Four Comerford brothers from New South Wales who fought in World War I

Simon Phillip Comerford (left) and Laurence William Comerford (centre right), pictured with comrades George (centre left) and Patrick (right), were on the battlefield in Gallipoli

Patrick Comerford

Four Comerford brothers from New South Wales who fought in the Australian forces during World War I became posthumous celebrities in Australia some years ago when they featured in a ‘Who Do You Think Are’ programme about the actor Joel Edgerton.

Two of Edgerton’s great-uncles fought alongside each other on the battlefield in Gallipoli in 1915. The Comerford name survives in Comerford Street and Comerford Avenue in Cowra, New South Wales. Some accounts say the names were given to these streets because the Comerford family owned the land originally; other accounts say they are named in honour of the four Comerford brothers who fought in World War I.

The family is descended from Edmond Comerford, from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, who was the father of:

James Comerford (1817-1898) of Clonmel, Co Tipperary. He was born in Clonmel on 15 June 1817. He married Mary Ann Kelly (1820-1881) in Ballyneale, near Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, in 1839, and emigrated to Australia, landing in Port Jackson, New South Wales, in 1840. They lived in Camden, NSW, before moving to Shankmore County, Cumberland, NSW, in 1849.

They were the parents of eleven children, five sons and six daughters:

1, Edward Comerford (1842-1913). He married Elizabeth Webster.
2, Mary Ann (1844-1920), married Patrick Donlan (1842-1926).
3, Thomas Comerford (1844-1929), of whom next.
4, James Lawrence Comerford (1846-1926), married Susannah Jane Heffernan (1850-1937).
5, Margaret (1849-1920), married John William Costello (1844-1915).
6, Rebecca (1854-1877), died unmarried.
7, Ellen (1855-1945), died unmarried.
8, Catherine (Kate) (1856-1924), married Edward Dean Riley (1833-1913).
9, Eliza (1858-1938), married Thomas Kearins, who died in 1902.
10, William Comerford (1859-1860), died in infancy.
11, John Comerford (1861-1918). He married Laura (Leane) Sarah Jordan (1862-1945) in 1885, and they were the parents of six children: John E Comerford (1887-1920), James Michael Comerford (1890-1974), Ellen Laura (1892-1983), Mabel J (1896- ), Catherine N (1899- ), Rose E (1902 ), and Thomas William Comerford (1906-1976).

Mary (Kelly) Comerford died on 25 March 1881 in Young, NSW. James Comerford died on 29 September 1898 in Wambanumba, NSW, after a fall from a horse; he was then 81.

Their second son was:

Thomas Comerford (1844-1929). He was born on 17 June 1844 in Camden, NSW. He married Mary Agnes Hogan (1854-1925) in Boorowa, NSW, on 8 August 1877.

Thomas Comerford revived the Phoenix Brewery in Cowra, in central west New South Wales, in 1901. But he closed it less within a year, complaining that it was difficult to compete with the price of Sydney beer. There were only three hotels in the district who could purchase the beer manufactured locally, but all the other hotels were ‘tied’ houses owned by the big city breweries.

Thomas and Mary Comerford were the parents of ten children, six sons and four daughters:

1, Patrick Joseph (Paddy) Comerford (1878-1962).
2, Rebecca (Beccy) (1879-1962), married James Burns (1868-1921) in 1899.
3, Mary Jane (1880- ).
4, James (Jim) Comerford (1882-1919).
5, Simon Phillip Comerford (1884-1954).
6, Thomas Edward (Mick) Comerford (1886-1915).
7, Johanna Agnes (1887-1921), married William Copson in Cowra, 1908, and they were the parents of two daughters and three sons: Edna M Copson (1908-1910); Thomas Edward Copson (1910-1966); Sidney Archibald Patrick Copson (1912-1982); Mary M Copson (1915); and Ovid Emmit Copson (1905-1980).
8, Catherine Ellen (Kate) (1890-1980). In 1919, she married Donald Kempsey Cameron (1890-1963). She was the mother of one daughter, Thelma May Comerford (1913-2007), who married William George Munday (1913-1962).
9, George John Comerford (1892-1964).
10, Lawrence William (Larry) Comerford (1896-1954).

