Commerfords Lane in Ulmarra remembers two brothers from Ireland who moved to Australia

Commerfords Lane, a long street in Ulmarra, a picturesque small town in the Clarence Valley in New South Wales (Photograph: Kathryn Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I recently received photographs from Kathryn Comerford of Commerfords Lane, a long street in Ulmarra, a picturesque small town village in the Clarence Valley in New South Wales, Australia. The street is named after two Irish-born brothers, Denis and Thomas Comerford or Commerford, who were pioneers in the town.

Kathryn Comerford, who sent me the images, is a great-granddaughter of one of these brothers, Denis Comerford (1834-1892), who moved to Australia in 1862 with Thomas Comerford (1837-1900).

Although she says ‘the council incorrectly spelt the surname’, these variations in the spelling of the family name are found regularly. As I looked further into the history of these brothers and their branch of the family, it was interesting to be reminded that they were related to Denis Comerford, who gives his name to Comerford Way, the street in Winslow, Buckinghamshire, that features in the banner image of this blog.

Thomas Comerford was also the grandfather of Gerald Francis Commerford (1919-1945), who died in the Japanese prisoner of war camp in Sandakan, Sabah, north Borneo, on 9 February 1945, and who was one of the people I referred to earlier this month when I wrote about Comerford family members who died during World II.

Commerfords Lane, a long street in Ulmarra, a picturesque small town village in the Clarence Valley in New South Wales (Photograph: Kathryn Comerford)

Ulmarra is a small town on the south bank of the Clarence River in the Clarence Valley district in New South Wales. It is 631 km north of Sydney, 17 km from Grafton on the Pacific Highway, and has a population of about 418 people.

Ulmarra stands on the deep channel side of the Clarence River and is almost bypassed by the Pacific Highway. Ulmarra’s name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning ‘Bend in the river’. With its historic buildings and river ferry, it has an antique charm. It sites can be followed on an interesting heritage trail. The buildings on River Street and Coldstream Street are redolent of the town’s past as a 19th century river port, while the Commercial Hotel was a location in the 1987 television mini-series Fields of Fire as a 1929 Queensland pub.

The town had the distinction of being the smallest local government area in New South Wales until 2000, when it was amalgamated with the Nymboida Shire to form Pristine Waters Shire. This was later merged with Copmanhurst, Grafton and Maclean Shires to become the Clarence Valley Council. The Ulmarra Ferry crossing the Clarence River from a point about 1 km north of Ulmarra, to Southgate on the north bank, closed a year ago on 10 June 2024.

Ulmarra with its historic buildings and river ferry on the Clarence River has an antique charm

The brothers Denis Comerford and Thomas Comerford, who moved from Ireland to New South Wales and were pioneer figures in Ulmarra were members of a branch of the family that can be traced back to the area around Ballinakill, Co Laois, and to:

Edward Comerford (1769- ), born in 1769 in Rosenallis, Co Laois. He married Dymphna Delaney (born 1758) in Aghaboe, Co Laois. Edward and Dympna Comerford lived in Ballinakill, Co Laois, and they were the parents of:

1, William Comerford (ca 1805-1870), of whom next.

They may also have been the parents of:

2, Patrick Comerford (1801-1870) of Dundalk, Co Louth. He was born in 1801, baptised in 1802, and was the ancestor of the Comerford family of Dundalk.

The first-named son of Edward and Dympna Comerford was:

William Comerford (ca 1797/1807-1870), was born in Ballinakill, Co Laois, ca 1805. He married Mary Talbot (1805-1887), who was born in 1805 in Roscrea, Co Tipperary. William Comerford died in Co Offaly, on 22 January 1870; Mary died in September 1885 in Templemore, Tipperary, or in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, in 1887.

They were the parents of five children, three sons and two daughters:

1, John Comerford (1829-1905), of whom next.
2, Jane (born 1832), born in Templemore, Co Tipperary, 1832, baptised 9 July 1832. She married John Maher (1824-1889), and lived in Chorlton, Lancashire.
3, Denis Comerford (1834-1892), leather merchant. He was born in Templemore, Co Tipperary, in October 1834, and was baptised 6 October 1837 in Templemore, Co Tipperary. and lived in Ulmarra, New South Wales, Australia. The passengers on the Abyssinian, the ship Denis and his brother Thomas travelled on to Australia in 1862, included John Comerford (23), stonemason, of Bagenalstown (Muine Bheag), Co Carlow. He married Ellen Stapleton (1843-1915) in Sydney in 1869, and died in Ulmarra on 2 October 1892. This Denis Comerford is the great-grandfather of the Kathryn Comerford who has corresponded with me recently. Ellen and Denis Comerford were the parents of six children, five sons and a daughter:

• 1a, William Comerford (1872-1956), born in Maclean, New South Wales, on 18 July.
• 2a, Thomas B Comerford (1873-1946), born in Maclean, on 21 December 1873.
• 3a, Denis Comerford (1875-1944), born in Maclean in 1875.
• 4a, Martin Comerford (1879-1961), born in Maclean in 1879.
• 5a, Edward Comerford (1882-1955), born in Maclean in 1882.
• 6a, Mary Jane (1885-1939), born in Maclean on13 February 1885.

4, Thomas Comerford (1837-1900), born in Templemore, Co Tipperary, on 10 October 1837. He arrived in Australia in 1862 with his brother Denis, registered as a labourer, and lived in Maclean, New South Wales, Australia. He married Bridget Hurley (1844-1890) in Grafton in 1875, and died in Maclean on 4 April 1900. They were the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, all born in Maclean:

• 1a, William Comerford (1875-1876).
• 2a, Mary (1875-1924).
• 3a, John Commerford (1877-1953), married Mary Ann Moloney (1877-1950) on 8 January 1908, and they were the parents of five sons and a daughter: Thomas Bede Commerford (1908-1984); John Joseph Commerford (1910-1967); William Clarence (Clarrie) Commerford (1914-1986); Daniel Kevin Commerford (1918-1926); and Annie Teresa Commerford (1918-2008).
• 4a, Denis Comerford (1880-1963). He married Margaret Sarah Ryan (1885-1953). Their children included Gerald Francis Commerford (1919-1945), who died in the Japanese prisoner of war camp in Sandakan, Sabah, Borneo, on 9 February 1945.
• 5a, Jane (1882-1949).
• 6a, Annie (1884-1964).
• 7a, Bridget (1887-1942).
• 8a, … Comerford (1890-1890), a son, died at birth.

