Humbert crosses the River Shannon at Ballintra Bridge on September 7, destroying it behind them, and continues to Drumshanbo where they spend the night – halfway between his landing-point and Dublin. News reaches him of the defeat of the Westmeath and Longford rebels at Wilson’s Hospital School at Multyfarmham and Granard from the trickle of rebels who have survived the slaughter and reached his camp. With Cornwallis’ huge force blocking the road to Dublin, facing constant harassment of his rearguard and the pending arrival of General Gerard Lake‘s command, Humbert decides to make a stand the next day at the townland of Ballinamuck on the Longford/Leitrim county border.
Humbert faces over 12,000 Irishmen and English forces. General Lake is close behind with 14,000 men, and Cornwallis is on his right at Carrick-on-Shannon with 15,000. The battle begins with a short artillery duel followed by a dragoon charge on exposed Irish rebels. There is a brief struggle when French lines are breached which only ceases when Humbert signals his intention to surrender and his officers order their men to lay down their muskets. The battle lasts little more than an hour.
While the French surrender is being taken, the 1,000 or so Irish allies of the French under Colonel Bartholomew Teeling, an Irish officer in the French army, hold onto their arms without signaling the intention to surrender or being offered terms. An attack by infantry followed by a dragoon charge breaks and scatters the Irish who are pursued into a bog where they are either bayoneted or drowned.
A total of 96 French officers and 746 men are taken prisoner. British losses are initially reported as 3 killed and 16 wounded or missing, but the number of killed alone is later reported as twelve. Approximately 500 French and Irish lay dead on the field. Two hundred Irish prisoners are taken in the mopping-up operations, almost all of whom are later hanged, including Matthew Tone, brother of Wolfe Tone. The prisoners are moved to the Carrick-on-Shannon Gaol. The French are given prisoner or war status however the Irish are not and some are hanged and buried in St. Johnstown, today known as Ballinalee, where most are executed in a field that is known locally as Bully’s Acre.
Humbert and his men are transported by canal to Dublin and exchanged for British prisoners of war. Government forces subsequently slowly spread out into the rebel-held “Irish Republic,” engaging in numerous skirmishes with rebel holdouts. These sweeps reach their climax on September 23 when Killala is captured by government forces. During these sweeps, suspected rebels are frequently summarily executed while many houses thought to be housing rebels are burned. French prisoners of war are swiftly repatriated, while United Irishmen rebels are executed. Numerous rebels take to the countryside and continue guerrilla operations, which take government forces some months to suppress. The defeat at Ballinamuck leaves a strong imprint on Irish social memory and features strongly in local folklore. Numerous oral traditions are later collected about the battle, principally in the 1930’s by historian Richard Hayes and the Irish Folklore Commission.
(Pictured: Watercolour plan by an I. Hardy of the Battle of Ballinamuck in County Longford on September 8, 1798, showing position of the English & French Armies previous to the surrender of the latter at Balinamuck)
There are few surviving records of Sarsfield’s early life, although it is generally agreed he is brought up on the family estates at Tully. While some biographies claim he is educated at a French military college, there is no evidence for this.
Sarsfield fights at Entzheim, Turckheim and Altenheim. He and Hamilton are standing next to Turenne when he is killed by a chance shot at Salzbach in July 1675. He remains in France until the war ends in 1678, then returns to London to join a new regiment being recruited by Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick. However, the Popish Plot then results in Sarsfield and other Catholics being barred from serving in the military.
This leaves Sarsfield short of money, and he becomes involved in an expensive legal campaign to regain Lucan Manor from the heirs of his brother William, who dies in 1675. This ultimately proves unsuccessful amid allegations of forged documents, and in 1681 he returns to London, where he makes two separate attempts to abduct an heiress and is lucky to escape prosecution. When Charles’s Catholic brother James becomes king in 1685, Sarsfield rejoins the army and fights in the decisive Battle of Sedgemoor, which ends the Monmouth Rebellion. James is keen to promote Catholics, whom he views as more loyal, and by 1688 Sarsfield is colonel of a cavalry unit.
After Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1687, he begins creating a Catholic-dominated Irish army and political establishment. Aware of preparations for invasion by his nephew and son-in-law William of Orange, James sends Sarsfield to Dublin in September to persuade Tyrconnell to provide him with Irish troops. This proves unsuccessful, and in November James is deposed by the Glorious Revolution. Sarsfield takes part in the Wincanton Skirmish, one of the few military actions during the invasion. He remains in England until January when he is allowed to join James in France.
