Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Gentleman amateur architect and portrait painter. Francis Bindon was fourth of the five sons of David Bindon (d.1733), of Cloony, Co. Clare, M.P. for Ennis, by his wife Dorothy, daughter of Samuel Burton, of Buncraggy, Co. Clare. His brother Samuel married Anne, daughter of Thomas Coote of Coote Hill and aunt of EDWARD LOVETT PEARCE EDWARD LOVETT PEARCE , in 1716. Francis Bindon appears to have studied painting and architecture during his travels abroad in Italy and elsewhere; he is recorded as having been in Padua with his cousin Samuel Burton of Burton Hall, Co. Dublin, in October 1716.(1) He acquired a reputation in Ireland as a portrait painter and architect. His sitters included the Viceroy, Lionel Sackville, Duke of Dorset, and Jonathan Swift, whom he painted four times between 1735 and 1740. He was a member of the Royal Dublin Society in 1733 and was given the freedom of the Guild of St Luke in Dublin (Corporation of Painter-Stayners) in the same year.(2) In about 1750 he was granted an annual pension of £100 on the Irish Establishment. By 1758 he had retired from his profession owing to age and failure of sight. He lived in Dublin but held part of the family property in Co. Limerick. He succeeded his brother David as MP for Ennis in 1761, when he also inherited more of the family property in Co. Clare. He was made a Freeman of the City of Limerick in 1762. He died 'suddenly in his chariot on his way to the country' on 2 June 1765,(3) leaving his house in Abbey Street to Francis Ryan, portrait painter. A catalogue of his library is in the National Library of Ireland.(4)

Bindon is listed as a subsciber to JOHN AHERON' JOHN AHERON' s Treatise on Architecture (1754).

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from W.G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913), I, 63-67, and Knight of Glin, 'Francis Bindon; his life and works', BIGS 10, Nos. 2 & 3 (Apr-Sep 1967), 3-36. Information on his date of birth is from Nicola Figgis (ed), Art and Architecture of Ireland, vol.II, Painting,  178-79. A head and shoulders portrait, said to be a self-portrait of Bindon, which was sold at auction by Hamilton, Osborne King, Dublin, on 25 Nov 1997, is reproduced on p. 36 of the sale catalogue.

(1) John Ingamells, ed., A Dictionary of British and Irish travellers in Italy 1701-180 (1997), 91,163.
(2) British Library , Egerton MS 1765, f.163v (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(3) Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 4-8 Jun 1765.
(4) NLI LO 1,385 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).


21 work entries listed in chronological order for BINDON, FRANCIS


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Building: CO. WICKLOW, CLERMONT
Date: 1731
Nature: Attr. to FB by Knight of Glin. Front doorcase dated 1731.
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 8

Building: CO. KILDARE, FURNESS
Date: 1731?
Nature: Attr. to FB by Knight of Glin. For Richard Nevill.
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 6; Mark Bence-Jones, Burke’s Guide to Country Houses. Volume I, Ireland. (London, 1978), 129(illus.)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, HOWTH CASTLE
Date: 1738ca
Nature: Alterations; attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 10

Building: CO. WICKLOW, RUSSBOROUGH
Date: 1742-1743
Nature: New house for Joseph Leeson, MP.  Attr. to FB in obituary in Faulkner's Dublin Journal (followed by Curran) and to FB and Richard Castle by Sadleir, Knight of Glin and Craig.
Refs: Faulkner's Dublin Journal, 4-8 Jun 1765; C.P. Curran, Dublin Decorative Plasterwork of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (1967), 36;  Thomas Sadleir, 'Richard Castle, Architect', JRSAI 41 (1911), 243;  The Knight of Glin, 'Francis Bindon', BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 11;  Maurice Craig, The Architecture of Ireland from the earliest times to 1880 (London & Dublin, 1982), 188-9.

Building: CO. KILDARE, BELAN HOUSE
Date: 1743ca
Nature: Designed by Richard Castle & FB for John Stratford, MP (later 1st Earl of Aldborough).
Refs: J.N. Brewer, The Beauties of Ireland (1825 & 1826), II, ?; Parliamentary Gazetteer (1844), I, 231; JRSAI 41 (1911), 243; BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 11; Mark Bence-Jones, Burke’s Guide to Country Houses. Volume I, Ireland. (London, 1978), 35(illus.)

