Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary

Campaigners against Septic Tank, Water, and Household Tax charges will hold a public meeting in Hayes Hotel Liberty Square, on Friday next, February 10th, beginning at 8.00pm sharp.

This event is just one of a series of such meetings planned around the country in the coming weeks.

People are being invited to attend to listen to argument as to why they should “boycott,” or voluntarily abstain from registering for this promised planned controversial taxation, which appears to target rural Ireland dwellers in particular.

It is interesting to note that the word “boycott,” first entered our English language during the Irish “Land War,” a prolonged period of civil unrest in the rural Ireland of the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. The word derives from the surname of a land agent, one called Captain Charles Boycott, who then managed the estate of absentee landlord, Lord Erne, who owned property at Lough Mask House, in County Mayo.

Boycott was the subject of effective social ostracism, organized by the Irish Land League.  Harvests had been poor in 1880 and Lord Erne had offered his tenants a 10% reduction in their rents. In September of that year, however protesting tenants demanded a 25% reduction, which was refused. Attempts by Boycott to evict eleven tenants, for non payment of rents demanded, further exacerbated the situation.

In a speech in Ennis, Co Clare, landowner, nationalist political leader and land reform agitator, Charles Stewart Parnell, proposed that when dealing with tenants who rented or took up residence on farms where a previous tenant was evicted, rather than resorting to violence, everyone in the locality should shun them.

This advice would lead to Charles Boycott being isolated. Soon his employees stopped work in his fields and stables. Domestic staff refused to work in his house and local businessmen stopped trading with him. Even the local postman refused to deliver his mail.

Next Friday’s evenings meeting in Hayes Hotel will offer Tipperary residents a chance to speak up for themselves and their particular communities, thus demonstrating their wish not to be treated in an unfair matter.

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Rosie and the Marquess of Headfort

Highlights of the May 2012 “Irish Art Sale,” by Sotheby’s Auction House in London, will go on view in Dublin at No 16 Molesworth Street, on April 24th and 25th and will include two portraits by Dublin born, Sir William Orphen, Ireland’s if not the world’s greatest portrait painter.

Interestingly both of these portraits in this auction have strong Thurles associations to this very day. The portraits are of the glamorous music-hall star Rosie Boote and a Co Meath aristocrat, Geoffrey Thomas Taylour, 4th Marquess of Headfort DL, JP, FZS (1878 – 1943) both of whom were to enthrall and scandalised Edwardian society in 1901.

Rose Boote, (1878-1958) or ‘Miss Rosie Boote,’ latter her later stage name, was the only daughter of Charles Boote, a comedian and while little is known of her mother, it was believed she was a straw hat sewer.

Rose however was sent to the Ursuline Convent School in Thurles in the 1890′s to be educated. The Ursuline Convent then, as now, had a high reputation in educational circles, renowned for their proficiency in turning girls into young, well educated ladies, who could take their place even in the highest society.

Having left the Ursuline Convent School in Thurles, Rose, possibly through connections of her father, was introduced to George Joseph Edwardes, (1855–1915)  an English theatre manager, born ‘George Edwards,’ a native of Co Wexford, Ireland. George had introduced a new era into musical theatre on the British stage.

George now introduced Rose to the stage as one of his ‘Gaiety Girls,’ where she achieved great acclaim. Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls of Edwardian musical comedies, which had its beginning earlier in the 1890s, at the Gaiety Theatre, on the Strand, London. The sudden popularity of this genre of musical theatre depended, mainly on these beautiful dancing troupes of “Gaiety Girls” appearing onstage in bathing attire and in the latest fashions from London and Paris.

Gaiety girls were considered polite, educated, well-behaved young women, unlike those corseted actresses from London’s earlier musical burlesque shows. They became a popular attraction and a symbol of ideal womanhood, soon attracting the attention of aristocratic young men, known as “Stage Door Johnnies.”  These young men would often wait outside the rear stage door in the hope of escorting one of these young ladies to dinner. Rose’s mentor, Edwardes had arranged with Romano’s Restaurant, on the Strand, for his girls to dine there at half-price. It was good exposure for his girls and made Romano’s Restaurant the embodiment of London’s night-life.

