Eleanor, Lady Godfrey

O’Sullivan, Eilís

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-54639-1_9

Eleanor, Lady Godfrey

Eilís O’Sullivan²

Chapter
First Online: 05 June 2017

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Abstract

This chapter outlines the life and contribution to education of Eleanor, Lady Godfrey (1772–1852). Born in Ulster to a wealthy merchant family, Eleanor Cromie was a member of the Anglican community. She married John Godfrey in 1796. Eleanor’s dowry of £2,000 (later £3,000) was not enough to improve the fortunes of her husband’s family. Paucity of funds would hamper the couple all their lives. Eleanor, John and their large family lived mainly in Kilcoleman Abbey, Milltown, Co. Kerry. Together and separately, the couple provided employment and social supports for the people of Milltown and surrounding areas. With the support of the Kildare Place Society, Eleanor maintained a school there, mainly for coreligionists. Eleanor’s school eventually joined the national school system. It then transferred to nearby Castlemaine where it continues to serve members of the Church of Ireland.

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Notes

1.
S. Lewis, A topographical dictionary of Ireland with historical and statistical descriptions, Vol. 2, 468; J.G. Knightly, “Eleanor Godfrey: A Tradition of Landlord Philanthropy,” Journal of Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society Series 2, Vol. 2, (2002): 87. Knightly notes his indebtedness to Rev. A. Cromie for information relating to the Cromies of Portstewart.
2.
S. Lewis, A topographical dictionary of Ireland with historical and statistical descriptions, Vol. 1, 19; J.G. Knightly, telephone conversation with author, September 17, 2007.
3.
V. Bary, Historical Genealogical Architectural Notes of Some Houses of Kerry, 147; J. Spring and V. Bary, “The Godfrey Papers: Abstracts of Deeds, 1800–1839,” Journal of Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, No. 22 (1988): 44.
4.
T. Ó Gadhra, “Milltown Local History – How the Village of Milltown originated,” Contact,(16), March, 1970; T. Ó Gadhra, “Milltown Local History Part II “ Contact,(19), July, 1970; T. Ó Gadhra, “Milltown Local History Part III,” Contact,(24), December, 1970; T. Ó Gadhra, “Milltown Local History Part IV,” Contact (25), December, 1972.
5.
Ó Gadhra, “Milltown I.”; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown II “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown III “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown IV.”; V. Bary, “Godfrey Papers,” 44.
6.
Lewis, Topographical Dictionary 2, 371.
7.
Ó Gadhra, “Milltown I.”; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown II “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown III “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown IV.”
8.
Bary, Houses of Kerry, 147.
9.
J. Spring and V. Bary, “Kerry Militia Courts Martial: Proceedings of Regimental Courts Martial of the Kerry Militia 1808–1811,” Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society Series 2, Vol. 2, (2002): 31.
10.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 96. Knightly cites Daniel Beaufort. Agnes died in 1799.
11.
Knightly, telephone conversation, September 17, 2007.
12.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 88 citing Godfrey Family Papers, (GFP), letter from William Godfrey to Jack Godfrey, October 30, 1796.
13.
Knightly, telephone conversation, September 17, 2007.
14.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 87.
15.
J.G. Knightly, private papers. Knightly cites L. Kennedy, “The cost of living in Ireland, 1698–1988,” in Dickson and Ó Gráda, eds., Refiguring Ireland-Essays in honour of L. M. Cullen, 257 and C. Ó Gráda, Ireland: A New Economic History, 1780–1939, 16.
16.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 87–89; Knightly, private papers.
17.
Knightly, private papers; Knightly, “Tradition,” 88, 89.
18.
A. Venning, Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present.
19.
Knightly, private papers. In 1805, the Kerry Militia was stationed in Waterford, Curragh Camp, Boyle and Coleraine; in 1806, Carrick-on-Shannon; 1807, Ballinasloe, 1808, Killarney; 1809, Dublin; 1810, Kilkenny and Wexford; 1818, Wexford; Knightly, “Tradition,” 89.
20.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 98; B. Burke, Peerage and Baronetage, 1115, 1116; V. Bary, “Godfrey Papers,” 43. The children were William Duncan, 3rd Baronet; Henry Alexander, 72nd Highlanders, b. August 24, 1803; James George, J.P., b. June 4, 1808, and Eleanor (Ellen) who married the Very Rev. John Godfrey Day, Dean of Ardfert in 1834; John, Robert, Richard Frankland, Anne and Agnes.
21.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Clonmel to Sir John Godfrey at Milltown, June 8, 1803.