Accompanied by French troops and English exiles, James lands in Ireland in March 1689, beginning the Williamite War in Ireland. Sarsfield is promoted brigadier, elected to the 1689 Irish Parliament for County Dublin, and commands cavalry units in the campaign in Ulster and Connacht. When an Irish brigade is sent to France in October, French ambassador Jean-Antoine de Mesmes proposes Sarsfield as its commander. He notes that while “not…of noble birth […], (he) has distinguished himself by his ability, and (his) reputation in this kingdom is greater than that of any man I know […] He is brave, but above all has a sense of honour and integrity in all that he does”.
James rejects this, stating that although unquestionably brave, Sarsfield is “very scantily supplied with brains.” His role at the Battle of the Boyne is peripheral, although the battle is less decisive than often assumed, Jacobite losses being around 2,000 from a force of 25,000. James returns to France, leaving Tyrconnell in control. He is the leader of the “Peace Party,” who want to negotiate a settlement preserving Catholic rights to land and public office. Sarsfield heads the “War Party,” who feel they can gain more by fighting on. It includes the Luttrell brothers, Nicholas Purcell and English Catholic William Dorrington, a former colleague from Monmouth’s Regiment.
The position of the War Party is strengthened by the Declaration of Finglas, which offers the rank and file amnesty but excludes senior officers. French victories in the Low Countries briefly increases hopes of a Stuart restoration, and the Jacobites establish a defensive line along the River Shannon. Sarsfield cements his reputation with an attack on the Williamite artillery train at Ballyneety, widely credited with forcing them to abandon the first siege of Limerick. The Jacobites also retain Athlone, offset by the loss of Kinsale and Cork, which make resupply from France extremely difficult.
With Tyrconnell absent in France, Sarsfield takes control and in December 1690, arrests several leaders of the peace faction. He then bypasses James by asking Louis XIV directly for French support, and requesting the removal of Tyrconnell and the army commander James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, James’ illegitimate son. The latter, who later describes Sarsfield as “a man […] without sense”, albeit “very good-natured,” leaves Limerick for France in February.
Tyrconnell returns in January 1691, carrying letters from James making Sarsfield Earl of Lucan, an attempt to placate an “increasingly influential and troublesome figure.” A large French convoy arrives at Limerick in May, along with Charles Chalmot de Saint-Ruhe, appointed military commander in an attempt to end the conflict between the factions. Saint-Ruhr and 7,000 others die at Aughrim in July 1691, reputedly the bloodiest battle ever on Irish soil. Sarsfield’s role is unclear: one account claims he quarrels with Saint-Ruhe and is sent to the rear with the cavalry reserves.
The remnants of the Jacobite army regroup at Limerick. Tyrconnell dies of a stroke in August, and in October, Sarsfield negotiates terms of surrender. He is criticised for this, having constantly attacked Tyrconnell for advocating the same thing, while it is suggested the Williamite army is weaker than he judged. However, the collapse of the Shannon line and surrender of Galway and Sligo leaves him little option. Without French supplies, the military position is hopeless, and defections mean his army is dissolving.
The military articles of the Treaty of Limerick preserve the Jacobite army by allowing its remaining troops to enter French service. About 19,000 officers and men, including Sarsfield, choose to leave in what is known as the Flight of the Wild Geese. Sarsfield’s handling of the civil articles is less successful. Most of its protections are ignored by the new regime, although Sarsfield possibly views it as temporary, hoping to resume the war.
On arrival in France, Sarsfield becomes Major-General in the army of exiles, an appointment James makes with great reluctance. In addition to other acts of perceived insubordination, Sarsfield allegedly tells William’s negotiators at Limerick “change but kings with us, and we will fight it over again.” After the planned invasion of England is abandoned in 1692, the exiles become part of the French army, and Sarsfield a French maréchal de camp.
Sarsfield fights at Steenkerque in August 1692, and is fatally wounded at the Battle of Landen in 1693, dying at Huy on August 21, 1693. Despite several searches, no grave or burial record has been found, although a plaque at St. Martin’s Church, Huy, has been set up in commemoration and an announcement in 2023 states that, pending exhumation and identification, his remains have been located. Like much else, his reputed last words, “Oh that this had been shed for Ireland!” are apocryphal.
Godert de Ginkel, the commanding general of William III‘s army, begins a ten-day siege of Athlone on June 20, 1691. Athlone is besieged twice during the Williamite War in Ireland (1689–91). The town is situated in the centre of Ireland on the River Shannon and commands the bridge crossing the river into the Jacobite-held province of Connacht. For this reason, it is of key strategic importance.
