| Description | Papers relating to thedescendants of Joseph Stock, Bishop of Kilalla and Achonry in 1798, in particular to his sons the Rev. Edwin Stock and Henry F. Stock. The collection comprises of correspondence concerning financial and family matters in the early 19th century but also contains financial and legal papers, some of which concern members of the succeeding generation of the family in the 1860s and 1870s. Rev Edwin Stock and his descendents held an estate of almost 1,300 acres in the parish of Lackan, Co. Mayo.
Joseph Stock, Bishop of Killala and Achonry, 1798-1810 and Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, 1810-1813, is well known for the account he wrote of the French landing in Killala Bay in August 1798. He was born on 2 January 1740, the son of Luke and Ann Stock. His Father was a hosier in Dame Street, Dublin. He was educated at a school on Fishamble Street, Dublin, run by a Hugenot minister, Rev. John Gast and graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1763. He was a scholar and fellow of the college and in 1779 was presented to the college living of Conwall, in the diocese of Raphoe. In 1795 he was appointed headmaster of Portora Royal School, in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. The Dictionary of National Biogarphy records that he was 'an accomplished classical scholar, an excellent linguist and a man of much general culture'. He had a number of books published besides his "Narrative of what passed at Killala in the summer of 1798, by an eyewitness".
The Bishop was married twice. His first wife was Catherine Palmer (nee Smyth) , widow of Patrick Palmer, a barrister, by whom she had five children. Catherine had a further ten children from her marriage to Bishop Stock. A record of them is preserved in the first page of the first two volumes of manuscript letters, written by the Bishop to his second son Henry F. Stock, Now in TCD Library. they were Edwin (1778) Catherine (1780) , Henry Frederick (1781), Arthur (1782), Lydia (1784), Maria (1786), Joseph (1789), Charles (1790), Lucius (1791) and Emma (1793) This collection of papers generated in connection with the financial. legal and family affairs of this generation of the Stock family and their children. Catherine Stock died in 1805 and the Bishop soon after remarried. His second wife was a widow, Mary Ann Obins (nee Thomas) of Walcot, near Bath, England. He died on 13 August 1813. The following paragraphs contain biographical details of Bishop Stock's ten children.
Rev. Edwin Stock (1778-1835) was educated by his father and at TCD. After taking holy orders he was made vicar of Crossmolina and Prebend of Errew in 1801, both appointments being in his father's preferment. In 1807 he married Louisa, daughter of Simeon Droz of Bath and they had two children, Mary Louisa, born in [August] 1808 and St. George, born in 1810 (P10/14) Louisa died in March 1812 and the children spent thier childhood in Co. Mayo with their father, living first at Rahins, a house rented from the Atkinson family and from Autumn of 1814 and in the new glebe house at Crossmolina. In 1822 St. George was sent to Eton (P10/322) and in 1827 he entered Trinity College Dublin but no degree is recorded in "Alumni Dublinenses 1593-1846." He was studying in Hanover before efforts to get him a commission in the Army were successful and an ensignycy in the 2nd Regiment of Foot was bought for him in April 1832. (P10/298) He went to India, became a Lieutenant in 1835 and left the army in 1840. In 1844 he married Frances Wihelmina, daughter of William Atkinson of Rahins, Co. Mayo. They had five children, four of whom are mentioned in this collection: Edwin, St. George, Mona and Amy. (P10/426) Edwin Henry Douglas emigrated to the USA in 1873 (P10/412) but apparently had returned by the time his father died in 1879. Legal correspondence and associated papers give details of the administration of St. George's estate after his death (P10/406 - 435)
St. George William Joseph, his second son, born in 1850, was a classical scholar at Oxford. He edited and wrote the introduction to "Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Books 1-VIII, according to the text of Emmanuel Hoffman" published in 1898. Also in 1898, the centenary anniversary of the French landing at Killala, he presented to the Library of TCD, Bishop Stock's journal of the events of 1798. Edwin and Louisa Stock's daughter, Mary Louisa was born in 1810. She spent her childhood at Crossmolina, and in 1823 she married Rev. Andrew Jackson and in October 1828 a son, George William, was born. (p10/179) By 1830 Andrew Jackson had developed psychological problems and Edwin Stock wrote to his brother about enquiries that were to be made regarding the cost of having him at a private asylum. (P10/186) His son George William Jackson graduated from TCD in 1852 but later developed similar problems to those of his father. A Correspondence between Mary Louisa Jackson and her solicitor, William Hales Carroll, documents her attempts to gain control of her son's income and to make provision for him after her death. (P10/391-405)
Rev. Edwin Stock kept himself busy as the vicar of Crossmolina , ministering to his congregation and assisting the poor in times of hardship. His finances were in a state of flux. His brother Henry F. Stock managed many of Edwin's financial transaction and was the money broker for the family. Edwin's income was derived from a number of sources. He leased the lands of Kilbride, Keelogues, Lecarrowntemple and Killpgeary in the parish of Lacken from the Bishop of Killala and sublet them to tenants. Louisa brought a dowry of £5,000 when she married Edwin. Their marriage settlement was finally signed on 1 Aug 1808 (P10/435) However after Louisa's death, there was a protracted period of legal negotation with her father before an amendment was agreed regarding her dowry. (P10/9 & P10/80) In 1822 he benefitted from a visit to the spa at Cheltenham (P10/165) In 1831 he writes of having hurt his head in a fall from his gig (p10/191) In a similar incident in January 1835 he fractured his skull on his way to the quarter sessons in Castlebar and died as a result of his injuries.
