Féil-Scríbhinn Liam Mhic Alasdair - Essays Presented to Liam Mac Alasdair, FGSI

© Genealogical Society of Ireland – Digital Archive – March 2013

Genealogical Society of Ireland

Féil-Scríbhinn Liam Mhic Alasdair

Essays Presented to Liam Mac Alasdair, FGSI.

December 2009

Rory J. Stanley, FGSI Editor

Cumann Geinealais na hÉireann

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© Genealogical Society of Ireland – Digital Archive – March 2013

THE ARMS OF THE SOCIETY The arms, painted on vellum, were presented to the Society at an official ceremony held on July 23rd 2001 in the County Hall, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin by the Chief Herald of Ireland, Brendan O’ Donoghue, who described the Arms as follows.

‘As much of the genealogist’s work involves the examination of documents of various kinds, two scrolls in saltire were selected as the principal charge, or element, in the GSI shield. The scrolls are banded vert, as green is the colour peculiarly associated with Ireland. The tinctures (or colours) azure and or, or in today’s language, blue and gold - the colours of the State - are used on the shield and there is also what the heralds describe as a bordure treffy which is reminiscent of shamrocks, another patently Irish symbol. Because the use of a tree as an emblem by genealogical societies is so common, an effort was made in this case to devise an appropriate variation. In the event, taking account of the fact that the late O Conor Don was closely associated with the Society, it was decided to include a sprig of oak on the shield as a reference to the O Conor arms. And beneath the shield, is the motto: Cuimhnigí ar ár Sinnsir (Remember Our Ancestors). In addition to the shield, the Society requested and has been granted a badge to be used by its members. The design here is a rope formed into a trefoil which, in heraldry, is known as a Hungerford knot. In this case, the rope terminates in two acorns. Finally, the letters patent include a banner (front cover) repeating the main elements of the shield. This is very much in keeping with the formula traditionally used in the grant of arms which states that the arms may be used on shield or banner.’ The Society’s heraldic badge is now called the ‘Mungovan Badge’.

The work of devising the GSI arms was carried out by Micheál Ó Comáin, consultant herald at the office of the Chief Herald of Ireland after discussions with the Society’s officers, Rory Stanley, Frieda Carroll and, of course, Liam Mac Alasdair. The painting by hand of the arms and letters patent on vellum was done by Philip Mackey of Donegal, one of the herald-painters commissioned by the Chief Herald.

Contents page Introduction by the President

Rory J. Stanley

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Eight Decades of Irish Genealogy

Tony McCarthy

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The principles of international law governing the Sovereign authority for the creation and administration of Orders of Chivalry

Noel Cox

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Marie Martin: An Irish Nurse in the First World War Philip Lecane

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The Genealogies in the Irish manuscripts

Seán M. Mac Brádaigh

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Will the Real Baron of Clonmore Please Stand Up!

Caroline McCall

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The origins and chief locations of the O Gara sept

John Hamrock

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Bringing back the memory

The O Morchoe

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The name of our father

Michaël Merrigan and Katrijne Merrigan

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Thomas St George MacCarthy

Jim Herlihy

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The tragic incident of WW2―the Ballymanus mine explosion 1943

Róisín Lafferty

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Polish-Irish connections are centuries old

Bartosz Kozłowski

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The Gardiner Family, Dublin, and Mountjoy, County Tyrone

Seán J. Murphy

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GSI Archive

Séamus O’Reilly

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Is there a Case for Indigenous Ethnic Status in Ireland? Michael Merrigan

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From Local District Defence Force Command Unit to Reserve Defence Force Infantry Battalion

James Scannell

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St. Canice’s Cemetery, Barrack Lane, Finglas.

Barry O’Connor

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Biographical Notes on the Contributors

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Acknowledgements

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Closing Message from An Cathaoirleach

Séamus Moriarty 3

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Liam Mac Alasdair 2009

Introduction by Rory J. Stanley, FGSI President / Uachtarán

Genealogical Society of Ireland

Sláinte bhrea Mhic Alasdair or so the filí of old would have opened their praise poems to the great and good of Gaelic Ireland and it is, indeed, fitting to likewise open this Féil-Scríbhinn or Festschrift to our esteemed colleague and dear friend, Liam Mac Alasdair.

When Liam and Maura Mac Alasdair attend the second Open Meeting of the Dún Laoghaire Genealogical Society back on May 14th 1991 in the Victor Hotel (now The Rochestown Lodge), nobody, least of all Liam himself, would have thought that an important chapter in the history of Irish genealogy had just opened. This chapter is one of service, innovation and facilitation and now spans nearly twenty years.

The history of this Society from its foundation in October 1990 will, in time, be assessed according to its achievements and especially, its seminal role in the promotion and development of genealogical research. Never content to just replicate in an Irish context the activities and achievements of others, it constantly pushed the boundaries to open up genealogical research to the community at large.

The promotion of genealogy as an open access educational leisure activity available to all in the community irrespective of status, socio-economic circumstances, prior learning or perceived ability was central to the development of the Society and it is an objective that Liam Mac Alasdair holds dearly. His deep interest in education predated his involvement in genealogy and in many ways it forms the bedrock of his commitment to his community and to this Society.

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His experience as a long-time member of the Dún Laoghaire Borough Vocational Education Committee and its involvement in adult education, social improvement and facilitation is a deep well of knowledge, from which, this Society drew much of its inspiration and innovation. Nowhere is this more strikingly evident than in the Society’s publication programme over the past nineteen years or so.

When Liam joined the Executive Committee of the Society at its meeting of June 7th 1991 he fully endorsed the report delivered to that meeting by Michael Merrigan, Hon. Secretary, on the necessity of establishing ‘an independent genealogical library and repository in Dún Laoghaire’ and stressed the need for the publication of a Journal. The meeting duly appointed Liam as the Society’s first Journal Editor and he set about the task of encouraging members to write their family histories.

The first issue of the Society’s Journal was published by Liam on January 13th 1992 and presented to Members at the Open Meeting held that evening in the Victor Hotel and thus, started a journey in genealogical publishing that nurtured and launched many fine writers and researchers. Many later became authors of fine genealogical, biographical and historical works. Others went on to carve out careers in adult education or genealogical research owing much to the wonderful opportunity of having their first research or genealogical article published by Liam in the Society’s Journal. The production of the Society’s Journal, imbued with Liam’s education ethos, encouraged many Members to take up adult education and third level courses.

Though Liam passed on the mantle of Journal Editor in 1999, he remained extremely committed to the publication of genealogical research data especially Memorial Inscriptions. The transcription of Memorials, like the earlier Census Project coordinated by Tony Daly, was one of the Society’s group projects which is still on-going under the direction of Barry O’Connor.

Liam’s computer expertise was very generously made available to the Society as he painstakingly prepared the layout and typesetting of each of the Society’s publications. This first volume of the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Deansgrange Cemetery’, for example, was published in August 1994 to be followed by a further four volumes between then and March 2002. In the meantime, Barry O’Connor and his team turned their attention to other cemeteries in the County of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and, once again, Liam was on hand to produce three volumes of the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown’ between 2000 and 2005. The work continued thereafter with the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Grangegorman Military Cemetery’ published in 2006 and, in keeping with developments in electronic publishing and in collaboration with 6

Barry O’Connor, Liam produced the Society’s first publication on CD Rom in September 2008 with the three volumes of the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown’ on disc and fully searchable. This was followed in 2009 by the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Military Personnel and Their Families’ on CD and all made available for purchase through an on-line shop created and maintained by Liam which is attached to the Society’s website.

In addition to the Memorial Inscriptions, Liam’s skills were also instrumental in the publication of the GRO Users’ Groups proposal ‘The General Register Office Dublin – The Future? (1993); Godfrey F. Duffy’s ‘The Irish in Britain (1798-1916 – A Bibliography (1993); ‘An tEolaí – The Irish Family History Research Directory’ Vol. 1 (1993); ‘Dún Laoghaire Genealogical Society – Current Position and Future Aims’ (1994); Seán Magee’s ‘Weavers & Related Trades Dublin 1826 - A Genealogical Source’ (1995); the first volume of the Irish Genealogical Sources series (1995- ), the early volumes of ‘Wicklow Roots’ (1996-) on behalf of the Wicklow County Genealogical Society; the report of An Forum Oidhreachta – ‘Towards a County Heritage Policy’ (1997); and ‘Wavelink’ Vol. 1 No. 1 (2001) published on behalf of the Holyhead Dún Laoghaire Link Organisation by the Society.

With his strong commitment to the development of the Society’s Archive and especially, as agreed back in June 1991, for the establishment of a permanent home for this growing facility, Liam warmly welcomed the March 1997 decision of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to allocate the Martello Tower at Seapoint to the Society as ‘a permanent base for its archive’. But it was nearly six years before enough funds were raised to commence the required restoration works on this historic tower which dates from 1804.

Liam coordinated and directed the detailed planning that was required for the restoration works. Thankfully, many professionals within the Society and others gave of their services and advice free of charge enabling work to commence in 2003. Already in a ruinous condition with a rotten wooden floor and home to dozens of pigeons, work was going to be slow and meticulously undertaken in accordance with the specifications laid down for the protection of a heritage structure. His commitment to this enormous project was second to none and throughout the restoration works and the subsequent installation of the fixtures and fittings, especially the computers, Liam was on hand morning, noon and sometimes evening ensuring that the work was completed.

The full story of the restoration of the Martello Tower at Seapoint was published by the Society in 2004 as no. 31 of the ‘Irish Genealogical Sources’ series and edited by Margaret Conroy, marking the official opening of the Society’s Archive or ‘Daonchartlann’ on September 15th 2004. However, it 7

soon became apparent that the atmospheric conditions within the building could not be adequately controlled to provide a sustainable environment suitable for the Society’s Archive. Corrective measures were considered but the ongoing funding requirements for such rendered it completely impossible for a voluntary organisation like this Society to undertake and we had to relocate the Archive to 111, Lower George’s Street, Dún Laoghaire in 2008. Thanks to Liam’s endeavours the County Council and the citizens of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown have, in the restored Martello Tower, another heritage amenity which the County Council aims to allocate to more appropriate maritime uses at Seapoint.

Liam strongly supported the change of name of the Society in 1999 to the Genealogical Society of Ireland as it more accurately reflected the activities of the Society and the interests of our Members. He was a member of the Select Committee which met with the officials at the office of the Chief Herald of Ireland to discuss the design of the Society’s coat-of-arms. Liam, it is believed, suggested the crossed scrolls and the Motto in Irish – ‘Cuimhnigí ar Ár Sinnsir’ (‘Remember Our Ancestors’). These Arms and the beautiful Heraldic Banner depicted on the front cover of this Festschrift were presented to the Society by the Chief Herald of Ireland, Brendan O’Donoghue, at an official ceremony held on July 23rd 2001 in the County Hall, Dún Laoghaire.

Liam stepped down from the Board of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in March 2008 after serving as an officer of the Society since June 1991. In that time he has been a source of knowledge, advice and encouragement for many Members. His quiet unassuming manner has often masked a steely resolve to get things done – and that he did in abundance. Given his long commitment and enormous personal contribution to the development of genealogy in Ireland, including a wonderfully enduring legacy of publishing genealogical, biographical and now heraldic research with over forty titles in print, it is only fitting that Liam Mac Alasdair be presented with a Festschrift in his honour.

On my own behalf, having first met Liam and his lovely Maura in 1995 and during my terms as Cathaoirleach from 1996 to 2008, I discovered and came to rely on the wisdom and strength of a hard working colleague and true friend, Liam Mac Alasdair.

In conclusion, Liam, ní mόr dúinn mar sin an leabhar seo do thairiscint duit le dea-thoil agus le beannachtaí ό gach éinne againn. Iarramuid ort an FhéilScríbhinn seo do ghlacadh uainn mar chomharta ar ár m-buíochas agus ár nárdmheas.

Is mise, do shean chara, Rory 8

EIGHT DECADES OF IRISH GENEALOGY Tony McCarthy When Liam MacAlasdair was born eighty years ago, most of us had no ancestors! At least, this was the view of the foremost Irish genealogist of the day. In his book A Simple Guide to Irish Genealogy, Fr Wallace Clare says of the Registry of Deeds: ‘Not only do the deeds supply information relating to the wealthy landlords, but also concerning those of humble circumstances, such as the descendants of the Irish gentry who either took to trade or farming after the Battle of the Boyne’. Now, if the descendants of the Irish gentry barely registered on the genealogical scale, small farmers, cottiers and landless labourers, from whom the bulk of the Irish people are descended, had to be beyond detection.

However, later in the book Fr Clare finds a role in genealogy for the ‘Irish peasant’, not as someone with an interest in tracing his ancestry, but as a genealogical source: ‘The Irish peasant simply lives in the past, and consequently knows all about individuals who have resided in the neighbourhood during the past hundred years or more and takes special delight in imparting information concerning them’.

Father Clare had helped to set up the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) in the mid-1930s. It was to be ‘a Society exclusively devoted to Irish Genealogy … which would have a wide appeal to those of Irish descent throughout the world’. However, it was also exclusive in another sense: the annual membership fee was two guineas, roughly the equivalent of a working man’s weekly wage. Rule 6 of the IGRS stated that: ‘Members under the age of 21 and all Law and Medical students…shall be admitted without entrance fee…’

Today, we are all acknowledged to have ancestors, and we do not need to join an exclusive club to access the means of researching them. We can carry out significant research from the comfort of our own homes using CD-Roms and the Internet.

This transformation in genealogy is related to big changes in technology and bigger changes in society; factors such as a better standard of education, more leisure time, greater disposable income and a genuine acceptance of the fact that we are all equal. However, like any other facet of our culture, genealogy did not change simply because of social trends. It took the hard work of individuals and organisations to popularise genealogy and to provide the tools to enable people to pursue it.

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Liam Mac Alasdair, working within the Genealogical Society of Ireland (GSI), is a man who helped to bring Irish genealogy into the modern world. It is fitting that the GSI should honour his long life of hard work by compiling this celebratory publication. As a former President of the Society, I am delighted to have been asked to contribute an article. In compliance with this request, I will briefly review some of the main developments in Irish genealogy over the eight decades of Liam’s life (to date!).

The 1920s witnessed the establishment of an independent Ireland and the destruction of most of our national records. The blame for the explosion and fire in the Four Courts must be shouldered equally by the Pro- and Anti-Treaty forces. The Irregular forces who occupied the Four Courts in mid-April 1922, turned the huge Record Treasury in which most of our national records were stored, into a bomb factory. In June 1922, the Free State forces decided to dislodge the occupiers. They borrowed field guns from the British and bombarded the complex of building, setting it ablaze. Two huge bombs that had been manufactured and stored in the Record Treasury exploded. A contemporary report stated that: ‘Debris was showered far around and charred documents of national records were picked up in the streets a mile away.’

Indeed the violence of the explosion was such that documents were later found on the Hill of Howth, a distance of seven miles.

This loss of heritage is sorely felt by every Irish family history researcher. The 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 censuses were stored in the Public Record Office in 1922. The Irish census of 1821 was the first modern census to record personal details: up to 1841, the British counterpart recorded only statistical information.

Those records contained the names of every man woman and child who lived in Ireland during those four decades. Had they survived, the census returns alone would get us off to a flying start. Those of 1821 would bring our ancestry back to the eighteenth century with ease. Commenting on the destruction, Winston Churchill said: ‘better a state without documents than documents without a state.’ I wonder?

On a positive note, the 1920s saw the establishment of the Irish Manuscripts Commission in 1928. Its foundation was the Free State Government’s attempt to mitigate the impact of the destruction at the Four Courts in which it had played a significant part. The Commission sought out manuscript collections in private hands, records such as estate papers, cataloguing and publishing some of them. Since 1930 it has overseen the publication of over 140 titles. It also published the journal Analecta Hibernica, which provided information on the Commission's work and in which editions of shorter manuscripts were reproduced

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Rebuilding and salvaging genealogical resources continued during the 1930s.

Despite what has already been said about Fr Wallace Clare and the Irish Genealogical Research Society, it has to be admitted that he and the organisation he helped to found played a very important role in Irish genealogy.

Reading back-issues of their annual publication The Irish Genealogist, which has been reissued in CD-Rom by Eneclann, one is alternately impressed and irritated. In the first issue, there are some excellent articles that are still of value today; for example: King Henry VII’s Irish Army List’;‘Notes on an Old Irish Newspaper’; ‘Abstracts of Irish Wills’. On the other hand, the following sentence appears in the editorial of the same issue: ‘It is, therefore, the happiest of auguries that the Irish Genealogical Research Society should set forth on its career under the presidency of the Earl of Ossory, who, as we all know, is the elder son of the present Marquess (and 22nd Earl) of Ormonde, the head of that illustrious House of Butler…’ For decades after, each issue contains excellent articles and is imbued with references to class and title.

Perhaps the IGRS was taking its lead from the Office of Arms in Dublin, which despite the establishment of the Free State, was still very much a British institution. Sir Neville Wilkinson, a British appointee, was in charge there under the ancient title of Ulster King of Arms. When Sir Neville died in 1940, de Valera took the opportunity to Hibernicise the office. From 1943 it became known as the Genealogical Office, and its head was given the title Chief Herald of Ireland. However, it was de Valera’s appointee to the renamed office, Edward Mac Lysaght, which made the 1940s a significant decade for Irish genealogy.

Ironically, Edward Mac Lysaght started out in life almost as English as Sir Neville. He was born near Bristol and, though his father was Irish, he could not have had a more British upbringing. He attended an English public school: Rugby, and went on to study law at Oxford. He might have gone on to a successful career as a barrister or solicitor in England − and joined the IGRS as Sir Edward − but for the fact that, after sustaining a serious injury, he came to Lahinch, County Clare to recuperate and fell in love with the country, eventually relocating to County Clare. He became fluent in Irish and played a part in the War of Independence.

As Chief Herald, a position he retained until 1954, Edward Mac Lysaght gave a more egalitarian and Gaelic quality to the old British institution. Despite his title, he had very little interest in heraldry. His lasting legacy to Irish genealogy is contained in his books Irish Families and More Irish Families. These very accessible histories of Irish surnames are still popular and in print today. They continue to spark an interest in Irish genealogy which often leads on to serious family history research. He also introduced the innovation of giving courtesy 11

recognition to Irish chiefs of the name. Unfortunately, the MacCarthy Mór controversy has brought this area into disrepute in recent times, but in its day, courtesy recognition put the descendants of the old Irish aristocracy on a par with their continental counterparts.

The 1950s was a lean time for genealogy. It is chiefly remembered for the activities of Eoin ‘the Pope’ O’Mahony (1904-1970). His unusual nickname derived from the answer he gave to a question from one of his teachers when he was a primary school pupil: ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ In 1955 he organised the first O’Mahony Clan Gathering in the ancient seat of the O Mahonys at Gurranes, Templemartin, County Cork. Later, he founded the still thriving O’Mahony Society. His radio programme Meet the Clans brought him and family history to national prominence. This long running show, which spanned the fifties and sixties, gave him an opportunity to display his encyclopaedic knowledge of Irish families. One commentator remarked: ‘No other mortal brain could house the formidable assemblage of genealogical data that his did…’ The Pope O’Mahony was a larger than life character whose enthusiasm for genealogy and love of the Gaelic past was infectious.

The 1960s was a quiet time for genealogy. A few new books of interest to family tree enthusiasts came on the market. The Ulster Historical Foundation, which had been set up in the mid-50s as a research agency attached to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), began to publish source books, many on gravestone inscription. Of these it can be said that though the subject matter was rather tedious, at least the source was not confined to the upper echelons of society. Margaret Dickson Falley’s book Irish and ScotchIrish Ancestral Research was published in 1962. Of this two volume work, reviewers are usually agreed on two things: it contains a mass of invaluable information; it is virtually unreadable. Ms Falley did not organise her material in a reader-friendly way. She was in dire need of a good editor.

Fortunately for the Falley-weary genealogist, the 1970s began with the publication of the very readable Handbook of Irish Genealogy by the Heraldic Artists. For the first time, a ‘how to’ book recognised that genealogy was for everyone. Perhaps that is why it became so popular it had to be reprinted eight times in the twenty years that followed. The Handbook was a very useful work that gave many people a start in genealogy. Its chief drawback was the sample research case given for illustrative purposes. It gave the impression that compiling a family tree back to the seventeenth century was a simple matter, and that every ancestor would be found in all the various types of records. With no network of societies in existence where research experiences could be shared, it was the lot of each reader of the Handbook to find out by one disappointment after another that Irish records just aren’t that good.

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A number of circumstances in the 1980s gave birth to the Irish Genealogical Project (IGP) which has played a significant, often negative, role in Irish genealogy ever since. The 1980s was a decade of high unemployment. To alleviate this situation, various government training schemes were put in place to equip young unemployed people with skills which might enable them to get work. Computer training was an essential part of most of those schemes. It was suggested that trainees should key in church register entries as part of their keyboard skills training, thus producing a valuable by-product.

The practice started in a number of localities and eventually developed into a plan to digitise, for the whole country, all church records, the 1901 and 1911 censuses, Griffith’s Valuation, tithe applotment books and civil birth, death and marriage entries. The plan was to make computerised databases of this information to facilitate genealogical research.

It was a marvellous idea that could have taken much of the tedium out of research: for instance, no more trawling through endless rolls of microfilm to find baptismal entries. However, it turned out to be a huge disappointment.

The crux of the matter was that facilitating genealogical research was not the objective of the IGP; its objective was making money. The amount of money expected to be generated, directly and indirectly was ambitious to say the least: in the late 1980s, one IGP appointed consultancy estimated that genealogy related tourism coming to Ireland in the mid-1990s would bring in ÂŁ183,000,000 annually.

The main problem with the IGP, was the lack of strong central control by a person with a keen interest and detailed knowledge of genealogy and genealogists. Right up to the present time, no national database has been compiled by the IGP. Each county retains its county records. Descendants of Irish emigrants will come to Ireland to visit the old homestead, provided they can find it. Irish-Americans have little chance of finding their homestead without the aid of a national database, because in most cases they do not know from which county their ancestor came. By holding onto their own records, county-based genealogical centres are facilitating neither genealogists nor themselves. All county databases should be amalgamated, indexed, and put on the internet to be researched free of charge. This would be a nice gesture to the descendants of Irish emigrants. It would also make more money for each country by encouraging tourism. More importantly, it would enhance Ireland’s reputation: the present practice of doling out of little bits of ancestral information for inflated prices is doing us no favours.

The 1990s was the most productive decade for Irish genealogy. There were more societies founded, more books and magazines published, more 13

conferences organised, more family gatherings, more research facilities, and more of everything genealogical than all the earlier decades put together.

After the great flowering of the 1990s, there was a step back during this opening decade of the third Millennium. Disappointingly, the Irish Genealogical Congress came to an end after four excellent international gatherings; some quality journals, such as The Irish at Home and Abroad, ceased publication; courtesy recognition has been withdrawn from the Chiefs of the Name; finance to the National Library and National Archives has been cut back.

However, when we look over the whole period of eighty years, it is clear that genealogy is in an immeasurably improved state now compared to what it was in the 1920s. The Genealogical Society of Ireland is emblematic of the changes for the better. It is open to all; facilitates local members with both morning and evening meetings; it facilitates members who live abroad with an internet presence and with monthly and annual publications.

Liam Mac Alasdair and people of like mind, who enjoy genealogy and the scope it gives them to exercise their many and varied skills, deserve our thanks for helping to bring about this revolution.

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THE PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW GOVERNING THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY FOR THE CREATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF ORDERS OF CHIVALRY Noel Cox I

Introduction

The International Commission for Orders of Chivalry was established at the Vth Congress of Genealogy and Heraldry at its meeting in Stockholm in August 1960, in order to look into the legitimacy of pretended Orders of chivalry. These Orders had proliferated, especially after the Second World War. The Commission reported to the VIth International Congress of Genealogy, held at Edinburgh in September 1962.1 A provisional list of authentic Orders was published in 1963, and the Register itself in 1976.

In its Report, the Commission outlined what it had concluded were the principles involved in assessing the validity of Orders of chivalry. These principles were accepted by the VIth International Congress of Genealogy. In addition, it was agreed that the International Commission, composed of “high personalities of the Congress, and leading experts in the field of chivalry, nobiliary and heraldic law”,2 should become a permanent body charged with applying the principles developed in its report.3 The Commission published a new edition of the Register in 1996. This does not however differ materially from earlier editions,4 and is governed by the original principles, said to have been derived from international law. The sources of international law include written and unwritten rules, treaties, agreements, and customary law, the latter being discoverable in the writings of jurists and academics upon the behaviour of states, for states were for long the dominant – if not sole – participants in international diplomacy and law.

The principles which the International Commission identified were that only states have the right to create Orders of chivalry; that these Orders cannot be abolished by republican governments, that exiled Sovereigns retain control of royal Orders, that no private individuals can create Orders, that no state or 1

International Commission for Orders of Chivalry, Register of Orders of Chivalry – Report of the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry (1978), 3.

2 One must be perpetually vigilant against claims as to the legitimacy of new “Orders of Chivalry” based on the opinions of supposed legal experts.

3 International Commission for Orders of Chivalry, Register of Orders of Chivalry – Report of the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry (1978), 3.

4 i.e. ibid.

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supranational organisation without its own Orders can validate Orders, and that the only sovereign Order is the Order of Malta.

Since 1962 these principles have been followed by the Commission. They have also been generally, though not universally, accepted by heraldists and by others. But it is more than doubtful whether they were ever legally correct, at least in their entirety. This chapter will examine the second and third principles, which would appear to suggest that the right to control honours is inalienably attached to the person of the Sovereign who instituted them, and such a right of control is unassailable by a successor government. Such a conclusion might be correct in canon law, but it is not so in international law, nor in the domestic law of most, if not all, countries.

II

Ulta vires to abolish Orders

The second principle states that: The Dynastic (or Family or House) Orders belonging jure sanguinis to a Sovereign House (that is to those ruling or ex-ruling Houses whose sovereign rank was internationally recognised at the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1814 or later) retain their full historical chivalric, nobiliary and social validity, notwithstanding all political changes. It is therefore considered ultra vires of any republican State to interfere, by legislation or administrative practice, with the Princely Dynastic Family or House Orders.

That they may not be officially recognised by the new government does not affect their traditional validity or their accepted status in international heraldic, chivalric and nobiliary circles.5 Several difficulties are immediately apparent. The first of these is with the nomenclature; what is meant by “Dynastic (or Family or House) Orders”?

A distinction between dynastic Orders and state Orders is virtually unknown in the common law world,6 and would appear to be only applicable where there is a legal distinction between the state and the legal person of the Sovereign.7 The British approach is to be distinguished from that of most continental European countries, which have Roman law-based civil law legal systems. Archbishop 5

Ibid, 4.

Though it was adopted in 1995 in the Prime Minister’s Honours Advisory Committee, The New Zealand Royal Honours System: Report of the Prime Minister’s Honours Advisory Committee (1995).

7 The Crown is the substitute for the state in realms; see Noel Cox, “The Theory of Sovereignty and the Importance of the Crown in the Realms of The Queen”, 2(2) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal (2002): 237-255, 237.

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Hyginus Eugene Cardinale has given what may be called the classic civil law definition of dynastic Orders: Dynastic Orders of Knighthood are a category of Orders belonging to the heraldic patrimony of a dynasty, often held by ancient right. They are sometimes called Family Orders, in that they are strictly related to a Royal Family or House. They differ from the early military and religious Orders and from the later Orders of Merit belonging to a particular State, having been instituted to reward personal services rendered to a dynasty or an ancient Family of princely rank.8 Thus, in this tradition the dynastic Orders are linked to the royal family, in contrast to the state Orders, which are linked to the state. The absence of a British concept of the state is, of course, is not a coincidence.9 In the British usage at least, a more meaningful distinction is between the great Orders of Christendom (such as the Golden Fleece and the Garter), the domestic, house or family Orders,10 and the (generally modern) Orders of merit.11 The Order of St Patrick, a dynastic Order in terms of the Commission’s principles, could potentially be transformed from dynastic Order to state Order, if revived by the government of the Irish republic, as some has advocated.12 This raises significant questions, not least of which is the existence of the right to preserve or to institute a new branch of the original Order, in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. This can be seen as equivalent to the division of the Order of Christ between the Holy See, Portugal and Brazil. The Commission’s own principles 8

Hyginus Eugene Cardinale, Orders of Knighthood Awards and the Holy See – A historical, juridical and practical Compendium (1983), 119. Although his work was subsequently criticised for the many errors which it contained, none of these are of relevance to the present chapter.

9 Frederic Maitland, “The Crown as a Corporation”, 17 Law Quarterly Review (1901): 131; Adams v Naylor [1946] AC 543, 555 (HL); David Cohen, “Thinking about the State: law reform and the Crown in Canada”, 24 Osgoode Hall Law Journal (1986): 379-404; Verreault v Attorney-General of Quebec [1977] 1 SCR 41, 47; Attorney-General of Quebec v Labrecque [1980] 2 SCR 1057, 1082 [Supreme Court of Canada].

10 Such as the Royal Family Order, bestowed on female members of the Royal Family.

11 All others, such as the Order of the British Empire.

12 The Most Illustrious Order, established 1783 by King George III as King of Great Britain and Ireland, became obsolescent after the creation of the Irish Free State. Though the King was, in the 1922 Constitution, part of Parliament, “All powers of government and all authority, legislative, executive, and judicial, in Ireland are derived from the people of Ireland, and the same shall be exercised in the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) through the organisations established by or under, and in accord with, this Constitution” (Article 12).

Thereafter it was difficult, if not impossible, for new appointments to be made to the Order.

The last appointment was that of HRH Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester in 1934. The Order became obsolete with the death of the last knight (also the Duke of Gloucester) in 1974.

17

would appear to invalidate any revival of the Order of St Patrick by the Irish state, and it must be doubted whether this can be correct.

Whilst the existence of such a thing as a dynastic Order in British law is uncertain, the principle continues with what can only be called an extraordinary contention. The claim that these Orders “belonging jure sanguinis to a Sovereign House ... retain their full historical chivalric, nobiliary and social validity, notwithstanding all political changes” is a far reaching assertion of the divine right of kings.13 Three general schools of thought on the subject have emerged.14 Many proponents of the concept of fons honorum or right to confer honours and create Orders will agree that an ex-monarch or the head of a former royal house is limited in the exercise of his regalian rights by the royal constitution which was in effect at the time of his abdication. This position has much to commend it, and appears to have been generally accepted.15 However, others insist that the privileges of fons honorum can only apply to a monarch who has actually reigned and not to the head of a former royal house who has not. Whilst a Sovereign will lose legitimacy as head of state once the new regime is established, there is no doubt that the fons honorum remains with the Sovereign and their lawful successors, subject to alteration or abolition by the new national authorities;16 assuming for the moment that the latter is legal.

The third position, and most restricted, holds that the fons honorum disappears when monarchy ceases to be the form of government. This has simplicity, but little else to commend it.17 Even if one accepts that a Sovereign probably retains fons honorum even if exiled, the question becomes one of how long this will last, and what conditions (if any) it is subject to. Arguably, in the case of the Order of St Patrick, the King had ceased to be the Head of State, by 1949 at the latest, and was therefore selflimited; the revival, or even the continuation, of the Order by the King after 1943 (and possibly as early as 1922), was inappropriate, or at least politically difficult. Whether the new state could revive the Order, or take it over, was another vexed question.

13

JN Figgis, The theory of the Divine Right of Kings (1914).

James Algrant, “The Fons Honorum”, formerly obtainable from <http://www.kwtelecom.com/heraldry/>.

15 Ibid.

16 Thus unless a new Grand Master is appointed, any royal grand master remains in office.

17 James Algrant, “The Fons Honorum”, formerly obtainable from <http://www.kwtelecom.com/heraldry/>.

14

18

The Constitution of the Irish Free State remained silent on the question of the royal prerogative, which was not transferred to the government of the State, but which probably preserved the royal prerogative in the hands of the King while he retained a constitutional role in the State. The royal prerogative was thus unaffected by the advent of the Irish Free State – at least until 1937 (or rather 1936), and the effective creation of an Irish republic, but it remained associated with the Crown. In the case of Byrne v Ireland18 the Supreme Court of Ireland categorically established that the Irish Republic did not inherit the royal prerogative.19 It was apparently excluded – indeed this occurred in 1922,20 rather than in 1937, or in 1949, when Ireland became officially as well as effectively a republic.

However the power of the state to do revive the Order of St Patrick, or to create a new Order of merit, may exist independently of the prerogative. It is apparently not limited by Article 40.2.1 of Bunreacht na hÉireann, which prohibited the conferring of titles of nobility but not necessarily an Order of Merit.21 The Irish Government has expressed its intention to establish an Order of merit, which it may do under principle one of the Commission’s guidelines,22 though this is unlikely to include titles.23 The revival of the Order in Ireland, or the creation of a new Order of merit, would have to be by legislative means.

18 19

[1972] IR 241 [Supreme Court of Ireland].

Supported by Webb v Ireland [1988] IR 353 and Geoghegan v Institute of Chartered Accountants [1995] 3 IR 86.

20 The Constitution of Saorstát Éireann 1922.

21 However, “Article 40.2 does not appear to have ever been judicially considered”; John Kelly, “The Irish Constitution (2nd ed), 467.

22 “Every independent State has the right to create its own Orders or Decorations and lay down, at will, their particular rules. But it must be made clear that only the higher degrees of these modern State Orders can be deemed of knightly rank, provided that they are conferred by the Crown or by the ‘pro tempore’ ruler of some traditional State”.

23 The use of titular honours by those for whom permission has been granted to receive such foreign honours has also been controversial, as is the use of Irish chiefly titles. Some of the latter, like the O’Conor Don, were accorded an element of “courtesy recognition” by the Crown prior to 1943. Afterwards 15 were recognised by Edward MacLysaght, Chief Herald of Ireland and Genealogical Officer, Office of Arms 1944-45, and another 7 were recognised 1989-95, including the McCarthy Mor (later rejected), O’Doherty, O’Rourke, O’Carroll and MacDonnell. Recognition by the Crown seems to have survived even after 1943, with MajorGeneral David Nial Creagh, the O’Morchoe, a senior officer of the British Army, being commonly accorded recognition (though in the London Gazette he is described as David Nial Creagh O’Morchoe, in the Army List he was given as “O’Morchoe”). The Irish state presumably has the legal authority to recognise these titles (assuming they are recognised as chiefly or territorial titles and not titles of nobility), but the legal authority for the Genealogical Office to recognise Gaelic chiefly titles has been challenged; see the AttorneyGeneral’s advice to the Minister of Arts, Sport and Tourism in June 2002.

19

One of the first principles of Commonwealth constitutional law holds that sovereignty, that is the absolute right to command obedience, rests with Parliament.24 This principle of parliamentary supremacy, which is by no means unknown in European and other legal traditions, is completely at odds with a contention that it is “ultra vires of any republican State to interfere, by legislation or administrative practice, with the Princely Dynastic Family or House Orders”.25 Any property or legal right belonging jure sanguinis (by right of blood) to any individual can be alienated, either by action of the competent legislative authority,26 or (to a lesser extent) by action of the possessor.27 It is to be very much doubted that any Order is unalienable, and for the Commission to assert that it is “ultra vires of any republican State to interfere, by legislation or administrative practice, with the Princely Dynastic Family or House Orders” is not only unrealistic, but does not reflect the legal position.28 It is not true even in civil law that “[n]o authority can deprive [exiled Sovereigns and their heirs] of the right to confer honours, since this prerogative belongs to them as a lawful personal property iure sanguinis (by right of blood), and both its possession and exercise are inviolable”.29 Any property may be sequestrated, seized or abolished by legitimate authority – provided that this is done in accordance with the proper legal procedures. Nor must an abdicating Sovereign explicitly renounce his right to the grand mastership of an Order, it being clear that on abdication a Sovereign renounces all offices, titles and other attributes of sovereignty.30

24

See, for example, Sir Henry Wade, “The Legal Basis of Sovereignty”, Cambridge Law Journal (1955): 172.

25 International Commission for Orders of Chivalry, Register of Orders of Chivalry – Report of the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry (1978), 4.

26 Countess of Shrewsbury’s Case (1612) 12 Co Rep 106; 77 ER 1369; R v Purbeck (Viscount) (1678) Show Parl Cas 1, 5; 1 ER 1, 5; Report as to the Dignity of a Peer of the Realm (1820, 1829 Reprint), vol I p 393.

27 Once conferred, a peerage cannot in English law be renounced, although an heir, upon succeeding to a peerage, may now renounce the dignity for his lifetime, under the Peerage Act 1963 (UK). Scottish law allowed however the surrender of a peerage.

28 With the exception of natural, or divine law, any human law is amenable to change by competent political authority; generally, see Noel Cox, Church and State in the Post-Colonial Era: The Anglican Church and the Constitution in New Zealand (2008), especially 66.

29 Hyginus Eugene Cardinale, Orders of Knighthood Awards and the Holy See – A historical, juridical and practical Compendium (1983), 119.

30 This was clearly illustrated by the case of King Edward VIII. He retained, however, those offices not held as a consequence of kingship, including his military ranks.

20

The term Grand Master encompasses rather more in Continental usage than in British practice. A Sovereign is not always grand master in either tradition, and the appointment may be given to another member of the Royal Family, or even a commoner. However, the right to control an Order belongs to a Sovereign as Sovereign of an Order, rather than as Grand Master, and this status cannot survive voluntary abdication.

The position of the Sovereign of an Order of chivalry, being an incorporeal hereditament or heritage, is a right in rem maintainable against anyone within the jurisdiction of creation.31 However, rights in rem, and in particular incorporeal right in rem, only exist within the legal system which created them32 and which usually protects and enforces the right. Once a right is removed from the legal system that conferred it, it ceases to have any validity under the law of the creator state.33 Once out of the jurisdiction in which an Order was created, the rights conferred by the statutes of the Order are unenforceable, unless the country to which it is taken is prepared to recognise the rights in rem created by the statutes, under the host country’s rules of private international laws.34 These rights are determined by the lex creatus,35 the law of the country of origin, rather than that of the lex situs,36 the country in which the Sovereign may now reside.

Orders of chivalry are governed by the appropriate lex creatus. Claims to Orders and the rights they confer must be directed to the granting jurisdiction where the claim will be decided by the lex creatus.37 Unless the Order is 31

Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, “The Conflict of heraldic laws”, Juridical Review (1988): 61, 62-63; See GC Cheshire and PM North, Private International Law PM North ed (1979), 658; Salvesen v Administrator of Austrian Property [1927] AC 641.

32 “The characteristic of a legal right is its recognition by a legal system” in GW Paton and DP Denham (eds), Jurisprudence (1972), 284 et seq.

33 Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, Scots heraldry (1978), 8.

34 Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, “The Conflict of heraldic laws”, Juridical Review (1988): 61, 63.

35 Thus claims to Scottish peerages and baronetcies, and probably creations of Great Britain and the United Kingdom with Scottish designations, are considered in Lyon Court or before the Committee of Privileges in terms of Scots Law; Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, “Peerage and Baronetcy Claims in the Lyon Court” (n.d.); Dunbar of Kilconzie, 1986 SLT 463; Lady Ruthven of Freeland, Petitioner, 1977 SLT (Lyon Court), 2; Grant of Grant, Petitioner, 1950 SLT (Lyon Court); Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, “The Conflict of heraldic laws”, Juridical Review (1988): 61, 63.

36 See ch XVI “The Law of Immoveables” in GC Cheshire and PM North, Private International Law PM North, ed (1979); ch 17 “Immoveable Property” in AE Anton, Private International Law: A treatise from the standpoint of Scots law (1967).

37 Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, “The Conflict of heraldic laws”, Juridical Review (1988), 61, 63.

21

recognised by another state, the purported abolition must be accepted as valid.

Archbishop Cardinale recognised the limitations on exiled Sovereigns when he acknowledged that “they cannot however found new Dynastic Orders”.38 But he didn’t carry this to its logical conclusion. They cannot create new Orders because the lex creatus is no longer in their hands.

The only general exception is if the Order has become an independent legal person in international law, a status only enjoyed by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.39 Any papal recognition would of course confer some legitimacy upon the Order, in so far as canon law was concerned, though this would not as such make it an Order of chivalry.40 Archbishop Cardinale identified the crux of the position however, when he wrote that “[t]his is especially true when the Orders in question have been solemnly recognised by the Supreme Authority of the Holy See. No political authority has the right to suppress this recognition, declared by highly official documents, such as Papal Bulls by a merely unilateral act of abolition. So long as the recognition is not revoked by the Holy See itself, the Order cannot be considered canonically extinct”.41 So far as canon law is concerned, the Order of chivalry remains in existence.

But canon law does not overrule the municipal laws of states. Thus, whatever the position of the Papacy, any successor authority may abolish or suppress any Order of chivalry, dynastic or otherwise. According to international practice, the Holy See recognises legitimately instituted Orders of knighthood as juridical persons under public law in the various states.42 An Order still recognised by the papacy has canonical validity, even if it lacks validity in domestic law. But if it lacks validity in domestic law it will lack validity in international law also.43 38

Hyginus Eugene Cardinale, Orders of Knighthood Awards and the Holy See – A historical, juridical and practical Compendium (1983), 119.

39 Recognised by the Holy See 1113; Regesta Pontificum Romanorum P Jaffé, S Loewenfeld, F Kaltenbrunner and P Ewald eds (1956), 6341; Noel Cox, “The Continuing question of sovereignty and the Sovereign Military Order of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta”, 13, Australian International Law Journal (2006): 211-232.

40 Were the legitimacy of an Order, as an Order of Chivalry, to be recognised, then difficulties would exist for subject of The Queen, who may not accept foreign honours without Her Majesty’s permission.

41 Hyginus Eugene Cardinale, Orders of Knighthood Awards and the Holy See – A historical, juridical and practical Compendium (1983), 119.

42 Ibid 26.

43 It may have validity in the secular law of the papal states (now Vatican City State), and this would be sufficient to give it some validity in international law if it lacks validity in the locus creatus. But the Sovereign of such an Order would owe their authority to this recognition, and not to the laws of their own country. It is doubtful that the secular law of the Vatican City 22

There are several Catholic dynastic Orders of knighthood which are still being bestowed by a legitimate successor of a Sovereign in exile. Among these, the two most important are the Most Noble Order of the Golden Fleece (Austrian branch) and the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.44 Others still bestowed, though with doubtful authority since they were suppressed by the successor authorities of the countries concerned, include the Order of the Holy Annunciation and the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, both of Italy.

