ON THIS DATE (22ND APRIL) 115 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A POLITICAL OPPORTUNIST.
'William Henry O’Shea [pictured] (pronounced “O’Shee”, a fact that gave rise to much worthless humour in the clubs and music halls at the time of the divorce decree) was born in 1840, the son of a Catholic Limerick solicitor. He was educated in England. He travelled at his father’s expense before his father purchased a commission (for him) in the 18th Hussars...
He married Katharine Wood in 1867. Profligate and commercially unsuccessful (he was made bankrupt in 1869, and would be again), he and Katharine were increasingly dependent on the generosity of her extremely wealthy aunt..he was a member of parliament for Clare 1880-5 and was imposed by Parnell on Galway in 1886. He abstained on the Home Rule Bill and resigned. He gave evidence against Parnell at the special commission and in late 1889 instituted proceedings for divorce. His divorce broke Parnell’s leadership of the Irish Party. O’Shea descended into the obscurity in which he died (on the 22nd April) at Hove in 1905. As one re-approaches Capt O’Shea one might think perhaps that he had been stereotypically cast as a knave...(but he was)..a villain of resilience. His caricatural aspects work in an almost Dickensian way to mitigate his profound unpleasantness of character...' (from here.)
And there's more here about this unsavoury political character, but...as our readers in America would say - "Enough Already..!
God knows that there are more than enough 'unsavoury political characters' out there to write about, especially so during this Covid 19 period, which has brought even more rogue characters of that type - from Leinster House to the White House, and other political institutions in between - into the public eye.
Instead, a few paragraphs on the innocent bystander (!) in Mr. O'Shea's life (he died, by the way, on the 22nd April, 1905 ; 115 years ago on this date) : Katharine Wood -
Born in 1846, on the 30th January, Katharine Wood (pictured) matured into an unwitting femme fatale, said to be practically solely responsible for 'the most notorious scandal of the late Victorian Age' - the downfall of Charles Stewart Parnell and the split which followed in the 'Home Rule Movement'.
'Kitty' was a name she would have hated, as it was slang for a woman of loose morals. In fact, she only loved two men in her life and married both of them, though the marriage to Parnell was to prove tragically short-lived as he died in her arms after a few brief months of happiness. She was born Katharine Wood and was known as Kate to her family. Her father was a baronet, a member of the British aristocracy and her brother a Field Marshall, although their grandfather had started life as an apprentice and was a self-made man.
The Woods were closely linked with the Gladstone family and Katharine often acted as a go-between with William Gladstone when Parnell was trying to persuade the British government to grant Ireland independence. She had married William O'Shea at the age of twenty-one, not long after the death of her father, and the marriage had produced a son and two daughters. O'Shea neglected his wife and pursued his own pleasures while she was often left to bring up the children alone, while also looking after her elderly aunt. She played the part of a dutiful wife, however, and hosted dinner parties to help her husband's career. Parnell, an important figure in Irish politics, was always invited, always accepted and yet never showed up.
Annoyed and perplexed by these apparent snubs she went to confront him in person at his office in Westminster in July 1880. The effect was immediate ; "This man is wonderful and different," she was to write later. Parnell was a bachelor who had once loved and been rejected, and never took an interest in women again until he met Katharine. It was a suicidal love as she was married to a fellow Irish MP and was a respectable wife and mother. The power of the attraction between the two, however, was impossible to resist and before long they were living together in her home in Eltham in the suburbs of London.
They had an illicit 'honeymoon' in Brighton and Katharine was to bear three children to Parnell while still married to O'Shea, the first of whom died soon after being born. It is even thought that she bore Parnell a son who could take his name after they finally married, although this child was stillborn. O'Shea knew of the relationship but turned a blind eye to it. Then the Aunt died and left Katharine a large inheritance and he decided to divorce his wife and shame Parnell publicly. The ensuing scandal ruined Parnell's career and his health.
His traditional supporters in Catholic Ireland turned away from him when they learned he had been living with a married woman even though he and his beloved Katharine became man and wife after they married at Steyning register office in Sussex, the county where they made their home. In an attempt to revive his flagging fortunes, Parnell went to Ireland and spoke at a public meeting in County Galway. He was caught in a thunderstorm and developed a chill from which he never recovered. Seriously ill, he returned to be with Katharine and died soon afterwards.
