| Notes |
- The Brownlow Family and the Rise of Lurgan
from Review - Journal of Craigavon Historical Society Vol. 1 No. 1
by K. Clendinning
William Brownlow died July 1815, leaving no family. His brother Charles, succeeded him.
Charles Brownlow, born 30th April, 1757, Lieut. Col. 57th Regt., married 5th March 1785, Caroline, daughter of Benjamin Ash of Bath who outlived him. She died 5th Sept. 1838. Charles died 11th Sept., 1822, leaving three sons, William, who was killed in Spain in 1813, Charles, who later became Lord Lurgan and Rev. John Bligh, incumbent of Sandgate, Kent.
Charles Brownlow born 17th April, 1795, was M.P. for Armagh 1818 to 1832 He married firstly, June 1st, 1822, Lady Mary Bligh daughter of John the 4th Earl of Dornley. She died 20th June 1823 having had a daughter Mary Elizabeth. He married secondly, 15th July 1828, Jane the daughter of Roderick McNeill of Barra, Inverness. She died 6th January, 1878.
In 1826 the Methodist Church situated in High Street was built and in 1827 the First Presbyterian Church was opened in High Street. This meeting House was originally at the opposite side of the street.
Click on image for enlarged view
In 1829, the year of the Catholic Emancipation, Charles Brownlow gave the Rev. W.O. O'Brien, V.G. the site of the present church in the townland of Derry on which a church was built and in 1833, it was dedicated by the Most Rev. Dr. Blake, Bishop of Dromore. This church was enlarged in 1871 and a tower and spire added in 1901 and finally, consecrated, 18th May 1927. In 1931 the population was 3,760 and in 1836 Charles replaced Lurgan House, as it was called with an Elizabethan type manor. This building was designed by William Playfair, the celebrated Victorian architect, and consists of three main reception rooms and a staircase with two wings taken off to the north. The main building is faced with Sandstone imported from Scotland with sandstone quoins and mullions.
In May 1839, Charles Brownlow was raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom and was created Baron Lurgan of Lurgan, Co. Armagh and was granted a Coat of Arms with supports and reads or Blazens thus:
THE FIELD.
Quartly of four. First and fourth.
Per Pale or and argent, and escutcheon of between an oriel of eight martlets sable. (Brownlow)
2nd.
Argent) a stag current proper on the chief vert. 3 Mullets of the first order. (0'Dougherty).
3rd.
Glues on a chevron argent between 3 escallops of Chamberlain.
CREST.
On a cap of Maintenance azure turned up in ermine, a greyhound glues collar or.
Motto: Esse Quam Vider.
SUPPORTERS.
On the Dexter side a Greyhound Argent, charged with a wreath of Shamrock vert.
On the sinister a Highland Soldier in his uniform with his flintlock all proper.
Charles Brownlow died 30th April 1847 leaving by his second marriage, a daughter Clora and two sons, Charles and Edward.
Charles, Second Baron Lurgan, was born 10th April 1831, K.P. 76th Regiment, Lord Lieut. Co. Armagh 1864/82. Lord in waiting Queen Victoria 1869/74. He married 20th June, Emily Ann, daughter of John Brown the 3rd Lord Kilmaine. When his father died, Charles was a minor and the estate was managed by the Agent, John Handcock. Between 1845-49 the greatest disaster ever to hit Ireland was the potato famine People of this district are inclined to think that the famine was in the South and West but that is not so. Here are some extracts from a letter by a Church of England clergyman to the Relief Committee of the Society of Friends about conditions in North Armagh, dated Feb. 23rd 1847. "The weaver at present can only earn by weaving a web of sixty yards; two shillings and six-pence to four shillings and sixpence which employs him nearly a whole week in preparation, while at present such wages will not support the mere weaver without a family Even at such wages I can state as a fact having come under my own immediate observation that weavers are sitting up three nights per week in order by any means to procure food One of the poorhouses in the district of Lurgan is shut for ingress or egress; seventy-five died in one day. We are in short rapidly approaching, and if unassisted, must arrive at the worst picture that has been presented to the public from Co. Cork."
In 1351 the population of Lurgan was 4,651 and ten years later it had risen to 8,500. This was probably due to power loom weaving introduced by James Malcolm in 1855. In 1861, owing to the American Civil War, there was a great upsurge in the linen trade. Old mills were enlarged and power looms built and powered by steam. Lurgan began to extend its boundaries. To keep factories supplied with coal, a new Cut was made in 1863, 300 yards longs from Lough Neagh to Kinnego. This meant that lighters of 60 to 100 tons could come into the new quay, towed by a steam tug from Ellis Cut which was where the Lagan Canal met Lough Neagh.
In 1863 the Town Hall was built at the cost of £2,300 and the Town Commission did Lord Lurgan the honour of appropriating his family coat of arms and crest, and impaled it with a coat of their own design which was: Vert, on a chevron ermine, charged with three bezants, between a pile of linen in chief, and in the base a beehive with bee, all proper supported with flax plants and the motto: "Be Just and Fear Not."
This coat of arms is termed. bogus or unauthorised arms. No person can give or sell this coat of arms. The legal right to the use of a coat of arms can only be obtained on the payment of certain fees and stamps. This coat of arms was used by Lurgan Town Council until it became a Borough.
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Lt.-Col. Charles Brownlow was born on 30 April 1757.1 He was the son of Rt. Hon. William Brownlow and Judith Letitia Meredyth.1 He married Caroline Ashe, daughter of Benjamin Ashe, in 1785.1 He died on 11 September 1822 at age 65.1
Citations
[S34] Peter Townend, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 105th edition (London, U.K.: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1970), page 1675. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage, 105th ed..
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1757 - 1822 (65 years)
, d. 30 Nov 1794 (Age 68 years) 
