Mr. Judah seemed to think that “Eagle House” is identical with the “Fort
House,” which he told us was granted first in 1662 to Sir Charles
Lyttelton, deputy governor to Lord Windsor, being the first of the
records of Patents in the island, and dating only seven years after the
British occupation. Lyttelton sold it to Charles Brayne, who sold it to
Sir Thomas Modyford. Modyford’s nephew succeeded to the baronetcy and
his executors sold the “Fort House” in 1715 to John Stewart, president
of the Council, who had the title to the house confirmed by a special
act of the Legislature in 1733. From an act which was passed in 1736 it
appears that the Fort House bounded north-east on a street between a
storehouse belonging to John Stewart, Esquire, and the dwelling-house
formerly belonging to Arnold Brown, Esquire, deceased, to the Parade;
south-east on land belong to William Careless, Esquire, deceased;
south-west on the town Savanna; and north-west on the land lately
belonging to Ursula Hunt, widow, deceased, by indenture.
It was conveyed to Thomas Brayne, descended to his daughter, Mary
Elizabeth, wife of Alexander Henderson. They conveyed it to Walter
Thomas, and he and his wife conveyed it to John Stewart. Stewart sold it
to Robert Delap (nephew of Francis Delap, provost marshal), and the
place subsequently fell into the hands of Bogle & Co., of which firm
Michael Scott, the well-known author of “Tom Cringle’s Log,” was a
member. It then passed successively into the possession of Alexander
Young, William Taylor and Robert Nichol. Mr. Oscar Plummer, quoting from
manuscripts in his possession, of which however he gave no details, said
that various personages—Robert Russell, Andrew Gregory Johnson, and
Richard Hill—in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, gave
credence to the legend that Eagle House was the residence of the Earl of
Inchiquin, and that some of them alluded to Eagle House as the Moat
House. In this case, although there is no proof, it is quite likely that
the legend that Inchiquin inhabited it is true; but it is not likely
that much of the old fabric remains, though the present house is of
considerable antiquity. There is nothing in all this to aid in the
identification of Eagle House with the residence of Lord Inchiquin; but
as the rent for the house he occupied was paid to Samuel Bernard, the
chief justice, it was probably not identical with Fort House, which, as
we have seen, belonged to the Modyfords.
The early life of the Earl of Inchiquin was spent with his father in
foreign military service, during which he lost an eye and suffered
imprisonment in Algiers. In 1764 he was appointed captain-general of the
King’s forces in Africa, and governor and vice-admiral of the royal
citadel of Tangier, ceded by the Portuguese to Britain as part of the
marriage portion of Catherine of Braganza. He held the post for six
years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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