It was possibly Rosie’s performance in a hit musical ‘The Messenger Boy,’ in 1900, when she danced and sang ‘Maisie,’ that apparently charmed the eligible handsome young Irish aristocrat, the 4th Marquis of Headfort, Geoffrey Thomas Taylour (1878-1943). She would soon quit the theatre and they would be married on the 11th of April, 1901, but not without the resistance of high society and family members.

Huge efforts were now made to prevent the intended marriage, by all of Lord Headfort’s relatives and friends, even King Edward was called upon to use his influence in this matter.  Geoffrey Thomas Taylour, after all, was a first lieutenant in the First Life Guards, a crack British regiments, and he was soon informed that if he married this music hall actress his resignation would be expected.

King Edward became greatly interested in this whole affair and infored Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, who was Colonel of the First Life Guards, to undertake whatever was necessary to prevent the marriage.  Prince Edward, in turn, wrote to the offending Lord Headfort, explaining that his career would be ruined if he were to marry Miss Boote, as he could never be received by the regiment.  Geoffrey Thomas Taylour, Lord Headfort, replied, forwarding his resignation papers to Lord Roberts. His Commander in Chief now refused to accept Lord Headfort’s resignation, instead ordered the Marquis to hold himself in readiness to go to South Africa, on active service.

Lord Headfort insisted on resigning and married Miss Boote. English society were shocked, after all Rosie did not belong to the upper classes, she was a devout Roman Catholic, marrying an Irish Protestant Freemason, (Having been initiated in the Lodge of Assistance No 2773  at Golden Square, London, in February 1901, aged 22 years.) the head of an ancient house and the possessor of considerable wealth, owning estates of some 22,000 acres in Cavan and Meath.

However English Society were unaware that Rosie was a quiet, refined, well educated Ursuline Convent girl, and the then confidently predicted marriage separation, between this young couple, would never materialize. The couple lived between their home at Headfort House, Kells, Co Meath and a London townhouse and they would have three children, Lady Millicent Olivia Mary Taylour, Terence Geoffrey Thomas Taylour and Lord William Desmond Taylour.

I understand that Rosie visited the Ursuline Convent, Thurles, on a few occasions during her marriage, on one occasion to officially open a new building extension, and indeed gifted the convent with a veil, for a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This veil is still one of the Ursuline Convents treasured possessions.

The chorus-girl Marchioness and her husband were eventually received back into London Society, when they were invited to one of the most important balls of the season. Princess Christian and other members of the royal family were there, and none of the most exclusively disposed members of the aristocracy, who had been invited, stayed away. The entrance of Lord Headfort and his chorus-girl wife was of course the sensation of the evening. Lady Headfort is reported as “bearing herself in a manner which every one declared to be perfect.”  Her gown was reported as one of the most beautiful costumes observed at the ball and her appearance and her manners were better than those of the grandees dames, who crowded around, eying her inquisitively.

Rosie’s husband who had succeeded to the title 4th Marquis of Headfort on the death of his father in 1894 continued to move in the highest echelons of then British society. He remained a lieutenant in the 1st Life Guards and later fought in the first World War. He also served as a senator in the Irish Free State between 1922-1928.

Rose died in 1958 at the age of 80, 15 years after her husbands death. She was one of the very few people who ever attended three Coronations in Westminster Abbey, Edward VII, George V and George VI. Her grandson Lord Bective and employees of the estate carried her coffin to an island in the grounds of Headfort House, where she was buried alongside her husband.

In her portrait by Orphen, now on sale, Rosie is depicted in her cocktail dress, fur and diamond earrings which is estimated to sell at auction for between £300,000-£500,000. The diamond earrings shown in her portrait, were sold by Sotheby’s in Geneva last year for €35,000.
Headfort House of course was sold off in 1981, but the title is still extant.

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Munster MEP Mr Sean Kelly

“The GAA should buy the famous Hayes Hotel here in Thurles.”  So says former GAA President and current Fine Gael Munster MEP, Mr Sean Kelly, who has once again reiterated his proposal that the GAA should buy this historic home of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Mr Kelly stated; “Hayes Hotel is a major symbol of Irish cultural and sporting heritage and the location of the first GAA meeting in 1884. The GAA was founded at this hotel, so it is the perfect site for a museum to showcase GAA history and its continued growing success nationally and globally. A GAA museum would be an enormous tourist attraction for sports fans. The GAA is built on the dedication and success of local clubs and future EU sports policy will reinforce the need to support grassroots sports. Indeed, I have often cited the GAA as a leading example of how sport can boost the physical, social and economic health of regional towns, during my work at the European Parliament.  Hayes Hotel could also be used as a regional GAA headquarters with staff tasked with supporting local clubs across the country. The creation of a GAA museum, at this time would be timely, as Thurles has been named the 2012 ‘European Town of Sport’.”

