Lord Mountjoy was sworn in as Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1600, and one of his chief assistants and commander of the force which he established in Lough Foyle was Capt Henry Dowcra, later Sir Henry Dowcra.
Though he left himself open to criticism in England through some mistakes, his achievements were remarkable. He had been very successful in enlisting the Irish to fight the Irish, and one of these was Neill Garve (garbh, rough) O Donnell, brother-in-law of Hugh Roe O'Donnell.
This man was to be given all of Tyrconnell as reward for serving with the English. The fact that Neill Garve spoke some broken English, he was considered less savage by Dowcra. However, when it came to fulfilling promises, Neill Garve was abominably treated, and Dowcra's belatedly acknowledged his part in the matter. Neill Garbh was, he wrote, "as valiant and hardy as any man living".
The surname Dowcra, which had been in the Pale in the 15th century appears, to be no longer in Ireland. It is listed in The Penguin Dictionary of Sur- names, with the aliases Dockeray/Dockray/Dockree ("nook with dock/sorrel").
The Irish surname (Mac) Dockery has no connection with this English toponymic, though was perhaps betimes used as a synonym. This is "of a rare and interesting type", according to Edward Mac Lys aght's More Irish Families, where we are informed that it is rarely found outside Co Roscommon, its original habitat.
Before the destruction of the Gaelic order Clan Dail Re Deacair, one of four families whose duty it was to guard the preys and spoils of O Conor, king of Connaught, had the particular duty of providing straw for encampment and furniture and beds for O Conor's house. The surname was Mac Dhail Re Dochair, but was corrupted to Mac Giolla Deachair.
It was first anglicised in 1582 as MacGallredocker, while in 1585 it appeared as Macgilldogher, which is presumably a clerk's attempt to write down Mac Giolla Deacair phonetically, for even as early as that this synonym was coming into use. As the Irish word decair means "hard", this name became equated in Co Meath with the English surname Harden "grey/grey-stone (i.e. boundary) hare valley".
In modern times the Gaelic form is O Dochraidh, which is considerably removed from the original. Mac Lysaght's More Irish Families says that O'Dockery is now used as the anglicised form when the prefix is not omitted. However, there is no doubt that Dockery is properly a Mac, not an O name.
Neither Mac Lysaght nor de Bhulbh offer any explanation for the original form nor the modern one.
Annala Rioghachta Eireann/ Annals of the Four Masters records the battle of Disertdachrioch (anglicised as Desert creagh, Co Tyrone) in 1281 when Cineal Conaill clashed with Cineal Owen. The former consisted of the English of Ulster with "Hugh Boy (bui, yellow), son of Donnell Oge, son of Hugh Meth, son of Hugh, who was usually called an Macaemh Toinleasc".
A footnote informs that Ma geoghegan "Englishes" this "Hugh Boye mac Donnel oge mac Hugh, surnamed the Fatt, mac Hugh, who was called the leasy-arsed youth". Among those who fell in this battle was Giolla na nOg Mac Dail Re Docair. In 1366, Murtough Mac Dail-redocair was among those treacherously slain at Srath-Fear Luirg, by the people of Fermanagh.
Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) lists not a single Dockery with a single acre in Ireland. A London-based Harden had 844 Co Offaly acres; there were Harden holdings of 31 and 1,436 acres in Co Armagh, and in Co Tipperary there were holdings of 72,326 and 941 acres owned by non-resident Hardens, and the 534 acres in the possession of the Reps of Thomas Harden, Borresleigh.
Our half-inch Ordnance Survey map shows a "canal", approximately a half mile in length, joining Kilglass Lough to an unnamed lake to its north and west, both in Co Roscommon. This would appear to be Carnadoe Waters which "were opened up in 1849 into Grange and Kilglass lakes . . .", according to Ruth Delany's Ireland's Inland Waterways.
The three-quarter acre Dockery's Island, though not shown on our 1/2" map, is presumably situated in Kilglass Lough. Kilglass comes from the Irish Cill Ghlais.
Current telephone directories list 10 Hardens, mainly in the Dublin 01 area, with two O'Dockerys and 67 Dockerys. Outside of the Dublin area the great majority are in the 07 and 09 areas of Connaught and Donegal.
A visitor to our shores, on making inquiries in a heritage store about the surname Dockery, was sold material relating to the surname (O) Doherty, being misleadingly informed that it was one and the same name.
P.S. Aine in LEGAN 1281 should have read Ainle.