FitzGerald family, Knights of Glin

The Knights of Glin are a Geraldine family whose title can be traced back to Sir John FitzJohn or Seán Mór na Sursainge who lived ca. 1260, and whose grandfather, Maurice FitzThomas had been granted the barony of Shanid, near Glin. John FitzJohn had established much authority in west Limerick, having built castles at Glin and Beagh (near Askeaton) in 1260. In 1299, he was holding half a tuath in Glancarbery which corresponds to the present parish of Kilfergus or Glin.

The romantic title, The Knights of Glin, can be attributed to the gaelicising of the Anglo-Normans of Desmond, the titles being similar to Gaelic chieftainships. Up to the end of the 17th century, the Knight of Glin was sometimes referred to as the Knight of the Valley, valley being the English translation of ‘Glin’, a corruption of the Irish ‘Gleann’, itself an abbreviation of Gleann Corbraighe (Glancarbery).

The history of the Knights of Glin is an interesting one as it reveals the struggle of a Catholic landed family against English rule, and ultimately its’ capitulation when the Penal Laws came into effect. The eighteenth century is indeed one of the more interesting periods in which they moved from being medieval Norman overlords and Irish chieftains to become Anglo-Irish gentry . John FitzGerald succeeded as the 19th Knight of Glin in 1732. When the Penal Laws swung into force, whereby a Catholic owned estate could be handed on intact only if one of the sons became protestant within 3 months of the father’s death, John was under enormous pressure to convert and convert he did.

John’s brother Edmond, succeeded as 20th Knight of Glin and ran up huge gambling debts. He was imprisoned in the Four Courts Marshalsea Prison for non-payment of debts and consequently his brother Richard, succeeded as the 21th Knight. One of Richard’s more famed hobbies was that of duelling which he is said to have learned on the continent. He also excelled at horseracing and Byrne notes that it was during his time that a race-course was established at Glin. He also raced at Clogheen, Co. Tipperary and the Curragh, Co. Kildare. Thomas, the next brother in line, succeeded Richard in 1775. He, like his brothers before him, was frequently in debt and passed this debt to his son John Bateman FitzGerald in 1781. Despite great financial difficulties, this most enterprising of individuals initiated the building of Glin Castle, which has been lived in by the Knights of Glin and their families ever since. By the time of his death, the family had successfully transformed themselves from medieval Irish chiefs to Anglo-Irish gentry, due to John Bateman’s marriage to an English lady, Margaretta Maria Fraunceis Gwyn, and the building, against all odds, of a Georgian pile.

The beginning of the tenure John Fraunceis Fitzgerald, 24th Knight of Glin coincided with a bankruptcy sale at Glin, but fortunately, he was able to replenish the family coffers through gambling. He was particularly interested in his Gaelic background and was a fluent Irish speaker and antiquarian. Known locally as both ‘Ridire na mBan’ (Knight of the Women) due to his extra-marital activities, and Seán Gruama (Grim-faced John) due to his bouts of temperamental behaviour, John Fraunceis was indeed a colourful character. A ballad from 1830 illustrates his detractors views:

His vices have made, and still make him so poor
That bailiff or creditor is ne’er from his door.
And deep tho’ in debt, he’s deeper in sin,
That lecherous, treacherous, Knight of the Glin

This hoary old sinner, this profligate rare,
Who gloats o’er the ruin of the virtuous and fair;
In gambling and drinking and wenching delights
And in these doth spend both his days and his nights.

Yet there is the man who’s heard to declare
‘Gainst O’Grady he’ll vote if the priests interfere.
But the priests and O’ Grady do not care a pin
For the beggarly, profligate, Knight of the Glin!

It is interesting to note, however, that John Fraunceis was also recognised for his generosity towards tenants, particularly during the famine. He died of cholera in 1854 which he contracted while attending to the unfortunates in the Poor House in Glin. His obituary in the Limerick Chronicle of 26 April 1854 stated ‘…the influence of his position and his personal exertions were ever directed to relieve the wants of the poor…’

Like his father before him, the 25th Knight, John Fraunceis Eyre, known as ‘The Cracked Knight’, was a somewhat eccentric character prone to being ‘temperamental’. Folklore surrounding his antics and erratic behaviour abound. Among the many mentioned by Gaughan include his habit of riding his horse into the homes of those he was visiting, going so far on one occasion as attempting to ride the horse up the stairs; the time he publicly whipped Colonel Henry H. Kitchener (his ‘pet aversion’) at the Tralee races; and his curious fascination with chamber-pots. He was sympathetic to his tenants however, and was popular with the locals.

