Sr. helen Keegan / Bridget Hughes

The journey of life which started in Kilbeggan 66 years ago ended in Athy this week for the lady described by Fr. Philip Dennehy as an educationalist, a Christian lady and a Sister of Mercy.  Sr. Francis, as she was once known but who in later years reverted to her own name of Sister Helen Keegan, was buried in the Mercy plot in the new St. Michael’s Cemetery.  A soft drizzle of rain fell as her cortege wound its way up the cemetery avenue leading from the Dublin Road only to ease as the final parting prayers were said.  As the assembled Sisters of Mercy raised their voices as one in rendering the Salve Regina as a final farewell to their colleague the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started.  It contrasted with the stormy weather which greeted the young Helen Keegan as she journeyed from Kilbeggan to Athy 49 years ago to enter the independent Mercy House of Athy.  The Annals of the local Convent of Mercy simply note on 29^th October 1961 ‘Miss Helen Keegan entered’.  What it did not record was the terrible weather conditions on that late October day which were so bad that the young Helen Keegan, accompanied by her parents, very nearly never completed the journey to Athy.

That same year Sr. Dominic celebrated her Silver Jubilee, while her successor as Matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sr. Canice, made her first profession the previous Easter Sunday.  1961 was also the centenary year of the coming of the Christian Brothers to Athy, celebrated that year with festivities which lasted for one week from June 27^th.

On the 8^th of July 1964 Sr. Francis was called to teacher training in Carysfort College and 17 days later she made her triennial vows.  She made her final profession on the 25^th of July 1967 with Sr. Mary Ann and a year later Sr. Francis obtained her teachers Diploma.  She taught in Scoil Mhuire where she was appointed Superior in 1986, finally retiring from teaching 13 years later. 

As a member of that dedicated community of teachers, nurses and community workers who comprised the Sisters of Mercy in Athy she followed in the footsteps of Mother Catherine McAuley, as did so many others who since 1852 worked ceaselessly and with great effect amongst the people of Athy and district.

The Mercy Order which was once the only religious order to have a convent in every diocese in Ireland is now sadly in decline.  The first Sister of Mercy was professed in December 1831 just a few years after the granting of Catholic Emancipation.  For many decades religious professions were more than enough to maintain a vibrant Mercy community here in Athy but they fell sharply in recent decades prompting the closing of the Mercy Convent.  The closure of the Convent due to falling numbers leaves us today with approximately 21, most elderly nuns, living in different addresses throughout the town.  Their legacy of good work amongst the local community which first welcomed the Sisters of Mercy to Athy just a few years after the Great Famine is one which will never be forgotten. 

The passing of Sr. Helen at 66 years of age was a sad blow for the local Mercy community where she had spent many happy and productive years.  It was during her term as Principal of Scoil Mhuire that the girls secondary school and the Christian Brothers boys school were brought together in the same school complex.  Both schools amalgamated within recent years to give us the rather strangely named Ard Scoil Na Trionoide. 

Sr. Helen, whose journey to Athy 49 years ago commenced in a storm and ended last week with soft drizzling rain falling on those who followed her coffined remains to St. Michael’s Cemetery, earned the respect and admiration of the people of Athy for her work as an educationalist and as a Sister of Mercy.

A few hours after Sister Helen’s funeral 97 year old Bridget Hughes was laid to rest in Old St. Michael’s Cemetery.  Bridget was the last of three Hughes sisters who lived for many years in Janeville House just off Offaly Street.  Bridget and her sister Alice Lawler worked for decades for the late Bob Osborne and his son Cyril in their Emily Square offices.  The Hughes sisters were of an old Athy family which for generations were involved with the freight business on the Grand Canal and the Barrow Navigation.  Three generations back Martin, James, Thomas and Patrick Hughes were boatmen based in Athy enjoying a way of life which has long since disappeared.  All that was left after their time were secondhand memories of a boating lifestyle which once made Athy a thriving hub of commercial activity involving shopkeepers, farmers and boatmen.  With the passing of the last of the Hughes sisters those memories of the past have receded yet further back.

A man whose company I have enjoyed for many years reached an important milestone with the celebration of his recent birthday.  Michael Wall, now of Chanterlands but originally of the Mayo landscape, continues to nurse the ambition of delivering the country’s affairs into the hands of his beloved Fine Gael much to the dismay of his much better informed wife Moya!  I have enjoyed many a ‘discussion’ with Michael as to the merits or demerits of certain Irish political leaders and while we cannot hope to agree, may I nevertheless wish him a well merited Happy Birthday.

