A deed of settlement was made in contemplation of marriage, and contained a proviso by which the estates, &c. thereby granted, should in the first place be charged with certain portions therein mentioned, due to the brothers and sisters of the settlor and with certain debts set forth in a schedule thereunto annexed. The covenant against incumbrances specially excepted a jointure to the settlor's mother, and the before-mentioned portions and debts, and the covenant for further assurance contained an exception similar to the foregoing by an express reference to it. The settlor was possessed of other estates besides those settled. The settlor after his marriage paid off some of the portions and some of the debts, and, by his will, declared such payments to be in ease of his settled estate. Held, by the House of Lords, reversing a decree of the Court of Chancery in Ireland, that all rights must be taken to be as they were established at the date of the conveyance, and therefore neither any directions in the will of the settlor, nor the state of his affairs at his decease, could alter its construction: and consequently that the debts, &c. continued to stand as a burthen on the real estate, and that the personal estates were exonerated in the hands of the executors.

In the year 1800, a marriage was intended to be solemnized between John Ormsby Vandeleur and Lady Frances Moore, the youngest daughter of the Marquis of Drogheda. The marriage portion of the Lady was a sum of £6000. By an indenture of release, bearing date the 17th day of November 1800,and made between the said John Ormsby Vandeleur (since deceased) of the first part, the most Noble Charles Marquis of Drogheda, and the said Lady Frances Moore of the second part, Richard Earl of Shannon and the Honourable Francis Nathaniel Burton of the third part, and William Burton and Thomas Burton Vandeleur Esq's. of the fourth part,and which indenture was expressed to be made in consideration of the marriage and of the marriage portion,certain hereditaments in the counties of Limerick and Clare of which the said John Ormsby Vandeleur was seised in fee,were conveyed and assured by him,from and after the marriage,to the use of himself for life, with the remainder to trustees to preserve contingent remainders: and after his decease, to the use of said William Burton and Thomas Burton Vandeleur for the term of 99 years, to secure a jointure for his said intended wife: and subject thereto to the use of the trustees for five hundred years for raising the sum of £10,000 as portions for the younger children of the marriage: and subject thereto to the use of the first and other sons severally and successively according to their respective priorities in tail male, and in default of such issue,to the use of the settlor in fee.

After the limitations before stated, and the declarations of the trusts of the two terms of 99 years and 500 years, and immediately following the proviso for cesser of the latter term, the settlement contained the following declaration:
“Provided always and it is hereby declared and agreed by and between the parties to these presents that all and every of the said towns, lands, tenements, hereditaments, and premises hereby granted and conveyed, shall in the first place stand and be charged and chargeable, and the same are hereby declared to be charged with the several sums due for the portions of the brothers and sisters of the said John Ormsby Vandeleur, amounting to the sum of £15,900 and also with the judgements and bonds hereinafter mentioned, and which several sums are particularly set forth in a schedule hereunto annexed, and amount to the sum of £12,700.

Then followed a power for the settlor to jointure future wives: and the power of leasing: and then the covenants for title: and the covenant against incumbrances was expressed as follows: “ And that free and clear, or freely and clearly acquitted, exonerated, and discharged of otherwise, by the said John Ormsby Vandeleur, his heirs, executors, and administrators, well and sufficiently saved, defended, kept harmless, and indemnified of from and against all and all manner of the former and other gifts, grants, bargains, sales, mortgages, jointures, dowers, right and title of dower, portions, uses, trusts, wills, entails, statutes, recognizances, judgements, extents, executions and of and from all and singular other estates, titles, troubles, charges, and incumbrances whatsoever had, made, done, committed, or suffered by him the said John Ormsby Vandeleur, or by any of his ancestors, or by any person or persons claiming or to claim from by or under them, or any of them, or under their or any of their acts, means, assent, consent, or procurement other than and except the jointure of £700 yearly, provided for Alice Vandeleur, widow, mother of the said John Ormsby Vandeleur, during her life, and other than and except the several sums due by judgement or bonds to the different persons in the schedule hereunto annexed, amounting in the whole to the sum of £12,700,and also other than and except the sum of £15,900,the portion due to the brothers and sisters of the said John Ormsby Vandeleur, with all and every of which said several sums the said lands and premises are hereby charged, and other than and except the quit rents issuing and payable out of the said lands and premises, and other than and except such leases of the said lands and premises as have been heretofore really and bone fide made to the tenants thereof “ And the covenant for further assurance made a similar exception but this reference to the foregoing,” except as before excepted.

