THE DUNRAVEN FAMILY.

New Zealand Tablet, 17 July 1919, Page 34

THE DUNRAVEN FAMILY.

To THE : EdITOB.

,[[, [..Sir,—ln a recent issue you allude to the ■ perversion of the representatives of the chief [[ old Gaelic families in Ireland, from the Catholic faith, by the action of)the CoUx-t of Wards, in the time of. Elizabeth and James I. Among the families you. mention are those of Duxxx'avexx and J Donoghnxore. , The ..Earl of Dunraven does not claim to repx-esexxt the O’Quinns, who by the way were never a vexy important clan in Thomond. He derives from a' certain Thady Quinn [ (temp. Elizabeth), who held lands in Limerick and Clare. This gentleman was a [Catholic. ' His successors in the property fought on the Irish side during the sieges of Limerick (Ireton’s and William’s). : The family lands . were saved under the Civil Articles [of Limerick (1691). It was the pressui’e of the Penal [Laws that caused the Quinns to become Protestant, so they have not the excuse of the Court of Wards wox’kixxg on axx infant mind. The family was ennobled at the passing of the Act of Union, but not for disgraceful reasons. The title was Viscount Adare, from the well-known family seat, purchased about 1740 from the Leinster family (the Earl of Kildare). The Earldom of Dunraven is a more recent title from a Welsh property, Dunraven Castle. The present earl’s father died a Catholic, being influenced by the [Oxford Movement. The O’Healys of Donogh-more-O’Healy were even less important than the Quinns. They were an unfree clan daor claim) under- McCarthy of ’ Muskerry. I cannot find any of their chiefs ever enjoyed the advantages of the protection of the Court of Wards. The case of the ancestor of the Eax*l of Donoghnxore . (Hely-Hutchison) was, in all probability, one of perversion' pure, and simple. .. A vexy interesting case connected with the Penal -Times, occurred in the O’Conor Don family. A younger son. became a pervert and succeeded to the estates, to the .exclusion of his elder brother. The impoverished chief lived on a little farm at some distance from Clonalis, the family seat. He and his descendants (one of whom was the wellknown writer, Dr. Charles O’Conor, of Belangare), wexe fervent Catholics. The Protestant branch, as the old people say “never had any luck” and died out just when the Penal Laws were relaxed and the Catholic chief came to his own again. Mise le nxeas mor, ............ C. Ua Laoghaiixe.