Jack Meany and the Meany Family

‘There is no glory in defeat’.   A maxim oft told to a football team at half time as its members regather their strength and energies for the second half.  The result of last Sunday’s football match in Croke Park gave lie to the claim when the Kildare footballers walked off the pitch to the applause of proud supporters from the shortgrass county.  The team had remained on the pitch for quite some time after the game and the majority of the Kildare supporters also stayed behind in the stands and on Hill 16 to applaud their heroes as they trudged wearily towards the dressing rooms.  The Kildare Senior team did us proud, not only last Sunday, but after the opening losing match, throughout the subsequent footballing year and the supporters showed their appreciation at the end of the Croke Park game.

Nearer to home, Athy achieved a unique double with the success of Clare Kambamettu in the 2010 Rose of Tralee competition.  What are the chances of two Athy girls in successive years winning the London Rose competition?  But to transfer that question to the winning of the Rose of Tralee competition itself raises issues of betting odds far beyond our understanding.

Two Tralee Roses in two years from a small Irish town is a unique achievement and contributes enormously to raising the town’s profile.  For too long Athy was identified by reference to a bank robbery and unjustified claims of being a rough town subject to the activities of Hole in the Wall gangs.  All that is now surely in the past as the two winners of the Rose of Tralee competition show a different side to the South Kildare town.  Athy for the foreseeable future will be inextricably linked with the beauty and grace of two wonderful ambassadors who have given us cause to renew our pride in our own place. 

One family who in my time and before my time, took great pride in Athy and its people were the Meany’s of St. Patrick’s Avenue.  Jack, Kevin, Danny and Dermot with their sisters Molly and Margaret were involved in different aspects of the town’s life from the 1940s onwards.  I remember Kevin as the town’s librarian in the 1950s.  It was then a part time position, the library opening in the evening time only to give access to the books which were shelved in the small room in the Town Hall which is now used as a reference room.  Accessed by the stairs opposite Mrs. Josephine Gibbon’s house, the scarcity of motor traffic in those days posed no great dangers for library users.  Nowadays the hall door leading onto Emily Row is deemed a safety hazard and is consequently permanently locked.

I used the library a lot in the late 1950s, being then a great fan of John Creasey novels.  Kevin was proud of Athy and always encouraged library users to read anything touching on Athy and its history.  There was indeed very little known of local history in those days, but one book he always mentioned was ‘The Rebellion of 1798’ by Kilcoo born Patrick O’Kelly.  The local library never had a copy of the book and it was many years later before I managed to purchase a copy of this scarce work and so began a history journey which has never ended.  Kevin’s brother Danny who worked in the local Asbestos factory, was a keen photographer and an avid gatherer of photographic images of the town and its people.  Long before others had acknowledged the importance of photographs in recording social history, Danny had amassed and collated a lot of photographic material.  His legacy of prints and film is a vitally important element of Athy’s social history. 

Jack Meany had worked abroad for years, returning to Athy when he retired.  He was a great supporter of the Heritage Centre when it was first mooted and was always to be seen at historical walks and talks arranged in conjunction with the local history group.

Two weeks ago the last surviving member of the Meany family passed away, aged 86 years.  Dermot had been a patient in St. Vincent’s Hospital for many years past.  I knew Dermot when he worked in Paddy Dillon’s shop in Emily Square which is now the J1 Cafe.  He had previously worked in Galway and Tullamore.  He was a courteous man who was never known to give offence and his passing and the earlier death of his sister Margaret who passed away three years ago deprives us of the last of a family which graced the cultural and social life of Athy over many decades.

The local Heritage Centre is gearing up for the Shackleton Autumn School over the October Bank Holiday weekend and hosts a photographic exhibition on the Antarctic by John Gamble, Professor of Geology at University College Cork commencing on 14^th September.  The exhibition titled ‘Fire and Ice: A Photographic Journey of Antarctia’ will run until 15^th October. 

Professor Gamble returned to Ireland after 28 years in Australia and New Zealand.  He has published more than 100 scientific papers and has the rare distinction of having three terrestrial landmarks named in his honour – Gamble Glacier and Gamble Cone in Antarctia and the Gamble Volcanic Complex on the Tonga – Kermadec Island Arc in the South West Pacific.  The exhibition comes to Athy from the Jennings Gallery in Cork City.

1798 Memorial

It was with relief tinged with a certain amount of pride that I learned within the past week of the imminent completion of a project which I initiated 13 years ago.  As a schoolboy in the Christian Brothers school in St. John's Lane I had a more than average interest in history which by dint of the curriculum of those days was confined largely to an unchanging diet of kings and battles.  Indeed, there being apparently insufficient of either to engage the Irish students attention for the academic year European history became as important a topic as Irish history.  There was nothing to  attract ones attention to events of the past insofar as they may have impacted on our local area and the dearth of information on Athy and its place in the great events of our shared history gave me no reason to take pride in my own place.