Thomas Comerford and Mary Comerford lived at Newtown, Cowra. Mary (Hogan) Comerford died in Cowra on 4 April 1925; Thomas Comerford died on 24 September 1929.

Simon Philip Comerford (1884-1954) was at Gallipoli in 1915, and later fractured a leg when he was kicked by a horse

Four of these brothers, Patrick, Simon, George and Lawrence Comerford, enlisted in the Australian forces in World War I. Two brothers, James and Thomas Edward Comerford, known as Mick, were unable to enlist due to weak chests and sickly disposition. Indeed, Mick died on 14 September 1915 while his brothers were fighting.

The brothers found themselves in various theatres of war, including the Middle East and Europe, and it is a rarity in Australian war history that all four Comerford brothers returned home to Cowra and the surrounding district.

The eldest son, Patrick Joseph Comerford (1878-1962), was born in Young NSW, and enlisted in the Australian forces in Liverpool NSW. He fought in both Egypt and France during World War I.

Both the third son, Simon Phillip Comerford (1884-1954), and the youngrest child, Laurence William Comerford (1896-1954), were in the same unit as transport drivers of the 18th Battalion in the 5th Brigade in Gallipoli in 1915.

Simon Philip Comerford was born in Young, NSW, in 1884, and was living in Lyndhurst, New South Wales in 1913. He enlisted in Liverpool, NSW. He fought in Gallipoli in August 1915. Documents show he fractured his left leg after he was kicked by a horse while on transport duty in January 1918.

After World War I, he was living in Calalare, New South Wales, by 1930 and he was still there when he died on 7 December 1954.

His brother, Laurence William Comerford, was wounded in action in France in November 1917. Laurence enlisted on 2 February 1915 as private in the 20th Battalion, 3rd Reinforcement, and his unit embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A54 Runic. He was a driver with the 18th Battalion during the war, and returned to Australia on 13 April 1919.

Laurence married Dorothy Clemantine Williamson in 1926. He was a painter, and lived in Earlwood NSW. He died on 22 November 1954.

Trooper George John Comerford … was at Alexandria, Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine during World War I

The fifth son, George John Comerford, who was born in Boorowa, NSW. He enlisted in Liverpool, NSW, and trained at Holsworthy near Liverpool. He took part on horseback in the farewell to the 12th Light Horse Regiment in Sydney on 28 April 1915, and he embarked on HMAT A29 Suevic on 13 June 1915.

On their arrival in Egypt, George and his comrades in the 12th learned they were to reinforce troops already at Gallipoli. On their way to Alexandria, the troopers were told the 12th would be split on arrival at Gallipoli.

The Machine-Gun Section and George’s ‘A' Squadron of the 12th Light Horse were ‘taken on strength’ to the 1st Light Horse Regiment around ‘Walker’s Ridge,’ becoming that regiment’s ‘B' Squadron. Between late August and December, George saw action in mainly defensive battles. He described to his family the ferocity of the hand-to-hand trench combat he was involved in.

He also spoke of the ingenuity of an idea to have rifles keep firing through a dripping water mechanism as plans for the evacuation of the ANZACs were put into actioned and of his role as one of the troopers assigned with setting up the famous ‘drip’ rifles.

George recalled to family members his prominent role in the charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba, one of, if not the last great cavalry charge in any war and a turning point in the Turkish control of the Sinai and Palestine during World War I.

George was a trooper in the 4th Light Horse Brigade. He said his horse was called ‘Aeroplane’ because ‘it flew’ when prompted or startled by artillery fire. He said one of the reasons the horses needed no encouragement to charge that late afternoon in October was because the horses had been lacking water and ‘could smell it’ at the wells of Beersheba, only a few miles away.

