Who Dares to Speak Of... the Irish in WWI

Who dares to speak of... the Irish in WWI

ISSUE 34 SUMMER 2016 www.irishlivesremembered.com

Issue 34 Summer 2016

Publisher Eneclann Genealogy Magazine Joint Editors Eileen Munnelly & Shane Fitzsimons Welcome to the Summer 2016 edition of Irish Lives Remembered, and Email: [email protected] we are casting our eyes over the Irish involvement in the First World Design/Production Manager War – a commemoration that has been marked here in Ireland with a Michael Munnelly passionate intensity not before seen. It’s now 100 years since the Somme offensives began on the fields of Editorial Contributors Flanders – a series of attacks that today seem utterly futile, terrifying, In Ireland and bloody. Even then, in the realms of the past that seem from this Paul MacCotter, Brian Donovan, Helen Moss, distance so naive and hopeful, they must have seemed insanely point- Fiona Fitzsimons, Shane Fitzsimons, Damian less – or pointedly insane. Sometimes it seems as if the only winners Shiels, Ned Kelly, Nora White and John Dorney in the war were the handful of poets and artists whose rejection of the barbarity of the Front offers us a rare glimpse of humanity in the In the U.K. trenches. Jayne Shrimpton The General In America By Siegfried Sassoon Maureen Wlodarczyk “Good-morning, good-morning!” the General said In New Zealand When we met him last week on our way to the line. Geraldene O’Reilly Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead, Advertising And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine. Tommy Martin “He's a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack [email protected] As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. But he did for them both by his plan of attack. Write to: Eneclann So what’s in this issue of Ireland’s top genealogy magazine? Well, if 5 Whitefriars your ancestors took part in the First World War, there are probably Aungier Street many stories to tell - and my favourite story is told by Damien Shiels, Dublin 2, Ireland who uncovered the stories of the Irish brides who fell in love with and tel: + 353 1 671 0338 married US servicemen in Ireland in 1917. It’s an amazing story - and if fax: + 353 1 671 0281 we happen to mention your grandparents, please drop a line a tell us. email: [email protected] Still with the war, John Dorney chips away at the ever-changing place www.irishlivesremembered.com of the Great War in Irish memory and culture; Geraldene O’Reilly charts the fortunes of a band of Irish brothers from New Zealand; and Irish Lives Remembered Helen Moss delves into the family history of Harry Potter and Dr Who actor David Tennant - and finds grim tales of the Somme. @irishlives Brian Donovan meets Neville Isdell, who has opened the doors to EPIC Irish Lives Remembered Genealogy Magazine is published quarterly by Eneclann Ltd. No part of Ireland - Ireland’s Diaspora Centre, located on the quays of Dublin in this publication may be reproduced, stored in a the CHQ Centre. I guarantee it will be your first port of call when you retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by arrive in Ireland for that family holiday you’ve been promising yourself any means without written permission from the - and Neville explains why EPIC Ireland is integral to the Irish experi- publisher. ence everywhere. Opinions and comments expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. All prices and Eneclann genealogists Fiona Fitzsimons and Helen Moss met the Vice rates are correct at time of going to press but are President of the USA and held his family spellbound with tales of their subject to change. While every effort has been people from Mayo and the Cooley Peninsula. They talk about their made to ensure that all information contained in this publication is factual and correct at time of days on the road with Joe Biden. Dr Paul MacCotter continues his going to press. Eneclann Limited cannot be held work, tracing the great surnames of Ireland and revealing where they responsible for any inadvertent errors or omissions sprang from. In this issue, he looks at the O’Brien clan. From the USA, contained herein. Copyright @2016 Eneclann Ltd., Maureen Wlodarczyk tells us how to get started on that hoard of All rights reserved. photos you have stashed in your attic.

Finding and interpreting World War 1 records on Findmypast

To mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, the military records experts at Findmypast have rounded up some of their most commonly asked World War 1 questions to help you with your family history research. Q: Did my ancestor fight in the Battle of the Somme? A: Have a look in our millions World War 1 records and you may find them. Start by clicking ‘Search’ at the top of the screen on the homepage, select the ‘Military service & conflict’ category to be brought to the search page, where you can enter your ancestor’s details and start your search.

Q: I can't find my ancestors in the military Somme will give you the answer, but you records. What now? should be easily able to find that online via a Google search. A: You may have a lot of information on your ancestor's military career, such as their Q: I have all my grandfather's original mili- soldier number or regiment. However, you tary documents how do I find out where he should always start your search as broad as was actually stationed and when? possible and then narrow down. Often, A: Our collection of British Army Service starting with just a name with both "Name Records will probably be your best bet. They Variants" boxes ticked is a good place to should reveal where he was stationed and start. when. A number were destroyed by a fire in Q: Where can I find information on Com- 1940 though. monwealth soldiers involved in the Battle of Q: There are lots of people with similar the Somme? names to my ancestor in the military records. How do I find out which one is right? A: Start with the list of divisions that took part and then break down the component parts A: It's just a case of narrowing down where to see which units formed those divisions. he signed up or where he lived, cross- Martin Middlebrook's The First Day on the referencing with any other records you have. You could try seeing if you can find Q. I still can't find my British Army ancestor. any information in our historic newspapers, which often include information on local A: A significant portion (about 60%) of British soldiers. Army Service Records were destroyed in a fire after bombing in 1940. It could be that Q: My father was injured on the Somme and your ancestor's record was in these "burnt was repatriated to England. How can I trace records". Remember, a record keeper may his medical record? well have misheard a recruit, so always try doing a "wildcard" search to check for simi- A: His service records may well include that lar names. information. Many of our British Army Service Records include medical reports, sometimes including all the injuries a soldier received and the hospitals he was treated at.

www.findmypast.ie The VP comes home

Vice president of the USA Joe Biden meets the locals on garden street balling, where his ancestors lived

In April 2016 I was invited to a private meeting, and asked to prepare a family history for Vice NewNew research:research: President Biden, in advance of his trip to Ire- The evidence was sparse and we tried out land. some new research methods to start research. The Vice President wanted to  nd out anything more about his family’s earliest origins, to iden- Finnegans: tify what place(s) they were connected to, In the Cooley Peninsula, in Louth, Finnegan is and if possible – to trace any living relatives in one of the most frequently occurring names in Ireland. the district. One local wag told me: “throw a stone around here, and you’ll hit a Finnegan.” Security was an issue, so discretion was im- We undertook the painstaking work of tran- portant. To ensure I could complete the re- scribing all Finnegan baptisms and marriages search-work before the visit, I enlisted my col- between 1811 and 1855, and then separat- league Helen Moss, one of the more notable ed them out into distinct family groups, and genealogists in Ireland. mapped them by townland address. We were given the Vice President’s own family We compared these family groups with the im- history  les, and a published article by Ameri- migrant ancestors – Owen and Jean Finnegan can genealogist Megan Smolenyak. The immi- that left Ireland in the Famine. One of the  rst grant ancestors to the U.S. were clearly iden- things we found was a chain of migration from ti ed as the VP’s great x2 grandfather Owen Cooley in county Louth, to Seneca county in Finnegan of Louth, and, on another line, the upstate New York. We soon realised that VP VP’s great-x3 grandfather Edward Blewitt at Biden’s ancestor Owen Finnegan and his wife one time living in Ballina county Mayo. Jean, did not emigrate alone. We consulted U.S. records from 1850 to the 1920s. The U.S. records, the census especially, are more complete than the Irish records. We consulted church parish records; county deaths; Civil War Pension  les; wills and pro- bate records; and local newspapers. We enlisted the help of a local genealogist in upstate New York - Linda Templer Alexander – to help us map the Finnegan dead in Holy Cross Cem- etery, Seneca county. The Irish marriage pro- posal, “do you want to be buried with my family?” is no joke! We gathered evidence to document the Fin- negan family down to the ‘granular’ level, and found that between 1847 and 1855 the VP’s great x 2 grandfather Owen Finnegan settled in Seneca county with his brother John; cousins – brothers George, Richard and James Finneg- an; and another cousin Patrick Finnegan, who brought his widowed father Hugh (born ca. 1780) to America. We also found living relatives in county Louth. Owen Finnegan’s mother was Mary Kearney Helen Moss of Eneclann with Joe Biden of Templetown. We traced the Kearney family back in time to before 1770. We then ‘de- Blewitt: scended’ the line bringing it forward in time to We researched the Blewitt family in Tirawley, the present day to trace Kearney cousins. Turns county Mayo. The Blewitt’s were reputed to out, in the last 250 years, the Kearneys of Will- come from the parish of Ardagh, but exam- ville have only moved 1 mile! The sea-air must ining the maps and rentals we found no evi- suit them. dence they were ever there. By the 1820s we found a cluster of Blewitt families situated in three adjoining parishes in north Mayo. We noticed unusual names recurring among children of different Blewitt families. It’s probable that all these families have a common root, but their common ancestor predates 1760, and can’t be documented. To steal a line, from Wittgenstein Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. Instead we focused on tracing what we could of the VP’s direct ancestor, his great x3 grandfather Edward Blewitt. Edward was said to have been a land survey- or. Many people had suggested the Ordnance Survey, but up to this point nobody had found documentary evidence to prove it. Over a number of weeks we pieced together evidence found in the archives to document Edward Blewitt’s career. Between 1836 and 1839 Edward worked for the Ordnance Survey. In 1845 he surveyed buildings for the Valuation Of ce. (*the Valuation Of ce House Books will be published next month). In what was surely the luckiest archival  nd of Just like their ancestral family, the Blewitts, who the year, we found a letter in Edward Blewitt’s crossed the Atlantic in 1851, Vice President Bid- own hand, written to a clerk in Dublin Castle! en travelled to Ireland with his extended family; his sister Valerie; his brother Jim and sister-in-law In 1848 Edward found work as an overseer of Sarah; daughters Ashley and Missy; and  ve public works for Ballina Union. It would not have grandchildren. been easy work and Edward would have seen the worst of the effects of the Famine as the The extended Biden family were the audience union workhouse built only to accommodate that every professional genealogist hopes for. 1,200 had to cater for three times that number. They were interested, asked shrewd questions and picked up on even the smallest details. In 1851 we found the entire Blewitt family Afterwards The Embassy took some formal pho- aboard the Excelsior S.S. bound for Amerikay! tos, and Helen and I took informal sel es with Evidence in the ship’s manifest, indicated that the VP. The formalities over, I joined the U.S. Edward’s son Patrick Blewitt (the VP’s great-x2 Vice President’s party on a road-trip around grandfather) had travelled to America the Ireland. year before, to establish a ‘bridge-head.’ The family settled in Scranton Pennsylvania, Over the next days I met an extraordinary mix where they worked in the mining industry. Ed- of people, from a range of different back- ward Blewitt (1795-1872) as a weigh-master in grounds. Conversations revealed a much big- the Oxpond Mines, his son Patrick Blewitt (1832- ger canvas of the world, but even from my 1911) as a ‘mine-inspector.’ Interestingly, Pat- vantage point on a small island in the North rick ensured that his own son Edward F. Blewitt Atlantic, recognisably the same place. Thank received a College education – he graduated you Anna, Rachel, the two Sams, Leigh, the as a Civil Engineer. two Meghans, Caroline, Kevin, Mark & Kristin, for a different perspective and for greatly add- Around Ireland with VP Biden’s party ing to my enjoyment of the trip. On the morning of Wednesday June 22nd Hel- By Day 3, the road-trip turned into an endur- en Moss and I were brought to the U.S. Am- ance test. I felt like the fairies had run away with bassador’s residence in the Phoenix Park, to me. I knew what Wellington meant when he present the Vice President with his Irish family said ‘make water while you can’ and I would history. The National Library and National Ar- add to that, ‘eat as you go.’ chives provided some original documents and In Louth, I shook hands with Vice President Joe, some copies as visuals to support my presenta- and his brother Jim Biden one last time, and tion. got back on the bus to go home.

Fiona Fitzsimons and Joe Biden

“We are Family at the Irish Family History Centre!”

Genealogy is a very personal journey and one that generally requires some assistance to get started or to keep moving in the right direction. Visitors to the centre have varying degrees of knowledge from those who are looking to have a brick wall in their research tumble with our experts help, to those who simply know that a great grandparent came from Ireland. The title of this article comes from one of our Tripadvisor reviews - and it is repre- sentative of the level of customer service and assistance that the Irish Family His- tory Centre is providing. Since the  rst visitor was welcomed on May 7 this year, it has been rewarding (and at times emotional) watching them with hopeful eyes discover their family’s past. Recently a lady was thrilled to be shown that she had actually been married in the same church as her great grandparents. Visitors looking to begin researching can use touch- screen displays and information panels that show not only the number of households of a particular surname in counties and parishes during the 19th Century, but also the various records that can be searched to unlock the past.

