Seven years ago I wrote an eye on Patrick Moran, the County Roscommon man who worked in Athy some nine or ten years before he was hanged in Mountjoy Jail on 14th March 1921. Just a month before his execution John Moran (no relation) but also connected with Athy through his father William who was a native of the town was shot by the Black and Tans in Drogheda. Both men featured in the Eye on the Past No. 541 which appeared in February 2003.
Last week I attended the launch in Kilmainham Jail of May Moran’s book, ‘Executed for Ireland – the Patrick Moran Story’. Published by Mercier Press and written by Patrick Moran’s niece the book tells the story of the young man who took part in the 1916 Rising after which he was imprisoned in Knutsford and Frongoch. He continued his active involvement in the Volunteers after his release.
Born in Crossna near Boyle in County Roscommon in March 1888 Patrick Moran came to Athy in or about September 1910 after serving his time as a grocer’s assistant in Boyle. When he left Boyle he intended to work in Dublin but a job he sought in Doyle’s pub on the North side of Dublin did not materialise. How or why he turned his sights southwards towards Athy 42 miles from Dublin we do not know. Whatever the reason he took up a position as a grocer’s assistant with Stanislaus George Glynn who in 1911 was 52 years old and married to Mary Miriam Glynn from County Armagh. Glynn carried on business as a grocer, wine and spirit merchant and employed a number of people at his premises at No. 42 Duke Street, Athy. Two grocer’s assistants worked on the premises in addition to a porter/messenger who in 1911 was 19 year old Patrick Byrne. In addition there was a domestic servant employed in the house, a position then held by 20 year old Margaret Wall.
Local newspaper reports indicate that while in Athy Patrick Moran played football for the local Geraldine Football Club and as well was a member of the Catholic Young Men’s Society in Stanhope Street. He was also reported as having played an acting part in local amateur dramatics. His fellow worker in Glynns was Carlow man 28 year old Joseph O’Brien who enlisted at the start of the First World War Patrick Moran left Athy in or about July 1912 after he got a job with Doyles of Phibsboro.
May Moran in her excellent book quotes a letter which Stanislaus Glynn wrote in 1915 to Patrick Moran asking him to consider returning to work for him in Athy. In the letter Glynn wrote:-
‘Our Joe of late has a tendency to be careless about the business and I fear the tendency to get tired of constant work may lead him in a wrong direction. I find it hard to keep him from boozers’ company; he is well inclined but very easily led astray so I have decided to make a change in my assistants. We could find no men since O’Brien left for the army, so I tried girls but they are all an utter failure ..... Would you be willing to come to us, your political and other opinions coincide with our own and they will help keep Joe straight ..... The Gaelic League wants a bit of energetic organisation as it is at sixes and sevens and you are just the man to get them together again ..... If you consider this offer let me know your terms, I may say that at present trade being under the average owing to the war I could not afford to pay a big salary .....’
Patrick Moran did not return to Athy but instead stayed in Dublin where soon after joining the Irish Volunteers he was elected adjutant of D. Company Second Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. D. Company was comprised of men who worked in the bar and grocery trade. He was later a member of the Jacobs factory garrison under the command of Eamon De Valera and following the ceasefire and surrender he was imprisoned, initially in Knutsford and later in Frongoch internment camp in North Wales from where he was released on 27th July 1916. He worked in a number of different bars throughout Dublin before becoming foreman in McGees of Blackrock just a few weeks before his final arrest.
All the time he was actively involved in the Volunteer Movement and took a leading part in the events of Bloody Sunday on 22nd November 1920 when British intelligent officers were executed by raiding parties of the Volunteer Movement. May Moran has done enormous research for her book and has been able to discover Patrick Moran’s leading part in the execution of two British intelligent officers who were living in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.
The story of Patrick Moran’s arrest and subsequent execution in Mountjoy Jail on 14th March 1921 is well recorded. What perhaps is not so well known is that Patrick Moran was a man who was familiar with this town and its people in the years prior to the First World War and who played an active part in the social life of Athy while he lived here. During his term of imprisonment in Mountjoy Jail while awaiting execution he associated with another man whose family were subsequently to have and still have links with the South Kildare town. Frank Flood, one of a number of Flood brothers who were actively involved in the Republican Movement in Dublin during the War of Independence, was also hanged in Mountjoy Jail and his brother Tom Flood subsequently came to live in Athy where he operated the Railway Hotel in Leinster Street.