5, Mary (1841/1845-1914), of Kerang, Victoria, Australia. She married James Troy (1837-1885) in Geelong on 4 June 1870, and they were the parents of eight children. She died in 1914 in Kerang, Victoria.

Gerald Francis Commerford was a Japanese prisoner of war in Changi in Singapore and Sandakan camp in North Borneo

The eldest son of William and Mary Comerford was:

John Comerford (1829-1905). He was born in Templemore, Co Tipperary, on 23 November 1829. He married Anastatia (Anty) Tierney (born 1835) in 1860. He died at the age of 76 in 1905. John and Anty Comerford were the parents of at six children, three sons and three daughters:

1, Michael Comerford (1860-1879), born in Co Kilkenny on 18 July 1860, died in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary, in March 1879.
2, Mary (1867-1919), of Fiddown, Co Kilkenny, who married Thomas Butler (1865-1937).
3, Denis Comerford (born 1869), born in Waterford on 21 January 1869.
4, John Comerford (1871-1946), of whom next.
5, Jane (1873-1932), born Pilltown, Co Kilkenny, on 4 March 1873; died in Birmingham in July 1932.
6, Statia (1876-post 1911).

The third son and fourth child of John and Anty Comerford was:

John Comerford (1871-1946). He was born in Piltown, Co Kilkenny, on 12 May 1871, and was baptised in Piltown. He was living in Gortrush, Fiddown, Co Kilkenny, at the time of the 1901 census, but soon moved to England. Two years later, he married Mary Clifton (1868-1932) in Aston, Birmingham, in April 1903. She was born in Cuckfield, Sussex, in April 1868, the daughter of William Henry Clifton (1836-1912) and Mary (Tourle) Clifton (born 1835).

John Comerford worked as a railway guard in the English Midlands. John and Mary Comerford lived in Birmingham, and the couple later lived in Tupton, Derbyshire, and Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Mary (Clifton) Comerford died in Chesterfield in July 1932. Some sources identify John with John Comerford, a former miner, who he died in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, at the age of 75 in September 1946, but so far I have been unable to verify this.

John and Mary Comerford were the parents of five sons:

1, John Henry Comerford (1904-1980), born in Birmingham 14 June 1904, living in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1911. He married Ethel Patricia Wragg (1903–1986) in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in January 1927. He died in Stafford in 1981. They were the parents of a son:

• 1a, Michael John Comerford (1928–2009), born in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, 18 September 1928; he died in Stoke on Trent, 23 November 2009.

2, William Patrick Comerford (1906-1985), born in Birmingham 6 May 1906, living in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1911. He married Margaret Rose Wragg (1906-1967), Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in April 1928. William died in Chesterfield 16 May 1985; Margaret died in Chesterfield January 1967; they were the parents of a daughter and two sons:

• 1a, Patricia M Comerford (1929-2002)
• 2a, Philip George Comerford (1933-1998)
• 3a, Peter J Comerford (1933–2007)

3, Denis Anthony Comerford (1908-1984), born in Hasland, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1908, of whom next.
4, Bruno Philip Comerford (1910-1992), born in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1910. He married Rosalind Ann Armstrong (1910-1998) in Chesterfield in January 1934. They later lived in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England were the parents of a number of children, including a son:
• 1a Terence Comerford (1937-2010), who was born in Bedford. He married Gwyneth Price (1938-2015) in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in July 1959, and later lived in Milton Keynes. He died in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, at the age of 72 on 13 September 2010. Their children included a daughter Belinda Comerford (1962–2022), born in Newport Pagnell, 20 May 1962, lived in Milton Keynes, married in Ampthill, and died in Milton Keynes on 15 September 2022.

5, Francis James Comerford (1912-2000), born in Claycross, Derbyshire, 26 October 1912. He married (1) Mary Anne Jones (1919-1949), and they were the parents of two children; he married (2) Sylvia Hepburn (1902–1987). He died in Kettering, Northamptonshire, at the age of 87, on 6 March 2000.

Denis Comerford looking down the line at Winslow Station in the 1950s

The third son of John and Mary Comerford was:

Denis Anthony Comerford (1908-1994). He was born in Hasland, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on 1 February 1908. He was living in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1911. He married Dorothy Clarke (1905-1996) in Saint Vincent’s Catholic Church, Vauxhall Grove, Birmingham North, on 2 August 1931. She was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, on 26 April 1905, the daughter of Horace Clarke (1879-1943) and Emma (Bower) Clarke (1883-1961).

Denis Comerford came to Winslow from Derby in 1937. His father was a railway guard and advised Denis that the railways offered security in hungry times.

Denis later recalled: ‘One of my first jobs was checking Claycross tunnel, Stephenson’s masterpiece near Chesterfield. It were dark, damp and smelt of sooty old steam engines. Winslow were a step up. Mr Brudenell was in charge of the station. He was a solid looking man, always immaculate with his white collar winged and starched. It was his rule to be on the platform to meet every train. An’ he had a remarkable head for figures. He looked after neighbouring Swanbourne as well.’

Denis Comerford continued to work at Winslow station for more than three decades after the end of World War II. However, the station declined after World War II, and in 1963 Winslow station was listed for closure in the Beeching report, which called for the closure of all minor stations on the line.

Winslow closed to goods traffic on 22 May 1967 and to passengers on 1 January 1968; the signal box followed one month later. The closure was delayed because replacement bus services were not able to handle the projected extra traffic. Denis Comerford left British Railways on February 1968, when passenger train services from the Oxford/Bletchley and Bedford/Cambridge Lines were withdrawn. He ded in Winslow at the age of 86 on 20 November 1994; Dorothy died in 1996. They were the parents of two children.



