A discreet plaque in London remembers David Ricardo, an early Jewish-born MP and ‘Britain's greatest economist’

Drayton House, home of the Department of Economics at UCL, which owes its origins to the politician and economist David Ricardo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Friends’ House and Drayton House form one impressive block at the corner of Euston Road and Gordon Street, London, opposite Euston Station. The building includes Friends’ House, the central offices and library of the Quakers in Britain, with a peaceful garden, and Drayton House, which houses the Department of Economics of University College London (UCL).

The imposing block is familiar to the many thousands of people who walk out from Euston Station onto Euston Road, and when I am meeting people in London, I often arrange to meet them at the café or in the secluded gardens there.

Friends’ House and Drayton House are close to Bloomsbury, Saint Pancras and King’s Cross. The block was built in a neo-Georgian style 100 years ago, in 1924-1928, to the design of the architect Hubert Lidbetter.

The plaque to David Ricardo on the Gordon Street frontage of Drayon House was unveiled in 2005 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

However, few commuters and rail users, I imagine, notice the small discreet plaque at the Gordon Street end commemorating David Ricardo (1772-1823), who was only the second person of Jewish birth to have been elected an MP, and who has been described as ‘Britain's greatest economist’.

The plaque to David Ricardo on the Gordon Street frontage of Drayon House was unveiled 20 years ago, on 21 August 2005. The Chair of Political Economy at UCL was created in 1828 with the assistance of funds raised to commemorate Ricardo, establishing the first Department of Economics in England.

The plaque is so discreet that it is not even mentioned in Jewish London, the comprehensive guidebook produced by Rachel Kolsky and Roslyn Rawson.

David Ricardo, ‘Britain's greatest economist’ and Ireland’s first Jewish-born MP (Source: Thomas Phillips/Wikpedia/Common Licence)

David Ricardo became the first Jewish-born MP in Ireland when he became the MP for Portarlington on 20 February 1819. Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was not elected until 1837, and although he had been born Jewish, he had been baptised at the age of 12 in 1817. Lord George Gordon had converted to Judaism in 1787, seven years after he lost his seat in Parliament.

Other MPs may have had Jewish parents, but only two Jewish-born MPs were elected before Disraeli: Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes (1755-1831), who converted to Christianity in 1802, the year he was elected, and the political economist David Ricardo, who became MP for Portarlington on 20 February 1819.

David Ricardo was born in London on 18 April 1772, the third of 17 children of a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese descent who had recently moved to London from Amsterdam. The Ricardo family removed from Livorno in Tuscany to Amsterdam in the late 17th or early 18th century, and family members were prominent in the Jewish community in Amsterdam.

His father, Abraham Ricardo, wa a successful stockbroker on the Amsterdam Bourse and was naturalised in London in 1771. In 1773, he was appointed to one of the 12 brokerships reserved for Jews in the City of London. David Ricardo’s mother, Abigail Delvalle, was the daughter of a tobacco merchant.

David had a traditional Jewish upbringing. His family may have thought he had the potential to become a rabbi, and it is said he attended the Talmud Torah in Amsterdam in 1783-1785. But he returned to London and began working with his father at the age of 14 in 1786.

At the age of 21, he eloped with Priscilla Anne Wilkinson, a Quaker – a detail that becomes interesting in the coincidence that Friends’s House and Drayton House form one block. Their marriage led to his estrangement from his family, and the Ricardo family ‘went into mourning for him as if he was dead.’ His father disowned him and his mother never spoke to him again, although he was left £100 in his father’s will ‘in token of forgiveness.’

Forced to find his own independence, Ricardo went into business on his own with the support of Lubbocks and Forster, a banking house. He was an innovative economic thinker and was also closely involved in the city’s financial history. His work initiated the now dominant tradition of economic analysis rooted in systematic theoretical modelling. To this day, his insights into the principles of trade and public finance remain pertinent.

As a trustee of the early modern Stock Exchange, he was a member of the Committee of Proprietors that decided in 1801 to reconstitute it on a private subscription basis and subsequently helped oversee the execution of the plan. He later played a leading role in syndicates contracting loans that financed the Napoleonic wars. He made the bulk of his fortune speculating on the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, when he reportedly ‘netted upwards of a million sterling’ – an impressive sum at the time.

Ricardo retired immediately, bought Gatcombe Park, an estate in Gloucestershire now owned by Princess Anne, and he was appointed the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1818-1819.

He declined an invitation In November 1816 to contest a by-election in Worcester. In December 1817, Ricardo’s agent Edward Wakefield negotiated with Lord Portarlington’s agent to buy his interest in the ‘rotten borough’ of Portarlington in Queen’s County (now Co Laois), ‘at the market price of the day’, as part of a loan agreement for the debt-laden Irish peer.

Portarlington was a ‘rotten borough’ with just a handful of electors and was controlled by the Dawson family of Emo Court. But the deal fell through because ‘Lord Portarlington found there was nothing to be got by returning an opposition man.’

Ricardo then considered several borough seats, including Wootton Bassett and Fowey. However, in August 1818, he finally secured Lord Portarlington’s borough for £4,000 as part of the terms of a loan of £25,000.

Ricardo took his seat as an Irish MP on 20 February 1819, and he sat in the House of Commons as a Whig until his death five years later. Although Portarlington was a ‘rotten borough’ and he never visited his constituents, Ricardo was a supporter of parliamentary reform and religious toleration and he voted for Catholic relief on 3 May 1819.

JL Mallet noted that Ricardo, notwithstanding his slender footing in the House, his Jewish name and his shrill voice, obtained great attention and was cheered in the House of Commons throughout his first speech. A few days later, the Duke of Wellington met Ricardo at a large party at Lady Lansdowne’s and congratulated him on his speech.

Ricardo was an earnest reformer in Parliament, seeking an inquiry into the Peterloo massacre, and supporting free trade, criminal law reform and the abolition of the death penalty.

Ricardo died on 11 September 1823 from an infection of the middle ear that spread into the brain and induced septicaemia. He was 51. He was buried in Saint Nicholas churchyard in Hardenhuish, near Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Ricardo’s writings fascinated a number of early socialists in the 1820s, who thought his value theory had radical implications. Later, his eldest son, Osman Ricardo (1795-1881), was MP for Worcester (1847-1865); another son, David Ricardo (1803-1864), was MP for Stroud (1832-1833).

During Ricardo’s life, London had no university and Jews were unable to graduate at either of the existing universities in England – Oxford and Cambridge – because of religious restrictions. When UCL was founded in 1826, three years after Ricardo’s death, it was with a commitment to provide opportunities for university education to people of all religious beliefs.

After Ricardo’s death, his friends in the influential Political Economy Club – including Robert Malthus and John Stewart Mill – raised funds as a ‘tribute to his genius’, to perpetuate his memory through the delivery of lectures on the subject of political economy. When the university appointed Ricardo’s follower, John Ramsay McCulloch, to its first chair in Political Economy these funds were transferred to UCL to support teaching the subject.

The plaque at Drayton House honouring David Ricardo and his association with the foundation of the Department of Economics at UCL, was unveiled by Thomas Sargent, President of the Econometric Society, during the 2005 World Congress of the Econometric Society.

