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

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

Patrick Comerford

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For a posting on Comerford missionaries, visit HERE

Saint Peter’s Church in Harrogate town centre is part of the Major Churches Network

Saint Peter’s Church is a landmark building in the centre of Harrogate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

Saint Peter’s Church is a landmark building in the centre of Harrogate, on the corner of Cambridge Street, Cambridge Crescent and Cambridge Road, a short stroll from the war memorial and Betty’s Tearoom in the heart of Harrogate.

During our week in Yorkshire earlier this month, two of us visited Saint Peter’s Church, which is an excellent example of Victorian Gothic architecture, and boasts exceptional 19th-century stained glass. The tall striking tower is a prominent sight and makes it impossible to miss this church.

Harrogate became a popular spa town in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the growth in population was stimulated by the arrival of the railway in the 1860s. The Victoria Park Company began to develop the open agricultural land between High and Low Harrogate in 1860 to provide the town with a new centre.

It became obvious that a new church was needed in this part of Harrogate, to serve both the growing population and the needs of the town’s authority. A new parish was formed out of the parish of Christ Church, High Harrogate.

Mary Anne Fielde offered her house as a vicarage, with a garden large enough for building a new a church and school too. The school was the first part of the building project, beginning in the mid-1860s. The school was also a place of worship until the new church building was built.

Sadly, Mary Anne Fielde died before the foundation stone was laid on 21 April 1870. The church was then built in stages as funds became available.

Inside Saint Peter’s Church, Harrogate, designed by the Yorkshire-born architect John Henry Hirst (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Saint Peter’s Church was designed by the Yorkshire-born architect John Henry Hirst (1827-1882) of Bristol, who also designed Cambridge Crescent and Prospect Crescent in Harrogate. Hirst designed the new church in the Decorated Gothic style, with elements from mediaeval French architecture. The design was executed by the architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), who was born in Hull. Bodley also gave the Golden Gates in the church.

Bodley was influenced by George Gilbert Scott and William Morris, and his work includes All Saints’ Church, Jesus Lane, Cambridge, Queens’ College Chapel, Cambridge, and repairs to Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge.

The chancel and temporary nave of Saint Peter’s were opened on 7 September 1871, and the new church was consecrated on 3 October 1876.

Further important additions were made in 1885, 1890, 1910, 1921 and in 1926, when the great tower was completed to a design by AA Gibson, who respected Hirst’s original concept.

A carving of the head of an archbishop by William Pashley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Inside, Saint Peter’s displays much of beauty and high craftsmanship. The splendidly broad nave contains stone carving by two outstanding Victorian sculptors, Harry Hems and William Pashley of Harrogate and Leeds.

The eight carved heads by Pashley in the nave depict Archbishops of York and of Canterbury. Pashley also designed the roundels over the front and rear doors. Pashley’s other works at Lichfield Cathedral and Leeds Minster are widely admired.

However, the stained and painted glass is Saint Peter’s greatest decorative glory, and is both rich and artistic.

This glass, made by the London firm of Burlison and Grylls, who also designed the rose window in Westminster Abbey, embellishes the chancel, transepts, chapel and aisles of Saint Peter’s, and is a glorious sight. The large east window above the altar was given by Mary Anne Fielde.

The stained and painted glass by Burlison and Grylls is Saint Peter’s greatest decorative glory (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A striking three-light stained glass window by Burlison and Grylls depicts the Army of Heaven in the Book of Revelation. A man wearing a red cloak and a papal tiara is carrying an upright sword and is seated on a white horse that is trampling a dragon in flames. They are surrounded by knights mounted on horseback carrying tilting spears. The knight at the left in the front row knight looks directly at the viewer and is a photographic likeness of Aubrey Coombes.

In the tracery, five angels carry ribbons with a quotation: ‘He was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war’ (see Revelation 19: 11).

The inscription below reads: ‘To the glory of God and in loving memory of Aubrey Cecil James Coombes 19th (Public Schools Batt) Royal Fusiliers who fell at Cuinichy, France,/ 28th December 1915, in the Great War, 1914-18, aged 24 years. This window is the gift of his parents, James and Edith Coombes, Harrogate.’

Much of the interior woodwork as produced by the Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson studio of Kilburn, with his trademark carved mice adorning surfaces in the Lady Chapel, the entrance porch, and at the altar rail.

The bronze war memorial was designed by William Walker. It include the names of Captain Donald Simpson Bell (1880-1916) and Private Charles Hull (1890-1953), both from Harrogate and awarded the Victoria Cross for valour during World War I.

The great organ was built by the internationally celebrated German organ builder Heinrich Edmund Schulze (1824-1878).

The first vicar of Saint Peter’s, the Revd Lundy Foote (1842-1925), served for 50 years before retiring in 1922. Three of his sons are depicted in the south aisle window nearest the entrance.

