Ballybrack went to War

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Ken Kinsella wrote a book called Out of the Dark in which he presented the results of his extensive research into the South Dublin casualties at the front in WWI.

Marie Baker, Cathaoirleach, Tim Carey, Heritage Officer,
and Myles Dungan, Guest Speaker

When it came time to launch the book, his publisher, Conor Graham, MD of Irish Academic Press, approached Tim Carey, the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Heritage Officer, about a launch in the County (formerly Town) Hall. Tim told him that the Council were putting on a WWI exhibition at a later time which would be dealing with this theme also. So they agreed to combine the two events and last evening's launch was simultaneously of the book and the exhibition.

Marie Baker, Cathaoirleach
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Co. Council

Marie has become Cathaoirleach of the Council after the recent local elections and she takes over from Carrie Smyth whom we met at another local occasion recently. While new to this session she is not new to the job having previously been Cathaoirleach in 2009-2010.

Capacity audience

She welcomed the capacity audience on behalf of the Council and introduced both the exhibition and the book. She recalled that those WWI participants who had been cast aside in the past were now being brought to the fore.

Tim Carey, Heritage Officer
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Co. Council

Tim, still in jet-lag from the previous day's flight home from the USA and partly exhausted from setting out the chairs in this vast hall, filled us in on the background to the exhibition and its linking up with the book. Tim has been a very active promoter of heritage in the DLR area over the last number of years and it is good to see much of his hard work coming to fruition.

Conor Graham
Managing Director, Irish Academic Press

Conor's company have made a huge contribution to academic publishing over the years. Conor himself was educated in a hard school, but that's another story.

He thanked Ken Kinsella for providing him with a wonderful book to publish and he was very complimentary about how Ken handled his relationship with his publisher. He also thanked the Council for the opportunity to participate in the launching of this great exhibition

Marie Baker, Myles Dungan, Ken Kinsella

While Conor is speaking, Marie is listening attentively, Myles is doing a final check on his notes, while Ken, as the next speaker, is reaching deep into his inside pocket for his own script.

Ken Kinsella, Author

Ken outlines the labours of 13 years intensive research and contacts. You only have to read the acknowledgement pages in the book to see how widely his net had been cast. He is particularly concerned to humanise and localise the experience of those locals who fell in WWI and to set them in the context of their times and their families.

The book falls into two broad divisions. The first 23 pages form a series of mini chapters setting out the background and to some extent condensing the experience of the participants. The next 270 pages set out brief histories and/or descriptions of the geographical areas covered, each followed by a roll of honour which sets out details of those who fell, their family background and so on.

I understand, from reading Major-General David Nial Creagh's foreword to the book, that it concentrates on families who were, or became known, to the author. So, while it is not comprehensive it is representative of a wide range of the experiences of those from South County Dublin who were involved, one way or another, in WWI.

Myles Dungan, Guest Speaker

Myles praises both book and exhibition for continuing the process of bringing these soldiers down from the attic. He recounted his own experience of finding out how little he knew of the country's WWI heritage when confronted with the probing questions of two of the countries great historians, F X Martin and Kevin B Nowlan, in the course of applying for a scholarship to UCD's history department.

Ken Kinsella and Marie Baker

I snuk this picture from behind the shoulders of the official photographer so I am not sure if it's Marie trying to inveigle Ken into attending some more of the Council's heritage programme over the summer, or, whether that was supposed to be the book rather than the heritage programme. To be fair, though, the first item in the programme is the WWI commemoration. The programme also includes Martello Tower No.7 in Killiney, which will be open with guided tours each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon over the summer season.

Dr. T. K. Whitaker, former Secretary Department of Finance,
former Governor Central Bank

All of this was eclipsed for me by the opportunity to meet Dr. T. K. Whitaker ("one t") and have a chat. When I went into the Department of Finance, he was what is now called the Secretary General, or otherwise my boss's boss's boss's boss. However, he was also chairman of the National Industrial Economic Council (NIEC) and I was on the secretariat of the Council, so I got (slightly) closer to him then than our respective grades might imply.

