Article from Studies: 'Centenary of All Hallows', Thomas O'Donnell CM.

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CM 1/X H/AHC/1/3 VINCENTIAN COMMUNITY Provincial Archives 4 Cabra Road, Dublin, 7 CENTENARY OF ALL HALLOWS COLLEGE BY REV. THOMAS O'DONNELL, C.M., PRESIDENT ON the northern side of the City of Dublin, in the suburb of Drumcondra and on the rising ground above the Tolka, there is a stately well-preserved Georgian mansion, more than two hundred years old. It stands solid and serene amidst a variety of fine trees, in its own grounds, facing south and east. For the first hundred years or more—from 1730 to 1840—it was the home of several highly placed families, who belonged to the ruling class in Ireland, a class made up of landlords, bankers, rich merchants, the Judicature and the Executive. The first tenants were the Coghills, Sir Marmaduke and his sister. Chancellor of the Exchequer, a judge and a member of Parliament for Trinity College, Sir Marmaduke Coghill was held in high esteem for his learning and benevolence by all his contemporaries—excepting the ladies, who called him an acidulous old bashelor for holding partner. On his death his sister became the next tenant and, being wealthy, built the neighbouring Protestant church as a memorial to her pious brother, thus establishing for herself and her successors in title a permanent claim to a pew near the pulpit. Her niece, Lady Charleville, was the next occupant of the demesne. She, a rather romantic and wealthy widow, signalized her tenancy by an unusual mode of marriage which amused her contemporaries, for she agreed to take as her second husband an army officer only half her age on condition that he assumed her name, Coghill, and accepted her hand by moonlight and within the precincts of a handsome old Roman temple, which had been brought from Sicily to give a savour of classical antiquity to the grounds. A Scottish family named Kirkpatrick, whose motto was "i mak sicker" (sure), succeeded Lady Charleville. They were bankers and linen merchants, and owned much landed property in the country. Some years later, about the year 1800, just after the rebellion of '98, John Claudius Beresford came to reside at Drumcondra House. He belonged to the richest, the most powerful, and the most extensively connected family in