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 Carlo (Charles) Bianconi was born in Tregolo, in the Lombard Highlands, near Como, Italy on September 24th. 1786. A wild youth and showing no real talent at school, his father paid for him to be sent on an eighteen month apprenticeship to art dealer Andrea Faroni. Faroni with Bianconi and three other apprentice boys in tow, Giuseppe Castelli, Girolamo Camagni and his friend Giuseppe Ribaldi crossed the French Alps and France on foot in 1801, eventually arriving in Dublin in 1802.
They set up shop near Essex Street Bridge in the now Temple Bar area of Dublin and the young Bianconi continued to serve his apprenticeship as a street picture-seller equipped with just one word of the English language, the word “buy“. The price of his wares he demonstrated by holding up his fingers to prospective clients, one finger represented one penny.
Later the same year he was sent, weekly, with four pence to cover his expenses, down into rural Ireland. Leaving Dublin on a Monday morning with his pictures he travelled on foot through Munster and Leinster selling his wares and organising his route, thus ensuring to be back in Dublin, to his employer, by late Saturday night. From actual records, we know he was arrested in Passage East, Co Waterford and held in jail, over night, for selling pictures of, the then British number one enemy, Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1804, on the termination of his eighteen month apprenticeship, he decided not to return home but took to the road selling pictures and frames for himself, carrying his wares in a large box, strapped to his shoulders. The box according to Bianconi himself weighed approximately thirty pounds in weight.
He set up his own shop two years later in Carrick in 1806, but later transferred this business to Waterford and later still to Clonmel Co. Tipperary, where in 1809 he opened at No.1 Gladstone Street as a first class “Carver and Guilder”.
He was a frequent visitor to the Ursuline Convent in Thurles where he admits to being well fed by Reverend Mother Tobin.It was during his travels he met the first love of his life and with the permission of her father sent her to be educated in the Ursuline Convent, Thurles. This love however was never to fully blossom, as his student fell in love with another and Bianconi sadly was forced to give up all pretensions to ever making her his wife.
It is said that ‘necessity is the mother of invention‘ and surely Bianconi is evidence of this fact. Travelling on foot around Ireland, carrying his heavy materials, and often walking twenty to thirty miles each day in the course of this work, quickly demonstrated to Bianconi the great need for a cheap and reliable integrated transport system. It therefore came as no surprise that in July 6th 1815 the first Bianconi two-wheel horse drawn cart, carrying three or four passengers went into commission from Clonmel to Cahir, thus introducing the beginnings of the first ever integrated transport system, into Ireland.
 Travel on one of these “Bians” as they were to become known, cost one-penny farthing a mile. Such demand was there for his transport that over the next 30 years a huge network of communications were established, with Clonmel, Co. Tipperary as its hub. Huge employment was also now created from this growing transport business. The year 1833 saw the “long car” go into production from his coach building premises in Clonmel which enabled him to carry up to twenty passengers, plus cargo and mail deliveries for both British and Irish Post Offices. Here in Thurles, his depot was situated in O`Shea`s Hotel which today trades as McLoughneys, a ladies clothing boutique. The stables where he fed and changed his horses between journeys still exists, relatively unchanged, to this very day and are situated at the rear of Ryan’s Jewellers shop, Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
In 1832 Charles Bianconi married Eliza Hayes the daughter of a wealthy Dublin stockbroker. They begot one son, Charles and two daughters Kate and Mary Anne. Kate died in 1854 and her brother Charles ten years later in 1864. The other surviving daughter Mary married Morgan John O`Connell. In 1864 Morgan O’Connell, nephew of Daniel O`Connell (The Liberator), had succeeded to his mother’s property in Clare known as the McMahon Estate. On February 21st. 1865 he married Mary Anne Bianconi, then aged twenty five (died 1908). Mary Anne, in her own right, was the authoress and compiler of several books including the life story of her father (Charles Bianconi, A Biography). Her new husband Morgan was a regular companion of William M.Thackeray, both, indeed, were members of the “Old Fielding’s Club” as was Charles Dickens.