I reminded him that, at that time, himself and Professor Louden Ryan were, in effect, running the country, and that memory seemed to cheer him up enormously. They were a lean and hungry team, those two Northerners, when they got together.

I am aware that the Ballybrack and Killiney UDC made no small contribution in manpower to the war effort. By October 1915 some 60 men had joined up. I think there is a plaque in St. Matthias's church to 14 or so from Ballybrack who died. I assume there would be further Catholic names to add to that list, but, as we all know, it was not the Catholic thing to recognise this particular sacrifice at that time. In addition to which, strictly speaking, I was not allowed to enter this Protestant church on pain of mortal sin. Enough to be accepting the delivery of milk from a Protestant dairy in them days.

Some of the Ballybrack casualties are shown below, as listed in the exhibition's roll of honour.

When we came to Ballybrack in 1954, Alec Horner had a cab business at this address. My mother availed of it from time to time and knew Alec well.

I have drawn attention to this address before.

Madden's cottages on Madden's lane between Daleview and the Wyatville Road.

Born in Ballybrack, resident in Loughlinstown. Not really as far away as it seems. Ballybrack, Killiney and Loughlinstown villages were inhabited by a lot of the same families. I remember my mother telling me that if I was on shop duty and a local came in to complain about someone from Killiney or Loughlinstown, to listen and say nothing, as complainer and complained were quite likely cousins at least.

For some, it appears that Ballybrack itself is enough of an address. When we arrived in 1954, everyone knew everyone else, not to mention what they might have known about each other.

I started with the book cover and I'll finish with it.

A South African nurse places a wreath on her brothers grave at Delville Wood in February 1918. My uncle died at the adjacent High Wood in September 1916 when they were going the other way. The curse of the Somme on Haig and his bloody useless tanks.

WWI: Killiney & Ballybrack

My main interest in WWI is my uncle's death on the Somme. However, there are some crossovers between my work on my family history and earlier work on local history in the Killiney/Ballybrack area, as the extract from the Irish Times in 1915 shows.

Basically British recruiting officials are pressuring local authorities directly to release eligible employees into the army. They are also exerting indirect pressure through regional recruiting committes to get the local authorities to set up local recruiting committees to exhort locals to join up.

Killiney and Ballybrack feel they have done their bit with 60 volunteers from the area by October 1915. So much so that the local builder is moaning he can't find workers to enable him to carry out building contracts.

You will notice the threat of conscription still hovering in the background.

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The Dalkey Islands

You mean Dalkey Island, don't you?

Well I do, because I'm only interested in the military installations, the Martello Tower and the Battery. But the conservation plan goes beyond this narrow interest to include flora and fauna and more besides. And it covers more than Dalkey Island itself. The islands also include Lamb Island and Maiden's Rock, but not The Muglins.

The Conservation Plan was launched in Dalkey Castle Heritage Centre on 3/6/2014.

Introductory remarks were from Tim Carey, DLR Heritage Officer, who outlined the complexity of the islands' environment and complimented the broadly based and interdisciplinary committee which had drawn up the plan in a spirit of benevolent cooperation.

Tim has been actively overseeing the county's heritage for a good while now. He has been impressed by, and very supportive of, restored Martello Tower No.7, much of the research behind which made a substantial contribution to the Council's excellent exhibition on Dublin's Martellos in DLR County Hall in 2011 and to the resulting book.

Tim has a background in the prison service and recently published a book on those hanged by the Irish State since its foundation.

The actual launch was done by the outgoing Cathaoirleach of the Council, Carrie Smyth, in what was one of her last official functions. Carrie paid tribute to all those involved in drawing up the plan, including the many members of County Council staff. She represents the Ballybrack Ward and has been re-elected to the new (2014) Council.

She is seen here with Niall O'Donoghue, whose restored Martello Tower in Killiney she has yet to visit. Niall reassures her that she will be just as welcome after returning her chain of office.

This is Jason Bolton who provided the Council with conservation advice and produced the text of the current plan.

