From Mandeville to Mansfield and Maydwell to Mandeville

From Mandeville to Mansfield and Maydwell to Mandeville

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

In the late sixteenth century the medieval family of Mandeville of Co. Waterford slowly changed their surname to Manfield and later to Mansfield. At the about the same time the medieval family of Maydwell of Co. Tipperary changed their surname to Mandeville.[1]

Mandeville to Mansfield surname

The chief seat of Mandeville power in the 13^th and 14^th century was situated in Ulster. The Waterford estates were of secondary importance but with the loss of the family’s Ulster property the Waterford lands became their chief residence. Members of the Mansfield in County Waterford still occupy property in the approximate location of their medieval ancestors.

In 1336 Anna de Mandeville, widow, granted the manor of Lislynane in the County of Knockfergus (Carrickfergus?) to her son Walter de Mandeville.[2] In February 1342 Maurice, son of Thomas, Earl of Desmond, granted unto Sir Walter de Mandeville the site of a mill pond at Ardsillaigh (Ardsallagh) and associated land and watercourses.[3]

The Mandeville surname was still used in the 15^th century but slight variations were allowed. In August 1456 Walter son of Henry de Manduill did give and grant onto his son, Edmond de Mandevill the family estates at Cronaghtane, Moyeghe, Liscassellmore, Liscassellbeg, Killelongford and other parcels elsewhere in County Waterford including land and a mill pond at Ardsillaigh. The grant also mentioned any lands in Ulster that maybe recovered by the family.[4]

Towards the end of the 16^th century the Mandeville surname began to change from its medieval form. The words Mansfield and Manfild seem to be in use at the same period as the final form of the surname had not settled down. In the 1590s Edmund Maunsfild of Killelongford made a feoffment of half of Ballyhomock to John FitzMatthew Hore.[5] In 1602 Edmond Manfild of Killeaked, County Waterford, granted unto his brother Henry Manfild the lands of Ballyquyne.[6]

By 1634 the surname of Mansfield was in use as in Walter Mansfield of Ballynemultynaugh, Co. Waterford.[7] In 1681 every member of the family used the surname of Mansfield as in Walter Mansfield of Ballynemultynaugh and Richard Mansfield, his son and Thomas and Henry Mansfield, brothers of Richard.[8] Thereafter the surname is Mansfield.

In this way people called Mansfield in County Waterford were originally called Mandeville.

Mandeville to Mansfield place-name

At about the same time that the surname of Mandeville was changing to Mansfield the place-name of Mandeville was doing the same thing. In County Louth, in 1524, Thomas Darcy was rector of St. Mary’s in Maundevillstown (Mandeville’s town).[9] In 1535 William Mann was rector of Monfeleston and in 1536 other people like Peter Taff owned land there.[10] In 1537 William Mann was rector of Mawndwyleston.[11] In 1543 Robert Ardaghe was curate at Manwyleston which in 1544 was written as Monfeleston.[12] In 1556 Robert Ardaghe was vicar of Mandefilleston.[13] By 1605 Mandeville’s town had become Mansfeldestown or Mansfield’s town to use modern spelling.[14]

Maydwell to Mandeville

While the Waterford Mandevilles became Mansfield in County Tipperary the Maydwell family became Mandeville. The Maydwell family of Ballydine seemed to have adopted the change of surname from a misreading of the Latin form of the name which was de Mandevella.[15]

In 1344-5 the name of Maydwell was used in the neighbourhood of Kilshillan such as Philip Maydwell and John Maydwell.[16] In the 12^th year of King Richard II Philip Mandewell lost a court case relating to land against Richard Walsh.[17] In 1420 Maurice Maydewell was a juror in Clonmel while in 1432 James Maidewell got an annual rent from the Earl of Ormond from Carrick-on-Suir.[18] In 1514 you had James Maydellof Ballydine and in 1541 there was James Maydoll of Ballydine.[19] In 1551 William Moydoll of Ballydine spelt his name in that way and in 1583 you had Edmund Moydell of Ballydine.[20] In 1592 Edmund Maydwell signed a commission to the Earl of Ormond to compound with Queen Elizabeth on the payment of the county cess.[21]

By the 1640s the family surname had become Mandeville. In 1640 James Mandeville of Ballydine held half a colpe at Ballydine by ancient inheritance. The same James Mandeville also held half a colpe at Curraghdobbin by ancient inheritance and part of Bulterstown. In 1654 John Mandeville of Ballyglissin was a juror for the Civil Survey in the Barony of Iffa and Offa.[22]