The advent of railway in 1834 brought home to Bianconi the realisation that his coaching business had now only a limited future. He immediately began to buy shares in the different rail lines as they were being built. He began to sell his coaches and long carts to his employees who had worked for him. He, himself, became a director in Daniel O`Connell`s newly founded National Bank and between 1843 and 1846, he became a Councillor and was twice elected Mayor of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
It was at this time, also, he purchased the one thousand acre property known then and now as Longfield House, in the parish of Boherlahan, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, where he resided for twenty nine years and died in 1875 aged 89, a millionaire. He is buried in the family mortuary chapel in Boherlahan, Cashel, which he designed and partially constructed himself.
Legend states that as he breathed his last breath a phantom coach and horses were heard coming up the drive of his much loved Longfield House.
 ‘Slates Up!” (ISBN: 9780950928944) enables pupils to discover what life was like in a nineteenth century primary school. It is a publication designed to support the 1999 Primary History Curriculum. It aims is to better equip teachers with true primary sources relating to schools in early nineteenth century Ireland.
A primary source is a piece of historical evidence that was created at the time to which it relates. The primary sources in ‘Slates Up!’ are from the little known archives of the famous Kildare Place Society, Rathmines, Dublin.
The Kildare Place Society (Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in Ireland) was a pioneering charitable institution involved in early Irish education. It was founded in 1811 by a group or philanthropic men in Dublin, including Samuel Bewley of the Quaker (Society of Friends) merchant family and J.D. La Touche of the Huguenot banking family.
Reviews:
Dr Christopher Stray, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wales, Swansea wrote: “This book is an admirable and well-conceived teaching tool. The space taken up by questions to be answered by (modern) pupils, make it both more and less than a straightforward compilation of historical evidence. But anyone interested in the crucial detail of curriculum and teaching in the past would enjoy reading ‘Slates Up!’. To quote again from one of the posters it shows us: Oh! How pretty! Ah! How wise!’ “. (review in Paradigm: Journal of the Textbook Colloquium, Volume 3 Issue 2 July 2007)
In his review of ‘Slates Up’, Dr. Kenneth Milne the eminent Church of Ireland Historiographer wrote: “Good history teachers have long understood that we need to bring the subject to life for pupils if they are to engage with it. The Primary School Curriculum advocates an approach to the teaching of history that reflects the nature of history itself, in which documents play a vital part. But when educationalists encourage the use of documentary evidence in the classroom, teachers are sometimes at a loss to find suitable material for the purpose. Here it is, splendidly presented, and full of suggestions”.
John Fahy of Inis wrote: “This well-produced book enables pupils of today to act as real investigative historians as they explore the everyday educational experience of pupils at the beginning of the 19th century. This is how history should be experienced, as exciting discovery of a past which has something to say to our present” (review in Inis No 15, Spring 2006).
Contents Overview:
‘Slates Up!’ includes a wealth of resources for teachers and pupils. The topics explored include:
An examination of a typical nineteenth century schoolhouse.
Lessons 19th century children experienced: spellings, mathematics, poetry, grammar and more!
Investigations explore rewards and punishments for 19th century primary pupils.
Guidelines and resources to assist the re-enactment of a typical 19th century school day.
Teachers’ guidelines and a wealth of pupils’ activity sheets.
This excellent publication is compiled by Thurles born Karen Willoughby B. Ed. and former pupil of the Ursuline Convent ,Thurles, Co.Tipperary, with consultant editors Valerie Coghlan, Geraldine O’Connor and Susan Parkes all lecturers at CICE and Trinity College Dublin
Slates Up! is well worth investing in, because all of the publication’s contents can be photocopied. Thus one copy can cater to the needs of multiple classes.
Where to Buy:
To purchase ‘Slates Up!’ go to www.cice.ie/AboutCICE/CICEPublications.aspx or www.readireland.ie
 From newspaper and TV reports communicated some months ago, we learned that residents of housing estates around Ireland were concerned about horses that roam freely grazing on park land within these housing estates. Members of the “Travelling Community” , which had been newly housed in these estate have brought with them one of their customs, that of keeping a horse. The settled community feel these animals, wandering loose and unsupervised, are a danger to their children and elderly residents. It would appear that “the more things change the more they remain the same”, for similar fears were expressed by the inhabitants of New York city some 150 years ago regarding the custom of pig keeping.