Corrected and updatedL 31 May 2025)

Tracing the family of Denis Comerford of Winslow back to 18th century Ireland

Comerford Way in Winslow, Buckinghamshire … celebrates Denis Anothny Comerford (1908-1994), the last railway signalman at Winslow Station (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

In recent months, I have changed the main image at the top of this blog to a photograph of me at Comerford Way and the street sign in Winslow in Buckinghamshire, 16 km (10 miles) south of Stony Stratford, and I have adapted the name of Comerford Way so that it has become the name of this blog.

Winslow is half-way between Stony Stratford and Aylesbury, and Comerford Way is a pleasant area near Station Road. Engineers are close to completing work on the section of East West Rail from Bicester to Bletchley through Winslow, and they expect to start running a rail service between Oxford and Bletchley through Winslow by the end of this year (2025).

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in her speech yesterday, gave the green-light to plans for Britain’s answer to Silicon Valley, including major developments between Oxford and Cambridge designed to boost the economy by £78 billion. These include the new east-west rail link and upgraded roads linking the two university cities and Milton Keynes in what has become known as ‘the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.’

As she said in her speech yesterday, it takes 2½ hours to get from Oxford to Cambridge by train at present and ‘there is no way to commute directly from towns like Bedford and Milton Keynes to Cambridge by rail.’ The rail links between Oxford and Cambridge has three stages, with initial services from Oxford to Bletchley and Milton Keynes due to begin this year.

The works being completed include a brand new station at Winslow, new platforms at Bletchley and other infrastructure work between Bicester and Bletchley, including signalling and cabling.

The new train route promises faster and easier access to Oxford and offers me opportunities to get to Oxford early in the morning or to stay on in the evening to enjoy church, academic and cultural events. In time, I hope, there is going to be a direct link to Cambridge too.

Winslow is just half an hour from Stony Stratford, and on a visit some time ago I came visited Comerford Way, off Station Road. At one time, I thought this modern housing development took its name from an area known as Great Comerford. But I learned there that Comerford Way takes its name from Denis Anothny Comerford (1908-1994), who was the last railway signalman at Winslow Station.

Denis Comerford worked at Winslow station from 1937 until 1968, when the railway line and the station closed and he was made redundant. During those years, he lied at No 11 Station Road. Nearby No 63 was once the Station Inn, and Station Road became the second most populated street in Winslow. Comerford Way, which keeps alive the memory of Denis Comerford, is a new housing development at the east end of Station Road in Winslow, at the junction with McLernon Way.

Denis Comerford receives a watch and a handshake after many years as a signalman in Winslow station

As I began to learn a more about Denis Comerford and his life in Winslow, and to find glimpses of his life in Winslow, I wrote how I would like to learn more about his family, his family background, his early days in Derby and his life story.

Denis Comerford was born in Chesterfield and grew up in Derbyshire. In research in recent weeks, I have been able to trace back five generations to one of the branches of the Comerford family living in Ballinakill, Co Laois, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Denis Comerford’s family later lived in the Templemore area in Co Tipperary and Fiddown, Co Kilkenny, and many members of the family emigrated to New South Wales, Australia, in the late 19th century.

Denis Comerford’s own father was:

Edward Comerford (1769- ), was born in 1769 in Rosenallis, Co Laois. He married Dymphna Delaney (born 1758) in Aghaboe, Co Laois. They lived in Ballinakill, Co Laos, and Edward and Dympna Comerford were the parents of:

1, William Comerford (ca 1805-1870), of whom next.

They may also have been the parents of:

2, Patrick Comerford (1801-1870) of Dundalk, Co Louth. He was born in 1801, baptised in 1802, and was the ancestor of the Comerford family of Dundalk, Co Louth.

The first-named son of Edward and Dympna Comerford was:

William Comerford (ca 1805-1870) was born in Ballinakill, Co Laois, ca 1805. He married Mary Talbot (1805-1887). William Comerford died in Co Offaly in 1870; Mary died in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, in 1887.

They were the parents of five children, three sons and two daughters:

1, John Comerford (1829-1905), of whom next.
2, Jane (born 1832), born in Templemore, Co Tipperary, 1832; she married John Maher (1824-1889), and lived in Chorlton, Lancashire.
3, Denis Comerford (1834-1892), leather merchant. He was born in Templemore, Co Tipperary, in October 1834, and lived in Umarra, New South Wales, Australia. The passengers on the Abyssinian, the ship Denis and his brother Thomas travelled on to Australia in 1862, included John Comerford of Bagenalstown (Muine Bheag), Co Carlow, aged 23, stonemason. He married Emma Stapleton (1843-1915) in Sydney in 1869, and died in Umarra on 2 October 1892. They were the parents of six children, five sons and a daughter:

• 1a, William Comerford (1872-1956), born in Maclean, New South Wales, on 18 July.
• 2a, Thomas B Comerford (1873-1946), born in Maclean, on 21 December 1873.
• 3a, Denis Comerford (1875-1944), born in Maclean in 1875.
• 4a, Martin Comerford (1879-1961), born in Maclean in 1879.
• 5a, Edward Comerford (1882-1955), born in Maclean in 1882.
• 6a, Mary Jane (1885-1939), born in Maclean on13 February 1885.

4, Thomas Comerford (1837-1900), born on 10 October 1837 in Templemore, Co Tipperary, and lived in Maclean, New South Wales, Australia. He married Bridget Hurley (1844-1890) in Grafton in 1875, and died in Maclean on 4 April 1900. They were the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, all born in Maclean:

• 1a, William Comerford (1875-1876).
• 2a, Mary (1875-1924).
• 3a, John Commerford (1877-1953), married Mary Ann Moloney (1877-1950) on 8 January 1908, and they were the parents of five sons and a daughter: Thomas Bede Commerford (1908-1984); John Joseph Commerford (1910-1967); William Clarence (Clarrie) Commerford (1914-1986); Daniel Kevin Commerford (1918-1926); and Annie Teresa Commerford (1918-2008).
• 4a, Denis Comerford (1880-1963).
• 5a, Jane (1882-1949).
• 6a, Annie (1884-1964).
• 7a, Bridget (1887-1942).
• 8a, … Comerford (1890-1890), a son, died at birth.

