Tragedy and folly … the fall of the Dukes of Leinster
Liam Kenny
The FitzGeralds of Maynooth were at the apex of the aristocracy in the early 1900s. They were the elite among the elite in Irish society. Although their political power had waned they dined with royalty and socialised with prime ministers. They owned a huge estate with thousands of acres in north and south Kildare with hundreds of tenants. As well as the Palladian mansion in its vast landscaped demesne at Carton, there was the restored family castle at Kilkea, and society houses in Dublin and London. In the urban setting the Geraldine imprint was to be seen in Athy and Maynooth. Although not always loved by their tenants they were not hated and, certainly in the Maynooth area, received regular tributes from the leaders of the community conscious of Carton’s economic value to the locality.
And yet this seemingly impregnable dynasty with its vast reserves of status, access and wealth was to implode within a few short years between 1910 and 1920. The reasons for such a spectacular fall from grace are spelled out in the sub-title of Prof Terry Dooley’s new book on the Fitzgerald decline, namely “Love, war, debt and madness.” However while these words are the bullet-point explanations of what went wrong Prof Dooley sets out a context in which other background forces were at work. The increasing confidence of the Catholic middle class in the late 19th century coupled with the agitation from farmers to buy out the freehold of their farms on the estate meant that the way of life enjoyed by the FitzGeralds in their sumptuous mansion at Carton was less and less sustainable. In essence the FitzGeralds in their aura of privilege became something of a political and social anachronism as life modernised around them.
Returning to the first of the four factors which helped bring down Ireland’s longest lasting dynasty – that of “Love”, Prof Dooley makes extensive use of a collection of letters written by Hermione (1864-95), wife of Gerald, 5th Duke of Leinster (1851-93). Hermione was the daughter of a well-off banking family in Yorkshire and had both a personal fortune and stunning good looks which ensured she had no shortage of suitors when she made her debut in London society. How she ended up marrying Gerald Fitzgerald, thirteen years her senior and described as being squat, ponderous and dour is not quite clear but it is certain that her move to Carton brought her mixed fortunes – she delighted in its gardens, and took pleasure in the company of her children, but she missed her home and family in Yorkshire and, no doubt, society life in London. Her marriage to Gerald became increasingly unhappy according to her letters. In correspondence with a close friend, Evelyn de Vesci of Abbeyleix, she outlines her unhappiness: “While admitting that there is no love between us, he still insists on trying to force me to become something different to what I am … For this reason he uses petty tyranny on every imaginable sort of occasion.” It was not surprising then that she was attracted to a circle of free-thinking aristocrats known as “The Souls” who considered themselves the “avant garde” of the time. An affair evolved with one of their number which resulted in a pregnancy and Hermione gave birth to a son named Edward. Strange to believe she was received back to Carton and her son was regarded as a legitimate Fitzgerald. It is even more incredible that not a mention of this scandal seems to have been picked up by the gossip columns at a time when society had been convulsed with the much more prosaic affair of Charles Stuart Parnell with Mrs Katherine O’Shea.
However the readiness by the FitzGeralds to accept Edward was most likely based on a certain complacency that with two legitimate children of the marriage of Gerald and Hermione the blood line and the family fortunes were safe. However history was to prove otherwise. The first interruption to this assumption was the deterioration of the mental health of Maurice, the first son, who although attaining the title of 6th Duke had been committed to an asylum in Edinburgh in 1909 and where he died in 1922.
Much hope resided in the second son, Desmond, who at an early age was enrolled at Eton and destined for officer training at the Royal military college at Sandhurst – a highly acceptable career path for a young aristocrat. He was a high achiever in academic subjects, in sports and had a positive personality with leadership ability. He had all the qualities to become head of the ducal family and ensure the continuation of the line, and the integrity of its estates, for another generation. However war intruded. An officer in the prestigious Irish Guards he was among the first British units to sail to France in August 1914 to resist the German advance. Although wounded twice he survived until in March 1916 and well behind the lines he was killed when an army chaplain picked up a defective grenade, the resulting explosion wounded the chaplain and killed Desmond.
With the most able Fitzgerald of his generation dead, and the nominal heir institutionalised, the appalling vista opened that the third son, the result of Hermione’s liaison, would inherit. The vista was appalling not so much because he was not a FitzGerald in terms of the paternal bloodline but for the reckless lifestyle that he lived as soon as he reached adulthood. His high octane lifestyle in which wine, women, and fast cars and yachts figured largely, saw him declared bankrupt on multiple occasions and delivered into the hands of money lenders. A compulsive gambler, typical of his stunts was a bet of three thousand sterling that he would drive the four hundred miles from London to Aberdeen in less than fifteen hours. For once this was a bet that Edward won, completing the distance in thirteen hours, driving at reckless speeds on the poor roads of the time.
Professor Dooley displays great tenacity in guiding the reader through the chaos of Edward’s life. The only saving grace was that the speculator who eventually bailed out Edward, Henry Mallaby-Deeley, was not as predatory as many of his class, and although never visiting Carton, allowed sufficient money for the maintenance of a largely empty mansion, and was conscious of the estate’s long-standing role as an employer in the Maynooth area.
The “Decline and fall of the Dukes of Leinster 1872-1948” draws on sources never before published to help explain how the family which had lorded over all others in the Irish aristocracy was alienated from its status and position arising from a series of calamitous tragedies and human follies and failings. The most positive outcome to the story is that Carton House was not brought down with the Fitzgerald implosion and survived in better shape than its titular owners. Book reviewed: “The Decline and fall of the Dukes of Leinster 1872-1948, Love, war, debt and madness”, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin. Leinster Leader 8 July 2014, Looking Back Series no: 391.
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