Some of the debts enumerated in the schedule annexed to the said settlement, were debts previously contracted by the settlor, and to which he was personally liable. The rest were debts contracted by his father and predecessor in estate, Crofton Vandeleur. The £15,900 for portions had been charged on the estates by the marriage settlement and will of his father, Crofton Vandeleur

The settlor being also seised in fee of the lands of Moyne and Ballynote (exclusively of the settled estates), and being also possessed of a large personal estate, made his will, dated 7th of August 1828,and thereby, after sundry bequests to his wife and daughters, devised the lands of Moyne and Ballynote to T.B. Vandeleur and Crofton Fitz Gerald their heirs, &c., in trust, to receive and take the rents and profits until his eldest son, Crofton Moore Vandeleur, should attain the age of 27 years, to be applies as therein after directed, and subject thereto to the use of his said son for life, with several remainders over: these rents to be invested from time to time in government funds, and the dividends payable thereon, to accumulate until his said son should attain the age of 27 years, or if he should die before attaining that age, until such time as he would have attained that age in case he had lived, and testator directed such rents and profits, and all accumulations thereof, to form part of his residuary estate, to be disposed of as therein after directed. And testator directed (among other things) that a certain judgement entered on one Andrew Browne's bond one of the bond debts of the testator mentioned in the schedule) should be satisfied by his executors, the same having been paid. And as to all the rest of his property, of what nature of kind soever, except his books, pictures, and plate) he left same to T.B. Vandeleur and Crofton Fitz Gerald in trust for his younger child or children, his or their heirs, executors, and administrators, as to so much thereof as with the sum he, she, or they should be entitled to under his (said testator’s) marriage settlement would make up the sum of £10,000 for each and every of his said children, such children, if more than one, to take as tenants in common, and not as joint tenants: and as to the residue thereof in trust to pay the interest or annual produce to his the said testor's wife during her life, and after her decease, in trust for his younger child or children, his, her or their executors and administrators, in equal shares, if more than one, and as tenants in common. And the said testator appointed the Respondents T.B. Vandeleur and Crofton Fitz Gerald executors of his said will, and the said Respondent T.B. Vandeleur, guardian of his children until they should respectively attain the age of 21 years.

The testator died on the 9th November 1828,leaving Lady Frances Vandeleur, his widow and four children, viz., the Respondent Crofton Moore Vandeleur, the Appellant Henry Seymour Moore Vandeleur, his only other son, and two daughters, viz., the Appellants Anne Frances Vandeleur and Alice Stewart widow. During his lifetime he paid off part of the sum of £15,000 to his brothers and sisters and also some of his father's debts and some of his own debts contained in the said schedule, and declared such payments to be ease of his settled estate.

In January 1831, a bill was filed by the Respondents T.B. Vandeleur and Crofton Fitz Gerald, the executors, against the Respondent Crofton Moore Vandeleur, and the Appellants and Lady Frances Vandeleur, (since deceased), stating, amongst other things, that the testator's widow and younger children insisted that the debts or sums paid off by the said testator during his life, he being tenant for life of the lands charged, should still be considered as subsisting charges, and should form part of the testator's personal estate, but that the Respondent Crofton Moore Vandeleur, on the contrary, insisted that such payments were made in exoneration of the estate: and as to such of the scheduled debts as were the testator's own, and remaining unpaid at his death, that his personal estate was the primary fund liable to payment of them. And the bill prayed that the right of the several parties to the personal estate of the said testator might be declared, and the trusts of the testator’s said will as to his personal estate might be carried into effect. Answers were duly put in and evidence gone into on both sides. The case was heard on the 12th of May 1832,before the Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, and by the decree of that date it was referred to one of the masters, to enquire and report the debts specified in the schedule annexed to the settlement, and to report whether any, and which of them, had been paid, by whom all such debts respectively were contracted, whether judgements had been entered on any and which of the said debts, and if so, whether any, and which of the judgements had been satisfied or directed so to be, and all particulars relating to such debts.

The master made his report pursuant to the said decree. Bearing date the 22nd of June 1832, and set out a list of the debts, which comprised, amongst others, the following items, viz.: No 1. Bond and warrant of John Ormsby Vandeleur to Mrs Dorothea Burton. Dated 9th of January 1796, in the penalty of £2,400 conditioned for the payment of £1,200. No 6 Bond of John Ormsby Vandeleur to Mr, John Daxon in the penalty of £6,800 conditioned for payment of £3,400. No 8 Bond of same to Rev. Mr. Whitty, in the penalty of £1,000, conditioned for payment of £500. and the said master found that these three debts still remained unpaid, and that the sum of £1,200 and the sum of £3,400 and the sum of £500 were all debts contracted by John Ormsby Vandeleur: that on the first no judgement had been entered up, but that on the two last Judgements had regularly been entered up, which judgements were then outstanding.