George was in ‘A' Squadron, 2nd troop, and was in the leading row of the charge with only the scouts ahead of them. While another A Squadron troop dismounted to fight in the trenches as they approached Beersheba at full gallop, George was in the remaining troops that jumped trenches and entered Beersheba on the Asluj-Beersheba road at full pace, capturing Turkish guns, munitions and prisoners, as the Turks surrendered.

His medals, honours and awards included the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal, and the British War Medal. George married in 1921, and he died in Cowra on 24 January 1964.

Comerford Street and Comerford Avenue in Cowra are named after the four brothers in recognition of their service and the rarity of all four returning home to Cowra and surrounding districts.

The eldest of these brothers, Patrick Joseph Comerford (1878-1962), was born on 12 May 1878 in Young, NSW. He married Ivy Philomena Anthony (1904-1995), daughter of William Melchaides Anthony and Margaret Josephine (née Lee), on 16 October 1921.

They later lived at Wilkins Street, Bathurst. Patrick died in Bathurst in 1962, and Ivy died in 1995. They were the parent of seven children:

1, Ronald Noel Comerford.
2, Beryl Mary Bullock.
3-7, five other children.

The stories of these brothers were told in a television programme on the genealogical background of the Australian actor and filmmaker, Joel Edgerton.

The award-winning Edgerton has appeared in the films Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) as a young Owen Lars, King Arthur (2004) as Gawain, Zero Dark Thirty (2012), The Great Gatsby (2013), Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) as Ramesses II, Black Mass (2015), Loving (2016), Bright (2017), Red Sparrow (2018), and The King (2019).

Comerford Street and Comerford Avenue in Cowra are named after the four Comerford brothers

Genealogical digressions illustrate the stupidity of the arguments of racists

Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary … an ancestral home of the Ormond Butlers – and of how many other Irish people? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

During this late summer ‘Road Trip,’ our visit to the Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, last week reminded me of the persistent tradition in the Butler family that the friendship between Thomas Butler (1531-1614), 10th Earl of Ormond, and a young Queen Elizabeth I was more romantic than platonic.

‘Black Tom’ and ‘Good Queen Bess’ were distantly related – they were fifth cousins through the descent of her mother from Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond.

But this persistent tradition also alleges that Elizabeth had secretly given birth to one of Black Tom’s illegitimate sons, Piers FitzThomas Butler of Duiske Abbey, Co Kilkenny. His eldest son, Sir Edward Butler of Duiske, Co Kilkenny, was given the title of Viscount Galmoye in 1646.

Edmund Butler married his second cousin Anne Butler, whose father was a first cousin of ‘Black Tom.’ Their daughter Elizabeth married Luke Comerford of Callan. Anne was also a sister of Helen Butler who married her second cousin, Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, and of Eleanor Butler who married Morgan Kavanagh and was the mother-in-law of John Comerford of Ballybur Castle.

In this way, Luke Comerford of Callan had married a daughter of an alleged grandson of Black Tom and Queen Bess.

I digressed in my account of Ormond Castle by pointing out that by the early or mid-17th century, all the major branches of the Comerford family in Co Kilkenny and Co Wexford were intermarried with the Ormond Butlers.

However, as I pointed out, these are the normal rather than exceptional expectations in Irish genealogy, a point than can be made by adapting the projections in a new book by Adam Rutherford that I bought in the Book Centre in Wexford last week before heading on to Carrick-on-Suir.

The former Mall House, a former Comerford family home in Bunclody, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Adam Rutherford’s book, How to argue with a racist, was published earlier this year by Weidenfeld and Nicholson. In normal circumstances, I refuse to argue with racists. To argue with someone is to listen to their point of view with a willingness to concede that they may have valid points to make, and to be open to changing or modifying my own point of view. But I am unwilling to argue with racists. There are no valid supporting arguments to accept, there are no concessions to be made.

