b.1787  d.1871

Right Honourable Edward Lucas was the last of the Lucas family of Castleshane to serve as a member of parliament.

Ancestors of Edward who had also been elected to parliament were:

1.       Francis (b.1646  d.1705) who was returned to the Irish Parliament at the general election of 1695 but three weeks later declared “not duly elected” and replaced by Henry Tennison from Louth.

2.       Francis (b. 1669  d.1746), son of Francis above,  who was returned as MP for the Borough of Monaghan in 1713 and held this seat continuously until his death in 1746.

3.       Edward (b.1723 d.1775), nephew of Francis (1669-1746), who was elected to one the two County seats in 1761 and held the seat until his death in 1775. His eldest son, Francis, contested for the vacancy created by the death of Edward but he was unsuccessful and the seat went to Thomas Tenison.

The Right Honourable Edward – he acquired the title “Right Honourable” in 1845   when he was made a member of the Privy Council – was the only child of Charles Lucas who was the second son of Edward MP above. Charles was a barrister practising in Dublin but he succeeded to the Castleshane estate when his older brother, Francis, died childless, in 1789.

Charles married Sarah Hamilton, daughter of Sir James Hamilton of Cornacassa. Their only child, Edward, was born 27th September 1787.  Sarah died in 1788. Charles re-married in 1793 to Louisa Evatt, of Mount Louise, Tydavnet.

Charles died in 1796, aged 39.This left the then nine-year-old Edward as heir to the substantial Castleshane estate comprising approximately 80 townlands in the parishes of Monaghan, Clontibret and Tyholland.

THE LUCAS FAMILY

The Lucases were an English family, descended from a Thomas Lucas of Saxham, Suffolk who was Secretary to Jaspar Tudor, a confidant of Henry V11. Several members of the family moved to Ireland and settled in counties Cork, Clare and Offaly as well as Monaghan.  In the late 17th century they acquired, partly by purchase and partly by royal grant, the estate which was erected into a manor by patent of Charles 11 in 1683 to be called the Manor of Castle Shane.

Footnote:(The Lucas estate in 1878, on the eve of Land Purchase, comprised 9,995 statute acres  and was the sixth largest estate in the county (after Shirley 26,000, Bath 22,000, Dawson 17,000, Templeton 13,000, Hope 11,700).

Throughout the 18th century the Lucases were resident landlords who applied themselves to maximising the value of their estate.  They brought in a large number of settlers, mainly Scottish Presbyterians, as tenants, many of whose descendants are still in the area. They introduced the growing of flax and promoted the improvement of farming practices. They were also prominently involved in political affairs in the county as well as in parliament.

The financial affairs of the estate were, however, in some disarray during the ownership of Rt. Hon. Edward’s grandfather, Edward (1723-1775).  He was described as “totally devoid of competence in business matters, incapable of managing the manor. It eventually went into bankruptcy but was “bailed out” by Isabelle Eccles Lucas, his shrewd sister-in-law” (footnote – Dr Glenn Lucas)

A deed of 1773 confirms that Henry Ellis’s father, a Monaghan town businessman, had lent £1000 to Lucas and Lucas, being unable to repay, deeded over to Ellis the Manor Town and  lands of Castleshane.

Under the management of Charles, with the assistance of his in-laws, the Hamilton’s, and with the benefit of an economic boom in Ireland in the late 18th century, financial stability was brought  back to the estate by the time the nine-year-old Edward  inherited.

Dacre Hamilton of Cornacassa was an uncle of Edward and was land agent for the Rossmore, Templeton and Lucas estates so presumably he looked after Edward’s interests as a landlord while he was a minor.

EDWARD’S EDUCATION

Edward was educated in England, entering Harrow school in 1801 and attending there until 1804. He matriculated to Christ Church College, Oxford in 1806.  He also attended Edinburgh University and was a member of a debating society there, probably before going to Oxford.  His educational path was therefore that of many of the English ascendancy and parliamentarians, including his future political mentor, Sir Robert Peel. While there he was amongst the great and powerful at the heart of the British Empire and becoming aware of the major political controversies and concerns of the time. Following the French Revolution of 1789, Britain was at war with France from 1793 and there was fear of a French invasion of Britain until the defeat of Napoleon at Trafalgar in 1805.  The North American colonies had been lost with the declaration of Independence in 1787 but British possessions were continuing to grow in India, Africa and the West Indies. The industrial revolution had brought huge changes in the social structure and middle-class wealth was beginning to threaten the stranglehold which the landed aristocracy had on the reins of power and privilege.

Meanwhile the main concern of the landlord class of  Monaghan was with continuing to protect their position of power and privilege. In countering the threat of the United Irishmen, one of the most active and feared was Lucas’s uncle Dacre Hamilton who as magistrate, commander of the Monaghan Yeomen and High Sherrif in 1798  who “ruled the neighbourhood with the power of a despotic dictator” (Rushe). He was the government’s most powerful influence in arresting and convicting leaders of United Irishmen in the county. There was very little effective action in the county in ’98, one of the few attempts being an unsuccessful attack on a party of soldiers conveying arms through Killyneil adjacent to the Lucas estate in Castleshane.

In earlier decades, Edward’s ancestors, sitting as Members of Parliament would have regarded themselves as “nationalists”, advocates for the rights of the Irish Parliament to govern without being subject to the interference of the Parliament in London – always taking for granted the entitlement of the Protestant ascendancy to control the Irish Parliament. All this was changing rapidly in the 1790s. British parliamentarians such as Pitt foresaw that, given the inevitability of a wider franchise and the emancipation of Catholics and the dangers posed to the Empire by an Ireland influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution, as shown in the rising of ’98, subsuming Ireland fully into a United Kingdom by abolishing the Irish Parliament was essential. How the members of the Irish Parliament, Lords and Commons, were persuaded to vote for the Act of Union is well documented.