The army of William III first besieges Athlone in 1690, shortly after their defeat of the main Jacobite army at the Battle of the Boyne. James Douglas and about 7,500 troops attempt to take the town, but the Jacobite garrison’s commander, Colonel Richard Grace, refuses to surrender. Lacking siege artillery, Douglas is forced to withdraw after a week.
In the summer of the following year, the Williamite army, having regrouped at Mullingar under the command of Dutch general Godert de Ginkel, marches via Ballymore to make a second attempt on Athlone.
The Jacobite commander, Charles Chalmot de Saint-Ruhe, marches his main field army from its winter quarters in Limerick to meet the threat. He draws up his force to the west of the town. Other Jacobite troops man fortifications in the ruins of the “English Town,” the eastern half of Athlone, along with a garrison in the “Irish Town” on the western bank. This arrangement is intended to allow the Jacobites to fight a staggered, drawn-out defence, though the advantage is reduced by high ground on the Leinster bank of the Shannon and the fact that the river is running exceptionally low at the time.
Jacobite defences are also hampered by disagreements between James’s Viceroy, Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, Saint-Ruhe, and Jacobite general Patrick Sarsfield. When Talbot asserts his seniority and offers advice on the defences to Saint-Ruhe, the latter refuses to recognise Talbot’s command, while Sarsfield sends him a message that his pavilion ropes will be cut if he does not leave immediately. Though Talbot surmises that a large number of the best Jacobite troops will side with him, he chooses to depart for Limerick rather than split the army.
Ginkel opens an assault on the eastern part of Athlone on June 20, which causes the Jacobites to retreat to the west bank of the river, dismantling the bridge in the process. Colonel Grace, who had been superseded as garrison commander by the French officer d’Usson, is killed in a bombardment at the western end of the bridge on the same day.
The Jacobite forces in the western half of Athlone, led by Major-General Thomas Maxwell, a Scottish Catholic, initially hold off the Williamite assault. There is fierce fighting centred on the bridge over the Shannon. The Williamites try to lay planks over the partially wrecked structure, which the Irish Jacobite troops manage to destroy despite coming under intense fire. One such Jacobite sortie, by a small group of volunteers from Maxwell’s dragoon regiment led by a Sergeant Custume or Costy, all of whom are killed, later passes into Irish folklore as an example of bravery. Several attempts by the Williamites to storm the bridge are repulsed with heavy losses.
The Williamite bombardment of the western, Connacht, side of the town is intense, with over 12,000 cannonballs and 600 bombs or mortars fired into the town. John Stevens, serving in the Grand Prior’s Regiment, records that “with the balls and bombs flying so thick, that spot was hell on earth.” During the ten-day bombardment, 32 heavy cannon and mortars fire one shot every minute. Athlone suffers the heaviest bombardment of any city in Britain and Ireland up to this point.
While developing a plan to storm the bridge, Ginkel identifies another potential crossing point at a ford to the south. To test the crossing, on the morning of June 29 he orders a Danish quartermaster and two privates, under sentence of death for cowardice, to ford the river while troops fire over their heads to give the impression they are deserting. All three ford to the western bank and return safely, whereupon Ginkel sends a force of grenadiers, 2,000 strong, to cross there and attack the Jacobite positions from the rear.
Following an argument between Saint-Ruhe and the garrison commander d’Usson, the fortifications on the western side of the city have not been levelled, as Talbot had suggested some days earlier. Saint-Ruhe does not issue an order to demolish them until June 29, apparently believing it impossible that a city could be taken with a relieving army so close by. They remain standing a day later, and a party of Ginkel’s grenadiers hurry to occupy them and raise the drawbridge there, holding off counterattacks from Saint-Ruhe’s army until the main Williamite force can be brought up. Saint-Ruhe detaches two brigades under Major-General John Hamilton to dislodge the Williamites, but after approximately an hour and a half of intense fighting, the Jacobites retreat.
The breakthrough of the Williamites forces the remains of the Jacobite garrison, who have been awaiting reinforcement from the main Jacobite force under Saint-Ruhe, to hastily abandon their positions in Athlone. Maxwell is captured. Accusations of treachery are later levelled at him, partly as he had been a supporter of Talbot’s faction. Saint-Ruhe withdraws into County Galway, passing through Ballinasloe. The Jacobites lose around 1,000 men at Athlone, though the highest estimates suggest losses of over 2,000, including colonels McGuinness, McMahon and O’Gara, in addition to Grace.
Ginkel continues to march toward Limerick, unaware of the position of Saint-Ruhe. On the morning of July 12, the Williamites are confronted by the main Jacobite army drawn up in a strong defensive position at Aughrim. In the ensuing Battle of Aughrim, Ginkel inflicts a crushing defeat on them, effectively ending Jacobite resistance in Ireland.
