The Ballitore Papers
Identity Statement
Repository Code: IE 2036
Archive Reference: KCA/PP1/1-29
Title: The Ballitore Papers
Creation Dates: 1763-1863
Extent Medium: 6 boxes (29 files)
Context
Administrative History/Biography: In 1685 English Quakers, Abel Strettel and John Barcroft, purchased land beside the River Griese at Ballitore, County Kildare. Over the next two centuries members of the Society of Friends settled what became known as the “Quaker” village. The Society believed in the egalitarian treatment of men and women, non-violence, a single standard of truth telling and the setting aside of traditional customs of worship. Their standard of truth prevented them from swearing judicial oaths; consequently, they had difficulty if involved in court proceedings or in business deals. Abraham Shackleton (1696-1771) was a Quaker and schoolteacher from Harden, parish of Bingley, Yorkshire, England. He taught at a school in Skipton, Yorkshire, where he met his wife Margaret Wilkinson (d. 1768), and later came to Ireland as a tutor for two Quaker families, the Coopers and the Ducketts of Co. Carlow. Encouraged to open a boarding school in Ballitore, Co. Kildare which had a sizable population of Quakers, he became the first Master of the school when it opened on 1 May 1726. The Ballitore School was a great success; its pupils came from England, Scotland, Jamaica, Norway, and France, and included United Irishman, James Napper Tandy, Cardinal Paul Cullen, parliamentarian Henry Grattan and Edmund Burke, the famous orator and political essayist. Burke maintained a correspondence and friendship with the Shackleton family throughout his life and often visited the village. Abraham’s son, Richard Shackleton (1726-1792) became its headmaster in 1756. He studied at Ballitore school alongside his friend Edmund Burke (1729-1797) and completed his education at Trinity College. Richard employed William Leadbeater ((1763-1827), who later married his daughter, Mary, to teach French. Richard was married twice, firstly to Elizabeth Fuller, d. 1754, daughter of Henry Fuller and Deborah Barcroft (a daughter of John Barcroft) in 1749. They had four children, Deborah (1749-1824), Margaret (1751-1829), Abraham (1752-1818) and Henry (1754-1756). He married his second wife, Elizabeth Carleton (1729-1804) in 1755 and had four more children, Rachel (1756-1757), Mary (1758-1826), Sarah (1760-1847) and George Rooke (1762-1764). Their daughters were educated alongside the boys at Ballitore School, and each married into prominent Quaker families. In 1776 his second daughter Margaret (1751-1829) married Samuel Grubb (1750–1815) from a successful County Tipperary family of merchants and millers. His daughter Mary Leadbeater née Shackleton (1758-1826) was a noted author and memoirist. She demonstrated an early ability as a writer and artist and was accomplished in herbal medicine. She had a prodigious output of work between the years 1790-1824. In 1791 she married William Leadbeater, a former pupil and teacher at Ballitore School. He was the son of John and Jane Leadbeater, of Philipstown, King’s County (County Offaly). Mary’s first work was a series of poems entitled ‘Extracts and original anecdotes for the improvement of Youth’ which was published anonymously in 1794. This was followed by a book of poems in 1808, and in 1811 by ‘Cottage Dialogues among the Irish peasantry’, which contained advice on household management and information on the medicinal qualities of herbs. ‘Memoirs and letters of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton, compiled by their daughter’ (1822) and ‘Biographical notices of members of the Society of Friends, who were resident in Ireland’ (1823) followed. Mary kept diaries from the age of eleven, recording details of the residents of Ballitore and their daily lives. These were published posthumously, edited by her niece, Elizabeth Shackleton as The Leadbeater Papers. The Annals of Ballitore Volume I and Volume II’. Begun in 1766 and finished in 1824, they recounted events in her life and are an invaluable social and historical record of an Irish village of the time. Mary and William Leadbeater had six children, Elizabeth (1791-1876), Jane (c. 1794-1798), Deborah (1795-1829), Richard (1796-1881), Sarah (c. 1798-1843) and Lydia Jane (1801-1884). Mary later became the first postmistress of Ballitore. She corresponded with Edmund Burke, Maria Edgeworth and George Crabbe, amongst many others. She is commemorated with a life size statue at her home in Ballitore which is now the Ballitore library.
Edward Barrington (1796-1877), Dublin, married Sarah Leadbeater (1798-1843) on 14 March 1822. Their daughter Margaret (1823-1912) married Thomas Davis in 1872. Their daughter, Selina (1833-1917) married Robert Fennell on 16 October 1861.
Elizabeth (1762-1829) and Anne (1759-1818) Grubb were the daughters of Benjamin Grubb (1727-1802), a grocer and provision merchant from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, and Susanna Malone of Ballyraggan, Co. Kildare. Their father was a grandson of John Grubb (1620-1696) of Northamptonshire, England, an Anabaptist preacher and Cromwellian grantee settled at Annagh’s Castle, County Kilkenny in 1656. He converted to Quakerism in 1676. His grandson Joseph (1709-1782), established milling and other businesses in Clonmel, County Tipperary. Joseph’s son, Samuel Grubb (1750- 1815) attended Ballitore school for five years, where he met Margaret Shackleton (1751-1829), daughter of Richard Shackleton and Elizabeth Fuller. They married in 1776 and had eleven children; five of their surviving sons were also educated at Ballitore School. Samuel later developed mills at Clogheen, near Clonmel, County Tipperary, where the family moved in 1800. Margaret was a prolific letter writer.