They had been married for only four months. It is estimated that half a million people lined the streets of Dublin to pay their respects to Parnell as his coffin was taken to Glasnevin cemetery to be buried near Daniel O'Connell. Later Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins were also laid to rest nearby. On the granite stone above his grave lies just one word – 'Parnell', enough to identify Ireland’s flawed hero whose dream of a free and united country at peace with Britain was destroyed by his love for a married woman.
And what happened to Kitty, as the world now knew her? It was all too much for her and she lived out her days quietly in Sussex. She never married or fell in love again but looked after her children and died at the age of seventy-five. When she was buried, only her immediate family came to the funeral and on her grave monument were the names of both her husbands with that of Parnell, the great love of her life, above that of O'Shea who gave her the name she is known by. There is no sign of 'Kitty', however. By the gravestone is a plaque placed by the Parnell Society with Parnell's promise to her: "I will give my life to Ireland, but to you I give my love.." Katharine Wood died on the 5th February 1921, at 75 years of age, in Littlehampton in Sussex, England, and is buried there. (from here.)
And there you have it - O'Shea and Parnell were both bounders who attempted to take advantage of an innocent woman. That's my take on it, and I'm stickin' to it, regardless of what the other team members of this blog think about it..!
'SINN FÉIN VICTORY.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
Two Prisoner Candidates Elected To Thirty-Two County Parliament!
Northern republicans on road to freedom : Thursday, May 26th 1955, is a landmark in Irish history. A new chapter has been opened. The total vote cast for Sinn Féin candidates, great though it was, is of secondary importance to the new spirit of co-operation and voluntary service to Ireland that has spread throughout the country.
We are proud of the response made by the republicans in the North to Ireland's call for freedom and unity ; after years of betrayal and confusion - in spite of enemy tactics to disrupt and 'friendly' efforts to discourage - the republicans of the North have proved that the courage and idealism of the O'Neills and the O'Donnells lives on. The election is a phase in the Sinn Féin campaign to organise all Irishmen into one united people to end forever British occupation and influence in Ireland, to restore to the Irish people their fundamental right to govern themselves and to develop the resources of Ireland for the happiness and prosperity of the Irish people.
It is now the task and duty of all Irishmen to rally to the support of Northern republicans in their demand for a 32-County Parliament. Sinn Féin has the plans, you have the power - join Sinn Féin and unite the Nation!
(END of 'Sinn Féin Victory'. NEXT - 'Disruption Tactics Fail', 'National Unity' and 'Democracy!', from the same source
.)
ON THIS DATE (22ND APRIL) 145 YEARS AGO : BIRTH OF A 1916 EASTER RISING LEADER.
On the 22nd April, 1875, Michael Joseph O'Rahilly ('The O'Rahilly') was born in Ballylongford, in County Kerry. He had a busy, well-travelled and interesting life and took part in the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, during which he was killed in the fighting.
"Friday April, 29 1916. The General Post Office in Dublin, occupied on the Monday as the headquarters of republican insurrection, was burning fiercely. The insurgents inside had decided they had to make their escape across Henry Street to the network of small houses and shops on Moore Street.
A small party of twenty armed men dashed across the open street to establish a toehold there and to clear out a British barricade. At their head was a distinguished looking gentleman in green uniform, complete with Victorian moustache and sword.
The charging party was hit by volleys of British bullets from the barricades on both sides. Four Volunteers were killed outright. Their leader, the moustached gentleman, fell wounded in the face. He managed to drag himself out of the line of fire to Sackville Lane, where he lay, bleeding, grievously injured. His name was Michael O'Rahilly..." (from here.)
More information re 'The O'Rahilly' himself - 'His interest in Irish history led him slowly and inexorably towards nationalism. The first indication of nationalism is in a letters controversy in 1899 in the European edition of the New York Herald, following celebrations of Queen Victoria's 80th birthday. Rahilly criticised the celebrations, pointing out the miseries her reign had inflicted on Ireland. Some of his criticism was censored by the paper as too offensive..' - can be read here, and his family history can be read here.
