Lord Lifford
The fourth Viscount Lifford, James Hewitt, was a resident of the Raphoe Diocese, his principal place of residence being Meenglas, Ballybofey. His Irish acreage amounted to over 11,000 acres of prime land, which (like so many of his peers) he had gifted to him by his English benefactors, making him the prominent landowner in the area.
However, in the case of Lifford, the vastness of his acreage gained him no popularity with the native Irish, whose lands were confiscated.
A member of the Protestant Anglo-Irish "Ascendancy," Lord Lifford wrote a series of letters to the London Times in September 1880 against Home Rule.
In his heyday, Lord Lifford, together with his fellow landlord, Sir Samuel Hayes of Drumboe Estate, Stranorlar, helped to expand Ireland's railways of the 1850's. Their representations at parliament helped to secure funding, to begin what became the Finn Valley Railway Company in May 1860. The construction of the line between Strabane and Stranorlar began at the end of the summer of 1861, and after a lot of hold-ups, infighting, and huge expense, the line was officially opened on 7th September 1863.
Viscount Lifford was married twice. His first wife, Lady Mary Acheson, whom he married in July 1835, gave birth to five sons and two daughters. Lady Mary died in March 1850. In December 1851, losing no time, he married Lydia Coote, a widow, and by her had two sons and four more daughters.
Several locomotives of the Finn Valley Railway Co. were named after various members of Lifford's family. 'Isabella' and 'Alice' were the names of his daughters, 'Blanche' was the name of his son's wife and 'Lydia ' was the name of his second wife.
Today, very little memory of Lord Lifford remains. He is buried in the lee of the beautiful little St Anne's Church of Ireland, Crossroads, Killygordon. In death, he lies in splendid (if neglected) isolation...fenced in on all sides, thus - as in life - removed from those perceived by his ilk as 'lesser mortals'.
Extract from www.finnvalley.ie/history/lordlifford/index.html