So many Proofs? 

Aspects of the legacy of Sir Richard Wallace in the fabric of Lisburn

  By Hugh Dixon.

The historian works largely with paper, with letters, documents, records, books or broadsides, and, only occasionally resorts to inscriptions on more durable materials. The building historian, professional or amateur, enjoys an added resource for study, in buildings, structures of all kinds, and the spaces between them, and in the planting, paving and paraphernalia which adorn them - or otherwise. As the scholar leans into his book, so the building historian, oblivious of puddles, prams, traffic or time, devours buildings from foundations to chimneys, wondering who did this, when, for what reason, and at whose instructions. Every building is itself a document supplying information about people; there were those who designed and built, those who inhabited it, and the patron who supplied the money. Standing in Lisburn eighty years ago, in any of the main spaces, a visitor could not help being aware of the town's late landlord and principal patron. Luckily those visitors included a number of distinguished photographers ^l, because today it is not so easy to detect the generous influence of Sir Richard Wallace, Baronet, heir to the Irish estates of the Marquesses of Hertford.

Wallace's career has received recent and majestic treatment in this journal ², and it is here only necessary to rehearse those facts which have a bearing on his building and planning activity in Lisburn. The rapturous welcome he received on his first visit to the town in 1873, together with being returned unopposed as its Member of Parliament the following year, deeply impressed him. He probably formed even at a distance a genuine fondness for the people of the borough, and certainly seems to have taken his duties as M. P. seriously. Nevertheless, as one used to rather more sophisticated architecture in Paris and London, he must have found the buildings of Lisburn quaint rather than exhilarating. He never seems to have seriously considered living in the town, at least not for more than a few days each year, and yet he did take many steps towards enhancing its architecture. Mr. J. F. Burns may well be right in identifying in Sir Richard's actions the desire to establish a more permanent contact with his Irish estates through the residence there of his son, Edmond³.

If this was his intention, it was thwarted by their estrangement, and then Edmond's early death in 1887. Much had been achieved, however, before this unhappy outcome turned Sir Richard's enthusiasm to despair.

At first he must have been absorbed with organising his new English properties, especially with remodelling Hertford House in London, and installing his great art collection. But Lisburn was not neglected; for decades before Wallace's arrival the directories had pronounced it 'one of the handsomest and cleanest towns in Ireland'⁴. but by 1877 they could add: 'The vast increased improvements which have taken place ..... are unprecedented in the history of any town in Ireland, chiefly caused by the leases in perpetuity, at moderate rents, that have been granted to residents and non-residents, who have erected several handsome villas (which are taken as soon as finished), and as many as 200 workers' houses of a superior class, which are much required, as previously the mill-workers were huddled up in filthy and miserable hovels, free of all decency and respect to morality' ⁵, To what extent the new policies were influenced by the enlightened attitudes of Wallace himself, or his new agents, Frederick and Claude Capron, remains a matter for study. Lisburn was growing (from 7,484 in 1861 to 11,000 in 1880, and 12,388 by the end of the century ⁶); houses were needed, but so were schools, and larger churches, and better communications, and buildings for administration, commerce and entertainment. In all these departments Wallace played a part, either by giving sites, or by direct building works ⁷. What also emerges, no doubt enhanced by the rapid development of suburbs and consequent disappearance of open land near the town, is his concern to protect and enrich the remaining central spaces. The famous Wallace fountains appeared at three main road junctions, another one in the Castle Gardens, and a fifth in the large new park presented to the town by Wallace and still bearing his name ⁸.

The same concern for space marks Sir Richard's three main building projects, the remodelling of the Assembly Rooms, and the building of the Court House and Castle House. Each was designed to make an important contribution to its surroundings, and each did so. Their subsequent fates have been curiously varied.

The Assembly Rooms building, now gloriously restored to house the new Lisburn Museum, has revealed during the course of the works its origins as a seventeenth-century market house9. Its story, already the subject of the Museum's opening exhibition this year, is to be published in full ¹⁰. It is enough to note here that Wallace's handling of the Italianate exterior gave the building a full measure of three-dimensional strength which its important position undoubtedly merits.