The ornate reredos behind the high altar designed by Bodley is a memorial to Canon Foote, and there is a bronze memorial in his honour under the right-hand angel, behind the gilded gates

The High Altar and Bodley’s reredos in Saint Peter’s Church, Harrogate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Foote provides an interesting link with many places I know in Ireland. The Foote or Foot family were descended from John Foot who settled in Dublin after the Battle of the Boyne. His son, Geoffrey Foot (1704-1773), a custom’s officer in Ringsend, married Jane Lundy and their son, Lundy Foot (1735-1805), bought the land at Footmount, at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, in 1766. Later this was the Augustinian retreat at Orlagh, at the top of Ballycullen Road.

Lundy Foot established a business as a tobacconist and snuff maker in Dublin. One enthusiastic author claimed that in 1800 Lundy Foot’s snuff was as famous in Dublin as Guinness is today. The business was later acquired by PJ Carroll.

Lundy Foot’s eldest son, Geoffrey Foot, lived in Hollymount, now the core of the old building at Saint Columba’s College, Rathfarnham, and died in 1824. One of his sons, Canon Lundy Foot (1793-1873), was the first Rector of Whitechurch (1824-1828), where I was once an NSM, and established Whitechurch National School. Later he was a canon of Salisbury Cathedral until his death.

A younger son, the Revd Frederick Foot (1808-1871), worked in a number of parishes in the south-east of Ireland, including Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, Redcross, Co Wicklow, Cappoquin, Co Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, and Fethard, Co Tipperary.

Geoffrey Foot’s younger brother, also named Lundy Foot, built Footmount, the first house on the lands at Orlagh in 1790. He surrounded the house with choice plantations, including tulip trees – one of which survived behind the apse of the Augustinian chapel – and laid out the road from Ballycullen House to the entrance at the Orlagh Estate, past Saint Colmcille’s Well.

Lundy Foot was seen as a ruthless magistrate. In 1816, he brought to trial the three Kearneys – a father and his two sons – for the murder of a gamekeeper. They were hanged on the banks of the River Dodder at Old Bawn, a ten-minute walk from Foot’s house. Local anger was high, and Lundy Foot was afterwards fired at and seriously injured. He recovered and went to live in Rosbercon Castle, near New Ross, Co Wexford, selling Footmount to his son’s father-in-law, Nathaniel Callwell.

Lundy Foot lived at Rosbercon Castle for almost 20 years until 2 January 1835, when he was stoned and hacked to death while planting trees on his estate. His murder followed a dispute over the eviction by the Tottenham family of a tenant named Murphy from a small holding of five acres that had been bought by Foot. He is buried in the family vault in Saint Matthew’s Church, Irishtown.

Inside Saint Peter’s Church, Harrogate, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A series of improvements to the exterior and interior of Saint Peter’s Church was carried out in 2009-2011. These greatly enhanced the mission of this church at the heart of Harrogate Community.

Saint Peter’s is a member of the Major Churches Network, founded as the Greater Churches Network and representing about 300 of the largest, most significant and well-loved churches in England.

Saint Peter’s Church is open from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm from Monday to Saturday.

The daily food ministry in the church is reflected in the motto on the church logo, ‘Feeding Hungry People.’

The Army of Heaven in the Book of Revelation depicted in the Coombes window by Burlison and Grylls (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Revelation 19: 11-16 (NRSVA):
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’

Five loaves and two fish … ‘St Peter’s Harrogate Feeding Hungry People’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Colonel Thomas Comerford: the life in the Indian army of a revolutionary’s brother

Colonel Thomas Comerford and Edith Donaldson on their wedding day in Bombay on 10 October 1921 (Photograph courtesy Roger Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Colonel Thomas James Comerford (1894-1959) was a polo-playing army officer in the Indian army who played crucial roles in both World War I and World War II. He was born into the landed gentry and minor aristocracy of Co Wexford and Co Wicklow, and his mother’s family was deeply involved in politics in Co Wexford. Yet, the story of Thomas and his elder sister shows how many Irish families were deeply divided politically and socially during the War of Independence and the decades that followed.

Thomas James Comerford was the elder son of James Charles Comerford (1842-1907) of Ardavon House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, and Eva Mary Esmonde (1860-1949), who were married on 24 August 1892 in Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Kilanerin (Killinierin), outside Gorey, Co Wexford. This church was designed by Pugin and Ashlin and the Esmonde family of Ballynastragh were major benefactors of the church, where are listed on a plaque together with other benefactors.

James Charles Comerford of Ardavon House, who is described at his wedding as ‘Gentleman’, was the principal shareholder in Rathdrum Mill. He was a friend and political ally of his neighbour, Charles Stewart Parnell. When the Land League organised a demonstrative day of action on 15 December 1881 in support of Parnell by calling on people to plough and manure his fields at Garrymore, near Rathdrum, and at Avondale, Comerford gave his mill workers in Rathdrum and Laragh the day off to take part.

The Comerford mill in Rathdrum burned down in June 1885, but was rebuilt and the business was flourishing a year later in June 1886 when the Comerfords hosted a visit by British and Irish millers.

