STRABANE MORNING POST Tuesday, May 15, 1832
To the Honourable and Right Rev. Richard Ponsonby, D.D. Lord Bishop of Derry
May it please your Lordship,
We, your Lordship’s Tenants of the Twelve Townlands of Ardstraw, in the County of Tyrone, beg leave to express our warmest gratitude for your disinterested and benevolent conduct towards us, on a late occasion.
Your Lordship, with a disinterestedness which must enhance your character in public estimation, renewed the Leases of our present Holdings, which had nearly expired, and which, perhaps, in other hands, and under other circumstances, might have been withheld. By this generous act of your Lordship, you have conferred on us, and our families, a lasting favour. Were the example thus set by your Lordship, imitated by the landed Proprietors of Ireland in general, our ill-fated country would cease to be a bye-word, as it is, for poverty, crime and every species of degradation, and wretchedness. Were such tenderness and concern shewn towards the middle and lower classes in society, by those of rank and influence, our industry and strength, instead of being driven to a foreign soil, would be directed to the more natural and surely a more desirable channel of calling forth the exuberant and hitherto unexplored rich resources of our native country.
We beg leave to express our warmest thanks to CHARLES STUDDERT, ESQ. for fulfilling, in so very handsome a manner, on the occasion above alluded to, your Lordship’s benevolent intentions.
May 3, 1832
|
ACHESON Robert, Jun. |
ADAMS James |
ADAMS William |
|
ALEXANDER John |
ALEXANDER Joseph |
ALLEN John |
|
ALLEN Mary |
ALLEN Thomas |
ATCHESON Robert |
|
BAIRD Andrew |
BAIRD Joseph |
BAIRD Moses |
|
BRADLEY Bernard |
BRADLEY Patrick |
BRECK |
|
BREDIN James |
BROWN Thomas |
CALDWELL Andrew |
|
CLARKE Robert |
CRAIG James |
CRAWFORD James |
|
CRAWFORD Josias |
CRAWFORD Samuel, Jun. |
CRAWFORD Samuel |
|
CRAWFORD W. A. |
CUNNINGHAM Robert |
DEAN Alexander |
|
DEAN Andrew |
DEAN James |
DEAN Robert |
|
DICK John |
DICK Patrick |
DUDGEON Widow |
|
DUNN James |
DUNN Robert |
EDIE A. C. |
|
EDIE Edward, J. P. |
FAUSETT Charles |
FINLAY Samuel |
|
FORBES Andrew |
FORBES Margaret |
FORBES Violet |
|
FORSYTHE John |
FOSTER Arthur |
GALLAUGHER Charles |
|
GIVEN John |
GIVEN William |
HART Thomas |
|
HAYES Isabella |
HILL Anne |
HILL Robert |
|
HOUSTON Samuel |
IRWINE James |
IRWINE Thomas |
|
JACK Andrew |
JACK John |
JACK Patrick |
|
KELLY George |
KERR Francis |
KERR James |
|
KERR Letitia |
KERR Patrick |
KERR William |
|
KING William |
KNOX Charles |
KNOX Charles, Jun. |
|
KNOX Margaret |
KNOX Margaret |
KNOX Mathew |
|
KNOX Robert |
LEITCH Andrew |
LEITCH Andrew |
|
LEITCH Elizabeth |
LEITCH George |
LEITCH James |
|
LEITCH John |
LEITCH Johnston |
LEITCH Samuel |
|
LINDSAY Thomas |
LOVE Andrew Tom |
LOVE David |
|
LOVE James |
LOVE James |
LOVE James Jun. |
|
McKEE Mathew |
MATHEWSON Lavens |
McCARTHER Rev. John |
|
McCAY John |
McCAY Robert |
McCLINTOCK Francis |
|
MEALEY David |
MILLER Andrew T. |
MILLER David |
|
MONTEITH Agnes |
MOORE Joshua |
MOORE William |
|
MORTLAND Charles |
NELSON Catherine |
NELSON Mathew |
|
O’KANE Quenton |
O’NEILL John |
PATRICK Joseph |
|
PATRICK William |
PATRICK William |
PORTER James |
|
POTTER Arthur |
POTTER John |
REA James |
|
REA Thomas |
ROBB John |
ROSS John |
|
RUSSEL George |
RUSSEL James |
RUSSELL James |
|
RUSSELL Mathew |
SHEARON Patrick |
SIMPSON Thomas |
|
SMYTH John |
STEELE Samuel |
STEVENSON John |
|
TAGGART Rebecca |
TAGGART William, J. P. |
WATSON William |
|
WELCH Andrew |
WELCH James |
WELCH Stewart |
|
WILSON James |
WILSON William |
WOODS David |
To this Address his Lordship returned the following answer:
Gentlemen-- The kind and unanimous expression of your approbation of my conduct upon the occasion to which you have alluded, has afforded me sincere satisfaction. To possess the favourable opinion of so respectable a body as the Tenantry of Ardstraw, must, at all times, be truly gratifying; but upon the present occasion it is doubly so.
Your public approval of the course which I have pursued, respecting the renewal of your Leases, furnishes, in my humble judgement, a proof of the injustice preferred against me, and a refutation of the assertions of those who have sought to hold me up as the oppressor of my Tenantry. To say that I was divested of a feeling of anxiety for the interest of my family, would be hypocrisy on my part; but I can conscientiously declare, that I have been actuated by a desire to consult your welfare as well as my own, and to insure, to the utmost of my power, your comfort and independence --- to the accomplishment of these objects my efforts have been most anxiously directed; and if I shall be permitted, by a merciful Providence, to witness their success, I shall feel amply compensated for whatever sacrifice I may have made. It will afford me sincere pleasure to communicate to my Agent, MR. STUDDART, the kind feelings which you entertain for him, and the gratitude you have expressed for the manner in which he has acted. The possession of your favourable opinion must, I am persuaded, be most acceptable to him, and that he will return it, I cannot doubt, if kindness, impartiality, and attention to his various duties can entitle him to do so.
RICHARD DERRY
The CHURCHLANDS OF ARDSTRAW comprised twelve townlands belonging to the See of Derry; the income provided for the benefit of the Established Church. For a period they were leased by the Marquis of Abercorn and the 1807 Churchlands rentals can be found amongst Abercorn records. The Churchlands comprised the following townlands:
|
BIRNAGHS |
MILLTOWN |
MAGHERACOLTAN |
LISLAFERTY |
|
CARNKENNY |
KILSTRULE |
MEAGHY |
TIEVENNY |
|
KILLEEN |
BROCKLIS |
ARDSTRAW |
URBALREAGH |