#OnThisDay 1921 #MichaelCollins proposed marriage to Kitty Kiernan in the Grand Hotel #Greystones Kitty hoped to have a double wedding with her sister Maud, but Collins was killed on 22/8/1922 at #BealnaBlath, at Maud’s wedding Oct 1922 Kitty was dressed in black #IrishRevolution pic.twitter.com/7vHsF5ijzH
— IrishFamilyDetective (@Fiona_Forde_Irl) October 8, 2019
Famous People
An Amusing Event at Greystones Harbour
Congratulations to the talented students in Mr. Dodd’s 6th class who helped mark an historical event that occurred at Greystones Harbour on this date, the 25th October, in 1910. Those in attendance were high in their praise of the historical re-enactment.
You can read more about the occasion on THIS link from Greystones Guide which includes a video of the re enactment of a confrontation between suffragettes Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and Hilda Webb and the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Augustine Birrell. Thank you to Greystones Guide for recording this event for posterity.
You can read about the encounter between Augustine Birrell and the suffragettes HERE on the Wicklow Heritage website .
Thank you too, to Rosemary Raughter of the Greystones Archaeological and Historical Society who invited the students from St. Brigid’s to participate. Whenever we pass by the plaque that was put up today we will be reminded that we were there on this day.
Thank you also to Barbara Flynn Photography for the great photos of the occasion.
Famous People – Isambard Kingdom Brunel – Contrasting Photographs
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in 1806. He engineered the railway line between Bray and Greystones which had a significant impact on Greystones. His father was French left France in a hurry to escape the French revolution. His mother had been accused of being a spy and went to England where they first met. Later they spent some time in debtors’ prison. They had money problems when their sawmill burned down. In later life Brunel found it hard to delegate. He worked too hard. He often slept on a chair. The students are familiar with an iconic photo of a robust Isambard from 1857 smoking a cigar. You can see that photo HERE
Students contrast this photo with one where he is holding a walking stick and suffering from ill health taken ten days before he died. They are not surprised to hear he died at 53 shortly after the photo was taken. Students are always vehement in blaming smoking for his demise! You can see that photo HERE
From the Archives: Super Macs make an historic find.
‘Leap Year Times’ Saturday, February 29th 1992
prepared by Mrs. McGloin’s 4th Class at that time.
Mrs McGloin, our Teacher, thinks that the McDonald children are wonderful.
As we all know, she is very interested in history.
Two years ago, when the Burnaby Farmhouse was falling down, Jason and Fergus Mc Donald were playing in the garden near the house. By a broken window, they found some old letters.
Their sister, Lisa brought these letters into school. It was discovered that they were very important indeed. One of the letters was part of an eye witness account of the death of Colonel Fred Burnaby written by a soldier who was holding his hand when he died in Sudan in 1885.
Another letter was from Disraeli, Prime Minister of England. It is dated 1877 and the address is 10 Downing Street. It congratulates Burnaby on his book, which we think is ‘The Ride to Khiva’.
The third letter is a note from Don Carlos, a Spanish prince, who Burnaby met when he went to Spain during the Carlist wars. This man was a pretender to the Spanish throne. The note is about a dinner inviation and the date is 1882.
These letters are being kept in a safe place until we have our own heritage centre in Greystones.
Well done to our three young historians.
The De Valera Family and St. Brigid’s Greystones
The following is and extract from
History of
Greystones Convent
and Blacklion School
by
Sister M. Dolorosa
(1964)
President De Valera (and his family)
‘The year was 1917. Sister Mary Rose was called to the parlour
‘a lady wished to see her’.
As the Sister stood for a moment, framed in the parlour doorway,
the visitor noted the kindly lines in her face.
‘A warm heart beats with’, she though, ‘which all her Victorian dignity,
and the Jansenistic rigour of her generation, cannot hide’.
In her turn, the Sister looked at the dainty figure befor her:
a fair-hair lady with a gentle dignity, and the most winning of smiles.
The nun’s heart went out to her at once.
