Cornelius O'Brien of Birchfield (1782-1857)
Some facts about his life and times as abstracted fron the Clare Journal and other contemporary sources by the late Henry Comber of Lahinch, and originally published in The Key.
This impressive column, some call it Doric, some Ionic, which stands beside the roadway near St. Brigid's Well, has become the butt of journalistic jibes and a source of phallic preoccupation to one lady writer; but it has fulfilled its object of commemorating Cornelius O'Brien. His name, if nothing else, must have been noted by thousands of tourists from all over the world. The oft repeated libel that the memorial was erected by O'Brien himself during his own lifetime and paid for with money from his own unfortunate tenants, is completely without foundation. The date on the inscription -1853- can only be explained as a stonecutter's equivalent of a typist's error. The internal evidence alone proves it wrong. O'Brien was an M.P. for twenty years at the time of his death in 1857 and not in 1853 as the inscription states. The suggestion of a testimonial first appears in the editorial column of the Clare Journal on October 5th, 1854. An article in the same issue by "an English Visitor" heaps praise on Cornelius O'Brien for his developments at the Cliffs of Moher - the tower, pathways, stables, round table etc. and even the provision of a piper to entertain the visitors. Unfortunately, the piper fell over the cliffs while drunk. The writer remarks that such public spirit should be marked by some sign of the peoples appreciation. The response to the suggestion, formation of a committee, and collection of subscriptions, is reported in subsequent issues and a full list of of subscribers is published. This is headed by Bishop Fallon of Kilfenora and Bishop Vaughan of Nenagh. The list totals £400 and includes £36 "wrung" from the tenants in Birchfield and Carruduff. According to a letter from Orbillus in the Clare Journal of March 2nd, 1857, the form of the memorial has not been decided. Three suggestions were being considered:-
a. an extension to the Carnegie Library in Ennis.
b. an inscribed silver dinner service. (not favoured by O'Brien);
c. a memorial at the Cliffs of Moher.
A letter from a visitor to Lahinch on August 22nd, 1861 refers to the completed monument.
Two hundred years after his birth would seem an appropriate time to examine the caricature generally presented of this colourful and influential personage, who for half a century dominated the narrow peninsula between the Cliffs of Moher and Liscannor Bay, a region which even today, still seems permeated by his personality. Tourists in general have little taste for cold historical facts and thrive on a diet of myths, legends and paddy-whackery. As the primary developer of the Cliffs of Moher, Cornelius O'Brien has become something of a Bórd Fáilte property and any biographical material published about him is in the form of tourist brochures. These belong to the "dúirt bean liom" school of history and he is presented through stories culled from folk memory and uninformed comment on the many public and private buildings erected by him. But facts there are plenty, for this was no Diarmuid na mBan or Ozymandias of Egypt but an M.P. of twenty years standing, a prominent Clare landlord of ten thousand acres, a Dublin solicitor, director of the National Bank and a public figure whose activities are widely reported. After such a career, one would expect to find a mass of family papers, but I have met only a few business letters in the Stackpoole Kenny papers.The anecdotes allegedly current in in local folklore are mostly unkind and altogether unreliable. None of the incidents they record can be verified and no where is there mention of the striking events which marked O'Brien's full and distinguished life. It is customary to refer disparagingly to him by the familiar form of his Christian name but he does not seem to have been the "call me Corney" type and the only recorded use of this cognomen is by hecklers at an election meeting in Ennis.
Genealogy
One tourist brochure names Sir Lucius O'Brien as the father of Cornelius, another attributes his paternity to Sir Turlough. However, in spite of this convenient but confusing pedigree, he did not belong to the Inchiquin family.His parentage is not very obscure. A memorial to be apprenticed to Cornelius O'Callaghan, attorney of the Courts of Chancery and Common Pleas and Exchequer states :- "Cornelius O'Brien was the third son of Henry O'Brien, late of the town of Ennis in the County Clare, Esq., deceased and Helen O'Brien, otherwise O'Callaghan. He is aged at least 16 years. He was educated in the school of Stephen O'Halloran in the town of Ennis in the County of Clare and was reading Virgil when he left same." A separate petition dated 12th November, 1802 states that "he studied Grammar, Corderius, Ovid and part of Virgil."