How often in our school days did we read and hear of the Great Famine and the 1798 Rebellion knowing little of how either impacted on the lives of those who went before us.  All has now changed with the ever increasing awareness of how our town and region was affected by national events.    It was with this in mind that in 1997, in anticipation of the following years bicentenary of the 1798 rebellion, the members of Athy Urban District Council agreed to commission Kildare artist Brid Nì Rinne to design a '98 memorial for the town. 

Thirteen years have now passed since Brid Nì Rinne's design was approved and the memorial once commissioned was completed in time for erection during the 1998 bicentenary celebrations.  It has taken until now to complete the project and I am assured that the monument will be erected in the  front square before the year ends. 

It follows a few years after a memorial slab was erected on the Town Hall to honour those men from Athy and District who answered the call to arms at the start of World War 1.  The 1798 memorial will be sited in Emily Square, near, as far as we can ascertain, to the town centre location where local men were tied to the triangles and whipped in 1798.  Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine House wrote on those times in a letter in December 1802 when he described how men were “tortured and stripped” while another account comes to us from a Carlow man, William Farrell who wrote “the triangle was put up in Athy – the whole weight of the prosecution fell on the unfortunates (who) were stripped naked, tied to the triangle and their flesh cut without mercy”. 

Athy's 1798 memorial will be the only such memorial unveiled this year and it marks the recognition, as does the World War 1 memorial, of the debt due by our local community to a previous generation of Athy men and women.

We now know that we have a history in which we can take pride, some of which is locked in the mysteries of the medieval period for the most part unchronicled and unrecorded.  Tribute must be paid to the likes of William Farrell and Kilcoo born, Patrick O'Kelly, for their memories of the events in this area during the 1798 period.  Without their written memoirs we would remain largely ignorant of the part played by local men such as James Lynam, Denis Devoy, Peter Kelly, William Kelly, John Hyland and many others in keeping alive the yearning for political freedom and equality which first fanned the flames of revolution in the American colonies and later nurtured the spirit of rebellion on the mainland of France.

It is perhaps significant that the 1798 memorial finds a place in the centre of our town at a time of financial difficulties and economic recession for our country.  It will be a reminder of the enormous difficulties which our fore fathers had to overcome and sacrifices that some made and others were prepared to make to secure a future for themselves their families and those who followed them.  Their example should be an inspiration to our generation.

The brutal and systematic suppression of the people of Athy during 1798 and later still following Robert Emmet's rising in 1803 will never again be forgotten so long as Brid Nì Rinn's work of art stands proud in the Square which bears the name of the mother of our former member of parliament and United Irishman leader, Lord Edward Fitzgerald.  Emily Square, once the scene of torture, will from now on bear evidence of the bravery and commitment of local men and women during the dreadful days and weeks of 1798. 

We have honoured the men of World War 1 and will soon see the men and women of 1798 similarly honoured.  The one omission is the absence of a memorial to honour those brave local men and women who played a part in the constitutional campaign and subsequent military activities which culminated in the Treaty.  The War of Independence impacted on this area even if not as significantly as in other parts of the country.  Nevertheless we owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women from this area whose contribution to securing Ireland's independence must never be overlooked.   

Once the 1798 memorial is in place we should address the question of how best to honour the men and women from this area who were involved in the Irish War of Independence.     

Mary Leadbeater and Ballitore

The village of Ballytore, immortalised in print by Mary Leadbeater, is about to embark on a FAS Scheme designed to restore the writer’s house in the centre of the village. Lying vacant and derelict for many years the Leadbeater house at the corner of the village square has been perilously close to demolition on several occasions but now it’s future seems assured.

Mary Leadbeater, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton, was born in Ballytore in December 1758. Her father was master of the Quakers school which his own father, Abraham Shackleton had founded. Ballytore, which derives it’s name from Baile, meaning town, and Toghter corrupted to Tore, meaning a bog, was first settled towards the end of the 17th Century by two Quakers, Abel Strettle, a Dublin Merchant and John Barcroft of Mountmellick, Co. Laois. In time it was to become an important centre of Quakerism and Quaker meetings are still regularly held in the restored Quaker Meeting House.

