Agnes Alice Maud King : Short Biography

Erronagh Gate Lodge was the home of Henry King (RIC Constable) and Frances Halliday King (Schoolteacher) and where their daughter Agnes King (1870-1869) and her siblings [Samuel Henry (1868-1869), Henry (1870-?), Samuel James (1872-1945) and Robert Clements (1873-1930)] lived their childhood.  Agnes' father had been married previously - his first wife Rebecca Johnston having passed away, leaving him with 3 small children [John Andrew (1858-1883), Mary Ann (1859-1937) and Sarah Jane (1861-1878)].  

The extremely quirky property where they lived was believed to be designed by John Nash, the architect renowned for his designs such as Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch.  Erronagh Gate Lodge was one of 7 Gate Lodges to Rockingham (Lough Key Forest Park), estate of the King-Harmons.  When our King family lived in this property, they would have had full access, free gratis, to the milk and fresh garden produce of Rockingham estate - I would imagine a great benefit during what must have been hard times, as people were just recovering from the famine in Ireland. (Most of the estate Gate Lodges were occupied by RIC men and their families). 

Even though Agnes' mother taught in Erronagh Primary School (a two storey structure now in ruins, which was situate along the entrance avenue to Cloontykilla Castle), Agnes and her siblings all attended Ardcarne Primary School, a two storey building adjacent to Ardcarne Church. 

Agnes met her future husband Johnston Morrison (1861-1943), a member of the RIC, when he was stationed just down the road from her home, at Knockvicar barracks.  The fly leaf of our family bible shows an inscription "presented to Miss Agnes King on the occasion of her approaching marriage by the Revd Francis Burke and Mrs Burke in token of their regard and esteem for her and in remembrance of her valued help in the Ardcarne Church Choir.  April 9th 1889, Francis Burke Rector of Ardcarne".  We can deduce from this that Ardcarne church was the church where our King family were members of the congregation.   Agnes and Johnston married on the 18th April of that year and in accordance with RIC regulations moved away - a member of the force not being allowed to serve in a county where he had family.  

Before settling in Moycullen, Co. Galway, in 1898, they lived briefly in Salthill and Barna, Co. Galway.  They had a family of 9 sons [Henry Gilbert (1890-1925), Robert Archey (1892-1941), Herbert (1893-1946), Francis Alfred (1896-1958), Hugh Kingsley (1897-1969), Andrew Ernest (1899-1958), Arthur Edward (1903-1975), Charles Frederick (1905-1989), John Percival (1911-1912)] and 1 daughter [Margaret Frances (1913-1999)] and in tough times watched 5 of their boys head off to serve in WW1 - thankfully they all returned alive but sadly not to remain at home in Ireland.  Agnes was strong in presence, a newspaper article in 1910 tells of her containing a burglar when she found him having broken into the property of Captain & Mrs Campbell, whose dwelling Moycullen House she was in charge of while they were away.  Agnes was a much respected member of the community in Moycullen, reflected in an obituary in the Connacht Tribune of the 9th July 1927 following her death 10 days earlier - "the attendance at her funeral and the many floral tributes bore testimony to the esteem in which she was held by all who knew her".        

Our King ancestors still resided in Erronagh Gate Lodge in 1901 (per census). I gather great grandmother Frances Halliday King moved out following the death of my great grandfather Henry King Snr in 1903 as by the 1911 census she was residing with her son Henry Jnr in Manorhamilton, where he was stationed as an RIC Constable (Agnes' mother died in Manorhamilton in 1919).  Pierce Carty, a local historian in the Boyle area, told me a former RIC officer by the name of Flaherty came to reside in the house after the Kings vacated. Flaherty's daughter married a man named Jack Tiernan who owned the first car in Roscommon. Pierce also mentioned that  Sir Thomas Stafford King Harmon was the first landlord to allow a non military catholic occupy one of the lodges.