Armistice Day and some Athy's Men's Involvement in World War I

This year’s Armistice Day, 11^th November, coincides with Remembrance Day and so uniquely we can commemorate at 11 o’clock on the 11^th day of the 11^th month the ending of the First World War.  At the same time we can remember those unfortunate men from Athy and district who, encouraged by civic and church leaders, enlisted to fight on foreign soil.  Many of them never again saw their families or friends back home in Athy.  Many more would find a last resting place in unknown and unmarked graves.  Few local families were left untouched by the carnage of the First World War.  I was reminded of this during the week while looking over notes taken over the years of Athy families whose men folk enlisted during the 1914-18 war.

The Carey family of Shruileen Lane were for generations employed on the Grand Canal and the Barrow Navigation.  John Carey was just 16 years of age when he enlisted in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in December 1908.  He was called up from the Army Reserves at the beginning of the war in August 1914.  Three years earlier he had married local girl Margaret Bowden, whose brother Michael, a postman attached to Athy Post Office, had also enlisted at the start of the war.  John Carey was wounded during the second battle of Ypres in 1915 and was discharged from the Army on health grounds in November 1915.  John later lived in St. Dominic’s Park where he died in 1966, aged 73 years. 

His brother James, who also served in the Dublin Fusiliers and survived the war, drowned in the Grand Canal in February 1924, aged 37 years.  John’s brother in law Michael Bowden was living at the Dry Docks, Athy when he first enlisted in the British Army in 1906.  By the time the First World War started he was employed as a postman in the local Post Office and was also a member of the Reserve Forces.  Recalled to the colours he joined the 1^st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and arrived in France in August 1914.  Michael was captured at Le Cateau on 26^th August 1914 and imprisoned in Limburg prison of war camp where he died in May 1918, aged 29 years.  He is buried in Germany. 

John Carey’s sister Mary married local man Patrick Day on the 1^st day of December 1907.  One and a half years earlier he had joined the Leinster Regiment and subsequently transferred to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.  He served in Gallipoli in 1915 and in France from June 1916.  Captured by the Germans he was a prisoner of war from March 1918, but unlike Michael Bowden survived to return to Athy at the end of the war.  He died in May 1966. 

The interlinking family connections widened when John Carey’s daughter Mary married an Irish Army soldier Patrick Roche from Ennis, Co. Clare.  Patrick’s father was Michael Roche, who at 19 years of age joined the British Army in October 1914.  He was discharged due to ill health two years later but would subsequently join the Irish Free State Army in April 1922.  Promoted to the rank of sergeant and attached to the 1^st  Western Division he was to die tragically on 25^th August 1922.  While patrolling near Ballymullen Barracks, Tralee, Co. Kerry a carelessly handled grenade exploded killing Michael and the officer in charge of the platoon, Lieutenant Timothy McMahon. 

Army service and especially war service during the 1914-18 conflict linked the Carey, Bowden, Day and Roche families.  Within those families at least 5 members enlisted and 2 were to die, one in Germany, the second surviving the killing fields of France and Flanders only to die in the country of his birth during the Irish Civil War.

Many more as yet unidentified Athy families gave sons, brothers and husbands to the war which was believed would end all wars.  On Sunday next, 11^th November at 10.45 a.m. St. Michael’s Cemetery will be the gathering point for those wishing to observe a minute’s silence as the clock strikes the eleventh hour.  The graves of the six soldiers who died at home in Athy during the 1914-18 war will be the scene of the now annual commemoration ceremony which will follow.  This will represent a change from previous years commemorations, bringing the ceremony back from 3.00 in the afternoon to start at 10.45  in the morning.

If any member of your family was involved in the First World War the St. Michael’s Cemetery Commemoration on November 11^th affords an ideal opportunity to remember and pay respect to their memory.  The organisers would welcome hearing from anyone with information on Athy families whose menfolk enlisted during the 1914-18 war.  If you can help in that regard the staff in the Heritage Centre would like to hear from you.   

