The Agent or Land Steward

Jeremiah Meares
George Clarke
John Sadleir
William Piggott and Alexander Kirkpatrick
Bertram Fitzherbert

At its peak, the demesne and lands of Emo Park covered 11,000 statute acres. For the successive owners of Emo Court to have any leisure-time, they needed to employ a ‘right-hand man’ to look after the management of the estate. The man in question was the agent or land steward.

Duties

The estate had a number of heads of departments, such as the head gardener, head gamekeeper, etc. The agent was responsible for all of these departments, paying the wages of the workmen and keeping regular logs and accounts of work done. He kept a detailed set of books recording repairs to buildings, fences or roads, as well as information regarding game, livestock and crops. He was also in charge of collecting the rent from the estate’s tenants, and for this reason he could be an unpopular figure.

The agent at Emo spent a lot of his time touring the estate on horseback, dealing with tenants and estate workers face to face. He was required to keep a terrier, a book recording the boundaries and tenancies of the land, which included the rent roll. A good agent needed a head for figures, meticulous record-keeping skills, an all-round knowledge of farm work and land maintenance, and an aptitude for dealing with people. That the job could be dangerous is clear from records of an assault on the Emo agent, Mr. Pigott, by a tenant in 1852, and by the more serious incident in 1799 in which the former agent, Mr. Meares, was murdered on the estate.

Agents at Emo Court

Agents at Emo Court included Jeremiah Meares (1792-99), George Clarke (1831), John Sadleir, M.P. (1845-52), William Pigott (1852-89), Alexander Kirkpatrick (1874-89), and Bertram ‘Bertie’ Fitzherbert, who was the last agent to work at Emo Court.

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Jeremiah Meares

The first agent or land steward recorded for Emo Court was Jeremiah Meares, who worked for the 1^st Earl of Portarlington and his wife, Lady Caroline Dawson. He lived to be 82 years of age and spent most of his life in the service of the Dawson family, first at Dawson’s Court and later at Emo Court. After years of faithful service, his life ended tragically on Christmas Eve, 1799, when he was robbed and murdered on the grounds at Emo Park. In a letter to her sister, the Countess of Portarlington described the incident and how upset she was:

“Our poor old faithful steward, who was eighty-two years old, and has lived in this family the greater part of his life, was robbed and murdered some nights ago in our grounds…I do assure you this affair has discomposed me so much that if John [Viscount Carlow] was not coming over I should quit the country.” (Gleanings from an Old Portfolio, II.294)

His death was also reported in The Times, where an entry read:

“Mr Meares, steward to Lord Portarlington, was murdered on Christmas Eve, at Emo Park, in the Queen’s County, by some villains unknown” (The Times, Jan. 10^th 1800, p.2).
He was buried at Coolbanagher cemetery where his gravestone can be seen today, to the west of the tomb of the Earl of Portarlington.

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George Clarke

George Clarke was the steward of the 2^nd Earl of Portarlington. A government report of 1831 on local disturbances in Queen’s Co. included the following entry concerning Mr Clarke:

“Lord Portarlington’s steward Mr Clark was fired at in 1831 which led to the increase of a hundred policemen.”

The journal of the 2^nd Earl also contains a number of references to Mr Clarke. Unfortunately, the entries are somewhat laconic in style: entries such as “Clarke sent to Aughmacart” (July 17^th 1816) or “George Clarke went to Dublin” (Nov. 8^th 1839), for example, provide little information on the man or his job, although they do suggest that Mr Clarke was the steward of the Earl for a long period of time.

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John Sadleir

The 3^rd Earl of Portarlington usually had two agents at any one time. During the famine years, before the Earl came to reside at Emo Court, John Sadleir appears to have been the Emo agent, assisted by William Pigott.

Sadleir was a lawyer, banker and M.P. (for Carlow), and like many lawyers of the time, he supplemented his income by acting as Receiver for the estates of absentee landlords. The Earl of Portarlington appears to have entrusted a great deal to Mr Sadleir, as the latter was also the receiver for his estates at Morette and in Tipperary. Sadleir was popular at Emo during his years as receiver there. In 1848, on a visit to Emo, the Earl observed that Mr Sadleir took a deep interest in the tenantry and always served them in the best possible manner. In 1852, when Mr Sadleir gave up the position as receiver, the Emo tenantry published an address of thanks, acknowledging his help during the Famine years:

“…We can never forget your efforts in the years 1846 and 1847 to afford relief and employment to the poor of this district. It has been our fortune to witness your acts not only as the Receiver over those estates, but also as a country gentleman and extensive employer of the poor. We most sincerely thank you…” (Telegraph, 19^th April 1852)

Public opinion was to take a radical turn against John Sadleir, however, as he later achieved infamy as ‘the Prince of Swindlers’ for his involvement in a bank fraud at the Tipperary Joint-Stock Bank, which he ran with his brother. After a series of misplaced financial speculations, Sadleir tried to cover up the difficulties faced by the bank by forging shares and cheques to keep the bank afloat. In 1856, before his crimes became public knowledge, he committed suicide on Hampstead Heath by swallowing a vial of Prussic Acid. The bank collapsed, leaving thousands of Irish ruined as they lost their life savings. No doubt, this scandalous turn of events came as quite a shock to the Emo tenantry and indeed, to the Earl who had once held Sadleir in the highest esteem.

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William Piggott and Alexander Kirkpatrick

John Sadleir was assisted as Receiver by William Piggott. In his role as agent, Mr Pigott may have served as the rent collector, as a note in the agent’s book records that in June 1852 he was assaulted by a tenant. However, he is described in the Leinster Express newspaper as a popular agent and in 1852 he organised the festivities to celebrate the arrival of the Earl and Countess at Emo Park, where the tenants had a “joyous and festive evening”, with fiddlers and dancing until late into the night.

After 1852, Mr Pigott became the main agent for Emo, assisted later by Alexander Kirkpatrick. When the Countess of Portarlington died in 1874, the two agents organised the arrangements for her lavish funeral, sparing the bereaved Earl the difficult task. When the Earl in turn died in Nice in 1889, his sister and his agent Mr Kirkpatrick attended him on his deathbed. In his will, the Earl left Mr Kirkpatrick, his “agent and friend”, a princely sum of ₤500, along with the choice of any item in or on his writing table.

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Bertram Fitzherbert

The best-known agent for Emo Court was Bertram (‘Bertie’) Fitzherbert, agent to the 5^th and 6^th Earls of Portarlington. He was born in Dublin and was 30 years old and single in 1901, when the census was taken. At that time, he lived in an eight-roomed cottage on the Emo estate. Bertram was related to the famous Mrs Fitzherbert who married the Prince of Wales (later George IV) in 1785, and who was also the grandmother (through adoption) of the 4^th Earl of Portarlington. It was perhaps due to this family connection that he received ₤100 in the 5^th Earl’s will.

As the agent for Emo Court, he kept workmen’s wages books for the estate, three of which have survived, and his detailed records, composed in neat, spidery handwriting, suggest that he was a highly organised and meticulous agent. His initials can also be seen on the servants’ wages book of 1914-20, where he oversaw money paid to the house staff. In his capacity as agent, he also represented the Earl in court-cases involving grievances between tenants or trouble on the estate (as in the case brought against two poachers on the estate in 1923).

As a man of high social standing, he regularly attended soirees held at Emo Court and appears to have been as much a friend as advisor to the Earls. In the 1920s, he undertook responsibilities regarding the eventual sale of the estate, and when Emo Court was finally sold to the Jesuits in 1930, his 30-odd years of faithful service to the Dawson-Damer family finally came to an end.

Agent’s House at Emo Court Main Gate

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