Stylised illustration of the Baily Lighthouse, Howth Earlscliffe Howth, Co. Dublin
Irish Church Act of 1869, which disestablished the Church of Ireland

House & History

The Knox family
Owner: 1878–1896

The Knox family: Owner of Earlscliffe, 1878–1896

After the work that had been put into renovating Earlscliffe by the McClintock Bunbury's, the house was eventually sold in 1878 to Dawson Thomas Knox. 1 2 3

Family history

Knox Family Tree

When the Knox family were associated with Earlscliffe in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, Ireland was in the middle of profound transition. This was not the Ireland of the Great Famine memory alone, nor yet the Ireland of independence. It was a society negotiating land, religion, power and identity, often through legislation rather than revolution.

Earlscliffe itself was part of that quieter transformation.

By the 1870s and 1880s, Howth and Sutton were no longer remote coastal villages. The railway had long connected the peninsula to Dublin, and improved transport made the coast attractive to professional families who wanted sea air without severing their ties to the city.

Houses like Earlscliffe offered both retreat and connection: a place to live, entertain, and raise families, while commuting into administrative offices in Dublin.

The Knox family belonged to that professional world. They were not landed aristocracy in the traditional sense, nor were they rural gentry rooted in estate agriculture. Their influence lay instead in administration and the machinery of government.

They were part of what might be called the civil and ecclesiastical middle class: educated, networked, and closely tied to the institutions that shaped late nineteenth-century Ireland.

List of Residents/Owners

Reverend Thomas Knox

Reverend Thomas Knox was the Rector of Lurgan, Co. Armagh, whose own father, Venerable Charles Knox, was the Archdeacon of Armagh. He was married twice, firstly to Eliza Winckworth Bent on the 1st Sep 1840 and then to Emily Jane Logan, daughter of Rev Thomas Dawson Logan on the 21st Nov 1861.

In his first marriage, the Reverend Thomas Knox and Eliza had six sons, one of which, Dawson Thomas, bought Earlscliffe, and at some time or other, many of the other sons lived and shared the house at Earlscliffe.

List of Residents/Owners

Dawson Thomas Knox

Dawson Thomas was born on the 4th May 1845, the fourth son of Reverend Thomas Knox and Eliza Winckworth Bent.

Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland

Irish Church Act of 1869, which disestablished the Church of Ireland
Irish Church Act of 1869, which disestablished the Church of Ireland

Dawson Thomas Knox's career began in the Office of the Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland. That office emerged from the Irish Church Act of 1869, which disestablished the Church of Ireland and reorganised its property and finances. For centuries, church lands and revenues had been part of the Protestant Ascendancy structure. Disestablishment required careful, methodical unwinding of that system. The Commissioners oversaw the redistribution and management of church property, a process that was administrative rather than dramatic, but politically charged all the same.

To work in that office was to be engaged in the reshaping of Ireland’s institutional landscape. It required precision, legal understanding, and patience. These were not glamorous roles, but they were consequential ones.

Irish Land Commission

Later, Dawson moved into the Irish Land Commission, serving as Deputy Superintendent of the Church Property Department. The Land Commission had been established in 1881 during the Land War, when tenant farmers were agitating for fair rents and security of tenure. Its remit expanded over time to oversee the transfer of land from landlords to tenants, gradually altering patterns of ownership that had defined Ireland for generations.

From his desk in Dublin, Dawson would have dealt with files, valuations, titles and correspondence that formed part of this transformation. The work was bureaucratic, but the implications were national. Each document represented land, livelihood and, often, tension between social classes and religious communities. His role places him within the administrative framework that mediated between reforming legislation and lived rural reality.

He was an annual member of the Royal Dublin Society from 1876 onwards. 34

Dawson never married and lived at Earlscliffe until his death in January 1895 at the age of forty-nine. He was buried in St Fintan’s Cemetery, Sutton.

When Dawson died in January 1895, the Ireland he had helped to administer was already changing. Land purchase schemes would accelerate in the decades that followed. Ownership patterns would shift decisively. Political currents would move towards Home Rule and eventually independence. The world of civil servants managing church temporalities and land transfers would be absorbed into new institutional forms.

List of Residents/Owners

Reverend Thomas and Eliza Knox's children

Here are brief summaries of the lives of the six sons of Reverend Thomas Knox and Eliza Winckworth Bent, many of which lived at some time or other in Earlscliffe. Click each name to expand that section.

