Papers of the Burton Family, County Carlow

Context

Creator(s): The Burton family of Burton Hall and Pollacton House, county Carlow.

• Administrative History ↴

  Benjamin Burton (died 1728) was an Alderman in Dublin and served as Lord Mayor in 1706. He represented Dublin as a Member of Parliament between 1703-1723. He purchased lands in 1712 at Burton Hall (formerly called Ballynakelly) and elsewhere in Carlow from the Trustees for the Sale of Forfeited Estates. He established a bank in Dublin in the early 1700s but in 1733 the bank collapsed and Parliament passed an Act vesting the real and personal assets of directors in trustees. His son, Charles Burton, was knighted in 1750 by the Viceroy and created a baronet in 1758. He was also an MP for Dublin between 1749-1760. Another son of Benjamin Burton, Colonel Robert Burton, was MP for County Carlow between 1727-1760, and for the Borough between 1761-1765. In all, between 1700-1770, eight members of the Burton family held seats in Parliament for Carlow, Clare, Sligo and Dublin. Charles, the 2nd Baronet, remodelled Pollacton (or Pollardstown) House circa 1803. He married Catherine Cuffe, daughter of the 2nd Baron Desart, in 1778. Their son Charles, the 3rd Baronet, was born in May 1779 and married Susannah, daughter of Joshua Paul Meredith. Their son, Charles, the 4th Baronet, died unmarried in 1842. The baronetcy created for Charles Burton in 1758 became extinct in 1902 with the death of Sir Charles William Cuffe Burton. He left most of his assets to his niece, Grace Ellen Burton, wife of Sir Francis Charles Edward Denys, who assumed the additional name of Burton, and her sister, Gertrude Mary Burton. Lady Denys Burton’s heir was her third daughter, Georgina Denys Burton. She was the last of the family to live at Pollacton House. She left her property to her nephew who demolished Pollacton House in the early 1970s. The house at Burton Hall was sold in 1927 and demolished around 1930.

• Archival History ↴

  Donation

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Donation