At the time of their wedding, Eva Mary Esmonde was living at Borleigh Manor, then the home of Major General Thomas James Quin. She was a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Esmonde VC (1829-1872) and a niece of Sir John Esmonde (1826-1876), 10th Baronet, of Ballynastragh, Gorey, Co Wexford, and Glenwood, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, Liberal MP for Waterford (1852-1876).

Colonel Thomas Esmonde was an officer in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment during the Crimean War. He only 26 when he was the first officer to enter Sebastopol on 18 June 1855 after the siege. He was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his part in the Battle of Sebastopol. Later, Colonel Esmonde became Aide de Camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Abercorn, and Deputy-Inspector General of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He died in Bruges on 14 January 1872 after a riding accident at the age of 43, and is buried in the Central Cemetery. His grave was restored by volunteers of the Victoria Cross Trust in 2017.

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Esmonde, VC (1831-1872), father of Eva Mary Comerford (Photograph courtesy Roger Comerford)

When James and Eva Comerford married in Co Wexford, the witnesses at the wedding were his brother, William Comerford (1838-1893), who died a year later, and her sister Matilda (‘Milly’) Mary Josephine Esmonde (1862-1937).

James Charles Comerford died on 3 October 1907, aged 64, and is buried in Three Mile Water, Ennisboyne, Co Wicklow, with the Ellis family of Kilpoole, Co Wicklow. At the time of her death in 1949, Eva Comerford was living at St Nessan’s, Sandyford, Co Dublin, and she too was buried in Ennisboyne.

James and Eva Comerford were the parents of four children: Mary Eva (Maire) Comerford (1893-1982); Colonel Thomas James Comerford (1894-1959); Dympna Helen Mulligan (1897-1977) and Alexander E Comerford (1900-1966) of Malahide, Co Dublin.

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

Although their father died in 1907 when they were still in their teens or childhood, the Comerford children grew up in Co Wexford and Co Waterford in relative prosperity, provided by their father’s land and business interests in Co Wicklow and their family connections in Co Wexford.

Their uncle, Alexander Comerford (1844-1895), was a corn merchant in Liverpool, and lived at Greenfield House, Hoole, Chester. He was a gentleman jockey, he was the owner of Woodcock and other steeplechasers. He made his last appearance on a racecourse at the Tanatside Hunt Meeting, held at Llanymynech, on 30 April 1895, when he fell on Colonel Sandbach’s Sorcerer in the Maiden Steeplechase won by Beauty. He died on Sunday 26 May 1895, after he was thrown from a four-year-old horse he was schooling at Sealand Shooting Range, Chester, and landed on his head the previous afternoon. Their aunts were the only friends of Charles Stewart Parnell’s daughter, Anna, as she grew up in Rathdrum.

As a young woman, their mother, Eva Mary Comerford, was three times tennis champion of Ireland. She was a first cousin of three baronets: Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde (1862-1935), the Irish Parliamentary Party MP for South Dublin (1885-1892), West Kerry (1892-1900) and North Wexford (1900-1918), and later an independent Senator (1922-1934); and Sir Laurence Grattan Esmonde (1863-1943).

The Comerford children grew up as the second cousins of three baronets: Sir Osmond Thomas Grattan Esmonde (1896-1936), Cumann na nGaedheal (Fine Gael) TD for Wexford (1923-1927-1936); Sir John Lymbrick Esmonde (1893-1958), MP for North Tipperary (1915-1918) and Fine Gael TD for Wexford (1937-1944, 1948-1951); and Sir Anthony Charles Esmonde (1899-1981), Fine Gael TD for Wexford (1951-1973).

Ardavon House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow … home to generations of the Comerford family

The stories of the two elder Comerford children show how divided Irish families were at the time of the 1916 Rising.

The elder daughter, Mary Eva Comerford (1893-1982), of St Nessan’s, Sandyford, Co Dublin, is better known as Máire Comerford, a Republican activist and journalist. She was raised in Co Wexford and Co Waterford. She first became active in politics as a Redmondite in Wexford Town, but then took part in the 1916 Rising. She ran a farm in Co Wexford before working as a journalist with The Irish Press from 1935. She is buried at Mount Saint Benedict outside Gorey, Co Wexford.

Maire Comerford’s elder brother, Colonel Thomas James Comerford (1894-1959), was born James Thomas Comerford in Ardavon Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, on 1 November 1894, but was known throughout his life as Thomas James Comerford.

He too was raised in Co Wexford and Co Waterford, and probably went to school in Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare. He was 19 when World War I broke out, and he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment in September 1914.

He was on active service at the Souvla Bay landing (Gallipoli), and was temporarily with the 6th Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers, from 7 to 16 August 1915. He was badly wounded in the mouth and chest and was not declared fit for active service until December 1915.

He later told his son that he was in Dublin while his sister Máire was involved in the Easter Rebellion in 1916.

The army moved him to France and from 22 July 1916 he was involved in the latter part of Battle of the Somme with the 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, and then in Belgium at the Battles of Messines, Langemark, Menin Road, Ploegsteert and Wytschaate.

