1996/97 - 1997

Castle Dillon and the Molyneux Family

by Jack Kerr

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Castledillon Private Nursing Home has a magnificent situation on a hill overlooking Castledillon lake, the land between being a large terraced lawn. The surrounding demesne of 609 acres is, in fact, two privately owned farms. The property is easily reached from the Portadown to Armagh road. About three miles from Armagh turn (with care!) down the Drumilly Road to the right past Hockley Lodge and you will reach the entrance in about one mile.

More obvious to the main road traveller to Armagh there is a 60 foot high obelisk, on a 12 foot high square base with a black slab on the front, bearing the inscription:

"This Obelisk was erected by the Right Hon. Sir Capel Molyneux, of Castle Dillon, Bart. in the year 1782, to commemorate the glorious revolution which took place in favour of the constitution of the kingdom, under the auspices of the volunteers of Ireland."

This monument is opposite The Retreat on private land which had belonged to the original Retreat, but was of course part of the original Castle Dillon estate.

It is natural to wonder how the Molyneux family and the Castle Dillon estate came to be associated. We will take up the story in 1066.

The Norman conquest

In the lower Seine valley in Normandy, south of Rouen, there is the small town of Moulineaux. Its name means literally the "mill of the waters" and from here came the family name of Molyneux. There are over 50 variations of spelling the name from Mullen to Mullenneix.

In the years leading up to 1066 a supporter of Duke William of Normandy known as Guillaume Desmolines is listed as 18th in the Battle Abbey Roll, i.e. he was one of William's chief Men at Arms. As a reward for his support in the Norman Conquest of England, including, some believe, the supply of flour to the Conqueror's army, his descendant Robert de Moulin was given the manor of Sefton, Thornton and Cuerdon, in south Lancashire.

For three centuries they improved their position as land-owners and servants to the Crown, becoming Knights, Baronets and Viscounts. Their diligence and "good" marriages made them rich and powerful. They remained staunch Catholics, but always loyal to the King, although it must be admitted that they supported the Catholic James II against the Protestant William and Mary, 1685-8. However Charles William Molyneux, (the spelling settled on by the family) the 9th Viscount, converted to the Church of England in 1768 and, significantly, was created 1st Earl of Sefton in 1771. The family residence of Croxteth Hall dates from Elizabethan times and is about four miles from Liverpool. The 7th Earl died, without an heir, in 1972 and Croxteth Hall with an estate of 840 acres was, in 1980, left by his widow to the people of Liverpool. The name Molyneux is now one of the commonest in south Lancashire.

By the 14th century the family had become so large that it split into three main branches, one in Lancashire, one in Nottingham and one in Calais, which became the Irish branch. Now, of course, it has spread world-wide.

When Edward III took Calais in 1347 England already controlled large parts of France and Calais was the last place to be re-taken by the French in 1558. Queen Mary, a daughter of Henry VIII, who was to die that year, is reputed to have said that if her heart was to be removed, the word Calais would be found engraved thereon!

Thomas Molyneux taken prisoner

A young Thomas Molyneux was in Calais at this time. Both his parents had died in his childhood and he was brought up by a John Bershin, who was a Burgo-Master of Calais. Briefly taken prisoner by the French, he managed to arrange a ransom of 500 Crowns and went to Flanders. Here he married Katherine Slobert, daughter of the Governor of Bruges and they made their way to England in 1568. Thomas made a good impression on Elizabeth I and she sent him, as Sir Thomas (Kt.) to Ireland in 1576, giving him many parcels of land. For an annual payment of £183 to Elizabeth I he obtained a 21 year lease of all duties on imports and exports, excepting wines, passing through Dublin. This added a vast income to an already wealthy man and provoked much jealousy. On the grounds that he was an alien and thus not permitted to hold government posts, a civil action was taken against him before the Attorney General. When Thomas proved that he had been born in Calais when it was an English possession, the challenge was dropped. He was appointed Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer in 1590 and, on his death in 1596, was found to have left £40 (then a large sum) towards the establishment of Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD). The Molyneuxs had arrived!