'SING of The O'Rahilly,
Do not deny his right;
Sing a "The" before his name;
Allow that he, despite
All those learned historians,
Established it for good;
He wrote out that word himself,
He christened himself with blood.
How goes the weather?
Sing of The O'Rahilly
That had such little sense
He told Pearse and Connolly
He'd gone to great expense
Keeping all the Kerry men
Out of that crazy fight;
That he might be there himself
Had travelled half the night.
How goes the weather?
"Am I such a craven that
I should not get the word
But for what some travelling man
Had heard I had not heard?"
Then on Pearse and Connolly
He fixed a bitter look:
"Because I helped to wind the clock
I come to hear it strike."
How goes the weather?
What remains to sing about
But of the death he met
Stretched under a doorway
Somewhere off Henry Street;
They that found him found upon
The door above his head
"Here died The O'Rahilly.
R.I.P." writ in blood.
How goes the weather? (By William Butler Yeats.)
('The O'Rahilly's' grandson, Ronan, 79 years of age, died on Monday last, 20th April. The poor man was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013 and had been resident in a nursing home in Carlingford in County Louth for the last years of his life. "How goes the weather", Ronan? Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.)
FIT TO PRACTISE?
As social work in Ireland reaches a landmark, Phil MacGiolla Bháin argues that the profession is flawed beyond salvation. From 'Magill' magazine, July 2002.
This is a landmark year for social work in Ireland, with the 'Irish Association of Social Workers' celebrating 30 years of existence ; as good a time as any to evaluate what social work has become over its relatively short lifespan.
There is no social work equivalent of the 'Irish Medical Council' which, last year, found against Dr. Moira Woods in relation to her investigation into child sex abuse at the Rotunda Hospital more than a decade before. Social workers, rather than being practising professionals, are employees of health boards. There is no 'Fitness to Practise Committee' for social work, and so there is little formal sense of what is good or bad social work practice.
Perhaps the most telling piece of evidence about what social work actually is right now was contained in an article in the summer/autumn 2001 edition of 'Irish Social Worker' on "Evidence Based Social Work", the newest fad in social work. All social work practice must now be 'evidence based', it told us, which might lead the reasonable person to ask - 'If you are now basing what you do on evidence, what did you base it on before you were relying on evidence...?' (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (22ND APRIL) 97 YEARS AGO : IRA 'POACHER-TURNED-GAMEKEEPER' ESCAPES FROM IRA SAFE HOUSE.
"Seán Quinn was a high ranking officer in the Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army and staunchly anti-treaty. He was ultimately killed by his own countrymen, Irish Free State troops...according to the sources, Seán was at safe house in Castlebellingham in County Louth on April 22, 1923 with his brothers Padraig and Malachi, and other anti-treaty IRA leaders. A Catholic priest who said Sunday Mass betrayed them and soon a large force of Free State troops surrounded their safe house when Seán decided they had to shoot their way out. Both Seán and Padraig were shot and captured. The others escaped. A week later, the civil war ended. Seán died from his injuries a month later on May 22, 1923 in St. Bricin’s Hospital in Dublin...(he) ultimately died for a cause he believed in – total Irish independence from Britain with no strings attached..." (from here.)
On Sunday, 22nd April 1923 - 97 years ago on this date - Seán Francis Quinn (Seán Proinsias Ó Cuinn), an Adjutant General in the Fourth Northern Division of the Anti-Treaty IRA, was in a safe house in Castlebellingham in County Louth, temporarily keeping a low profile with his two brothers, Padraig (Quartermaster General) and Malachi. IRA Volunteer Ned Fitzpatrick was there as well, as was their Officer Commanding, Frank Aiken. In the confusion caused by the shoot-out, after they were surrounded by the Staters, Frank Aiken escaped (Malachi and Ned escaped capture by hiding in the attic) and, just over a month later (on the 24th May, 1923 - two days after Seán died) Frank Aiken issued a 'Ceasefire' order and instructed 'all Units to dump arms'.
Mr. Aiken went on to make a political career for himself in the same political institution he had fought against - the Leinster House administration. He
campaigned for, and won, a seat in Leinster House that same year (1923) and, in 1926, assisted other turncoats to establish the Fianna Fáil party. He served the Free State faithfully until he died in 1983, at 85 years of age ; he was second-in-command ('Tánaiste') of the political apparatus in the Free State from 1965 to 1969, 'Minister for External Affairs' twice, State Minister' for Finance, and for the 'Co-Ordination of Defensive Measures', and for Defence, and for Lands and Fisheries. A very busy man, then, who spent his time shoring-up that which he once fought to tear down.
