Valentine Browne Lawless [Lord Cloncurry]

Life
1773-1853; 2nd Baron Cloncurry [son of Nicholas Lawless, 1st Lord Cloncurry, a Union peer]; ed. TCD, United Irishman; Middle Temple, 1795; issued pamphlet opposing the Union, 1797; joined United Irishmen; arrested on suspicion of treason and discharged, 1798; arrested 14 April 1799 and committed to the Tower until 1801, converting to Protestantism afterwards; succeeded to Castle Lyons and Maretimo, 1799; embarked on Grand Tour; remained four years in Rome, residing nr. Quirinal with his sisters Mary and Charlotte; befriended by Pope Pius VII; met with William Beckford (author of Vathek); claimed acquaintance with the Pope; supported Catholic Emancipation; opponent of O’Connell during vice-royalties of Henry William Paget, Marquis of Angelesey, 1828, 1830-34; issued Personal Reminiscences (1849); his son Edward (1816-1869) was father of Emily Lawless, the novelist, and was succeeded by her br. Frederick (1847-1929), sometimes Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; succeeded by his son Nicholas. DNB DIH

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Notes
W. B. Stanford, Ireland and the Classical Tradition (IAP 1976; this edn. 1984): Irish collectors of sculpture and other remains of antiquity include Lord Cloncurry (whom Byron coldly assisted as Moore records in his Life of Byron, p.113). His collection sank in Killiney bay near his house in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Ulster Univ. Library (Morris Collection) hold Lord Cloncurry, Personal Recollections of the Life and Times, with extracts from the Correspondence (1849) 510pp. [also in Library of Herbert Bell, Belfast.]

1798 Rebellion: ‘Depravity & a determined spirit of vengeance seem to have taken root in the heart of the despairing multipude. Our rulers think of no other remedy than the sword and the halter [...]. In Connacht the military were giving out small portions of potatoes to the starving multitudes at the same time with the bayonet ready to prevent a rush.’ (Quoted in Extract from Patrick Corish, The Irish Catholic Experience, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1985; cited in Books Ireland, Oct. 1985, pp.161-62 [review].)

Lyons House, Co. Kildare, was built in 1795 by the first Lord Cloncurry, son of a successful blanket manufacturer; three storey over basement, with bow windows on either side of entrace, and pediment supported by a four columns of red Egyptian granite sheltering a pair of lions; matching two-storey wings added in 1810 (Irish Times, Business and Finance, 1 June 1996). NOTE, also had residence at Abington Court, Co. Limerick (cited in W. J. McCormack, J. S. Sheridan and Victorian Ireland, 1991 Edn., p.25.)

Kith & Kin: Nicholas Lawless, MP for Lifford, 1776; built Maretimo, Blackrock; created Baron, 1789, adopting the name of Meath hamlet Cloncurry, being part of the Aylmer property which he purchased in 1781; Castle Lyons designed by arch. Oliver Grace, 1785, reflecting influence of Cassell’s work at Russborough and Powerscourt; on succession of Valentine Browne Lawless, 1799, by Richard Morrison set about improvements incl. straightening the curved colonnades and the addition of stone ashlar to the base and a channel below the roof; Mary Lawless m. Buck Whaley; Charlotte m. James Plunkett (Lord Dunsany); Lawless befriended by Pope VII who helped him acquire antique columns which adorn portico of Castle Lyons; frescoes added by Gabrielli; Castle Lyons remained in Lawless hands until death of Hon. Kathleen Lawless, last of the line (d.1958); inherited by Mark Winn, who sold it to UCD in 1962; purchased by Michael Smurfit, 1990; subsequently sold to Dr. Tony Ryan who substantially restored it. (See Cathy Carroll, ‘Castle Lyons Revisited’, in Blackrock Society: Proceedings 2003, pp.116-19.)

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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)