In fact, Dr Rutherford’s book is not arguing with racists; it is totally dismissive of racism, and points out the absurdity of all racist arguments.

One way he does this is through his critical examination of genealogy, its purposes and its methods, in Chapter 2, headed ‘Your ancestors are my ancestors’ (pp 67-107).

Adam Rutherford is a science writer and broadcaster with a PhD in genetics. He points out that in the study of genetics, there is an assumed generational time of 24 to 30 years, and he points out too that in every generation back through time the number of ancestors you have doubles.

What this means is that over a 500-year period, I have 1,048,576 ancestors. By 1,000 years ago, I have 1,099,511,627,776 ancestors – that is, over a trillion people, a number that is about 10 times the number of people that ever existed.

He says, ‘This apparent paradox reveals quite how incorrectly we think about our ancestry.’ Our family trees coalesce and collapse in on themselves as we go back in time. I certainly have a trillion positions on my family tree 1,000 years ago. But the further I go back, the more frequently these positions will be occupied by the same individual multiple times.

He points out that family trees coalesce with startling speed. ‘The last common ancestors of all people with longstanding European ancestries lived only 600 years ago – meaning that if we could draw a perfect family tree for all Europeans, at least one branch on each tree would pass through a single person who lived around 1400 CE. This person would appear on all our family trees, as would all of their ancestors.’

I have taken part in some of the programmes in the popular television series Who Do You Think You Are?. Rutherford recalls an episode in which the actor Danny Dyer found he was 22 generations directly descended from King Edward III in the 14th century. But, as points out, ‘the chances of anyone with longstanding British ancestry being similarly descended from Edward III is effectively 100 per cent. It is true for Danny Dyer, and it is true for the majority of British people too.’

The coat-of-arms of the Ormond Butlers above the entrance to Kilkenny Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Because of the historically smaller population in Ireland, and the even smaller population in south-east Ireland, it is possible to deduce from this argument that the descent of any branch of the Comerford family in Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary from the Ormond Butlers is a normal rather than exceptional expectation in genealogical research.

Indeed, if Piers Butler was – as persistent rumours claim – a secret love child of Thomas Butler and Queen Elizabeth born almost 500 years ago – when we all have 1,048,576 ancestors – and if he has descendants in the Comerford family, then the chances of anyone with longstanding ancestry in south-east Ireland being similarly descended are effectively 100 per cent.

Rutherford goes back even further to reach what he calls the genetic isopoint. This is the point in history when the entire population is the ancestor of the entire population today. For the people of Europe, the isopoint occurs in the 10th century.

‘In other words, if you were alive in the tenth century in Europe, and you have European descendants alive today, then you are the ancestor of all Europeans alive today.’

The global isopoint comes out at around 3,400 years ago.

Genealogy helps me to find identify in community across time and space. But it also shows that there is no such thing as the concept pushed by the far-right as ‘racial purity.’ If I am descended from the Butlers, the Comerfords, the Comberfords or the Quemerfords, so too are you, in all probability. If you are descended from Edward III, Charlemagne and King David, so too am I.

As he says, it is ‘pretty much impossible for all Europeans’ to have no Jewish ancestors.

In the story of Abraham, the Lord brings him outside and says, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he says to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’ (Genesis 15: 5). It is true too that we are all descended from Abraham.

In a review in the Guardian earlier this year, Manjit Kumar wrote, ‘Every Nazi had Jewish ancestors. Discovering this fact alone is worth the price of Adam Rutherford’s engaging and enlightening new book.’

Kilkenny Castle … one of the ancestral homes of the Ormond Butlers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir includes Ireland’s Tudor treasure

Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, is the finest example of an Elizabethan manor house in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

As the late summer ‘Road Trip’ continued west from Wexford, across the dramatic new bridge at New Ross, we stopped at Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, to visit Ormond Castle on the banks of the River Suir on the east side of the town.

