Major G C S Handcock


Gerald Carlile Stratford Handcock was born in 1858. He came from a landed Anglo-Irish family with extensive estates in Co. Galway and a seat at Carrowntryla, or Carantrila Park near Tuam in the same county. He entered the regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant on 10 April 1878, promoted to lieutenant on 1 Mar 1879, captain on 24 May 1885, and major on 27 May 1896. On 29 Sep 1905 he was second in command of the 1st Battalion. He fought in the Sudan in 1885 and on the North West Frontier. He was with his regiment in the Boer War. The photo is taken from Regiment magazine which says that the picture was taken in 1890 when he was a captain. He is dressed in the service dress of an officer commanding mounted infantry. 

The British Museum website tells us that Captain Gerald Handcock sold a collection of lead and selenite curse tablets, from Cyprus, to the museum in 1891: ‘It is not clear from the surviving correspondence if Handcock actually spent time on Cyprus, as it seems that the lead and selenite tablets came from an unnamed third party, with Handcock acting as an intermediary. However, as he was based in Egypt in the 1880s, he may well have visited the island during this time and acquired antiquities, or at least was in contact with sources of ancient artefacts. The large number of Cypriot items in his collection - 186, were sold to the National Museum of Ireland by his niece Evelyn Handcock Ferguson in 1940, suggests however that he had more than a passing interest. It is possible that some of his collection came from Charles Christian who sold a few lead curse tablets from the same source to the Museum; Christian may well have been the intermediary who supplied Handcock with his collection of curse tablets, and perhaps other items.’

Handcock lived at Athlone Park but in 1928 moved to the ancestral home at Carrowntryla which had 50 rooms (now demolished). He managed to acquire 100 acres. He died in 1938 and was buried with his parents in the Augustinian Friary in the centre of Dunmore where the tomb still remains.


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by Stephen Luscombe