The plaque to David Ricardo on the Gordon Street frontage of Drayon House was unveiled in 2005 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

There is no evidence in Ricardo’s life of any particular interest in Jewish religious or communal affairs. He maintained cordial relations with the younger members of his family – some of whom seceded from Judaism – and during a visit to Amsterdam in 1822 he sought out some of his Dutch family members, including his sister’s son, the poet Isaac da Costa (1798-1860).

In 1823, he wrote, ‘It appears to me a disgrace to the age we live in, that many of the inhabitants of this country are still suffering under disabilities, imposed on them in less enlightened times. The Jews have most reason to complain, for they are frequently reproached with following callings which are the natural effects of the political degradation in which they are kept. I cannot help thinking that the time is approaching when these ill-founded prejudices against men on account of their religious opinions will disappear, and I should be happy if I could be an humble instrument in accelerating their fall.’

McCulloch wrote in 1846 that young Ricardo abandoned the Jewish religion of his upbringing. But Joseph Jacobs and JH Hollander in the Jewish Encyclopaedia point out there is no evidence of any formal apostasy, and that ‘it is more reasonable to hold that virtual alienation resulted from marriage outside of the Jewish faith and that the severance of family ties followed.’

The late Asher Benson, in his Jewish Dublin (Dublin: A&A Farmar, 2007), says, ‘Although there is no evidence that he converted to Christianity, he must have sworn allegiance to that faith in order to be admitted to Parliament.’

The law excluding any member of the Jewish religion from Parliament unless he swore an oath of abjuration remained in place until the 1850s.

No other Jewish-born MP was elected to represent an Irish constituency until 1892, when Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1834-1913), the Hamburg-born co-founder of Harland and Wolff, was elected for East Belfast. But Wolff too had converted to Christianity, and was a member of the Church of Ireland and of the Orange Order.

The first Jewish member of the new Irish Parliament after independence was Ellen Odette Cuffe (1857-1933), Countess of Desart, who was appointed to the Free State Senate by WT Cosgrave in 1922. She was born Ellen Odette Bischoffsheim, and she was a leading philanthropist in Co Kilkenny, where she lived at Cuffesgrange. She has been called ‘the most important Jewish woman in Irish history.’

The first Jewish TD, Robert Briscoe (1894-1969), was elected to the Dáil in 1927, over a century after Ricardo took his seat, and he remained a Fianna Fail TD until 1961. He also served two terms as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

May his memory be a blessing, זיכרונו לברכה

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום

Emo Court in Co Laois, the home of the Earls of Portarlington when they sold the ‘rotten borough’ of Portarlington to David Ricardo in 1819 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (129) 4 October 2023

Saint Michael’s Church, Portarlington, built in 1839-1842 and said to have been designed by the Carlow-based architect TA Cobden (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVII, 1 October 2023). The Church today celebrates the life of Saint Francis of Assisi (1226), Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor.

Before today begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

The Church celebrated Saint Michael and All Angels last week (Friday, 29 September). So my reflections each morning during Michaelmas last week and this week are taking this format:

1, A reflection on a church named after Saint Michael or his depiction in Church Art;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside Saint Michael’s Church, Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Michael’s Church (Roman Catholic), Portarlington, Co Laois:

He Irish Midlands town of Portarlington is divided by the River Barrow, with the east side of the town in Co Laois (formerly Queen’s County) and the west side of the town in Co Offaly (formerly King’s County).

The town’s two Church of Ireland parish churches, which I was describing yesterday, were built in the east or Laois side of the town, with Saint Paul’s Church, known as the ‘French Church,’ built first to serve the French and Flemish Huguenot families, and Saint Michael’s Church, known as the ‘English Church,’ built for the English-speaking families of Portarlington.

The ‘English Church’ has been closed for almost a century and a half. But Portarlington has another Saint Michael’s Church, built at the west end of the town, on the Offaly side of Portarlington in 1839-1842, to serve the town’s Roman Catholic residents.

Saint Michael’s Church is unusual in its liturgical orientation: it is built on a north-south axis, rather than the traditional east-west axis. Its finely executed stonework articulates its Gothic Revival form, while its decorative features, including its windows, enliven an otherwise austere exterior.

This church was built in 1839, when it first opened, was completed in 1842, was extended in 1912-1915, and was refurbished in 1971 after Vatican II.

The church has been attributed to the Carlow-based architect Thomas Alfred Cobden (1794-1842), perhaps on stylistic grounds but mainly because Father Terence O’Connell, the parish priest of Portarlington at the time Saint Michael’s Church was built had the administrator of Carlow Cathedral when it was built.

Cobden designed many public buildings, private houses and churches in Co Carlow, Co Wexford and Co Waterford, including the Cathedral of the Assumption in Carlow when Father Terence O’Connell was the Administrator, Saint Mary’s Church of Ireland parish church in Carlow, Saint Patrick’s College, Carlow, the Church of the Holy Cross in Killeshin, and the Presbyterian Church in Carlow, known locally as the Scots’ Church.

Cobden was a son of Thomas Cobden, a builder in Chichester, who built Chichester Market House with William Brooks in 1807. He was baptised on 8 July 1794 at an independent chapel in Chichester in 1794 and when he came to work in Ireland is still unknown.

He prepared designs for Gurteen le Poer, Co Waterford, for John William Power in 1814-1815, and drew up a classical scheme for Wells House, Co Wexford, for Robert Doyne, in 1819. Only his stables were built at Gurteen Le Poer, but he also designed the tower of Downpatrick Cathedral.

The rest of Cobden’s work in Ireland seems to have been in Co Carlow and Co Wexford. His clients included John Dawson Duckett, William Duckett, Robert Clayton Browne, General Robert Browne Clayton, Thomas Elrington, Bishop of Ferns, Robert Tottenham Ponsonby Loftus, Bishop of Clogher, and Father Terence O’Connell when he was in Carlow and Portarlington.

He worked for John Dawson Duckett on Duckett’s Grove, Co Carlow, and his other designs include Braganza Villa (1818-1823), built for Colonel Sir Dudley Hill (1790-1851), later the bishop’s house in Carlow and once the residence of Bishop Michael Comerford (1831-1895).

If Carlow Cathedral is Cobden’s great achievement in church architecture, then Duckett’s Grove is his most amazing work of domestic architecture. It was built around 1830 for William Duckett and is now in ruins. It is about 9 or 10 km from both Carlow and Tullow and once stood at the centre of a 12,000 acre (49 sq km) estate.

Cobden, who was a Presbyterian, was ecumenical before his time in the scope of ecclesiastical commissions he accepted, and this is underlined in his friendship with Terence O’Connell. He lived in College Street, Carlow, but he returned to London by 1832 and died at the age of 48 in Hackney in 1842, the year Saint Michael’s Church in Portarlington was completed.

Commemorative plaques above the door into Saint Michael’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The stones used to build Saint Michael’s Church came from the bed of the canal being built between Portarlington and Monasterevin.