‘I’m Mrs. De Valera,’ the lady introduced herself.
‘De Valera!’ Sister Mary Rose was conscious of a little inward shiver.
‘The name was not at all common.
Could it be connected with that dreadful Rebel? She sincerely hoped not!’
Like all nuns of the period, she was naively ignorant of the world of politics.
Of course, she knew what rebellions were.
Had she not heard endless discussion in her own home and ’98. 1803 and 1848!
Then there was 1867, when she had been in the Convent for six years,
and the recent trouble in 1916 …
What bloodshed! What loss of life! And all in vain!
Would her dear misguided countrymen never learn sense?
Untrained, and with the most primitive of weapons,
‘with every recurring folly, they were prepared to defy a mighty Empire.
Of what use were pikes against the British cannons?
To be sure, they must have had some guns in 1916: a number of people were shot!’
The mere thought of taking life was enough to make Sister Mary Rose feel faint.
She recoiled in horror from these thoughts,
but was far too well-bred and courteous
to allow them to effect her manner to the visitor.
‘How do you do, Mrs. De Valera. Won’t you be seated, please.’
Her hostess indicated the sofa.
‘Now, what can I do for you?’
‘I have come to ask you to take my two eldest children into the school.
Vivion is almost seven years of age, while Mairín is not yet six.’
A Valued Friendship
The interview proved to be the beginning of a warm friendship
between the Sisters of the Holy Faith in Greystones,
and the family of Éamon De Valera, now President of Ireland.
Moreover, Sister Mary Rose was to live long enough to learn,
that the latest ‘recurring folly’ of her ‘dear misguided countrymen’
was not ‘all in vain’, after all!
The Children Come to School
When the De Valera family took up residence in one of the stucco houses on Kinlen Road, in 1917,
they hardly realized at the time that they were settling among a very unsympathetic and hostile community.
Before they left the district, however in 1922, many had thawed out and succumb to the charm of this family,
the members of which were ready to suffer so much, and make such sacrifices for their ideals.
Vivion and Mairín came to the Convent School and made their First Holy Communion with the Sisters,
before the family returned to Dublin.
Éamonn, Brian and Ruaidhrí, all attended the school, while Emer was a little visitor of four at the time.
On their return to the City, they continued their education in the Holy Faith Schools, Haddington Road,
until they changed their residence to another district.
The youngest, Terry, is the only member of the De Valera family, who did not attend a Holy Faith School.
Since that sad period of our country’s history, having come through many suffering and vicissitudes,
from which they were bravely shielded by their valiant mother, the children,
after distinguished academic careers, have become:
Major Vivion De Valera, MsC, PhD.
Miss Máirín De Valera, Msc, PhD.
(at present Professor of Botany in University College, Galway).
Éamonn De Valera, MAO, MD, FRCPI
(Professor of Gynaecology & Obstetrics in University College, Dublin).
Ruaidhrí De Valera, MA, PhD
(Professor of Celtic Archaeology in University College, Dublin).
Emer De Valera, BA,
(cut short a university career to become Mrs. Brian Ó Cuív).
Toirdhealbhach De Valera is a solicitor.
Alas! Brian’s name is absent from the list.
He met with a sad accident at the age of twenty (1936), when he was thrown from a horse.
This was not the least of the many great sacrifices which this family has been called upon to offer to God.
The Language Movement
…..In 1917, just at the time when the family of President De Valera came to live in Greystones,
the Language movement was in full swing.
The coveted ‘Fáinne’ was becoming quite fashionable.
Understandably, the nuns did not like to be left behind in this particular field,
but at the time, they could not leave their convents in order to attend classes outside.
The delight of the Sisters in Greystones, when they discovered that
they had an experienced teacher of the Irish language in their midst,
in the person of Mrs. De Valera, who was willing to conduct classes in the Convent,
can well be imagined.
Mrs. De Valera gave them every help in the study of the Language. …
Mrs. De Valera also taught Irish to the children in the school in Greystones,
thus the Sisters’ pupils benefited, too.
