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Elizabeth Brush is only really known to us as the wife of Alexander HENRY M.P. of Manchester.
According to Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat Armour (1) and to The County Families of the United Kingdom (Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. London, England: Chatto and Windus, 1899.), Elizabeth Brush, the daughter of Oliver Brush, married Alexander HENRY M.P. of Manchester and had a son Mitchell HENRY in 1826.
As discussed in section 17.G, Oliver [Ir26] born 1747 appears to have been a son of Rev. James [Ir14] , and to have married Charlotte, formerly BLACK nee McNEALE. She had previously been married to a Rev. Black. I have seen nothing to suggest that Oliver and Charlotte had any other children.
AHB however asserts that Elizabeth (Brush) HENRY was a daughter of George Brush [Ir27]. I was all ready to dismiss this but the same parentage is suggested by Wikipedia, which cites in support the website of the Mitchell-Henry family in which Louis Mitchell-Henry, a grandson of Mitchell Henry unequivocably says that Elizabeth was the daughter of George Brush of Willowbrook, Killinchy, County Down. He says the marriage was in 1811.
In the 1841 census her age is given as 45 (i.e 45 -49) which puts her birth at 1791-1796. At her death in April 1844 (identifying Woodlands, Cheetham as her abode) her age is given as 52 - so born 1791/2. Which is just consistent with the suggested marriage date.
AHB suggests that Elizabeth was born on 18 December 1758. Which is quite incompatible with Oliver's birth date. Which would make Elizabeth 41 if 1785 is right. Maybe not for the first time the date may have been transposed which would make it 1785, though this does not fit with the census and death information.
Another site, concerned with a second son John Snowden Henry, also identifies Elizabeth's father as George. It provides expanded information about Alexander Henry and family.
Mitchell HENRY's birth is properly documented. The baptism register of Cross Street Presbyterian Church in Manchester identifies both parents, tells us that Alexander was a merchant living at Ardwick (in the SE Manchester suburbs) and gives a birth date of 23 July 1826. The baptism was on 2 January 1827.
Alexander and Elizabeth had at least two other children. The elder was John Snowden Henry born 30 September 1824 and also baptised at Cross Street Presbytarian Church.
The Mitchell-Henry site says that Alexander Henry of Woodlands, Nr. Manchester, was a very affluent merchant and Member of Parliament for South Lancashire, the son of William Henry of Loughbrickland, Co. Down. Mitchell was trained to be a doctor and surgeon at Manchester University and the Manchester Royal School of Medicine and Surgery (Manchester Royal Infirmary) and proved to be a brilliant surgeon, becoming senior consultant at the Middlesex Hospital in London by the time he was 30. When his father died, in 1858, he inherited vast wealth, virtually owning and receiving all income from A & S Henry & Co. (which was not a public company in those days) founded by Alexander in 1804. He gave up being a surgeon and went into politics as a Liberal and was an M.P. for an English constituency for some years. He was a Justice of the Peace (magistrate) for Middlesex, Westminster, and later for County Galway which represented in the House of Commons for about 25 years.
Mitchell Henry also founded the Manchester Evening News in 1868 as part of his Parliamentary election campaign. In 1852, Mitchell married Margaret Vaughan of Quilly House, County Down. Mitchell built Kylemore Castle in Connemara, Co. Galway. A splendid house in a huge estate. The work commenced in 1867 and was completed in 1871. Well after mother Elizabeth's death. He was a good landlord who spent most of his fortune on the estate as well as for the benefit of the local people at a time there was deep Irish poverty After the death of his wife Margaret in 1875, Mitchell did not spend much time there. He and his wife are both buried in the church near Kylemore. Presumably the church within his own estate.
I was able to visit the Kylemore house and estate, now known as Kylemore Abbey, during a trip around Ireland in early summer 1925.
His later life, and the story of his descendants seems to be extensivly documented elsewhere and is outside the scope of this story. But the following family tree, on display at Kylemore abbey may be of interest.
Links preserved as :