Charles Jeffrey Knox (1841–1881)

Charles Jeffrey Knox was born in Madras, India, on 7th July 1841, a reminder that the Knox family story already stretched well beyond Ireland. He was baptised in England and later returned to India as an adult, entering the Madras Civil Service. There he served as Assistant to the Collector and Magistrate of Nellore, a responsible and demanding colonial post. 5

On 11th August 1864 he married Elizabeth Georgina Logan, daughter of the Reverend Thomas Dawson Logan of County Louth. Together they had two sons whose lives continued the family’s outward reach. 4 Thomas Vesey Melville Knox worked as an insurance clerk in Buenos Aires, while Charles Arthur Northland Knox settled in the Transvaal, where he died young in 1896. 24

Charles’s own life ended abruptly and far from home. On 28 October 1881, aged just forty, he died aboard the P&O steamer Mirzapore while crossing the Red Sea. 6 7

Ellis Henry Knox (1842–1892)

Ellis Henry Knox was born in Cheltenham on 21st Nov 1842 and followed a quieter, more administrative path than his elder brother. He never married and spent his working life as a clerk in the Office of Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland, where his younger brother Dawson Thomas Knox also worked.

In later life, Ellis lived at Earlscliffe, where he died on 20th June 1892 at the age of forty-nine. He was buried nearby in St Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton, marking the beginning of a strong physical and emotional link between the Knox family and the house that would become so closely associated with many of them. 8

Robert Uchtred Knox (1844–1892)

Very little is known about the daily life of Robert Uchtred Knox, born on 9th Apr 1844, but what survives is stark. He never married, and when he died on 26th March 1892, aged forty-eight, his death certificate recorded that he had “no occupation” and had suffered from “Dementia Twenty years certified”. 30

Robert died at Earlscliffe just three months before his brother Ellis, 30 and the two are buried close together in St Fintan’s Cemetery. 8 9

Dawson Thomas Knox (1845–1895)

As mentioned earlier, Dawson Thomas Knox was born on 4th May 1845 and, like Ellis, built his career within the machinery of nineteenth-century administration. He worked initially as a clerk in the Office of Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland 24 and later transferred to the Irish Land Commission, where he became Deputy Superintendent of the Church Property Department. 10 11

He never married and lived at Earlscliffe until his death on 25th January 1895 at the age of forty-nine. He too was buried in St Fintan’s Cemetery, strengthening the sense of Earlscliffe as both a family home and a final anchor for several of the Knox brothers. 8 12 31

Vesey Knox (1847–1896)

Born on 25th Mar 1847, Vesey Knox took a very different path, entering the Royal Navy. He rose to the rank of Commander, 13 having become a Lieutenant in 1870, 24 and spent much of his life at sea.

In 1885 he married Helen Leigh, daughter of a merchant family, who had been born in Valparaíso, Chile. At the time of their marriage she was living in Liverpool, another point on the family’s growing international map. 28 They had one son, Albert Vesey Bent Knox, born on 18 Feb 1887 in Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry, whose early death on the 6th Feb 1909 brought further loss to the family.

Vesey himself died on the 8th Sept 1896 on the Isle of Man at the age of forty-nine. 13 Helen later returned to live in Ireland, outliving both her husband and her only child.

Cheney John Maunsell Knox (1848–1920)

Cheney John Maunsell Knox, born on 6th Aug 1848, lived the longest of the brothers and perhaps the most unconventional domestic life. He never married and spent part of his life at Earlscliffe before moving to 9 Percy Place in Dublin with his half-sisters, Emily & Winifred (as recorded in the 1901 census). Cheney was a clerk in the Bank of Ireland.

Emily also kept a summer house at Couleen on Ceanchor Road in Howth, directly across from Earlscliffe, maintaining a strong geographic pull back to the peninsula.

By the 1911 census, Winifred had moved on leaving Cheney and Emily in 9 Percy Place, now joined by their servant, Kate Cassidy. 14

Cheney died on 31st Dec 1920 and left his entire estate to Emily. He was buried in the old section of St Fintan’s Cemetery. 16 The servant, Kate, later died at Couleen in 1947 where she lived with Emily. 15

List of Residents/Owners

Reverend Thomas Knox - second marriage

The Reverend's wife, Eliza Winckworth died on the 3rd June 1850.

Eleven years after Eliza's death, Rev Thomas Knox married Emily Jane Logan, daughter of Rev Thomas Dawson Logan, on the 21st Nov 1861. (As an aside, three years later, Reverend Thomas' eldest son, Charles, would also marry one of Rev. Logan's daughters.)

