Bernard Edward Barnaby FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown, KP, CMG, PC (I) (29 July 1848 – 29 May 1937) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Conservative

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Biography

Life

Castletown was the son of

John FitzPatrick, 1st Baron Castletown John Wilson FitzPatrick, 1st Baron Castletown PC (23 September 1811 – 22 January 1883), known as John Wilson until 1842, was an Irish Liberal politician. Castletown was the illegitimate son of John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory, ...

, and his wife Augusta Mary (née Douglas), and was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford.Colley, Mary. "Lord Castletown Papers", National Library of Ireland
/ref> He was appointed

High Sheriff of Queen's County The High Sheriff of Queen's County was the British Crown's judicial representative in Queen's County, Ireland (now County Laois), Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the of ...

in 1876, and sat as

for Portarlington from 1880 to 1883, when he succeeded his father in the barony and entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

. He served in the

Life Guards Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy transf ...

and fought in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in 1882. After he resigned from active service, he was appointed to the

Reserve of Officers The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. The Army Reserve was known as the Ter ...

in 1886, serving as a volunteer officer until reaching the age limit in March 1900. He was promoted

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

on 8 June 1896, and later

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

in command of the 4th (

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

) Battalion of the Leinster Regiment (Queen's County Militia) from October 1899, and was the first to outfit them with Irish bagpipers. In February 1900 he left for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, where he was posted on special service during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

. In recognition of services during the war, he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(CMG) in the South African Honours list published on 26 June 1902. In early 1902 he took part in a special diplomatic mission to promote British interests in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. Along with

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and Douglas Hyde and others, he was elected honorary Vice President of the Irish Literary Society of New York in 1903. In 1905, he proposed a tillage farming plan along the lines of Ireland's old clan system. Castletown was later Chancellor of the Royal University of Ireland between 1906 and 1910.

Theft of the Irish Crown Jewels

The Irish Crown Jewels were discovered missing on 6 July 1907, four days before the start of a visit to the Irish International Exhibition by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

and Queen

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "p ...

, at which was planned the investiture of Bernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown into the Order. The theft is reported to have angered the King, but the visit went ahead. However, the investiture ceremony was cancelled. Also stolen were the collars of five Knight Members of the Order. The following year in 1908 he was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick and admitted to the Irish Privy Council. His banner still hangs in St. Patrick's Hall in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...

Family and Death

Lord Castletown married the Hon. Emily Ursula Clare St Leger, daughter of the 4th Viscount Doneraile, in 1874. The marriage was childless. Lady Castletown joined her husband in South Africa in early 1900, when he was posted there during the

. He died on 29 May 1937 at Granston Manor, aged 87, when the barony became extinct."Lord Castletown of Upper Ossory." Times ondon, England1 June 1937: 21. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 8 Sept. 2013. Castletown was particularly interested in Celtic heritage, and was among the founders of the Celtic Association, an organisation concerned with the preservation of the languages, literature, music, dress and customs of the Celtic peoples. In 1900, the Celtic Association was set up in Dublin with Castletown as president and E.E. Fournier as secretary. The Celtic Association is mainly remembered for the three Pan-Celtic Congresses it organized: the first in Dublin in 1901, the second in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor ...

in 1904, and the last in Edinburgh in 1907.Lord Castletown. "Address to the Pan-Celtic Congress of 1907", ''Scotia'', St. Andrew's society, 1907
/ref> The first Congress had been scheduled for 1900, but had to be postponed when Castletown was called to service in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

. The Association was not without its detractors, in part because many of the Irish sympathized with the Boers. Originally made up of representatives from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and the Isle of Man; Cornwall was added in 1904.

References

External links

The Fitzpatrick – Mac Giolla Phádraig Clan Society

Index of the Lord Castletown Papers

NLI links to Castletown Papers
*
History Ireland article on the life of Lord Castletown

Index of published books authored by Bernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown

''Celtia'': A pan-Celtic monthly magazine featuring the activity of Lord Castletown
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castletown, Bernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron 1849 births 1937 deaths 19th-century Irish politicians Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights of St Patrick Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Portarlington People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs who inherited peerages FitzPatrick dynasty British Life Guards officers British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War High Sheriffs of Queen's County Irish soldiers in the British Army Politicians from County Laois Irish Conservative Party MPs Eldest sons of British hereditary barons