Ireland’s First Lady
Wishing to put on record an account of this friendship
between the Sisters of the Holy Faith and the family of President De Valera,
we applied to Mrs. De Valera for confirmation.
…Realizing that if she compied with our wishes in writing,
she might be harassed by others looking for written memorials –
a task to which she felt very unequal in her eight-sixth year
– she decided on a personal interview instead;
a privilege for which we would not have dared to hope!
On December 31st, 1964, Mrs. De Valera, as ‘Ireland’s First Lady’,
paid a visit to the Convent to which she had first come in 1917.
The pleasure of this visit for her, must have mingled with sadness.
All the old faces were gone; all the old friends were dead.
There was no Sister Mary Rose to receive her.
And alas! For the ‘Victorian dignity’ and (we hope!) the ‘Jansenistic rigour’
– they had vanished a generation ago.
Instead she was ‘hugged and kissed’
and ‘physically’ conducted to a modern armchair in lieu of the ‘indicated sofa’.
We trust that the warm affection which inspired this conduct compensated for our lost of dignity!
There sat this little lady with the gracious smile, telling us in her own simple and homely way
about the only people who held out the hand of friendship
to her in her years of trial in Greystones from 1917 to 1922:
the Sisters of the Holy Faith.
How even Sister Mary Rose’s heart,
melted in kindness toward the ‘dreadful Rebel’ so as much as to pray
and ask others to pray that Our Lady would make him invisible to his enemies.
An Bhean De Valera was accompanied by her daughter, Professor Máirín De Valera , who related
how impressed the De Valera children had been by the kindness of all the nuns,
but especially by that of Sister Mary Paulinus.
This Sister was in charge of the kitchen.
When any of the children were put out of the school-room ‘in disgrace’,
Sister Mary Paulinus called them into the kitchen,
where their ‘penance’ was changed into pleasure by the enjoyment of some titbit or sweetmeat.
Yes, the Sisters took the De Valera family and the Cause they embraced, to their hearts.
In those early days the Cause was fought under the banner of ‘Sinn Féin’.
The day came when the Sisters went to the polls to vote.
Sister Mary Rose, with all the affection she had for the family of Éamonn De Valera,
never took to the ‘Cause’.
When the Sisters returned after having registered their votes,
she on overhearing some of their whispered remarks, complained:
‘I’m afraid some of you have voted ‘Sinn Féin!’
The sole reason they had for voting at all!…
Informal Chats
When the chaos which reigned between 1917 and 1922 was finally brought under control
and Éamonn De Valera took his place in public life
as President of Dáil Eireann, under the first Constitution,
himself and Mrs. De Valera slipped down to Greystones,
on a few occasions, to have a chat with their old friends in the Convent.
During one of those visits (long before it ever appeared in print)
he described for the Sisters his romantic escape from Lincoln Jail:
how he procured the wax and got an impression of the Chaplain’s key;
how duplicates were made;
the thrill when the expected signal was flashed in the darkness outside;
the awful anxiety when the key which Collins and Boland had brought,
broke in the lock; the relief when his own duplicate worked;
his boyish sense of adventure as he passed the sentry unobserved,
and all the subsequent vicissitudes.
The card which comes every Christmas from Áras an Uachtaráin to the Sisters in Greystones,
is a gentle reminder of all the affectionate traditions which have been
handed down to a younger generation of nuns.
But they need no reminder to keep alive the deep regard
which they will always have for President & Mrs. De Valera
and each member of their family.’
End of extract from Sister Mary Dolorosa’s piece on the History of St.Brigid’s
Kitty Kiernan and Greystones
Kitty Kiernan often visited Greystones.
She had gone to school nearby
in the Loreto Boarding School, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
It was there in November 1908 that Kitty and her sisters
were told by the Mother Superior the sad news
that they had to return home immediately as their mother had died.
This was a shock to the sisters, particularly as it had been their father who had been ill.
Three months later their father also was dead.
The family were very unlucky.