5, Mary (1841-1914), of Kerang, Victoria, Australia, married James Troy (1837-1885) in Geelong on 4 June 1870, and they were the parents of eight children.

The eldest son of William and Mary Comerford was:

John Comerford (1829-1905). He was born in Templemore, Co Tipperary, on 23 November 1829. He married Anastatia (Anty) Tierney (born 1835) in 1860. He died at the age of 76 in 1905. John and Anty Comerford were the parents of at six children, three sons and three daughters:

1, Michael Comerford (1860-1879), born in Co Kilkenny on 18 July 1860, died in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary, in March 1879.
2, Mary (1867-1919), of Fiddown, Co Kilkenny, who married Thomas Butler (1865-1937).
3, Denis Comerford (born 1869), born in Waterford on 21 January 1869.
4, John Comerford (1871-1946), of whom next.
5, Jane (1873-1932), born Pilltown, Co Kilkenny, on 4 March 1873; died in Birmingham in July 1932.
6, Statia (1876-post 1911).

The third son and fourth child of John and Anty Comerford was:

John Comerford (1871-1946). He was born in Piltown, Co Kilkenny, on 12 May 1871, and was baptised in Piltown. He was living in Gortrush, Fiddown, Co Kilkenny, at the time of the 1901 census, but soon moved to England. Two years later, he married Mary Clifton (1868-1932) in Aston, Birmingham, in April 1903. She was born in Cuckfield, Sussex, in April 1868, the daughter of William Henry Clifton (1836-1912) and Mary (Tourle) Clifton (born 1835).

John Comerford worked as a railway guard in the English Midlands. John and Mary Comerford lived in Birmingham, and the couple later lived in Tupton, Derbyshire, and Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Mary (Clifton) Comerford died in Chesterfield in July 1932. Some sources identify John with John Comerford, a former miner, who he died in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, at the age of 75 in September 1946, but so far I have been unable to verify this.

John and Mary Comerford were the parents of five sons:

1, John Henry Comerford (1904-1980), born in Birmingham 14 June 1904, living in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1911. He married Ethel Patricia Wragg (1903–1986) in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in January 1927. He died in Stafford in 1981. They were the parents of a son:

• 1a, Michael John Comerford (1928–2009), born in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, 18 September 1928; he died in Stoke on Trent, 23 November 2009.

2, William Patrick Comerford (1906-1985), born in Birmingham 6 May 1906, living in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1911. He married Margaret Rose Wragg (1906-1967), Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in April 1928. William died in Chesterfield 16 May 1985; Margaret died in Chesterfield January 1967; they were the parents of a daughter and two sons:

• 1a, Patricia M Comerford (1929-2002)
• 2a, Philip George Comerford (1933-1998)
• 3a, Peter J Comerford (1933–2007)

3, Denis Anthony Comerford (1908-1984), born in Hasland, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1908, of whom next.
4, Bruno Philip Comerford (1910-1992), born in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1910. He married Rosalind Ann Armstrong (1910-1998) in Chesterfield in January 1934. They later lived in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England were the parents of a number of children, including a son:
• 1a Terence Comerford (1937-2010), who was born in Bedford. He married Gwyneth Price (1938-2015) in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in July 1959, and later lived in Milton Keynes. He died in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, at the age of 72 on 13 September 2010. Their children included a daughter Belinda Comerford (1962–2022), born in Newport Pagnell, 20 May 1962, lived in Milton Keynes, married in Ampthill, and died in Milton Keynes on 15 September 2022.

5, Francis James Comerford (1912-2000), born in Claycross, Derbyshire, 26 October 1912. He married (1) Mary Anne Jones (1919-1949), and they were the parents of two children; he married (2) Sylvia Hepburn (1902–1987). He died in Kettering, Northamptonshire, at the age of 87, on 6 March 2000.

Denis Comerford looking down the line at Winslow Station in the 1950s

The third son of John and Mary Comerford was:

Denis Anthony Comerford (1908-1994). He was born in Hasland, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on 1 February 1908. He was living in Tupton, Derbyshire, in 1911. He married Dorothy Clarke (1905-1996) in Saint Vincent’s Catholic Church, Vauxhall Grove, Birmingham North, on 2 August 1931. She was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, on 26 April 1905, the daughter of Horace Clarke (1879-1943) and Emma (Bower) Clarke (1883-1961).

Denis Comerford came to Winslow from Derby in 1937. His father was a railway guard and advised Denis that the railways offered security in hungry times.

Denis later recalled: ‘One of my first jobs was checking Claycross tunnel, Stephenson’s masterpiece near Chesterfield. It were dark, damp and smelt of sooty old steam engines. Winslow were a step up. Mr Brudenell was in charge of the station. He was a solid looking man, always immaculate with his white collar winged and starched. It was his rule to be on the platform to meet every train. An’ he had a remarkable head for figures. He looked after neighbouring Swanbourne as well.’

In 1936, the year before Denis arrived in Winslow, the Aylesbury-Buckingham railway closed to passengers. World War II brought new demands for the railways, but improved aircraft also put Winslow directly in the firing line as bombers passed over to prime targets like Coventry. The High Street and Sheep Street in Winslow trembled under the weight of tanks as they practised manoeuvres, and troops from all corners of the Empire, and eventually the US, filled local pubs to bursting.

The Station Inn, near Denis Comerford’s home and his place of work, did a roaring trade. Heavily defended by gun emplacements, it was the pub where most servicemen stopped off as they came and went by train.

As a signalman, Denis Comerford recalled many hijinks among the young men as they waited on his station platforms. He once recalled an occasion when two Canadians were amorously pursuing a local young woman and took a short cut towards her through the couplings of a train that was slowly departing.

‘They missed death by a fraction,’ Denis later remarked, according to Robert Cook’s account.