Father Terence O’Connell also built Saint Paul’s Church in Emo village, which stands on a site donated by Henry Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington, of Emo Court. He donated the site to the parish in 1861, and O’Connell commissioned the Dublin-based architect John Sterling Butler (1816-1885) to design the church in Emo.

O’Connell also built the church in Killenard and brought the Presentation Nuns (1854) and the Christian Brothers (1863) to Portarlington.

A plaque at the porch commemorates Terence O’Connell. When he died in 1875, he was buried in the church and the parish was divided, with Emo and Rath becoming a new parish. His successor as parish priest, Hugh Mahon (1875-1889), was also buried in the church.

The architect Thomas Francis McNamara (1867-1947) was commissioned by Father Edward O’Leary to extended Saint Michael’s Church by 20 ft in 1912-1915. He extended the interior sanctuary and nave, and added a chancel, side chapels, nuns’ choir, the sacristies and the baptistry.

McNamara was a pupil in the office of William Hague and later became Hague’s managing assistant. After Hague died in 1899, he formed a business partnership with Hague’s widow, practising as Hague and McNamara until about 1907, before practising under his own name. He completed much of Hague’s work, including Saint Eunan’s Cathedral in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, and the tower and spire at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

Like Hague, McNamara received many church commissions. He travelled frequently in France, Italy and Spain, and had a particular interest in Hispano-Romanesque architecture. He also designed a large number of cinemas throughout Ireland. His pupils and assistants included the stained-glass artist Harry Clarke.

Saint Michael’s has a seven-bay nave with chancel, with a flat-roofed side chapel and sacristy to north. Inside, the nave has a vaulted ceiling and there is a Tudor chancel arch, and a gallery to the rear, and there are interesting stained-glass windows.

The church has a four-stage castellated tower with pinnacles and a stone cross. At the sides there are castellated single-bay, single-storey projections. The tower has a clock and louvered windows, and there are lucarnes to the spire.

The pointed-arched window have with hood-mouldings, chamfered limestone surrounds and timber Y-tracery windows, and there are timber battened doors.

The large East Window above the high altar, depicting the Last Supper, is the work of Daniel & Frucker.

There are two stone plaques above the entrance. One reads, ‘AMDG Ecclesia Sancti Michaelis Erected by the Very Rev T O’Connell PP VF AD 1842.’ The other reads, ‘In 1915 this church was lengthened by 20 feet and the chancel, chapels, nuns’ choir, sacristies and baptistery were added by V Rev E O’Leary PP VF.’

A third plaque at the side reads, ‘The Christian Brothers served this parish of Portarlington and surrounding area from 1863-1995 buíochas le Dia as ucht a saothair.’

The architect Wilfrid Cantwell (1921-2000) refurbished Saint Michael’s in 1971 in line with the liturgical reforms introduced by Vatican II.

Wilfrid Cantwell graduated from the School of Architecture, UCD, with his BArch degree in 1944, and was elected a member of the RIAI in 1946. He was President of RIAI in 1966 and 1967. He worked with Michael Scott, alongside Kevin Roche, Kevin Fox and Robin Walker, and worked on Bus Arús. He later worked with JN Kidney before setting up his own practice (1947-1975), where he attained distinction in the area of church architecture, particularly in years immediately after Vatican II.

His two major religious buildings are the Synagogue on Rathfarnham Road in Terenure, Dublin, and the Church of the Holy Spirit, Ballycullane, Co Wexford, in 1971. His favourite church project was the renovation of the Pugin Chapel in Ushaw College, Durham. He was the co-author with Richard Hurley of Contemporary Irish Church Architecture (1985).

Cantwell specialised as a consultant in church design and in the legal aspects of building from 1976. He retired in 1993 and died on 26 December 2000.

Saint Michael’s Church is part of a cluster of religious buildings, with the adjacent convent and school. It stands in a churchyard with a collection of statues and bounded by ashlar gate piers with cast-iron gates and railings. With its imposing tower, Saint Michael’s remains an important social building in Portarlington.

The double staircase in the porch in Saint Michael’s Church, Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 12: 22-34 (NRSVA):

22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you – you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

32 ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

The organ gallery in Saint Michael’s Church, Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Supporting Justice for Women in Zambia.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (4 October 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for all who are engaged in promoting and fighting for gender justice. May they be encouraged by all that has been achieved and continue to look forward with confidence and hope.

A Nativity scene in a window in Saint Michael’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

O God, you ever delight to reveal yourself
to the childlike and lowly of heart:
grant that, following the example of the blessed Francis,
we may count the wisdom of this world as foolishness
and know only Jesus Christ and him crucified,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Merciful God,
who gave such grace to your servant Francis
that he served you with singleness of heart
and loved you above all things:
help us, whose communion with you
has been renewed in this sacrament,
to forsake all that holds us back from following Christ
and to grow into his likeness from glory to glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The East Window in Saint Michael’s Church in the work of Daniel & Frucker (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The Holy Family depicted in a window in Saint Michael’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Wilfrid Cantwell refurbished Saint Michael’s in 1971 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (128) 3 October 2023

Saint Michael’s Church, the former ‘English Church’ in Portarlington, Co Laois … built in 1694-1696 and rebuilt in 1830 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVII, 1 October 2023). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today recalls the life and ministry of George Bell (1958), Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist and Peacemaker.

Two of us returned from York overnight after our short weekend break, arriving back in Stony Stratford early this morning. Before today begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

The Church celebrated Saint Michael and All Angels last week (Friday, 29 September). So my reflections each morning during Michaelmas last week and this week are taking this format:

1, A reflection on a church named after Saint Michael or his depiction in Church Art;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Saint Michael’s Church was built to serve the English-speaking families in late 17th century Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Michael’s Church (‘English Church’), Portarlington, Co Laois:

Saint Michael’s Church, a former Church of Ireland parish church in Portarlington, Co Laois, was once known as the ‘English Church.’ It stands on the east side Market Square, beside the dilapidated former Savoy Cinema, almost hidden behind the former Market House, and diagonally opposite Saint Paul’s, the ‘French Church,’ on the corner of the Square and the town’s main street, French Church Street.

It may seem strange that when Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, built his new town of Portarlington on the banks of the River Barrow in 1666, he provided no parish church for the new town.

A small part of the town was in the parish of Clonehorke, King’s County (Offaly), but it was mainly in the parish of Lea, Queen’s County (Laois). The nearest parish church was then in the neighbouring village of Lea, near Lea Castle and 3 km outside Portarlington.

Portarlington straddles the border between Co Laois and Co Offaly. However, the colony founded by Bennet was an economic and political failure, and he sold off his Irish estates before he died in 1685.

But new life came to Portarlington in the 1690s in the wake of the Williamite Wars. The Portarlington estates were confiscated from Sir Patrick Trant, a Jacobite, and granted to Henri de Massue (1648-1720), Marquis de Ruvigny and Earl of Galway.

Henri de Massue was a Huguenot and a former courtier in Versailles who had fled France as a religious refugee after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He invited other Huguenot refugees to settle on his new estate from 1692.

Lord Galway realised that the parish church in Lea was too far away and that his expanding town needed new places, he set about building not just one but two new churches in Portarlington.

