SHIRLEY, Evelyn Philip. Some Account of the Territory or Dominion of Farney, in the Province and Earldom of Ulster. Illustrated.

London: W. Pickering, 1845. Quarto. pp. viii, 211, 1 (addenda). Quarter black morocco on black cloth boards, title in gilt along spine. Armorial shield in gilt on both covers. Signed presentation copy from the author to Revd. James Beck, dated at Lough Fea, Oct. 10, 1851. Ex lib with label and neat circular stamps. A very good copy.
Shirley, Evelyn Philip (1812-1882), antiquarian and landowner, was born in South Audley Street, London, the eldest son of Evelyn John Shirley, landowner and MP for County Monaghan, and his wife, Eliza (née Stanhope; d. 1859). The Shirley family had large estates in County Monaghan (c.26,000 acres) and around Lower Eatington Park, their principal residence, in Warwickshire. Their Irish residence was at Lough Fea, County Monaghan, which Evelyn Philip Shirley visited twice a year. Educated at Eton, he went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, and graduated BA (1834) and MA (1837). He entered parliament in 1841 as Tory MP for County Monaghan, which he represented until 1847, before being elected to represent South Warwickshire (1853–65). Though he took on the role of politician, he did so with little conviction and rarely spoke in the House of Commons. He performed other public roles and held local office in both Monaghan and Warwickshire: he was a magistrate and a deputy lieutenant of both counties and served as high sheriff in County Monaghan in 1837 and in Warwickshire in 1867.

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