Reverend Thomas Knox and Emily Jane went on to have four children a number of which lived at some time or other in Earlscliffe. 4 Click each name to expand that section.

Frances Mary Winifred Knox (1862–1949)

Frances Mary Winifred Knox, known within the family simply as Winifred, was born on 18th Sept 1862. By the mid-1890s she was living at Earlscliffe, but her life would eventually take her far from Howth.

In the 1901 census she was living in 9 Percy Place in Dublin with her brother, Cheney, and her sister, Emily. Both Winifred and Emily were Teachers of Music. In 1910 she married Francis Alexander James Fitzgerald, who had already established himself in the United States, having emigrated there in the 1890s and become a naturalised American citizen in 1911. 17

Winifred joined him in June 1919, and she too became a naturalised US citizen, beginning a new chapter overseas after years rooted in Earlscliffe and Dublin. Despite this, her ties to Howth were never entirely broken. On 2nd Jun 1949, while on holiday back in Ireland, she died at Couleen on Ceanchor Road, the summer house of her sister Emily, directly across the road from Earlscliffe. She was eighty-six years old and was buried in St Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton, returning in death to the place that had shaped her early life. 32

Emily Elizabeth Hannah Knox (1865–1952)

Emily Elizabeth Hannah Knox was born on 25th Oct 1865 and, like her sister Winifred, was living at Earlscliffe in the 1890s. She never married and pursued a life centred on education and culture, becoming a Professor of Music. 18

She later lived at 9 Percy Place in Dublin, while maintaining a summer residence at Couleen on Ceanchor Road in Howth, opposite Earlscliffe. This dual life between city and peninsula mirrored the rhythms of earlier generations. Emily died on 19 Feb 1952 at Percy Place, aged eighty-six, and was buried in St Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton, close to her siblings and the family home that had remained a constant reference point throughout her life. 14

William Arthur Logan Knox (1864–1924)

Born on 8th May 1864, 19 William Arthur Logan Knox followed a markedly different path from his sisters. Trained as a mechanic and electrical engineer, he emigrated to Perth in Western Australia by the mid-1890s, part of a broader movement of skilled workers seeking opportunity in the expanding cities of the British Empire. 20 21

William built a career in telecommunications, working initially as a manager at the Perth Telephone Exchange. In 1906 he accepted a demotion to the role of Foreman Instrument Fitter, Grade I, a decision formally recorded and suggesting either economic pressure or a pragmatic choice to remain in secure employment. 22 He died in Perth in 1924 at the age of sixty, his life reflecting the technical and industrial world of the early twentieth century rather than the domestic sphere of Earlscliffe.

Thomas George Keith Knox (1869–1909)

Thomas George Keith Knox, born on 15th January 1869, 19 spent part of his youth in Wales, where he was educated as a boarder at Friars School in Bangor. 23 He later attended Cambridge University with his address being Earlscliffe. 33

Little is known of his later years, but his death places him firmly within the wider Knox diaspora. Thomas died on 12th Feb 1909 in the Bronx, New York City, at the age of just forty. 23 His early death, far from Ireland, stands as a reminder of how widely the family had spread by the turn of the twentieth century, and how incomplete many of their stories remain.

Reverend Thomas Knox - death

Reverend Thomas Knox died on the 23rd May 1871. His second wife, Emily Jane, died on the 7th Sep 1879 in Earlscliffe and was buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton, Howth. 3 8

List of Residents/Owners

Summary of the Knox family at Earlscliffe

When Dawson Thomas owned Earlscliffe, he also shared the house with four of his brothers, Ellis Henry, 24 Robert Uchtred, 24 Cheney John Maunsell, 25 and Vesey Knox, 26 and with his two half sisters, Frances Mary Winifred and Emily Elizabeth Hannah, and his half brother, Thomas George Keith Knox. 33 He also lived there for a time with his step-mother, Emily Jane. 3

After Dawson's death, we assume that the house was transferred in name to his brother, Cheney Knox 29 who subsequently put Earlscliffe up for auction in July 1895. 27

For Earlscliffe, the Knox years form part of a layered history. They represent a period when the house was linked to the administrative reshaping of Ireland, when suburban Howth was growing in confidence and connection, and when professional families made their homes along the coast while working at the heart of the state.

The wider context reveals something more enduring: that Earlscliffe was not merely a residence, but a vantage point overlooking a society in transition.