Picture courtesy G.Willoughby

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Kickham Barracks, Clonmel.

It is officially confirmed this afternoon that Kickham Barracks, Waterford Road, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary is to close as part of the Governments Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. Despite protests from the families of Army personnel, Minister for Defence Alan Shatter made the announcement, following a Cabinet meeting at lunchtime today.

No time frame given yet on when the closure will take place, however a barrack consolidation report for the transfer from Clonmel to Limerick shows short-term costs of €250,000 to include €100,000 to accommodate lockers and €50,000 to purchase 12 containers for armoury and stores.

Clonmel, Co Tipperary, has been a garrison town for British troops since its surrender to Cromwell in 1650, but a permanent military barracks was not built in the town until 1780. The reason behind its original construction was a believed threat of rebellion from the growing Irish Volunteer movement. In 1805 the garrison was extended, with the erection of an artillery barracks, built in anticipation of an invasion by Napoleon and the 1870′s saw an enlargement of the existing quarters.

It became the regimental depot for the Royal Irish Regiment in 1882. Indeed a particularly finely crafted early twentieth-century monument still exists, commemorating those soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment who died in Boer War, in South Africa. latter was erected there in 1910, having been designed by landscape painter and architect R.C. Orpen (1863-1938).

It was at this Barracks that soldiers from the southeast of Ireland, were trained prior to World War I. It was here also that Anti-Treaty Volunteer Jerome Lyons was shot dead in 1923, whilst under interrogation. Lyons was shot when he grabbed the revolver of the interrogating office, while being questioned. Lyons was then only 26 years old.

During the Irish War of Independence Clonmel was garrisoned by the Devonshire Regiment and from mid-1921, the York and Lancaster Regiment. In February 1922 the Barracks was taken over by Richard Dalton, commander of 5th Battalion of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade of the IRA.

The Barracks was renovated in 1945, and housed members of the 12th Infantry Battalion.

Junior Labour Minister Willie Penrose has, today, also resigned his Cabinet post, over the closure of Columb Barracks in Mullingar, latter an Army base in his own constituency.

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Thurles Courthouse

Templemore courthouse is to close early next year, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has confirmed in the Dáil.

He said the Courts Service board last week have approved the closure and the courthouse in Templemore, Co Tipperary will now move all hearings to the newly restored Thurles Court facility.

Defending the closure, the Minister said the Courts Service board had amalgamated 140 district courthouses over the past 12 years.

Alan Shatter stated that “The decision to close any courthouse is generally taken due to the buildings being in poor condition.”

Thurles Courthouse was nominated at the Irish Architecture Awards in 2009, and is regarded as a major civic and historical  landmark in the centre of Thurles. Erected in 1828,  the courthouse itself has played host to many historic events, the public meeting regarding Famine Public Works schemes in April 1846, the famous  GAA Convention of  November 9th 1887, the inaugural meeting of Thurles Golf Club on January 21st 1909.

Photo courtesy G.Willoughby.

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Dr Ed Walsh

Dr Ed Walsh is the founding president of the University of Limerick and has been conferred by his peers with an Honorary Doctorate, confirming him as a person of exceptional quality.

Amongst his many contributions to this island, Dr Walsh has served as founding Chairman of the Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation, the National Technological Park, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, Citywest’s Growcorp and the National Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland.  He has also served as chairman of the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities and of Shannon Development.

Those close to him, regard his name as synonymous with ground-breaking advances in third level education in Ireland and he is highly regarded both as an educational visionary and a transformational policy influencer.

As a lover of Ireland, combined with his love of fact, logic and truth, it comes therefore as no great surprise to most, that Dr Ed Walsh, given a suitable forum, would launch a blistering attack on Sinn Féin’s presidential candidate Mr Martin McGuinness.