In 1726 a young Yorkshire Quaker, Abraham Shackleton, opened a boarding school in the village. Famous former pupils of the Ballytore School included Edmund Burke, Parliamentarian, who joined the school in 1741, Paul Cullen, the first Irish Cardinal, a pupil for 4 years from 1813 and Napper Tandy, the Irish Revolutionary who attended the school in 1749.

Richard Shackleton’s daughter, Mary, married William Leadbeater in June 1791. Her sister Sarah married Thomas Chandlee, a linen draper in business in Athy. Chandlee was largely responsible for the building of the Quaker meeting house in Meeting Lane, Athy in 1780.

Mary Leadbeater published a number of books during her lifetime, the first in 1794 titled “Extracts and Original Anecdotes for the Improvement of Youth”. This has been described as one of the earlier attempts to provide light and instructive literature for young people. In 1808 “Poems by Mary Leadbeater” was published in Dublin and London. She was more successful with her prose writing than with poetry and within 3 years she had published “Cottage Dialogues”. The characters in this little book are two women, Rose and Nancy, who speak in the idiom of the Irish peasant, one the careless idle person, the other an industrious frugal housewife. It proved extremely popular and ran to several editions and three separate series. In 1813 was published “The Landlord’s Friend”, a sequel to “Cottage Dialogues” before Mary Leadbeater and Elizabeth Carleton co-authored “Tales for Cottagers accommodated to the Present Conditions of The Irish Peasantry” which was published in 1814.

Nothing further was published by Mary Leadbeater until 1822 when “Cottage Biography” and “Memoirs and Letters of R. and E. Shackleton” appeared. R. and E. Shackleton were her parents, Richard who died in 1792 and Elizabeth who passed away in 1804. Elizabeth Shackleton was the daughter of Henry and Deborah Fuller of Fuller’s Court, Ballytore, and grand-daughter of John Barcroft, one of the original proprietor’s of the lands at Ballytore. The last book published in Mary Leadbeater’s lifetime was “Biographical Notice of Members of the Society of Friends who were resident in Ireland” which went on sale in 1823. Within 3 years Mary Leadbeater was dead. She was buried in the Quaker graveyard in Ballytore.

During the greater part of her life Mary Leadbeater kept a diary recording the events and people of her native village. This was published in 1862 as the first Volume of “The Leadbeater’s Papers” and it gives us an important and well written account of life in Ballytore between 1766 and 1818. The diary entries concerning the 1798 Rebellion are especially important being an impartial observer’s account of the events of that time. The Second Volume of the same publication consists of some of the extensive correspondence which Mary Leadbeater conducted with a number of important people. Apart from Edmund Burke’s letters it includes her correspondence with the poet George Crabbe and Melessina Trench, mother of Archbishop Richard Trench of Dublin. Archbishop Trench was a cousin of Rev. Frederick Trench, Rector of St. Michael’s, Athy, the last Sovereign of Athy whose untimely death following an accident in 1860 led to the removal of Preston’s Medieval Gate, then located in Offaly Street. George Crabbe was an English poet whose most famous works, “The Village” and “The Parish Register” are important poetic portraits of late 18th century village life.

The works of Mary Leadbeater, popular at the beginning of the last century, are now almost forgotten and except for the reproduction some years ago of an edited version of Volume One of the Leadbeater papers by the Stephen Scroop Press, her works have not been re-published.

Arctic Exhibition for Athy

Last April the eruptions from the Icelandic 'Eyjafjallajokull' volcano kept European airspaces shut down over a number of weeks affecting travel for millions of people across Europe. It brought a focus on a country which is generally unknown to us. In October the Athy Heritage Centre will host an exhibition of photography by the distinguished Icelandic photographer, Ragnar Axelsson. The exhibition forms part of the events which are being organised for this year’s Ernest Shackleton Autumn School, running from 22nd to 25th October, now in its tenth year. It’s an extraordinary coup for the Shackleton School and the Heritage Centre to host such an exhibition by such a distinguished photographer. Indeed at the same time as the exhibition is being held in Athy a similar exhibition will be held in his home country. It’s a compilation of his work spent over the last 25 years photographing in the Arctic, particularly amongst the hunters of Greenland. For much of the time he has travelled to the small Inuit villages across Greenland’s most remote regions, recording hunting traditions going back many thousands of years. The pictures are draw from his new book 'The Last Days of the Arctic' which deals with the effects of climate change on the Inuit of Greenland and in tandem with his book the BBC are producing a documentary about Axelsson and his work. The book is bound to be very well received as the New York Times described his previous book 'Faces of the North' as 'stunning'. The exhibition it is not to be missed.

