O'Connor -- Mrs La Touche of Harristown

A Note on

Mrs La Touche of Harristown

Derek O’Connor

December 19, 2011*

Mrs La Touche of Harristown

The book, The Letters of Noble Woman (Mrs. La Touche of Harristown.), Edited by MargaretFerrier Young, George Allen and Sons, London, 1908, is a collection of letters from MariaLa Touche (nee Price), 1824–1906, who lived at Harristown. An excellent scanned copy isavailable free at http://www.archive.org/details/lettersofnoblewo00ltouuoft

This book is the source of the quotation first used in the Mathematical Gazette [819,1924],and later used by Knuth1, and Higham2:

I do hate sums. There is no greater mistake than to call arithmetic an exact science.There are . . . hidden laws of Number which it requires a mind like mine to perceive.For instance, if you add a sum from the bottom up, and then again from the topdown, the result is always different.

Here is the full quotation:

July 1878.

I am nearly driven wild with the Dorcas accounts, and by Mrs. Wakefield’s ordersthey are to be done now. I do hate sums. There is no greater mistake than to callarithmetic an exact science. There are Permutations and Aberrations discernible tominds entirely noble like mine; subtle variations which ordinary accountants fail todiscover; hidden laws of Number which it requires a mind like mine to perceive. Forinstance, if you add a sum from the bottom up, and then again from the top down,the result is always different. Again if you multiply a number by another numberbefore you have had your tea, and then again after, the product will be different. It isalso remarkable that the Post-tea product is more likely to agree with other people’scalculations than the Pre-tea result. – pages 49 and 50, Letters of a Noble Woman.

*Started: 3 Sept 2011. Web: http://www.derekroconnor.net email : [email protected]

1Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 2, Seminumerical Algorithms, 2nd Edition,Addison-Wesley,1981, pg. 178.

2Nicholas J. Higham, Accuracy and Stability of Numerical Algorithms, 2nd Edition, SIAM, 2002, pg. 79.

1

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Derek O’Connor A Note on Mrs La Touche of Harristown

John Ruskin and Mrs La Touche

Ruskin was the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, from 1869 to 1879.His lectures were so popular that they had to be given twice – once for thestudents, and again for the public. Ruskin College, Oxford is named afterhim.

While at Oxford, Ruskin became friendly with Lewis Carroll, another don,who photographed him. After Carroll parted with Alice Liddell, she and hersisters pursued a similar relationship with Ruskin, according to his autobiog-raphy, Praeterita.

During this period Ruskin became enamoured of Rose la Touche, an intenselyreligious girl, whom he met through his patronage of Louisa, Marchionessof Waterford, a talented watercolourist. He was introduced to Rose in 1858,when she was only ten years old, proposed to her eight years later, and wasfinally rejected in 1872. She died in 1875. These events plunged Ruskin intodespair and led to bouts of mental illness. He suffered from a number ofbreakdowns and delirious visions. – Wikipedia.

The picture below was painted from an original drawing by Ruskin.

Figure 1. ROSE LA TOUCHE (1849–1875), DAUGHTER OF MRS LA TOUCHE.

© DEREK O’CONNOR, DECEMBER 19, 2011 2


The La Touche Family History

The following is taken from http://homepage.eircom.net/~latouche/History.htm

Below you will find a history of the La Touche Family prepared by the La Touche LegacyCommittee in conjunction with the Greystones Town Commissioners

The Story of the La Touche Family in Ireland

Our story opens with David Digues La Touche des Rompieres, who was born in 1671 nearBlois in the Loire Valley, and whose family had embraced the Protestant faith. Followingthe Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 some La Touche family members fled toHolland in search of religious freedom. David soon joined them, and his uncle obtainedfor him a commission in General Caillemotte’s Regiment, in the army of William of Or-ange. In 1690 David fought in the Battle of the Boyne, but, as General Caillemotte waskilled at this battle, the Regiment was disbanded and David served in the Princess Annof Denmark’s army and in the Liverpool Regiment. He left the army in Galway, wherehe was billeted on a weaver who sent him to Dublin to buy worsteds.

