The Robinson Garden at Earlscliffe, Baily, Co. Dublin, Ireland
The Robinson Garden at Earlscliffe, Baily, Co. Dublin, Ireland
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Former residents of Earlscliffe
As a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, Bunbury McClintock had sailed on HMS Samarang and had sailed the coast of South America with Charles Darwin [3] in the 1830s. During this time Bunbury McClintock secured the first post on HMS Samarang for one of his young cousins, Francis Leopold McClintock, the arctic explorer who later discovered the Prince of Wales Island and Prince Patrick Island and also discovered the fate of the explorer Franklin who had perished looking for the Northwest Passage [4] Captain William Bunbury McClintock later became MP for Carlow [5] and built the house and gardens at Lisnavagh in County Carlow shortly after his marriage to Pauline Stronge in 1842. [6] We believe that the Captain purchased Earlscliffe before 1864 but unfortunately he passed away in 1866. His wife continued to own Earlscliffe for some years until her death in 1876. [3] Around 1886 Earlscliffe house was owned by the Knox family [7]. A daughter of the Knox family lived at another house nearby on Ceanchor Road (Couleen) until she was in her 80s in the 1950s. In August 1896 the house was purchased by John Randal Plunkett [8] and in October 1901 Earlscliffe was sold to Professor John Pentland Mahaffy, Provost of Trinity College Dublin.[9]
Mahaffy was tutor to Oscar Wilde, who described Mahaffy as his "first and greatest teacher". Oscar used to visit Mahaffy when he lived in his house in Sutton. In 1876 Wilde wrote to William Ward "I am with that dear old Mahaffy every day. He has a charming house by the sea here, on a place called the Hill of Howth, one of the crescent horns that shuts in the Bay of Dublin, the only place near town with fields of yellow gorse and stretches of wild myrtle, red heather and ferns...” [11] It is said that Mahaffy loved the nobility and would prefer the company of dukes and kings. When he could afford to buy Earlscliffe as his second major residence in 1904, a wag at the time suggested that maybe it had better be renamed Dukescliffe! [12] Mahaffy died in 1919 and the house remained with the Mahaffy family for a few years more, with the lease of Earlscliffe being renewed in 1922 with Howth Castle Estates for a period of 250 years by his daughter Rachel Mary Mahaffy [13] who had a great knowledge of plants [14] When the Mahaffys moved out, the house became the property of the Very Rev. Charles Thomas Ovenden, the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. [13] C. T. Ovenden was born in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh in 1846 and was educated at Trinity College Dublin. Apart from a career in the church, he was also a landscape and portrait painter and his self-portrait currently hangs in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. [15] He moved into Earlscliffe with his youngest daughter, Florence Irene Harriet on October 25th 1922. [13] Sadly, he only spent a short time there as he passed away on the 8th July 1924. We believe that Florence continued to live in the house after that period until she married Captain Arthur Wynne-Finch on the 3rd June 1926 [16] and they possibly moved to North Riding, Yorkshire where Arthur Wynne-Finch held the office of Justice of the Peace. [17] Earlscliffe was then occupied by Florence’s elder sister, Isabella. [18] Isabella (Ella) Gertrude Amy Ovenden was born in 1877 and was educated at Alexandra School, Dublin, Queen’s College, London, and at Göttingen in Germany. At the age of 18 she surprised her parents by wanting to become a doctor. She graduated in 1904 and was married in 1907 to George R. Webb, a fellow of Trinity College Dublin (FTCD) [19] They moved into Hatch Street in Dublin and as well as raising her family and running a private practice, she also held a free-dispensary in Kevin Street. [18] Dr. Ella Webb was appointed as an anaesthetist to the Adelaide Hospital in 1918 (the first woman member of the medical staff) and became MD in 1925. [19] After her younger sister Florence was married, Ella moved in to Earlscliffe with her family in 1927 [18] Dr. Webb was a close colleague of Dr. Kathleen Lynn [19] [20] , and Dr Dorothy Stopford Price [18] and had worked with them at Saint Ultan's Hospital for Infants. St. Ultan's was founded by Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine Ffrench-Mullen at 37 Charlemont Street in Dublin and opened in 1919. (Saint Ultan was a Bishop of Meath who had cared for children orphaned by the Bui Connall or Yellow Plague). [21] Dr. Webb studied mortality among children in Dublin under one year old, which was abnormally high in 1915 [22] and did pioneering work in preventative medicine with children. [23] She became famous for prescribing a teaspoonful of Guinness for infants recovering from gastroenteritis. [18] She was also the founder of the Children's Sunshine Home in Stillorgan, Dublin which was originally a convalescent home for children suffering from rickets in the early 1920's. [24] She was made a Lady of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and was awarded the MBE in 1918 for her medical work during the Easter Rising (see later). She was also a member of the Joint Committee of the British Red Cross Society. [25] Sadly her husband died in 1929 and, though