The previous year, their nineteen year old twin sisters had died of TB (tuberculosis):
their sister Lily at home in Granard
and Rose in a hospital in Davos, Switzerland,
where she went in the hope of being cured.
Now the four teenage sisters and their brother Larry were orphans.
Maria Morri via Compfight
Kitty got engaged to Michael Collins in the Grand Hotel in Greystones
(now known as The La Touche Hotel) on Saturday, 8th October 1921.
Locals say they were planning to buy Brooklands on Trafalgar Rd.,
and live there after they married.
Michael Collins was killed in an ambush in Béal na Bláth before that could happen.
The ambush happened on the 22nd August 1922.
While they were dating Kitty and Michael had written hundreds of letters to each other.
The first was written by Collins in February or March 1919
and the last was from Kitty on 17th August 1922.
On Thursday May 4 1922 there was one addressed to
‘Miss Kiernan No 10’ in Greystones.
It started:
“Kitty dear, I knocked very gently on your door
but there was no answer and I didn’t have the heart to wake you up”
She stayed for some of the time in the Grand Hotel in Greystones while she was ill.
In one of her last letters to Collins, Kitty Kiernan had written:
‘l was terrified that you would take all kinds of risks
and how I wished to be near you
so that I could put my arms tightly around your neck
and that nothing could happen to you.
I wouldn’t be a bit afraid when I’d be beside you,
and if you were killed I’d be dying with you
and that would be great and far better
than if I were left alone behind.
I’d be very much alone if you were gone.
Nothing could change that, and all last week
and this I’ve realized it and that’s what makes it so hard’.
Two Women; Kitty Kiernan and Sinead De Valera – Their Stories, their Connections to Greystones and Their Place in History
Introduction
The Irish Free State was an independent state established
on 6th December 1922
under the Anglo Irish Treaty of December 1921.
That treaty ended the Irish War of Independence between
the forces of the Irish Republic and the British forces.
The Easter Rising in 1916 had not been popular with the public.
But the execution of the leaders, changed people’s minds.
This is the story of two women, with links to Greystones,
who had links to people fighting for Irish freedom
in the lead up to the foundation of the Irish state.
You can read their stories below.
Or you can download a powerpoint of their stories here:
Two Women; Their Story & Their Place in History
Kitty Kiernan
The powerpoint tells the story of Kitty Kiernan.
Kitty was engaged to Michael Collins.
They got engaged in The La Touche Hotel on Saturday, 8th October 1921.
Locals say they were planning to buy ‘Brooklands’ on Trafalgar Road,
and live there after they married.
Kitty hoped to have a double wedding with her sister Maud,
who was due to marry her fiancé Gearóid O Sullivan.
Michael Collins was assassinated at Beal na Bláth, County Cork
on 22nd August 1922.
At his funeral there were hundreds of wreaths
but only one floral tribute was allowed on the flag-covered coffin;
a single white peace lily.
It was from Kitty Kiernan.
Two months later, in October 1922,
Kitty attended Gearóid and Maud’s wedding,
dressed in black,
as she continued to mourn the loss of Michael Collins.
Sinéad De Valera
The powerpoint also tells the story of Sinéad De Valera.
Sinéad and her children lived in Greystones,
at Craig Liath, Kinlen Road, in the Burnaby
for five years from September 1917 until October 1922.
Craig Liath was originally called Howbury.
If you are looking for it in the Burnaby it is called Edenmore now.
Éamon fought in the 1916 Rising.
In a note from De Valera to his wife Sinéad, written from Boland’s Bakery he wrote:
‘If I die pray for me. Kiss our children for me. Tell them their father died doing his duty.…
We showed that there were Irish men who, in face of great odds would dare what they said’.
.
Her husband Éamon was sentenced to death after the 1916 Rising.
This sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life.
After the Rising, Éamon De Valera was taken prisoner.
On 8 May 1916 he was sentenced to death for his part in the Rising.
Later that sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
Their fifth child Ruairí De Valera was born on 3rd November 1916
while his father was still in prison.