Half the total of Irish emigrants, many from Co. Tipperary, to all ports of the United States, before, during and after the Great Irish Famine, landed in New York city. Records show, that during a seven month period in 1847, a total of 52,946 Irish peasant immigrants landed in New York, from coffin ships.
New York was a rough, tough, and boisterous town, a centre of immense wealth, with fine buildings, but retaining some of the features of a frontier town. There was a strong feeling of `nativism` or America for the Americans in New York at this time .
The poem “The Colossus” by Emma Lazarus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,” etc., would have been, indeed, very much rejected in New York at this time. These starving, emaciated and spectre-like wretches, who tottered on shore in New York, also brought with them one of their customs, that of keeping a pig.
Vagrant pigs, acted as scavengers, wandering the streets at will. They consumed garbage, human slops, human and animal manure, and offal from butchers shops, converting it into flesh which could be eaten once again by humans. (Thurles Tidy Town people take note).
The Irish kept these animals in `hog pens` on any vacant lot that could be found, throughout the city. There were eight of these pig pens on 5th Avenue and 3rd Street alone and from there the occupants were turned out to forage for themselves. Novelist Charles Dickens (1812- 1870) in his travelogue “American Notes” referred to pigs as, quote, “Gentlemen hogs of Broadway”
On August 20th.1847 The Sun a New York newspaper (1833-1950) reports that no fewer than 10,000 pigs presently roam about the city, and are described ” as dangerous as hyenas“. On February 4th 1847 the New York Daily Tribune (1841-1924) talks about Irish pigs lounging up Broadway and Third Avenue.
The pig, by nature, is a rooting animal and has no sweat glands which means that they must have access to water or mud in which they can control their own body temperature. However, horses pulling laden carts, through the streets, with much needed supplies, occasionally fall breaking their legs in the holes and ruts made by the pigs, as they root in the rough muddy roadways. Attempts by the cities authorities to curb these pigs and capture them, were fiercely resisted by the Irish owners and were soon abandoned.
However, another nuisance in the New York of this time was to show the cities authorities a solution to the pig problem. This other nuisance was stray dogs. Mad dog attacks were common. The authorities in an effort to control these dogs, offered a reward of 50 cents for every dog clubbed to death. Indeed, “Municipal Dog Killers” were employed during the summer months to beat out the brains of any dog found without a muzzle on the streets. Between July 15th and August 25th 1847, a total of 1,510 dogs were clubbed to death. Other dogs found were clubbed to death by gangs of young boys anxious to earn the reward moneys offered. The New York Sun newspaper states that remaining dogs have learned the hours that the dog killers are about and conceal themselves, to later appear in droves.
The success of this dog killing project, now show the City Fathers that the offer of a reward is the solution for their pig problem and over the coming years all pigs begin to disappear off New York streets.
 Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, son of Walter Butler “Walter of the Rosaries,” was probably the first of the family to take up residence in Thurles Castle. Thomas was summoned to England in 1619 to answer charges of treason, but the ship conveying him was wrecked off the coast of Skerries and he was drowned on 15th December 1619. His wife was Elizabeth Poyntz, daughter of Sir John Poyntz, Bart., of Acton in Gloucestershire, and the celebrated Lady Thurles (see pic). They had been married since 1608 and were the parents of three sons and four daughters.
 After Viscount Thurles’s death, his widow, Lady Thurles, married again, about 1620, one Captain George Mathew of Radyr and Llandaff in Glamorganshire, Wales, by whom Lady Thurles had a further two sons and a daughter. Captain George Mathew died at Tenby in Wales in 1636. His widow, Lady Thurles survived him by 37 years and died in Thurles in May 1673. Her body was interred beside St. Mary’s Famine Museum Church in Thurles. A period portrait, oil on canvas, of Lady Thurles is in the possession of the Tipperary County Library at the Source building in Thurles.
(Please click on both images for higher resolution)
Lady Thurles was a loyal and staunch Catholic, but also a loyal and staunch Englishwoman (Royalist). From the time of her marriage with Viscount Thurles until her death in May 1673, she resided in Thurles Castle, except perhaps for a short period (1658-1660) during the Cromwellian regime.
