Census Day Sunday Next
Next Sunday April the 24th
is National Census Day and it is important that we all cooperate with the
process. This is a collection of national data on which many government, social
and economic decisions and policies are arrived at. Also it a record of the
state at a particular time. The word ‘census’ has its origins in a Roman word
meaning ‘to estimate’. The process goes back nearly five thousand years in
Egypt and later in Greece, Rome and China.
The great census in our
region was undertaken in England when what is called ‘The Domesday Book’
was undertaken in 1086 by King William the first so that he could properly tax
the land he had recently conquered. Copies of this record are still to be seen.
The first full government
census of Ireland was taken in 1821 with further censuses at ten-yearly
intervals from 1831 through to 1911. No census was taken in 1921, because of
the War of Independence. The first census of the population of the Irish Free
State was taken in 1926. To date censuses have been taken in 1926, 1936, 1946,
1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1979 (the census due in 1976 was cancelled as an
economy measure!), 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2006 and in April 2011.
The original census returns
for 1861 and 1871 were apparently destroyed by the decree of the British
Government, for whatever reason, shortly after the censuses were taken! Those
for 1881 and 1891 were pulped during the First World War, probably because of
the paper shortage!
One of the tragic results of
the beginning of the Civil War was that the returns for 1821, 1831, 1841 and
1851 were, apart from a few survivals, notably for a few counties for 1821 and
1831, destroyed in 1922 in the fire at the Public Record Office. This has left
a huge gap in the genealogical record of this terribly important period.
The first basic census
available online from the point of view of tracing your ancestry is that of
1901 followed by 1911. The next census to be available to the public will be
the 1926 Census Returns will be released in January 2027.
In filling out the census try
and make sure the biro mark is a clear and straight horizontal line across the
allocated box. The forms when first encountered may seem intimidating but
they are large enough to allow for a generous number of people being part of a
household, so in smaller household a number of sections will not apply. The
enumerator will of course always advise people with any issues.
Proclamation Signatory Eamon
Ceannt
On foot of a conversation I
had recently I decided to check back on some of the lesser known participants
of Easter 1916. One of them was Eamon Ceannt who was born in Ballymoe which is
geographically in county Galway but is part of St. Croan’s GAA club. Eamon was
born in September 1881 the son of a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary i.e.
R.I.C. The family moved to Louth and later to Dublin where he worked in
local government. He became involved, like so many at that time, in various
cultural organisations promoting Irish language, history and culture including
the ‘Pipers Club’ he being a talented musician. Ceannt was a founder member of
the Irish Volunteers and a member of the I.R.B. and was involved in the
successful Howth gun-running operation of 1914. He was the commander of
the Fourth Battalion of Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Rising and took
control of the South Dublin Union (St. James’s Hospital). Ceannt was one of the seven men to sign the
Proclamation of Independence for the Irish Republic and was executed on the 8th
of May 1916.
Cork’s Thomas Kent
In the conversation mentioned
above my colleague seemed to get Eamon Ceannt mixed up with Thomas Kent who was
also executed immediately after The Rising. Thomas Kent was from Castlelyons in
County Cork and with Roger Casement was one of the two ‘rebels’ who were
executed outside Dublin after 1916. Kent had not travelled to Dublin for
The Rising due to the countermanding order of Eoin McNeill ordering Volunteer
units to ‘stand down’ from all manoeuvres on Easter Sunday when he became aware
of the intentions of the inner circle of the Dublin I.R.B. to undertake a
Rising in Dublin with Connolly’s Citizen’s Army.
Thomas Kent and family were
known to the police as Republican activists and on word of the Dublin outbreak
of hostilities they tried to arrest Thomas and his brothers. A fire-fight ensued
and a policeman was shot dead and one of the Kent brothers died subsequently
from wounds incurred in the gun battle. Thomas was executed by firing squad on
May 9th after a summary trial and buried in Cork prison in a
grave near his place of execution. He was for decades regarded as the
‘Forgotten Patriot’. In 1966 he was remembered with the railway station in Cork
being re-named in his memory. After archaeological investigation in 2015 his
remains were exhumed after being confirmed by DNA and were re-interred with
full state and military honours in the family graveyard of Castlelyons.
(At ‘Ardcarne Remembers
1913-1923’ which takes place from Friday April 29th to Sunday May 1st
the official Opening will be performed on the Friday night in Crossna church by
Michael McDowell grandson of Eoin McNeill.)
What it Says in the Papers (the ones I’ve scanned)
Joe Brolly on Death in the
Ring.
Joe Brolly had an incisive
article in the Sunday Independent on Sunday last surrounding the recent tragic
death of the Portuguese fighter Joao Carvalho in the Mixed Martial Arts fight
in Dublin. Joe also covered some of the historic deaths incurred as a result of
boxing. He used a quote from one of the great heavyweights of the late sixties
and seventies Joe Frazier who was involved in one of the most savage fights of
that time versus Muhamad Ali, which took place in 1975 and became known as ‘the
thriller in Manila’. Ali won the fight but it left its mark physically and
mentally on both fighters. Frazier before he died in poverty said: “I got my
money took, my brain shook and my name in the undertaker’s book.”. (I seem to
remember Joe Frazier, who may also have been able to sing, performing in The
Casino dance hall in Castlerea in the early seventies. Could that be right?). A
sidebar to Brolly’s article was the text of the Bob Dylan song, “Who killed
Davy Moore?”. Davy was a star American boxer in the 50s’ and 60s’ who died days
after a fight in March 1963. The long song deals with Dylan’s interpretation of
the role of the referee, the crowd, the manager, the gambler, the boxing writer
and his opponent. Apparently nobody killed Davy Moore.