Jason has been associated with the DLR Martello Project since he was commissioned to research the Martello background for the Council. His report was published by Fingal County Council in 2008 and includes much of the material originally researched by Niall O'Donoghue for the restoration of Martello Tower No.7. A major contribution of his report was to draw the Council's attention to the remains of Battery No.5 on the Shanganagh Cliffs, which the Council had lost sight of over the years.

I was pleased to see this site restored to its rightful place in the public sector consciousness. The site was always known locally as "The Battery". I had played there as a child in the 1950s and was fully aware of its significance since the 1970s when I was researching the local history of Killiney Bay.

County Councils seem prone to losing things. Battery No.5 apart, Jason's research project, originally published online by Fingal County Council, now seems to have done a runner and there is no explanation or redirection at the original link. Netiquette how are you.

Anyway, what is the Dalkey Islands Conservation Plan 2014-2024 going to do for the Napoleonic remains on Dalkey Island. Well, as far as these military installations are concerned, the plan is for DLR, OPW and Dept. of Heritage to repair, conserve, make safe, and ensure access to the Martello Tower and the Battery.

You can visit these by proxy through my report on a visit there in July 2012.

On the Fiddle

I could have been Bob Dylan, but then I wouldn't be able to play the harmonica, or the mouth organ as it was vulgarly known in my day. I could even have been Joan Baez, but the gender transition might have been painful.

I could have been Bill Clinton, but then I would have had to sleep with the harridan, initially at least.

So I am glad I opted for the Fritz Kreisler route. It has brought me lots of fulfilment and variety in my life. I have played in the Workman's Club with a well known and talented accompanist (above). I have "entertained" the orphans in Stanhope Street convent on many a Stephen's Day. I have played the Francis Xavier and Father Mathew Halls. I have twice played for President de Valera and Sinéad, in the Coláiste Mhuire and Gate theatres. I have made a record in Billy McBurney's studio in Central Belfast during the height of the Troubles. I have even appeared on RTÉ television, no less (below). And all with the fiddle in hand.

So to hell with the international circuit and the crashes and the comebacks. There's no place like home when you're on the fiddle.

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Waterbabies

Sir John Gray appeared posthumously in O'Connell Street in the same year the Blessed Virgin appeared in his native Mayo. She was later to become associated with the limitless provision of Holy Water to both the natives and visitor/pilgrims at Knock, while he was the force behind the provision of the water supply to the people of Dublin from the Varty Scheme which he vigorously promoted.

This photo of him, or rather of his statue in O'Connell Street, is brought to you with the collaboration of Bus Éireann and the Department of Social Protection who accorded me free entry to the upper deck of the No. 11 bus.

Vartry Lodge on Strand (private) Road in Killiney/Ballybrack was so named by his widow in his honour.

Programmer's Dilemma

Four years ago I was programming Google maps to illustrate the Military Road from the Loughlinstown Camp (1793-99) to the sea. Just after I passed through the Ballybrack crossroads I noticed that the google-mapped road deviated from its true position and took up a line parallel to the true route but slightly south of it. This could be confirmed by switching to the satellite view.

The dilemma was whether to follow the (true) satellite route or the erroneously mapped one.

I opted to follow the mapped route as this would be the mode most people would be viewing in and I didn't want to look a complete eejit by appearing to veer off the road.

So far so good.

But I had occasion, the other day to check out the map and found Google had corrected their error and there was me veering off the road like an eejit (above).

So I reprogrammed the route to coincide with both the (new) map and satellite views (below).

Truth will out.

Editor's 50th Anniversary

My cousin, Fr. Gerry, sent me a cutting he found in family papers which reminded me that it is now 50 years since I edited the Shanganagh Valley News in Ballybrack.

The paper was short-lived but served a useful function in the community and was very popular. In addition to its many features, it carried local news snippets and sports results. It had a worldwide circulation as people sent it to family members who had emigrated, in order to keep them posted on the latest happenings at home.

You can get a flavour of it on my website.