Edward Burton (1747-1794)
Rev. Edward Burton, of Tuam & Newgarden House, Co. Galway
Father
He was born near Shap in Cumbria. He and his brothers were educated by a wealthy uncle. His eldest brother, Edmund, came out to Ireland as chaplain to his first wife's uncle, John Ryder, Archbishop of Tuam. After Edmund was made Archdeacon of Tuam he brought Edward out as Rector of Tuam and Annaghdown on Lough Corrib. He lived at Newgarden House, "a pretty lodge" outside the city inherited from his father-in-law, combining his ecclesiastical duties with that of a modest squire. Both he and his wife are buried with a memorial in the Cathedral at Tuam.
After Edward's death, his widow remained at Newgarden. When their son, Joseph, returned here from military service in Sicily in about 1815, "he found the estate in a terrible condition, and obtained his mother's leave to take the matter in hand. He invited all the tenants to dinner, and when speech time came on, after being duly blarneyed by all present, he made a little address, dwelling with some vigour on the necessity of being for the future more regular with the 'rint'. Faces fell, and the only result was, that when the rent came to be collected, he was fired at so frequently (showing that this state of things had been going on for some sixty or seventy years), that, not wishing to live the life of a 'Galway Woodcock' he gave up the game, and allowed matters to take their own course".
Mrs Maria (Campbell) Burton's portrait showed her to have a "pear-shaped face" and "regular Bourbon traits". Her grandson, Richard, recalled: "Although the wife of a country clergyman, she never seemed to have attained the meekness of feeling associated with that peaceful calling... On one occasion during the absence of her husband, the house at Tuam was broken into by thieves, probably some of her petted tenantry. She lit a candle and went upstairs to fetch some gunpowder, loaded her pistols, and ran down to the hall, when the robbers decamped. She asked the raw Irish servant girl who had accompanied her what had become of the light, and the answer was that it was standing on the barrel of 'black salt' upstairs; thereupon Grandmamma Burton had the pluck to walk up to the garret and expose herself to the risk of being blown to smithereens".
After Edward's death, his widow remained at Newgarden. When their son, Joseph, returned here from military service in Sicily in about 1815, "he found the estate in a terrible condition, and obtained his mother's leave to take the matter in hand. He invited all the tenants to dinner, and when speech time came on, after being duly blarneyed by all present, he made a little address, dwelling with some vigour on the necessity of being for the future more regular with the 'rint'. Faces fell, and the only result was, that when the rent came to be collected, he was fired at so frequently (showing that this state of things had been going on for some sixty or seventy years), that, not wishing to live the life of a 'Galway Woodcock' he gave up the game, and allowed matters to take their own course".
Mrs Maria (Campbell) Burton's portrait showed her to have a "pear-shaped face" and "regular Bourbon traits". Her grandson, Richard, recalled: "Although the wife of a country clergyman, she never seemed to have attained the meekness of feeling associated with that peaceful calling... On one occasion during the absence of her husband, the house at Tuam was broken into by thieves, probably some of her petted tenantry. She lit a candle and went upstairs to fetch some gunpowder, loaded her pistols, and ran down to the hall, when the robbers decamped. She asked the raw Irish servant girl who had accompanied her what had become of the light, and the answer was that it was standing on the barrel of 'black salt' upstairs; thereupon Grandmamma Burton had the pluck to walk up to the garret and expose herself to the risk of being blown to smithereens".
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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 20/07/2021 and last updated on 20/10/2021.