Recognition of the Irish Republic

Genealogy, Archaeology, History, Heritage & Folklore

Moderators: Clare Support, Clare Past Mod

Post Reply
kbarlow
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:07 am

Recognition of the Irish Republic

Post by kbarlow » Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:25 am

I have followed the "exploits" of Thomas McNamara of Glandree and can see the contributors are trying to set a record of posts! I'm not complaining, as I find them interesting and informative. Some of the posts contained comment on the fight to recognise the Republic and it reminded me of my Dublin Grandma's membership of an Australian Association (I found her membership card amongst my mother's files). Grandma arrived in Oz in 1920, having seen the Easter Uprising impacts near her home (not far from Merrion Square). When I checked the history of that association, it was obviously one of many which the Oz Irish used to raise funds to send to Ireland for the Republican cause. Oz's Archbishop Mannix addressed the American Association in New York in the 1920s and several Irish Republican Associations were established throughout the country, with many local priests being open supporters.

Kerry

Sduddy
Posts: 1819
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Recognition of the Irish Republic

Post by Sduddy » Sun Sep 05, 2021 10:46 am

Hi Kerry,

It’s good to hear from you and good to be told that you find the postings on Thomas McNamara interesting. I’ve come to thinking of Thomas McNamara as a metaphor for something larger - just haven’t found the word for it yet! The contributions from Jimbo - for instance the recent ones on the Ahish McNamaras - provide great examples of the close network between families and friends in America (and this must be true also of the Irish in Australia), a network* which was essential for survival, no doubt, and which made the whole emigration thing work. Emigration has been such a constant in Irish life, that it has been taken for granted as a kind of backdrop to everything else that was going on, and so very often is barely mentioned. If we look at accounts of the period of the war of independence and the civil war, for example, we find very little mention of the continual flow of people, some of them people who had enlisted in the Volunteer companies, out of the country. So I’m finding “Seeking Thomas McNamara” a good education that I would otherwise have missed - it is the title of the module on emigration.

* In The Land for the People: The Land Question in Independent Ireland, by Terence Dooley, the author recounts a story told by Horace Plunkett and adds his own perceptive comment (page 135):
‘Recently [c1904] a daughter of a small farmer in County Galway with a family too ‘long’ for the means of subsistence available, was offered a comfortable home on a farm owned by some better-off relatives, only thirty miles away, though probably twenty miles beyond the limits of her peregrinations. She elected in preference to go to New York, and being asked her reason by a friend of mine, replied in so many words, ‘because it is nearer’. She felt she would be less of a stranger in a New York tenement house, among her relatives and friends who had already emigrated, than in another part of County Galway.
Kerry, I hadn’t realized that your ancestors - at least your grandmother - was such a recent arrival in Australia. It’s interesting to hear that she lived so close to the action (of the Rising) in Dublin.

I was interested to hear of the collection of funds for "the Cause." So much money was collected over the years, yet never enough, it seems.

Sheila

kbarlow
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:07 am

Re: Recognition of the Irish Republic

Post by kbarlow » Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:15 am

Hi Sheila, thank you for your response. As you may know, the Irish made up about 25% of the Oz population pre WW2, so there has been a long, strong following of all things Irish. Many of the early obituaries contained the phrase "Irish papers please copy". My paternal great, great grandfather is buried in Waverley cemetery (Sydney, NSW), almost next to a most beautiful marble monument built to Irish martyrs. This is what Find-a-Grave has at the website, where you can view a photo:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121 ... 6_and_1981

"The large monument actually contains the mortal remains of Michael Dwyer, the "Wicklow Chief," a survivor of the Fenian Uprising, and his wife Mary. The poem on the front reads: "Who fears to speak of '98? When cowards mock the patriot's fate. Who blushes at the name? Who hangs his head in shame?" At the rear are the names of the 1798 martyrs, the Easter 1916 martyrs, and a separate headstone at the foot for the ten 1981 hunger strikers who starved themselves to death during Margaret Thatcher Prime Ministership trying to get recognized as political prisoners: Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Keiren Doherty, Thomas McElwee, and Mickey Dewine.".

My maternal side came from Dublin & Kildare and Limerick; whilst my paternal side (apart from 2 English men) were from Clare, Sligo and Galway. Soooo, I've had a lot to learn about all those counties and was so thrilled to visit all of them in 2016. We came that year because of the Easter Uprising celebrations and were able to visit some of the key places in Dublin associated with that time. We were also lucky enough to find the family home of Constance Markievicz in Sligo and were happy to see so many statues and sculptures through our travels, celebrating the heroes/heroines of that time.

cheers, Kerry

Post Reply