The next step is to use our work- stations where Find My Past can hopefully unlock further details of Irish ancestors. Even a small amount of research before visiting will assist and it doesn’t have to be compli- cated. The names and where people may have been married or the approximate year of birth can start the investiga- tion.

The team in the centre shares the feelings of joy and satisfac- tion as somebody  nds a great grandparent - for example on the United States census - and we can assist them note details that can unlock the previ- ous generation.

This is an exciting new adventure for all of us at the centre Our genealogy experts and so far we have had visitors from not only Ireland but are on duty seven days a the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, week for a consultation. They are in a position to South Africa and Argentina. The Irish have dispersed across provide tips on where to the globe over the centuries and as their descendants look continue your research or to  nd their roots it is important that they have a starting show you how to validate point when they visit Ireland. your investigations to date. Every visitor to the centre is I believe the following Tripadvisor review sums it up better also given a free month’s than I could so I will leave the last word to a visitor: subscription to Find My Past World and www.irish- “I only had the  rst and last name of my Grandfather... Who familyhistorycentre.com. was not even born in Ireland!!!! However, Claire and Patrick With the advice received at the Irish Family History Centre took the challenge with and tools provided we aim big smiles on their faces. Soon they had  gured out who in to allow visitors continue my heritage actually was Irish, and got me on the correct on the journey to discover their past. path.” Aggregate, authenticate, organise!

Genealogist Maureen Wlodarczyk makes the case for setting your your hoard of old photos in order. Perhaps you’ve done it already - but we doubt it. And now you’ve no excuse

Long before the birth of pho- Many of the sitters who look tography in the 1830s, people out at us from those old CDVs wanted to have images of and cabinet cards with aus- those they loved that could tere, unsmiling faces seem be carried around with them. to say that the experience of That demand was most often having your photograph tak- met by artisans who created en was anything but pleasant. miniature portraits painted on Much of that apparent angst delicate ivory wafers or silhou- was simply the result of the ette portraits skillfully cut from requirement that the sitter re- paper. main absolutely still for several minutes during the photogra- By the mid-1800s daguerreo- phy process. types, ambrotypes, tintypes, and albumen prints created The role and reach of pho- access to ‘modern’ photogra- tography was transformed phy for the general popula- in the 1880s when New Jer- tion, allowing individuals and sey’s own Reverend Hannibal families to sit for portraits at W Goodwin invented cellu- local studios. Carte de visites loid  lm and his competitor (‘CDVs’) and cabinet cards, Maureen’s grandmother George Eastman developed photographs printed on thin Catherine Whalen ca. 1925 the  rst Kodak personal cam- paper mounted on thicker pa- era. per stock, were all the rage. In no time, photography became an activity the photos that had belonged to both of my accessible to the mainstream population. As grandmothers. I decided it was time for me to fascinated as Americans were with their cam- go through all of them, one by one, the objec- eras, some expressed a concern about the risk tive being to label them, put the best and most to personal privacy posed by strangers snap- important of them into albums, and decide ping away in public places without the permis- what to do with those I could not identify. sion of their subjects. For almost two months, my dining room table The term ‘camera  end’ was soon coined to was buried in piles of photos spanning at least describe those who would today be called seven decades of the 20th Century. It began ‘paparazzi’ - and just like today, some of those with random piles of photos dumped on the who fell prey to those camera ‘ ends’ took table from shoeboxes and large manila enve- the situation into their own hands, wresting the lopes or peeled off the pages of old, non-ar- camera away from its owner and smashing it chival albums. (Yes, some of those old albums on the ground. were the kind with the deadly sticky adhe- sive pages.) As part of the project, I also went For anyone doing genealogy research, having through all the childhood photos of my own old family photos can be a real gift — especial- children — school pictures included. ly if the photos include a notation giving the name of the sitter. Having a pile of unmarked I slowly sorted the mountains of photos by fam- old photos that no one can identify is not much ily branch, putting duplicates aside and even- better than having none at all. tually passing those on to my cousins. It was daunting, a lot of work, and a slow-go. More than once I wished I hadn’t started such a te- dious project and wondered if I would ever  n- ish... but I did.

Maureen’s grandmother and father in Larino, Italy, in 1928

If you haven’t done it already, now is the time to pull out those old black-and-white and col- Maureen’s mum in 1946 our snapshots,  ip them over, and make note of the people, places, and occasions captured in When I  nally  nished, I had a paternal album those photos. that began with 1920s photos of my Italian im- migrant grandparents and included the pass- This was made very clear to me recently during ports and ship paperwork that brought them the last months of my mother’s life. to the United States along with many precious I had possession of what had been my moth- mementos of their lives in Italy and as new er’s collection of family photos, along with Americans. Likewise, I had a maternal album that included own version of a digni ed death by cremation: so many wonderful photos of my young moth- I put them through the paper shredder and re- er from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s along with duced them to  ne wisps of paper ‘ashes.’ little treasures like her Sunday school attend- ance awards.

I made albums for each of my sons contain- ing photos of them from their newborn days through their teenage years. I also made another album with photos of my husband’s parents and extended Polish family. It wasn’t a perfect job but it ensured that our family photos were organised and ready to be passed on to future generations.

After I closed the last album and put it up on the shelf in the closet, I was left with a dilemma. There was still one small stack of photos on the dining room table — the ‘unidenti ed’ — people I did not recognize (nor did anyone else I asked) and out-of-focus shots beyond recog- nition.

Maureen with Santa at Macy’s 34th Street in 1954

I knew I had made every effort to reconnect them to our family history and only wished that, years ago, someone had taken a pencil and scribbled their names on the backs of those photos. We sometimes lament that our young people are not more interested in family history and the stories of the people whose lives literally made our own possible. One thing we ‘mature’ folks can do is to prepare those stories, photos, and mementos for the handoff to our children and grandchildren. Aggregate, cull, sort, label, document, and organise now. It will make sharing your ancestors easier for you and more interesting and cohe- sive for them. A shoebox full of loose photos Maureen’s uncle in 1925 can’t tell a compelling story. In this age of digi- tal photography and email, it is more important Having been happily up to my elbows in gene- than ever to preserve the paper remnants of alogy and historical research for over 30 years, the past so that the stories and faces familiar to I could not bear the thought of throwing them us will be known to future generations. in the trash or the paper recycling bin. I vacil- This article  rst appeared in Garden State Legacy lated and then  nally decided to give them my magazine (www.gardenstatelegacy.com) Photographs of the nineteenth century Most of our family photographs dating back to the 19th century were taken by commercial photographers, since few households were lucky enough to have their own cameras until at least the 1910s or 1920s, some much later. Occasionally we may inherit an early outdoor scene taken by a professional street or itinerant photographer, but usually during the 1800s if our ancestors wanted to be photographed, they booked an appointment with a local studio and would visit at the appointed time, generally decked out in their ‘Sunday best’ clothing, to create the best possible impression. The end result was a formal, contrived portrait in an arti cial setting - like this example. By Jayne Shrimpton

Strangely, early photographs like this picture of an unidenti ed young man can often be dated more accurately than later snapshots de- picting more recent relatives. Studio photographers used the standard, recognisable formats of the time – generally card-mounted photographs in the form of neat cartes de visite, like this print (most popular 1860s-1880s), or larger cabinet cards (more fashionable in the 1890s/ early-1900s).

Most photographers printed their name and address on the card mount and, helpfully, this information can enable researchers to discover approximately when they were in business. Unfortunately there is no freely searchable, dedicated photographer website or database covering all of Ireland, but it is always worth doing a general internet search for the studio name or name/address, to see what arises.

In this case, a search unearthed several random links that together con rmed that this studio was operational at least during the 1880s. In addition, the excellent book A Century in Focus: Photography and Photographers in the Armagh Portrait front North of Ireland, 1839-1939 by W.A. Maguire Photograph courtesy of www.cartedevisite.co.uk (2000) states that: ‘The custom of Armagh in the 1880s was largely in the hands of W.J. Hunt- er, whose Armagh Portrait Company was at 19, Scotch Street.’

Card mount characteristics can also aid dating, the rounded corners of this mount indicating a year of at least the late-1870s: prior to this, card mounts invariably had square corners. The style and arrangement of the printing is also rel- evant: the elaborate printed design on the reverse here, featuring diagonal lettering, ornate capitals and delicate  ligree decoration, occurred most frequently during the 1880s.

Finally, turning to the visual image, we notice the close-up three-quarter length composi- tion of the subject that was most typical of the 1870s and 1880s, while the appearance of this dapper young man narrows the time frame down nicely to the early-mid 1880s. He wears a regular three-piece lounge suit, its slender cut and the small, high jacket lapels indicating a relatively late-century date.

Most signi cant is the shape of his stylish bowler hat, the jauntily-curled brim and relatively low crown con rming a date before or around the mid-1880s. After 1885, men’s bowler hat crowns grew very tall, echoing the towering female Armagh Portrait reverse Photograph courtesy of www.cartedevisite.co.uk headwear of the period.

Photographed c.1880-85, sadly we don’t know who this young man was, unless any Irish Lives Remembered readers happen to recognise him as an ancestor – a long shot!

Despite his natty appearance, he is quite likely to have been an ordinary working man, for our young, unmarried ancestors liked to follow fashion and, if earning a regular wage, by the later 1800s could generally afford a few good clothes and accessories. Usually formal studio photographs were taken to record a special occasion and we might surmise that this fellow visited the photographer to mark his 21st birth- day.

Early photography represented cutting-edge technology By Brian Donovan

EPIC Ireland is the newly established ground zero for those interested in  nding out more about their roots in Ireland. Located in the CHQ building on Dublin’s north quays, EPIC Ireland is a state of the art interactive attraction which appeals equally to adults researching their past and children seeking either entertainment or historical diversion. Founded by Neville Isdell, the Irish-born former CEO and chairman of Coca-Cola, and his step-brother Mervyn Green, the diaspora visitor centre is seeking a place among the top visitor attractions in Ireland while simultaneously streamlining genealogical research. Brian Donovan spoke to both men about their upbringing in Ireland and Africa, and their motivations for embarking on the Epic Ireland journey.

Neville Isdell with his grandson and former president Mary Robinson at the opening I wanted to talk about your back- Neville: Absolutely. We spent four days on a grounds, I mean your childhood; tell train travelling 2,000 miles from Cape Town up to Lusaka - we had to stop everywhere to get me about growing up in Downpatrick. coal and water and of course there were tribal Neville: My family was in Downpatrick because people alongside the train trying and sell you of the Second World War. My father was a things. And we did see some game, some ele-  ngerprint and ballistics man, and after the phants along the way. That was possible then. bombing of Belfast they took all the records We crossed between then Southern Rhodesia from Belfast and put them in Downpatrick. So and Northern Rhodesia by the Victoria Falls, I was born in Downpatrick and after the war one of the seven natural wonders of the world – we went back to Belfast. So I was brought up in really fantastic. And we arrived in Lusaka quite suburban Belfast and went to Somerton House late at night - dirty and grimy after 2,000 miles - the prep school for Belfast High School - and on the train. was there up until halfway through Eleven Plus We were met by my father’s friend who had when we went out to Northern Rhodesia. encouraged him to come out and replace him I remember those days in Belfast, playing in a as head of  ngerprint and ballistics in the North- local forest - it’s all houses now. I played sport, ern Rhodesian police. And he and his new wife played cowboys and Indians with friends of met us at the station. That was Mervyn’s father mine, all that type of thing. It was just a normal and mother. We piled in their Morris Minor as kid’s life at a school in Northern Ireland. best we could with all the luggage.

