ADAM'S Country House Collections Day II - 28th April 2026

44 BARONS ROSSMORE The title Baron Rossmore of Monaghan was initially creat- ed in 1796 for General Robert Cuninghame (1726-1801). Cuninghame fought at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 with the 14th Foot and served as Commander-in Chief of Ireland from 1793 to 1796. He also sat as a Member of the Irish House of Commons and the British House of Commons. Upon his peerage, Lord Rossmore sat as an Irish repre- sentative peer in the House of Lords. In 1754, he married Elizabeth Murray (c.1733-1824), daughter of Colonel John Murray ( d.1743) and Mary Cairnes formerly Lady Blayney (c. 1703-1790). Unfortunately, Lord Rossmore died at his estate Mount Kennedy in Co. Wicklow without an heir. The death is renowned in Irish folklore as the ‘Rossmore Ban- shee’, whereby guests including Sir Jonah Barrington heard ghostly shrieks and a voice calling ‘Rossmore! Rossmore!’ just before the sudden death. According to a special remainder in the letters patent, the barony passed to Elizabeth’s nephew Warner William Westenra, 2nd Baron Rossmore (1765-1842) son of Hen- ry Westenra and Harriet Murray (lot 483) . The Westenra family is of Dutch descent, Warner Westenra (c.1635-1676) (lot 481) emigrated to Ireland during the reign of Charles II. Following the Act of Union in 1801, Lord Rossmore rep- resented the newly created constituency of Co. Monaghan for a short time in the British Parliament. He was forced out from the House of Commons as Irish peers were not al- lowed to represent Irish constituencies in Parliament. How- ever, Warner became Custos Rotulorum of Co. Monaghan in 1805 and first Lord-Lieutenant of Co. Monaghan in 1831. It was in 1838 that a second distinct creation as Baron Ross- more was received in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which provided a seat in the House of Lords. In 1791, War- ner married Mary Ann Walsh (d. 1807) of Walsh Park, Co. Tipperary and they had three sons. Their eldest son Henry Robert Westenra, 3rd Baron Ross- more (1792-1860) was a notable patron of the Dublin artist William Brocas (c.1794-1868). Brocas was commissioned by Henry to paint a series of the Rossmore estate and small full-length portraits of the family (lots 535-542) . The por- trait of Henry’s first wife Anne Douglas-Hamilton (c. 1796- 1844) (lot 542) the illegitimate daughter of Douglas Hamil- ton, 8th Duke of Hamilton (1756-1799) has been described by Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin as ‘the most distinguished example of his work in this genre’. (Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin, The Painters of Ireland c.1660-1920, London, 1979, p. 182.). After Anne’s death, Henry subsequently married his cousin Josephine Lloyd (1806-1872) in 1846. Derrick Westenra, 5th Baron Rossmore (1853-1921), mar- ried Mittie Naylor OBE (1859-1953) in 1882. Mittie’s mother Mrs Richard Naylor (née Thorold) (1836-1889) and uncle Lt. Henry Thorold (1835-1854) are identified in the portraits lots 532-534 . ROSSMORE CASTLE Rossmore Castle, Co. Monaghan, was built in the fashionable Gothic taste to the design of Irish architect William Vitruvius Morrison for the 2nd Baron Rossmore (1765-1842) in 1827. In 1858 the castle was enlarged and remodelled in the Scottish Baronial style by Belfast architect William Henry Lynn. The castle was greatly increased in size, partly due to the apparent rivalry between Lord Rossmore and Mr Shirley of Lough Fea, also in Co. Monaghan. This resulted in the drawing room being extended on five occasions and the addition of three towers to the exterior. After the Second World War, as was the situation with many of Ireland’s great castles and houses, Rossmore Castle required substantial upkeep and it became too difficult to maintain. The family moved to Camla Vale a Georgian House owned by the family adjoining the estate. Both Rossmore Castle and Camla Vale were demolished in the second half of the 20th century. However, the Rossmore Estate is now a popular forest park protecting the remaining legacy of the Barons Rossmore.