The Order of St Patrick remains in legal existence since its authority is derived from the Crown of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and is now the property of the Crown of the United Kingdom, as successor in law.45 III

Jure sanguinis and fons honorum

The third principle states that: It is generally admitted by jurists that such ex-Sovereigns who have not abdicated have positions different from that of pretenders and that in their lifetime they retain their full rights as fons honorum in respect of those Orders of which they remain Grand Masters which would be classed, otherwise, as State and Merit Orders.46 There are also some unusual aspects to this principle. Firstly, a Sovereign has control of an Order whether or not they are Grand Master, as the latter is merely an officer of the Order. Secondly, this is an assertion that an exiled Sovereign remains de facto if not de jure Sovereign for life. The question of loss of de facto and de jure authority has been the subject of numerous studies, and no one

State, as distinct from the canon law of the Catholic Church, has accorded any Order recognition.

44 Hyginus Eugene Cardinale, Orders of Knighthood Awards and the Holy See – A historical, juridical and practical Compendium (1983), 140.

45 Though the Crown of Ireland was distinct from the Crown of Great Britain, at least pre1800 (and the Order was established 1783), it is likely that the latter has the legal control of the Order, despite the reasoning applied in Calvin’s Case (1607) 7 Co Rep 156 16a; 77 ER 377, 396. The unity of the Crown was the prevailing concept; Noel Cox, “The Dichotomy of Legal Theory and Political Reality: The Honours Prerogative and Imperial Unity”, 14 Australian Journal of Law and Society (1998-99): 15-42. See also Noel Cox, “The British Peerage: The Legal Standing of the Peerage and Baronetage in the Overseas Realms of the Crown with Particular Reference to New Zealand”, 17(4) New Zealand Universities Law Review (1997): 379-401.

46 International Commission for Orders of Chivalry, Register of Orders of Chivalry – Report of the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry (1996), 4.

23

definitive position can be asserted.47 Whilst it is possible that an exiled Sovereign may retain de facto authority, this is by no means certain in every case.

Referring to principle two, this means that whilst the Sovereign may retain the right to appoint to any prior existing Orders, that right is subject to termination by the proper successor authority.

IV

Conclusion

What conclusions can be drawn from a brief examination of some of the principles under which the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry has operated for nearly fifty years? Firstly, every sovereign prince (or, subject to their respective constitutions, the president or other official in a republican state) has the right to confer honours, in accordance with the constitutional framework of the state. These honours should be accorded appropriate recognition in all other countries under the usual rules of private international law.

Secondly, an exiled Sovereign retains the right to bestow honours, dynastic, state or whatever else they may be styled. This right extends to their lawful successors in title, even for several generations. Appointments may continue to be made, unless this has been expressly prohibited by the successor authorities of the state, or the Order has become obsolete. It also follows that an exiled, or former Sovereign may continue to make appointments to an Order which is also governed by the new regime, thus creating a separate, though related, Order.

Whilst an exiled Sovereign may in some circumstances establish a new Order of chivalry, he or she may only do so whilst they remain generally recognised by the international community as the de jure ruler of his country. His or her successors will not have this right to create new Orders, excepting in those rare instances where the son or further issue of an exiled Sovereign has been generally recognised by the international community as the rightful ruler of their country. Only de jure Sovereigns (including their republican equivalents) may create Orders of chivalry.

Thirdly, the international status of an Order of chivalry depends upon the municipal law of the country in which it was created. There can be no international Orders as such, shorn of dependence upon the municipal laws of a 47

See for example, FM Brookfield, “Some aspects of the Necessity Principle in Constitutional Law” unpublished University of Oxford DPhil thesis (1972); Jonathan Waskan, “De facto legitimacy and popular will”, 24(1) Social Theory and Practice (1988): 25-55.

24

state.48 Principles four, five and six together indicate that sovereign Orders are not generally possible, with recognition however being extended to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.49 The Order of Malta depends upon its own unique history, and, at least in part, its recognition by the Holy See and by secular princes. Any pretended “sovereign” Order is nothing more than a voluntary society or association, and members should not wear any insignia or use any styles or titles to which they may be entitled outside the private functions of such groups.

48

Thus, the “Sovereign Order of Saint Stanislaus” created 9 June 1979 by Count Juliusz Nowina Sokolnicki, President of the Republic of Poland (in exile), is not, and never could have been, sovereign, irrespective of the regularity of Sokolnicki’s own status as titular President.

49 Noel Cox, “The Continuing question of sovereignty and the Sovereign Military Order of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta”, 13, Australian International Law Journal (2006): 211232.

25

MARIE MARTIN: AN IRISH NURSE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR Philip Lecane Room 10, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, County Louth.

27 January 1975.

In the small hours of the winter morning Sister Michael Farrell transferred Mother Mary from her chair to her bed. She then gently brushed the old woman’s hair. Mother Mary took Sister Michael’s right hand in both of hers and kissed it. ‘Thank you dear’ she said. Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep. Sister Michael remained on duty at the bedside. At 2.40 a.m. Mother Mary showed signs of restlessness. Sister Michael put her hand on Mother Mary’s arm and asked if she was alright. Did she want anything? Mother Mary opened her eyes, looked at her, smiled and peacefully passed away.

At the time of her death, there were four hundred and fifty sisters in the religious order founded by Mother Mary Martin. Today the Medical Missionaries of Mary are drawn from eighteen different nationalities and work in sixteen countries. Mother Mary had brought much healing, comfort and love to the world in the years since she had been born Marie Martin in 1892. **************** On 25 April 1892, Marie was the second of eleven children born to Tom and Mary Martin of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin. The Martins were a prosperous Catholic family, as Tom Martin was a partner in the firm of T&C Martin, Timber Merchants. At the time of the older children’s births, the family lived in Glencar, a substantial red-brick house still standing on Marlborough Road, Glenageary, County Dublin. The family later moved to Mount town House on Lower Mount town Road, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire).

They finally settled in Greenbank, on Carrickbrennan Road, Monkstown. As the Martins do not appear on the 1901 census for the house, the family must have moved to Greenbank sometime after April 1901. The house stood on five acres. It had flower, fruit and vegetable gardens, a rockery, green lawns, tennis courts, a summer-house and a bamboo plantation. There were trees, a paddock, cowsheds and an acre or more of rough unused ground, with two ponds. A gardener and under-gardener were employed.

The family’s idyllic life was shattered on St. Patrick’s Day 1907. A gunshot rang through the house. Tom Martin was found lying dead on the floor, a revolver in his hand. A local doctor said that the death could not have been other than accidental. Whatever the reason for Tom’s death, his wife Mary, 26

pregnant with their twelfth child, had to carry on, supported by relatives from her own and her husband’s families.

The 1911 census shows Mary Martin as head of the household. Marie and five of her brothers were in the house on the night of the census, as were Marie Ernst, a governess from Bavaria and five female servants. The summer of 1914 saw the Martin family still living at Greenbank. In the meantime Marie had been educated, with her two first cousins, at a finishing school in Bonn, Germany. Upon the outbreak of war, Marie’s older brother Tommy joined the Connaught Rangers and her younger Charlie, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

In 1910 the War Office had introduced a volunteer system to supplement army medical structures. Volunteers were drawn from the British Red Cross Society and the St. John Ambulance Brigade. They served in units called Voluntary Aid Detachments (V.A.D.s) The V.A.D.s supplied auxiliary nurses, ambulance drivers and stretcher-bearers. Two-thirds of the volunteers were female.

V.A.D. was used as a collective term for the detachments and VAD as a singular term for those serving in the detachments.

Having completed a year’s course in First Aid, Hygiene and Home Nursery, with the St. John Ambulance Brigade, Marie applied to serve as a VAD. She was interviewed by a selection board in early 1914. She received three months training in the Richmond Hospital, Dublin, following which she was certified as VAD nurse. (Her younger sister Ethel and her aunt, Lily Moore, later joined the VADs.) Assigned to ‘A’ Company, 5th Battalion Connaught Rangers, Marie’s older brother Tommy landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli on 6 August 1915. The Connaught Rangers were part of a contingent from the 10th (Irish) Division sent to reinforce the Australian and New Zealand troops who had been fighting at Anzac Cove since 25 April. On 8 August, two days after landing, Tommy was slightly wounded at Lone Pine. Two days later he was again wounded at Aghyl Dere and was subsequently evacuated. He was shipped home to Ireland, where he was hospitalised on Bere Island, Co. Cork.

In the meantime Charlie Martin, with the rank of Lieutenant, was posted to 6th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 10th (Irish) Division. On 7 August 1915, the battalion was put ashore at ‘C’ Beach, Suvla Bay, a few miles north of Anzac Cove, where Tommy’s battalion had landed the day before. On 9 August, the 6th Dublins took part in an attack on Chocolate Hill. Charlie was wounded during the attack. His wounds, however, were not as severe as Tommy’s, as he was not shipped home.

27

Shortly after her brothers had sailed for Gallipoli Marie was called up for service with the VADs at Malta. Her mother accompanied her to London, where they spent a week together before Marie joined the hospital ship Oxfordshire. On 22 October 1915 the ship reached Valetta harbour in Malta.

As it arrived a day earlier than expected, the VADs’ postings hadn’t been finalised. The nurses explored Valetta and, according to Marie, “had tea and deadly cakes.” The next day she was assigned to a converted barracks on a peninsula overlooking St. George’s Bay on the northern shore of the island.

The hospital treated the wounded and the sick from the Gallipoli campaign. In the summer of 1915 the sick included those suffering from dysentery and enteric fever. As the number of soldiers with these illnesses decreased with the onset of winter, they were replaced by those with trench-fever and frost-bite.

Marie wrote to her mother on 28 October: “the work is really hard, but of course it is what we came out for.” Her free time was spent on sleep or writing letters for very ill patients. When a patient died, Marie would write to his mother with information about his final days.

October brought mosquitoes and sand flies that left Marie’s face in a terrible state and her eyes swollen. Days were hot and airless. But by December it had become cold, and the VADs, going between the wards housed in various parts of the barracks, were drenched in pouring rain. The yearly salary for a VAD was twenty pounds, as well as board and uniform. Marie was very excited when she got her first ever pay packet. She sent a registered letter to her mother with one pound and five shillings saying: “I wish I could only earn more to make things easier for you.” On 26 November she wrote to Tommy who was now convalescing on Bere Island County Cork and who, on 20 September, had been promoted to Captain. She asked if there was “any sign of this terrible war ending?”

Meanwhile, in late September 1915, with Bulgaria preparing to join Germany and Austo-Hungary in an attack on Serbia, the 10th (Irish) Division was ordered to leave Gallipoli and a move to Salonika in the Macedonian province of Greece. Following fighting on 8 December 1915, Captain Charles Martin, 6th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers was recorded as missing.

On 18 December Marie wrote to her mother saying that one of a newly arrived group of patients told her he had seen Charlie about two weeks earlier and he had been well. Marie said she would make enquiries to see if any of Charlie’s battalion was among the wounded on the island. On 27 December she received a cable from her mother saying the War Office had notified her that Charlie had been wounded and was missing. Deeply distraught, Marie redoubled her efforts in search of news of her younger brother. On 29 December, with a heavy heart,

28

she wrote home saying that she could not find any news in Malta of Charlie’s whereabouts.

Over the next few weeks Marie spoke with a number of soldiers. Each told her that he believed Charlie had been captured. An officer told her that Charlie had been slightly wounded in the arm on 6 December. In March a soldier told Marie he had seen Charlie being wounded in the leg on 8 December, following which the Bulgarians had captured Charlie’s trench and the men in it. In April a man from Charlie’s company told Marie that Charlie had been giving orders on the parapet of a trench when he was badly wounded through the shoulder.

Following orders to withdraw, Charlie had accompanied his men for fifteen miles when they retreated. Then he and about thirty others were captured by the Bulgarians.

Marie’s six-month contact was ending. She left Malta on Holy Thursday, which fell on 20 April 1916. The journey home, including several days spent in London, took two weeks. By the time she reached home the Easter Rising had taken place and been suppressed.

After barely a month at home Marie was called up again. Now aged twentyfour, she was on her way to France. Before boarding the early morning boat train at London’s Charing Cross Station, she dropped a postcard to her mother in the mailbox. The Mail Boat to Boulogne was very crowded. Marie and the four young women with her sat on their luggage all the way. When the ship docked in France they had lunch at the Boulogne Tower Hotel before setting off again. By 7.30 p.m. Marie had arrived at the costal town of Hardelot In 1900 Hardelot, with its long sandy beaches, had been established as a seaside resort by Sir John Whitley, an Englishman who owned the local Chateau.

Edwardian families spent their summer holidays in spacious villas in the forests around Hardelot. The Chateau became a clubhouse for golfers. Other holidaymakers enjoyed sailing, tennis and cricket. French families also bought property at the resort. Among them was Louis Blériot, who pioneered sand yachting on the wide flat beach – a sport that remains popular in Hardelot to this day. On 25 July 1909 Blériot became the first man to fly the English Channel, a feat that earned him the Daily Mail prize of £1000, awarded by the owner, Dublin born Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe.

In Hardelot Marie was assigned to No. 25 General Hospital, located in what had previously been the Aviation Hotel. Marie described the building as “rather quaint.” Apart from the wards within the former hotel, the wounded were also treated in several large tents. Upon arrival Marie was given a brief visit to the surgical ward where she would take up duty the next day. Then she was shown 29

to a “sweet villa” where she was billeted. She would share a room with Miss Paul, a VAD with whom she had become friends while serving in Malta. June 18 was Marie’s first day on duty. Despite being tired, she sat up in bed that night writing to her mother. “I’ll give you three clues so you can puzzle out where we are: (1) The opposite of soft. (2) The fifth letter of the alphabet. (3) The man in the bible whose wife was turned into a pillar of salt.” Either because it was presumed that the Germans couldn’t possible decipher the clues, or because the person censoring Marie’s letter was kind-hearted, the letter was allowed through!

On 21 June Marie wrote home again. She asked if there was “any news of poor Charlie.” As Marie wrote home that day, she could distinctly hear the gunfire from the Front, even though it was nearly one hundred kilometres east of Hardelot. Sister Makenzie, in charge of Marie’s ward, did not like VAD nurses.

Fully trained State Registered Nurses (SRNs) tended to look down on VADs with their short emergency training.

Marie received a letter from the mother of her boyfriend Gerald Gartland, saying that he had been recalled to the trenches. This caused Marie much anxiety. However, a half-day off duty gave her the opportunity to take a tram to Boulogne, about 10 miles away. There she was able to walk and have tea. She shared her thoughts in a letter to her widowed mother. Meanwhile, patients were being evacuated from the hospital to make way for anticipated casualties from a forthcoming battle. Marie asked her mother to send some plug tobacco for the men. On 24 June, seven days of shelling of German positions began, in preparation for a major assault. The attack began on 1 July 1916. It resulted in the British Army’s greatest ever number of casualties in a single day.

Casualties were treated in First Aid Dressing stations in farmhouse basements near the front, and then transported to hospital by rail and ambulance. On 2 July the hospital at Hardelot had filled up by 5 p.m. Marie spent extra time on duty helping Sister Makenzie who, she could see, was new to military ways.

Then a letter brought confirmation of what Marie had long feared. The War Office had informed her mother that Captain Charles Martin 6th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers was dead. Trying to cope with her own grief, Marie’s letter home that night tried to comfort her mother. “It is really impossible to realise that we shall never see his dear face again. How we shall all miss him!” In Malta Miss Paul had spent off-duty time accompanying Marie while she made enquiries about Charlie. Now she was on hand to support her Marie when the dreadful news had finally arrived. On 8 July Marie wrote home saying that it was a relief that Charlie had died without much suffering. The soldiers she was nursing “had such nasty wounds.”

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Marie was now nursing men who, in addition to their original wounds, had developed gas-gangrene. This is a condition where open wounds are infected by bacteria that cause extremely painful swelling. The condition sometimes requires amputation and, if not treated quickly and carefully, can have fatal consequences. Around this time Marie received another letter from home, telling her that her boyfriend Gerald Gartland had been wounded. A short time later she received a wire telling her that he was alright and was going back to the trenches. He then wrote saying that he had only been slightly wounded, but had had a bad time in France. Her mother sent the requested tobacco, which Marie said she would keep for her “Paddys.”

Convoys of wounded men continued to arrive at Hardelot. Marie was transferred from the surgical ward to the medical section, in the tented wards of the hospital. She told her mother that the tents were very nice in the sunshine, but were awful when the rains came. On 13 July she found herself on a committee of Nursing Staff and VADs who were planning a tea party for the 180 orderlies at Hardelot. She spent her day off buying the necessary provisions. Towards the end of July things slackened off for a short time at Hardelot. The tents were closed for a while, as a recent epidemic of diarrhoea was being investigated. Marie had come to know Dorothy Whitley, whose father had established the resort at Hardelot. Miss Whitley used to come to the hospital with flowers from her garden at Pré Catelan. When off-duty Marie sometimes walked through the woods to visit this lovely house that reminded her of home.

By 13 August the tents were filling up with soldiers suffering from the effects of gas poisoning. For four days Marie nursed fifty-six men on stretchers, with only a single orderly to help. Then Miss Paul was sent to help her. The Medical Officer with whom Marie was working had specialised in the treatment of gas poisoning. So Marie learned a lot from him. At the end of August it began to rain. It was “beastly in the tents and so nasty for the men.” The nurses got so wet walking between the tents that Marie asked her mother to send her a sou’wester and boots. It was under these conditions that the 16th (Irish) Division went into action. In the first ten days of September the Division lost 240 of its 435 officers, and 4,090 of its 10,410 other ranks in attacks on Guillemont and Ginchy. As winter approached, Marie began to suffer very painful chilblains on her hands, shins and feet. She had bought an oil stove in Boulogne to heat the room she shared with Miss Paul. By boiling two pots of water on the stove, she could manage to get a warm bath. With “terrible gales and raindrops the size of eggs,” everyone wondered if the hospital would be kept open in such an exposed place. On 8 November Marie told the Matron that she would not be renewing her contract when her six-month term was up. She

31

had 39 days left. She began crossing them off on her calendar, looking forward more and more to getting home.

Early in December, the tents were finally closed. On 8 December Marie got the chaplain to say Mass for Charlie on the first anniversary of his death. Hearing that Gerald Gartland was expected in Boulogne, Marie set out by tram to find him there, but failed to do so. Disappointed, she returned to Hardelot, telling herself that somehow it was God’s will. In early 1917 she returned home.

Marie Martin’s war was over. By the time she was twenty-five she had made up her mind that marriage was not for her and she told Gerald of her decision.

As Mother Mary, she went on to found the Medical Missioners of Mary nursing order.

After recovering from his wounds, Tommy Martin subsequently served in Salonika, Palestine, France and Belgium. He attained the rank of Major. After the war he worked in T. & C. Martin.

Charlie Martin’s body was never found. Captain Charles Andrew Martin, 6th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers was twenty years old. Awarded the Serbian Order of the White Eagle 5th Class, he is commemorated on The Doiran Memorial to the missing, which stands near Doiran Military Cemetery in northern Greece.

Sources: I am very grateful to Sister Isabelle Smyth of the Medical Missionaries of Mary for information on Marie Martin and her family and for copies of her articles on Marie’s wartime service. My thanks are also due to Oliver Fallon, Secretary of the Connaught Rangers Association and Tom Burke, M.B.E., Chairperson of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association.

Purcell, Mary, To Africa with Love: The Biography of Mother Mary Martin (Dublin, 1987).

Smyth, Sister Isabelle, MMM and the Malta Connection in Healing and Development, Yearbook of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, 2002 edition.

Smyth, Sister Isabelle, MMM and the French Connection in Healing and Development, Yearbook of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, 2003 edition.

Taggart, Sister M. Anastasia and Smyth, Sister Isabelle, The Medical Missionaries of Mary in Drogheda 1939-1999 (Drogheda, 1999).

1911 Census of Kingstown, Co. Dublin.

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THE GENEALOGIES IN THE IRISH MANUSCRIPTS Seán M. Mac Brádaigh Public knowledge of the Irish manuscript genealogies has existed since Eugene O’Curry, Professor ofIrish History at the catholic University in Dublin delivered a lecture on them there on the tenth of July 18561. Unfortunately, the other subjects that this pioneer of Irish studies introduced in his lectures had more to engage the attention of his students than the pedigrees of long dead kings and thus the genealogical aspect of Irish literature was overlooked and neglected.

Even short articles on the subject were very few and far between and when comment on the genealogies in works on other aspects of Gaelic polity were undertaken the references were couched in such fashion as to make no impact on the current genealogical knowledge. The only exceptions I have found were K.W. Nicholls’, ‘The Irish Genealogies; Their Value and Defects’, an article in the Irish Genealogist, 1975; and Analecta Hibernia, No. 7., ‘A Guide to Irish Genealogical Collections’, by Seamus Pender, for the Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1934. These were useful articles but woefully inadequate and yes, there was one other article but John V. Kelleher’s ‘The Pre-Norman Irish Genealogies’ was merely a review of his friends, M.A. O’Briens, ‘Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae’ D.I.A.S. 1976 but this needs separate treatment so I gloss over it here.

Of course what is really required is a catalogue of what I call ‘narrative genealogies’. The single line type, a different and smaller item could be added in a separate section perhaps after the fashion of Pender’s Guide. It would be a gem of genealogical endeavour if anyone succeeded in putting it together.

Meanwhile let us look at what the genealogical manuscripts, in their present lost and scattered state have to offer and what is required in order to access them.

When I use the word lost, I mean ‘hidden I know not where’.

Generally speaking the manuscript genealogies differ little from each other in format and presentation as indicated above but there are two main kinds, narrative and single line descent. They usually have a short introduction and then begin with an outline of the ancestry, in a direct line, of the premier person back to some notable king or even to Adam. After this they show the ramifications of the various branches, usually in narrative form, often interspersed with lists of castles and their builders; exploits of kings or champions or even stories of their holy men. On completing the genealogy it is normal for the scribe to give his name, the name of his sponsor or the person he wrote the genealogy for, where he wrote it and the date of completing it. This colophon can sometimes be omitted entirely, but lacking dates of any kind in the body of the narrative the date supplied in the colophon may well be the only one the reader has. A good colophon is worth its weight in gold.

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All these manuscripts were written in the Irish of their day, modern Irish undoubtedly, but differing therefrom both in script and spelling. This difficulty is further compounded by the scribes use of ‘nuid’ or scribal contractions. The latter saved precious paper and, some say, time but as the individual scribe often used nuid of his own fashioning one must wonder if the practice was wise. It often hinders translation or even interpretation. A further area of difficulty may lie in the unusual names of many of the subjects one meets back there in our Gaelic past. Indrechtach, Onchú or even Cennfáelad to mention just a sample.

As to the historicity of these manuscript genealogies, Eoin McNeill said they could not be trusted before the year 300A.D., but then he later wavered in this belief in his acceptance of some kings on their face value who were said to exist before that time. Still the doubt must have existed. A later scholar Thomas F O’Rahilly accused the Early Irish genealogists of providing every Irish family of importance with a pedigree going back to Mil of Spain, the fictitious eponym of the equally fictitious Milesians, and thence to Noah and Adam. As he said, ‘The fact is that no trust can be placed in the pedigrees of pre-Christian times2’.

The sad truth of this is that the Irish of the Christian period were those responsible for the fabrications.

When the Irish became literate they read of the other European and Asian civilizations. They learned of the works of Eusebius, Orosius and Isidore of Seville and thus gained the knowledge of great histories but also an envy of history. They compared their own history with that of the other nations and began writing down what they knew of their own past, but how do you tell the difference between the story based on fact and that story which is based on imagination. The writers of our history were not trained historians but all their vast training had taught them the ‘power of the word’. They wrote convincingly. Theirs was a nation that grew out of great tribes, Cruithen’, Erinn’, Laighin’, Galion, Domhnann and Féni, and possibly other small tribes that had been subsumed by their greater neighbours. Each tribe still remembered their own distinct descent from their ancient tribal god, however euhemerized he may have become and this imparted a selectiveness that often led to internecine conflict. The church frowned on all aspects of this behaviour and the greater kings were annoyed by certain aspects of it, undoubtedly for a different reason to the church. The need for change was obvious and eventually it came.

In the eighth, century scholars under the aegis of the Southern Uí Neill wrote a composite history of Ireland called Lebor Gabála Érenn. This book published the creed which united all the tribes and invented the Milesians and their ancestors, among other things. The best description of this book I know of, is that from Irish Kings and High Kings by F.J. Byrne3 – “a fantastic compound of 34

genuine racial memories, exotic Latin learning and world history derived from Orosius and Isidore of Seville, euhemerised Celtic mythology, dynastic propaganda, folklore and pure fiction”. It is hard to say where this malignant influence ends but in its final form the Lebor Gabála dates from about 1168, so the end of the twelfth century looks like a good cut-off point. Sadly this makes the genealogies of the Book of Leinster (Lebor na Nuachongbála) suspect, as Dr. Katherine Simms reminds us in her “From Kings to Warlords”4 when she says, and I quote, “From this and other early material they could trace the royal dynastics back from the twelfth century to Adam, and if not truthfully, as least along lines which were generally agreed and hallowed by repetition”, unquote.

A good assessment of the early portion of our genealogies, but a fierce disappointment. Ó Cleirigh was the first Irish surname to appear in the annals. In 916A.D. it may well have been the first surname in Western Europe. It may have led the fashion in Ireland as so many of our family names soon followed. Perhaps the date of the adoption of the surname might be a good place to have one’s familytree commence. But there is a catch. In all, but a very few manuscript Irish genealogies, there is a gap in which as many as five generations may be missing after the year 1200 A.D.. It is sometimes shown as a blank space but it can be a repetition of previously mentioned individuals or fictitious persons or be apparent only because it has too many or too few generations. Dr Simms goes into some detail on the extent of this gap and tells of the exceptions she has located. She also tells us its cause.

Apparently church reform in the twelfth century caused the old Celtic monks to be replaced by regulars from Continental Orders and the new priests had neither the ability or the inclination to maintain the genealogies of the local families as the old monks had done. Furthermore most Irish families, even before the invasion, had slowly begun to adopt feudalism. This attitude became more pronounced after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans and especially after the promises of King John. They soon learned that they should not put their trust in princes, as John ignored his promises. He allowed his Norman knights to do as they pleased and endowed them with gifts of the Irish lands he held in trust.

Feeling like serfs in their own house the Irish eschewed feudalism and in defiance of their previous pledges they went back wholeheartedly to their forefather’s Gaelic polity5.

But when they tried to re-instate the genealogies, about the year 1350, they found that some ancestors had been forgotten. There was an unbridgeable gap.

The ordinary folk memory could bridge some of the gap but it could not go back far enough to join with the existing recorded genealogies their fore-

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father’s had left aside. A gap still remained. And even to the present a gap remains.

There is one more aspect of our genealogies that affects their historicity and that too has been spoken of by Dr Simms She says that the old genealogists were capable of transferring a pedigree from one dynastic family to another and she gives a number of examples6. But surely the very fact that she can, at this remove, state, whatever the evidence, that this has happened makes it likely that it was not even successful in its own day, and therefore the motive may merely be an expression of pique or a political gesture. In any case such actions can be discovered, and so if it happened in the discovered case one was investigating, the lie would also be discovered.

But where are our genealogical manuscripts to be found. They are not filed as ‘genealogical’ but are hidden under the generic title ‘Irish manuscripts’. But there are some catalogues and I am thinking of the ones I know of, the R.I.A. catalogues, which are indexed as well. Using the General Index of the R.I.A. Catalogues to find the genealogy of O’Lochlainn, we are directed to ms.no 11 in the catalogue. This is easily found as it is near the beginning of the first Volume which contains fasciculi i. to v. and there we find it on page 51. Were it to direct us to anything on pages 655 – 1938 or between pages 3221 and 3500 we would not find it nowadays as volumes II; III and VI are out of print.

But to return to O Lochlainn, this manuscript with the additions made therein brings us down to one Dr. Brian O’Loghlen who died 18th September 1734 and it also records the births of his children Terence, Brian and Mary. Oh, to be an O’Loghlen! But the items are not all like that. The cataloguer seems also to have added further information on this family and to join them with O Lochlainn a leading family of the Cinel Eoghain. He/she gives a detailed genealogy of seven generations in English showing Toirdhealbhach living in 1727 descended from Uaithne Lord of Burren County Clare who died in 1590 and whose grandson was of Glencolmcille.

If this does nothing else it certainly indicates the degree of knowledge and commitment given to the making of the catalogues by those who made them. It is of course doubtful that this applies to all the catalogues that exist as they were made by many and diverse people. And there are a great many catalogues for a great many manuscripts in many repositories throughout the country and the world.

Catalogues of their Irish manuscripts were published by the School of Celtic Studies and providing they are still in print may be obtained from the Book Order Department, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Should you ask they 36

will send you a booklet of their current publications. The list of catalogues in the booklet7 aforementioned may also be one of repositories where genealogical manuscripts may be found. They are as follows: The National Library; Royal Irish Academy; Franciscan Library, Killiney; King’s Inns Dublin’ Armagh; Kilkenny; Fermoy’ Waterford; Longford; Maynooth; Clongowes Wood; Jesuit Archives; Leeson Street; Clonakilty; Colaiste Ollscoile Chorcai; Cruasach Ui Mhurchu in latter; Mount Melleray Abbey; British Library; Bodlein Library and other Oxford Libraries, University of Wisconsin – Madison and a few others grouped under Leabharlanna na cleire agus mionchnuasaigh. This list does not cover the catalogue of T.K. Abbot and E.J. Gwynn, ‘Catalogue of the Irish Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin’, Dublin 1921. There is enough there to keep a genealogist busy for two lifetimes. The Irish genealogies were, it must be said, better catered for in the 1926 edition of the Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the British Museum than its successor of 1992 above, the old catalogue being so much easier to use.

There are other books that will possibly help in locating genealogies. One is Lamhscribhinni Gaeilge Treoirliosta ,again published by D.I.A.S., and Robert K O’Neill’s Irish Libraries’, Belfast 2002. The compiler of the latter gives an accolade to the Royal Irish Academy by stating that it “houses the largest collection of Irish Language manuscripts anywhere”. I myself believe that they have the largest collection of Irish Genealogical manuscripts anywhere. It is possible to get a reader’s ticket for the library there but I believe one needs the recommendation of two members of the Society. To my knowledge they always accommodate the serious student but one can write for copies of the material you wish to see by using the General Index of the Catalogue alone. If this fails to satisfy one can then visit the library and examine the original and perhaps get advice. For me they were always nice peope. Their terms for photocopies are reasonable but be sure to say whether you intend to publish or want the copy for private study only.

I mentioned earlier the book of M.A. O’Brien, ‘Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae’ Vol. 1. Dublin 1976 (all printed)8, and this is a good place to say a little more about it. Our Gaelic names, their origins, and incidence was the great passion of Professor Michael A. O’Brien and this book was to be the first volume of many because it was his intention to give the same treatment to all the Irish genealogies up to the year 1500 A.D. This volume is in fact an edited collection of the pre Norman genealogies from Rawlinson B.502, an early twelfth century Oxford manuscript to which is added those genealogies from the Book of Leinster not found in Rawl B.502. Variant readings from the later Books of Lecan and Ballymote are added. The Book of Lecan was compiled around the end of the fourteenth century and is a Royal Irish Academy manuscript. The main scribe was Giolla Iosa Mac Fhir Bhisigh. The Book of 37

Ballymote is also late fourteenth century and a R.I.A. manuscript. Prof.

O’Brien once indicated that the existence in these genealogies of such a wide cross section of our old names was the reason for his interest and the genesis of the book. As Professor John V. Kelleher said is his review of the work that is in ‘The Pre-Norman Genealgoeis’ in Irish Historical Studies XVI, No 62 of September 1968, “Whatever his attitude or his reason for it, we know that he has given us a marvellously well-indexed, clean, very complete edition of complicated texts, which not one historian in a thousand could have prepared and which in some ways is the better for being without the apparatus an historian editor would almost automatically have supplied” unquote. There is no doubt but that he did that but he also attended to his beloved nomenclature because his index of personal names lists approximately twelve thousand individuals and the great majority of them are given with the mini-genealogy of the ancient Irish. That is they give the individuals father’s and grandfather’s name also.

But even O’Brien’s Corpus is in the original Irish, despite it’s Latin title, and although genealogies use few words they use many names many of which need elucidation and the greatest tutor for all aspects of Irish names, both personal and surname and to some extent tribal, is the Rev. Fr. Patrick Woulfe’s Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall’ originally published 1923. Reprinted Kansas City U.S.A. 1992. This book, if you let it, will lead one through all the history of our names and how they were used, it will help those who are not sure which of the old families are likely to be that of their ancestors and it will teach the Irish script, ‘the National Hand’ and show how the grammatical change to the possessive Genitive occurs with names. Remember that Irish surnames have many origins.

O’Neill at least four. O’Donnell six, and in searching the genealogical manuscripts the student needs to know which one is his. If one knows the place of origin of the subject family one can find the likely ancient sept. Looking, say for an O’Neill family, with a known origin one would hope for a location of origin in Tyrone, Clare or Carlow because different families named O’Neill came from these areas in ancient times. They were not related. They were just all descended from some of the many men called Niall.

I can still see in my minds eye a copy of the book, ‘A Genealogical History of the O’Reillys’ sitting in the window of Hodges and Figgis’ premises in Dawson Street, way back in the year 1959. My mother of sacred memory was an O’Reilly and so I bought a copy of the book and became a genealogist. That book still reposes in an honoured place on my bookshelf not only because it is surely a gem of the genre but because it is unique. In the fifty years that have since passed no-one has repeated the achievement demonstrated by that book.

As far as I can discover this book is based on R.I.A. manuscript 23F15 which is described at 759 in the Catalogue;- Account of the O’Reilly family headed:38

Geiniolach it craobhscaoileadh na Raghallach et maithe Breifne Uí Raghailligh an mhead nach bhfacamar thuas et do thiomsaidhmar as barr geiniolach Eirionn as leabhar re scriobh an Dochtuir Tomas Mac Siomuinn et o dhaoine eagnaidhe archeana et is main liom gan claonadh do dheanamh an mo sheanchas ar ghradh no ar fuath,” etc. Extends to p.44.

In the published version this introduction was preceded by the words; ‘A n-ainm De Amen’. This was an ancient invocation commonly used in this manner on documents, especially genealogies. The introduction though, with or without the invocation bears promise, by reason of the extent of it and the clear promise of the words at the end, that about 24 pages of genealogy exist in the unseen portion. Without this promise it just might be a short one line affair. Of course somebody saw and read the text on the manuscript, and then James Carney, Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies made a pact and got the necessary funds. The published result in Irish and English is a real gem and points out the reason why we should all work hard to repeat this genealogical delight! The Irish manuscript genealogies should be published.

NOTES 1.

Eugene O’Curry Lectures on the manuscript materials of Ancient Irish History. Reprint Four Courts Press, Dublin 1995.

2.

Thomas F O’Rahilly. Early Irish History and Mythology. D.I.A.S. Dublin 1971 3.

Francis J Byrne. Irish Kings and High Kings. London 1973 4.

Katherine Simms. From Kings to Warlords, Suffolk, 1987, 2000.

5. ibid 6.

No.4 ibid 7.

This is the list of institutions, excepting Trinity College, for whom the D.I.A.S. has published catalogues. ‘Publications in Celtic Studies 2005-2006’ will be provided on request even by phone. Contact, Book Order Dept D.I.A.S. 10 Burlington Road, Dublin 4. Phone 6160113 in Dublin.

8.

M.A. O’Brien died shortly after completing this volume so there were no other volumes.

9.

Mentioned in Kelleher’s ‘the Pre-Norman Genealogies’.

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WILL THE REAL BARON OF CLONMORE PLEASE STAND UP! Caroline McCall The Sligo Champion of Saturday April 3rd 1858 contained the obituary of Edward Howard Verdon Esq., Gentleman, Politician and Magistrate. He was the editor of the Sligo Champion for more than 22 years and Mayor of Sligo for four successive years1. Each Saturday throughout the summer of 1858, the Sligo Champion carried extracts from a ‘Memoir’ detailing his early years, his colorful family history, and his assertion that his family was heir to the Barony of Clonmore, County Louth a title which had been dormant since 1691 when the last heir, John Verdon, was attainted.

Edward Howard Verdon, left two young children, one ‘not five years old’, and the ‘Memoir’ was an attempt to ‘afford them information they will prize, which would otherwise be lost to them forever’. Early sections of the ‘Memoir’ recorded the ancient history of the surname which could be traced ‘to within five generations of Noah’.

History of the de Verduns The de Verdun family came to England with William the Conqueror. Bertram de Verdun, came to Ireland during the Anglo-Norman invasion, was made Seneschal of Ireland by Henry II and granted the manors of Dundalk and Clonmore, and other estates in Co. Louth. An account in the Calendar of State Papers of Ireland relates to Bertram de Verdun also being resident at Bertram Court near Dublin City. The house was outside the city walls on the southern side of Rochel Street between New Gate and St. Nicholas Gate. Giraldus Cambrensis medieval clergyman and chronicler of his times, was a guest of Bertram there.

When Bertram de Verdon died in Jaffa, Palestine, in 1192 having followed King Richard the Lionheart to the Holy Wars, he was succeeded by his son Nicholas in 1204. Nicholas had one daughter Rohesia or Rose who succeeded him in 1231. Rohesia was one of the most important and wealthiest heiresses in Ireland and royal consent was necessary for the marriages of wealthy heiresses or widows. When the king requested that she marry Theobald de Boiteler of the Ormond family, she agreed, on condition that he would take her family name.

So great an heiress was she that her prospective husband agreed, and all of their descendants thereafter held the surname Verdon.

The Calendar of State Papers for 1236 refers to Rohesia de Verdon having ‘fortified a castle on her own lands and was preparing to raise another for the 1

The Sligo Champion, April 3rd 1858 40

greater security of the Kings landsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This became known as Roch Castle or Roses Castle. Rohesia was also the founderess of the Cistercian Abbey in Leicestershire. She had one daughter who married John Fitzalan Earl of Arundel and two sons, Nicholas who died without issue, and John.

When Rohesia died, her lands were seized by the King and her son John had to pay a fine of 1300 marks for their return. John Verdon made an advantageous marriage to Margaret, daughter of Hugh de Lacy and through this marriage obtained further lands in Meath. He also possessed the castle and manors of Groom and Castle Robert in Co. Limerick. He later became Constable of Ireland and obtained further lands in Limerick by a Royal Grant from Edward I. John was succeeded by his son Theobald who was born in 1278 and would be one of only eight Barons to sit at the 1st Parliament of Ireland in 1319.

However, trouble was brewing regarding the De Lacy lands obtained by John Verdon, and an Inquisition was held regarding the rights which had been inherited from the de Lacys. The rights of the Verdon family to hold the lands were upheld. Theobald Verdon was knighted by the King on 24 June 1298 at Northumberland, England. He was Justiciar of Ireland, Hereditary Constable of Ireland on 30th April 1313. Theobald had a brother, Milo or Miles Verdon who fought against Edward Bruce at the battle of Faughart in 1318. Edward Bruce was allegedly slain by Milo Verdon and Edward de Bermingham.

Theobald first married Maud de Mortimer, daughter of Sir Edmund de Mortimer and Maud de Fiennes, in 1302. His bride was only 14 at the time of their marriage. The couple had four daughters of whom 3 survived, namely Joan, Elizabeth and Margery. Maud died in 1312, aged just 24.

Theobald then married the niece of Edward II, the widowed Elizabeth de Clare, daughter of Sir Gilbert de Clare and Joan of Acre, in 1316. This was an illicit marriage, as the marriage of wealthy widows required a royal licence. Theobald was thirty-seven, Elizabeth just twenty. He died in 1317, just under six months after their marriage and was buried at Croxton Abbey, England. Elizabeth de Clare was pregnant at the time of his death and their daughter Isabel de Verdon was born on 21 Mar 1317. When he died in 1317 without a male heir, his estates were divided between four daughters who all married English noblemen.

Theobald was succeeded by his brother Nicholas in 1320 who sat in Parliament in Dublin in 1324. According to Graces Annals, Nicholas was buried in Drogheda on Palm Sunday, 1347 with great pomp and solemnity.

The Verdon history then moves to 1550 when one Henry Draycot had custody of the wardship and marriage of Patrick Verdon, son and heir of Christopher Verdon. Patrick was also the heir of Edward Verdon late of Clonmore.

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The Limerick Verdons While the Verdon name continued to be represented in Louth down to the end of the I7th century, another branch of the family was based in Limerick. Of the Limerick Verdons, William Verdon was mayor of the city in 1553; and John Verdon, in 1579, was sovereign of Kilmallock, and in 1585 represented that town in Parliament. Several of the Verdons of Kilmallock were transplanted to Connacht in 16532. Among the Commonwealth Council books of 1653: ‘James Verdon of Kilmallock had upon 19th December 1653, delivered of a declaration containing the names of those as such as remove with him: -

James aged 70, grey haire Christopher aged 28 flaxen haire middle stature Catherine Verdon his wife age 20 flaxen haire Thomas Verdon age 50 red haire middle stature And his wife Margaret aged 50 black haire Eleanor Verdon aged 18 brown haire With four children, his substance 3 cowes 8 hoggs and garrans 81/2 acres of corn’

Whether this family was transplanted to Connaught is unknown but the History of Galway records that Verdons - ‘appear there after the time of Henry II that were not there before’.

Attaintment In 1624 following a long line of succession, Christopher Verdon, son of Patrick Verdon and Joan Bellew, and successor to the Clonmore Estates died. He left three daughters Mari, Ann and Kathleen and sons, Christopher, Patrick, Robert and John3 the eldest, then aged 22. John married twice, and had one son and heir by his first marriage to Ann Dillon, namely Theobald Verdon. His second wife was Amy (Anne) Seagrave by whom he had three children, Margaret, Nicholas and Elinor. Nicholas was the father of the Rev. John Verdon, who later became Bishop of Ferns.4 In Irish Landed Gentry (p 354), O’Hart lists an Edward Verdon, a John Verdon and a John Verdon of Clonmore among those forfeiting property. A John Verdon is also listed among Persons Transplanted from County Louth. It is unclear where these particular Verdons fit into the family tree as the Court of Claims submissions and Evidence indicate that John Verdon of Clonmore was attainted in 1642 and died in 1649.