Denis Comerford continued to work at Winslow station for more than three decades after the end of World War II. However, the station declined after World War II, and in 1963 Winslow station was listed for closure in the Beeching report, which called for the closure of all minor stations on the line.

Winslow closed to goods traffic on 22 May 1967 and to passengers on 1 January 1968; the signal box followed one month later. The closure was delayed because replacement bus services were not able to handle the projected extra traffic.

Denis Comerford received his redundancy notice from British Railways in February 1968, when passenger train services from the Oxford/Bletchley and Bedford/Cambridge Lines were withdrawn. He left the service on 10 February 1968. The letter setting out the terms of his redundancy included expressions of ‘appreciation of your many years of faithful service.’

Denis Comerford died in Winslow at the age of 86 on 20 November 1994; Dorothy died in 1996. They were the parents of two children.

Denis Comerford lived at No 11 Station Road in Winslow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The line between Oxford and Bletchley was closed to passengers and local goods services, and later singled in 1985.

Winslow station continued to be used during the 1980s for ‘Chiltern Shopper’ specials and British Rail handbills survive that show services calling at the station during November and December between 1984 and 1986.

The station building, by then in a very derelict state, survived long enough to see the first visit of a Class 43 on 13 February 1993, but was demolished shortly afterwards. Now, a new station is being completed in Winslow as part of the East-West Rail route between Oxford and Cambridge.

A new station has been built at the junction of Buckingham Road with Horwood Road. When the line opens, Winslow should have direct trains to Oxford, Milton Keynes Central and Bedford. The journey time from Winslow to Oxford is estimated at 27 minutes.

Comerford Way off Station Road, Winslow, close to the site of Winslow Station, keeps alive the memory of Denis Comerford. But.

Comerford Way in Winslow, Buckinghamshire, recalls Denis Comerford, the last railway signalman at Winslow Station (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Additional reading:

Robert Cook, The Book of Winslow (Buckingham: Barracuda Books, 1989).

Updated: 21 February 2025.

Patrick Cosgrave and Edward Kavanagh, two priests from Clonegal with Comerford family links

Father Patrick Cosgrave (1849-1894) … was related to the Comerfords of Bunclody in multiple ways

Patrick Comerford

I have been writing in recent days on this blog about a number of Jesuit priests who were closely related to the Comerford family of Bunclody, Co Wexford, including Father James Comerford (1885-1963) from Ballinakill, Co Laois, and two brothers and their cousin from Bunclody, Father Brendan Comerford Lawler (1909-1993), Father Donald Comerford Lawler (1911-1984) and Father Ray Lawler (1921-2001).

All four were also related to Father Patrick Cosgrave (1849-1894), a priest in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin and former curate in Ballinakill, who was from Clonegal, on the borders of Co Carlow and Co Wexford, near Bunclody, and who was only in his mid-40s when he died. There were family links too with Father Edward Kavanagh (1848-1925), who was also from Clonegal.

Father Patrick Cosgrave was the Administrator of Carlow Cathedral while Bishop Michael Comerford was the coadjutor bishop; he was a curate in Ballinakill, Co Laois, where his cousin Eliza was the wife of the hotelier Charles Comerford; and he was related to the Comerford family in many ways that are almost difficult to count.

There was a nexus of families in Clonegal in the 19th century that includes the Comerfod, Cosgrave, Doyle. Finn, Kavanagh and McDonnell families, and close inter-marriages between these families made many people first, second and third cousins in a complex web of kinships that is often difficult to untangle.

Patrick Cosgrave was born at Orchard House, Clonegal, Co Carlow, in 1849. His father was Nicholas Cosgrave (1803-1893), of Clonegal, Co Carlow, near Bunclody; his mother was Elizabeth Anne Comerford (1813-1893), of Castlequarter, Clohamon, Bunclody, Co Wexford, a daughter of Martin Comerford (ca 1777/1778-1840) of Castle Quarter and Knockanure House, Clohamon, near Newtownbarry (Bunclody), Co Wexford, fifth and youngest son of Edmund Comerford (1722-1788).

Patrick Cosgrave’s paternal grandmother, Anne (née McDonnell) Cosgrave (1766-1842), was a sister of Austin McDonnell (ca 1767-1842) of Clonegal, whose daughter Elizabeth Finn was the mother of Eliza Finn (1845-1931), who married Charles Comerford (1847-1891) of Ballinakill. Elizabeth (Cosgrave) Finn’s sister, Margaret Cosgrave (1803-1894), married William Kavanagh and was the mother of Father Edward Kavanagh (1848-1925), who also features in this story.

Patrick Cosgrave was one of three teenagers who came to live with Peter Doyle (ca 1820-ca 1910) and his wife Mary (Cosgrave) (1803-1884) at The Wastegrass in Tullow, Co Carlow, in the mid-1800s. Peter Doyle, it is said, was closely related to Michael Comerford (1830-1895), coadjutor Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and Mary Doyle was Patrick Cosgrave’s aunt.

Peter Doyle’s father was also Peter Doyle (1804-1851); his mother, Eleanor McDonnell (1808-1870), was a sister of Elizabeth (McDonnell) Finn (1810-1891), whose daughter Eliza married Charles Comerford (1847-1891) of Ballinakill. Peter Doyle’s paternal grandfather, James Doyle (1769-1839), was originally from Clonegal.

The younger Peter Doyle had married Mary Cosgrave, a sister of Patrick Cosgrave’s father, Edward Cosgrave. Peter and Mary Doyle had no children and the three boys who came to live with them were attending the Patrician Monastery School in Tullow to prepare them to begin studying for the priesthood.

The three, who became priests, were: Father Patrick Cosgrave, his cousin Father Edward Kavanagh, and Father J Dawson, SM, Dublin. The first cousins Patrick Cosgrave and Edward Kavanagh were both from Clonegal, Co Carlow, and they were nephews of Mary (Cosgrave) Doyle. Patrick Cosgrave’s sister, Mary Cosgrave, also came to live with the Doyles at The Wastegrass. Peter Doyle promised a gold watch to the first of the three young men to become a priest. The watch was won later by Father Dawson.