Next chapter: John Randal Plunkett

Earlscliffe timeline

  1. 1845–1864: Cornelius Egan
  2. 1864–1878: Captain William Bunbury McClintock
  3. 1878–1896: The Knox family
  4. 1896–1901: John Randal Plunkett
  5. 1901–1922: Sir John Pentland Mahaffy
  6. 1922–1924: Very Rev. Charles Thomas Ovenden
  7. 1924–1927: Robert Rooney
  8. 1927–1930: Dr Ella Webb
  9. 1930–1945: Sir John Lumsden
  10. 1945–1949: William Martin Murphy
  11. 1949–1950: Lily Margaret Graham Gough
  12. 1950–1952: Olive & "Kit" Stanley-Clarke
  13. 1952–1961: Peggy & Bobby Woods
  14. 1961–1969: Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Knowles
  15. 1969–today: Robinson & Foley family

References & Further Reading

  1. In Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland (1881) it states that Dawson Knox was in Earlscliffe and again in Slater's Royal National Directory of Ireland (1894) ↩
  2. Thom's Irish Almanac & Official Directory~1886, as listed in "Extracts From Various Trade Directories 1834 To 1910" https://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chrisu/howth/howth_dir3.htm  It states that a D Knox lived there. This is Dawson Thomas. The dates listed were 1886, 1891 and 1892. Also, various Irish Times notices seem to indicate that a C Knox lived here, which is Cheney.  ↩
  3. Emily Jane Knox's death was announced in the Belfast Newsletter, Sept 10, 1879. It stated that she died at Earlscliffe, Howth. Therefore, we assume that Dawson must have bought the house in 1878. ↩
  4. https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/7940/79401351.23.pdf ↩
  5. Details from Madras Civil Service https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/105724902?mode=transcription ↩
  6. Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1882 https://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/reels/cwa/005014897/005014897_00218.pdf notes the will of Charles Jeffery Knox and states "16 January. The will of Charles Jeffrey Knox late of Masulipatam Madras Presidency in India Madras Civil Service deceased who died 28 October 1881 at Sea was proved at the Principal Registry by Dawson Thomas Knox and Cheney John Maunsell Knox both of Earlscliffe Howth County Dublin Esquires the Executors." Charles Jeffrey was the eldest Knox sibling and was around 40 when he died in 1881. ↩
  7. Charles Jeffrey Knox's death was announced in the Belfast Newsletter, Nov 12, 1881. ↩
  8. Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958. Robert died at Earlscliffe in and is buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton, Howth https://buried.fingal.ie/wp-assets-bif/uploads/register-scans/St_Fintans_1_001.jpg. Three months later, Ellis Henry died at Earlscliffe and is buried in the same cemetery https://buried.fingal.ie/wp-assets-bif/uploads/register-scans/St_Fintans_1_002.jpg. Three years later, Dawson died at Earlscliffe and is also buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton, Howth. https://buried.fingal.ie/wp-assets-bif/uploads/register-scans/St_Fintans_1_003.jpg  ↩
  9. The Derry Journal, April 1st 1892, listed the death of Robert Uchtred at Earlscliffe. Also the Belfast Newsletter, March 29, 1892 announced the death of Robert Uchtred at Earlscliffe. ↩
  10. Thom's Official Directory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1894, Law Directory page 846. ↩
  11. https://thepeerage.com/p33229.htm states Dawson Thomas Knox was born on 4th May 1845. He was the son of Reverend Thomas Knox and Eliza Winckworth Bent.  ↩
  12. Ireland, Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland Membership Registers, 1733-1923 for Dawson Thomas Knox has an entry for his death in Volume V (1860-1899) as on the 25 Jan 1895. This is confirmed in the Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858 https://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/reels/cwa/005014909/005014909_00233.pdf. ↩
  13. In the Donnybrook Parish Magazine for 1896 under "DEATHS", it lists "Knox. - Sept. 8th, [at] Port St. Mary, Isle of Man, Commander Vesey Knox, R.N., fifth son of the late Rev. Thomas Knox, of Ballymoney Rectory, Co. Antrim, formerly resident at 3 Churchill Villas, Sandymount Avenue." ↩
  14. The story of Emily was originally told by Olive Stanley Clarke to David Robinson in the 1980s. However, there are some interesting facts about the Knox household at Couleen. The 1911 census shows that a Cheney Knox lived in 9 Percy Place in Dublin with his half sister Emily Knox and they had a 'servant' called Kate Cassidy (from the 1911 Census found https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000127524/ - retrieved on 19-Feb-2023).  Certainly Kate died in Couleen on the 15th Sept 1947. See also the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966. Emily was buried in St. Fintan's Cemetary Sutton Section: Old Section https://buried.fingal.ie/wp-assets-bif/uploads/register-scans/St_Fintans_2_010.jpg retrieved 17-Jan-2024 ↩