An entry in the "Who's Who of British M.P.s reads:- "4 North St., Westminster, London; 20 Summerhill, Dublin; Birchfield, Ennistymon. Son of Henry O'Brien, Esq. of Birchfield, Co. Clare by Helen, daughter of Donough O'Callaghan Esq. of Kilgorey Co. Clare. Born at Birchfield 1782. Married 1816, Margaret, daughter of Peter Long of Waterford and relic of James O'Brien of Limerick. A solicitor in Ireland from 1811, a magistrate for Clare, a Liberal in favour of Repeal of the Union with Ireland, tenants rights and vote by ballot. Sat for Clare from1832 to 1847 when he was an unsuccessful candidate. Resigned seat July 1852. Retired 1857. Died 1857."
The Birchfield Estate
Beaghy demesne, Anglicised to Birchfield, is associated mainly with the McDonough and O'Brien families. An examination of documents in the Registry of Deeds, Henrietta St., shows that the property passed through many hands, but the interpretation of these complicated agreements calls for a high degree of legal and historical expertise and it is difficult to distinguish between owners, occupiers, mortagees etc. The estate is first mentioned in an inquisition of 1625 as the property of Thomas O'Cahill whose family name is preserved in the neighbouring town of Cahercahill. Thomas died in 1621 leaving as his heir Donough O'Cahill. In 1628 Cormack O'Cahill mortgaged the lands to Daniel O'Brien of Dough. About 1655 Beaghy was granted to William Hamilton under the Act of Settlement and appears to have been sub-let by Hamilton to Craven McDonough in 1676. Craven was one of five sons of Daniel McDonough, who was granted Ballykeal, Kilfenora under the Act of Settlement.
In 1715, Major General Augustus Hamilton of Tullymore, Co. Down, sold Beaghy to Brigadier Francis Gore of Clonroad. Gore mortgaged the estate to Rev. Robt. Curtis and in 1748 Robt. Curtis and Francis Gore sold Beaghy, the mansion of Castletown and the lands of Clonroad to John Purdon for £13,000. The same year, John Purdon sold Beaghy to John Stackpoole of Cragbrien.
Presumably the McDonough family were in occupation all this time, for in 1748, John Stackpoole granted a thirty-one year lease of Ballyvrislane, Beaghy, Lislarkin etc to Nicholas McDonough, son of Craven. Nicholas was brother of Capt. Anthony McDonough of Irish Brigade fame. He is commemorated in Kilmacrehy cemetery by the inscription:-
" Here resteth Nick, whose fame no age can blot
The chief McDonough in old Hebers lot,
Who while on earth revived the ancient fame
Of his own line and that of all his name.
His fixed religion was his action's guide
And as he lived beloved, lamented died."
1762: John Stackpoole leased Birchfield to Henry O'Brien for £178 rent.
1780: Henry O'Brien re-leased it to Lawrence Comyn.
1796: Lawrence Comyn to Walter Arthur of Ennis and Walter Arthur to James O'Brien of Limerick.
1800: Lawrence Comyn conveyed the lands of Birchfield previously enjoyed by Michael Furnell to John McNamara.
1800 Edward O'Brien of Seamount renewed the lease granted Lawrence Comyn to his son Nicholas comyn.
1803: Edward O'Brien, eldest son of and heir apparent of Henry O'Brien, late of Birchfield sold Beaghy to Michael and Cornelius O'Brien.
1801: John McNamara re-leased Birchfield to John Lysaght of Ballyvorda.
1812: Nicholas Comyn to Cornelius O'Brien.
From this date until his death, Cornelius seems to have been in full possession of the estate. Unfortunately, there are no details available of the building of the mansion or of the extensive developments which must have taken place about this time. George, third son, succeeded after his father's death and when he died in 1867, the Birchfield property passed to Cornelius Keogh by his marriage to Mary O'Brien, youngest daughter. William McgGrath came into possesion of O'Brien's Toonagh estate by marrying Bridget O'Brien in 1852.
Religion
Various local memoirs tell of Cornelius O' Brien's conversion to Catholicism, but nowhere is there confirmation of this. In his farewell letter to his constituents, two months before his death in 1857, he refers to :-
"our Roman Catholic fellow subjects",
and futher on:-
"While they energetically repudiate undue and often irritating interference with the exercise of their own faith, they have shown by their selection of me, a Protestant, as their represtentative, that feelings of intolerance or bigotry have not found a place in their minds or influenced their conduct."