Charles Powell Leslie and Richard Dawson who were MPs for the County of Monaghan campaigned and voted against the Union.The representatives for the “pocket” Borough of Monaghan, which was controlled by the Cunningham/Westenra family, Henry Westenra and Faithful Fortescue voted for the Union.The Borough seats were abolished by the Union.

MONAGHAN  POLITICS   1800-1834

From 1800 until 1826 the two MPs elected for the county to sit in Westminster were from the Dawson, Westenra and Leslie families. The general population of the county had little interest in elections. The major landowners negotiated and bargained with one and other, using the number of votes they controlled because of their hold over their freeholders, to decide who would stand, or even be returned without a contest.  There was very little political or ideological difference between them but this did not prevent a lot of blustering and posturing about their merits as representatives of the county.

Lucas was about the sixth largest landowner in the county and Edward, as soon as he reached his majority, was expected to become involved in the political manoeuvring.  The need for an election arose in 1807 on the death of Richard Dawson.  Lucas, then aged 20 and presumably still in Oxford, was mentioned as a possible candidate, being described as “independent and anti-Catholic”.  In a letter  to Sir Thomas Barrett Leonard in September, his agent William Mayne says: “the death of my respected neighbour (Dawson) continues to create much electioneering” and names Lucas as one of the candidates. Lucas, however, in a letter to “Gentlemen, Freeholders and Clergy of the county, published in the Dublin Evening Post of 22nd announced his decision not to stand at this time.  With the influence of Lord Cremourne, Thomas Corry was elected.

At the next election, in 1812, Charles P. Leslie and Richard Thomas Dawson were returned without much controversy but when Dawson was elevated to the peerage in 1813 another bout of intense horse-trading began. Lord Cremorne wanted to give his support to Lucas but he declined to stand again and when other possible contenders, particularly Thomas Barrett Lennard, also withdrew, Corry got the seat unopposed.By the time of the next two elections, in 1818 and 1820, Lord Rossmore’s son Henry William Westenra had come of age and he and C.P. Leslie were returned unopposed.

1826 Election

The question of Catholic Relief was now becoming a major issue. Lord Charlemont and Lord Rossmore were both favourably disposed to some measure of Relief but all of the county’s landlords were relying on the votes of their predominantly anti-Catholic freeholders. Westenra was in a difficult position having given a pledge to the gentry of the county to oppose Relief but insisting on his independence in Parliament.  When Daniel O’Connell intervened in the county, calling on all Catholic voters to support Westenra in the 1826 election, the stage was set for the riotous period that followed.

For the previous twenty years Lucas had been prominently involved in the political dealing in the county.  Although mentioned at several elections as a candidate he had declined to go forward.  Although unswervingly committed to the Protestant, landlord and Conservative interest , Lucas gained a reputation as a fair-minded and able politician and administrator.   Within the county he stood against the extremism of the Orange Order and the Brunswick Clubs.  He was the first member of the Grand Jury to declare in favour of Catholic Emancipation. The more enlightened Conservative leaders like Peel and Wellington had come to realise that emancipation had to be granted to maintain any semblance of political and social stability.

Lucas was the proposer of Westenra at the 1826 election and very prominent in the affray which occurred in Monaghan town and its aftermath.

 “An Egregious  Ass”

Following the riots which occurred  in Monaghan involving supporters of Leslie and Westenra, at the commencement of the elections on Saturday, 24th June (long remembered as “stoney Saturday”) Edward Lucas published a statement  in the Evening Mail on 10th July in which he asserted that the riots had been quelled by the actions of Dacre Hamilton and himself, at the risk of their lives, in coming between  the mob and the police, seizing or throwing up their muskets and ordering them to desist.  A letter signed by Mr  Madden and other Magistrates of the County  ridiculed this claim by Lucas. This was followed by a letter signed by Henry and William Westenra, Dacre Hamilton and Ralph Dudgeon  supporting Lucas’s account of what happened, saying that the Magistrates  concerned “ were themselves seriously implicated  in this melancholy affray” and that their statement was totally at variance with the facts.  Lucas wrote another  letter  re-confirming  his account.

On the 10th July, an article, apparently an editorial comment by the Evening Mail, lampoons Lucas and refers to him as “an egregious ass” for claiming that he had stilled the tumult by his oratory “drove them back with his voice”  and also by “seizing and throwing up” the muskets, as there were not less than 200 soldiers and policemen with presented fire-locks.

A consequence of this controversy was the duel between Westenra and Madden reported in the Evening Post on 24th July.  Both parties were wounded, neither seriously.  Edward Lucas was Westenra’s second at the duel.

In 1829 the forty-shilling freeholders were  disenfranchised . This reduced the number of registered freeholders  so that the number of voters in the county which was about 3,500 in 1826 was only 852 at the  time of the next election  in 1830.

The History of Parliament gives the following information for 1830: Number of voters(registered to vote?)  Rossmore 195, Blayney 148, Shirley 140, Cremorne 75, Lucas 71, Leslie 39, B-Lennard 39.

Earlier in the decade Henry Westenra had observed:

“if this business of the 40s. freeholders being abolished is to take place ... every freeholder in the county Monaghan (with the exception of 10 perhaps at most) will be a stiff, uncompromising Protestant or one of the unco gude and reegidly righteous [sic] descendants of the John Presbyters of the north.”

It is certain that the majority of Lucas’s 71 voters  would have been of this ilk.