Mention of the old Court House should bring the people of Lisburn out in sackcloth, to weep in their thousands. Undoubtedly the most architecturally satisfying of all Sir Richard's buildings, it was based on a design by the great Italian architect, Andrea Palladio, and combined a full vocabulary of classical features in a composition of stirring authority. Its main portico and entrance faced west across the open space of the Railway Station forecourt and on to Bachelor's Walk, while the angled view from the Railway Street junction revealed a fine south elevation with tall arched windows, and a surmounting triangular pediment enclosing the Wallace Arms and motto 'Esperance'. Hope, unfortunately, was not enough; the building needed care and attention, like any work of art. It was demolished in 1971, and its dignified presence is sadly missed. ¹¹

Sir Richard Wallace's most successful combination of building, planning and planting, however, was in Castle Street, for it was here that he undertook 'to redeem a promise made in 1845 by the Fourth Marquess to his tenantry .... to build a house in Lisburn'¹². The original castle of Sir Fulke Conway begun in 1622 had been a great symmetrical manor house of brick and framework, facing westwards towards the church (now Cathedral) with projecting wings, and a grand classical entrance in a jutting central bay with canted sides ^l3. It was surrounded by a walled enclosure divided into several courts, with gardens outside to the south, a green (probably used for bowling) towards the church, and a vegetable garden beyond the powder house, brewhouse, and other outhouses to the north along the High Street (now Castle Street). The Castle may have been damaged or left unrepaired during the mid-century wars because 'rebuilding' was necessary afterwards, and Anne, wife of the 3rd Viscount Conway, gave advice ^l4, and thus emerges as Ulster's earliest recorded woman architect. Other works are known to have been carried out in the 1660's and 1670's by John parley, a mason, and another John Darley, a 'famous' carpenter ^l5; and it was at this time that the only surviving part, the east wall with its gateway¹⁶, was built. Constructed of red sandstone, the gateway has a semi-circular archway, and battlements with elaborately curved tops and a date panel '1677'. 

The old castle was completely destroyed in the great town fire of 1707 and never rebuilt. The ground appears to have lain derelict for a long time but eventually it was decided by the landlord to turn it into a public park. This was certainly achieved in 1833¹⁷, and possibly much earlier; some plantings from the original garden still survived: William McComb in his Guide to Belfast (1861)¹⁸ notes that there were 'a pair of remarkable elm trees, called "the Two Sisters", which were of the most gigantic growth. One of these yet flourishes; the other was all but destroyed by the great tempest of January, 1839'. 

Wallace would have been well within his rights to return the garden, to their former privacy and to build his new house there. But he must have realised that this would be unpopular; the gardens, kept in fine order at the expense of successive Marquesses, were not only the boast of the town but a very necessary public open space. Wallace wished, nevertheless, to establish some connection between his new building and the old castle site, as if to imbue it with the authority of heredity. The solution was at hand; immediately across Castle Street from the gardens was a large Georgian house, called 'Marquis House' in 1833 ¹⁹ which had a separate office block to its east, a large yard behind, and a long garden stretching down to meet that portion of the old outer demesne which had been cut off on the town side of the railway, and had not therefore become part of Wallace Park. What 'Marquis House' had been used for is not clear but it may have been occupied by Hertford agents or surveyors, who were soon occupying the house to the west (now the Police Station). Here then was a site which offered direct visual contact with the Castle Gardens in front, and access to a pocket-demesne at the rear. Now Wallace had to choose an architect; he had not far  to go.

Thomas Benjamin Ambler (c 1838-1920), architect of Leeds, is principally remembered as a corporation valuer, and as a designer of rather risky moorish style warehouses ²⁰. How he came to the notice of Wallace is not known; how he should have been chosen to remodel Hertford House in Manchester Square, London, to house the enormous art collection is an even greater mystery. As Wallace's London architect, however, it is hardly surprising to find him providing a chip off the main block, a design for Castle House. Whether he ever came to Lisburn seems doubtful. The building of the house was conducted, as the Court House had been, by Wallace's local surveyor and engineer, John MacHenry, who may well have designed some of the details ^2l.

Hertford House and Castle House - or Wallace House as it is now known (fig. A) have much in common, and a brief comparison is justified if only to counter the repeated rumour, firmly held in some Lisburn quarters, that they are 'the exact same'. Hertford House ²² is not only larger, (fig. B), it is enormous by comparison, having three full storeys plus attics, being a triple bay wider (a large room extra) on each side of the facade, and extending back with a great series of galleries which enclose a courtyard into which Wallace House would fit quite neatly. In facade design on the other hand, Wallace House is much better behaved; its single-storey portico of four Tuscan Doric columns and other sober classical details including very old-fashioned, six-pane sashes in the windows, look pleasantly stable in comparison with their more fussy London counterparts.

