The Palatines in Ireland
The following notice of the “Poor Palatines”[1] occurs in the Memoirs of Thomas, Marquis of Wharton, by Sir E. Steele, p. 66:
“In this year (1709) the Poor Palatines came into England, and my Lord Wharton, whose wisdom was too extensive to be confined to the narrow views of an ignorant selfish faction, procured the Privy Council of Ireland to join with him in an humble address to Her Majesty, that as many of the poor Palatines as Her Majesty should think fit, might be settled in that kingdom; where they should be very kindly received, and advantageously settled.”
Other notices of the Palatines will be found in the Annals of Queen Anne, 1709, 8vo, pp. 166-168; in Boyer’s Political State of Great Britain, Vol. I., pp. 133, 276-280; Ferrar’s History of Limerick, pp. 409-412, edition 1787; Mr. and Mrs. Hall’s Ireland, Vol. I., p. 353, 355, 372; Lord Dunraven’s Memorials of Adare; Lenihan’s History of Limerick; Fitzgerald and McGregor’s History of Ireland; Irish Lords’ Journal, Vol. II., p. 312; History of Queen Anne, Vols. I. and II. In Marsh’s Library, Dublin, there is a Manuscript, classed V, 3. i. 27, which contains documents relative to the Palatines, and lists of their families; and in the Treasury there is, according to Notes and Queries, a bundle of papers which contains particulars of the numbers, arrivals, and expenses of the Palatines. In June, 1709, there were 6,600 of them in London: those of them who were lodged in barns were to be removed at Midsummer. The Queen had ordered them a thousand tents, but there was no place to pitch them.
According to the Irish Evangelist, Vol. I., No. 9, June, 1860, the following is a short history of the Palatines:
“In the year 1709, seven thousand Protestant Lutherans were driven from their homes in the Palatinate, by the French, under Louis XIV. On hearing the intelligence, Queen Anne sent ships for them, and conveyed them to England. Grants were given by the Crown to permit of their settling in these countries; but about half of the number proceeded to North America. Probably a few families stayed in England; and the rest came to Ireland, and were chiefly located on the Southwell property, near Rathkeale (county Limerick). Each man, woman, and child was allowed eight acres of land, for which was to be paid five shillings an acre, yearly, for ever. The Government agreed to pay their rent for twenty years, in order to encourage the Protestant interest in Ireland, and make them all freeholders. They supplied every man with a good musket (called a Queen Anne piece) to protect himself and his family. They were embodied in the free yeomanry of the country, and were styled True Blues, or German Fusiliers; and were commanded by one Captain Brown.”
Some of the Palatines settled in the co. Carlow, some in the Queen’s County, some in the county Tipperary, some in the county Wexford, some in the county Kerry, some in the county Limerick, etc. In Carlow there is a hamlet named “Palatinetown;” so called, no doubt, from a settlement of those refugees in that neighbourhood, under the auspices of Mr. Burton, of Burton Hall, at the commencement of the 18th century; but, with the exception of those of Keppel, Hanbridge, and a few others, families of the Palatine race have disappeared from that neighbourhood. Mr. Dogue, of Wells, of that period, was also a patron of the Palatines; many of whom settled on his estate in the county Wexford. In the county Limerick some of them settled at Castle Oliver, near Kilfinnan, southwest of Knocklong, and others of them in Ballyorgan, in the barony of Coshlea; but it would appear that the Palatines were introduced upon the Adare property, about A.D. 1777-8.
The following list contains names of the Palatine families that settled in Ireland; those in italics are borne by tenants on the Adare estate:
Baker
Barkman
Barrowbier
Benner
Bethel
Bowen
Bowman
Bovinger (now Bobanizer)
Brethower
Cole
Coach
Corneil
Cronsberry
Dobe
Dulmage
Embury
Figgle
Grunse
Gruer
Heek
Hoffman
Hifle
Heavener
Glozier (probably now Leguer)
Lawrence
Lowes
Ledwick
Long
Millar
Mich
Modler
Neizer
Piper
Rhineheart
Rose
Rodenbucher
Rucket
Switzer
Sparling
Stark
St. John
St. Ledger
Straugh
Sleeper
Shoemaker
Shier
Sweltzer
Shoultare
Shunewire
Tesley (now Tesky)
Tettler
Ursburlbaugh
Williams
Young
In the MS. V. 3.1. 27, deposited in the (Marsh’s) Public Library of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, is mentioned:
1. Petition of Daniel Hintze to Archbishop of Dublin, praying to be excused from attending at a meeting of “the Commissioners for the Palatines.”
2. “An Account of what is due to the several Gentlemen for Palatine Familys settled under them to compleat their allowances to the 29th September, 1723.” In this Account, but few Palatine names are mentioned, twenty-six families are mentioned, but no names are given for them. The names actually given are:
Ann, Eliz., and Margaret Beckerren, three Palatine Orphans.
Margaret Filme, a Palatine.
Susanna Naysor, a Palatine.
Mary Hardwick, with her husband, to be allowed as a Palatine family.
Hans and Jacob Writer, as heads of two families.
Michael Miller, a Palatine. “His charges home to Creagh near Limerick.”
The sum total of this Account is given as £256 7s. 11½d.
Notes
[1] Palatines: The Palatines were German Protestants in the Palatinate, under the sway of King Louis XIV. of France.