Having spent time in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, Dartmoor Jail, Devon,
Maidstone Jail, Kent, Lewes Jail, Sussex and Pentonville Prison
on 16 June 1917 he was released from prison under a general amnesty.
In October 1917 he was elected President of Sinn Féin
In his book, ‘De Valera, A Will to Power’, Ronan Fanning explains
‘As president of Sinn Féin, De Valera was voted an annual salary of £500 a year
that enabled him to improve the material circumstances of his family he was to see so rarely before 1925 –
they now had five children – by renting a house in Greystones, on the railway line fifteen miles south of Dublin’.
Éamon went to America to raise funds
for the fight for Irish freedom.
Michael Collins visited the family every week,
bringing money and food parcels.
The De Valera’s eldest children Máirín De Valera
said that the
‘younger children could not remember my father
– my mother overheard Brian and Ruairí discussing him,
‘Who is Dev?’
‘I think he’s Mummy’s father’’
So Sinéad kept their large family together
during the times her husband was in jail,
in America,
on the run,
or busy with politics.
Her son Terry De Valera in his memoirs
describes his mother’s life as
‘anxious, stressful and exceptionally long’.
Many history books tell the story of
Michael Collins and Éamon De Valera.
We think Kitty Kiernan and Sinéad De Valera
deserve their place in history too.
The Gifford Sisters also found themselves involved
in the struggle for Irish freedom through their husbands.
You can read about their stories HERE.
Two Sisters; Grace and Muriel Gifford – Their Stories, Links with Greystones and Their Place in History
Barry Burke via Compfight
Introduction
The Irish Free State was an independent state established on 6th December 1922
under the Anglo Irish Treaty of December 1921.
That treaty ended the Irish War of Independence
between the forces of the Irish Republic and the British forces.
The Easter Rising in 1916 had not been popular with the public.
But the execution of the leaders, changed people’s minds
This is the story of two sisters, with links to Greystones,
who were close to those fighting for Irish freedom
in the lead up to the foundation of the Irish state.
They were the Gifford Sisters; Muriel and Grace.
You can read about their stories below or download their stories here:
Two Sisters; Their Story & Their Place in History
What were the Gifford family links to Greystones?
1.They used to come to Greystones on holidays as children every summer.
There they learned to swim.
While their father took to teaching the boys,
their mother appointed a woman called Ellen,
who ensured the girls, would all become strong swimmers.
2.Muriel and Thomas had married on January 31, 1912.
There is a letter from Éamon De Valera addressed to Thomas Macdonagh
at Annaville, Church Rd., Greystones, dated 17th September 1915.
3. Among Thomas Macdonagh’s family papers there are photographs from 1915
of Thomas Macdonagh’s wife Muriel swimming in the sea at Greystones
and ‘dipping’ her baby daughter Barbara in the water.
Muriel Gifford
Muriel was married to Thomas MacDonagh.
He was one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.
Muriel and Thomas’ son, Donagh MacDonagh, was born on the 12th November, 1912.
Their daughter, Bairbre, was born nearly three years later on the 24th March, 1915.
Muriel didn’t know that her husband was involved in planning the 1916 Rising.
Muriel last saw her husband on Easter Sunday 1916
He said:
‘I may or may not see you tomorrow – if possible, I will come in the morning.’
He did not say anything about the Revolution. She never saw him afterwards.
For his part in the Rising, Thomas MacDonagh was executed
in the Stonebreakers’ Yard in Kilmainham Jail.
A British officer was reported to have said afterwards:
‘They all died well, but MacDonagh died like a prince’.
Very tragically, year later Muriel drowned accidentally on the beach at Skerries
For the rest of her daughter’s Bairbre’s life, she kept a little eau-de-cologne cardboard box.
Inside were the seashells she had collected with her mother in Skerries in 1917.
Grace Gifford
Joseph Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford were to have a joint wedding
with his sister Geraldine Plunkett and her fiancé Tom Dillon,
on Easter Sunday, April 24 1916.
