Dublin main drainage scheme : souvenir handbook ; published by the authority of the Municipal Council to mark the inauguration of the Dublin main drainage, September, 1906.

Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dublin main drainage scheme : souvenir handbook ; published by the authority of the Municipal Council to mark the inauguration of the Dublin main drainage, September, 1906. Source: Wellcome Collection.

25 results

48/124 (page 18)
The Rebellion of 1641 brought affliction upon Dublin. The plan of Maguire (Baron of Enniskillen), MacMahon, and their coadjutors, was to seize the Castle, and the plot failed only through the incredible folly of MacMahon, who, on the eve of its execution, confided the design to Owen O’Connolly. The latter conveyed the information to the Lords Justices, and was rewarded with a gift of <£500 and an annuity of £200 for life. Although the city was held alternately for the Parliament and the king, the inhabitants were Royalists. They were greatly reduced in numbers, as a census taken in August, 1644, shows the population to have been only 8,159. On the Restoration, King Charles II. compli- mented the city with a Collar of SS. The style of Lord Mayor was granted by Charles I., 29th July, 1641, but was not used till the atten- tion of the Municipal Council was directed to it by the Duke of Ormonde, then Viceroy, 20th September, 1665, when Sir Daniel Bellingham, whose portrait hangs in the Council Chamber, became the first Lord Mayor. The King further granted to the cityr £500 for ever to support the dignity. But Charles II. would have inflicted an irreparable injury upon Dublin had it not been for the firmness of Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, who was Lord Lieutenant from 1672 to 1677. The greediest of that scandalous monarch’s many mistresses was Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland—a veritable harpy—and to gratify her avarice Charles proposed to grant to her the Phoenix Park. Essex resisted this infamous scheme of public plunder fearlessly and with success. “ I do desire there may not be the least grain of my concurrence in it,” he wrote to Arlington, and his remonstrances to the king were equally outspoken. Though he subsequently helped to create the “ Popish Terror,” and was thus, in a measure, responsible for the crimes that the perjuries of Titus Oates begot, the integrity of his Irish government stands to the credit of Essex.5 As allusion has been made to the collar of SS., so called from the shape of its links, it may not be out of place to tell the story of its disappearance. Eight years afterwards Sir Michael Creagh was Lord Mayor, and during his Mayoralty he absconded, taking with him this valuable article. As late as the last century the ancient usage of opening certain municipal courts by proclamation was continued, and the delinquent was regularly summoned to appear, the citation being in these terms :—“ Sir Michael Creagh, Sir Michael Creagh, Sir Michael Creagh, come and appear before this Court of our Lord the King holden before the Right Honourable Lord Mavor 5 Evelyn’s character of him (18th April, 1680) :—“ He is a sober, wise, judi- cious, and pondering person, not illiterate beyond the rate of most noblemen in this age, very well versed in English historic and affairs ; industrious, frugal, methodical, and every way accomplished.” High opinions are expressed of him by Burnet (I. 396), and Ormonde bore testimony to the honesty and ability of his government,—Carte, IV., 529.