Waterford Women of The Revolution 1914-1923

 

By late 1922 and early 1923 the Free State Government were becoming increasingly impatient in curtailing the activity of the Irregulars. Historically, the significance of the input by Cumann na mBan to the conflict enabled the war to continue. There can be no doubt about that! They not only maintained lines of communication but involved themselves in other areas of conflict and, basically, they had to be stopped!

And so began the rounding up and large scale arrests of many leading women. Kilmainham Jail was opened to women from February 1923 until September 1923.

Over that short period there were over 500 women imprisoned in the Jail. The witness statements of the women detail the harrowing treatment of female prisoners during their incarnation in Kilmainham Mountjoy and North Dublin Union.

Many women were initially arrested and imprisoned in their local jails but later transferred to the larger Dublin prisons. The Emergency Powers acts permitted the Military Courts to arrest and detain women without trial with just the signatures of two Officers. While some women were detained for days or weeks; many were incarcerated without trial and for significantly longer periods. Miss Bridget/Biddy Condon of Ballymacarbry, Co Waterford was arrested in her place of work in Clonmel on 7 March and initially imprisoned in Clonmel jail. Biddy had helped establish the Ballymacarbry and Nire Cumann na mBan branches in 1918, alongside Mary Cooney, District President of the 5th Battalion South Tipperary Brigade. Prior to the Civil War the Ballymacarbry branch were under the command of South Tipperary District, despite its location in Waterford County.

After the truce Ballymacarbry branch merged with the Waterford Brigade and Cumann na mBan branch with Dungarvan District Council. In her role as Treasurer of the Ballymacarbry branch, she was involved with intelligence, dispatch work, transporting ammunition, sending parcels to IRA prisoners for both South Tipperary and West Waterford Colum’s. As an Intelligence Officer during the War of Independence, information secured by her led to an important attack on a British military train near Cahir. Like many anti-Treaty Cumann na mBan, her work became more involved and precarious during the Civil War period, despite having to continue working fulltime to support herself. During the occupation of Clonmel Barracks, she was called on to assist each night after work with field dressings and other tasks. The importance of the more hard-line Republican women was well known to the Free State. Imprisoning these women allowed them to curtail the vital support network for the IRA and gain control over the anti-Treaty insurrection. Bridget and Mary were arrested in their place of work and held with other local Cumann na mBan women in Clonmel Jail for several weeks, before they were transferred to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin.

During a nine-month period they were incarcerated without trial and in April/May transferred to North Dublin Union. Both women were released on active hunger strike in considerably poor health on 7 November 1923, just days before the strike officially ended.

On 23 November, the strike officially ended and the remaining female prisoners in the NDU were released in December 1923. When Biddy returned home to Ballymacarbry, Co. Waterford she was in extremely poor health. To add insult to injury she now found herself without a job and therefore had no income. The difficult decision to sell her home was not an option, but a certainty. She took up residence for a time with her brother-in-law and her sister, Mary O’Ryan, Ballymacarbry. Bridget’s brother-in-law, Michael O’Ryan also served a lengthy incarceration during the end of the Civil War and endured a lengthy hunger strike. Biddy was later refused an l military pension and forced to appeal this decision. Mary Cooney died prematurely in 1942 and on 30 April and the same year her brother and next of kin, Seán Cooney was granted a pension from the date of application in 1934 until her death in 1942.

For more about Bridget Condon and many more Waterford women buy your copy of Waterford Women of the Revolution 1914-1923 at Waterford Book Centre, David Walsh’s, Lower Main Street, Dungarvan, Lismore Heritage Centre and Waterford County Museum, 058 45960 or history@waterfordmuseum.ie and also online https://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/revolution/.

Walks and Talks at 3, 2023 Series

 A series of free half hour talks & walks exclusively for members, presented by Museum Curator William Fraher.

Talks will take place in the museum at 3pm with refreshments after.

 

The walks will take place at 3pm, meeting in the museum and will be subject to weather conditions on the day.

Please contact the museum to book your place in advance at 058 45960

 

TALKS SCHEDULE: 

Wed 22^th February - Museum Top Twenty Artefacts

The curator’s choice of the 20 most interesting artefacts on display

 

Wed 1^st  March - A Waterford Explorer in Egypt

Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart of Dromana – his travels in Egypt.

 

WALKS SCHEDULE:

Wed 8^th March – St Mary’s Parish Church Cemetery

‘Grave matters’ - interesting grave memorials

Wed 15^th March – St Mary’s Church of Ireland

Learn about Dungarvan’s oldest ecclesiastical site and its various churches.