Henry Frederick Stock (1781-1844) was appointed registrar of the Docese of Killala and Achonry in 1799. In "Wilson's Dublin Directory" of 1806 he is listed as an attorney to the court of exchequer, with an address at 21 Temple Street, Dublin. In August 1810 (P10/18) he married Maria Andrews and moved to 4 Temple Street. By 1814, he was renting a cottage at Coolmine, near Clonsilla from the Kirkpatrick family. In 1820, George Le Poer Beresford was appointed Archbishop of Dublin and in that year Henry F. Stock's office moved to 12 Henrietta Street. In the Dublin directories of the 1830s he is recorded as a proctor of the office to the Archbishop of Dublin and in the early 1840s he and his nephew Joseph (Joe) were proctors of the 'perogative and all other ecclesiastical courts in Ireland' and the Archbishop's Office. Henry F. Stock was known as 'Harry' amongst his family and friends and most of the letters in this collection are addressed to him. He and his wife took over the care of his brother Arthur's two sons, Joseph and Arthur in 1815.
Throughout the first half of the 19th Century, Henry F. Stock acted as an anchor for the Stock family in Dublin, in both financial and family matters. Approximately 280 letters, 1806-1813, written by Bishop Stock to his son Harry are in TCD Library and this collections of papers is largely comprised of letters received by Harry from his brother Rev. Edwin Stock., residing in the West of Ireland, 1808-1832. Although largely concerned with Edwin's financial affairs, they also give some insight into local affairs in the Killala and Crossmolina area on North Mayo and into Stock family relationships.
In 1798 the French took Bishop Stock's third son, Arthur, (1782-1831), as a hostage to Castlebar. In the following years he became an officer in the East India Company and was in India in 1808. On his return to Ireland he married in June 1810 (P10/17), Mary Neauman (nee Wahab), widow of Captain Michael Beauman, who had died the previous year. Arthur left Ireland in early 1813 ro return to India (p10/52) He played an active role in the Burmese War in the mid-1820s and his heirs eventually received his share of the booty from that war (P10/242). He died in 1831 in Persia (P10/204). Arthur and Mary had two sons Joseph (Joe) and Arthur. They had been living with Edwin at Rahins in 1812 and Mary continued to reside there with her children, including her son Edward Beauman, throughout 1813. At this time Henry. F Stock was involved in the settlement of Mary's financial support from her first marriage, including maintenance for her son Edward. Mary left Rahins in January 1814 and lived in Dublin. By the end of 1815 there was much concern about Mary's behaviour and she left Ireland for London, where she disappeared for some time. By 1817 Edwin was writing about divorce proccedings (P10/136). Henry F. Stock and Maria Stock took charge of Mary's two Stock sons from 1815. Jospeh (Joe) (1811-1880), was the eldest and was born in Waterford and educated by a Mr. Donne at Trinity College Dublin. On admission to the King's Inns at Easter 1831, he was recorded as the only son of Arthur Stock and Mary Muhal. He was awarded an LLD in 1861. He married Eliza Sarah Sanders in 1835. He assisted his first cousin Mary Louisa Jackson sort out the future of her son's financial support in the early 1870s. He died in 1880 and left his property at Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow, to his wife's niece, Lady Ribton. (P10/390)
Joseph Stock (1789-1855), studied law at Trinity College, Dublin. He was called to the Bar in 1812, LL D, in 1815, became a judge of the Court of Admiralty in Ireland in 1838 and was MP for Cashel from 1841-1845. Joseph traveled on the continent in 1814 and wrote to his brothers about Napoleon. Edwin published part of Joseph's letter in the newspaper 'The Patriot', without the rest of the family's approbation (P10/104). Joseph kept his office at 4 Temple Street, Dublin , after Harry moved to Henrietta Street. At the time of his death in 1855 he held over £10,000, in government stock which he left to family members )P10/406).