                                                                                                                                                 

Athy's Hidden Gems and Forgotten People

In last week’s article I mentioned the ‘Hidden Gems & Forgotten People’ project which is shortly to be officially launched by the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland and the Ulster Federation of Local Studies.  Both bodies operating from different parts of our island are national organisations catering for local history societies.  The Ulster Federation and its sister Federation in the south has in the past cooperated on a number of historical projects, most recently being the digitisation of photographs taken as part of ‘Our Place’ project.  This was a photographic study of modern Ireland using the Lawrence photographs of 100 years ago as the comparative basis to show Ireland then and now.  The results are on the National Library network for all to view.

The ‘Hidden Gems’ project is one which allows local history societies and individuals alike to bring to local and national attention interesting but lesser known places and those forgotten people whose personality and past achievements merit being remembered today.  The almost 150 member societies of the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland are participating in the Project which has been up and running on a trial basis for the past few months.  The initial results can be viewed on the website www.hidden-gems.eu.  Anyone with an interest in participating in the project is invited to submit suitable material to Larry Breen who is managing the project on behalf of the Federation.  He can be contacted at 8 The Paddocks, Naas, Co. Kildare or by E-mail at larrybreen8@eircom.net.  Written submissions should not exceed 500 words and should be accompanied by a photograph or sketch.

Submissions were made for Athy and inevitably they included the man whom I regard as epitomizing much that was best in the world of 19^th century Ireland.  Rev. Thomas Kelly of Ballintubbert is a prime example of the‘Forgotten People’ who in their time made a very real contribution to Irish life.  He established his own breakaway group from the Anglican Church and for over 50 years headed up the ‘Kellyites’.  As a native of Ballintubbert it was inevitable that when he opened churches for his followers Athy was chosen as well as Portarlington, Waterford and Dublin.  Kelly is perhaps best known today for his extensive contribution to church hymnology than for his leadership of the Kellyite congregations which faded away soon after his death in 1856.  Thomas Kelly is buried in the churchyard of Ballintubbert Church. 

Another Athy man included in the developing ‘Hidden Gems & Forgotten People’  portfolio is Patrick O’Kelly of Kilcoo whose book ‘1798 Rebellion’ gave us a detailed account of events in this area during the ‘Year of Rebellion’.  Kelly was the author of a number of books, all of which were published in Dublin prior to his death in 1851.  However, he is largely forgotten today and it is principally through his now rare ’98 book that he is remembered by serious students of Irish history.

The former Quaker meeting house built in 1782 was another Athy inclusion in the ‘Hidden Gems’ project.  Bert House, built between 1720 and 1730 for Burgh family was also included as another local hidden gem.  The large mansion on the Monasterevin Road is a residence of some importance which at one time was the home of Lord Downes, the former Chief Justice of Ireland.

Two structures, one of which was long overlooked, the other largely ignored, were included as hidden gems because of their uniqueness.  The cock pit located in the premises of Griffin Hawe in Duke Street is believed to have been a 17^th century building, constructed at a time when cock fighting was still the favourite pastime of the gentry.  The building which was restored over 40 years ago by Kildare County Council under the guidance of the then county architect, Niall Meagher, is worthy of inclusion of one of Athy’s hidden gems. 

Often seen, but seldom admired, is the Horsebridge, or more correctly the One Horse Bridge, which spans the River Barrow where it meets the Grand Canal.  The original bridge arches were reduced as part of the Barrow Drainage Scheme of the 1920s in order to alleviate flooding.  The well worn path across the bridge allowed a horse pulling a canal boat to make the transition from canal to river and vice versa.  It is surely a hidden gem of late 18^th century stone masons work. 

The ‘Hidden Gems and Forgotten People’ project is one which gives everybody an opportunity to bring before a wider public, interesting or inspiring individuals of the past and interesting or important places which time has conspired to consign to lost memories.

Larry Breen of the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland will be delighted to receive suitable contributions for inclusion in the ‘Hidden Gems & Forgotten People’ project.

Visit to Kilcullen and Harristown House

I was reminded of the Hidden Gems Project recently initiated by the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland when last Saturday after a meeting of Local History Societies from Kildare County those attending were brought on a tour of two of Kilcullen’s attractions.