  15. The register of births for Dublin North shows Patrick Joseph Cassidy  https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1907/01699/1674057.pdf. However, Some research shows that Patrick's father was  Cheney John Maunsell Knox. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/29566954/person/12195427090/facts?_phsrc=izG16&_phstart=successSource ↩
  16. England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019 https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar/GetImgSrc?filePath=%2F1920%2FC%2F000473_cheney_1920.Png ↩
  17. Irish Marriages 1845-1958↩
  18. From the 1911 Census found https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000127524/ retrieved 18-Feb-2023↩
  19. See https://thepeerage.com/p33228.htm#i332275 Also, birth was announced in the Belfast Newsletter Jan 19, 1869.↩
  20. Ancestry records for William Arthur Logan Knox. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/64949843/person/36395851787/facts ↩
  21. In the West Australian newspaper, May 18, 1894, William writes a notice as the Honorary Secretary of the Royal Perth Yacht Club. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/809596?# ↩
  22. As recorded in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 7th July 1906. https://www.legislation.gov.au/file/1906GN36 ↩
  23. As recorded in the 1881 Wales census and other records. https://w.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/64949843/person/36395851789/facts ↩
  24. Debrett's Peerage and Titles of Courtesy Page 521 https://books.google.ie/books?id=GdsNAAAAQAAJ&q=%22ellis+Henry%22+earlscliffe&dq=%22ellis+Henry%22+earlscliffe&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y with an entry that reads: "Ellis Henry, b. 1842; is a Clerk in Office of Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland. Residence, — Earlscliffe, Howth, co. Dublin" - retrieved 18-Feb-2023. See also Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage 1881 Page 564-565 https://books.google.ie/books?id=Vlo-AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA565&dq=%22earlscliffe%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmzJOs4Z_9AhW2RkEAHeHQCscQ6AF6BAhcEAI#v=onepage&q=%22earlscliffe%22&f=false retrieved 18-Feb-2023. See also Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2019 https://books.google.ie/books?id=99thEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4068&dq=%22robert+uchtred%22+knox&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXhM-ggqD9AhXORcAKHQF4CeMQ6AF6BAg6EAI#v=onepage&q=%22robert%20uchtred%22%20knox&f=false retrieved 18-Feb-2023↩
  25. The Dublin Daily Express 10th June 1891 has a piece on the ladies school, Rockmount, Howth, with references to Cheney Knox of Earlscliffe.↩
  26. In the Morning Post, London, 28th Dec 1885, there is something about Commander Vesey Knox of Earlscliffe↩
  27. The house was advertised in the Irish Times July 6 1895 pg. 9. Earlscliffe was described as a "first class Residence, in perfect order, with every residential attraction, situated on the sunny side of Howth, facing Kingstown, and adjoining the sea shore, standing upon about five acres. Immediate possession." It also said that the "climate on the south slope of Howth is well know for salubrity, being well protected from north and east winds. Earlscliffe occupies the choicest position on the south slope of Howth, the most enviable marine residential position in the County of Dublin."↩
  28. As recorded in the Belfast Newsletter, 30th Dec 1885↩
  29. as recorded in the 1896 Dublin Directory of Nobility, Gentry, Merchants, and Traders pg. 1783.↩
  30. https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1892/06047/4722811.pdf retrieved 19-Feb-2023↩
  31. https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1895/05942/4687974.pdf retrieved 19-Feb-2023↩
  32. As recorded in Buried in Fingal. https://buried.fingal.ie/wp-assets-bif/uploads/register-scans/St_Fintans_2_008.jpg retrieved 17-Jan-2024↩
  33. Local Examinations Class Lists. University of Cambridge. 1884 https://www.google.ie/books/edition/Local_Examinations/VRZPSTH9pCMC?hl=en&gbpv=0 ↩
  34. The Kerry and Dexter herd book - Volume 2 - Page 28. 1891 https://www.google.ie/books/edition/The_Kerry_and_Dexter_herd_book/Y_B2y7l8C_sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=earlscliffe&pg=RA1-PA28&printsec=frontcover ↩

List of Residents/Owners

Page last updated: 4 Aug 2026

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