The interior planning is also quite distinct. Hertford House was not totally built for Wallace but remodelled from a large house built for the Duke of Manchester a hundred years earlier. The front door leads straight to a great central double-return staircase. In Wallace House, the staircase, though large, occupies a side space, subordinate to a central galleried hall which was clearly designed for the display of large paintings and other works of art. This was to have been the most important space in the house, and the most important feature in a great axial composition. The old house was demolished so that the new could be set back from the street line (fig. C) thus using the neighbours as a frame, a favourite Victorian way of giving the central building importance ²³. From the front gate a visitor would travel right along the axis, through the front garden, under the portico, and into a fine entrance hall. Here the excellent woodwork of the doors and classical details would be admired. More central double doors gave access to the great galleried hall, and beyond this to a central saloon with a curved bow window, through which the back garden could be viewed; and visited, because below the window a double-curved staircase led to an inner formal garden with seven flights of step;, and beyond to the wider parkland with its great ranges of glasshouses ²⁴. It all could have been so grand .......

Indeed, it was grand, and almost entirely unused until 1914 when it became the nucleus of the Technical School. Gradually the back park has been covered by Wallace Avenue and its subsidiary streets; the back garden is now beneath a collection of buildings and wirescapes which render to utility more than they do to beauty. Least forgivable of all was the decision taken in 1962, to remove the eastern framing block on Castle Street, and replace it on a different building-line with a structure which could scarcely be less sympathetic. But Sir Richard Wallace saw none of this, and, curiously enough, very little of his own work either. His last visit to Lisburn came in 1880 only seven years after the first ²⁵. Wallace House was barely complete, and most of the other major projects not even started. Increasing worry about his son led first to disillusionment and then despair. He resigned his parliamentary seat in 1884, and lost interest in the art collection, eventually leaving his wife to sort out its bequest to the nation. Finally he became a recluse, dying, where for the greater part of his life he had lived, in Paris, in 1890. Two years later the people of Lisburn raised a modest version of the Albert Memorial (fig. D) in Castle Gardens ²⁶:

 'To perpetuate the memory of one whose delight was to do good, and in grateful recognition of his generous interest in the prosperity of this town of which it possesses to many proofs.

The proofs are now rarer than they were ninety years ago, and therefore more deserving of attention and care.

NOTES

The author wishes to express his thanks to all who has assisted with his wanderings about Lisburn, both on foot and on paper, and especially Mr. H.G. Bass; Mr. R. Kirk; Mr. J.H. MacDowell, Principal of the Technical School; Mr. B. Mackey; Mr. and Mrs. F. Rankin; and Mr. T. Neill, ever helpful and patient Editor of this Journal.

The Belfast News Letter of Tuesday, 14th March, 1769 carried this advertisement:

The Wreck of the 'Draper'

by J. F. Rankin

"The Draper, John Moore, Master, now at the Kay, will be ready to take in Goods in a few days, and will certainly sail the first of April next, wind and weather permitting”.

In fact the brig did not sail until 9th May, as the next reference is on 16th May when we are informed that she was cleared outwards to London on 9th May with beef, pork, etc. The story continues on Friday, 26th May:

"The Draper, Moore, from Belfast to London laden with linen etc., struck on the Rundlestone Rock near the Land's End on Saturday last; the Master, crew and passengers were all saved in the boat and a small part of the cargo. The vessel is floating on the stream".

The same issue prints a copy of a letter from John Bullen of Penzance to Mr. Daubuz dated 13th May, 1769:

"On the 11th inst., the Draper, Moore, from Belfast for London with 107 bales and cases of linnen, beef, pork and skins, struck on the Rundlestone Rock, near the Land's End, and was soon full of water. The Captain has valued himself on our Collector and me; we got 10 boats and 100 men to do the best they could to bring the ship into our bay, but all in vain; the wind blowing hard at N.E, drove her off the land; the boats followed her and scuttled the decks and took up the undermentioned goods which are under my care as she is floating on the tide. I This morning got a decked vessel and three boats and sent my Clerk and two officers to get her to Scilly, as she floats on the stream of the water. I left her this morning about four leagues from the Land's End; the Captain cannot tell all the Freighters' names as he has lost his book, but some of them are at the foot of this letter. The cargo is computed worth 20,000 ¹.