The first was the Camphill Community Garden nestling below the bridge of Kilcullen and bordering the River Liffey.  The Camphill Community have been based in Kilcullen for about 20 years but it’s only within recent months that the garden, now open to the public, was developed.  Our guide for the afternoon was Nessa Dunlea, a Kilcullen native who over the years has done an enormous amount of community work for her beloved town.  I was previously unaware of the Camphill Garden and found it to be a very pleasant and peaceful oasis in the middle of Kilcullen which anyone visiting the town should arrange to see.  With some additional development it could be easily transformed into a must see venue for visitors and locals alike and deserves inclusion as one of Kilcullen’s hidden gems.

Afterwards, Nessa arranged for us to travel a short distance on the Ballymore Eustace side of Kilcullen to visit Harristown House, the one time home of the La Touche family.  It is now home to the Beaumonts and Hubert Beaumont gave his visitors, by prior arrangement, a guided tour of this fine house.  The nine bay, three storey over basement house was originally built on a smaller scale in the 1760s for the Eustace family who sold the house and the Harristown Estate to John La Touche in or about 1785.  It was John La Touche who had the house extended some years later but before doing so he arranged for the Naas to Dunlavin Road which crossed the estate near to the big house to be diverted.  The new road and the new bridge bearing the date 1788, both of which he financed, went by the edge of the Harristown Estate, leaving the previous road bridge crossing the River Liffey as perhaps the finest bridge serving private grounds to be seen anywhere in these islands.

The house was extensively damaged by fire in 1891 and was subsequently restored, only to be sold by the La Touche family in the 1920s.  Harristown House and Estate was later purchased by Michael Beaumont, a grandson of Michael Grace, formerly of Gracefield, Co. Laois who with his brother William had emigrated to South America in 1865.  Both men made their fortunes there and while William Grace went to live in New York where he was later elected Mayor his brother Michael returned to live in England.  Harristown House was completely restored by Michael Beaumont and his wife Doreen and from their home in Wootton, Buckinghamshire, the former home of the Duke of Buckingham, they brought fireplaces, doors, interior fittings, together with fine furniture and portraits which are now to be found in Harristown House.  Amongst those is a full length portrait of George Canning, the anti-slavery campaigner and former Prime Minister of Britain whose statue today stands in Parliament Square, London.  Canning was an ancestor of the present owner of Harristown House and indeed the British Prime Ministerial connection is again noted with Tony Blair who now lives in what was part of the Wootton home of the Beaumont family. 

Doreen Beaumont, grandmother of the present owner of Harristown House, did extensive work on preserving the house prior to her death in November 2000.  The Chinese room has wonderful 16^th century hand painted silk wallpaper depicting birds in strong vibrant colours.  Another fascinating feature was the Elizabethan oak panelling in one of the principal bedrooms which came from a Tudor house in England.  The guided tour by its owner Hubert Beaumont was a most comprehensive and enjoyable one and clearly demonstrated that Harristown House is yet another of Kilcullen’s hidden gems.  If you ever have the opportunity of visiting Harristown House, and I gather it is open to the public on selected days and times during the year, make sure to include it on your list of places to visit. 

Approaching Athy from the Dublin direction travellers now come to the roundabout at Gallowshill, which by its name speaks of a time when the rising ground in that locality was the site of the town’s gallows.  The roundabout is now home to an interesting installation piece (if that is the right term) put there by Kildare County Council as the public art element of recent public road works.  The lock gates are a readily identifiable element of canal infrastructure and remind us of the time when Athy, the meeting place of the Grand Canal and the River Barrow, was a thriving Canal town.  Freight and passengers travelled up and down the Canal long before the railway line was extended to Athy.  The Grand Canal brought prosperity to Athy.  It brought jobs and it brought a range of fine buildings, many of which still stand today.  Athy truly was a Canal town in the past, but even today the Canal remains an important part of the infrastructure of the town awaiting the upsurge of leisure boating on the water corridor which connects us with so many other parts of Ireland.  Congratulations to Kildare County Council for what is a delightful and meaningful addition to the public art of Athy.