Two churches and two schools were established: one of each for the French-speaking and English-speaking residents. But until the 19th century they remained, officially, chapels of ease to the original parish church 3 km outside Portarlington in the village of Lea.

Samuel Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), noted that the two churches built in Portarlington during the reign of William III were dedicated to Saint Michael and Saint Paul. They were endowed with a rent-charge of £40 late on lands in the area.

Saint Michael’s Church was for the English-speaking families and Saint Paul’s Church was to serve the French and Flemish families; in time, they became known as the ‘English Church’ and the ‘French Church.’

The income of the French Church was augmented with an annual grant of £50 voted by Parliament, while the former Board of First Fruits increased the stipend of the minister of the English Church to £100 per annum.

Portarlington is in the Diocese of Kildare and both churches were in the patronage of the Bishop of Kildare.

The English church, on the east side of the Square, was rebuilt in the late Georgian style ca 1830. Seven years later, Samuel Lewis noted in 1837 that the English Church ‘has a handsome spire.’

Technically, the parish church in Lea remained the Church of Ireland parish in the area, even after it was rebuilt ca 1810. In 1869, the French Church became the parish church in Portarlington in place of the English Church.

However, the perpetual curate since 1838, John Worsley, who was also Dean of Kildare, kept the English Church open, and the two churches maintained separate parochial lives until 1887, when the church schools closed and the two churches were amalgamated.

The English Church was then deconsecrated, and the spire was eventually removed in 1924. The former church is now used as community hall.

The former church has a round-headed door opening with replacement timber panelled door, put in place ca 1980, with an over-panel. Inside, the ceiling has a decorative plaster rosette and the chancel has a decorative plaster arch.

The building has coursed rubble limestone walls with an ashlar plinth, quoins, stringcourse and coping. The round-headed windows have limestone sills, limestone voussoirs and replacement metal-framed casement windows that date from ca 1940.

Lea Parish Church, 3 km outside Portarlington, remains open, but is only used from Easter until October, and then with a twice-monthly service.

Saint Michael’s is also the name of the Roman Catholic parish church at the west end of Portarlington, on the Offaly side of the River Barrow.

The ‘English Church’ is now used as a community hall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 9: 51-56 (NRSVA):

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.’

Saint Paul’s Church, the ‘French Church’ in Portarlington, Co Laois … built in 1694-1696 and rebuilt in 1851 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Supporting Justice for Women in Zambia.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 October 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us pray for the Anglican Church in Zambia and the Zambia Anglican Council.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord, we pray that your grace
may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Saint Paul’s was built to serve the French-speaking and Flemish families of Huguenot refugees in Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The ‘French Church’ became the parish church in Portarlington in 1869 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Genealogical fantasies satisfy needs for a sense of belonging

The ‘Bridge of Sighs’ at Saint John’s College, Cambridge … an obscure family connection was uncovered in an Irish bar in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Genealogy and family trees are always dependent on collective imaginations and identities. In any family tree, some ancestors are counted in and some are counted out. Even if we knew all our ancestors from 600 years ago, it would be impossible to include 1 million people in any one family tree.

Dr Adam Rutherford points out in his new book, How to argue with a racist, that in every generation back through time the number of ancestors you have doubles. Over a 500-year period, I have 1,048,576 ancestors. By 1,000 years ago, I have an impossible number of 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.

And so, all genealogists make choices that are based on the needs of a family or an individual to provide a colourful illustration of their sense of identity with community and place across generations and down through the centuries.

One rainy afternoon, as I whiled away an hour or two in an Irish bar in Crete, I found myself rummaging through the bookshelves and an eclectic collection of books bought for decoration rather than broadening the minds of the clientele.

Stuck in one shelf, side-by-side, was Thomas Baker’s two volume History of the College of St John the Evangelist, Cambridge, published in Cambridge in 1869. Many of the pages had not been cut since they were published, indicating they had not been read too carefully by their owners over the previous century and a half.

Unusual books to find in a bar in Crete … and unopened since 1869 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

* * *

In those idle moments in McGinty’s Irish Bar in Georgioupoli, I took down both volumes, knowing there held family memories and stories. Here were the college records of Henry ‘Comberforth’ (1499-1586), later Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral (1555). He graduated BA (1533), MA (1536) and BD (1545), and went on to become a Fellow of Saint John’s College and a Proctor of Cambridge University. He was still a Fellow of Saint John’s in 1542.

Here too was Henry’s brother, Richard Comberford, often confused by later genealogists with my direct ancestor, Richard Comerford of Ballybur Castle, Co Kilkenny. Richard was admitted to Saint John’s in 1534, was a Fellow in 1538, and was the Senior Bursar in 1542-1544.

Richard Comberford and his brother John both leased lands at Much Bradley in Staffordshire from Saint John’s College. Perhaps these appear to be absurd links for someone to become engrossed with during a holiday on a Greek island. But the leases on the lands in Much Bradley pushed the family connection back a generation earlier than I had realised.

They were discoveries of the type that would delight Aunt Dot in The Towers of Trebizond, where she says ‘Cambridge was our university’ and she describes her family’s High Church Anglicanism approving ‘the improvements in the chapel of St. John’s College, Cambridge under Dr. Beale.’

Dave Hartley and Clare Walshe decided I should take the books home with me, and revel a little longer in their unread stories.

Saint John the Evangelist at Saint John’s College, Cambridge … Aunt Dot in ‘The Towers of Trebizond’ approved of ‘the improvements in the chapel’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The O’Hanlon clan and clergy titles

It seems Victorian and Edwardian clergy in the Church of Ireland were all too susceptible to genealogical claims and deceptions. I came across not just one but two rectors who were near contemporaries and who claimed the curious title of ‘The O’Hanlon,’ an ancient title for the head of a Gaelic Irish clan. Yet, despite their claims, they do not seem to share any close ties of kinship.

The Revd Dr Alexander Patrick Hanlon (1814-1898), who called himself ‘The O’Hanlon,’ was born at Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, the son of Patrick Hanlon, a local Roman Catholic farmer, and was ordained deacon in the Church of Ireland in 1846 by the Bishop of Killaloe and priest in 1847.

During the Famine, he was praised for his ‘unremitting’ and ‘constant’ work with local people and for his ‘genuine charity.’ He freely distributed milk, bread and medicine, working with orphans and the elderly, and it was said: ‘Not a house in which fever is to be found (and they are the greater in number), but he visits in person.’

He seems to have been considering an appointment to Dingle during the vacancy in 1864, when his wife suffered an epileptic attack while bathing in Dingle Harbour and died soon after. Hanlon continued to work with the Irish Society and the Irish Church Missions, and in 1889 was feted at a garden party in Dugort organised by the Achill Mission. He died in Tallow, Co Waterford, at the age of 84 in 1898.

* * *

The French Church, Portarlington … William Hanlon was born in Portarlington in 1849 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

His younger, near contemporary, the Revd William Hanlon (1849-1916), also claimed the title of The O’Hanlon. He was born in Portarlington, the son of a local doctor. He was the Rector of Rector of Innishannon, Co Cork (1879-1916), when he assumed the title of ‘The O’Hanlon’ in 1907. He also claimed to be the Hereditary Standard Bearer of the King in Ulster. In the pedigree he compiled to support his claims, Hanlon said his lineal ancestor had given Saint Patrick the site in Armagh for his first cathedral.