He died from 'natural causes', at 85 years of age, on the 18th May, 1983, and was buried with full Free State 'honours' in Camlough, County Armagh - one of our six counties which remain under British jurisdictional control. For now, anyway...
'PUPPETS'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
We have been asked what do we think of the "wonderful" replies that Mr. de Valera has being giving to Basil Brooke and the verbal thrust and parry they have been carrying on during the last two weeks or so. These queries are usually accompanied by remarks like "Dev shook him that time" or "Dev didn't leave him a leg to stand on."
Quite frankly, we are thoroughly sick of this 'Punch and Judy' show - the type of nonsense which has been carried on between the Leinster House and Stormont puppets since 1922. It has got us nowhere and it will get us nowhere. That is the fact and we must face it ; Stormont is a puppet operating under the protection of the British armed forces of aggression and Leinster House is also a puppet, born out of the surrender of 1922, and operating "by the leave" of the British invader and ever watchful not to do anything which would discommode him or cause him to make effective his threat of "immediate and terrible war".
But we will be told that Mr. de Valera did not accept the surrender in 1922. No, maybe not, though recent speeches make even that doubtful. What is fact is that he has worked the Free State according to the rules laid down by the British, for many more years than anyone else. The very fact that some people still imagine him to be a republican make him a much more effective instrument for carrying out British policy in Ireland than any of the first Free Staters. (END of 'Puppets' ; NEXT - 'Republican Aid Committee' and 'Fr. Liam Pilkington Departs For Ireland', from the same source.)
('1169' comment - that last paragraph can be best summarised by the old adage 'if you get a name as an early riser you can stay in bed all day'. There are still those today in Leinster House 'that some people still imagine to be republicans' and are therefore 'more effective instruments' at implementing Free State and British fiscal etc policy in this State than either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael are ; the supporters of those 'republicans' will tell you [as they themselves have been told by their political leadership] that it's "all part of the bigger picture...the leadership have a plan, they know what they are doing..". They forget, or don't want to acknowledge - because it doesn't suit their narrative - that throughout our history there are very well recorded instances of 'republicans' going into Free State and/or British-imposed 'parliaments' to "change the system...bring it down from the inside.." only for them to become part of that system. They become politically contaminated and the coin in their pocket becomes their endgame.)
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. Stay safe - watch what you do, and where you do it!
AN ON-LINE/DIGITAL EASTER, APRIL 2020.
Due to Covid 19, Sinn Féin Poblachtach will be commemorating Easter 1916 online this year.
Beginning on Good Friday (10th April) a series of live events will be held on Facebook ; at 4pm, Ard Chomhairle member Colette Healy, Galway will be doing a reading of 'The Rose Tree' by W.B. Yeats and also announcing the full Easter online programme.
On Holy Saturday at 2.30pm Ard Chomhairle member Martin Duffy, Lurgan will read the Easter Statement from the leadership of the Republican Movement, following this he will give a short Easter Oration.
On Easter Sunday at 2.30pm Ard Chomhairle member Des Dalton, Kildare, will read the 1916 Proclamation and will them deliver a short Easter Oration.
Finally, on Easter Monday at 2.30pm, National Treasurer Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais will read the roll of honour of the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising and will give a short Easter Oration.
As part of the SFP/RSF online Easter Commemorative events there will be a regular posting on Facebook and Twitter of historical documents, films such as 'An Tine Bheo', excerpts from George Morrison’s MISE ÉIRE, interviews with 1916 veterans, historical documents and photographs and readings of historical documents and speeches. This will begin on Holy Thursday and continue over Easter Weekend and throughout Easter Week ; hope you can join in at some stage!
ON THIS DATE (8TH APRIL) 186 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A 'COLOURFUL MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT'.
'...Jonah Barrington was a member of the late Irish Parliament for the cities of Tuam and Clogher. He was a lawyer of landed background and then later an MP for Tuam and Bannagher...in 1798 he was appointed an admiralty court judge and knighted in 1807. However he was removed from office for embezzlement in 1830, by which time he had long retreated to France to escape his creditors...' (from here.)