Then we went to Africa in 1954. My father had So that was it - the beginning of life in Northern retired but he wanted to send me to university Rhodesia. It was certainly a rougher, tough- and look after me and what they were offering er society than in Northern Ireland. Farm kids, him  nancially sealed it. He was going out to who were brought up tough and knew how head up  ngerprints and ballistics of ce in the to handle a ri e and shoot game - all that sort Northern Rhodesian police - a once in a lifetime of thing. We were a segregated school full of opportunity. The relatives were all astonished, white kids and there was this divide between because we were not just going to Africa, but those of Afrikaans background and the English to Central Africa. crowd, which was the majority. But being Irish, I was sort of in a minority. My mother wasn’t very keen on moving out of Northern Ireland but my father made up There was very much an English hierarchy and his mind. He tried to leave Ireland quite a few I became aware of that. But we were a rugby times and had been refused because he was family, and we used to sit and listen on BBC Ra- a civil servant and they wouldn’t transfer him dio to the rugby matches when Ireland played. to another police force. Also, he didn’t like the In fact, rugby was one of the anchors, one of sectarianism of Northern Ireland. the ties in terms of being linked to Ireland. My father ended up heading the Wild Geese soci- So we arrived in Africa, after two weeks on a ety, organising the St Patrick’s Night ball. Zam- boat - dolphins alongside,  ying  sh, all that sort bia’s President Kaunda was the patron of the of stuff - and arrived into Cape Town, which is Wild Geese society. I remember a lot of people one of the world’s most beautiful cities. The sun called my dad Paddy - that’s the way it was in was shining, it was January, the middle of sum- those days. It wasn’t Ned, it was Paddy Isdell. mer, blue skies, this vast vista and panorama, We continued to be friendly with Mervyn’s par- the mountains, the vineyards... the whole thing. ents. Mervyn was born, his brother Bruce was Just fabulous. We spent four days there and I born – and then in 1962 Mervyn’s father died. made up my mind I was going to go to univer- I was at university in Cape Town. My parents sity there. were still in Northern Rhodesia and we would have Christmas lunches together, we’d see It must have had a huge impact on them there because we were very good you, coming from somewhere like friends. After Mervyn’s father died his mother Northern Ireland. came back into Lusaka. Mervyn: It was still prior to independence and have been kids of nine or ten or eleven going she got looked after by the crown agent struc- down to school in Salisbury or Harare now or ture. She was a very good administrator so they even into South African boarding schools. So gave her a good job so she could, as a single from 1968 onwards I’m in Willow Park in Dublin, mum, keep going. But she had to come back coming back to Africa for a month in Christ- to Lusaka to do her work. mas and three months in the summer. I think the next stage of the story is really when Nev- Neville: And my mother and Mervyn’s mother ille’s mum got very sick. were friendly. They’d spend a lot of time together. But my father then in many ways became Neville: Yes, she got very sick and she died. And the surrogate father for Mervyn and Bruce. so a couple of years later my father and Beryl, Mervyn’s mother, eventually got together and Mervyn: Yes, I think my  rst memories are of then they married. That’s why we’re step broth- Uncle Ned. The tradition in those days was if ers. And Mervyn and myself were at the wed- you were a close family friend you were called ding. We had it here in Dublin, and I was best Auntie Meg and Uncle Ned - even though man at my father’s wedding - which is rather there was no blood relationship. He would unique. come for Sunday lunch with Meg sometimes but he would come on his own too. Mervyn: And I was an altar boy, which is dif - cult to believe! But my behaviour was... well, to be frank my mum would at times despair of me. I mean I Did you come back and forth to Ire- was in trouble in school the whole time and land often during this time? everything. De nitely some psychological impact of not having a dad, you know. So Ned, Very rarely. I only came back for the summer Neville’s dad, was drafted in to  x the problem, break once because I was on a university rug- and so Ned and I grew very close - and then of by tour. I graduated, I played rugby, I was on course there was this glamorous twenty-some- the students’ council. It ties back all the way to thing person studying in Cape Town who would my father not liking sectarianism and not liking sort of appear every now and then and be segregation in Northern Rhodesia. His depart- around for a few weeks and then disappear ment was the  rst department to be complete- off again. ly Zambianised. They told him that Africans couldn’t do  ngerprints and ballistics, you I have very vivid memory of seeing my  rst ever know, that it was too technical for them? But TV program mme - the 1966 World Cup Final. It by the time he handed the department over, it was about a week late, and I watched it in the was totally Zambian. living room of Neville’s mum and dad’s house. We knew England had won but they showed it So I got this world view from him. I remember on Zambian TV about a week afterwards. And being shocked when I got to Cape Town, in the way I remember it is just after that my mum terms of the segregation - whites only, blacks decided I was going to have to go to boarding only. When I told my father about it he sort of school. equated it to – not quite the segregation in Ireland, but to the division of the communities. And where did you go to boarding We talked about it and we also talked about school? how rugby was a great thing because it was an all-Ireland event - all of this fed into my belief Mervyn: I went to Willow Park, because I had a system, so I became involved in student politics grandmother here in Dublin so you needed a against apartheid when I was at university and guardian and my mother had another brother was elected to the students’ council on an an- in Dublin and she a brother near London. ti-apartheid ticket. That must have been as big a shock as I also edited the university newspaper for a it was for Neville going out to Africa. while, and the editorial stance was against apartheid. I was raided by the security police Mervyn: Yes, but I think it wasn’t an unusual and got warnings that they were watching. So one. I mean eight was young but there would you knew you were on the edge. I went to Johannesburg when I graduated and my Nelson and all these really famous 1930s, eventually got a job as a trainee at a Coca 1940s, 1950s Irish rugby stars. So it was fantastic. Cola franchise in Zambia through the father And of course when Ned came back he joined of an ex-girlfriend. But after a while he told me in with that, he played with them with a huge “I think you’ve got a global career - this is too amount of gusto. But then, I think it was around small for you” and he arranged an interview in 1976, there was a diagnosis of a heart problem. the Coca Cola company and the rest is history. That’s how I got into Coca Cola, I had the right Neville: He told me he was going to have a girlfriend! pacemaker put in. Even in those days, they said it was pretty easy operation, it’s no prob- Actually I’m still very much in touch with his fam- lem - but he didn’t make it. He had a heart at- ily. It’s important to keep up connections. And tack in the hospital and died. So I then had the I’ve always been connected to Ireland too - I terrible experience of having to go up to Black- guess rugby was part of the route, but then of rock College and tell the two boys that their course my father came back and retired here. stepfather had died. Where did he retire to? Irish people are obsessed with national identity and I’m always intrigued by Neville: He and Beryl settled in Killiney in Dublin. She was a Dubliner and my father didn’t want people who had a non-typical Irish to be... remember, it was during the Troubles. upbringing. What do you self-identify They didn’t go up to Northern Ireland and be a as? I mean, you’ve been living out of Protestant and a Catholic marrying. the country for so long... Mervyn: And I think you have to appreciate Neville: We all need some sort of rooting, we they had issues getting permission because all come from somewhere, and Ireland was the one was Protestant and one was Catholic. It root. And yet I never really thought of coming was the early Seventies. In those days you had back and living here. It was a cultural root, it to sign that any children would be brought up was “where do you come from?” My parents under the Catholic church. And also because were Irish. And I was old enough to remember he adopted Bruce and myself, he had to sign living in Ireland - which I think is an important that he would keep us Catholic in order to be piece of it. When South Africa (where I played married. all my rugby) plays Ireland, I actually support So now I’m in school in Blackrock, Mum and Ireland. So I think it’s that connectivity. You Ned or Dad had been an item in Zambia. So want that. they both retired actually because he had The other thing is sort of the way you’re per- some savings, and because there had been ceived - the way you’re categorised. In my some entrepreneurial stuff that he would have case, because the colonial administration in been helping Neville with. Zambia was run largely by English people, be- And you got madly into rugby as well ing Irish was seen as inferior. And I knew that and felt that. My father experienced that. In a then? way that makes you reject the colonial culture Mervyn: Yes, after all in Blackrock College you you’re working in, because you know you’re don’t really have a choice. For the  rst time I not fully accepted. had somebody coming to watch Blackrock Junior Cup team on a Wednesday afternoon So on the other side what do I identify with? against Belvedere, so I would be telling him It’s a multifaceted answer. The trite way of put- what the schedule of the matches was and ting it is that I see myself as a global citizen, you stuff like that. know. I’ve got four homes, I lived in four different parts of the world. We still travel, because And there was Neville’s uncle Fred - a well- my wife’s background is exactly the same. She known guy at the time and they would come was brought up in Zambia, so we’ve got similar pick me up from Blackrock, and I’d be taken to roots. She’s Scottish but we’ve got very, very rugby matches with Ernie Crore, Fred and Jim- similar roots, very similar background and has moved around with me and lived in all these to second- or third-generation like these guys. countries. That was the  rst time I was using the fact that When we were originally planning the I was Irish. Epic centre, we considered that mi- I was a doorman at Morgan Stanley and some- gration or diaspora is the normal state body took a shine to me, got me a job in Mor- gan Stanley itself. I had to tell him that I hadn’t of human affairs, it’s not an exception. got a work permit which was quite interesting! Neville: No, absolutely not. As I got into busi- But they stuck to it and got me one - there were ness and moved around the world I developed Irish in Morgan Stanley, even though it was a what I call a “detribalised accent”. I’m dif cult WASP  rm, and they looked after you. to pick. I’ll probably pick up a bit more of my So you suddenly start realising - belatedly for Northern Irish being here in Ireland, and when me, Neville knew a lot earlier - that this Irish I go to South Africa, I pick up pieces of the ac- thing is important. You talk to girls, you talk to cent - but it moves around. People sometimes people and they ask you, you’ve got a weird guess “Australian”. accent, where are you from, oh I’m Irish. Re- But when they would ask me, and I’d tell them ally? But you suddenly start realising, people I’m Irish, they’d say: “Oh, you’re Irish.” It was a generally working abroad trade on it. positive response. It made me understand that Neville: You see the thread sort of coming to- being Irish was actually different. Not just differ- gether on this whole thing, don’t you? I mean ent, it was positively received as being some- as you think about yourself you realise you thing that was different. Positively perceived as cannot detach yourself from where you came being very important. from. Certainly that’s the case in the US. I  rst went Mervyn: I ended up living in the UK, I had a there to live in 1989 but I’ve been travelling in young family and I had copped on that hav- and out since the 1970s. Before that we lived ing been educated and semi-brought up in in Germany and the Germans feel exactly the Ireland had given me some social advantages same way about the Irish. So coming back to in how I viewed the world, how I connected Epic Ireland, it’s understanding that there is with people. My conversational skills, con - specialness to being Irish - and that’s what I dence, whatever - and I decided I wanted my wanted to show, that the Irish are special and kids to have that too, to be little Irish kids rather there’s a story that needs to be told about that. than from someplace else. I wanted them to Mervyn: Well, I was a Zambian boy, so I didn’t have been thrown into that Irish melting pot, I feel as Irish as Neville and then I was sent to a thought it would help them in their travels. boarding school I didn’t particularly want to be in. So I knew I was Irish. I had an Irish passport I can see the importance of identity and I was going to Dublin, which I didn’t really there, so can I ask you about the ori- particularly enjoy, to a granny I didn’t particu- gins of the idea of Epic? Where does it larly get on with - so I had a sort of a negative feeling about Ireland. come from? Trinity College was great but I knew I was going Mervyn: Clearly Neville had cash. He had to go and work outside Ireland. I went to Amer- made an investment decision that property ica - no work permit of course - and got a job ownership in Ireland was a good investment in an Irish bar on 3rd Avenue. But then I heard because Neville believed passionately that Ire- that there were union jobs during the summer land would recover. as doormen along Park Avenue in those nice apartments - and it was all run by the Irish. Neville: I actually didn’t invest in Ireland for any emotional reason. It was a belief because of So you’d go and you’d knock on the door. I’d my knowledge of Ireland, my belief that Ire- put on a strong Irish accent to the doormen. land was going to get out of it and be the  rst “Any summer jobs?” He would say “Go and out of it and that the property price levels were talk to Jimmy” - and that’s how you played just far too depressed, its time had come. on your Irishness. You’re really Irish as opposed Mervyn: Yes, the timing was very good. So Nev- I looked at the various other attractions includ- ille ended up buying what is essentially an as- ing Titanic Belfast and Guinness Storehouse set which had to be turned around. Yes, it was and tried to get some breakdown of visitor an operating company - but it was a loss-mak- numbers. The Guinness numbers were best, but ing operating company, so there was clearly I knew that it was not for kids in general and not much strategic thinking to be done, to  gure for locals either. But their raw numbers made out what to do with it, and it also needed some me quite interested because if we could get patience and access to capital. half of their tourist numbers, over time we would have a very interesting business here. Also I had some of the skills would do that. I did a lot of turnarounds in London. It was very clear So what do you think are your guid- that the building needed an anchor tenant ing principles or your overall aim with that would revolutionise the days of the week EPIC? that it was busy and widen the potential times of the day that it could be busy. Neville: I want to create a world-class experience. That’s the measuring stick, always has But what about Epic Ireland? been. They’ll all tell you that you’ve got to pro- Mervyn: I think it might be worthwhile just to duce something that’s world-class and there- give my bird’s eye view on the diaspora story. fore I’m hoping EPIC will be recognised as such. Neville had the germ of an idea that I  rst re- I just want people to think that it’s something sisted. I had visions of a boring museum. More very different, and very special. Something importantly I was terri ed that we would end which at its core has real meaning, and some- up with something that was very seasonal and thing that we are communicating to people only of interest to Irish Americans. with integrity. I then read a Failte Ireland report about the There are many different stories of Ireland to need for a diaspora centre in Ireland, and be told, and we’re helping to tell them. We’re then I talked to you, Brian, about the idea. And adding to tourism here - helping to grow the while you didn’t have all the answers, you had pie, not taking someone else’s share. There enough answers to make me take the next was someone – I won’t say who it was - who in- step. troduced himself as my competitor from some-

Epic Tunnel where. I said you’re not my competitor, we’re team players - we’re part of building tourism. And Eneclann have put in a family history centre as part of EPIC. How do you feel that  ts within the overall experience for people? Neville: I think it’s very important. I think it’s a perfect  t after seeing all the heritage things about Ireland and you would then say would you like to ask the question how Irish are you, where are you from and what’s your background. I really think it’s a natural  t.