Joseph Plunkett felt it would not be fair to go ahead with their wedding
as there were rumours of a possible rising.
So he postponed the wedding.
While Geraldine and Tom went ahead with their wedding,
he took part in the Rising.
Sentenced to death for his part in the Rising,
Joseph Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford were given permission to marry
the night before his execution.
Grace said later
“We, who never had enough time to say what we wanted to each other,
found that in that last ten minutes we couldn’t talk at all.”
This sad story was one of a number that changed public opinion and meant
there was increasing support for what had been an unpopular rising to begin with.
Many history books tell the story of
Thomas MacDonagh and Joseph Mary Plunkett.
We believe Muriel and Grace Gifford deserve their place in history too.
Kitty Kiernan and Sinéad De Valera found themselves involved
in the fight for Irish freedom through people in their lives.
Click on THIS link to read their stories.
The Gifford Sisters; Muriel & Grace & their Connections with Greystones
We learned about the links between
Muriel and Grace Gifford and Greystones
from the book:
‘Unlikely Rebels – The Gifford Girls and the Fight for Irish Freedom’
by Anne Clare published by Mercier Press 2011
You can read about what we learned below
or download a powerpoint
about their connections with the town
where we go to school here:
Muriel& Grace Gifford; Their Connections with Greystones
What were the Gifford Sisters’ links with Greystones?
1. As children the Gifford family used to come to Greystones
on holidays every summer.
There were twelve children in the family.
The Gifford children learned to swim in Greystones.
While their father Frederick taught the boys,
their mother Isabella employed a woman called Ellen,
who made sure the girls, would be strong swimmers.
On page 22 we read:
‘Frederick (their father) took an interest in gardening,
bringing some plants over from England.
One particular return from their two-month annual summer stay
in Greystones, County Wicklow,
was recalled by Nellie (their sister)
because on their arrival home
not only had the grass grown almost knee-high
but the plants her father had put down before leaving
were ‘climbing and sprawling’,
and, most curious of all, low-growing, very red apples were in fruit.
On biting the apples, the children discovered
they were a new ‘fruit’ which they had never encountered before
and which they were told were called tomatoes’
2. Two sisters of Muriel and Grace; Nellie and Ada
were bought hats by their mother that they did not like.
On page 26 of ‘Unlikely Rebels’ it says:
‘The reluctant boater-wearers waited for their chance,
which came with the annual holiday in Greystones,
They walked down to the breakwater,
where the sea was deep,
and whirled the hated hats into the water,
as far as they could,
gleefully watching the little boats riding the waves
till they were so sopping with water that they sank.
They decided to accuse the blameless wind as the culprit
which had ‘unfortunately’ snatched their hats from them, elastic and all.’
3. Their mother was called Isabella
and the family lived in Rathmines, in Dublin.
On page 43 of the book we read:
‘Sometimes Isabella’s concern was ‘keeping up with the Joneses’.
And such, in part at least, was the annual holiday in Greystones.
This was considered so socially necessary in Rathmines
that those who could not afford to go would
pull down their blinds as camouflage
and live in the back of the house during the Summer months.’
‘Greystones was largely owned by the Huguenot La Touche family
…Then a small fishing village, Greystones was slowly developing
after the opening of the railway line from Dublin in 1850.
There emerged a sort of unwritten law in Dublin
which observed geographical distributions of holiday areas
for Protestants, Catholics and Jews.
The Protestants gravitated towards Greystones,
partly because of the influence of the La Touche family
and partly also because Wicklow (the ‘Garden’ of Ireland)
was almost exclusively in the hands of Protestant landowners.
Greystones was, as it were, one of their marine suburbs’.
On page 44 ‘There is a description in sister Nellie’s memoirs
of their setting off for the yearly Greystones summer holiday
…seventeen people…Isabella’s ‘husband, her sons and the maids
stagger down the steps with huge baskets laden with crockery,
household utensils, clothes, bedding and food.
