A visit to Cobh

A recent visit to Cobh, Co. Cork found me, early one Sunday morning, tramping the dew sodden grass of the Old Church cemetery, located just outside the town,. I was there to visit the graves of the victims of the sinking of the liner Lusitania. Buried in the cemetery are the remains of 193 victims of the sinking. Until recently I was unaware of any Kildare connections with the disaster, but in the County Kildare Online Electronic History Journal which is maintained by the Kildare County Library and Art Service I came across a news report from the Leinster Leader of 17th May 1952 which recounted the memories of Thomas McCormack of Killina, Robertstown who was on the Lusitania on that fateful day of 7th May 1915 when the liner was torpedoed by a German Submarine. McCormack, originally a boatman on the Grand Canal, was returning to Ireland after three years in the USA. His vivid recollections recall the moment of impact of the torpedo on the ship when he was standing on it’s portside. He recalled being knocked off his feet by a surge of people when the deck started to rise and lying prone on deck while he watched a boat of women and children being lowered over the side. Unable to make it to a lifeboat he made his way to the ship stern and could not recall whether he jumped or fell off the stern but found himself in the water. Observing the last moments of the ship he noted as the Liner went down she created in her wake a ‘tunnel’. He went on to say ‘It was like a tunnel of green glass, going down into the depths of the ocean. Around it’s sides I could see bodies and wreckage, all whirling about and going deeper into that horrible void. Then the boilers exploded and a column of water shot high in the air.’ One of his enduring memories of the disaster was of a group of men singing hymns in a language he didn’t recognise, while holding hands as they floated in the sea. Another survivor from Kildare was a priest, Fr. Kennedy, who later became a Jesuit Missionary in China. I was very taken with how well the cemetery has been maintained by the local community, and particularly the very informative sign board at the entrance to the cemetery. While reading I was surprised to note another Kildare connection in that the Rev. Charles Wolfe, the author and poet, is also buried there. I found his grave just within the confines of the remains of the 17th century church on the site. Born in Blackhall, Co. Kildare he is now best remembered as the author of the 19th century classic poem ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore’. He was a rector with the Church of Ireland and was based in Donaghmore, County Tyrone until 1820 when for health reasons moved to the south of France. He later returned to Ireland, moving to Cobh where he died at the age of 31 in 1823 from consumption, a disease we now know as tuberculosis, a common cause of death at the time. As I walked around the cemetery another unusual connection jumped out at me. I came across the grave of the Antarctic explorer Robert Forde. A native of Bandon, Co. Cork he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16 in 1891 and rose to the rank of Petty Officer first class. In 1910 he joined Captain Scott’s second expedition to the Antarctic from 1910 to 1913, serving with fellow Irishmen Tom Crean of Annascaul, Co. Kerry and his Cork compatriot Patrick Keohane. After returning from the Antarctic he served in the Royal Navy during the First World War, eventually returning to Cobh in 1920. On the 50th anniversary of his death in March 2009 a fine memorial was unveiled to him on the promenade in Cobh facing out to Cork Harbour with a bronze plaque showing him in his polar garb. One final grave which drew my attention was that of Jack Doyle, the boxer, actor and singer known as ‘the gorgeous gael’. His star shone brightly but briefly in the thirties, particularly in America where he made a number of films, but sadly he descended into alcoholism and at his death in 1978 in London he was effectively a pauper. However, he was never forgotten by the natives of Cobh who with the assistance of the Cork Ex-Boxers Association brought his remains back to Ireland and they rest again in the old church cemetery in Cobh in a graveyard replete with history.