It all sounds like myth and fable – and probably is. Both men ignored the minor detail in the family trees that the last person before either of them to have been accepted generally as the head of the family was the rapparee Redmond O’Hanlon.

After the Caroline Restoration, Redmond O’Hanlon installed himself as clan chief and called himself ‘the Count.’ He was declared an outlaw in 1674 and became a rapparee around Newry and Carlingford Lough. A £200 reward was offered for his apprehension. He was shot at night in 1681 and his severed head was put on display at Downpatrick prison.

Family lore says his son, also Redmond O’Hanlon, exhumed his body, and reburied him in the Church of Ireland churchyard at Conwal Parish in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

Saint Thomas’s Church, Dugort … Alexander Hanlon was feted by the Achill Mission at a tea party in Dugort in 1889 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A fake Limerick title in Lichfield

Spurious claims to family titles were not confined to Victorian clergy in the Church of Ireland. The Roman Catholic population of Staffordshire had a long history of English Recusancy. But the demographics of Catholic Staffordshire changed with the arrival of French prisoners of war, followed by new Irish arrivals seeking work. In 1841, Father John Kirk described his congregation in Lichfield as ‘very poor’ – one of the few exceptions was Lady Fitzgerald, a widow living near Lichfield.

Lady Fitzgerald’s name stood out as I read Michael Greenslade’s Catholic Staffordshire: she could hardly be a poor, Irish, Famine migrant. I was surprised, with a little further research, to find that her husband, Sir James Fitzgerald, was no true baronet, although his claimed title has interesting links with the part of Co Limerick where I live.

In all, four titles of baronet were given to members of the Fitzgerald family. The oldest of these was given in 1644 to Sir Edmond Fitzgerald of Clenglish Castle, now Springfield Castle, near Dromcollogher, Co Limerick. His son, Sir John Fitzgerald, was the patron of the poet Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (1625-1698). He was linked with the Titus Oates plot and was deprived of his title in 1691. No more was heard of these Fitzgerald baronets, or Sir John’s four brothers who might have claimed their father’s title.

However, a fanciful family tree was produced in 1780, without any convincing dates, biographical details or supporting evidence, claiming a Sir Maurice Fitzgerald moved from Co Limerick to Castle Ishen, Co Cork, but decided not to use the title of baronet because of his poverty. It goes through six generations of only sons for almost a century, until Sir Richard Fitzgerald, who claimed the title as sixth baronet in 1780.

* * *

Springfield Castle, Co Limerick … stands on the site of the caste owned by Sir Edmond Fitzgerald in the 1640s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Castle Ishen Fitzgeralds had no links with the Springfield family, yet their claims to the title were facilitated by Ireland’s leading genealogical authority, Sir William Hawkins. Those claims were dismissed in 1829 by Sir William Betham, a successor of Hawkins. He found that the Castle Ishen family was descended from another, different Sir Edmond Fitzgerald, who was knighted but was never a baronet.

Yet Sir Richard Fitzgerald convinced society he was the sixth baronet. His only son, Sir James Fitzgerald, who called himself the seventh baronet, married Bridget Anne Dalton, whose mother claimed she was the last lineal descendant of Sir Thomas More.

Their only son, Sir James Fitzgerald (1791-1839), married Augusta Henrietta Fremantle (1803-1863), a daughter of one of Nelson’s admirals. They lived at Maple Hayes Hall, near Lichfield, although James was living at Wolseley Hall when died on his way to Nice in 1839.

The widowed Augusta died in 1863, and their children returned to Ireland. Some family members became nuns, and the claimed family title, if it ever existed, died out with the death of Sir Gerald Richard Dalton-Fitzgerald (1832-1894), the ‘tenth baronet.’

Perhaps you and I have as much right to this title as anyone else who used it.

The doorway of Holy Cross Church, Lichfield … the widowed Lady Fitzgerald stood out from the poorer parishioners in the 1840s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This two-page feature was first published in November 2020 in the ‘Church Review,’ the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan magazineCanon Patrick Comerford blogs at www.patrickcomerford.com

Imelda May celebrates her Comerford grandparents and their role in 1916

Joseph Comerford and Mary Morrissey were married ten years after the 1916 Rising … grandparents of the singer Imelda May

Patrick Comerford

The Dublin singer Imelda May has shared photographs on social media of her maternal grandparents – James and Maisie Comerford – who took part in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916.

The hit singer was part of the line-up in RTÉ’s 90-minute centenary show four years ago, which was broadcast live from the Bord Gais Energy Theatre. Later she said the weekend ‘was very special.’

‘It was such a pleasure to work on it,’ she said in 2016. ‘Congratulations to our President Michael D Higgins too. His heartfelt speeches were moving, honest, inspiring and uplifting.’

Later, she shared an historical photo of her grandparents, who were both involved in the 1916 rising, Maisie Morrissey and Joe Comerford, who later married in 1926, ten years after the Easter rising.

Joseph Comerford was a labourer and living at 12 Thomas Davis Street and Mary Morrissey was a machinist and living at 39 South Earl Street, when they were married in Saint Catherine’s Church, Dublin, on 2 June 1926. The witnesses were Daniel Morrissey and Margaret Comerford). Mary was the daughter of Patrick Morrissey; Joseph was the son of Joseph Comerford, a plumber.

Joseph Patrick Comerford was born at 12 Thomas Davis Street on 7 December 1901, the son of Joseph Comerford, a plumber, and Margaret (née Murray) Comerford. With a little research earlier this week, I found which branch of the Comerford family Imelda May’s grandfather was descended from.

Imelda May at Live at Chelsea at the Royal Hospital Chelsea (Photograph: Egghead06/CCO/Wikipedia)

The Irish singer, songwriter and musician Imelda Mary Higham was born Imelda Mary Clabby in Dublin on 10 July 1974, the youngest of five siblings. She is professionally known as Imelda May. She has been described as ‘a unique vocal talent,’ and is known for her musical style of rockabilly revival. She has been compared to female jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday.

She began her career in music at 16, performing with local bands and musicians. She formed her own band in 2002, and released her debut studio album, No Turning Back. After the release, she moved to London with her then-husband, guitarist Darrel Higham.

She released her second studio album, Love Tattoo in 2009, and collaborated and toured with a number of artists after its release. Her third studio album, Mayhem, was released in 2010, her fourth studio album, Tribal in 2014, and her fifth studio album Life Love Flesh Blood in 2017.

Her grandfather was a son of Joseph Comerford and Margaret Murray, who were married on 22 June 1896 in Saint Audeon’s Church, Dublin. This Joseph Comerford was born in October 1869 in Portarlington, Co Laois, the son the son of Edward Comerford, an iron moulder, and Margaret (née Byrne), and she was the daughter of John Murray, a labourer.

Saint Michael’s Church, Portarlington, built in 1839-1842 … nine Comerford children were baptised in Portarlington between 1857 and 1874 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

In recent months, I have been researching this branch of the Comerford family. They originated in Portarlington, Co Laois, and later lived in the Kilmainham, Inchicore and Harold’s Cross areas of Dublin. I plan eventually to migrate this research over to my Comerford family genealogical site after I have found out more about this branch of the family.