Thomas and Katherine, who died a year later, are buried in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. They had two sons and two daughters. Samuel, the elder son, had a practical mind and was appointed Surveyor General of Buildings and Clerk to the Queen's works in Ireland. He was MP for Mallow and, apart from official duties in Dublin, appears to have left family business there to his younger academic brother Daniel. Samuel died unmarried.

Daniel married Jane, the daughter of Sir William Ussher and they had three daughters and five sons. He was MP for Strabane and, in 1587, was appointed Ulster King of Arms. "Irish Family Histories", an edited collection of documents made by him is preserved at Trinity College, and is considered a model of accuracy. Daniel died in 1632 and his funeral oration was given by Archbishop Ussher, the Primate.

His youngest son, Samuel, married Margaret Anne Dowdal, daughter and heiress of William Dowdal of Co. Meath and this is the line we must follow. (An older brother, Adam, married Mary, a sister of Margaret Anne, and this Adam will later play a part in absentia.)

Samuel and Margaret Anne had two daughters and five sons, of whom both daughters and the eldest and youngest sons survived their father. Samuel increased his land-holdings in many counties, including Armagh, of which more later, but his hobby was gunnery. He first came to fame for this in 1643 when, as an army Captain, he was with the Marquess of Ormonde facing rebels at the battle of New Ross. Here Samuel caused the death of 80 men's horses and, no doubt, many men, by firing two individual rounds from the two largest cannon strategically placed at the head of a deep valley. He became Chief Engineer of Ireland, but most of his activities were the development and testing, on specially constructed ranges and buildings, of bombs and very large cannon. Nevertheless, as indicated above, he found time to buy land, including the Castle Dillon estate in 1664.

The Irish Rebellion of 1641

John Dillon of Staffordshire received a grant of the 2,000 acre Manor of Mullabane dated 13th June 1610. The obligatory bawn or castle was completed in 1611, but was destroyed in the troubles of 1641 and the date of rebuilding is uncertain. Brick was used to produce "a long low building" near the present site. An old print of this house is in Armagh County Museum, but is not on display at the moment. The property was heavily mortgaged to the Caulfeilds and a young and inexperienced Dillon heir put the estate up for sale in 1664, then known as the Manor of Castle Dillon. It was bought by Samuel for £1,900, plus the mortgages, which were speedily repaid. By purchasing all the available surrounding land, Samuel created an estate of 6000 acres, and Castle Dillon became the family seat. Even so, neither he nor his successors spent more than a few months there each year, having many other estates demanding attention but mainly preferring the cultural and academic life in Dublin.

So it was that Samuel, who lived until 1692 and received the title of Chief Gunner in Ireland in that year, had the pleasure of co-operating for many years with his two remaining and illustrious sons, William and Thomas.

William, the elder son, only survived for 42 years but his life was so full that he remains the best known member of the family. As he only outlived his father by six years, he could only be known as William of Castle Dillon for this time. In 1678 he married Lucy, daughter of Sir William Domville. She was a renowned beauty. In November, a few months after the wedding, she took ill when leaving morning service at Christ Church cathedral. By December she found her eyes were affected and by January 1679 she was blind. Naturally, the best medical men in Dublin were consulted, but they could do nothing. On three different occasions William took her to London and other English cities to consult the best eye specialists, but the condition was untreatable. Lucy dealt with her affliction with great courage, continuing to improve her musical skill and becoming expert at the needle-work of those days. She had three children, a son William, who survived for four years, a daughter Margaret who died two days later and, in 1689, a son Samuel, who became the heir.