The Autumn School events continue to reflect an ever growing international dimension and on the opening night on Friday 22nd October the Shackleton School will host the launch of a book by the American author Chet Ross about the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910 – 1912. This expedition lead by Lieutenant Nobu Shirase is almost unknown on this side of the world, although Shirase is very much a hero in his native Japan. His particular misfortune was to lead his expedition to the Antarctic at the same time that Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen were engaged in their race to the South Pole. Thereafter it was only natural that the press of the day would be consumed with stories of Scott’s heroic death on the march back from the South Pole and Amundsen’s extraordinary achievement in reaching and returning from the South Pole without the loss of any of his men. Chet Ross’s new book deals with the history of the expedition and also some of the publications concerning same. Over the last number of years the Friday night has also hosted the Shackleton memorial lecture which has given an opportunity to hear from someone who has played a prominent role in Irish society.
Over the years we have been treated to lectures from the likes of Senator David Norris, Brian Keenan, Kevin Myers and last year the disability campaigner and young global leader Caroline Casey. This year Fintan O’Toole, the columnist, author and deputy editor of the Irish Times will be delivering the Shackleton memorial lecture and Fintan who is always an engaging and interesting speaker is likely to attract a good crowd.

A feature of previous Shackleton schools has been the diverse nature of the lectures held on the Saturdays and Sundays and both Chet Ross and Ragnar Axelsson will speak about their own work. Further lecturers will include a lecture by Dr. Tim Baughman, the Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma who wrote a fine biography of Shackleton. He will speak about Shackleton’s 1914-1916 'Endurance' expedition and his re-telling of Shackleton’s epic quest to save his men after the ship was crushed in the Antarctic ice is bound to go down well. Other lecturers include Meredith Hooper, the award winning Australian author who will speak about lesser known aspect of Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910 – 1912 and Mike Tarver from Devon will talk about the polar exploration ships of the heroic age of exploration from 1884 to 1943 focusing on Scott’s iconic ship, the SS Terra Nova. The environmental aspects of the Antarctic will not be neglected and what is bound to be an intriguing talk will be delivered by Professor David Thomas of Bangor University, Wales who is currently working in Helsinki, Finland. He has spent the last 20 years engaged in studies of sea ice and his lecture is titled ‘Life inside drifting Antarctic pack ice'.

As ever the social side of the Shackleton weekend is very important and I know that Athy will give its usual fulsome welcome to those participants and attendees who will be travelling to the event from Iceland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Finland and from all over Ireland.

Arctic Exhibition for Athy

Last April the eruptions from the Icelandic 'Eyjafjallajokull' volcano kept European airspaces shut down over a number of weeks affecting travel for millions of people across Europe. It brought a focus on a country which is generally unknown to us. In October the Athy Heritage Centre will host an exhibition of photography by the distinguished Icelandic photographer, Ragnar Axelsson. The exhibition forms part of the events which are being organised for this year’s Ernest Shackleton Autumn School, running from 22nd to 25th October, now in its tenth year. It’s an extraordinary coup for the Shackleton School and the Heritage Centre to host such an exhibition by such a distinguished photographer. Indeed at the same time as the exhibition is being held in Athy a similar exhibition will be held in his home country. It’s a compilation of his work spent over the last 25 years photographing in the Arctic, particularly amongst the hunters of Greenland. For much of the time he has travelled to the small Inuit villages across Greenland’s most remote regions, recording hunting traditions going back many thousands of years. The pictures are draw from his new book 'The Last Days of the Arctic' which deals with the effects of climate change on the Inuit of Greenland and in tandem with his book the BBC are producing a documentary about Axelsson and his work. The book is bound to be very well received as the New York Times described his previous book 'Faces of the North' as 'stunning'. The exhibition it is not to be missed.

The Autumn School events continue to reflect an ever growing international dimension and on the opening night on Friday 22nd October the Shackleton School will host the launch of a book by the American author Chet Ross about the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910 – 1912. This expedition lead by Lieutenant Nobu Shirase is almost unknown on this side of the world, although Shirase is very much a hero in his native Japan. His particular misfortune was to lead his expedition to the Antarctic at the same time that Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen were engaged in their race to the South Pole. Thereafter it was only natural that the press of the day would be consumed with stories of Scott’s heroic death on the march back from the South Pole and Amundsen’s extraordinary achievement in reaching and returning from the South Pole without the loss of any of his men. Chet Ross’s new book deals with the history of the expedition and also some of the publications concerning same. Over the last number of years the Friday night has also hosted the Shackleton memorial lecture which has given an opportunity to hear from someone who has played a prominent role in Irish society.
Over the years we have been treated to lectures from the likes of Senator David Norris, Brian Keenan, Kevin Myers and last year the disability campaigner and young global leader Caroline Casey. This year Fintan O’Toole, the columnist, author and deputy editor of the Irish Times will be delivering the Shackleton memorial lecture and Fintan who is always an engaging and interesting speaker is likely to attract a good crowd.

