Athy casualties at Messines 1917 / Cumann na mBan members Athy July 1927

In the third year of World War I Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Forces on the Western Front planned a military offensive in Flanders to commence on 7^th June 1917.  This offensive which lasted during June and July included the third Battle of Ypres (commonly called Passchendaele) and the Battle of Cambrai.  Ypres was a British held salient which projected into the German lines and Haig planned a full-scale offensive from there to divert attention from the French army which had suffered huge losses during the month of April.  Those French losses, amounting to 120,000 men in one five-day period, were deeply resented by the surviving French troops who mutinied and refused to attack the German lines.  Haig had planned his offensive strategy for some months and had Welsh miners excavate several tunnels under the German lines.  He realised that if an attack from the Ypres salient was to be successful it was necessary to secure the high ground dominating the area which was known as Messines – Wtyschaete Ridge. 

 

The tunnels dug by the Welsh miners were packed with explosives and at dawn on 7^th June the explosives were set off, producing a blast which we are told was heard in London.  The explosion was followed by British troops going over the top and using, amongst other forms of weaponry, poisonous gas canisters which were hurled into the German trenches.  The week-long battle at the Messines Ridge saw for the first time the 36^th Ulster Division and the 16^th Irish Division fighting alongside each other.  The German casualties at Messines were approximately 25,000, while the British Army casualties accounted for 17,000 men wounded and killed. 

 

Among the Irish causalities was Athy man Thomas Alcock, a member of the 1^st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and William King of Crookstown who was a private in the South Irish Horse.  William was the brother of Jim King and Tommy King who also served in the South Irish Horse.  Many years ago I was told by a family member that Tommy King later deserted from the army and dumped his uniform down a well at Burtown.  Was Tommy Alcock, I wonder, a brother of Frank Alcock who aged 20 years died of wounds in France on 4^th July 1916?  He had enlisted in the 2^nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and in the 1911 Census was recorded as living in Woodstock Street.  Another possible member of the Alcock family, Richard Alcock, born in 1892 was noted in the Irish Military Service Pension Records as a member of the Volunteers during the Irish War of Independence. 

 

Clem Roche, whose book on Athy men killed in World War I, was recently published (copies can be purchased in the Heritage Centre) has embarked on a project with me to identify those local men and women who were involved in the Volunteer movement during the Irish War of Independence.  Clem has trawled through the I.R.A. pension records, the War of Independence medal records and statistics compiled by I.R.A. leaders in 1921 and 1922 and has identified many individuals, some whose involvement was confirmed by the award of an I.R.A. pension or a black and tan service medal.  Many others who may well have been active during that period, did not succeed in getting either a pension or a medal and consequently their involvement has not received the attention it deserves.  Clem has identified 33 local men whom he is satisfied were members of the Athy Company of the 5^th Battalion Carlow Kildare I.R.A. Brigade.  More names will undoubtedly be added as there are a few men generally believed to have been involved who are not included among the 33 already identified.

 

As we come to commemorate the Irish War of Independence it is important that those men and women from Athy who were actively involved should be remembered.  If any reader has any information about any local person involved in the Irish War of Independence I would welcome hearing from them.

 

The following list of Cumann na mBan members in Athy in July 1921 has recently come to hand.  I am familiar with some of those named, but others are unknown to me and I would welcome hearing from anybody who can help identify those involved. 

 

Julia Whelan, Kilmoroney

Kathleen McDonnell

Rose McDonnell

Mary Malone

Mrs. Julia Dooley, St. Michael’s Terrace

Mrs. May, Woodstock Street

Mrs. O’Neill, Newbridge

Alice Lambe, Upper William Street

Mrs. John Whelan, Ballylinan

Miss Murphy, Maganey

Christina Malone

 

Let me hear from you if you can help in the search to identify local patriots of almost 100 years ago. 

Helen Dreelan Matron St. Vincent's Hospital

A nursing career which includes six years spent as an outpost nurse in a nursing station catering for the people of Northern Newfoundland and Labrador comes to an end shortly when Helen Dreelan retires as matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital, Athy.  Helen came to the position in St. Vincent’s Hospital in 1999 and I met her soon afterwards as she was involved with a number of Athy Lions Club fundraising events.  Always helpful and never less than cheerful Helen brought a keen sense of shared responsibility and a wealth of experience to the profession of nursing management.

 

Helen qualified as a registered nurse in Dublin and later worked as a staff nurse in several different hospitals in the capital city.  She later took charge as head nurse of the urology unit in Galway University Hospital.  In 1987 she joined the Grenfell Regional Hospital services and spent the next six years as the nurse in charge in Mary’s Harbour nursing station in southern Labrador.  For the young Ballymore Eustace native, this was an extraordinary change of working environment as she worked in sub-arctic conditions where the temperature in winter times fell as low as minus thirty degrees.

 

The Grenfell Regional Health Board was established in 1981 to take over operational responsibility for the delivery of health care and social services in Northern Newfoundland and Labrador.  William Grenfell, an English doctor who first went to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1892 as part of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, opened cottage hospitals in the villages scattered along the inhospitable coastline of Labrador.  Mary’s Harbour was one of the small coastal villages with a population of a couple of hundred people, situated in the south-east coast of Labrador.  In Labrador itself there are three ethnic groups, the Inuit, the native Americans and descendants of European origins.  The village of Mary’s Harbour has no roadwork to any of the other towns and villages on the Labrador coast.  The nearest village was a 25 min. boat ride or a 10 min. plane trip away.  Medical facilities in the sub-arctic environment of Labrador village of Mary’s Harbour were provided by head nurse Helen and another nurse whose day to day work was complemented by visits every four or six weeks by the District Medical Officer and the District Dentist. 

 

Winter on the coast of Labrador lasts from November to early May when temperatures can fall so sharply as to freeze rivers and sea alike.  Inshore cod fishing, which is the principal occupation of the coastal villagers in Labrador comes to a standstill in winter, resuming only in May each year.  The summer fishing season is short but busy and October sees the fishermen returning to Mary’s Harbour to prepare for the winter.  Life as an outpost nurse in the Labrador coastal village, as one can imagine, can be extremely challenging.  It was a challenge Helen Dreelan as a nurse from Ireland found simulating during her six years there.  She also found enormous job satisfaction in providing a comprehensive medical service for a scattered community whose lives are regulated by the harsh weather conditions which give a seemingly unending horizon of frozen lakes, snow and ice. 

 

Helen took up the position of matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital in 1999 and now, in addition to that role, is also Director of Nursing for the Kildare West Wicklow area.  St. Vincent’s Hospital which first opened as a workhouse in January 1844 has seen a large number of both lay and religious masters and matrons in its 173 years’ history.  Many of us will remember the legendary Sr. Dominic who for many years epitomised all that was good in Irish religious life and whose charity earned for her the respect and gratitude of many.

 

Plans for the building of a new 100 bed hospital unit has been developed and approved during Helen’s stewardship of St. Vincent’s Hospital.  That stewardship has also been marked by many improvements to both the existing building and to the system of care afforded to patients in St. Vincent’s Hospital.   As a nurse manager and matron of the hospital Helen Dreelan has demonstrated admirable management and leadership skills.  Looking back at the history of nursing in Ireland we tend to overlook the enormous contribution made by the religious orders to hospital management in the past.  Helen was the first lay person in recent years to take on the role of matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital and in remembering her contribution we should also acknowledge and recall the contribution of the Sisters of Mercy who first came to work in the former workhouse in the 1870s.

 

Our congratulations, best wishes and thanks to Helen Dreelan who will be retiring on 30^th June.