2

Wolfe Lagenica Inquisitions Post Mortem 4 NLI History of the Family of Verdon Vol. IV 3

42

The Ormond MSS contain an account of lands set out to the Transplanted Irish in Connaught and among them is Patrick Verdon of Verdonstown County Louth – 92 acres5.

In December 1661, Theobald Verdon petitioned Charles II for the restoration of his lands. He gave evidence that he had been a Deputy Commissary General of the Victuals of the Kings Army in Ireland under the Marquis of Ormonde and that he took no office under the hands of Adventurers or Soldiers and took no lands in Connaught. His petition was supported by certificates from the Marquis of Ormond, the Earl of Westmeath, Lords Taaffe and Dillon and Sir Robert Talbot. The Lord Chancellor recommended that his petition be granted.

It is unclear from the Calendar of State Papers for the period why Theobald was not restored to his estate, as on 19th December 1660 in a letter to the Lord Justices, the King apparently recommended that the lands be restored to him ‘in consideration of his services as deputy Commissary of the Army’.6 In 1661 Theobald petitioned the Lord Justices in which he complained of ‘never having received the weekly pension granted to him’ and sought arrears – ‘forasmuch as your petitioner hath been these six months past languishing in continual sickness whereby and by his grate charge of wife and children together with his 15 months attendance in this city with his family he is reduced to a sad and indigent condition’ The Court of Claims On 8th April 1663 Anne Seagrave, and her children Margaret, Nicholas and Elinor, petitioned the Court of Claims for the return of the Clonmore lands. The Court of Claims was appointed by Charles II to administer the Act of Settlement. However, evidence was given by William Moore, Luce Spell and Christopher Barnewall that John Verdon was ‘appointed a captain of the rebels’ and ‘was at the council of war at Duleeke’7. John Verdon had been the subject of two indictments, one in Meath and one in Louth.

Ownership of the lands at Clonmore was still in dispute. In a 1663 Extract from the Plea Roll (Michelmas) Charles II, relates to lands in County Louth granted by custodiam to Erasmus Smyth Esq. of Dunany that formerly belonged to John Verdon of Clonmore. All of the Clonmore estate went to Erasmus Smith Esq. of Dunany with a life interest to Amy Seagrave and there were apparently disputes relating to arrears in the quit rent out of the lands.

5

Callendar of State Papers 1660-62 p 477 Carte MS 41 f 456 7 Court of Claims Submissions and Evidence 1663 ed Geraldine Talon 6

43

Theobald Verdon paid Hearth Tax at Clonmore in 1663 and 1667. In 1668 Administration of the Goods of Peter Cowell of Blanchardstown was granted to Theobald Verdon of Clonmore, County Louth for the use and benefit of Catherine Chillan alias Cowell alias Verdon his wife and relict of Peter Cowell.

On a transcript of the will of Katherine Cowell there is a note stating ‘Testatrix of Verdon’s second wife – left issue by his first wife only’ and that ‘he was dispossessed of Clonmore Estate and the Erasmus Smith got the Estate’. The provenance of the note is unknown. Catherine Verdon (nee Cowell) was Theobald’s second wife and one of the co-heiresses of Alderman William Turner of Dublin.

On 8th November 1682, John Fitztibbot Verdon (born 1661) petitioned his Grace Michael Lord Bishop of Armagh – then head of the Prerogative Court – for lands which had been left to him by his father’s will and which were now in the possession of Amy Seagrave, his grand stepmother.

A grant of administration in the estate of Catherine Verdon (nee Cowell), widow, was granted in January 16868. Among her assets was ‘an interest in houses in Christ Church Lane in Dublin’. Curiously, her son John Cowell was also attainted in 1691.

John Fitztibbot Verdon the only son and heir of Theobald (Tybbott) Verdon was also attainted in 1691 (Ardee) Chancery Bill 1682. In 1684 Joseph Damer gentleman sought an ejectment from the lands of Clonmore of one James Verdon (grandson of Amy Seagrove). Damer stated that he had leased the lands from Erasmus Smith for five years9. MS 9116 states that Damer gave lands in Wicklow to James Verdon in return for his leaving Clonmore.

The Barefoot Baron There is a local tradition about John Fitztibbot Verdon the last Verdon at Clonmore. It is said that early one morning just after he was attainted in 1691, two officers called to Clonmore to serve a warrant on him and without waiting to put on his boots, he came down to the courtyard and killed both officers, got on his horse and rode away saying he would be back later. He never returned10.

This would appear to be the end of the Clonmore Verdons. There were various tales, including one where he left for France and became an illegal trader in silk and had a son Jean Baptiste Verdon11 and another that he died in a debtors prison in London, neither of which could be substantiated.

8

NAI Transcript of the Will of Katherine Verdon Plea Rolls 1684 10 History of the Family of Verdon NLI MS Vol. IV 11 NLI Mss History of De Verdun - unpublished mss. by Margaret Shepherd.

9

44

The Verdons of Jamaica Almost one hundred and seventy years after the last Baron left Clonmore the story of the Verdons is resumed in the ‘Memoir’ of Edward Howard Verdon of 24th April 1858. “On Ushers Island, ‘in a turreted red brick mansion of large dimension for the period, resided two brothers of the name Verdon’. ‘John Verdon, the eldest of these brothers was the direct ancestor of the writer and of the late Edward Howard Verdon’. The land at Ushers Quay, Ushers Island and Ushers Street was ‘the only portion of the vast estate of the Verdon family which remained for their descendants’. John the elder brother was an Attorney and a ‘staunch supporter of the unfortunate King James II’. ‘He suffered for his loyalty to his king’ and in 1690 emigrated to the Island of Jamaica ‘and there acquired a very large property’ in Cedar Valley, between Spanishtown and Kingstown.

Several generations of Verdons lived there including Captain Edward Verdon who married an heiress Miss Fletcher and through this marriage acquired a plantation and slaves. The couple had one son John, who, when orphaned at an early age, was sent to school in Europe by his guardian. John was also the heir presumptive to a Dr. McQuestion a near relative of the family. He first attended Eton and then, aged 17, went to Dr. Benson’s Academy near Arbour Hill, Dublin where he lodged with the Benson family. He eloped to Gretna Green with Dr. Benson’s only daughter, Elizabeth, a noted beauty. The couple were forgiven and eventually returned to Dublin where John continued his studies.

He was called to the Irish Bar in 1773 and later to the English and Jamaican Bars. The couple had three sons, two of whom died in infancy. The surviving son Edward Verdon was born in 177412.

John Verdon kept some illustrious company in the 1770’s, among them, the Duke of Leinster and the Earl of Charlemont. He became extravagant, ‘was not above paying 80 guineas for a cut velvet dress coat’ and kept ‘a carriage and four’ with ‘one black footman’. In 1773 he ‘took steps to establish his claim to the peerage of Lord Verdon so long in abeyance’.13 He was able to supply proofs to establish his claim which ‘perfectly satisfied the Duke’ who promised his support to his claim.

His extravagances were causing him some problems and all was not well with the estates in Jamaica. In 1775 his allowance from home ceased and in the spring of 1776 he returned to London and from there went on to Jamaica to resolve his financial difficulties. He left behind him ‘his young wife … and young son Edward, then only two years old’. He also ‘Iodged in the hands of 12 13

The Sligo Champion 1st May 1858 The Sligo Champion 8th May 1858 45

the late Duke of Leinster’ his pedigree ‘and all the documents relative to the claim of Lord Verdon and the Verdon estates’14. ‘He left London for Jamaica on the day ‘Dr. Dodd was hanged’15 – 27th June 1777 - his first time to return home for fourteen years.

The mansion to which he returned had ‘40 bed chambers with two projecting wings’. When he came to investigate into ’the accounts of his overseers, and the management of his Jamaica estates during his absence, he found that he had been plundered to a vast amount‘16.

He found that he was ‘without remedy’. The overseers gave evidence of having transmitted moneys to him and could not account for their non arrival. Worse still, Doctor McQuestion had acquired a new young wife and subsequently an heir.

If matters were bleak in Jamaica, they were not good back in Ireland for his young wife and son who he had left in the care of his father in law, Thomas Benson. Their financial circumstances became precarious when Thomas Benson died leaving them without an income. Elizabeth Benson sold her assets in Dublin and moved to Stratford-on-Slaney in Wicklow where she died a couple of years later, leaving young Edward alone in the world.

Edward was returned to the Verdon family home at Ushers Island where he was taken in by Miss Elizabeth Ottey, ‘a maiden lady then in advancing years’. At age 16 she had him apprenticed to Mr. Jacob Bryan, solicitor. She died when Edward was 20 and left him everything that she had including her interest in the property at Ushers Island.

In 1795, Edward married Miss Mary Anne Galway, daughter of Captain Galway of the Ligoneer Horse. In 1796, their first son John Thomas Verdon was born, sponsors at his baptism were Lord Mountjoy and the Rev. Richard Powell, Rector of Rathdrum. The couple had four other sons, Edward, Thomas, William and Griffith. Edward entered the church and as Rector of Oldham died in 1849. Thomas also entered the church and became missionary to the army during the Crimean war. William also entered the church and became Rector of Pendleberry near Manchester. He died in 1855. Griffith left for America and purchased property in Michigan17.

14

The Sligo Champion 13/5/1858 Infamous case of the hanging of an Anglican Minister at Tyburn 16 The Sligo Champion 22/5/1858 17 The Sligo Champion 26/6/1858 15

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In 1803 Edward Verdon, Attorney, moved from Ushers Quay to 23 Golden Lane and later to 33 Harcourt Street, Dublin. In 1810 his long lost father John Verdon, an Attorney, returned from Jamaica. He moved in with his son and resumed his practice as a barrister. He expressed his wish to take his grandson John Thomas Verdon back to Jamaica with him and to make him his heir but his parents refused. On his return to Jamaica he sold his estates and died there in 1827.

John Thomas Verdon joined the Royal Navy but later became apprenticed to his father and also became an attorney. He married Miss Ellen Prendergast and upon his marriage, his father made over several houses on fee to him including a piece of ground on Ushers Quay. Edward Howard Verdon the subject of the ‘memoir’ was born on 18th February 1814 during ‘the big snow’. He had two sisters, Mary Ann, who died young and Ellen.

The Verdons of Ushers Island The Verdon’s pedigree ‘lodged with the Duke of Leinster’ was never to be found and the family lore regarding the land at Ushers Island being in the family since the 13th Century also proved impossible to substantiate. There was certainly a Verdon presence in Dublin in the 17th Century, but the origins of the Ushers Island Verdons are unclear.

One theory was that they were Huguenots, fleeing from civil unrest in France in the late 17th century. Following the Cromwellian war of 1641, many Catholics were banished - ‘to hell or to Connaught’ - including some of those living in Dublin. The City became depopulated, with streets derelict and trade very reduced. In 1651 the Parliamentary Commissioners were petitioned to bring ‘Englishmen and Protestants’, and ‘men of manufacture’, offering them ‘the freedom of the city on easy terms’18. There was a considerable influx of foreigners to Dublin during this period. In 1662 the Duke of Ormond, James Butler, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, sponsored an act of parliament making it easier for Protestant strangers to become naturalised citizens and freemen of towns and guilds. He proposed that Protestants with skills and crafts who within a year brought their families to Ireland, and took an oath of allegiance and supremacy would be admitted to the freedom of the city on payment of 20 shillings.

In 1681 an order was made by the Municipal Council of Dublin that the ‘Protestants fleeing France’ could be admitted to freedom within fines or fees and free of city taxes for the following five years. This brought an influx of

18

Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin 47

apothecaries, bakers, joiners, masons, weavers from France. A number of Verdons appear on the rolls of the ‘Freemen of Dublin’. Among them were: -

Henri Verdon, Taylor 23 Eliz Johnes Verdon, m’cat (?) 26 Eliz.

Catherine Verdon (daughter of Thomas) 32 Eliz. ; Andreas Verdon 10 Jac. Richard Verdon, barber churg. 10 Car Richard Verdon m’cat. 15 Car Edrus Verdon, joyner (sic) 1680 Eugenius Verdon, baker, a French protestant 1688 Peter Verdon, merchant, 170219.

And John Verdon, (son of Edward Verdon) joiner (1704)

Edward and John Verdon are also described as Huguenots in Petra Coffey’s article ‘Huguenot Freemen of the City of Dublin’.20 However, only nine Huguenots are recorded as receiving the Freedom of the City of Dublin under Act of Parliament between 1662 and 1882 and none of them were Verdons21.

Edrus Verdon is recorded in the Freedom Rolls in 1680, a year before the Municipal Council Order. His son John received the freedom of the city in 1704.

Other sources for the period would indicate that the Verdons were already established in the City before the influx of Huguenots refugees. The Parish registers of St. Michans22 contain several references to the family. Edward Verdon appears on a list of pew holders and contributors to the rebuilding of the Church in 1686. The earliest Verdon entry recorded in these registers is the baptism of Ann Verdon daughter of William Verdon, shoemaker in October 1683. There are three distinct Verdon families identifiable from the Registers between the years 1683 and 1699, Edward Verdon joyner, and his wife Alice, William Verdon, Cordwinder (shoemaker) and his wife Hannah, and John Verdon, shoemaker, and his wife Ann. A record of the marriage of John and Ann appears in the Parish Register of St. John the Evangelist in October 169323.

Verdon Wills Transcripts of Wills from the 16th century would also indicate an early Verdon presence in Dublin. The will of John Verdon Dublin Merchant, of 1595 mentions his brother Laurence Quartermus Verdon, his daughter Joan and sister 19

Roll of Freemen of the City of Dublin, Vol. IV, Thrift Proceedings of the Huguenot Society Vol. xxvi no. 5 21 The Huguenot Refugee in Dublin 1660-1700, Mary Clarke 22 Parish Register Society of Ireland, Ed. Henry F. Berry, Dublin 1907 23 Parish Register Society of Ireland Vol. 1, Ed Henry F. Berry, Dublin 1909 20

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Kate.

The will of Thomas Fotteral 1582 mentions his father in law Thomas Verdon, his wife Joan Verdon and friend Laurence Quatermus. The Executor of this will was one John Verdon.

John Verdon, Dublin doctor, made his will in 1637 in which he left ‘his loving cousin Sir Christopher Bellew’ ‘his nag’. This document would appear to demonstrate a link between the Dublin and Louth Verdons. Joan Bellew was married to Patrick Verdon of Clonmore. The couple had two sons, Christopher heir to Clonmore and John who died without issue24. The will of George Duff in 1611 left £40 to his cousin Christopher Verdon of Clonmore in consideration of ‘his travailles, councell in law and other pains taken from me’. 25 The Will of Edward Verdon, joiner (1723) of Ushers Island, mentions his wife Alice, his daughter Elinor Otley widow of William Otley, and their daughter Elizabeth Otley, his sister Jane McMullen, his brother William Verdon, his nephew John Verdon (son of William) and his son John Verdon. While these family names match those in the Verdon Memoir, they were joiners and shoemakers and do not appear to have the grand existence attributed to them in the ‘Memoir’.

Conclusion By weaving elements of actual Verdon history into his own genealogy Edward Howard Verdon endeavoured to give respectability and plausibility to his own memoir. Although at best the narrative relating to his direct connections with the Verdons of Clomore can only be described as ‘soft’ genealogy without a factual basis. His retelling of the tales of knights and kings and Verdon heroes of the past, helped to re-imagine a golden age of Verdons to which he had a distant or possibly no connection. But his memoir was wistful rather than fraudulent; he lived in an age where having a family tree that led back ‘to within five generations of Noah’ was considered plausible and even admirable.

Despite many months of searching and trawling through the archives, I realised that I was nowhere nearer finding the elusive genealogical link that would reconnect the Dublin and Louth Verdons than Edward Howard Verdon was in 1858.

24 25

NLI ms 9116 NLI Ainsworth Papers Collection No. 32

49

Reluctantly I must put the Verdon research aside and let their ghosts settle once more.

50

THE ORIGINS AND CHIEF LOCATIONS OF THE O GARA SEPT John Hamrock The following is an extract from a more extensive history of the O Gara Sept which the author intends to publish in due course.

To provide a general background on the O Gara sept, the writer quotes three scholarly sources, firstly from Lambert McKenna, editor of The Book of O’Hara/Leabhar Í Eadhra: The Í Ghadhra branched off from the main Luighne stem at some time in the tenth century, Gadhra, its eponymous ancestor, being nephew of Eadhra, who died in 926. In FM we find that Toichleach Ua Gadhra who was slain in 964 is called “Lord of South Luighne” and that shortly afterwards, in 993, Conghalach, son of Laidhgnen .i. Ua Gadhra, when established as a separate chieftainry, took the district South of the Í Eadhra, thus ruling over the South part of what was afterwards the barony of Leyney, and then advanced their rule over Gaileanga. To judge by three places in FM, viz. 1059 where Ruaidhrí Ua Gadhra is damna of the Lord of Luighne, 1067 where Donnshléibhe Ua Gadhra is tanist of Luighne and 1128 where another Ua Gadhra is styled Lord of Luighne, it looks as though an Ó Gadhra alternated at times with the Ó Eadhra as ruler of Luighne. That such was the case is stated by O’Rorke (B&K, p. 368). In the part of the twelfth century and the thirteenth Í Ghadhra appear as Lords of Sliabh Lugha, a district of the Eastern part of barony of Costello around Castlemore; cf. 1181 (AU), 1206 (FM), 1227 (FM, AU, AC), 1256 (FM, AU), 1285 (FM, AU). Apparently they had been pushed out of Gaileanga by the Jordans. In the following century, the fourteenth, they are found still further to the east, and are Lords of Coolavin (cf. 1461, 1469, 1537).1 The second scholarly source is from Rev. Patrick Woulfe, from his book, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surname: O Garry, O Garey, O Geary, O Geirie, OGwyre, O'Gara, Gara, Garry, Geary,. Guiry; ' des. of Gadhra' (an old Irish personal name, perhaps from Gadhar, a dog, mastiff); the name of a Connacht family, of the same stock as the O'Haras. Both families were supposed to be descended from Lugh, son of Cormac Gaileng, and had from him the common clan-name of Luighne, which, in accordance with Irish custom, was afterwards applied as a designation of the clan-lands. These embraced not only the modern baronies of Leyney and Corran, in Co. Sligo, but also the barony of Gallen, 1

Same, pp. xix-xx 51

in Co. Mayo, and Sliabh Lugha, which formed about the northern half of the present barony of Costello in the same county. When the two families separated, about the end of the tenth century, they divided this territory between them, the O'Haras taking the northern, or Sligo, portion, and the O'Garas the southern, in Co. Mayo. The O'Garas were then styled lords of Sliabh Lugha, but after the English invasion of Connacht they were driven out of this territory by the Jordans, Costellos, and other English families, and forced to seek a new settlement. This they acquired in the district anciently known as Greagraidhe, and now as the barony of Coolavin, in Co. Sligo, from which in later times they were known as lords of Coolavin.

There, at the north-eastern extremity of Lough Gara, they built their castle of Moygara, in which the head of the family resided. From the l0th to the 18th century, the O'Garas held a prominent place in Lower Connacht.2 The third scholarly source comes from Edward MacLysaght from his book, Irish Families; Their Names, Arms, and Origins: O’GARA (Geary) The sept of O’Gara, Ó Gadhra in Irish, is closely associated with that of O’Hara. They have a common descent down to the tenth century, Gadhra, the eponymous ancestor of the O’Garas, being nephew of Eadhra (a quo the O’Haras). From this on they established separate chieftainries, O’Gara taking the territory south of the barony now known as Leyney, Co. Sligo, the O’Haras being to the north of them. The association remained close and the chiefs of the two septs frequently alternated as rulers of Luighne. By the thirteenth century the O’Garas had possessed themselves of the eastern part of the barony of Costello, Co. Mayo. However the Jordans drove them out in the next century, pushing them not westwards, but eastwards and between 1450 and 1550 they appear as lords of Coolavin.3 The Luighne were a people (according to some scholars probably a pre-Gaelic one) found inhabiting two districts, one district in Meath, where their name survives in that of the barony of Lune, and the other district in Sligo, where the name of the barony of Leyney recalls them.4 The northern half of the barony of Costello, on the borders of Co. Mayo and Roscommon, was anciently known

2

Rev. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, Gill & Son, Dublin, 1923, pages 535-536 3 Edward MacLysaght, Irish Families; Their Names, Arms, and Origins, fourth edition, Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1991, page 92 4 Lambert McKenna, editor, The Book of O’Hara, Leabhar Í Eadhra, School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1951, reprinted, 1980, page xvi 52

as Sliabh Lugha – the mountain land of Lugh.5 Little is known of the ancient rulers of Sliabh Lugha, but the area’s name probably derives from Lug Lámfata (in modern Irish, Lugh Lámhfhada) ‘Lugh the Longarmed’, the most famous of the Celtic gods.6 The Luigne were closely related to the people called the Gailenga; these latter have given name to the barony of Gallen, Co. Mayo, which borders Sliabh Lugha on the west. The same two peoples were also settled close to one another in ancient Meath where they gave the name to the baronies of Lune and Morgalion/Machaire Gaileang.7 The two branches of the Luighne, the Meath one and the Sligo one, had, no doubt, at an earlier epoch formed a single people which had broken into two parts. The Sligo one probably acquired their land in Connaught as a reward for military service rendered to the tribes which had victoriously invaded that part of the country.8

9 5

Máire McDonnell-Garvey, Mid-Connacht, The Ancient Territory of Sliabh Lugha, Drumlin Publications, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, 1995, page 9 6 Same, page 9 7 Same, page 9 and McKenna, The Book of O’Hara, Leabhar Í Eadhra, page xvi 8 McKenna, The Book of O’Hara, Leabhar Í Eadhra, page xvi 9 Sean Murphy, Twilight of the Chiefs; The MacCarthy Mór Hoax, Maunsel & Company, Dublin, 2004, illustration page between page 138 and 139 53

According to the poems in The Book of O’Hara, Leabhar Í Eadhra, the leader who brought them up from the South was Tadhg, son of Cian, all whose descendants are consequently known as Cianachta.10 According to O’Hart, the Clan Cian were…located in Ormond or the present county of Tipperary; and the heads of the Clan were O’Carroll, princes of Ely. The other families were – MacKeogh (or Kehoe), O’Corcoran, O’Dulaunty (anglicized O’Delahunty), O’Meagher. O’Connor, chiefs of Cianaght (now Keenaght) in the county Londonderry; and O’Gara and O’Hara, lords of Lieny and Coolavin in the county Sligo, were also branches of the Clan Cian of Munster.11 The establishment of the Gaileanga in Connaught probably took place for the same reasons and at the same time as the settlement of the Luighne there. By the official genealogies they are shown to be descended from Cormac Gaileng (whose name may have been invented for the purpose) through Art Corb who was a son of Laoi, the eponymous ancestor of the Luighne. Towards the end of the tenth century Gallen came under the power of the chieftains of Luighne, chiefly the Í Gadhra, who ruled it till the early thirteenth century when it was pushed aside by the Jordans. This area was afterwards called Mac Jordan’s country.12 The filidh, i.e., the professional poets-genealogists, found two distinct kinds of ruling families in Ireland, firstly the families of the conquering races which had established themselves as ascendancy powers, and, secondly, the leading families of other races (some of them probably pre-Gaelic) which, though reduced to the rank of tributary folk, had been allowed to hold a certain degree of power. Their chieftains were men of influence and wealth, whose good favour the filidh has every inclination to cultivate, and whom they therefore took care to provide with what they therefore considered a noble ancestry, generally linking them up with one or other of the ruling families.13 The lineage pedigree of O Gara from Roger O Ferrall’s Linea Antiqua with additions by Sir William Betham, shows that the O Garas were descended from Luy, or Lugh.14 Sean Murphy, in his book, Twilight of the Chiefs, The Mac Carthy Mór Hoax, reveals that the conversion of the Celtic god Lugh into a

10

Same, page xvii John O’Hart, Irish Pedigrees or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, Fifth Edition, Volume I, originally published, Dublin 1892, reprinted, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1999, page 803 12 McKenna, The Book of O’Hara, Leabhar Í Eadhra, pages xviii-xix 13 Same, page xvi 14 GO MS 145 Pos. 8296 Copy of O Ferrall’s Linea Antiqua I with additions by Sir William Betham, p. 150-151 11

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mortal king is actually a fiction of the Christian era.15 Murphy expands on this further by stating that “the Gaelic genealogies are an extremely valuable and underutilised source, but as in the case of all documents used to reconstruct the past they must be evaluated critically in order to distinguish between factual and mythical elements.”16 The Annals make no mention of any Lord of Luighne before the eighth century (Annals of the Four Masters 766, Annals of Ulster 770). It is difficult to determine whether the poems of migration of the ruling families of the conquering races, or whether descendants of Cian outside of The Í hEadra (O Hara) became a ruling family of Luighne.

17

The rulers of Sliabh Lugha, Muintir Ghadhra (the O Garas) feature occasionally in the Irish annals.18 The earliest mention of the family is at the year 964 when A victory was gained by Comhaltan Ua Cleirigh, i.e. lord of Ui-FiachrachAidhne, and by Maelseachlainn, son of Arcda, over Fearghal Ua Ruairc, where seven hundred were lost, together with Toichleach Ua Gadhra, lord of South Luighne19 15

Sean Murphy, Twilight of the Chiefs; The MacCarthy Mór Hoax, Maunsel & Company, Dublin, 2004, page 8 16 Same 17 Máire McDonnell-Garvey, Mid Connacht: the Ancient Territory of Sliabh Lugha, Drumlin Publications, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, 1995, page 24 18 Same, page 13 19 John O’Donovan, Editor, Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616, Volume II, University Press, Dublin, 1851, page 687

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In 1021 MacConcannon, lord of Hy Diarmada, was killed by O’Gadhra. In 1023, O’Conor, King of Connaught, made an expedition into Brefne, where he killed Donnell O’Hara, King of Luighne. In 1024 occurred “the battle of Ath na Croisi in Corann, between Ua Maeldoraidh, i.e. King of Cenel Conaill, and Ua Ruairc, when, O’Ruairc was defeated, and a terrible slaughter of the men of Brefne and Connacht was committed by the Cenel Conaill” (L.C., A.U., F.M., A.T.). The O’Haras and O’Garas seem to have been opposed to O’Conor and on the side of O’Ruairc in the years 1021 and 1023, and to have been on his side, together with O’Ruairc, in 1024, combing to resist the Ulstermen. But this reading depends on the description of those who were killed as of “Brefne and Connacht.” So it may have only been a successful raid against O’Rourk and his allies, who could not resist Ulster without help from O’Conor. All accounts call it a defeat of O’Rourk, who is said to have lost 2000 men.20 In 1059 Aedh O’Dubhda, King of Hy Awley, and Durcan O’Hara, King of Luighne, were killed by their own people, and Ruaidhri O’Gadhra was slain (A.T., A.U.).21 In 1128 Mayo men went out with him [Torlogh O’Conor] to invade Meath and Leinster, when he went as far south as Wexford. O’Gara, lord of Luighne, was killed.22 About this period (AD 1135), the kingdom of Luighne seems to have been practically broken into two separate kingdoms under O’Gara and O’Hara, the former holding as his kingdom so much as in the county of Mayo, with the country of the Gregry under him. The O’Haras may be held to be no longer Mayo men, having no supremacy over Gailenga.23 In 1169 the Normans invaded Ireland. In 1237, a depredation was committed

by Conchobhar MacDermot, son of Cormac, on Ruaidhri O’Gadhra, whose brother was killed.24 O’Dowda was turned out of Tirawley. O’Gara and O’Hara were turned out of Gallen and North Costello (c. 1273). Thus they cease to be Mayo families.25 This O Gara family retained Coolavin, which was too small and poor to give them a position of strength.26 O’Heyne, O’Flaherty, O’Kelly, O’Malley, O’Dowda, O’Hara, O’Gara seem to have been treated by Richard [de Burgo] and his great barons much as King 20

Hubert Thomas Knox, The History of the County of Mayo, Edmund Burke publisher, Dublin, first edition, 1908, third edition, 2000, pp. 41-42 21 Same, page 42 22 Same, pp. 44-45 23 Same, page 45 24 Same, pages 88-89 25 Same, page 89 26 Same, pages 138-139 56

Henry and his successors treated O’Conor. But as regards them evidence is slight. When English lords and colonists settled down the local Irish chiefs disappeared. But the great chiefs named above were left in possession of large estates. Where no settlements were made these chiefs recovered their position after 1338.27 The county of Sligo also took shape in this period (c. 1400) as the lordship of the Clan Andrias O’Conor, whom the O’Dowdas, O’Haras, O’Garas, and MacDonoghs acknowledged as chief.28 This barony [of Gallen] is the lordship of MacJordan de Exeter, which was the western part of O’Gadhra’s kingdom called Gailenga, whereof the eastern part was Sliabh Lugha. The barony boundary follows parish boundaries, except where part of the scattered parish of Kildacommoge is split. Coolcarney came into O’Gadhra’s kingdom before the de Burgo conquest, having been previously under the lordship of O’Caomhain. Its inhabitants were then of the Calry race.29 An Augustinian friary was said to have been established by O Gara in 1423 in Knockmore, Co. Mayo, of which the doorways and windows are in good preservation; and it is still a favourite burial place. 30 From D. Macfirbis’s Annals, in 1461, Fergal O’Gara, that ought to be King of Coolavin, was slain by MacCostello. From the Annals of the Four Masters, in 1464 Tomaltach Og O’Gara was slain by night in a skirmish on Clooncarha in Kilmovee parish by Maurice MacDermot Gall, who was in alliance with MacCostello.31 MacCostello’s title thus being secured, he seems top have sold it to Dillon immediately, the transaction being thus noted in the Annals of Loch Cé for 1586: “The Great Castle of MacGoisdelbh, and half the lordship of the country, was given to Tibbot Dillon by MacGoisdelbh, i.e. John, son of Gilladuff, son of Hubert. O’Gadhra gave five towns in his division, and the castle of Daire-mor, to the same man.”32

27

Same, page 61 Same, page 153 29 Same, page 307 30 John O’Hart, Irish Pedigrees or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, Fifth Edition, Volume I, originally published, Dublin 1892, reprinted, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1999, page 206 31 Hubert Thomas Knox, The History of the County of Mayo, Edmund Burke publisher, Dublin, first edition, 1908, third edition, 2000, page 317 32 Same, page 319 28

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Lough Gara, was originally known as Lough Techet, is between Counties Sligo and Roscommon. The River Boyle, in County Roscommon, has its origin in Lough Gara.33 On a plateau over looking the northwest corner of Lough Gara, are the ruins of Moygara, or Moy O Gara, Chief seat of the O Garas. A castle was built there in the 13th century by the Normans, but it had fallen to the O'Garas by 1338. The remains are probably 16th Century and comprise a large square tower and a rectangular bawn with square towers. There is a Sheila-nagig over the entrance. It is one of the very best examples in County Sligo of an ancient, spacious, castellated building of 185 square feet. It is rectangular in shape, the curtain walls enclosing a large lawn. On the west side was the dwelling, and there stood the entrance, in which the grooves for the portcullis still remain. It received its present name from the family of O’Gara, who after they had been driven out of their original territories of Galenga and Sliabh Lugha, in the now county of Mayo, by the Jordans and Costelloes, settled in the present barony of Coolavin, in the county of Sligo, and settled into the castle at Moygara.34

35

The castle of Moygara was burned by Scottish mercenaries in 1581. Diarmaid Og, son of Cian O'Gadhra, was put to death there, and Tadhg, the son of Ruaidhri, and many others.36 In 1586, Oilill O Gara was forced to give five towns in his division, and the castle of Daire-mór, to Tibbot Dillon.37

33

John O’Donovan, editor, Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616, Volume III, University Press, Dublin, 1851, page 357 n 34 http:// www.ogara.org, submitted by M.C. O’Gara, 3 February 2006 35 Máire McDonnell-Garvey, Mid Connacht: the Ancient Territory of Sliabh Lugha, Drumlin Publications, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, 1995, page 23 36 William Hennessy, editor, The Annals of Loch Cé, Volume II, Longman & Co. London, 1871, AD1581, page 441 37 Same, page 477 58

Fergal O Gara, sponsor of the Four Masters, was a student at Trinity College in Dublin in 1615-1616. One of the earliest records of students at the college records his name: O'GARA, FARALL. [Grandson of Iriell, Moygara, Co. Sligo; Ward Jan. 12, 1615-16.]38

He was also one of the two knights elected to represent county Sligo in the Parliament held in Dublin, A.D. 1634.

The O Gara family was, in 1648, dispossessed, consequent to the war of 16411652.39 The MacDermotts retained their rank as lords of Moylurg down to the end of the 16th century; and as successors to the O'Garas continued to hold considerable property at Coolavin, in Co. Sligo, down to recent times ; and The MacDermott is still known as Prince of Coolavin.40 In 1688 ninety per cent of the land in the county [Sligo] was owned by Protestants, making it the most Protestant part of Connacht. There were then about eighty-five landlords in the county. Half of them had owned land there before the 1641 rebellion and Cromwellian war. A few like Taaffe, and Richard Coote, Lord Collooney, held estates of over 10,000 acres. Others, like Kean O’Hara, held over 4,000 acres. The O’Haras of Annaghmore were the only Gaelic landowners to survive. They had converted to Protestantism early in the seventeenth century. The Taaffes of Ballymote were the only substantial Catholic landlords to survive. Others, like O’Connor Sligo and the O’Garas of Moygara, were irrevocably dispossessed and disappeared from the history of the region. Some Gaelic families stayed on as tenants on their former possessions and re-emerged again during the Jacobite War.41 The writer refers the reader to “Recorded Entries Concerning O’Gara Chiefs in Irish Annals” from years AD 964 through 1586 from The Annals of Connacht (AD 1224-1544), The Annals of Loch Cé, and the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616.

38

George Burtchaell and Thomas Ulick Sadleir, editors, Alumni Dublinenses; A Register of the Students, Graduates, Professors, and Provosts of Trinity College in the University of Dublin, Williams and Norgate, London, 1924, facsimile reproduction by Archive CD Books, Cinderford, Glos., England, page 633 39 John O’Hart, Irish Pedigrees or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, Fifth Edition, Volume I, originally published, Dublin 1892, reprinted, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1999, page 204 40 Rev. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, Gill & Son, Dublin, 1923, page 350 41 Liam Swords, A Hidden Church, The Diocese of Achrony 1689-1818, The Columba Press, Dublin, 1997, pp. 18-19 59

42

43

42 43

McDonnell-Garvey,, Mid Connacht: the Ancient Territory of Sliabh Lugha, page 23 Swords, A Hidden Church; The Diocese of Achrony 1689-1818, page 6

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BRINGING BACK THE MEMORY The O Morchoe I have great pleasure in contributing this article to be included in a Festschrift in honour of the commitment of Liam MacAlasdair to the Genealogical Society of Ireland, and am privileged to have been invited to do so.

It is well known that those Irish who servived WW1 returned to a very different Ireland to the one they left, and despite support from the ex Service organisation that was then formed (the British Legion was founded in 1921), the aftermath of the War of Indepencence and indeed the Civil War left them very much second class citizens. Although two of the principal commanders General Hickey, Commander 16th Irish Division and General Mahon, commander 10th Irish Division were appointed to the Seanad, and Remembrance Day was attended by significant numbers, it took till 1931 for a decision to be taken by the then President of the Free State Executive Council, W.T.Cosgrave, that the Government should give a plot of ground at the Long Meadows at Island Bridge for a War Memorial to be erected. Started in 1933 and completed in 1938 it was due to be opened by Eamon DeValera in 1939. However because of the imminence of WW2, he declined and it has not actually been officially opened.

Small commemorations took place at the Memorial for a few years from 1948, but the political situation did not sanction that the Gardens be "officially" opened and dedicated. Thus the gardens fell into neglect, decay and dilapidation during the 1970s and early 1980s. This malaise affected the whole country and although remembrance service were held, these were not wide spread and were conducted mainly in Protestant churches and by organisations from which members had left to take part in the war. The poppy, a symbol of remembrance, was distributed amongst those who know each other but was not widely worn and almost never by a public offical.

In the mid 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at the instigation of the War Memorial Committee, and with the support of Taoiseach C.J. Haughey, restoration work began to renew the park and gardens to their former splendour. This was undertaken with great effect by the OPW, co-funded by the National War Memorial Committee, which is representative of the whole island. Eventually in 1988 the Gardens were formally dedicated by representatives of the four main Churches in Ireland and unofficially opened to the public. However during the toubled times in Northern Ireland remembrance activites there almost ceased and Remembrance Sunday was commemorated in St Patrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cathedral.

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Perhaps ironically, the time from which attitudes relating to those who served in WW 1 began to change could be attributed to the successful efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland. The Third IRA Cease Fire in July 1997, followed by the Belfast Good Friday Agreement in April 1998, coincided with the extraordinary achievements of Mr Glen Barr, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the then Senator Paddy Harte, to concieve and have built, the Island of Ireland Peace Park near Messines, Belgium to highlight the role played by both catholics and protestans in WW1. The Peace Park, dominated by an Irish Round tower was opened on 11th November 1998 (attended by elected members from every County Coucil in Ireland) by President Mary McAleese, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth 11 and King Albert 11 of Belgium. In her speech the President said; “Today’s ceremony at the Peace Park was not just another journey down a well-travelled path. For much of the past eighty years, the very idea of such a ceremony would probably have been unthinkable. Those whom we commemorate here were doubly tragic. They fell victim to a war against oppression in Europe. Their memory too fell victim to a war for independence at home in Ireland.”

The relief at the end of the violence in Northern Ireland encouraged and allowed a general desire throughout the whole island, for reconciliation. This has been accompanied by various acts of local recognition of the role Irishmen played in WW1 in particular but also in WW2. Historians Myles Dungan, Keith Jefferys, and Terence Denman amongst others wrote a number of books relating to Ireland and Irish Regiments in WW 1 in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. And then Irish Times Correspondent Kevin Myers conducted an almost lone battle to encourage official recognition that so many Irish had participated and been killed in that war. In 1992 President Mary Robinson attended the Remembrance Service in St Patrick’s Cathedral, the first time a President had done so, and she continued to attend each year until she retired. Her successor Mary McAleese has done so each year she has been in office and a Government Minister also now attends.

In many locations in Ireland, individuals and groups began initiatives to remember those from local areas who had given their lives. Some of these initiatives attracted official attendance. An early instance was the rededication in August 2004 of a headstone of a Connaught Ranger at Westport Co Mayo, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross and whose headstone had not been so inscribed. On local initiative a new headstone was inscribed and the then Minister of Defence, Michael Smith T.D. officiated at the dedication and the British Ambassador was amongst a large number who attended.

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In September 2005 President Mary McAleese opened a Memorial Arch in Tipperary sponsored by the Tipperary Remembrance Trust, a local group whose purpose was to have a memorial to all Tipperary men in particular, but all Irish men who had been killed in all wars. In October 2009 the President also opened in Castlebar, a Mayo Peace Park and Memorial Wall, in memory of County Mayo people killed in all wars on which names of the dead have been inscribed.

Gradually these initiatives have set examples in other areas where local people decided that those who gave their lives, for whatever reason, should be remembered. Ex Senator Paddy Harte in the Republic and Sir Kenneth Bloomfield in Northern Ireland are leading trustees of a “Journey of Remembrance” initiative whereby each local Council undertakes to sponsor Books of Honour to include the names of all in each county who gave their lives in WW 1. Amongst other counties books on Donegal, Dublin city and county as well as County Mayo have been published.

Other initiatives have been developing including the founding of a Military Heritage of Ireland trust in 1999 which has cross border Trustees and members from Military museums North and South to further study into the Irish Military heritage from the flight of the Wild Geese to the present day’s Defence Forces.

Another major land mark was the founding and opening of the Military Wing of the National Museum in Collins Barracks which displays a wide and well balance view of Irishmen in the service of foreign countries; the social and other effects of British Forces in Ireland; and the Defence Forces since inception. It has been much admired by visitors from the North The formation of Associations of the disbanded Irish Regiments has been another way in which remembrance of those who served in them and the exploits of those Regiments have been recovered. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association has lead the way in these activities which are designed to promote the memory of those who served in the Regiment and has attracted government interest. In 1966 Tanaiste Dick Spring opened the first exhibition in the presence of the British Ambassador, and a cross section of members of both major traditions. President Mary MacAleese opened the second held in the Dublin Civic Museum in September 1998. In April 2001, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern hosted a State Reception in Dublin Castle in honour of the Association and its work, which was attended by over 700 guests including many from Northern Ireland. And in November 2002, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Dermot Lacey hosted a Civic reception in the City Hall in its honour.

Associations of the Connaught Rangers with a museum at Boyle Co. Roscommon, The Munster Fusiliers based in Bandon Co. Cork, The Leinster 64

Regiment which Depot was at Crinkle Barracks, Co Offaly have all made significant strides in perpetuating the memory of those who served in those regiments. Only the 18th Royal Irish Regiment that was based in Clonmel does not have an association.

The Royal British Legion retains Branches in some of the principal towns of Ireland, whose primary role is to foster remembrance and to support the Veterans who served in the British Forces. These veterans now meet at Remembrance occasions with veterans of the Irish Ex Service organisations to honour the Irish dead from all conflicts. The link is now a much-respected one and has developed into sharing social occasions. These have revealed how many of those serving in the Defence Forces had relatives in the now disbanded Irish Regiments and who served in WW 1.

Perhaps one of the most significant occasions with regard to acknowledging the importance of Remembrance was the government commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 2006 at the National War Memorial at Island Bridge. This was the first occasion on which an Irish Government commemoration had taken place since its inception.

President Mary McAleese led the commemoration and laid a wreath in the presence of the Government and Council of State and many visitors from both sides of the border. Ambassadors of countries that participated in the war, including Germany, laid wreaths, as did also the President of the Royal British Legion from both North and South.