A feature of previous Shackleton schools has been the diverse nature of the lectures held on the Saturdays and Sundays and both Chet Ross and Ragnar Axelsson will speak about their own work. Further lecturers will include a lecture by Dr. Tim Baughman, the Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma who wrote a fine biography of Shackleton. He will speak about Shackleton’s 1914-1916 'Endurance' expedition and his re-telling of Shackleton’s epic quest to save his men after the ship was crushed in the Antarctic ice is bound to go down well. Other lecturers include Meredith Hooper, the award winning Australian author who will speak about lesser known aspect of Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910 – 1912 and Mike Tarver from Devon will talk about the polar exploration ships of the heroic age of exploration from 1884 to 1943 focusing on Scott’s iconic ship, the SS Terra Nova. The environmental aspects of the Antarctic will not be neglected and what is bound to be an intriguing talk will be delivered by Professor David Thomas of Bangor University, Wales who is currently working in Helsinki, Finland. He has spent the last 20 years engaged in studies of sea ice and his lecture is titled ‘Life inside drifting Antarctic pack ice'.

As ever the social side of the Shackleton weekend is very important and I know that Athy will give its usual fulsome welcome to those participants and attendees who will be travelling to the event from Iceland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Finland and from all over Ireland.

Athy men at Trafalgar

A recent article in the Saturday edition of the Irish Times about Irishmen serving in the British Army sparked a vigorous debate in the following weeks in the letters pages of the paper. The correspondence reflected an ongoing debate in Irish society about our relationship with our nearest neighbour, Britain.

It has led me to consider how emigration to Britain has scattered men from Athy all over the globe and my thoughts were certainly turned in that direction recently when conducting some research in the National Archives in London. I came across references to Athy men who had served in the Royal Navy in the early 1800s. What was of particular interest was that a number of these men had served in Lord Nelson’s fleet which was triumphant at the Battle of Trafalgar against the French in 1805.

In the records I came across the details of two men from Athy who served in Nelson’s Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, one was William Molloy who at the date of the battle was aged 30 and Barney Dempsey who was aged 18. Both of them were serving together on the ship HMS Spartiate. The ship originally called ‘Sparti’ was one of nine ships captured by the Royal Navy from the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. In November 1805 under the command of Francis Laforey it was part of Nelson’s Fleet which was chasing across the Atlantic a French Fleet under Admiral Villeneuve. It became involved in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. The ship itself was at the rear of the Fleet and was not involved in the first few hours of the battle, however it eventually entered the battle in the company of HMS Minotaur where they found themselves up against four French and one Spanish ship. The English ships performed very well and apparently the rate of fire of both Spartiate and Minotaur was so strong that the French ships ultimately fled, leaving the Spanish ship Neptuno alone to fight against the two British ships which was soon captured it.

The casualties of HMS Spartiate were very light with three killed and twenty wounded. The ship returned to England for Nelson’s funeral with Captain Laforey being the flag bearer walking behind Nelson’s coffin. Interestingly the ship's flag was discovered in England last year and sold for a substantial sum of money at auction, being the only surviving Union Jack flag from the Battle of Trafalgar.

Dempsey joined HMS Spartiate on 10th July 1804 as a ships boy. The ships boys were usually between 12 and 18 years of age, often from poor families. Some had been convicted of petty crimes and may have found themselves in service in the Royal Navy at the direction of a Judge, though in Dempsey's case he was a volunteer. They were generally engaged in very menial work on ships such as cleaning, assisting the ship's cook and looking after the live animals which were kept on ships to feed the men. At the time of his service on HMS Spartiate Barney was 18 years of age and presumably he was at the end of his career as a boy and thereafter could have expected a promotion to sailor. He had served a number of ships before joining Spartiate including the Salvador and the Neptune.

While Barney Dempsey had clearly served a number of years in the Navy on a number of ships, William Molloy’s naval experience seems to have been limited at the time of his service at the Battle of Trafalgar. Although 30 years of age he was listed as a 'landsman'. A landsman was a person who had not been to sea before and had no experience of the Royal Navy. He may have been, as many men were at the time, a victim of the press gang. Essentially the press gang were a group of men from a ship who would use force to compel men to serve in the Navy. Life in the Royal navy was harsh and the conditions and pay were far better in merchant ships. Generally the Navy sought to impress men between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age with seagoing experience, but many 'landsmen' were impressed and it is quite possible that Barney Dempsey was an unwitting victim of a press gang at a port somewhere in Britain.