Bishop Stock left the welfare of his fifth son, Charles Stock (1790-1832) to the care of his second wife, after his death. (P10/142). However Charles came to live with Edwin in June 1814 (P10/94) He had mental disabillities and suffe red from poor health. Edwin persuaded his stepmother to give a portion of a pension she received from the Government to Charles and he also organised the purchase of some shares in the Gas Light Company for Charles, to which all his siblings subscribed (P10/151).
Lucius Stock, born in 1791, is described as a merchent in the family history in Trinity College Dublin. He lived with his brother Harry at 4 Temple Street in the 1810s. He certainly was responsible for the provision of many items required by Edwin in Co. Mayo, including iron railings. (P10/37) In December 1817 Edwin refers to Lucius changing his quarters to St. Andrew Street and wished him prosperity in his 'new mode for life'. (P10/141). In May 1823 he was suffering from mental problems (P10/167), which Edwin writes appear to be curable and was treated by Dr. Duncan (P10/186). In 1828, Lucius organised money to be sent to Edwin in Paries (P10/317) and he was active in the months after Edwin's death with regard to Edwin's business affairs. (P10/385-387)
Catherine, born 1780, was the eldest of Bishop Stock's daughters. She married on 2 January 1809, Rev. James Burrows, tutor to the Stock family in 1798 and vicar of Castlecomer and Kilglass 1804-1849. They lived at Killanly, Co. Sligo. Lydia, born in 1784, married in November 1809 (P10/10) James West, Rath, Ballinacargy, Co. Westmeath, a farmer and under agent to Lord Sunderland. Maria, (1786-1827), married in 1805, her first cousin, Rev. Henry Palmer, Vicar of Tubrid and Lismore, 1810-1864,. Emma, the youngest of the family, born in 1793, married on 17 November 1808, William Samuel Heill, Nicholstown, Co. Westmeath who was a lieutenant in the North Mayo Militia.
The importance and use made of family connections pervades this collection of papers. Many family members were either clergymen in the Church of Ireland or administrative agents of that church, such as registrars and proctors. William Plamer succeeded his half brother Henry F. Stock as Registrar of the Diocese of Killala and Achonry in 1805 and was agent to a number of land propietors. He was continually involved in Edwin's financial affairs. William had a brother, Thomas Palmer (P10/47 & P10/324325) and possibly another called James. He also had two sisters, one of whom, Anne, was married to the Rev. Leslie Battersby, rector and vicar of the Co. Sligo parish of Skreen. Rev. Thomas Sutton (P10/252-253), rector of Clongil, Co. Meath, was a cousin of Edwin and Henry F. Stock, as were Samuel (P10/251), Frederick (P10/254-256) and William Stock (P10/223).
The Stock papers give an insight into the conduct of financial transactions between Dublin and those living in the more remote areas of the country during the early 19th Century. The use of bills of exchange or drafts was widespread and these were often passed on to others as credit notes. There is also information about some aspects of the life of a country clergyman, the difficulties encountered in collecting his tithes, finsing a curate and educating his children.
Bishop Stock passed on his liberal views to his children. In his book, "Souperism: Myth or Reality?", Desmond Bowen writes of Rev. Edwin Stock representing 'the old school of latitudinarian parson'. Some of the letters briefly touch on Edwin's concern for the local people, especially in the famine years 1830 and 1831. (P10/185 & P10/191) Other family members were to play prominant roles in alleviating distress in the north Mayo region during the Famine years 1845-1849.
The health of family members is a frequent cause of concern expressed in the letters. Psychological illness affected members of both the Stock and Jackson families and Rev. Edwin Stock writes of the cholera epidemic of 1832 killing at least eight or nine people per day in Ballina. (P10/212). Medical remedies are also mentioned , for example Louisa Stock had her fifth course of blistering and bleeding before she died on 1 March 1812 (P10/31) . Her son St. George was given hemlock when sufering from whooping cough in 1813. (P10/310) Many letters refer to the difficulties involved in travel and in the transportation of goods in early 19th Century Ireland, especially to the more remote areas of the west. A good horse and a gig or jaunting car were of great importance for local transport. Small parcels traveled on the mail coach or with the carman from Dublin to Ballina. The use of the waterways as a means of transport is also documented. Rev. Edwin Stock inherited his father's books and these were transported from Waterford by canal (P10/338-339) In 1832 Mary Louisa Jackson gave her uncle, Henry F. Stock detailed instructions about the transport of her jaunting car by canal, from Dublin to Drumsna, Co. Lietrim. (P10/259)
In summary this collection illuminates the history of the descendants of Bishop Stock in the 19th Century and also documents some aspects of 19th century Irish life. |