Army veteran who took over storied midlands demesne

Jeffry Lefroy

Delvin

A funeral service took place in St James’s Church, Athboy, on Sunday 11 January last, for Jeffry George Lefroy, of Crowenstown Little, Delvin, and formerly of Carigglass Manor, Longford, who died on 27 December last aged 89.

A Dublin-born member of the British Army who unexpectedly inherited an old estate outside Longford town, in the mid-1970s, he became active in the Irish Farmers Association and the ACOT Committee of Agriculture in Longford. With his wife, Tessa, they established Carigglass as a midlands tourist attraction before the town was bypassed, and he later became involved in setting up the Council for the Protection of Irish Heritage Objects, as raids on country houses such as theirs for valuable antiques and paintings became prevalent. After selling Carigglass in the 2000s, they settled at Crowenstown, between Athboy and Delvin, becoming part of the local community around 2007. Born on 24 May 1936 at Corkagh House in Clondalkin, Dublin, his mother Veronica was a member of the Pomeroy-Colley family of Corkagh Demesne, who counted amongst her ancestors the Duke of Wellington. She had married Patrick Lefroy, of a Hugenot family who had fled the French wars of religion in the late 16th century, and arrived in Ireland via Britain.

Growing up in Corkagh with his mother’s family, Jeffry moved to England when aged 11 to attend school in Yorkshire before going on to Balliol College, Oxford. Obliged to do National Service, he joined the Irish Fusiliers, and saw action in the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya. Returning to his education in Oxford (First Eight, 1958), he later received a letter from Field Marshall Sir Gerald Templar, inviting him to join the regiment on a permanent basis, even though it would not have been his first choice of career. He was initially posted to Tripoli in Libya, then to the Territorial Army in Armagh, and in 1964 married Tessa White from Tandragee in Armagh, whose milling family originated near Athy, County Kildare.

Postings followed to Cyprus with the United Nations, where they were based beside the Irish Camp and enjoyed many games of football and social events with the Irish soldiers; Germany, and the former Swaziland in South Africa. Domestic family life was in Catterick near Richmond in Yorkshire, England.

Carigglass (Carrig glas – ‘green rock’) had been in the family since 1810, when acquired by Chief Justice Thomas Lefroy, and in 1957, Phoebe Lefroy, who had grown up in Clondalkin and Dundrum in Dublin, took up residence there with her mother, Kathleen, joining two uncles. The estate was some 800 acres, of which about 490 were viable, and Phoebe concentrated on beef and sheep enterprises and also kept some horses and donkeys. In 1976, she decided to retire, and Jeffry and Tessa became the custodians of Carigglass, arriving there with their young sons, Langlois and Edward. His army regiment had been amalgamated with other Irish regiments, and as Troubles blew up in Northern Ireland, he retired with the rank of major, a title he never used as a civilian.

It was a difficult time, as the Irish economy was in stagnation, and while often receiving threats due to his British Army background, Jeffry always regarded himself as Irish.

“People ask me, are you Irish or English, and I say my patriotism covers both,” he once told the Longford Leader.

He joined the Irish Farmers Association, and became their representative on the ACOT County Committee for Agriculture. In an effort to make the estate a viable proposition, they opened up the house and grounds to tourists and visitors, and Tessa succeeded in getting on the itineraries of London and Irish coach operators taking American tourists to the west of Ireland and needing a midway stopping off point. They received coach loads in the mornings and afternoons, and then in the evenings, entertained paying guests to dinner, providing employment to local cooks and young lads to act as footmen and servers – the presence of an army barracks in Longford provided young lads who had suitable regimental training.

A raconteur, Jeffry was in his element telling stories to visitors of the family background, which included a link to author Jane Austen, and of the house itself. It was built by his great great grandfather, Thomas Lefroy, over the period 1837-1840, at a cost of £4,000, designed by architect, Daniel Robertson. The Gothic style manor was built on the site of a previous Jacobean home, and initially there were 3,000 acres with the estate. The first member of the French Hugenot Lefroy family who came to Ireland was Antoine in the last quarter of the 18h century.

