Identity Statement
Title | Bantry Estate Collection |
Archive Reference | IE BL/EP/B |
Web Link to this Entry | https://iar.ie/archive/bantry-estate-collection |
Creation Dates | 1671-1980s |
Extent Medium | 214 boxes + outsize material |
Context
Creator(s): White/Leigh-White/Shelswell-White family of Bantry House, Bantry, Co. Cork
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Administrative History ↴
BL/EP/B are the estate and family papers generated by the White/Leigh-White/Shelswell-White family of Bantry House, Bantry, Co. Cork. The archive contains the formal records regarding the legal, financial and general administration of this large house and estate over a period of 300 years, and also the more personal records relating to the lives and personalities of the family who owned the estate. However not all of the original records have survived. Due to a fire in the Estate Office in early 1900s a significant part of the original collection was lost. Principally, there are no rental ledgers for the 19th century. However there are Rental Sheets for 1840, 1856/57, 1865-1866 and 1881 which provide information for certain areas of the Estate. Similarly very few records survive for the design and development of the magnificent gardens at Bantry House. These were presumably destroyed prior to the transfer of the archive. By the end of the 18th century the Whites held most of the land in Bantry and the Beara Pennisula, becoming the largest landowners in this part of Cork. In 1796 Richard White was instrumental in alerting the English Army Headquarters in Cork to the appearance of French ships in Bantry Bay. He gathered intelligence of the enemy’s movements, organised local resistance and opened his house, then known as Seafield, to the Army and made it their Headquarters. He was rewarded in 1797 by being created Baron Bantry. In 1801 the title Baron Bantry was advanced to Viscount and in 1815 Richard White assumed the title Earl of Bantry. Richard married Margaret Anne Hare, daughter of the 1st Earl of Listowel in 1799. It was his son who, while still Viscount Berehaven, laid the plans for the magnificent house and gardens extant today. The White family throughout the 19th century intermarried with other well known landed families including the Herberts of Muckross House, Killarney and the Guinness family of Dublin. -
Archival History ↴
On the 20th May 1997 the owner of the Bantry Estate, Egerton Shelswell-White, formally donated the Archive to UCC. -
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Donation
Content & Structure
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Scope & Content: White/Leigh-White/Shelswell-White family of Bantry House, Bantry, Co. Cork ↴
The Bantry Estate Collection falls naturally into two main parts. Firstly formal records regarding the legal, financial and general administration of this large Irish country house and estate. Secondly, less formal records containing personal and social information about the personalities and lives of the family who ran the estate and who shaped its orientation and character.The Collection is divided into nine sections, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I, each containing records of similar origin and content.
Section A, Estate Ownership is further divided into seven sub- sections. It begins with 1-2 Deeds of Title (Pre-White Ownership and White Ownership); 3. Wills (White Family/Associated Families), Marriage Settlements (White Family/Associated Families), and Trusts (White Family); 4. Land Sales and Transfers; 5 Legal Case Papers with counsels’ opinions, affidavits, costs and searches; 6. Re-settlement of the Estate, which included the appointment of Receivers; and finally 7. the Bantry Estates Company (est. 1964).
Section B, Estate Administration, contains financial records of the working of the Bantry Estate; rentals, leases, ledgers, tenancy agreements, accounts, sundry estates, industry within the estate; and information on the family’s two residences, Bantry House and Glengarriff Lodge. Of particular value are two rental ledgers belonging to Richard White (grandfather to the 1st Earl of Bantry) dating from 1755-1775 (BL/E/B/440 & 441). Not many employee records still survive but there are workmens’ account sheets, insurance and tax payments and some correspondence from the twentieth century.
Copious correspondence relating to the administration of the estate in the twentieth century is described in this section. The White family was assisted in the administration of their property by a succession of Agents. There is a marked absence of correspondence from the early part of the twentieth century compared to later years. There also seemed be a practise of re-using paper within the Estate office, so letters dating from 1911-1919 are found within later correspondence files from the 1950s; the reverse of a mss letter having been typed on. Where possible, this has been noted within the item description.
Also in Section B is material relating to Bantry Town, its history and the development of tourism in the area.