Both men survived the battle but their subsequent fate is unknown to us. At the time of the Battle of Trafalgar approximately twenty per cent of Royal Navy men were Irish and in some way it is not surprising that two young men from landlocked Athy found themselves at the centre of the greatest naval battle in history.

Gems from Census

The recent availability of the 1911 Census of Ireland on the internet has provided an extraordinary wealth of material for anyone interested in family history or local history. When it comes to computers and the internet I am something of a Luddite, never having quite mastered the technical terms or the computer methods which youngsters learn with such ease at primary school level. Despite these disadvantages I recently ventured onto the internet in search of the 1911 census and found myself immersed in the written material which householders 99 years ago compiled so carefully just three years before the outbreak of World War I.

Like most other people my initial searches were for the families on my fathers and mothers side. Amazingly within minutes I turned up family information and details never before known which clearly signalled the importance of the census returns in genealogical research.

I next turned to those families living in Offaly Street in 1911 to see if any of those named were still represented in the street where I lived from 1945. The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2nd April 1911 when the head of each household was required to make a return of the family, visitors, boarders and servants who slept in the home that night.

Michael Neill, a 67 year old cattle dealer, lived alone in No. 1 Offaly Street. His next door neighbours were the Bradley family. Gregory Bradley, aged 30 years, a baker, was married to Mary Anne. Their three children were May, aged 3 years, Gregory, aged 11 and Kathleen, just 1 month old. No. 3 Offaly Street housed the Dunne family, headed by Peter aged 47 years who was also a baker. His wife Lizzie was 37 years old and they had 6 children, Michael 17 years, James 15 years, Christopher 11 years, Teresa 15 years, Maria 4 years and Thomas Peter, 1 month old. The Dunne family would lose son James five years later. He was killed in action while a member of the 10th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers fighting in France on 13th November 1916.

In No. 4 Offaly Street lived Annie Prendergast, aged 39 years with her five nephews, James, John, Michael, Thomas and Laurence Connell who ranged in age from 28 down to 12 years. All were unemployed with the exception of school going 12 year old Laurence.


Next door lived William Corcoran, an insurance agent aged, 26 years old with his 27 year old wife Julia and their new born baby Thomas Joseph. I believe Thomas who was born in 1911 was the Thomas Corcoran who later became Town Clerk of Newbridge.

Patrick Dempsey, an O.A.P. of 85 years and a widower, lived alone in No. 6 Offaly Street. Two years earlier the Old Age Pension Act came into force giving five shillings per week pension to persons over 70 years old with incomes less than 31 pounds and ten shillings a year. Dempsey’s next door neighbours were the Hayden family headed by Patrick Hayden, a 50 year old widower who worked as a baker. His sons John and Patrick were just 12 and 11 years and living with them was Patrick’s niece Mary Cobbe, aged 28 years. John Hayden played a very prominent part in the struggle for Irish Independence and served a term of imprisonment in Portlaoise jail before emigrating to America. His younger brother Patrick was also involved in the Republican Movement during the War of Independence and like his father, he too worked as a baker. Paddy, as he was known in later life, lived in St. Patrick’s Avenue after he got married and had a family. Edward Duggan, a boot maker, aged 32 years, lived next door with his wife Lizzie who was 13 years older than her husband. Both were members of the Church of Ireland.

Michael Bradley, the Urban District Council Surveyor, was 50 years of age and lived in No. 9 Offaly Street with his 38 year old wife Margaret. Married for 18 years they had 8 children ranging in age from 16 years down to 1 year. John at 16 years of age was employed as a bookkeeper while Mary Kate, Elizabeth, Julia May, Michael and James were noted as scholars and completing the Bradley family was 1 year old baby Margaret.

Next door was Julia Bradley, aged 80 years and living with her were her daughter Elizabeth, a 46 year old dressmaker and a grandson Thomas Breen, a carpenter of 26 years. Mary Hayden, a 9 year old granddaughter made up the Bradley household. Thomas Breen continued to live in Offaly Street after he married and his daughter Nan and her family are today the only direct family links with those who lived in Offaly Street 99 years ago. No. 11 Offaly Street was home to Honoria Salts, a widow of 58 years and two boarders Margaret Hickey aged 26 years, a nurse and Michael Sweeney, aged 34 years, an upholsterer. Her nephew Joseph Reddy, aged 20 years, a grocers assistant, completed the household.