Mervyn Greene The O'Brien Surname By Paul MacCotter

The ancestors of the O’Briens are  rst found in famous families of the name reside to the pres- humble origins in the 6th century and slowly in- ent day. crease their power and status until becoming kings of Munster in the late 900s, in the person For many centuries Brian’s people, the Dál of Brian Boru or Bóroimhe, who is undoubtedly Cais, were a minor and unimportant group, but the most powerful Irish high king to rule before they rose in power and importance during the the Normans. 900s. Brian is, of course, the O’Brien ancestor. He was king of Munster from 978 onwards, and These ancestors are best known by the term high-king of Ireland from 1002 to his death at Dál Cais, the name of the kingdom the O’Briens Clontarf in 1014. were spawned by. This period ends with the battle of Clontarf and Brian’s death, in 1014, The traditional account of the Battle of Clontarf but his descendants remain dominant in Ire- sees it as a great battle for Irish freedom from land for another century. Viking oppression, where the Irish army under Brian (praying in his tent for victory as he is too By the early 12th century the O’Briens were lim- old to participate directly) defeat the Irish Vi- ited to Thomond or North Munster. After this kings and free Ireland from the yoke of foreign comes the Anglo-Norman invasion, when the oppression, etc. invaders come in and take over two-thirds of the O’Brien kingdom of Thomond, resulting This picture is mostly nonsense, and owes its ex- in the O’Briens being ¬limited to modern Co. istence to the great propaganda tract, Cogad Clare, and even here the Normans settled Gaedel re Gallaib, written for Brian’s descend- some lands around Bunratty and elsewhere. ants, probably during the 1090s. In reality Clon- tarf was just another factional battle fought by Eventually the Normans were expelled and opposing dynasties seeking dominance of Ire- Clare reverted to O’Brien territory, where many land, and in which Brian Bóru (‘Brian of the cat- tle tributes’) was defending his dominant posi- ach O’Brien, whose descendants would con- tion against several rivals, in particular the king tinue to rule in Co. Clare. of Ulster and the Leinstermen and their Dublin At this battle Richard de Clare was cut off from Viking allies. his main body of troops by an ambush and Even before Clontarf the Vikings were a spent was slain along with his four chief knights who force in Ireland. Indeed, the battle has some- surrounded him and died defending the life of thing of the air of a family quarrel about it, and their liege lord. may have been instigated by Gormlaith, a for- Muircertach’s descendants continued as kings mer queen of Brian’s, then married to the king of Thomond, residing at Clonroad near Ennis, of Viking Dublin. There had to be a woman in- into the early 16th century. In the course of the volved somewhere, surely! Gaelic Resurgence the family managed to ex- What does seem more reliable are the ac- pand their territory and overlordship into parts counts of Brian building fortresses, roads and of Thomond which had been settled by the bridges throughout Ireland, and endowing the Normans, and even beyond. Church with lands and gifts, and it is likely that The O’Briens of the Comeragh Mountains in Co he was responsible for major initiatives in the Waterford descend from Tadhg, son of King area of taxation and military organisation. Muircertach. This Tadhg died in 1380. Large Perhaps Brian’s greatest achievement was the scale O’Brien expansion into the east Limerick continuation of his line as kings of Munster and area occurred during the early 1400s, led by sometimes high-kings - and of course his posi- Conor, a younger son of King Mahon of Thomo- tion as ancestor and name-giver of the great nd. O’Brien surname. In a reference he wrote in the His main base was at Carrigogunnell castle, Book of Armagh in 1004 Brian describes himself and the surrounding territory gives its name to as Imperator Scottorum - “emperor of the Irish”. the barony of Pubblebrian, from Pobail Briain, With the coming of the Normans, the O’Briens ‘the people of Brian’. Conor is ancestor to the lost much of their kingdom in north Munster, later O’Briens of Carrigogunnell. Other branch- being pushed back to what is today County es settled in the Arra district of Tipperary and Clare. Even here the Normans exercised lord- the Aherlow area north of the Galtees. ship over the O’Briens - until, that is 1318 and the great battle of Dysert O’Dea and its aftermath, These had similar names, the Mac I Brien Arra in 1318, when the Normans under Richard de and the MacBriens respectively. Other branch- Clare were roundly defeated by King Muircert- es were the O’Brien rulers of the Aran Islands and, within Co. Clare, those of Shallee, Ma- all 700 or so who had sheltered within. gowna, Ballymicooda, Ballyportry, Coill O’bh- Murrough had reconverted to Catholicism in Flannchadha (around Kilkeedy in northern his later years. Buried in his family tomb in St. Clare) and Leamaneh. Marys in Limerick, within hours of his burial a Lim- The return of the English to west Munster in the erick Catholic mob exhumed his body, cut off mid-1500s saw the emergence of two lines af- its head, dragged the headless corpse through ter the time of Conor, the last king of Thomo- the streets before cheering crowds, and then nd. Firstly, the earls of Thomond, descending dumped the pieces into the Shannon. from king Conor’s eldest son, Donough, and There were also of course patriots of the sur- secondly the barons of Inchiquin, descending name. Yet a third aristocratic Clare O’Brien from Conor’s brother, Murrough. family were those of Dromoland and Lea- Both branches divided Clare between them. maneh who were created baronets in the early The earls became Protestants while the barons 1700s. A later member of this family was William remained Catholic. Yet it was one of these lat- Smith-O’Brien, a noted 19th century Irish patriot ter, Murrough ‘of the burnings’ who was most and leader of the Young Ireland movement. notorious. Murrough supported Charles I and He was exiled to Tasmania for his role in the re- fought for the king, becoming leader of the bellion of 1848, eventually returning to Ireland English Royalist army in Munster. some years later, where he championed the Murrough is known to history as ‘na toitean’, cause of the Irish Language. There are too that is, of the burnings. In 1644 he expelled the many famous O’Briens to name today, and the Catholic inhabitants of Youghal and Kinsale surname is one of Ireland’s most widespread with only the clothes on their backs, many of surnames. whom starved to death in that cold winter. Lat- er he killed several Franciscans at Adare. His most notorious actions occurred at the siege of Cashel Cathedral the same year. An Irish Catholic army had taken refuge in the cathedral upon the rock, and had some women and several dozen priests with them - in all around 700 people. When his terms for surrender were rejected Murrough attacked and burned the cathedral to the ground, in the process killing THE GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE THE IRISH RESPONSE TO WWI Remembering the Irish in WWI

Royal Dublin Fusiliers in Royal (now Collins) Barracks. (Photo, National Museum of Ireland)

John Dorney, editor of The Irish Story, muses on the ever-changing place of the First World War in Irish memory and culture over the past 100 years

In the south Dublin where I is in fact too high, of which grew up, in the 1980s and more later. The point is, it em- 1990s, the First World War was phasized “a great number”. strangely present. As a boy I was fascinated by I went to cub scouts in the military history and even man- Rathfarnham War Memorial aged to persuade my par- Hall (built in 1919) where the ents to take me on one of names of the local Church of our camping holidays to the Ireland parishioners who had Somme battle eld at Thiepval, died in the Great War looked where I clambered across the down on us from wooden remains of trenches and we plaques on the walls, as we stood gazing at the enormous practiced tying our neck- arched monument to the Brit- erchiefs and competed for ish and Commonwealth dead. badges. A little later on, in my sec- I remember walking around ondary school (again Protes- the then rather ghostly (though tant) there were plaques and recently restored) War Memo- stained glass commemorating Early recruiting poster rial Gardens at Islandbridge the ‘old boys’ who had died in as a 12-year-old, which to me the Great War (and to a much had the feeling of a deserted “49,400 Irishmen” who fell in smaller number who had died cemetery – dedicated to the the Great War. The number in the Second). In November, prefects would carry around British Legion It is of course the simplest form of nationalism poppies for students to buy. Even for my 13- or and also of teenage self expression – “‘your 14-year-old self, this was a step too far. symbols are not ours. We reject them. We have our own. We are not British we are Irish. Those It was one thing to be aware of the war as who suggest otherwise, or that the two are history, quite another to suggest that it was a compatible, are traitors. To promote the idea good idea to  ght in it. Like most of the school’s of Irishmen in the British Army is to suggest that vestigial unionist heritage, selling poppies was Irish independence is wrong.” a little half-hearted, ritualistic almost, done because they had always done it rather than out These emotions of my teenage years are with of some burning conviction. They also had a me still. Emotionally I still feel essentially that copy of the Easter rebels’ Proclamation of the Irish involvement in the First World War should Republic in 1916 inside the front door. not be commemorated as anything other than a senseless tragedy. I cannot quite shake the But still, it made me angry. The War had been feeling that those who wish to celebrate the an enormous slaughter for no appreciable slaughter of Irish people (and million of others) reason. None of the books I could  nd in the for no discernible political objective, simply like library could explain adequately why it started the idea of the people rowing in behind what- or what the point of so much carnage was. If it ever the power elite tell them to do. was a war for ‘our freedoms’, how come it was fought by Empires – British French, Russian, who But part of growing up is learning to see that had conquered innumerable small countries? how one feels about something is not the same And there was something else. It was not ‘our’ as objective truth about it. war. Irishmen had not died for Ireland, but as And in recent decades, there has been a sub- cannon fodder for the British empire. I used to stantial movement in Ireland towards recog- explain this forcefully to any prefect who asked nizing and reclaiming the memory of Ireland’s me to buy one. This was not always appreciat- involvement in the Great War. ed. Revising Irish memory of the Great War

There are a number of versions of this trend. One is simply the recovery of family history such as the books and websites dedicate to naming the county war dead. Another is to suggest that Irish involvement in the War showed that another path may have been taken in Irish history – the path of consti- tutional nationalism, of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party, who encouraged Irish nationalists to join the British forces to secure Home Rule and to come back as an Irish Army – rather than violent and exclusive republican revolution. Part of the motivation for this has been antip- athy to modern republican violence, but also for many the frustration with the sti ing nationalist and Catholic orthodoxy with which they grew up in the 1950s and 1960s and its association with the economic shortcomings of the 26-county Irish State. Yet a third interpretation seeks to use the shared experience of nationalist and unionist soldiers in the trenches as a tool of reconciliation, par- Irish recruiting poster 1914 (harp) ticularly in the North of Ireland. Alex Maskey, for instance the Sinn Fein mayor of Belfast in 2002 A noble cause visited the Somme battle eld and in Belfast laid a wreath in honour of his ancestor who had In August 1914 Britain declared war on Germa- died there. Sometimes this version (admittedly ny and its allies. Arguments continue to rage not Maskey’s) contrasts the supposed heroism over whether this was to preserve the inde- of the First World War soldiers, who “fought fair” pendence of small states or counter-balance with the cowardly paramilitaries back in Ire- German power or simply out of economic and land who ambushed, assassinated and killed strategic self-interest. the defenceless. Regardless, Irishmen did join the British Army in The narrative of this interpretation of Ireland’s very large numbers in 1914. A total of 206,000 involvement in the Great War goes something Irishmen served in the British forces during the like this: Irishmen volunteered in great numbers war. [1] The recruitment rate in Ulster was as in 1914 for what they believed to be a noble high as in Britain itself, Leinster and Munster cause – freedom of small nations, Home Rule were about two thirds of the British rate of re- for Ireland, resisting German militarism – and cruitment before conscription, while Connacht died in great numbers. They returned to Ireland lagged behind them.[2] to  nd that the political agenda had been hi- Some of this was indeed politically motivated. jacked by the rebels of 1916. They were sub- Unionists north and south had a fairly clear mo- sequently reviled as traitors, targeted as ‘spies’ tivation; to defend the Empire with which they by republican guerrillas and their memory ‘air- identi ed. Some 26,000 recruits came directly brushed out of history’ – a phrase repeated ad from the Ulster Volunteers – the unionist militia naseum on this topic – in the independent Irish founded in 1912. But initially Irish nationalists too State. supported the war. Whatever one might feel about it, does this in- Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) leader John Red- terpretation stack up with the historical facts? mond told his Irish Volunteers that they would be serving Ireland by joining, up, that the Irish Divisions raised by Kitchener’s New Army would be the basis of an independent Irish Army under Home Rule. And that self government would be granted if Ireland played its part in the war effort. Much play was also made of the justice of this cause, to protect the independence of small nations like Belgium, whose sovereignty was violated by German invasion in 1914. And there is no doubt that in 1914 Redmond won the arguments within Irish nationalism. The Irish Volunteers (the nationalist militia formed in 1913) split, but the vast majority, about 150,000 men, followed Redmond into the pro-war Na- tional Volunteers, compared to 10,000 who remained in the anti-war Irish Volunteers. In 1914 Redmondite MP Stephen Gwynn exult- ed that the radical nationalists were, “snowed under and I think were almost dumbfounded by what they found around them. They held no meetings and had no press”.[3] (Though one reason why the ‘Sinn Feiners’ had no press was that titles such as Irish Freedom of the IRB and James Connolly’s Irish Worker were closed down and their presses seized under the De- fence of the Realm Act for anti-war agitation.) Nor is there any doubt that many nationalist recruits did believe what Redmond told them. Irish recruiting poster, date unknown Irish Party stalwarts such as Thomas Kettle and Redmond’s own brother Willie served and died Irish servicemen had come directly from Red- in the war. mond’s political base. There are smaller examples too: such as the Out of the remaining 80,000 who had no ex- Celtic Cross on the Dundalk side of the little perience in either of the paramilitary forma- town of Castlebellingham, Co Louth, dedicat- tions, most were urban and poor. In Dublin ed to “those who died for Irish Freedom in the City, a survey of 169 recruits from Corporation Great European War, 1914-18”. Or consider Er- workers shows just nine “salaried professional” nie O’Malley, the future IRA leader and writer, workers joining up and 113 unskilled labourers whose family were moderate nationalists re- – for whom the Army signi ed a pay rise and a membered getting into a  st  ght with separa- chance to learn a trade. tists in Dublin who tried to seize his Union Jack coloured hooters in 1914. [4] (His older brother “Separation money” paid to their families was Frank went on to serve as an of cer in the East another incentive. [6] Farmers and their sons African campaign, in which he died.) were under-represented across the country. In Co Galway, police reported that recruiting was But idealistic recruitment accounted for a mi- “slow and entirely con ned to the towns”.[7] nority of Irish enlistment. Many had already been career soldiers for whom politics did not Economic motivation played a signi cant part, come into it. Of those Irishmen who served in as it did in Britain itself (voluntary recruiting there British forces in the war; some 58,000 were al- slowed when the war economy began to offer ready enlisted in the British Regular Army or more jobs). Other recruits simply liked the idea Navy before the war broke out. of being part of something big and important. Tom Barry famously wrote, “I went to the war for no other reason than that I wanted to see what war was like, to get a gun, to see new countries and to feel a grown man.”[8]