Goods saved

  The fishermen have gone so far for the goods, we have been obliged to give them one fourth of all they have brought on shore.

Since the above account, advice hate been received, that the Vessel bath been towed into Scilly, and that it is expected much more of the Cargo hath been saved".

We last hear of the Draper on 30th May when we learn that she has been "got" into Scilly with all the materials on board.

Of what interest, the reader may ask, is this story; recently the writer had access to a number of letters and papers deposited in the Down and Connor Diocesan Library. Among these papers was a number relating to a gentleman by the name of Charles Hamilton; the principal item of interest was an inventory of his possessions which had been salvaged from the 'Draper' on the Scilly Isles. In order to fill in, or rather fill out the story, it was necessary to find out as much as possible about Charles Hamilton. Who was he? Where did he live? Why was he moving to London?

In order to answer these questions and perhaps to explain the ecclesiastical connection, let us go back to Francis Hutchinson, who was Bishop of Down and Connor from 1720 until his death on 23rd June, 1739. The Bishop purchased the estate at Portglenone which had been in the possession of the Stafford family to whom it had been granted during the Plantation; he also owned land at Cranfield and Duneane on the shores of Lough Neagh near Toomebridge. Hutchinson had only one child, a daughter named Fanny, who married a John Hamilton in 1721. John Hamilton had been ordained in the Established Church, his father having been sometime Rector of Knockbreda and Dundonald. Subsequently he became Dean of Dromore. Dean Hamilton died young and was buried in Lisburn on 30th July, 1729; he left three sons, the second of whom was Charles, After the Dean's death, his widow, Fanny, married Colonel Henry O'Hara of O'Hara Brook and thus became heir to considerable property at Crebilly near Ballymena.

Charles Hamilton, therefore, was a grandson of Bishop Francis Hutchinson and his mother, having re-married, was the wife of Colonel Henry O'Hara. Charles inherited the Portglenone, Cranfield and Duneane properties on the deaths of his father, mother and brother; he appears to have lived at Portglenone. This advertisement appeared in the Belfast News Letter on 29th May, 1759:

"To be let, and immediately enter'd on; a large commodious store-hcuse with a handsome dwelling house adjoining situated on the shore of Lough Neagh and lands of Cranfield, between the Main Water and Toome, where there is a very convenient harbour, and quay, with sufficient water for the largest flats in the dryest seasons, and as much land to accommodate the tenant as he will find necessary. As this store-house is most conveniently situated for trading to Newry or any part of the Lough, and lies in a well inhabited country, many miles distant from any place of trade, a person who would set up there with a tolerable capital and knowledge of business might soon make a fortune; for betides many other advantages it lies in the most convenient spot for carrying on a trade between Belfast and the lough when the Lagan navigation is finish 'd. Whoever has a mind to treat for the same, may depend on the utmost encouragement on applying to Hans Hamill, Esq., at Ballyatwood near Belfast, or to Charles Hamilton esq., at Portglenone near Antrim. The store-house etc., will be shown by William Mulligan, farmer in Cranfield".

Ten years later, on 7th April, 1769, this advertisement appeared:

"To be sold by publick Auction, for ready Money, at Portglenone, on Monday the 24th Day of April next; All the Cattle and Houshold Furniture of Charles Hamilton, Esq., who is going with his Family to reside for some Time in England. His cattle consist of Horses, and a Number of horned Cattle of different Ages, and a good greed; His Furniture consists of Mahogany, Walnut and Oak Beds, Tables and Chairs, choice Feather Beds, with English and Lambeg Blankets, Crimson Damask Settees and Chairs, almost all as good as new, Pier-Glasses, Marble Side boards, Escritores, Cabinets and Tallboys, together with a Number of good Prints and Pictures, a new Harpsichord, some useful Plate, useful and ornamental China, Delft and Paris ware, several Carpets, a considerable Collection of Books, some useful Fire-Arms, Pewter, Brass, Copper, and all Sorts of Kitchen Furniture, a good Post Chaise and a Pair of well trained Horses, a Jack, and Eight-Day Clock, several Carts with Iron Axle Trees, and of the most useful construction, Cars, Ploughs, with other farming and gardening Utensils, together with a handsome large Pleasure Boat compleatly rigg'd, and a prime Sailer, also a small Flat Boat.

  Portglenone, March 18, 1769.