Patrick Cosgrave was educated at the Patrician Monastery, Tullow, and then entered Carlow College (1865-1873). He was ordained in 1873 for the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. He was a curate in Tullow, Co Carlow, Philipstown (now Daingean), Co Offaly, Carlow, Ballinakill, Co Laois, and Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, and then became the Administrator of Carlow Cathedral (1883-1887), while Michael Comerford was the coadjutor bishop.

However, his health was not able for the strain of the work in the cathedral town. The bishop arranged for him to exchange places with his cousin, Father Edward Kavanagh, curate of Ballinakill (1887-1893), and so Patrick Cosgrave returned to Ballinakill, where his cousin Eliza Comerford was living.

Even in Ballinakill, Patrick’s health was not equal to the work. At the invitation of Dr MJ Murphy, parish priest of Kildare, he spent some months in Kildare, helping there with parish work. He became curate of Ballyfin on 14 December 1893. But again he fell ill, and he died three months later on 23 March 1894.

His mother, was Elizabeth (née Comerford) Cosgrave, had died four months earlier on 14 November 1893, at the age of 80. His father, Nicholas Cosgrave of Clonegal, died eight days later on 22 November 1893 at the age of 90. They are buried in the Cosgrave family tomb along with Nicholas Cosgrave’s parents, Edward Cosgrave (1759-1834) and Anne (née McDonnell) Cosgrave (1766-1842).

Patrick Cosgrave’s sister, Mary Cosgrave (1857-1938), later inherited the Doyle farm at The Wastegrass. She married Garrett Moore of Canonsquarter, Tullow. They were the grandparents of Garrett Moore, The Wastegrass (died 2015), Paddy Moore, Tullow Hill, Mrs May Fox, Castlebar, Co Mayo, Father Nicholas Moore, parish priest of Borris, Co Carlow (died 2004), Sister Bernie Moore, Irish Sisters of Charity, Zambia (died 2007, Dublin), Mrs Rita Kearney, Kilconnor, Fenagh, Co Carlow, and Father Eddie Moore, former parish priest of Naas, Co Kildare.

Patrick Cosgrave’s cousin, Father Edward Kavanagh (1848-1925), was also from Clonegal, near Bunclody. His father was William Kavanagh (1796-1877) of Ballyredmond; his mother, Margaret Cosgrave (1803-1894), was a daughter of Edward Cosgrave and Anne (McDonnell) Cosgrave, and so he was also a first cousin of the Jesuit Father James Comerford (1885-1963).

Father Edward Kavanagh was ordained in Maynooth in 1873. Having served in various parishes, he was appointed parish priest of Ballon, Co Carlow, in 1894. During his three years there he added two porches to the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, erected a marble high altar and reredos, and built national Schools in chiselled granite. He took a strong part in the anti-Parnellite campaign.

Edward Kavanagh was later Parish Priest of Monasterevin, Co Kildare, where Bishop Michael Comerford had been parish priest. He died in Naas in December 1925.

The list of parish priests in the Roman Catholic parish church in Monasterevin, including Michael Comerford and Edward Kavanagh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

James Comerford (1885-1963), an Irish Jesuit missionary who spent his life in India

Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare … James Comerford’s time at school there overlapped with James Joyce

Patrick Comerford

The Revd James Comerford (1885-1963), from Ballinakill, Co Laois, was an Irish Jesuit priest who worked for most of his life as missionary in India. He had once been at school with James Joyce, and two of his sisters were nuns.

Balinakill in Co Laois is between Abbeyleix, Ballyragget and Castlecomer, and close to the border of Co Laois and Co Kilkenny. Comerford family connections with Ballinakill date back to the mid-16th century, when the Revd Peter Comerford, probably a member of the Comerford family of Waterford and Castleinch, Co Kilkenny, was the Rector of Dysert Galen (Ballinakill), in the Diocese of Leighlin, from 1550.

In her recollection of the history of her branch of the Comerford family, the late Maire Comerford (1893-1982) recalls: ‘Our Comerford branch came to Rathdrum from Ballinakill in County Offaly [recte County Laois]. Kilkenny, like Galway, had its ‘Tribes’; but the Catholic tribes like the Walshes and the Comerfords, were evicted from the city of Kilkenny and ordered to live in Ballinakill.

‘All this happened a very long time before our story began in Rathdrum. In a quiet way, the Comerfords belonged to a class of Irish person who seemed relatively unaffected by the Penal Laws against Catholics; people engaged in primary industries – brewers, millers, wool merchants – who thrived relative to the many Irish people who depended for their livelihood on the land and nothing else.’

Maire Comerford also had strong family connections through her mother with north Co Wexford. Yet, in conversations with me in the early 1970s, she also recalled the tradition that the Comerford family of Ballinakill and Rathdrum was closely related to the Comerfords of Bunclody (Newtownbarry), Co Wexford.

So, when I came across the biographical details of the Jesuit missionary priest Father James Comerford from Ballinakill, I was interested to see that he too had close family links on his mother’s side of the family with the Bunclody area.

The Comerford family is recalled on the 1798 memorial in Ballinakill, Co Laois (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A Comerford of Ballinakill, who may have been born ca 1742, is said to have been a hero during the 1798 Rising. A monument erected in the Square in the centre of Ballinakill in 1898 bears the inscription:

‘This monument is erected by the Ballinkill ’98 Club to commemorate the memory of the men who gave their lives for Ireland in 1798. Comerford. Grennan. Geoghan. McEvoy. Fagan. Fox. The above mentioned patriots are interred at Castle Lane. Beannacht Dé le h-anam na marbh.’

Members of the Comerford family in Ballinakill in the decades after the 1798 Rising included William Comerford, who moved from Ballinakill, Co Laois, to Laragh, Co Wicklow, Edmund Comerford, a juror in Ballinakill in 1823, and Edward Comerford, brewer, living in Ballinakill in the 1820s.