Following on this occasion the Government has sanctioned an annual Wreath Laying Ceremony hosted by the Royal British Legion in remembrance of the 49,400 Irishmen who died during WW1 and are commemorated at the Memorial. It is attended from both sides of the border and takes place on the day preceding the National Day of Commemoration held at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

There is no doubt that peace in Northern Ireland laid the ground for resurgence in efforts to encourage remembrance in the South. These were successful largely because they were the initiative of local individuals or bodies who felt that time was long overdue to â&#x20AC;&#x153;bring back the memoryâ&#x20AC;? of those who for whatever reason had gone to war. Relatives of those who made the supreme sacrifice are beginning to feel a desire to remember and to want to research family members. Efforts are being made to enable them to do so and visits to cemeteries and scenes of battles in which they took part are becoming regular events. Perhaps even this long after the events, the sentence below copied from headstones is taking some meaning; Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten

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THE NAME OF OUR FATHER A BELGIAN STORY ABOUT IRISH IDENTITY1

Michaël Merrigan and Katrijne Merrigan Introduction When our good friend, the ‘Irish’ Michael Merrigan, asked us to write an article for the Festschrift in honour of Liam Mac Alasdair, it was not hard to come up with a suitable topic for this publication. Years ago, it was the quest for the ancestral heritage that brought one of us, a ‘Belgian’ Michael Merrigan, in touch with his Irish namesake. Stumbling upon the co-founder of a Genealogy Society, who shares not only your first but also your last name, must be the dream of just about every genealogy-researcher. Since that fortuitous meeting, we have learned a lot about the history of our family, and about the Genealogical Society of Ireland as a thriving organization in Ireland. As an expression of our gratitude, we would therefore like to take this opportunity to write a little about our experience of Irish identity, not only about the place which our Irish background takes in our lives, but also about the place which our town, Leuven, has taken within Irish cultural history.

A Tricky Question For a Belgian, there are many ways to spell the name ‘Merrigan’. Testimony to this fact is the large stack of oddly addressed letters which have, sometimes quite against all odds, found their way into our mailbox. Now and then, one or other public servant or a jovial salesperson will look at one of us, the Belgian Merrigan stock, and smile politely. ‘An Irish name? You are Irish, aren’t you?’

These inquiries are generally a source of joy. However, they also constitute something of a dilemma. It is nice when someone takes an interest in your name, let alone your heritage. But with the joy comes the trouble of explaining.

Until recently, we had only been to Ireland on a ten-day hiking trip, or on a short, touristic city-trip. Our knowledge of its contemporary political or sociological landscape is close to zero. Still, we know many of the nation’s tunes by heart. We were raised with a strange desire to see the green hills and steep cliffs of Ireland’s coast. We know of many towns, small and big, and stories that connect them. Yet, we have never set foot in most of them. When we were younger, our grandmother, who lived in a place called Kilbride, would 1

Many of the facts which form the basis of this article were acquired at the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, and the exhibition housed there. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Institute and its director, Mr. Malachy Vallely. From May 4th, 2007 to July, 27th 2007, the exhibition ‘Lobháin 1607-2007: Irish in Leuven’ was organized at the Catholic University of Leuven. At this exhibition, many documents preserved in the university’s archives were shown to the public. A guide to, and inventory of, this exhibition can still be consulted at the Central Library, and was of great help in retrieving the data for this article.

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tell us to behave, and ask God to bless us, All the while pronouncing her words and uttering her wishes in a distinctly Irish fashion. Yet, she, too, had never seen Dublin fair city, or the fields of Athenry. She would tell us about our relatives, the Duggans and the O’Reillys, about Patrick and Sean, and Erin and Kelly, none of whom had ever set foot in Ireland before. None of them could call themselves Irish, and all of them somehow felt they were. Yes, sir, Merrigan is an Irish name. How funny that you know. No sir. We’re not Irish.

We were born here, in Belgium. But, our father, well, he’s Canadian. Well, actually, he’s from Newfoundland. And that’s not quite Canadian.

The courteous public servant and the friendly shopkeeper got more information than they had bargained for. And the story, in fact, goes on. Our family tree, and in fact most of its living branches, leads straight to the isle of Newfoundland, a corner of the world which, in some regards, is perhaps more Irish than Ireland itself. But we, the ‘Belgian Merrigans’, now live in a place which is in many ways closer to the origins of Irish culture than Newfoundland or even, dare we say, Ireland ever was. We can safely say that we now live in a place which was once the cradle of Irish culture and which, in many ways, shaped the Ireland known by the Irish, and the world, today. ‘Which place is this?’ the reader wonders. Dublin, I hear you say? Cork? Belfast? No, sir. Leuven, Belgium.

Leuven and the Irish Leuven, a town located somewhat east of Brussels, is especially renowned for its centuries-old university. Founded in 1425, the Catholic University of Leuven is the oldest university in the Low Countries, and the oldest extant Catholic university in the world. Since its establishment, the university has attracted thousands of intellectuals from all over the world. Those scholars included many Irish, some of whom even became rector of the institution. One Irish professor, Thomas Stapleton, was elected rector magnificus no less than 7 times between 1661 and 1681. A monument commemorating him can be found in the magnificent church of St. Peter on Leuven’s main market square. Also - and for contemporary students of the university perhaps of greater importance Stapleton’s legacy lives on in the name of the main Irish Pub, located across from the university’s historic main building. The relationship between Leuven and the Irish community, however, goes far beyond the lives of a few individuals. Leuven in many ways provided first a sanctuary, and then a womb, for the (re)naissance of Irish culture as we know it today, saving it from the dark realms of forgotten history. It is a story that is too often forgotten by the Irish, and barely known by the Belgians, whose ancestors once opened their doors to the Irish ‘political refugees’.

The story of the Irish presence in Leuven starts in 1606-1607, with the founding of the Irish Franciscan College of Saint Anthony by the Irish Franciscan 67

theologian, Flaithri Ó Maolconaire, who had been elected provincial of the Irish Franciscans in 1606. The increasing English influence in Ireland, and the Protestant Reformation which followed in its wake, resulted in the suppression of Catholic institutions in Ireland. This situation made it nearly impossible to provide an adequate education for the Catholic clergy. Irish colleges were therefore established across Europe to respond to the need for such education.

The first Irish college was founded in 1592 in Salamanca, and by 1611 there were twelve Irish colleges in Spain, France and the Low Countries.2 Ó Maolconaire probably did not have to think very long about Leuven as a location for a new college. The university had existing ties with Ireland, and the institution had played an important role in the ongoing Counter-Reformation.

Moreover, it was located in the Spanish Netherlands, where Catholicism was the dominant religion. Ó Maolconaire’s college was established under the patronage of King Philip III of Spain, who awarded the college 1.000 ducats a year. The king sent a letter to Archduke Albrecht of Austria, who in turn wrote to the university requesting it to provide Ó Maolconaire with support in his undertaking to establish the new college. The political protection paid off, and soon the college was a fact. It was dedicated to the Franciscan Saint Anthony of Padua. Papal approval followed in 1607, and that same year the first Irish students arrived at the college.

From the moment of its conception, the relationship between the university and the college proved to be of great importance. Not only did the university create the right climate for the extraordinary intellectual endeavours of the Irish exiles, it, among other things, also provided shelter for the university’s books and manuscripts in the aftermath of the French revolution. The Irish, for their part, actively engaged in the daily life of the town. Irish soldiers and scholars even played a pivotal role in the defense of Leuven when it came under siege from Dutch and French troops in 1635. The good ties between the university and the college have continued up to today. The great respect of the university for the Irish republic was made very visible when the institution awarded honorary doctorates to two former presidents of the Irish Republic, Éamon de Valera (1966) and Mary Robinson (2000).

Leuven as the Centre of Irish Culture The founding of the College coincided with significant political turmoil in the motherland. In very same year that the College started its activities, the Flight of Earls announced the end of the old Gaelic Order. The most famous exiles of those initial years were probably Hugh O’Neill, the Second Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O’Donnell, the Earl of Tyrconnell, who spent three months in Leuven 2

Later there would be a total of 30 institutions, located from the Atlantic all the way up to the Baltics.

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before continuing their journey. They were not the only ones, however, who passed through Leuven on their voyage away from Ireland.3 While the very founding of the Irish College had been the result of the impossibility to provide adequate Catholic education within Ireland, its new role as a transit point for exiles and migrants alike further molded the institution into a safe haven for Irish culture outside of Irish territory.

It would not take long before the college of St. Anthony created the fertile ground for some of Ireland’s earliest and most impressive writings and, ultimately, the consolation of an important part of Irish cultural identity. A central name in this process was that of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh. Ó Cléirigh was born in Kilbarron as Tadhg a’tSléibhe Ó Cléirigh into a family of bardic poets and historians in the Gaelic tradition. He became a lay brother at the College in 1623, at which time he took on the name Mícheál. O’Cléirigh brought together three other associates, Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin, and Fearfeasa Ó Maoil Chonaire. Together, they would later come to be known as the Four Masters. The four undertook various immense projects, collecting and copying old Gaelic manuscripts. One of their first major projects, established in 1630, included the Genealogies of Saints and Kings and a new edition of Leabhar Gabhála, the Book of Invasions. The largest work produced by the Four Masters was, however, without doubt the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, later known as the Annals of the Four Masters.4 These annals present a history of Ireland that extends from the Great Flood to 1616 A.D., the year of the death of Hugh O’Neill. They include both a compilation of earlier annals, as well as original work. The Annals were written in Irish, and are over 400,000 words long. In essence, these Annals aimed at consolidating the entire collective memory of Ireland at that time, through the preservation of the late medieval Gaelic manuscripts and traditions. Historians, including contemporary historians, regard these works as vital witnesses to the ancient Gaelic world. They are therefore rightly considered to be one of the greatest achievements of native Irish scholars before that world disappeared forever. Ó Cleirigh himself travelled throughout Ireland from 1626 to 1637 on his quest for manuscripts. However, after the Annals were completed, O’Cleirigh returned to Leuven, where he lived until his death in 1643 and where he was buried.

The Annals of the Four Masters are without doubt a masterpiece with an unprecedented importance in the Irish history. However, their compilation must 3

Another famous visitor to Leuven was Rosa O’Doherty, the wife of Caffer O’Donnell (the brother of Rory O’Donnell). After Caffer died in Rome in 1608, Rosa married Owen Roe O’Neill, the nephew of Hugh O’Neill. After Owen Roe O’Neill returned to Ireland, and died there in 1649, Rosa O’Doherty remained in exile. During this time she held court in Brussels, fulfilling an important social function. She was buried at the College after her death.

4 Term First used by John Colgan in 1645.

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be seen as part of a much wider project which took possession of the friars of the Irish College in Leuven in the 17th century and was continued by others..

Irish exiles and migrants felt obliged to rebut the persistent stereotypes and prejudices they encountered about Ireland, and were determined to introduce their beloved homeland to - and into - Europe. The Franciscans at the college of St. Anthony provided a profoundly intellectual response to this demand. In doing so, they, on the one hand, introduced the Irish language and medieval Irish culture to the European continent and, on the other hand, preserved and shaped the Irish cultural foundations for future generations. This ‘Grand Project’, as it came to be known, consisted of many different undertakings, both small and ambitious. The ‘project’ was founded on four main pillars: (1) the Irish language, (2) the collection and preservation of Irish history, (3) the vindication of Ireland’s ancient sanctity, and (4) the demonstration of Ireland’s tradition of scholarship. The Grand Project thus confirmed and shaped the Irish culture as one of ‘Saints and Scholars’.

From very early on the Franciscan friars in Leuven realized that merely collecting and transcribing would be of limited value, either on the Continent or in Ireland itself. Finding it impossible to come into possession of a printing machine that was capable of printing the characters of the Irish language, the Franciscans realised that decisive action was required. Already in 1614 they therefore set out to secure permission from Archduke Albrecht and his wife Isabella to establish their own printing press at the College. With the help of the famous Antwerp printing house of Plantin-Moretus, a new typeface was developed. Not much later the College was printing its own books, strongly increasing its influence in the field of the Irish language and historical scholarship. The Leuven typeface would continue to set the standard for publications in the Irish language for more than 350 years to follow.

The Generations of the 21st century Located in downtown Leuven, only minutes from the historic centre, the Irish College still stands as a proud reminder of the Franciscan initiative that shaped the cultural identity of a nation. In the continuing tradition of promoting Ireland and the Irish culture, and service to Ireland, it now houses the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe. This unique Institute provides visitors with a beautiful and comprehensive overview of Irish history and the struggle for the Irish identity. It has taken upon itself the mission to further promote all forms of Irish culture, and enhance the position of Ireland and Northern-Ireland within the European Union.

Wandering from the church of St. Anthony – where the recently canonized father Damian lies buried, and which is, perhaps not coincidentally, a symbol of protection for those who were forced into exile – towards the Irish College, it is 70

hard not to be touched by the stories of the many Irish who fled repression and the denial of their cultural identity, and who came to Leuven to (re-)discover and preserve the narrative of their existence. Little is known about why and when exactly our own ancestors, the Merrigans, decided to leave their home most probably in the Waterford area - and embark on a dangerous journey to the New World. When they left their Irish home, presumably at the end of the 18th century, they encountered the inhospitable rocks and harsh climate of Newfoundland. Still, they maintained a longing for the old country. They managed to keep a substantial part of their native Irish culture, much of which was transferred to their children, grandchildren and further. Like the Irish ‘at home’, they chose St. Patrick’s Day as one of their main holidays.5 The music of Newfoundland is renowned throughout Canada and the world, and has distinct Irish influences – often borrowing directly from Irish tunes and stories.

Until the middle of the 20th century, a Newfoundland dialect of Irish was still spoken on the island. Even today an ‘Irish’ accent can be discerned in the Newfoundland dialect of English. Place names such as Ballyhack or the aforementioned town of Kilbride still refer directly to places in Ireland.

Newfoundland is also the only place outside of Europe that has its own distinct name in Irish, Talamh an Éisc, ‘Land of the Fish’.

A small part of this distinct Newfoundland culture was passed on to us, when our own father – a fifth generation Irish Newfoundlander - crossed the big Atlantic to study at the very university that had once provided such a fertile ground for the preservation of the old Irish culture. He never left again.

Generations after Micheál Ó Cléirigh and his associates walked the streets of Leuven, we find ourselves in the same city, born and raised as Flemish Belgians, but with an Irish name and ancestry which we carry with us wherever we go. The longing for a lost homeland, which many of our ancestors must have felt, has made place for a more joyful image of a country of music and vacation, barely a short flight away. Nevertheless, Leuven and Ireland will forever stay connected in a story whose last page has not yet been written, but whose narrative is felt and lived up to this day by many Irish, natives and descendants, across the world.

5

Saint Patrick’s Day was observed as a public holiday until 1992, and is a paid holiday for government employees even now.

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THOMAS ST GEORGE MACCARTHY Jim Herlihy Thomas St George MacCarthy was born on 9th June 18621 and baptized on 11th June 1862, in Bansha, Co. Tipperary. He was the son of George Thomas MacCarthy (1832-1902) who was a County Inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary and a former lieutenant in the Irish Revenue Police.

Thomas was educated at Tipperary Grammar School, the Erasmus Smith foundation situated in Tipperary Town. This school had a rugby team and it was here that his rugby career began. He moved to Dublin in 1879 where he came to know Michael Cusack who, since 1877, had been running a cramming school - Cusack’s Academy - which prepared young men for entry examinations for Trinity College, the medical and law schools, the army, constabulary and the navy. In 1879 MacCarthy played for Cusack’s Academy rugby team, and it was Cusack who coached him for his RIC cadetship examination in 1882 MacCarthy took first place in this examination. He had joined the Trinity College rugby club in 1881 and in January 1882 MacCarthy played rugby for Ireland against Wales, and later that year won a Leinster Senior Cup medal with Dublin University Rugby Club. He was the first of nine former Tipperary Grammar School pupils to win ‘caps’ for Ireland between 1882 and the closure of the school in 1923.

The friendship between Thomas St George MacCarthy and Michael Cusack explains MacCarthy’s presence in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, on November 1st, 1884, at the inaugural meeting of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

He was stationed in Templemore, Co. Tipperary at that time and attended the meeting with the well-to-do builder, Joseph Kevin Bracken2 who was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and father of politician and publisher, Viscount Brendan Bracken. Bracken was one of Winston Churchill's closest friends and was also Minister of Information (1941-45). Thomas was one of the seven persons who founded the Gaelic Athletic Association because he was concerned about young persons who were drunk and felt that if they participated in games they were less likely to indulge themselves in liquor. It should be noted that members of the RIC were banned from GAA sports in 1888 so even though he attended the first meeting of the G.A.A. he is the only one not to be commemorated on account of his being a District Inspector in the RIC. Thomas had joined the RIC as a cadet on 21st November 1882. He was promoted 3rd Class District Inspector on 3rd January 1883 ; 2nd Class District 1 2

Cork Examiner 14th June June 1862 He born at Ardvullen House, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick and died in 1904.

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Inspector on 16th March 1887 and 1st Class District Inspector on 1st August 1896. He was allocated to Templemore, Co. Tipperary on 1st June 1883 and Derrygonnelly, Co. Tipperary on 1st March 1885. He then went to Limavaddy on 15th November 1887 and to Dundalk, Co. Louth, on 1st December 1894.

After that he went to Robertstown, Co. Kildare on 15th December 1903 and later to Newpallas, Co. Limerick on 1st April 1905. His next move was to Newport, Co. Mayo on 25th July 1909 and then to Ballymahon, Co. Longford on 15th September 1911.

In September 1894 Thomas was presented with a complimentary illuminated address accompanied by a purse of sovereigns from the magistrates, clergy and inhabitants generally of the county of Londonderry on the occasion of his transfer to Dundalk. This was expressive of the regret at his removal from amongst them and bore testimony to the ability, tact and firmness with which he invariably discharged his duties while stationed at Limavady and as a token of their esteem and regard. Resolutions were also passed at Limavady and Claudy Petty Sessions on the 4th and 7th December 1894 respectively, expressing regret at his leaving. His uniformed photograph was taken in 1890 in Limavady3.

Thomas was awarded the King Edward VII Visit to Ireland Medal, 1903. He was 50 years old when he was pensioned on 23rd January 1912.

He had married Mary Lucy Lynch in Dublin's ProCathedral on 18th November 1887. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father was born in Galway and practiced as a solicitor in Great Charles Street, off the North Circular Road, Dublin.

Thomas and Mary had two children.

Their son later practiced law at Edmonton, Canada and their daughter, Kathleen, acted in the Abbey Theatre and later emigrated to Melbourne, Australia.

Thomas died at the Linden Convalescent Home, Blackrock, Co. Dublin on 12th March 1943 and was buried in a pauperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grave in Deansgrange Cemetery on 15th March 1943. I found his unmarked grave about 10 years ago and am delighted to say that at 11am on Wednesday the 18th November 2009 a new headstone was unveiled to him in place of the tree that had grown at that spot over the years.

3

Police Service of Northern Ireland Museum, Belfast 73

On the left is the Garda Commissioner Facthna Murphy. In the centre is Mr. Jim McDonald, Chairman, RUC George Cross Foundation and the officer speaking is Chief Superintendent Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Callaghan, Police Service of Northern Ireland representing the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland.

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THE TRAGIC INCIDENT OF WWIIâ&#x20AC;&#x2022;THE BALLYMANUS MINE EXPLOSION 1943 Roisin Lafferty "They are gone but not forgotten, Never shall their memory fade, Our fondest thoughts shall ever linger, Round the graves where they are laid" (inscription on the monument at Mullaghduff , Donegal)

It may well have been the worst tragedy of World War II to take place in neutral Ireland. Nineteen young men from one rural community were annihilated in a single flash, simply through carelessness. The saddest part of the story was that this appalling tragedy might well have been avoided if care had been taken to cordon off the dangerous area.

During the war years, residents of coastal areas were always on the look out for useful items which often drifted ashore with the tide. So, on May 10th 1943, when an object was spotted off Mullaghduff1 (near Ballymanus) on the West coast of Donegal, it was no great wonder that locals assembled to investigate its content.

According to newspaper reports, Mr James Doogan of Gortanasade telephoned Sergeant Allen at Annagry Garda station at 6.45 pm on that afternoon (May 10th 1943), to inform him of the presence of an object floating in the water at a location between Mullaghdearg Point and Broad Strand. Doogan even predicted that it was a mine and guessed the approximate time it would come ashore.

Sergeant Allen was on duty in Annagry Garda Station that afternoon. As soon as he got the call from Doogan, he dispatched Garda James Boylan to Lieutenant Dunleavy of the nearby Coastal Watching service with a request that the matter be investigated right away. When Boylan arrived at the depot to deliver the message, he found that Dunleavy had already heard the news and had gone to Ballymanus. Dunleavy later gave evidence at the inquest, saying that on the day in question he arrived at Ballymanus where he identified a mine floating in the water about a mile or so offshore. Dunleavy was alleged to have remained in the area for more than two hours until the mine came ashore. It was implied that he warned those present on the strand to stay away as it could be dangerous but some reacted negatively to his warning. (It seems from the newspaper reports that there were only three locals at the scene at the time). But 1 Mullaghduff is situated on the west coast of county Donegal between the villages of Annagry and Kincasslagh.

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Dunleavy also admitted at the inquest that he told the men that 90 out of 100 of these mines were harmless.

In the grey Atlantic swells off the rugged Donegal coast bobbed a strange, black, knobby object. The young fishermen of Ballymanus village strolled down to the sea, stared and wondered. At length came the official coast watcher. It was a mine, he warned: let no one touch it. ('Death in Donegal', Time Magazine, May 24th, 1943) Just as darkness was falling, at 9.50 pm on that May evening, Dunleavy left the scene to report the matter to his ordnance officer and to seek help. That same night a dance was scheduled to take place in the local hall at nearby Mullaghduff. Many of the young people from the area who were making their way to the dance hall drifted towards the seashore to investigate what was afoot.

Apparently, when Dunleavy left the site a few of those present proceeded to haul the mine in with ropes, throwing stones and attempting to unscrew portions of it. This activity caused it to explode.

"But two bold youths - James Rogers and James Roarty - waded out waistdeep, fixed a rope to the mine's horns. Up on the beach the crowd heavedho. Inshore wallowed the sinister machine until, suddenly, it bumped a rock. In the black roar of the explosion, Rogers and Roarty were blown to bits, 16 others were killed, 40 Ballymanus houses were damaged. The torn, tattered bodies were borne to the dance hall in neighbouring Mullaghduff, where there was to have been a dance that night. From villages miles around the women came, with black shawls over their heads, to keen beside the coffins. This was the saddest wartime tragedy that had come to neutral Eire". ('Death in Donegal', Time magazine, May 24th, 1943).

The explosion which occurred at 10.00 pm ripped the crowd apart. The noise of the blast was heard miles away. Needless to say, mayhem erupted. Those who were standing nearby were blown to bits, bodies were scattered in such a manner that it was hard to tell how many were dead or maimed. Local doctors, Daniel McDevitt of Burtonport, Doctor C. Carr of Bunbeg, Dr. Callaghan of Dungloe, and Dr. McDonagh from the military base in Letterkenny, rushed to the scene to give whatever assistance they could. Members of the Gardai, the local Red Cross and the Civil Defence (five of the victims were active members of the Local Defence unit) all came to offer their services, even though darkness hampered the search. Spiritual aid was administered by Rev J O'Byrne, C.C., Rev T. McGinley, C.C., and Rev J Glacken, C.C. Eventually 16 bodies were collected from the wreckage but later in the night, and amid the confusion, another body was located at the scene, making the total

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17 in all. Lorries and ambulances brought the dead to Mullaghduff hall. Those who were seriously injured were Patrick and John Boyle of Ballymanus, Daniel Boyle of Mullaghduff, Hugh Sharkey, Anthony Sharkey and John Joe Carson, all from Braade. The injured were removed to Letterkenny General Hospital.

Of the injured, John Joe Carson died in hospital the following day and Anthony Sharkey died some days later. In all, 19 people died, a number were injured and terrible trauma was suffered by those who were present at the scene of the tragedy.

The Rosses cancelled all public events and public mourning was proclaimed.

Soon, close relatives and extended family began to arrive from Scotland and elsewhere to comfort the bereaved, to mourn their dead and to attend the funerals which took place on May 14th. The funeral of the nineteenth victim, Anthony Sharkey (age 16) of Braade, who died from injuries, took place later.

Prior to the removal of the bodies for burial, Rev. Canon McAteer consoled the bereaved, speaking in Irish from the stage in Mullaghduff hall. Eleven of the bodies were brought to Kincasslagh church for burial and those were 1. Dominic Gallagher (age 27), Rannyhaul, (brothers Owen and Patrick were brought to Annagry) 2. Owen Harley (age 14), Rannyhaul, (brother Joseph was brought to Annagry) 3. Denis Harley (age 16), Rannyhaul 4. James Rogers (age 34), Rannyhaul 5. Anthony Rogers (age 34), Rannyhaul 6. John Roarty (age 24), Mullaghduff 7. Edward Gallagher (age 22), Mullaghduff 8. Michael Sharkey (age 15), Mullaghduff 9. James Duffy (age 16), Braade, (brother of Hugh Duffy below) 10. Hugh Duffy (age 17), Braade 11. John Sharkey (age 14), Braade When those coffins were laid in the Kilcasslagh church, the sad mourners retraced their steps down the road to Mullaghduff to bring the remains of their seven remaining loved ones to Annagry church. Those were â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1. John McGinley2 (age 19), Mullaghduff 2. Manus O'Donnell (age 16), Braade 3. Owen Gallagher (age 20), Rannyhaul, (brother of Patrick below and brother of Dominic Gallagher on Kincasslagh list) 4. Patrick Gallagher (age 18), Rannyhaul 2

His name appears as Mckinley on the monument 77

5. John Boyle (age 17), Ballymanus 6. Joseph Harley (age17), Rannyhaul, (brother of Owen Harley on Kincasslagh list) 7. John Joe Carson (15), Braade(who died in hospital) Newspapers reported the proceedings of the inquest which was held in Annagry on May 12th to formally identify the remains. Distressing scenes caused the event to be adjourned, when solicitors for the next of kin demanded and were promised that a special inquiry into the matter would take place. While consideration was given at the time to holding inquiry further news reports stated that a meeting of the next-of-kin of the deceased which was held on May 24th 1943, decided unanimously that no demand be made for an inquiry. The coroner was informed that no official inquiry was proposed and the inquest was reconvened on 28th May. The official file was also said to show that there was little local demand for an inquiry into the matter at the time and, in fact, it was noted that a number of local representatives were of the view that nothing would be gained from one. A meeting of local clergy apparently also came to the same conclusion while those officials in the Departments of Defence and Justice also came to the conclusion that an inquiry would not serve any useful purpose.

The verdict of the inquest was that the deaths were caused by the explosion of the mine and by misadventure and curiosity, despite the fact that those who were present insisted the mine had not been tampered with. There was disagreement in the jury as to whether the lieutenant of the coast-watching service was negligent. Seemingly this became the occasion of bad feeling in the district. However, the jury was divided in their findings and added riders to their verdict stating that the disaster could have been avoided if the Garda sergeant at Annagry had cordoned off the area in the immediate vicinity of the mine until the arrival of the military. But a note on this official file from the Garda superintendent of the area stated that the sergeant involved had failed to go to the scene before the explosion and that no attempt was made by him to cordon off the area.

But the positive proposal of the jury was that the military authorities should be asked to establish a "coast watching post" in the vicinity of Ballymanus.

This shocking tragedy was the worst loss of life in Ireland during WWII. Even sadder was the fact that so many of the young men of the community were wiped out in the one night. Sixteen year old Manus O'Donnell was the sole support of his widowed mother and his nine younger siblings. Three sons of one family were lost and three other families lost two sons each. The grief of those 78

families must have been unbearable. The age range of those who perished was from 13 years to 34 years, eight of whom were under the age of 18 years. The victims’ families were left numb with shock and grief and, of course, many of those lost had been the family breadwinner. The Red Cross, together with a few local individuals donated £200 to assist with the funeral expenses, while ‘The Irish Independent’ (June 5th 1943), published an appeal from a group of local individuals (including the clergy) who set up a Relief Fund to alleviate the stress and hardship of the bereaved families.

As the 65th anniversary of the terrible tragedy approached, the subject of an inquiry into the awful tragedy was raised in the Seanad3 on 23rd April 20084.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was asked if he was aware of the mine explosion which took place on 15th May 1943 in Mullaghduff, County Donegal when 19 young people lost their lives or if he could explain why the full inquiry, which was promised by the coroner after the event, never took place. He was further requested to issue a statement if such an inquiry regarding the issue would be initiated at any time in the future. Deputy Brendan Smith replied (on behalf of Brian Lenihan, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform) by briefly outlining details of the event as they appeared in the Documentation file in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform5.

He said he could understand the enduring sadness which still stirred in the families of those who were killed and injured and the suffering of the families involved. He knew that all Ireland shared the grief of the local community when the tragic event took place, but was of the opinion that it was questionable whether it was possible to pass judgment on the actions of individuals or organisations involved, as such a long period of time had elapsed since. He said it was difficult to see how any further investigation of the matter would add anything to what was found at the time, but he extended his sympathy (and those of the absent Justice Minister Brian Lenehan) for what happened to the families and to those who continue to mourn their loved ones who were lost or badly injured. He claimed that 3 Debate 512. [18678/08] 4 Seanad Debates, Dail Eireann; (1)Dail Eireann, Vol 189 No 7 Wed, April 23, 2008; and (2) Dail Eireann, Vol 654; No 1 May 13, 2008 5 The file was withdrawn from the National Archives for the Dáil investigation in Spring 2008, the minister told the Dáil that it would be returned for anyone who wanted to examine reports and statements of those who were involved at the time. "The minister hoped its contents might help the families of those involved to understand what happened and to come to terms with their grievous loss". I have made five vists to the NAI Dublin during the months of May and June 2009 and could not locate this file. Perhaps it has not yet been returned from the Dáil or has been misplaced.

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"Few of those involved directly are still alive and those who are would have distant memories of what occurred. It is hard to see how any further investigation of the matter would add anything to what was found at the time".

It was only in 1999, just 56 years later, that a monument was erected to the memory of these young men. Situated on the roadside directly opposite the football pitch at Mullaghduff, 19 names are inscribed on a Celtic cross overlooking the spot where the tragic disaster happened. The inscription states â&#x20AC;&#x153;n sympathetic memory of the 19 young men who lost in their lives in the Ballymanus sea mine explosion on 10th May 1943 during WWIIâ&#x20AC;?

So there the matter rests. Sad memories still linger in the hearts of those who mourn their loved ones. No doubt the event will generate interest to social or local historians of the future who will form their own judgment on that terrible evening 66 years ago.

Sources Time Magazine: May 24th 1943; May 29th 1943 Irish Times: May 12th 1943; May 13th 1943 Irish Independent: May 12th 1943; June 5th 1943 Leitrim observer: May 15th1943

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POLISH-IRISH CONNECTIONS ARE CENTRIES OLD Bartosz Kozłowski Poland is a country of more than forty million people spanning parts of central and eastern Europe and, of course, thousands of kilometers away from the Republic of Ireland. Given such a distance the prospect of finding any historic connectons or anthing uniting the two nations might seem remote to say the least. Surprisingly a handful of historical facts show that the Poles and the Irish have many aspects in their own history, uniting the two nations.

Celts on Polish land?

Before any Pole set his foot on the emerald isle, hardy cousins of the Irish managed to explore the Polish territories. Four hundred years before Christ the grounds of Silesia were penetrated by the Celtic tribes. Celtic settlements had been discovered in Radłowice near Orava and Kurzątkowice. Unfortunately, to this day, these archaeological sites were only researched on a small scale. Many burial sites were found with valuable objects including utility items and weapons. The study of the Celtic presence in the Polish lands preoccupied many local archaeologists, especially Jerzy Potocki (1932-1966) - researcher at the Institute of History of Material Culture in Polish Academy of Sciences. The result of these studies and their follow-up was the publication of J.RozenPrzeworska of ‘The drop in the Celts' (1979) Irish-Scottish Missionaries Irish-Scottish Christian missionaries arrived in the lands occupied by the Slavic tribes a long time before the baptism of Prince Mieszko I in AD966. The second time they appeared in Poland in the early period of Christianity. The monastery was founded in 11th century in Olesnica (Silesia), and engaged in religious ministry in the then state of the first Piast. It is likely that Bishop Lambert (1082-1101) was of Irish origin. It is certain, however, that the first abbot of Tyniec, Anchoras, was originally Irish - as evidenced by his unique IrishScottish name.

Irish emigrants in Polish lands In the time when England tried to subjugate Ireland by means of terror and persecution, many Catholics fled the country. Among other things, they looked for asylum and security in Poland. One of the first immigrants was Bernard O'Connor (ca. 1666-1698). He arrived in Paris in 1693 on the personal invitation of Crown Chancellor - Jan Wielkopolski and was appointed as a personal doctor to King Jan III Sobieski. Bernard did not see any chances to develop his career in the Polish lands, so after a year he left. But he was very reluctant to his sever contacts with Poland completely. Bernard repeatedly corresponded with King John III Sobieski and was constantly interested in the 81

state of his health. By his correspondence he almost ran a ‘mail-order’ medical practice as he received letters with a description of the king’s ilness seeking advice from Bishop Andrzej Zaluski. Unfortunately, the response arrived back too late for His Majesty.

John O'Connor (not related to Bernard) arrived to Poland with his father in 1758. John, like Bernard, was a doctor. After arriving in Polish, he was adopted into the household of the family of Maciej Radziwill. In 1799 he became chair of practical medicine at the Central School of Lithuania.

A native of Ireland who was also a renowned gardener and classic garden designer, Dionysius Mikler (Mac Clair) (1762-1853) created some of the most beautiful parks in Poland (Pulawy, Arkadia). John Mac Clair, father of Dionysius, took part in the uprising of Catholics in 1777 and only a miracle saved him from the death penalty. He served in the Prussian army, and then in the Polish army, where he received the rank of major of artillery. Dionysius arrived in Poland in 1790 in the hope of finding his father. His search ended unsuccessfully and after a year staying in Poland his wife – Matilda Milton (author's family, "Paradise Lost") died. He then married a Pole from Krakow – Narodosławska and remained in Poland, where he died.

Paul Edmund Strzelecki, and Casimir Markievicz Poles began to frequently visit Ireland, and even to settle here until the nineteenth century, just after the first influx of Polish refugees to England after the November Uprising numbered about 500 people. Later, 180 soldiers of Polish Legion in Hungary arrived (1849), as well as several hundred participants of the January Uprising. The most famous Poles from that period were: Paul Edmund Strzelecki (1791-1873) and Casimir Markievicz (18741927).

Paul Edmund Strzelecki, before he came to Ireland was already a well-known traveler and a great scholar in Australia where he discovered gold and where he named the highest mountain in Australia, Mount Kosciuszko. He also explored large parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. After returning to Europe he settled in London, where he was one of the first volunteer of British Relief Association (BRA), the organization collected funds for most needy during the "great hunger." In January 1847 he was the representative of the BRA in County Sligo and Mayo. Subsequently he became a representative of BRA in Dublin (1847-1848) and directed the distribution of relief to the whole of Ireland. Strzelecki performed his job conscientiously and with great dedication. His contact with people affected by hunger and poverty was so close that he contracted typhoid fever which badly damaged his health.

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Over a two-year perioid of humanitarian relief works in Ireland, the highly praised historian of the "great hunger", Fr. John O'Rourke mentions Strzelecki in his publication "The Great Irish Famine" (1874). Another Australian biographer of Strzelecki writes that he has developed a model that the modern distribution of food aid, which has successfully been used by UNRRA in World War II. In November 21, 1848, Queen Victoria commended Strzelecki for his humanitarian work and his great personal contribution to society.

Casimir Markievicz was the husband of a heroine of the Irish liberation movement - Sinn Féin, who received the death penalty for her part in the Easter Rising of 1916 but this commuted to life imprisonment due to the fact that she was a woman. She was the first ever woman elected to the British House of Commons in December 1918, but never took her seat, and the first women in Europe to become a government minister. This great women is Constance Markievicz (more precisely, Constance Georgine Markiewicz), known as the Countess Markievicz, née Gore-Booth. Casimir Markiewicz was also a great painter, designer, playwright and theater director.

They met in Paris in 1899, after a year they married and honeymooned in Poland meeting with his parents in what is now the Ukraine. In the spring of 1901 they settled in Ireland at Lissadell House, Co. Sligo. In 1901 they had a daughter, Maeve Alice. Then they moved to Dublin where they began their vigorous social life. Here too Constance began her political activism. Initially joined the organization called Inghinidhe na hÉireann. Slowly she became one of the leading political figures as a woman fighting for Irish independence.

Casimir Markievicz concentrated on the arts and his public debut took place in 1906 at the Abbey Theatre with his piece "The Dilletante" which enjoyed great success. From May 1910 he collaborated with the Gaiety Theatre and reportory (of which he was one of its creators) in Dublin. He came to the history of Irish theatre as a creator of art - historical drama – with the background of the struggle for Irish independence ("The Memory of the Dead. A Romantic Drama of 89"). The premiere took place on 23 May 1910. The drama was a great success and was played in many theatres around Ireland.

Casimir Markievicz also collaborated with writing or playing pieces by other authors. Together with Seán O'Casey he wrote the play "Eleanor's Enterprise", but with Nora Fitzgerald arts "Home, Sweet Home" and "Rival Stars". Among other things, he directed the plays "Moony Vanny" (M. Maeterlinck), "Devil's disciple" (G.B. Shaw) and "Last Island of John Bull." He was friends with the famous Irish director Martin Murphy.

As a painter, Casimir Markievicz was appreciated as a portraitist, but often also painted landscapes ("Irish Landscape", "Evening in Ireland"). He is the painter of the portrait of the poet George W. Russell, which was purchased by the

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Municipal Modern Art Gallery in Dublin and the Lord Lancester portrait in coronation robes. He reached acclaim by "Investiture of the Order" with the portraits of 68 people. His works have been exhibited in Dublin, Cork, Paris, Warsaw and Krakow.

He initiated the establishment of Dublin Arts Club and was president and founder of the Dublin Fencing Club - the first fencing club in Ireland. Perhaps this incident is related to his painting entitled "Swordsman", which is in Dublin.

Despite his love to Constance and Ireland, Casimir Markievicz was a Pole at heart and longing for the homeland which resulted in his departure from Ireland in 1913. He wanted to do something for his homeland, which – like Ireland – was not yet independent. He never realised that he would not return to Ireland on a permanent basis ever again. Together with Constance he left his son Stanislaw, from his first marriage with Jadwiga Spława Neyman who in 1899, and daughter Alice Mavey from the marriage of Constance. Unfortunately, after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Casimir decided to remain in Poland, where he joined in cultural activities. He was a Polish theatre’s director in Moscow, Kiev and Warsaw.

Markiewicz visited Ireland several times. For the first time in 1919, when Constance was released from jail in Holloway Prison in London and for the last time 10 years later, when he was summoned to his dying wife.

Polish – Irish friendship It is possible to cite many threads describing the good relations and friendship between the Poles and Irish. Below I will present three examples that describe the relationship.

Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (1758-1841) founded the ‘Friends of Polish Literarture Association’ in England in 1832. Niemcewicz himself was a well known Polish politician, poet, journalist and activist. The Association was founded in collaboration with the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell, and under the patronage of the King's brother, the Duke of Sussex. Among it membership the association had a number of prominent Englishmen, Scots and Irish - the Irish patriots very well understand the Polish political situation after the partition of Poland between 1772 and 1795 by Russia, Austria and Prussia (Germany).

Emeric Boberski fought in the Hungarian revolution 1848-1849 and later emigrated to Australia where he eventually became the mayor of the town of Ararat in Victoria. The Ararat Town Council, with many Irish members included, adopted a proposal in 1895 in honour of Michael Davitt the famous Irish politician and promoter of the independence of Ireland. Boberski was 84

asked to speak at the banquet, said that as a democrat he is an advocate of greater self-government in Ireland, and added: "I would not be a true son of Poland if I did not sympathize with Ireland" On November 6, 1939, the Nazis arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps aound 183 professors and lecturers at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. The reaction of the Irish Red Cross was to request the International Red Cross in Geneva to examine this matter. Herr Eduard Hempel, German Minister (Ambassador) at that time in Dublin sent a message on 1 April 1940 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin reporting on the increasing hostile atmosphere against the Third Reich as a reaction to the arrest of the Polish intelligentsia.

Traces of the Poles in Ireland A participant of the November Uprising, Kazimierz Jozef Czapski (1797-1852), Knight of the Order of the Golden Virtutti Militari, after the collapse of the Uprising we find him in Prussia. On December 14, 1832 he went into exile in Ireland. He organised a petition addressed to the British government from prominent citizens of Dublin on behalf of Poland. In April of the following year he moved to London, however, seeing there a greater chance of regaining the independence by Poland.

John Bartkowski (1811-1893) after the fall of November Uprising emigrated to France, then England and Ireland. Between 1835 and1848 he taught German and French at a local school in Londonderry, currently in Northern Ireland.

Then he emigrated again to France where he was a well known political activist.

Edmund Wenceslaus Naganowski (1853-1915) went to Ireland in 1878 and enrolled in philological studies in Dublin and in 1884 he achieved his Master of Arts degree. He was a linguist and taught high school in Waterford between 1884 and 1886. In his novel "Hessy O'Grady” he described the ‘spirit’ of the people of that part of Ireland and this novel was published in Polish and English.

Between 1892 and 1893, Thomas Victor Janiszewski (1867-1939) studied medicine in Dublin. He was Health Minister in the government of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1919), founder of the National Institute of Hygiene in Warsaw and a professor at Warsaw University. It was in a Dublin clinic that Horodynski Dr. Witold (1865-1954) was trained and in an independent Poland he was a military physician and director of Technical Research Institute of Aviation.

One of the greatest contemporary biologists, Edward Adolf Strasburger (18441912) was a member of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. In the years 1867 to 1869 he did postdoctoral research at the Central School in Warsaw, then at the

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universities of Jena and Bonn (Germany). He received many honorary degrees from academies and universities throughout the world.

