Chapter: The Warburton Estate: Its Acquisition

The history of the Portarlington Golf Club could not be compiled without reference to the Warburton estate; the Golf Course was an integral part of it.
Its past is intimately bound up in the Warburton estate; it was here that its 9 Hole Course was laid oui in the 1900s when the sale of the major part of the estate was being negotiated between Land Lord and tenant farmer. In 1911 the farmers caine to terms with their position. The Golf Course remained part of the estate. It was to remain part of the estate for some years to come. In fact, in 1931, on the sale of what was left of the estate to a Scottish merchant, Messrs. McAinsh & Co. Ltd., the club's very existence was threatened. It still sat on the land as a yearly tenancy to a new owner, uncertain of its future. But first the estate.
About the middle of the seventeenth century, three young men of the name Warburton, brothers, Richard, George and John, prompted by the spirit of adventure, travelled from England to Ireland to improve their fortune. It is said that they were descended from the Warburtons of Arley, in Chester.
Richard was the name of the oldest of the three brothers and he was the founder of the family of Garryhinch. He became the proprietor of this estate and was in residence there in 1673.
He acquired large possessions in Ireland which included a tract of land in County Galway. This was held under a lease in 1657 and took in the lands of Bohermore and other lands in the liberties of the town of Galway containing 1,090 acres.
He held 4,390 acres on the island of Arran and 663 acres in Roscommon at the yearly rent of £300.
At about the same period, Richard acquired very considerable freehold estates in the King's and Queen's Counties. It was in 1675 that he purchased the lands of Garryhinch, otherwise Timberstown, and several other tracts containing 1,700 acres. At a later period he acquired thirteen 'other townlands in the Queen's County comprising 2,300 acres. He obtained from the lessor, Sir Patrick Trant, a lease of lives renewable for ever of these lands. Further lands were purchased in 1709.
Richard, grandson of this Richard Warburton, on his attaining the age of twenty-three, acquired all of the property of Garryhinch. He preferred to live in London and was called to the English Bar but never practised at it. Called the "walking library" from his knowledge and learning, he rarely visited this country and eventually gave up Garryhinch to his brother, Peter.
On his death, John Warburton, eldest son of George, became the representative of the Garryhinch branch of the family. He served in the army as Captain and adjutant of His Majesty's Regiment of Infantry. He was at the capture of Quebec under General Wolfe.
When he returned to Ireland in 1772, shortly after the death of his uncle, he found another uncle, the Rev. Peter, in possession at Garryhinch who not only claimed that residence, but the greater part of the estate which Richard had possessed in the King's and Queen's county.

Suits followed between them and several trials were held. Eventually it was provided that Peter should enjoy the lands of Garryhinch and other lands in the King's and Queen's Counties, but limited to the term of his life. The estate was to revert to John in the event of the death of Peter without male issue. Peter died without male issue in 1784 and the estates were restored to John, the heir of the common ancestor, and the head of the family.

John was returned three times as a Member of Parliament for the Queen's County. In 1790 he had, for the third time, to encounter opposition in his election with Lord Moore, the eldest son of the Marquis of Drogheda, who had the support of the government. Because of his patriotic opinions, Mr. Warburton did not find favour with the governing powers of the day.
The struggle was a long and severe one and Lord Moore was returned with a small majority. Mr. Warburton deemed that Lord Moore's victory was obtained by corrupt means, preferred his petition complaining of the return of Lord Moore on the grounds of bribery, undue influence, personation of voters and also on the grounds that his Lordship was a minor when returned.
The petition was successful; Lord Moore was declared not duly elected and Mr. Warburton was substituted for him.
On the raising of the Irish Militia in 1793 John Warburton was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Queen's County Regiment.
At the general election of 1797, having been threatened with an opposition from the same party who had contested his return in 1790 with the help of the Irish Government, he thought it prudent to retire from the contest. His old antagonist, Charles Coote, afterwards Lord Castlecoote, was returned unopposed.
The return of his former opponent led to an appointment which produced more mortification to Colonel Warburton than the loss of his seat. The Marquis of Cornwallis, who arrived in Ireland as Lord Lieutenant in 1798, immediately set about to effect the great object of his commission which was to carry through the Irish Parliament the "legislative union". He left no means untried to secure the votes of members of the House ofCominons in its favour. By the death of the Earl of Portarlington in that year, the Queen's County Regiment of Militia, of which his Lordship was Colonel, became vacant. The public voice proclaimed Colonel Warburton, who had been Lieutenant-Colonel of it from the time the Regiment was raised, as the fittest person to succeed to it, but as he was no longer a member for the county he could not serve the , but as he was no longer a member for the county he could not serve the purpose of the Lord Lieutenant who tendered the commission to the member, Charles Cooke, who had never served in that or any other regiment. This appointment mortified the feelings of Mr. Warburton who immediately resigned his commission of Lieutenant-Colonel.
After the resignation of his commission in the Queen's County Militia, he retired altogether from public life and resided at his family seat at Garryhinch. He died in 1806. John Warburton left two sons -Richard the eldest and Peter, and a daughter, Patty.