The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
WW1 horror from which Kerry woman rescued children is focus of huge commemoration
Relatives of Mary O’Donnell meet Queen Elizabeth in ceremony commemorating the deaths of 18 infants in bombing raid on school that rocked UK
EVEN by the gruesome standards of the First World War it was to prove a defining atrocity.
18 children obliterated by a bomb in an environment that should have known nothing of mortal conflict - the infants classroom at the Upper North St Primary School in Poplar, London.
The atrocity of June 13, 1917, sparked fresh pain among an already war-weary people as the front line came crashing down from a German Gotha plane into the heart of the capital in a new form of warfare.
Designed to explode on impact, the bomb cut through two floors before unleashing hell in the infant classroom - 16 of the children killed were just five years of age.
It is believed that the Royal family’s namechange from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in the subsequent months was as a direct result of the horror of that day in the East End.
Tralee native Mary O’Donnell-Cunnington was in the thick of it. A teacher at Upper North St Primary, she played a crucial role in getting the surviving children out of the stricken building as the East End community rallied to its side, frantically digging through the rubble for survivors and getting the injured to safety.
Mary (who was born in Rathass, Tralee, in 1881 to Annascaul father Michael and mother Julia Hanafin) was ultimately awarded an OBE for the ‘conspicuous courage and presence of mind’ she showed on that day; living with the horror of all she had witnessed until her death in 1946.
The horror was too much for some of her colleagues. The infants teacher and headmaster were unable to live with it, taking their own lives in 1919 and 1929, respectively. School caretaker Benjamin Batt - who was captured in one heartbreaking photograph sifting through the rubble of the classroom in which his own son Alfie perished – killed himself in November of 1917.
Their pain was to the fore of the entire community of Poplar in last Thursday’s centenary commemoration, attended by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (in his last public engagement).
Among those who took part were relatives of Mary O’Donnell tracked down by Tralee genealogical researcher Martine Brennan: Patricia Nolan, her brother Msgr Seán Hanafin and their cousins Eileen McSweeny and Eddie Shanahan.
“Mary was our grandfather Tom Hanafin’s first cousin, but we had never heard of her until Martine’s research earlier this year,” Patricia explained.
“We’ve become very proud of her the more we learned of the whole story and it was wonderful to take part in Thursday’s commemoration in Poplar, remembering Mary, her colleagues and the 18 infants killed in the bombing.”
But it was only in recent weeks they learned the Queen and Prince Philip would also be attending. All four relatives and Martine were ‘presented’ to the royal couple following a prayer service in the All Saints Church near the school (now called Mayflower Primary).
Patricia was first among the Kerry contingent presented, introducing Eddie and Eileen. Martine met the couple with her fellow researchers.
“‘You must have come up with fascinating stories in the course of your research?’ the Queen asked me,” Martine said, adding:
“Hats off to the woman. At 91 years of age she had something of relevance to say to everyone.”
Msgr Hanafin, who was among the 18 clergy leading the prayers (including the Church of England Bishop of Stepney, four rabbis and an imam) met the royal couple afterwards on a side altar, shaking the Queen’s hand and speaking briefly with Prince Philip.