Charles and Elizabeth Comerford of Ballinakill … parents of Father James Comerford (Photographs: Comerford family collection)

William Comerford, a shopkeeper in Ballinakill, Queen’s County, in the mid-19th century, was the father of Charles Comerford (1847-1891), a hotelier in Ballinakill. He married Eliza (Lizzie or Elizabeth) Finn (1845-1931) in Clonegal, Co Carlow, on 3 June 1876. She was the daughter of John Finn (1815-1890), a shopkeeper, and Elizabeth (McDonnell) Finn (1810-1891), of Clonegal, which is about 5 km outside Bunclody, on the border of Co Carlow and Co Wexford.

Charles and Eliza Comerford were the parents of eight children, six daughters and two sons:

1, Mary Elizabeth (1878-1939), born 13 April 1878, shopkeeper, of Ballinakil. She died in hospital in Portlaoise, 10 April 1939.
2, Sarah Anne (1880-1901), born 5 February 1880, died 22 August 1901.
3, (Sister) Katherine (Kate) Ellen (1881-1921), born 12 December 1881, died Limerick 13 December 1921.
4, John Joseph Comerford (1883-1884), born 5 August 1883, died aged 7 months, 6 March 1884.
5, (Revd) James Comerford (1885-1963), born on 27 January 1885.
6, Margaret Agnes (1886-1889), born 30 July 1886, died 11 December 1889, aged three.
7, (Sister) Bridget (‘Bridie’) (1888- ), born 26 November 1888.
8, Margaret May (1890-1917), born 26 May 1890, died in Clonegal, Co Carlow, on 13 May 1917.

Elizabeth Comerford of Clonegal with her daughter Bridget Comerford, Sister Mary of the Angels, in Waterford (Photograph: Comerford family collection)

Charles Comerford died in Ballinakill on 28 November 1891 at the age of 44. His widow Lizzie was living in Ballinakill, running the family hotel and farm, and living with her daughters Sarah (21) and Margaret (10) at the time of 1901 census.

In the decade that followed, Lizzie Comerford returned to live in Clonegal, near Bunclody. She was 65, a widow and a ‘retired grocer’, living with her sister, Mary Finn, shopkeeper and farmer, in Clonegal, and her daughter, Margaret Comerford (20), ‘shop assistant’, at the time of the 1911 census.

The sisters Kate and Bridie Comerford, both born in Ballinakill, later became known as Sister Catherine and Sister Mary of the Angels as nuns in the Good Shepherd Convent, Clare Street, Limerick. They were living there in 1901 and 1911. When Sister Catherine died at the age of 40 on 13 November 1921, it was noted that she was originally from Clonegal, Co Carlow. Sister Mary later became a nun in the Good Shepherd Convent in Waterford.

The Good Shepherd Convents became known as one of the ‘Mother and Baby’ homes or ‘Magdalene Laundries.’ Ironically, one of the women buried in the convent cemetery in Limerick is one of the residents, Bridget Comerford, who died there in 1958 at the age of 56. The difference is that Bridget was one of the 243 inmates of the Good Shepherd Laundry who was buried in an unmarked grave.

The former Good Shepherd Convent in Limerick is now home to Limerick School of Art and Design (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

James Comerford, the second and only son of Charles and Eliza Comerford, was born on 27 January 1885 in Ballinakill, Co Laois. He was only five when his father died on 28 November 1891.

James Comerford’s early education was at the Jesuit-run school, Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare, where James Joyce (1882-1941) also spent his formative years from 1888 to 1892.

When James Comerford was 17, he entered the Society of Jesus at Saint Stanislaus College, the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, near Tullamore, Co Offaly, on 6 September 1902. Tullabeg was a formation house for Jesuit novices, and was known affectionately as ‘the Bog’. He was ordained priest on 1 July 1919, and took his final vows as a Jesuit on 2 February 1922.

Father James Comerford spent most of his life as one ‘a handful’ of Irish priests with the Jesuit Calcutta Province in the Darjeeling Region in West Bengal. The mission took in half or more of north-east India, included Patna, Ranchi and south of it, Assam, Bhutan and Sikkim – an area four or five times that of Ireland.

Many of the letters he wrote back to Ireland are kept in the Jesuit archives in Dublin. One letter written in 1928 describes his life in India as a missionary:

‘Here I am in a mud hut, where books and manuscripts are exposed to destructive insects. The Church is neat as far as a thing of mud can be. Malaria and cholera are the two chief diseases. The water is salty, the effects of the seawater not being wholly removed. I shall have to build a cottage, but I am not afraid of the cost, as I never yet heard of missioners being obliged to withdraw from outposts on account of expense.

‘People from Calcutta come out here in quest of game – tigers – that abound in a part of the district. I have to look after. in all my district there are 800 Catholics and about as many Protestants. The latter are visited occasionally by Fr W, a high Anglican clergyman. It is now nearly two years since his last visit. He walks like the Indians in his bare feet across the rough rice fields. I don’t know how he does it. With shoes I get blisters on my feet after 5 or 6 miles, His people tell me that they will become Catholic, if I open a school. This I have done for our own Catholics, but one has to move slowly when dealing with Bengalese, as they easily change.’

He went on to say: ‘The great trouble down there is the mud that covers part of the district. It is sticky and slimy, and you must sometimes submit to being carried through it by a couple of men. Once my carriers sank deep into it, and it was only with difficulty they were able to bring me to a place of safety. Efforts are being made in the Madura Mission to erect a Church that will he dedicated to St Patrick …’

Later that year, in another letter back to Ireland, James reported:

‘The mud walls of my hut crack, and in these recesses cockroaches retire during the day, and appear at night. Lizards abound, Bats find a snug shelter on the inside of my thatched roof. As soon as I light my lamp I am visited by all the grasshoppers in creation. Ants and mosquitos are numerous. Yesterday I caught a rat. Are there such rats anywhere else in the world? They have a most abominable smell. If I got rid of the rat the smell remained. The application of one of the senses in the meditation on hell would be easy and profitable in my present environment.’