A man of learning

William was a man of very varied learning. Before his marriage he had obtained his BA in Law from TCD and entered the Middle Temple in London. He was later awarded the honorary degree of LLD by Trinity. He was MP for Dublin City and then for Trinity College. The idea of a philosophical association for Ireland was put forward by him in October 1683. This was to be run on the same lines as the Royal Society of London, just founded in 1662. Leading academics lent their support and in January of 1684 the "Dublin Society" was formed with Molyneux as the first Secretary. The same year saw his joint appointment with Sir William Robinson as Chief Engineers and Surveyors General of the King's Buildings and Works. 1685 was the year of his election as Fellow of the Royal Society. As a "Commissioner of Fortified Estates" he studied French, Dutch and Flanders fortresses for £500 per annum for the government. Finding this post too restrictive, he soon resigned. The period 1685-9 was a difficult one for William and his brother Thomas, an army officer, and all the other Anglicans who held public or Army office. The then Earl of Tyrconnell, Richard Talbot, acting on orders from James II, busied himself in filling all such positions with Roman Catholics. The Molyneuxs lost their office and William's father-in-law, Sir William Domville, lost his post as Attorney General. Many such lived in great fear and, when William III and Mary II landed in England, in 1688, most of them fled there.

1689 was a hard year for William's family and himself. His wife's father died and his only son, at that time, died four years old, while he himself was seriously ill with "the Calculus" (kidney stones), said to be a hereditary complaint. On his recovery William took Lucy to Chester to join his brother Thomas who had preceded them there, where, being an accomplished doctor, he was practising medicine. Their father and mother refused to leave Dublin "at their age". Chester was the birth-place of William and Lucy's last child, Samuel, in 1689. They had an heir!

In Chester, William, already known as an author in Europe, wrote a book on Astronomy and collected much information on the use of lenses in telescopes, microscopes, etc. Having studied Mathematics at the Sorbonne and being one of the first to read Newton's "Principia Mathematica" he was well qualified in Physical Sciences.

the Battle of the Boyne

During this period William, after the Battle of the Boyne, paid a flying visit to his father and mother, and found them unharmed. While passing through Wales he was mistaken for his name-sake, William Molyneux, eldest son of the English Viscount Molyneux, who had a price of £500 on his head for supporting James II. William was arrested by the local militia and questioned by the officer in charge who had served in Ireland under Colonel Adam Molyneux, an uncle of William's, referred to above, much disfigured by sabre cuts. A few questions cleared up the matter and the prisoner was freed.

Recalled to Dublin almost immediately to be a member of a Commission set up to audit the Irish army accounts, William was soon joined by his wife and baby son in 1691. Lucy died in 1692, after a life of much pain. William lived for eight years more and, incensed by the English Parliament suppressing the Irish wool trade, wrote his best known and most published work in 1698, "The Case of Ireland being bound by English Acts of Parliament". The trouble arose because of the infamous "Poyning's Act" which specified that all English Acts of Parliament applied to Ireland, but Irish Acts of Parliament only applied to Ireland if approved by the English Parliament.

It should be remembered that the Irish Molyneuxs were, and remained, loyal to the Crown, but at the same time were Nationalists wanting an independent Irish Parliament, and this was later attained. "The Case of Ireland" was dedicated to King William, but when read to the English Parliament it was condemned as seditious and was ceremonially burned at Tyburn by the public hangman!

William did not neglect his duties as a landowner, taking responsibility from his ageing father. One document of his begins: "As I found it under my father's hand. List of twenty properties in Ireland". There follows a list of all these, ranging throughout Ireland from Kerry to Armagh, including a comment on the latter - "Castle Dillon. The whole Mannor is so called but the Castle or house of Castle Dillon was built on the North and West side of the great Loch".

In a separate document he noted: "When my father purchased the Mannor of Castle Dillon from Cuthbert he found one Edward Carleton employed there by Cuthbert as the Seneschal and Receiver of the Rents. This Carleton afterwards continued in that employ, till he found him not so very faithful as his duty required, for amongst other tricks that were not so very honest, he concealed from my father 14½ acres of very good land in Cloghan and received the Rents of them for many years - without any account thereof given to my father". Carleton was replaced by a Captain Dawson from Armagh city - "a faithful man".