  N. B. The Cant to continue from Day to Day till all are sold."

It is evident from this list of possessions that Hamilton was a man of some substance; harpsichords and 'handsome large Pleasure Boats' were the preserve of the gentry. It has not been possible to establish the reason for his departure to London but from the list of possessions salvaged at Scilly it would be reasonable to guess that he was a merchant in trade, transporting his stock to London and this would be supported by the above advertisement where the store-house and its situation would seem to be of greater importance than the dwelling house.

The inventory lists the contents of 14 chests; Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 & 13 were identified as being directed to Charles Hamilton; No. 8 was marked R.R. No. 3 I. M.C.; No. 10 was directed to Robt. Adair Esq., at Mr. Burne's Taylor, King Street, Covent Garden; No. 12 was marked for William Dobbs on board Commodore Man to the care of Robt. Allen Esq., Ironmonger Lane, London whilst Nos. 11 & 14 bore no directions.

Who else but a merchant would have 14 women's Bed Gowns, 22 Caps for women, 30 Aprons and 43 Shifts, not to speak of 6 Holland Drawers. As was general at the period, he also traded in other commodities; thus we find 22 cakes of chocolate, 160 black and white prints, 79 painted medals. One is intrigued by the small camera and artificial apple in chest No.9.

On 29th May an agreement was drawn up by Isaac Hood, Collector of Customs on Scilly; it carries 3 signatures 'for the Proprietors', one 'for the out isle people' and 7 'for the Salvers'. Two further persons were named as 'concern'd for the Proprietors' and two for the Salvers. The agreement set out the terms on which the appraisors were to value the salvaged goods and apportion the charges between the various parties. John James was one of the agents acting on behalf of the proprietors and it is he who subsequently looked after Charles Hamilton's affairs.

The total appraisement of Charles Hamilton's effects was calculated to be £241.8.111 less the duty due on 224 oz. Irish Plate at 17d 9/20 = 45/100 = £16.6.6., leaving a figure of £225.2.5¼. The salvers received one fourth part of this amount, calculated to be £50.13.1 and £1.14.6 on the quarter part of Mr. Dobbs' trunk. A further £22.10.0 being one tenth part of the appraisement, was paid to Lord Godolphin as Lord of the Soil. Mr. John James also thought it proper to offer a gratuity of £5.5.0 to the gentlemen appointed as appraisors.

The next document was written at St. Mary's Scilly, on July 19th, 1769:

"These are to certify all whom it doth or may concern that Mr. John James of Newlyn did shipp on the Content, sloop, Thos. George, Master on Saturday last being the 15th of this inst., July, Ten chests & Trunks directed for Chas. Hamilton Esq., & one Trunk directed for Mr. Wm. Dobbs."

John James wrote to Chas. Hamilton on 22nd July:

....The appraisers would not let me be there as being a party in the beginning; but thismuch I can assure you by of specimen, that the 10 new pack thread stays are perfectly preserved & apprais'd only at 2 1 each. The best silk gowns only @ 18 1 and the poorer ones £1.11.6 .......I forgot to mention that the Table Linnens are, I think, apprais'd cheap, but the dearest articles I found were 36 shirts apprais'd at 6/8 each. The reason they gave was that ref^d shirts were mostly new."

The remainder of the collection of papers in the Diocesan Library consists of various accounts and receipts, together with an inventory of goods in Hamilton's house in Jermyn Street, Piccadilly, in September 1772. It is evident that he travelled widely around the country, as we have a receipt for £4 excise duty for a four-wheeled carriage at Bromley, Kent; there are accounts for the hire of horses in various parts of the country covering a period of several years. A school account for his son, John O'Hara, dated April 1775 is of considerable interest to-day as are the receipts for £63 for the delivery of a harpsichord. It should be mentioned that his son John added the O'Hara name after Hamilton in order to inherit the O'Hara property at Crebilly.

A number of these papers are reproduced.

Charles Hamilton's papers which form the basis of this story are in the possession of the Diocesan Library of Down, Connor and Dromore to whom acknowledgment is made for permission to reproduce them.