This is not to say that the family were long standing pillars of the Established Church. Conversion or apostasy, depending on the point of view, was commom in those days and some changed their faith for a piece of land, some for a bowl of soup. O'Brien's maternal grandparents appear on the role of Converts from Popery in 1743 and in 1759, we find a Henry O'Brien of Ennis, who was probably his father. It can be presumed tht O'Brien died a Protestant but his end was very ecumenical. After lying in state before the front door of Birchfield House, his coffin was taken to St. Brigid's Cemetery followed by thousands of mourners in a mile long cortege. Here the burial rites were read by his great friend Most Rev Dr, Fallon, Bishop of Kilfenora assisted by Canon Bell. Then the remains were laid to rest in a temporary tomb pending the completion of the family vault.
The Landlord
Local recollections of Cornelius O'Brien hold no hint of kindness or generosity and give the impression that his good deeds were interred with him in his magnificent mausoleum in St. Brigid's Cemetery. But records of the time are more favourable.
Lewis Topographical Dictionary 1857:
Birchfield- "The residence of Cornelius O'Brien who has much improved his estate and the condition of his tenentry by the erection of neat slated cottages and farm buildings and by other judicious arrangements; a holy well dedicated to St Brigid and much resorted to by the peasantry, which , at Mr. O'Brien's expense. has been surrounded by tasteful plantations and rustic seats."
Nowhere do we find mention of the rack-renting and evictions so common in other parts of Clare. O'Brien is described by another writer as a model for the landlords of Clare and there is much praise for his activities in combating want and suffering through his membership of Ennistymon Board of Guardians and Liscannor Relief Committee. In the course of a very spirited debate (Dec.21st, 1846) arising out of accusations by George Westropp, agent of Dean Stackpoole, that O'Brien was favouring his own tenants in allocating relief work, Mr O'Brien said:-
"If Mr. Westropp had the slightest compassion in such a year as this, he would not have taken rent from his poor tenantry. He would have told them to take back their money and buy bread with it."
O'Brien added that it was perfectly impossible that a man with a family of ten could maintain life in them on five shillings per week when wheat was sold at three shillings per stone and flour at two shillings and eightpence. If this was a system of relief, the Government should give wages high enough to to enable the labourer to give his family enough bread, otherwise there was no use in this enormous outlay.
O'Brien's work for the poor is praised by Rev J. Sheehan P.P. Ennstymon and the Clare Journal paid this tribute to him in his obituary:-
"As a landlord, no man was held in greater love and esteem by his tenantry. They clung to him in many a well-fought field of contention and carried him triumphant through every contest."
Political Career
This short article allows only a very condensed account of O'Brien's political life which extended from Catholic Emancipation to the Great Famine and a decade beyond. He seems to appear suddenly on the scene in 1832, but must have been well established as a politician before this, since he was chairman of the committee which elected Daniel O'Connell as candidate for the famous Clare Election of 1832.
The Clare Journal of December 10th, 1932 carried O'Brien's address to the people of the county. Part of it reads:-
"If I had seen any other person of liberal and independent principles disposed to rescue you from being made the instrunents of those who triumphantly boast that they can nominate your representative and control your suffrage by undue influence and bribery, I should have remained in the unobtrusive privacy of professional life, content with giving support and asistance to any candidate who would be entitled to your unbiased suffrage. I come forward as one of yourselves and solicit the honour of your support uninfluenced by any consideration except that of promoting the interests of our common country."
A supplementary address clarifies his stand on Repeal, pledging him to the advocacy of that great measure. His nomination was seconded rather half-heartedly by Tom Steele. A letter in the Stackpoole-Kenny letters in the National Libraray, gives a hint of the in-fighting which must have accompanied the battle for the two seats. Richard Scott of Dublin writes to Capt. John McNamara of Moher that Daniel O'Connell must keep his promise and that O'Brien must be stopped at all costa in the interests of the Major (W.H. McNamara, the other Liberal.)
All went well however, and the Major was elected with 920 votes, followed by o'Brien with 897. They were also returned in 1835, 1837 and 1841 with only a few votes between them. The election of 1847 provided an upset for Cornelius. Sir Lucius O'Brien headed the poll followed by Major McNanara. It was a bitterly fought campaign, in many ways reminiscent of present day elections. Accusations of corruption were flung about and in a blazing row at Kilkee Azzises, Mr. Collins, a young Kerry attorney, accused Charles O'Connell, barrister, of Castlepark House, Liscannor, of switching his support from Cornelius O'Brien for a bribe of six hundred pounds. Cornelius came back strongly in 1852 and headed the poll in 1853, his last election.