On his death in 1698 William was buried in St. Audeon's church in Dublin. A portrait of him is beside that of Archbishop King in TCD. His son and heir, Samuel, being only ten years old, was brought up by his father's brother, Uncle Thomas, "in the method prescribed by Locke", the great English Philosopher and the man who had referred to William as "that very ingenious studious promoter of real knowledge, the learned and worthy Mr Molyneux - this thinking gentleman whom I am proud to call my friend". William was thereafter often called "The Ingenious Molyneux".

Samuel inherits

The young Samuel inherited all the estates and wealth of his father, except for his library which was left to TCD "to be kept separate" and cash bequests to friends and executors. He graduated BA from TCD at the age of 16 and MA at 21, having studied Astronomy. At least two of the next four years were spent at Castle Dillon. In 1714, on the death of Queen Anne, he was one of the party who accompanied George I, great grandson of James I, to the throne of England. He also became for the rest of his life Secretary to the Prince of Wales, the future George II.

In 1717 Samuel married Elizabeth Capel, the eldest sister of the 2nd Earl of Essex, receiving with her a dowry of £10,000 and a further £18,000 on the death of her mother. His health was poor and he died on the 13th April 1728 at the age of 38, leaving no children. His uncle Thomas, who had been his guardian, now inherited the family estates except Castle Dillon in which his late nephew's former wife held a life interest.

This Thomas was also a very able man and had a very distinguished life. Entering TCD at the age of 15 he became a doctor with an MA and MB in 1683, aged 22. He went to Europe and continued his medical studies, resulting in gaining the MD degree in 1687. As we saw above he practised medicine in Chester around 1690. Back in Dublin in 1692 he was elected a Fellow of the Irish College of Physicians and became the first State Physician in Ireland and also Physician General to the Army in Ireland, with the rank of Lt. General. From 1717-33 he was Professor of Medicine at TCD and became the first Baronet in 1730. He is said to have been married twice, firstly to a relative of the first Earl of Wicklow, with issue of a son and daughter and, if this is correct, the son, at least, must have died as a child. There is no doubt that he married Catherine Howard in 1694 and that she was a daughter of Ralph Howard, at that time Regius Professor of "Physic" at Dublin. They had four sons and eight daughters. Thomas died in 1733 at the age of 72. He was buried in St. Audeon's or possibly in Armagh Cathedral where he has a fine monument by the sculptor Roubillac, with an elaborate description of his honours and genealogy. His portrait is in Armagh Museum.

Second Baronet

Daniel, his third but first surviving son, succeeded to the title and estates except Castle Dillon as the second Baronet. He graduated a FRS in 1735. In 1738 he died unmarried, aged 30.

Capel, his only surviving brother, succeeded to the title as third Baronet and to all the estates except Castle Dillon, which did not become his until 1759, when the former wife of his late first cousin died. He graduated as BA in 1737 and received an honorary LLD in 1768, was Sheriff of Co. Armagh and an MP 1761-83 for Clogher and at times TCD. He was also a Privy Councillor. His first marriage was in 1747 to Elizabeth East, sister of Sir William East, the first Baronet, and they had two sons, of whom only the second, Capel, survived to maturity. In 1757 his first wife died and in 1766 he married Elizabeth, a daughter of Lt. Gen. John Aldercron, formerly Commander in Chief in the East Indies. By her he had two sons, Thomas and John.