Thomas became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, having earlier excelled at Trinity College and becoming a member of parliament for Dublin University. He is said to have had a liaison with Jane Austen, and is supposed to have been the model for Mr Bennett in ‘Pride and Prejudice’. That occurred when he was studying for the Bar in England, and took Christmas vacation with his uncle, George Lefroy, who was a parson in Hampshire. The neighbouring clergyman was Parson Austen, father of Jane, and as it was Christmas, a lot of socialising was done, and there was a seasonal flirtation. Jane wrote letters to her sister, Cassandra, about the shy and bashful Thomas Lefroy, with whom she had a ‘fleeting romance’.

Other members of the family to have reached prominence over the years include Archbishop George Alfred Lefroy of Calcutta, India, and the Dunboyne artists, Letitia and Eve Hamilton, who were cousins, as well as the artistic Hone family.

The estate boasted a James Gandon designed courtyard, which housed a costume museum, with outfits and dresses dating back to 1752, and the Lefroys opened a museum shop there too. Jeffry also planted some 200 acres of the lesser quality land in forestry.

Jeffry and Tessa hosted the Longford Harriers hunter trials on a course at Carigglass Manor, as well as point-to-point races.

By the turn of the millennium, and not getting any younger, they decided to put Carigglass and its now 600 acres on the market. It was bought by a property developer who had plans to construct a golf course on the grounds in the mid-noughties, but the end of the so-called ‘Celtic Tiger’ put paid to that, and today, the estate sadly lies neglected and the house derelict. The Lefroys brought part of Carigglass to Delvin with them – stone piers which mark the entrance to Crowenstown Little.

Jeffry Lefroy was outgoing, and with a fine baritone voice, enjoyed entertaining. His nephew, Jonny White, recalls being interviewed for an army position, when things were progressing rather stickily until in response to the question ‘Do you have any relatives in the army?’ he replied, ‘an uncle, Jeffry Lefroy’, at which one of the interviewing board leapt to his feet saying ‘Jeffry Lefroy?! Best baritone in the British Army!’. When Country Life magazine featured Carigglass, the journalist involved heard him singing in the bath and described him as the ‘best bath baritone in Ireland’.

While at Oxford, he passed an audition to join the D’Oyly Carte opera company in London (an invitation which he then couldn’t take up), yet failed an audition to sing on the ‘Teatime with Tommy’ programme in Belfast.

Jeffry quelled a potential riot between Greeks and Turks in Cyprus, when after his efforts as a UN representative wouldn’t stop them shouting and throwing things at each other, he grabbed the main rabble-rouser’s microphone, and sang ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’, at which, miraculously and aptly, rain started falling from a previously azure sky, and the crowd dispersed. He performed in various operas, musicals, and amateur drama productions, and was one of the organisers of a performance of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s ‘Requiem’ in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, starring Sarah Brightman, as a fundraiser for the Camphill Community for people with disabilities. Later, through the work of his son Langlois as a professional film extra, he too joined the agency books, and made appearances in films like ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’, and ‘The American Girl’, and is quite prominent in Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Johnny English’.

Jeffry did not get to enjoy life in Crowenstown much after he and Tessa arrived there – he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease some 12 years ago, and the welcome, kindness and support received from neighbours who became friends, as well as from carers and health professionals, were acknowledged by Tessa at the funeral service in Athboy. Dean Paul Bogle conducted the service, in the presence of Fr Turlough Baxter, PP, Killashee, Longford, who had worked at Carigglass in his youth.

Jeffry is survived by Tessa, their sons, Langlois and Edward; grandson, Kit; sister, Laetitia; and daughters-in-law, Valérie and Niki. Burial followed in Athboy Church of Ireland Graveyard.