David decided to stay in Dublin, where with another Huguenot he set up as a manufac-turer of cambric and rich silk poplins. His business also became a gathering-place for theHuguenots of Dublin, who, when they had to travel outside the capital, began to leavetheir money and valuables with David for safekeeping. Some of this money would beadvanced as loans at a reasonable interest and so the La Touche Bank came into being.In 1716 David joined forces with Nathaniel Kane, and the Kane-La Touche banking andpoplin business prospered.

This was a time of urban expansion in Dublin, and David was astute enough to buyup plots of development land in the St. Stephen’s Green-Aungier St. area, the resultbeing that he became extremely rich. He was also religious, humane and generous tothe poor. In October 1745 he was taken ill at prayer in the Viceroy’s Chapel and diedwithin the hour. David had married Marthe Judith Biard in 1699 in Dublin and therewere four children of the marriage, two sons and two daughters. Marthe died in 1713,and a year later he married Wilhelmina, a Dutch lady. His two sons, David and James,were educated in Holland and later joined the business. On the death of the first David,James inherited the poplin business and David became the proprietor of the La ToucheBank. Ale brothers agreed that David’s family would drop the name Digues, or Digges,but that it would be retained by the family of Jaines.

David La Touche the Second married Marie Canasaille in 1725 and five of their chil-dren survived, three sons and two daughters. Like his father, he speculated in land pur-chase, but outside the Capital, in Counties Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Leitrim, Tipperaryand Wicklow. It was David the Second who built Bellevue in Delgany, County Wicklow,between 1754-56, at a cost of £30,000.

David’s three sons, David the Third, John La Touche and Peter La Touche eventuallybecame partners in the La Touche Bank. Peter inherited Bellevue on the death of Davidthe Second in 1785, and David the Third founded the Marlay La Touches, while John wasthe first to live at Harristown, County Kildare.


http://homepage.eircom.net/~latouche/History.htm


The Bellevue, Delgany Family

The estate at Ballydonagh comprised 300 acres, with fine views across the Glen of theDowns and towards the Irish Sea. David the Second built his favourite country retreathere between 1754-56, at a cost of £30,000, and called it Bellevue. Beautiful gardens werelaid out with winding paths and “extras” built by David and his son, Peter, when heinherited in 1785. Among these was the Octagon, built in 1766, with a panther on springs,which could be made to jump out at unwary visitors. The house was most famous for itshuge glasshouse, built between 1783 and 1793, in which many exotic plants were grown.

In 1766 Peter married Rebecca Vicars and they lived in Merrion Square, but when Rebeccadied in 1786 Peter moved to Bellevue. Two years later he married Rebecca’s cousin,Elizabeth Vicars. Elizabeth was famous as a hostess as well as for her charitable works,both in Delgany and in Dublin. She opened an orphanage and school for female childrenin the grounds of Bellevue, and she supported the children until they were old enoughto fend for themselves. She was also the Chief Guardian of the Female Orphan Houseon the North Circular Road, Dublin. It was she who persuaded the aged and infirmDean Kirwan to preach at the annual Charity Sermon in St. PatricWs Church in 1801.’Ibeunfortunate prelate feebly explained to the congregation that he was unable to preach,and promptly fainted. His listeners were so overcome that they donated over £1,100 forthe orphans, a huge sum for the time.

In 1790 Peter acquired the lands of Upper and Lower Rathdown. It is on these lands thatmuch of modern Greystones is situated. He set about improving the houses and groundsat Bellevue and Luggala, sparing no expense to make these residences the ultimate ingrandeur. Luggala was his hunting lodge and holiday home set deep in the Wicklowmountains. Peter allowed Luggala to be used by “respectable strangers, wherein thespirit of Irish hospitality, beds, and attendants are provided”. This tradition of hospitalityat Luggala extends to this day under the present owner The Hon. Garech Browne who isalso President of the La Touche Legacy Association.

