The Glin Papers, unfortunately, do not reflect the long history of the family, as many of the older documents were allegedly burnt in a tantrum by the aptly nick-named ‘Cracked Knight’ or John Fraunceis Eyre FitzGerald, 25th Knight of Glin. They date from 1800 onwards and have been arranged into eight series according to the tenure of the various Knights.
Series A, which relates to John Bateman FitzGerald, 23rd Knight of Glin, contains a single document in the form of a volume which contains a printed copy of a private Act of Parliament passed to force John Bateman to raise money by mortgage or otherwise to pay off incumbrances. The Act shows the incumbrances to amount to almost £14,000 and notes that Colonel John had incurred legal costs of at least £1500 and had spent more than £6000 on Glin Castle and demesne.
Series B relates to John Fraunceis FitzGerald, 24th Knight of Glin and ranges from his marriage settlement with the long-suffering Bridgetta Eyre (1812) to a deed poll appointing him as High Sheriff of Limerick (1830). The marriage settlement burdened the estate to the tune of £8,000, and when his eldest son and heir married in 1835, the estate was further burdened with £6,000 to account for the portions of younger children. By the time of his death in 1854, John Fraunceis had managed to create or oversee principal sum incumbrances amounting to at least £14,000. There are also documents in this section which show how short-term cash was raised, as was the practice in 19th century, by creating mortgages. This series also contains the constabulary journals and personal journals of William Massey Blennerhassett, who married John Fraunceis’ daughter Margaretta Sophia FitzGerald (P1/20-33).
Section C concerns John Fraunceis Eyre FitzGerald, 25th Knight of Glin, the aforementioned ‘Cracked Knight’. The most interesting of the documents related to this section are the mortgages raising money from the Glin lands and reflect the almost ever-present insolvency facing the family (P1/44-50). One in particular from 1864 (P1/48) lists incumbrances on the estate which then totalled £14,000 in principle sums not including the £1539 charge that was being transferred. It would appear, therefore, that incumbrances had risen to approximately £15,500 by the end of The Cracked Knight’s tenure. Also of note are the estate day books which span form 1858-1867 and record the receipt of rents from the estate (P1/51-52).
Series D concerns Desmond John Edmund FitzGerald, 26th Knight of Glin. The documents in this section comprise mainly leases, conveyances and mortgages relating to lands on the Glin estate. Also of interest are the Long Rock fishery records which span from 1866-1890 (P1/144-145). Another document of note is the will of his cousin, Jane Augusta Richardson (P1/148) as a later annotation to the document reads: ‘The beautiful Mrs. Richardson probably mistress of Desmond John Edmund FitzGerald, Knight of Glin’.
Series E relates to Desmond FitzJohn Lloyd FitzGerald, 27th Knight of Glin. The documents in this section contain the usual leases, mortgages and marriage settlements but there is also a small amount of personal correspondence which is of interest, including a letter from his father-in-law, the 4th Earl of Dunraven, in which he declares that if FitzJohn were to hire a woman to look after the young Desmond Windham Otho, ‘she would have to be appallingly old and ugly to save your character’ (P1/303). They also reflect FitzJohn’s interest shooting parties and golf, as many surviving letters written by him to his son, Desmond Windham Otho, while attending boarding school, describe little else (P1/540).
Series F relates to Desmond Windham Otho FitzGerald, 28th Knight of Glin. In addition to leases, conveyances, con-acre agreements and rental accounts (P1/604-638), a large amount of material in this series concerns household and estate accounts with cashbooks and hundreds of tradesmen’s receipts and invoices for various goods and services (P1/639-695). There are also account books for the Long Rock Fishery, which was established in part by the Knight’s grandfather, Desmond John Edmund. The weirs were closed in 1935 when the Government took them over (P1/707-709). The failure of the 28th Knight of Glin’s garage business also features in this series and illustrates clearly the bitter legal wrangle that followed (P1/550-555). More personal items in this series relate to the Knight’s wife, Veronica Villiers. An avid correspondent, the collection is home to many hundreds of letters written her by family members, friends and acquaintances (P1/370-497). There is also much official correspondence with stockbrokers, solicitors, and land agents (P1/354-369). Other interesting items in Veronica’s possession include watercolour sketches (ca. 1850) by her great-aunt, Amelie T. Amherst (P1/504-506), and a small collection of black and white photographs (P1/507-518).
Series G concerns Desmond John Villiers FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin. The papers contained in this series include school reports (P1/744, P1/749) and volumes of lecture notes from his time at UBC and Harvard (P1/751-776); leases, undertakings and rentals (P1/777-817); and correspondence concerned with the estate (P1/818-843). There is much in this series devoted to the afore-mentioned refurbishment of the Castle, including correspondence with Horatio Ray Milner (P1/844-852), and plans and drawings of the restoration work (P1/854-878). There are also very interesting documents related to the development of Glin Castle as a guest house (P1/884-948), which show how the estate survived by utilising the tourist trade. Correspondence from these papers reflects the success of Irish tourism enterprises, especially in this case, in attracting the upper end of the American market. Milner also provided money to improve the farm at Glin in order that it become viable and self-sustainable. Correspondence, farm invoices, account books and bank statements are the main document-types in this series (P1/949-1138).