The History of Parliament has the following information on Co Monaghan:

Number of voters: In 1826 -  c3500; in 1830 -  852

Registered Freeholders:   In 1829 – 12,860;  In 1830 – 1,148

The much-reduced electorate at the 1830 returned Shirley and Blayney with Westenra narrowly losing out to Blayney.  Lucas is again mentioned as declining to offer and when another Election was necessary in 1831 Lucas addressed a letter to  “the Gentry, Clergy and Freeholders of Co Monaghan”  (Dublin Evening Post, 30 April):

“In the present state of the British Empire I consider it the duty of an Elector to endeavour to ward off from his County, if possible, the evils of a contested election.

Favourable to the principles of Reform, but not prepared for the extent contemplated by the present Ministry, the conduct of our Representatives in voting against the Reform Bill appears to me merit the confidence of the County”

Westenra and Blayney were returned without a contest, but pressure was building for change and when aGeneral Election was called in 1832, Westenra was ousted when the Monaghan Independent Club, led by Thomas Reilly, gave their support to a Dublin barrister Louis Perrin, standing as a Liberal.

LUCAS IN PARLIAMENT 1834-1841

When Cadwalader Blayney succeeded to his father’s peerage in 1834, Edward Lucas allowed his name to go forward for election for the first time and was returned as a Conservative, but not without controversy.  Hon. H. R. Westenra and Lucas contested the seat.  Westenra got 1078 votes and Lucas 984.  Lucas lodged a petition against the result on the grounds  that some of the freeholders who had voted  for Westenra were not eligible to vote.  The petition was heard by a sub-committee of the Commons and upheld by them.  Lucas was declared “duly elected”.  (The judgement on the petition was later quoted as a precedent in other subsequent “controverted elections”)

Lucas had been biding his time at previous elections and had now achieved his ambition of representing the Conservative interest for the county.  At the General Election in 1835 he was returned along with Westenra who had the support of liberals and Catholics as Perrin had left the Monaghan scene having become a judge in the High Court.

 In 1837 Westenra and Lucas were returned without a contest.  Proposing Lucas, Capt. Madden referred to “his (Lucas’s) claims upon the county for his connections with it, his large property in it and the fidelity and talent with which he has discharged the trust reposed in him……”

(Londonderry Standard 16 Aug.)

For all of the time that Lucas was an MP he was on the opposition benches and the Whig Party with Lord Melbourne as Prime Minister were in power.  Melbourne did resign in 1835, feeling he had lost the support of the House, and the Conservative leader, Sir Robert Peel, was asked by Queen Victoria to form a government. Peel made it a condition of his acceptance the Queen would agree to dismiss some the wives of Whig leaders from their role as “Ladies of the Bedchamber”.  Victoria refused to do so and Peel withdrew, allowing Melbourne and the Whigs to return and continue in office until 1841.

Speeches by Lucas in Commons

Lucas was a very active parliamentarian.  He contributed to debates in the Commons on 63 occasions during his seven years there.  In contrast, none of the other MPs who represented Monaghan between 1800 and 1850 -  Charles Leslie, Thomas Corry, Richard Dawson, Henry Westenra, Cadwallader Blayney and Thomas Dawson – is recorded in Hansard as having contributed to any debate.  (Mr Louis Perrin MP 1832-35 spoke on a number of occasions. He was also elected for Dublin in 1831 and for Cashel in 1835).

Church of Ireland Funds

In 1835 Lucas spoke twice opposing a proposal regarding surplus funds of the Church of Ireland (derived from the Tithes which had to be paid by all tenants) being used for the education of Catholics. He stated that he approved of government funding for education of Catholics but objected to it coming from the tithe money (even though a majority of it came from Catholic tenants).

Appointment of Policemen

In 1836 he spoke against a Bill which proposed transferring the power to appoint policemen from local magistrates to the Lord-Lieutenant.  The Bill arose from the perceived lack of impartiality of Constabulary appointed by county gentry acting as magistrates.  Lucas was being loyal to his fellow landlords.

Irish Poor Law

In 1837 he spoke on nine occasions.  6 of these speeches were on a Bill which proposed extension of the English Poor Law of 1834 to Ireland. The Bill envisaged dividing each county into Poor Law Unions with a workhouse in each Union and an elected Board of Guardians to superintend both the workhouse and the general operation of poor relief.

This was a matter on which Lucas had strong opinion and upon which he made a major contribution during his time in Parliament, speaking at length and proposing a number of amendments to the Bill.

One of his proposals, in May 1837, which gave rise to a prolonged debate, sought to have a “law of settlement” which would have given the pauper a right to relief in his area of residence. His proposal was eventually defeated.  Another concerned the extent, in area and population, of the proposed Unions.

In 1838 he made 21 speeches on the Poor Law Bill. He constantly stated that he was totally in favour of the principle of the Bill and wanted the Relief to be as effective and humane as possible, but he had objections to some the details of implementation of it, which he tried to change by proposing amendments but they were voted down.  When it came to the end of the third reading of the bill in April 1938 he said he could not support it.  He is not, however, recorded by Hansard as voting either aye or no. The Bill became law with the passing of the Poor Law (Ireland) Act in 1838.

Among  other business on which Lucas spoke in the Commons were:

Tithes

He made three contributions to debate on the Tithe  Bill which ended the “Tithe War” generally agreeing with the objectives of the Bill.

Railways

In 1839 Lucas spoke twice complaining of the long delay of the government in bringing forward proposals for the governance of the building of railways in Ireland. This delay was preventing private enterprise from proceeding with the work.  This was a subject on which he had experience outside Parliament.  In 1836 he was one of the patrons of the Dundalk Western Railway which proposed formation of Tramway or Railway (worked by horsepower, with provision that it could be converted to steam power if necessary) from Dundalk to Cavan through Castleblayney, Ballybay, Cootehill  with branches to Carrickmacross and Monaghan

In 1841 when a Bill was brought forward which would enable investment in Irish railways under the supervision of government-appointed Board of Control, Lucas expressed approval saying he “thought it would be a most desirable experiment to try whether English could be laid out in Ireland to advantage.