(Pictured: The powerful Williamites army attack, illustration by Victor Ambrus)
Gwynn is appointed first lady registrar of Trinity College Dublin in February 1905. Women had only been admitted to the university the previous year. Despite coming from a family of academics, she had been unable to get a university education herself. She is 39 years old when appointed to her position in the university.
Students describe Gwynn as a pioneer. Her role as women’s registrar is described by one of her charges as “to control our movements to some extent and to protect the college and the students from criticism.”
In 1907, Gwynn is summoned before the Fry Commission on Dublin University to defend the position of women at Trinity. She is supported by the parents of the students. The result is that the commission endorses the principle of women’s admission to the university.
In 1922, the Dublin University Women Graduates’ Association is founded, under Gwynn’s presidency.
Gwynn never marries. As an eldest daughter she is required to assist in the management of her parents’ household and attend to them in their old age. From her mother’s brother, architect Robert Donough O’Brien, she inherits the house he had designed and built at Parteen-a-Lax in County Clare, close to Limerick. It is there that she retires at the end of her working life. Her hobby is tending its beautiful garden which lay next to the River Shannon.
Gwynn dies in County Clare in 1947.
Founded, by subscription, in 1948 in memory of Lucy Gwynn, the Lucy Gwynn Memorial Prize is awarded annually in the Michaelmas term to a Junior Sophister woman student for distinction in her course. The award is made by two women on the university staff nominated by the Board, and one of the female tutors. The value of the prize is €1,207.
Mallet is the son of factory owner John Mallet. He is educated at Trinity College, Dublin, entering it at the age of 16 and graduating in science and mathematics in 1830 at the age of 20.
Following his graduation, Mallet joins his father’s iron foundry business and helps build the firm into one of the most important engineering works in Ireland, supplying ironwork for railway companies, the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, and a swing bridge over the River Shannon at Athlone. He also helps manufacture the characteristic iron railings that surround Trinity College, and which bear his family name at the base.
In 1838 Mallet becomes a life member of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland and serves as its President from 1846–1848. From 1848–1849 he constructs the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, southwest of Cape Clear.
On February 9, 1846, Mallet presents to the Royal Irish Academy his paper On the Dynamics of Earthquakes, which is considered to be one of the foundations of modern seismology. He is also credited with coining the word “seismology” and other related words which he uses in his research. He also coins the term epicentre.
From 1852 to 1858, Mallet is engaged in the preparation of his work, The Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association (1858) and carries out blasting experiments to determine the speed of seismic propagation in sand and solid rock.
On December 16, 1857, the area around Padula, Italy is devastated by the Great Neapolitan earthquake which causes 11,000 deaths. At the time it is the third largest known earthquake in the world and has been estimated to have been of magnitude 6.9 on the Richter Scale. Mallet, with letters of support from Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, petitions the Royal Society of London and receives a grant of £150 to go to Padula and record at first hand the devastation. The resulting report is presented to the Royal Society as the Report on the Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857. It is a major scientific work and makes great use of the then new research tool of photography to record the devastation caused by the earthquake. In 1862, he publishes the Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The First Principles of Observational Seismology in two volumes. He brings forward evidence to show that the depth below the Earth’s surface, from where the impulse of the Neapolitan earthquake originated, is about 8–9 geographical miles.
One of Mallet’s papers is Volcanic Energy: An Attempt to develop its True Origin and Cosmical Relations, in which he seeks to show that volcanic heat may be attributed to the effects of crushing, contortion, and other disturbances in the crust of the earth. The disturbances leading to the formation of lines of fracture, more or less vertical, down which water would find its way, and if the temperature generated be sufficient volcanic eruptions of steam or lava would follow.
O’Halloran is the third son of Michael O’Halloran, a prosperous farmer, and his wife Mary McDonnell. He is named after Sylvester Lloyd, the titular Catholic bishop of Killaloe (1728–39). His mother’s cousin, Sean Claragh McDonnell, teaches him much at an early age, including some Greek and Latin. He goes on to a Limerick school run by Robert Cashin, a Protestantclergyman, which is unusual at the time as the O’Hallorans are Roman Catholics during the difficult time of the Penal Laws.
O’Halloran and his brothers engage successfully in areas of life that work around the restrictions of the Penal Laws. Joseph becomes a Jesuit and holds chairs in rhetoric, philosophy and divinity at the Jesuit College at Bordeaux in France. George becomes a jeweler and in time a property-owner. O’Halloran goes to London to learn medicine at the age of 17, particularly studying the methods of Richard Mead, as well as the oculists Taylor and Hillmer. After further study at Leiden, and in Paris under the anatomist and academician Antoine Ferrein, he sets up practice as a surgeon in Limerick in early 1749.