Ormond Castle is regarded by many as the finest example of an Elizabethan manor house in Ireland. It was built in 1565 by Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, beside an earlier mediaeval riverside castle in honour of his distant cousin Queen Elizabeth I.

The magnificent great hall that stretches almost the whole length of the first floor of the house, is decorated with some of the finest stucco plasterwork in Ireland, with portraits of Queen Elizabeth and her brother Edward VI and many motifs and emblems associated with the Tudor monarchy.

Two tall towers on the north-east and north-west corners of the bawn date from the 14th and 15th centuries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The castle grounds include the ruins of a mediaeval bawn or fortified walled enclosure, with two tall 14th or 15th century towers on the north-east and north-west corners, while the main manor house building dates to the Tudor Period.

The mediaeval castle secured a strategic position on the River Suir, with access to Clonmel, the port of Waterford and the city of Kilkenny. At one time, the River Suir flowed right up to the gate of the castle, bring people and goods to and from the castle.

Edmund Butler acquired the town of Carrickmacgriffin (now Carrick-on-Suir) in 1315 after it was taken from the Wall family. His son, James Butler, became the first Earl of Ormond in 1328.

Thomas Butler (1531-1616), 10th Earl of Ormond, known as ‘Black Tom,’ succeeded to his family titles and estates in 1546 as a young teenager. He was a child in the court of Henry VIII, shared a tutor with the future Edward VI, and he was made a Knight of the Order of Bath at Edward’s coronation in 1546.

When Elizabeth I succeeded as queen in 1558, she appointed Thomas Butler as Lord Treasurer of Ireland, and is said to have referred to him as her ‘Black Husband’ because of his dark rugged looks. They were related through her mother Anne Boleyn, a great-granddaughter of the 7th Earl of Ormond. Elizabeth later made Thomas a Privy Councillor, a Knight of the Garter, and cancelled all his debts.

The manor house was the first Tudor manor house of its kind in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

By then, ‘Black Tom’ had returned from England at the age of 22 and brought with him a taste for Elizabethan-style architecture. It is said Elizabeth promised to visit her cousin one day, and Thomas Butler added the Tudor manor house to the castle in hope and anticipation of that visit.

It was the first Tudor manor house of its kind in Ireland and it remains the best example of an Elizabethan manor house in Ireland.

The U-shape of the manor house surrounds a small courtyard that abuts the north of the castle’s bawn. The manor has two floors and a gabled attic.

The most notable achievement of recent restorations is the 100 ft long gallery on the first floor, where the ceiling had largely collapsed. This room, once hung with tapestries, has two majestic fireplaces. One chimneypiece bears a large stone over-mantel. Above it is the Ormond coat of arms with a Latin inscription proclaiming it was made in 1565, the seventh year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. There are stucco representations of Queen Elizabeth flanked by Equity and Justice.

A plaster frieze runs much of the length of the gallery, depicting allegorical figures with heads of Elizabeth and her brother, Edward VI, and their family coats of arms. The ceiling plasterwork includes the Tudor Rose and other Tudor heraldic devices as well as the queen’s personal arms.

The decoration has less-than-subtle references to the queen in the plasterwork and paintings, and the initials ‘TO’ (Thomas Ormond) and ‘ER’ (Elizabeth Regina).

The visual impact can be compared with the long gallery (Photograph: Carrick-on-Suir website)

The visual impact can be compared with the long gallery in the Moat House, Tamworth, decorated in a similar fashion a few decades later to boast of a similarly distant kinship between the Comberford family and their guest the Prince of Wales, later Charles I.

A decorative frieze in the state rooms in Carrick-on-Suir incorporates much original material and comprises alternating panels of the Butler coat of arms, and various cartouche panels. Some carry the motto in old French Plus Pense que é Dére (‘To think more than is said’), a quotation from the French poet, Charles, Duke of Orléans.