This well written book should be of great interest to Athy people.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Illegal goal in 1939 Leinster semi-final
Last week’s controversial goal in the Leinster final match between Meath and Louth which gave an undeserved victory to the Meath team brought back memories of a match played 71 years ago involving our own county team. The occasion was the Leinster Semi Final of 1939 when the men from Kildare togged out in Drogheda against the county men from Meath in a match which ended in even more controversy than that refereed by Martin Sludden last Sunday. Meath’s ‘victory’ this year came courtesy of an illegal injury time match winning goal from a player who fell into the goal area before throwing the ball over the line.
Roll back to the summer of 1939 and the G.A.A. pitch in Drogheda where Meath and Kildare were pitted against each other in the Leinster Semi Final of that year. Included on the Kildare team that day were Athy club players Johnny McEvoy, John Rochford and Tommy Mulhall. Meath scored their second match winning goal in the last minute of the game, despite claims that the referee had blown his whistle for a foul. The Kildare players on hearing the whistle had stopped defending their goal before the ball was thrown in the Kildare net by a Meath player. Johnny McEvoy, formerly of Woodstock Street, was the Kildare goalkeeper that day and in an interview with me many years ago he gave me his account of what happened.
Kildare player Peter Waters was fouled about 21 yards out from the Kildare goal. John Rochford retaliated and a goalmouth melee involving players from both sides resulted. The referee blew his whistle and Bill Halpin, a Meath player, threw the ball into the net in disgust. Johnny McEvoy picked up the ball and sat on it as supporters swarmed onto the pitch. A Meath supporter waived the umpire’s green flag to signify a goal. The referee placed the ball on the ground and pointed outfield so the Kildare players assumed they had got a free out. The final whistle soon followed and the Kildare players trooped off the pitch thinking they had won the match. Johnny McEvoy returned to the goalmouth area to retrieve a dental plate which he had left on the ground wrapped in a handkerchief and it was then that he discovered that the referee had awarded the goal to Meath. When he returned to the dressing room to tell his mates, in his own words ‘the Kildare team tore out but the referee was nowhere to be seen’.
The Kildare County Board lodged an objection and Athy’s District Court Clerk, Fintan Brennan, who was then Chairman of the Leinster Council, got several of the players, including Athy’s Johnny McEvoy and John Rochford to swear Affidavits which were lodged with the G.A.A. Central Council after the County’s initial objection was rejected by the Leinster Council. It was to no avail. The referee’s decision in 1939 and again in 2010 was final. Tim Clarke, the Kildare County Board Secretary, was reported in the Leinster Leader as saying, ‘We have often got bad treatment on the field from referees but never have we been robbed barefacedly of a match.’ Kildare subsequently withdrew all its teams from G.A.A. competitions for a year.
The Leinster Championship Semi Final in Drogheda on 9th July 1939 deprived Kildare of a possible victory in that year’s All Ireland. Meath went on to win the Leinster Final and only lost to Kerry in the All Ireland Final by the narrow margin of 2 points. The controversial defeat ended Johnny McEvoy’s association with his home county’s Senior Football team as having joined the Garda Siochana he decided to tog out for a Dublin team. Johnny had the distinction of securing a Senior County Dublin Championship medal in 1948 to go with the Kildare Championship medal won with Athy in 1937. He first played for his native county in November 1937 and would also play for the Dublin Senior County team during his Garda Siochana days in the capital city.
The 1939 game against Meath and the controversial goal which deprived the Kildare men of victory was brought to mind on reading in a newspaper headline which followed last week’s game ‘Controversy abounds as Meath claim title in hectic final minute’.
As in 1939 the Royal County of Meath declined to offer a replay to their opponents. I suppose this is not unexpected in a sport, which with soccer, has seen the development of unsporting behaviour by players feigning injury and fouls in order to obtain advantage over opponents. Sportsmanship is not always to be found where expected and officials and team players who rely, when it is to their advantage, on the rules and ignore the spirit of the game are in the end the losers.
Roll back to the summer of 1939 and the G.A.A. pitch in Drogheda where Meath and Kildare were pitted against each other in the Leinster Semi Final of that year. Included on the Kildare team that day were Athy club players Johnny McEvoy, John Rochford and Tommy Mulhall. Meath scored their second match winning goal in the last minute of the game, despite claims that the referee had blown his whistle for a foul. The Kildare players on hearing the whistle had stopped defending their goal before the ball was thrown in the Kildare net by a Meath player. Johnny McEvoy, formerly of Woodstock Street, was the Kildare goalkeeper that day and in an interview with me many years ago he gave me his account of what happened.