Estate maps and surveys complete this section. These are mainly official Ordinance Survey maps of the immediate and surrounding areas of Bantry, Glengarriff and Castletownbere. In many cases, tenancy plots are highlighted. The Collection holds a hardback book of original OS 6″ maps of Cork County (West Riding) (BL/E/B/2049). However there are some unique maps; of the plowlands of Killcaskane, Barony of Beare, dating from [1655] (BL/E/B/2041); and a coloured paper map of Inchiclough Demesne dating from 1791 (BL/E/B/2042) this item in particular is a lovely example of aesthetic cartography.
Information on the two principal homes of the family, Bantry House and Glengarriff Lodge, can be found in Section B.7.
Section C, Family and Personal Papers contains those records generated by members of the White/Leigh-White/Shelswell-White families, which related to their day to day lifestyle. Letters, diaries/journals, accounts, awards, personal memorabilia, etc. are all grouped under the name of their originator/recipient and cross-referenced where necessary. Descriptions in this section are in date order and begin with the records of Richard White ([1701] – 1776) which are business orientated showing consolidation of his Estate.
Section D, Records of Associated Individuals deals with material generated by relatives or acquaintances of the White’s which for various reasons was stored in Bantry House, and became integrated with the family collection there. The Eyres of Galway and Macroom are a prominent example of a family which married into the Whites in the eighteenth century, in fact Macroom Castle was the home of William White Hedges until he became the 3rd Earl of Bantry on the death of his brother Richard White. Another such family is the Longfields of Castlemary and Mallow. As mentioned previously Margaret White married Richard Longfield in 1756, who later became Viscount Longueville. He held leases in the Bantry area. A descendant, Richard Edmund Longfield ([1843] – 1933) was made a Trustee of the Bantry Estate from 1875 by the third Earl, remaining on until Clodagh Shelswell-White came of age in 1926. One item in the Hawker section is that of a first-hand account of conditions experienced by an individual who fought in the [Crimean] War (BL/E/B/3208). It is dated Sept. 1854, and on its reverse a sketch of the position of ships, the regiments and commanders in each, and their distinguishing flags.
Other items of interest in this section; the Conferring of title Baron Ardilaun of Ashford to Sir Arthur E. Guinness (BL/E/B/3071); and the personal diaries of William Somerville of Co. Wicklow, who served in the British Army in Malta and India (1899-1909).
The section is completed with legal documents of various individuals that happened to have been preserved with the Collection.
In Section E, Official Papers are found documents relating to associations the Leigh-White/Shelswell-White families were involved in, eg – The Nursing Association; the Bantry Voluntary Aid Committee; the Scouts and Girl Guides Association; The Red Cross; the Catholic Committee for Relief Abroad and the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (CSPCA).
Section F, Family History relates to research undertaken primarily by Geoffrey Shelswell-White in the 1950s on the White family and their related families through marriage – the Herberts, the Eyres, and the Hawkers. Charts, crests and family trees can also be found here.
In Section G, Maps and Plans there are general and nautical maps that do not directly relate to the running of the Bantry Estate (see Section B.11). Items of interest – a map of Cheshire, England (1748); maps of Europe, Asia, Africa and North America (1878-1802); a survey of Muckross Abbey and Burial Ground, Killarney, Co. Kerry (1908); and of Zanzibar, Europe and Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s. In the nautical section there is an interesting book of maps of the Mediterranean belonging to William 3rd Earl of Bantry from [1764] (BL/E/B/3255). The remaining maps show the coastlines of the British Isles. The second part of the section is devoted to Plans, architectural and construction.
Sketchbooks and drawings belonging to the Whites throughout the nineteenth century can be found in Section H, Printed and Pictorial Material, showing scenes and individuals from Ireland, England and Europe. Other items in this section are newspapers gathered by the family relating to them, the Estate and Irish history. A large number of photographs have been preserved, again showing the family through generations, family friends and relations and their houses. Many were not identifiable and so have been placed together, marked accordingly. There are also a large number of postcards from around the world.
Finally, in Section I, Miscellaneous, there are documents that do not directly relate to the Bantry Estate or the White family. There are a number of interesting items; a letter from Bat Sullivan to his family from Macroom, Co. Cork, whilst serving with the British Army in Portugal and Spain in 1811; and a collection of letters belonging to an individual named [London/Landon]. They include items from Disraeli, Maria Edgeworth, and Rudyard Kipling to name but a few. It is likely that it is a type of autograph collection (notably BL/E/B/3708).