Government of Ireland

In 1839 he contributed to a debate on the appointment of a committee to inquire into the nature and extent crime in Ireland.  The debate centred on accusations by the Tory opposition that the Whig administration were allowing crime to go unpunished and appeasing Catholics.  Lucas complained of Landlords being unfairly accused of evictions.  He also defended Orangemen, referring to an incident in Co Monaghan on St. John’Eve in 1837 in which Catholic children who were playing around a bonfire were allegedly fired on and killed by Orangemen.   He said the Government’s policy toward Ireland was partial, impolitic, and unjust and it should meet with his most strenuous opposition.

Assisted Emigration

He spoke in 1839 on the Waste Lands of the Colonies Bill and in 1840 on the Emigration Bill supporting the purpose of these measures, which was to relief the pressure valve of impoverished industrial workers in England and sub-division of small holdings in Ireland.

Registration of Voters  in Ireland

Lucas spoke four times in 1840 four times in 1841 on probably the most contentious issue which was dealt with during his time in Parliament – the reform of the entitlement to vote in parliamentary elections in Ireland.  Two bills, one put forward by either side  were debated at length but it was evident that neither side – with the exception of Daniel O’Connell and the Repeal Association MPs  - had any commitment  to reforming voting rights in Ireland and it was not until the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1850 that the franchise was widened.

In June 1841 Lord Melbourne lost a vote of confidence and wanted to resign as Prime Minister but his colleagues were keen to have an election and forced him to dissolve Parliament instead.

1841 Election

 Lucas decided not to stand for re-election in 1841.  During his previous seven years in the Commons, he had been part of the Conservative opposition. He had been active on the floor of the house and had made frequent contributions to debates which had earned him a reputation as an able parliamentarian whose opinions were widely respected.  It was expected that the next government would be a Conservative one and he could have expected to have no difficulty in being re-elected in Monaghan.

At a meeting on 10th July 1841, convened by the County Sheriff to take nominations of candidates for the general election Henry Westenra and  ? Shirley were the only candidates.  Edward Lucas nominated Shirley  and delivered a long address as out-going MP. He explained that he had made a decision six months earlier not to seek re-election.

On the first of January 1841 Lucas had circulated a letter, which was published in the Northern Standard, to the gentry, clergy and freeholders of the county informing them that it was not his intention to offer himself for the honour of representing them.  He gave his reasons at length.

He was frustrated with the way with which Irish affairs were being dealt by the Whig government – “deferred from day to day and week to week without apparent reason, hurried on unexpectedly….withdrawn…or left to be disposed of in a promiscuous heap at the end of the session – the measures that regard Ireland are a constant source of uncertainty, disappointment and vexation…”

He went on to say “years have now brought on a period when close attention to Parliamentary business, always at variance with the domestic habits and rural occupations most grateful to me, has become first irksome and then painful, and this, joined to the desire of avoiding the increased frequency and consequent expense of elections has produced the resolution I …..now announce.”

Referring to his first election in 1834, he observes:  “It was through a contest that, with difficulty, rescued one seat from a body, whom as ministers of religion (the Catholic clergy) I respect, but whose interference in political affairs I consider unconstitutional and mischievous. That seat is now secure beyond attaint……”

He now foresaw that two Conservative seats were safe in the county and also that the Conservatives would win the election.  “I feel then that the moment when success, after a long and arduous struggle, attends the Conservative party, alike in the Empire and in your county, is that in which I can becomingly withdraw – proud in having shared in the toils of uncertain battle – content to rejoice at, without partaking in, the honours of victory.”

He looks forward to returning to ”resuming amongst you the duties and occupations of that now calumniated class….the Irish country gentleman.”

 At the election nominations meeting in July he seemed to say that his decision might have been a mistake.  Mr Shirley had indicated that if he wished to change his mind he (Shirley) would be very happy to stand aside.  Lucas however did not wish to withdraw from his decision.

At this meeting Lucas delivered an address on his time in Parliament.  He dwelled at length, and passionately, on his opposition to the removal of the Corn Laws. In 1840 he had presented a petition  in Parliament from “the county of Monaghan” against any alteration to the Corn Laws.  To him, the preservation of the Corn Laws which kept prices of oats, barley and wheat high by excluding imports from outside the Empire was essential,  not only for the welfare of Irish landlords but also for all farmers and even for the labourers and cottiers as they depended on their employment by the farmers.  (He must have known, as the Devon Commission had reported in 1845 that there were four millions of the population living in miserable conditions on a diet of potatoes -though he could not have foreseen the disastrous consequence of this six years later.)  And he also knew that his political leader, Sir Robert Peel, who had been a defender  of the Corn Laws was having a change of mind, realising the need for cheaper food particular in industrialised England.

It is notable that Henry Westenra, standing on the Whig ticket, was equally anxious to proclaim his support for the existing Corn Laws.So it was abundantly clear that the only voice which was to be heard in parliament from Monaghan was that of the landlord and his larger tenants.

UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE  1841-1845

Although Lucas professed to be looking forward to returning to the life of the country squire, he did not do so.  Peel, immediately on forming the Conservative government in September, offered him the position of Under- Secretary of State for Ireland,

The titular head of the Dublin administration was the Lord Lieutenant, or Viceroy, Earl de Grey.  The Chief Secretary for Ireland, officially Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, appointed by Peel, was Lord Eliot. Both Earl de Grey and Lord Eliot sat in Parliament.  So, Lucas working from Dublin Castle, was effectively the senior government administrator in the country.  He had a salary of approx. £2,000 – unlike his former position as MP which was unpaid.  He had a residence in the Phoenix Park – the Under-Secretary’s Lodge.  (The Lodge after 1922 became the Papal Nunciature. It was demolished in the 1970 but a medieval  tower-house which  was within it was preserved and refurbished as the present Ashtown Castle.)