Kildare player Peter Waters was fouled about 21 yards out from the Kildare goal. John Rochford retaliated and a goalmouth melee involving players from both sides resulted. The referee blew his whistle and Bill Halpin, a Meath player, threw the ball into the net in disgust. Johnny McEvoy picked up the ball and sat on it as supporters swarmed onto the pitch. A Meath supporter waived the umpire’s green flag to signify a goal. The referee placed the ball on the ground and pointed outfield so the Kildare players assumed they had got a free out. The final whistle soon followed and the Kildare players trooped off the pitch thinking they had won the match. Johnny McEvoy returned to the goalmouth area to retrieve a dental plate which he had left on the ground wrapped in a handkerchief and it was then that he discovered that the referee had awarded the goal to Meath. When he returned to the dressing room to tell his mates, in his own words ‘the Kildare team tore out but the referee was nowhere to be seen’.
The Kildare County Board lodged an objection and Athy’s District Court Clerk, Fintan Brennan, who was then Chairman of the Leinster Council, got several of the players, including Athy’s Johnny McEvoy and John Rochford to swear Affidavits which were lodged with the G.A.A. Central Council after the County’s initial objection was rejected by the Leinster Council. It was to no avail. The referee’s decision in 1939 and again in 2010 was final. Tim Clarke, the Kildare County Board Secretary, was reported in the Leinster Leader as saying, ‘We have often got bad treatment on the field from referees but never have we been robbed barefacedly of a match.’ Kildare subsequently withdrew all its teams from G.A.A. competitions for a year.
The Leinster Championship Semi Final in Drogheda on 9th July 1939 deprived Kildare of a possible victory in that year’s All Ireland. Meath went on to win the Leinster Final and only lost to Kerry in the All Ireland Final by the narrow margin of 2 points. The controversial defeat ended Johnny McEvoy’s association with his home county’s Senior Football team as having joined the Garda Siochana he decided to tog out for a Dublin team. Johnny had the distinction of securing a Senior County Dublin Championship medal in 1948 to go with the Kildare Championship medal won with Athy in 1937. He first played for his native county in November 1937 and would also play for the Dublin Senior County team during his Garda Siochana days in the capital city.
The 1939 game against Meath and the controversial goal which deprived the Kildare men of victory was brought to mind on reading in a newspaper headline which followed last week’s game ‘Controversy abounds as Meath claim title in hectic final minute’.
As in 1939 the Royal County of Meath declined to offer a replay to their opponents. I suppose this is not unexpected in a sport, which with soccer, has seen the development of unsporting behaviour by players feigning injury and fouls in order to obtain advantage over opponents. Sportsmanship is not always to be found where expected and officials and team players who rely, when it is to their advantage, on the rules and ignore the spirit of the game are in the end the losers.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A history shared
Last Saturday representing Athy I joined representatives of local history societies from around the country in welcoming visitors of the Ulster Federation of History Societies to our county town of Naas. The Ulster Federation is an umbrella organisation of history societies throughout Northern Ireland and in that regard fulfils the same role as does the Federation of Local History Societies in the south. The two federations have enjoyed excellent relationships extending back beyond the dark days of the ‘troubles’ and the visit to Naas by 35 Northern Ireland local historians was part of an Urban Experience Project initiated by the two federations over 20 years ago. The Project involves exchange trips between the two federations and these annual visits, either north or south of the border, help to cement strong bonds of friendship and cultural cooperation between all their members.
Seamus Moore, the newly elected Mayor of Naas, welcomed the visitors and as he did I was mindful that Seamus’ father Michael Moore, a native of Barrowhouse, had made his home in Nás na Rí, the meeting place of the Kings, some years after his involvement in South Kildare as a member of the Carlow/Kildare I.R.A. Brigade in the War of Independence.
While waiting for the Northern Ireland visitors to arrive Seamus showed me a banner made by Watsons of Sackville Street Dublin in 1882, on which was depicted a portrait of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Lord Edward was at one time a Member of Parliament for the Borough of Athy and the banner with the words ‘God Save Ireland’ and ‘Eire go Brath’ boldly emblazoned above and below Lord Edward’s portrait was apparently a Land League banner. I understand Naas Town Council has gone to a lot of expense to preserve this important artefact from our past and their decision to do so is highly commendable. I am reminded that I have sought in vain over the years to track down a number of banners which at various times graced parades and public meetings held in Athy and elsewhere in the County of Kildare during the Land League and subsequent Home Rule periods of agitation. The Luggacurran Land League banner was traced to a pub in the Swan, but unfortunately has yet to be seen or recovered.