Continuing with the custom of nick-naming the Knights, the moniker of the 26th Knight, Desmond John Edmund, was ‘the Big Knight’. He married Isabella Lloyd Apjohn in 1861 and she proved to be instrumental in managing the estate, which was just as well, as her husband ‘showed little interest or inclination in this matter’ (Gaughan, p. 124). Desmond John Edmund was a deputy lieutenant and a justice of the peace of county Limerick, and in general, had a the typical Anglo-Irish gentleman’s life which was taken up mainly with hunting, shooting, fishing and entertaining. It was during his tenure that the Long Rock Weir on the Shannon was refurbished and salmon fishing in the area became a profitable enterprise. It was also, however, the time of the Land League and agrarian unrest, which resulted in various outrages committed on farms of evicted tenants in Glin. Desmond John Edmund came under extreme pressure as a result of the Land League and the National League and ‘bitter denunciations between him and the supporters of the League continued in the press’. (Gaughan, p. 132). The Big Knight was under much financial pressure. In 1867 he borrowed £2000 by way of mortgage and this raised the principal sums charged on the Glin estate to £17,091. It seems by the numerous mortgages created in the 1860’s and the 1870’s that he was simply borrowing from one creditor in order to pay the other. (Ballinderry de Pauillac, p. 4)

By the time the 27th Knight, Desmond FitzJohn Lloyd FitzGerald, inherited in 1895, the estate was in a state of semi-permanent insolvency. He had made the wise move of marrying Lady Rachel Charlotte Wyndham Quin, younger daughter of the 4th Earl of Dunraven, who brought with her much needed funds. She tragically died after the birth of their first child, Desmond Windham Otho, in 1901. The respite was brief, however, and under the Land Act of 1903, he sold 3,200 acres of the estate, as well as the Riddlestown Park estate, which he had inherited, and a further 800 acres of the Glin estate a few years later. During FitzJohn’s tenure, the Irish revolution took place, and life for the Knights of Glin took another dramatic turn. Unusually, he remained resident in Glin Castle during the War of Independence, when anti-treaty forces had destroyed great houses of other landed families, and it was this lofty defiance that ultimately saved Glin Castle from being burnt down by a band of rebels in February 1923. As the present Knight of Glin recounts: ‘ When a gang came to burn the house down in 1923, he roared at them from his chair, “Well, you will have to burn me in it boys”. The “boys” repaired to Glin for a few libations and it was said that the locals got them so drunk they never returned to finish the job.’ FitzJohn’s main interests in life were attending shooting parties in Adare Manor, Curragh Chase, Hollypark or playing in golf tournaments in Lahinch. He suffered a stroke in 1914 which left him partially paralysed and in later life became reclusive.

The 28th Knight of Glin, Desmond Windham Otho, was educated at Winchester and then Lancing. In 1924, when in his early twenties, he moved to London and, having always been mechanically minded, set up a garage in the fashionable St James Street area with a Captain Alistair Miller, the son of a Scottish baronet. The business was called Miller & FitzGerald Ltd and specialised in buying and selling exclusive cars such as the ‘Voisin’. While in London, he was one of the “Bright Young Things” socialising in the Bachelor’s Club and the Savoy. When the high life got too much, he set off with his grandfather, the 4th Earl of Dunraven, and some of his Blennerhassett cousins on sailing trips to the Mediterranean and back, some lasting as long as 3 or 4 months. Monte Carlo was a favourite resting place as too was Cowes, where they attended the famous yacht races. Unfortunately, the business back in London went under and a protracted court case between the former business partners ensued. In 1929, Desmond Windham Otho married Veronica Villiers, a cousin of Sir Winston Churchill, and a veritable tour de force who set about restoring Glin Castle while her husband set about improving the farm. Desmond Windham Otho contracted tuberculosis and was ill for a long period. He sought treatment in Arizona and Switzerland but finally succumbed to the disease in 1949, leaving a young widow and three children. Veronica remarried in 1954 to Horatio Ray Milner, a very wealthy Canadian businessman, and subsequently relocated to Canada. Milner was instrumental in saving Glin Castle and the estate from certain financial ruin by investing £60,000 in restoration work in the late 1950s.

Desmond John Villiers, the 29th Knight of Glin, was educated in Stowe, England; Trinity College, Port Hope, Ontario; University of British Columbia; and Harvard University. He was a leading figure in Irish architecture and decorative arts and for many years was Christie’s representative in Ireland. A keen family historian, he left The Glin Papers on permanent loan to the University of Limerick in 1998. The Knight married Madam Olda FitzGerald and had three daughters. He died in 2011, and with him also died the most illustrious and romantic of titles.