John Sealy Townsend (507)
| Date of Birth: | 1764 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death: | 18 Mar 1852 |
| Generation: | 5th |
| Residence: | Myross Wood, (1) Co Cork |
| Father: | Doctor Richard Townsend [501] |
| Mother: | Sealy, Eleanor |
| Spouse: |
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| Issue: | |
| See Also: | Table V ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for John Sealy Townsend
According to 'An Officer of the Long Parliament' John showed signs of consumption in his early years and was "cured by Mrs Edward Synge Townsend who dosed him with slugs taken feasting in sugar or jam" - this was Elizabeth Townsend [144] who married Rev Edward Synge Townsend [601].
Married 1795. Anne Hancock was the daughter of John Hancock, Lieutenant Governor of Charles Fort, Kinsale, Co Cork.
Having gained a scholarship, John entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1782, and the TCD Graduation List records that he qualified BA in Spring 1784 and LLB in Summer 1787, when Horatio Townsend [607] was an undergraduate.
Called to the Irish Bar in 1787, John was appointed QC on 27 November 1819 (2), was a bencher of King's Inn in 1824 and appointed a Master of the Irish Court of Chancery (3) on 2 December 1826. His chambers were at Inns Quay, Dublin, and he retired in 1846.
John was joined in Dublin by his brother Thomas Townsend [509] as his ‘Examiner’. This is recorded in 'The Belfast Street Directory 1843' (Dublin entries) - "Master in Chancery. John S. Townsend, esq., 24 Merrion Square, South. His Examiner, T. Townsend, Sandford" (when Thomas would have been 73) and in Aldwell's General Directory 1844-45 page 74 ‘Law Officers’ – “Chancery - Masters. John S. Townsend. His Examiner. Thomas Townsend”. Exactly when Thomas joined John is not clear. The entry for Mallow in Pigot's Provincial Directory 1824 shows "Townsend Thomas Esq. Retreat” whilst records in the Mallow Heritage Centre show the birth of all Thomas' children except Eleanor, Sealy and Horatio and the latest of these is that of Charles Townsend [5C00] in 1829 when Thomas would have been 58.
John was a brilliant advocate and had a prodigious memory. His great niece K Dorothy Townsend (not traced) records in a note addressed to Richard Baxter Townshend [5D15] that he became renowned for this shortly after he qualified for the bar in 1787 but before he started in practice. In Sketches, legal and political by Richard Lalor Sheil pages 10 & 11 - "Political Sketches, State of Parties In Dublin 1824" - similar reference is made to John's amazing memory at which time he was Law Adviser to The Castle (4) a duty which required him to advise the law officers of the Crown. However, on this occasion it was John's 'loss' of memory that was noteworthy. "It is indeed a matter of surprise that Mr. Sealy Townsend should not have remembered so important a fact. In no less than two instances Mr. Saurin resorted to the exercise of this formidable authority, and employed upon both occasions the professional labours of Mr. Townsend, who is what is generally called 'Devil to the Attorney- General'. So distinguished is Mr. Townsend for the permanence of his recollections, that there are those who insinuate that even its failings lean to memory's side, and that his very oblivion is the result of reminiscence. Whether he remembered to forget I shall not venture to decide, but certain it is, that in this important conjuncture the integrity of his recollection was like the chastity of Haidee (5) and 'he forgot just in the very moment he should not'." Further details of these two recollections are to be found in John's 'Scrapbook'
The Derry Papers (6) show that between 1800 and 1823 John's advice was frequently sought on a wide range of legal issues on matters relating to the lands at Derry by Thomas Hungerford Townsend [502], Horatio Townsend [5D00] and Chambre Corker Townsend [5D01]. Much of the advice was on rather mundane issues such as the collection of tithes, subletting the right to cut turf, non payment of rent and eviction of tenants. Correspondence between Chambre, John Sealy and Dr Callanan of Cork in 1823 about the recovery of debt is of particular interest; is this the same Dr Callanan who rented Skirtagh Cottage (7) in Clonakilty in 1783, or a relative? Following his retirement, John's namesake, John Sealy Townsend [333], acted as legal adviser to the Derry Townsends for many years after.
Like John FitzHenry Townshend [250], John was a keen and competent genealogist and much of our knowledge about Colonel Richard Townsend [100] comes as a result of research undertaken by him; he was also a substantial contributor to 'An Officer of the Long Parliament'.
As noted above, John lived in Merrion Square, Dublin (8) before he bought Myross Wood (9), Leap, Co Cork. There are two accounts of how Myross Wood came into the Townsend family and the first is most probably the correct one.
The entry for Myross Wood in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database and the Myross Retreat Centre website both record that the Rev Arthur Herbert, vicar of the parish of Myross and married to Helena Townsend [218], built a substantial and elegant house at Myross Wood. When the Rev Arthur died in 1760 the property continued in his family for some time but was later bought by the George, 3rd Earl of Kingston, and used as his home during the building of Mitchelstown Castle. During the time that he owned the house the Earl enlarged it around a courtyard, adding two drawing rooms, five family bedrooms, extensive servants’ quarters and utility rooms. He also built twenty-two farmhouses and labourers’ cottages. John bought the property in 1826, the same year that he was appointed Master in Chancery, though it would appear that he let the house to the Copinger family - Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837 records: - “Myross, the demesne of F. H. Copinger, Esq., is very large, extending northward to Leap, and affording the best woodland in the barony”. Page 194 of ‘Sketches in Carbery’ (published in 1876) records “Near Leap is situated the demesne of Myross Wood, which has a very pleasing effect when seen from the opposite side, the green slopes and rising grounds being thickly wooded down to the water’s edge. Myross House is a plain, substantial, and commodious-looking house; it formerly was the residence of the third Earl of Kingston, before he built Mitchelstown Castle, one of the finest private residences in the south of Ireland. Myross House afterwards belonged to a Mr. Coppinger, and finally came into the possession of its present proprietor, J. H. Townsend, Esq.” (John Hancock Townsend [523]).
