and last Lord Bantry.
In 1886, William married Rosamond Petre, daughter of the Honourable George Petre, a Catholic gentleman high in the Vatican staff. They had no children and on his death in 1891, the title became extinct. The property passed through his eldest sister, Lady Elizabeth, the wife of Egerton Leigh of High Leigh, Cheshire, England, to their son, Edward Leigh. He assumed the additional name of White in 1897.
Edward Leigh-White, married Arethusa Hawker of Longparish, Hampshire, England, in 1904 and they had two daughters, Clodagh and Rachel. Edward Leigh-White died in 1920, and was succeeded by his eldest daughter Clodagh ( 1905 - 1978).
IN WAR AND IN PEACE: 1919 - 1945
During the Irish Civil War (1922 - 23), the Cottage Hospital in Bantry, run by the nuns of the Convent of Mercy, was destroyed by fire. The then owner, Arethusa Leigh-White, mother of Clodagh, offered Bantry House as a hospital to care for the injured on both sides of the conflict. A chapel was sanctified in the library and the nuns and their patients moved in for five years. In 1926, Clodagh Leigh-White came of age and assumed responsibility for the Estate.
Later that year, Clodagh travelled to Zanzibar, Africa, where she met Geoffrey Shelswell, then the Assistant District Commissioner of Zanzibar. They married on 23rd October 1926 in Zanzibar and assumed the surname, Shelswell-White. They had three children, Delia, Oonagh and an only son, Egerton, the present owner, born in 1933. During the Emergency, (Second World War, 1939 - 1945), the house and stables were occupied by the Second Cyclist Squadron of the Irish Army.
There are two plaques on the north wall of the house which remember the men and the officers of the Royal Canadian Air Force who died when their plane crashed into the sea off the Fastnet Rock.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
In 1946, Clodagh and Geoffrey Shelswell-White opened the doors of Bantry House to the public. Geoffrey died in 1962 and Clodagh lived in the house on her own until her death in 1978.
THE FAMILY TODAY
The property passed to her son, Egerton Shelswell-White. Egerton married twice, firstly in 1961. He had two children with Jill (nee Dumeresque), Edward and Janie. He married again in 1981, and he and Brigitte (nee Kleihs), have three daughters, Sophie, Anna, Julie and a son, Sam.
The Story of Bantry House
By Geoffrey Shelswell-White (Father of the current owner Egerton Shelswell-White)
Which appeared in Irish Tatler and Sketch May 1951
Formerly the principal seats of the Earls of Bantry, and now owned by Mrs Clodagh Shelswell-White, great granddaughter of the 3rd Earl of Bantry. Bantry House stands in surroundings, which have aroused the admiration of many writers. For it is set on the southern shores of Bantry Bay, long renowned for its beauty, and commands magnificent views over the Bay as far as the Caha mountains in the distance.
The house was originally a typical example of a mid 18th century Georgian country residence and it was not until about the middles of the 19th century , when extensive alterations and additions were made by the 2nd Lord Bantry, that it assumed its presenet size and character. New blocks and wings were added: interior levels were changes; outbuildings of marked architectural appeal were erected: and the grounds laid out afresh, were adorned with terraces and statuary in the Italian style. In 1840 J Windele in the Historical and Descriptive Notices of the City of Cork and its Vicinity described the house as a ’plain, large and substantial building with little of aristocratic or architectural pretensions’, some twenty years later it had become a mansion worthy of accommodating the furniture and art treasures collected by Lord Bantry, during his travels in Europe.
But the house has further interest for, on more than one occasion, it has played a notable part in the history of the locality. In December 1796, when the French fleet under Admiral Hoche appeared in the Bay and troops were rushed from Cork in the expectation that a landing would be made, it became the headquarters of the General and his Staff.
One hundred and twenty five years later, during the troubled times, it was placed at the disposal of the Sisters of Mercy for use as a hospital. In the recent war (WW2) it gave shelter to the troops of the Bantry Garrison.
Blackrock, Seafield House, or Bantry House, as it is has variously called during its history, has been the home for two centuries of the family of White of Bantry. Who, though stated by 18th and 19th Century writers to have settled in Ireland in Cromwell’s time, almost certainly sprang from the family of the same name, which had for long before settled in Limerick, and had provided that city with many of its Mayors and other civic notables.
The first representative of the family of whom there is any record at Bantry was Captain Richard White, son of Simon White of Knocksentry, near Limerick, who settled on Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay towards the close of the 17th Centrury. He subsequently acquired property from the Earl of Anglesey to whom extensive grants of land in the area had been made under the Acts of Settlement.