O’Halloran writes several learned treatises on medical matters, and his fame is acknowledged by his membership of the RIA in 1787. He is a founder of the County Limerick Infirmary that starts with four beds in 1761 before moving to larger premises at St. Francis’s Abbey in 1765. The foundation stone of the original infirmary is now preserved in the Sylvester O’Halloran Post Graduate Centre at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick.
While in France, O’Halloran is very impressed with the Académie Royale de Chirurgie, which had been founded in Paris in 1731 during the reign of Louis XV. He is subsequently instrumental in founding the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), by writing its blueprint, Proposals for the Advancement of Surgery in Ireland, in 1765. In 1780, he is made an honorary member of the new Dublin Society of Surgeons and, when the RCSI receives its charter in 1784, is again elected an honorary member, equivalent to a Fellowship today.
As well as his scientific knowledge, O’Halloran’s interest in the arts begins with his collection of Gaelic poetry manuscripts and this leads on to an interest in Irish history. Given his background, he argues to validate the pre-Norman history of Ireland which had often been dismissed as a period of barbarism.
In 1789, Charlotte Brooke publishes the first English-language compendium of Irish poetry, the seminal “Reliques of Irish Poetry”, giving full due to O’Halloran for lending her his manuscript collection and for having written the essential history underlying her anthology.
In 1752, O’Halloran marries Mary Casey of Ballycasey, County Limerick, and they have four sons and a daughter. Their homes are in Change Lane and then on Merchants’ Quay. One of their sons is Major-General Sir Joseph O’Halloran, the father of Thomas Shuldham O’Halloran, after whom the Adelaide, South Australia suburb of O’Halloran Hill is named. Mary dies in 1782.
After a stroke, O’Halloran is infirm and confined to his chair for some time before his death on August 11, 1807, at his home on Limerick’s Merchant Quay. His is buried at St. Munchin’s graveyard at Killeely, which is now a suburb of Limerick.
Though politically restricted in his life by the Penal Laws, O’Halloran helps establish the county Infirmary, is elected President of the city’s Free Debating Society in 1772 and is elected to a committee in 1783 that examines the River Shannon navigation. Appropriately, a Limerick bridge over the River Shannon has been named after him.
Clean-up operations are underway around Ireland on Wednesday, December 30, 2015, in the wake of Storm Frank, which causes widespread flooding following its landfall in western areas on Tuesday, December 29. Thousands of households and businesses are left without electricity in many areas of the country.
A Met Éireann status orange wind warning is lifted at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday although the forecasts caution that severe winds of 65-80 km/h and gusts of up 130 km/h are still expected. While the heaviest rainfall from the storm falls overnight, many rivers and lakes have yet to peak meaning further flooding is possible.
According to an ESB Networks spokesman, 7,500 homes are without power in the afternoon, down from the overnight total of 13,000. He says repair crews are working to restore power to those cut off. The biggest single outage overnight is around Bandon and Fermoy in County Cork where 4,000 homes are without power, although it has been restored to almost all homes by the afternoon of December 30.
At 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the worst affected areas are County Wicklow with 1,200 houses without power, Macroom in County Cork where 600 are without power and Athlone where 500 homes are cut off. Around 500 homes in Naas, County Kildare, are without power as are 350 houses in Skerries in north County Dublin. It is hoped that power will be restored to all customers by the evening.
County Cork appears to be the worst affected by the storm where 60 mms (almost three inches) of rain falls since the morning of December 29. The threat of further flooding in Cork remains as the ESB increases the flow of water through the Inniscarra Dam to 250 cumecs (cubic metres per second) between 9:00 a.m. and midday which leads to increased flooding downstream. This is higher than the level of flow (180 cumecs) the previous and between December 6 and 12 along the River Lee following Storm Desmond.
Cork County manager Tim Lucey says there has been “extensive flooding” across a range of areas, but that Midleton and Bandon are worst hit with some 90 properties affected in each of the towns. He tells RTÉ Radio that one positive is the fact flood defences in Mallow and Fermoy have done their job. He notes that some five feet of water has built up behind a flood barrier in Mallow and this indicates the damage that could have been done to the town.
South Galway bears the brunt of flooding in the west, with river gauges expected to rise further over the coming days. Overnight rainfall is not as heavy as anticipated in the west, but several properties succumb to the waters. Up to 30 families in the south Galway area are forced to stay with relatives, with several being accommodated in hotels by Galway County Council, as floodwaters cut off access routes to their homes.