This first Sir Capel - there were two more later - could be called an "improving" landlord. He spent 4-6 months each year at Castle Dillon and was responsible for the building of the mid 18th century house on a site to the south of the present building. Armagh County Museum has a painting of this house but it is not on show at this time. The actual date for this house, which was built of limestone like the present 1845 house, is not exactly known, but it must have been before, or in the early years, of the first marriage. The "European Magazine" (1782) gives an idea of the scene. "...the sudden and unexpected view of an extensive lake covered with water-fowl, its waters absolutely darkened by the birds - not a gun having been fired within hearing for 40 years" and "...the grand old coach house and offices designed by the great Thomas Cooley. Horses stood one above the other."

The old Dillon brick house was pulled down and Cooley's "grand old coach house and offices" were built nearby. Nowadays it is called the stables, but it was much more. In 1760, Sir Capel erected "the most costly park gates and offices of hewn stone in the three kingdoms". This was Cooley's work, but the park gates - graffiti covered - are a sad sight typical of this age, whilst the mostly unroofed offices still have great dignity after well over two centuries.

The third Baronet was very active in politics and a great supporter, under Lord Charlemont, of the Volunteer movement to oppose any attempted French invasion in 1769. The wish of the Molyneux family for an independent Parliament was granted for this and other Irish acts of loyalty and Sir Capel built the obelisk to the Volunteer movement. Sadly, the Irish Parliament was later bribed to vote itself out of existence. In his last year, Sir Capel was in the Molyneux Arms (often Beresford Arms) when an army officer commented unfavourably on the drilling of the Volunteers. Sir Capel challenged him to a duel in the Palace Demesne and inflicted a flesh wound on his opponent.

The first Sir Capel died in 1797, 80 years old, and was succeeded by the surviving son of his first marriage, the second Sir Capel and the fourth Baronet. Having graduated BA in 1771, winning many prizes, he became Sheriff of Co. Armagh in 1805. In 1785 he married Margaret O'Donel, the eldest daughter of Sir Neale O'Donel, Bart., of Co. Mayo. They had no children. Sir Capel was a very eccentric man, but also kind and considerate. When Lady Molyneux lost her two eldest brothers he soon realised that she was lonely and unhappy. Negotiations began with Dodwell Browne of Co. Mayo, whose wife, the youngest sister of Lady Molyneux, had a numerous family and soon their second daughter, Margaret, was adopted and came to live in Armagh with her aunt.

Miss Browne, later the Hon. Mrs Caulfeild, made a record of the events at Castle Dillon and it is due to this that we have a first hand account of life there, almost two centuries ago. She describes the house and its setting as follows.

"It was a low straggling house, the centre, a sort of pavilion containing the reception rooms, and of one story only. The wings were of two. Odd staircases and steps within obviated the differences of level. From the South side there was a descent of three terraced slopes to the lake, of above sixty acres.

"How well I remember the beauty of the landscape of a tranquil evening, as the cows, returning from their pastures wound their way through the trees by the lake and stood in its mirror-like water, the setting sun warming the grey tints of evening by its crimson light. Strange how plain to my mind's eye is still this scene! to my ear still the sounds of the water-fowl, the noise of the more distant corn-crake, even the very hum of the water-gnat - and yet 'tis 50 years since!"

She recalls the nineteen indoor servants - from butler to a "universal scrub", the land steward and his family who lived over the majestic Gothic stables, the coaches, horses and Connemara ponies. Also living in the stable block were twelve orphan girls with a schoolmistress, fed and clothed and put out to service by Lady Molyneux.

Hockley Lodge

(Mrs Caulfeild's home when she married was the present "Hockley Lodge" (nursing home), later owned by the Stronge family et al. - Ed)

Sunday morning meant Church and Catholic or Protestant worshipped according to conscience, with no questions asked. The family went in a coach and four to their local parish church of St. Aidan's at Salters Grange and, on special occasions, in a coach and six to Armagh Cathedral. St. Aidan's contains many Molyneux monuments which give a potted history of the family.

Sunday evening saw the family and visitors assembling with the servants and orphans in the hall where there was a small organ. Sir Capel read to them from the Prayer Book and the service concluded with hymns from the orphans. Catholic servants attended without question, hearing nothing to offend them.