F.S.L. Lyons describes the function of the Under-secretary as being "primarily to oversee the ramshackle collection of boards and councils that did duty for an Irish administration and also to provide the Chief Secretary with the information, and sometimes the advice he needed if he was to keep his end up in the cabinet and in the House of Commons."[1]  

It was a very demanding administrative position for which Lucas would not appear to have been particularly suited by his experience as a parliamentarian and as a landlord. However The Northern Standard, 6th Aug. 1842, quoting the opinion of “the first journal  in Ireland” (?)

“Mr Lucas is a perfect man on business, knows and understands the country, is firm of purpose, easy of access, is just and impartial and will be neither flattered on the one hand nor bullied on the other into any compromise of principle or betrayal of duty. He is just the man required for his situation.”

The Evening Mail reporting on appointments made by incoming Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel,  criticised the appointment of Lucas in preference to General Alexander Hamilton.  Hamilton was a strong supporter of Orangism which may not have appealed to Peel.

The Dublin Monitor of 7 Sept 41 commented:

“Mr Lucas is understood to be an excellent private gentleman.  As representative for Monaghan he did not distinguish himself very much in Parliamentary debate; but he gave his constituents pretty general satisfaction ……..  In what manner he will conduct himself as the Under-Secretary remains to be seen.  If he permits himself to become a tool in the hands of the Orange party, his fate is sealed” 

Opinions of commentators on how well he did his job were obviously coloured by the political persuasion of the observers and at that time none of the newspapers was inclined to be objective.

Lucas was taking over as Under-Secretary from Thomas Drummond who had served under the previous Whig administration.  Drummond was a man of exceptional ability and reputation. He was given credit for reforming the constabulary, following passing of the Constabulary Act in 1836 (correct) – which Lucas had opposed in Parliament -  and for controlling the Orangemen.  He was also the originator of the dictum “Property has its duties as well as its rights.”

Lucas, as Under-Secretary, was responsible for dealing with demands from London for regular reports and accounts on all the various bodies such as Grand Juries, the Constabulary, Boards of Guardians, Boards of Education,  Commissioners for Fisheries, for Harbours etc. and for dealing will all these bodies, conveying the directions  and requests of the Lord Lieutenant.

He does not appear to have been very happy with his role and as early as September 1842 there was a report in the Evening Chronicle that he was resigning, and again in July 1843. On this occasion a reason given was that he had made unavailing representations to Lord Elliot that “secrets of the office were being divulged to a well-known Jesuitical  politician (O’Connell?) of the Popish Party being supposed to be too intimate with the affairs of the Conservative government.

The Glasgow Herald, on 1 Aug. 1845 reported:

“We are sorry to observe that Mr Lucas is about to retire from the arduous and responsible office which he has held with so much honour to himself and advantage to the Government and country. It is understood that Mr Lucas has for a considerable time been anxious to resign owing to the state of his health, his eye-sight [L1] needing rest and care and that on three occasions he tendered his resignation.  Sir Robert Peel was no doubt extremely desirous to retain the efficient services of a public man who discharged the onerous duties entrusted to him with consummate prudence and ability. Now however it appears that a change is immediately to take place…..”

He was replaced by  Mr Richard (junior) Pennefeather who served  for only a brief period  in 1845.

 “The Pilot” newspaper of 14 Nov 1845, quoted the Evening Mail as saying that Lucas resigned as Under Secretary because “he was getting blind from his labour.”  The Pilot article then continued: “and other papers avowed that “he obtained leave to resign” – that is he was discharged for his ultra-Orangism. Whichever reason is the true one, it is surely a sufficient disqualification in the person of Mr Lucas”

Rushe observes that the fire which destroyed Castleshane House in 1920 destroyed much documentary evidence of the secret history of Dublin Castle during that period.  In addition, the burning  of the Public Records Office in 1922 destroyed all the official manuscript records of the Privy Council.

In the 1840s Lucas appears to have had a residence in Dublin.The Freeman’s Journal of 14th Dec. 1846 had a report on a court case arising from the theft of silverware from the residence of the Rt. Hon. Edward Lucas in Longford Terrace, Salt Hill, Kingstown.

[1] Ireland Since the Famine.  F.S.L. Lyons.

MEMBER OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL

Lucas retired as Under-Secretary of State in August 1845.  In the same month he was appointed to the Privy Council.

On  20 Aug. 1845 the Dublin Evening Mail  reported:

 Privy Council

“A Privy Council was held yesterday at Dublin Castle.  Her Majesty,  by her Royal Letter having appointed Edward Lucas Esq. to be of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, he in council, took the usual oaths and his place at the board accordingly.”

The Dublin Weekly Nation of 8th April 1848 had a useful, if tongue-in-cheek, piece under the heading  “A chapter from a new national calendar”

What is the Irish Privy Council?

A sort of cabinet to the Queen’s representative kept up in Ireland, as long as the Sovereign thinks fit.(Act of Union).  Each Councillor is appointed by the Crown and sits for life.

Who are the present members?

 64 gentlemen, of whom 20 at least have neither interest nor residence in Ireland (Wellington, Peel etc.) Of the remainder only half ever attend even though every man of them own and is responsible for every act of Government, if he does not save himself by public protest.

Who are the resident members?

A list of Bishops, Judges, the Commander of the forces and Messrs: A.N. Blake, T F Kennedy, P Bellew, J Grattan, E Lucas, R W Greene, A McDonnell, T Esmond, W F P Tighe, Sir W Somerville.

