Estate: Shee

Associated Families

• Livesay
• Shee (Dunmore)
• Dering

Description

Charles ffrench Blake Forster traces this family's lineage from O'Shee of county Tipperary, who later moved to county Kilkenny. George Shee, son of George Shee, married Mary Kirwan of Blindwell, county Galway and died in 1706. They were the parents of Anthony Shee of Castlebar, county Mayo, who married Margery Bourke of the Curry and Oory family. They were the parents of George Shee, created a baronet in 1794. George Shee had a successful career in India and purchased the Dunmore estate of Ralph Gore, Earl of Ross, in 1791. He was succeeded by his eldest son George in 1825. Sir George Shee 2nd baronet was a British diplomat who served in the Foreign Office and as an Envoy Extraordinary in Stuggart in 1830s and 1840s. In the mid 19th century Sir George Shee owned a large estate centred on the parish of Dunmore in the barony of Dunmore but also including much of the parishes of Clonbern and Boyounagh in the barony of Ballymoe and some of the parish of Kilkerrin, barony of Tiaquin. The Shees also had an English residence at Mudeford House, near Christchurch, Dorset. William Downes Griffiths was agent to the Shee estate for many years. The Shee barontecy became extinct in 1870 following the death of Sir George Shee 2nd baronet and the Dunmore estate passed to his nephew George Edward Dering of Lockleys, Hertfordshire. George E. Dering owned 11,206 acres in county Galway in the 1870s. http://www.osheaclan.org/Hayes.pdf

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Dunmore House (H1064) William D. Griffith, brother of Richard Griffith of ''Valuation'' fame, was agent to Sir George Shee in the mid 19th century and lived at Dunmore House. In 1894 Slater refers to Dunmore House as the seat of Captain Robert W. Martin. A fine ruin situated on the edge of the golf course.	Dunmore Demesne	Dunmore	Tuam	Dunmore 197	Dunmore	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.61629 -8.74505 OSI Ref: M507 632 Discovery map #39. OS Sheet #17.

Archival sources

• British Library: Correspondence of Sir George Shee 1st Bt and Sir George Shee 2nd Bt, Add MSS 47883-47892
• Irish Architectural Archive: Dunmore House photos. 022/041
• National Archives of Ireland: Rent Books of the estate of Sir George Shee, 1831-1859. M3105-M3130
• National Archives of Ireland: Rent Books of the estate of George E. Dering, 1869-1910. M4982-M5029
• National Library of Ireland: Copy of confirmation of arms to George Shee of Dunmore, Co Galway, 20 Jan 1794. GO MS 103: 136
• National Library of Ireland: Charles ffrench Blake Forster's genealogies include Shee of Dunmore. MS 13,560

Contemporary printed sources

Many of these resources are now available online. For a list with Web links please see the Online Printed Sources Links

• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Tuam Union, 122
• HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878. [available online at www.askaboutireland.ie] : 121
• LEET, Ambrose. A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, and other noted places in Ireland. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 173 (Egan)
• LODGE, John, revised by ARCHDALL, Mervyn. The Peerage of Ireland or A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Dublin: James Moore, 1789: III, 284
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland, 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix I, Grants under Acts of Settlement: 266 & 267
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of names of proprietors and area and valuation of properties in counties in Ireland, held in fee or perpetuity or long leases at chief rents, 1876. (412) LXXX. 395: 148.
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 295

Modern printed sources

• Jnl. of the Galway Family History Society : Galway Roots: DONNELLAN, Mary P. The Shee Rent Rolls. IV (1996), 11-14
• Jnl. of the South Mayo Family Research Society: A Grave Matter! [Text of memorial inscription in St George's Chapel, London, to Mrs Jane Molony died 1839, daughter of Anthony Shee and wife of Edmond Molony]. VIII (1985), 17-19
• BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 116
• BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Harrison & Sons, 1886: II, 1039-1040 (Kirwan)
• BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Harrison & Sons, 1904: 469-450
• GREANEY, James. Dunmore. [The author], 1984: 36-50 & 68-86
• MULLIGAN, Kevin. Vain transitory splendours: the Irish country house and the art of John Nankivell. Dublin: Irish Georgian Society, 2018. : Dunmore House, pp.80-81.