Wray Palliser

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Colonel Wray Palliser was born in Ireland in 1788. A grand-nephew of Charles William Bury, Earl of Charleville, they were both direct descendants of Dr William Palliser, Archbishop of Cashel (1644-1726), whose daughter, Jane married John Bury. Their son John Bury, in 1768, assumed the surname and arms of Palliser in lieu of those of Bury. Colonel Palliser was the son of John Bury, great-grandson of John Bury and Jane Palliser. His mother was Grace Barton, granddaughter of Thomas Barton, the founder of Barton & Guestier, the Bordeaux vinyard. His brother, Richard Bury Palliser, married writer Fanny Marryat, the sister of Captain Marryat, the novelist.

Wray Palliser of Derryluskan, County Tipperary, was educated at Harrow School in England and married Anne Gledstanes, a relative of Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone. The two families shared a coat of arms and the family was known to play chess with William Gladstone. Anne Gledstanes was a ward of Wray Palliser and lived on the neighbouring estate in County Tipperary. An attractive couple, they produced at least seven sons and four daughters within twenty-four years of their marriage in 1814. The eldest child was Grace Palliser. In 1853, she married William Fairholme, whose brother James, was lost with the Franklin expedition in 1847. They had five unmarried daughters, the eldest being Caroline Fairholme, who eventually inherited the Palliser family estate at Comeragh in County Waterford which she abandoned after it was burnt down during the Troubles in 1923.

The second daughter was Sarah Elizabeth Palliser who married Viscount Gough in Florence, Italy in 1840. Less than a year later, she was dead, aged just twenty-three. She is buried in the English Cemetery in Florence. The third daughter was Anna Margaret Palliser. She was baptised at the British Embassy Chapel in 1821 and married John Nugent Rose in 1846 at Fethard in County Tipperary. Like her sister, Sarah, she, too, was dead within a year of marriage after giving birth to a daughter, Millicent, who also did not survive. The fourth daughter was Mary Palliser, the subject of Pre-Raphaelite painter and Director of the National Gallery, Sir Frederick Burton, to whom she was said to have become engaged. Whatever the truth, neither ever married and Mary died in London in 1879. Although she was a talented painter herself, it was said she died of "having nothing to do". She died of pneumonia, attended by her niece, Caroline Fairholme.

Only two of Colonel Palliser's sons died young. The first was Hugh, the fourth youngest child, who died aged 11 in 1842 at Seaforth Village School at Sefton, on the Gladstone Estate, which a further possible younger brother or cousin, Albert Palliser, also attended. The youngest child of all, James Gledstanes Palliser died while attending Westminster School in 1854, aged 16.

The other sons were all talented and attractive and a remarkable drain on the family estates. By the time eldest son, Captain John Palliser, inherited Comeragh House, it had already been financially bailed out by his brother-in-law, William Fairholme, hence Comeragh was inherited by William Fairholme's eldest daughter.

Wray Richard Gledstanes Palliser was the second son and was known as "handsome Dick". A naval Lieutenant, his claim to fame was rescuing a French lady from pirates in the China Seas. He married the Elizabeth FitzGerald in 1857 which did not please his brother John at all. Wray had one child, Malachi Palliser, who died very young. He emigrated to England and became an Coastguard Inspector.

The third son was Frederick Hugh Palliser, with whom John explored Novaya Zemyla in Russia. He became a tea-planter in Ceylon, where the first of his four children were born. The eldest of these eventually became High Commissioner to New Zealand. The second married a tailor's daughter from Leeds. The third settled in Norway. The last child, Edith, never married and was a suffragette and political activist. Frederick died in 1883 and is buried in Trondheim, Norway, where he set up a salmon fishery.

Edward Palliser, the fourth son, married twice, first to Jane Rose, sister of John Rose who married his sister Anna Margaret Palliser. By 1891, they were living apart and Jane declared herself a widow on thecensus. He had only one child by her, Edward Gledstanes Palliser, who became a brewer and never married. Edward's second wife was Anna Prentis whom he married after Jane's death in 1893. A former Captain of the 7th Hussars, Edward eventually became a Staff Officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Canada and was present at the Riel Revolt. Afterwards, he acted as agent for his younger brother, Sir William Palliser.

Colonel Palliser was a Burgess in Limerick, Ireland, before becoming Lieutenant-Colonel of the Waterford Militia. He was Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace. On being offered a peerage, he refused, saying: "Pallisers don't need titles". His wife, Anne, pre-deceased him in 1851. He died on 11 November 1862, and was buried with his wife in the Palliser vault at Fethard, County Tipperary.