The Fermanagh Bartons

The Fermanagh Bartons – ‘Wine Geese’

By Dave McNulty

In 911 CE the Vikings invaded Normandy – that name derives from ‘Noromen’, meaning the men from the north. One village in Normandy called Barenton may be how the Bartons gained their new, non-Viking surname. They lived nearby at the time, and there are several local variants, e.g., De Bartun, De Barton.

In 1066, ‘William, the Bastard’ led the normal invasion of England at the decisive Battle of Hastings. The list of participants is fragmentary; hence, we cannot know whether the De Bartons accompanied 'the future’ King William I. They could equally well have been part of the second wave.

As far as the island of Ireland is concerned, Bartons were first noticed in 1250 in living in Buttevant, Cork.

In 1595, the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, recruited twenty-five-year-old Thomas Barton to join his army, which was destined for service in Ireland. Thomas, who had been living in Norwich, accepted the challenge. The Nine Years War began soon after, ending in 1603.

From an English perspective, it did not go well. Devereux was duly recalled to the court of Queen Elizabeth I in 1601. Thomas, however, was unaffected by it. He was first noticed in County Fermanagh by 1599, and in 1609 he was granted 1,000 acres of confiscated land for military services rendered. This land was in the Boa Island / Kesh Forest area. He thus became a planter, centred at Curraghmore Farm.

Thoman Barton was succeeded by two further generations prior to the significant birth of his great grandson, also called Thomas (b. 1694, d. 1780). He was schooled in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, where his Dickson family uncles took charge of his education. The Dickson’s traded in brandy via Ballyshannon port with the French.

In 1722, Thomas Barton married Margaret Delap from Ballyshannon. Then, aged twenty-nine in 1723, he was duly sent to work in France for the family business. His route led him through Montpellier, Marseilles and finally, by 1725, Bordeaux. As it was a major Atlantic trading port, its attraction was obvious. Thomas opened a wine trading business, and so it is that in 2025, Bordeaux will celebrate the 300^th anniversary of Thomas Bartons arrival. The Barton wine business currently exports to one hundred and seventy-five countries.

The family firm already had valuable contacts, which helped grow his business. He was perceived as honest in his dealings. He gained the nickname ‘French Tom’. He also became a member of the so-called ‘Wine Geese,’ i.e., Irish entrepreneurs who emigrated from Ireland to Bordeaux and stayed connected to the wine and spirits trade. By 1725, Ireland had already imported as much claret as England.

The phrase Wine Geese is just a play on words. It alludes to the ‘Wild Geese’ i.e., those Irish soldiers on the defeated side of King James who, after the 1690 Battle of the Boyne and the subsequent Treaty of Limerick, left mainly to France, where they formed the Hibernia Regiment.

The ‘Wine Geese’ were mostly Catholic merchants in the Irish wine and spirits trade who emigrated to Bordeaux.

Thomas and Margaret had a son, William (b. 1723 d. 1794) whose character was very different to that of his entrepreneurial father. French Tom died in 1780. When William grew up, he in turn married Grace Massy. Their fourth child, Hugh Massy Barton (b. 1766 d. 1854) became actively involved in the family wine business. Hugh, in his turn, married Anne Johnston.

The French Revolution broke out in 1789. It naturally spread to Bordeaux, where William, as a foreign bourgeois, was held under house arrest until his death in captivity. His son Hugh was thrown into jail in 1793, but his wife Anne managed to extradite him. Hugh then quickly handed over their Barton et Guestier business back to his partner, Daniel Guestier, and fled back to Ireland. He felt sufficient confidence to return in 1804, where he remained, shuttling between Ireland and France.

Hugh’s grandfather ‘French Tom’ had never bought property in Bordeaux owing to La Driote D’Aubin, a windfall tax that meant property held by foreigners who died in France was forfeited to the King, Louis XVI in French Tom’s case. This rule was repealed in 1819, whereupon Hugh was free to start buying chateaux. He also bought Straffan House in County Kildare. This is currently the site of the K-Club, short for Kildare, where guests can eat in the Barton Room Restaurant. Appropriately, it serves Barton Wines.

Now, almost three hundred years after the arrival in Bordeaux of French Tom, the Bartons are still there. They currently both own and run three chateaux: Leoville-Barton, Langoa-Barton and Mauvesin-Barton. Both Damien and Mélanie Barton-Sartorius are actively involved in the family business. They represent the tenth generation since French Tom’s.

See https://leoville-barton.com/en/heritage for more information