Merville House - History of Merville House

History of Merville House

To reflect the history of the original Merville estate, the principal rooms in the house are named after some of the families that have an affiliation with the estate. These families are:

Donegall Suite

Sir Arthur Chichester (1739–99), the 5th Earl of Donegall and 1st Marquis of Donegall. He was created Baron Fisherwick in the peerage of Great Britain in 1790 and Baron of Belfast and marquis of Donegall in the peerage of Ireland the following year.

Previous inference has suggested that he probably built Merville as a bolthole for contemplation and leisurely pursuits. But the actual reason why a room at Merville House is named after a member of the Donegall dynasty is because Chichester was the lawful possessor of the townland of Drumnadrough where Merville stands, as well as all of the neighbouring townlands that established the former civil parish of Coole or Carnmoney. His ancestor, Sir Arthur Chichester (1536-1625), was given the lands by King James I in May 1604 during the period of Irish History that became known as the Plantation of Ulster. The current incumbent of the title, (Arthur) Patrick Chichester (b.1952), the 8th Marquis of Donegall, the son of Dermot Chichester LVO (1916-2007).

Rowan Room

Soldier-turned-Resident Magistrate, Lt. Col. John Rowan (1778-1855), High Sheriff of County Antrim in 1814, come to live at Merville in 1823 after he married Dorothea Blair, the widow of the residence's previous owner, James Blair (1756-1820) of Newry, who died at Merville in November 1820. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s Major Rowan presided over proceedings at the weekly Petty Sessions Court within the village of Whitehouse and at Carrickfergus.

Merville was in the permanent status of Dorothea since 1800 until the estate was sold to the future Sir Edward Coey in October 1849. John Rowan was the eldest brother of Sir Charles Rowan KCB (1783-1852), the joint founding Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police. The Rowans originated from Ballymoney, County Antrim.

Coey Room

Wealthy provision merchant Sir Edward Coey (1805–87) is almost certainly the most illustrious of all owners of the Merville estate in regard to his wealth and standing in Victorian Ulster. Responsible for introducing cured ham to Ireland from the United States in the mid-1830s, Coey went on to be elected the first and only Liberal Party Mayor of Belfast in December 1860. He was also conferred High Sheriff of Belfast and Deputy Lieutenant of County Antrim. He died at Merville in June 1887 aged 82.

After his death, his nephew, also called Edward Coey (1847-1923), inherited Merville and its demesne. Taken as a whole, Merville was in the possession of the Coey lineage from 1849 to 1924. In November 2006, however, the Ulster History Circle, the heritage organisation officially recognised as the manager of Blue Plaques in Northern Ireland, erected a plaque on the front elevation of the House in recognition of Sir Edward Coey's notable charity work.

Robinson Room

The distinguished Frederick Charles Gunning Robinson (1872-1934) worked for many years in the family pork processing business of A.T. Robinson of Shankill Road, west Belfast, before establishing his own provision merchants in 1905 under the trade name Fred C. Robinson Ltd after dropping Gunning from his full name. Operating from their premises at York Street, Belfast the business specialised in 'Ham and Rolled Bacon.' Fred C. Robinson died in England in 1934 aged 62.

After his death his eldest descendant, Arthur Robsinson (1900–93), took over the running of the family business and managing the Merville estate on behalf of his widow, Isabella. The last surviving member of the Robinson family to have lived at Merville is Fred C. Robinson's youngest daughter Joan, who resides at Newtownards, Co. Down, Northern Ireland.

During the Second World War the house and grounds were used as part of the British 'war effort' as Northern Ireland was strategically important to Great Britain, as well as acting as a lookout in support of the Atlantic convoys into Great Britain from the United States of America.