In short, most Irishmen joined up not to attain Home Rule, nor to prevent it, to  ght for small nations or defend the Empire, but much more commonly for a range of apolitical reasons. By 1915, Irish public opinion was already wa- vering on the war. In November of that year, 700 Irishmen trying to emigrate to the US were blocked at Liverpool on the basis that they should be in the Army. Redmond remarked that it was, “very cowardly of them to emigrate” rather than enlist – provoking a hostile public response from, of all people, the Catholic Bish- op Edward O’Dwyer of Limerick: ‘Their crime is that they are not ready to  ght for England. Why should they? What have they or their for- bears ever got from England that they should die for her?” [9]

Recruitment slackened when it became clear there would be mass casualties in the theatres of war - and it did not revive thereafter.

By 1916, when conscription was imposed on Recruiting poster from 1915 Britain to  ll the gaping holes left by hundreds of thousands of casualties, opinion across the Of the 140,000 men who were volunteers re- board in Ireland - unionist as well as national- cruited for the duration of the war, only 24,000 ist - was against it being extended to Ireland. originated from the Redmondite National The Easter Rising and its suppression is therefore Volunteers and 26,000 from the loyalist Ulster only one part of the story of the turn against Volunteers.[5] Therefore only about 12pc of the war. It was the campaign against conscription were composed not only of Irishmen. The Brit- that really made the new Sinn Fein party and ish registrar general recorded 27,405 deaths buried the IPP – which although it opposed among those soldiers born in Ireland, a casualty conscription was popularly associated with rate of 14pc, roughly in line with the rest of the the British war effort. There was no appetite British forces .[12] for total war in Ireland and there was also a Experience of war was a very common social conviction that Ireland’s contribution was not fact in Ireland in 1918. Something like 30pc of really appreciated in Britain anyway. men of military age had been through it. The There were also social reasons for the turn burden of grief caused by death or injury was against the war. Peter Hart tracks, for in- spread very widely. But the Redmondite idea that to  ght for the Empire was also to  ght for stance, the closing down of the Congested the freedom of Ireland had been quite discred- Districts Board, which supervised land reform, ited by the end of the war and was one of the for the war. The most land-hungry regions, in main reasons why the Irish Party lost the 1918 the west and north midlands, were also those election so disastrously. which turned most heavily to Sinn Fein after the Rising. Similarly, rising prices and taxes The young were increasingly attracted to an- during the war led to a strike wave and the other vision of  ghting for Ireland, one pio- rise of labour as a political force. neered by the rebels of 1916. Moreover, it was already plain by then that Many Irish war veterans were proud of their ser- the version of “ ghting for Ireland” promot- vice, proud of what they and their friends had ed by Redmond was no longer credible. been through together - but did necessarily Home Rule – which was a very limited form of identify this with support for Britain in Ireland. Such loyalist feeling was largely con ned to un- self-government in any case – could not be ionists. implemented except by the partition of the country in the face of unionist resistance. The ex-servicemen’s association in Cork for instance, formed their own organization in order The Irish Divisions, the 10th and 16th Divisions, to be independent of the Royal British Legion. very far from being a proto-Irish Army – were Their demonstrations were often stewarded by of cered by British of cers and  lled at a fairly the Irish Volunteers or Republican Police and early stage with recruits from elsewhere.[10] in 1920 they were involved in bloody rioting By contrast the 36th Ulster Division, recruited against the British Army in the city after one of in large part from the UVF, kept its own of- their members was shot dead by British troops.  cers and political identity – a clear sign that [13] Irish nationalism was still distrusted by the Brit- ish government. The political con ict that began with the in- surrection of 1916, with its subsequent rounds of rioting and arrests played its role too in un- dermining support for the war. By 1918, Arthur Lynch, a nationalist MP who had joined the British Army with a rank of colonel, was shout- ed down every time he tried to speak in fa- vour of recruitment in Dublin. He told a crowd: “I have endured great trials and faced great dangers in the cause of Home Rule.” A heck- ler asked: “Why not stop in Ireland and share our dangers?” [11] Spies and traitors? Irish losses in the War were certainly great - but the much cited  gure of 50,000 deaths is too high. This  gure refers to all those in the Irish Di- Joseph Devlin’s recruiting posters would come visions who lost their lives - but these Divisions back to haunt the Irish Party Were the war veterans targeted by the IRA as In Waterford city for instance, where the Red- “spies” in the ensuing bout of political violence mondites held onto the seat, a republican known as the War of Independence and Civil activist reported; “Redmondite mobs, main- War? Before going into details, it its worth restat- ly composed of ex-British soldiers and their ing how common service in the war had been, wives…carried on in a most blackguardly fash- across virtually all political tendencies except ion, Anybody connected with Sinn Fein was those who were separatist or republican ac- brutally assaulted with sticks, bottles etc”.[14] tivists. To target war veterans en masse would have meant huge massacres - and nothing like In Clare, where Sinn Fein had Eamon De Valera this occurred. elected, it was the same story, according to one republican’s memory, the ex British soldiers Some war veterans joined the guerrillas of the were, “like lunatics, attacking with knives and IRA and provided valuable military training. heavy sticks”.[15] Tom Barry, who ended up commanding the West Cork IRA  ying column is the most famous Moreover, the IRA shot dead some 200 civilians example but there were many others - notably as alleged informers in 1919-21 and no fewer Emmet Dalton, who was accepted into the in- than 82 of these were ex-servicemen.[16] Some ner circle of Michael Collins’ Squad and later of this may be explained simply by the de- became a senior National Army commander mographic probability of ex soldiers, many of too. them out of work, being recruited as informers by Crown forces. But it does seem that unless However, there is also evidence that some re- war veterans were actually friendly to republi- publicans viewed those who had served in the cans they were targets of suspicion at least. British Army as traitors. The 1918 election saw  erce rioting between Sinn Fein and IPP activists To some degree therefore, the 1914 split in Irish in some constituencies and across the country nationalism over the First World War did persist. the republicans tended to blame ex soldiers. In the north especially, where the IPP held its

Irish tommies with captured German trophies, in a photo dated 1917 own against Sinn Fein, there was some compe- tition between the IRA and Catholic ex-servicemen aligned with the Ancient Order of Hiberni- ans and the Irish Party, over who should provide armed defence of the Catholic community, especially in Belfast, from loyalist attack. The IRA only de nitively wrested control of nationalist streets in that city in early 1922 when the new Dublin Provisional government began funneling arms and money their way. [17] At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1922, when the Free State appealed for volunteers to join its National Army and put down those republicans who threatened the Treaty settlement, a very large percentage of the 58,000 civil war recruits (at least 30pc) were veterans of the British Army. This may have been an apolitical choice for many, unemployment was again high and the National Army offered a wage and ac- commodation but republicans certainly made much of it in propaganda and ex-soldiers may have seen it as a chance to get revenge on their tormentors of 1919-21. In the post-independence period, the remains of the IRA made a practice of disrupting Re- Irish recruiting poster, 1914 membrance Day commemorations in Dublin, and beating up poppy sellers and seizing Un- not subjected to systematic attack or discrimi- ion Jack  ags. But again they argued that they nation, but some were indeed the target of re- were not against ordinary Irish veterans com- publican violence on occasion. memorating their dead but those who would use it to promote “imperialism” in Ireland. Airbrushed out of history An Phoblacht wrote in 1925, “no republican Finally, were the Irishmen who served in the First wishes to mar the solemnity of their commemo- World War “airbrushed out of history”? ration. We too know what it is to lose well loved Again, if we are to be fair about this, we must comrades who fought by our side…but there be nuanced. Republicans, particularly the los- is another side to this story, there is a small but ing anti-Treatyites of 1922-23 were certainly noisy section of the British garrison which seeks hostile to the promotion of their cause. to turn each Armistice day into an occasion of imperialist propaganda”. But the Irish government in fact generously funded war memorials to the Irish war dead – In particular they objected to the presence of £50,000 in 1926 to fund a War memorial Park the British Fascisti, who appeared at Remem- in Dublin and another £25,000 to maintain Irish brance Day ceremonies in the late 1920 and War Graves in France and Belgium. early 30s.[18] Police were used to protect Re- membrance day participants but disturbanc- Anne Dolan, in her study of commemoration es petered out once the ceremonies were in Ireland, found that the Free State govern- changed from the city centre to the Phoenix ment of 1922-32 was most reticent about build- Park. ing monuments to those who had died in Free State uniform in the Civil War - but relatively In short, ex-servicemen’s experience in post- forthcoming with funds to commemorate the 1918 Ireland was extremely varied. Some were (admittedly much more numerous) dead of unionists and served in the Ulster Special Con- 1914-18.[19] stabulary. Some others became republican  ghters. Some retained their allegiance to the Republican monuments were funded primarily IPP. Many others simply tried to pick up their not by the State but by the voluntary body, the lives where they left off. Ex-servicemen were National Graves Association. One reason for this (that also says something about the often Speaking about the proposed park in Merrion false anti-British rhetoric in independent Ireland) Square, he said: “I say that any intelligent visi- was that anti-Treaty Republicans remained a tor, not particularly versed in the history of the danger to the southern state, while some of the country, would be entitled to conclude that State’s most important  nancial backers were the origins of this State were connected with… the bankers in the Bank of Ireland, and industri- the memorial in that park [Merrion Square] and alists such as the Guinness and Jameson fam- the lives lost in the Great War in France, Bel- ilies - who had all been unionists and who had gium, Gallipoli and so on. lost family and friends in the Great War. “That is not the position. The State has other or- It is worth noting here that while the War Me- igins and because it has other origins, I do not morial Gardens in Islandbridge were complet- wish to see it suggested, in stone or otherwise, ed in 1948, it was not until 1966 that the Irish that it has that origin.” [21] State built the Garden of Remembrance, the The First World War was a calamity that not only memorial which commemorates those who killed some 10 million people, but also smashed had died in pursuit of Irish independence. the old order in Europe, shredded European Padraig Yeates makes the point that: “far from economies and led directly to the rise of fas- being forgotten, thousands attended the an- cism and communism. It also helped to dis- nual Armistice Day commemorations in the credit British rule in Ireland. Phoenix Park for decades. Free State ministers Well before the war was over, most Irish people attended ceremonies in Dublin and London regretted that John Redmond had promised until Fianna Fail came to power [in 1932] and nationalist support for the war effort. He and his the political establishment turned its back on party paid the price in 1918. War service was Remembrance Day. But 40,000 were still report- commemorated thereafter, but celebrated ed to have attended the 1939 commemora- only by the minority of former unionists in the tion…. Free State. “Subsequently as the collective memory re- If people today want to wear a poppy, they ceded, so did the numbers who attended the should of course be free to do so, without har- ceremonies… Many families in Dublin with a assment or intimidation of any kind. Historians unionist background continued to commemo- must acknowledge the war’s importance in rate their fallen members within family religious Irish history. It is entirely appropriate for families circles. [But] the great majority of Catholic and localities to remember their dead. But to Dubliners who served in the British forces were suggest that war for the Empire was popular in members of the working class, with no particu- Ireland and only discredited by a malevolent lar allegiance to the Crown or the Union.”[20] plan by nationalists to “airbrush it from history” And yet, to some degree it is true that nation- is simply to twist the facts. alist Ireland regretted its part in the Great War and wanted to forget it altogether. The Cum- man na nGaedheal government of the early years of the Free State declined to have a War memorial in Merrion Square beside Govern- ment Buildings - instead sticking it out of the city centre near the Phoenix Park.