No exceptions were taken to the report, and it was duly confirmed. The case was heard on further directions before the Lord Chancellor on several days and on the 25th of May 1833,his Lordship, by an order of that date, declared that as such of the debts and charges in the schedule to the settlement of 1800 as were paid off by the said testator in his lifetime, the same were not subsisting charges on the settled estates, but that the same were paid off in ease of such estates: and his Lordship further ordered and declared, that as to the sums of £1,200, £3,400,and £500 in the said list or schedule to the said master's report mentioned and found to have been debts contracted by John Ormsby Vandeleur,and to be still due and unpaid, the personal estate of John Ormsby Vandeleur was the primary fund for payment of the same, and the plaintiffs admitting assets in their hands sufficient, after the payment of the other debts, funeral expenses, and express pecuniary legacies bequeathed by the will of John Ormsby Vandeleur,it was ordered that the plaintiffs,(The Respondents T.B. Vandeleur and Crofton Fitz Gerald,) out of the surplus of the said personal estate of the said John Ormsby Vandeleur,should pay the same, and it was further ordered that the plaintiffs should be paid their costs in said cause out of the personal estate of the said John Ormsby Vandeleur,and that the several defendants should abide their own costs, This was the order now appealed from.

• 15th May 1835 ------------------After much legal argument the judgement of the House of Lords was afterwards entered in the minutes in the following form: It was this day ordered and adjudged, that so much of the decree complained of as declares the personal estate to be the primary fund for payment of the several sums of £1,200, £3,400 and £500,therein mentioned, be and the same is hereby reversed: and it is further ordered that the executors, the plaintiffs are to have their costs of the suit in the Court of Chancery(Ireland) out of the personal estate according to the directions of the said decree, and that they do also have their costs of this appeal out of the same estate.

(The above extract while full of legal jargon contains some significant dates and also shows that even the Vandeleur family had problems with wills. Crofton Moore Vandeleur, the main beneficiary was 27 in 1835. John Ormsby Vandeleur's will was proved in London on the 27th February 1829 and contains a number of other items as follows^[90]: house in Sackville Street in the City of Dublin, house in Rutland Square in the City of Dublin every other house or houses in Dublin or London that may be possessed at the time of my death were left to his wife. )

Vandeleur Holdings in Griffth’s Valuation 1855.^[91]
Extracts of the Vandeleur Kilrush land holdings of one acre and over from Griffith's Valuation covering about 570 leases are detailed in Appendix 1 and these suggest Vandeleur had 14,900 acres approx. In addition Vandeleur also owned or controlled over 300 properties in Kilrush and these are detailed as house, office and garden in Appendix 2. Vandeleur annual income in 1835 was stated to be £15,500, which today would equate to about €1,700,000.

In addition the following entries are recorded under Dublin: 4 Rutland Square East, Crofton M. Vandeleur, House, offices & yard, Annual Valuation £155.
And
13 Rutland Square East, Col. John Vandeleur, Ho, off & small garden, Annual Valuation £95.
And
27 Northumberland Avenue, Mrs Eliz Vandeleur, House, Offices & garden, Annual Valuation £61.

Vandeleurs as Owners of Land in Clare, 1876.^[92]

Name of Owner	Address of Owner	Extent			Valuation
		A.	R.	P.	£	S
Vandeleur, Col. Crofton Moore.	Kilrush House, Kilrush,	19,790	1	15	11,216	0
Vandeleur, Grace,	53, York-road, Tunbridge Wells, England.	220	1	10	40	5
Vandeleur, Col. John, Reps. of.	Ballynacourty, Castleconnell, co. Limerick.	1,435	3	35	297	0
Vandeleur, Mrs. Mary,	2, Beauchamp-terrace, Leamington, England.	1,887	3	15	1,038	15
Vandeleur, Thomas B.,	Portarlington, Queen’s County.	1,068	2	20	357	15
Vandeleur, Mrs. Wm.,	Annaroe, Caledon,	50	0	20	24	0
Vandeleur, Mrs. Wm., and Quinlan, Catherine,	Annaroe, Caledon, co. Tyrone. Barrington's-street, Limerick.	20	3	0	13	10

In addition Col. C. Moore Vandeleur of Kilrush House is listed in Limerick County as owning 416 acres with a valuation of £380-5-0.
(This Limerick land mist have been more valuable than the land in Clare as it is rated at almost £1 per acre compared to about 11s per acre in Clare)

Great Landowners of Great Britain.^[93]
Vandeleur, Hector Stewart, of Kilrush, Co Clare.
College: Eton
Club: Kildare Street.
Born.1836, succeeded1881, married 1867.

