The Tipperary Gentry
William Smyth writing in Tipperary History & Society said of the Cromwellian Adventurers and Soldiers who got lands in Tipperary ‘They came with notions of exploitation and of gaining wealth; they belonged to a growing commercial nation and they were to leave a deep impression on the landscapes and societies into which they intruded….the great phase of their rule was to last only one hundred and fifty years, but within that period they were to direct the transformation of the landscape and social structures of at least half the parishes in Co. Tipperary.’
The gentry were part of what came to be called in the late 18th century, The Ascendancy, a name coined by the editor of the Dublin Journal. Membership of this elite was not confined to people of noble birth or inheritors of landed estates. The gentry revitalized itself by recruiting from talented professionals such as John Hely-Hutchinson, a gifted lawyer, or from the ranks of the successful business families such as the Bartons, Grubbs and Scullys of Tipperary.
It is a fact that the vast majority of landlords did their utmost to try to cope with the Famine. They remitted rents, they sold their personal chattels and they gave unstintingly of their time on committees and boards.
There were good and bad landlords but as can be ascertained from the pages of this book, the good, fortunately, well outnumbered the bad. The legacy of beautiful houses and well maintained demesnes has all but been lost. Fortunately enough remain to ensure the continuity of settlement so vital to our understanding of history.
The families whose details are recorded in this book are Armstrong, Bagwell, Barton, Bianconi, Butler of Cahir, Carden of Barnane, Damer, Grubb, Hely Hutchinson, Langley, Mansergh, Mathew, Maude, O’Callaghan, Otway, Ponsonby Barker, Prittie, Ryan, Sadleir and Scully.
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