In Mayo, the area around the Neale remains underwater and a number of minor roads and thousands of acres of farmland are also affected. With rain continuing to fall across the west, conditions are expected to remain critical over the next few days.
The N11 between Rosslare and Dublin, the N25 from Cork to Waterford, the N71 between Cork and Killarney and the N4 between Dublin and Sligo all have diversions in place. The N25 is closed overnight between Killeagh and Castlemartyr in County Cork due to flooding. The N71 Cork/Bandon Road is also closed overnight at the viaduct due to flooding. There is severe flooding on the N40 South Ring Rd. at J6 Kinsale, particularly on the westbound off-ramp. The N11 Dublin/Wexford Road is impassable through Enniscorthy and also at Kyle’s Cross near Oylegate. The N4 is closed eastbound at Ballynafid in County Westmeath due to flooding. There are also several road closures in Kerry, Waterford and Tipperary.
Midleton is also hit by severe flooding as water levels in the Owenacurra River rise dramatically with up to 30 families having to be evacuated from their homes. Macroom in mid-Cork is also flooded for the first time during the year. Bandon is put on red alert by Cork County Council’s early warning system. Traders and residents are told to take all measures necessary to protect their property and stock. Locals stay up all night preparing the town for the latest round of flooding. Nevertheless, some 20 businesses in Bandon are flooded for the second time in a month after waters start to come up shores and gutters in the town as water levels in the River Bandon rise overnight.
The River Slaney burst its banks in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, causing widespread flooding in the town. Several cars have to be abandoned. High tide in Enniscorthy occurs around 10:30 a.m. on December 30.
The ESB says the flow of water through Parteen Weir, which regulates water flow through Ardnacrusha power plant, will remain at 440 (cubic metres per second) on December 30 and that the situation will be reviewed again the following day. “The levels in Lough Derg may reach 2009 levels in the coming days and, as a result, the flow through Parteen Weir may increase to 2009 levels (up to 500 cumecs) in the coming days,” it says.
Clare County Council says water levels on the lower River Shannon at Springfield, Clonlara, have increased by 5-10cm in the last 24 hours and are some 20cm below a peak level recorded on December 13th. It says the Mulkear River in County Limerick, which enters the River Shannon south of Annacotty, is currently in flood and is contributing to increased water levels at Springfield. Council staff are assisted by the Fire Service and Defence Forces at Springfield in their pumping operations and transporting residents of some 12 homes isolated by floodwaters.
Fianna Fáil urges TaoiseachEnda Kenny to call an emergency Cabinet meeting to address the fallout from the storm. The party’s environment spokesman, Barry Cowen, says many communities felt neglected as further significant damage was inflicted on homes and businesses by the rainfall and winds brought by Storm Frank. “The scenes that we are witnessing in communities impacted by the latest storm are truly heart-breaking,” he says. “People feel neglected by the Government. It’s astonishing that the Taoiseach has decided not to interrupt his Christmas holidays in light of the devastation caused by Storm Frank.”
The Government’s National Coordination Group on Severe Weather meets in Dublin on December 30. Sinn FéinMEPLiadh Ní Riada says the Government has displayed “ineptitude in preparing flood defences” and that “more hollow promises” from the Coalition are no substitute for action. “The risk of flooding is increasing and will continue to increase. People across this island need to know that our political leaders have a plan to prevent this happening in the future,” she says.
(From: “Storm Frank causes floods, closes roads and cuts power to thousands” by Ronan McGreevy, Th Irish Times, http://www.irishtimes.com, December 30, 2015 | Pictured: Water flows through buildings and down the street in Graignamanagh, Co Kilkenny on Tuesday night by Paul B via Twitter)
Markham is born on January 8, 1886, at Gower, Cooraclare, County Clare, the youngest in the large family of Michael Markham, farmer, and Margaret Markham (née Keane). She attends national school in Cooraclare from 1893 to 1899. Although she does not speak or understand the Irish language, as do her father and likely her mother, the Rosary is recited in Irish at home. She and a sister are the only siblings not to emigrate. Her mother plays the fiddle, while her older sister Margaret (Maggie) plays the concertina and probably influences her to do likewise. She has no single teacher and acquires tunes and her style of playing from neighbours and family friends. She begins to play a two-row German-type concertina at house dances throughout west Clare and becomes very much in demand.