Probably disappointed with the hand that fate had dealt him (but possibly more to do with the way he himself had 'played that hand'!) he wrote a book entitled 'The Rise and Fall of The Irish Nation' which was stated to be 'a full account of the bribery and corruption by which the (Act Of) Union was carried ; the family histories of the members who voted away the Irish Parliament with an extraordinary black list of the titles, places and pensions which they received for their corrupt votes..', and that book is occasionally gifted with another title - 'The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation: A Full Account of the Bribery and Corruption by Which the Union Was Carried ; the Family Histories of the Members who Voted Away the Irish Parliament'.
Jonah kept company with those as 'interesting and colourful' (!) as himself, as the following piece testifies - 'Irish elections can be boisterous and violent affairs but none more so than the Co. Wexford election to the British House of Commons in 1807, just a few years after the Act of Union...two of the candidates, William Congreve Alcock and John Colclough, fight a duel in front of the county sheriff, 16 magistrates and a large crowd of spectators. Alcock shoots Colclough dead ; he is elected ; he is also tried and acquitted for killing Colclough, but his mind is badly affected ; two years later, he will be confined in an asylum for the insane.
Among the contestants..were two local grandees, William Congreve Alcock and John Colclough. Colclough's brother, who gloried in the traditional Irish monicker of 'Caesar', had been the local MP but was a prisoner of war in France. The Colclough's, who were generally popular landlords, had lived at Tintern Abbey, a former monastery, since the mid-16th century.
The election campaign was a bitter one, polling was due to take place on 1 June but with just two days to go Alcock took exception to what he alleged was an attempt by Colclough to steal the support of tenants obligated to vote for him in what was, by today’s standards, a slightly democratic election. In what appears like a piece of egregious over-reaction, he challenged Colclough to a duel and in the encounter that followed Alcock shot his political opponent dead. As the MP for Athlone, George Tierney observed tartly, "that’s one way of getting an election". As duelling was still socially acceptable in early 19th century Ireland, Alcock was acquitted of murder and allowed to take his seat in the House of Commons.
But he was not to continue in office for long – two years after the duel he was committed to an asylum. The Irish judge and memoirist, Jonah Barrington, wrote of Alcock that "..alas! The acquitted duellist suffered more in mind than his victim had done in body. The horror of the scene, and the solemnity of the trial, combined to make a fatal inroad on his reason! He became melancholy ; his understanding declined ; a dark gloom enveloped his entire intellect ; and an excellent young man and perfect gentleman at length sank into irrecoverable imbecility."
But there is an interesting postscript to this sad tale. Not all those affected by the duel came out of it badly : Colclough's estate at Tintern Abbey was managed by his steward, one James Kennedy. Because of the absence of Caesar Colclough in France, Kennedy continued to run the estate until his Caesar’s return in 1815. During that period something of the order of £80,000 disappeared. Nobody could pin it directly on the steward but in 1818 Kennedy was dismissed at the behest of Caesar Colclough’s wife, Jane Stratford Kirwan. The money remains unaccounted for. There are, however, persistent rumours that at least some of it may have been used a generation later to fund the migration to the USA of the Kennedy family in the 1840s, and perhaps even to set up the Boston saloon that became the basis of the family fortune. A descendant of James Kennedy, by the name of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, went on to become President of the United States of American in 1961. Was the Kennedy fortune based on the tragic outcome of a tragic confrontation between two Irish aristocrats..?' (from here.)
Jonah Barrington, who was born at Knapton, in Abbeyleix, County Laois, in 1760, died at Versailles in France, at 74 years of age, in 1834.
Whatever about the alleged/possible (probable?) Kennedy connection regarding the missing £80,000 (or part thereof)- highly unlikely, we believe, as professional, career politicians would run a mile from tainted money of that sort (!!) - the 'tenants (being) obligated' to vote for their 'landlords' is a position that, mentally and morally, still exists in this warped State : the 'landlord' ie the 'distinguished' [temporary] occupant of the 'Big House' accepts it as a given, morally, that 'his tenants' (constituents) will vote him/her back in for another term in office while the voter/tenant/serf accepts it as a given that he/she is 'obligated' to vote for someone from the 'Big House'. And that's 'progress', Irish style...