Location	No. of Acres	Annual Valuation £
Co Clare	19790 acres	£11216 annual valuation.
Limerick	416 acres	£380 annual valuation.
Totals	20,206	£11,596

1898 Saturday 4th June (Saturday Record).
Important Suit for Quayage Fees.
Mr H S Vandeleur has a process against the Messrs Glynn's for fees due for the berthage of the vessels of their firms at Merchants Quay-------.
(This case eventually went to the House of Lords in 1907 who decided, as one would expect, in favour of the Landlord Vandeleur. See also reports from Newspapers in 1900 above. The Lords in deciding that Vandeleur was entitled to the foreshore referred back to Letters Patent of King James the First, dated 19th January 1621 and confirmed by Letters Patent of King Charles the Second dated 1st September 1661 made to Henry, then Earl of Thomond. In 1749 Vandeleur's ancestor (John S. Van de Lur) in consideration of a sum of £9826 obtained a grant from the then representative of the Earl of Thomond of the Manor of Kilrush in fee and ever since the estate has gone under that title.)
A number of points were made during this case as reported in “The Irish Reports- Chancery Division pages 483 to 531 (1907) and the following is a brief summary.

That the said foreshore being in its then state incapable of being used for purposes of navigation, Crofton Moore Vandeleur in exercise of his right of property in the said foreshore and of the franchises and liberties to which he was entitled under the said Letters Patent, constructed on the foreshore in the years 1846 to 1848, a quay and a pier for the conveyance and benefit of public navigation in the said district. That Crofton Moore Vandeleur expended over £1600 in the building of the said quay, and the same was afterwards maintained by him at his own expense.

“So a series of acts of ownership exercised on the seashore by the adjoining proprietor will afford abundant evidence for a jury to presume that the crown formerly granted the soil to one of his ancestors”

The Patent Slip near the coast-guard station at Cappagh. Its origin is a written proposal by Mr. Francis Spaight, accepted by the late Colonel Vandeleur on 25th July 1835. By this document Mr. Spaight proposes to take certain lands, at a yearly rent of five guineas, for a lease of 999 years or for ever,” with a right to the shore all round these premises to low-water”. The proposal contains an engagement to erect on these premises, within twelve months, a patent slip of the best construction, capable of receiving two ships of 400 tons each.

This transaction is one not to be lightly discounted. It involved the expenditure of a large sum of money. It was a matter not between ignorant persons, but between, on the one side, a gentleman whose ancestor undoubtedly claimed a title to the foreshore as lords of the manor, and, on the other, a business man, willing to invest considerable capital upon the security of title. We know from the subsequent deed of the 13th February 1838,that Mr. Spaight did in fact expend £1320 5s. upon the erection of the Patent Slip, and that it having been afterwards found that the leasing power of Colonel Vandeleur did not extend to so long a term of 999 years, Colonel Vandeleur accepted a surrender of the lease, repaying Mr. Spaight the £1320 5s he had expended and giving him an additional sum of £300 as compensation for the loss of the lease. This pier has been enjoyed as private property from 1835 to the present time- a period of seventy years- enjoyed as private property to the knowledge of the coast guards and other Government officials of the town of Kilrush.

He (Hector Stewart Vandeleur) was as a landlord interested in the opening up of the place by railways. He was, I am sure, very imperfectly acquainted with the particulars of his title, and during four and a half years he was (as he called it) “campaigned” (and we all know what that means), and obliged to live away from his own estate.

• CAHIRACON HOUSE is now a school and convent belonging to the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco. It is a large square 18th century three-storey, five-bay house over a basement, with large nineteenth-century two-storey wings. About 1780, when an East India fleet took refuge in the Shannon, an encampment was formed in the deer-park of Cahiracon. In 1837 it was the seat of Bindon Scott. The Scotts were popular landlords. James Kelly was the owner of Cahiracon House in 1865. He sold it to Lord Annaly in 1876. Lord Annaly is better known locally as Colonel White, the man who "brought water over a hill" from Effernan Lake by siphon to supply the domestic needs of Cahiracon. He is also the man who built the billiard-room in expectation of a visit from his crown prince, later King Edward VIII. Colonel White sold the estate in 1889. The Vandeleur family moved to Cahiracon in the late 1890's after their house at Kilrush had burned down. The Society of St. Columban, also known as the Maynooth Mission to China, bought the property in 1920. They in time sold it to the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco^[94]
  
• 2009: Even today two hundred and sixty years after Vandeleur purchased Kilrush the Vandeleur name still appears as the immediate lessor (owner) on twenty premises in Kilrush Urban area.^[95] (Five of these are in Henry Street, three in John Street, with two in Frances Street, Crofton Street and Merchants Quay)