Wilmont, Dunmurry: A Profile

by Eileen Black 

Tales of Wilmont and its grandeur have for years figured largely in my life. My great-grandfather, William Hudgins, was head gardener and lived on the estate from c. 1908 to 1938. The house and its characters were frequently the subject of family reminiscences and conversations. R. H. Reade ('big R. H.' as he was known locally) and his pride in house and grounds, the Dixons with their yellow and black Rolls Royce and green-liveried footmen - all were 'real' people to me, not merely hazy figures from other people's pasts. Curiousity combined with sentiment has prompted me to write this piece. I should like to dedicate it to the memory of my grandparents, May Hodgins and Alexander Dugan, whose early lives revolved around this place.

The present Wilmont House is the second of that name to stand on this site. The original Wilmont was built c. 1740 by William Stewart, son of John Stewart of Ballydrain¹, The Ordnance survey Memoirs of 1837 describe it as being 'a commodious structure two stories high and double roof. The yards are well enclosed, the offices extensive and all slated, the garden about one Irish acre is enclosed and partly by a good stone and lime wall and partly by a quickset fence. And contiguous two large green houses. The lawn in front of the house is large and ornamented with a variety of forest trees. Entrance to the house from the Malone Road, by a long winding Avenue. Contiguous to the house stood a good ice House². The Demesne containing 108 Irish acres is laid off in large well-enclosed Fields, and the seat of extensive young and grown plantations, of almost every Description of Forest Trees. It was also the seat of an extensive Bleach Green, which has been disused 22 years ago.'

The house was enlarged considerably between 1740 and 1750, when William Stewart added a new front. The Memoirs describe it as being, at this time, 'one of the most commodious buildings in the county'. Regrettably, no illustrations of this early house are known. By 1837, both house and offices were in a state of decay, not having been occupied since 1830. The property had passed into the hands of the Court of Chancery, and a lease of seven years only was granted to any tenant. The building appears to have lain empty for several years.

In June 1855, the estate was purchased by a Belfast brewer, Alexander Mackenzie Shaw, who however remained in possession for only a short time. In February of the following year, he was forced to sign the property over to the Northern Banking Company, in lieu of a debt of £12,505:13:6³ which he owed to the Bank. The estate was bought by James Bristow, c. 1858.

In 1859⁴, the house was pulled down and replaced by the present building, (fig. 1). The architect chosen to design the new Wilmont was an up-and-coming young Waterford man, Thomas Jackson,⁵ (1807-1890), whose Belfast Buildings included the Museum Building in College Square North, and St. Malachy's Roman Catholic Church, Alfred Street. Although the whereabouts of Jackson's plans of the house are unknown, and Wilmont consequently remains undated in his output, it seems reasonable to assume a dating of 1859, as, by 1860, the Belfast Directory records Bristow as being in residence.

Burke's Guide to Country Houses⁶ describes Wilmont as having a three bay front with balustraded porch, a lower wing ending with wing as high as the main block, and an adjoining front with central curved bow, and a bay on either side. Additional features include camber headed windows (windows with curved tops) in the upper storey of the main block, and an eaved roof on a bracket cornice. Burke, however, omits to mention that the building was in fact designed as a double mansion,⁷ to house both the family of James Bristow, and that of his son, James Thomson Bristow. The house was 'really only a large semidetached', to quote Lord Glentoran, who remembers Sir Thomas Dixon knocking down walls and uniting the two quite separate halves, sometime during the 1920'⁵. The second entrance can be seen on the opposite side of the house from that containing the balustraded porch.

James Bristow - his initials can be seen on the side of the house, (fig. 2) - was born in Coleraine in 1796, the son of Skeffington Gore Bristow. He served his apprenticeship in Narcissus Batt's counting house, and later became corresponding clerk in the banking house of Batt, Houston and Batt. In 1826, he was offered the position of Manager in the Northern Banking Company, (formerly the private banking house of Orr, McCance, Montgomery and McNeile) and remained with the firm for thirty-eight years, eventually becoming a Director. As a banker and businessman, he was highly thought of, and was President of Belfast Chamber of Commerce in 1849, 1855 and 1859. The portrait reproduced here, (fig. 3) shows him to be a benevolent and kindly looking man. He died on 12th April, 1866, and was succeeded in the property by his eldest son, James Thomson Bristow, (fig. 4).⁸

J.T. Bristow, was, like his father, a banker. AL the age of sixteen, he entered the Northern Bank and, after five years, was appointed pro-Director. In 1852, he was elected a member of the Board of which his father was then Chairman, and in turn became Chairman, on his father's death. In 1877, he was elected President of Belfast Chamber of Commerce, but was forced to decline the honour, owing to ill health. He died at Wilmont on 25th July, 1877, at the age of fifty. The estate passed into the hands of his Trustees,⁹ William Laird of Birkenhead, and his brother, Samuel Smith Bristow of Liverpool, and was sold, in late 1879, to R.H. Reade, (fig. 5).

