John Lloyd was a member of the board of guardians of the Thurles Union at least by 1852, and he may have been a member as early as 1850. He was also a member of the dispensary committee of management of Moyne/Templetouhy/Loughmore. His namesake, John of Lloydsboro and Cranagh, was also a member of the board, and it was he who made Cranagh available on lease as an auxiliary workhouse in 1850. (He had acquired Cranagh through his marriage to his cousin, Debby Ann, only daughter and heiress of John Lloyd and Amy Brazier of Cranagh).

Catherine, the wife of John of Lisheen, died in 1853, and it was family lore that he was so grief-stricken that he decided to emigrate to Canada. Records, however, show that he was remarried in Dublin the following year, 1854, to Mary Ann Minton or Minchen. He and his new wife emigrated the following year, 1856, and settled on Ontario, where a second family was started. John became involved in railway construction in Canada, probably in the role of engineer, in which profession he may have qualified while in Trinity College. Family lore also tells that Lisheen was in financial straits at the time, due likely to the building costs incurred in the castle, and the subsequent Great Famine, which partially at least impoverished many estates. John's only other son, Frederick, also emigrated to Canada, but at what stage is not on record. A daughter, Catherine married William Butler of Drom.

Charles Henry succeeded to Lisheen and its estate in 1856, if not before that. He was then thirty five years of age, and was to remain as landlord until 1887. He was appointed to the Moyne dispensary committee by at least 1857.

In the Tipperary by election of October 1866 following the death of John Blake Dillon, the erstwhile young Irelander, the two candidates were Captain Charles White, who was the sitting member for Dublin County, and a liberal Protestant, and Laurence Waldron, a Catholic barrister, who was the conservative candidate. White won the seat, but a petition was later presented against his return, and a select committee was appointed by the House of Commons to investigate. The investigation threw much light on the conduct of that intensely contested election and all the passion it generated.

Lisheen Castle was marginally drawn into it through the staying there of Captain Richard Cooper, an absentee landlord, who lived in Northamptonshire. He owned the townland of Ballyknockane, and came to Ireland regularly for the fishing season. As a landowner he was entitled to vote in the Tipperary election, and he was probably invited over by Charles Lloyd and other supporters of Waldron, to organise the voting of his tenants.

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