In 1914, Markham marries Michael (Miko) Crotty from Gowerhass, the townland next to Gower. Miko had been in the United States for a couple of years and uses the money earned there to buy a public house on the Market Square in Kilrush, now known as “Crotty’s Pub.” They live in the Square in Kilrush and Miko bottles his own whiskey. The pub is an important venue for Irish traditional music, especially for those who wish to hear Crotty play. She remains relatively unknown outside of Clare until the early 1950s, and there are a relatively small number of recordings of her playing the concertina. The broadcaster Ciarán Mac Mathúna conducts recording sessions in her house in 1955 and she is to be heard on A Job of Journeywork, his programme on Radio Éireann. She possesses a number of concertinas, but the Lachenal that she purchases in the 1950s is her favourite and the one with which she is most closely identified. In 1954, she is a founder member and the first president of the Clare branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. During her time as president, the All Ireland Fleadh is held in Ennis in 1956.
Crotty often sings the traditional song “An draighneán donn,” which is one of her favourites. Among tunes she enjoys playing are the “Ewe reel,” the “Dublin reel,” and “The maid of Mount Cisco,” along with “The wind that shakes the barley.” Her straight style of playing for dancing and dancers increases her popularity. Seán Ó Riada regards her as one of the finest concertina players he ever heard. Although she does not read or write staff notation, she creates a written code for herself by giving the concertina keys a number and by using a symbol for the press or draw movement on the concertina keys.
Crotty suffers from severe angina which necessitates visits for medical treatment to Dublin, where she becomes friends with fiddle player Kathleen Harrington (née Gardiner). They attend the Pipers’ Club in Thomas Street, play together on Radio Éireann, and travel together to fleadhanna.
Crotty dies on December 27, 1960, of an anginal attack while at her home. She is buried in (old) Shanakyle cemetery. She loses her first three children, and a son drowns in the River Shannon in 1945. Another son, Thomas, becomes a priest. A festival, ‘Éigse Mrs Crotty’, is held in her memory each summer in Kilrush. Her son Paddy gives three perpetual trophies for presentation at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil.
(From: “Crotty, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’)” by Ríonach uí Ógáin, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009)
Cleeve is the eldest son of Edward Elmes Cleeve, an English immigrant, and Sophia Journeaux, whose family came from Ireland.
In 1860, Cleeve travels to Ireland to stay with his mother’s relatives who run an agricultural machinery business in Limerick known as J.P. Evans & Company. He decides to remain in Ireland and eventually assumes control of the business.
Cleeve marries Phoebe Agnes Dann in 1874 and they have five children. The author and broadcaster Brian Cleeve is his grand nephew.
In 1883, Cleeve starts a new enterprise, the Condensed Milk Company of Ireland, in conjunction with two local businessmen. The company manufactures dairy products, such as condensed milk, butter, cheese and confectionery. Its headquarters are located in Limerick city, on the northern bank of the River Shannon. The business expands over the next 20 years to become the largest of its type in the United Kingdom.
Cleeve is also senior partner in the Cleeve Canning and Cold Storage Company based in British Columbia. He is also the President of Limerick Chamber in 1908-09.
In 1899, Cleeve is voted onto the Limerick City Council. That same year, his fellow councillors elect him as High Sheriff of Limerick City, the Queen’s representative in the city. He holds the position again in 1907 and 1908.
In December 1908, Cleeve is taken ill at a public function. Despite undergoing surgery, he dies of peritonitis on December 19, 1908, at the age of 64. According to contemporary newspaper reports his funeral is one of the largest seen in Limerick city, with crowds lining the streets up to an hour before the cortège passes. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Cathedral in the city.
Rinuccini is born in Rome on September 15, 1592. He is educated by the Jesuits in Rome and studies law at the Universities of Bologna and Perugia. In due course, he is ordained a priest, having at the age of twenty-two obtained his doctor’s degree from the University of Pisa. He is named a camariere (chamberlain) by Pope Gregory XV and in 1625 becomes Archbishop of Fermo. In 1631 he carefully refuses an offer to be made Archbishop of Florence.
Rinuccini departs France from Saint-Martin-de-Ré near La Rochelle on October 18, 1645, on the frigate San Pietro and arrives in Kenmare, County Kerry, on October 21, 1645, with a retinue of twenty-six Italians, several Irish officers, and the Confederation’s secretary, Richard Bellings. He proceeds to Kilkenny, the Confederate capital, where Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, the president of the Confederation, receives him at the castle. He speaks Latin to Montgarret, but all the official business of the Confederates is done in English. He asserts in his discourse that the object of his mission is to sustain the King, but above all to help the Catholic people of Ireland in securing the free and public exercise of their religion, and the restoration of the churches and church property to the Catholic Church.
