On either side of the above memorial are two Osborne stones which from their design must have once adorned the walls of the mausoleum.; we assume previously inside this edifice. Both stones are similar in design with pediments tops and side supporters. The first memorial reads "Sacred to the memory of Daniel Osborne Esq., Kilmacoliver in the county of Kilkenny who departed this life 17th May 1837".
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| Memorial to Daniel Osborne Esq., of Kilmacoliver who died in May 1837 |
The second memorial reads "Sacred to the memory of Simon Osborne of Ansborough, Esq., who was born AD 1750 and died the 17th June 1792. His remains with those of his children and a number of his ancestors and Family are interred beneath this tomb(stone?) which as a tribute of respect is erected in this burial ground enclosed, by his only surviving son Richard Boyse Osborne born 22nd of Augst 1791".
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| Memorial to Simon Osborne of Ansborough who died in 1792 and erected by his only surviving son Richard Boyse Osborne born in 1791. |
This damaged but formerly high class memorial is signed Smyth Sculpt. March 1816. This Irish sculptor is John Smyth (c1773-1840), son of the famous Irish sculptor Edward Smyth(1749-1812). He was a prolific sculptor of church memorials which are often far more ornate than this Osborne memorial. He worked on the figures of Hibernia, Mercury and Fidelity which adorn the top of Dublin's famous GPO building.
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| The signature of John Smyth (Smyth Sculp), on the memorial to Simon Osborne who died in 1792 |
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| The beautifully carved date of March 1816 on the above stone. This date relates to the date the stone was carved and is an impressive 24 years after the date of the death for the person it commemorates. |
There are two men with the name Richard Boyse Osborne. The first one and the one who erected the above memorial to his father Simon Osborne was quite a character and his name appears in many a lawsuit. His mother was Elizabeth Carr (died 1830). At one stage he owned an estate with over 900 acres in Tipperary and over 600 acres in Kilkenny but he lost this property which was sold in 1851. His history does not make edifying reading. He married in July 1813 Lucinda Caulfeild Humfrey daughter of John Humfrey of Killerig, county Carlow but this marriage was not a successful nor a happy one. Lucinda brought 5000 pounds to the marriage, 3000 paid at the time of the marriage and 2000 to be paid subsequently. Lucinda was well connected and related to Arundel Caulfeild Best who had estates in Clone, Rathbeagh and Acregar in Kilkenny and who had left a small inheritance to John Humfrey which was remaindered to Lucinda and her heirs: this sum amounted to 393 pounds. In 1844 Richard Boyce Osborne, now calling himself Carr Osborne Boyce, challenged Lucindas's right to inherit this money and claimed, as her husband to be entitled to it. He claimed his wife and he had been separated for many years; she had alienated the children of the marriage from him and prevented him from seeing them. He believed she had 400 pounds a year from her father's estate and he had never received the 5000 pounds promised in the marriage settlement and said to be her fortune. Mrs Osborne's affidavit of 5th December 1844 told a very different story. She admitted the separation assigning the cause to gross impropriety and criminal conduct on behalf of her husband in October 1829 in addition to general violent and unkind treatment. Having previously carried off her eldest daughter, he had come to her lodgings again in January 1830, violently seized her and locked her up and confined her, with the connivance of one Mary Hayes with whom he had what in those days was called criminal connections, and they had both carried off the remainder of the children, leaving her destitute and in debt. The children subsequently fled back to her in consequence of his violent and neglectful treatment of them and that ever since she had supported and maintained them and herself on a small income of 180 pounds per annum which she received under her late father's Will. There were five children of the marriage, 2 boys and 3 girls. She further stated that the 3000 pounds of her fortune had been paid to her husband on their marriage. The bond for the further 2000 pounds was cancelled by her husband after her father had advanced him far more than that amount. The judge established that Richard Boyce Osborne's behaviour had made the separation inevitable and he found that for 14 years during which Osborne had an income of 400 - 900 pounds per annum that he had never made any provision for his wife and children. The judge decided in her favour stating that her affidavit established a case for cruelty and misconduct on behalf of her husband; the judge awarded her every shilling of the total due to her (Cases in Equity 1845). There are other non edifying legal cases to be found online involving Richard Boyce Osborne/Carr Osborne Boyce. He died in 1853.