 

 

Stories from Old Newspapers

 Town Park Archway 1895

On 3 September 1894 a special meeting was held by Dungarvan Town Commissioners consider adopting the 'Parks Act'. 'We the Town Commissioners in special meeting assembled do determine to establish a Public Park for the use and enjoyment of the people of Dungarvan, that we take steps to acquire land and that we apply portion of the grant of the late Captain William Gibbons towards carrying out the subject matter of this resolution’.  Captain Gibbons lived nearby in Church Street and died on 14 December 1894 age 67. In his will he left a bequest of £1,750 to the townspeople for the creation of a park, improvements at the lookout and for a park at Ringnasilloge (the latter project was never carried out).

On 6 September 1894 John Walsh proposed at a meeting of Dungarvan Town Commissioners that they:  'establish and maintain a Public park'. at a meeting some weeks later, the Commissioners agreed to the establishment of a park. On 18 October the clerk was ordered to write to various landowners to enquire what sum they required for six to nineteen acres of land. A deputation was appointed to visit one of the sites for the proposed park. This was situated at Jacknell Street, now called Park Terrace, on an elevated site overlooking the bay. The Commissioners appointed Michael Beary, the Borough Surveyor to design the site. On 2 November 1894 the Commissioners decided to place an advert in the Waterford Star indicating their intention to establish a park.

An archway was erected as an entrance to the park. It had an inscribed plaque with decorative limestone surrounds. At the commissioner’s meeting of June 1895, the following inscription was ordered to be placed over the arch:

These grounds were acquired and ornamented, and the bathing place adjoining improved by the Town commissioners with portions of a bequest of £1,760 left them for specific improvement on the 13th December 1894 by William Gibbons, Dungarvan.

Trustees:  Rev.Denis Whelan, St.John's College ; Edmond Keohan, Chairman Town Commissioners ; William Evans, National Bank, Dungarvan. ; Contractor: George Stokes, Dungarvan ; Engineer: Michael Beary B.S., Dungarvan ; Thomas McCarthy, Town Clerk.

 

The Condemned Slab in the Town Park 

 

Walks and Talks at 3, 2023 Series

 A series of free half hour talks & walks exclusively for members, presented by Museum Curator William Fraher.

 

Talks will take place in the museum at 3pm with refreshments after.

 

The walks will take place at 3pm, meeting in the museum and will be subject to weather conditions on the day.

Please contact the museum to book your place in advance at 058 45960

 

TALKS SCHEDULE:

Wed 8^th   February - A Scrapbook of Memories

The scrapbook of Rev Mon. Richard J Casey of Dungarvan

 

Wed 15^th February - A Villa in Town

The history of three suburban villas in Dungarvan – The Beeches, Mountain View, & Monroe Glebe

 

Wed 22^th February - Museum Top Twenty Artefacts

The curator’s choice of the 20 most interesting artefacts on display

 

Wed 1^st  March - A Waterford Explorer in Egypt

Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart of Dromana – his travels in Egypt.

 

WALKS SCHEDULE:

Wed 8^th March – St Mary’s Parish Church Cemetery

‘Grave matters’ - interesting grave memorials

Wed 15^th March – St Mary’s Church of Ireland

Learn about Dungarvan’s oldest ecclesiastical site and its various churches.

 

 

Waterford Women of The Revolution 1914-1923

 

By late 1922 and early 1923 the Free State Government were becoming increasingly impatient in curtailing the activity of the Irregulars. Historically, the significance of the input by Cumann na mBan to the conflict enabled the war to continue. There can be no doubt about that! They not only maintained lines of communication but involved themselves in other areas of conflict and, basically, they had to be stopped!

And so began the rounding up and large scale arrests of many leading women. Kilmainham Jail was opened to women from February 1923 until September 1923.

Over that short period there were over 500 women imprisoned in the Jail. The witness statements of the women detail the harrowing treatment of female prisoners during their incarnation in Kilmainham Mountjoy and North Dublin Union.

Many women were initially arrested and imprisoned in their local jails but later transferred to the larger Dublin prisons. The Emergency Powers acts permitted the Military Courts to arrest and detain women without trial with just the signatures of two Officers. While some women were detained for days or weeks; many were incarcerated without trial and for significantly longer periods. Miss Bridget/Biddy Condon of Ballymacarbry, Co Waterford was arrested in her place of work in Clonmel on 7 March and initially imprisoned in Clonmel jail. Biddy had helped establish the Ballymacarbry and Nire Cumann na mBan branches in 1918, alongside Mary Cooney, District President of the 5th Battalion South Tipperary Brigade. Prior to the Civil War the Ballymacarbry branch were under the command of South Tipperary District, despite its location in Waterford County.

