Bernard Edward Barnaby FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown, KP,

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(29 July 1848 – 29 May 1937) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

soldier and Conservative Member of Parliament.

Biography

Life

Castletown was the son of John FitzPatrick, 1st Baron Castletown, and his wife Augusta Mary (née Douglas), and was educated at Eton and

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

.Colley, Mary. "Lord Castletown Papers", National Library of Ireland
/ref> He was appointed

High Sheriff of Queen's County The High Sheriff of Queen's County was the British Crown's judicial representative in Queen's County, Ireland (now County Laois), Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the off ...

in 1876, and sat as Member of Parliament for Portarlington from 1880 to 1883, when he succeeded his father in the barony and entered the House of Lords. He served in the Life Guards and fought in Egypt in 1882. After he resigned from active service, he was appointed to the

Reserve of Officers The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. The Army Reserve was known as the T ...

in 1886, serving as a volunteer officer until reaching the age limit in March 1900. He was promoted

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 8 June 1896, and later

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in command of the 4th ( Militia) Battalion of the Leinster Regiment (Queen's County Militia) from October 1899, and was the first to outfit them with Irish

bagpipers This is a list of bagpipers, organized by type of bagpipes. Historically notable bagpipers *King Edward VII, (1841–1910) *King Edward VIII, (1894–1972) *Daniel Laidlaw, (1875–1950), VC Piper to the Kings Own Scottish Borderers who receive ...

. In February 1900 he left for South Africa, where he was posted on special service during the Second Boer War. In recognition of services during the war, he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) in the South African Honours list published on 26 June 1902. In early 1902 he took part in a special diplomatic mission to promote British interests in Morocco. Along with Theodore Roosevelt and Douglas Hyde and others, he was elected honorary Vice President of the Irish Literary Society of New York in 1903. In 1905, he proposed a tillage farming plan along the lines of Ireland's old clan system. Castletown was later Chancellor of the Royal University of Ireland between 1906 and 1910.

Theft of the Irish Crown Jewels

The

Irish Crown Jewels The Jewels Belonging to the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, commonly called the Irish Crown Jewels or State Jewels of Ireland, were the heavily jewelled star and badge regalia created in 1831 for the Sovereign and Grand Master of the ...

were discovered missing on 6 July 1907, four days before the start of a visit to the Irish International Exhibition by King Edward VII and Queen

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, at which was planned the investiture of Bernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown into the Order. The theft is reported to have angered the King, but the visit went ahead. However, the investiture ceremony was cancelled. Also stolen were the collars of five Knight Members of the Order. The following year in 1908 he was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick and admitted to the

Irish Privy Council His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. His banner still hangs in St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle.

Family and Death

Lord Castletown married the Hon. Emily Ursula Clare St Leger, daughter of the 4th Viscount Doneraile, in 1874. The marriage was childless. Lady Castletown joined her husband in South Africa in early 1900, when he was posted there during the Second Boer War. He died on 29 May 1937 at Granston Manor, aged 87, when the barony became extinct."Lord Castletown of Upper Ossory." Times ondon, England1 June 1937: 21. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 8 Sept. 2013. Castletown was particularly interested in Celtic heritage, and was among the founders of the Celtic Association, an organisation concerned with the preservation of the languages, literature, music, dress and customs of the Celtic peoples. In 1900, the Celtic Association was set up in Dublin with Castletown as president and E.E. Fournier as secretary. The Celtic Association is mainly remembered for the three Pan-Celtic Congresses it organized: the first in Dublin in 1901, the second in Caernarfon in 1904, and the last in Edinburgh in 1907.Lord Castletown. "Address to the Pan-Celtic Congress of 1907", ''Scotia'', St. Andrew's society, 1907
/ref> The first Congress had been scheduled for 1900, but had to be postponed when Castletown was called to service in the Boer War. The Association was not without its detractors, in part because many of the Irish sympathized with the Boers. Originally made up of representatives from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and the Isle of Man; Cornwall was added in 1904.

References

External links

The Fitzpatrick – Mac Giolla Phádraig Clan Society

Index of the Lord Castletown Papers

NLI links to Castletown Papers
*
History Ireland article on the life of Lord Castletown

Index of published books authored by Bernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown

''Celtia'': A pan-Celtic monthly magazine featuring the activity of Lord Castletown
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castletown, Bernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron 1849 births 1937 deaths 19th-century Irish politicians Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights of St Patrick Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Portarlington People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs who inherited peerages FitzPatrick dynasty British Life Guards officers British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War High Sheriffs of Queen's County Irish soldiers in the British Army Politicians from County Laois Irish Conservative Party MPs Eldest sons of British hereditary barons