He became a captain in the 18th/19th cavalry, moved to the Indian Army in November 1917 and spent the next 30 years in India.

Thomas Comerford and Edith Isobel Donaldson were married in Bombay on 10 October 1921. She was a daughter of John Donaldson KC and Elizabeth Anne (née Munro) of 4 Dartmouth Square, Dublin, and Knocknagor, Banbridge, Co Dublin.

During the 1930s, Thomas Comerford was a noted polo player in India, playing polo for the Blue Birds in the Delhi Low Handicap Polo Tournament in 1930 and for the Wild Geese in 1932.

As Major TJ Comerford, he was gazetted on 3 September 1939 as Remounts Officer at the headquarters of the Northern Command of the Indian Army in Rawalpindi (now Pakistan). The northern command encompassed the North-West Frontier Provinces, Waziristan District, Kashmir State, the Punjab (less Districts of Rohtak and Gurgaon) and the Punjab States including the Punjab Hill States (less Khairpur, Tehri (Garhwal), Pataudi, Dujana and the Bawal District of the Nabha State).

Remount referred to the provision of fresh horses for military purposes. The word refers to both the animals themselves and the means by which they were provided. In many cases, remounts were horses provided to replace horses killed or injured in battle. Comerford was active organising supplies for the Chindits throughout World War II.

He was promoted from major to lieutenant-colonel on 16 June 1941, and he was Deputy Director of Remounts in the Indian Army from 1944 to 1946.

Colonel Thomas Comerford and his wife Edith retired to England when India and Pakistan achieved independence. His mother, Eva Mary Comerford, died at St Nessan’s, Sandyford, on 5 September 1949.

Thomas Comerford was 65 when he died on 1 January 1959 in West Malling, Kent; Edith died on 9 September 1990. They were the parents of a son and a daughter. Their grandson is Roger Comerford.

Saint Nessan’s, Sandyford … Eva Mary Comerford, died at St Nessan’s, Sandyford, on 5 September 1949

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

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

Patrick Comerford

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A photograph emerges of a former Comerford house in Courtown, Co Wexford

Invermore House, Courtown, Co Wexford … built for the Earls of Courtown, and once the home of Eva Mary Comerford and her daughter Máire who ran a school there

Patrick Comerford

Almost a decade has passed since I went in search of the house in Courtown, Co Wexford, where Eva Mary Comerford and her daughter, the Irish revolutionary journalist Máire Comerford, had lived in the early decades of the 20th century.

I had failed to in my attempt to add to my collection of images of Comerford family homes, and left disappointed, having found only an empty field and a pile of rubble in where Invermore House once stood.

But a comment posted early on Monday morning (22 June 2020) by an anonymous reader on that blog posting describing my fruitless search over eight years ago (27 January 2012) has helped me to find a photograph of Invermore House where these two Comerford women, mother and daughter, lived and ran a private school over 100 years ago.

For many years, a photograph in the Eason Photographic Collection in the National Library of Ireland (NLI Ref: EAS 3736) had been titled ‘Mansion near Gorey, Co Wexford.’ The photograph was taken by an unknown photographer in the first few decades of the last century.

However, a Flickr Commons user known only as B-59 was the first person online to identify the front door and this research has established that this is Invermore House or Levuka House, Courtown, Co Wexford.

The house was designed in the 19th century by Thomas Newenham Deane and built for the Scott family. At times, it was known as Levuka, and later as Invermore, and for a time it had been the north Wexford home of Eva Mary Comerford and her daughter Máire.

Eva Mary Comerford (1860-1949) was the widow of James Charles Comerford (1842-1907), of Ardavon House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, a miller and a friend of Charles Stewart Parnell.

Eva Comerford was three times tennis champion of Ireland. Her father, Colonel Thomas Esmonde (1829-1872), was decorated with the Victoria Cross (VC) for his part in the Battle of Sebastopol. She was a niece of Sir John Esmonde (1826-1876), 10th baronet and a Liberal MP, and a first cousin of both Sir Thomas Esmonde (1862-1935), 11th baronet, MP for North Wexford and later a Senator, and Sir Laurence Grattan Esmonde (1863-1943), 13th Baronet.

For a time after her husband’s death, Eva Mary Comerford lived with her brother, Thomas Louis Esmonde (1864-1918) of Gorey, Co Wexford. In 1913, Thomas married Mary Mansfield, and Eva’s daughter, Máire Comerford (1893-1982), returned to Ireland from London around 1915 to live in Co Wexford with her widowed mother, uncle and aunt.

Eva Comerford and her daughter Máire (born Mary Eva Comerford) then rented Invermore House in Courtown, Co Wexford, and there they set up a school for girls, where Máire was a teacher for a time. Despite her strong Republican politics, Máire Comerford was the second cousin of three baronets who were elected as Fine Gael TDs for Co Wexford: Sir Osmond Esmonde (1896-1936), the 12th baronet, Sir John Esmond (1893-1958) and Sir Anthony Charles Esmond (1899-1981).