But, as I updated my research on this family yesterday, I traced the ancestry of Imelda May’s mother back to a Comerford family living in Portarlington in the mid-19th century:

Edward Comerford, metal caster and iron moulder, of Portarlington, married Mary Byrne. They were the parents of at least nine children:

1, Mary, baptised Portarlington, April 1857.
2, Edward Comerford (1858-1938), baptised Portarlington 1858, of whom next.
3, Thomas Comerford, baptised Portarlington, September 1860.
4, Christopher Comerford, baptised Portarlington December 1862.
5, Patrick Comerford, born March 1865, baptised Portarlington, April 1865.
6, Catherine, born 21 August 1867, baptised Portarlington, September 1867.
7, Joseph Comerford (1869- ), born 23 October 1869, baptised Portarlington, and the great grandfather of Imelda May.
8, Francis Comerford, baptised April 1872.
9, Anne, baptised Portarlington May 1874.

Mary Conway married Edward Comerford in Saint James’s Church, Dublin, in 1880

The first-named son:

Edward Comerford (1858-1938), iron moulder, Great Southern and Western Railways, Inchicore, Dublin. Born in Portarlington in November 1858, he lived at 35 Kilmainham (1880), Richmond Road, Kilmainham (1884), 2 Saint Mary’s Terrace, Inchicore (1886-1888), 4 Woodfield Cottages, Inchicore (1890), 31 Phoenix Street, Kilmainham (1892), 25 Phoenix Street (1894-1898), and 19 Abercorn Terrace, Dublin (1900-1911). He married Mary Conway, daughter of John Conway, smith, and his wife Mary of 34 Kilmainham, on 17 September 1880, in Saint James’s Church, Dublin (witnesses, James McDonald, Margaret Conway).

Edward Comerford died on 26 May 1938 at Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin; his widow Mary died on 11 March 1942 at 3 Wharton Terrace, Harold’s Cross; they are buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

They were the parents of at least 13 children:

1, Margaret (1883-1883), born at 3 Saint James’s Place, Inchicore, 3 January 1883, died 5 January 1883.
2, Ellen Christina (1884-1957), born Richmond Road, Kilmainham, 17 January 1884; ‘tailoress.’ She married on 12 January 1910 Richard Cullen (1875-1947), bookbinder, of 10 Turvey Avenue, Kilmainham, in Goldenbridge Church, Dublin (witnesses Daniel Joseph O’Neill, Catherine Comerford). They lived at 3 Tyrconnell Street. Richard died 10 November 1947; Ellen died 14 March 1957. They are buried in Old Lucan Cemetery.
3, Catherine (‘Kitty’), born at 2 Saint Mary’s Terrace, Inchicore, 11 April 1886; she married twice.
4, Elizabeth (‘Lily’), born at 2 Saint Mary’s Terrace, Inchicore, 1 June 1888, married on 23 November 1910 Henry Baldwin, fitter, of 19 Abercorn Terrace, son of John Baldwin, fish merchant, in Saint James’s Church (witnesses John Comerford, Kathleen Gallagher). The family lived in Santry. They were the parents of nine children, including two who died young: Ned, aged 3, and Margaret (‘Moggy’), as well as: Cissie (Mary), unmarried; Charlotte (‘Lottie’), married Jimmy Devlin; Kitty (lived in Oldham), married Joe Thornton; Lily (lived in Leyland), married Mick Kane; and Doreen, married Patrick O’Malley.
5, John (‘Johnny’) Joseph Comerford, born 4 Woodfield Cottages, Inchicore, 16 April 1890; he later lived in Drumcondra.
6, Edward (‘Eddie’) Comerford, born 31 Phoenix Street, Kilmainham, 5 April 1892. He married Maggie Clarke, and lived at 19 Abercorn Terrace. He died in the 1970s. They had no children.
7, Anne (1894-1895), born 25 Phoenix Street, 10 May 1894, died 26 August 1895, buried Kilmainham.
8, Patrick (‘Paddy’) James Comerford (1896-1966). He was born 14 March 1896, 25 Phoenix Street, Kilmainham; he married Josephine Reilly (born 1896) and they lived in Mount Brown, Kilmainham, Dublin. He died on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1966, and is buried in Bluebell Cemetery. Their children include two daughters: Rosaleen, who died in 1997; and Anne.
9, Jeanette Frances (1898-1900), born 27 February 1898, 25 Phoenix Street; died 27 June 1900, 19 Abercorn Terrace; buried in Glasnevin.
10, Margaret Anne (1900-1909), born 18 March 1900, died 25 April 1909, 19 Abercorn Terrace; buried in Glasnevin.
11, Michael (‘Mick’) Thomas Comerford, born 8 March 1902, 19 Abercorn Terrace.
12, William (‘Bill’) Laurence Comerford, born 2 February 1904, 19 Abercorn Terrace.
13, Alfred (‘Alfie’) Bernard Comerford (1906-1941), ‘machinist’, born 25 April 1906, 19 Abercorn Terrace, died 10 September 1941, buried Bluebell Cemetery.

One of Edward Comerford's younger brothers was:

Joseph Comerford (1869- ). He was born on 23 October 1869, and baptised in Portarlington. He moved to Dublin and married Margaret Murray, daughter of John Murray, a labourer, on 22 June 1896 in Saint Audeon’s Church, Dublin. They lived at 12 Thomas Davis Street, Dublin. Their children included:

Joseph Patrick Comerford (1901- ), who was born at 12 Thomas Davis Street on 7 December 1901. He took part in the Easter Rising in 1916, when he was a member of the Irish Citizen Army in 1916. He married Mary Morrissey, machinist, daughter of Patrick Morrissey of 39 South Earl Street, were married in Saint Catherine’s Church, Dublin, on 2 June 1926 (witnesses: Daniel Morrissey and Margaret Comerford). She too took part in the 1916 as a member of Cumann na mBan.

Their children included:

1, Joe Comerford (deceased), a taxi driver.
2, Madge, a seamstress who married Tony Clabby. She died at the age of 46 and was the mother of five children, including the singer Imelda Mary Higham (born Imelda Mary Clabby 10 July 1974), professionally known as Imelda May

Ellen Christina Comerford and Richard Cullen were married in 1910

A Comerford family that moved from Portarlington to Kilmainham

Saint Michael’s Church, Portarlington, built in 1839-1842 … nine Comerford children were baptised in Portarlington between 1857 and 1874 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I am currently continuing research into a branch of the Comerford family that originated in Portarlington, Co Laois, and that later lived in the Kilmainham and Inchicore areas of Dublin. I plan eventually to migrate this research over to my Comerford family genealogical site after I have found out more about this branch of the family.

