The Writer William Trevor
Dies
I wrote a paragraph in this
blog just a year ago about the writer William Trevor and his connections to
North Roscommon. William Trevor’s father, grandfather and great-grandfathers
were all natives of Croghan. William Trevor is the ‘nom de plume’ for William
Trevor Cox, who was born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork in 1928 and associated most
with Youghal. His great grandfather was Mark Cox and he lived at Knockroe later
moving to the adjacent townland of Killapogue and a house called
‘Millbrook’. The landlord family in the area then were the Lloyds. The
fortunes of this family in the 19th and 20th century are recalled in
many of Trevor’s ‘big house’ stories such as ‘The News from Ireland’. In early
days many of the Cox family went to school in Bishop Hudson Grammar School in
Elphin. Bill, Trevor’s father went to a business school in Dublin and started
work with The Bank of Ireland in 1913. The job meant numerous relocations and
William Trevor Cox was born in Mitchelstown in 1928. He referred to himself
being ‘carted around the country’. He attended boarding school in St. Columba’s
College Dublin and graduated from Trinity College in 1950. He emigrated to
England in 1954 and settled in Devon. He made a reputation as a novelist,
playwright and particularly as a short story writer. One of the elder statesmen
of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest
contemporary writers of short stories in the English language.
He has won the Whitbread
Prize three times and has been nominated five times for the Booker Prize, more
recently for his novel ‘Love and Summer’ (2009), which was also shortlisted for
the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in
2011. His name has also been mentioned in relation to the Nobel Prize in
Literature.
One of his early stories was
‘The Ballroom of Romance’ became a well-known Irish film starring Brenda
Fricker, Mick Lally and John Kavanagh. I became aware of William Trevor Cox’s
link to the area around ten years ago. I wrote to him and sent him a
collections of items publicising the place of his ancestors, probably trying to
sow the seed in him of re-visiting the area. He kindly responded thanking me
for my contact and the material I sent. That letter of reply is ‘submerged’ at
the moment. Hopefully it will re-surface as; ‘nothing gets lost but is only
submerged’ in this house.
He was a friend of Kenneth
and Ingrid Stewart of Carrick Road. He and Kenneth were student colleagues being educated at St.
Columba's College. Trevor went on to Trinity College from which he received a
degree in history. He worked as a sculptor under the name Trevor Cox after his
graduation from Trinity College, supplementing his income by teaching. He
married Jane Ryan in 1952 and emigrated to Great Britain two years later and
settled in Devon where he spent the rest of his life as a writer. Amongst his
most regarded books are; ‘Mrs Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel’, ‘The Story of Lucy Gault’ and ‘Cheating at Canasta’
From his early days he
maintained regular contact with Kenneth Stewart and his wife Ingrid through the
years. I talked to Ingrid a number of years ago about Mister Trevor and also to
a loyal employee of Trevor’s friend Kenneth Stewart, Rosemary O’Gara Carty on
Wednesday. She talked of meeting Mister Trevor in The Royal Hotel when he was
on a visit to Boyle. Perhaps it was the influence of his friend that encouraged
Kenneth as Rosemary said he too loved to write. She also said that William
Trevor had relations buried in Croghan.
So passes another great Irish
writer and joins recent deaths of Friel, McGahern and Heaney with whom he is
entitled to be talked of.
“The Election of the
Snows” –1917- Book Launch – next Sunday in Carrick-on-Shannon
While remembering 1916 has
led to a light industry of re-enactment, remembrance, commemoration and
publication this particular book possibility interests me. It deals with
a very important event in that period which eventually led to the Independence
of 26 counties from British rule. This was the by-election of spring 1917 which
took place in North Roscommon. This followed the death of the Irish (Home Rule)
Party M.P. James J. Kelly. Three candidates contested the vacated seat. They
were George Noble Count Plunkett, father of the executed 1916 leader Joseph
Mary Plunkett; Jasper Tully a former M.P. and Proprietor of the Roscommon
Herald and Thomas J. Devine, Co. Cllr. of St. Patrick’s Street, Boyle. Thomas
J. Devine is basically the forgotten man in the race. I have a thing about
‘forgotten’ men who should be more respected, regarded and better known.
The election is referred to
as ‘The Election in the Snows’ due to the prevailing weather of the election
period. A major figure in the election was a priest named Father Michael
O’Flangan who supported Plunkett. There were many notable Sinn Fein members who
came to Boyle also to work for Plunkett who won comfortably. The count, which
took place in Boyle courthouse, was; Plunkett 3,022; Thomas J. Devine, 1, 708;
Jasper Tully, 687. Plunkett afterwards declared that he would NOT go to a
foreign parliament i.e. Westminster but just to Dublin and so became the
foundation stone of the new Dail which emerged when Sinn Fein swept the Home
Rule Party aside in the general election of 1918.
As you can see I am writing
about Count Plunkett while I wanted to talk about Thomas J. Devine but I know
little of him. I expect that will be rectified with the book on Mister Devine
from Sunday. Thomas J. Devine was a County Councillor and obviously a member of
the Home Rule Party, then led by John Redmond, in the early years of the
1900s’. He was in business in St. Patrick’s Street in what is now The Patrick’s
Well. Prior to that it was the ‘Three Counties’ with Michael and Anne
Gilmartin.
Before Michael Gilmartin
acquired the premises it was owned by an iconic Boyle lady Agnes Josephine
Devine Conlon. I actually ‘roomed’ there for a period in the early seventies.
