IN 2024, Elizabeth Vetell of New Jersey, USA, a descendant of the Lawtons of Lake Marsh, Aughadown and the Hosfords of Bridge Street, Skibbereen made contact with the Skibbereen Heritage Centre.
She was in possession of three paintings that once belonged to the Lawton family.
She wished to find out more about her family history and to return the paintings to Ireland.
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Sadly, in August 2025, just weeks before she was due to make her first visit to Ireland, Elizabeth died.
However, thanks to the efforts of her cousin and the executor of her estate, her wish for the paintings has become a reality and they are now in the possession of the Skibbereen and District Historical Society.
The most significant of the paintings is a portrait of Hugh Lawton (1778-1859).
A colourful and sometimes controversial character, he was born into a very wealthy family of Cork City wine merchants, who also owned land in Aughadown parish.
Educated in Eton and Oxford the portrait of him as a child was possibly painted before he was sent off to boarding school.
In later life he settled in Lake Marsh House, Aughadown, where he and his wife, Anna Maria Warren, raised twelve children.
In Aughadown he is remembered in local folklore and in the 2025 Skibbereen Historical Journal local historian, William Casey, wrote an extended account of his life.
There are two other paintings in the collection. One is another portrait, which is believed to be of Hugh’s uncle William Hutchinson of Bantry.
The third is a painting of a ship. One of Hugh’s sons, William Henry, was the captain of a merchant ship, the Dartmouth, and the family tradition was that the painting was of that ship.
In time, the paintings came into the possession of Hugh’s granddaughter, Anna Maria Lawton who was married to Archibald Hosford of Bridge Street, Skibbereen.
Her son, Hugh, emigrated to the USA. In 1926 his daughter, Helen, though aged only eight years, was sent to Ireland so that she could be company to her grandmother, who was unwell.
A year later, when Helen returned to the USA she was given many of the Lawton heirlooms including the three paintings.
Elizabeth Vetell was Helen’s last surviving child and it was her wish to see the paintings returned to Ireland.
So what now for the paintings? Ideally they would form part of an exhibition in a local museum in Skibbereen town, a facility that that the Skibbereen Historical Society believes is much needed and long overdue.
While their future is being organised they are being stored in a safe and secure location, but they are not being hidden away.
Recently the paintings made a brief return to their old home, Lake Marsh House in Aughadown, and the Society plans to make them available to the public at a Heritage Week event this August.