The fine room at the top of the Town Hall in Naas which was originally built as the town gaol in 1792 is now used at the local Council’s meeting chambers. It is a graceful room, the walls of which are adorned with paintings recording scenes from the history of Naas which was once the second town of the short grass county after Athy.
A quick guided tour of some of the more important buildings in Naas followed, of which St. David’s Church, built on the site of an earlier Celtic church in the centre of Naas, was the highlight.
After lunch more than 75 local historians from north and south of this island visited Palmerstown House, the seat of the Bourkes who were Earls of Mayo. The present house, located just outside Naas, was built in the Queen Ann style, by public subscription as a tribute to the Earl of Mayo after he was assassinated in India. The Earl’s body was returned to Ireland preserved in a barrel of rum, thereby earning him the nickname ‘the pickled earl’. His story, and that of Palmerstown House, was eloquently related to the visitors by Brian McCabe of the local history society.
I was delighted to hear from Brian that the memorial to the old Fenian John Devoy which marked his birthplace in Kill has recently been replaced near to its original site following the works on the motorway. The Devoy family originally came from Athy and Michael Devoy of Kill wrote a short history of Athy which was published in the Irish Magazine of March 1809. Michael, whom I believe may have been John Devoy’s grandfather, also wrote a history of Castledermot which was published in the May 1809 edition of the same magazine.
The visit of the Ulster Federation Members was a very enjoyable occasion and gave the Naas Local History Society members an opportunity to showcase their ancient town. I was particularly impressed by the generosity of Jim Mansfield in allowing access to his fine house at Palmerstown. There were minimum restrictions imposed on the 75 or so interested visitors as they went through almost every part of the building. It was the highlight of the day and congratulations must go to Larry Breen, National President of the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland, who is also an active member of Naas Local History Society.
In Eye on the Past No. 541 I wrote of Patrick Moran who worked for some years as a shop assistant in Athy and who was hanged in Kilmainham Jail on 14th March 1921 for his alleged participation in the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ 21st November 1920. Kilmainham Jail will be the venue for the launch of ‘Executed for Ireland – The Patrick Moran Story’ on Wednesday, 21st July at 7.00 p.m. The book by May Moran will be of particular interest for Athy folk.
Seamus Moore, the newly elected Mayor of Naas, welcomed the visitors and as he did I was mindful that Seamus’ father Michael Moore, a native of Barrowhouse, had made his home in Nás na Rí, the meeting place of the Kings, some years after his involvement in South Kildare as a member of the Carlow/Kildare I.R.A. Brigade in the War of Independence.
While waiting for the Northern Ireland visitors to arrive Seamus showed me a banner made by Watsons of Sackville Street Dublin in 1882, on which was depicted a portrait of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Lord Edward was at one time a Member of Parliament for the Borough of Athy and the banner with the words ‘God Save Ireland’ and ‘Eire go Brath’ boldly emblazoned above and below Lord Edward’s portrait was apparently a Land League banner. I understand Naas Town Council has gone to a lot of expense to preserve this important artefact from our past and their decision to do so is highly commendable. I am reminded that I have sought in vain over the years to track down a number of banners which at various times graced parades and public meetings held in Athy and elsewhere in the County of Kildare during the Land League and subsequent Home Rule periods of agitation. The Luggacurran Land League banner was traced to a pub in the Swan, but unfortunately has yet to be seen or recovered.
The fine room at the top of the Town Hall in Naas which was originally built as the town gaol in 1792 is now used at the local Council’s meeting chambers. It is a graceful room, the walls of which are adorned with paintings recording scenes from the history of Naas which was once the second town of the short grass county after Athy.
A quick guided tour of some of the more important buildings in Naas followed, of which St. David’s Church, built on the site of an earlier Celtic church in the centre of Naas, was the highlight.
After lunch more than 75 local historians from north and south of this island visited Palmerstown House, the seat of the Bourkes who were Earls of Mayo. The present house, located just outside Naas, was built in the Queen Ann style, by public subscription as a tribute to the Earl of Mayo after he was assassinated in India. The Earl’s body was returned to Ireland preserved in a barrel of rum, thereby earning him the nickname ‘the pickled earl’. His story, and that of Palmerstown House, was eloquently related to the visitors by Brian McCabe of the local history society.