Dr. Webb got immense pleasure from the gardens at Earlscliffe, [26] she eventually moved out and back into Dublin. She sold Earlscliffe to a colleague and close friend of hers, the Vice Chairman of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem, Dr. (later Sir) John Lumsden. Dr. Webb died on August 24,1946 and is buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery in Sutton, Co. Dublin. [26] Dr. Lumsden was a physician on the staff of Mercer's Hospital in Dublin and in 1902 was the Principal Medical Officer for the Commissioners of Irish Lights. [27] However, it was his role as the Medical Officer (later Chief Medical Officer) at the Guinness Brewery that Dr. Lumsden made his name. The Guinness family had a tradition of noblesse oblige and philanthropy and therefore Dr. Lumsden's work for Guinness focussed on the well-being of the employees, many of whom lived in appalling conditions in the slums and tenements of inner city Dublin.[28] After the Great Irish Famine, many people moved from rural areas of Ireland into cities such as Dublin looking for food and work. This resulted in overcrowding with 33.9 percent of all families in Dublin each living in a single room.[29] Poverty and cramped conditions led to problems of disease and by 1881 Dublin had the highest death rate in Europe. [29] Dr. Lumsden saw a high rate of tuberculosis amongst Guinness employees and knew that overcrowding was probably a factor. In 1900 he got the approval of the Guinness board to spend two months inspecting the homes of each Guinness employee in order to ensure that they lived in proper housing and to look for ways to prevent or treat the disease. He also studied the diets of the employees and established cookery classes for the wives of Guinness employees. Finally, he helped to set up the first Guinness sports club.[28]
The Brigade was involved with many major events in Irish history, including treating casualties from the clashes during the General Strike of 1913 (sometimes referred to as the Dublin Lockout). However, the Brigade became prominent in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916 where it treated casualties on both sides and fed and cared for evacuees. During the fighting in the streets of Dublin Dr. Lumsden became a familiar figure as he dashed out carrying a white flag and his medical kit to tend to the wounded on both sides.[31] Working with Dr. Lumsden during the Easter Rising was Dr. Ella Webb who had become a member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland in 1914. She helped to set up an emergency hospital at the Brigade’s headquarters at 14 Merrion Square during the Rising and “cycled daily through the firing line to visit the hospital” [32] For these acts and his formation of the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland Dr. John Lumsden was knighted for each by King George V and became Sir John Lumsden KBE. [28] At the same time Dr. Ella Webb was awarded an MBE. [17] Sir John Lumsden also encouraged Brigade members to be blood donors and advertised in the Irish national papers for people to register in order to set up an 'on call' blood donor panel to serve hospitals in the Dublin area. The service later became the National Blood Transfusion Association in 1948 but owes its origin to the Brigade and more especially to Sir John Lumsden.[33] [34] In 1923, after the establishment of the Irish Free State, Sir John along with Dr. Ella Webb wrote to the President of the Council of the Irish Free State to start the process of breaking away from the control of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of the St John of Jerusalem. [35] This led to the Brigade becoming an Associated Body and completely independent from the English based St. John Ambulance [36] and further led to the formation of the Irish Red Cross Society in 1939. [37] Sir John was one of the first members of the Irish Red Cross Society. (See "Earlscliffe in the time of Sir John Lumsden" for a fascinating insight into life at Earlscliffe in the 1930's, with some wonderful living memories from one of Sir John Lumsden's grand daughters, Margery Stratton) Sadly on the 3rd September 1944 Sir John passed away. His funeral was attended by over a thousand people. [38] His wife Dame Caroline Frances Lumsden eventually moved to a house near Sutton Dart Station, selling Earlscliffe to William Martin Murphy and his wife Norah on the 25th September 1945. [13] Their youngest daughter, Louise, was born in 1946. [47] However, the Murphy's only lived in Earlscliffe for a few years before selling it at Auction in March 1949 to Lily Margaret Graham Gough for £10,100. [39] The story was she never occupied it [40] and instead put it up for sale in 1950. Earlscliffe was finally purchased on the 1st May 1950 by Brigadier Arthur Christopher Lancelot ("Kit") Stanley-Clarke for his wife Olive. He had served in the 2nd Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in the 1st World War where he was wounded. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and awarded the DSO and Bar, the French Legion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre. He also served in the 2nd World War were he commanded the 154th Infantry Brigade until their escape from Dunkirk. When Olive and Kit moved to Earlscliffe, Kit became involved in hospital work, becoming chairman of Mercers Hospital. [41] Both Kit and Olive were enthusiastic gardeners.
