I started off this article with the idea to review the various Books of Survey and Distribution to see if there were any "stray" Ryan landowners out there. From the Book of Survey and Distribution for Kilkenny - dated to circa 1680 These records show who owned the land in a particular area circa the mid 1600s and who was to receive the same lands after they had been confiscated by Cromwell. I had a look at the Carlow version of this document but there were no Ryans included in it which was unusual considering this was supposed to be the original home of the Ryans, however it appears that the Gaelic Kavanaghs and Anglo-Normans such as the Bagnals had taken much of their land prior to the 1600s. I then went on to review the Kilkenny Books here - not expecting to find much in those either. Books of Survey and Distribution: County Kilkenny: Gowran Barony - Virtual Treasury I had reviewed all the books up to the last one - Gowran Barony. There I found a large nu...
General Sir Richard Bourke - founder of Melbourne in Australia with links to Castleconnell in Limerick
By Derek Ryan I took this photo without knowing anything about who General Sir Richard Bourke was. Amazingly now biographies of historical figures such as this guy are now very easy to find. Although from two Tipperary / Limerick families in the Bourkes and his mother was a Ryan, Richard was brought up a Protestant. His father was John Bourke of Drumsally near Murroe and his mother Anne Ryan a daughter of Edmund Ryan of Boscable? Tipperary. He joined the British Army in 1798 and served with distinction in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. A severe facial wound early in his career left him physically marked, but it did not hinder his advancement. After the wars, he returned to his Limerick estate, where he served as a magistrate and landowner, gaining firsthand experience of rural governance and social inequality in Ireland. His administrative abilities led to colonial appointments, first at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and then, most importantly, as Gov...