James Martin Pacelli McGuinness has admitted to being a member of the IRA during the 1970′s. He originally joined the Official IRA, possibly in 1969, but switched to the Provisional IRA a short time later, when the organisation split. In 1973, he was convicted by the Republic of Ireland’s Special Criminal Court, after being caught with a car containing 250 lb (or 113 kg) of explosives and nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition. He refused to recognise the Irish court, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. After his release, and following another conviction in the Republic, for IRA membership, he became increasingly prominent in Sinn Féin, the political wing of the republican movement. McGuinness now believes he should be rewarded by holding the post of President of Ireland.

Dr Walsh told his audience at a literary festival in Tipperary last Friday night that “Standing before the judges in The Hague, answering questions, related to war crimes and IRA activities, would appear to be more fitting that standing before the Irish electorate, seeking to represent the highest office in the Republic.”

Dr Walsh continued “Mr McGuinness has serious questions to answer regarding IRA activities, the IRA’s killing of 644 civilians, sadistic torture, kneecapping, kidnapping and the arbitrary destruction of the lives of its victims, are in clear contravention of the fourth Geneva Convention. Whatever about McGuinness’s direct involvement with acts classified as war crimes, he was in a position of authority within the IRA, during most of the Northern conflict.

Dr Walsh went on to say that the IRA had incinerated people at the La Mon restaurant, their victims included children and they had practised torture, including using kangaroo courts, all of which were considered war crimes.

For those with short memories, the device used at the La Mon Restaurant on 17th February 1978, was a small blast bomb attached to two large petrol canisters, each filled with a type of home made napalm like substance of petrol mixed with sugar. This substance was designed to stick to whoever and whatever it hit, thus causing severe burn injuries to human flesh. Twelve innocent people were killed that night, seven of whom were women and a further thirty were injured, many of them critically.  Most of the victims were members of the Irish Collie Club and the Northern Ireland Junior Motor Cycle Club, which were both staging meetings in the restaurant. Some of those injured are still receiving treatment some 23 years later.

Referring to the peace process Dr Walsh stated: “Hume facilitated the entry of IRA/Sinn Féin into the peace process, in return for which they undertook to decommission IRA arms and disband the IRA and its Army Council. The former has been delivered, but there are questions regarding the latter.”

He further stated that the IRA’s long-term objective was control of Dublin, not of Belfast, and while the IRA Army Council may be dormant, we as citizens should see no reason to relax. As long as the IRA remain in existence, so too, one must assume, does its strategy of using the ‘Armalite and the Ballot Box‘ to achieve its goals.  While Sinn Fein had made excellent progress in recent years using the ballot box, should they ever fail to get their way at some future juncture, there is a very real danger that they would reactivate their earlier activities.

Dr Walsh warned that “Democracy was a fragile thing, that was particularly vulnerable at times when Nations were under stress. We have seen the consequences in Europe when countries are overtaken by people who don’t believe in democracy, but in guns“.

A couple of people unable to take the heat, walked out during his speech, to which Dr Walsh commented, “He has some supporters here, too.”

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But as the poet, Billy Shakespeare, once said to me “When trouble comes they come not in single spies, but in battalions,” and true to form, now our strategic escape route, Thurles road bridge, is falling down.

The bridge’s problems are visible on the north west side facing Pheasant Island, where two dressed limestone triangular cutwater supports, protecting arch supports are now about to collapse.

I do not want to panic any of our residents, but I worry that the large numbers of unemployed workers, heading out of this forgotten town to experience adventure on the emigrant trail, could find themselves marooned, until after the rainy season.

(Click on image for larger photo.)

Barry’s Bridge, in Thurles, to give it it’s true title, has provided passage over the river Suir, since it was originally built circa 1650. It remained unchanged until circa 1820, when its upper, side protection walls were partially reconstructed, removing two semi circle areas, which had provided safety to pedestrians from splashes from high speeding coaches and galloping horses. In the twentieth century both of these walls were removed and replaced by steel railings and the bridge road surface also was widened with a pedestrian footpath added on the south side.

This original 17 century bridge was constructed using a combination of rubble and dressed limestone materials, and has provided textural variation and interest, which gave scenic value to the amenity areas to the south and north. (Well it did until certain individuals placed assorted pipes and wires across its seven beautiful arches.)

