John Beresford-Ash dies

John Mr Beresford-Ash, who was in his 70s and who was well-known in Londonderry was found dead in the grounds of his 16th century ancestral home at Ardmore Road on Saturday.

His loss was described yesterday as "sad" by the Secretary of the YMCA in Londonderry, William Lamrock.

Mr Lamrock added that Mr Beresford-Ash had always opened the grounds of his home to people, especially newly-wed couples who wanted to get photographs taken amid wonderful scenery.

He added: "He was a man who cared about his community and within his grounds was run a first-class education programme. Even when his home was attacked in the past he never closed his grounds to the community. Of course, his family also played a major part in local history, and Captain Thomas Ash's account of the Siege is probably the most authoritative document on that episode in our history."

The Beresford-Ashs are one of the four oldest Protestant families in Northern Ireland, according to author Peter Taylor, in his book, Loyalists: War and Peace in Northern Ireland.

Mr Beresford-Ash's family has been represented at important events in Londonderry and Irish history for more than 400 years.

Ashbrook, the family's ancestral home near Tullyally on Londonderry's east bank, was originally a gift from Queen Elizabeth I to his ancestor, General Thomas Ash, in recognition of services rendered to the Crown in helping quash rebellion in Ireland.

Another ancestor, Sir Tristram Beresford, became the first land agent for the London merchant companies, looking after administration as their interests as well as providing protection for the new settlers in the early 1600s.

And Captain Thomas Ash recorded the 1689 Siege of Derry in a famous contemporary diary, which is believed by historians to be the most definitive contemporary account of the Great Siege.

Yet another ancestor was Elizabeth Ash, the wife of Michael Browning, the ill-fated captain of the Williamite flagship, The Mountjoy, who died as his ship attempted to break the boom before the famous Relief of Derry.

Mr Beresford-Ash and his wife, Agnes, were also no strangers to the political turmoil. Their home was petrol bombed on several occasions in 1997 and 1998 and bonfires were set alight in their driveway.

Author Peter Taylor interviewed John Beresford-Ash for his book, and recounted the latest in a series of attacks on Mr Beresford-Ash's home, in 1998.

The book said: "Again, John and his wife were asleep in bed when they heard a crash, but it was not followed by the sound of breaking glass. `We followed our by now set routine. As I came down the main staircase, I could see there was a tremendous glow of fire but this time it was outside the house not in. I flung open the door and to my absolute amazement saw five little fires in a semicircle about ten yards from end to end. I immediately realized what it was. We'd recently had a family photograph taken outside our front door for my sixtieth birthday that had been in the local papers.

"'There were five of us there, my three daughters and my wife and myself. I assumed this was meant to represent the five of us being burned.' I suggested that most people who had been fire-bombed three times in ten months would want to move; was not he minded to do so now? `Good Lord, no!' he said, looking horrified at the thought. `We're devoted to our house. This is our family home. I shall never leave.' I asked him if the bombers had ever been caught. `No,' he said, `and they never will be.' Today, John Beresford Ash and most of the Protestants of Northern Ireland still feel themselves a community under siege."