Page 1 of 1

Co. Clare horses wanted for the army, Dec. 1869

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2021 12:03 pm
by Sduddy
Clare Journal, Mon 20 Dec 1869: Advertisement.
Troop Horses Wanted. Mr. Hartigan will attend at Kilrush on Thursday, the 30th December, to purchase Troop Horses, or Mares, suited for her Majesty’s Service, 3 years’ old and upwards, and about 15 and a half hands high. Parties having Horses of that class to dispose of will find a ready market for same on the above day. 45, George-street, Limerick, December 16, 1869.
Sheila

Re: Co. Clare horses wanted for the army, Dec. 1869

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:21 am
by Sduddy
The Spancill Hill fair was, once upon a time, an important horse-fair, and horses were bought there by the British army right up to 1913. This Wikipedia entry states that British and Continental cavalry forces bought over 1,000 horses there that year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spancill_ ... unty_Clare.

The Clare Journal and the Clare Freeman reported on the fair every year – this is just a sample report:
Clare Freeman, Sat 28 Jun 1873:
Spancelhill Summer Fair. This celebrated horse fair was held on Tuesday, and was fully up to the average of previous years, both in supply, quality, and condition. Horses of every description brought high prices.
There was a numerous attendance of well-known buyers, amongst whom were Messrs Goddard, Sankey, and Winbush, London; Messrs Murphy, Daly, Casey, Burke, and Day, Dublin; Messrs Hartigan, O’Brien, and Keyes, Limerick, Madden, Belfast; Daimond and Parse of Liverpool, Monsieur Vanderly[? - smudged] and other continental buyers – and for the army, Colonels Saunders and Thompson and Major Gore, 6th Dragroon Guards. The general selling prices for two and three-year-old colts was from £30 to £50 each, and three-year-old fillies, £20 to £35 each; good draft horses were much looked for and sold well, £18 to £40 being the general prices; several hundred troopers were bought from £30 to £40 each, although the show of horses on the green was remarkably large, there were but few first-class hunters and carriage horses for which there was an active demand, and from the return I append it will be seen that there were very high prices obtained for those sold. Horse flesh of every description was dear and the fair may be said to be the best held here for years past.
The following were among the principal transactions of the day: Mr Charles M Parkinson sold to Mr Hartigan, Limerick, a four year old horse, by “Fairy Saint,” for £137 10s, which was the highest price obtained; Mr Hugh Singleton, junior, Hazelwood, sold a four year old black horse, by “Prince Arthur,” to Mr James Keyes, a Limerick dealer, for £70; Mr Bennett, Kilrush refused £100 for a four year old horse by “Zouave,” and Mr P. U. Brown refused £75 for the well known steeplechase[?] horse “[?] D’Ireland,” Mr Peter Linnane, Kinvara, refused £8- for a five year old horse by “Zouave,” Mr Murphy, Ballycoric, refused £80 for a four year old colt; Mr Taaffe, Roscommon, sold a splendid weight carrying hunter, six year old to a Northern Dealer, at £100; Mr Hogan, County Limerick, sold two fine colts by “Zouave” to Mr Taaffe for £180; Mr Winbush, London, bought two three year old colts at £60 and £76 each; Mr Dan Lyons sold to the same buyer a fine three year old colt at £80; Mr Murphy, Dublin, bought two three year old colts at £140; Mr Sheehan, Dromoland sold to Mr Hartigan at £80; Mr Bryan McGann sold to Mr Burke, Belfast, a brown three year old colt at £75; Mr Hassett sold a three year old colt to Mr Madden, Belfast, for £90; Mr James Lynch sold a three year old chestnut colt at £52; Mr Michael Kennole sold a three year old colt at £50; Mr Thomas Pilkington sold a three year old brown colt at £50 and refused £70 for another fine animal; Mr John O’Donnell, Miltown Malbay, sold a four year old mare at £45; James Frost, Esq., sold a three year colt by “Shamrock,” for £65[?] to Mr Wimbush of London; John Hallinan of Quin one at 40[?] guineas; John McMartney, Smithstown, one two year old at 35 guineas; Denis O’Neill, Rathfeland, sold one to Mr McMahon of Dublin at 50 guineas; Patrick Joseph Coffee, Esq, Waverley, refused 40 guineas for a three year old filly by “Shamrock.” There was a large number of the progeny of this horse sold at prices ranging from 35 to 65 guineas.
Sheila