Anna Mercy Townsend (423)

Date of Birth: Unknown
Date of Death: dunm Oct 1891
Generation: 7th
Residence: Whitehall, Co Cork
Father: Edward Henry Townsend [411]
Mother: Warren, Mary Cordelia
Spouse: Unmarried
Issue: None
See Also: Table IV ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for Anna Mercy Townsend (Annie) (1)

Annie lived and died at Whitehall (2). Edward Mansel Townshend [630] visited her at Whitehall in 1882 and he wrote in his autobiography (3) "From New Court, I went on to Whitehall House, to stay with my Cousin Annie Townshend, for a week or two. She was a lonely lady, and I was glad to do all I could to cheer her up, for it was a most interesting old place, the Home of my Great-Grandfather, General Samuel Townshend, A.D.C, to King George III, and his elder Brother, Edward Mansel, commonly known as “Splendid Ned”, from his handsome dress.....The family Portraits were still at Whitehall. The sad thing was, that my Cousin Annie’s only Brother, Samuel (4), had been a foolish, dissipated fellow, and he and his friends, when half intoxicated, had badly damaged these interesting old Pictures with their Revolvers! I was successful, some time after this visit, in persuading Mr. Hill, the well known Picture Restorer of Bath, to agree to restore and re-frame these interesting old Pictures, for a nominal sum, to which my Cousin Annie agreed.....An expedition was organized, and we all went off, in a long Boat, to Cape Clear, my Cousin having engaged a Cornet Player from Skibbereen, to display the wonderful echo from the Cliffs of Cape Clear Island. This will reproduce a whole bar of music at a time, with exquisite clearness, and seeming deliberation, exactly as if some one on shore were playing in imitation.

Later in his autobiography Edward describes the house. “Whitehall, is a delightfully romantic old House, looking out to Cape Clear, from a Cove of Roaring Water Bay, amid ‘Carbery and its Hundred Isles’, The rooms are almost palatial in size, all of them 15 ft., high, on the ground floor, and the Drawing Room and Dining Room, each 25 ft., long, by about 18 ft., wide, preceded by an Ante room, about 15 ft. square and as high."

Under the entry for Church Cross-Skibbereen on page 122, Francis Guy's City and County Cork Almanac and Directory for 1884 records - "Townsend Miss, Whitehall." This is repeated in the Directory for 1891 on Page 158.

Anne was executor of her brother's will in 1879. Page 716 of The Calendar of Wills and Administration 1858-1922 in the National Archives of Ireland records that Letters of Administration of the personal estate of "Samuel Richard Townsend late of Whitehall", who died on 27 February 1879, were granted at Cork on 30 May 1879 to "Anne Mercy Townsend of the same place (Skibbereen) Spinster Sister of the deceased". Effects under £1,500.

Page 883 of The Calendar of Wills and Administration 1858-1922 in the National Archives of Ireland records that Letters of Administration of the personal estate of "Anna Maercy Townsend late of Whitehall County Cork Spinster", who died on 2 October 1891, were granted at the Principal Registry on 18 January 1892 to "Piers E T Townsend of the same place Esquire Universal Legatee". Effects under £1,196 7s 6d. Piers Townsend was the son of Anna's sister Charlotte Townsend [422].

(1) Entry in the diary of Agnes Townsend [334] - 'Oct 2 1891 Annie S whitehall died'. The 'S' is a mystery.

(2) The entry for Whitehall in the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database records "Edward Townsend held this property in fee at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £22. Lewis noted it as the residence of S. Townsend in 1837. In 1906 it was owned by the representatives of Samuel R. Townsend and valued at £21. Bence-Jones indicates that it later became the property of the Alleyne family." Horatio Townsend [5D00] describes Whitehall on page 342 of his book 'Statistical Survey of the County of Cork' - "Whitehall, the seat of Samuel Townsend, Esq. stands on the east side of Rincolisky, or Roaringwater Bay. It enjoys every advantage of land and water, but from the nature of its situation is unfavourably circumstanced for the growth of trees. The upper part of the ground commands one of the grandest prospects to be found any where, an immense expanse of water extending from Cape Clear on one side to the Mizen-head upon the other. The depth of this great bay is proportioned to its breadth, its shores are diversified by many jutting points and headlands, on several of which are ruined castles, and its ample bosom is inlaid with a great number of verdant islands, of different sizes and shapes. The cape forms a fine termination to the land view on the left, and the rocky summit of Mountgabriel appears to great advantage in the back ground on the right. Some of the islands are large, and contain a great many inhabitants; others small, and used only for summer feeding, are remarkable for the richness of their pasture. Exclusive of these considerations, they are extremely useful in breaking the force of the sea, and forming many secure stations for vessels." The property was sold out of the family in the early 20th century by Piers Townsend Hughes-Townsend son of Charlotte Frances Townsend [422].

(3) 'A Protestant Auto-Biography by the Rev E Mansel Townshend'.

(4) Samuel Richard Townsend [421].