What are the powers and duties of the Privy Council?

They are advisers to the Queen or her representative.  They can call out the militia, enforce latent laws, proclaim a civil war – with the consent of the crown, suspend but not alter any law.

It was his appointment to the Privy Council which entitled Lucas to the title “The Right Honourable”.

The role of the Privy Council was largely titular and ceremonial and membership of it would have been seen as an honour for Lucas and as a recognition of his service to the Conservative government.

CHAIRMAN OF COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY INTO FAILURE OF POTATO CROP

In early autumn of 1845, it became evident that there was a widespread disease affecting the potato crop which was resulting in the loss of one third to a half of the crop throughout the country.  The Peel government appointed a commission to enquire into the failure.  Edward Lucas was appointed as Chairman of the commission which had its first meeting in mid-November.  Other members included the Chairman of the Board of Works, Inspector General of Constabulary, Inspector of Coast Guards, Poor Law Commissioner, Asst. Under Secretary.

Anti-establishment newspapers were quick to condemn this initiative as a totally inadequate response to the disaster.  The Cork Examiner copied an article from the Freeman’s Journal  headed “The Starvation Commission” which was scathing in its criticism of every aspect of the commission – its membership (Lucas was the only Irishman);  its use of the money (£50,000) granted to it to pay administrators;  its modus operandi which was mainly to  compile unnecessary reports.

Lucas, as Chairman, furnished the first report of the Commission to the government in January 1846. Christine Kinealy in This Great Calamity observed:   “He (Lucas) was critical of various aspects of the government’s relief policy……He believed that the system of public works envisaged was not suitable.  He also doubted ……whether any adjustment of public works can be made to suit the needs wherever it may occur; and it must be met, or death from famine may be the result.

It is perhaps no coincidence that shortly afterwards, Lucas, who had been so critical of  the policies of the government, was replaced as Chairman of the Relief Commission.”

From his involvement at local level in Monaghan Lucas was very aware of the need for action.  When the blight struck first in Autumn  1845 and people were struggling  to find ways of combatting the disease, the Northern Standard had the following report on 15th November:

Meeting of Board of Guardian, Monaghan Union.  Edward Lucas chairman.

It was resolved to procure portable starch mills, to be worked by the paupers, and it is intended to buy up bad potatoes for a fair price to be ground down and the farina sold for the benefit of the Union.  “Great credit is due to Mr Lucas and the Guardians for the interest they are displaying for the welfare of the poor.  A resident landlord  is a treasure in the county in a time like the present”

The reference above to the value of a resident landlord was probably intended as a barbed reference, by the Standard, to Lord Rossmore  who was Lord Lieutenant of the county and, as such, responsible for taking the initiative in making presentments from the county for financial assistance to public works.  He was on a tour of Scotland at the time.

Lucas had served for about 3 months, from Nov. 1845 to Jan. 1846 when the Relief Commission was re-organised and Sir Randolf Routhe replaced him as chairman.

A report carried in the Northern Standard in September 1846 of a dinner held in Monaghan after a  Co.Monaghan Farming Society cattle show held in the yard of the Courthouse in Monaghan is a clear example of the parallel universes in which the two classes who depended on the land existed.

“At 5 p.m. a numerous party sat down to an excellent dinner served up in McPhillip’s usual good style in the Westenra Hotel………”

A toast was proposed to The Royal Agricultural Improvement Society and to Lucas who was representing the Society. Replying, he gave an address in which he again expressed his concern about the total inadequacy of the government’s provision for the immediate problem of the failed harvest of potato, but he devoted his speech particularly to how to prevent a recurrence of the calamity. In his opinion “there is no effectual  remedy for the evil but the application of the capital of the landlord and the sinews of the tenant to the drainage and improvement of the soil”

The report concludes with:  After drinking the usual toasts “Horn, Corn, Wool and Yarn and our next merry meeting” the party separated about nine o clock”!!

Following the catastrophic harvests of that year and ’47 their next meetings would have been less merry.

ANOTHER OFFER OF UNDER-SECRETARY POST

The Conservatives returned to power in February 1852 with Lord Derby as Prime Minister.  The Earl of Eglinton became Viceroy for Ireland.  The Belfast Newsletter of 3rd March reported regarding the filling of the position of Under-Secretary:

“Lord Derby has despatched a special messenger with an offer of the appointment to the Rt. Hon. Edward Lucas…..I have heard on competent authority that Mr Lucas will consent to become Mr Redington’s successor.  The answer of Mr Lucas, who is wandering somewhere about the South of France or North of Italy is looked with eager anxiety by the many competing aspirants.” (The marriage of Lucas’s son Fitzherbert Dacre to Laura Adelaide Scudamore took place in Bayonne, South of France,in 1852.)

Whether  Derby’s messenger found Lucas and, if he did, what Lucas’s response was, is not on record but in any case he did not become the next Under-Secretary.

There-after he did not have any further involvement at government level, apart from his membership of the Privy Council which was a lifetime appointment.

The Evening Mail of 16 February 1847 reported that the Lord Lieutenant had approved the appointment of Ed Wm Lucas as Deputy Lieutenant of Co Monaghan in the room of Rt Hon Ed retired.

FAMILY AFFAIRS

Lucas had married Anne Ruxton, daughter of William Ruxton of Ardee House, Co. Louth, in 1812.  They had family as follows:

Catherine Ann, born 1814.  She married Samuel Fitzherbert Filgate. She died in 1906

Anna Isabella, born 1816.

Francis, born 1818. He died, unmarried,  in 1846.  He was a Lieutenant in the 46th Regiment.