Breakfast was served as required, there was no Lunch, and Dinner began at five and went on for many hours, being called Supper from ten. Sir Capel was very abstemious with alcohol, but he considered it to be ill-mannered to impose his habit on guests or servants. As the evening went on he would often appoint a friend to act as host and retire with apologies.

By custom of family, Sir Capel was no Unionist. He supported Catholic emancipation and joined the United Irishmen, an organisation in which he remained until they planned to use violence to achieve their ends. A Nationalist but, ever loyal to the Crown, he was never a Republican. One of the few to oppose the abolition of the Irish Parliament, when this came to pass he refused to appear at Dublin Castle and dressed the servants in green and yellow. His normal custom was to set out for Dublin in November, sending his wife, some servants and luggage in advance, returning to Castle Dillon in June. In his latter years he lived exclusively in Dublin, having sold most of the Castle Dillon furniture and transferred his library to Molyneux House in Dublin. He died in 1832, aged 82 years, his wife having predeceased him nine months earlier in 1831. They are both buried in St. Audeon's in Dublin, and in St. Aidan's church (Grange) the second monument on the right in the nave extols their virtues.

Fifth Baronet

The title and estates now passed to Thomas, a half brother, who had made a career in the army, serving "with much credit" under Sir Charles Grey in the West Indies. For a time he was put on half-pay, but was re-called and rose to the rank of Lt. General. Becoming fifth Baronet in 1832 he was Lt. Gen. Sir Thomas Molyneux for nine years. In 1813 he had married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Peering, and by her had one son, George King Aldercron, who became the sixth Baronet in 1841.

Sir George became Sheriff of Co. Armagh on 1837, having married Emma Green in the same year. In 1845 he built the present plain austere classical house designed by William Murray, who was also the architect for St. Luke's, the Armagh District Asylum. The 18th century house remained until the new house was completed on the site of the original Dillon house and was then demolished. The second Vestry, formerly the Molyneux family pew at the Grange church, contains a monument erected by him in memory of his father , "a kind and affectionate parent". In the same place there is a monument in memory of himself, his wife and family. He died at the age of 35, his widow re-marrying in England a year later.

Capel, his second but only surviving son of three, became the seventh Baronet and the third of this name, at the age of seven. He married Mary Emily Frances, daughter of Sir Peter Fitzgerald, Bart. the Knight of Kerry. The wedding was at Valentia on 15th January 1863. The following year he became Sheriff of Co. Armagh. They had one daughter, Julia Elizabeth May, 1874 - 1922. She became Mrs Talbot, OBE and erected the pulpit, suitably inscribed, at the Grange, in memory of her father. There is, in the second vestry, a monument to her, as a "Benefactress of this church" and also to William Arthur Molyneux, the last of the family to own Castle Dillon. The last Sir Capel died, aged 38, in 1879.

The heir was a nephew of Lt. Gen. Sir Thomas Molyneux, the fifth Baronet. His brother John, who died in 1832, had married Ella Young and they had a son, John William Henry, who was educated at Cambridge and became a vicar in the Church of England. In 1842 he married Louisa Dorothy Christian, of the Isle of Man, and they had a son, John Charles. John William Henry became the eighth Baronet in 24th January 1879 and died on the 5th March 1879, having held the title and estates for less than six weeks.

His son John Charles was educated at Cambridge and, like his father, took Holy Orders in the Church of England, thus being the Rev. Sir John Charles Molyneux, ninth Baronet. Although he would have had little time to spend in Ireland he retained the family estates with an estimated income of £10,000 per annum. Few of the family had a life-span as long as the ninth Baronet, who was born in 1843 and died in 1928. During his time the family seat of Castle Dillon was let to people of substance, as witness Bassett's Armagh, 1888, where George de la Poer Beresford (father of Archbishop John George Beresford), who became first Marquess of Waterford, is named as the resident.