Invermore House, standing on a ridge overlooking Courtown Harbour, was designed by the architect Sir Thomas Newenham Deane (1828-1899), and was built in 1859 as a house for M. Scott, the land agent of the Earls of Courtown. The architectural historian Frederick O’Dwyer says Dean ‘was probably Lord Courtown’s architect on other improvements in the village, including the erection of a row of four cottages … and a covered well in the middle of the main street.’

Later in the 19th century and in the early 20th century, the house was the home of the Hon George FW Stopford (1859-1933), a younger son of James GH Stopford (1823-1914), 5th Earl of Courtown, and Lady Mary Lloyd.

After Eva Mary Comerford and her daughter Máire moved out, the house was sold in 1919 on behalf of George FW Stopford.

The photograph of Invermore House taken before that sale, just a short time after Eva and Máire Comerford had lived there. A delightful detail in the photograph is the two young girls waiting at the front door. There is some discussion on social media about their identity.

Although George FW Stopford is not living there in 1911, his daughter Cynthia Mareli Mabel Stopford, who was 11 in 1911, may be one of the girls, and the other girl may be her older cousin Edith (19); or they may be Cynthia in 1916 and her younger cousin Marina Marjorie, also known as Lady Marjorie Gertrude Stopford (1904-1996).

There was another sale of household goods in the house in 1944. The lengthy list of goods being auctioned seems to include everything in the house which could be moved, including beds, cookers, china and golf clubs.

As time moved on, the house changed hands many times. It became an hotel in 1947, and was known by several names over the years, including the Oulart Hotel, the Sands Hotel and the Stopford House Hotel. However, like most hotels in Courtown, it fell on hard times in recent decades, was closed, and was demolished.

All that I could see when I visited in January 2012 was a heap of rubble and a clump of trees in a fenced-off field near two small housing estates. Nothing is left of the stepped arches over the windows, the pyramid-shaped roof, the classical porch, the Gothic entrance arch, the elaborate fretted balusters on the main and secondary staircases with their plant and animal motifs, or the courtyard at the rear with its eclectic design executed in local red brick and the outbuildings with carved bargeboards.

The once-planned apartments were never built on the site, and there are no traces of the forgotten grandeur of a house that once played a minor role in Irish architectural and political history.

The heap of rubble I found in 2012 on the site of Invermore House (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A lockdown ‘virtual tour’ of a dozen Comerford and Quemerford family homes

An artist’s impression by Struan Robertson of Ballybur Castle, the Comerford ancestral home near Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny

Patrick Comerford

The lockdown introduced as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic continues to grip most of Europe, and the latest discussions indicate there may be no travel from Ireland to other parts of Europe for the rest of 2020.

But I can still travel in my mind’s eye. And, so, in recent months I have been posting a number of ‘virtual tours,’ inviting you to join me in ‘virtual tours’ of churches, monasteries, synagogues, historic sites, and even pubs and restaurants across Europe.

This evening I invite you to join me in a ‘virtual tour’ with a genealogical theme, visiting a dozen or more ancestral homes of the Comberford family. Most of these are in the Lichfield and Tamworth areas, but some are a little further out in Staffordshire: one or two are in Warwickshire, and one is in Shropshire.

I hope to follow this evening’s ‘virtual tour’ later with a ‘virtual tour’ of ancestral homes of different branches of the Quemerford and Comerford families.

1, Quemerford House, Calne, Wiltshire:

Quemerford House, at the heart of Quemerford village on the edges of Calne in Wiltshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Comerford family in Ireland takes its name from the village of Quemerford, on the edges of Calne in north Wiltshire.

Although the Comerford family never lived at Quemerford House, this house is the main home in the village from which the family takes its name.

According to etymologists, the name is derived from the Old English Cynemaeres-ford, meaning the ford or river crossing at the royal (cyne) boundary (maere) or lake (mere). The 19th century Wiltshire historian and antiquarian, Canon John Edward Jackson, said the name had been written ‘fantastically’ as Quemerford as far back as the reign of Edward I, and pointed out that it had been written also as Comerford and Kemerford. The etymologist Ekwall notes the early variants of the name include Camerford (1204), Kemerford (1226-1228), Quemerford (1240-1245), Cameresford (1292) and Quemerforde (1294).

The village of Quemerford, a suburb of Calne in Wiltshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Philip de Quemerford, sometimes recorded as Philip of Cummerford, a lawyer from Calne, was living permanently in Co Kilkenny from the beginning of the 14th century, and was attorney to John de Earleye in 1302. The last mention of the Quemerford family in the Calne area of Wiltshire is on 17 March 1344.

But the spelling Quemerford continued to be used by the family into the 15th century, and sometimes even in the 16th and early 17th century. That spelling gave way to Comerford through continuing contacts with the Comberford family in Staffordshire, and the conflation of the two family trees by later genealogists.