The new owner, Robert Henry Sturrock Reade^l0 appears to have purchased the estate for reasons which were partly practical, partly sentimental. The house was situated reasonably close to the Railway (and therefore convenient for business) and, furthermore, had belonged to ancestors on his mother's side, the Stewarts of ballydrain. Born in Coleraine on 23rd May, 1837, the son of Thomas Reade H. D. of Belfast, he was educated privately and later at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. In 1854, he entered the York Street Flax Spinning Company, as an apprentice, and began what was to become a highly successful business career. Two years later, he was sent to New York, to organise the firm's business interests there. In 1864, he was appointed a Managing Director, and eventually became Chairman of the Board.

Other honours included being elected President of the Linen Merchants' Association, in 1876, President of the Flaxspinners' Association 1888-1894, President of the Flax Supply Association 1893-1905, and President of Belfast Chamber of Commerce, in 1881 and 1906. A committed Unionist, deeply involved in Unionist politics, he was also a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for Belfast. In 1875, he married Dorothea Emily Florence Robbins (she died in 1883) and had five children. He died in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, on 24th February, 1913, while attending meetings in that City of the Representative Body of the Church of Ireland, of which he was a member. Memorial windows dedicated to his memory were installed in Drumbeg Parish Church in 1915, and in St. Ann's Cathedral, Belfast, in 1917.

After his death, the property passed to his son George, who sold it to Sir Thomas and Lady Edith Dixon ^ll in 1919, (fig. 6). Wilmont was one of three seats belonging to the Dixons, the others being Drumadarragh, Co. Antrim and Cairndhu, Larne. The Dixons were a highly respected and illustrious couple. Sir Thomas Dixon, born in Groomsport, Co. Down on 29th May, 1868, was the eldest son of Sir Daniel Dixon and his first wife, Elizabeth Agnew (died 1868). He succeeded his father to the title in 1907, and was for many years His Majesty's Lieutenant for Belfast; also High Sheriff for Co. Antrim in 1912, and, in the following year, High Sheriff for Co. Down. He married Edith Stewart of Dundas Castle, South Queensferry, Scotland on 7th February, 1906.

Both Sir Thomas and Lady Edith Dixon had distinguished public careers. From 1939 to 1941 they served as first Mayor and Mayoress of Larne, and were great benefactors to the Borough. In 1935, they handed over Dixon Park to the Council, as a gift, together with £500 for the provision of music in the park. Cairndhu they gave to the Hospitals Authority, for use as a convalescent home. In 1957, Lady Dixon presented the Mayoress Chain of Office to Larne Borough Council, and in 1964, robes to be worn by Aldermen, Councillors and Mace Bearer. In the early Sixties, she donated £10,000 towards the cost of converting and renovating the former Technical College into Council Offices. They are now known as Sir Thomas Dixon Buildings.

Sir Thomas Dixon died at Harrowgate on 10th May, 1950. Lady Dixon, who was created D.B.E. after the First World War, in recognition of her work for the Forces, died on 20th January, 1964. A year before her death, on 3rd April, 1963, Wilmont Estate was officially handed over to Belfast Corporation. The house, according to her wishes, was shortly afterwards opened as a home for old people, while the grounds, at her behest, were opened to the public. The park, called after its benefactors, consists of 134 acres,¹² and has been the venue for the City of Belfast International Rose Trials, since 1964. Over the years, it has become one of the most popular parkland areas in the vicinity of Belfast.

Many distinguished visitors have stayed at Wilmont in the past. Captain Scott, the famous Antarctic explorer, was a guest, during his visit to Belfast in 1904. In 1934, the house became the temporary residence of the Governor of Northern Ireland, When Government House, Hillsborough, was damaged by fire on 7th August of that year. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was a guest in 1935, during Sir Thomas Dixon's period as H. M. L. During World war II, the house served as the Northern Ireland headquarters of the United States Army.

Wilmont has seen many changes. Owners have come and gone, and with them, a way of life. In the words of the poet Pierre de Saint Victoire:

Memories whisper here-ant echoes gossip
History passes with a linger to her lips

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