Darley Collection

Context

Creator(s): Darley, George, 1731-1813 Darley, Hill, 1735-1800

• Administrative History ↴

  The Darleys were an important family of stone-cutters, sculptors, builders and architects who were active across two centuries in Dublin and Co. Down. Henry Darley (d.c.1728), was a stone-cutter and quarryman in Newtownards, Co. Down in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Henry’s three sons, Moses (d.1754), Arthur (1692-1742) and Hugh (1701-1771), followed him into the stone-cutting trade, as would many of their children in turn. The middle son, Arthur Darley, married, firstly, Elizabeth Thompson (d.c.1725), by whom he had a son – Edward (1718-1794). Following his wife’s death, Arthur then married Mary Wirling, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, and had four sons who survived into adulthood - George (1731-1813), John (1733-1785), Hill (1735-1800) and Arthur (1740-1818). All four were born in Newtownards. It is said that when Arthur died suddenly in 1742, leaving no will, his property passed to his first son Edward, who made no provision for Arthur’s widow and her family. It was therefore left to the eldest son of his second family, George, to support them and as such, aged seventeen, he travelled to Dublin. It has been suggested that George was most likely apprenticed to his cousin, Henry Darley, a successful contractor and son of Moses Darley. An examination of the lists of Ancient Freemen of Dublin shows that George Darley, mason, was admitted by special grace in Easter 1757. Craftsmen who were not born in Dublin and who were not members of a trade guild were sometimes granted admission in this way. Indeed, George’s uncles Moses and Hugh had gained admission by special grace in 1720 and 1738 respectively. Just a few months after George, in September 1757, Hill Darley, mason, was admitted following service with Henry Darley. In 1760, John Darley, mason, was admitted following service with Moses Darley and finally in Midsummer 1765, Arthur Darley, carpenter, was admitted following service though his Master is not named. From these beginnings, this branch of the Darley family prospered. By the 1760s, George, John and Hill were all working in Dublin as stone-cutters, while the youngest, Arthur, was both a carpenter and a builder. George is listed in Dublin directories as a stone-cutter from as early as 1761 when he was based on York Street. He moved in 1775 to 5 Mercer’s Street where he and his brother Hill operated a stone-cutting business together from 1785 until 1800, the year of Hill’s death. It should be noted that George was generally referred to as George Darley Junior, to avoid confusion with his cousin of the same name, age and occupation. It seems likely that John worked with George and Hill as he too is listed at York Street from 1768 and moved to Mercer’s Street in the same year as George, though he is not listed at the same address. Arthur operated his business from Dorset Street from 1773 until 1794, moving from no. 42 to no. 53 in 1787. He was declared bankrupt in July 1792. George married Jane Johnstone (1738-1806) in 1755 and had 17 children. In later years, the family lived in Springfield House, Stillorgan. One of his sons, Henry Darley M.D. (1770-1856) married Sarah Guinness in 1817 in St. Peter’s (COI), Dublin. They lived in The Grange, Stillorgan and were active in the parish there, with Henry acting as a churchwarden. It was this Henry Darley who appears to have given the Darley Collection drawings to Sterling Ballantine, the donor of the collection. George and Jane are buried in their son Henry’s grave in St. Brigid’s, Stillorgan. Interestingly, another son of George and Jane, Arthur Darley, was the father of the well-known poet George Darley. Indeed, as a child the poet stayed in Springfield House with his grandparents George and Jane from c.1795-1802, while his own parents were in America. Hill Darley appears to have died unmarried. John Darley married Frances Guinness (d.c.1795), a sister of the brewer Arthur, in 1763, though there appears to have been no issue. Following John’s death in 1785, she remarried to a Michael Raye. In 1766, Arthur Darley married Elizabeth Mason (d.1781). Their eldest son, Robert Darley (1767-1833) was a carpenter, sculptor and architect who worked in Dublin and London. Sterling Ballantine, who donated the collection to the RIA, was the son of Dublin stone-cutter, Robert Ballantine (fl. 1826-1850s), who had a business on Dorset Street. Sterling took over this business following his father's death. In 1863, a sheriff’s notice appeared in the newspapers advertising the sale of the stock-in-trade of Sterling Ballantine ‘an eminent sculptor’. Ballantine’s chimney-pieces, marble, stone, tools, furniture and even kitchen utensils were all to be sold due his being bankrupt. Sterling Ballantine died at the age of 75 in 1890, just over a year after donating the collection to the Academy.

• Archival History ↴

  The collection was donated to the Royal Irish Academy in April 1889 by Sterling Ballantine, a Dublin stone-cutter. Ballantine sent the drawings, unsolicited, to an Academy member along with a letter which is now in the collection. Ballantine suggests that the Academy might be interested in the drawings as a record of ‘the high state of workmanship existing in Dublin more than a century ago’. It is not clear with whom he initially made contact as his letter is merely addressed ‘Dear Doctor’, though it may have been Dr. Stephen Myles Mac Swiney who presented the drawings at a meeting of the Academy in May 1889. The minutes note: ‘Dr. S. M. Mac Swiney exhibited a series of Drawings of Dublin Ornamental Marble Work of the last century which were presented to the Academy by Mr. Stirling Ballantine. A special vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Stirling Ballantine for his Donation.’ The drawings have a fairly clear provenance in that Ballantine noted that it was the ‘late Henry Darley of Stillorgan’ who gave him the drawings. This Henry Darley was George Darley’s grandson. However, it is not known how this transaction came to pass as there is no evidence of a business or personal connection between the Darley and Ballantine families. Interestingly, Henry Darley died in 1856, while there is evidence that Ballantine had possession of the drawings from at least 1848 so perhaps the drawings had transferred into the Ballantine’s ownership soon after the death of George in 1813. The drawings have remained in the care of the Library of the Royal Irish Academy since 1889 and were conserved in two lots in 2013 and 2015.

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Donation