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Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention -
Arrangement ↴
A. ESTATE OWNERSHIP
1. Deeds of Title (Pre-White Ownership)
2. White Deeds of Title
2.1 Releases
2.2 Deed Poll/Freehold
2.3 Mortgages
2.4 Grants3. Wills, Settlements and Associated Documents
3.1 Wills
3.1.1 White Family Wills
3.1.2 Wills of Associated Families
3.2 Marriage Settlements and Associated Documents
3.2.1 White Family Settlements
3.2.2 Settlements of Associated Families
3.3 Trusts
3.3.1 White Family Trusts4. Land Sales and Transfers
4.1 The Irish Land Commission
4.2 Castletownbere
4.3 Glengarriff Forestry
4.4 Gulf Oil Terminals (Ireland) Limited
4.5 East Wall, Church Road, Dublin
4.6 6/7 South William Street, Dublin
4.7 Dunnamark, Bantry
4.8 Keelneruvane, Bantry
4.9 Other Sales5. Legal Case Papers
5.1 Legal Cases
5.1.1 Samuel Hutchinson v. Richard White et al
5.1.2 Robert Warner & Richard White (a minor) v. Hamilton White
5.1.3 Thomas Leahy v. Richard White
5.1.4 Westropp v. Spread
5.1.5 Ingham v. Richard 1st Earl of Bantry
5.1.6 Hutchins v. Richard 1st Earl of Bantry
5.1.7 Baillie & Taylor v. 1st Earl of Bantry & Viscount Berehaven
5.1.8 Robert Hedges Eyre/Viscount Berehaven v. O’Sullivan
5.1.9 Richard, 1st Earl of Bantry et al v. O’Leary & [Falvey]
5.1.10 Herbert v. Viscount Berehaven et al
5.1.11 The Queen v. Michael Murphy
5.1.12 Browne v. Dillon
5.1.13 Capt. Edward R. White v. Warren
5.1.14 Longfield et al v. William 3rd Earl of Bantry et al
5.1.15 The Shelswell-White Estate v. Costigan
5.1.16 [The Shelswell-White Estate v. Bird-Warner]
5.1.17 Guardi Paintings
5.2 Counsels’ Opinions
5.3 Affidavits
5.4 Costs
5.5 Searches6. Re-Settlement of the Estate
6.1 Appointment of Receivers
6.2 Re-Settlement of the Estate7. Bantry Estates Company
7.1 Correspondence
7.2 Accounts
7.3 Valuation ReportsB. ESTATE ADMINISTRATION
1. Rentals
1.1 Ledgers
1.2 Rental Sheets
1.3 Receipt Books
1.4 Day Books2. Leases and Tenancy Agreements
2.1 Leases
2.1.1 Sub-leases
2.2 Fishing and Shooting Rights
2.3 Tenancy Agreements
2.4 Government Permits to Cut Trees3. Disputes with Tenants and Evictions
4. Accounts and Financial Records
4.1 Account Books
4.2 Cash Books
4.3 Debit and Credit Vouchers
4.4 Income and Expenditure Records
4.5 Rates
4.6 Income Tax Payments
4.7 Insurance
4.8 Invoices
4.9 Receipts
4.10 Stocks, Shares and Investments
4.11 Release of Capital
4.12 Estate, Death and Succession Duties
4.13 Bantry Town Tolls
4.14 Accounts5. Estate Correspondence
6. Employee Records
6.1 Workmen’s Account Sheets
6.2 Insurance and Tax Payments
6.3 Related Correspondence7. Family Residences
7.1 Bantry House
7.1.1 History
7.1.2 Tourism
7.1.3 Insurance Records
7.1.4 Valuations and Inventories of Tapestries and Heirlooms
7.1.5 Occupation (Military and Medical)
7.1.6 Maintenance and Building Works
7.2 Glengarriff Lodge
7.2.1 History
7.2.2 Insurance Records
7.2.3 Maintenance and Building Works
7.2.4 Lettings, Sales and Inventories8. Sundry Estates within the Bantry Estate
8.1 General
8.2 Montpelier Estate9. Estate Industry
9.1 Timber Business, Glengarriff
9.2 Berehaven Mines
9.3 Glengarriff Fisheries10. Bantry Town
10.1 History
10.2 Improvements
10.3 Tourism
11. Maps and SurveysC. FAMILY AND PERSONAL PAPERS
1. Richard White (1701-1776)
1.1 Letters
1.2 Accounts2. Simon White (1739-1776)
2.1 Letter to his wife Frances Jane White (née Eyre)3. Frances Jane White (née Eyre) (1748-1816)
3.1 Letters