Only one Thurles Councillor, so far, has asked Co Council engineers to inspect the bridge, but he states “there is no cause for panic,” however to use the famous riposte spoken by Mandy Rice-Davies, a Welsh former model and showgirl, best known for her role in the Profumo affair, “Well, he would, wouldn’t he?”

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Edward “Ned,” Kelly (1854–80) was the last and most controversial of Victorian bushrangers. Pursued by police for robbery and murder, he was finally captured and hanged at the Melbourne Gaol, after a gun fight with police at Glenrowan in 1880.

Kelly survived a shootout with police in 1878 which saw himself, his brother Dan, and friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart slapped with an £8,000 bounty, the largest reward ever offered in the British Empire, for anyone who found the gang dead or alive.

Considered by some as a cold-blooded killer, he became famous for wearing his home-made body armour. Kelly has also been described as a symbol of Irish-Australian resistance to the British ruling classes in Australia, during this period, taking on the might of the colonial authorities, at what he saw as corrupt police, injustice and greedy land barons.

Portrait of Ned Kelly circa 1860

In a final gun battle at Glenrowan, three of the gang members died and Kelly, dressed in home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was later wounded and arrested. The captured Kelly spent his last days in the same Gaol as his mother who was also serving a sentence in the women’s wing. Kelly was eventually sentenced to death for murder, following his gang’s killing of three policemen, and he was hanged in Melbourne Gaol on November 11th 1880.

After his execution, Kelly, was originally buried in a mass grave at the Old Melbourne Gaol, however, his remains, together with 33 other prisoners, were reburied in Pentridge Prison in 1929. The mass grave was excavated again in 2009, and an almost complete skeleton was found in a wooden axe box at the prison site, thus beginning the quest to identify which bones belonged to Ned Kelly.

Twenty months of scientific examination, involving forensic scientists in Australia and Argentina, using a DNA sample provided by Melbourne art teacher Leigh Olver, latter Kelly’s sister Ellen’s great-grandson, have now confirmed that the bones are indeed the remains of the infamous bushranger.

The outlaw’s skull, which was stolen from a glass display case in 1978, still remains missing and reports that the Victorian government will consider putting the skeleton on display, has been greeted with anger by another relative. Anthony Griffiths, a great-grandson of Kelly’s sister Grace, believes that a public exhibition of Kelly’s bones would be macabre and disgusting.

Rolling Stone Mick Jagger played the lead role in the 1970 movie “Ned Kelly” while Heath Ledger starred as the bandit in a 2003 remake, that also featured Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush.

Kelly has also been the inspiration for many books, most notably Peter Carey’s novel “True History of the Kelly Gang“, which won the 2001 Booker Prize.

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A new Tourism group “Hidden Tipperary,” in association with the Anner Hotel, Thurles, Thurles Library and the GAA are offering visitors a chance to relax, while experiencing at first hand, Ireland’s real hidden history, some of which has never been previously revealed.

The week-end break begins at 12.00 noon on Friday August 26th next and runs until 12.00 noon on Sunday 28th inclusive. But Note this year the event is strictly limited to just 100 visiting couples.

Total cost of this weekend is just €60 inclusive and will include 2 nights Bed and Breakfast at the beautiful modern Anner Hotel, Thurles, free guided tours to the Thurles GAA museum, the Thurles Famine Museum, a Thurles Ecclesiastical history lecture and a lecture on how to begin tracing your family roots.

Time will also be given to visitors to shop locally and to experience the friendly atmosphere of a midland town, which has singularly contributed more to Ireland’s past history than any other town in Ireland.

Over this 2 day event, lectures will be undertaken by GAA historian Seamus King, Church historian Monsignor Dr Maurice Dooley, Chief history researcher and archivist from Thurles Library and Curator of Thurles Famine Museum George Willoughby, who will also act as the weekend events co-ordinator.

Those wishing to be part of this bargain weekend event are requested to immediately email george.willo@gmail.com for bookings or for to obtain any further information.

Bookings and Information can also be exchanged by Telephoning 0504-21133 or by Mobile Phone Contact to 086-8785859.

Local people are invited to notify their friends at home and abroad regarding this August event here in Thurles.

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