Brigid Elizabeth Murphy, World War I nurse

I remember seeing her many times as she made the short journey from her house at 4 Stanhope Street to the Parish Church on the far side of the road. Her frail body was bent over with her face positioned in what appeared to be just a little more than knee high above the pavement. She attended Mass every morning as did my mother and both exchanged pleasantries as they exited from the Church. I knew her as Mrs. Murphy, no first name, no knowledge of her background or where she came from. That was until a few days ago when examining an Athy Old Age Pension Committee Minute Book, I found her full name Brigid Elizabeth Murphy. Some years ago, long after Bridget had passed away, I was told that she might have served as a nurse during World War 1. Without her full name a search could not be carried out in the Imperial War Records. With her full name I now enlisted the help of my friend Clem Roche and he was able to access the Service Records of Nurse Bridget Elizabeth Murphy from Ballyroe, Churchtown. Born on the 1st February 1892 to Elizabeth Murphy, formerly Barber, and Thomas Murphy a farmer. Bridget Elizabeth trained as a nurse at the Central London Infirmary and joined the staff of the 4th Southern General Hospital Plymouth on 8th August 1916 as a member of the Territorial Force Nursing Service. She was required to have at least three years training as a nurse before applying to serve so we can predate her training in London to some time before the start of the War. On the 30th March 1917 she signed an agreement to serve abroad signing her name Brigid rather than Bridget as appeared on her birth certificate. The Hospital authorities in Plymouth had to certify that she was “medically examined, re-vaccinated, innoculated against typhoid and para-typhoid and actively fit for service abroad in a hot climate”. A further requirement of the Matron in Chief of the T.F.N.S. was receipt of a confidential report “on the work, conduct etc. of Ms. Brigid Murphy, Staff Nurse”. By now Brigid had returned home to Ballyroe, Churchtown to wait her call up for service overseas. Brigid travelled back to England at the end of April 1917 and on or about the 2nd May embarked on S.S. Transylvania to travel to Salonica. On the 4th May the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat a few miles south of Savona in Italy. A Japanese destroyer came alongside the sinking ship and began to offload the passengers. Before the rescue work was completed a second torpedo sank the Transylvania with the loss of 410 lives. Brigid Murphy with 59 of her nursing colleagues were amongst those rescued. Within a few weeks Brigid returned to Plymouth where she resumed temporary duties in the army hospital pending further orders. The following December she was a staff nurse attached to the 65th British General Hospital in Baghdad and I believe she served there until she was demobilised in May 1919. Brigid came ashore in Folkestone on the 18th May 1919 and her demobilisation Cert confirming her release from the T.F.N.S. is dated that day. Before returning to England she had indicated that she did not wish to extend her army service and had expressed a desire to take up a civil appointment in New Zealand. Following her disembarkation in Folkstone, Brigid and another Irish nurse Lillian Perishe applied for nursing positions with the Park Lodge Medical and Surgical Nursing Home in Brockly whose Matron sought references for both from the Matron in Chief of the T.F.N.S. The references were not furnished as both Brigid and Lillian decided to remain in London. Brigid Murphy’s post war career is not known apart from a few snippets culled from her war records. In July 1924 Brigid applied to the Army Medical Board on the grounds that she has not been at all well citing “I’ve had to leave London, also to come home from America twice in three years on sick leave”. She was granted a temporary Disability Pension in respect of Malaria attributable to her army service. Twelve years later she applied for help from the Joint Nursing and V.A.D. Service Committee as she was suffering from Rheumatic Fibrositis of the shoulder and arm. The war office confirmed that “her record and services were satisfactory”. Brigid Murphy died in 1986 aged 95 years and I have come across an email sent to me showing a medal which Brigid received from Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy as one of the survivors of the ship Transylvania on the 4th May 1917. Little did I know when I saw the stooped figure of Brigid Murphy crossing the road to her church that here was a woman with an interesting story the outline sketches of which can only now be told.