In the National Art Gallery in Dublin there are paintings by Konrad Krzyzanowski (1872-1922) the professor of the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

In 1908 at London's Albert Hall he held an exhibition of his work, of which, two paintings were purchased by the National Art Gallery which also bought the work of another Pole, Jan CheĹ&#x201A;minski (1851-1925) working in London, Paris and New York.

Foreign policy and international relations: Polish and Ireland after the Second World War Ireland was one of the few groups of countries did not recognize the communist government in Warsaw from 1945 which was imposed by the USSR. Until 1976 the Irish government recognized as legitimate only to the Polish government in exile. In Dublin up to 1976 a Polish Consulate General of the Polish government in exile in London was operative. It was only in 1957 that Poland and Ireland established a business relationship. Until 1968 trade turnover between the countries was minial. The Irish exports to Poland were in small quantities and Polish exports to Ireland were mainly of coal. Polish-Irish trade relations increased after the Irish visits of trade missions in 1986, 1971 and 1972. Poland began to export electronic goods, textiles, and refractory products and in addition to coal, Ireland began to import agricultural machinery, chemicals and textiles. At that time Poland provided 80% of the coal imported

by Ireland.

In September 1976, Ireland officially recognized the Polish government, and six months later resumed diplomatic with the establishment of embassies. Polish interests were dealt with by Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s embassy in Denmark in 1981 and Poland's ambassador in Sweden. In March of 1978 the first bilateral meeting on industrial cooperation, science and technology was held. Not surpringly, the main subjects of cooperation were considered to be agriculture, environmental protection and waste recycling, and to organize studies in the field of language and culture. Deputy Foreign Minister of Ireland, Mr Murphy made his official visit to Poland in November 1986. But only after the fall of communism in Poland and later her membership of the European Union did diplomatic and economic relations between our two countries move closer.

The Polish Embassy in Dublin was opened only in 1991. The first person to hold the office of ambassador between the years 1991 and 1995 was Ernest Bryll, journalist, writer and translator of Irish literature.

Polish emigration after World War II

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After the Second World War attempts to establish contacts and economic and political relations with Ireland intensified especially in the scientific field. An example might be that of Jerzy Zarnecki, born in 1915. He was a Polish historian living in Great Britain since 1945. Between 1960 and 1982 he was a professor at the University of London, and in 1984 received the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Dublin. Well-known Polish artist and mechanical engineer, Jan Krzysztof Meisner was an employee of the Department of Design at NCAD / NIHE in Dublin in 1977 and in Limerick in 1979. In 1979 the outstanding work of Janusz Rudowski, a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, professor at Warsaw University, was recognised

by Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland The best-known Polish national who settled in Ireland after 1945 was John Lukaszewicz (1878-1956) who was born in Lvov. He is known as an eminent logician, mathematician, philosopher and founder of the Lwow-Warsaw school of St. Francis. Initially he worked as a lecturer at the University of Lvov and Warsaw University. He received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the same university, and the University of Muenster, Germany. He founded the Polish Association of Logistics and the "Collectanea Logicaâ&#x20AC;? and he was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Between 1945 and 1956 he was professor of mathematical logic at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, (1955 - Doctor Honoris Causa). In 1949 he also taught at University College Dublin, then in Paris, Belfast and London. In Dublin in 1951 he published one of his key works: "Aristotle's Syllogistic from the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic." He is the creator of many theories upon which modern informatition technology is based.

A final commentaryâ&#x20AC;Ś Briefly I tried to make international contacts and relations between the Polish and Ireland since the time of the Celts. As the development of materials available to me, I discovered that the Poles and the Irish were very much in common. Until recently I was of the opinion that concrete cooperation between the Polish and Irish society was established after May 1, 2004, when Poland was included in the membership of the European Union. In fact, reviewing the history, I come to the conclusion that the two nations have more that unites than divides us. Likewise, we had to fight for our independence, as well gave our blood in defense of our own identity, with a view to better life and our posterity the memory of ancestors. It is really just the distance what separates us. More and more Poles have fluent English, but also the Irish show interest in the Polish language, traditions and culture. In the era of Europeanization of the two nations should fight for the common good, the agreement at the level of diplomatic and economic relations in order to assess the future of this cooperation positively.

Perhaps from the present generation will grow some prominent individuals,

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comparable to Bernard O'Connor, Constance Markiewicz, or Edmund Strzelecki.

Editorial addendum ….. As Bartosz has outlined the historical connections between this country and Poland, the following piece on the Poles in Dublin certainly brings home that connection, especially for this Society.

‘LORD ONUFRY ZAGŁOBA IN DUBLIN’ Back in the blisfully extravagent pre-recessionary times the September 2006 issue of ‘Ireland’s Genealogical Gazette’ reported on the great influx in to Ireland of tens of thousands of migrant workers from the new member states of the European Union and that the makeup of the Irish workforce had changed rapidly. The largest element in this migration of well educated and mostly skilled workforce came from Poland and the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. These countries joined the European Union during Ireland’s presidency in 2004 along with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta.

In the height of what was known as the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy there was hardly a bar, restaurant or shop in the Dublin region that hadn’t Polish staff members.

Certain Catholic churches organised services in Polish and in 2006 the Polish Embassy announced that it was assisting with setting up a Polish School in Dublin. Polish shops serve this once vibrant community with traditional foodstuffs, some of which, are actually manufactured in Ireland by Polish bakeries. During this period Dublin’s evening newspaper “Evening Herald” published a Polish section each week and, of course, we have the weekly “Polska Gazetta”.

So not surprisingly a Polish social and cultural scene has emerged, including the first Polish bar in the City Centre – ‘Bar Zagłoba’ on Parnell Street.. In 2005 Alan Wren of Dún Laoghaire, who was a co-owner of the Bar at that time, approached the Society regarding the design of an emblem or logo for the new bar. Intrigued by the history and lore surrounding the name chosen for the enterprise, the Society contacted the Polish-Canadian Herald George Łucki for advice.

In 2006 to mark the occasion of the opening of Dublin’s first Polish Bar the Genealogical Society of Ireland presented Bar Zagłoba with a coat-of-arms designed by George Łucki (Canada) and drawn by Andrew Tully (South Africa) of the International Association of Amateur Heralds. Both heralds had designed the Arms for the President of the Society, Tony McCarthy, FGSI, in 2005.

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Indeed, Andrew Tully was appointed in November 2009 as the Honorary Herald of the Society.

The Arms depict the wonderful and complex personality of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s famous character Lord Onufry Zagłoba. Clearly George Łucki had some fun in heraldically portraying this colourful gentleman in a typical Polish style. George Łucki explained his design as follows.

The symbolism of the arms draws on the Henryk Sienkiewicz’s portrayal of this colourful character from his epic trilogy, “With Fire and Sword”, “The Deluge”, and “Lord Wołodyjowski” depicting the heroism and tragedy of a series of seventeenth century wars that engulfed the Commonwealth of Both Nations, Poland and Lithuania.

His Grace Lord Onufry Zagłoba, a hard drinking, tall tale spinning blackguard of indeterminate age and origin, was a man who certainly enjoyed the company of anyone who would treat him to fine beverages but also loved his homeland and when necessary would risk his own life to protect those he loved and honour his word given to a friend. When asked about his own armorial bearings Zagłoba replied that he bore the arms called Wczele (Checky Or and Argent—Polish arms have proper names derived from their war-cries) that improbably canted with the scar he bore on his forehead. These arms form the bordure enclosing these arms. There was actually a historical noble family of the same name which bore arms of the same name and these are displayed in the escutcheon placed over the quartered shield. Between these arms on a quartered field are the arms of his friends. It would be impossible to understand Lord Zagłołba in isolation from his friends.

In Polish heraldry the quarterly field is often used to display one’s genealogy—that is the arms of each of the grandparents. We don’t know Zagłoba’s ancestry but we know he loved his friends as his family. In the first quarter the arms Rawicz of Barbara Jeziorkowska – Wołodyjowska whom he courted and truly loved but who instead married his dear friend and companion Michał Wołodyjowski whose arms Korczak are placed in the third quarter. Of course heraldry usually marshals the arms of husband and wife beside one another but I am sure that our hero would insist that the more senior second quarter be given to Kniaziówna (Princess) Helena Kurcewiczówna (the well-born fiancé of his friend Jan Sktrzetuski the hero of the siege of Zbaraż) who he saved from the Cossack Bohun, brought across rebel lines and adopted as though a daughter. Skrzetuski’s own arms Jastrzębiec are placed in the fourth quarter.

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Unlike the heraldry of countries like Scotland where family arms are differenced to identify each individual, Polish arms link together many related noble families who all share a common heritage and thought of each other as cousins. Arms didn’t belong to individuals rather individuals belong to arms. In this sense these arms speak of all of the individual’s who shared Lord Onufry Zagłoba’s improbable adventures, experienced his wit and bravado and shared his company in good times and difficult ones. It is my fond hope that these arms symbolize the desire of the Proprietors and Patrons of this establishment to share the adventures and companionship of life far from their homeland together with neighbours and friends from both their old and new homes.

As Bar Zagłoba became the home base for many Polish soccer teams in Dublin, George Łucki’s description of Zagłoba ‘as a hard drinking, tall tale spinning blackguard of indeterminate age and origin’ and as ‘a man who certainly enjoyed the company of anyone who would treat him to fine beverages’ it is no wonder that his name adorns this important venue in the Polish social life of Dublin – and long may he do so.

Within a bordure checky Or and Argent quarterly: I Or a crowned maiden vested Gules astride a bear passant Sable; II Gules the Kurcz rune Argent enclosing dexter a mullet of six and sinister an increscent Or; III Gules three bars couped Argent; and IV Azure a horseshoe inverted enclosing a cross patty Or and overall on an escutcheon Azure a horseshoe pierced in pale by a scimitar Argent hilted Or. George Łucki and Andrew Tully (2006)

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THE GARDINER FAMILY, DUBLIN, AND MOUNTJOY, COUNTY TYRONE Sean J. Murphy Origins of the Gardiners The northside of Dublin, with its frequently neglected but still elegant streets and squares, is perhaps the best surviving monument to the Gardiner Family, which was primarily responsible for the creation of this sector of the Georgian city. The origins of the Gardiners remain obscure, the first of the name to come to prominence in the early eighteenth century being Luke Gardiner. Gardiner’s parentage remains unknown, and it does not appear that he came of any very prominent family. Madden recounted a story that Gardiner had risen from menial status in the service of a Mr White of Leixlip Castle. Madden, who was in the habit of interviewing contemporaries of his subjects and therefore may have been well informed, also described Gardiner as a ‘sturdy parvenu of Irish descent’.1 The implication is that Gardiner was of native and possibly Catholic stock, and if this were true, it would help explain the liberal attitude of descendants to the cause of relieving Catholics from the penal laws.

The main cache of surviving Gardiner Papers is in the National Library of Ireland, but unfortunately is composed mainly of title deeds with little correspondence, which might have provided fuller personal details of family members, if not more clues concerning origins.2 Attention has been drawn to Gardiner property transactions relating to lands in Kilkenny in 1677-88 and 1742, which raise the possibility that the family had a longstanding connection with that county.3 Mention should also be made of the fact that arms were registered by Ulster’s Office in 1683 to a William Gardiner of Dublin, which bear close resemblance to the arms later used by the Gardiners (blazon: ‘Or, a griffin passant azure, on a chief sable three pheons’ heads argent’).4 There is a Prerogative Will dated 1690 for a William Gardiner, resident in Chester in England, but formerly of Dublin.5 It has not yet proven possible to establish whether these two Williams are the same individual and if there is a relationship with our Gardiner Family. The question of the origins of the Gardiners therefore remains obscure, in the case of Luke Gardiner one suspects deliberately so, and 1 Richard R Madden, The Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of Blessington, 1, 2nd Edition, London 1855, page 46, accessed Google Books, http://books.google.com.

2 Gardiner Papers, c1667-1898, National Library of Ireland, Manuscript Collection List 67.

3 Edith M Johnston-Liik, History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800, 4, Belfast page 260.

4 Arms Grants, National Library of Ireland, Genealogical Office MS 104, page 4a; Burke’s General Armory, page 387.

5 Sir Arthur Vicars, Editor, Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810, Dublin 1897, page 188.

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it might be conjectured that a reason other than poor background, for example, illegitimacy, could provide an explanation for suppression of such key information as names of parents.

Luke Gardiner the Elder The foundations of the Gardiners’ wealth and status in Ireland were laid by the first Luke Gardiner, so-called to distinguish him from his grandson of the same name with whom he has sometimes been confused. Luke the first appeared in Dublin City as a banker in the first decade of the eighteenth century, being a member of the partnership Gardiner and Hill.6 Luke married Anne Stewart, grand-daughter both of William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy, and Murrough Boyle, 1st Viscount Blessington, connections which were to prove of crucial importance in the family’s rise.7 Luke and Anne’s children were Charles, Sackville, Henrietta and Mary.8 Luke Gardiner was also involved in urban development in Dublin from an early stage, at first buying land on the southside near Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in 1712. He then turned his attention to the northside, progressively purchasing parts of the former Estate of Mary’s Abbey. The lands were laid out in streets for development, including most notably Henrietta Street, dating probably from the 1720s (and not necessarily named after Luke Gardiner’s abovementioned daughter). While admittedly presenting a generally rundown appearance, this street remains striking today, and Luke Gardiner’s own house may be seen at number 10. Gardiner also carried out developments in Dorset Street and Great Britain Street, now Parnell Street, and constructed a private residence in the Phoenix Park. Gardiner’s greatest achievement was to lay the basis for Dublin’s premier street, called first Gardiner’s Mall, subsequently known as Sackville Street and now of course O’Connell Street.9 Having retired from the banking business about 1739, Luke Gardiner was appointed a Privy Councillor and Deputy Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. Gardiner continued to develop his northside Dublin estate and died in 1755, a man of considerable reputation and wealth. Dated 5 November 1755, his will is a lengthy document. Having provided for a modest funeral not to exceed £50 in cost, Gardiner proceeded to bequeath his substantial properties in Dublin via nominated trustees. Luke’s eldest son and successor Charles is mentioned 6 Maurice Craig, Dublin 1660-1860, London 1992 Edition, page 102.

7 G[eorge] E C[okayne], Editor, Complete Peerage, 9, page 352.

8 NLI GO MS 112, pages 50-51; Debrett’s Peerage, 2, London 1825, page 984, accessed http://books.google.com.

9 Craig, Dublin, pages 102-4.

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prominently as might be expected, but a rider to the will discussed below tends to indicate that he was something of a black sheep.10 Charles Gardiner Born about 1720, Charles is probably the least outstanding of the Gardiners, and it was said of him that he ‘was more interested in playing the flute than in urban development’.11 Luke Gardiner’s will contains a rider stating that he had been informed that his son Charles was ‘indebted to several persons’, and ordering therefore that such debts should be charged to his estate, ‘not exceeding ten thousand pounds in the whole’. Luke’s grandson and Charles’s son, Luke the younger, seems in fact to be the heir most favoured in the will, and it would appear that Gardiner’s intention was to limit his eldest son’s capacity to damage the estate.

Although he was thus apparently of spendthrift disposition, Charles was unable to circumvent the posthumous controls placed on him by his father, or perhaps he moderated his behaviour, and the family fortune and estates remained intact.

Development of the Dublin Estate continued, including commencement of the New Gardens, later called Rutland Square, and now Parnell Square.12 Charles married Florinda, daughter of Robert Norman of Lagore, County Meath, with whom he had children Luke, William, Robert, Anne, Florinda and Mary.13 The will of Charles Gardiner is dated 28 October 1765 and is a much shorter document than that of his father.14 Charles appointed his wife Florinda sole executrix, and his son Luke was the chief beneficiary of his estate, with provision also for his wife Florinda and other children. The comparative brevity of Charles’s will is undoubtedly explained by the fact that the bulk of the Gardiner Estate had been tied up in trust, and as noted, his father Luke had perhaps taken even more precautions than usual to keep the family estates intact. Charles died on 15 November 1769, was buried in St Thomas’s Church in Marlborough Street, Dublin, and was succeeded by his eldest son Luke.15

10 Copy Prerogative Will of Luke Gardiner, 1755, National Archives of Ireland T 13,251; see also an earlier will or wills in NLI MS 36,624/1-3.

11 National Council for Educational Awards, Gardiners’ Dublin: A History and Topography of Mountjoy Square and Environs, Dublin 1991, page 23.

12 Same, page 25.

13 NLI GO MS 112, pages 50-51; Debrett’s Peerage, 2, London 1825, pages 984-85.

14 Copy Prerogative Will of Charles Gardiner, 1765, NAI 13,250; see also an earlier will in NLI MS 36,624/4.

15 Madden, Countess of Blessington, 1, page 459.

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Luke Gardiner, Viscount Mountjoy Luke Gardiner the second was born on 7 February 1745. He attended Eton from 1759-62, and was admitted to Cambridge in the latter year, graduating BA in 1766 and MA in 1769.16 In the company of his younger brother William (who had an illustrious career in the British Army, rising to the rank of LieutenantGeneral), Luke Gardiner embarked on a grand tour during the years 1770-72, visiting Florence, Venice and Rome. Luke Gardiner became a noted connoisseur and patron of art, his commissions including works by Francis Cotes, Gavin Hamilton and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Gardiner married on 3 July 1773 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Montgomery Bart of Magbiehill in Scotland. Elizabeth was famously portrayed with her sisters Barbara and Anne in Reynolds’s ‘Three Ladies Adorning a Tree of Hymen’, a work commissioned

by Gardiner.17 Less felicitously, Elizabeth was the inspiration for the naming of Dublin’s Montgomery Street,18 later a part of the infamous redlight district ‘Monto Town’ and since renamed as Foley Street.

Gardiner was elected MP for Co Dublin in 1773 and served continuously until 1789. Although generally a supporter of government, he displayed a marked degree of liberalism, distinguishing himself in particular by his efforts to relieve Roman Catholics from the effects of the Penal Laws. The first of two Catholic relief acts which bear Gardiner’s name was passed in 1778, enabling Catholics to lease land for a period up to 999 years and to inherit on the same terms as Protestants. In a letter to Burke dated 11 August 1778, Gardiner explained that he had accepted limitations to this act in order to secure its acceptance by the Irish Parliament, with the intention that the balance of the Popery Laws ‘might remain for the business of a future session’.19 This gradualist strategy was pursued with Gardiner’s second act of 1782, which allowed Catholics to acquire land and removed restrictions on Catholic clergy and conditions of worship.

Gardiner was appointed a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1780, and he was also active in the Irish Volunteers, being a colonel in the Dublin Company.

A contemporary, Rev John Scott, described Gardiner’s bearing in parliament in the following terms: ‘Mr Gardiner’s voice is good, clear, strong and deep, and his action though perhaps too theatrical has often both grace and strength. His language is plain, simple and flowing . . . His matter is commonly very good, for he is a man of learning . . .’ Scott noted also that Gardiner had been for a 16 Alumni Cantabrigienses, part II, vol III, article on Luke Gardiner.

17 John Coleman, ‘Luke Gardiner (1745-98): an Irish Dilettante’, Irish Arts Review Yearbook, 15, 1999, pages 161-68.

18 C T McCready, Dublin Street Names Dated and Explained, Dublin 1892, reprinted by Carraig Books 1987, page 70.

19 Works and Correspondence of Edmund Burke, 1, London 1852, pages 374-5.

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long time the ‘devoted servant of administration, labouring with incessant assiduity for the attainment of a peerage’.20 Gardiner’s ambition was realised when the title of his Stewart ancestors was revived in his person, and in 1789 he was created Baron Mountjoy of Mountjoy, Co Tyrone, and subsequently in 1795 Viscount Mountjoy.

Luke Gardiner continued building development in Dublin, his finest achievement being Mountjoy Square, commenced in 1772. The Gardiner development scheme proceeded by issuing building leases for single or multiple sites to builders and speculators. A degree of building uniformity was achieved by inserting covenants in the leases controlling height, brickwork, windows and doors. The tone of the area was also preserved by forbidding residents to engage in trades such tallow-chandler, soap-boiler, sugar-boiler, baker, distiller, butcher and so on. These provisions did not entirely remove scope for a pleasing variety still to be observed in the surviving building stock on the northside of Dublin City.21 Gardiner’s principal residences in Dublin were 10 Henrietta Street and Mountjoy House in the Phoenix Park. The Henrietta Street house is currently occupied by the Daughters of Charity and has been carefully restored in recent years,22 while the Phoenix Park residence has long been in state ownership and is currently part of the headquarters of the Ordnance Survey. The already substantial family landholdings were greatly augmented when Gardiner successfully claimed title to the County Tyrone estate of the late Earl of Blessington, by virtue of his relationship though his grandmother Anne Stewart.23 The rival and ultimately unsuccessful claimant to the estate was George Forbes, Sixth Earl of Granard, and documents relating to the ‘mighty lawsuit’ with the Gardiners survive in the Granard Papers. Much of the campaigning in the case was conducted by Granard’s wife, Selina, and his mother-in-law, the Countess Dowager of Moira, who alleged among other things that Anne Stewart was illegitimate.24 The County Tyrone estates, comprising over 30,000 acres in Newtownstewart, Rash and Mountjoy Forest, contained two residences of quite modest size, Rash House and The Cottage.25 Given his wealth, status and interest in architecture, it is surprising that Gardiner

20 Falkland [Rev John Scott], A Review of the Principal Characters of the Irish House of Commons, Dublin 1789, pages 26-28.

21 NCEA, Gardiner’s Dublin, pages 31, 43.

22 Dublin Civic Trust, Numbers 8-10 Henrietta Street, Dublin 1, Dublin 2003.

23 Complete Peerage, 9, note, pages 352-53.

24 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Register of Irish Archives, the Granard Papers, J 2-3.

25 Michael Sadleir, Blessington-D’Orsay: A Masquerade, London 1933, pages 23-24.

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never constructed a large country residence in Co Tyrone, although it was reported in 1791 that he was ‘about building’ a great house near Omagh.26 The hopes and expectations which underlay reforms such as the gradual removal of Penal Laws were not to be realised, and continuing Catholic disaffection was one of the principal reasons for the slide into repression and rebellion in the late 1790s. Although a person of his rank and age clearly need not have done so, Gardiner entered the field in command of a regiment of the County Dublin Militia during the 1798 Rebellion, indicating that his liberalism did not preclude a stern sense of duty and support for the established order in time of danger. On 5 June 1798 Gardiner was caught in an ambush at the Battle of New Ross and shot and piked to death by the rebels. The body of Luke Gardiner, Viscount Mountjoy, was brought back to Dublin and interred in the family burial place in St Thomas’s Church.27 The irony of the circumstances of Gardiner’s death was not lost on his brother-in-law, the more hardline John Beresford, who lamented that his ‘dear friend’ had been ‘cut off by those villains whose cause he was the first great advocate for’.28 Luke Gardiner and his wife Elizabeth had two sons, Luke who died young and Charles John, as well as six daughters, Florinda, Louisa, Harriet, Emily, Caroline and Elizabeth. Gardiner’s wife Elizabeth died in 1783 and he married secondly on 20 October 1793 Margaret, daughter of Hector Wallis of Spring Mount, Queen’s County, with whom he had a son again named Luke, who also died young, and a daughter Margaret.29 Mountjoy’s will is dated 19 January 1798, and again is a detailed testament reminiscent of that of his grandfather and namesake.30 Unlike his father and grandfather, Luke appears to have been in good health when he drafted his will, and was undoubtedly aware that his military involvement might lead to death, as indeed it did within that year of rebellion. Luke directed that his funeral expenses should not exceed £100 sterling, and directed that his estate be administered by nominated trustees.

Having first provided for his ‘dear wife’ Margaret and their children, Luke directed that the bulk of the family’s estates should pass to his eldest surviving 26 Edward McParland, James Gandon: Vitruvius Hibernicus, London 1985, pages 112-14, n 31, page 196.

27 Madden, Countess of Blessington, 1, pages 48-49, 459. Following the destruction of St Thomas’s Church during the Civil War in 1922, the remains in the Gardiner tomb were removed to St George’s Church, and were transferred to Glasnevin Cemetery when that church was deconsecrated.

28 Beresford to Lord Auckland, 8 June 1798, in PRONI, The ‘98 Rebellion: Educational Facsimiles, No 83.

29 NLI GO MS 112, pages 50-51; Debrett’s Peerage, 2, London 1825, page 985; Madden, Countess of Blessington, 1, pages 47-48.

30 Copy Prerogative Will of Luke Gardiner, Viscount Mountjoy, 1798, NAI T 8723; see also earlier wills dated 1778 and 1783 in NLI MS 36,624/16-17.

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son, Charles John, then still a minor but who duly succeeded to his father’s title and estates after his death.

Charles John Gardiner, Earl of Blessington Charles John Gardiner was born on 19 July 1782 and having succeeded his father as Viscount Mountjoy, he was created Earl of Blessington in 1816. What the earlier thrifty Gardiners built up, a later generation of spendthrifts inevitably dissipated. The Earl of Blessington’s relationships and family life were rather more complicated than those of his predecessors. With his first wife Mary Campbell he had a daughter Harriet Anne born in 1812 and a son Luke Wellington who died aged 9 in 1823. The couple also produced two children before their marriage, namely, a son Charles John born in 1810 and a daughter Emily Rosalie born in 1811.31. Blessington married secondly in 1818 Margaret Power, a celebrated beauty and later a successful author who was born in County Tipperary in 1789, with whom he had no issue.32 Blessington and his Countess Margaret were friends of Byron and prominent socialites, and both unfortunately had a tendency to amass debts as a result of high living. The Earl of Blessington died on 25 May 1829 and like his forebears was interred in St Thomas’s Church in Dublin.33 As noted, Blessington’s only legitimate son had predeceased him, and all his peerage titles became extinct, by which time also his estates were seriously encumbered with debt. Blessington’s will is a short but interesting document, much contemporary scandal being caused by an unusual provision whereby he had made his daughter Harriet Anne’s inheritance conditional on her marrying Alfred Count D’Orsay, the celebrated dandy and intimate of both the Earl and Countess, and indeed this marriage had taken place in 1827. More positively, Blessington at least had the good grace to acknowledge his natural children in his will.34 Madden also recorded that like his father Blessington supported the cause of Catholic relief, furthermore that his County Tyrone tenants were of the view that ‘a better landlord, a kinder man to the poor, never existed’.35 Unfortunately the Earl appears to have lacked his father’s prudence in the matter of managing his 31 NLI GO MS 112, pages 50-51; Debrett’s Peerage, 2, London 1825, page 985; Madden, Countess of Blessington, 1, pages 58-62.

32 NLI GO MS 112, pages 50-51; Complete Peerage, 2, pages 192-93.

33 Madden, Countess of Blessington, 1, page 459 (the year of burial is erroneously given as 1839 instead of 1829 in the edition cited).

34 Copy Prerogative Will of Charles John Gardiner, Earl of Blessington, 1823, NAI T 841112; an account of the marriage and the full text of the will are in Sadleir, BlessingtonD’Orsay, pages 114-16, 371-72; see also another copy of the will and probate in NLI MS 36,624/10.

35 Madden, Countess of Blessington, 1, pages 50, 64.

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estates, while his kindness possessed a no doubt entirely unintended destructive edge.

The Blessington Estate was administered by trustees after the Earl’s death, and an Act of Parliament to that effect was passed in 1846. The Estate was further crippled by a bitter law-suit between Charles John Gardiner and other relatives of the late Earl on the one hand, and the Countess of Blessington and Count D’Orsay on the other. The Countess died in 1849 while D’Orsay lived on until 1852.36 Sale rentals of the Gardiner estate in 1846 and 1848 show its great extent, and in addition to the North Dublin City and County holdings, and smaller County Kilkenny holdings, it included about 32,000 acres in County Tyrone, comprising the Manors of Newtownstewart and Rash, and the Demesne of Mountjoy Forest.37 The whole estate was obviously not disposed of in the 1840s sales, for a substantial portion of 5,500 acres remained under the administration of the Court of Chancery in 1876.38 This remnant was put to sale again in 1877 by the Landed Estates Court, when it was purchased by Charles Spencer Cowper.

Cowper had married in 1852 the Earl of Blessington’s daughter, Harriet Anne, who not unsurprisingly had soon separated from D’Orsay.

It is this unsettled later history which primarily accounts for the rundown appearance of the Gardiner Estate on the northside of Dublin City, as compared with the better managed Fitzwilliam/Pembroke Estate on the southside.

However, it should be stressed again that there is still much attractive architecture to be seen in the northside quarter. Streetnames such as Gardiner Street, Mountjoy Square and Blessington Street help to remind us of the family whose members oversaw the construction of the greater portion of north Georgian Dublin, and who it would be fair to say are perhaps not as well remembered today as they should be.

36 Sadleir, Blessington-D’Orsay, pages 351, 364.

37 Quit Rent Office Set of Incumbered Estates Court Rentals, Volume 1, Numbers 5 and 6, NAI. 38 Return of Owners of Land in Ireland, Dublin 1876, page 277.

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Appendix: Gardiner Pedigree

Luke Gardiner Banker, politician and developer d 1755

Charles b c1720 d 1769

2 Margaret dau of Hector Wallis, d 1839 issue Luke, d 1810 Margaret

2 Margaret dau of Edmund Harriet Power, b 1789 d 1849 no issue

Florinda, daughter of Robert Norman d 1812

Anne Stewart, grand-dau of 1st Viscount Mountjoy, b c1698

Sackville d 1796

Luke Viscount Mountjoy b 1745 d 1798

1 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Montgomery, d 1783

Charles John Earl of Blessington b 1782 d 1829

Henrietta

Mary

William Lt-General d 1806

Robert Anne Florinda Mary

1 Mary Campbell b 1786

Luke b 1780

Florinda Louisa,

d 1814

d 1781

Emily Caroline Elizabeth

___________ 2 Charles S Cowper no issue

Harriet Anne b 1812 d 1869

1 Alfred Count D’Orsay d 1852 no issue

Luke Wellington b 1814 d 1823

| | Charles John b 1810 Emily Rosalie b 1811

Sources: NLI GO MS 112, pages 50-51; Debrett’s Peerage, 2, London 1825, pages 983-85; Madden, Countess of Blessington, 1; Complete Peerage, 2, pages 192-93, 9, pages 353-53; Sadleir, BlessingtonD’Orsay.

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GSI ARCHIVE Séamus O’Reilly Since its inception the Genealogical Society of Ireland has been building an archive/library of genealogical and local history material. The material has come mainly from donations by members, some purchases and also through the journal exchange programme. While most of the content of the archive is published material, e.g. books and journals, we have also acquired manuscript and other non-published material.

The archive was housed in the home of the previous archivist (Frieda Carroll, FGSI) for many years, before it was transferred in 2004 to our Martello Tower.

The environment in the tower was not suitable for the archive and in October last year (2008) it was moved to the present location in Lower Georges Street, Dún Laoghaire.

The archive has been reorganised and the cataloguing is ongoing. The material has been organised under a number of categories e.g. Directories, Irish Genealogy and Sources, Irish History, etc. This will make the material easier to browse ‘on the shelves’. The keyword search facility on the catalogue is being revised and expanded.

A large amount of the material is not published i.e. a collection of family briefs and family histories, school and church registers and a fine collection of newspaper cuttings of death notices and obituaries of the Irish Diaspora. There is also a copy of the aliens register for 1914/15. It is planned that all the manuscript and non-published sources will be indexed using the standard genealogical name search of name, place, date and event.

There is a large amount of documents from a solicitor’s and land agents office, which was donated to the GSI. It is intended to call the collection ‘The Laois Papers’ as most of the documents refer to that county and the solicitor and land agent had offices there. Previously they were referred to as the Coote papers.

Coote only forms part of the entire collection. This resource is a rich source of information for genealogical and local history research. Some of the documents came to us in a very bad state but we are confident that will be able to conserve and deal with it all. We currently are sorting through this material.

The Laois Papers are primarily 18th and 19th century original wills and copies, leases, contracts and other legal documents. There are also some from the 17th century. There are also some marriage settlements; a few birth and death certificates; rentals, valuations; Land Commission and Revenue

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correspondence; a few personal letters and memorabilia such as photographs and address books.

The majority of the material relates to a group of families in the Mountmellick and Mountrath area of County Laois. Names such as Armstrong, Bagot, Bailey, Bewly, Coote, Despard, Eyres, Fitzgerald, Gatchell, Goodbody, Handcock, Pim, Strangman and Wybrants occur frequently. But other less affluent persons also feature. For example, you can find a John Quinn, innkeeper, and a Cornelius Phelan, ale seller, leasing premises in Mountmellick in 1803.

Also among this material are title deeds for properties in Kilquade and Newtownmountkennedy and various properties in Dublin with a few complete house inventories. An estimated one-third of the documents and correspondence has been dealt with so far, having registered 700 documents in the deeds category. This is the first stage of creating a comprehensive index to these documents. As well as deeds the remainder covers correspondence and legal documents relating to specific properties often dealing with terminating trusts and winding up of estates in the early 20th century, etc., and a very large collection of documents from the solicitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office.

The plan is to create a comprehensive index of all our manuscript material by name, place, date and event, this being the basic index requirement from a genealogical research perspective. While it will be possible to deal with the deeds this way it is not yet decided as to how to index the other material. A dedicated group of members is helping with the archive and is sure to find the appropriate way of dealing with this problem. It has decided that all this material will be held together as one resource.

Just one item illustrates the type of document in The Laois Papers and information contained. It is an Indenture made on the 29th April 1789. It is a lease renewal. The below transcription shows the vast amount of genealogical information contained in the first few lines.

This Indenture made the twenty ninth day of April in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine between Ann Strangman of Mountmellick in the Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County widow. Joseph Robinson of Moatagranague in the county of Westmeath merchant and Hannah Robinson otherwise Strangman his wife. Sara Beale of Mountmellick aforesaid widow. John Conran of Maze in the County of Down linendraper and Louise Conran otherwise Strangman his wife William Gatchell of Mountmellick aforesaid merchant and Henry Gatchell his only son and heir apparent a minor under the age of twenty one years by the said William Gatchell his father and guardian and Fanny Strangman of Mountmellick aforsaid spinster of the one part and Mark Goodbody of 101

Mountmellick aforesaid merchant of the other part Mary Fisher one of the lives in the annexed Indenture is dead and Joshua Strangman and Joshua Strangman the other two lives therein named are still alive………………………

Part of this indenture has been reproduced below -

Once the computerisation process has been completed and the on-line catalogue uploaded to the Society’s website, it is envisaged that members and others will avail of the many resources available within the Society’s archive for their research.

Much of the material we have in the Archive is, as I have said, unpublished and not available elsewhere. Members are encouraged to checkout the archival collections and, of course, to undertake some research based on the material for eventual publication in the Society’s Journal.

The GSI Archive is a wonderful resource for Irish genealogy and with additions to our collections arriving each week, as Archivist, I take particular pleasure in making these items available to our members and others.

Finally, I wish to commend my predecessor, Frieda Carroll, for her fine outstanding work and dedication over fifteen years which has enabled this Society to have one of the finest archival collections of any voluntary genealogical organisation in Ireland. It is a truly wonderful resource for future generations of researchers and family historians in Ireland.

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IS THERE A CASE FOR INDIGENOUS ETHNIC STATUS IN IRELAND? Michael Merrigan Approaching this subject one immediately encounters a rather fractious discourse on what actually constitutes and defines ‘culture’ and ‘ethnicity’.

Indeed, whatever definitions are employed or preferred they are essentially politically motivated and necessarily exclusive. Therefore, in the formulation of policy and the structuring of practices, including legislative measures, associated with the provision of public services in an increasingly diverse population, governments have been reluctant to address the issues of ‘culture and ethnicity’ in modern Ireland.

Whether a ‘multicultural and multiethnic’ Ireland of the twenty-first century should adopt a ‘polyethnic’ or a ‘group-differentiated’ approach to legislation, especially rights based legislation, has not yet been subjected to public debate.

The latter, it could be argued, is already applied in certain circumstances to the Irish speaking residents of the official Gaeltachtaí, though not to the Irish speaking citizens elsewhere in the State. But before examining the issues of ‘polyethnic’ and ‘group-differentiated’ rights in detail, it is necessary to define the parameters of the terms ‘culture’ and ‘ethnicity’ upon which such distinctions are made.

According to Raymond Williams, the definition, history and usage of the term ‘culture’ is exceptionally complex ‘beginning as a noun of process – the culture (cultivation) of crops or (rearing and breeding) of animals, and by extension the culture (active cultivation) of the human mind – it became in the late eighteenth century, especially in German and English, a noun of configuration or generalization of the ‘spirit’ which informed the ‘whole way of life’ of a distinct people’.(Williams 1981) Nevertheless, it is clear that the term ‘culture’ is of virtually limitless application and can be understood to refer to everything that is produced by human beings as distinct from all that is part of nature, however, as Michael Payne points out ‘that since nature is itself a human abstraction, it too has a history, which in turn means that it is part of culture’.

(Payne 2004) In essence ‘culture’ would be deceptively passive and benign where it not, as Homi Bhabha points out, capable of being tribally specific, exclusive and potentially violent. (Bhabha 1994) Like ‘culture’ the definition of ‘ethnicity’ has been the subject of much debate and indeed, controversy. Whereas many would understand ‘ethnicity’ to be the awareness felt by a particular group of its cultural distinctiveness in contrast to other groups, this may not necessarily apply to the entire breadth of a group’s culture but only to specific aspects thereof. Groups may share a particular religious belief, for example, but differ in their traditional roles within society

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and are specifically identified by such. The distinctiveness of a particular group is variously fostered by origin myths, oral tradition, identification with place and environment, customs, dress, cuisine, pride in achievement, religious or sect affiliations, shared history, ancestral associations, folklore, music, song, poetry and language.

But, as Eller reminds us, ‘not all culturally distinct groups are ethnic groups precisely, and (in an odd paradox) not all ethnic groups are culturally distinct groups: the relation of ethnicity to ‘culture’ is less than perfect. (Eller 1999) This relationship between one group and another may shift over time as no minority ethnic group treats all aspects of its culture or history as markers of identity because some may be shared with the larger group or with other minorities. Eller argues that ‘ethnicity is no mere reflection or reflex of culture, especially of traditional culture, but a complex reworking, remembering, sometimes reinvention, and always employment of culture in the light and service of present and even future considerations’.

Ethnicity may not necessarily be a product of an ancient heritage but, quite literally, be of very recent manufacture to aid a political or social objective.

Indeed, many Irish nationalists are skeptical about the emergence of ‘UlsterScots1’ as a ‘communal language and identity’ in the run-up to the signing of the Belfast Agreements of 1998 and its subsequent official recognition and promotion in Northern Ireland. The harnessing of a curious mixture of Scottish highland dress, kilts, bagpipes, ceilidh dancing and the lowland ‘Scots’ dialect of English to give cultural expression to a Presbyterian ‘Ulster-Scots’ heritage deliberately ignores the actual Scottish historical experience of ethnic strife between the Gaelic (and onetime mostly Catholic) highlands and the Scots [English] speaking Presbyterian lowlands.

However, no matter how ‘manufactured’ this ‘Ulster-Scots’ identity may be, this exercise in ‘cultural alterity’ has the potential to become and be an ‘ethnic’ identity for those who wish to adopt it as such and thus further emphasizing the subjectivity of ethnicity.

In all liberal democracies, one of the major mechanisms for accommodating cultural diversity is the protection of the civil and political rights of individuals and, accordingly through the free association of individuals, such legislative measures underpin a political capital and enhance a cultural capital for minority groups. The official recognition, for example, of Ulster-Scots by the British and Irish governments greatly enhanced the status of the ‘language’ and secured a platform for the Ulster-Scots cultural movement. According to Ferguson, ‘Ulster-Scots is viewed as part of the Unionist, Planter and Protestant set of 1

Defined as a dialect of Scots [English], though, the Scottish Parliament was unable to define ‘Scots’ for inclusion as a question on linguistic competence in the census of 2001.

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cultural belongings, in opposition to Nationalist, Republican, Catholic and Gaelic intellectual inheritance’. (Ferguson 2008) Its official recognition provided mobility for the ‘language’ from the rustic realm of the folkloric world seen as an ‘uneducated mode of speech’ to officialdom, street-signage and academia.2 When Ferguson maintains that ‘the growth over the past two-decades of the latest manifestations of Ulster-Scottishness, the ‘Ulster-Scots’ language movement, with its publication of a literature written in what is termed, albeit controversially, the Ulster-Scots or Ullans language, should be seen as the most recent attempt by Ulster writers of Scottish descent or inclination to resist the dominance of various hegemonies and articulate their own position’ in reality this is a proclamation rather than reclamation of ethnicity. As agents of production and reproduction, these writers and the Ulster-Scots language movement, in creating a type of cultural or symbolic goods have found in academia a legitimization or what Bourdieu calls ‘consecration’ of a type of work and in doing so, ‘a certain type of cultivated person’ is recognised and imbued with cultural capital. (Bourdieu 1993) This search for cultural and political capital is also manifested south of the border in two unconnected voluntary/community movements, Gaelscoileanna Teoranta3 and the Irish Traveller Movement.4 However, in examining the activities and campaigns of these two movements to secure elements of the ‘species of capital’ some surprising, albeit unintentional, similarities arise.

These two movements seek to influence and alter public policy in respect of two different minorities, one now perceived as mainstream and ‘privileged’ and the other as marginalized and impoverished by unemployment and social exclusion.

The Gaelscoileanna movement promotes the establishment of Irish language medium schools5 throughout the country outside the Gaeltacht areas. In effect these schools represent a third category of primary education in Ireland after the faith-based schools and the multi-denominational (‘educate together’) schools.

These schools are established and operated largely by parents’ groups with the aid of fund raising activities which are necessitated by sometimes lengthy negotiations with the Department of Education and Science for official 2

The research and publication of an Ulster-Scots literature and the work undertaken by the Institute of Ulster-Scots Studies at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus has popularised the ‘language’ and imbued it with a cultural capital for sections of the Northern Irish community.

3 See Appendix 1 for details on the company.

4 See Appendix 2 for details on the Irish Traveller Movement 5 To date there are 170 primary and 42 secondary Gaelscoileanna throughout the island of Ireland, outside the Gaeltacht, with circa 35,000 pupils receiving their education through the medium of the Irish language.