Kit died in 1983, aged 96. Olive continued to lived in Shiel until she sadly passed away on January 26 1996 at the age of 100. [43] Meanwhile Earlscliffe was purchased by Dr Robert Rowan Woods who moved in on 31st January 1952. [13] Dr Woods was head of the ear, nose and throat department of Sir Patrick Dun's hospital in Dublin for 25 years. He was born in 1902 in Dublin, son of Sir Robert Woods who had been an Irish member of parliament from 1918 to 1921. In 1946 Dr Woods had studied in New York and brought back to Ireland a controversial new technique for curing a particular form of deafness. The technique, known as fenestration was successfully used to cure hundreds of so called 'incurable' patients and Dr Woods became a leading expert in this area. [44] He used to have a surgery in Earlscliffe and treated many patients there. Margaret Rosita Woods, wife of Dr Woods subsequently sold to Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Knowles in May 1961. Colonel Knowles had served in both World Wars were he had lost an eye on the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940. He gained some notoriety as an amateur jockey, riding in the Grand National and getting second place in the Foxhunters' Chase. Before moving to Earlscliffe he had lived at Sneem, Co. Kerry. He was a keen gardener and had brought many plants with him from Sneem to Earlscliffe. [45] His wife, Mrs. Olga Knowles, became a widow on the 3rd March 1967. She continued to live at Earlscliffe with her mother, Mabel Frances Irene Ryan. Unfortunately Olga's mother died on March 27 1968. [46] Olga finally put Earlscliffe on the market in 1969. Earlscliffe was expected to sell quickly and for a large amount of money. However, this was the late 1960s, and big houses with labour intensive gardens were not that popular. This was fortunate for David and Muriel Robinson who had decided that this was the type of challenge they needed. Earlscliffe with its five acres was ideal but it seemed inevitable that it would be beyond their reach. Miraculously, the large well-manicured garden intimidated would-be purchasers at the time. The house did not reach its reserve at auction and David and Muriel subsequently bought it for less than the asking price. They moved in 1969. The Robinsons have owned Earlscliffe ever since, and now David's daughter, Karen, with the help of her mother, Muriel, brother Ivan, and Karen's own family, have taken on the challenge of managing the Robinson garden at Earlscliffe. Read more about:
To learn more about the history of the Robinson Garden at Earlscliffe, read the following page:
Disclaimer. Parts of the data found in these history pages has been derived from sources currently available on the internet. In researching the previous owners of Earlscliffe, certain assumptions have been made as to the validity of this internet data. If you believe that some of this data is inaccurate, please use the contacts page to let us know. References
This page was last updated on 23-Jun-2008 .
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We
believe that the house at Earlscliffe was built around 1850 with one of the
first occupiers being Royal Navy Captain William Bunbury McClintock.
Back
in 1885 Mahaffy had married Frances Letitia who was the daughter of William
MacDougall who lived in Drumleck House in Howth. Once married they moved
to Dublin city. Mahaffy studied the meteorological records of the time and
concluded that Howth had the highest average hours of sunshine of any point in
Ireland, and very soon bought a summer residence on the Sutton side of the Howth
Peninsula.
In
his post as Medical Officer Dr. Lumsden was asked to provide first-aid classes
for employees at the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate. The classes became so
popular that they later became the first registered division of the St. John
Ambulance Brigade of Ireland, which Dr. Lumsden founded in 1903 and became the
first Commissioner. He remained Commissioner until his death.
In the book
"In An Irish Garden" by Sybil Connolly and Helen Dillon 