John Palliser 1817-1887

The Palliser Family

“Early the next morning, we passed along the south coast of Ireland, recognising successively Dunmore, Tramore’s three towers, with its colossal metal man stretching forth his threatening arm to warn the mariner from the inhospitable coast, and, finally, Ardmore’s round tower – the last aged memorial of the Old World.” (1)

The Palliser family originated in Yorkshire and the key figure in the establishment of the Waterford Branch was William who served as Archbishop of Cashel.  He was born in 1644 at Kirby Wiske Yorkshire.  He entered Trinity College Dublin in 1660 and became a Fellow in 1666. He was ordained in 1669 and in 1670 became Professor of Divinity at the College.  He was consecrated Bishop of Cloyne in 1693 and the following year Archbishop of Cashel.
He married Mary, daughter of Jonah Wheeler, of Greenan Co. Kilkenny and widow of William Greatrakes of Affane.  The Archbishop died in 1727 having accumulated great wealth despite his Holy Orders and this inheritance was the source of the family’s prosperity.  He left a son, William, who died without issue in 1768 and his other child, Jane married John Bury.  Their second also John Bury adopted the name and arms of Palliser in 1768 according to the archbishop’s will.  The Palliser name was retained and used often in conjunction with the Bury name through several generations.
Five generations later, in 1788, Wray Bury was born.  He resided at Derryluskan Co. Tipperary and Comeragh House which had earlier been known as Roxboro.  He was Justice of the Peace, High Sheriff of Waterford in 1816 and held the same post for County Tipperary in 1850.  He became a Lt.-Col of the Waterford Militia.  On the 7th of November 1814 he married Anne [she died 17th August 1851] daughter and heiress of John Jacob Gledstanes of Annesgift Tipperary.  Wray died in 1863.

(1) Palliser, John.  Solitary Rambles and adventures of a hunter in the prairies.  U.K.: John Murray, 1853 pg. 3

Family of Notable Figures

Wray Bury had five sons, all of whom were notable figures in their own right, particularly in the fields of invention and exploration.
William was born on the 18th June 1830 and died on the 4th February 1882.  He had a distinguished army career and displayed a great flair for ordnance.  He invented a type of bolt for securing armour plates, chilled shot for piercing armour plating and a method for the conversion of smooth bore guns to rifling.  According to Sean Murphy he “produced many of his inventions at the Forge in Mahon Bridge.”(2)   He married Anne the daughter of George Perham and unsuccessfully contested an election for Parliament in Dungarvan before being elected for Taunton in 1880.  It is possible that the family was the inspiration for the nomenclature of the “Palliser novels” by Anthony Trollope who spent 33 years working for the Post Office and in 1844 lived in Clonmel. (3) According to T.J. Simmonds (4)  the great-granddaughter of William, William’s wife “was the model in the portrait ‘Charlie is my darling’ by John Everett Millais.” (5) [1829-1896.]
Wray Richard Gledstanes was a Captain in the Royal Navy and made some notable voyages.  He was born on the 24th of May 1822 and lived at Coolquil, County Tipperary.
Frederick Hugh was born on the 3rd of July 1826 and died in Orkdal, Norway in 1883.  He explored Siberian Waters off the Coast of Norway and was accompanied on one of these expeditions by his brother John Edward  Matthew of Annesgift Tipperary.  He was born in 1828 and died in 1907.  He became a Captain in the 7th Hussars.  He later served as Staff Officer in the Alberta Field Force where he was involved in the suppression of the Riel Revolt in 1885.  This conflict was precipitated by treatment of the native population which had been signalled many years earlier in the reports of John Palliser.
John Palliser was born on the 29th of January 1817 and died on the 18th of August 1887.  Following the death of his father he succeeded to the property at Derryluskan and Comeragh.  His early education is somewhat uncertain but almost certainly involved private tutors and some may have taken place on the Continent and while he studied at Trinity College he failed to take his degree.   He served as JP and as High Sheriff of Waterford in 1844.  Like his father he served in the Waterford Militia at the rank of Captain.  In the period 1841-2 he was involved in the ordnance survey of Waterford and later actively helped in the famine relief schemes of public works.

Another branch of the family was established by an uncle of John Palliser.  This was the Rev. John Bury Palliser [1791-1864] of Annestown who served as Rector in Clonmel.  He is listed in Griffiths Valuation as holding property in Clonmel.  His son Captain Wray Bury Palliser [1831-1906] served as High Sheriff of the County in 1883.  His death record gives as cause “heart disease.” His wife was Maria Gubbins of Limerick who died on the 10th of January 1896 at the age of 57 but for whom no cause of death is registered.  Their daughter [Alice] Grace died on the 14th of October 1863 of “diphtheria and blood poisoning.”  In consequence the daughter of her cousin William, Mrs Mary Jane Sybil Galloway, inherited the Annestown property.  In her article, “The Palliser Chronicles” in the Decies  Journal (6), Roz Cowman has provided an interesting outline of the material held in the family papers located in Annestown.


(2) Murphy, Seán and Síle. Waterford: Heroes, poets and villains. Waterford: Comeragh Publications. 1999
(3) Trollope, Anthony [1815-1882].  The Palliser novels are: Can you forgive Her? [1864]; Phineas Finn [1869]; The Eustace Diamonds [1873]; Phineas Redux [1874]; The Prime Minister [1876] and The Duke’s children [1879]  They are particularly important from an Irish perspective as they present a “careful analysis of anti-Irish prejudice and stereotyping”
(4) Teresa Julia Simmonds.  I am very grateful to Renia for her assistance in corrections to the text.
(5) Millais was born in England and was a central figure in the Pre-Raphaelite Movement.
(6) Cowman, Roz.  The Palliser Chronicles.  Waterford: Decies 7-9