‘The maids hated the holidays and it is easy to see
that even the going and the coming back were heavy chores;
Nevertheless, their shrewd young charges noted that when
the coastguards started to call at the kitchen
in the rented house at Greystones, the extra drudgery was forgotten
as a bit of flirtation lightened the scene.’
On page 46 it says:
‘Not the least of the Greystones delight for the children
were the establishments that hired out
horse-drawn vehicles by the hour, a half day or a full day
…The favourite conveyance for the Gifford children however,
was a pony and trap which they were allowed to drive themselves.
The ‘pony’ could be either a donkey or a jennet,
and their favourite haunt was the Glen of the Downs’.
(A jennet is a female donkey.)
‘For the Gifford children, these holidays were times of freedom
and wandering over the countryside,
finding fraocháns and wild strawberries
in the fields about the house where they were staying,
picking blackberries to make jam
which was consumed while it was still warm,
getting up at dawn in the chill air to pick mushrooms
and then running back home to put them on the hob upside down,
with a knob of butter before eating them’.
(Fraocháns are bilberries).
‘There were days in the cove with Ellen,
days taking turns at driving the trap,
and days when they stood and listened
to the strange new music coming from America via England’.
According to the book ‘Unlikely Rebels’ by Anne Clare, Mercier Press 2011
these are links between the Gifford Sisters and Greystones.
Anne Clare based her book on the Gifford sisters on family papers
and a diary kept by Grace that was given to her.
Graphics: from Compfight.
Please note: These are not photos of Greystones or the Gifford sisters.
Information in this post from
‘Unlikely Rebels – The Gifford Girls and the Fight for Irish Freedom’
by Anne Clare, Mercier Press 2011
Sineád De Valera opens Delgany Fete 1921
Look what we found!
Click HERE to see a Pathé News clip of
Sinéad De Valera opening the Delgany Fete in 1921 on You Tube.
Remember You Tube is blocked in Irish primary schools.
Famous People – Michael Collins and Kitty Kiernan planned to live in Greystones.
This is the house across the road from our school
on Trafalgar Road in Greystones.
Chloe and Kelyn’s Granny and Grandad live there.
It is called Brooklands.
In the summer of 1922 Michael Collins and his fiancée
Kitty Kiernan planned to buy this house,
once they were married.
Tragically Michael Collins
was killed in an ambush
in West Cork on 22nd August 1922 .
Michael Collins is a famous Irishman.
He was a leader in the Irish struggle
for independence.
Placenames in Greystones named after Colonel Frederick Burnaby, his wife Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed and members of her family.
The marriage of Colonel Frederick Burnaby and Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed explains the names of a lot of places in Greystones. Click HERE to read more about Colonel Burnaby and HERE to read more about Elizabeth.
There are many place called after Colonel Burnaby even though he only paid a short visit here. He died in 1885. Elizabeth was a landowner in Greystones. She owned the land on which the Burnaby Estate is built. She called the estate after Colonel Burnaby. It was built in the early 1900s.
There is the Burnaby Estate, Burnaby Park and The Burnaby Pub also in the town
Burnaby Avenue
Burnaby Court
Burnaby Heights
Burnaby Lawn
Burnaby Manor
Burnaby Mews
Burnaby Mill
Burnaby Park
Burnaby Way
and Burnaby Wood
In the Burnaby Estate there is
St. Vincent’s Road (called after Elizabeth’s father). Here it is in 1985:
Hawkins Lane
Whitshed Road (Hawkins and Whitshed were Elizabeth’s family names).
Portland Road ( The Duke of Portland was Elizabeth’s cousin). This is Portland Road in 1985:
Somerby Road after the town in Leicestershire where the family had connections,
Erskine Avenue after another family member
and Burnaby Road.
Here are some photos of Burnaby Park around 1985
From the Archives – Timeline of the Life and Times of Colonel Frederick Burnaby and Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed
Click HERE to see a timeline of the life and times of
Colonel Frederick Burnaby and Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed.