He recalled: ‘My worst experience so far was on the eve of the Ascension. At midnight a terrific storm burst, and my roof, in parts, gave way. Then came the rain and poured over my bed. I opened my umbrella and enjoyed whatever partial help it gave. Tomorrow, Feast of the Ascension, I shall reserve the Blessed Sacrament. It has not been reserved here for the last 50 years. The rains have begun and I shall soon be submerged. My hut and the Church will be the only dry spots. When I want to go out I proceed in my bare feet, if the distance is short, otherwise by canoe. Such is life in the wilds.’

A year later, in 1929, he wrote in a letter home:

‘I went on a visit lately to a distant village at the mouth of the River Hoogli. I had to make the journey in a country canoe, and, starting at 6 am reached the end of my water passage at 8 pm. It was dark, and I had to do the remaining mile on foot. I did that mile often, yet, we lost our way. At 10.30 the men, carrying my Massbox, were so fatigued that they asked me to stop, saying that we were getting further and further into the jungle. I yielded, and we sat down on the mud embankment to await dawn, i.e. to wait from 10.30 pm to 4.30 am.

‘After the trudge I had through quagmires of mud, I was not opposed to rest. At midnight however the rain began to come down in a flood. At 2 am there was another short but copious downpour, and when it was over, in spite of everything, I began to nod. I also began to slip down the mud embankment towards the deep water that now lay around. What troubled me most was that I would be compelled to deprive my poor people of their Sunday Mass.

‘But when everything seemed hopeless, a kindly Providence came to our aid. At 4.30 I heard a man singing. We called him and with his help we were able to make our exit. I managed to get through my two Masses by 10.30. Then, after breakfast (I had taken nothing since breakfast on the previous day at 4.30, except some bread and jam with a flask of coffee) through six baptisms, and when all was over had a real, sound sleep on a plank bed. You get used to a plank bed.

‘At the beginning of my career as an outpost missioner, a plank bed was a genuine mortification. Now I can sleep as comfortably on one as on the most up-to-date article in Calcutta or Dublin.’

Meanwhile, James Comerford’s widowed mother, Lizzie Comerford, died at the age of 84 on 14 March 1931 in Clonegal, near Bunclody. She is buried in Clonegal with her daughter Margaret May Comerford, her sister Mary Finn, who died in 1934, her parents, John and Elizabeth Finn, and her maternal grandparents, Austin and Elizabeth McDonnell of Clonegal.

Father James Comerford died in Dishergarh, Asansol, West Bengal, on 10 October 1963. He was the last surviving member of his family.

Margaret May Comerford (1890-1917), the youngrest child in her family, died in Clonegal, Co Carlow, on 13 May 1917 (Photograph: Comerford family collection)

This posting is now available on the Comerford Genealogy site as part of the series of Comerford Profiles HERE

For a posting on Comerford missionaries, visit HERE

The memories of a ‘West Briton’ who became Ireland’s ‘Jean d’Arc’

James Charles Comerford (1842-1907) of Ardavon House, Rahdrum … a contemporary of Charles Stewart Parnell, and father of Máire Comerford

Patrick Comerford

One of the presents I received this Christmas is a book I had searched for in vain in the bookshops in Limerick in recent weeks: Máire Comerford’s memoirs edited by Hilary Dully, On Dangerous Ground: A Memoir of the Irish Revolution.

This book was published a few weeks ago by Lilliput Press, and includes many of her memories, including her recollections of her branch of the Comerford family.

Máire Comerford was known as the ‘Jean d’Arc’ of Irish Republicanism and in later years she worked as a journalist with the Irish Press.

When I was in my teens, when Máire was retired and living in Saint Nessan’s in Sandyford, she was very supportive of my initial research into the history of the Comerford family. The Comerford family in Ballybur and Kilkenny and the Langton family of Kilkenny and Ballinakill were closely inter-related over many generations, and she told me how her branch of the Comerford family of Ballinakill, Co Laois, and Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, and my branch of the family from Bunclody, Co Wexford, were closely related.

Máire grew up in Co Wicklow and Co Wexford, so I have been interested in recent days to read how she recalled her family story, and her relationship with both the Comerford and the Esmonde family.

I was particularly interested in her recollection of the Comerford family history, when she recalls:

‘Our Comerford branch came to Rathdrum from Ballinakill in County Offaly [recte County Laois]. Kilkenny, like Galway, had its ‘Tribes’; but the Catholic tribes like the Walshes and the Comerfords, were evicted from the city of Kilkenny and ordered to live in Ballinakill. All this happened a very long time before our story began in Rathdrum. In a quiet way, the Comerfords belonged to a class of Irish person who seemed relatively unaffected by the Penal Laws against Catholics; people engaged in primary industries – brewers, millers, wool merchants – who thrived relative to the many Irish people who depended for their livelihood on the land and nothing else.’

Her father, James Charles Comerford (1842-1907), of Ardavon, Rathdrum, inherited the Comerford mills in Rathdrum. He grew up as a close friend of Charles Stewart Parnell, they rode horses together, they played cricket together, and James Comerford was Parnell’s election agent.

But, she recalls, ‘My mother, Eva Esmonde, was judged to have come down in the world when she married my father. On her equally Catholic but prouder side, there was a pedigree – supplied by request from the senior Esmonde family members to the editors of Debrett, and likewise to Burke …’

She describes her family as ‘Castle Catholics’ and ‘in essence West Britons.’ There is once childhood memory of being ‘ordered to the back of the class when the Irish lesson was on. I learnt what it to be a ‘West Briton’.’

When Máire’s father, James Charles Comerford, died on 3 October 1907, there was time of arbitration in the Comerford, and eventually her widowed mother, Eva Comerford, ‘brought us back to her native Wexford.’ She was the widowed mother of four children: Mary Eva (Máire), (Colonel) Thomas James Comerford (1894-1959), Dympna Helen Mulligan (1897-1977), and Alexander E (‘Sandy’) Comerford (1900-1966), later of Malahide, Co Dublin.

There are interesting accounts too of the various houses in Co Wexford where Eva Comerford lived with her young family. But perhaps more about these houses and these family stories in later postings on this blog.

• Máire Comerford, On Dangerous Ground: A Memoir of the Irish Revolution, edited by Hilary Dully (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2021), xvii + 334 pp