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recognition and funding. Commenting on the birth of the Gaelscoileanna movement, Declan Kiberd noted that ‘a strong parents’ movement called for allIrish language schools in areas of social deprivation: recognizing that Irish was still a passport to educational success. Some wanted their offspring to benefit from expert instruction in the language, while others simply believed that without a sound knowledge of Irish their children would only have a twodimensional understanding of their national culture. These schools became centres of excellence and the nucleus of other language-based activities of the wider community’.(Kiberd 1996) However, given the declining population of the Gaeltachtaí and indeed, the possibility that the Irish language may disappear as spoken language in those areas within a generation, these Gaelscoileanna may yet become the living repository of the language within the State and sustained by a minority that may seek special group- differentiated rights. I will now examine a minority group that is doing just that on the basis of ethnicity, including its language.

The Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) also promotes access to education for its community, however, much of its activities in recent years centre on the issue of rights, accommodation, health services and especially, legislative recognition as a distinct ethnic group in Ireland. Launching a petition on this issue, ITM chairperson, Catherine Joyce, said becoming recognised as an ethnic minority group is one of the core aims of Travellers and it would bring many clear benefits to the community. ‘Ethnic status would provide an important symbolic recognition of Traveller culture as both distinct and valued within Irish society.

It would also provide protections for the official recognition of Traveller culture in the provision of housing, education and health services. For example, nomadism would have to be properly catered for in housing provision. We asked members what they felt was the most important issue facing the community and overwhelmingly the answer was the need to secure ethnic status. There is also a lot of independent analysis and evidence which fully supports our case.’6 In a 2006 submission to the National Forum on Europe, the Irish Traveller Movement stated that ‘the [Irish] government has recently begun to deny that Travellers form a distinct ethnic group within Irish society, flying in the face of most serious anthropological research and evidence. The UK courts have considered this issue in detail and found Irish Travellers to be a distinct ethnic group7. This is not merely a theoretical consideration, but has potentially serious implications for the delivery of services, programmes and policies to 6

Irish Traveller Movement http://www.itmtrav.com/Dec%20petition.html Irish Travellers are actually considered a sub-group of the ‘White Irish’ and termed ‘Travellers of Irish Heritage’ in UK census returns and statistics. http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicminorities

7

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Travellers …. as well as interfering with Travellers right to self-determination.’8 This on-going campaign by the Irish Traveller Movement has very definite implications for the current understanding of ethnicity and culture within an Irish context and though, the ITM is supported by a number of Human Rights groups, including the Equality Authority of Ireland (Crowley 2006), the ITM position on ethnicity has been resisted by successive Irish governments9. The grounds upon which Traveller ‘ethnicity’ is claimed and advocated have been articulated by Ní Shúinéar10 in terms of:1. Biological self perpetuation: Travellers typically marry within the group and group membership is determined by descent; 2. Shared fundamental cultural values and its concomitant cultural difference: shared Traveller values include self-employment, occupational flexibility, priority of social obligations based on kinship and nomadism. Travellers also have distinctive pollution beliefs; 3. Overt unity of cultural form and the social separation implied: these are distinctive Traveller versions of a wide range of observable phenomena including accommodation, dress and grooming, speech patters, religious and other group rituals and artistic expression; 4. Own field of communication and interaction and the implication language barrier: interaction and communication between Travellers and settled people are broadly limited to business and formal settings. Not only do Travellers have their own language – Gammon or Cant – they also have a distinctive – and shared – use of English; 5. Self-ascription (‘a membership which defines itself’) and outside ascription (‘is defined by others’) and the implication spontaneous and organised enmity.

Whilst, the above criteria may not be very controversial and indeed, could be applied in varying degrees to marginalized minorities across Europe, Ní Shúinéar, as quoted in the Equality Authority report, goes further on the issue of 8

Irish Travel Movement: Submission to the National Forum on Europe http://www.itmtrav.com/publications/Subm-ForumEurope.html 9 However, a legal definition of the Traveller Community has been adopted by government “Traveller community” means the community of people who are commonly called Travellers and who are identified (both by themselves and others) as people with a shared history, culture and traditions including, historically, a nomadic way of life on the island of Ireland.

(Section 2 (1) Equal Status Act, 2000) 10 Ní Shúinéar, S. (1994) ‘Irish Travellers, ethnicity and the origins question’ in M. McCann, S. Ó Síocháin and J. Ruanne (eds.), Irish Travellers: Culture and Ethnicity, Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University of Belfast (quoted in the Equality Authority report, 2006) 107

‘biological self perpetuation’ stating ‘physical distinctiveness in the broadest sense is not synonymous with identity, but intra-marriage tends to keep the two pretty closely linked. Travellers are physically distinctive from the settled population. Ask any Traveller who, scrubbed and combed and decked out in all new gear, has been refused entry to a pub disco without even getting a chance to open his mouth and you will find that physical distinctiveness not only exists but exists in very practical ways’. This is an extraordinary statement which is made even more so by Ní Shúinéar’s claim that ‘genetic studies corroborate this popular perception by confirming differentiation between the Traveller and settled populations’. 11 The Equality Authority, while dismissing the ‘genetic distinctiveness’ argument in its report and providing ‘a general overview of the main academic literature on Traveller ethnicity’ it claims that ‘it has been shown that since the 1970’s academic work on Travellers has increasingly identified Travellers as an ethnic group, drawing in particular on anthropological and socio-linguistic research’.

However, given that conclusions of many of these studies were based on data and conditions that prevailed nearly two or three decades ago, reliance upon such to support a current claim to ethnicity may be fraught with difficulty.

Indeed, since very little historical work on Travellers12 has been carried out to date, a point recognised by the Equality Authority, the anthropological and socio-linguistic research mentioned in the report is deprived of historical contextualization.

The lack of an authoritative history of the Traveller Community in Ireland has given rise to some unsubstantiated claims on the issue of the antiquity and true origin of this community13. A report commissioned by the ITM on nomadism (Donahue, McVeigh et al. 2004), for example, clearly would have benefited from an academic historical perspective as this report sought to support ‘the right to nomadism’ by providing a ‘much more holistic approach than the sedentary narratives that usually erase the nomadic dimensions of Irish history’.

11

Ní Shúinéar was also referencing work by two other anthropologists, Crawford and Gmelch, 1974; Crawford, 1975, to support her case. But the scientific advances in the study of DNA since 1994 would possibly cast considerable doubt on this analysis.

12 An examination of the surnames of the Traveller Community and their origin and structure would suggest a quite recent departure from the places of origin or prevalence of these surnames in the ‘settled’ community. See MacLysaght MacLysaght, E. (1999). The Surnames of Ireland. Dublin & Portland, OR, Irish Academic Press.

And - De Bhulbh, S. (2002). Sloinnte uile Éireann = all Ireland surnames. Faing, Co. Luimnigh, Comhar-Chumann Íde Naofa.

13 This report (page 7) erroneously equates references to ‘tinkers’ and ‘tynkerie’ in Irish records from the 12th century with the current Traveller Community which was once colloquially known as ‘tinkers’ and suggests this as evidence of antiquity. In chapter 2 (page 12) nomadism in an international context is given a biblical reference (Genesis 4) and in the Irish context (page 16) a history of over 800 years.

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However, since only a tiny minority14 of the Traveller Community are still habitually nomadic in Ireland, a claim to ethnicity for all Travellers based on a historic connection to a ‘nomadic lifestyle’ is problematic to say the least.

But in the context of our discussion on ‘culture and ethnicity’ do the criteria mentioned by Ní Shúinéar (above) apply solely to the Traveller Community and if not, can they be applied to other sections of Irish society? I propose to examine each of the five areas to determine their application and possibly, exclusivity, both culturally and ethnically in the Irish context.

1.

Biological self perpetuation: meaning that persons of a particular group only marrying persons from within the group, is certainly not exclusive to the Traveller Community and indeed, may well apply to religious groups such as Quakers, Jehovah Witnesses and other minor Protestant religions in Ireland. Indeed, it is not uncommon for groups holding such beliefs on the necessity to marry ‘within’ to also impose sanctions on transgressors including expulsion and excommunication. However, although sharing a religious affiliation, none of such groups have ever claimed ethnicity on that basis.

2.

Shared fundamental cultural values and its concomitant cultural difference: once again, this criterion is hardly exclusive to the Traveller Community and if it were, it would not constitute ethnicity given, for example, the many hundreds of ethnic and national groups that constitute the Irish Islamic community who share ‘fundamental cultural values’ based on Islam and therefore, ‘its concomitant difference’ in relation to the majority community. It could also be applied, especially historically and economically, to various indigenous Irish groups such as the island Gaeltacht communities and the smaller fishing communities around the coast. Social obligations based on kinship are not exclusive to the Traveller Community and indeed, are present in varying degrees in all social and religious groups in Ireland. The issue of ‘nomadism’ I shall deal with later.

3.

Overt unity of cultural form and the social separation implied: given that Traveller society, like the wider community, is divided on the basis of economic capital an ‘overt unity of cultural form’ is more imagined than real and indeed, may not be universally acceptable given the rigid socio-economic stratification of Traveller society.

The assertion that the attachment to certain religious practices, which are not generally observed by the majority community, constitutes a form of ethnicity is a fundamental misreading of the history of Irish

14

Dept. of Environment estimates approximately 5% of the Traveller Community are ‘transient’ – however, this figure may vary seasonally, especially in the summer.

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Catholicism. The changes in the traditional rites and practices of Irish Catholicism promoted and instituted by Paul Cullen, Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland15 during the later half of the nineteenth century effectively transformed ‘Irish Catholicism’ into ‘Irish Roman Catholicism’. This ‘cullenization’16 of the Irish church represented a seismic shift in the devotional practices throughout the ‘settled community’ in the country, however, as Travellers were ‘unattached’ to the parish structure of the Catholic Church they were largely unaffected by the new orthodoxy advocated

by Cullen and his successors. Therefore, their devotional practices remained unchanged from those that were held for centuries by the majority population prior to ‘cullenization’.

4.

Own field of communication and interaction and the implication language barrier: once again, this is not exclusive to the Traveller Community in Ireland, in fact, it is a feature of many socially and economically disadvantaged communities where unemployment is endemic and social mobility impaired by minimal education standards and skills shortage. This frequently results in ‘post-code discrimination’ against individuals from such communities. Whilst, such communities in the Irish context speak English rather than a ‘foreign’ or other indigenous language, membership of these communities is very often distinguishable by accent and life-style choices which become markers against social mobility. I will deal with the ‘language’ of Travellers separately below.

5.

Self-ascription and outside ascription: this is a feature of all marginalized or disadvantaged communities irrespective of ethnicity.

For example residents of sprawling council estates where communal violence, anti-social behaviour and drugs become almost synonymous with the area and its inhabitants through news reports e.g. Limerick city, negative ascription from both within and without impair and marginalize such communities.

As we have seen, most of the five areas suggested by Ní Shúinéar to ascribe ethnicity to the Traveller Community cannot, either singularly or in 15

Cullen, Paul (1803-1878), Archbishop of Dublin and first Irish cardinal. Born Ballitore, Co. Kildare, educated at Quaker School (Ballitore). Archbishop of Armagh 1849, translated to Dublin 1852. Founded Clonliffe in 1859 – attended first Vatican Council in 1870 & leading figure in promoting the dogma of Papal Infallibility. (Hickey & Doherty 2003) p. 97.

16 It could be argued that this period of ‘cullenization’ only ended with the last ‘cullenate’ Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Desmond Connell, who retired in April 2004 during the clerical sex abuse controversy which demolished the moral authority once enjoyed by the Catholic Church in Ireland.

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combination, be considered as uniquely applying to that community marking it out from other minorities or indeed, in certain circumstances, from the majority community culturally. This leaves the two main areas, upon which, the ITM has focused its campaign for recognition of the Traveller Community as an ethnic minority in Ireland, nomadism and language.

The figures provided for 2001 (Donahue, McVeigh et al. 2004) show that out of 5150 Traveller families in the Republic, only 214 families (5%) are described as ‘transient’ while a further 803 families (15%) are identified as ‘indigenous’ to their local authority area and living on the roadside. Thus only 20% of the Traveller families in the Republic in 2001 were living on the roadside with only a quarter of these actually ‘transient’ or habitually nomadic. This shows that 80% of the Traveller families in 2001 are actually sedentary living in houses or serviced halting sites. Though, culturally and historically there may be a sentimental ‘attachment’ to the nomadic lifestyle for most Travellers who see it as part of their heritage like many suburbanites may view the farming lifestyle of their parents or grandparents, a nomadic lifestyle is only a reality for 5% of the Traveller population. Therefore, to accord special legal rights and official recognition to the entire Traveller Community as an ‘ethnic group’ based on the nomadic lifestyle of just 5% of its members is hardly credible. Though the authors of the 2004 report see Deleuze and Guattari’s ‘Treatise on Nomadology’ as ‘a whole new intellectual paradigm’ on the concept of nomadology as it defies ‘the hegemony of sedentarism’ – the matter is not explored in any detail.

This brings us to the final issue, language. The ITM has claimed that the Traveller Community has its own distinct language variously referred to as Cant, Gammon or Shelta and therefore, evidence of ethnicity. The grammatical structure of the ‘language’ is essentially English with an extensively altered Irish Gaelic lexicon. Scholars differ on the antiquity and origin of this ‘language’ but most posit its development alongside that of modern HibernoEnglish. 17 Linguistically it is placed variously as a subset of Hiberno-English or Irish Gaelic. However, like Cockney Slang, for example, the Traveller ‘language’ too was basically developed and utilized to conceal matters from those outside the group and therefore, possibly unsuited to a classification as distinct ‘language’. There are no reliable figures or data on the current linguistic competence or use of the ‘language’ amongst Travellers whether sedentary or transient.

In the campaign to have the Traveller Community classified as an ethnic minority in Ireland neither the Equality Authority nor the Irish Traveller 17

Ó Baoill, D.P. (1994) ‘Travellers Cant – Language or Register’ in M. McCann, S. Ó Síocháin and J. Ruane (eds). Irish Travellers: Culture and Ethnicity, Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University Belfast – quoted in the 2006 report by the Equality Authority.

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Movement have identified clearly what extra legal or social rights or benefits that will afforded to the Travellers Community should the Irish government accede to this request. Besides stating the government’s reluctance to alter the existing recognition of the Traveller Community18 and the protection afforded to the community under legislation, no consideration or examination of any possible negative impact such a move may have on the Traveller Community was evident in the reports produced by either of these organisations. Could a situation arise, based on the equal treatment of all ethnic minorities within the State, that the Chinese or Nigerian19 ethnic minorities, for example, could be entitled to special consideration of their housing needs on the basis that such is afforded by the State to the Traveller Community as a new ethnic minority? Or would such special consideration of the housing requirements of all the ethnic minorities be tolerated by the majority community where disadvantage and family need are considered the appropriate criteria for public housing and not ethnicity?

Should the Irish government decide to grant ‘ethnic status’ to the Traveller Community it would represent a major shift in the relationship between the State and minorities within the State. How this could be facilitated is unclear given the Supreme Court’s20 assertion that ‘pedigree’ has no place (outside the law of succession) in a democratic society committed to the principle of equality. Whether, the first of Ní Shúinéar’s classifications for Traveller ethnicity could be described as constituting a ‘pedigree folk’ could possibly open any recognition of the Traveller Community as an ‘ethnic minority’ to constitutional challenge.

However, Will Kymlicka (Goodin and Pettit 1997) has examined the position of group-differentiated rights and in particular, what he calls ‘polyethnic rights’ which he says ‘are intended to help ethnic groups and religious minorities express their cultural particularity and pride without it hampering their success in the economic and political institutions of the dominant society’. The rights afforded under such a system would, according to Kymlicka, seek to promote integration into the larger society without ghettoizing the minorities concerned.

But in reality claims for specific rights or indeed, ‘exemptions’ to be afforded to 18

Housing Act, 1988, section 13 (1); Prohibition on the Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989, section 1 (1); Employment Equality Act, 1998, section 6 (1) & (2); Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998; Equal Status Act, 2000, section 2 (interpretation); 19 Both of these ethnic minorities are present in sizable numbers throughout the greater Dublin region.

20 Rec. No. 100/1998 (1991 No. 6620P): An Blascoad Mór Teoranta, Peter Callery, James Callery, Kay Brooks and Mathias Jauch’s successful challenge to the constitutionality of An Blascoad Mór Historic Park Act, 1989. – found that discrimination in favour of a ‘pedigree folk’ is unacceptable in a democratic society, contravenes the equality guarantee and is a suspect method of distinguishing between citizens outside the normal law of succession.

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minority groups have aroused controversy in a number of European countries and indeed, in Ireland too, where for example, a Sikh trainee garda was not permitted to wear his turban in place of the garda cap. Some claim that this was a denial of his ‘ethnicity’ and others, that the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána was quite justifiably upholding the ‘secular’ nature of the Irish police force.

Clearly the public discourse on the issues of culture and ethnicity in Ireland has been deficient and possibly limited historically to the relationship between the two major traditions on the island of Ireland and measures for establishing and maintaining a ‘parity of esteem’ for the minority in Northern Ireland. However, with the ‘bedding-down’ of the political institutions in Northern Ireland, its two main communities must now confront the unexpected rise of racism against the non-indigenous minorities in the North such as their sizeable Chinese and Polish communities.

A much more complicated situation remains unresolved in the Republic which moved, within two decades, from being one of the most homogenous21 societies in Europe to one where nearly 20% of the population is of non-indigenous minorities from over one hundred and seventy different countries.

This new demographic reality in Ireland, coupled with the increased mobility of the European workforce, more than anything else, present formidable and possibly, insurmountable legal and constitutional problems for any future recognition of an indigenous ethnic minority in Ireland, whether that be the Traveller Community, Irish speaking community or indeed, the Ulster-Scots of the border regions.

APPENDICES 1.

Gaelscoileanna Teoranta

Irish-medium education is one of the fastest growing fields of education in Ireland for over 30 years and Gaelscoileanna Teoranta is to the forefront in its development. At present, there are 170 Irish-medium primary schools and 42 Irish-medium secondary schools in the 32 counties (outside of the Gaeltacht), with 139 and 39 in the 26 counties. There are currently over 35,500 children receiving education through the medium of Irish outside of the Gaeltacht. The organisation is core funded by Foras na Gaeilge.

21

Recent DNA studies at the Dept. of Genetics, TCD, have confirmed the homogeneity of the native Irish population and indeed, the antiquity of that genetic makeup on the island of Ireland.

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Gaelscoileanna Teoranta’s principal aim is to develop, facilitate and encourage Irish-medium education at the primary and post primary level throughout the country. These aims are achieved through:•

•

•

the provision of encouragement, advice and practical support to the community and to parents in the community who chose to establish an Irish-medium school. responding to and acting on the wishes of parents and others in the community for an Irish-medium school as well as acting as an independent advice body throughout the process. the provision of support to the school community in the Irish-medium schooling sector, including teachers, principals, boards of management and parents on all aspects of the school's development.

•

provision of in-service training courses for teachers and principals on the specific requirements of the Irish-medium sector.

•

provision of training courses for Boards of Management in Irish-medium schools on various aspects including management and administration.

•

•

•

•

2.

liaising with the Department of Education and Science on behalf of the schools on various issues, including curriculum, school accommodation, teacher appointments, etc. support and encouragement to Irish-medium schools in the development of an Irish language school community and in the organization of interschool events. hosting of an annual educational conference focusing on prevalent issues in the sector as well as providing the opportunity for exchange of expertise among practitioners. preparation and dissemination of an annual journal as well as publicity and marketing materials for the school and the community.

Irish Traveller Movement

ITM was established in 1990 and now has over seventy Traveller organisations from all parts of Ireland in its membership. The Irish Traveller Movement consists of a partnership between Travellers and settled people committed to seeking full equality for Travellers in Irish society. This partnership is reflected in all of the structures of ITM.

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The Irish Traveller Movement was formed to be a national platform, through which Travellers and their organisations are enabled to: • Highlight the issues faced by Travellers and to press for real solutions.

•

Debate ideas and formulate and promote culturally appropriate initiatives.

•

Provide those active at a local level with support and solidarity.

•

Develop alliances at national level.

•

Challenge the many forms of individual, structural and institutional racism with which Travellers have to deal.

The Irish Traveller Movement has in its membership over 70 Traveller organisations from all parts of the island of Ireland, and has established contact with Irish Traveller groups in Britain.

Membership is open to all those who support the aims and objectives of the movement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. London, Routeledge.

Bourdieu, P. (1993). The Field of Cultural Production. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing.

Crowley, N. (2006). Traveller Ethnicity: An Equality Authority Report. Dublin, Equality Authority of Ireland.

This report validates the position of the Equality Authority in recognising Travellers as an ethnic group. It recommended that the Government should now recognise Travellers as an ethnic group and that this recognition should be reflected in all policies, programmes and institutional practices that impact on the Traveller community.

De Bhulbh, S. (2002). Sloinnte uile Éireann = all Ireland surnames. Faing, Co. Luimnigh, Comhar-Chumann Íde Naofa.

Donahue, M., R. McVeigh, et al. (2004). Misli, Crush, Misli: Irish Travellers and Nomadism. Dublin, Irish Traveller Movement and Traveller Movement (Northern Ireland): 75p.

'Almost every human right - cultural, social, political and economic - has been disregarded in this misplaced effort to get rid of Travellers and other nomadic peoples around the world. In spite of - and sometimes because of - all this negative activity, many peoples have continued to pursue a nomadic way of life. In Ireland, Irish Traveller nomadism continues to survive despite a concerted effort over the past forty years by government in Ireland, north and south of the border, to encourage Travellers to 'settle' and 'assimilate'. This report argues that government in Ireland 115

should now explicitly repudiate this assimilationist policy and do its best to ensure that the tradition of Traveller nomadism is respected and facilitated'. (Preface to the report. p. 4) Eller, J. D. (1999). From Culture to Ethnicity to Conflict: An Anthropological Perspective on Ethnic Conflict. Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan Press.

Ferguson, F., Ed. (2008). Ulster-Scots Writing: An Anthology. Dublin, Four Courts Press.

Goodin, R. E. and P. Pettit, Eds. (1997). Contemporary Political Philosophy : An Anthology. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers.

Kiberd, D. (1996). Inventing Ireland : The Literature of the Modern Nation.

London, Vintage.

MacLysaght, E. (1999). The Surnames of Ireland. Dublin & Portland, OR, Irish Academic Press.

Payne, M. (2004). A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory. Cultural and Critical Theory. M. Payne. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing.

Williams, R. (1981). Culture. London, Fontana.

SECONDARY SOURCES Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities : Reflections on the origin and spread of Nationalism. London ; New York, Verso.

Bhabha, H. K. (1994) "Of mimicry and man : the ambivalence of colonial discourse." The Location of Culture, 85-92.

Breathnach, C. (2005). The Congested Districts Board of Ireland, 1891-1923 : Poverty and Development in the West of Ireland. Dublin ;, Portland Four Courts Press.

Byrne, J. (2004). Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History from Earliest Times to c.1900. Cork, Mercier Press.

Byrne, R. and J. P. McCutcheon (1989). The Irish Legal System. Dublin, Butterworths (Ireland).

Canadian Government, Statistics Canada (definitions of ethnicity) Website:http://www.statcan.gc.ca/concepts/definitions/ethnicity Coulthard, G. S. (2007). "Subjects of Empire: Indigenous Peoples and the 'Politics of Recognition' in Canada." Contemporary Political Theory 6.

Cuddan, J. A. (1998). Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory. C. E. Preston. London, Penguin Reference. du Gay, P. E., Jessica; Redman, Peter, Ed. (2000). Identity: a Reader. London, SAGE. Foster, R. F. (1988). Modern Ireland 1600-1972. London, Penguin.

Goodin, R. E. and P. Pettit, Eds. (1993). A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Oxford, Blackwell.

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Goodin, R. E. and P. Pettit, Eds. (1997). Contemporary Political Philosophy : An Anthology. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers.

Hall, S. (2007). Representation : Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London, SAGE / The Open University.

Hammersley, M. (1993). Social Research - Philosophy, Politics and Practice.

London, SAGE. Hay, B. (1986). Scotts The Mither Tongue. London, Glasgow, Grafton Books Henry, J. (1966). Culture against man. London,, Tavistock Publications.

Hickey, D. J. and J. E. Doherty (2003). A New Dictionary of Irish History from 1800. Dublin, Gill & Macmillan: 520pp.

Kearney, R. (1988). Across the Frontiers : Ireland in the 1990s : Cultural Political - Economic. Dublin, Wolfhound Press.

Keogh, D. and A. McCarthy (2005). Twentieth-Century Ireland : Revolution and State Building. Dublin, Gill & Macmillan.

Lee, J. (1989). Ireland 1912-1985 : Politics and Society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Macey, D. (2001). The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory. London ; New York, Penguin Books.

Maguire, M. (2004). Differently Irish : a cultural history exploring 25 years of Vietnamese-Irish identity. Dublin, Woodfield.

Mandel, E. and D. Taras (1993). A Passion for Identity : An Introduction to Canadian Studies. Scarborough, ON, Nelson Canada.

McGuigan, J. (1996). Culture and the Public Sphere. London, Routledge.

McKay, S. (2000). Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People. Belfast, Blackstaff Press.

Oireachtas, Seanad Éireann, Volume 187 - 28 November, 2007 – ‘Realising Equality and the Travelling People’ statements on the report. Website: www.oirachtas.ie Payne, M. (2004). A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory. Cultural and Critical Theory. M. Payne. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing.

Pepper, J. (1981). John Pepper's Ulster-English Dictionary ; illustrated by Rowel Friers. Belfast, Appletree Press: 86 p.

Rao, V., Walton, Michael, Ed. (2004). Culture and Public Action. Stanford, Stanford University.

Robbins, K. and M. Crozier (1990). Cultural Traditions in Northern Ireland: Varieties of Britishness. Belfast, Queen's University.

Robinson, L. S. (1978). Sex, class, and culture. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.

Williams, R. (1981). Culture. London, Fontana.

Woodham-Smith, C. (1989). The Great Hunger : Ireland 1845-1849. London, Hamish Hamilton

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FROM LOCAL DISTRICT DEFENCE FORCE COMMAND UNIT TO RESERVE DEFENCE FORCE INFANTRY BN. James Scannell On 1st October 2005 as part of the reorganisation of the Army Reserve, existing units of An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (F.C.A.) and An Slua Muiri were dissolved and reconstituted as new units of the Reserve Defence Forces. One of the units dissolved was the 21 Infantry Battalion F.C.A. with headquarters in Bray, Co. Wicklow, covering south County Dublin and all of County Wicklow east of the Wicklow Mountains and which was amalgamated with the 20 Infantry Battalion in Dublin to form the 62 Reserve Infantry Battalion. Like many F.C.A. units the 21 Infantry Battalion can trace its ancestry back to A Group of the Local Security Force (1940) and the Local Defence Force (1941 – 1946).

The Local Security Force On June 24 1940, faced with the possibility of a German invasion, the Government decided to initiate its own Local Defence Force Scheme based on the British Local Defence Volunteers, later called the Home Guard, with formal details of this new organisation being announced by An Taoiseach Eamon de Valera at election meetings in Galway on May 25th and Clifden on May 26th.

Further information on what the Government had in mind emerged in the Dail during the announcement by the Taoiseach of the formation of an All Party Defence Council when he stated that the reserves of the Regular Army and the First Line of Volunteers were being called up and that work on the registration of men for services in the Local Security Corps who would serve in their own areas was about to commence. A massive recruiting campaign to increase the strength of the Defence Forces commenced with volunteers being sought in – A B C D

The Regular Army on a normal engagement, The Regular Army for the duration of the Emergency, The Volunteer Force.

The Local Security Guards in which volunteers would be able to serve in their own time, and in their own district.

National Service enrolment forms were made available at Garda stations on which volunteers could indicate which force they wished to join. Reaction to the Local Defence Guards was excellent with volunteers spanning all occupations, religious denominations, social and political backgrounds. On June 22nd 1940, this organisation, now renamed the Local Security Force, was divided into the A Group and B Group with the former acting as a military section and the latter as an auxiliary police force following a Government decision to arm the A Group to provide armed protection for the B Group.

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The Bray District Command A Group Local Security Force - 1940 In 1939 the Bray Garda Division consisted of stations at Bray, Enniskerry, Greystones, Newtownmountkennedy and Roundwood, in Co. Wicklow and Shankill in Co. Dubin. Bray, Co. Wicklow, was the largest town in the Bray Garda District with a population of about 11,000 engaged principally in the local economy which consisted of light industry. Others were employed in a variety of small industrial concerns, on local estates and farms as agricultural workers, in shops and offices or commuted to Dublin. Other large centres of population in this area were Roundwood, Kilmacanogue, Greystones and Enniskerry consisting mainly of people employed locally in agriculture and rural light industries.

While recruiting for the Local Security Force commenced as early as June 2nd 1940, in Dublin, the recruiting and enlistment of personnel did not commence in Co. Wicklow for about another week but when it did, the response was very good. In Bray, Co. Wicklow, recruiting commenced on June 10th, 1940, with 50 members of the Bray and Shankill Old I.R.A. marching from Church Terrace to the Bray Garda barracks to present themselves for enlistment along with an array of townspeople spanning all religious social, political and employment backgrounds. Over the next 6 weeks recruiting of personnel continued at a steady pace aided by newspaper advertisements, which urged people who wanted to assist in the defence of their county, to join the Local Security Force and to sign on at the nearest Garda barracks.

By mid-July it was reported that the Bray Local Security Force had strength of 400 men covering Bray, Enniskerry, Greystones, Newtonemontkennedy, Kilmacanogue and Shankill. By July those presenting themselves for enlistment in the Local Security Force were required to indicate if they wished to enlist in the A or B Group, as by this time each Group had been assigned a clearly defined role.

A Group consisted of people eligible for military service who were willing to assist the Defence Forces in an emergency and who wished to prepare themselves for such service by undergoing a course of military training. The duties of A Group were divided into 4 main categories A B C D

Patrolling and Observation The organisation of defensive measures Armed protection, The rendering of assistance to the Defence Forces in an emergency and the preparation therefore by undergoing military training

B Group consisted of people who wished to aid in the defence of the State but 119

were unable, for one reason or another, to be able to undergo military training and were willing to undertake auxiliary police duties. The duties of B Group were divided into 4 main categories A B C D

Patrolling and Observation, Communications, Control of transport Miscellaneous emergency measures

By mid-July Bray District A Group Members were undergoing military type training while B Group Members were being sent out on patrols through the District Area. During the second week of August, A and B Group Members were presented with their badges which bore the initials C.A. which stood for Caomhnoiri ﾃ（tiﾃｺila / Local Security Force.

A statutory instrument formally establishing the A and B Groups of the Local Security Force came into force on September 12th with provision being made for the transfer of A Group Members to the Local Defence Corps to ensure that they would be accorded prisoner of war status, if captured by a belligerent and not shot as partisans / resistance members. The transfer of A Group Members to the Local Defence Corps was to take place automatically once the Irish Defence Forces were mobilised in the face of an imminent invasion.

In October the Garda Authorities were ready to attest members of both Groups using the separate forms which had been specified in the statutory instrument signed in September with the ceremony for the Bray District Command taking place in Aravon School, Bray, on Sunday, October 13th at which 163 A Group and 130 B Group Members were sworn in separate ceremonies with a second ceremony taking place on Friday October 18th for those who were unable to attend on Sunday October 13th.

The Bray District Command Local Defence Force 1941 to 1946 On December 31st, 1940 Emergency Powers (No.61) Order, 1940, came into effect under which from that date the A and B Groups of the Local Security Force were abolished as was the creation of the Local Defence Corps, and were replaced with 2 new organisations which took over the role of the A and B Groups of the Local Security Force with effect from January 1, 1941.

The Local Defence Force took over the role of the former A Group Local Security Force with existing members being automatically transferred into the new organisations, which now moved from under the control of the Minister for Justice to that of the Minister of Defence. The Local Security Force took over the role of the former B Group Local Security Force, retaining the title of Local 120

Security Force, continuing in this role as an auxiliary police force and remaining under the control of the Minister for Justice.

Almost immediately Bray District Command Local Defence Force members were called on January 2nd 1941 to help search the Stylebawn Area of Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow, where 2 magnetic mines were dropped overnight by a belligerent (German) aircraft. The Gardai and the Local Security Force also took part in the search and, when located, these devices were made safe by the Ordnance Corps and then detonated in situ.

The incident showed volunteers in both organisations that they had a role to play and that they were not merely playing at soldiers or security guards.

Being under Army control brought a great boost to the Bray District Command of the Local Defence Force especially as the 5 Bn of the Regular Army based in Bray was able to provide instructors, training and badly needed equipment.

Initially, Bray District Command Local Defence Force Headquarters was in 2 small rooms in Quinsboro Terrace, Bray, but later due to reasons of space, 11 Quinsboro Road, Bray was used, before moving to Rockbrae House on the Vevay Road, Bray, which was leased from Mr.T.H. Hanbury, Trim, in January 1942.

During the period 1941 to 1945 members took part in ceremonial parades, military exercises, undertook annual rifle practices, with a major boost being the issuing of a green service uniforms, great coats, and other items of military kit being issued in 1942. In 1943 many members served as extras in the film ‘Henry V’ filmed on the Powerscourt Estate outside Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow.

On October 1st, 1945 the Local Security Force was disbanded following the Air Raid Precautions Service which had been stood down previously but was subsequently reconstituted in the 1950’s as the Civil Defence Organisation What the future held for the Local Defence Force emerged in the course of question time in the Dail on February 6th 1946, when it emerged that the Local Defence Force would be disbanded with effect from March 31st and that a new organisation, An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil, the F.C.A., would replace it with effect from April 1st that year. Members of the Local Defence Force would be required to hand in their uniforms but would be allowed to retain their boots and groundsheets. The title of the Local Defence Force was also amended to that of ‘The Local Defence Force 1941 to 1946’.

Recruiting for the new F.C.A. units was not permitted until Local Defence Force units had wound up their affairs and throughout the remainder of the 121

month and into March the work of winding up Local Defence Force units and setting up their F.C.A. replacements carried on. During this period the Bray District Command, in common with other Local Defence Force commands, received visits from army officers who explained to personnel how the new F.C.A. organisation would operate and who would be eligible to join as there was an upper age limit of 35 years of age for the new force which excluded many members of the Local Defence Force who had given good service and this was accepted in good spirit by most.

During March 1946 stand down parades were held by the individual units, except Bray, where none was held and from midnight on 31st March 1946, the Local Defence Force 1941 to 1946, as an organisation ceased to exist.

The North Wicklow Battalion F.C.A. 1946 To 1959 The organisation of the F.C.A. differed to that of the Local Defence Force in that the operational areas of the latter were based on Garda Districts while the F.C.A. was organised on a county basis. In the case of Co. Wicklow, the 3 Local Defence Force District Commands of Bray, Wicklow, and West Wicklow were replaced by 2 new F.C.A. Battalions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the North Wicklow Battalion F.C.A. which took over the former Bray District Command Local Defence Force operational area and the South Wicklow Battalion F.C.A. which took over the Wicklow District Command Local Defence Force operational area. In the case of the West Wicklow District Command Local Defence Force operational area, part of this was ceded to units based in the adjoining counties of Kildare and Wexford.

In 1945 Rockbrae House in Bray, Co. Wicklow which had been purchased by the state for use by the Bray District Command Local Defence Force as both local and Command Headquarters now continued in the role as headquarters of the North Wicklow Bn. F.C.A. One major change for F.C.A. personnel was that they now had military ranks while officers held officer commissions.

The early years of the Battalion were difficult ones in that the main priority was keeping solvent until a debt incurred by the Bray District Command Local Defence Force was cleared due to the insistence of the Finance Branch of the Department of Defence that the new F.C.A. Battalion was responsible for it.

The strength of the North Wicklow Bn. F.C.A. was about 50% of that of the Bray District Command Local Defence Force and during the period 1946 to 1959, local training centres were closed in Kilcoole, Kilmacanogue, Roundwood and Enniskerry due to lack of numbers. Training centres opened during the same period included Delgany, Shankill and Enniskerry.

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Like the Local Defence Force, the Battalion enjoyed cross community support and managed to recruit a mixture of urban and rural members from all walks of life. For rural members the chief attraction was annual camp and for many it was the first time they left their community to see other parts of the country.

The 21 Infantry Battalion 1959 to 2005 Integration of F.C.A units with the Permanent Defence Forces took place on October 1, 1959, with a new unit, the 21 Infantry Battalion F.C.A being created to cover the Co. Wicklow and South Co. Dublin areas through the merger of the South Dublin Battalion F.C.A, the North Wicklow Battalion F.C.A. and South Wicklow Battalion F.C.A. into a single unit, with each of the former Battalions becoming a Coy (company) within it. No formal parade or ceremony to mark the transition of the North Wicklow Battalion F.C.A. to that of A Coy 21 Infantry Battalion F.C.A. took place with the only outward visible sign being a change in the unit shoulder flash. *

A Coy. based in Bray took over the former North Wicklow Bn. F.C.A. operational area.

*

B Coy. based in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, took over the former South Co. Dublin Bn. F.C.A. operational area.

*

C Coy. based in Wicklow Town took over the former South Wicklow Bn. F.C.A operational area.

Initially the 21 Infantry Battalion F.C.A. was part of the 2 Brigade with annual camp continuing to be held at Gormanstown Camp. In 1961 the 21 Infantry Battalion, F.C.A. became part of the 6 Brigade based in Kilkenny City with annual camp taking place there until 1968 when Waterford Barracks was reopened for summer camps with Waterford, due to its proximity to the seaside resort of Tramore, being more popular than Kilkenny.

By late 1969 the Government was concerned about the deteriorating situation in Northern Ireland and the possibility of attacks on vital installations by Loyalist Groups and decided to mobilise the F.C.A. in the role of relief security guards for the Regular Army over weekends at a number of these installations. These duties were undertaken from 1969 to 1975/6 by each Coy at weekends on a rotation basis. Security duty gave Battalion members a purpose to their training and did away with the view that they were â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;merely playing at soldiersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. In 1970 selected personnel from the 21 Infantry Battalion F.C.A. carried out 2 weeks of Border security duties operating from Cootehill, Co. Cavan, giving all those who took part valuable training experience.

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Annual training for the Battalion followed a year round programme of weekly training parades, overnight camps, training exercises, weapons training courses, range firing practices and annual camp in accordance with the annual Training Directive.

The 1980’s saw F.C.A. members receive a much more stylish form of uniform consisting of Regular Army style tunic and slacks in fine cloth replacing the earlier type of battledress type tunic and slacks of heavy woollen material.

The 1990’s ushered in a period of dramatic change for the F.C.A. and for the 21 Infantry Battalion. The bolt action .303 No. 4 Rifle was replaced by the 7.62 mm semi-automatic F.N. Rifle replaced later in the first decade of this century by the Styr semi-automatic rifle in service with the Permanent Defence Forces.

Other changes were the enlistment of female personnel which, although authorised since the 1980’s, did not commence until 1994 when facilities in Bray, Dun Laoghaire, and Wicklow had been brought up to the standards laid down in Defence Force Directives and approved for use and the issue of a new working dress style uniform comprising combat trousers and pullover, which were worn during training instead of the dress uniform 1996 was a special year for the F.C.A. with the 50th Anniversary of its establishment being marked with a series of events by the Department of Defence. In Bray, the 21 Infantry Battalion marked the event by holding an Interdenominational Service in Christ Church, C of I, Bray, adjacent to Rockbrae House at which the Government was represented by local T.D., Minister for State, Ms Liz McManus, the Bray Urban District Council by Chairperson, Noel Keys, and other bodies by their public representatives. Lt. Col. Kennedy, Executive Officer, Eastern Command F.C.A. and several of his staff represented the Department of Defence. The attendance also included over 150 former Local Defence Force and F.C.A. members and was the first occasion that the Local Defence Force and the F.C.A. paraded together.

Following the organization of the Army Reserve in 2005, on 1st October 2005 the 21 Infantry Battalion ceased to exist and was amalgamated with the 20 Infantry Battalion to form the 62 Reserve Infantry Battalion which is divided into 6 Coys based in the following locations – * * * * * *

A Coy - Casement Aerodrome, West Dublin B Coy - Cathal Brugha Barrcaks, Dublin H.Q. Coy - Rockbrae House, Bray, Co. Wicklow C. Coy - County Wicklow D. Coy - Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin Support Coy Cathal Brugha Barracks, 124

Dublin

ST. CANICE’S CEMETERY BARRACK LANE, FINGLAS. The following description of Finglas, taken from Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837, is provided as many of the families mentioned in the transcriptions given later are buried in St. Canice’s Cemetery.

Finglas : Fionnghlas - clear stream (fionn, white, clear; and glas, a stream).

FINGLAS, a parish, partly in the barony of NETHERCROSS, and partly in that of COOLOCK, county of DUBLIN, and province of LEINSTER, 3 miles (N.) from Dublin Castle, on the mail coach road to Ashbourne, and on a small stream which falls into the Tolka at Finglas bridge; containing 2110 inhabitants, of which number, 840 are in the village.

In the reign of Henry II, Strongbow, aided by Milo de Cogan and Raymond le Gros, with 500 men, routed the Irish army consisting of several thousands, and nearly took King O'Conor [Ruairdhrí Ó Conchubhair] prisoner. On June 18th, 1649, the Marquess of Ormonde, with the royal army, encamped here, previous to the fatal action of Rathmines; and on July 5th, 1690, King William, after the victory of the Boyne, here took up a position and mustered his army, amounting to more than thirty thousand effective men; and hence a detachment, under the Duke of Ormonde, inarched to take possession of Dublin. The manor was long vested in the Archbishop of Dublin: Fulk de Saundford, one of the prelates of this see, died here in 1271, and Archbishop Fitz-Simon, also, in 1511.

The parish comprises 4663 statute acres, chiefly pasture: there are good quarries of limestone and stone for building. The Royal Canal passes through the townlands of Ballybogan and Cabra. An extensive cotton-mill was here burnt down in 1828, the ruins of which remain. A large tannery has existed at Finglas Wood for nearly two centuries, and is still carried on by J. Savage, Esq., one of the same family as the original proprietor: the residence is very ancient, and it is reported that James II. slept one night there.