To do otherwise would be suggesting that Irish self-government had been won in the trenches - and the Redmondites had lost that argument for good.

Cumman na nGaedheal minister Kevin O’Hig- gins, the bête noir of republicans (who once declared that not only did he defend the ex- ecutions of 77 republicans in the Civil War but that he would execute another “777 if neces- sary”, and whose brothers had served in British uniform) summed up the mainstream nationalist verdict on the Great War in 1926. Tyneside Irish Battalion poster p63 [16] Marie Coleman, Longford and the Irish Revolution, p154 [17] Robert Lynch, The IRA and Early Years of partition, p85-86 [18] Fearghal McGarry, ‘Too Damn Tolerant, Republicans and Imperialism, in Republicanism in Modern Ireland, pp56, 77 [19] Anne Dolan, Commemorating the Irish Civ- il War, p130-145 [20] Yeates, A City in Wartime, p301 [21] Anne Dolan, p188, Commemoration, in The Irish Revolution 1913-23

Historian John Dorney is editor of The Irish Story, where this article  rst appeared (www.theirishstory.com), and author of ‘Peace After The Final Battle: The Story of the Irish Revolution, 1912-1924’ – available as an ebook from Amazon.com

References Irish Canadian poster from early 1916 [1] Fergus Campbell, Land and Revolution, Na- tionalist Politics in the West of Ireland 1891-1921, p196 [2] Charles Townsend, 1916, The Easter Rising, p65 [3] Townshend p73 [4] Ernie O’Malley, On Another Man’s Wound, p29 [5] David Fitzpatrick, Militarism inIreland 1900- 1922, in Thomas Bartlet, Keith Jeffrey, ed. A Mil- itary History of Ireland, p386 [6] Padraig Yeates, A City in Wartime, p47 [7] Fergus Campbell, Land Revolution, p197 [8] Tom Barry, Guerilla days inIreland p [9] Townshend, p79 [10] Townshend, Easter Rising p75 [11] Yeates A city in Wartime, p251 [12] Fitzpatrick p392 [13] William Sheehan, A Hard Local War p26-30 [14] Annie Ryan, Comrades, Inside the War of Independence, p222. [15] Padraig Og O Ruairc, Blood on the Banner, Irish Canadian recruitment poster from late 1915 Tracing your ancestors from World War Tracing your family members of the ones for WWI were de- who fought in WWI has be- stroyed during WWII when come in nitely easier over the One London was bombed. Out of last number of years, thanks 6.5m service records that orig- to the digitisation of millions ry Clarke. Only 100 sets were inally existed, only 2m survive. of records previously buried in ever printed, but thankfully it is However, this is just one of once inaccessible archives. searchable and viewable on many sources of information Firstly, a great deal of informa- several web sites - including about the soldiers. There are tion exists about those who Findmypast. the service records of anoth- met their end in the Great er 750,000 men who were dis- War. The Commonwealth War However neither resource is charged for medical reasons Graves Commission maintains complete, or always accurate. prior to end of the war, or were a fairly comprehensive data- The In Flanders Fields Museum eligible for a pension because base of graves of soldiers who is now working with Goog- their service came to an end died which can be viewed on le and Eneclann to improve before 1920. their website. these details online. But many authors have been trying to Also surviving are the records A committee was also estab- produce de nitive details for of awards of medals. Over lished in Ireland shortly after the every county in Ireland, and 5m cards survive detailing the end of the war to do the same have published books for medals which the individual for those Irish who died. The Wicklow, Carlow, Waterford men and women were enti- result was a massive eight-vol- and many others. Some of this tled to. ume record of the 49,300 men work is available online at  nd- of Irish birth or association who mypast.com too. There is an even more vivid were killed. Entitled Ireland’s way of discovering the details Memorial Records, it was lav- British military service are an of the soldiers’ experience. All ishly illustrated by artist Har- essential resource, but many units were required to main-

One of Harry Clarke’s illustrations tain war diaries, detailing what happened day by day during the con ict. If you can  nd out what units an individual was assigned to, you can literally track their progress through the war by using these records. There is much more surviving in the British National Archives too, and their web site is an excellent resource to learn more about what they hold, and what is online (national- archives.gov.uk). One of Harry Clarke’s illustrations for Ireland’s Memorial Records The premier collection of on- neighbours, or school friends. They have also published many of line records concerning all the the records of the nurses who operated all over Europe during men who served on the Brit- the war. ish side is on  ndmypast.com. But the Irish didn’t just serve in the British army, they were also nu- There you’ll  nd many of the merous in Australian, Canadian and of course in the American records from the National Ar- forces. Australian Imperial Force Embarkation Rolls record just chives in Kew, as well as the over 2,000 soldiers who list their next of kin as residing in Ireland. records of the Pals Regiments, which were set up to allow And World War One draft registration cards in the USA record young men to serve along- some 88,000 individuals that list Ireland as either their place of side their friends, workmates, residence or place of birth.

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In 2006 Eneclann (now the Irish Family History Centre) was commissioned to research the Irish family history of actor, David Tenant

where he worked as a shirt-cutter in a local factory. In 1909 William married Agnes Chris- tie. The Blair family was strongly Unionist and in September 1912 William and his father James signed the Ulster Covenant, and William’s wife the Declaration, to register their objection to the introduction of a Home Rule Parliament in Dublin. Edward Carson led Unionist opposition to Home Rule, and in 1912 almost 500,000 adult men and women signed to register their antagonism.

Rudyard Kipling succinctly recorded their resistance: “… What answer from the North? One Law, One Land, One Throne! If England drives us forth, We shall not fall alone.” [*From Ulster 1912,  rst published in The Morning On July 1st 2016 we commemorate Post newspaper] the centenary of the battle of the In September 1914 when the Ireland, Home Somme, Europe’s bloodiest and Rule bill passed, European events overshad- largest battle. Helen Moss of the owed Unionist opposition to what was after all, Irish Family History Centre, examines a local matter. The  rst World War had begun. one man’s experience of this critical In 1915 William Blair enlisted in what appears to have been one of the Pal’s-type Battalions. The WWI battle. Pal’s Battalions were men who self-identi ed as David Tenant is a Scottish-born actor, proba- a group, through living on the same street or in bly best known for his role as the Time Lord – the same neighbourhood/ working/ being ed- Dr. Who, and as ‘Barty Crouch, Jr.’ in the Harry ucated/ or playing sports together. They were Potter  lms. He’s a popular and versatile ac- recruited locally, with the promise they would tor, who thought his family roots were entirely serve alongside one-another, and not be as- in Scotland, until we got to work on tracing his signed arbitrarily to a regiment or battalion. family story. The Pals’ Battalions were all volunteers, who We traced David’s maternal line back to Ire- were subsequently trained for the next year, land in the early 20th Century, and the Blair before they were sent to the Front family in the city of Londonderry. David Ten- Interestingly, although in recent years historians ant’s great-grandfather William Blair, was born have paid greater attention to documenting in 1886, the son of James Blair and Mary Anne these Pals Battallions, no Pals have previously (nee Jameson). William was raised in the city, been documented for the city of Londonderry. William Blair enlisted, along with sixty-two oth- ‘On the eve of the offensive for which the er members past and serving, of the Hamilton Ulster Division has trained and waited for so Marching Band (previously the Hamilton Fife many months, I wish that every Of cer and and Drum Band). The greater number of the man of the Division should know how abso- band members that enlisted were posted to lutely con dent I feel that the honour of the serve with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers 10th Bat- British Army and the honour of Ulster are in talion, popularly known as ‘The Derrys.’ safe keeping in their hands. …The time has The Battle of the Somme: now come to show to the world the qualities On July 1st 1916, the  rst day of the Battle of the which  t it for the great offensive about to Somme, the 10th Inniskilling Fusiliers were at the open.’ heart of the  ghting. In the early morning of the 1st of July an issue Unfortunately, almost two-thirds of all service of rum was given to each man in the trench- and pension records British Armed Services in es. It was, according to the diarist, a beautiful WWI, were destroyed in WWII, including that summer morning, when following the regimen- of William Blair. However, it’s still possible to say tal bugle call and the shout to “Advance”, the something about Blair’s war experience, by ex- men marched forward into ‘No Man’s Land’. amining the War Diaries for the 10th Inniskilling The diary notes that the Battalion lost 12 of cers Fusiliers. and 406 men of other ranks on that day. It is unclear if any member of Hamilton Marching The war diaries for the various battalions held Band were killed on that day but we know that at the National Archives at Kew give a fasci- fourteen members of the band who enlisted nating insight into the exact location and ac- did not return from France. tivity of each battalion, day-by-day. The war diary for the 10th Battalion Inniskilling Fusiliers The 36th Ulster Division of which the 10th Battal- [WO 95/2510/4] recorded that the Battalion ion would have been a part, lost approximate- spent many days beforehand preparing for the ly 2,000 men on the  rst day. onslaught, digging trenches in Thiepval wood. William Blair survived the Battle of the Somme On June 30th 1916 Major-General O.S. Nugent, and appears to have been re-assigned to the Commanding the 36th Ulster Division issued a Royal Army Medical Corps (R.A.M.C.), where ‘Special Order of the Day’: he would almost certainly have been a stretch-

The Menin Road by Paul Nash (Imperial War Museum, London) William Carson signing the Ulster Covenant er bearer or assistant medic. As such he was After Armistice William Blair returned to his wife required to remain in the trenches while his and young family in Derry. friends went over the top. The R.A.M.C. stretch- The tragedy of the Pals’ Battalions was that er-bearers had to wait until the exchange of they enlisted to  ght alongside one another,  re stopped, when they had to enter No-Mans- but became casualties together. Land to search for the wounded and dead.

WWI historian Paul Nixon, explains: In particular, after the opening day of the Bat- tle of the Somme, many Pals battalions effectively ceased to exist. When re- placements were drafted in, they were men who were posted to make up numbers only. The special character of those battalions was lost forever.