Edward William, born 1819. He inherited title to the Castleshane estate when his father died in 1871 but he died, unmarried, three years later in 1874. He was educated at Rugby and Trinity College Dublin (BA Aest. 1840) and served in the 88th Regiment.  During the 1850s and 1860s he was active in county affairs, being a member of most public boards.  He was High Sherrif in 1854 and Deputy Lieutenant of  the county.

Isabella Florinda, born 1820.

Fitzherbert Dacre, born 1823.  In May, 1852 he married Laura Adelaide Scudamore, only child and heir of Lt. Col.Scudamore of Kentchurch Court, Herfordshire.   He died at the siege of Lucknow in India in 1857. His involvement in the Lucknow siege is recounted  in The Times of February 10th 1850. He had been a Captain in the South Tipperary Militia but was in India for pleasure at the time, being  a “traveller and speculator and a gentleman of fortune”.  He acted as a volunteer throughout the siege and “his gallantry and  coolness under fire were conspicuous and there was no expedition  of danger for which he did not volunteer”  He was aiding in recovering captured guns when he was shot and expired within 24 hours. He is recorded as having been buried in St Patrick’s, Monaghan.

Fitzherbert Dacre had a son, Edward Scudamore Lucas, who inherited the Castleshane estate on the death of his uncle, Edward William, in 1874 and he  also  inherited the very substantial Kentchurch Court estate from his mother.

Charles Pierrepoint, born 1824.  He had a career in the army serving in India and the Crimea.  He died in 1877 and is recorded as being buried in St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland, Monaghan.

Gould Arthur, born 1831.  He married  Christabella Allen of Liscongil, Co. Cork.  He was a Captain in the 73rd Regiment, serving in Natal, South Africa. He was a survivor of  the sinking of the troop-ship HMS Birkenhead in 1852.  Later he he was appointed  as Resident Magistrate in Durban.  He retired to England in 1897 and died in 1914.

CASTLESHANE HOUSE

In the mid-1830s Lucas re-constructed his residence in the lavish style of the time. The main entrance, which had been from the Old Monaghan Road (Ardaghey Rd), was changed to the then new, now N2 road, with the gate-house which is still inhabited.

THE LATER YEARS

Throughout the 1850s and 1860s  Edward continued to be very active and prominent in public affairs. He served on the Grand Jury and on the Monaghan Board of Guardians and on the board of governors of Armagh Asylum. He had considerable involvement with the railway companies: in 1850 he was chairman of the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway Company and in 1855 chairman of the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway Company.  (Freeman’s Journal 1 Mar. 1855)

Politics 1850-1870

He continued to be active in politics in the county. In 1850 when the Tenant League was established and rapidly gained support in the county from both Catholic and Protestant farmers, Lucas presided and was the main speaker at a meeting in the Courthouse in Monaghan called by landlords to petition the government to reintroduce the Corn Laws. The meeting was taken over by Tenant League supporters led by Rev. David Bell. The London Evening Standard of 11th Jan. 1850, reporting on protectionist meeting in various counties, commented: … “in Monaghan the oppositionist succeeded  -  the meeting was broken up. The exhibitors of loaves on poles shouted down the speakers. Notwithstanding this, the speech of Rt. Hon. Edward Lucas will not be without its beneficial effect upon the men of Monaghan.”

As the agitation by tenants continued many landlords sought to appease them by reducing rents. Lucas made the most generous reduction in the county, taking down rents on his estate from £1.75 to 90p per acre. (Livingstone p228).

 A General Election was called in 1852. The Tenant League put Dr Gray, editor of the Freeman’s Journal, forward as a candidate.  Lucas was the proposer of Charles P. Leslie, one of the sitting Conservative members. Leslie and the other Conservative nominee, Sir George Forster, were elected. The still very limited franchise and public voting and consequent intimidation of voters kept the landlords in control.

Five years later at the 1857 General Election, Leslie and Forster were returned unopposed. On this occasion, in proposing Leslie, Lucas was able to declare: “:  “Since 1852 we have had 5 years of uninterrupted prosperity…full employment…crops good…prices high. Our  county is flourishing etc.”  (Northern Standard 11 Apr.)

The same edition of the Standard reported on an exchange of acrimonious letters between St. A.B. Lennard and Lord and Lady Rossmore. Lennard had intended standing as a Liberal candidate with the support of Rossmore.  Rossmore withdrew his support on the grounds that Lennard had no hope of winning, his cause being hopeless.

At the election in 1865 Lucas was again involved in controversy.  In 1859 Leslie and Forster had been returned unopposed but in 1865 Thomas Dawson stood and was elected as a Liberal with the support of Catholics and Presbyterians.  Supporters of Forster accused Lucas of working against him by urging the electors with whom he had influence to “plump” for Leslie and, implicitly, to give their second vote to Dawson, who was a friend of his, rather than Forster.

In the run-up to the 1868 election The Northern Standard carried a number of articles and letters relating to Lucas’s standing as a defender of the Conservative cause.  Lucas felt obliged to write a letter, which appeared in the Daily Express in which he contradicts malicious claims that he had deserted the Conservatives and repudiating claims that he had supported a Liberal, his friend Thomas Dawson.

In August 1868, Lucas chaired a meeting held in the Courthouse, Monaghan of magistrates and owners of property in the county who had signed a requisition to convene the meeting deprecating a contest under existing circumstances in the county. The press and a large number of Conservative gentry and voters were refused admission. Lucas’s son, Edward William, was the convenor of the meeting. In the event Shirley and Leslie were elected, continuing the Tory hold on the Monaghan seats.

Fenianism.