Joseph and Mary Geoghegan with their two children John, 17 years and Josephine, 15 years, both scholars, lived in Number 12. Joseph Geoghegan was a carpenter.

The house and building returns which accompanied the Census showed that the first three houses in Offaly Street consisted of 2 rooms each, while the following nine houses on the same side of the street all had four rooms. The returns give the Protestant Church as the next building which would indicate that the small house presently at the corner of Janeville and Offaly Street was then part of a dwelling facing onto Janeville.

Important to Support our local talent

Two CD’s recently released by local singers have caught my attention. The Sullivan Brothers new release is their second CD following their extended coverage on the TV programme ‘You’re a Star.’ Comprising 12 songs all written and sung by the talented sons of Denis and Ann Sullivan of Avondale Drive, the CD is one which deserves to succeed. However, given the experiences of other Irish artists who find themselves deprived of airtime on our national radio, success, if it comes, may have to rely on local rather than national radio. I have been playing the CD ‘Weary’ in my car for the past three weeks and the more I listen to the Sullivan Brothers songs the more I like them. The backing musicians which include the exceptionally talented whistle player Brian Hughes provide excellent accompaniment to the singing of the Sullivan Brothers.

Two songs from their first album are repeated here ‘Keep holding on’, the signature tune of the album of the same name and ‘A little while’ get a second outing. The latest versions of both songs confirm the musical progress made by the singing brothers since their first release. This is a CD which not only the younger folk but others also might enjoy.

Certainly the second CD by local singer Jacinta O’Donnell will appeal to older listeners. It is a CD of favourite hymns in which Jacinta is joined by Geraldine Flanagan on piano. I have enjoyed Jacinta’s singing in St. Michael’s Parish Church for many years. Her beautiful rendition of church hymns has enriched many an occasion in the church from celebratory devotions of one kind or another to sad funeral services. Her distinctive singing voice so evenly pitched with crystal clear diction is always a joy to hear. It was Charles Acton, late music critic of the Irish Times who once wrote ‘music as an art combines the brain, the mind, the emotions, the heart and the revelations of the spirit of God.’ Jacinta O’Donnell consistently meets Acton’s exacting declaration when she sings in our local parish church and long may she do so.

Her CD ‘Hymns to our Lady’, consists of seven hymns, all well known to those of us who were members of church sodalities which were once a large part of our regulated church lives of younger days. Her singing of the traditional Gaelic hymn, ‘A Mhuire Mháthair’ is my favourite from this CD which I see is labelled Volume I and so holds out the prospect of another volume or volumes at some time in the near future.

Local artists, whether singers, writers, painters or participants in any artistic format, should be able to rely on local support and hopefully both the Sullivan Brothers and Jacinta O’Donnell will get that support in their home town.

The Arts Centre in Woodstock Street will, I understand, host a Sullivan Brothers concert some time in the autumn. The Arts Centre has put on a number of excellent concerts over the last three months, not all of which have attracted the audience numbers one might have expected. The Centre is a wonderful addition to the cultural outlets in Athy and is deserving of every local person’s support. If you would like to be kept informed of forthcoming events in the Arts Centre you should contact the Centre on (085) 2447221 or by email at athyarts@gmail.com and you will be given advance notice by email of whatever is planned for the Woodstock Street venue.

John Joyce, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting but with whom I corresponded some time ago, has recently written an account of the varied heritage of Graiguenamanagh. He devoted a chapter in his excellent book to ‘The Barrow Starch Works’ which he had referred to briefly in his previous book ‘Graiguenamanagh - A Town and its People’ published in 1993. The starch works was opened in 1842 by John Kelly and continued by his son William Patrick Kelly who had served as an officer in the Royal Artillery for a number of years. When he retired from the army Kelly returned to Graiguenamanagh to take charge of the Barrow Starch Works and married a Miss Lawlor from Athy in or around 1880. The business failed in 1890 and the Kellys left for England where the former Miss Lawlor died. William Kelly later remarried and while living in England began a writing career which saw the publication of several historical adventure novels which were very popular in their day. I recently acquired ‘The Cuban Treasure Island’ by William Patrick Kelly which was published in 1903 by George Routledge & Company, London. The author presented a copy of this book to his son which he inscribed ‘To Master W.F. Peer Kelly from his affectionate father the author William P. Kelly September 8th 1904’. That copy of Kelly’s book now sits on my shelves. Kelly died in 1916.

I am interested in hearing from anyone who can give me any information on the Miss Lawlor from Athy who married the former English Army Officer, William Patrick Kelly, who in the latter years of his life achieved a measure of fame and popularity as the author of several adventure novels.