Captain Carden and his son the Admiral

Times Past

Jonathan Smyth

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Captain Andrew Carden who entered eternal rest while aboard a train from Tipperary, bound for Dublin, during the final week of November 1876. To recap, the Captain was a brother of John Rutter Carden of Tipperary, and through him, inherited the Barnane Estate, Co Tipperary in 1866. For almost a decade prior to his Tipperary inheritance, Captain Carden lived in Cavan, in the service of his brother-in-law, Robert Burrowes of Stradone. John Rutter Carden’s obnoxious treatment of his Barnane Estate tenants, as I stated previously, saw one newspaper label him the ‘Tipperary Exterminator’.

Captain Andrew Carden was travelling between Ballybrophy and Mountrath when suddenly he felt ill. The train stopped at Ballybrophy junction, and a guard named Nolan, opened the carriage door to allow a gentleman gain entry when he spotted Captain Andrew in distress, gripping tightly a hand-strap above his head. With considerable effort they released the trapped hand. A doctor who happened to be on the train dashed to assist. A nearby railway porter, Daniel Sheeran, was summoned forth and cushions laid on the floor, whereon they gently placed Carden. The train resumed its journey, and Andrew Carden at the age of 61 years, drew a final breath and died.

An inquest into Carden’s death was held in the waiting room of Maryborough Station. Mr Thomas Bouskilk, when questioned, said he knew Carden for 10 years and that in the last six months he had been under the care of a doctor. The untimely demise was down to natural causes, the coroner assessed.

Stradone House

In happier days, Captain Andrew Carden lived for a time in London where his son Sackville was born in 1857. In that same year, the Cardens returned to Ireland when Andrew took on the job of Agent to his brother-in-law, Robert Burrowes of Stradone House, Co Cavan. Burrowes, a local landlord in the parish of Laragh, was husband to Andrew’s sister, Anna Frances Carden, whom he married in October 1838. It was in Co Cavan that Sackville Hamilton Carden, future Admiral of the British fleet, spent the first nine years of his life. The Cardens lived at Drumkeen and were, according to the press, a popular family with all classes in the locality. Captain Andrew was especially liked and lauded for his ‘straightforward manly conduct’ and ‘for his unostentatious Christian charity’, which may indicate that as Agent he was reasonable towards Burrowes’ tenants.

Burkes Peerage provides further details on Andrew Carden’s family. He was born on September 28, 1815, and married, firstly, Ann Berkeley in 1847, and secondly, Clara Maria Mullins, in June 1876. Professionally, Carden attained the rank of Captain in the 60th Rifles; held the office of Justice of the Peace for Tipperary; was Deputy Lieutenant for Tipperary; and was High Sheriff of that county in 1873. The children of Andrew Carden and Ann Berkeley Carden were Mary Rutter Carden, born 1850; William Berkeley Carden, born 1852; Andrew Murray Carden, born 1853; Florence Annie Carden, born 1855; Admiral Sir Sackville Hamilton Carden, born 1857; Arnold William Carden, born in 1859; Lt. Col. Louis Peile Carden, born in 1860; Lionel Berkelely Carden, born in 1863; Frances Maud Carden, born in 1865; Rosa Carden, born in 1866; and Major John Rutter Carden Jnr, born in 1867.

Ferret fanciers

On February 4, 1860, the Cavan Weekly News carried an article about a trespassing case on the lands of Captain Carden involving two men out for a day’s ferreting. Supposedly, they assumed, that no permission was needed and ‘boldly entering the wood’ set the ferret to work. The dishonest duo were Robert Woods and John Talbot, who having just caught a plump rabbit, were both outed ‘when intelligence of their proceedings’ reached the ears of Captain Carden.

Andrew Carden had previously refused permission for Woods and his ferret to hunt his property. Woods cheekily rejected the accusation that he had committed an act of trespass on January 21, 1860. In court, Captain Carden, who was a Justice of the Peace, responded, that if it could be proven that the offence occurred on a different date then the charges would be dropped. Woods maintained that he, and Talbot, and the ferret, went to Carden’s on Friday, January 20. Talbot had hearing difficulties, which Dr Carson substantiated, and yet had ‘sufficiently recovered from his ‘unfortunate affliction’ to hear the Captain speak, and confirmed that it was on Friday, January 20, he drank a little gin and enjoyed the day’s sport; for on Saturday he carried out work for Mr Mervyn. These facts were proven correct, and the two men were allowed go free, to the laughter of the courtroom. Captain Carden, while laughing himself, responded, ‘Well, you have escaped this time; but the next time you trespass I shall be more exact as to the date.’

Admiral Sackville H. Carden

In 1915, the then Vice-Admiral Sir Sackville Hamilton Carden played a key role in the Gallipoli campaign, having the command of the Allied Fleet in the Dardanelles. Churchill asked Sackville by telegram, if he could find a way to ‘smash’ through the Ottoman defences, to allow the Allies an opportunity to re-establish access to Russia. Historian and author Turtle Bunbury, writing in the Irish Daily Mail in 2015, emphasised the enormous pressure placed on Sackville’s shoulders, and his uncertain plan to take the Dardanelles, which Churchill in turn persuaded The British War Council to support.

But the operation was an enormous disaster and the Royal Navy found themselves sailing into insurmountable difficulties, lacking in munitions while the safety of their ships was at best questionable; yet the Turks ‘defences grew stronger by the hour’.

Sackville Carden suffered a nervous breakdown and was confined to the sick bay. However, upon the recovery of his wellbeing, he was refused permission to resume his former post, with Churchill informing Sir Sackville that his ‘hard service’ could now yield him ‘a good rest’.

Admiral Sir Sackville H. Carden resigning to the fate imposed upon him, died 15 years later at Lymington, Hampshire, in 1930.