'CORK CEREMONY...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, December 1954.
Glasgow Sinn Féin - The cumann held an open meeting on the afternoon of November 28th last and a 'Manchester Martyrs Commemoration' concert was held in the hall at 8pm, and the cumann extended a hand of welcome to the new cumann in Dundee - good luck to you all in the East! The Glasgow Cumann have increased their membership in the past few months, but there is room for a lot more so, exiles in Glasgow, give Sinn Féin your support! We wish to thank all who gave their services to the sale of 'The United Irishman', and are pleased to announce that they have increased the sale of the paper to 62 dozen copies.
A list of candidates for the Westminster elections, for ten of the twelve constituencies, was announced ; they are as follows - ARMAGH ; Tomas MacCurtain, Cork. SOUTH DOWN ; Kevin O' Rourke, Banbridge. NORTH DOWN ; John Dugan, Loughguile. MID ULSTER ; Tom Mitchel, Dublin. FERMANAGH/SOUTH TYRONE ; Phil Clarke, Dublin. WEST BELFAST ; Eamon Boyce, Dublin. EAST BELFAST ; Liam Mulcahy, Cork. NORTH BELFAST ; Frank McGlade, Ardoyne and SOUTH BELFAST ; Paddy Kearney, Dublin. Candidates have yet to be selected for Derry and South Antrim constituencies. (END of 'Cork Ceremony'. NEXT - 'Sinn Féin Victory', from 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June 1955.)
ON THIS DATE (8TH APRIL) 159 YEARS AGO : DERRYVEAGH EVICTIONS.
Twenty million acres of land in Ireland ; 661,931 'tenants' (ie native Irish) in Ireland and 19,284 'landlords' (ie British Planter) in Ireland. If the 'landlords' could get rid of the 'tenants' they could increase the size of 'their' ranches.
In the late 1850's, an unscrupulous British Toff named John George Adair arrived in the Derryveagh area of County Donegal and, by guile, hook and crook, within one year of being in the area, 'owned' more than ninty square miles of the surrounding countryside. Adair imported black-faced sheep from Scotland and allowed them to wander on 'his' land ; British 'landlords' like Adair were not alone in thinking that they could do as they wished with 'their' holdings ; their bigotry was shared by the political establishment. In 1860, the British-appointed Attorney General in Ireland, Richard Deasy, had his 'Act' passed into 'law' in this country - it was known as 'The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act of 1860', but was better known as 'Deasy's Act'. That piece of British legislation removed whatever insignificant amount of protection that the 'tenant' had in relation to their rights and allowed the British a 'free-hand' to do as they choose with 'their' Irish 'tenants'.
The new 'law' allowed the British to set, amend, introduce and/or change any terms which the 'tenant' had with the 'landlord' and defined the contract between both parties as "deemed to be founded on the express or implied contract of the parties and not upon tenure or service." The foreign 'gentry' in Ireland were already aware that it was more profitable for them to have livestock on 'their' land rather than poor 'tenants' who leased the land, and 'Deasy's Act' encouraged them to shift the Irish off the land, 'legally', and removed any 'rights' that the evicted family may have had prior to the enactment of the new 'law'.
The Derryveagh 'landlord', John George Adair, and many others, lost no time in moving against the families living on 'their' estates : within a few months of the '1860 Landlord/Tenant - Deasy's Act', evictions were taking place at a recorded level of twenty a week ; Adair had already attempted to have the families on 'his' estate evicted for 'stealing' his Scottish (black-faced) sheep - if the sheep, while wandering free, should end up near a persons cabin, that 'tenant' was accused of stealing the animal! He changed the 'terms and conditions' of the manner in which he 'leased' the land to his existing 'tenants' and did not bother to notify them ; those families were served with eviction notices, and Adair then notified the 'police-force' and requested the British military to accompany the eviction party while it carried out its 'mandate'. On the 8th April 1861 - 159 years ago on this date - in Derryveagh, Donegal, John George Adair and his party of licenced bandits physically removed forty-four families from their miserable dwellings, burnt the roofs of same and, before the fire was extinguished, levelled the walls.