Peter was also known as a generous man. It was he who built the new Christ Churchat Delgany in 1789, and who ordered the LaTouche monument in memory of his father,sculpted by John Hickey. He was active in many charitable activities in Dublin and Wick-low and was a founder member of the Society for Promoting the Education of the Poorin Ireland. When he died in 1828, at the age of ninety-five, he directed that he shouldbe buried in the new churchyard in Delgany “with as little expense as decency will al-low.” An interesting clause in his will directed that whoever should inherit Bellevue inthe future would have to reside in Ireland for at least six months each year or forfeit theinheritance.

Peter had no children by either of his marriages, so his nephew, Peter of Marley inherited,but he died two years later. In 1806 he had married Charlotte Maude and the marriageproduced fourteen children, of whom only one daughter, Eliza, and three sons, WilliarnRobert, Ashley and Octavius, married. His eldest son Peter David, now inherited Belle-vue. During the famine years it was Peter David who sat on committees in the areaendeavoring to alleviate distress. It was during Peter David’s time also, in 1854-56, thatthe railway came to Greystones, the station being built where the La Touche adjoined theWhitshed estate.



With the building of Greystones, the La Touche estate became responsible for the lay-ing out of roads, and they donated land and a sum of £1,500 towards the building of St.Patrick’s Church in Greystones. Peter David died in 1857, and his brother William Robertinherited Bellevue. He remained a director of the La Touche Bank until its closure in 1870.It was William who entertained the Archbishop, Dr. Richard Chenevix Trench at Belle-vue when St. Patrick’s Church was consecrated in 1864. Because of various Land Actsbetween 1870 and 1909, the Bellevue Estate had begun to shrink considerably. In Grey-stones, many houses were being built on LaTouche land, so a new Presbyterian Churchwas required. William Robert gave a free site for the new church, and laid the founda-tion stone in 1887. In 1867 Williain Robert had married Ellen Henn, but, as there wereno children, his brother, Octavius, inherited in 1892, when William Robert died, agedeighty-one.

The new master of Bellevue, Octavius, was a widower with three daughters, Mary, FrancesCecilia and Charlotte, and one son, Peter. Charlotte was a keen and knowledgeable gar-dener and a great organiser of charitable events in the Delgany area. Her brother, Peter,inherited in 1897. He was a major in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who was called upon tofight in the Boer War in 1900, and on his return home in 1902 was given a tumultuouswelcome all the way from Greystones Station to Delgany. In the same year he marriedSophia Elizabeth Tottenham, but died, intestate, two years later. Bellevue was now di-vided between his widow and his three sisters. Frances Cecilia and her husband, Dr.Archer, moved into Bellevue.

Bellevue now fell on hard times, and in 1906 a sale of family treasures was conducted byMr. James North, the Auctioneer. The family now tried taking in paying guests, and landwas even sold to the Holy Faith Sisters to build a school. Dr. Archer was instrumental inhelping to build a Golf Club in Delgany, he being elected its first President. However, theArchers finally vacated Bellevue in 1913, and went to live in Malvern in Delgany village.The house fell into decay and was pulled down in the early l950s, and the lands weretaken over by the Forestry Division of the Department of Lands.

The Harristown, Kildare Family

The historic lands of Harristown Demesne were in the hands of the Eustace family sincethe 16th century. The estate rose to prominence under Sir Maurice Eustace, who builtthe present house in 1662, became Lord Chancellor and obtained a charter from Charlesthe Second in 1681, constituting his estates a manor. When Sir Maurice died in 1704 theestate was inherited by his three daughters and divided into three parts – Harristown,Mullacash and Carnalway. In 1768 David (The Second) La Touche bought Harristown,but it was David’s son, John, who was the first La Touche to take up residence. Johnenclosed the present demesne and built a new road and bridge over the Liffey.