Edward Comerford, metal caster and iron moulder, of Portarlington, married Mary Byrne. They were the parents of at least nine children:

1, Mary, baptised Portarlington, April 1857.
2, Edward Comerford (1858-1938), baptised Portarlington 1858, of whom next.
3, Thomas Comerford, baptised Portarlington, September 1860.
4, Christopher Comerford, baptised Portarlington December 1862.
5, Patrick Comerford, born March 1865, baptised Portarlington, April 1865.
6, Catherine, born 21 August 1867, baptised Portarlington, September 1867.
7, Joseph Comerford (1869- ), born 23 October 1869, baptised Portarlington, of whom after his brother Edward.
8, Francis Comerford, baptised April 1872.
9, Anne, baptised Portarlington May 1874.

Mary Conway married Edward Comerford in Saint James’s Church, Dublin, in 1880

The first-named son:

Edward Comerford (1858-1938), iron moulder, Great Southern and Western Railways, Inchicore, Dublin. Born Portarlington, November 1858. Living at 35 Kilmainham (1880), Richmond Road, Kilmainham (1884), 2 Saint Mary’s Terrace, Inchicore (1886-1888), 4 Woodfield Cottages, Inchicore (1890), 31 Phoenix Street, Kilmainham (1892), 25 Phoenix Street (1894-1898), 19 Abercorn Terrace, Dublin (1900-1911). He married Mary Conway, daughter of John Conway, smith, and his wife Mary of 34 Kilmainham, on 17 September 1880, in Saint James’s Church, Dublin (witnesses, James McDonald, Margaret Conway).

Edward Comerford died on 26 May 1938 at Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin; his widow Mary died on 11 March 1942 at 3 Wharton Terrace, Harold’s Cross; they are buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

They were the parents of at least 13 children:

1, Margaret (1883-1883), born at 3 Saint James’s Place, Inchicore, 3 January 1883, died 5 January 1883.
2, Ellen Christina (1884-1957), born Richmond Road, Kilmainham, 17 January 1884; ‘tailoress.’ She married on 12 January 1910 Richard Cullen (1875-1947), bookbinder, of 10 Turvey Avenue, Kilmainham, in Goldenbridge Church, Dublin (witnesses Daniel Joseph O’Neill, Catherine Comerford). They lived at 3 Tyrconnell Street. Richard died 10 November 1947; Ellen died 14 March 1957. They are buried in Old Lucan Cemetery.
3, Catherine (‘Kitty’), born at 2 Saint Mary’s Terrace, Inchicore, 11 April 1886; she married twice.
4, Elizabeth (‘Lily’), born at 2 Saint Mary’s Terrace, Inchicore, 1 June 1888, married on 23 November 1910 Henry Baldwin, fitter, of 19 Abercorn Terrace, son of John Baldwin, fish merchant, in Saint James’s Church (witnesses John Comerford, Kathleen Gallagher). The family lived in Santry. They were the parents of nine children, including two who died young: Ned, aged 3, and Margaret (‘Moggy’), as well as: Cissie (Mary), unmarried; Charlotte (‘Lottie’), married Jimmy Devlin; Kitty (lived in Oldham), married Joe Thornton; Lily (lived in Leyland), married Mick Kane; and Doreen, married Patrick O’Malley.
5, John (‘Johnny’) Joseph Comerford, born 4 Woodfield Cottages, Inchicore, 16 April 1890; he later lived in Drumcondra.
6, Edward (‘Eddie’) Comerford, born 31 Phoenix Street, Kilmainham, 5 April 1892. He married Maggie Clarke, and lived at 19 Abercorn Terrace. He died in the 1970s. They had no children.
7, Anne (1894-1895), born 25 Phoenix Street, 10 May 1894, died 26 August 1895, buried Kilmainham.
8, Patrick (‘Paddy’) James Comerford (1896-1966). He was born 14 March 1896, 25 Phoenix Street, Kilmainham; he married Josephine Reilly (born 1896) and they lived in Mount Brown, Kilmainham, Dublin. He died on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1966, and is buried in Bluebell Cemetery. Their children include two daughters: Rosaleen, who died in 1997; and Anne.
9, Jeanette Frances (1898-1900), born 27 February 1898, 25 Phoenix Street; died 27 June 1900, 19 Abercorn Terrace; buried in Glasnevin.
10, Margaret Anne (1900-1909), born 18 March 1900, died 25 April 1909, 19 Abercorn Terrace; buried in Glasnevin.
11, Michael (‘Mick’) Thomas Comerford, born 8 March 1902, 19 Abercorn Terrace.
12, William (‘Bill’) Laurence Comerford, born 2 February 1904, 19 Abercorn Terrace.
13, Alfred (‘Alfie’) Bernard Comerford (1906-1941), ‘machinist’, born 25 April 1906, 19 Abercorn Terrace, died 10 September 1941, buried Bluebell Cemetery.

Ellen Christina Comerford and Richard Cullen were married in 1910

One of Edward Comerford's younger brothers was:

Joseph Comerford (1869- ). He was born on 23 October 1869, and baptised in Portarlington. He moved to Dublin and married Margaret Murray, daughter of John Murray, a labourer, on 22 June 1896 in Saint Audeon’s Church, Dublin. They lived at 12 Thomas Davis Street, Dublin. Their children included:

Joseph Patrick Comerford (1901- ), who was born at 12 Thomas Davis Street on 7 December 1901. He took part in the Easter Rising in 1916. He married Mary Morrissey, machinist, daughter of Patrick Morrissey of 39 South Earl Street, were married in Saint Catherine’s Church, Dublin, on 2 June 1926 (witnesses: Daniel Morrissey and Margaret Comerford). Their children included:

1, Joe Comerford (deceased), a taxi driver.
2, Madge, a seamstress who married Tony Clabby. She died at the age of 46 and was the mother of five children, including the singer Imelda Mary Higham (born Imelda Mary Clabby 10 July 1974), professionally known as Imelda May

Joseph Comerford and Mary (née Morrissey) … grandparents of the singer Imelda May

Last updated: 26 October 2020

Two priests in one diocese, and they both claimed to be chiefs of the O’Hanlon clan

The church ruins in Ballylongford, Co Kerry … the Revd Alexander Hanlon worked in the parish throughout the Great Famine in the 1840s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I was writing this morning about some of the unusual titles and exotic genealogical claims of some of the priests and bishops in the Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert over the centuries.

But, perhaps, the most curious title claimed by any of the clergy in this diocese was the title of ‘The O’Hanlon,’ an ancient title for the head of a Gaelic Irish clan. It is even more intriguing that this title was claimed by two near-contemporaries, whose time in the diocese almost over-lapped, yet they seem to have no close ties of kinship with each other.

The Revd Dr Alexander Patrick Hanlon (1814-1898), who called himself ‘The O’Hanlon,’ was born at Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, the son of Patrick Hanlon, a local Roman Catholic farmer.

Hanlon entered Trinity College Dublin late in 1839 at the age of 23, and graduated BA in 1844. He later studied for ordination and was ordained deacon in 1846 by the Bishop of Killaloe for the Diocese of Ardfert, and priest in 1847.

He was first a curate in 1846-1848 in Murhir, 4.5 miles south of Tarbert, close to border of Co Kerry and Co Limerick, making him one of my predecessors. The main town in the parish today is Moyvane or Newtownsandes. He seems to have lived in Ballylongford, and today Murhir and Ballylongford are part of the Kilnaughtin Parish within the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes.

