The contents of one of the country’s most historic country houses are to come under the hammer at Fonsie Mealy in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, next week. Built in the early 1800s, Milford House, Co Carlow, was home to the Alexander family, who made a huge impact on the industrial development of the Carlow area over the past 200 years. Milford Mill was Ireland’s largest and most technologically advanced, and the internationally recognised Milford Stud was founded in 1947.
In 1891, Major John Alexander III – whose career as a British Army officer included the capture of the last king of the Zulus; he was also, allegedly, the first white man to enter Tibet, dressed as a monk – converted the mill to a hydro-electric power station, making Carlow famous as the first inland town in the UK to have electric street lighting.
The sale comprises some 700 lots, including family portraits and other paintings – Lot 524 is a portrait of Major Alexander by Stephen Catterton Smith, €3,500-€5,000. Among the furniture are an Irish Chippendale period breakfront bookcase, (Lot 164, €7,000-€9,000, and a set of 18 Irish Victorian mahogany ballon-back dining chairs by Jones & Company, Dublin (Lot 536, €3,000-€4,000).
There are many unusual items including a set of prehistoric Irish giant elk antlers, (Lot 151, €15,000-€20,000), a ceremonial spear which belonged to the captured Zulu king (Lot 172, €1,500-€2,000), and a silver trowel, presented by the Dean and Chapter of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin to Messrs Murphy & Son in 1854, in recognition of restoration work done on the cathedral building (Lot 496, €1500-€2000). The auction also contains many hunting-related items including saddles, bridles, the original Milford Stud sign and the weather vane from the stud.
“It is a privilege to be involved in such a prestigious contents sale which is being offered to the market for the first time, and in the closing chapter of the Alexander Family and Milford House in Carlow history,” George Fonsie Mealy says.
Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers sale of contents of Milford House, Talbot Hotel, Carlow, November 20th. See fonsiemealy.ie