Whole families lived in ditches ; no food, no income, no shelter, no hope. Adair and his 'landlord' colleagues left such destruction and destitution in their wake that foreign newspapers sent over reporters to follow him, and their words and sketches were sent out world-wide. Irish exiles were furious, and done what they could to help their fellow-countrymen and women back home. In Australia, for instance, a 'Donegal Relief Committee' was established, and paid for most of Adair's and his colleagues victims to re-settle in Australia. That same British mentality in relation to Ireland and the Irish exists to this day and the authors of this blog are of the opinion that only a full British military and political withdrawal from Ireland will solve the issue.
ILLEGAL ARMS : IN BAD COMPANY...
A man suspected of being one of the world's biggest dealers in illegal weapons was a director of two companies based in Ireland. By Annamarie Comiskey. From 'Magill' magazine, July 2002.
Amnesty International in Ireland wants all arm brokers operating from Ireland registered, subject to export licence approval and their activities strictly controlled. Jim Loughran from Amnesty International said - "The lack of effective controls of arms dealers has led to an unrestricted trade in small arms, too often linked to human rights abuses in such places as Sierra Leone and Rwanda."
There was nothing in place to control Leonid Minin when he decided to do 'business' in Ireland ; only now, after the companies have closed, and several arms shipments to Africa latewr, the Italian court may find that Ireland should have done something sooner.
(END of 'ILLEGAL ARMS : IN BAD COMPANY'. Next - 'FIT TO PRACTISE? SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND', from the same source.)
'THE EPIC OF THE WATER TOWER'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
The Omagh raid has brought many incidents, amusing and otherwise, in its wake. Among the amusing ones we could mention the epic of the water-tower when a story by some youngsters brought scores of heavily armed soldiers and police to surround the water-tower adjacent to the Omagh Barracks in the belief that one of the IRA raiders, withdrawing from the barracks, had taken refuge there.
Unwilling to risk conflict with him, the doughty warriors of the Empire encamped around the water-tower day and night, prepared to "starve him out". Goaded by the jibes of the people and the offer of newspapermen to climb the tower to see if anyone was really there, the heroes of the Empire eventually went into action.
They first emptied thousands of gallons of water from the tank and then, covering every possible cranny or hole, from which even a mouse might emerge, with rifles and machine-guns, they sent men half-way up the ladder to lob tear-gas bombs into the space between the concrete wall of the tower and the tank... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DAY NEXT WEEK (15TH APRIL)...
..we won't be in a position to post our usual offering, as our time has already been spoke for!
We have something like the usual monthly fund-raising raffle this Sunday (12th April) to attend to but, because of the Covid 19 situation, it's only gonna be more-or-less a 'half-a-raffle' : still 650 tickets, still €440 in prize money to be distributed between the eight winners but a different format for the gig has been put in place, due to the temporarily changed circumstances.
The location has been changed to reflect the relevant safety necessities required and the usual raffle crew has been reduced in number - myself and two others, one of whom will be assisting remotely, will do the necessary on the day and, as I write, we are in the process of collecting the ticket stubs and cash, which were distributed in the usual fashion (in mid-March, before this bug had upset things too much!) but now have to be collected in a different manner than usual because of the changed situation. It's do-able, just about, for the April fund-raiser, but the May 2020 gig is looking doubtful, at the moment, but sure it's early yet...!
Anyway - whatever about next months raffle, we won't have time to put our stuff together for next Wednesday, the 15th April but, if the blog team are up to it, we'll have a few words to say on the following Wednesday, the 22nd April. Keep an eye on yourself and yours, for now, and hopefully we'll all be ok and come out in good form on the other side of this calamity. The luck of the Irish and all that...!
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. Stay safe!
CONTAMINATED EASTER LILY'S -
Please be careful where you get your Easter Lily's from, as Free State fraudsters are attempting to distribute State licenced (!) versions of the Lily.
And no - this is NOT an April Fool's joke!
ON THIS DATE (1ST APRIL) 99 YEARS AGO...