Fergal Keane on 1922.
Also in the Sunday
Independent Fergal Keane has a testing article titled “Confronting our
blood-soaked, vicious past the best tribute to Irish Republic”. Fergal is in
the throes of writing a book about the War of Independence and Civil War in
North Kerry and he certainly has some controversial episodes to explore there.
These include one of the most horrific episodes that being at a place called
Ballyseedy where eight Republican prisoners were killed by a mine in reprisal
for the earlier deaths of five Free State troops.
West Cork was another area in
which many tragic ‘incidents’ of reprisal also occurred. These have been
regularly referred to by Eoghan Harris.
I have not heard anecdotally
or otherwise of any such ‘incidents’ occurring in Roscommon during that period.
Barry Feely in his recent book ‘They Dared to Challenge’- page 104- writes of
the curious disappearances of four RIC from Frenchpark in May/June 1921.
So as the celebratory
commemoration of 1916 passes we are heading towards a far more tricky period
i.e. the Civil War from June 1922 into 1923. This is a period which laid the
foundations for the politics of the last century of which we see ongoing
evidence in the current machinations in Leinster and Trinity College no less.
Where would you rather be?
The above question was asked
over a lovely picture of Lough Key bathed in sunshine on realboyle.com in the last
couple of days. I had actually tripped across a series in The Irish Times
online ‘Planning to return to Ireland? Here’s all you need to know” . There are
a series of short essays covering the range of experiences and emotions by
people who are in the various stages of the process including having come home
and deciding to leave again! The headlines covering the essay contributions
are illustrative of the confusion and challenge of such a decision.
Ireland is such an
exasperating country in the sense that even though we are so tied to it
emotionally and it having a good deal going for it, still it succeeds in
driving so many fine young people to leave. Anyway the series in The Irish
Times is an interesting if inconclusive exercise.
‘Veteran of Everest gets €40
k for fall on Wicklow Way trail’
The above was a headline on
Saturday’s paper. Apparently the lady tripped on a Parks and Wildlife boardwalk
which was part of the walkway. She got a gash to the knee which required
seven stiches. “The 59 year old lady told the court that she had climbed in the
Himalayas and to base camp on Mount Everest and could no longer climb or run
marathons. She had been walking for over 40 years “all around the world.”’ Now
what would you make of that and some of us thinking perhaps we had problems?
Sports Review
Impressive Strokestown too
strong for under-strength Boyle.
Strokestown 1.19 Boyle 1.7.
Strokestown were convincing
winners over Boyle in the senior league game on Sunday at Boyle. The first half
was a close affair but in the second half ‘Town’ (as Strokestown abbreviate
their name to regularly) went up through the gears and it was easy for them in
the end. Colin Compton opened Strokestown’s account in the first minute of the
game and this set the tone as it was Compton who was to add another 9 points to
his sides total in a very impressive performance. Compton and Donie Smith of
Boyle were the main scorers for each side in the first half, Smith scoring four
times with 2 being frees and Compton scoring 3 points 2 including frees. The
half-time score was Strokestown 1.6 Boyle 1.5. The goals came from Gareth
Gilmartin for Boyle and Ml. Hagen for ‘Town’. Boyle would have felt they did
well to be just a point in arrears at this stage. The second half provided a
succession of evenly spaced points for Strokestown from start to finish and all
Boyle could harness was just 2 scores. Stokestown were in control in the second
half with good interplay and strong running and in Compton especially they had the
finisher to transfer this into a healthy lead. It has to be said that Boyle
were missing nearly half a dozen influential players through injury such as
Sean Purcell, Enda Smith, Evan McGrath, Cian Beirne, and Roch Hanmore with
Stokestown’s most notable absentee through injury being Cathal Compton.
Best for Boyle, mostly in the
first half, were goalkeeper Tadgh Lowe, Ml. Hanmore, Tadgh McKenna, Gareth
Gilmartin who did very well, Dylan East, Jim Suffin and Donie Smith. For
Strokestown, apart from ‘Man of the Match’ Compton, they had impressive
performers, for the most part in the second half, from Kevin Finn, Daniel
Rogers, Paddy Brogan, Sean Mullooly and David Neary. Scorers; Strokestown;
Colin Compton 0.10 (3 fr.) S. Collins 0.1, E. Molloy 0.2, D. Molloy 0.1, Ml
Hagen 1.0, Kevin Finn 0.4 (2 fr.) Tom Corcoran 0.1. Boyle, Donie Smith 0.5 (2
fr.), Gareth Gilmartin 1.0 Colin Goldrick 0.1, Jim Suffin 0.1. Gerry Carmody
did very well as referee.
On Sunday next Boyle play
Oran in Rockfield, Oran at 2. If Boyle hope to remain in the Senior league this
is a game they really need to win, though Oran showed that they too are a force
to be reckoned with when defeating Clann na nGael on Sunday last in a high
scoring game.
Boyle Celtic Two to Go
Boyle Celtic overcame Yeats
Utd. on Wednesday evening in Carny on the score of Celtic 4. Yeats 2. It was a
tough struggle on an ‘irregular’ surface with Yeats twice going in front.
However the better football of Celtic saw them home with some outstanding
performances especially from three-goal hero Shane Battles whose classic third
goal would grace any level of the game. They now have two more games but
can only afford one draw to win the Sligo Leitrim league for the second time in
three years. Their next game on Sunday morning is v Calry at 11am where
if they win the final game will be v Manorhamilton on Wednesday night
when they will know for sure whether they are Super league Champions or
not.
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