In 1849 James Hackett Mandeville lived at Ballydine castle, near Carrick-on-Suir with his wife, Jane O’Mahony. She was the sister of John O’Mahony of Clonkilla, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. This John O’Mahony fought a guerrilla campaign against the British in the Comeragh Mountains in 1849. In 1853 John O’Mahony gave his Clonkilla farm to Jane O’Mahony Mandeville and moved to America. There John O’Mahony became in 1858 the head of the American branch of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Although John O’Mahony collected a lot of money for the Fenian cause in Ireland in 1877 he died penniless in New York.[23]

Meanwhile back in Ireland John O’Mahony’s nephew, John Mandeville (fourth son of James Mandeville of Ballydine), succeeded to the Clonkilla farm. In the 1880s John Mandeville became secretary of the National Land League in Mitchelstown. After the Mitchelstown massacre of September 1887 John Mandeville spent three months in Tullamore jail where he was harshly treated. On release his heath decline and in July 1888 he died at Clonkilla. In the meantime the Countess of Kingston agreed to reduce the rents by twenty per cent as the tenants demanded.[24] In September 1906 a statue of John Mandeville was erected in the Square in Mitchelstown.[25]

Mitchelstown statue of John Mandeville

Thus people called Mandeville in south County Tipperary or their ancestors were originally called Maydwell. History and historical research is never a straight line exercise. The reasoning behind the name changes is difficult to determine - people wanting to make a change from the past or people imaging a more ancient inheritance. The change of place-name around the same time would suggest the change was not an isolated occurrence but part of a widespread change in the language. 

Bibliography

Ainsworth, J., and MacLysaght, E., ‘Survey of Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 20 (1958), pp. 91-125

Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume III, 1413-1509 (Dublin, 1935)

Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume IV, 1509-1547 (Dublin, 1937)

Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume V, 1547-1584 (Dublin, 1941)

Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume VI, 1584-1603 (Dublin, 1943)

Griffith, M.C. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions formerly in the Office of the Chief Remembrancer of the Exchequer prepared from the MSS of the Irish Record Commission (Dublin, 1991)

Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26

Power, B., Another side of Mitchelstown (Mitchelstown, 2008)

Simington, R. (ed.), The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-1656 County of Tipperary, Vol 1, Eastern and Southern Baronies (Dublin, 1931)

===================

End of post

===================

---

[1] Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26, at p. 3

[2] Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26, at p. 14

[3] Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26, at p. 15

[4] Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26, at p. 7

[5] Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26, at p. 24

[6] Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26, at p. 20

[7] Ainsworth, J., and MacLysaght, E., ‘Survey of Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 20 (1958), pp. 91-125, at p. 94

[8] Ainsworth, J., and MacLysaght, E., ‘Survey of Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 20 (1958), pp. 91-125, at p. 101

[9] Griffith, M.C. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions formerly in the Office of the Chief Remembrancer of the Exchequer prepared from the MSS of the Irish Record Commission (Dublin, 1991), no. H VIII 12 

[10] Griffith (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions, nos. H VIII 70, 83

[11] Griffith (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions, no. H VIII 100

[12] Griffith (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions, nos. H VIII 172, 183

[13] Griffith (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions, no. Eliz 88

[14] Griffith (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions, no. J1 28

[15] Nicholls, K.W., ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 32 (1985), pp. 3-26, at p. 3

[16] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume III, 1413-1509 (Dublin, 1935),, pp. 364

[17] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume VI, 1584-1603 (Dublin, 1943), p. 153

[18] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume III, 1413-1509, pp. 32, 52

[19] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume IV, 1509-1547 (Dublin, 1937), pp. 17, 208

[20] Curtis, E. (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume V, 1547-1584 (Dublin, 1941), pp. 61, 76

[21] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, volume VI, 1584-1603, p. 52

[22] Simington, R. (ed.), The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-1656 County of Tipperary, Vol 1, Eastern and Southern Baronies (Dublin, 1931), pp. 258, 266, 268, 275

[23] Power, B., Another side of Mitchelstown (Mitchelstown, 2008), pp. 202, 203

[24] Power, Another side of Mitchelstown, pp. 203, 204, 205

[25] Power, Another side of Mitchelstown, p. 160