3.2 Family Accounts4. Hamilton White (1740-1789)
4.1 Letters
4.2 Legal Documents5. Margaret Longfield (née White) (1736-1809)
5.1 Letters to Frances Jane White6. Richard White, 1st Earl of Bantry (1767-1851)
6.1 Letters to his mother, Frances Jane White
6.2 Letters on Political Matters
6.3 Letters on the marriage of his son, Richard White, Viscount Berehaven
6.4 Letters to his nephew William White Hedges
6.5 General Correspondence
6.6 Awards
6.7 Accounts
6.8 Personal Memorabilia7. Simon White (1768-1838)
7.1 Letter to his mother Frances Jane White8. Edward Eyre White (d.1790)
8.1 Letters to Family
8.2 Letters relating to the circumstances of his death9. Martha Goold Adams (née White) (d.1847)
9.1 Letter to her mother Frances Jane White10. Richard White, 2nd Earl of Bantry (1800-1868)
10.1 Letters to Family
10.2 General Correspondence
10.3 Personal Accounts
10.4 Journal
10.5 Personal Memorabilia11. Mary White (née O’Brien), 2nd Countess of Bantry (1805-1853)
11.1 Letter to [Mr. White]
11.2 Journal/Diary12 William White Hedges, 3rd Earl of Bantry (1801-1884)
12.1 Letters between Family
12.2 Letters on Political Matters
12.3 General Correspondence
12.4 Personal Accounts
12.5 Prescriptions
12.6 Personal Memorabilia13. Jane White (née Herbert), 3rd Countess of Bantry (1823-1898)
13.1 Letters to her husband William White Hedges, 3rd Earl of Bantry
13.2 General Correspondence
13.3 Letters on the Death of her daughter, Elizabeth Leigh
13.4 Personal Accounts
13.5 Personal Memorabilia
14. Elizabeth Leigh (née White) (1847-1880)
14.1 Letters to Family
14.2 General Correspondence
14.3 Journal/Diary
14.4 Personal Memorabilia15. Egerton Leigh, husband of Elizabeth Leigh (née White)
(1843-1928)
15.1 Letters to the White Family, Bantry
15.2 Letters on the death of his wife, Elizabeth Leigh
15.3 Personal Memorabilia
15.4 Newspaper Obituary16. Olivia Guinness, Lady Ardilaun (née White) (1850-1925)
16.1 General Correspondence
16.2 Newspaper Articles17. Ina [Shirley], 10th Countess Ferrers (née White) (1852-1907)
17.1 Letters to Family
17.2 Personal Memorabilia
17.3 Newspaper Obituary18. William White, 4th Earl of Bantry (1854-1891)
18.1 Letter to his father William White, 3rd Earl of Bantry
18.2 Letters to Col. Hawker
18.3 Legal Documents
18.4 Life Assurance Policy
18.5 Personal Memorabilia19. Rosamund Petre, Lady Trevor (Wife of the 4th Earl of
Bantry) (d.1942)
19.1 Newspaper Obituaries
20. Edward Leigh-White (1876-1920)
20.1 Letters to Family
20.2 General Correspondence
20.3 Academic Reports
20.4 Personal Accounts
20.5 Awards
20.6 Art and Poetry
20.7 Personal Memorabilia
20.8 Newspaper Obituary21. Arethusa Leigh-White (née Hawker) (1885-1959)
21.1 General Correspondence
21.2 Diaries
21.3 Awards
21.4 Personal Accounts
21.5 Passports
21.6 Personal Memorabilia
21.7 Newspaper Obituaries22. Rachel Leigh-White (1906-1987)
22.1 General Correspondence
22.2 Diary
22.3 Personal Accounts
22.4 Personal Memorabilia
23. Margaret Marton (née Leigh) (1875-1955)
23.1 Newspaper Obituaries24. Clodagh Shelswell-White (née Leigh-White) (1905-1978)
24.1 General Letters
24.2 Diaries
24.3 Personal Accounts
24.4 Medical Records
24.5 Personal Memorabilia25. Geoffrey Shelswell-White (1897-1962)
25.1 Family Correspondence
25.2 Letters relating to Family History
25.3 Letters relating to Tourism in the Bantry Area
25.4 General Correspondence
25.5 Career Records
25.6 Awards
25.7 Invitations
25.8 Accounts
25.9 Personal Memorabilia
25.10 Publications