12th Shackleton Autum School and Eric Hobsbawm Marxist Historian

On Friday 26^th October President Michael D. Higgins will visit Athy to officially open the 12^th Shackleton Autumn School.  This will be President Higgins’ first visit as Uachtarain na hEireann to the south Kildare town and marks an important step in the short history of the Autumn School.  Over the last 11 years the Town Hall venue has hosted an extraordinary variety of Antarctic experts who have travelled from America, Norway, England and elsewhere to address audiences interested in Polar history, Polar studies and research.

The Shackleton Autumn School has been one of Athy’s great achievements over the past decade.  At a time when the recession is biting deep into the heart of the town’s economic wellbeing it is gratifying to acknowledge the voluntary workers who have brought the school to the preeminent position it occupies today. 

This year the Shackleton Autumn School, in addition to welcoming the President of Ireland, will also play host to the grandsons and granddaughter of three famous Antarctic explorers, Ernest Shackleton, Captain Robert Scott and Tom Crean.  So far as I am aware the attendance of Alexandra Shackleton, Falcon Scott and Brendan O'Brien over the October Bank Holiday weekend marks the first occasion that these three distinguished families have come together to mark an Antarctic related event in Ireland.  It will be a unique occasion and one which confirms the worldwide status which today attaches to the event which started in Athy in 2001.  Athy’s Shackleton Autumn School is today widely regarded as the world’s most important annual Antarctic conference, a boast of which we can be justifiably proud. 

President Higgins will arrive in Athy on Friday 26^th October.  The evening will commence with a wine reception in the Heritage Centre at 7.00pm, followed by the official opening by the President.  There has always been a very good attendance on the School’s opening night and it’s expected that the people of Athy will come to the Heritage Centre to greet our President on the occasion of his first official visit to the town.

This year the School will host an exhibition on Captain Scott’s 1910-1913  expedition.  The exhibition will tell the story of Scott, who reached the South Pole only to die while on the return trip.  It will feature artefacts relating to Tom Crean and Patrick Keohane, two Irishmen who both served on that expedition.  As always, there is a wide variety of lectures to choose from.  Kari Herbert will talk about Shackleton’s wife Emily and the wives of other Polar explorers over the bank holiday weekend, while the distinguished scientist, Dr. Gabrielle Walker, familiar to many from her work with BBC television and radio, will talk about the scientific legacy of the heroic era of Polar exploration.  Other lecturers will focus on the Irishmen who served with Captain Scott, a German expedition to the Antarctic in 1912 and many other aspects of Antarctic history.  One unique event will be the launch of a reprint of ‘Antarctic Days’, a book, first published in 1913 about Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition.  On Sunday night, 28^th October, Athy Community Arts Centre will host an exhibition of the Polar photography of the American artist J.J. L’Heureux, followed by a performance by the English folk singer Jake Wilson of his own composition ‘All’s Well’, inspired by the story of Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition.  Full details of the School are available from the website www.shackletonmuseum.com.

Earlier this month Eric Hobsbawm, widely regarded as Britain’s most distinguished Marxist historian died at 95 years of age.  His membership of the Communist party no doubt prompted and guided his many publications on social history which commenced with his 1948 publication ‘Labour’s Turning Point’, an edited collection of documents from the era of the Fabian Society.  He will perhaps be best remembered for his detailed and readable studies of social protest in the 19^th century and his influential ‘Age of’  series which started with ‘The Age of Revolution 1789-1848’.  It was followed by ‘The Age of Capital 1848-1875’ and by ‘The Age of Empire 1875-1914’.  The last of the series ‘The Age of Extremes 1914-1991’ appeared some years ago, bringing to a close a defining work much admired for the quality of the writing as the depth of its social analysis.  Hobsbawm was a regular attender at the Hay Literary Festival which takes place each year in the small Welsh village of Hay-on-Wye.  Like Athy’s Shackleton Autumn School the Hay Literary Festival has become an annual event which has grown in importance year by year.  Both have brought worldwide identification and recognition to two small urban areas, even if Athy must at this stage at least give way to the Hay festival as the premier festival of its type in these islands.