Briscoe & Conyngham of Meath

By Arthur Kavanagh

This ebook contains a detailed history of the Briscoe & Conyngham families of Co. Meath, Ireland, from the time of their arrival in Ireland to the present day. There are also some delightful anecdotes relating to both families. The images used are generally originals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arthur Kavanagh
• Release date: Mar 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301432431

Arthur Kavanagh

Art Kavanagh, historian, author and publisher, has written ten books in all. In the Shadow of Mount Leinster The Wexford Gentry 1 The Wexford Gentry 2 Ireland 1798 – the Battles O’Nolan – the History of a People The Tipperary Gentry Vol 1 (with Wm Hayes) The Gentry & Aristocracy of Kilkenny The Gentry & Aristocracy of Meath The Kavanaghs Kings of Leinster Lest We Forget ( a book about people from North Wexford and South Carlow) All the books are now out of print but the author hopes to make them available digitally.

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Briscoe & Conyngham

Of Meath

By Art Kavanagh

2013

Briscoe & Conyngham of Meath

Copyright © Art Kavanagh 2013

First published 2013

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner of copyright and the above publishers.

Original illustrations/ Photographs

Briscoe & Conyngham of Meath

Kavanagh, Art

Table of Contents

Briscoe of Bellinter

Who were the Briscoes

Gustavus (Gussie) Briscoe

The Briscoes In Modern Times

Conyngham of Slane

William Burton Conyngham

Slane Castle

The First Conynghams in Ireland

Brigadier Henry Conyngham

William Burton Conyngham2

Henry Third Baron Conyngham and First Marquess

The Conyngham Family Down To Modern Times

Briscoe of Bellinter

John Joseph Preston, ‘the Squire of Bellinter’ had one child, a daughter called Helen, from his marriage in 1842 to Sarah O’ Meagher; however she predeceased him in 1873. By then the Irish social and political landscape had begun to change: Gladstone’s Landlord and Tenant Act, providing limited tenant’s rights, had just been passed in 1870 and was soon followed by the foundation of Michael Davitt’s Irish National Land League in 1879, presided over by Parnell; this was quickly followed by Gladstone’s second land act (The Land Law Act) in 1881 that ensured a fairer system of rents and facilitated land purchase. It was around this time that John Joseph Preston leased Bellinter House and demesne to his friend and hunting companion, Gustavus Villiers Briscoe, the son of the rector of Kilmessan and a former chaplain to the Viceroy.

Bellinter House

(Courtesy IAA)

Who were the Briscoes and where did they come from?

The first of the Briscoe family to have been established in Ireland would