William Maxwell Carpendale named his house near Dungannon "Falkland" in
tribute to Falkland Castle in County Monaghan, the last occupant of
which had been his grandmother's brother, Rev. Dr. William Maxwell.
Excerpt from The Courier & News,
Wednesday May 5, 1982:
Dungannon's link with
the Falklands
'Falkland' a fine Georgian type house situated at the junction
of
the
Dungannon - Cookstown - Donaghmore - Newmills roads a little over a
mile
from Dungannon has an interesting link with the Falkland Islands and
thanks
to a Maghera gentleman - Mr Percy Maxwell Clark we have been able to
trace
the origins of how this link came about -
Robert Maxwell the Ancestor of the Earls of Farnham in Co.
Cavan,
was
Chaplain to the first Viscount Falkland, Lord Deputy of Ireland
1622-1629.
from hence the name 'Falkland' which he gave to the townland and to his
real Falkland Castle in the parish of Donagh in Co. Monaghan, now a
ruin.
Lord Falkland's grandson, the fifth Viscount was first Lord of
the
Admiralty
in 1690, and when one Captain John Strong became the first man to land
on the Islands in that year, he named them The Falkland Islands, after
the Viscount.
Robert Maxwell's descendant (5th generation) William Maxwell
Carpendale
also named his house at Dungannon 'Falkland' a couple of centuries ago
and it retains that name today.
The last owner of Falkland Castle was the Rev Dr William
Maxwell,
descendant
(in 3rd generation) of the above Robert Maxwell,
He was a personal friend of the Diarist Dr Johnson, (he wrote
the
Collectanea
printed in Boswell's life of Johnson). Rev Dr. Maxwell's daughter was
the
wife of Rev Henry Frances Lyte author of "Abide with me" one
of the great Naval hymns and not surprisingly one of the hymns sung on
boad the warships of the Falklands Task Force at Divine Servive on
Sunday.
Our Falkland is owned by Mr Ivan M. Symington who with his
wife
Clarice
are proud of the historic link with past generations.
Thirty four years ago Mr Symington purchased Falkland from the
McAlister
family who had strong connections with the Church of Ireland. The late
Hugh and Elizabeth McAlister's three sons Jim, Tom and Kenneth all
entered
the Church of England and Elizabeth's three brothers all became
distinguished
members of the Church. They were Canon James Bloomer, Armagh, Rev
George
Bloomer both of whom are deceased and Rt Rev Dr Thomas Bloomer former
Bishop
of Carlisle now retired and living in Levens, Kendal in the Lake
District.
Mrs McAlister's three daughters are May in London, Bessie in
Belfast
and Mabel, wife of Rev John Young, formerly Minister of Belmont
Presbyterian
Church.
Mr and Mrs Symington have six of a family - four daughters and
two
sons
all of whom have been very successful in their various professional
spheres.
The daughters are Frede, a teacher in Hart Memorial School,
Portadown,
married to Mr R. Trouton, Road Safety Educational Officer for Northern
Ireland, Cranagill; Joyce, Health Visitor (Mrs David Gibson, Ballymena;
Olive, Biology teacher (Mrs David Campbell, Lisburn; Irene, Health
visitor,
Belfast.
Sons are David LL.B. Journalist with 'Bath Chronicle' England
and
Ronald
B.Sc.,Cambridge.
Painting of Falkand,
Dungannon by "B.C"
presumed to be Elizabeth Knox "Bessie" Carpendale
This
scan of the painting was provided by James Savage
If you have any comments, additions or modifications to the
information
on this page, please feel free to email me.
Created and maintained by: chris@ocotilloroad.com