2, Ballybur Castle, Co Kilkenny:

Balllybur Castle, Co Kilkenny … the 16th century ancestral home of the Comerford family (Patrick Comerford)

Ballybur Castle, near Cuffesgrange, halfway between Callan and Kilkenny, was the principal Comerford family home in Co Kilkenny for generation.

Richard de Quemerford (fl 1434-1457) held his lands from James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond and 1st Earl of Wiltshire, in 1434, and was working for the Butlers in Waterford and Carlow.

He appears to have been the ancestor of the Ballybur branch of the family, and many other branches of the family. Ballybur Castle was built in that century, and Richard ‘Roe’ Comerford, who inherited Ballybur Castle ca1532.

The vaulted bedroom on the third floor of Ballybur Castle was once the private chapel of the Comerford family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

However, Richard Comerford of Ballybur Castle has often been identified with Rochard Comberford of Comberford Hall and Bradley in Staffordshire, and a former bursar of Saint John’s College, Cambridge, giving rise to many confusions in the family tree.

Ballybur Castle remained the main Comerford family residence until it was confiscated from John Comerford during the Cromwellian confiscations in the 1650s. It was the home of a branch of the Mansergh family for generations, and now belongs to the Gray family, who have restored it and made it a popular wedding venue.

3, Danganmore Castle, Co Kilkenny:

The ruins of Danganmore Castle, once owned by the Comerford family, are incorporated into the Forrestal family home (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Danganmore Castle is another Comerford family castle in Co Kilkenny, associated with a branch of the Comerford family of Ballybur.

Richard ‘Boy’ Comerford (died 1622), younger son of Richard ‘Oge’ Comerford of Ballybur (died ca 1579/1580) and younger brother of Thomas Comerford of Ballybur, moved to Danganmore Castle by the early 1570s.

Later, Joseph Comerford, who bought a château in France in the early 18th century and with it the title of Marquis d’Anglure, claimed the head of the Comerford family held the ‘Palatine’ title of Baron of Danganmore. But there never was such a title or peerage.

4, Castleinch, Co Kilkenny:

Desart Court … built by the Cuffe family on the site of Castleinch, owned for generations by the Comerford family

The Quemerford or Comerford family was involved in the civic, mercantile, social, political and ecclesiastical life of the City of Waterford from the early decades of the 15th century. The branch of the Comerford family connected with Inchiholohan for up to 170 years – from the first half of the 16th century until the end of the 17th century – was closely related to the Waterford branch of the family.

This is illustrated by the predominance of a small number of personal names such as Foulk, Garret (Gerald) and George, and the family’s property, commercial and political interests in both New Ross and Waterford, which then competed with New Ross for the place as Kilkenny’s commercial port.

The crossroads at Castleinch, Co Kilkenny. Today there are no surviving remains of the Comerford castle at Inchiholohan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The castle and lands of Inchihologhan passed to Joseph Cuffe and John Butler in dower, and it was stated that the ‘Castle, Manor and lands’ of Inchyolaghan were to be known as Castleinch. Later, the property was called Cuffe’s Desart, and a new residence, Desart Court, was built a few miles from the castle in 1733.

Healy says: ‘Though there was a tradition to the effect that the Comerfords regained at least partial possession at the restoration, I have not been able to discover any document which would place its accuracy beyond doubt.’

5, Château d’Anglure, France:

Château d’Anglure … it gave Joseph Comerford an estate and a French title

Joseph Comerford is one of the most enigmatic members of the family. His origins and place in the family tree have been obscured by his own obfuscation: the family pedigree he registered in Dublin was a self-serving exercise in vanity, aimed at asserting his claim to nobility that would underpin the French aristocratic title he acquired when he bought a château and petit domain in Champagne. The plaques he erected in the Comerford chapel in Saint Mary’s Church, Callan, Co Kilkenny, and the Comberford Chapel in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, were proud but vain efforts to link the Comerford family in Co Kilkenny with the Comberford family of Comberford Hall in the Lichfield and Tamworth area of Staffordshire.

Although Joseph Comerford claimed on these monuments that his family had been brought low by the ravages of civil wars in Ireland and in England, he appears to have remained in Ireland for some years after the defeat of the Jacobites in the 1690s, without any obvious social, political or financial disadvantage. While he eagerly craved acceptance in French aristocratic circles, the title he acquired has never continued in use in the Comerford family.

Joseph Comerford, the eldest son of Edward Comerford of Clonmel, was sworn a freeman of the City of Waterford in 1686 and later a captain in the Earl of Tyrone’s regiment of foot, a Waterford regiment (despite its name) in the army of James II.

Despite the Jacobite defeat, Joseph Comerford was still living in Ireland in 1692, but later moved to France. As Joseph de Comerford of Clonmel, he received letters of naturalisation in France in January 1711. In exile, he was made a Chevalier of St Louis, bought the Anglure estate on the banks of the River Aule in Champagne, including the Château d’Anglure, and claimed the title of Marquis d’Anglure. Anglure is about 130 km east of Paris and about 30 km north of Troyes, and is in the Champagne-Ardenne area.