I was delighted to hear from Brian that the memorial to the old Fenian John Devoy which marked his birthplace in Kill has recently been replaced near to its original site following the works on the motorway. The Devoy family originally came from Athy and Michael Devoy of Kill wrote a short history of Athy which was published in the Irish Magazine of March 1809. Michael, whom I believe may have been John Devoy’s grandfather, also wrote a history of Castledermot which was published in the May 1809 edition of the same magazine.
The visit of the Ulster Federation Members was a very enjoyable occasion and gave the Naas Local History Society members an opportunity to showcase their ancient town. I was particularly impressed by the generosity of Jim Mansfield in allowing access to his fine house at Palmerstown. There were minimum restrictions imposed on the 75 or so interested visitors as they went through almost every part of the building. It was the highlight of the day and congratulations must go to Larry Breen, National President of the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland, who is also an active member of Naas Local History Society.
In Eye on the Past No. 541 I wrote of Patrick Moran who worked for some years as a shop assistant in Athy and who was hanged in Kilmainham Jail on 14th March 1921 for his alleged participation in the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ 21st November 1920. Kilmainham Jail will be the venue for the launch of ‘Executed for Ireland – The Patrick Moran Story’ on Wednesday, 21st July at 7.00 p.m. The book by May Moran will be of particular interest for Athy folk.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Proud history of St. Vincents
Sixteen years ago I was approached by Eddie Matthews of the Eastern Health Board and asked if I would write a history of the local hospital, St. Vincent’s. The publication was to be ready for the 150th anniversary of the hospital’s opening as a workhouse which had predated the Great Famine by just over a year. The opening of Athy Workhouse on 9th January 1844 came just in time to relieve some of the harshest effects of the famine in and around the South Kildare area.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Proud History of St. Vincents
Sixteen years ago I was approached by Eddie Matthews of the Eastern Health Board and asked if I would write a history of the local hospital, St. Vincent’s. The publication was to be ready for the 150th anniversary of the hospital’s opening as a workhouse which had predated the Great Famine by just over a year. The opening of Athy Workhouse on 9th January 1844 came just in time to relieve some of the harshest effects of the famine in and around the South Kildare area.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Emily Square: Central to Athy's history
The announcement of the imminent erection of the ’98 Memorial commissioned over 12 years by Athy Urban District Council, as it was then known, is very welcome news. I gather the Memorial will be erected in Emily Square, that fine public space in the centre of our town which over the years has been the scene of many community events and celebrations. It is appropriate that Emily Square is chosen for the ’98 Memorial because it was in that very same arena that local men suspected of involvement with the United Irishmen were tortured during the early months of 1798. Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine House wrote of the experience of the Athy people at that time: ‘a man of the name of Thomas James Rawson ... had every person tortured and stripped ... he would seat himself in the chair in the centre of a ring formed around the triangles, the miserable victims kneeling under the triangles until they would be spotted over with the blood of the others.’
William Farrell of Carlow corroborated Fitzgerald’s account when he wrote: ‘the triangle was put up in the public street of Athy ... the men were stripped naked, tied to the triangle and their flesh cut without mercy.’
It was also in Emily Square that the Athy Yeomanry Cavalry lead by their Captain, the earlier mentioned Thomas Fitzgerald, were stood down in May 1798 amidst claims that they were disloyal. Colonel Campbell who commanded the 9th Dragoons then stationed in the local military barracks ordered the members of the Cavalry Corps to turn out in Emily Square. There they were ordered to dismount, to lay down their arms and strip their horses of saddles and bridles. This formal disbandment of Athy Cavalry Corps was a humiliating experience for its members who were for the most part local gentleman farmers and their sons. But in those tense days little could be taken for granted, especially when the son of the Duke of Leinster, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, was himself a leader of the rebellious United Irishmen.
Athy has enjoyed a chequered history since the time the Anglo Normans travelled up the navigable River Barrow to establish a township near the site of the ancient river crossing. Numerous attacks by the Irish on the Anglo Norman settlement from which the town later developed, led to the creation of a fortress town in which a garrison was constantly stationed. Athy would remain a garrison town until the mid 19th century by which time it had survived the Black Death, Plague and the Confederate Wars.
The United Irishmen’s rebellion of 1798 marked a turning point in the political allegiances of many of the local people of Athy. The awakening of the desire for self government first identified with the founding of the United Irishmen would lie dormant for many years after the ’98 Rebellion. However, a seed once sown would never die.