'In 1917, Sean Corcoran called on me and requested me to
organise a company of Volunteers and a Sinn Féin Cumann in Bohola. I arranged for a meeting to be held in Staunton's workshop in Bohola. Sean Corcoran attended the meeting and about 40 young men joined the company. I must state here that they were as fine a bunch of lads as could be found anywhere. Two names were proposed for the position of company captain, mine and P.J. Clarke. I was elected by a substantial majority. P.J. Clarke was elected 1st Lieut. Tom Carroll, 2nd Lieutenant; John Clarke, adjutant and Joe Colgan, quartermaster. A Sinn Féin Cumann was also formed at the meeting and I was elected secretary...' (from here.)
'On 1 April 1921, Sean Corcoran, O/C of the IRA's East Mayo Brigade, was shot dead by British soldiers after a short gunfight at Crossard crossroads (6 km north of Ballyhaunis). A high cross marks the spot where Corcoran died. Later that same day, a member of the British Black and Tans was killed by a sniper. In retaliation, the Black and Tans executed Michael Coen, a man who was later believed not to have taken part in fighting of any kind. A monument to Coen was placed on the Cloonfad/Galway road from Ballyhaunis...' (from here.)
ON THIS DATE (25TH MARCH) 174 YEARS AGO : 'FATHER OF THE IRISH LAND LEAGUE' BORN.
The Irish 'dissident', Michael Davitt (pictured) was born on this date - 25th March - in 1846, in Straide, County Mayo, at the height of 'An Gorta Mór' (the attempted genocide) of the Irish people, and the poverty of those times affected the Davitt family - he was the second of five children and was only a few months older than four years of age when his family were evicted from their home over rent owed and his father, Martin, was left with no choice but to travel to England to look for work.
Martin's wife, Sabina ((nee Kielty), and their five children, were given temporary accommodation by the local priest in Straide. The family were eventually reunited, in England, where young Michael attended school for a few years. His family were struggling, financially, so he obtained work, aged 9, as a labourer (he told his boss he was 13 years old and got the job - working from 6am to 6pm, with a ninty-minute break and a wage of 2s.6d a week) but within weeks he had secured a 'better' job, operating a spinning machine but, at only 11 years of age, his right arm got entangled in the machinery and had to be amputated. There was no compensation offered, and no more work, either, for a one-armed machine operator, but he eventually managed to get a job helping the local postmaster.
'Mary Fitzgerald, dear heart,
Love of my breast and my friend,
Alas that I am parting from you,
O lady who succored me at every stage.'
His final composition was to the butler, Flinn, who brought him his last drink (and his) funeral was widely attended ; in fitting tribute to the man, the wake lasted four days...' (From here.)
ON THIS DATE (25TH MARCH) 81 YEARS AGO : BIRTH OF A DODGY 'SHAMROCK PIMPERNEL'.
'Jim 'Just call me the Shamrock Pimpernel' McCann is wanted all over the world for a variety of crimes, and is regarded as a colourful figure in the underworld. The reformed cannabis smuggler Howard Marks wrote in his autobiography that McCann mixed with unsuspecting IRA men and Hollywood actors like James Coburn during his heyday in the 1980s.
McCann, originally from Belfast, in 1971 became the first man in decades to escape from Crumlin Road jail, where he was on remand for petrol-bombing Queen's University. In the intervening period he linked up with international cannabis dealer Marks, while still trading on his reputation as a revolutionary. In 1977 he was arrested in France for extradition to Germany for allegedly bombing a British Army base in Moenchengladbach.
A subsequent case failed, thanks largely to protests by French political radicals. Next he turned up in Naas, when Gardai caught him with nearly £100,000 worth of cannabis. When arrested, he would only say: "My name is Mr Nobody. My address is The World."
McCann was later freed by the Garda on a technicality. He was last seen in Argentina...' (From here.)
This man was born on the 25th March, 1939, had dual British and Irish citizenship but mostly used his Free State passport. He was not the first unsavoury character to latch-on to Irish republicanism and, unfortunately, probably won't be the last. Had he persevered in his 'political' endeavours, he could now well be sitting in Leinster House with other dodgy 'republicans'.
Thanks for reading. And take care of yourself and your family and friends etc ; in these uncertain medical and (enforced) financial times, please don't fully depend on this corrupt State and those incompetents who oversee it to have your back. They haven't, nor will they - you and yours are not their concern, except on a voting day.
Sharon and the '1169' team.