Joseph Comerford may be the Baron d’Enguemore who appears in Reitstrap’s Armorial, which may be a misspelling of the soi-disant title of Baron of Danganmore.

He registered a fanciful family pedigree at the Ulster Office of Arms in Dublin Castle in 1724, and soon after erected the monuments in Saint Mary’s Church, Callan the Comberford Chapel in Tamworth, Staffordshire. He died in France in 1729 and was buried in the chapel at the Château d’Anglure not under the title of Marquis d’Anglure but as Baron d’Anglure et Dangermore.

The Comerford family sold the château in the 1750s, and is branch of the Comerford family survived in France until the death of Captain Joseph-Alexandre-Antoine Comerford (1757-1813), a French veteran of the American War of Independence who was twice married but had no children. Although the possibility exists, it is highly unlikely that any other male descendant of the Comerford family is going to come forward to claim the secondary title of ‘Baron d’Anglure’ or the lesser though more accessible designation of ‘d’Anglure’ after the family name.

6, Coolgreany House, near Castlewarren, Co Kilkenny:

Coolgreany House, near Castlewarren, Co Kilkenny, built in 1653, and said to have been the home of Richard Comerford and his son William Comerford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

When John Comerford lost Ballybur Castle during the Cromwellian confiscations in the mid-17th century, the family was offered land near Bunratty, Co Clare, during the transplantations to Connaught.

In the 1660s, following the Caroline Restoration, John Comerford appealed to the Duke of Ormond, his wife’s cousin, for the recovery of Ballybur Castle. His appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears, and the family moved to north Co Kilkenny.

John Comerford’s grandson, Richard Comerford, is said to be the first member of the family to live at Coolgreany House, near Castlewarren, Co Kilkenny.

The house was built in 1653, and the farm still remains in the Comerford family.

7, The Butterslip, Kilkenny:

   The Butterslip, Kilkenny … William Comerford lived here after his son James Comerford married Anne Langton in 1754 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

William Comerford (ca1692-post 1765) was the eldest son of Richard Comerford who lived at Coolgreany House in the second half of the 17th century.

William Comerford later moved into the Butterslip, the main Langton family home in Kilkenny City, after his son James Comerford married Anne Langton of the Butterslip in 1754.

8, The Mall House, Bunclody, Co Wexford:

The Mall House, Bunclody, home of the Comerford family for generations in Newtownbarry … until recently Bunclody Post Office (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, one line of the Comerford family of Ballybur moved from Kilkenny to the area around Newtownbarry (Bunclody), in north Co Wexford.

The ancestor of the main line of this branch of the family was Edmond Comerford (ca 1722-1788), a younger son of William Comerford who had moved into the Butterslip.

The Comerford house in Newtownbarry was known as the Mall House. This house later passed by marriage to the Lawler family, and Dr William Comerford Lawler was a well-known doctor in Newtownbarry. This house later became the Post Office in Bunclody.

9, No 11 Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin:

No 11 Upper Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh … James Comerford died here in 1902, Stephen Comerford continued to live here afterwards, and Anne (Cullen) Comerford died here on 16 November 1903 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

My great-grandfather, James Comerford (1817-1902), moved from Newtownbarry (Bunclody), Co Wexford, in the 1850s. He lived in different houses in the Clanbrassil Street area of Dublin, and finally moved to No 11 Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh.

He was living there at the time of the 1901 census, when he described himself as a ‘civil servant, retired.’ He had worked most of his life as a stuccodore and architect, and in his last working days he was employed by the Board of Works, now the Office of Public Works.

He died in this house in Ranelagh, where my grandfather was living, on 14 December 1902. Stephen Comerford continued to live here afterwards, and his first wife, Anne (Cullen) Comerford, died here on 16 November 1903.

10, 2 Old Mountpleasant, Dublin:

No 2 Old Mountpleasant, Ranelagh … Stephen Comerford lived here in the first two decades of the 20th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

No 2 Old Mountpleasant, Ranelagh: My grandfather, Stephen Edward Comerford (1867-1921) was born 150 years ago at 7 Redmond’s Hill on 28 December 1867. He lived at a number of houses in the Ranelagh and Rathmines area, including No 11 Upper Beechwood Avenue (1900-1905), and No 2 Old Mountpleasant (ca 1909-ca1913).

Many of his children were born in this house, which is now incorporated in ‘The Hill,’ a well-known pub in Ranelagh. Later, he lived at No 7 Swanville Place, Rathmines, from 1913 until his death in 1921.

11, Ardavon House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow:

Ardavon House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, home to generations of the Rathdrum branch of the Comerford family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Ardavon House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, was the home of the branch of the Comerford family who founded Rathdrum Mill, beside Rathdrum Bridge, in the mid-19th century. Rathdrum Mill finally closed in 1935.

