Thomas and Honora England: Second Child... Thomas Richard England

Thomas Richard England (1790 – March 1847)

Facts known

Thomas studied at Carlow from 1809 to 1812 and was then at Maynooth College - the ‘National Seminary of Ireland’- from 1812 to 1815. He was ordained in the same year.[1]

After a short spell in Glanmire, a small town six miles from Cork city, he was appointed parish priest of Passage West, a port town ten miles south east of Cork.[2]

He was also the Roman Catholic chaplain present at the executions at the city gaol.[3]
Then in 1824 The Rev. Thomas R. England was a lecturer at St. Mary’s College, Cork.[4]

In February 1827, the mayor announced, at a meeting for the relief of the poor in Cork, that an anonymous donor had given £500 so that unemployed cotton weavers could emigrate to Philadelphia, USA. Present at the meeting were Fr England and an M. J. Barry.[5]
The Englands and the Barrys were very close. In fact Thomas's sister married a Barry - as noted in the footnote.

In 1828 he again linked up with Michael Joseph Barry to raise funds for the Mendicity Asylum. This ‘House of Industry’ and the ‘Lunatic Asylum’ were in Barrack St, Cork.[6] The charity still runs today.

A convict ship that transported prisoners from Ireland
to New South Wales at the beginning of the 19th century
[Artist unknown, image from State Library of Victoria]

Thomas was a chaplain to convicts on Spike Island and prison ships in Cork harbour destined for Van Dieman’s Land. [Tasmania][7]

From 1833 to at least 1841 he gave charity sermons. In 1839, for example,

A charity sermon in aid of the Shanbally Poor Schools will be preached by the Rev. Thomas England, PP [Parish Priest] of Passage West.[8]

Funds were raised for a Fever Hospital and in aid of the “numerous poor of Passage.”[9]

Thomas died in Passage in 1847. The Dublin Evening Post remarked:

We have just heard of the death of this pious, learned and estimable clergyman brother to the late distinguished Bishop of Charleston.[10]

The Cork Examiner gave a much fuller account.

... He suffered from a painfully acute disease, mortification of the bowels... He expired at 11o'clock p.m. after having arranged his spiritual and temporal affairs and "set his house in order." Thomas England was equally remarkable for his piety and learning, for his high order of eloquence and his sound common sense.... he was eminently distinguished as a Lecturer.... If true eloquence be defined as the art of speaking to the purpose and ruling to the minds of men Thomas England was truly eloquent. He could startle as well as console - terrify as well as soothe - convince as well as persuade....We witnessed the impression he produced upon his breathless congregation who felt and carried home with them, every word he uttered.

...Thomas England was a Patriot as well as a Scholar - a Social Reformer as well as a Christian Priest. He directed his most scathing eloquence against the brutality of capital punishments, and often illustrated the rage and blindness of so called Justice by many a melancholy tale of innocent blood spilled on the scaffold - of stolid insensibility and desperate impenitence facing the throne of God.

Mr England was an able writer; his contributions graced some of our local publications and are remarkable for the same vigour that characterised his discourses.... He was the uncle of our gifted fellow citizen Michael Joseph Barry.[11]

Just a week after his death there was an announcement of an auction to sell Thomas’s
entire household furniture comprising," mahogany tables and chairs, sofa, carpets and rugs."[12]

Historical Context.

Michael Joseph Barry married Anne England, the fourth child, in 1813. Their second child, Michael Joseph Barry, took a prominent part, for a time, in ‘The Young Ireland’ movement and is a well known historical figure in Irish history. Much more detail will be found in ‘The Fourth Child.’

Footnotes

[1] For details of Thomas’s early career see Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Vol 1X Second Series, 1903, pages 146-7.

[2] Saunders' News Letter, 27-11-1823

[3] Saunders' News Letter, 1-3-1822

[4] Pigot’s Directory, 1824

[5] Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier, 20-2-1827

[6] Southern Reporter, 20-5-1828

[7] Walsh, J. C. The Heritage of St Finbarr, Cork, 1987

[8] Southern Reporter, 15-8-1833, 7-9-1839

[9] Southern Reporter, 15-8-1833

[10] Dublin Evening Post, 20-3-1847

[11] Cork Examiner, 19-3-1847

[12] Southern Reporter, 30-3-1847

Place names

Carlow: the county town of County Carlow. It is situated in the south east of Ireland, fifty miles from Dublin and one hundred and fifteen miles from Cork. The college opened in 1793 and was notable for educating many Catholic priests.

Maynooth: a university town in north County Kildare. Part of the university is Ireland’s main Roman Catholic Seminary.

Spike Island: an island of 103 acres in Cork Harbour. It remained in use as a garrison and prison throughout the Irish War of Independence when IRA prisoners were held there. The prison closed in 2004 and it is now a tourist site.