Item 172 - Letter from Gabrielle Gore-Booth re: Lissadell Estate, 24 July 1956

8pp

Letter to Canon Hayes from Gabrielle Gore-Booth, Lissadell House, County Sligo. Lady Gore-Booth details to Canon Hayes her side of the dispute over the stewardship of Lissadell estate, which she had operated since 1944 on behalf of her brother Michael, who had been declared a ward of the state. Gabrielle managed the estate under the supervision of the then-Committee of the estate, P.J. Ruttledge, T.D., until his death in May 1952. A new Solicitor General, Gerald Maguire, was appointed, and he took a more active role in managing the estate. Maguire found that the family was heavily overdrawn. In September 1954, Gabrielle discovered that timber receipts of £5,750 were not recorded in the year-end accounts. A confrontation followed; the accounts were amended, but relations between them became strained. In February 1956 he sacked Gabrielle, and appointed a new manager. Gabrielle retaliated by locking all the gates of Lissadell at 6am on Saint Valentine's Day. The majority of estate workers demanded Gabrielle’s reinstatement,resulting in 44 workers being sacked and 13 being evicted The Lissadell nursery, and other horticultural enterprises closed. Gabrielle paid the workers herself out of the proceeds of estate timber. Ultimately, the court ruled in favour of Maguire in April 1965.

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