Building: CO. KILKENNY, BESSBOROUGH
Date: 1744p
Nature: 'Though not inhabited for forty years, the house is kept in excellent order; it was built by David[sic] Bindon of Limerick, as were the houses of Casltemorres and Woodstock.' (Tighe). Old house dem. 1744 and new house built from design of Francis Bindon.(Neale, but attr. to Richard Castle in APSD, C, 42). For Earl of Bessborough. (Burnt out, Feb 1923, see Irish Times, 16 May 1925.)
Refs: William Tighe, Statistical Observations relative to the County of Kilkenny made in the years 1800 and 1801 (1802), 586; J.P. Neale, Views of…Seats, II (1823), 66; BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 11

Building: CO. TIPPERARY, SOPWELL HALL (BORRISOKANE)
Date: 1745
Nature: Attr. to FB by Knight of Glin, 1967. House built for Col. Francis Sadleir.
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 23;  Mark Bence-Jones,  Burke’s Guide to Country Houses. Volume I, Ireland. (London, 1978),  262(illus.). 

Building: CO. KILKENNY, WOODSTOCK
Date: 1745-47
Nature: 'built by David[sic] Bindon of Limerick' (Tighe). For Sir William Fownes, Bt. (Burnt 1922.)
Refs: E.McP files, citing PRO 2/469/10; William Tighe, Statistical Observations relative to the County of Kilkenny made in the years 1800 and 1801 (1802), 586; J.N Brewer, Beauties of Ireland I (1825), 474; BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 13; Terence Reeves-Smyth and Belinda Jupp, 'Woodstock Gardens & Demesne', unpaginated typescript report, Feb 2000.

Building: CO. MEATH, DREWSTOWN
Date: 1745ca
Nature: Attr. to FB
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 20

Building: CO. LIMERICK, ALTAVILLA
Date: 1745ca
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 24

Building: CO. LIMERICK, LIMERICK, ST JOHN'S SQUARE
Date: 1751
Nature: Attr. to FB by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 26

Building: CO. CLARE, NEWHALL
Date: 1764ca
Nature: Brick house with cut stone dressings and hexagonal, 2-storey porch, built onto the end of an earlier house by Charles MacDonnell of Kilkee. Attr. to FB by knight of Glin
Refs: North Munster Antiquarian Journal (1949), 20; BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 28; Mark Bence-Jones, Burke’s Guide to Country Houses. Volume I, Ireland. (London, 1978), 224-5(illus.)

Building: CO. LAOIS, ROUNDWOOD
Date: ?
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 30

Building: CO. LAOIS, MOYNE HOUSE (DURROW)
Date: ?
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 30

Building: CO. GALWAY, RAFORD (ATHENRY)
Date: ?
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 33

Building: CO. SLIGO, COOPERSHILL
Date: ?
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 33

Building: CO. LAOIS, MOUNTRATH, MARKET HOUSE
Date: ?
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 30

Building: CO. LIMERICK, CASTLE PARK
Date: ?
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 28

Building: CO. LIMERICK, LIMERICK, PATRICK STREET, HOUSE OF GEORGE EVANS BRUCE
Date: ?
Nature: Attr. to FB suggested by Knight of Glin
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 28

Building: CO. KILKENNY, CASTLE MORRES
Date: ?
Nature: 'built by David[sic] Bindon of Limerick' (Tighe).
Refs: William Tighe, Statistical Observations relative to the County of Kilkenny made in the years 1800 and 1801 (1802), 586; BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 15; Mark Bence-Jones, Burke’s Guide to Country Houses. Volume I, Ireland. (London, 1978), 73(illus.)

Building: CO. CLARE, CARNELLY
Date: ca.1740
Nature: Attr. to FB by Knight of Glin; built for George Stamer, brother-in-law of FB
Refs: BIGS, 10, Nos. 2 & 3, Apr-Sep 1967, 28; Maurice Craig & the Knight of Glin, Ireland Observed (1970), 23