Arabella Forbes (d. 1834) was the daughter of Rev. John Forbes, Lissoy, Co. Westmeath (d. 1774) and Rebecca Lennon (d. 1786). She had at least one brother, John (d. 1775), who attended Ballitore School and one sister, Emilia (Emily) (d. 1844). Arabella married Caleb Barnes Harman (d. 1796) in 1794. She married Richard Fox in 1804. Her sister Emilia married Rev. Robert Evans, Dublin, in 1782.
Content and Structure
Scope & Content: The Ballitore Papers consists of letters, notebooks, diaries, and personal memorabilia of the Quaker families of Shackleton, Leadbeater and Barrington families; there is extensive correspondence written between Mary Leadbeater (née Shackleton) (1758-1826) and Arabella Forbes; Anne (1759-1818) and Elizabeth Grubb (1762-1829), and Bishop Thomas O’Beirne of Meath (c. 1747-1823) and his wife, Jane. Other items in the collection include memoirs, diaries, and notebooks, such as two diaries of Sarah Shackleton, sister of Mary Leadbeater (PP1/91-2) which cover a few months of 1772 and 1774; The Ballitore Magazine 1809 (PP1/23) which contains a variety of articles, poetry and local news items; notes and letters compiled by Selina Fennell née Barrington (1833-1917) (PP1/25) relating to the life of her father, Edward Barrington; a notebook belonging to Margaret Davis née Barrington (1823-1912) (PP1/29) relating to the early years of her mother, Sarah Barrington née Leadbeater’s life, and also contains details of the last days of Mary Shackleton Leadbeater.
System of Arrangement: This collection of correspondence, diaries and notebooks relating to various members of the Shackleton family of Ballitore, their relatives and friends, has been organised by family as follows:
The Shackleton Family PP1/1-10
(i) Master of Ballitore School - (a) Abraham Shackleton; (b) Richard Shackleton.
(ii) Sarah Shackleton
(iii) Elizabeth and Mary Shackleton
The Leadbeater Family PP1/11-24
(i) Mary Leadbeater (née Shackleton) - (a) Letters from Arabella Forbes; (b) Letters to Anne and Elizabeth Grubb; (c) Letters from Susannah and Mary Bewley; (d) Bishop Thomas O'Beirne of Meath & his wife Jane; (e) Letters relating to Edmund Burke; (f) Literary Works & Interests; (g) Artistic Interests.
(ii) Elizabeth Leadbeater
(iii) Deborah Leadbeater
The Barrington Family PP1/25-29
(i) Edward Barrington
(ii) Richard Barrington
(iii) Selina Barrington
(iv) Margaret Barrington
Conditions of Access and Use
Access Conditions: Available only by appointment with the archivist. Where items are fragile or have been digitised, access to originals is restricted for conservation reasons. Some items require conservation and further digitisation will be undertaken in due course.
Conditions Governing Reproduction: Permission from archivist required.
Material Language: English
Finding Aids: A full descriptive list is available here. Some of Ballitore Papers have been transcribed and are available with the digitised originals here and at Kildare County Archives.
Allied Materials
Copies Information: Digitised items from this collection can be found here. Further items will be digitised in due course.
Note: Up to and including 1751 the Julian calendar was used in Ireland, England, Wales, and other British colonies. the year officially began on 25 March, e.g. 24 March 1750 was followed the next day by 25 March 1751. In 1751 the British parliament passed the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 which meant hat from 1752 the year would begin on 01 January. The year 1751 began on 25 March 1751 and ended on 31 December 1751, to be immediately followed by 01 January 1752. Quakers followed the English practice, with one exception. They objected to using those names of days (Sunday to Saturday) and months (January to August) which derived from pagan gods, substituting numbers. Therefore, Sunday was for recorded as "First Day." Until 1752, they had no problem with the months September to December, which were derived from numbers, but for the other months they wrote out "First Month," "Second Month," and so on. They sometimes used Roman numerals (i-xii) for these, and sometimes Arabic (1-12). After 1752 all months were referred to by Quakers by their number. September became "Ninth Month" and so on.
Publications:
Cottage Dialogues among the Irish Peasantry, by Mary Leadbeater (1811)
Memoirs and Letters of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton … compiled by their daughter, by Mary Leadbeater (1822)
The Leadbeater papers. The Annals of Ballitore Vol. I & Vol. II, by Mary Leadbeater (1862) & Annals of Ballitore (2009 edition, Kildare Library Service)
The Grubbs of Tipperary, by Geoffrey Watkins Grubb (1972)
An Irish Genealogical Source, The roll of the Quaker School at Ballitore, County Kildare, by E.J. McAuliffe (1984)