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Ardglass Timeline |
Castles |
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Dunsford Timeline |
Lord Charles Fitzgerald (Baron Lecale) 1756 - 1810 Lord Charles Fitzgerald was the son of the 1st Duke and Duchess of Leinster, he was also to become William Ogilvie's stepson. Early in his life he entered the Royal Navy and quickly distinguished himself as an able captain. He faced action on many occasions and eventually reached the rank of Rear Admiral of the Red.After his career in the navy Lord Charles became an MP. He inherited the Ardglass estate in 1790 and took away half of the 'New Works' to make his manorial home perhaps to the designs of Charles Lilly which is today Ardglass Golf Club clubhouse. When Lord Charles became ill, and later died, William Ogilvie who was now married to the Duchess of Leinster bought the estate of Lord Charles for £28,000 and began to create modern day Ardglass. Lord Charles was married and had a son. Sadly his son drowned while in the Navy in the West Indies, and soon afterwards his wife died also. He is buried in Bright Church of Ireland.
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HMS Brunswick commanded by Lord Charles Fitzgerald of Ardglass 1795
This is the ship on which three of the mutineers of Captain Bligh's Bounty were hung. |
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Lord Charles statue in Bright Church of Ireland
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Lord Charles Fitzgerald in Action During unrest between England and France, two ships of their navies met in the channel. One was the French ship, the Arethusa and the other HMS Belle Poule. The Arethusa fired a shot into the water, near the bow of the Belle Poule; in the sailor phrase,” across her fore-foot” to bring her to. This was answered by a full broadside from the Belle Poule, and the slaughter: each ship, when they parted, so crippled, supposed its adversary could not get into port. As Lord Charles stood on the quarter deck, a seaman handling him a cup of refreshment, had his head taken off by a ball; and the heads of six men happening to be all in a row at their gun, were carried off, as the phrase is, by a splinter. The officer pointed to me this splinter, where it was lying: a vast beam torn from off the upper port-holes. I saw two poor mangled midshipmen lying upon a gun, waiting for their turn to be taken to hospital. I went down to the ward-room; the bulkheads had been knocked away for action: it was all one open space-the floor covered with blood, and pieces of skull and hair sticking in the mast;- and, through the summers heat, already the scent of war was overpowering.
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William Ogilvie (1740 - 1832) William Ogilvie bought Ardglass in 1810 and began a series of improvements that were the foundation for the economic life of the village today namely the creation of Ardglass harbour. Ogilvie was a Scot who came from a background that is shrouded in mystery, with many historians offering different ideas to his origins. He came to Ireland as an educated teacher and soon got the job of being tutor to the young children of the Duke and Duchess of Leinster. He was involved in every aspect of their lives from teaching them to looking after them when they were ill. When the Duke died he married the Duchess, a relationship that scandalized the whole of the Irish aristocratic elite as Ogilvie was judged not to him the social standing to marry a Duchess, nevertheless he married her and she bore him two girls, Emily and Charlotte. Ogilvie and the Duchess headed for France, this is were they married and lived for a while with the youngest children of the Duchess, one of whom was going to become one of the leading characters in Irish history namely Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the military leader of the United Irishmen. When he came back he became involved in politics, becoming an MP in the Irish Parliament. After his political career, he bought the Ardglass estate in 1810 and at the age of 70 began to develop Ardglass, creating a hotel, baths, giving land for the local Catholic Church to be built on. He developed the Crescent and ultimately built the harbour of Ardglass. He worked tirelessly until his dying day and is buried in the Ardglass Church of Ireland.His memorial records him as being a great landlord.
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