The second account about the acquisition of Myross Wood is contained in a letter from Richard Arthur Townshend [259] to Dr Thomas Townsend [5A10] dated 28 January 1927.(10) According to Richard, the Rev Arthur Herbert of Cahernane, father-in-law to John Henry Townsend [238], purchased Myross, in about 1799 from Mr Jervois of Brade. When the Rev Arthur Herbert died of typhus in 1818 in Cork his wife, Mary, sold the property to Lord Kingston in 1820 who subsequently sold it to Mr FH Copinger sometime between 1824 and 1837. John Sealy Townsend bought Myross from Mr Copinger sometime between 1837 and 1846 and lived there until his death. The Rev Arthur Herbert of Cahernane to whom Richard Arthur refers died in 1828 and is the son of the Rev Arthur Herbert of Cahernane who married Helena Townsend [218].
House of Commons Papers Volume XXXV - Accounts and Papers records that John's remuneration for the period December 1826 to January 1832 was £14,037 and 3 shillings.
'Pigot's Directory 1824' shows Lord Kingston as the owner of Myross, 'Lewis' Topographical Dictionary 1837' shows "FH Copinger Esq" as the owner and 'Slater's Directory 1846' shows "Townsend, John Sealy Esq, Miros Wood" as the owner.
The ‘Shaw's Dublin City Directory, 1850’ records “Townsend. John Fitzhenry, 26 Hatch Street [507]; John Sealy Esq, Kilvare, Templeogue; John Sealy, jun, 11 Hardwicke Street [333]”.
The entry for the parish of Abbeystrewry in 'Samuel Lewis' Topographical Dictionary 1837' records that "The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ross, and in the patronage of J. S. Townsend, Esq., the impropriator of the rectory: the tithes amount to £647, of which £200 is payable to the impropriator, £20 to the vicar (under an appropriation grant of the late Earl of Shannon), and the remainder to the lessees of Col. Townsend." Lewis also records that "The parochial male and female schools, at Saroo (Castleventry), are supported by the Cork Diocesan Association, the vicar, and J. S. Townsend, Esq., who has endowed the schools with an acre of land."
John drew up the Marriage Settlement (11), dated 5 July 1790, between his distant cousin Richard Townsend [221] and Barbara Mellifont.
In the entry for the parish of Kilmacabea (close to Myross) 'Griffith's Vauluation of Ireland 1848-64' records "Townsend John Sealy. Carrigfada."
(1) The entry for Myross Wood in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "John Townsend held this property in fee at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £45. Eugene Daly writes that the house was built by the Reverend Arthur Herbert, Vicar of Myross, who married Helena Townsend of Castletownsend. In the late 18th century the house was bought by the Earl of Kingston who enlarged it and lived in it while Mitchelstown Castle was being built. It reverted back to Townshend ownership in 1826 when purchased by John Sealy Townsend and remained in Townsend ownership until 1943. In 1944 the house was bought by the Cleary family. Sold to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1946, who now use the building as a Retreat Centre." This account does not fully accord with that given by Richard Arthur Townshend [259] - see above.
(2) The following were also barristers practicing in Dublin in this period: John Sealy Townsend [333], John FitzHenry Townshend [250], Richard Townsend [513] and Horatio Townsend [623]. Horace Payne Townshend [5D12] qualified as a barrister but does not appeared to have practiced.
(3) The Irish Court of Chancery dated from the reign of Edward I and only dealt with cases for which there was no remedy in Common Law. In particular it focused on matters of property for which there was no clear title, the affairs of lunatics and minors, and the guardianship of orphans. Most of the routine work in this Court was carried out by barristers specialising in equity cases, who were called Masters in Chancery. In the early years of the 19th century these masterships, like commissions in the army, were purchased from retiring Masters.
(4) The Castle, Dublin - the home of the Irish Parliament
(5) Haidee is a beautiful Greek girl in ‘Don Juan’, who, falling in love with the hero and losing him, came to a tragic end.
(6) Derry Papers DD/6, DD/46, 505/3 and 5D00/8 to 5D00/12.
(7) See the entry for John Townsend [300]. Dr Callanan was arrested in 1803 for his association with the United Irishmen movement after Robert Emmet's ill-fated rising in Thomas Street, Dublin, on 23 July 1803.
(8) 'Pettigrew & Oultons Directory 1842' records "Townsend John Sealy QC. 24 Merrion Square. M 1787."
(9) Shown by Samuel Lewis as owned by "F. H. Coppinger, Esq" in 1837.
(10) RBT Papers 259/1.
(11) Lovera Papers 221/1
'An Officer of the Long Parliament' shows his shows his death as 1853, Ch XI p. 264-65 refers.923. (5)