After the truce Ballymacarbry branch merged with the Waterford Brigade and Cumann na mBan branch with Dungarvan District Council. In her role as Treasurer of the Ballymacarbry branch, she was involved with intelligence, dispatch work, transporting ammunition, sending parcels to IRA prisoners for both South Tipperary and West Waterford Colum’s. As an Intelligence Officer during the War of Independence, information secured by her led to an important attack on a British military train near Cahir. Like many anti-Treaty Cumann na mBan, her work became more involved and precarious during the Civil War period, despite having to continue working fulltime to support herself. During the occupation of Clonmel Barracks, she was called on to assist each night after work with field dressings and other tasks. The importance of the more hard-line Republican women was well known to the Free State. Imprisoning these women allowed them to curtail the vital support network for the IRA and gain control over the anti-Treaty insurrection. Bridget and Mary were arrested in their place of work and held with other local Cumann na mBan women in Clonmel Jail for several weeks, before they were transferred to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin.

During a nine-month period they were incarcerated without trial and in April/May transferred to North Dublin Union. Both women were released on active hunger strike in considerably poor health on 7 November 1923, just days before the strike officially ended.

On 23 November, the strike officially ended and the remaining female prisoners in the NDU were released in December 1923. When Biddy returned home to Ballymacarbry, Co. Waterford she was in extremely poor health. To add insult to injury she now found herself without a job and therefore had no income. The difficult decision to sell her home was not an option, but a certainty. She took up residence for a time with her brother-in-law and her sister, Mary O’Ryan, Ballymacarbry. Bridget’s brother-in-law, Michael O’Ryan also served a lengthy incarceration during the end of the Civil War and endured a lengthy hunger strike. Biddy was later refused an l military pension and forced to appeal this decision. Mary Cooney died prematurely in 1942 and on 30 April and the same year her brother and next of kin, Seán Cooney was granted a pension from the date of application in 1934 until her death in 1942.

For more about Bridget Condon and many more Waterford women buy your copy of Waterford Women of the Revolution 1914-1923 at Waterford Book Centre, David Walsh’s, Lower Main Street, Dungarvan, Lismore Heritage Centre and Waterford County Museum, 058 45960 or history@waterfordmuseum.ie and also online https://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/revolution/.

 

 

 

 

 

Stories from Old Newspapers

 

Limerick Gazette 10 December 1804

Tragic Murders at Lisarow

On the night of Friday, the 2nd ult., a most cruel murder and robbery was committed at Lisarow, near Ardmore, Co Waterford, on the bodies of Darby and Daniel Hearn, farmers (father and son), by three armed men, who broke into their house about an hour of 12 or one o’clock (many more remaining outside) and having procured a light, they immediately commenced a search for the above unfortunate persons, and on finding them vied with each other who should commit the horrid deed – which they did by shooting the son through the head, and killing him on the spot; they then fired at the father, but only wounding him in the thigh, they compelled him to take a draft, supposed to be poison, as he died shortly after in great agony. The villains then robbed the house of cash and bank notes to the amount of £120 and burned promissory notes and bonds to the amount of £350  more; after which they deliberately sat down to the fire and smoked some tobacco, and before they departed bound the remainder of the family, by oath, to quit the farm in three days.  

 

 

Waterford Women of The Revolution 1914-1923

This new book by authors Eddie Cantwell and Christina Knight - O’Connor-   is now on sale at the museum and David Walsh office supplies, Dungarvan and retails for €25. Copies are selling fast, so get yours before it sells out. Congratulations to the authors on a significant work, beautifully printed, the fruit of many years of research. 

The early 20th century was a period of intense, conflicting, contrasting, and political, social views and ideals. Ideals that were to collide and launch the country from a world war to a determined campaign for Irish independence and eventually a bitter Civil War. During this period of unrest, many Waterford women grasped the opportunity to become actively involved in the fight for a free and United Ireland. Most people will have some knowledge of the stories behind the revolutionary Dublin women who were actively involved in this period, but know virtually nothing about Waterford women. Why is this? Why were these brave women who risked all in the fight of independence ignored by historians, and, Ignored by the male officers that they served under? Yes, when they fought for a medal and pensions in the 30s the men did sign their application, and submitted the odd letter outlining their attributes and their involvement in the fight for freedom. But look at the statistics; in Waterford more than six hundred women were members of Cumann na mBan or working as Intelligence officers for their local Volunteer Battalions. Cumann na mBan or the Women’s Council, was a female Nationalist Organisation founded, on 2 April 1914. Waterford Cumann na mBan provided safe houses, took on non-combat roles in sieges, ambushes, and they carried guns to locations of ambush sites. They found suitable locations to hide guns in preparation for these ambushes, and were there to remove them after.

