Phoenix Lodge

CHARLEY OF SEYMOUR HILL

The family of Charley, or Chorley, passing over from the north of England, settled in Ulster in the I7th century, at first at Belfast, where they were owners of house property for two hundred years; and afterwards at Finaghy, County Antrim, where  

RALPH CHARLEY (1664-1746), of Finaghy House, was seated. His son,  

JOHN CHARLEY (1712-93), of Finaghy, died aged 81, leaving a son and successor,

JOHN CHARLEY (1744-1812), of Finaghy House, born in 1744; married in 1783, Anne Jane, daughter of Richard Wolfenden, of Harmony Hill, County Down. His 2nd son,

MATTHEW CHARLEY (1788-1846), of Finaghy House, married, in 1819, Mary Anne, daughter of Walter Roberts, of Colin House. His eldest son,

JOHN STOUPPE CHARLEY JP (1825-78), of Finaghy House, County Antrim, and Island of Arranmore, County Donegal; JP for counties Donegal, Antrim, and Borough of Belfast; High Sheriff of County Donegal, 1875-6; married, in 1851, Mary Stewart, daughter of Francis Forster JP, of Roshine Lodge, County Donegal. The 3rd son,

WILLIAM CHARLEY, of Seymour Hill, Dunmurry; married, in 1817, Isabella, eldest daughter of William Hunter JP, of Dunmurry, and died in 1838, aged 37. The eldest son,

JOHN CHARLEY, of Seymour Hill, died unmarried in 1843, aged 25, and was succeeded by his brother, 

WILLIAM CHARLEY JP DL (1826-1904), of Seymour Hill; married, in 1856, Ellen Anna Matilda, daughter of Edward Johnson JP, of Ballymacash, near Lisburn, and granddaughter of Rev Philip Johnson JP DL.

Mr Charley was juror of Great Exhibition, 1851; chairman of J & W Charley & Company. He wrote the book Flax And Its Products. He was succeeded by his son,

EDWARD JOHNSON CHARLEY (1859-1932), of Seymour Hill. His 6th son, 

COLONEL HAROLD RICHARD CHARLEY CBE DL (1875-1956), of Seymour Hill; officer, 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles; fought in the Boer War, and First World War, with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, and was wounded and became a PoW.

In 1916 he started workshops for interned British servicemen at Murren. He was Officer-in-Charge for Technical Instruction for servicemen interned in Switzerland in 1917; Commissioner of British Red Cross Society, Switzerland, 1918; commander of the 1st Royal Ulster Rifles, 1919-23.

CBE, 1920; City Commandant, Ulster Special Constabulary, 1924-52; originator of the British Legion Car Park Attendants scheme (adopted throughout Great Britain); Honorary Colonel, 1938, Antrim Coast Regiment (Territorial Army). His eldest son, 
 
COLONEL WILLIAM ROBERT (Robin) HUNTER CHARLEY OBE, born in 1924; married Catherine Janet, daughter of William Sinclair Kingan, in 1960. 

In 1943 he was enlisted in the Royal Ulster Rifles; fought in 2nd World War, and the Korean War; Commanding Officer, OTC Queen's University, Belfast, 1965-68; Officer, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. 

He retired from the army in 1971; was on Staff in 1972 at Northern Ireland Polytechnic; lived in 1976 at Seymour Lodge, Larch Hill, Craigavad, County Down.

Colonel Charley was appointed OBE (civil) in 1989, for services to The Forces Help Society and Lord Roberts' Workshops.



IN 1837 THE ULSTER RAILWAY COMPANY opened its first line from Belfast to Lisburn. To encourage use of the railway, free passes were offered to people if they built new homes near the stations and halts.

It is thought that this may have influenced William Charley (1790-1838) to build Phoenix Lodge for his daughter Anne Jane in 1837, shortly before he died.

In 1842, Anne Jane Charley married William Stevenson of Belfast and they lived at Phoenix Lodge until his death in 1855. His widow then moved to live with her mother at Huntley.

In 1882 the name of the house was changed to The Lodge, after the Phoenix Park murders in Dublin when Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke, Chief Secretary & Under Secretary of Ireland, were assassinated.

Captain Arthur Charley JP (1870-1944), lived there with his wife Clare after the Great War until his brother, Edward Charley JP DL (1859-1932), died and he moved into Seymour Hill.

In the 1930s and at the beginning of World War II, The Lodge was rented by Lord and Lady Ampthill.

In 1940, Major-General Sir James and Lady Cooke-Collis lived there. He was the first Ulster Agent in London but died in 1941 as the result of a German air raid on his club in London.

Nextly it was occupied by Major-General Majendie, GOC Northern Ireland; and finally, in 1947, it was bought by Mrs Harland, the sister of Sir Milne Barbour Bt, of Conway House.

Despite being listed, the house was vested in the early 1960s after Mrs Harland died. The grounds taken over for the expansion of a nearby factory. 

A large, weeping ash tree dominated the front lawn of the Lodge.

The information has been sourced from Lisburn Historical Society. First published in March, 2011.