NINE LIVES
Grainne Coyne on the social and cultural heavyweights of the era
More celebrities of the day
1BORN in Slane in 1887, Francis Ledwidge was the eighth of nine children. After school he undertook a variety of jobs but contributed poetry to the Drogheda Independent. Local aristocrat Lord Dunsany became his patron and helped his poetry reach a wider audience. Ledwidge was a socialist and republican and a founding member of the Slane branch of the Volunteers. He enlisted to fight in World War One and while serving his first collection was published, Songs of the Fields (1915). Upon learning of the execution of his friend and fellow poet Thomas MacDonagh he wrote Lament, which is regarded as one of his greatest works. Ledwidge died in a shell explosion in Belgium in 1917.
2 Mary ‘Molly’ Allgood was born in Dublin in 1885. Sister to actress Sara Allgood, she chose to separate herself from her by changing her name to Máire O’Neill. She first appeared on stage in John Millington Synge’s, The Well of Saints (1905) and they became engaged before Synge’s death in 1909. She remained at the Abbey until she married drama critic GH Mair in 1911 and she moved to England. In her later years she made films, starring alongside Sara in Alfred Hitchcock’s Juno and the Paycock (1930). She continued to act until her death in 1952.
3 The first feature film made by the Film Company of Ireland was premiered in August 1916 at the Bohemian Theatre, Phibsborough. O’Neill of the Glen was directed by and starred J M Kerrigan, who was born in Dublin in 1882. Kerrigan was a newspaper reporter and member of the Abbey Players and later moved to the US where he performed on Broadway. After a role in John Ford’s film about the Irish War of Independence The Informer, he moved again, to Hollywood, where he found plenty of work in the booming movie industry. He appeared in Gone with the Wind as the mill-owner and most of his later roles were minor, but despite this he has a ‘star’ on Hollywood Boulevard.
4 John Casey was born in Dublin in 1880 and was mostly self-educated having started work at the age of 14. In 1906 he joined the Gaelic League and changed his name to Seán O’Casey. Influenced by Jim Larkin, he soon became active in the labour movement and joined the Irish Citizen Army in 1914. However, O’Casey soon became disillusioned with the direction of nationalism and was a non-combatant in 1916. He turned his energy to drama and after several rejections, the Abbey Theatre produced The Shadow of a Gunman (1923), Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926). He continued to write but none of his work had the impact of the early trilogy. He died in 1964 in England.
5 Born Isabella Gertrude Amy Ovenden in Dublin in 1877, Dr Ella Webb would go on to play a major role in pediatric care. Webb ran her own private practice and free-dispensary and in 1918 was appointed as anaesthetist to the Adelaide Hospital, its first female doctor. Webb also worked at Saint Ultan’s. She went on to found the Children’s Sunshine Home as a convalescent place for children suffering from rickets. She was made a Lady of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and was awarded the MBE in 1918 for her medical work during the Rising. She died in 1946.
6 John Henry Bernard was the Church of Ireland Archbishop from 1915-1919. His family came from Kerry but he was born in India in 1860. At 15, he entered Trinity to study mathematics and philosophy and became a leading figure in the university. In 1902 he became Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral and later became the Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin before he was elected Archbishop of Dublin. He was also delegate to the Irish Convention in 191718 representing Unionist views. After his archbishopric ended, Bernard wrote a commentary on St John’s Gospel which was published after his death in 1927.
7 Jem Roche was a significant figure in Irish sport early in the 20th century. A county footballer and hurler with Wexford, he also boxed for a world title. After the American Tommy Burns came to London to defend his title, he was persuaded to fight in Dublin to defray his costs. He met the leading Irish heavyweight for a purse of £1,500 at the Olympia Theatre on St Patrick’s Day 1908. Roche was knocked out in the first round. He returned to Wexford GAA and trained one of the greatest football teams ever, winning Leinster six times in succession from 1913-18, and winning the All-Ireland in the last four years. He died in 1934, aged 57.
8and9 Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright (born 1867 and 1871 respectively) developed the first successful airplane and are considered the fathers of modern aviation. The Wright brothers owned a bicycle shop and manufactured their own design from 1896. They successfully conducted the first free, controlled flight of a power-driven airplane in 1903. After much scepticism Orville eventually demonstrated flights for the US Army, which led to a passenger seat plane being built in 1909. They became successful businessmen, filling contracts for airplanes in both Europe and the US. After Wilbur’s death in 1912, Orville took over but sold the company in 1915. Orville died in Ohio in 1948.