As a parliamentarian, O'Brien does not seem to have been in the mold of Burke or Grattan. His best work was done at constituency level and we search Hansard in vain for examples of his oratory. In extenuation, we must remember that Daniel O'Connell was in full spate at this time and it must have been hard to get a word in. Lord Palmerston's verdict was:-
"O'Brien was the best Irish M.P. we ever had. He didn't open his mouth in twenty years."
The Duellist
In the course of the 1847 campaign, Pierse Creagh, election agent for William Fitzgerald, claimed that he had been insulted by Cornelius O'Brien and sent his friend, Blake-Forster, as his second to call O'Brien out. Both parties were bound to the peace in £600 and that affair came to naught even though Blake-Forster suggested a meeting on the continent.
A certain lack of enthusiasm on O'Brien's part is understandable. He was sixty-five years of age and the memory of a previous affair of honour must have been indelibly imprinted on his mind. This took place in 1810 and is described in a booklet "Famous Irish Trials" preserved in the National Library under the title:-
"A full and accurate report of the Trial of Cornelius O'Brien and Cornelius McDonough, Esqrs. for the murder of Francis Drew Esq. at the late Assizes of Trim held before the Hon. Sir William Cusack-Smith, Baronet, Third Baron of His Majesty's Court of Exchequer containing The Very eloquent Appeal made by Mr. O'Brien to the Court on his receiving sentence. Taken on the spot by Isaac Burke Bethel, Esq., Barrister at Law -1810. The lengthy verbatim report makes fascinating reading but it is too long for inclusion here. The words "swaggerer" and "coward" were among the epithets dealt out at one of the public offices in the City of Dublin. The lie was given and this was followed by a blow inflicted on the deceased by the prisoner, O'Brien. The deceased, Drew, described by by a witness as the most implaccable, unmanageable, ungovernable man he had ever met with, would have no accommodation, nothing but a shot would satisfy him. The jury found the prisoners guilty of manslaughter and they were sentenced to six months imprisonment. Here Mr. O'Brien asked permission to address the court. This was granted, and his speech deserves to be reproduced in full."I am sure your Lordship has good reason for paying attention to the reports which have reached you concerning me. But allow me, my Lord, to say they did me great injustice. I am no fighting man my Lord; I abhor the character and I am grieved at the impression which seems to have been made on your Lordship's mind as to me. Allow me to inform your Lordship that my father was a gentleman of rank and prosperity in the County of Clare. He instructed me in the principles of religion and morality and spared no expense on my education. He placed me in an honourable profession. He was in embarrassed circumstances poor man. He is now in his grave. he died when I was young, very young, leaving me in the management of those affairs and the care of a widowed mother and five orphaned children. God protected us. By my industry and attention and by the practice of my profession I succeeded in restoring my family to their property and enabled myself to become the protector of my mother and to stand in the place of a father to her children.
In the course of my exertions, which I hope were praiseworthy, I had to do with a gentleman who was the enemy of my father and helped to undermine his fortunes. His resentments outlived my poor father and he turned them on me. He met me on the street of Ennistymon, in my own county, my Lord, and there publicly called me a swindler, a liar, and a coward. I was then only nineteen. My friends thought that if I put up with such treatment I could neither follow my profession nor show my face in my county. I was well connected my Lord. I did not wish to disgrace myself or my connexions. I had a meeting with Mr. McNamara. This, no doubt, reached your Lordship's ears, and occasioned those severe observations which have afflicted me so much. My Lord, that was the first affair I was engaged in; the only except this late unfortunate one, which I shall lament the longest day I live. Before my meeting with Mr. McNamara, I solemly declare I had never fired a shot out of a pistol; and you will recollect my Lord, that my wish was to have recourse to a court of law.
To come to the last melancholy business, my Lord, God forbid that I should say anything untrue or cast any imputation on Mr.Drew. My counsel knew that it would be far from my wish to do so. He cannot contradict me; he is in his grave poor man; and for the remainder of my life I shall deplore his owing his death to me. (Here Mr. O'Brien seemed overcome with the violence of his emotions). My Lord, far from practising, I solemly declare in the presence of my God, whom I revere, I do believe that that unfortunate shot (here again he appeared strongly affected) was the fourth shot I ever fired in my life. Poor Mr. Drew had in the public offices insulted me with all the epithets that have been given in evidence by Mr. Pollock and Mr. Meares and for no other crime but my bringing him to a fair settlement of a long account he had with my family.