By the 4th of George I. a grant was made to the Archbishop of Dublin of markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays, fairs on April 25th and Sept. 29th, and a court of pie-poudre during the markets, by paying 6s. 8d, per annum to the Crown. A noted pleasure fair is held here on the 1st of May. This is a station for the city of Dublin police; and in the vicinity are three private lunatic asylums.

The seats are Jamestown, the residence of Mrs. Shew; Tolka Lodge, of J. W. Bayley, Esq.; Kilrisk, of J. Green, Esq.; Newtown, of Barnett Shew, Esq.; Belle 125

Vue, of W. Gregory, Esq.; Farnham House, of J. Duncan, Esq.; St. Helena, of W. Harty, Esq., M. D.; Drogheda Lodge, of M. Farrell, Esq.; Ashfield, of Capt.

Bluett, R. N.; Springmount, of C. White, Esq.; Elms, of John T. Logan, Esq., M. D.; St. Margaret's, of Mrs. Stock; Cabra House, of J. Plunkett, Esq.; Riversdale, of C. Stewart, Esq.; Rose Hill, of N. Doyle, Esq.; Tolka Park, of J. Newman, Esq.; Tolka View, of the Rev. Dr. Ledlie; Rosemount, of Capt. Walsh; Little Jamestown, of Edw. Mangan, Esq.; Rosemount, of M. Rooney, Esq.; and Cardiffe Bridge, of J. Newman, Esq. The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, united to the curacy of Ballycoolane, and in the patronage of the Archbishop: the rectory, with the curacy of St. Werburgh's, Dublin1, and the chapelries of St. Margaret's, Artaine, and the Ward2, constitutes the corps of the chancellorship of St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin. The tithes amount to £740. 5. 10., of which £462. 2. 5. is payable to the chancellor, and the remainder to the vicar.

The glebe-house was erected, in 1826, by aid of a gift of £550, and a loan of £450, from the late Board of First Fruits; there is a glebe of 16 acres of profitable land, divided into three portions, two of which are at a great distance from the parsonage.

The church, a plain substantial building, stands on the site of an abbey said to have been founded by St. Canice, or, as some think by St. Patrick, the former having been the first abbot: several of the early saints were interred here, and there are monuments to members of the families of Flower and Bridges, and one to Dr. Chaloner Cobbe, an eminent divine.

This place gives name to a rural deanery, extending over Finglas and its chapelries, Castleknock, Clonsillagh, Chapelizod, Glasnevin, Coolock, Raheny, Clontarf, and Clonturk, or Drumcondra. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising Finglas, St. Margaret's, the Ward, Killeek, and Chapel-Midway, in which are two chapels, in Finglas and at St. Margaret's.

The parochial schools are aided by the chancellor of St. Patrick's and the vicar; an infants' school was established in 1835; and there are two national schools, and a dispensary. Lands producing about £41 per ann., of which £32 are 1

An interesting volume ‘The Proctors’ Accounts of the Parish Church of St. Werburgh, Dublin 1481-1627’ edited by Adrian Empey, was published by Four Courts Press on November 20th 2009. (ISBN 978-1-84682-181-3 : 160pp) 2 For further information see ‘The Vestry Records of the United Parishes of Finglas, St. Margaret’s, Artane and the Ward 1657-1758’ edited by Maighréad Ní Mhurchadha and published by Four Courts Press in 2007 (ISBN 978-1-84682-052-6 : 240pp) 126

expended on the schools, have been left in trust to the vicar and churchwardens for the benefit of the poor and for other pious purposes. Here are two strong ramparts, one of which, at the rear of the glebe-house, is called King William's rampart.

In the grounds of J. Savage, Esq., coins of the reigns of James II. and William. and Mary have been found. Here is a well, dedicated to St. Patrick, slightly chalybeate, and once much celebrated: and there is an ancient cross in the churchyard (which is shown in the photograph right). The vicarage was held for the few later years of his life by Dr. T. Parnell, the intimate associate of Swift, Addison, Pope, and other distinguished literary characters.

The memorial inscriptions contained below were transcribed by Barry O’Connor, Tony Roe, Séamus Moriarty, Brian Smith and Pádraic Ingoldsby in November 2009.

St. Canice’s Cemetery Barrack Lane, Finglas.

127

1

Maisie Kelly, Aunt and Great aunt. 6/6/1902-1/1/1990.

2

John Darcy, d 28/6/1867 age 55yrs. His wife Mary, d 2/12/1881 age 59yrs. Their son John, d 30/12/1890 age 37yrs.

3

Mary Birrell, d 7/4/1932, age 52yrs. Thomas Birrell, d 15/10/1944 age 74yrs.

4

Erected by Bridget Donoghue ilm of her sons, Thomas Donoghue, died 1922 age 22yrs and Michael Donoghue, died 1934 age 18yrs. Her parents, Christopher and Bridget Aungier. Brothers and sisters.

5

Erected by Mary Boshell, Finglas imo her father Christopher Boshell, d 18/9/1882 age 72yrs. Her mother Catherine, d 25/12/1868 age 56yrs. Her sister, Mary, d 5/3/1901 age 52yrs. Uncle James Boshell of 17th Lancers (death or glory), d 7/2/1867 age 52yrs. My great great grandfather Christy Boshell who died 1735. Also Christopher Boshell, d 20/9/1854 age 25yrs. John Boshell, d 27/11/1893 age 55yrs, brothers of Mary Boshell, Finglas. Her grandmother Mary Healy, d 25/9/1854 age 95yrs. Her sister Catherine Boshell, d 8/8/1909 age 62yrs.

6

ILM of Father, Mother and Children. Also of my wife Margaret Fortune, d 29/8/1933.

Margaret Mary Fortune, d 1/5/1893 age 9yrs. Frances Mary, d 2/12/1903 age 15yrs.

Francis Joseph Fortune, d 9/8/1907 age 28yrs.

7

Thomas McCabe, d 24/2/1940 and mother Catherine McCabe, d 16/10/1947. Her husband John, d 7/2/1948. Their son Joseph McCabe, d 27/11/1962. John McCabe, d 13/12/1986.

8

Erected by Catherine Corcoran ilm of her husband Joseph Corcoran, d 6/8/1957 age 58yrs.

9

V. Rev Nicholas Russell PP Finglas and St Margarets. Ordained 20/5/1895, PP 9/7/1925, died 3/8/1949. Erected by the priests and people of Finglas and St Margarets on the feast of Sacred Heart 12/6/1953.

10

Giltrap: William, father, d 25/8/1933. Teresa, mother, d 26/10/1929. Olive, daughter, d 18/2/1929. Charles, son, d 5/9/1933. Dorothy, grand daughter, d 4/12/1957. Their son Ambrose (Amby), d 3/12/2007. Blakestown, Leixlip. ILM of John Giltrap, brother of William, d 16/1/1942, his wife Elizabeth, d 21/5/1969.

11

Erected by Joseph Fuller Esq of Violet Hill in the County of Dublin. Here lies his youngest son Joseph, d 16/7/176? Age 30yrs. John Fuller his eldest son, d 11/1/1770 ? age 76yrs.

12

Rev William Henry Pilcher, Rector of Parish, born 25/12/1819, died 30/1/1851. His wife,Elizabeth, d 22/1/1904. His daughter Frances Ann, d 13/2/1923 age 62yrs.

13

The burial place of Robert Smith Esq of Rowlestown, Co Dublin. Imo his youngest son Benjamin d 15/8/1778 age 6yrs. Frances his 5th daughter, d 30/10/1790 age 26yrs.

Robers his 3rd son, d 11/4/1791 age 21yrs. The above Robert Smith, d 30/10/1799 age 77yrs. William his eldest son, d 6/10/1801 age ?6 Yrs. Susanna Smith, 4th daughter of

128

the said Robert Smith, d 6/8/1805 age 18yrs. Susanna Smith, wife of the above Robert Smith, d 6/4/1803. Thomas Smith, 2nd son , 5/9/1816 age 18yrs. Mary Sheppard, his 3rd daughter, d 1/1/1821 age 21yrs. Ruth Fletcher, 7th daughter, d 16/6/1825 age 18yrs.

14

Robert Stubbs of Dame St, Dublin, died January 1869 ? age 62yrs.

15

Smyth:- Robert (Bob) ???? Rd, d 29/7/1952.

16

Erected by James Fry of Finglas imo his wife, Susan, d 10/7/1893 age 65yrs. Their granddaughter Nellie Fry, d 19/5/1892 age 3yrs 7mths. Their son William, d 17/3/1897 age 41yrs. Granddaughter Mary Fry, d 15/10/1897 age 7yrs. John Fry, d 29/6/1904 age 82yrs. His daughter Ellen Fry, d 2/11/1915 age 69yrs. Susan Fry, wife of William Fry, d 8/2/1955 age 94yrs.

17

Rebecca Smith, Herbuxton House, Jamestown Rd, Finglas, d 18/5/1954. Husband George, d 28/9/1984. Their grandchildren, Phyllis and Collette who died in infancy.

18

Ann, Lady Langrishe, d 8/2/1833 ? age 81yrs. Her husband, Sir Robert Langrishe.

BART, died in the same year age 79yrs.

19

Here under lieth the body of Sir Daniel Treswell, Knight and Baronet, who faithfully served his Majesty in honourable employments during the whole war in England and Ireland and died the 24th day of May, 1670.

20

Hic jacet Ricardus Plowden Treswell cujus anima requiescat in pace qui obiit decimo quarto die Augusti anno domini 1672. English translation: Richard Plewden Terssell Queen?, d 4/8/1672.

21

William Hamilton Maffett of St Helena, Finglas, b 10/1/1817, d 20/11/1903. William, eldest son, b 20/1/1851, d 25/10/1888. George Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Regan, 5th son, b 11/11/1860, died 1862, both of whom are buried in the ??? vault, Finglas. Madeline, eldest daughter, wife of En Smart, b 8/6/1864, d 7/10/1911 buried at the Holy Trinity, Levrn, Yorkshire. Arthur Frederick, 2nd son, b 15/10/1852, d 7/2/1912 buried at St Marks, Armagh. Marcella Adeloide, wife of WH Moffett, b 13/8/1830, d 1/11/1913. Henry Telford, 9th son, Capt, Leinster Regt, b 24/3/1872, killed in action 20/10/1914. Buried in France. Oswald B???, 4th son, b26/5/1859, d 1/12/1914, buried in Mount Jerome.

Charles Hamilton, 7th son, b 31/1/1866, d 10/6/1918, buried in Deansgrange. Gertrude Mary, 2nd daughter, widow of Edward Spencer, b 6/10/1857, d 22/1/1988, buried in Deansgrange. Gerald Edward, 3rd son, b 11/1/1836, d 13/3/1937, buried in the Bayly ?

Vault.

22

William Rogers, RIC. Son of Wm Rogers Esq of Castlefin, Co Donegal, died at Finglas Barracks on 13/4/1891 age 27yrs. Erected by his comrades RIC co Dublin as a tribute of respect and esteem.

23

Mary Fleming, d 29/9/1864. Rev William Fleming MA. Nullamore, Milltown, d 9/2/1855 age 79yrs. Roger Fleming, d June 1796 age 64yrs. Harriet, wife of Roger, d June 1798 age 80yrs. William Fleming son of Roger, d 8/9/1862. Emelia spouse of William, d 4/11/1840.

129

24

Sara Morton, daughter of William and Mary died 1847 age 81yrs. Mary, wife of William Henry Fleming, d 14/9/1864 age 50yrs. Rev Wm Henry Fleming, grandson of Roger, d 14/2/1855 age 79yrs. Robert Fleming, late Stephens Green in the City of Dublin, d 24/6/1796 age 64yrs. Harriet, wife of the said Roger, died June 1798 age 60yrs.

25

Benjamin Everard, died 1755 age 66yrs. His wife, Henrietta Wakely. Their twin son, Thomas who died 3 days after his father. John, d 15/4/17?? age 6yrs ?. Erected by William Wakely, grandson of Benjamin and Henrietta and nephew of John Everard.

Edward Barlow, an infant child, d 21/10/1806 age ? months ? days.

26

Inscription is in the old Irish script. The translation is as follows: Fr John Lanigan, Professor of Ecclesiastics. The knowledgeable author of the book entitled The Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. Born 1757, died September 1828.

27

John Ellison, d 8/2/1830. Anne Maria Ellison, his daughter, d 17/7/1850. Ameila Ellison, relict, d 4/4/1866 age 84yrs.

28

Richard Cummins, d 16/1/1960 age 74yrs. Rose Cummins, d 16/8/1949 age 56yrs.

Daughter, Brigid Cummins, d 18/11/1947 age 19yrs.

30

Kelly:- Kevin, died 1925. Christopher, d 20/8/1942. Catherine, d 3/7/1943. Laurence, d 2/1/1974.

Murphy:- Jack, d 2/6/1999, husband, dad, granddad.

31

ILM our daughter Mary Teresa Doyle (Maura), d 30/3/1950 (Holy year) age 18yrs.

32

Mary Elizabeth Jordan, wife of Alfred Ormond Jordan, d 27/2/1891 age 27yrs.

33

Erected by Christopher Macken of Finglas imo Mary, his wife, d 20/2/1907 age 60yrs.

Parents, Hugh and Margaret Macken.

34

Ann Hughes, wife of John Hughes, d 28/3/1787 age 48yrs.

35

Erected by John Kane, Finglas, imo his son Philip, d 8/5/1894 age 14yrs

36

Erected by Mr. Paul Fullam of New Row, Thomas Street, Dublin Merchant ilm his wife Ann Fullam, d 3/4/1787 age 36yrs.

37

.Erected by Patrick Brennan of Finglas in memory of his son, Charles, d 26/11/1887 age 35yrs. His father Charles Brennan, d 12/6/1850 age 70yrs. His mother Elizabeth, d 15/8/1832 age 40yrs. Father in law, John Lynn, d 12/5/1856 age 70yrs and his infant children, Elizabeth, Kate and his beloved daughter Mary, d 1/11/1854 age 25yrs. His wife Margaret, d 22/3/1896 age 72yrs. Their son Patrick, d 6/11/1903 age 40yrs. His son Francis, d 20/9/1906 age 39yrs. The above Patrick Brennan, d 5/6/1907 age 66yrs.

Josephine Brennan, d 25/2/1944, husband Patrick, d 7/5/1969. Their son Jack, d 15/7/1983. ILM of Francis (Terry) Brennan, d 6/11/1955.

38

Catherine Dagg, d 9/3/1933. Bridget Mary Dagg, d 10/2/1922.

130

39

Mary Berkeley (nee McFadden), d 22/5/1932. And her family.

40

William Smyth, d 26/12/1796 age 56yrs. Erected by his wife Anne Smyth, Brittan Street, Dublin.

41

James Darbyshire, Castleknock, d 6/6/1903 age 79yrs.

42

In loving memory of Michael Wyse, husband, father and grandfather, d 25/2/2001 age 89 yrs. Late of Balseskin, Finglas and Ballygal Road East. Also his mother Margaret Wyse (nee Hannon) d 25/10/1918 aged 31 yrs. Late of Balseskin and The Green Finglas. Also his Grandparents John Wyse died 22nd November 1895, and his wife Bridget Wyse (nee Connor), d 15/7/1932, late of 47 Main Street Finglas.

(On a separate free standing plaque):- In loving memory of my mother, Margaret Wyse (nee Hannon). Also my grandparents John and Bridget Wyse, late of 47 Main Street Finglas.

43

The Revd. Richd. Benson, who for Forty years was Parish Priest of Finglas and St. Margarets, which dutyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s he discharged with ardent and Pious Zeal, died 1/1/1823 aged 72 yrs. Select Society Lamentus The Scholar and a Gentleman. (on a separate and free lying plaque) :- Erected by the Parishioners of Finglas to the memory of the Revd. Patrick Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sullivan C.C. who for upwards of thirty years zealously discharged the duties of his sacred ministry in this Parish. He departed this life on 3rd July 1874 aged 62 years.

44

In loving memory of Patrick Carolan, d 6/4/1917. His daughter Charlotte who died young, also his wife Charlotte d 12/4/1939 aged 67 years.

45

Wyse:- In loving memory of Thomas, Jamestown Road, Finglas, d 25/3/1931. His loving wife Jane, d 26/4/1944 age 74. Their son, Bernard, late 1 Dubbercross, Finglas, d 21/3/1935 age 27. Also their grandson Edward Doyle, d 28/1/1940 age 3 months.

Erected by nieces and nephews .

46

Erected by Mary Anne Goulding, Inns Quay, In memory of her beloved niece Mary Anne Nolan Who died ?.

47

Erected to the memory of my dear wife, Mary Jones, d 25/8/1900.

48

Erected by Patrick Lawless in memory of his beloved wife Jane, d 23/2/1901 age 50 yrs. Also to the memory of his Father and Mother. Also to the above named Patrick Lawless d 13/11/1915 age 75 yrs. His loved daughter Mrs. Nannie Bannon, d 23/11/1914 age 43 yrs. Inscribed by his son James Lawless, Artaine

49

In loving memory ?, d ?. His wife E??, d 10/11/1970.

50

Erected by Michael Brady in memory of his Mother, Anne, d 31/1/1881 age 60 yrs.

His beloved wife Esther, d 14th June age 40 yrs. His Father, Patrick Brady, d 10/12/1884 age 70 yrs.

131

51

Erected by his loving wife and children in memory of Michael Brady of 19 Prospect Ave. Glasnevin, d 8/12/1927 age 83 yrs. His beloved wife Elizabeth Brady, d 10/1/1930 age 63 yrs.

52

Also his wife Bridget Johnston died October 23rd 1919 age 86 yrs

53

Erected by Philip McClean, Finglas, in memory of his beloved father John McClean d 16/10/1884 age 66 yrs. His sister Maryanne, d 10/9/1893 age 37 yrs. His beloved mother Eliza McClean, d 27/8/1899 age 80 yrs.

54

Erected by Mrs. McClean, Finglas in memory of her beloved sister Ellen Cullen, d 18/6/1884 age 80 yrs. Annie, daughter of Bryan and Rose Kelly, d 22/7/1899 age 2 yrs 9 mths.

55

In loving memory of Catherine McCluskey d 27/8/1885 age 48 yrs. Her husband, Lawerence, d 27/4/1903 age 67yrs. Their daughter Catherine McAuley, d 17/11/1919 age 42yrs. And their son Charles McCluskey d 8/1/1930 age 60yrs. Erected by their son Charles.

56

In loving memory of our dear parents Peter and Mary Cummins, and their children, Michael, Anne, and Alfred.

57

James Fagan, d 16/121967. His wife Margret, d 18/4/1960 and their son James. Mary Fagan, d 17/1/1981.

58

In loving memory of our dear parents John Lawlor, Finglas, d 21/6/1912, age 85 yrs.

Our dear mother Catherine Lawlor, d 16/5/1893 age 53 yrs. Our dear sister Sarah Quinn, d 3/10/1897, age 27 yrs. Our dear sister Jane Lawlor, d 27/6/1897 age 12 yrs.

Also our dear brother and sister William and Catherine who died young. Our brother James d 15/8/1938 age 71yrs. Mary Duffy, d 28/4/1953 age 86yrs. Jack Duffy, d 29/11/1989 age 80 yrs.

59

In loving memory of our dear parents Bridget Lawlor, d 4/4/1955, John Lawlor d 19/3/1957. Our dear brother Joseph Lawlor, d 8/11/1893 age 40 yrs. ( a small plaque):- In loving memory of Bernard (Barney) Lawlor, d 28/1/2009.

60

Within this enclosure repose the mortal remains of Lucinda Busby, born October 11th 1784, died Aug 2nd 1807. Harriet Busby, born July 8th 1791, died July 13th 1816.

Samuel Busby, born Nov 21st 1776, died April 19th 1817. He was Captain in the 37th Regt. of Foot and visited, whilst in the service, various parts of Europe, Africa, and America. Hannah, the beloved wife of John Busby Esqr. of Churchtown House Co. Dublin, born 7th October 1748, died 7th October 1831. John Busby Esqr. of Churchtown House Co. Dublin departed this life on 27th day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven, in the ninety third year of his age

61

In loving memory of Alice Allen, d 25/3/1882 age 32yrs. John Allen, d 5/4/1896 age 50 yrs. Christine Allen, d 17/2/1931 age 44 yrs. James Allen, d 28/12/1941 age 67 yrs. John Cooney, d 30/9/1948 age 30 yrs. Catherine Cooney, d 11/2/1989 age 77 yrs.

Thomas Ahern, d 10/3/1993 age 56 yrs.

132

62

(double plot with a Celtic Cross on a base):- Thomas, ???. In loving memory of our dear brother James Lee, late 21 Rathoth Rd, Cabra, d 14/8/1956 age 66 yrs. His father Patrick Lee. d 25/2/1951 age 87 yrs. His mother Elizabeth Lee, d 25/7/1896 age 33 yrs. His sister Alice Lee, d 14/11/1967 age 75 yrs. Thomas Henry Lee, d 19/3/1990 age 67 yrs.

63

In loving Memory of Matthew Lynch, d 4/8/1958 age 64yrs. Jane Lynch, d 29/9/1968 age 73yrs. George Lynch, d 28/8/1957 age 74. Annie Richardson (nee Lynch), d 21/1/1954 age 53 yrs.

64

Erected by Michael Ryan of Phibbsborough in memory of his beloved son John Ryan who departed this life Novr 7th 1878 aged 17 years. His beloved brother James died 15th Feb 1895 aged 28 years. The above Michael died 27th Feb 1897 aged 46 years.

65

In loving memory of our dear mother, Marcella Lynch d 1/5/1902. Our dear father George Lynch d 21/6/1916. Thomas Lynch, d 11/9/1942. Sarah Lynch, d 22/2/1944.

66

Erected by ?? Markey, in loving memory of her parents and brothers ???. Also Peter, ???.

67

In loving memory of our dear father, John Lawless, d 25/3/1903 age 54 yrs. Our dear mother, Alice Lawless, d 15/2/1927 age 76 yrs.

68

In loving memory of James Rothwell who died November 10th 1928

69

Erected by Henry Rothwell in memory of his loving parents, Patrick Rothwell, d 27/2/1905 and Elizabeth, d 20/2/1918.

70

In loving memory of our dear parents, Joseph Murphy, 6 The Green, Finglas, d 1/7/1941. Mary Murphy, d 16/10/1969. Their grandson George Keating, d 12/4/1946.

71

Pray for the soul of Sarah Mary Flynn

72

In loving memory of Patrick Hogan, Springmount Cottages, d 2/2/1939 age 77 yrs.

Mary Hogan, d 3/3/1951 age 80 yrs. Mary Dunne (nee Hogan), d 4/10/1940 age 32 yrs. Grandchildren, Kevin, John, May, Brendan and Michael.

73

Erected by Christopher Kiernan in memory of his beloved father and mother John Kiernan died November 1896 age 68 yrs. Ellen Kiernan, d 6/12/1910 age 76 yrs. Also their children James, d 14/3/1887 age 3 yrs. Patrick, d 4/7/1931 age 50 yrs. Also Mary Lane, d 30/6/1931 age 56yrs and interred at Castleknock.

74

This stone was erected by Mrs. Elizath Dillon of Yarnhall St, in memory of her beloved husband Mr. Patrick Dillon of the City of Dublin, who departed life the 12th Oct 1890 age 59 yrs. Also four of their children who died young.

Malone: In loving memory of our dear father died 19th March 1902 and our dear mother Bridget, d 14/3/1927. Our dear sister Elizabeth, d 18/3/ 1902. And Mary died 30 July 1910.

75

133

76

In loving memory of John Robert Hetherington who d 22/11/1886 age 6 mths. Arthur, d 19/1/1895 age 4 yrs. Freddy, d 7/2/ ?? age 7 yrs. Florrie, d 17/2/ ??age 2 yrs.

Beloved children of Wm & M Hetherington. The above William Hetherington, d 11/8/1907, and Mary Jane Hetherington d 9/12/1913.

77

In loving memory of our dear parents William Fagan, d 6/3/1948. Jane Fagan, d 25/3/1979. Our uncle Thomas Reddy, d 25/12/1956. Erected by their loving family

78

Erected by Patrick Smith in memory of his beloved wife Jane Smith, d 15/12/1876 age 65 yrs.

79

John Corrigan, d 31/1/1937 his wife Catherine, d 12/6/1949. Their daughters Kathleen, d 2/3/1935. Chrissie died ?? 1931.

80

This stone and burial place belongs to Bryan Connolly of Exchequer St. and his xxxx Here lieth the body of his wife Cath Connolly aged 44 who departed this life on the 20th day of Dec 1779.

81

Julia and Alex McDonough.

82

Our dear mother Mary Lynch, d 9/12/1949 age 71 yrs. Her grandchild Mary Bourke, d 11/4/1953 age 5 ½ years. Her daughter Catherine Byrne, d 20/11/1985 age 65 yrs.

83

In loving memory of my dear husband James Keogh, d 30/1/1949 age 59 yrs. Jane Keogh, d 19/10/1965.

84

In loving memory of Andrew Murdiff, d 22/9/1922. Patrick Murdiff, d 12/1/1949.

Margaret Murdiff, d 14/3/1978.

85

Donald Grant Esq., d 13/9/1799 ? age 70yrs. Hester, d 20/1/1800 ? age 68yrs.Donald Grant Captain in His Majestyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 21st Regiment of (?), son of the above named Donald and Hester Grant was lost on his passage home from the West Indies in the month of September 1796 ? in the 29th ? year of his age.

86

Ethna Byrne, d 12/11/2008. Also the Byrne Family.

87

John McGovern, d 20/6/1916 age 74yrs. His son Matthew, d 25/2/1903 age 28yrs, his son John, d 6/11/1903 age 24yrs. Small plaque:- Myles and Jane Carroll and son Michael and daughter Lily.

88

John J Byrne, d 10/9/1967 age 81, his wife Bridget, d 16/2/1977 age 89yrs. Their children James P, d 28/3/1944 age 26yrs, Bridget M, d 6/11/1930 age 7yrs.

89

William Donnelly, 31 DeCourcey Sq, Glasnevin, d 19/12/1940. Also his children and his brother Felix Donnelly, d 16/12/1932.

90

Erected by Mr Thomas Carnes of the City of Dublin in memory of Mrs Catherine Carnes, gentlest spirit thou child of elegance and sweet simplicity adieu. In gentleness and affection, in strong understanding with innocent gaiety, in delicacy and dignity of

134

mind I never knew they equal. Oh if I forget thee evening ? my mirrh. ? Died 7/11/1790.

91

In loving memory of Thomas Luby, d 27/1/1932. Frances Luby, d 26/6/1941. Their grandson Edward Mangan, d 13/9/1943. Their daughter Annie, d 20/4/1983.

92

Erected by Andrew Darcy, Dubber, Finglas in memory of his son Andrew, d 30/9/1945. His wife, Elizabeth, d 3/7/1971. The above Andrew Darcy, d 26/12/1973.

Small plaque:- Henry Thompson, 1/4/1911-26/3/1986.

93

This stone and burial place belongs to Patrick Hughes of the City of Dublin Merchants. Here lieth the body of Margaret Hughes, wife of the above who departed this life 10/2/1764 ? age 40yrs.

94

Michael Keegan, late of St Helena, Finglas, d 22/6/1966 age 92yrs. Superintendent Garden Section Dublin Corporation, late of 42 Royal Canal Bank. His parents and family, Mary Keegan (nee Farrell), died 1883. Peter Keegan, d 1897 age 70yrs.

Catherine d 4/6/1892 age 30yrs. William, d 5/8/1912. Peter R.D.F. killed in action in France 1915 age 38yrs. James, d 28/2/1928. Jack, d 1916 age 40yrs. Patrick, d 1/8/1917. Thomas, d 25/2/1946 age 70yrs. Mary Byrne (nee Keegan), d 4/2/1955 age 84yrs. Margaret Fagan (nee Keegan), d 18/4/1960.

95

Erected by the Members and Officers of the Corporation of Dublin in memory of Alexander Farouhar Esq, Town Clerk as a testimony of their esteem and regard for one who discharged the duties of his office with exemplary impartiality, attention and integrity, d 25/3/1864 age 40yrs.

96

Mary McEvoy, d 28/6/1957. Her husband David (Davie) McEvoy, d 14/11/1966.

Erected by her husband and family.

97

James Darcy, d 3/12/1930. John Darcy Sen, d 12/9/1952. Margaret Darcy, d 4/3/1953.

John Darcy, d 9/4/1955. Plaque on plot:- our dear son James Darcy, d 3/12/1930 age 19yrs. Our dear sister Annie Darcy, late 541 N.C. Rd, d 10/1/1955.

98

Here lie the remains of Mr Benjamin Harvey, d 19/2/1778 age 62yrs. Here also lieth Mrs Ann Harvey his wife, d 12/2/1776 age 63yrs. This stone erected by his son Mr Randall Harvey of Hallistown in the County of Dublin. Mrs Jane Harvey, wife of Wm Harvey, d 11/12/1782 age 44yrs.

99

William Nowland, Fishamble Street, d 4/7/1789 age 50yrs. Also his children, Catherine, Jane and William Nowland.

100

William Long of Mary Street in the City of Dublin Esq, d 28/1/1826 age 69yrs. His son Thomas who was drowned in the channel off Bray Head on Monday 12th July 1826. His body was found at sea on the 9th August and deposited here the following day admist the lamentations of his relatives and tears of his sorrowing friends. James Duncan Long LLD, eldest son of the late Rev William Duncan Long, born 16/9/1842 entered into rest 26/2/1916. Rev Thomas Long youngest son of Rev James Duncan Long, born 2/11/1826, died 31/12/1910. Rector of Michans Dublin 1873-1907. Miss Dora Long, d 25/2/1851 age 19 yrs. Nurse Elizabeth Nulty, d 20/3/1853 age 46yrs.

135

101

Robert, child of Alexander Read Esq, Surgeon of the City of Dublin and Charlotte his wife, d 23/8/1820 age 1yr 9mths. Lydia Harriett Read only daughter of Alexander and Charlotte Read, born 27/6/1816, d 21/3/1895.

102

???, died April 1708 age 65yrs. His father, Thomas Taylor, d 15/1/1773 age 68yrs.

And seven of their grandchildren.

104

Surgeon Alexander Read, M.I., M.B., FRCSI., d 18/7/1870 age 84yrs. His wife Charlotte, d 19/4/1879.

105

Erected to the memory of John Duncan, Finglas Bridge in the County of Dublin, died 1796 age 38yrs ?. by his widow Isabella Duncan. The remains of the relict of the deceased Isabella, died June 1820 ?. Best of mothers.

106

The Barry Family.

107

Barnett Shew, d 14/12/1903 age 72yrs.

108

Barnett Shew, d 6/3/1851 age 97yrs and four of his infant children. Elizabeth, his youngest daughter, d 5/7/1812 age 12yrs. Richard Shew, d 12/11/1852 ? age 52yrs.

His wife Jane Shew, d 12/3/1835 ? age 35yrs. His son Barnett William Shew, d 26/3/1835 age 9yrs. Barnett Shew of Willbourne House, brother of the aboved named Richard Shew, d 4/6/1836 age 12yrs.

109

John R Shew, d 19/3/1850 age 17yrs. Susan Shew, relict of the late John Robert Shew, d 6/1/1881 age 75yrs. Also two of her children who died young. Eleanor Shew, d 10/1/1885 age 48yrs, her infant son d 2/1/1859 age 2mths. Her son Richard Shew, d 6/3/1888 age 31yrs. His wife Marta Shew, d 23/3/188? Age 50yrs ?.

110

??? Richard, died 1776 age 71yrs. His wife Elizabeth, d 4/10/1879 age 64yrs. Richard Shew, son of the above Richard Shew of Finglas, d 13/6/1787 age 30yrs. John Shew, eldest son of the above Richard Shew, d 21/11/1789 age 39yrs.

111

Erected by his fond wife and brother ilm of Francis Hynes, d 25/10/1947. His parents, Mary Hynes, d 21/10/1885 and Mark, d 21/3/1901. His aunt, Catherine Boulan, d 8/12/1901. Patrick Hynes, d 14/12/1954 age 74yrs.

112

Our mother, Mary Kelly age 77yrs. Her daughter, Josephine Kelly, age 27yrs, both died on the 29/1/1945. Her daughter Mary Kelly, age 14yrs, d 23/8/1907.

113

Stone No.1:- Bridget Sheridan, d 6/6/1948 age 17 1/2 yrs. Her parents, William Sheridan, d 29/8/1932 age 68yrs and Margaret Sheridan, d 19/7/1949 age 69yrs, late of 24 St Jarlath Rd Cabra. Their son James, d 1/11/1941 age 35yrs. Also the Brady Family and the Hines Family. John Kelly, d 4/7/1934.

Stone No.2:- Brigid Sheridan, d 17/6/1953 age 47yrs. Mary (Maney) Scully, nee Sheridan, d 3/11/1959 age 59yrs. Small plaque reads: erected by her daughter Margaret and family.

136

114

John Wisely, d 24/6/1740 age 64yrs. Ann Wisely, nee Segrave, wife of the said John, d 23/2/1736 age 57yrs. Thomas Wisely, son of ??, died ? 1789.

115

Body of Murray Gard??, d 7/?/1743 age 35yrs. His son William, d 2/4/1741.

116

Stone placed here by Joseph Foxall ? imo his father Joseph, late of City of Dublin, d 31/1/1767 age 64yrs. His mother Eleanor Meridith, otherwise Fonnall ?, d 27/6/1819 age 95yrs. Their sons in law, Luke Davis, d 14/11/1781 age 39yrs ? and Gustavs Warner, d 12/2/1791 age 70yrs. His wife Jane Foxall otherwise Warner, died July 179? Age 64yrs and several of their children and grangchildren. Sarah ? Davis otherwise Foxwall, wife of said Joseph the younger and daughter in law to the said Joseph and Eleanor, d 6/7/1820 ? age 62yrs after fulfilling her duties as a wife and mother.

117

William Rogers, died December 1788 age ?4yrs.

118

William Adams Esq, d 29/2/181? age 69yrs. Miss Martha Susan Adams, died December 1803 age 19yrs, daughter of above William Adams.

119

Eliza Wollstonecraft Bishop, d 1/3/1828 ? age 60 yrs.

120

John Hamilton Stubbs, eldest son of John H Stubbs, Dundalk.

121

Stone erected by Riley Towers of Finglas Esq, in memory of his son. Here lieth the remains of Edward Sterling Sum?? Esq, died ? age 23yrs. William Swan Esq, father of above, d 14/12/1780 age 3? Yrs. Also the above Riley Towers Esq, d 11/11/1787 age 67yrs.

122

Ilm our father Patrick J. Lawless, d 20/5/1952, age 77yrs and our sister Anne Lawless, d 8/7/1905, age 4yrs. Patrick Joseph Lawless, d 23/5/1974, age 75yrs. Remembered by his wife Mary and Family. Mamie Lawless, d 20/6/1976, age 76yrs. Mary Josephine Lawless d 23/4/2000 age 94yrs. Thomas Lawless, son of Mary and Patrick d 15/1/2006, age 64yrs. Erected by his loving Daughter Mary.

123

Ellen Delaney (nee Cooke), d 17/6/1924 and her child Teresa, d 16/3/1924, age 10mths.

124

Erected by Michael Cooke, Finglas, ilm of his son Thomas, d 4/4/1897, age 7yrs.

Also his son James, d 21/1/1906, age 11yrs. His daughter Mary, d 18/4/1906, age 2yrs John Cooke, d 9/10/1927. His wife Jane, d 5/1/1929 and their children, Anne, James and Ellen who died young.

125

Ilm our mother Catherine Nixon, d 3/7/1939. Also John Nixon, d 21/1/1940.

126

Robert Edward Warner Esqr. late of the Hon. EIC Service, d 29/12/1838?, age 52yrs.

127

Erected by Peter Fitzsimons imo his father James Fitzsimons, d 4/4/1879. Also his mother Bridget Fitzsimons, d 11/1/1881.

128

Ilm Patrick and Myles Smyth, who died young. Also Peter, d 7/4/1933, age 4 ½ yrs.

137

129

Erected by Patrick Cooke imo his child Peter, d 30/8/1921, age 4yrs. And the above Patrick Cooke, d 18/1/1959, age 73yrs. Also his wife Annie, d 17/9/1976, age 89yrs.

And their son Joseph Cooke, d 30/5/1983, age 52yrs.

130

Michael Keogh, d 22/3/1960. Mary Ann Keogh (nee Anderson), d 10/6/1939.

131

My parents Joseph Maguire, d 20/8/1907, Elizabeth, d 9/1/1945. Also their son Capt.

Thomas Maguire, 3rd Engineers 5th Battalion, Old IRA â&#x20AC;&#x201C; killed in action, 18/11/1922.

Mary A. Kennedy, sister of the above Joseph, d 27/11/1900 Their grandchildren, Brigit McKeogh, d 18/8/1926. Elizabeth, d 1/2/1945. Separate plaque: Erected by Mrs. E. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Driscoll, nee Maguire.

132

Frederick Ashe Jones Esq. d 20/7/1849, age 55yrs. Erected by his wife Sidney Jones.

133

John Bailie Esq. of Ringdufferin, Co. Dublin, d 26/5/1858, age 59yrs.

134

Richard Avery Jebb, son of the Revd. Thomas Jebb, Vicar of Laragh, Co. Cavan and grandson of the Hon. Richard Jebb, Judge of the Kings Bench, d 9/3/1881, age 32yrs.

135

Edward Hoare Garde, d 30/10/1881, age 69yrs.

136

Mary Jane Nesbit, St. Heliers, Jersey, d 23/12/1862, age 39yrs.

137

Broken stone on ground: Imo Robert Alex Ander ???? November ???

138

The family burial place of Charles Frizell Esq. of Holles Street, Dublin, d 5/1/1812, age 74yrs. Also Sarah, his wife, d 19/1/1786, age 45. Also Mary his second wife, d 13/8/1793, age 22. Also his son Edward d 14/10/1816, age 38. Also his daughter Maria, d 10/11/1816, age 48. Also his daughter Sophia, d 25/11/1828, age 53. Also his youngest son, Charles Frizell Esq. M.D. of Castle Kevin, Co. Wicklow, d 19/3/1866, age 84. Also his wife Margaret, d 17/3/1838, age 62.

139

William Langton, 11 Woodville Terrace, Drumcondra, d 1/11/1936, age 59yrs. And his wife Helen Langton, d 22/10/1940, age 81.

140

Noel J Langton, d 31/3/1985, age 59yrs.

141

Erected by Mr. Peter Dunne of the City of Dublin, ilm of his son Arthur Dunne, d 5/3/1829, age 19yrs.

142

John Jameson Esq. d 15/12/1852, age 70?yrs.

143

Ilm of our father Joseph Smyth, d 27/2/1920, age 78. And our mother Bridget Smyth, d 27/1/1921, age 69. Also our brother and sister, Patrick and Anne, who died young.

Erected by the surviving children.

144

Henry Hickman Morgan, only son of William Morgan Esq. of Blackrock, Co. Cork, d 12/4/1857, age 22yrs.

138

145

Anne Rodger, wife of Robert Rodger of Limerick, died at Finglass, 20/4/183(8?)4, age 19yrs.

146

James Kelly, d 12/1/1916, age 87yrs. And his wife Bridget Kelly, d 31/3/1920 age 8?yrs. Also their children Bridget Kelly d 2/5/1895, age 23yrs and John Kelly, d ?/5/191? Age 37yrs.

147

Frank and Catherine Brady, Finglas Bridge. Also their children, Francis, Thomas, James and Alice.

148

Here lieth the bodies of the Tenison of Fingals in the city of Dublin Esq. died in the year of our lord 1764 ?, age 7?yrs. And of Alice Tenison, his wife who died in the year 1773 in an advanced age. Also of Tho. Tenison of Castle Tenison in the county of Roscommon Esq. his son who died 1788, age 53 ? yrs.

149

This stone belongs to John Ash of the city of Dublin, Jeweller, underneath the body of his wife Ann Ash, d 11/2/1791, age 27yrs, grand daughter of John Farren of the city of Dublin, Merchant, buried below, d ??/1/1763?, age 73yrs. And the body of Elizabeth, daughter of John and Ann Ash, d 10/6/1792, age 3yrs.

150

Tom Tallon and family. 1929 – R.I.P. – 1935.

151

Luke Vipond, late of Bellvue in the county of Dublin Esq., d 6/4/1775, age 84yrs.

152

Erected by Louisa D.F. Logan, imo her husband, John Teusdale Logan Esq. M.D., d 17/3/1844, age 35yrs.

153

John Pocklington Esq. 2nd Baron of his majesties Court of Exchequer, d 22/10/1731?, age 75.

154

Erected bv Joanna Guest, imo her husband Henry Guest, her daughter, Henrietta Georgina, her sons Robert Henry and George Alfred, the latter who died 23/6/1894.

155

Alexander Jones, d 20/12/1890. Mary Anne Jones, d 8/2/1921. Also Alfred, Henrietta and Osmond (Children).

156

Ilm of our parents, John Smullen, Kilshane, d 9/2/1944. Julia Smullen, d 24/12/1976.

Our grandparents Brian and Anne Smullen and relatives, John and Anne Lynch.

157

Thos Edwards, d 11/6/1754.

158

Bridget O’Neill, late of McKee Avenue, Finglas, d 9/10/1953, Also Peter, d 13/3/1958

159

Michael James Christie, 17 Tolka Cottages, d 2/6/1961, age 61, his son Patrick, d 11/7/1976, age 47, also Mary, wife of James, d 24/9/1991, age 90. Son Eddie, d 15/6/2007, age 71. Heart shaped Plaque: To Eddie, always loved, Wife Doreen and family. Erected by his wife and family.

139

160

Our parents John Boyne, d 28/4/1933, age 46yrs. Ellen (Nellie) Boyne, d 17/8/1978, age 84yrs.

161

Our parents Henry Worrell, d 22/5/1976. Eileen Worrell, d 8/5/1946, late of 7 Tolka Estate, Finglas E.

162

This stone was erected by Panl?? O’Byrne imo his children, Anne, Bridget, M??.