During his time in this parish, he was praised for his ‘unremitting’ and ‘constant’ work with local people suffering during the Famine and for his ‘genuine charity.’ He freely distributed milk, bread and medicine, working with orphans and the elderly, and it was said: ‘ Not a house in which fever is to be found (and they are the greater in number), but he visits in person.’

Moyvane was at the heart of the Revd Alexander Hanlon’s parish on the Kerry/Limerick border (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

He later served in parish ministry at Kingscourt, Co Meath (1848-1849), Altedesert, Co Tyrone, in the Diocese of Armagh (1849-1851), Saint Caimin’s (Iniscaltra), Mountshannon, Co Clare, in the Diocese of Killaloe (1851-1871), Tallow in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore (1872-1875) and Kilashee and Ballymackcormick, Co Longford, in the Diocese of Ardagh (1872-1875).

He seems to have been considering an appointment to Dingle parish during the vacancy in 1864 and was visiting the parish when his wife suffered an epileptic attack while bathing in Dingle Harbour with their young children. She died soon after, and she was buried in Saint James’s churchyard in Dingle.

Hanlon stayed on in Mounshannon for another few years, and he received the degrees LL.B. and LL.D. from Trinity College Dublin in 1865. In a speech in 1867, he defended his work with the Irish Society and the Irish Church Missions, but he was at pains to deny he had any antagonism towards Roman Catholicism.

He married a second time in 1871; his second wife Rebecca Parker was a daughter of James Parker of Ballhalmet House, Tallow, Co Waterford. A year later, he moved from Mountshannon to Tallow Parish in west Waterford, and remained there until he became deputy secretary of the Irish Society in 1879. He was feted at a garden party in Dugort organised by the Achill Mission in 1889.

He died at Ballyhalmet House, Tallow, Co Waterford, at the age of 84 on 10 December 1898, and was buried inside the ruins of Kilwatermoy Church.

The French Church, Portarlington … William Hanlon was born in Portarlington in 1849 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

His younger, near contemporary, the Revd William Hanlon (1849-1916), also worked in ministry in these dioceses and also claimed the title of The O’Hanlon. He was the only son of Dr Michael William Hanlon (1810-1890) of Portarlington, and a grandson of Captain William Hanlon of Mountmellick.

He was born on 20 August 1849. He studied at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1873, MA 1876), and was ordained deacon in 1874 and priest in 1875 by the Bishop of Cork. He was curate in Youghal, Co Cork (1874-1877) before becoming Rector of Dromtariffe, Co Cork (1877-1879).

Dromtariffe parish is halfway between Millstreet and Kanturk in north-west Co Cork, but at the time it was in the Diocese of Ardfert, and in the Roman Catholic church it remains in the Diocese of Kerry.

In 1877, Hanlon married Elizabeth Letitia Elrington, daughter of the Vicar of Swords, and granddaughter of the Revd PW Drew, Rector of Youghal, and he moved back from Ardfert diocese to the Diocese of Cork and Cloyne in 1879 when he became Rector of Innishannon, Co Cork (1879-1916). His father died at Hanlon’s rectory in Co Cork on 6 July 1890.

In 1907, Hanlon assumed the title of ‘The O’Hanlon’ by deed registered in the Irish Court of Chancery. Along with the title of ‘The O’Hanlon,’ he also claimed to be chief of the Sept of O’Hanlon and Hereditary Standard Bearer of the King in Ulster. In the pedigree he compiled in support of his claims, Hanlon said his lineal ancestor had given Saint Patrick the site in Armagh for his first cathedral.

Hanlon claimed this ancestry down through 1244, when Henry III invoked the help of the O’Hanlons and other Ulster clan chieftains against the Scots. From there, Hanlon claimed descent from Patrick O’Hanlon, lived in Co Louth, son of Phelim O’Hanlon, and who was named as an outlaw in 1660. Patrick O’Hanlon’s son Shane settled in Portarlington at the end of the 17th century, and became a member of the Church of Ireland. His son Michael held land in the Portarlington area, and his only son was said to be Captain William Hanlon, the father of Dr Michael Hanlon.

Hanlon, who was also an honorary chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, died at Innishannon Rectory on 26 April 1916, two days after the Easter Rising broke out in Dublin.

Redmond O’Hanlon was said to have escaped by swimming across Carlingford Lough (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This all sounds fantastic. Except, for the minor detail that the last person before either of these two 19th century priests to have been accepted generally as the head of the family was the rapparee Redmond O’Hanlon, also known as ‘the Count.’

Redmond O’Hanlon was probably born in Poyntzpass, Co Armagh, ca 1640, but local lore says he was born at the foot of Slieve Gullion, a legend that helped to link him the mythical hero Cu Chulainn.

Redmond’s father, Loughlin O’Hanlon, was the heir to the chiefdom of the O’Hanlon clan. Eochaidh O’Hanlon had ruled all the land from Newry to Armagh in 1599, but his son sided with Sir Cahir O’Dochertaigh in a doomed rebellion. Eochaidh Og was exiled to Sweden, while most of the O’Hanlon lands were confiscated and given to Scottish and English planters. The O’Hanlons lost their castle at Tandragee in 1611 when it was given to Oliver St John.

Some of their land was returned to the O’Hanlon family and Redmond O’Hanlon was educated at ‘an English school.’ However, it is said, he fled to France after the Irish Confederation was defeated in 1652 and joined the French army.

After the Caroline Restoration, Redmond O’Hanlon returned to Ireland and installed himself as clan chief over the old O’Hanlon territories, styling himself ‘the Count.’ He was declared an outlaw in 1674 and became a rapparee around Newry and Carlingford Lough, and was described as being ‘pre-eminent among all the Tories in Ulster.’

In one incident in 1679, Henry St John and the Revd Lawrence Power of Tandragee were attacked by a group of bandits, and St John was shot dead. O’Hanlon was blamed for the attack, and a reward of £200 was offered for his apprehension.

Art McCall O’Hanlon, Redmond’s foster brother, shot Redmond O’Hanlon in an exchange on the night of 25 April 1681 at a camp in the hills above Eight Mile Bridge in Co Down. By the time soldiers arrived to retrieve his body, Willie O’Shiels had severed Redmond’s head and fled. His head was put on display at Downpatrick prison.

After Redmond O’Hanlon’s death, other members of the O’Hanlon family and their circle were hunted down as ‘Tories,’ and his surviving family fled to Co Donegal. Redmond O’Hanlon was originally buried at Ballynabeck, near Tandragee, but local stories say his son, also Redmond O’Hanlon, exhumed his body, and reburied him in the Church of Ireland churchyard at Conwal Parish in Letterkenny … which is a long way from Portarlington and Drumtarifffe, and a long way from Miltown Malbay and Moyvane.

As for Tandragee Castle, it was rebuilt by the Montagu family, Dukes of Manchester, in 1836, and remained in their family until 1939. Today, it is a popular tourist attraction known as ‘Tayto Castle.’

Buildings of the former Achill Mission in Dugort … Alexander Hanlon was feted by the Achill Mission at a tea party in Dugort in 1889 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)