The last Molyneux at Castle Dillon

The ninth Baronet's son, William Arthur, 1877 - 1928, was the last Molyneux owner of Castle Dillon, although he predeceased his father by a few months and never held the title, which passed to a cousin Ernest who had no connection with Castle Dillon and died in 1940 without a male heir, leaving the title extinct.

The contents of the house were sold between the 2nd and 5th of October 1923 and the Scottish firm of McAnish & Co. Ltd. bought the entire estate to remove the timber in 1927. Armagh County Council purchased the house and the remaining 613 acres from McAnish & Co. for £9,800 in 1929, allowing them three years to remove 4000 trees excluding ornamental ones and themselves replacing the timber removed. While the reafforestation was going on, the Asylum Committee made good use of the arable land for the rehabilitation therapy via agriculture and horticulture of suitable patients from St. Luke's.

The lake was stocked with trout and opened to the public for a short time, just one year in the 1960s, if my memory is correct. Briefly the house served as Northern Ireland's first open prison for youths and then it was considered for conversion to an Agricultural College, but nothing came of this. In July 1985, the mansion was sold to the Sandown Group as a Private Nursing Home and the 600 acres of land were divided into two farms and bought by the Muldrew and Allen families.

Finally, when the last Lady Molyneux died in 1962 she left £63,781 gross, £63,499 nett. £500 each was left to Dr Barnado's Homes and the National Children's Home and £250 each to the London Police Court Mission and the Faringham and Swanley Home for Boys.

The Molyneux family is not finished - it was never so large. Did we ever have a family of equal stature in learning and public service?

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Note: The Ulster Museum will be holding an exhibition about the Molyneux family in Ireland from June 1997 until March 1998.

The Family Tree of the Irish Branch of the Molyneux Family

(1531-96) Sir Thomas (Kt.) = Katherine Slobert (ob. 1597)
(1568-1632) Daniel = Jane Ussher (1582-1674)			Samuel
(1616-92) Samuel = (1646) Margaret Dowdal
(1656-98) William = (1678) Lucy Domville (ob.1692)		(1661-1733) Thomas 1st Bart. 1730 = (1694) Catherine Howard (ob. 1747)
(1689-1728) Samuel = (1717) Elizabeth Capel (ob. 1759)	Elizabeth East = (1st 1747) Capel 3rd Bart. (1717-97)	= (2nd 1766) Elizabeth Aldercron (ob. 1800)	(1708-38) Daniel 2nd Bart. (Died unmarried)
no issue	(1767-1831) Margaret O'Donel = (1785) Capel 4th Bart. (1750-1832)	(1767-1841) Thomas 5th Bart. = (1813) Elizabeth Perring (1769-1832)	John (ob. 1832)= Ella Young
	no issue	(1814-74) Emma Green = (1837) George King Aldercron 6th Bart. (1813-48)	Louisa Dorothy Christian (ob. 1877) = (1842) John William Henry 8th Bart. (1819-79)
		(ob.1906) Margaret Emily Frances Fitzgerald = (1863) Capel 7th Bart. (1841-79)	Fanny Jackson (ob.1893) = (1873) John Charles 9th Bart. (1843-1928)
		Julia Elizabeth May (1874-1922)	William Arthur (1877-1928)

Sources

• The Rt. Hon. Sir James Molyneux, KBE, MP, etc.
• Betty Brown of the International Molyneux Family Association
• The Armagh County Museum and Roger Weatherup, former Curator
• Various works of TGF Paterson, first Curator
• Molyneux Genealogy (1904) by Nellie Zoda Rice Molyneux (USA)
• Coote's statistical survey of Co. Armagh 1804
• Bassett's County Armagh 1888
• Banbridge Household Almanac and Co. Down Advertiser 1905 - edited version of the Hon. Mrs Caulfeild's Reminiscences
• Burke's Guide to Country Houses
• P.R.O.N.I.