22.
V. M. Bary, “Household Lists 1826–1838 made by Lady Godfrey of Kilcoleman Abbey, Co. Kerry,” The Irish Ancestor, No. 2 (1980): 31.
23.
Knightly, private papers.
24.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey to Sir John Godfrey at Milltown, June 16, 1812.
25.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Twickenham to Rev. John Day at Milltown, July 6, 1813.
26.
Knightly, private papers.
27.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Brussels to Rev. John Day at Milltown, March 22, 1815.
28.
J.R. Swinton, A Sketch of the Life of Georgiana, Lady de Ros: With Some Reminiscences of Her Family and Friends, including the Duke of Wellington, 124–132.
29.
Knightly, private papers.
30.
GFP, letter from Eleanor and John Godfrey at Baker Street, London to Rev. John Day at Milltown, September, 1812; GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Aberystwyth to William Duncan Godfrey at Milltown, September 1, 1826: GFP, letters from Eleanor Godfrey to Sir John Godfrey at Milltown, June 16, 1812 and c/o Poste Restante, Rome, March 27, 1818; to Rev John Day at Kiltallagh, Milltown, May 3, 1813 and July 6, 1813.
31.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Sandgate, Kent to Rev. John Day at Milltown, May 3, 1813.
32.
Knightly, private papers, citing ledger kept by Eleanor Godfrey of the family’s income and expenditure while in Europe.
33.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Sandgate, Kent to Rev. John Day at Milltown, May 3, 1813.
34.
Godfrey Family Papers, (GFP), letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Aberystwyth, Wales to her son William Duncan Godfrey at Milltown, July 28, 1826.
35.
Knightly, private papers.
36.
M. Bence-Jones, A guide to Irish country houses, 165.
37.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 95.
38.
J.G. Knightly, “Kerry Country Homes: Milltown - Bushfield,” County Kerry Genealogy, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlker/hiscastle.html (accessed April 21, 2016). The Godfrey family lived in Bushfield until 1958. Miss Phyllis Godfrey was then forced to abandon the house which was infested with dry rot. She subsequently lived in the gate lodge, dying in December 1959. The house was demolished in the 1970s despite attempts to save it.
39.
Ó Gadhra, “Milltown I.”; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown II “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown III “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown IV.”
40.
J.G. Knightly, email to author, January, 2008; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown I.”; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown II “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown III “; Ó Gadhra, “Milltown IV.”
41.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 92.
42.
Lewis, Topographical Dictionary 2, 371.
43.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey to William D. Godfrey at Kilcoleman, Milltown, December 5, 1826.
44.
D.J. Butler, South Tipperary 1570–1841 Religion, Land and Rivalry, 190–192. The Board of First Fruits had been “set up in the eighteenth century to devote a portion of ecclesiastical revenues to building and other essential purposes.” This board was reorganized during the following century and its “resources were greatly increased by generous parliamentary grants.”
45.
Lewis, Topographical Dictionary 2, 63. Knightly, private papers, citing Accounts relating to Church Establishment of Ireland 1801–22, 28, H.C. 1823 (135) xvi, 85.
46.
Knightly, email, January, 2008; Knightly, “Tradition,” 95.
47.
Knightly, telephone conversation, September 17, 2007.
48.
H. More, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, 43, 208, 211, 222. Of the twenty chapters in the book, eight are concerned explicitly with Christianity and religious practice.
49.
J. West, Letters to a Young Lady; in which the Duties and Character of Women are considered, chiefly with a reference to prevailing opinions, ed. J. Todd, Female Education in the Age of Enlightenment, Vol. 1, xiii-xxxv; Vol. 2, Letter X; Vol. 3, Letter XII.
50.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 87.
51.
More, Strictures, 44.
52.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 87.
53.
Ibid. Knightly cites GFP, Eleanor Godfrey to Ellen Day, circa 1839.
54.
Knightly, private papers, citing GFP, Eleanor Godfrey to Ellen Day, c. 1839.
55.
Bary, “Household Lists,” 30–44.
56.
Knightly, private papers.
57.
Knightly, telephone conversation, September 17, 2007; G.T. Rimmington, “Thomas Robinson: Evangelical Clergyman in Leicester, 1774–1813,” Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society 75, (2001): 105.
58.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 95.
59.
Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry, Second Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry (Abstract of Returns in 1824, from the Protestant and Roman Catholic Clergy in Ireland, of the State of Education in their respective Parishes), 1826–27, Appendix 22, 1050, 1051.
60.
Lewis, Topographical Dictionary 2, 371; Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, MS Ledger 354, 56.
61.
Second Report, 1826–27, Appendix 22, 1050, 1051.
62.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 95.
63.
KPS Archives, Ledger 354, 56; Second Report, 1826–27, Appendix 22, 1050, 1051. The teachers’ surname was also spelled “Cumming” or “Comyns.” Other teachers associated with the school were Maria Murphy, James Day, Frances (Francis?) Egan, and Francis Benson.
64.
Bary, “Household Lists,” 30–44; Knightly, “Tradition,” 95.
65.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, MS Ledger 353, 183.
66.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 861, Archive Number 248–2; Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 861, Archive Number 135(2).
67.
P. de Brún, “Kildare Place Society in Kerry: III Teachers,” Journal of Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society Series 1, Vol 15–16, (1982–3): 122; E. O’Sullivan, “The Training of Women Teachers in Ireland, 1824–1919, with special reference to Mary Immaculate College and Limerick” (University of Limerick, 1998), 58, 61, 62.
68.
KPS Archives, Ledger 353.
69.
Second Report, 1826–27, 1050–1051.
70.
J.G. Knightly, email to author, November 26, 2001.
71.
KPS Archives, Ledger 354, 56 citing Inspector’s Reports, Nos. 172, 173.
72.
Ibid., citing Inspector’s Reports, Nos. 39 and 40 from June 13, 1831.
73.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 854, MS 88.
74.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 856, MS 932.
75.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 860, Archive Number 4, Capitalisation and punctuation amended.
76.
Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 860, Archive Number 205.
77.
KPS Archives, Ledger 354, 56; Kildare Place Society Archives, Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin, Box 861, Archive Number 135; KPS Archives, 861, 135(2).
78.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Aberystwyth, Wales to William Duncan Godfrey at Milltown, July 28, 1826; Knightly, private papers.
79.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Leamington to William Duncan Godfrey at Milltown, July 13, 1826.
80.
Dr. Robert Waring Darwin, F.R.S., (1766–1848), son of Erasmus and father of Charles, worked in Shrewsbury.
81.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 99.
82.
Knightly, private papers. Knightly cites Kerry Examiner, April 23, 1841.
83.
Lewis, Topographical Dictionary 2, 371.
84.
Knightly, private papers.
85.
Knightly, email, November 26, 2001.
86.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 99.
87.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Twickenham to Rev. John Day at Milltown, July 6, 1813.
88.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 99. GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Sandgate, Kent to Rev John Day at Kiltallagh, Milltown, May 3, 1813.
89.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey to her daughter Ellen Day at Valentia, Ireland, February 7, 1840.
90.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Aberystwyth, Wales to William D. Godfrey at Kilcoleman, Milltown, October 20, 1826.
91.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Montagne du Brussels to Rev John Day at Milltown, September 5, 1814.
92.
Knightly, “Tradition,” 95.
93.
Knightly, email, January, 2008.
94.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Aberystwyth, Wales to William D. Godfrey at Kilcoleman, Milltown, October 20, 1826.
95.
Knightly, private papers. Underlining as in original.
96.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Aberystwyth, Wales to William Duncan Godfrey at London, May 10, 1827.
97.
GFP, letter from Eleanor Godfrey at Aberystwyth, Wales to William Duncan Godfrey at London, May 10, 1827.
98.
V. Jones, A Gaelic Experiment: The Preparatory System 1926–1961 and Coláiste Moibhí, 194, 195 citing Knightly.

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Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Eilís O’Sullivan

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O’Sullivan, E. (2017). Eleanor, Lady Godfrey. In: Ascendancy Women and Elementary Education in Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54639-1_9

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54639-1_9
Published: 05 June 2017
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54638-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54639-1
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