Sergeant Jim Bergin and the Garda Siochana

EYE ON THE PAST NO. 1492 My friend, Carlow man Seamus Breathnach, wrote the first published history of the Garda Siochana which appeared in the book shops in 1974. Published by Anvil Books it provided a valuable insight into the history of policing in Ireland dealing with the Baronial Constabulary, the Peace Preservation Force, the Royal Irish Constabulary and ending with the Garda Siochana. As a former member of the Garda Siochana Seamus, who was later called to the Irish Bar, drew attention to the lack of concern for the importance of policing within Ireland. Seamus’s book was followed the same year by Conor Brady’s ‘Guardians of the Peace’ in which the future editor of the Irish Times sought to place the Garda Siochana in the Irish historical and political context. He did this by examining the political background to the setting up of the Garda Siochana and the subsequent development of that force. I was reminded of these two important accounts of the Garda Siochana’s early history when I learned of the retirement of Sergeant Jim Bergin who as a young Garda member arrived in the Athy Garda Station just a year after I had arrived back in Athy. Indeed, Jim joined the Garda Siochana in July 1982, exactly one month after my return to Athy after an absence of 21 years. His arrival in Athy coincided with the emergence of the ‘Hole in the Wall gang’ whose activities ensured many hours of investigative work for the Garda Siochana, resulting in several appearances before Judge Seamus Mahon. Jim was promoted to Sergeant after ten years and in recent years he has headed up the Garda station team here in Athy as the station’s Sergeant. It was a position which my late father held for a number of years before he retired in July 1966. When my father transferred to Athy from nearby Castlecomer in 1945 he took up duty with a fine body of men, many of whom had seen service with the Old I.R.A. during the War of Independence. These included Garda Jim Kelly and Garda Johnny McMahon, both from County Mayo, Garda Mick Touhy from Clare and Garda Michael O’Connell. Policing in those days was in many respects very different and more dangerous than it is today. In the year of my birth three Gardai were killed. The first victim who was ambushed and shot outside his home at Ballyboden, Co. Dublin was Sergeant Denis O’Brien. Approximately 3 weeks later Garda Michael Walsh was shot dead in Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan, while October 1942 saw the third Garda killing with the shooting of Garda George Mordant who was shot dead at Donneycarney in Dublin. Regrettably the Gardai are unlikely to be seen on the streets today, while in my young days all members of the force including sergeants were regularly allocated to ‘beat’ duties. Another noticeable change in modern day policing is the apparent reluctance of today’s Gardai to live in the same town as their Garda station base. These two changes in the local visibility of the Gardai have brought with it a lack of appreciation of the Gardai’s role within the local community and emphasises their separation from that same community. The crime prevention role of the Gardai has been largely overlooked today. It is questionable whether trained Gardai who train for two years before qualifying should be employed in checking motor vehicles and drivers for speeding, insurance, motor tax, NCT certificates, driving licences, etc. The assignments of a substantial number of Gardai to the Road Traffic Corps seems a wasteful use of specialised resources. The general feeling is that it would be better for Gardai to be visible on the streets of our towns fulfilling the primary role of the Gardai which is the prevention of crime. While doing so they would also be acquiring and retaining local knowledge which is so vital in the detection of crime. The Sergeant Jims of this world are not to blame for the current policing practices. We must look further up the chain of command and perhaps also to the politicians to address these issues. Sergeant Jim Bergin now retires after 39 years of service and during his many years in Athy I found him to be an efficient and fair-minded Garda. Unfortunately there are some Gardai who in prosecuting their cases in the Courts see it as their duty to secure a conviction at any odds. In reality their duty as prosecutors is to present the facts, irrespective of whether they are advantageous or otherwise to the accused. Too often have I come across this in Court proceedings, but equally it must be said that the good Gardai who carry out their duties efficiently and properly are hugely in the majority. Sergeant Jim Bergin when he appeared in Court was always fair to those he prosecuted. I wish him well in his retirement and hope that perhaps someone higher up in the ranks might take a hard look at the continuing wastage involving using trained members of the Garda Siochana for what can only be described as mundane road traffic duties. It is time for a radical rethink of how members of the Garda Siochana can be better deployed to the advantage of local communities. FRANK TAAFFE