Captain White’s son, who was born on Whiddy in 1701 and, having been called to the Irish Bar, was generally referred to as ‘Counsellor’ White. It is said he made a considerable fortune at the practice of the law and towards the end of his life, probably about 1765, moved to Bantry House, at that time called Blackrock.
Of Counsellor White’s son, Simon, there is little on record: but its is worth mention that in 1766 he married Frances Jane Hedges Eyre, daughter of Richard Hedges Eyre of Mount Hedges and Macroom Castle, who being descended from the O’Sullivan Beares, the Earls of Desmond, the McCarthy’s (Lord Muskerr) and the Brownes (Viscount Kenmare), brought into the family a further measure of Irish blood. Simon’s sister, Margaret, wife of Richard Longfield of Longueville, Mallow (later Lord Longueville) played a leading part in the social life in Cork and left behind her a series of letters which throw a most interesting light on Cork life and personalities of the day.
By the end of the now 18th Century the Whites who now held most of the land in the neighbourhood of Bantry and much along the Berehaven Peninsular had become the largest landowners in the area. But they had hitherto passed their lives in comparative obscurity. At the turn of the century, however, they were brought into greater prominence.
When the French Fleet anchored in the Bay in 1796, Richard White, the grandson of Counsellor White, and then a young man of 30, showed great energy and initiative in obtaining intelligence of the enemy’s movements, organising the local preparations for resistance and generally assisting the troops, which had been sent from Cork. At the same time, he placed Bantry House, called Seafield, at the disposal of the General and the Headquarters Staff. It will be recalled that, in the event, the French failed to make a landing, but White’s services did not go unrewarded. He was created Lord Bantry and a few years later was promoted successively Viscount and then Earl.
By nature a lover of country life, Lord Bantry was well content to live among is tenantry in the remoteness of SouthWest Cork. His eldest son, born in 1800 and later the second Earl, had entirely different tastes, for his interest laid in the arts and not in country pursuits.
As a young man, and later in the company with his wife, (nee Lady Mary O’Brien) daughter of the second Marquis of Thomond), he travelled extensively in Europe. Visiting countries as far distant as Russia and Poland and seeking out the pieces which were to form his remarkable collection of furniture, tapestries and other works of art.
When Lord Bantry died in 1868 he had indeed left his mark on Bantry House. But he left no children. The title and estate therefore passed to his brother, William, who until then had lived at Macroom Castle, an inheritance from his great uncle, Robert Hedges-Eyre. By his wife (Jane Herbert of Muckross) William, 3rd Lord of Bantry, had five daughters and an only son who became the 4th and last Lord Bantry. On his death the title became extinct and the property passed through his eldest sister Elizabeth Leigh, who assumed the additional name White. Mr Leigh-White, who had married Arethusa Hawker, died in 1920 and was succeeded by his daughter, Clodagh now Mrs Shelswell-White.
The more recent history of Bantry House and its owners is so closely linked with the art treasures in the house that it is well to mention a few of the items included in Lord Bantry’s collection. Most of the pieces he brought there are still at Bantry. Stephen Gwynne has said that they gain piquancy by contrast with the rugged beauty which surrounds the house and has referred to them as ‘the Wallace Collection of Ireland.’
Undoubtedly the oldest item is some tiling from Pompeii bearing the inscriptions Cave Canem and Salve. Italy of much later times is represented by stained glass, ceiling paintings from a Venetian Palace, and plaster-work executed by Italian craftsmen said to have been brought to Bantry expressly for the purpose.
A Russian household shrine contains 15th and 16th Century icons. There is stained and painted glass from Switzerland and France, Germany and Flanders, and specimens of Cork, Waterford and ruby-coloured Bohemian glass. Among the French pieces, which are the most numerous, those having special interest are a pair of bookcases and a work table reputed to have been the property of Marie-Antoinette, and fireplaces which are thought to have come from the Petit Trianon at Versailles.
Lord Bantry’s outstanding contribution, however, was unquestionably the collection of tapestries that adorn the walls of several of the rooms. With the exception of a set, 17th Century Dutch in origin, the panels are French having come from the workshops of Gobelins, Beauvais and Aubusson in the late 18th Century. One Gobelins panel is said to have hung in the Palace of Versailles and there is a particularly beautiful rose-coloured set of Aubusson which is said to have been made by order of Louis XV for Marie Antoinette on her marriage to the Dauphin or France. Two other panels formed part of the Royal Garde Meuble of the Tuileries.
Lord Bantry’s collection has long been recognised as having great artistic and historical interest and arrangements have accordingly been made in the past for the public to view it during the summer months. The enthusiasm of connoisseurs and others who have visited the house in recent years seems to justify the continuance of these arrangements, whenever possible, notwithstanding staff and other present day difficulties which are apt to arise from time to time.
Geoffrey Shelswell-White – May 1951