Ardavon House occupied a prominent site at the northern end of the town, facing the junction of the Main Street with the roads to Lowtown and to Clara, Laragh and Glendalough; at the south end of the Main Street, in a similar position, is the Church of Ireland Parish Church of Saint Saviour’s. Between the two, there is a Comerford shop on the Main Street.

James Charles Comerford (1842-1907) of Ardavon House and Rathdrum Mill was a friend and political ally of his neighbour, Charles Stewart Parnell. His wife, Eva Mary Esmonde (1860-1949), was a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Esmonde VC, from Gorey, Co Wexford, and a three times tennis champion of Ireland. Prominent members of this family in recent times include the Republican activist, author and journalist Maire Comerford and her nephew, the film-maker Joe Comerford.

The Comerford family continued to live at Ardavon House until 1958 when it was acquired by the Wicklow County Vocational Education Committee (VEC) and it was a school until 1991. Ardavon House was badly destroyed in a fire in 1997. Despite local authority undertakings to rebuild it, the house stands derelict today, a sad reminder of former days.

12, Comerford House, Galway:

Comerford House … looking a little neglected beside Spanish Arch in Galway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

William James Valentine (1903-1970s), a solicitor in Tuam and Galway, was born in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, and believed his branch of the Comerford family was descended from the Comerford family of Inchiholohan or Castleinch, Co Kilkenny. He was also a well-known local historian in Co Galway. He moved to Comerford House, beside the Spanish Arch, Galway, in the 1950s, but when he retired in the 1970s he moved to Dublin, where he died.

The house was built ca 1800 as a private house. One of its best known residents was Clare Consuelo Sheridan (1885-1970), the sculptor, journalist and writer, lived there in 1948-1954. She was a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill and of Sir Shane Leslie. She is said to have had romantic interludes with Trotsky, Mussolini, Charlie Chaplin and even Kemal Ataurk. She used the Archway Room in Comerford House as a private chapel. During the 1940s or 1950s she obtained the fine portico now at Comerford House from Ardfry House in Renville, Ornamore.

Comerford House was donated by the Comerford family to the city council for community purposes and was the original home of the Galway City Museum from 1976. A new museum opened in 2006 on a site behind Comerford House.

Comerford House was donated to the city council by the Comerford family to be used for community purposes. However, the Tourist Board and Galway City Council have announced plans (2020) to demolish Comerford House and replace it with a viewing tower.

Duras House … bought by Henry Comerford in the 1850s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Other branches of the Comerford family also acquired interesting houses in the Galway area. In the 1850s, in the immediate aftermath of the Famine, Henry Comerford of Galway bought 4,440 acres of land in Co Galway, including 2,700 acres from Sir William Gregory at Kinvara, the de Basterot estate at Duras, and portion of the estates owned by J. Lambert and J. Browne.

Duras House, six km from Kinvara and 29 km from Galway City, was built by the French family in the 18th century, and passed to the de Bastrot family through marriage.

Ballykeel House, or Ballykeale House, near Kilfenora, Co Clare … became the property of Henry Comerford of Galway in 1839

Henry Comerford of Ballykeale House, Co Clare, and Merchants’ Road, Galway, died on 6 September 1861 at Ballykeale House. His brother, Isaac Comerford of Merchants’ Road, Galway, was his executor. Lane writes that his property passed to his sons-in-law, Captain Francis Blake Forster. The Return of Proprietors, published in 1876, records the representatives of Henry Comerford holding over 2,000 acres in Co Galway.

In 1846, Henry Comerford’s oldest daughter, Mary Josephine Comerford, married Captain Francis Blake Forster, JP, of Forster Park, near Galway, and Hermitage, Kinvara, Co Galway. Their son, Charles French Blake-Forster (1851-1874), High Sheriff of Galway in 1874, was the author of The Irish Chieftains (Dublin, 1872), and had a particular interest in the genealogy of the Comerford family.

Gardenhill House, Castleconnell, Co Limerick … Owen James Comerford (1869-1945) died here on 15 June 1945 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Some recent ‘virtual tours’:

More than a dozen Comberford family homes;

A dozen Wren churches in London;

Ten former Wren churches in London;

More than a dozen churches in Lichfield;

More than a dozen pubs in Lichfield;

A dozen former pubs in Lichfield;

A dozen churches in Rethymnon;

A dozen restaurants in Rethymnon;

A dozen churches in other parts of Crete;

A dozen monasteries in Crete;

A dozen sites on Mount Athos;

A dozen historic sites in Athens;

A dozen historic sites in Thessaloniki;

A dozen churches in Thessaloniki;

A dozen Jewish sites in Thessaloniki.

A dozen churches in Cambridge;

A dozen college chapels in Cambridge;

A dozen Irish islands;

A dozen churches in Corfu;

A dozen churches in Venice.

A dozen churches in Rome.

A dozen churches in Bologna;

A dozen churches in Tuscany.

With Tommy and Rebecca Comerford outside Comerford’s, one of the best known pubs in Doonbeg, Co Clare