His eldest son Richard Boyse Osborne was born in London on 15th November 1815 and died in Glenside, Pennsylvania on November 28th 1899. He became an outstanding railway and bridge engineer and one of the most eminent engineers in the United States. At the age of 19 and mainly because of the ruinous behaviour of his father, he left Ireland for Canada and later moved to Chicago. In 1838 he joined the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and rapidly rose to become the Chief Engineer completing the mainline to Reading and building wharves, bridges, tunnels and stations. Whilst in America he developed the first railway bridge to use all iron trusses constructed on the Howe principle. Howe was the patentee in America but Osborne arranged with him to take out the patent for these iron trusses in Ireland and brought with him on his return to Ireland a 10ft long model which demonstrated the 200 ft span of the Howe truss. This model almost certainly inspired the bridge over the Nore at Thomastown built in 1846/50 for the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway. He was appointed engineer for the Waterford and Limerick Railway and during the next five years was responsible for the design of several iron bridges on this line, the largest being the skew bridge at Ballysimon. Limerick. He became a life member of the Institute of Civil Engineers in Ireland but left Ireland again in 1850 for Panama. His stay in Panama was brief and he returned to the States where he worked for the rest of his life as a engineer and railway promotor. In 1853 he became the Chief Engineer for the Camden and Atlantic Railroad for whom he planned and designed the entirely new holiday destination of Atlantic City which was to be at the end of the railroad line. His design for Atlantic City was on a grid system and from the first intended to accommodate large numbers of people. The company purchased land which they sold off in building lots. Atlantic City was laid out with parallel avenues named after the world's oceans and the intersecting street named after America's States. He predicted that Atlantic City would not only become successful but that it would also become the most popular holiday resort on the East coast of America. In this he was absolutely accurate. By 1870 Atlantic City had nearly 300 houses with over 1000 permanent residents, plus accommodation for 10,000 summer holiday-makers in hotels and boarding houses. In 1879, 25 years after the foundation of Atlantic City, he had the pleasure to address 5000 people about this outstanding engineering and building enterprise. The company also erected a light house which started operating in 1857, which became a popular tourist attraction providing spectacular views of the Jersey coastline. He married Eliza (died 1896), daughter of Bartholomew Graves of Philadelphia; they had seven children but only five survived, four boys and one girl. He worked with his brother John Humfrey Osborne (1818-1894) who was also an engineer. His diary covering the years 1834-1886 (MSS 7888-7895) together with a portrait is in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin. In this he gives an account of his Boyse and Carr family of Wexford. Anna Maria, the eldest sister of Richard Boyse Osborne married Robert Gahan, 4th son of Beresford Gahan and had two sons, namely Beresford and Melmoth. Her husband Robert Gahan died of a wound received at an engagement at Moodkee in India in 1845 (Kilkenny has another son who perished from a wound received at Moodkee but this time in 1831. See our posting of St Mary's Gowran No 215 for Lieutenant Thomas Staples). Through this marriage Richard Boyse Osborne was related to Marianne Gahan (died 1853) who married William Tighe of Woodstock, Inistioge in 1793.
This is the last blog in a series of recent blogs about Ahenny and Kilkeiran graveyards. We spent many happy hours working on recording the memorials and surveying these sites. These graveyards were once monastic sites and still reflect the essence and ambiance of their original purpose. As they are also physically distant from constant traffic or the hectic pace of modern life it is still possible to imbibe the peacefulness that our ancestors were once able to take for granted. They are both very special places.
Further reading
1. Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland. 1958.
2. Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720-1940. Seen online 26/11/2018 at http://dia.ie/architects/
3. Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. See online 26/11/2018 at www.gracesguide.co.uk/Richard_Boyse_Osborne.
4. O'Hart,. John Irish Pedigrees. Volume 1. 1892.
5. Potterton, Homan. Irish Church Monuments 1570-1880. Ulster Architectural Heritage Society. 1975.
6. Treese, Lorett. Railroads of New Jersey: Fragments of the Past in the Garden State Landscape. 2006
7. Winpenny, Thomas R. The Engineer as Promoter: Richard B Osborne, The Camden and Atlantic Railroad and the Creation of Atlantic City. See online 26/11/2018 at www.ebhsoc.org/journal
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