David Tennant as Doctor Who Ml Finn and group - Michael Finn far left hand side back row One Fallen, One Returned The FINN Brothers in World War 1 On Sunday 6 October 2013 the Waterford Me- tal in making arrangements with the N.Z. Gov- morial was unveiled in Castle Street, Dungar- ernment Immigration Dept. for the passage of van, following an impressive Dedication and the FINN brothers to N.Z. Remembrance Ceremony. The black granite On arrival at Hunterville Patrick Finn obtained Memorial is a Monument to over 1,100 Men work as a Mill Hand at the Parkes’ Brothers Saw- and Women from Co. Waterford who died mill operation, while William was labouring for serving in the First World War. Patrick Sheely. The N.Z. 1914 Electoral Roll lists One of the men commemorated on this Me- the three Finn brothers living 115 miles further morial is Patrick FINN from Ballinaleucra, Ara- north in the King Country. William is listed as glen, Co. Waterford, the son of John Finn and a Farmer with Michael and Patrick recorded Hannah Feeney. Patrick was born in March as Labourers, the brothers all living at Waimi- 1891 and immigrated to the North Island of ha, near Taumarunui. They laboured clearing New Zealand (N.Z.) with his older brother Wil- the ‘bush’ and carrying out land reclamation liam. The brothers arrived in N.Z. and disem- for sheep farming. The ‘bush’ refers to rough barked from the RMS Tainui at Wellington on areas of land covered in clusters of trees, ferns 18 May 1909. They were later joined by their and scrub. brother Michael who sailed from London on 5 Great Britain declared War on Germany on 4 August 1912 on the Arawa. August 1914 and N.Z. men in their thousands Immediately on their arrival in 1909 Patrick and responded to Britain’s call, volunteering their William travelled by train into the Rangitikei Dis- services and enlisting in the New Zealand Ex- trict where an extended family member, Pat- peditionary Force (NZEF) to  ght for ‘King and rick Sheely, was dairy farming at Silverhope, Country’. Hunterville. Patrick Sheely had been instrumen- The New Zealand National Registration Act, 1915 required all Males resident in N.Z between the ages of 17 and 60 to register their details with the Military Board by 9 November 1915. In 1916 conscription for military service was introduced to maintain New Zealand’s supply of reinforcements for service on the Western Front in France. A total of 135,000 men were conscripted and about 32,000 served, compared to almost 70,000 men who had volunteered. In Training – possibly Trentham Camp Wellington Conscription – compul- sory enlistment for military service N.Z. Armed Forces records show that Patrick Finn was conscripted into the NZEF on 21 June 1917 aged 26. He enlisted into the 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment 12th Company, service number 62284 and Rank of Private. For the next four months Patrick received his military training at the Trentham Military Camp in Wellington. Patrick embarked on a Troop- ship at Wellington on 13 Oc- tober 1917 and disembarked at Liverpool, England, on 8 December 1917. On 14 Feb- ruary 1918 the 4th Battalion Canterbury Regiment sailed from England to France. On arrival they were assigned to the 1st Battalion Canterbury just the weapons they were carrying. They then stayed in the Regiment, 12th Company front line lightly clad, lacking food and water, enduring the most and were posted to the front appalling of living conditions while holding their portion of the line from 22 February 1918. line. There they resisted the renewed German attempts to break open the British front again as they tried to restore momentum in In March and April 1918, af- a failing offensive. During these actions in this Second Battle of ter a long, hard march, New the Somme, these  ne New Zealand soldiers made a vital and Zealand soldiers met the Ger- impressive contribution to the outcome of the First World War. man advance head on at the [Dark Journey - Spring Offensive New Zealand and the Second Ancre River and halted it with Battle of the Somme – Glyn Harper] Patrick was wounded in action on 2 June 1918 When their rigorous drills and training were and taken from the battle eld by No. 2 N.Z. completed, the 4th Reserve Battalion Welling- Field Ambulance. It appears that his Compa- ton Regiment sailed from England to France on ny came under extremely heavy enemy bom- 1 October 1917. bardment and a when a German shell explod- The New Zealand Division was fortunate in that ed close to Patrick, he was badly wounded by during the course of the War it could draw on  ying shrapnel. He collapsed into the trench a pool of well-trained,  t young men. These where Stretcher-bearers dressed his wounds men having endured months at sea and the and rushed him to Field Hospital No. 1. Patrick’s brutal training establishments of Sling Camp injuries were extremely severe; he succumbed in the United Kingdom and Etaples in France, to his wounds and died on Sunday 2 June 1918. were usually very eager to join the various units Patrick was only 27 years old and had spent of the New Zealand Division. [Dark Journey by less than a year in the Army. Glyn Harper] The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records Patrick FINN buried in Plot I.J.7 at the The Wellington Regiment arrived at Etaples Sailly-au-Bois Military Cemetery in France. He Camp 4 October. Etaples is a port on the North was posthumously awarded the Victory Medal coast of France which became the principal and the British War Medal. depot and transit camp for the British Expedi- tionary Forces in France, and the main location of the Field Hospitals.

The Wellington Regiment were soon posted to the front line putting their training into action, while living and  ghting from the trenches. On 12 December 1917 Michael was hospitalised for a time with an infection, but had recovered by early February 1918 to be sent back to the front lines. A short time later he was admitted to the General Hospital in Etaples suffering from respiratory problems. This was most likely due to the inhalation of toxic fumes from gas shells. He had suf ciently recovered to return to his Battalion for further action by April.

Recuperating away from the Front Lines

While the oldest Finn brother, William, was not called up for military service as he was required to manage the sheep farm, Michael was conscripted into the NZEF on 5 January 1917. Mi- chael was attached to the 4th Reserve Battal- ion Wellington Regiment 2nd Company, Army Service Number 52401 and Rank of Private. On 12 June 1917 Michael’s Regiment embarked at Wellington on the ship Tahiti which sailed to Devonport arriving at Plymouth, Eng- land 16 August. The following day the Welling- ton Regiment marched to Sling Camp which was situated in the heart of the Salisbury Plains. Sling Camp was the chief N.Z. training camp in England throughout the duration of the War. Awarded to Patrick FINN The German Military  rst used mustard gas during the war against the Allies in 1917. They out-  tted artillery shells and grenades with mustard gas that they  red in the vicinity of their enemy target. When inhaled, mustard gas causes bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system, damaging mucous membranes and is extremely painful. Mustard gas burns can vary between  rst and second degree burns and are often dis guring. On 14 September 1918 when a gas shell ex- ploded close to where Michael’s Regiment was entrenched, he was badly affected by mustard gas and admitted to a Field Hospital. On 25 September Michael was transferred from the Field Hospital and sent to England, where he was treated for Gas wounds at the Walton Hospital in Liverpool. While he was recovering in hospital the War came to an end on 11 No- vember 1918. A postcard written by Michael from his hospital bed still exists. On 25 January 1919 Michael embarked on the Port Melbourne in London for return to N.Z. The Upper Ancre – From the Utter- where he spent several months in hospital re- most ends of the Earth by John H. cuperating. He was  nally discharged from Gray the Army on 20 August 1919, returning to work While the New Zealand Division of 1918 was with his brother William on the sheep farm at battle hardened and experienced, this had Waimiha. come at a price that should not just be meas- ured in the heavy casualties it suffered along Unlike his younger brother Patrick, Michael sur- the way. In mid 1918 many of its soldiers, and vived the war but it took a terrible toll on his the Division as a whole, were paying for their health. He commenced military service on 9 success and fortitude. [Dark Journey by Glen April 1917 and was discharged on 20 August Harper] 1919, having spent 21 months on service over- seas. Michael was awarded the British War In 1926 Michael Finn left N.Z. and returned to Medal and Illuminated Certi cate of Service Ireland where he settled at Carrigeen, Conna, on 20 April 1921 and the Victoria Medal on 26 in North-East Cork, purchasing a farm there. In May 1922. 1944 he married Mary O’Donovan from Knock- anore, Co Waterford and they raised two sons, John and Tom. Michael’s older brother William continued to work on sheep farms at Waimiha and later at Kopaki, near Te Kuiti. William never married and after retiring from sheep farming in 1955 aged 68, he returned to Ireland to his childhood home in Araglen, Co. Waterford. He spent the remainder of his life there until his death in 1973. Michael Finn went to his eternal reward in Feb- ruary 1972 having outlived his brother Patrick by 54 years. [Family details provided by Thomas Finn, Carri- geen, Conna, Co Cork] New Zealander’s in the Field Submitted by Geraldene O’Reilly MICHAEL CALLAGHAN

RIFLEMAN NEW ZEALAND RIFLE BRIGADE 1915-1916

John CALLAGHAN was born 8miles away, Michael attend- ton, Canterbury, harvesting in c1847 at Bruff, Co. Limerick, ed school at Hamilton East, December 1914 and by early Ireland and arrived in New most likely St. Mary’s Convent 1915 was labouring as an em- Zealand in 1869, having been where his sister Maggie had ployee of William BERKHAN at brought out by Arthur and Ev- been one of the  rst boarders Dannevirke, in the Hawke’s ans GUBBINS to work on their Bay region in the North Island. farm at Ohaupo in the Waika- After leaving school in Ham- When War was declared in to Region of the North Island. ilton, Michael worked for the August 1914 young men from It was while John was working New Zealand Railways and all over New Zealand queued on the Gubbins’ property that later at a farming job work- to sign up for Service to ‘King he met their housekeeper, El- ing a team of horses for the and Country’. On 29 May 1915 len SUTTON, who was born at BEGG Bros. at Hillend Station, Michael Callaghan signed up Liverpool, England c1852. In near Balclutha in the South at Military Headquarters, Tren- 1876 John Callaghan and El- Island. These were life expe- tham, Wellington. len Sutton married at ‘Innisfall- riences which helped build en’ the Gubbins’ residence at Michael’s character and per- Ohaupo. Michael Callaghan haps added to his love of see- CALLAGHAN, Michael, was born at Ohaupo 23 July ing the country. Michael was Roll No. 501831 Ri eman 1882 their third and youngest working on a farm at Ashbur- 1st Battalion A Company - child. 3rd N.Z. Ri e Brigade 23/91 With his brother, John Law- rence and sister Margaret After his initial military train- (Maggie), Michael grew up a ing at Trentham, Michael be- happy, healthy, child living for came part of the 1st Battal- a time at Bruntwood, Tama- ion A Company, Trentham here, near Cambridge, where Regiment. On 19 September John was now farming anoth- 1915 Michael’s Regiment em- er of the Gubbins’ properties. barked for Egypt. After an Michael originally attended uneventful sailing from Wel- Tauwhare School before be- lington the Regiment disem- ing enrolled at Tamahere barked at the Suez, Egypt on School on 13 February 1889 26 October 1915. until 18 December 1891. He then spent 2 years at the Con- The next four months were vent School in Cambridge be- spent on drill practices until 17 fore re-enrolling at Tamahere February 1916 when Michael’s School on 13 February 1893, Regiment disembarked at Al- completing his education exandria. After seven weeks there by 18 December 1896. and further drill, on 5 April 1916 When the family moved to Michael embarked for France Nixon Street, Hamilton some and the Western Front. By the end of 1916 nearly 1.5 million men were al Hospital, Etaples, at the mouth of the River  ghting along the Western front. Conditions were Canche. appalling. The men fought in a series of trenches often  lled with mud. Battalions would be rotat- The Hospital was some distance from the front ed into the front line for a period of about eight and most likely transportation there was by days, resting and recuperating between times train. The whole area around the little  shing behind the lines. On the 11th S e p t e m b e r , village was converted into huge Hospital com- 1916 the Allies made an assault. The 2nd and 3rd plexes, with 100,000 reinforcement troops also Ri e Brigades, (the latter of whom Michael was camped in the surrounding sand dunes. Etaples now a part of) made the attack. For the next had 11 General, 1 Stationary and 4 Red Cross three weeks  ghting, 7,000 men of the New Zea- Hospitals and also a Convalescent Depot, all of land Division had become casualties – a rate that them able to deal with 22,000 wounded or sick far exceeded that suffered at Gallipoli. (Note 1 men. Three kilometres outside the Village, be- below) tween the road and railway line to Boulogne, a War Cemetery had been set up. Michael was on the front line on 11 Septem- ber 1916 involved in  erce  ghting at Rouen, On arrival at the Hospital Michael’s condition near Etaples. Within hours on that  rst day of was reported as serious, having been wound- engagement with the Germans, Michael was ed in both eyes by shrapnel. It was thought wounded when he received injuries from  ying that he might recover, but pneumonia set in shrapnel from a bursting shell. He was admit- and Michael had no strength to  ght it. Mi- ted to No. 38 casualty station and then evacu- chael died quite peacefully on 24 September ated on 12 September back to No. 26 Gener- 1916 and is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery,

1890 John Callaghan with his children Margaret, John and Michael one of the 261 New Zealand Expeditionary Forces Soldiers buried there. A photograph of Michael’s grave, provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Internal Affairs War Graves Division, depicts a properly engraved headstone and a small  owering shrub over the grave, giving its location as ‘Plot No. 16, Row C, Grave 3’. Two letters from the Etaples Hospital to his Moth- er, Ellen, dated 12 September and 25 Septem- ber 1916 survive today. The last letter Michael wrote to his Mother from New Zealand in 1915 from his base at Rangiotu, Trentham, also sur- vives and these letters form part of a family memorial to this young man who lost his life for his strong principles. The New Zealand newspaper, the Auckland Weekly News on 2 November 1916 carried the following report: Ri eman Michael Callaghan, who has died of wounds, was the son of Mr. & Mrs. John Cal- laghan, of Knox Street, Hamilton, and was 30 years of age. He left New Zealand in Octo- ber last year. Ri eman Callaghan was born at Ohaupo and educated principally at the Hamilton East School. For some time he was employed as a porter on the Railways at Ham- ilton and Auckland, and later he was engaged in contracting work in the South Island. As a Michael Callaghan memorabilia footballer and a walker he was well known. The War Memorial at Hamilton’s Memorial Park honours those fallen in the Great War. Michael Callaghan’s name is recorded among those young men from the Waikato region who lost their life in Service to their Country.

Michael Callaghan was my Great Uncle.