They manufactured explosives, in their own houses! And, of course they served prison sentences. Chrissy Knight- O’Connor and Eddie Cantwell do not claim to have all the answers of why these brave revolutionary women were ignored in the passage of time. But they have set out to at least shine a light, no matter how small, on the sacrifices that these women made

Their book details the stories, personal accounts and recollections of many Waterford women including Nora Foley (née Mulcahy) Abbeyview, Dungarvan. What a significant and historical role she played when she carried the ceasefire message to Dublin that heralded the end of the Irish Civil War. On this occasion Miss Fiona Plunkett arrived from Dublin to Nora’s home and she escorted her to an executive meeting in the Nire. Miss Plunkett was a leading member of the Cumann na mBan Executive and sister of Jack, George, and Joseph Plunkett. All three brothers took part in the Easter Rising. People will be more familiar with Joseph, who was executed for his part in the Rising and as a signatory of the Proclamation following the surrender. Seven hours before his execution by firing squad at the age of 28, he was married in the prison chapel to his sweetheart Grace Gifford who was a Protestant convert to Catholicism. Her sister, Muriel, had married his best friend Thomas MacDonagh, who was also executed for his role in the Easter Rising. Grace never married again

 

 Nora tells us. ‘I conduced Miss Fiona Plunkett to the Nire from Dungarvan to an executive meeting, where we both waited through the night in the kitchen of the cottage, where the meeting was being held. At the termination of the meeting a dispatch was brought out to us, and we were instructed to carry same to Dublin. As far as I can remember this dispatch was the ‘Dump arms and ceasefire order’. Miss Plunkett carried the dispatch as far as Waterford City, because in the Waterford area I might be recognised and searched. In Waterford she handed the dispatch to me, and I carried it to Dublin unaccompanied. Acting on Miss Plunkett’s instruction, I met her in Dublin and delivered it to her. Still acting on her instruction I called to An Stad restaurant and handed a dispatch, which I took to Tipperary having to remain there until a special messenger was sent to collect it.

 ‘An Stad’ 30 North Frederick Street, Irish for the ‘The Stop’ was a well-known meeting place for Nationalists and people who wished for the revival of the Irish Language and culture from the late 19^th century. During the Civil War its proprietor Mollie Gleeson took the anti-Treaty side, and it was used as an underground command centre for the IRA and Cumann na mBan.

To read more about Nora and many more Waterford women copies of Waterford Women of the Revolution 1914-1923 are available at Waterford Book Centre, David Walsh’s, Lower Main Street, Dungarvan, Lismore Heritage Centre and Waterford County Museum, 05845960 or history@waterfordmuseum.ie https://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/revolution/

Funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media under the Decade of Centenaries - History Ireland 2012-2023 initiatives and Waterford City and County Council Commemorations Committee.

New Museum Committee/Trustees 2023

The following were elected at our recent Annual General Meeting:

 

• Chairperson:               Thomas Phelan
• Vice Chair Person:      Tom Broderick
• Secretary:                   Christine King
• Treasurer:                   Paula Uí Uallacháin

 

Trustees

• Eddie Cantwell
• Tony Fitzgerald
• Mary Giblin
• Denis Barron
• Miriam Walsh
• Irma Costello
• Christina Flynn
• Aine Uí Fhoghlli

 

 

• 
  

 

Talks & Walks at 3 - 2023 Series

A series of free half hour talks & walks exclusively for members, presented by Museum Curator William Fraher.

 

Talks will take place in the museum at 3pm with refreshments after.

 

The walks will take place at 3pm, meeting in the museum and will be subject to weather conditions on the day.

Please contact the museum to book your place in advance at 058 45960

 

TALKS SCHEDULE:

Wed 8^th   February - A Scrapbook of Memories

The scrapbook of Rev Mon. Richard J Casey of Dungarvan

 

Wed 15^th February - A Villa in Town

The history of three suburban villas in Dungarvan – The Beeches, Mountain View, & Monroe Glebe

 

Wed 22^th February - Museum Top Twenty Artefacts

The curator’s choice of the 20 most interesting artefacts on display

 

Wed 1^st  March - A Waterford Explorer in Egypt

Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart of Dromana – his travels in Egypt.

 

WALKS SCHEDULE:

Wed 8^th March – St Mary’s Parish Church Cemetery

‘Grave matters’ - interesting grave memorials

Wed 15^th March – St Mary’s Church of Ireland

Learn about Dungarvan’s oldest ecclesiastical site and its various churches.