Stamullen
OLD MILL
IT’S great to see that something is being done in the vicinity of the former Old Mill Hotel in Julianstown village. Over the past number of years this site has become a total eye-sore along the banks of the beautiful Nanny water River. In recent weeks the place has been totally transformed in preparation for a new development in the village and this has to be warmly welcomed to all concerned.
BELLEWSTOWN RACES
The annual Bellewstown Horse Racing Meeting will take place on the Hill this year from Wednesday July 4th to Saturday July 7th inclusive, making this the first year that the event will cover a four-day meeting instead of three.
KNOW YOUR PARISH - LADY BUTLER
The following notice appeared on page 7 of the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette on Thursday October 5th 1933. `Lady Butler, the Painter, Writer and widow of Lieut.-General, Sir William Butler, was buried yesterday at the little hillside cemetery at the village of Stamullen in Co. Meath.
Before the funeral, one of her sons, the Rev. R.W. Butler, a Benedictine Priest and former Chaplain to the Brigade of Guards at the Somme, celebrated Requiem Mass at the Chapel of Gormanston Castle, the home of Lady Butler`s daughter, Lady Gormanston. Lieutenant-Colonel P.R. Butler, another son, served the Mass.
A score of her pictures, now hung at Gormanston have been bequeathed to the members of her family`. The above-mentioned Lady Butler was a world-famous artist of the later 19th and early 20th century. Lady Elizabeth Butler was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in the year 1850. Her parents being Christiana Weller, a famous concert pianist and Thomas James Thompson, an academic man with varied interest and who was a personal friend of Charles Dickens. Elizabeth Butler had an older sister, Alice, who went on to be a renowned author and poet in her own right.
Lady Elizabeth first entered the South Kensington School of Art in London when she was only 19 years old before she moved on to Italy where she studied the Old Masters. She had her first exhibition at the age of 23 which was held at the Royal Academy in London and where she exhibited her renowned painting titled, `Missing`, which was that of a military scene of battle. Many of Lady Butler`s paintings depicted soldiers in battle uniform, complete with weapons, etc. and were widely acclaimed wherever she held an exhibition.
In 1874, she exhibited her most famous work titled `The Roll Call`, again this was a military scene. This painting became a huge success and was designated picture of the year. It was commissioned by a Manchester businessman and was eventually purchased by Queen Victoria. Other paintings included `Quatre Bras` (1875), `Balaclava` (1876), `Scotland For Ever`(1881) and `Steady The Drums and Fifes`(1896).
Following the death of her husband, William Butlet at Bansha in Co. Tipperary in 1910 and the subsequent marriage of her daughter Eileen to the 15th Viscount Gormanston, Edward Joseph Preston in 1911, Lady Elizabeth Butler moved to Gormanston Castle in 1921.
The simple little grave of Elizabet Butler can be seen at Stamullen Graveyard in front of the Principal or East window of the ruins of St. Patrick`s medieval church and overlooking the road into Stamullen village, where it is visited by numerous people from all over the world every year. 2018 will mark the 85th anniversary of the great artist`s death.
TRACTOR RUN
Meath Vintage Group will hold their annual charity vintage tractor road run on Sunday, May 13th, for the chosen charity, Meath Palliative Care, starting from Michael Smith’s yard at Mooretown, Navan, on the Navan-Kentstown road, starting at 12 noon with refreshments and registration from 10.30am.