25.11 Newspaper Obituary26. Delia Shelswell-White (1928-1990)
26.1 Family Letters
26.2 Diaries
26.3 Educational Records
26.4 Medical Reports
26.5 Personal Memorabilia27. Oonagh Yarrow (née Shelswell-White) (b.1930)
27.1 Family Letters
27.2 Personal Memorabilia28. Egerton Shelswell-White (b.1933)
28.1 Family Letters
28.2 General Correspondence
28.3 Diary
28.4 Winchester College Memorabilia
28.5 Personal MemorabiliaD. RECORDS OF ASSOCIATED INDIVIDUALS
1. The Eyres/Hedges-Eyres of Galway and Macroom
1.1 Richard Eyre, [Galway]
1.2 Edward Eyre, [Galway]
1.3 Capt. Richard Hedges
1.4 Richard Hedges Eyre, (Macroom)
1.5 Edward Eyre
1.6 Robert Hedges Eyre, (Macroom)
1.6.1 General Correspondence
1.6.2 Leases
1.6.2.1 Sub-leases
1.6.3 Legal Documents and Accounts
1.7 Margaret Burke (née Eyre)2. Annesleys/Earls of Anglesey
3. Richard, Earl of Cork and Burlington
4. John and William Gash
5. The Levinges
6. Richard and Margaret (née White) Longfield, Viscount
Longueville
6.1 Leases
6.2 Sub-leases7. Catherine Herbert
8. Peter Hawker
9. John Puxley
10. Somers Payne
11. Sir Arthur Edward Guinness, Baron Ardilaun
12. Robert Hedges Eyre White
13. Lieut. Col. William Somerville
14. Ernest Ellis
15. Major Adelbert C. E. Salvin-Bowlby
16. Richard Edmund Longfield
17. Miscellaneous Individuals
17.1 LegalE. OFFICIAL PAPERS
1. Nursing Associations
2. Bantry Voluntary Aid Committee
3. Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
4. Scouts and Girl Guides Association
5. The Civics Institute of Ireland
6. The Irish Red Cross Society
7. The Catholic Committee for Relief Abroad
8. Irish Synod of the Church of Ireland
9. Cork Historical and Archaeological Society
10. Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(CSPCA)
11. The Royal Horticultural SocietyF. FAMILY HISTORY
1. The White Family
1.1 General
1.2 Family Tree
1.3 Research
1.4 Enquiries
1.5 Family Crest2. The Herbert Family
3. The Hawker/Tippinge Families
4. Lord Thomond
5. The Eyre Family
6. Charts
7. Others
G. MAPS AND PLANS
1. Maps
1.1 General Maps
1.2 Nautical/Coastal Maps2. Plans
2.1 Architectural Drawings
2.1.1 Individual Plans
2.1.2 Lodges
2.1.3 Filling Station, Bantry
2.1.4 Westlodge Hotel, Bantry
2.2 Town Plan
2.3 Sites
2.4 ConstructionH. PRINTED AND PICTORIAL MATERIAL
1. Newspapers
2. Sketchbooks
3. Drawings
4. Prints
5. Postcards
6. Miscellaneous Publications7. Photographs
7.1 The White Family
7.2 The Leigh-White Family
7.3 The Shelswell-White Family
7.4 Bantry House – exteriors
7.5 Bantry House – interiors
7.6 Glengarriff Lodge7.7 Related Families
7.7.1 The Hawker Family
7.7.2 The Marton Family
7.7.3 Others
7.8 Identified Individuals
7.9 Unidentified Individuals
7.10 Identified Buildings and Scenery
7.11 Unidentified Buildings and Scenery8. Watercolours
9 Oil-paintings
10 Projection Slide
Conditions of Access & Use
Access Conditions | Available by appointment with the Archives Service to holders of UCC Readers tickets. |
Conditions Governing Reproduction | Subject to copyright rules governing the reproduction of records of the Archives Service |
Creation Dates | 1671-1980s |
Extent Medium | 214 boxes + outsize material |
Material Language Script | English |
Finding Aids | Descriptive list Archive Web Link → |
Allied Materials
Related Material | IE BL/EP/B/A Bantry Estate Collection: Ancillary |
Descriptive Control Area
Archivist Note | Emer Twomey |
Rules/Conventions | ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000. |
Date of Descriptions | 37681 |