In 1767 John tried to get elected to Parliament as Member for the City of Dublin, his oppo-nent being the Marquis of Kildare, (later Duke of Leinster). John lost, and the merchantsof Dublin were so disappointed that they presented him with a gold snuff-box. In spiteof this set-back, John sat as a knight of the Shire and was one of the five La Touches (theFive Just Men) who sat in the last House of Commons at the time of the Union. Of thesefive Lecky declared: “this family may claim, what is in truth the highest honour of whichan Irish family can boast – that during many successive Governments, and in a period



of the more lavish corruption, it possessed great parliamentary influence, and yet passedthrough political life untitled and unstained.” John died in 1805 and his son, John, suc-ceeded. He died in 1822 and his brother, Col. Robert La Touche, took over at Harristown.Robert had married Lady Emily Le Poer Trench, daughter of the Earl of Clancarty, andthere were four children of this marriage. The twins, John (The Master) and William,were born in the house in Merrion Square in 1814. John, William, and their other brotherRobert were keen huntsmen, John being Master of the Kildare Hounds 1841-45. How-ever, due to John’s serious fall, and Robert’s tragic death in a stand at the Curragh in1845, brought an end to their hunting involvement.

John, called “The Master”, succeeded in 1844 and lived at Harristown for the next sixty-two years. His wife, Maria, only child of the Dowager Countess of Desart, CountyKilkenny, was a very cultivated lady, with a particular interest in botany, drawing, lan-guages and poetry. John Ruskin called her “Lacerta”. She was an avid letter-writer andwrote a number of tracts on religious and social themes. She also wrote two novels, “TheClintons” (1853), and “Lady Willoughby” (1855). She had a horror of blood-sports, andcomplained often about the neighbouring gentry, whose chief delight was in such coun-try pursuits.

During John’s lifetime the traditional family banking connection was broken. Followingthe Famine years, like most landed gentry in Ireland, the La Touche fortunes declined andthey borrowed large sums from the Bank of Ireland. In 1870 the LaTouche Bank closedand was taken over by the Munster Bank. When the Bank closed, however, all theiraccounts were in credit and relations with the Bank of Ireland continued to be amicable.

During the Famine John initiated drastic measures in his own household, “allowing nowhite bread or pastry to be made, and only the simplest dishes to appear on his table.The deer-park at Harristown ceased at this time to have any deer in it; all were made intofood for the starving people.” He busied himself with his farm tenants, and supportedLand Reform under Gladstone.

The La Touches in Ireland had adopted the practices of the Established Church, butaround 1857 John first heard the preaching of Dr. Spurgeon in London and was graduallywon over by his brand of evangelism. He set up Bible studying classes in Harristown.These became the nucleus of a Baptist Church group which used to meet in Rose Cottage,named after John’s younger daughter, Rose. He also became very active in Christian Re-lief work in London, raising money to rescue fallen women, and was instrumental infounding the London City Mission. In 1882 he built a Baptist Chapel and a fine Manse atBrannockstown, and was a regular benefactor of Baptist work throughout Ireland.

John had an interest in education, as did all the La Touches, and he knocked down theremains of Portlester Castle to build a school at Brannockstown, which opened in 1885.This school prospered for twenty years, but under his son, Percy, the pupils were movedto the Carnalway National School. It was re-opened in 1928 under Catholic managementand it is still in use.

The love story of Rose La Touche (daughter of John and Maria) and John Ruskin hasbeen well documented. John and Maria met Ruskin in London and invited him to visitHarristown. Rose was ten years old when she first met Ruskin in 1858. Three yearslater Rose and Ruskin were in correspondence. Her parents were uncomfortable withRuskin’s religious scepticism, and so Rose and he did not meet again until 1865, when



he proposed marriage to the eighteen-year-old Rose, who required him to wait until shewas twenty-one. Rose’s father was implacably opposed to the marriage for both religious(Ruskin was divorced) and age reasons (he was thirty years Rose’s senior), and Mariawas worried about his reputed impotence and Rose’s ill health. Eventually, Rose went toLondon in Jan. 1875 for medical care and Ruskin attended her solicitously. He last sawher on February 14th. She died on May 25th and Ruskin didn’t hear of it until the dayof her funeral at St. Patrick’s Church, Carnalway, Co. Kildare on May 28th. 1875. Herparents resumed their friendship with him during the 1880s.