Rinuccini had sent ahead arms and ammunition: 1,000 braces of pistols, 4,000 cartridge belts, 2,000 swords, 500 muskets and 20,000 pounds of gunpowder. He arrives twelve days later with a further two thousand muskets and cartridge-belts, four thousand swords, four hundred braces of pistols, two thousand pike-heads, and twenty thousand pounds of gunpowder, fully equipped soldiers and sailors and 150,658 livres tournois to finance the Irish Catholic war effort. These supplies give him a huge input into the Confederate’s internal politics because he doles out the money and arms for specific military projects, rather than handing them over to the Confederate government, or Supreme Council.
Rinuccini hopes that by doing so he can influence the Confederates’ strategic policy away from making a deal with Charles I and the Royalists in the English Civil War and towards the foundation of an independent Catholic-ruled Ireland. In particular, he wants to ensure that churches and lands taken in the rebellion would remain in Catholic hands. This is consistent with what happened in Catholic-controlled areas during the Thirty Years’ War in Germany. His mission can be seen as part of the Counter-Reformation in Europe. He also has unrealistic hopes of using Ireland as a base to re-establish Catholicism in England. However, apart from some military successes such as the Battle of Benburb on June 5, 1646, the main result of his efforts is to aggravate the infighting between factions within the Confederates.
The Confederates’ Supreme Council is dominated by wealthy landed magnates, predominantly of “Old English” origin, who are anxious to come to a deal with the Stuart monarchy that will guarantee them their land ownership, full civil rights for Catholics, and toleration of Catholicism. They form the moderate faction, which is opposed by those within the Confederation, who want better terms, including self-government for Ireland, a reversal of the land confiscations of the plantations of Ireland and establishment of Catholicism as the state religion. A particularly sore point in the negotiations with the English Royalists is the insistence of some Irish Catholics on keeping in Catholic hands the churches taken in the war. Rinuccini accepts the assurances of the Supreme Council that such concerns will be addressed in the peace treaty negotiated with James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, negotiated in 1646, now known as the First Ormond Peace.
However, when the terms are published, they grant only the private practice of Catholicism. Alleging that he had been deliberately deceived, Rinuccini publicly backs the militant faction, which includes most of the Catholic clergy and some Irish military commanders such as Owen Roe O’Neill. On the other side there are the Franciscans Pierre Marchant, and later Raymond Caron. In 1646, when the Supreme Council tries to get the Ormond Peace ratified, Rinuccini excommunicates them and helps to get the Treaty voted down in the Confederate General Assembly. The Assembly has the members of the Supreme Council arrested for treason and elects a new Supreme Council.
However, the following year, the Confederates’ attempts to drive the remaining English (mainly Parliamentarian) armies from Ireland meets with disaster at the battles of Dungan’s Hill on August 8, 1647 and Knocknanuss on November 13, 1647. As a result, the chastened Confederates hastily conclude a new deal with the English Royalists to try to prevent a Parliamentarian conquest of Ireland in 1648. Although the terms of this second deal are better than those of the first one, Rinuccini again tries to overturn the treaty. However, on this occasion, the Catholic clergy are split on whether to accept the deal, as are the Confederate military commanders and the General Assembly. Ultimately, the treaty is accepted by the Confederacy, which then dissolves itself and joins a Royalist coalition. Rinuccini backs Owen Roe O’Neill, who used his Ulster army to fight against his former comrades who had accepted the deal. He tries in vain to repeat his success of 1646 by excommunicating those who support the peace. However, the Irish bishops are split on the issue and so his authority is diluted. Militarily, Owen Roe O’Neill is unable to reverse the political balance.
Despairing of the Catholic cause in Ireland, Rinnuccini leaves the country on February 23, 1649, embarking at Galway on the ship that had brought him to Ireland, the frigate San Pietro. In the same year, Oliver Cromwell leads a Parliamentarian re-conquest of the country, after which Catholicism is thoroughly repressed. Roman Catholic worship is banned, Irish Catholic-owned land is widely confiscated east of the River Shannon, and captured Catholic clergy are executed.
Rinuccini returns to Rome, where he writes an extensive account of his time in Ireland, the Commentarius Rinuccinanus. His account blames personal vainglory and tribal divisions for the Catholic disunity in Ireland. In particular, he blames the Old English for the eventual Catholic defeat. The Gaelic Irish, he writes, despite being less civilised, are more sincere Catholics.
Rinuccini returns to his diocese in Fermo in June 1650 and dies there on December 13, 1653.
seamus dubhghaill 