When I went to tax his bill of costs, his manner was to the full as offensive as anything he said. He assumed a superiority over me my Lord, and a contemptuous behaviour that I could not brook. Yet, afterward, and I appeal to God, who hears me for the truth of this, it was my wish to have avoided the meeting and to to do everything in my power to have things amicably settled and if Mr. Drew himself was here, I would call on him to say whether I did not show that this was my sincere wish. But, poor man, I may say this much for myself, he hated me and was determined not to make make up matters with me. My Lord, as to the unfortunate old man who is standing by my side, he is my relation. I was able to be of some assistance to him in his distresses. I thought and knew that he would take care of my life as well as my honour; and this was one of my reasons for choosing him as my friend. He has suffered a great deal on my account; and indeed, he is more to be pitied than blamed. People have hardly spoken of him. He had to contend for many years with poverty and distress; and in the eyes of the world, my Lord, poverty is a crime; you seldom hear a poor man well spoken of; and when he was almost rescued from his distress, he has been unfortunately led into this situation by my means. He has undergone some confinement, and his health is very bad. There are physicians who can satisfy your Lordship that he has had dangerous attacks in the Gaol. Indeed my own health is not good. I have always been bilious and uneasiness of mind and confinement have made me worse. My Lord, I am obliged for this indulgence. I could not retire from this court where there are so many respectable people present, without trying to do your Lordship's impressions of my being a fighting man, and a fire-eater away. My Lord, it is a character I abhor, and there are respectable people present who would make affidavit that all I have said of myself is true. After what has passed to-day I fear I am a ruined man in all my prospects. I could not bear to stay in the country, I could not my Lord. At the expiration of of your Lordships' sentence, to which I bow with respect, I will quit the country; I will quit my family and my connexions forever."
His Lordship declared that the discourse he had just heard bore upon it the character and the stamp of truth. To him, notwithstanding the unfortunate transgression into which he had been betrayed, it presentd Mr. O'Brien in the light of a young gentleman of amiable disposition and uncommon intellectual endowments. That address, delivered to a crowded auditory. seemed to him to change the face of things and to lay substantial grounds for a considerable and striking mitigation of the sentence. Accordingly, he had the pleasure of abridging the trem of imprisonment to one week.
Marriage and Prosperity
The bland statement of "Who's Who", that O'Brien married in 1816, Margaret, widow of James O'Brien of Limerick, begs quite a number of questions. The middle-aged widow, who had borne four children to James O'Brien in the 1790s could hardly be the mother of Cornelius O'Brien's family born between 1830 and 1842, especially as her death is reported in 1839. It was a strange marriage on which to found a dynasty and financial and political reasons may have influenced Cornelius in his choice. Margaret's first husband was obviously a wealthy man and her uncle, William Roche of Limerick, was one of the leaders of the Irish Party.
There are various references to Mrs. Mary O'Brien of Birchfield, late in O'Brien's life and after his death, but no record of a second marriage can be traced. In view of the fragmentary registers which survive from that time, no conclusions can be drawn from this. A story in the locality tells of a foundling girl, Mary Kelly, reared in Toonagh who, coming to Birchfield as a housemaid became the mistress of the master and later lady of the manor.
Dame Fortune smiled on Cornelius O'Brien, granting him a long life, prosperity and politcal success, but she seems to have turned away from his family. His eldest son, Lieutenant John C. died of sunstroke at Secunderbad in the East Indies aged twenty-six years, some months before his father's death; and none of the other children seem to have lived to more than thirty-two years. I have found no trace of any descendants.
Conclusion
All in all, Cornelius O'Brien was quite a man. His vision, backed by a sedure Parliamentary seat and ten thousand acres of land in Birchfield, Inagh and Toonagh, would make him a giant in the Ireland of today. He had style in his works, words and deeds and there was charisma and a touch of poetry in the man responsible for the following inscription in Kilmacreehy cemetery:-
Erected by Cornelius O'Brien M.P. to the memory of his friend John Collins Esq., M.D. A good man respected for his learning and loved for his benevolence and virtue by all who had the happiness of his acquiantance. Here he sleeps well by the seashore wherein he loved to dwell February 16th, 1841."
Acknowledgements
Remote from towns and historical sources, a great deal of my research was by the way of questions to persons better informed than me. The list is too long to include here, but I thank them sincerely for their courtesy and help. Henry Comber.
Storied urn or animated bust?