Compiling a list of men/women who served during the War of Independence

This Thursday, 19th August, the Church of Ireland Centre off Offaly Street will host an exhibition of Athy’s industrial, agricultural and sporting heritage. It’s described by it’s initiator, Dr. Ann Murphy, as a ‘modest exhibition put together over a period of three months by enthusiastic hunter gatherers and local knowledge holders’. I have seen parts of the exhibition and can only describe the work done by Dr. Murphy and her team of helpers as a truly wonderful contribution to our understanding of local work practices of past years. The exhibition will include coverage of some of the long-lost local industries such as milling and brick making, two industries which with malting for so long provided the bulk of the jobs available in Athy. Hannons Mills at Duke Street and Ardreigh closed down in the early 1920s, while the last of the Athy brickyards, of which there were approximately 12 at one period, closed down in the early 1930s. The exhibition will give all of us living in Athy an opportunity to appreciate the town’s commercial and industrial heritage, as well as Athy’s notable sporting heritage. I haven’t seen any of the sporting club’s contributions, but their stories are a valuable part of the patchwork which makes up Athy’s history and must be seen as an important part of the town’s story. The exhibition runs from Thursday 19th August for four days, 6pm to 8pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday and from 3pm to 5pm on Sunday. Admission is free. Another part of the story of Athy and district as we journey through the Decade of Commemoration requires an accurate listing to be taken of those men and women who participated as volunteers or as Cumann na mBan members in the War of Independence. Clem Roche and I have done some research in this area and the commemoration committee in Kildare County Council are currently finalising, in advance of publication, a complete list of those patriotic men and women of a century ago. One of the first interviews I carried out when I returned to Athy in 1982 was with Patrick Keogh of Churchtown. Himself a volunteer and a member of the Athy Company Carlow Kildare Brigade, Patrick gave me the names of those men whom he remembered as fellow volunteers. I was struck by his description of some of those volunteers as ‘truce men’ meaning that they joined the Volunteers after the truce came into effect and hostilities had ceased. Around the same time I interviewed Mrs. Hester May who played a very significant part during the War of Independence and whose husband Joe prior to their marriage was one of several Athy men imprisoned during that war. Both Patrick Keogh and Hester May provided important details in relation to local events of that time, as well as helping me to compile a list of the men and women who played their part in the fight for Irish freedom. One man who was not mentioned by either of my interviewees was John Byrne. I came across John’s name when researching volunteer activities in this area and discovered that he was tragically killed while an attempt was being made to destroy the abandoned R.I.C. barracks at Luggacurran in April 1920. I had mentioned John’s name in previous articles seeking information but it is only within the last few weeks that I have got background details on the young man from Gracefield, Ballylinan. Gerry Mulhall, formerly of Ballylinan and now of Carlow, contacted me to advise that his relation John Byrne was a Lieutenant attached to the Laois Battalion and on the night of his death was accompanied by Thomas Dunne, a Dublin man, Joseph Hyland of Coolglass, Wolfhill and Peter Hunt, address unknown. John was killed while two of his colleagues were injured. John Byrne was buried in Rathaspick, Ballylinan and Gerry tells me that a War of Independence medal with bar is to be posthumously awarded for John’s services. There may well be many more men and women whose services during the War of Independence have not been recognised and for that reason in advance of the Kildare County Council’s book publication it is important to identify each and every member of the local Volunteers and local members of Cumann na mBan. If you know of any family member or anyone else who should be included in the list of Volunteers or Cumann na mBan members might I encourage you to pass that information on to me. We all have a responsibility to remember those who have gone before us and to pass on to future generations our community’s own story. This applies not only to War of Independence events and personalities, but also to the more mundane aspects of daily life as evidenced in the recollections of our industrial, agricultural and sporting heritage. The coming weekend exhibition promises to give us an opportunity to look back at the diverse makeup of our community’s daily life of a generation ago. Do visit the exhibition in the Church of Ireland Hall which finishes at 5pm on Sunday, 22nd August.