Generations later, the 3rd Duke of Abercorn’s daughter married Earl Spencer, grandfather of the Lady Diana Spencer who married Prince Charles of England. Thus Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, and Elizabeth Poyntz, Lady Thurles are direct ancestors of Lady Diana Spencer.
Prince Charles of England is a direct descendant of Viscount and Lady Thurles through their eldest son, the Duke of Ormond. The Duke’s daughter, Elizabeth, married Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Chesterfield, and their daughter Elizabeth Stanhope married John Lyon, 4th Earl Strathmore. Later in direct line was the 14th Earl Strathmore whose daughter, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married the future King George VI; and these are the grandparents of Prince Charles.
 The 11th November, each year, we remember our dead from the two Great World Wars, 1914-18 and 1939-45. This date is the day that World War I ended in 1918, and when the armistice was signed in Compiègne, Northern France, at 5am. On the closest Sunday to this November date, we remember the dead in our Church ceremonies. This Sunday is known as Remembrance Sunday or Poppy Sunday.
It was on the 7th. November 1919, King George V first issued a proclamation which called for a two-minute silence, having read a letter published in the London Evening News of the 8th. May 1919, by a Melbourne journalist, Edward George Honey. It was Honey who first proposed a two minute silence in memory of those, who so willingly sacrificed their lives for the relative peace and freedom we enjoy today. The proclamation reads “All locomotion should cease, so that, in perfect stillness, the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead”.
Thanks to research, first undertaken by a local Holycross resident Tom Burnell, we have been able to trace seventy two military personnel, born in the town of Thurles who gave their lives in World War One. Their names are now carved on a limestone wall, funded and erected by Thurles Urban District Council. Like most war memorials, that famous forth stanza, by war poet Laurence Binyon (1869 – 1943), taken from his poem ‘For the Fallen’, takes pride of place in the centre of all those named.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
As stated, Remembrance Sunday is also known as Poppy Sunday, because, since 1921, it is traditional for people to wear an artificial poppy in their lapel. Very few poppies are worn in Ireland mainly because of politicians, community leaders and press not being in possession of the facts and who fall short in attempts to ascertain truth. Indeed a recently aired programme by RTE One, last week, supports this former statement. Due to this misinformed debate many people in Ireland see the humble majestic poppy as a symbol of some kind of British Imperialism which of course it can never and will never be.
The poppy was first worn by an American, one Moira Michael. Moira wore the poppy in an act of remembrance. She bought some poppies, wore one, and sold others, raising money for ex-servicemen. Her colleague, French YMCA Secretary, Madame E. Guerin, greatly impressed with Miss Michael’s idea of the Flanders poppy as a badge of remembrance, decided that upon her return to France, she would sell handmade Flanders Poppies as a relief project for war orphans and poor children. Thus the red poppy, worn to keep faith and in remembrance of the War Dead, began in France. So where is the British Imperialism connection?. Perhaps it stems from the fact that the idea from these simple actions spread and the Royal British Legion, a charity dedicated to supporting war veterans and their families, began to offer these poppies for sale at no stated price, in November 1921, with total proceeds going to their worthy cause. Indeed many deserving Irish residents have reaped the benefits of this charitable work. To claim that the red poppy is associated with British Imperialism demonstrates only ignorance and greatly belittles the truth.
Poppy seed remains dormant deep within the soil until disturbed. On the Western Front this seed would have lain dormant for years, but the battles being fought in Flanders had churned up the ground bringing this seed to the surface. The most magnificent profusion of poppy bloom reported in World War One was in Ypres, a town in Flanders, Belgium, which then was so important to allied defences. It was also here that the new chlorine gas with which the Germans experimented, was first used. Disturbance of the soil brought forth the poppies in greatest abundance, thus inspiring a Canadian soldier, Major John McCrae,(1872-1918) to write his most famous poem “In Flanders Fields”.
Major John McCrae was a Canadian physician and fought on the Western Front in 1914. He was later transferred to the medical corps and assigned to a hospital in France. While on active duty he died of pneumonia in 1918, the final year of World War One.
Those of you who still remain unsure, for whatever reason as to what the poppy represents, please humour me, by reading this poem at least once.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
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