Vladimir Yaitskiy via Compfight
Famous People – Colonel Frederick Burnaby & Elizabeth Whitshed
Lots of places in Greystones are called after Colonel Burnaby.
Who was he?
Colonel Frederick Burnaby was a Victorian celebrity:
a soldier, adventurer, and writer.
He and his new wife Elizabeth Whitshed travelled
to North Africa on honeymoon,
but due to delicate health,
Elizabeth returned to Greystones.
She then moved to Switzerland for health reasons.
Colonel Burnaby was killed in action
(near Khartoum in Sudan) in 1885.
These are from the archives:
See more also from the archives:
Click HERE to see a timeline for Colonel Frederick Burnaby
and Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed.
Famous People – Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed
No_Mosquito via Compfight
Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed lived at Killincarrig House in Greystones. She was born in 1861. Her father was Sir St. Vincent Hawkins Whitshed. He died when she was eleven. When she was eighteen she went to London in 1879 to be presented at the court of the English Queen, Victoria. She met Colonel Frederick Burnaby and they got married soon after.
She was very impressed by Colonel Burnaby. He was a celebrity of the time. He was six foot four, a soldier, an adventurer, traveller, balloonist and writer. At the time of his marriage Burnaby was working for the eldest son of Queen Victoria. He was in charge of the horses belonging to the Prince of Wales. They traveled to North Africa after their marriage. But Elizabeth became ill. In 1880, she returned to Greystones to have her only child Harry St. Vincent Augustus Burnaby.
In 1882, the doctor advised Elizabeth to go to live in Switzerland. It was thought that the climate in Switzerland would be good for her health. This seemed to work because the following winter Elizabeth climbed Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Switzerland. Elizabeth went on to become a famous lady mountaineer, a writer, a photographer and an expert on the Alps. You can read more about that time in her life if you click on this LINK . There is also a lot of information about Elizabeth HERE on the Our Wicklow Heritage in an article by Rosemary Raughter, of the Greystones Archaeological and Historical Society.
Elizabeth Whitshed called the Burnaby Estate in Greystones after her husband. There is a road in the Burnaby called Whitshed Road. Elizabeth lived to be 73.
Famous People: Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Photo Credit: LEOL30 via Compfight
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in 1806.
He was an engineer who designed steamships, bridges and tunnels.
He engineered the railway line between Bray and Greystones.
This was a challenging job
as tunneling through rock was needed.
The arrival of the railway in Greystones
has made our town what it is today.
Photo Credit: Nagesh Kamath via Compfight
You can read more about Isambard Kingdom Brunel HERE
on the BBC Primary History website.
Famous People – Éamon De Valera – President of Ireland (1959–1973)
In 1917 the late Eamonn de Valera sent his two eldest children,
Vivian and Máirin to the Holy Faith convent school in Greystones
when the family lived at Kinlen Road in The Burnaby Estate.
All but one of the de Valera family attended the convent in Greystones.
Evie Hone – Stained Glass Artist
Photo taken by Leon
We are very lucky to have
beautiful stained glass windows
in Holy Rosary Church in Greystones.
Two of them are by the famous artist Evie Hone.
Here is the one called: ‘The Good Shepherd’
Evie Hone the stained glass artist
is associated with Greystones,
because two of her stained glass windows
are in Holy Rosary Church.
You can read more about Evie Hone
and her work in Greystones HERE
on the Holy Rosary website.
Did you know Willy Wonka lived in The Burnaby?
Thomas Hawk via Compfight
Ok so we decided we would start at the very beginning
and then we heard some sad news. Gene Wilder
who starred as Willy Wonka in the 1971 version of
Charlie and the Chocolate factory died on 29th August of this year.
‘What has this to do with Greystones?’ you may ask.
Well Gene Wilder lived in The Burnaby in 1969
when he was making a film in Ireland.
Click on ‘The Burnaby’ above to read all about this
on the online newspaper, ‘The Greystones Guide’.
The internet is a great resource for learning
but please supervise your children online!