Surveyor General of Ireland

The office of Surveyor General of Ireland was an appointed officer under the Dublin Castle administration of Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries.[1] The Surveyor General was typically responsible for the surveying, design and construction of civic works, and was often involved in overseeing the construction of military barracks and public buildings.[2] Though Surveyors General were officially appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, it was not unknown for the post to be "sold" by one holder to the next. For example, Arthur Jones-Nevill succeeded Arthur Dobbs in 1743, having paid £3,300 to secure the position. And despite being dismissed for maladministration, Nevill was allowed to sell the post on to Thomas Eyre in 1752.[nb 1] Eyre was the last holder of the office, which was abolished in 1763.[4]

List of Surveyors General of Ireland
NameDate(s)[nb 2]TermNotes, refs.
Walter Cowley15 Nov 1548During pleasure[5]
Edmund Sutton19 Sep 1551Without tenure[5]
Michael FitzWilliam12 May 1552For lifeGrand-uncle of Thomas FitzWilliam, 1st Viscount FitzWilliam[5][6]
Launcelot Alford16 Jan 1572During pleasure[5]
Sir Geoffrey Fenton10 Aug 1591For life[5]
Sir William Parsons26 Dec 1602During good behaviourSurvey of the escheated counties of Ulster.[5]
Francis Blundell18 Feb 1609In reversion for life[5]
Sir William Parsons14 Feb 1610Reinstated.[5]
Sir William Parsons and his brother Laurence Parsons26 Mar 1611For life[5]
Sir William Parsons, his son Richard Parsons, and Adam Loftus of Rathfarnham24 Dec 1624Upon surrender for life[5][7]
Benjamin Worsley1652During pleasureSurveys for Adventurers' Act and Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652[8]
Vincent Gookin11 Jan 1657During pleasure[8]
Allen Brodrick2 Aug 1658For life[8]
Sir William Petty18 Sep 1660For lifeDown Survey. Date and term are from Hardinge, who says William's cousin John Pettie was the appointee.[8][9]
Sir James Shaen13 Feb 1667For life[8]
William Robinson1670–1700For life Charles Fort, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, St. Michan's, St. Mary's, Marsh's Library.[10]
William Molyneux31 October 1684–98For life Molyneux paid Robinson £250 in return for a half-share of the patent (half of £300 per annum). The revised patent was issued with help from James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde. The full patent would revert to one on the other's death.[11][12]
Thomas de Burgh1700–30 Royal (Collins) Barracks, Trinity library, St. Werburgh's.[13]
Edward Lovett Pearce1730–33 Wings at Castletown House, Houses of Parliament, noted town-houses on Henrietta Street.[14]
Arthur Dobbs1733–43 Finishing Houses of Parliament after Pearce's death, and becoming Governor of North Carolina.[15]
Arthur Jones-Nevill1743–52 Maladministration, poor quality of barracks, being dismissed from post.[1]
Thomas Eyre1752–63 Lodge (later Papal Nuncio residence) at Ashtown Castle, reconstruction of State Apartments and gardens at Dublin Castle.[4]

Footnotes
  1. McParland notes "Such sums were not fees or bribes to officials for the appointments; instead they represented the value of the post when it was viewed as the personal property of the holder of the patent".[3] Thus the statement of May 1743 in TCD Clements MS 1741 that 'Dobbs has disposed his employment to one Mr Jones' (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44)
  2. First or only date is date of appointment
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References

Sources
  • McParland, Edward (1995). "The Office of the Surveyor General in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century". Architectural History. SAHGB. 38: 91–101. ISSN 0066-622X. JSTOR 1568623.

Citations
  1. McParland 1995
  2. Office of Public Works - About - History
  3. McParland 1995, p. 97
  4. Dictionary of Irish Architects - Thomas Eyre
  5. Hardinge, W. H.; Ridgeway, Thomas (1861–64). "On Mapped Surveys of Ireland". The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. 8: 39–55: 44. JSTOR 20488800. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  6. Ball, Francis Elrington (1903). "Merrion and its Castle". A History of the County Dublin: The People, Parishes and Antiquities from the Earliest Times to the Close of the Eighteenth Century. Part 2. Dublin: Alex. Thom. p. 10. Retrieved 10 September 2016. his brother, Michael Fitzwilliam, of Donore, in the County Meath, Surveyor–General of the Crown lands
  7. Collins, Arthur; Brydges, Sir Egerton (1812). Collins's Peerage of England; Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical. F. C. and J. Rivington, Otridge and son. pp. 44–45. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  8. Hardinge, W. H. (1873). "On Manuscript Mapped and Other Townland Surveys in Ireland of a Public Character, Embracing the Gross, Civil, and Down Surveys, from 1640 to 1688". The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. 24, Antiquities: 3–118: 9. JSTOR 30079258. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  9. Hull, Charles Henry. The Economics Writings of Sir William Petty Together with the Observations Upon the Bills of Mortality. CUP Archive. p. xxiv.
  10. "Sir William Robinson (1645-1712)". Architects & Historical Figures. Archiseek.com. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  11. Carroll, Patrick (2006-10-02). "Engineering the Data State: Scopes, Meters, and Graphs". Science, Culture, and Modern State Formation. University of California Press. p. 101. ISBN 9780520932807. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  12. Molyneux, Capel; Molyneux, William (1820). Phillipps, Thomas (ed.). An account of the family and descendants of Sir T. Molyneux, Kt, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland. Evesham: Printed by J. Agg. p. 62. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  13. Archiseek.com - Thomas Burgh (1670-1730)
  14. Dictionary of Irish Architects - Edward Lovett Pearce
  15. Dictionary of Irish Architects - Arthur Dobbs
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