When “The Master” died in 1904 in his 90th. year, his son, Percy, succeeded to the estate,and spent his time in those pursuits abhorred by his mother. He moved in the highestlevels of society and was a favourite of Edward the Seventh. He married Lady AnnetteScott, a sister of the Earl of Clonmel, but they had no children. After his death in 1921his sister Emily’s son succeeded, and the estate passed through two other owners beforebeing sold to Major Michael Wentworth Beaumont.

The Marlay, Rathfarnham Family

The story of the Marlay La Touches centres on banking and religion. David (the third) LaTouche worked in the La Touche Bank. He was born in 1729 and set up his country seatat Rathfarnham, County Dublin. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of George Marlay,Bishop of Dromore, in 1761, and so he named his estate Marlay. In the same year heentered the Irish Parliament to represent banking interests, and he did so for forty years.David became part of Dublin’s aristocratic circle, respected for his wealth and his lavishhospitality in Marlay. Marlay had its own private theatre, in which both Henry Floodand Henry Grattan played in Macbeth.

David III helped the Government with a loan of £20,000 in the dark days of 1778, butwhen the Castle sought further credit later, it was not granted. He was to the fore innegotiations which led to the foundation of the Bank of Ireland in 1783, and was ap-pointed its first Governor, a post which he held for eight years. David’s politics duringthe 1770s and 1780s were very close to those of Speaker Foster. Both believed that theIrish Parliament was very useful for promoting economic development, but both weretotally opposed to Catholic Emancipation. Of the five La Touches sitting in Parliamentin 1800, only David Ill supported the Union, but Grattan forgave him as he believed thathis vote came from conviction and had not been bought.

David was an investor in the Grand Canal Company, and in 1800 he was its Treasurer.He and his brothers were founding members of the Kildare Street Club in the 1780s; hewas also a Wide Street Commissioner, and he was a treasurer of the Lock Penitentiary.In fact the La Touches supported with their time and money most of the large charitableand cultural organisations of the time. They were also Freemasons.

David and Elizabeth had six sons and five daughters. During his lifetime his sons werebrought into the Bank, and when he died he was succeeded by John David, who in turnwas succeeded by David Charles. When David Charles died unmarried in 1872, hisbrother, Charles John Digges La Touche now headed the Marlay La Touches. Charleshad been at Oxford and knew Newman (later a Cardinal). In 1844 Charles caused con-sternation among the wider family by becoming a Roman Catholic and moving to Tours



in France. Charles’s son, John David, worked in China in the Imperial Chinese CustomsService, and on his retirement, he returned to Ireland in 1925 and bought a fine residenceat Kiltimon, Co. Wicklow. The estate at Marlay had long since been sold to Tedcastle’s,the coal merchants.

The family was well connected with the Professional Church. Rev. John William LaTouche was the second son of David IV of Marlay and his wife Lady Cecilia, daughterof the first Earl of Milltown. Rev. John had three wives, not of course contemporane-ously. He was appointed to succeed Dean Scott for many years the absentee rector ofClonemagh, Co. Offaly. Scott had accepted tithes of £500 a year as an absentee. The newRector demanded £1,500 a year under the Tithe Commutation Act even though he alsoproposed to bean absentee. The mainly Roman Catholic population were outraged butoffered £1,000 a year to La Touche. This event took place in 1829 – an early tithe war tus-sle. The Rev. La Touche retained the Rectorship until 1848 and later became a prebendaryof St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.

Jim Brennan,Aileen Short,September 1996

Sources:

Judith Flannery: The Story of Delgany. 1990.David Dickson, Editor: The Gorgeous Mask, Dublin 1700-1850. 1987.Michael McGinley: Money, Religion and the La Touche Family. 1993.Crawford Hartnell: An Episode in the Last Parliament of Ireland: “The Five Just Men”.1910.Robert Dunlop: Plantation of Renown. 1982.Robert Dunlop: Waters Under the Bridge. 1988.



