Cork and Dublin

We know that there were Eustaces resident in Co. Cork from very early in the fourteenth century and the descendants of one of these now form the largest branch of the family still living in Ireland. Robert Eustace and his wife Elizabeth West appear to have moved to Co. Wexford, and had issue: Sarah, born 1698, and Thomas Eustace of Cork, 1699-1764, who married in 1721 Jane Hawkins. The children of Thomas Eustace and Jane Hawkins were; John, their heir; Sarah, born 1722; Mary 1724-79; Thomas, b.1736; Margaret, 1738-42; and Jane who married 1750 to Thomas Fawcett. The eldest son John Eustace of Cork  married first in 1756 to Susanna Fennel and second in 1774 to Anne Melifont. John of Cork’s children were: Jane, born 1756; Joshua, born 1759; Richard, 1765-1817; and five others who died young. Joshua Eustace married Hannah daughter of Ruben Harvey, and had (with others) a son John Eustace who married Jane Seymour and had a son John. Richard Eustace married Sarah Malone and had (with others) a son John 1790-1827.

John Eustace of Cork died in 1807 and was succeeded by his son Benjamin Eustace, born 1761, who married in 1787 Mary, daughter of Dr. Daniel Fawcett and died in 1833. Their children were: John, born 1791, who follows; Jane, born 1792; Mary, b. 1794: Sarah, b. 1801; and three others who died young.

The Eustaces of Cork were originally merchants and Benjamin and Mary’s eldest son Dr. John Eustace, M.D. of Hampstead, Glasnevin, born in 1791 became the first doctor in the family. He studied at Edinburgh and later at Trinity College, from whence he qualified in 1815. The Eustace family's connections included other influential Quaker families who were among the moving spirits in the establishment of Bloomfield Private Mental Hospital in 1812. Through family connections with the Pims and the Harveys, John's Aunt Jane successfully applied for the post of Housekeeper to the hospital shortly after it opened. She subsequently recommended her nephew John Eustace, for the post of lay superintendent, a position he took up in May 1813. Once he qualified as a doctor, he continued to work at Bloomfield as a visiting physician, but from 1816 it was only on condition that he would have sufficient time (11 to 4 daily) to develop his own medical practice.

John married in 1824 to Jane (1793-1871), daughter of Mark Goodbody and had the following children: Mary Elizabeth, b. 1825; Dr. John Eustace, their heir;  Jane, b. 1828; Eleanor 1830-1917 and Dr. Marcus Eustace, M.D., F.R.C.P.L, 1831-85, who married Elizabeth Jane Wallace With issue: MARCUS JOHN EUSTACE (who married twice and had issue: by his first wife Fanny Sibthorpe he had a daughter Muriel, and by his second, Jeannie he had three children: John, Doherty and Sheila); Lucinda Jane & Edgar, married 1890 Hugh Tweedy, with issue; Eleanor Arabela Stafford, d. 1945; Dr. Wallace George M.C., M.D., R.A.M.C., 1870-1945 physician to the Duke of Norfolk, married Beathrice Orme, but their son Mervyn dsp; Elizabeth Barnes, married Rev. C. E. Patterson. with issue; Marianne Stafford, married Pastor Michel Olives with issue; Gerald Needham, died 1950; Jane Goodbody, married Robert Vigos, with issue.)

Dr. John Eustace, M.D. son of Dr. John and Jane (Goodbody) Eustace, was born in 1827, and married in 1865 Maria Eliza, daughter of William Neilson and died in 1899. The children of Dr. John and Maria Eliza (Neilson) Eustace were: Annie Sydney, 1866-1941; Dr. John Neilson, MD 1867-94; Dr. Henry Marcus, M.D., 1867-1927, married Mary Susan Brown; Sarah Eleanor, 1872-1949; Maria Christina, 1873-1939; married James Gillespie with issue; Dr. William Neilson, L.R.C.P.I. 1875-1948, rnarried Pauline Coust Barker, and their children were: Dr. William Desmond, born 1912, has two sons and a daughter by his wife Moira Alley; Terrence Neilson, born 1914 married Eileen Kelly; Dr. Philip Faulder, M.B., born19 married Dr. Jean Musgrave, M.B.

The eldest son of Dr. John Eustace and Maria Eliza Neilson was Benjamin Fawcett Eustace, J.P., (1870-1919), who married in 1902 Edith Maud Coust, daughter of Francis Coust Barker. Dr. John Eustace was succeeded by his son John Frank Fawcett Eustace, who lived at Galtrim, Co. Meath. The other children of Dr. John Benjamin Fawcett Eustace and Edith Coust were: Pauline Beryl and Veronica Pearl, twins born 1906; and Dr. Henry Jocelyn M.B. and Benjamin Goodbody, twins, born 1908. Pauline Beryl married in 1958 to Rt. Rev. Dr. Jo Percy Phair, Bishop of Ossory Ferns. and Leighlin. Veronica Pearl (died 1951), married 1935 William Francis, only son or Sir George Broadbent, Bart. (d, 1946 and grandson or Sir William Henry Broadbent, Bart., KC.V.O. F.R.S. Physician, to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. Benjamin Goodbody (died 1953), married Emily Janet Stephenson and had two sons.

John Frank Fawcett Eustace was born in 1903 and married in 1936 Natalie Annette Diamond, daughter of John Ernest Ardron, their children being, Mary Fawcett, born in 1938, and John Edwin, born in 1947.

These pages © Ronald Eustice, 2007