Newspaper article queries

montgo

I found a newspaper article where a relative of my ancestor had an Esq/Esquire after his name. I wouldn't have thought his social standing would have been high enough to warrant it.

However, the article (1869) referred to "Church Elections" (C of I) and it had the names of 2 or 3 men "elected" to each district. Most were large landlords/JPs, etc.
This relative was a tenant farmer but would have been one of the very few Cof residents in the locality.

Any idea what jobs these elected persons had to do?

Waitsian

montgo wrote: »

I found a newspaper article where a relative of my ancestor had an Esq/Esquire after his name. I wouldn't have thought his social standing would have been high enough to warrant it.

However, the article (1869) referred to "Church Elections" (C of I) and it had the names of 2 or 3 men "elected" to each district. Most were large landlords/JPs, etc.
This relative was a tenant farmer but would have been one of the very few Cof residents in the locality.

Any idea what jobs these elected persons had to do?

As for as I know Esquire was indicative of a gentleman, a man of means as it were, more often than not a member of the Established church, Anglo-Irish mostly. Even if he were a tenant farmer he was a Protestant and held in higher esteem amongst his peers than Catholics of a similar designation. Any idea how many acres he rented? Was he a small landlord himself?

As for the election - I'm not privy to how the C of I operated back than but could I attempt a guess? Could he have been a church elder, someone elected to a kind of committee to oversee C of I affairs?

Jellybaby1

Possibly elected as a Vestryman. Annual elections still take place. I know the Dublin newspapers I checked a few years ago on Irish Newspaper Archives had lists of men elected at the Easter General Vestry annually. They basically were (and still are I expect) the 'management committee' of the Church.

montgo

Thanks "mod9maple".

I can't seem to access Griffiths records at the moment so can't confirm the actual size of his farm but I am pretty sure that it was no more than 50 acres.

montgo

Thanks Jellybaby1 for Vestryman - seems right.

pedroeibar1

I have several RC "Esq.'s" in my ancestry. One was a Poor Law Guardian, dealing with the workhouse. In the first half of the 1800's many 'figures in the community' did the work now carried out by county councils. The Vestryman function in the CoI also had roles a bit like the foregoing, one of which was to 'plot the cess' - a form of setting a tax to cover local expenditure, cess was a tax a bit like 'rates'.

montgo

Pedro, was the Cess tax instead of the Tithe payment?

I have a couple on my tree who were Guardians. They were referred to on Newspaper articles by their names followed by the letters PLG generally. However one Directory Listing had one of them listed under Gentry/Clergy section. He was an RC tenant farmer.

pedroeibar1

montgo wrote: »

Pedro, was the Cess tax instead of the Tithe payment?

Hi Montgo,
No, the tithes were quite a separate 'tax' and for a different purpose. Cess was levied for a specific purpose - road repairs, bog drainage, etc. and once enough was collected it would be dropped.
P.

Hermy

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

...cess was a tax a bit like 'rates'.

My late grandmother from inner city Dublin would have said 'bad cess to ya'.
Is that the cess she would have been referring to?

montgo

Thanks, Pedro.

pedroeibar1

Hermy wrote: »

My late grandmother from inner city Dublin would have said 'bad cess to ya'.
Is that the cess she would have been referring to?

Possibly. It’s a fairly common expression. Lots of debate as to its origin; there apparently was a positive version, “good cess to you” back in the 1800’s. The earliest version of “cess” was a levy, i.e soldiers being billeted on your household. If they were a bad lot, interfered with the females of the household and ate you out of house and home they were a “bad cess” and their visit/antics would only be wished on an enemy. (Well that’s the etymological version I like!):)