Note 1 The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History Ed. Ian MacGibbon p600-602

The great wave of archival resources that have become available online through sites such as FindMyPast and Ancestry have revolutionized genealogical study over recent years. Though the primary aim in making these resources accessible has been in assisting ancestral research, they have also greatly facilitated work in the  eld of social history. The scanning of entire record sets allows us to compare and contrast the “personal stories” of Irish people around the globe in a way that was largely out of reach until relatively recently. Like never before, we can explore history through the lens of personal experience, and in so doing connect more vividly with the past. Telling the personal stories of Irish emigrants using these resources is the raison d’être of this new column by Damian Shiels. It is a journey we are looking forward to taking in the months to come, and one we hope you will enjoy taking with us.

Europe is currently in the midst of the 100th an- in military roles as nurses, others went to entertain niversary commemorations of World War One. In the troops, and still more entered into romantic Ireland, the tens of thousands who served with attachments with American servicemen in Eu- the British Army during that con ict have under- rope. standably been the main focus of attention. In 1917 George Cohan struck gold with his pa- A lesser known aspect of the Irish experience is triotic song Over There, which informed Europe- the interface between Irish people and United an audices that “the Yanks are coming.” Many States service during the Great War. thousands of those who were coming were going to Ireland. In 1917 and 1918 large numbers Many Irishmen travelled to the Western Front as of U.S. sailors and other servicemen were based “Doughboys” in the war’s  nal years, but they in around the country in places like Queenstown were not the only Irish impacted by American in- (now Cobh), Aghada, Berehaven and Whiddy volvement in the  ghting. Large numbers of Irish Island (all Co. Cork), Wexford, Lough Foyle and women were also deeply affected– some served Dublin, while many more were at bases in Britain. Inevitably, it wasn’t long before many of the young Americans were stepping out with local girls. This didn’t always go down well with the local population. For example in September 1917 American sailors were banned from Cork City due to  ghting that broke out as a result of Cork men’s anger towards American sailors who “have been able to take their girls from them.” One way we to try and access the personal stories of those Irish women who married U.S. servicemen is through US Passport Applications, lodged by Irish-born women who had married American soldiers and sailors during World War One. These applications often contain extraordinary detail about these applicants – including their image – and can reveal to us not only stories of love and friendship, but also of hardship and loss. Letita Collins The applications reveal that some young Irish women met their American beaus around the same time, and probably in the same groups. Letita Collins and Ann Cronin from Youghal, Co Cork were both 22-years-old when they applied for passports in June 1919. Neither had been outside Ireland before. They had known each other all their lives, and were almost certainly fast friends– each had borne witness to the other’s applications. Their wartime experiences had followed remarkably similar trajectories. Letita, who hoped to live at 5 Ernst Street in Rochester, New York, had met and married American sailor Joseph Leonard Becker in early 1918; the couple celebrated the birth of their son John Arthur in Youghal on 14 June 1919. Around the same time Ann had married anoth- Josephine E Buchno er American sailor, Edward Ross Bingham; they welcomed their son John Patrick into the world Josephine E Buchno was 27-years-old when she on 24 December 1918, and intended to live at applied for a passport in Dublin in June 1919. Her 715 East Seminary Street in Danville, Illinois. For the passport reveals that her father James Cleary two Youghal friends, the arrival of the U.S. Navy was a Dublin native, while her mother Ellen (née changed both their lives forever. Egan) was from Killarney, Co. Kerry. Josephine The experience of Letitia and Ann many not have had met and fallen in love with John Buchno, a been unusual. Dublin sisters Christine Brooks and native of Buffalo, New York, during the war. John Sheila Mary Brooks were 25 and 19 respective- was a Boatswain’s Mate stationed in the U.S. Na- ly when they received passports in Liverpool in val Air Shipping base in Dublin. 1919. They were among many Irish women mak- The couple had married at St. Kevin’s in Dublin ing their homes in Britain at the time. city centre shortly after war’s end, on 30 Novem- Both had moved to England in April 1914, and ber 1918. Josephine, like many Irish women who both met US soldiers late in the war. Christine mar- married U.S. servicemen, was taking a leap of ried Private Emmet T. Brice of Knoxville, Iowa at faith. She declared on her form that she had nev- the Knotty Ash Embarkation Camp in Liverpool er been outside Ireland in her life, and now in- on 19 January 1919. Only three weeks earlier, on tended to make her new home with her husband 26 December 1918, Sheila had wed Californian at 15 Roebling Avenue in Buffalo. Sergeant John W Ayers at the very same camp. diverge on arrival in America. Whereas Sheila was to make her home in Seeley, California, Christine would be living more than 1300 miles away, in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. It is clear from a number of the applications that some of the women were pregnant at the time of their marriage. Although we cannot know their individual circumstances, it is likely given the moral attitudes of the time that this may have resulted in dif culties, and perhaps even estrangement from their families. It’s clear that 21-year-old May English, originally from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary was certainly pregnant when she married New Jerseyan Mathew Stanley Colkitt of the USS Davis in Liverpool in the autumn of 1918, as their daughter Margaret was born on 22 July that year.

Sheila-Mary-Ayers

May-Colkitt

Bridget Mary Lynch from Midleton, Co Cork was 22-years-old when she received a passport in July 1919 to go to New York. She had married her American husband George Daniel Mahony, a cook aboard USS Imperator in St. Colman’s Ca- thedral, Queenstown on 1 January 1919, a ven- Ann-Bingham ue for many marriages between American sailors What’s more, both sisters planned to travel to and local Irish women. The couple’s daughter Ve- America on the same ship, the Aquitania, which ronica was born in Queenstown on 9 May 1919, was due to depart on 21 March 1919. Had the suggesting she had been a number of months sisters chanced on love at the same time with the pregnant at the time of their marriage. American men, or had there been some form of arrangement? We may never know, but it would What her parents Thomas and Mary in Midleton appear that the sisters paths were  nally due to made of events goes unrecorded. References & Further Reading

William N Still Jr (ed.) 1996. The Queenstown Patrol, 1917: The Diary of Commander Joseph Kne er Taussig. Naval War College Press, New- port, Rhode Island. E Keble Chatterton 1934. Danger Zone: The Story of the Queenstown Command. Little, Brown and Company, Boston. US Passport Applications, 1795-1925. Ancestry database on-line. US Navy Casualty Reports. Fold3 database online.

Mary-Josephine-Clark

Not all the women who applied for U.S. passports following their marriages could look forward to new lives with their husbands. Surely few can match the poignancy of the story of 19-year- old Mary Josephine Dea from Youghal. She had married Eugene Clark from Floyd County, Iowa in early 1918, and 21 October 1918 saw the birth of their daughter Mary Josephine Gene Clark. Unfortunately by then Eugene, a Gunner’s First Mate aboard USS Shaw, was dead. The U.S. Navy “Over There” sheet music cover Casualty Reports record his fate: Credit: wikipedia U.S.S. SHAW After It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, the At about 6:45 a.m. while attempting to secure song most associated with the Allies’ after bill board which was torn loose by the side was Over There, written in 1917 by seas, the following man was washed overboard. George M Cohan. An extremely heavy sea was running and was sweeping the deck and bridge:- The song’s simple structure and naive op- CLARK, Eugene Henry Gunner’s Mate 1c timism recalls a time when the US felt that their entry into the war surely meant that it would soon be over. After all, to quote Despite her husband’s death, Mary, who like so may others had never been outside Ireland be- the song, “the Yanks are coming”. fore, chose to make her home in America. In an act of extreme courage, she decided to head to Cohan later recalled that the words and Waterloo, Iowa, presumably to live with relatives music to the song came to him while of her late husband, whom she had likely never travelling by train shortly after the US had met. declared war against Germany in April 1917. The most famous version of the tune She was just one of the many young Irish women is probably Jimmy Cagney’s take from who embarked for new lives in a world utterly un- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) where known to them, and one which they may never Cagney plays Cohan. have encountered were it not for the servicemen fate brought to their shores during World War One. Sheela-na-gigs are one of the mysteries of Medieval Irish architecture and historian Ned Kelly found an undiscovered one, set in a church porch in Co Mayo

Sheela-na-gigs are sculp- The relief  gure is most ele- tures of naked females vated at the head and the posed in a manner that dis- height of the carving reduces plays and emphasises the towards the feet. The head, genitalia. The  gures may which is damaged on the left appear to be squatting or reside, has a broad forehead clining - and while the hands tapering to a rounded chin. may be placed in a variety The otherwise naked  gure of positions, they normally appears to wear a tall toque call attention to the genital headdress over a veil which, area. on its right side, is represent- Not the sort of worshipper ed sweeping upwards and you might expect to  nd in outwards above the shoul- church, but read on... der. This is broken off on the left side of the  gure. Set into the wall opposite the entrance to the porch of The lower right leg is  exed Cross Church, Co Mayo there backwards and the right is a relief  gure carved on a hand reaches from behind limestone block. The block the thigh to grip the puden- appears to be a jamb stone, da. The left leg is bent at the probably from a window but aligned vertically along the knee while the left arm is bent possibly from a doorway. long axis of the stone. The at the elbow and appears The long sides of the rectan- carving has been damaged to point towards the public gular stone are chamfered on its left side (on the view- area; however the lower left and there is a relief carving er’s right side). arm is broken off. The stone is well carved and the lower, undamaged, concepts of wanton or inappropriate sexual- part has vertical rows of faint pock-marks ity. that provide a matted background to the relief  gure. When used as a personal name, Síle (Sheela) is the Irish form of the female name Cecilia A brass plaque informs the visitor that the  g- which was brought into Ireland by the An- ure was removed from nearby Killursa Church glo-Normans. St Cecilia was a Roman martyr in 1860 and built into a local coach-house - who remained chaste in marriage and may where, in 1895 it was noted to have been de- therefore be seen as promoting chaste living. faced. The stone was moved to Cross Church St Cecilia became a patron saint of music, in 1987. an activity that may be seen to have asso- The brass plaque identi es the  gure as that ciations with licentious living over which the of a child - but this is mistaken. Rather is it an saint seeks to exercise a restraining in uence. exhibitionist  gure of a type known as a shee- Given the attributes of St Cecilia, the associ- la-na-gig. ation of the name Síle (Cecilia) with the Irish exhibitionist  gures may indicate that an im- Most Irish sheela-na-gigs are found as isolat- portant function of the  gures was to warn ed carvings on the gables of buildings or in against the sin of lust. In Europe, exhibitionist proximity to doors and windows. About 100  gures were placed on churches along me- examples are known or recorded and their dieval pilgrimage routes to serve as such a main distribution is co-extensive with areas of warning. heavy Anglo-Norman settlement. This appears to support the view that the The only other known Co Mayo sheela-na- sheela-na-gig is a form introduced in the gig is found at Aghagower, on the Tóchar 12th century from Britain, where similar carv- Pádraig - an ancient pilgrimage route that ings are found. The  gures appear on parish leads from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh churches and monastic sites associated with Patrick. continental religious orders while examples Chamfered limestone door and window found on medieval castles and tower houses jambs are present at nearby Cong Abbey may be later in date. - and given the quality of the Cross church Like the Cross Church  gure, many other shee- carving, it may be that this is where the jamb la-na-gigs have been found in a damaged stone was originally located. Cong Abbey, or defaced condition. Some were removed like Ballintubber was an Augustinian house from their settings and buried in graveyards and there is evidence to suggest that the for concealment while others were dumped Augustinians took control of Croagh Patrick in rivers. during the medieval period and ministered to pilgrims. The name sheela-na-gig is a local Irish name recorded in 1840 for exhibitionist carvings at At Drumsheel, Cong, there is a well in the Kiltinane Church and Rochestown Church, form of a large waterhole, now dedicated to Co Tipperary. However, we have no way of St Cecilia, which was formerly a place of pil- telling how widely used the term was at the grimage, which took place on August 15 and time. September 7. Various interpretations of the name have been proposed but its meaning remains un- Eamonn Kelly is the former Keeper of Irish An- certain. Possible interpretations include Síle tiquities at the National Museum of Ireland. na gCíoch (Sheela of the breasts); Síle-ina- He is also author of ‘Sheela-na-gigs: Origins giob (Sheela on her hunkers); Síle-na-gigh and Functions’ published in 1996 by Country (Sheela of the vagina); Sidhe lena gigh (fairy House, Dublin in association with the National woman of the vagina). De nitions of Síle pro- Museum of Ireland vided by lexicographers relate generally to 25 years ago, Fethard in Co Tipperary had four sheela na gigs - one at Watergate Street, one at the Augustinian Abbey, one at Kiltinan Church and one at nearby Kiltinan Castle. But on Tuesday, January 9, 1990, the sheela was stolen from Kiltinan Church. It is still missing today – but local people have never given up hope that someday the stolen sheela will be returned to her native town. This is the wanted poster issued by the Fethard Historical Society in 1990. If you’ve seen their sheela, send her home. She’s sorely missed.