163

Mary Doyle, Prospect Avenue, d 5/10/1935. Her son Thomas, d 22/6/1923, age 20yrs.

Erected by her husband and sons

164

Peter Robinson, d 25/8/2006, age 89yrs. Also Cecelia Robinson, d 3/5/1977, Bridget Mooney, d /2/1943. George Robinson, d /8/1928

165

John Emmett, d 18/10/1961.

166

Mary Ann Gilbert, d 8/3/1899, age 46yrs. Also John Gilbert, d 30?/9/1940?, age 86yrs.

167

Tom Gilbert, age 3mths.

168

Wooden cross: Martha Emmett. Separate small plaque: Ilm George Emmett, b 30/11/1920, d 24/7/2007 – Your daughters Helen and Martha.

169

This stone and burial place belongeth to Ml. Geo Davis. Here lieth 3 of his children.

170

Joseph and Mary Madden and their son Vincent.

171

Erected by James McDonnell of Drumcondra. Ilm of his wife, Ellen, d 3/3/1922, age45. Also her parents James Macken, d 16/12/1916, age 82, Eliza Macken, d 23/1/1889, age 47yrs. And her sister, Mary Macken, d 11/7/1885, age 24yrs.

172

Erected by Christopher Macken of Finglas imo his wife Mary, d 20/2/1907, age 60yrs.

Also his parents, Hugh and Margaret Macken.

173

Edward Whitehead, Glasmekar, d 29/8/1742, age 62. (rest of stone underground).

174

Erected by Catherine Williams of Finglas, imo her husband, George Williams, d 19/8/1??9. Also Catherine Williams, d 6/6/??7?0 – this inscription was added by her grandson Gerorge Williams.

175

This stone was erected by Gore Fox, imo his father John Fox, d 5/8/1819, age 79yrs.

His mother Hannah Fox, d 8/11/1809, age 48yrs. His wife Mary Fox, d 29/4/1810, age 43. Also his son who died young.

176

Imo our son Seamus Egan, d 5/6/1954.

177

Michael Clarke, d 29/12/1899, age 60yrs.

140

178

My husband John (Jack) Gibbons, d 19/11/1943, age 39yrs. Also my son Sean Gibbons, d 2/7/1944, age 5yrs. My father Martin Farrell, d 26/12/1940, age 69. My mother Elizabeth Farrell, d 25/1/1959, age 86. Separate stone: Ilm of our mother Margaret Gibbons, d 21/6/2003, age 92yrs.

179

My wife Mary Corbally (formerly Clarke), d 29/7/1939. Also her children Kathleen, Patrick and Margaret. And her husband Thomas Clarke, d 26/1/1915, age 45.

180

M Rich Wilkinson of Pill? Lane Hauer?, his wife Elizabeth Wilkinson, d 13/5/1778, age 36. Also 3 of their children.

181

This stone was erected by Hannah Bardin of Crampton Court imo her husband, Patk Bardin, d 29/12/1815, age 33.

182

Catherine? Fitzpatrick.

183

Erected by Mary Armstrong, imo her husband Mr. Hugh Armstrong of Tempeloage in the Co. of Dublin, d 22/2/1787, age 54yrs.

184

James Emmett d. 18/9/1964 age 76. Elizabeth Emmett d. 5/11/1961 age 76yrs. Late of 54 Jamestown Road. Also our brother Laurence d. 31/3/1952 age 29yrs. Our sister Kathleen Farrell d. 1/2/1946 age 28yrs. Lily Emmett d. 10 June 2004 age 75yrs.

185

Thomas Fagan d. 16/12/1957. His wife Margaret d. 18/4/1960 and their son James.

Mary Fagan d. 17/1/1981.

186

Thomas Ryan, d 26/3/1901. Frances Ryan, d 5/7/1934.

187

Thomas Carolan d. 17/6/1953. His wife Mary d. 5/21968.

188

Noel J Langton d. 21/3/1985 age 59 yrs.

189

George Dowling d. 30/11/1963. And baby George Dowling. Also Christina Dowling d. 25/51966.

190

1926 -2009 Tommy Dowling.

191

Thomas Roche, late of 86 Prussia St. d. 3/3/1951.His beloved wife Mary (Aunty May) d. 9/11/2007.

192

Our parents Patrick O Connor d. 11/6/1968 age 77 and Sophia O Connor d. 20/8/1954 age 52yrs. James O Connor d. 4/8/1941 age 2 mths. Baby James O Brien d.5/11/1951.

193

This stone and burial place belongeth to Mr Thomas (?) Wilkinson of the City of Dublin, Stationer. Here lieth the body of Esther Wilkinson other wife ????

Hemmings sister to the Revd. Michael Hemmings. Also Mrs Catherine Manning sister of the above (remainder under ground)

141

194

Here lieth the body of M Mary Stanford, wife of Daniel Stanford of Dominick St who died the 11/11/ 1771 age ?? . Here also lieth ?? daughter of said Mary who died ?? of June 1774.

195

Erected by Thomas Smith Finglas in memory of his mother Catherine, d 19/6/1907 age 64 yrs and his father Bernard, d 27/8/1912 age 76yrs. His brother Bernard, d 15/4/1904 age 36yrs and his son Thomas, d 19/4/1944 age 84yrs. His wife Mary, d 24/12/1930 age 58 yrs. And their daughter Mary, d 4/9/1933 age 40yrs.

196

James Coulter, d. January 1802 and his wife Etitia (?) Coulter, d. January 1808. Their children, Obert Coulter, d February 1808. Samuel Coulter, d Dec 1828. James Coulter, d May 1852 and their nephew John Coulter, d October 1830. Anne Coulter, d December 31st 1853.

197

Richard Donnelly, d 10/12/1938. Mary Donnelly, d 22/6/1966. Henry Dardis, d 8/2/1883. Catherine Dardis, d 10/11/1909. Joseph Dardis, d 1/5/1913. Rose Dardis, d 1/12/1917. Richard Callaghan, d. 21/2/1956, his loving wife Rose, d 7/5/1977.

198

Here lieth the body of Mr. John Tracy (?) of the city of Duhlin Viculai (?) who departed this life on the 4th day of April 1783 aged 44 years. Also the body of Mary his wife who departed this life ? ? ? and 8 other children ? ? ? (remainder under ground)

199

Erected by Michael Connolly in memory of his wife Catherine, d 6/3/1985.

200

In memory of Anne Clarke, d April 8th 1976 ?.

201

Michael Delany, d 16/2/1907 age 53 yrs. Erected by his wife and children. Also his wife Anne Delany.

202

Our mother Esther Treacy, d 29/10/1951 age 32 yrs, our father Patrick Treacy, d 30/4/1986 age 67 yrs.

203

My dear wife Elizabeth Treacy, d 20/07/1937. Her husband Patrick Treacy, d 10/5/1958 age 80 yrs. Kevin Treacy, d 20/6/1998 age 77 yrs. Late of 19 Tolka Cottages.

204

James Christie, d 24/2/1991 agd 85yrs. Kathleen Christie, d 12/1/1996 age 94 yrs.

Philip Christie, d 8/12/1998 age 61 yrs.

205

Mary Mooney, 9 Meakstown Cottages, Dubber Cross, d 4/5/1983 age 85 yrs. Her daughter May, d 8/11/1928 age 8. Her husband William Mooney, d 12/2/1984 age 86.

206

Elizabeth Byrne, d 18/8/1950. Mary Brogan, d 12/1/1939. Philip Brogan, d 29/6/1966.

Evylyn Byrne, d 29/1/1948.

207

In memory of our father, Laurence Lawless, d 20/1/1932. Also our grand parents Michael Lawless, d 23/12/1917. Annie Lawless, d 24/5/1907.And our uncles, John Lawless, d 10/1/1908, Michael Lawless, d 7/3/1915(?) and James Lawless, d 24/12/1916.

142

208

Julia McHugh, d 17/1/1933. Hugh, d 4/4/1942. Sean, d 20/2/1946. Hugh, d 17/2/1951.

Mary Ann, d 15/3/1966.

209

Mary Mooney, d 1895. Patrick Mooney, d. ?. Mary Mooney, d 18/03/1984. Peter Mooney, d 1941. Elizabeth Mooney, d 1958.

210

Erected by Mrs Susan Brady in memory of her father and mother Peter and Mary Moore, the former who died age 80 and the latter 96 years. Also to four of her children Mary, John, James and Susan who died young. Here also are interred the remains of Mr John Brady, the husband of the above Mrs Susan Brady who d.

3/3/1860 age 69 yrs. The said Mrs Susan Brady who died 14/2/1865 age 74 yrs.

211

Erected by Esther Malone in memory of her father and mother John and Ann Malone and her sisters Rose, d 18/4/1907. Mary, d 24/9/1932. Annie, d 8/5/1935.

212

Erected by Elizabeth Emmet of Finglas in memory of her husband Nicholas Emmet d. ? March 1903 age ? years. His father Patrick Emmet,d 13/11/1876 age 40yrs and his mother Mary Emmet of Finglas Street (?). Also James and Catherine Smyth, Finglas.

Elizabeth Emmet, d 22/11/1908 age 64 yrs. Her daughter Elizabeth, d 19/1/1924.

Mary Emmet, d 3/5/1924.

213

Catherine O’ Brien (nee Geraghty), Royal Oak, Finglas Bridge, d 31/4/1933 ?. Her husband Patrick, d 18/02/2934.

214

Elizabeth Murray, d 17/2/1930 and her sons John A, Peter and James and her husband Thomas Murray, d 27/8/1930.

215

Sarah Hogan, d 20/7/1954 wife of Michael. Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph all died young.

Luke Hogan, d 30/4/2002 age 73 yrs.

216

Thomas Brady, d 12/9/1926 age 6 yrs. Patricia, d 7/1/1933 age 4 1/2yrs. Their mother Rose Brady, d 9/5/1951 age 64 yrs. Their father Thomas Brady, d 28/11/1954 age 74 yrs.

217

Martin Farrell, d Jan.1908, his wife Margaret Farrell, d. 16/11/1915. George Lawlor, d. 30/5/1947. Robert – Bobby – Lawlor, d 6/3/1996 age 85 yrs. Part of older gravestone in front of above Martin Farrell, d 31/1/1908 and his wife Margaret, d 29/11/1915.

218

Our parents John Bell, d 24/10/1932 and Mary Bell, d 5/6/1950 and their son Patrick, d 8/7/1924 age 14 yrs.

219

Ed. Hughes, d 28/9/1878 and his wife Margaret, d 2/11/1882.

220

John Hickey who lived in the employment of the late Mr Laurence Carton of Poppintry (sic) who d. 25/1/1986 age 80 yrs.

221

Wife mother and grandmother Frances E Wyse (nee Foy), d 26/2/1997 age 83 yrs, late of Balseskin, Finglas. Her daughter Margaret (Margo), d 13/12/1953 age 4 yrs

143

11mths. Her father in law Christopher Wyse, d 23/5/1952. His sister Catherine (Kate) Wyse, d 21/8/1958, late of 47 Main St. Finglas. his parents-in-law Richard Hannon, d 16/121941. Their dead son Richard Hannon, d 17/7/1921, late of Baleseskin Finglas.

222

Teresa Kelly, d 31/5/1933, her husband James, d 3/1/1963 and their daughter Helen Doyle, d 20/5/1950 and Bartholomew Kelly, d 16/6/1929.

223

Anne Smyth, d 19/121923. James Smyth, d 27/5/1953 and their children Thomas and Anne Smyth who died in 1919. Late of 3 Tolka View Tce., Finglas Bridge. Their son George Smyth, d. 26/10/1995

224

Thomas Mooney, d 14/11/1963. Daughter May, d 1940. Son Canice, d 02/6/1996.

225

Mrs Elizabeth Willoughby, d 15/1/1888 age 60 yrs. Her husband William Willoughby of Gorey Co. Wexford, d 15/4/1872 age 59 yrs. Her mother Mary Flanagan of Prospect, Glasnevin, d 17/12/1877 age 90 yrs and her father George Flangan, d 3/31840 age 52 yrs.

226

Annie (Nan) Duffy, d 27/3/1979 age 73 yrs.

227

In memory of my husband Thomas Duffy, d 24/11/1947 age 45 yrs. His wife Eileen, d 19/10/1975

228

Patrick Hogan, Springmount Cottages, d 2/2/1939 age 77 yrs. Mary Hogan, d 3/3/1951 age 80yrs. Mary Dunne (nee Hogan), d 4/10/1940 age 32 yrs.

Grandchildren Kevin, John, May, Brendan and Michael.

229

John Newsome, d 21/9/1898 age 4 1/2 yrs.

230

William Fagan, d 6/3/1948. Jane Fagan, d 25/3/1979. Her uncle Thomas Reddy, d 25/12/1956.

231

Mary Fitzgerald (nee Reddy), d 5/10/1965. John Fitzgerald, d 29/3/1966. Christopher Fitzgerald, d 01/02/1974.

232

Susanna Lynch late wife of James Lynch of Capel St., Dublin, d 26/5/1774 age 37 yrs. Also two of her children. The above named James Lynch, d 29/5/1781 aged ?? (age buried under soil)

233

Patrick Brady, d 27/01/1956. Anne Brady, d 18/101992 and their infant children.

234

Erected by Redmond Barry in memory of his wife Elizabeth Barry who d. 3/4/1789 age 64 yrs in grateful remembrance of the late Redmond Barryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faithful services during 40 years. John Ledevefe Esq of the City of Dublin ordered the stone - - - (remainder under soil)

235

Erected by James Brady in memory of his wife Mary, d 26/12/1905 age 51 yrs and his infant daughters Brigid and Kathleen. Here also lies the remains of the above named James Brady who died 2/1/1930 age 87yrs. His daughter Anne, d 16/3/1947. Brigid, d

144

13/2/1948. Michael Brady, d 1008/1962. Alice Brady, d 31/1//1933. Lovie Love (sic), d 20/10/1955.

236

Francis Brady, d 10/7/1906 age 59 yrs and his mother Alice Brady, d 10/5/1926 age 76yrs.

Margaret Collin D (sic), d 18/11/1920 age 30yrs. Carmel Frances Collin D (sic), d 20/4/1921 age 9 mths. George Collin, d 13/4/1965 age 74yrs.

237

Bridget Christie, d 19/6/1941 age 62yrs. Patrick Christie, d 5/2/1952 age 70yrs. Mary Christie, d 23/3/1945 age 31yrs.

238

My parents Francis Lawlor, d 4/1/1943. Bridget Lawlor, d 11/1/1964, late of Tolka View Terrace, Finglas Bridge

239

Erected by his wife and brother in memory of Francis Hynes, d 25/10/1947.

240

Thomas Faris of Gardiners Place, d 15/11/1833 ? age 64yrs. Elizabeth Elenor Faris his wife, d 12/12/1822 ? age 58 ? yrs. end

145

THE CONTRIBUTORS Noel Cox, LLB LLM(Hons) MTheol(Hons) PhD Auckland MA Lambeth LTh Lampeter GradDipTertTchg AUT FRHistS FBS FIAAH, is Professor of Constitutional Law at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. His major field of research interest is aspects of the Crown, State, and sovereignty. His work has been published in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, and elsewhere. He has presented conference papers in many countries, and been a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge (Wolfson and St Edmund’s Colleges) and The Australian National University. He is a barrister. Professor Cox has been awarded the Advanced Certificate of The Heraldry Society for a dissertation on the Law of Arms. He was elected to Fellowship of the International Association of Amateur Heralds, and of the Royal Historical Society. Professor Cox has published many papers on heraldry, the Law of Arms, and on honours, ceremonial, the law of succession to the Crown, and peerage law, in heraldic, legal and other scholarly journals. One quarter respectively have been on personal heraldry, national and corporate heraldry, honours, and the law of arms.

John Hamrock is the author of Tracing Your Roscommon Ancestors, Flyleaf Press, Dublin, 2007. He also wrote, “1911 Census of Ireland Records Online,” Digital Genealogist magazine, November/December 2008 edition. He spoke at the Eighteenth Century Ireland Society’s annual conference at UCD in September 2009 on ‘Irish Augustinians in the Penal Times’ and is hoping to have this work published by a leading academic publication in Ireland. John is the founder of Ancestor Network Limited, http://www.ancestor.ie. Ancestor Network Limited was established to provide Irish family history research and to promote knowledge and learning of genealogy and heraldry in Ireland. He currently serves on the management committee of the Irish Genealogical Research Society – Irish Branch. He is also a member of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, the Irish Family History Society, the Association of Professional Genealogists, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the National Genealogical Society and the Society of Genealogists. He is a frequent speaker at genealogy and family history seminars and has been featured on radio programs on family history research in Ireland and the United States. John is a listed genealogical researcher by the National Archives of Ireland and the National Library of Ireland. He holds a Diploma and a Certificate in Genealogy/Family History (First Class Honours) from the National University of Ireland, UCD Dublin.

Jim Herlihy is certainly Ireland’s foremost authority on the history of Irish policing and especially, the history of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) whose publications are now standard reference works on the subject. A member of An Garda Síochána (Irish Police), Jim writes for historical society journals and is the author of ‘The Royal Irish Constabulary: A Short History and Genealogical Guide with a Select List of Medal Awards and Casualties’ (1997 & 2000); The Royal Irish Constabulary – a Complete Alphabetical List of Officers and Men, 1816-1922’ (1999); The Dublin Metropolitan Police – A Complete Alphabetical List of Officers and Men, 1836-1925’ (2001); ‘The Dublin Metropolitan Police: A Short History and Genealogical Guide’ (2001) and ‘Royal Irish Constabulary Officers – A Biographical and Genealogical Guide, 1816-1922’ (2005). In addition he has written for the ‘Garda Review’ and had articles published in the local and national press on aspects of the history of policing in Ireland. He has delivered numerous lectures on the subject to historical societies, including the Garda Síochána Historical Society. Undoubtedly, Jim’s extensive research into the history of Irish policing,

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especially prior to Irish independence, has provided historians with new material upon which to evaluate or to review aspects of Ireland’s sometimes turbulent past. Jim was appointed a Fellow of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in 2005 by Tony McCarthy, MA, FGSI, Society President, in recognition of his enormous contribution to the history of policing in Ireland and Irish genealogy. Jim lives in Ballicollig, Co. Cork with his wife Denise, daughter Rachel and son Colin.

Bartosz Kozlowski was born in Kraków, Poland in 1988. Kraków was for centuries the capital of Poland, the seat of her kings, drawing great scholars and artists from all over Europe and beyond. The city’s architecture and especially, its famous seats of learning, reflect the most important trends in European culture which both inspired and directed Bartosz’s interest in history. He attended the August Witkowski College in Kraków and excelled in English and French. He came to Ireland in 2008 like so many of his compatriots seeking work in Ireland’s once booming economy. He joined the Society in 2008 and was appointed to the Board of Directors as the Director of Internet Services and was re-elected at the 2009 Annual General Meeting. Bartosz has designed and built websites in Poland and Ireland, including the Society’s website www.familyhistory.ie As the youngest member of the Society, he was only two years of age when the Society was founded in 1990, Bartosz is new to genealogy and especially, to the publication of his work. His contribution on the links between his native Poland and Ireland represents his debut as a published author. He currently works as a freelance web designer and graphic artist in Dublin and is an active member of the Pembroke Fencing Club and the Salle Dublin Fencing Club.

Róisín Lafferty was born at Lattonfaskey Co Monaghan and educated at Our Lady's Secondary school (Convent of Mercy) Castleblayney. A former civil servant employed by Central statistics Office (Census of Population), Dublin, she retired on her marriage to become a full time home maker, afterwards occasionally employed as a Census enumerator.

An active member of the Genealogical Society of Ireland since 1992, she served on the Executive committee (DLGS) and the Board (GSI) and was a member of the organising committee for the ‘International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences’ held in Dublin Castle in 2002. She is a member of Dún Laoghaire Borough Historical Society and the Clogher Historical Society for a number of years. A history maker in her own right she was one of the first to obtain a ‘Genealogy’ certificate (UCD) and a Local History Diploma (NUI Maynooth). She also holds a Diploma in Family and Community History (OU), and continues with further education. An amateur family and local historian who specialises in both local and family research (counties Monaghan and Donegal) she has had much of her research published, including ‘A Commemorative History of a County Monaghan Primary School’. Currently a director of Lafferty Co., Accountants and Auditors, and Lafferty Accounting, (Dublin and Carrickmacross), she resides with her family for the last thirty years in Glenageary, Co Dublin and has four grown up children and one grandson.

Philip Lecane was born in Cork in 1953, the eldest of seven children of Philip and the late Eileen (née O’Brien) Lecane. He was educated at Christian Brothers College and University College Cork, attaining a B. Soc Sc degree. From childhood he had a love of history and reading. His interest in genealogy developed from a night class in Kilkenny in 1983. He settled in Dún Laoghaire in 1984. He subsequently joined the Dún Laoghaire Borough Historical Society and the Dún Laoghaire Genealogical Society (now the Genealogical Society of Ireland). He became a regular contributor to the journals of both societies and gave a number of talks to their members. Discovering that relatives from both his parents’ families fought in the First World War, he began researching Irish men and women who 147

served in the war. His findings have been published in the journals of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, the Dún Laoghaire Borough Historical Society, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association and in History Ireland. His book Torpedoed: The R.M.S. Leinster Disaster was published in 2005.

He chaired a committee that organised two very successful commemorative services for those who were lost on the Leinster and has been regularly interviewed on radio and television about the disaster. He is working on a second book, about Irish soldiers in Gallipoli. He has carried out initial research for a third book, about Irish Airmen in the First World War. A public servant, he is married to Kate (née Grant).

Seán M. Mac Brádaigh boasts of being a Ringsend-man. Born in 1932, he went to school at the Canon O’Hanlon Memorial National School, Sandymount, where the erudite, and often pedantic, Master Joseph Sheils instilled in him a love of the Irish language. The eldest of eight children Seán passed up secondary school in order to work and contribute to the family purse. In 1952 he joined An Forsa Cosanta, served for seven years and left to join An Garda Síochána. He married in 1960 and his wife Maura gave him four daughters and a son. He took up genealogy in 1961 and in pursuit of that interest also became expert in many ancillary subjects. On retirement he entered U.C.D. as a day-student where he read History, Archaeology, Early Irish Language and Literature. He graduated with a Special Degree in History in 1993. He contributed articles to Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne, of which he was a member since 1961, and latterly to Cumann Geinealais na hÉireann under whose auspices he published a book, ‘The Bradys of Cavan in history and genealogy’. Garda in-house magazines published many an article by him over the years together with some of his best poems and an odd one in Arklow Historical Society and the Dublin Historical Record. Some of his early Breifne material was under the name Seán Ó Raghallaigh MacBrádaigh and some of his poems under the pseudonym ‘The Ringsend Seanachie’.

Tony McCarthy is a graduate of University College Cork (BA: 1971; HDE: 1972; MA by major thesis: 1990). He taught English and History in Christian Brothers College, Cork, from 1972 to 2000, at which point he was promoted to Deputy Principal. In 1990 he wrote The Irish Roots Guide. This was followed in 1994 by The Ancestor Album (Lilliput) and, with Tim Cadogan, Tracing Your Cork Ancestors in 1998 (Flyleaf). His book The Facts of Death, a departure from genealogy, was published in 2006. With his wife Angela, he founded the quarterly Irish Roots magazine in 1992. He was editor and main feature writer from 1992 to 2006. During this period, 64 issues were published and a cumulative total of over 250,000 magazines sold. The magazine continues today under different ownership. He has lectured extensively on Irish genealogy both at home and abroad. In the autumn of 1998 he lectured in nine US cities in a tour organised by the Irish American Cultural Institute. The following year he gave a week-long seminar to the British Isles Family History Society in Los Angeles.

He has lectured at the Second, Third and Fourth Irish Genealogical Congresses. For many years, he gave week-long summer courses at the University of Limerick. Currently he is involved in UCC’s adult education programme. He is the founder of the Cork Genealogical Society and was elected President of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in 2005, a position which he retained until 2009. On his election to the Presidency of the Society, Tony was presented with his own specially designed coat-of-arms by the International Association of Amateur Heralds. The Arms were designed by Polish-Canadian herald, George Łucki, and painted by South African herald, heraldic artist and the recently appointed Honorary Herald of this Society, Andrew Tully.

Caroline McCall is a genealogist and writer based in Dublin specializing in Probate matters (she hold a Diploma in Trust and Estate Practiction (Law Society of Ireland) and also hold a 148

Diploma in Genealogy (UCD). She was formerly a District Court Clerk in the busy criminal courts at the Bridewell, Dublin. For a number of years she worked in the Information Service of the Central Statistics Office (Dip. Inf. Stud. TCD). Caroline gives occasional talks on Wills/Probate/Genealogy and runs a small genealogy company called Irish Ancestries with her husband Seoirse. She has had articles published in a number of journals and magazines including the Journal of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, Irish Roots Magazine, and Courts Service News.

Katrijne (Catherine) Merrigan was born in Turnhout (Belgium) in 1987. She obtained a Bachelor of Linguistics and Literature, and a Masters in Western Literature from the Catholic University of Leuven. Her research focused on the literary ties that linked George Eliot, Anthony Trollope and Matthew Arnold. She is currently pursuing educational studies at the Catholic University of Leuven and is actively involved in the university’s Drama Society.

Michaël Merrigan was born in Turnhout (Belgium) in 1984. He is currently a PhD researcher and teaching assistant (tutorials in International and European Human Rights Law) at the Institute for Human Rights (Faculty of Law) at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He obtained a Master’s degree in Law (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium), a Master’s Degree in Public International Law (Leiden University, Netherlands) and the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC, Italy/NUI Galway, Ireland). His previous research focused on the relationship between the concept of lawful warfare and charges of both war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case of deportation and forcible transfer (Leiden) and on the right to periodic review in cases of security detention (Venice/Galway).

Michael Merrigan is the General Secretary of the Genealogical Society of Ireland and a cofounder of the organisation which was established on October 25th 1990. He has served as Secretary of the Society since its foundation and as editor of its monthly newsletters, currently ‘Ireland’s Genealogical Gazette’. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society and member of the College of Fellows of the Society. He has written extensively on heritage matters, including legislation and government and local government policy. As a veteran campaigner for legislative reform in a number of areas, especially heritage and culture, he proposed and drafted amendments to a number of Bills including the Statistics Act, 1993 (amendment to reduce the period of closure of census records to seventy years, reversed to one hundred years on Report); Heritage Act, 1995; Freedom of Information Act, 1997; National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997 (successfully achieving circa twenty-eight amendments); Civil Registration Act, 2004 and he drafted the Genealogy and Heraldry Bill, 2006 which was sponsored by Senator Brendan Ryan and debated at Second Stage in December 2006. Recently he advised parliamentarians on the introduction of proposed legislation on a number of areas including the State’s delivery of heraldic services (National Cultural Institutions (Amendment) Bill, 2008) and the release of the 1926 Census of Ireland and the yet to be published Statistics (Heritage Amendment) Bill. He stood as a candidate in the Seanad Éireann General Election of 2007 as an Independent. He was a co-founder of the GRO Users’ Group in 1992 and of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO) in 1994 serving as the last Chairperson of the former and the first of the latter, for which, he drafted the CIGO constitution. As the co-founder of An Foram Oidhreachta (The Heritage Forum) in 1996 he proposed the formulation of ‘County Heritage Policies’ and the recruitment of ‘County Heritage Officers’ to implement the objectives of the Heritage Act, 1995 at local level and to engage the public in the protection of our heritage. He was the author of the report of An Foram Oidhreachta – ‘Towards a County Heritage Policy’ (1997),

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elements of which were adopted as State policy by Minister Síle de Valera, TD. He drafted the proposal which was adopted as the ‘Principle of Public Ownership & Right of Access’ by the Members of the Genealogical Society at its 1997 Annual General Meeting. This basic principle is now the ‘cornerstone’ of the public access policies of libraries and archives in Ireland. He served on the Strategic Policy Committees of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for over ten years and most recently on the SPC for Culture, Community Development & Amenities where he presented a comprehensive policy document on the protection of our Placenames Heritage. He has published numerous articles and made written submissions to public consultations on heritage matters, service delivery and public access.

He is a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies and the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (LSE). He holds a First Class Honours MA in Public Culture Studies (IADT). As a longtime community activist in Dún Laoghaire he served on a number of local committees and boards and is currently Chairman of Dún Laoghaire Town Football Club.

Séamus Moriarty is the current Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) of the Genealogical Society of Ireland. He was first elected to the governing body of the Society in 1998 becoming LeasChathaoirleach (Vice-Chairperson) a position he held until 2008 when he was elected Cathaoirleach. He was re-elected to the Society’s top executive position at the 2009 Annual General Meeting. Séamus’s interest in genealogy is augmented by a much wider interest in history and especially, military history. He is a member of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association, the Irish Georgian Society and the Old Dublin Society. He has visited many of the sites of the battles of the First World War both on the Western Front and Gallipoli. He has written many articles for the Society’s Journal and indeed, other publications. His genealogical interests centre on counties Wexford and Kerry. Always ready to get involved, Séamus has participated in many of the Society’s cemetery transcription projects both as a field-worker and a data imputer. He has been responsible for the Society’s Guest Speaker Programme for a number of years providing twelve excellent speakers for the Society’s Open Meetings each year. In 2009 he was appointed a Fellow of the Genealogical Society of Ireland by the President for his services to the Society. Séamus is a keen hill-walker and is a member of several Rambler Groups and knows the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains and other ranges in Ireland very well indeed. Séamus is a Community Development Officer with an Irish government agency based in north County Dublin.

Seán J. Murphy was born in Dublin in 1951 and lives with his family in Windgates, County Wicklow. He graduated BA in history and politics in UCD in 1977 and received an MA in history in 1981 from the same university in respect of a thesis on the eighteenth-century patriot Charles Lucas. Since graduation he has worked principally in the fields of genealogy, heraldry and history, dividing his time between teaching, research, writing and consultancy.

In 1989 he commenced teaching genealogy through the Adult Education programme in UCD and now gives a three year course leading to the award of a Certificate in Genealogy/Family History (Level 7 on the National Framework of Qualifications). Projects on which he has worked over the past three decades include reporting on the Westport House Papers for the Irish Manuscripts Commission, surveying manuscripts of northern relevance in this State for the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, providing background research for television and heritage projects, reporting on the pedigree of President Bill Clinton and providing staff training for the National Library of Ireland, and checking the pedigrees and arms of bona fide Irish chiefs for inclusion in the 107th Edition of Burke's Peerage. Seán has published a book entitled Twilight of the Chiefs: The Mac Carthy Mór Hoax and has had articles published in journals such as Parliamentary History, Eighteenth-Century Ireland, Familia, Analecta

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Hibernica and The Irish Genealogist. He has also contributed to magazines such as Irish Roots, History Ireland and Atavus and maintains a website commenting on various aspects of Irish genealogy and heraldry.

Barry O’Connor has been a member of the Society since 1991, a member of its governing body since 1992 and was appointed a Fellow of the Society for services to genealogy in Ireland. He is currently the Director of Cemetery Projects and has planned and executed the transcription of the memorial inscriptions in over twenty-five cemeteries in the Dublin and Kildare region since 1993. Barry and his dedicated team of transcribers have recorded thousands of memorials for publication by the Society. Starting with Deansgrange Cemetery in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, the first volume ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Deansgrange Cemetery – South West Section’ was published in 1994; Volume 2 - Lower North Section in 1996; Volume 3 – Upper North Section in 1998; Volume 4 - South Section in 2000 and finally Volume 5 – West Section in 2002. Nearing the completion of the older sections of Deansgrange, Barry decided to record the smaller cemeteries in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown such as Barringtons Burial Ground, Blackrock College, Dominican Covent Dún Laoghaire, Glencullen Old, Kilternan (Church of Ireland), Loughlinstown, Old Connaught, Rathmichael (Old Church), Saint Brigid’s (Church of Ireland) and Tully Graveyard which were published as Volume 1 of the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown’ in 2000. This was followed by the transcription of the Friends Burial Ground in Temple Hill, Blackrock which was published as Volume 2 in 2003. Barry’s team then moved on to the cemetery at the Carmelite Monastery, Carrickbrennan Cemetery, Kill of the Grange Graveyard and Sion Hill Cemetery which were published in 2005 as Volume 3. In 2006 he published the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin’ with over 1,100 headstones mainly of British and Commonwealth military personnel. Barry and his team have also recorded the Memorial Inscriptions in the Jewish Cemetery at Dolphin’s Barn in Dublin which has yet to be published. In 2008 he published the ‘Memorial Inscriptions of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Vols. 1-3’ on CD and in 2009 another CD ‘Memorials of Military Personal stationed in Ireland’ This CD records the details of the headstones in three cemeteries used by British Army personnel and their families at the Curragh Military Cemetery, Co. Kildare, which opened in 1868. The last recorded military burial there was in 1921. It also includes the Royal Hibernian Military School Graveyard in the Phoenix Park and the Arbour Hill Military Cemetery located behind Collins Barracks in Stoneybatter, Dublin, which was closed in 1879. It is better known to day as the last resting place of fourteen of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. Barry and his team specially recorded the Memorial Inscriptions of St. Canice’s Cemetery in Finglas in north County Dublin for this Festschrift as some of Liam Mac Alasdair’s ancestors are interred in this cemetery. Barry teaches in Dún Laoghaire College of Further Education, where another member of the staff is Brian Smith, a renowned Local Historian, has greatly assisted Barry on the cemetery projects over the years. Barry was responsible for all the carpentry / joinery work undertaken during the restoration of the Martello Tower at Seapoint, Co. Dublin. Barry worked very closely with Liam Mac Alasdair on the Tower project and continues to do so in the production of the volumes of the memorial inscriptions. In addition to his cemetery work, Barry also looks after all of the orders received for the Society’s publications and its Journal Exchange Programme.

David, The O Morchoe [Ó Murchú] was born in Dublin in 1928 and brought up in India and Wexford. Educated at Aravon School Bray (1939-41) and St Columba’s College, Dublin, (1941-46) and Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (1947-48) and was commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers 1948. He served in Suez Canal Zone, Gibraltar, Germany, and Kenya; Commanding Officer 1968/69. He held various staff appointments at Brigade level including

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with the UN in Cyprus 1964. Instructor at the UK Staff College (1969-71); Attended the Royal College of Defence Studies. London 1972 and commanded a Brigade based in UK 1972-73; Brigadier Staff appointment in BAOR (Germany) 1974-75; Commanded the Sultan of Oman’s Land Forces 1976-79; Retired 1979. Decorations; Member of the Order of the British Empire, MBE (for service while a major on the staff of a Brigade in 1967); Commander of the Order of the Bath, CB (for service while in command of the Sultan of Oman’s Land Forces, 1979). He returned to Wexford, Ireland in 1979. Farmed sheep till 1995. He has engaged in various voluntary activities since then; Involved with Concern Universal as an employee in 1980/81 and on a voluntary basis as a Council member from 1984 till 2006. He was a Fellow (Governor) St. Columba’s College for twenty-four years (from 1984) and Chairman for ten years. He is a Member of the Church of Ireland General Synod 1993-2003; Representative Church Body 1994-3004. He has been involved with exBritish Services organisations from 1987; Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen’s Families Association (Forces Help), Chairman, now President; President Royal British Legion since 2000. (He was elevated to Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE (for services to the ex-British Service in Ireland. 2007). He is a member of the Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains and a Member of the Order of the Friendly Brothers of St Patrick, Grand President 2002-2008. His hobbies include; Sailing (active cruising); Sport generally (passive), involvement with ex-service organisations in Ireland and with promoting British/Irish relations. The O Morchoe was appointed to the position of Vice-President and Fellow of the Society in December 2009. He lives near Gorey, Co. Wexford with his wife Margaret (née Brewitt of Cork) and has two sons, Dermot and Kevin, and a daughter, Maureen, and nine grandchildren living in Ireland.

Séamus O’Reilly was appointed to the position of Archivist by the Board of the Society in 2005 following the retirement of Archivist and co-founder of the Society, Frieda Carroll, FGSI, who had built up the archival collections over the previous fifteen years. Since taking over the position he has concentrated on the computerization and sorting of the collections including the sizeable manuscript collection. Séamus planned and directed the successful relocation of the archival collections from the Martello Tower at Seapoint to their current location at 111, Lower George's Street, Dún Laoghaire in 2008. He instituted procedures for the secure storage and the speedy retrieval of items for research. The experience gained in a number of government departments has driven Séamus’s careful and methodical reorganization of the Society’s Archive. As the Archive continues to grow, Séamus has embarked on an ambitious plan to scan and upload to the website all the articles published in the Society’s Journals and to have an on-line catalogue of all the collections. In November 2009, Séamus was appointed a Fellow of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in recognition of his sterling achievements in the Society’s Archive and for his services to genealogy.

James Scannell lives in Shankill, Co. Dublin and is a member of several local history societies, including holding the position of Public Relations Officer of the Old Dublin Society which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. He is a regular presenter of talks to local history societies and has presented a number of talks to the Genealogical Society of Ireland in the past. He contributes articles on local and national heritage news matters each month to ‘Ireland’s Genealogical Gazette’ and annually to the Journal of this Society in addition to compiling a weekly ‘Event Diary’ of local history society meetings which is broadcast on several radio stations in the Dublin and North Wicklow areas. He is also Honorary Irish Correspondent for ‘Local History News’ published by the British Association for Local History four times a year. He is currently writing a history of the Bray District Command Local Defence Force.

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Rory J. Stanley was elected as the third President of the Genealogical Society of Ireland by the College of Fellows in May 2009 taking over from Tony McCarthy, MA FGSI, who held the position since 2005. Prior to Tony’s election there had been a gap of five years since the death of the Society’s first President, Denis, O Conor Don (1991-2000). Rory joined the Society in 1995 and on January 4th 1996 the Executive Committee of the then Dún Laoghaire Genealogical Society nominated him to succeed the late Joe McKeever as LeasChathaoirleach of the Society. Joe had died very suddenly on Wednesday 11th October 1995 and was very sadly missed by all. Little did Rory realize at the time of his nomination that he would be required to take the helm of the Society from the outset due to the business commitments of the then Cathaoirleach, Senan McGrath. Therefore, it was hardly a surprise to anyone that Rory was elected unopposed to the position of Cathaoirleach of the Society at the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 8th October 1996. In March of 1997 after much campaigning the Society was allocated the Martello Tower at Seapoint by the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and for the next seven years much of Rory’s time was devoted to realizing the foremost objective of the Society securing a permanent home for its operations. This involved fund raising and planning the restoration and refurbishment of the Martello Tower with Project Director, Liam Mac Alasdair. During the first three years under Rory’s direction, the Society consolidated its position as a national rather than a local organisation culminating in the adoption of its current name in 1999. The Society became an incorporated body under the Irish Companies Acts in November 2000 and just in time for the millennium it received a Grant of Arms from the Chief Herald of Ireland, Mr. Brendan O’Donoghue, at a wonderful ceremony held in the County Hall in July 2001. The previous year Rory marked the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the Society with the planting of an Irish oak on Killiney Hill on Weds. 25th October 2000 also in remembrance of our late President Denis, O Conor Don who died that summer. Rory’s accounting expertise was placed at the disposal of the Society as he undertook the duties of Hon. Treasurer for a number of years in conjunction with that of Cathaoirleach. Rory represented the Society at many national and international events during his eleven terms as Cathaoirleach. He stepped down at the 2008 Annual General Meeting to be succeeded by Séamus Moriarty, FGSI. At Rory’s inauguration as President of the Society on Tuesday December 8th 2009, he was presented with his own specially designed coat-of-arms by the International Association of Amateur Heralds. The Arms were designed by English herald, Melvyn Jeremiah and painted

by South African herald, heraldic artist and the recently appointed Honorary Herald of this Society, Andrew Tully.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As Editor of this Festschrift I would like to thank the production team, Michael Merrigan for gathering the articles, George H. O’Reilly for the layout and pagemaking and Frank Lee Cooper for the design of the cover. I would also like to thank the Cathaoirleach and Board of the Genealogical Society of Ireland for affording me this wonderful opportunity to produce a Festschrift in honour of Liam Mac Alasdair, FGSI. Rory J. Stanley, FGSI Editor 153

CLOSING MESSAGE FROM AN CATHAOIRLEACH It is certainly a great personal pleasure to conclude this wonderful Festschrift in honour of Liam Mac Alasdair by thanking all the contributors for their fine articles, many of which will greatly add to corpus of published material in the subjects concerned.

People involved in voluntary and community activity would often fall into two categories – those whose skills would be in planning, organising, delegating and those who much prefer to work on the coal face with sleeves rolled up. Any voluntary effort should ideally have both skill sets if success in the longer term, is to be achieved.

Liam Mac Alasdair has managed to bridge both. He felt quite at home in planning the restoration of the Martello Tower for our Society and as Editor of our Journal. But my own lasting memory comes from a time when I felt embarrassed into doing my bit, when the Tower project was nearing completion, so I took up a paint brush and got stuck in. I do recall Liam remarking on my unusual ability, to him anyway, of me attracting as much paint to every inch of my upper body as I applied to the ceiling that I was endeavouring to decorate. During the restoration project, my abiding recollection of Liam is of him perched on a narrow plank of wood, which itself was precariously balanced on top of the banister of the spiral staircase, as he applied paint to a near inaccessible part of the wall. We should all thank God that he, and his wife Máire, whom he also inveigled to take up the brush beside him, survived to tell the tale.

The Tower project was a truly remarkable story. Taking a shell of a building dating from 1804 which had not been used for any purpose for over 20 years and restoring it for use by the community, and all done on a tiny budget, should be an example to other agencies as to how to make a €uro go a long way.

Without doubt, the County of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has been provided with a remarkable heritage asset through Liam’s hard work, tenacity and ingenuity – well done Liam.

I feel greatly honoured to have worked with Liam and to accept his advice on a range of areas from construction to IT to editorial issues. I am tempted, but won’t, use that much hackneyed ‘Ní fheicimid a leithead arís’, but certainly he is a rare animal and unfortunately getting rarer. So, on behalf of the all the Members and Friends of the Society, and as Cathaoirleach of the Society, I proudly proclaim ‘Sláinte Bhrea Mhic Alasdair’ Séamus Moriarty, FGSI. Cathaoirleach, Genealogical Society of Ireland 0

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