Harristown Demesne Website

Harristown demesne was purchased by the La Touche family in 1768 and a spaciousGeorgian mansion was erected by Whitmore Davis in a dominant position overlookingthe River Liffey. The old house of three stories was destroyed in 1891 and a smallertwo storey house sits well in its place. The diocesan architect, James Franklin Fuller,oversaw the restoration of the house at the same time as he rebuilt the small Church ofIreland church at the entrance to the estate. The omission of the third storey allows foran unusual amount of light into the house through a cleverly constructed lantern light.Thus the move from the airy and bright downstairs rooms is complemented by a rushof light from the upstairs hallway. Another interesting feature is the tunnel that runsunderground for some 80 metres from the stable yard into the basement.

Carnalway church is adjacent to the front entrance of the estate and Fuller rebuilt it inthe Hiberno Romanesque style similar to that of his masterpiece at Millicent. The churchalso has stain glass windows by Harry Clarke and Sir Ninian Comper.

The La Touche’s were Huguenots expelled from France. They made their way to Irelandand moved into banking, weaving and politics. The partners of La Touche Bank werethe original stockholders of the Bank of Ireland which opened for business in 1783. Thesecond generation of the La Touche’s in Ireland included John who built Harristownand his descendants occupied the house until 1921. They were people of integrity andthe history of the area endorses this. The last John La Touche of Harristown died in1904 and it marked the end of a colourful era. He became a Baptist convert through theteachings of C.H.Spurgeon and built the church in Brannockstown as well as the NationalSchool. Probably the most interesting visitor to Harristown during his tenure was JohnRuskin, celebrated Victorian writer and art critic, whose relationship with the family andin particular Rose brought both joy and sorrow to all concerned.

The estate was bought in 1946 by Michael and Doreen Beaumont who set about restor-ing Harristown to its former glory. They completely renovated the house and installedfurniture and pictures from their former home Wootton in Buckinghamshire the interiorof which had been designed by Sir John Soane. Doreen Beaumont brought some of theSoanian influence to bear on her new home and thus the colours she used are not thosetraditionally associated with an Irish Georgian house. Further there are other finishesand artefacts that reflect a more eclectic approach to interior design. On the ground floorthe ceilings stand 18 feet high and the front hall is a magnificent double room off whichopen the 3 main reception rooms the library, drawing room and dining room. However,the best kept secret of this house is the 16th Century Chinese Wallpaper in a sitting roomleading off the drawing room which depicts birds in strong vibrant colours. Among theother curiosities is an upstairs room finished in oak panelling taken from a Tudor housein England and a set of French Empire pelmets.



Visiting Hours

The house is open to the public and in the forthcoming year it is open on the followingdates.

January 18th to 31st M Tu W F 10 am to 2 pm.

February 1st to 12th, 22nd to 26th. M Tu W F 10 am to 2 pm.

May 3rd to 26th. M Tu W F 10 am to 2 pm.

September 6th to 29th. M Tu W F 10 am to 2 pm.

Directions

The front gate of Harristown Estate is at Carnalway Cross on the R412 approximatelyhalf way between the villages of Two Mile House and Brannockstown.

From Dublin take the N7 for Limerick and Cork. At junction 11, exit onto M9 towardKilcullen, Carlow and Athy. Exit at the turn for Kilcullen. Turn left onto R448 and go intoKilcullen. Drive through the traffic lights, over the river and then take the first right nextto the dentist’s surgery. Travel approximately 4 km and you will arrive at CarnalwayCross which is a five road intersection. The gates of the Estate are in front of you. Onceyou are inside the gates you enter a world of tranquillity as you drive through rollingparkland and up to the house. The journey is 53 km and should take you less than anhour.


O'Connor -- Mrs La Touche of Harristown

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