DIANA - IRISH CONNECTIONS

Figure 1: Diana in her trusty Barbour jacket.

INTRODUCTION

Princess Diana died twenty years ago on the 31 August 1997 in a Parisian hospital. Mother, sibling, international icon and much more, she was only thirty-six when her life was tragically cut short. Media coverage over the past few weeks has ensured that her anniversary will not be forgotten and many reports in the written and visual media have broadcast stories about her life and death. However, what has not been widely written about are her Irish connections , her rather roguish great-grandfather and her American relatives. Recently, whilst, perusing the Sunday Independent, I came across an article about her Irish roots and intrigued I decided to investigate, the words following are the result of my research.

FIRST BARON AND TRABOLGAN, COUNTY CORK

Diana’s great-great-grandfather was Edmund Burke Roche, ‘first Baron Fermoy and Lord Lieutenant of the County and City of Cork’. Roche was born in 1815 and was elected M.P. for Cork in 1837, ‘when only just of age’. Of course, much of his success was given to the fact that the ‘young aristocrat of ancient lineage’ was a staunch supporter of Daniel O’Connell, Irish political leader. The fact that he ‘was one of the handsomest men of his time’, certainly contributed to this popularity.[1] The Roches had a presence in Trabolgan, Whitegate from the mid seventeenth century and this was their principal seat.[2] Consequently, as a result of such a huge estate, the family also had a large number of tenants, including the Ballast Board who occupied a lighthouse, Roche's Point. Additionally, Samuel Lewis recorded that they had a winter residence in Rathcormack.[3]

Figure 2: Trabolgan House, East Cork (now demolished).

Figure 3: Griffith's Valuation for the townland of Trabolgan, 1853.

Roche died on 17 September 1874, at his estate in Trabolgan. His death was sudden; following a ‘bath in the sea’, he was seized with a fit and ‘expired in the course of a few hours’.[4] Baron Fermoy was buried in the churchyard at Corkbeg. His remains were enclosed in a suite of coffins, the inner of hardwood, the second of lead and the outer coffin of oak. ‘The lid bore a brass shield, surmounted by a baron’s coronet’ with the following inscription:[5]

Figure 4: Excerpt of the article in Irish Examiner, 22 September 1874.

SECOND AND THIRD BARON AND THE AMERICAN LINK

The first Baron Fermoy was succeeded by his eldest son and Diana’s great-granduncle, Edward Fitz Edmund. In 1880, approximately half of the Roche estate, 8,178 acres was advertised for sale by the Court of Chancery. The Encumbered Estates Court was established in 1849. In 1852, it was replaced by the Landed Estates Courts, which was itself superseded in 1877 by the Land Judges Court which was part of the Chancery Division of the High Court. Although there were some differences in the powers of these courts, their principal function was to sell off insolvent estates. By the mid nineteenth century, many of the Irish landed estates were in serious financial difficulties. After the Great Famine, many of these estates had lost the ability to generate income due to the death or emigration of their tenants. Furthermore, the value of land plummeted, so to overcome this material issue, the state took ownership of the encumbered estates and then sold them with the added incentive of a parliamentary title.

Figure 5: Details of the Sales Catalogue, Roche estate, 1880.

The second Baron married Cecilia O'Grady and nearly 5,000 acres in Co. Limerick in 1877. The couple can be found on the 1901 census of Ireland living in Rockbarton, Co. Limerick, with their daughter and many servants. His surname is recorded as 'Fermoy'. Coincidentally, similarly to his father, he died in 1920, after a bath.[6]

Figure 6: Rockbarton, Co. Limerick (now demolished).

Edward Fitz Edmund was succeeded by his younger brother, James Boothby Burke Roche, Diana’s great-grandfather. James Roche married Diana’s great-grandmother, Frances Work at Christ Church, New York on 22 September 1880.[7] Frances Work was daughter of Franklin, a wealthy banker, who according to the 1880 New York census, held $100,000 in real estate and $20,000 in personal estate.

Figure 7: 1880 New York census showing the Work family.

James and Frances returned to England, where their four children were born, three surviving to adulthood. Unfortunately the marriage was not to last. In December 1886, James sent his wife and daughter, Cynthia, to New York to request money from her father, whilst he and his twin boys, Edmund and Francis, remained in England. Two months later, James and his twins arrived in New York, and met with his wife and her father in his New York mansion, and again Frank Work refused to provide his son-in-law with money. James left the twins and returned to England. In 1891 Frances Work Roche divorced James on the grounds of desertion.[8]

Figure 8: (From left) James Boothby Burke Roche, Frances Work, Francis and Maurice (Lord Fermoy) Roche.

James Boothby Burke Roche was elected to Westminster in 1896 as a candidate for Kerry East, even though he was divorced. When the divorce was highlighted during his election campaign, James declared he had not been served with divorce proceedings. Soon after his election, he commenced an action in the High Court against the editor and publishers of Burke’s Peerage to restrain them from publishing the statement that he was divorced from his wife. Burke’s Peerage gave an undertaking not to publish the statement.[9] James can be found on the 1911 English census living in London aged fifty-eight. Also noted is that he was born in Twyford Abbey.

Figure 9: James Boothby Roche in 1911 English census.

After the death of his older brother, Edward, the second baron of Fermoy in 1920, James succeeded and became the third baron. However, his new title was short-lived, as two months after his brother’s death, James died at Artillery Mansions, Westminster.[10]

Figure 10: James Boothby Roche death notice.