He was descended from Sir Richard St George of Cambridgeshire who in 1666 was granted extensive lands in the counties of Galway, Roscommon, Limerick and Queen’s County (County Laois) by the Cromwell Administration.
On 11 December 1789, a decree by His Majesty’s Court of Exchequer, ordered the sale of the property of defendant Charles Manners St. George, a minor (age 3 yrs) in Co. Roscommon and Co. Leitrim, to include the Manor of Carrickdrumarusk. Instead, his father’s estate passed to his 1st cousin, Richard St George (1757-98) who died during the United Irish Rebellion.
From 1797, Charles Manners St George spent ten years living in Germany and in France with his mother, an Irish writer (best known for her journals and correspondence) who remarried in 1803.
DIPLOMAT
Educated at Trinity College Cambridge, Charles Manners St George served in India for four years acting as Attache Charge D’Affaire, to his uncle Lord Howden. Over the course of 20 years he served as secretary of legation at British embassies at Brussels, Vienna, Frankfort, Stockholm, and in 1826, he was appointed Secretary to his Majesty’s Legation at the Court of Turin.
HATLEY MANOR
In 1829, the area known as St George’s Terrace in Carrick today, was sold by Charles Manners St George to Captain Charles Cox, his agent. There, between the old courthouse and the town clock, Cox erected four houses with arch doorways and a large mansion designed by B King. Upon its completion in 1830, Charles Manners St George bought it back from Captain Cox and named it Hatley Manor after the St George ancestral home in Cambridgeshire.
HIGH SHERRIFF of COUNTY LEITRIM
In 1839, Charles Manners St George, Esq was appointed High Sherriff and chaired the General Irish Railways Committee. He often rubbed shoulders with Henry Grattan MP. At this time his residence was at 3 Merrion Square, Dublin.
ST. GEORGE THE LANDLORD
Charles Manners St George was a kind landlord. He opened a library for the inhabitants of Carrick-on-Shannon in 1837 (which was not much used).
In 1860 he appointed William Lawder Esq of Riversdale, Ballinamore in Co. Leitrim as agent to his estates in Leitrim, Roscommon, Waterford, Tipperary, and King’s County (Offaly).
Charles Manners St George Died On the 22nd November aged 78. He was interred in an elaborate Victorian-Classical mausoleum (erected by his wife) on the grounds of Hatley Manor.
NEXT GENERATION
The St George’s had no children. In 1873 Petronella Hallberg, niece of Kristina (nee Hallberg) St George, married Charles Whyte of Newtown Manor and the Whytes inherited Hatley Manor and much of the St George property (over 1600 acres in 1876).
Carrick on Shannon Heritage Group
Carrick on Shannon Heritage Group is delighted to announce the return of two painting to St. Georges Heritage and Visitor Centre. Both painting dates to circa 1830’s by a little-known 19th Century artist by the name of C. Berger. The paintings came to the attention of the Heritage group in August of 2023 at Adams Auction rooms in Dublin where the group was successful in the purchase of these Portraits. Needing restoration work, the Heritage Group was successful on having the painting restored to their original glory by Andrew Regan, Longford, a specialist in this work.
The Portraits relates to Charles Manners St. George and his wife Ingrid Christina Hallberg who were of English/Swedish gentry and spent the summer months in Carrick on Shannon. He became landlord of Carrick on Shannon in the 1821’s and resided in “Hatley Manor” named after his ancestral home “Hatley St George” in Cambridgeshire. Charles Manner St. George was involved in many events which benefited the town of Carrick on Shannon, such as opening a library in 1837 and a school in 1853, he also donated the land where the present St. Georges Church is built and the site of St. Mary RC church. Over the years there are recorded incidents of this man’s generosity to the poor of the town, donating food and clothes.
Charles Manner St. George died in Florence in 1864 and his wife Ingrid Christina died in 1873 they are both interred in a specially built mausoleum in the ground of Hatley Manor in Carrick on Shannon.
These magnificent Portraits are a wonderful addition to our existing collection of memorabilia on displays in St Georges Centre, which includes Stained Glass Windows, The Sanctuary window depiction a picture of a painting, of Holman Hunt, “The Light of the World” and made by “Watson of Youghal”, beautiful carved Marble Plaques, a Telford Organ (the second oldest in Ireland and still in working order) presented to the Church by Petronella Heiberg niece of Ingrid Christina in 1873 a painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds by Swedish Artist, Carl Gustave Plagemann, painted in 1831 and presented to the St Georges Church in 1837 by Charles Manners St. George, the Corporate Seal of Carrick on Shannon, representation of the Castle in its original condition, Six Motorised banners that rise and fall, one listing the names of over, two hundred and eighty seven Leitrim men killed in World War1. The other five banners represent the History of Ireland from the 17th Century, displays of Ecclesiastical Silver dating back to the 17th century and the recently acquired Muintir Eolais chalice in 2022 dating back to the 1600 located in the United States of America. Also on display are numerous books, artifact from the rowing club, timbers from the first bridge to cross the River Shannon in Carrick on Shannon. In the newly purpose-built centre, built in 2004 the story of Leitrim its landscape and people, told in an informative and lyrical audio/visual “Leitrim Ensuring and Enchanting”, documents spanning 150 years of history, relating to the Clements family of Lough Rynn, the Earls of Leitrim and their tenants. Models of the original castle, hand carved miniature Georgina doors from Carrick on Shannon. Also we on display are two Bullaun stones rediscovered at Attirory outside of Carrick on Shannon, associated with early Christian church sites within Ireland and are commonly found at holy wells or church sites, date from prehistoric times to the early medieval period (5th-12th centuries AD).
Visitors are welcome to come and visit at any time and to appreciate our history of time gone by. The Heritage Group has five other sites that are managed by them in Carrick on Shannon.
Namely; – The Costello Chapel second smallest Church in the world, Famine Workhouse, Famine Graveyard, Sensory Garden at St Patrick Hospital and St Georges Heritage and Visitor centre.