There is original plasterwork in the ground-floor parlour too. The remains of a plasterwork frieze feature heraldic beasts, the falcon and the griffin, alternating with a device known as the Ormond or ‘Wake’ knot, sometimes called a Carrick knot.

Mullioned windows on the ground floor of the house (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The manor house has mullioned windows on both floors to the front and oriel windows in the porch in the centre of the façade.

The U-shape of the manor house surrounds a small courtyard that abuts the north of the castle. The manor has two floors and a gabled attic.

Of course, Elizabeth never visited the castle that Thomas Butler had, apparently, so lovingly created for her. Much of his life was taken up with a fierce feud with Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond. The two sides fought a pitched battle in 1565 at the Battle of Affane south of Cappoquin, Co Waterford, one of the stopping points on the first stage of this ‘Road Trip.’

Butler’s victory and his handling the political fallout helped to spark the Desmond Rebellions. This struggle in 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 desolated Munster for decades.

Near the end of his life, Thomas had fallen out of favour. Old and blind, he returned to his house on the Suir, always his favourite home. He lived to the age of 83, surviving Queen Elizabeth, his three wives and all his legitimate male heirs. He died on 22 November 1614 and is buried in Saint Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny.

In the 17th century, the house was a favourite residence of James Butler, Duke of Ormonde (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

In the 17th century, the house was a favourite residence of James Butler (1610-1688), 1st Duke of Ormonde. He was a grandson of Black Tom’s nephew, Walter Butler (1559-1633), who had succeeded as 11th Earl of Ormond in 1614. During the Duke of Ormonde’s time, the house then stood in extensive parkland and records show there was a deer park, orchards, gardens, a peach house, and a large stable of horses.

However, the Butler family abandoned the manor at Carrick-on-Suir after the first duke died in 1688, and so began a period during which various tenants came and went.

At first, these tenants were prosperous. A Waterford wine merchant named Galwey rented the castle in the 1780s. Later, Wogan, a solicitor, moved in. But Wogan demolished many of the old buildings from 1816 on. As each tenant was poorer than the last, the rooms were subdivided. What had been a seat of wealth and power become a mere shelter for the hungry. Ormond Castle’s decline was dramatic.

Nevertheless, the home remained in the hands of the Butler family until the mid-20th century. When the house was given to state in 1947, it was derelict though still roofed.

The site of the castle once stood on the banks of the River Suir (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The house has been restored in recent decades of the Office of Public Works (OPW). Central to the restoration work has been the revival of the Renaissance plasterwork, which is some places was so badly damaged it required remoulding made from casts taken of the original.

More than 400 years after it was first built, the manor house remains dignified and elegant. A recent addition is a €270,000 interpretation scheme in the exhibition and audio-visual rooms. Two seven-minute animations tell the story from the perspective of both Black Tom and his first wife Elizabeth Berkley.

There is a persistent tradition that the friendship between Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, and young Elizabeth was more romantic than platonic.

This tradition alleges that Elizabeth had secretly given birth to one of Black Tom’s illegitimate sons, Piers FitzThomas Butler of Duiske Abbey. His eldest son, Sir Edward Butler of Duiske, was given the title of Viscount Galmoye in 1646.

Edmund Butler married Anne Butler, and their daughter Elizabeth married Luke Comerford of Callan. Anne was also a sister of Helen Butler who married her second cousin, Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, and of Eleanor Butler who married Morgan Kavanagh and was the mother-in-law of John Comerford of Ballybur.

In this way, Luke Comerford of Callan had married a daughter of an alleged grandson of Black Tom and Queen Bess. Indeed, by the early or mid-17th century, all the major branches of the Comerford family were intermarried with the Ormond Butlers. But these are the normal rather than exceptional expectations in Irish genealogy, a point than can be made using the projections in a new book by Adam Rutherford that I bought in Wexford before heading on to Carrick-on-Suir.

But I digress. Perhaps I should explore this further in a separate essay later this evening.

A tapestry on the ground floor alludes to the genealogical links of the Butler family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)