It was the emergence of Sinn Fein under the leadership of its founder Arthur Griffith, a society later infiltrated and controlled by the I.R.B., which saw military action replace parliamentary politics in the push for independence. The South Kildare area figured, although not very prominently, in the events which marked the Irish War of Independence and in so doing the people of this area kept faith with the legacy of the United Irishmen of 1798.
During the 19th century famine would come and go but oppressive poverty would remain a constant companion for a large part of the local people of Athy. Enlistment overseas in the same Army which had brutally defeated their forefathers’ rebellious efforts in ’98 were for many the only means of escaping the tedium and poverty of Irish provincial town life. Those who enlisted during the 1914-18 War have in recent years received their due recognition with the unveiling of a plaque on the front of the Town Hall facing out onto Emily Square. It is only right that the same square which played such a prominent part in the events of ’98 will soon be the site of a memorial to the men and women of the Year of Rebellion.
Mary Jo O’Rourke, formerly of 21 Geraldine Road, has emailed me from the Isle of Man. In 1987 or thereabouts when she was attending Scoil Mhichil Naofa she was part of a group from the school which performed in a concert held in Dreamland which she recalls was advertised as ‘Curtain Call’. Apparently a video was taken of the concert and she is anxious to try and trace a copy of the video to show to her young daughter as one of the songs from that concert is a lullaby which she now sings to her. Can anyone help Mary Jo in her search for the video of that concert?
William Farrell of Carlow corroborated Fitzgerald’s account when he wrote: ‘the triangle was put up in the public street of Athy ... the men were stripped naked, tied to the triangle and their flesh cut without mercy.’
It was also in Emily Square that the Athy Yeomanry Cavalry lead by their Captain, the earlier mentioned Thomas Fitzgerald, were stood down in May 1798 amidst claims that they were disloyal. Colonel Campbell who commanded the 9th Dragoons then stationed in the local military barracks ordered the members of the Cavalry Corps to turn out in Emily Square. There they were ordered to dismount, to lay down their arms and strip their horses of saddles and bridles. This formal disbandment of Athy Cavalry Corps was a humiliating experience for its members who were for the most part local gentleman farmers and their sons. But in those tense days little could be taken for granted, especially when the son of the Duke of Leinster, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, was himself a leader of the rebellious United Irishmen.
Athy has enjoyed a chequered history since the time the Anglo Normans travelled up the navigable River Barrow to establish a township near the site of the ancient river crossing. Numerous attacks by the Irish on the Anglo Norman settlement from which the town later developed, led to the creation of a fortress town in which a garrison was constantly stationed. Athy would remain a garrison town until the mid 19th century by which time it had survived the Black Death, Plague and the Confederate Wars.
The United Irishmen’s rebellion of 1798 marked a turning point in the political allegiances of many of the local people of Athy. The awakening of the desire for self government first identified with the founding of the United Irishmen would lie dormant for many years after the ’98 Rebellion. However, a seed once sown would never die.
It was the emergence of Sinn Fein under the leadership of its founder Arthur Griffith, a society later infiltrated and controlled by the I.R.B., which saw military action replace parliamentary politics in the push for independence. The South Kildare area figured, although not very prominently, in the events which marked the Irish War of Independence and in so doing the people of this area kept faith with the legacy of the United Irishmen of 1798.
During the 19th century famine would come and go but oppressive poverty would remain a constant companion for a large part of the local people of Athy. Enlistment overseas in the same Army which had brutally defeated their forefathers’ rebellious efforts in ’98 were for many the only means of escaping the tedium and poverty of Irish provincial town life. Those who enlisted during the 1914-18 War have in recent years received their due recognition with the unveiling of a plaque on the front of the Town Hall facing out onto Emily Square. It is only right that the same square which played such a prominent part in the events of ’98 will soon be the site of a memorial to the men and women of the Year of Rebellion.
Mary Jo O’Rourke, formerly of 21 Geraldine Road, has emailed me from the Isle of Man. In 1987 or thereabouts when she was attending Scoil Mhichil Naofa she was part of a group from the school which performed in a concert held in Dreamland which she recalls was advertised as ‘Curtain Call’. Apparently a video was taken of the concert and she is anxious to try and trace a copy of the video to show to her young daughter as one of the songs from that concert is a lullaby which she now sings to her. Can anyone help Mary Jo in her search for the video of that concert?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)