Aggie Devine was a daughter of Thomas J. Devine and spent some time in the U.S.
in the 20s’ where she met with John McCormack. Aggie was a fine singer and was ever
present in Boyle musical presentations and choirs. Her premises was both a
grocery and bar. It was the classic, old style now-business format. Aggie loved
to hum and sing and did so as she worked in her premises. I remember an
incident where she told me that she had sent a Boyle publication to a relative
in the U.S. as it featured her father but they returned it as it did not do him
justice!
Aggie married a Mister Conlon
who I am told was from the Ballyfarnon area and so the business became known as
Devine-Conlon's. Aggie was a great
lady and I really admired her. A brother of Aggie’s was Father Michael
Devine who I remember as a highly regarded curate in Cloverhill. A brother
Bertie Devine lived in Elphin Street and later on the Crescent. So his family
of Dermot, Michael, Willie and Sister Mary are the grandchildren of Thomas J.
After Sunday I hope to become
more acquainted with Thomas J. Devine the forgotten man of the ‘Election in the
snows’ 1917.
(The Book will be launched by
Sen. Michael McDowell on Sun., 27th Nov., 4pm, in St. George’s Heritage Centre
and all are invited)
Connacht GAA Club Final;
What promises to be an
enthralling encounter takes place on Sunday at 2 o’clock in Carrick-on-Shannon
in the Connacht Final when St. Brigid’s, Roscommon’s kingpins, face the top
Galway club Corofin. There is history between these two clubs as St. Brigid’s
defeated Corofin in 2006 and 2011 in drama filled, tense and thrilling affairs.
Corofin feel that they have
not done themselves justice in recent times and I am told they are really ‘up
for’ this game. St. Brigid’s too have no lack of experience. It could be said
that they are in a period of transition so we will see how that goes. These
games are supposed to be held in the county ground of the entitled club.
Hyde Park is unavailable and St. Brigid’s own ground disqualified on the
basis of it being a ‘home’ ground for the Roscommon club so Brigid’s nominated
Carrick where they had an easy win over the Leitrim champions.
I am looking forward to this
game at 2 and then it is on to history book launch talked of above!
Roscommon Farmer and
‘cyanide’
A Roscommon farmer made the
news this week as he brought to a ‘Farm Hazardous Waste Collection Point’, a
couple of weeks ago, a quantity of ‘cyanide’-4kg- that an expert suggested was
enough to ‘kill most of the population of the county’. Apparently he had the
stock for over forty years when he got it to ‘kill rabbits’. Another
chemical that was said to have been brought for safe disposal was one that
contained components of ‘agent orange’ infamous for its use during the Vietnam
War for defoliating the jungle areas of conflict. It is really staggering the
things that will turn up in old barns and to a lesser extent old attics.
The Sligo Train Rumbles in
the Ether
I saw on the front page of
the Sligo Champion an article suggesting that the Dublin to Sligo train service
could come under some sort of threat again in terms of cost management by Iarnrod
Eireann. There was an even greater threat around twenty years ago when it was
suggested that the service terminate in Longford. The combined Chambers of
Commerce of Sligo, Boyle and Carrick on-Shannon and all the politicians in the
area mounted a vigorous campaign and the line was retained and upgraded. I
remember Frankie Feighan and Seamus Cooney of Boyle Chamber being to the fore
in that. The train service to Dublin is a really great and necessary asset to
this region and its continuation is sacrosanct. I cannot imagine that its
downgrading would be even contemplated.
St. Mary’s College Staff
Re-Union
All staff who were, for any
duration, engaged in service at St. Mary’s College and Boyle Vocational School
through the decades are welcome to attend a re-union function at King
House on Thursday next December 1st. It is amazing the number of
people who have passed through those schools as staff in those years. Most
people have been contacted but if anyone wants to hear details you can contact
me at tconboy1@eircom.net
Boyle GAA AGM Sunday Dec.
4th.
Linda
Shevlin’s ‘ Radical Actions Seminar’
I got an email from Linda
Shevlin regarding an event she is organising (curating) in King House on Friday
December 2nd involving a number of differing facets. The title is that of ‘
Radical Actions Seminar’ plus. I imagine that if there was anyone interested
and they googled that title they will get an outline of the seminar content.
I met Linda first, a few
years ago, when she was involved in some artistic expo in the tower in Lough
Key. Now there was a challenge. We met later as she and her partner were
composing a project to take ‘All the way to……India’.
Writing that sentence reminds
me of some lines by the Major in Fawlty Towers regarding a lady he was
enamoured with long before ;
Major: ‘I must have been keen
on her Fawlty I took her to see India’.
Fawlty: ‘To see India Major?
Major: ‘Yes Fawlty, at the
Oval.
I gave her my wallet to buy a
programme and I haven’t seen her since’.
Fawlty: ‘I doubt she is still
looking for you at the Oval Major’
Major: ‘Perhaps not.
Truman was bowling you see’
Sorry about that indulgent
diversion...!!
RADICAL ACTIONS SEMINAR
2nd DECEMBER
11am
King House, Boyle
Adm: €10 including lunch
BOOKINGS: 090 662 5824
‘This seminar will look at
the legacy of revolution & activism in Ireland and the artists' role in
shaping future states with speakers including Professor Luke Gibbons, artists
Sarah Browne, Jesse Jones, Gareth Kennedy & Seamus Nolan, film maker Treasa
O’Brien and photojournalist/videographer Paula Geraghty’.
There is also a screening of
‘Eat Your Children’ !!
Abroad Roster
My abroad roster grows a
little with greeting to the Mattimoe clan in England; Paddy Spellman and family
in New York and other places in the U.S. Kate Gilmartin in Japan. I presume I
mentioned Darren Dockery earlier.
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