In 1866 JPs attached to the Petty Sessions in Monaghan sent a memorial to Col. Leslie MP expressing concern about the state of the country because of Fenianism, stating a need for protection for the “well affected” and calling for the stationing of troops and calling out the Militia. Signatories included  Ed. Lucas and E.W. Lucas. (Dublin Evening Mail  22 Jan 1866)

In 1867 Magistrates of Monaghan Petty Session decided, on Lucas’s recommendation, to set up a fund to reward the Constabulary of the county for their efficient service during the Fenian up-rising.  Lucas was asked to act as Treasurer and Hon. Sec. of the subscription. HeeHe was largest subscriber with £20. (Northern Standard) 

Central Protestant Defence Association

 In June 1868 when an open-air demonstration at Court House  in Monaghan for the purpose of forming  a  local branch of the Central Protestant Defence Association was convened  Rt. Hon. Ed. was a signatory of the requisition to hold the meeting.  (8 June 1868  Dublin Evening Mail)

The Northern Standard of 6th June carried a letter from Lucas to the organisers of the meeting expressing “my regret that in consequence of my age and the state of my health I cannot venture to attend your meeting, in the object of which I heartily concur.

Campaigning to the last.

He was then eighty-one years old and in failing health but still campaigning for those causes to which he had committed. All of those causes were under severe pressure and soon to be lost. The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland was brought into effect by the passing of the Irish Church Act of 1869. The reform of the electoral system in 1868 and introduction of the secret ballot in 1872 put an end to the stranglehold of the landed gentry on election to Parliament. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1870 was the first of a series of Land Acts which were to see tenants become owners of their farms. Edward would have seen these changes beginning to unfold before he died in 1871 in his 85th year.

DEATH OF THE RIGHT HON. E. LUCAS

An obituary of Edward Lucas was published in the Northern Standard on 18th November 1871.

The following is an extract:

……He was returned to Parliament as one of the members for this County in the year 1834 and continued to represent it until 1841 when he retired  but in the same year, at the solicitation of Sir Robert Peel, whose confidence he had long enjoyed, accepted the office of Under-Secretary for Ireland.  This office he held during the critical period which intervened up to 1845.

He afterwards served along with Sir John Burgoyne and others as Honorary Member of the Commission which sat in the time of the famine in 1846, in which year he was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in recognition of his services.

………  As a private gentleman he was held in high esteem by his fellows – as a public servant he gained the confidence and regard of the greatest Statesman of  his time – as an impartial Magistrate every class of the community placed implicit confidence in his decisions and as good and considerate resident Landlord his numerous tenantry will not soon forget his worth.

The Lucases were soon to be relieved of their burden of responsibility for tenantry of Castleshane. Before the Right Honourable Edward died in 1871, in his eighty-fifth year, significant changes had begun to occur. With the extension of the franchise together with the Home Rule and  the land reform movements,  the hold of the landlords of the county on the parliamentary seats was doomed  from 1870 on.  A Shirley and a Leslie held on to the Monaghan seats for the Tories in 1874 but this was to be last time for landlords to represent the county.  From 1870 onwards the passing of  a series of Land Acts began the process of gradually transferring the ownership of Irish land to the former tenants.

One thing that he would not have foreseen was that within twenty years of his death his grandson and heir would abandon the family name of Lucas. In 1900 Edward Scudamore Lucas, by royal licence, assumed the surname Lucas-Scudamore. And within another twenty years the family no longer had a presence in Castleshane.

Perhaps the most revealing  portrayal of his philosophy and how he saw his role in life, particularly as a landlord, is contained in a letter which he wrote, in 1848, to Miss Gertrude Rose, heiress to the Rose Estate in Tydavnet[1] . Having advised Miss Rose at length on how best her estate should be managed and how he has been managing it on her behalf as trustee, he concludes with the following very revealing philosophical discourse:

"The relation between landlord and tenant in this country are so different from those existing in happier localities that the happiness of the landlord must be based upon the reflection of having removed or prevented mischiefs rather than upon ocular demonstration of his having effected positive and sensible good.  If from year to year there is a perceptible improvement in the lands, the houses and the dress of the tenantry, he must endeavour to bear in mind their state some time back;  rather than  the state of other lands,……….   if  his own happiness might be more promoted by  the possession of property more agreeable to look at elsewhere and the communication with tenantry more creditable and more profitable to a landlord, he yet progresses here that which is a high trust of Providence and an important object of attention and of duty - a serious and extensive influence over the prospects, the conduct and the happiness of a very large number of individuals looking mainly to him as the source of  their comfort or of  the reverse. This position is not one to be wished for; but when it comes unsought, it cannot be deserted or abandoned by right-minded persons".

What comes to mind reading this paragraph are the words of Rudyard Kipling, the archetypal  poet of British imperialism, in "The White Man's Burden" - written some 50 years later:

“Take up the White Man's burden/And reap his old reward/The blame of those ye better,/The hate of those ye guard."

It is evident from Lucas’s advice to Miss Rose about how to deal with her tenants that he had a very poor opinion of tenants in general.  He was keen on encouraging  farmers to improve their holdings

by doing drainage and practising rotation of crops by turnip growing but believed that this could only be done by giving a rebate against rent and by having a superintending agriculturist  to make sure the work was done properly.  He says the tenants on the Rose estate, in regard to tillage, are “more rude and unpractised  than the chaffering and peddling small farmers of the richer low grounds.”  No doubt the “chaffering and peddling small farmers” to whom he was referring  were his own tenants in Castleshane.

When, as a nine-year orphan in 1796, Edward Lucas became the owner of the Castleshane estate it was a position that certainly had come unsought but the manner in which he devoted himself for the next 75 years to what he saw as this high trust of Providence must mark him as a right-minded person.

[1] The Rose Estate,Tydavnet,  Theo McMahon. Clogher Record 2004