The End of the County Down Lands

Time was fast running out for the family lands of County Down. Harriett Wombwell died in 1871, and left the proceeds of those lands to be divided amongst her children – once they had been sold off. 

Gracey tombstone just outside Downpatrick Cathedral.
Thomas Gracey was named in Harriett Wombwell's will
with regard to a not insignificant debt.

In her will, and for nearly the last time, the lands and people of Downpatrick float across the pages, from the legal specialists of Hugh and William Nevin Wallace to the famous Gracey family, a member of whom was in debt to Harriett to the not insignificant sum of 1000 pounds. 

And so, finally, we return to May Street, Belfast on the 1st of July 1881, and the final sale of the lands. It is hard by now to avoid the conclusion that the family members concerned would have been anything but absolutely delighted to get the lands off their backs in return for some hard cash in lieu. 

It was good riddance to Ireland, good riddance to the lands, and good riddance to certain Irish and semi-Irish ancestors who seemed to have done their very best to scandalize polite society with their reckless disregard for convention. 

No wonder in future years that no-one seemed willing or able to discuss the details of the West and Wombwell Irish lands, least of all lay claim to any kind of ancestral Irish identity. Indeed, there is no indication as to whether the later family of Robinsons, Bradleys and Owens had any knowledge of their relationship to the Hadzors, the Wests, the Dills, to Sir Richard Dawson Bates, or the Dr. Robert Foster Kennedy who treated Winston Churchill, or any of the other colourful characters who have drifted in and out of these entries.