Augustus Bridge Athy

When it was officially opened in 1792 by the Duke of Leinster it was named Augustus Bridge in honour of one of the Duke’s sons. The keystone from that bridge was discovered in a ditch at Foxhill some years ago and was later removed and placed in the local Heritage Centre. I was aware that the bridge on the Kilkenny Road next to the Auld Shebeen public house was reconstructed during 1896/’97 when the keystone was removed. This was necessary because the high bridge arch originally constructed to accommodate boat traffic on the Canal proved difficult for horse drawn traffic on the road. The following report carried in the Kildare Observer on 11th September 1897 provided interesting details in relation to the bridge. ‘Last Tuesday night Mr. Thomas Plewman, the popular chairman of Athy Town Commissioners entertained a number of his colleagues and the leading people of Athy and district to supper at Woodstock in commemoration of the reconstruction of the Canal bridge. Formerly this bridge was so steep that it proved a great impediment to traffic and was the means of diverting a large amount of trade from the town. The work which has just been completed consisted in the lowering of the arch so that vehicles could now pass over it with ease ….. on Tuesday night Athy was the scene of enthusiasm. Two bands followed by vast crowds paraded the streets and a huge gathering of people assembled at the bridge where Mr. Plewman delivered an address. It was announced that it had been decided to call the bridge “Plewman’s Bridge” ….. Mr. Edward Glover, the county surveyor, was the engineer during the reconstruction and the contractors were D. & J. Carbery Athy.’ I wasn’t aware of D. & J. Carbery’s involvement in the alteration of the Canal Bridge, although there is an indecipherable plaque on the bridge with that information. That local building firm were involved for almost a century with most of the public building projects in and around Athy. I wonder what archival material of D. & J. Carbery have survived to this day. Now that a county archivist has been appointed by Kildare County Council I hope she will be able to collect private records created by local organisations and businesses such as Carburys. I am unaware of the Council’s collection policy but I hope it is to preserve collections of archives relating to the history and development of the county. Reading past issues of the Kildare Observer reminded me of how little is known of local events of the past. The appearance of Charles Stewart Parnell on a platform in Emily Square, Athy on Easter Monday 1880 was recorded but has long since been forgotten. This was shortly after Parnell’s return from America when he was greeted enthusiastically by a huge crowd in the town’s main square. At the height of the Parnell split in December 1890 a meeting of the Athy branch of the Irish National League was held in the Town Hall. The large attendance passed a resolution proposed by T.J. Brennan and seconded by Denis Reeves, ‘that we the members of Athy National League renew our confidence in Mr. Parnell as leader of the Irish party.’ Three months later an anti-Parnell meeting was held in Athy. What the newspaper referred to as ‘a meeting of the McCarthyites’ was held in the Town Hall on a Monday night in March 1891 for the purpose of establishing a branch of the Irish National Federation. The name McCarthyites belonged to those opposed to Parnell who were led by Justin McCarthy following his appointment as chairman of the parliamentary members who had deserted Parnell. The meeting attracted an attendance of ‘only about a score’ with the local curate, Fr. J. Staples presiding. His fellow curates Fr. J. Carroll and Fr. Rowan were also in attendance, confirming the Catholic church’s opposition to the former leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party following the divorce case involving Katherine O’Shea. Amongst those attending were Denis Kilbride M.P., Stephen O’Brien, Dan Carbery and M.J. Minch. A large crowd of Parnell supporters gathered outside the Town Hall cheering for Parnell and abusing the few persons going to the meeting. Those gathered outside were addressed by John Coleman who was a Parnell supporter and a long-standing member of the Land League in Athy. Some attempts were made to force the doors of the Town Hall and stones were thrown, smashing one of the Town Hall windows. A further meeting of the Irish National Federation branch was held the following May and attracted a much larger attendance. Parnell’s death on Tuesday 6th October 1891 occurred as the Irish National Federation branches throughout Ireland were growing in numbers. However, membership began to fall after Parnell’s death and the Athy branch seems to have disappeared without trace soon thereafter. Local memory of past events is seldom passed on to later generations. I have never heard of the Canal Bridge being referred to as Plewman’s Bridge but equally the original name of Augustus Bridge has been largely replaced by ‘the Canal Bridge’. The Minute Books of Athy Town Commissioners does not record any decision by the Commissioners to name the bridge after their Chairman so perhaps the announcement of September 1897 was wishful thinking on someone’s part.