On the 25 September 1867 the Derry Journal carried the following announcement:

September 18, at Windsor Place, Edenderry. the wife of the Rev. Wm.J. Burke, Incumbent of Castlejordan, diocese of Meath, of a daughter.

Emily’s Birth Announcement

Windsor Terrace, Edenderry

The child named Emily Arabella Maynard Burke, was Baptised in St. Peter’s Church on Auinger Street, Dublin, where their parents married.

Emily, the second daughter was called after her mother, as was customary at the time. Her second name Arabella, did not show up in the family anywhere, there was an outside chance that she was given the name because of a connection between her parents and Joly family. The Joly’s were prominent landlords of East Offaly (Kings County) at the time, Emily’s family lived in Edenderry. One was called Annie Arabella Joly. It is easily a coincidence but it might be more than that as Emily’s younger brother was named John Jasper Joly Burke, similar to the great book collector Jasper Robert Joly.

Sources

25 September 1867 – Derry Journal – Londonderry, Londonderry, Northern Ireland

https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/General-Register-Office.aspx

Ní Dheirg, Íosold. Emily M. Weddall: Bunaitheoir Scoil Acla. Beann Éadair, Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim, 2010.

https://www.offalyhistory.com/shop/books/john-plunket-joly-and-the-great-famine-kings-county

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/King_s_Co_/Clonbulloge/Ballydermott/1464828/

Emily’s father Rev Burke, courted quite a bit of controversy and  was no stranger to standing in the dock. In the decade he lived Edenderry he appeared in courthouse at least five times, both as a complainant and defendant at the Petty Sessions. Although none of the cases were seeped in serious issue, they spoke volumes where he stood with the local population.

The courthouse in Edenderry, stands exactly like it did when Emily’s family lived there

The Petty Sessions handled the bulk of lesser legal cases, both criminal and civil. They were presided over by Justices of the Peace, who were unpaid and often without any formal legal training. The position did not have a wage, so the role was usually taken by those with their own income – in practice usually prominent landowners or gentlemen. Justice was pronounced summarily at these courts, in other words, without a jury.

The cases dated between 1864 and 1868 ranged from unpaid bills to the local blacksmith to allowing his cattle to roam freely on the public road, to an unpaid dog license. The most serious complaint and probably the most perplexing for him and his family was in 1866, when he took action against Patrick Dempsey, also of Edenderry, for throwing a stone with the intention of causing Rev. Burke bodily harm. The Judges, E. J. Boss Esq., T. R. Murray, and J. H. Rogers dismissed the case. It could have been difficult to prove, they sided with Dempsey or they distrusted Emily’s father.

Sadly the violent persecution that dogged his life in the West of Ireland followed him to Edenderry. This was not an isolated incident as the violence continued for his duration there.

The courthouse in Edenderry, stands exactly like it did when Emily’s family lived there

Sources

findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/irish-petty-sessions-court-registers-1828-1912

Rev William John Burke moved to an address at Windsor Terrace, in the town of Edenderry in 1863. It became home to he, his wife son William and daughter Miriam Sophia. The Burkes would live at that address until 1872, when Rev Burke was transferred to Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.

In the decade that Emily’s family lived in Edenderry, it was a thriving little town. On the banks of the Grand Canal, much traffic passed through it.

Without the Grand Canal, Edenderry in the nineteenth century would have not prospered as it did the canal providing a much needed communication network and transportation for goods such as peat, corn and flout to Dublin.

In 1862 a branch of the Ulster Bank opened as did Edenderry’s first post office in February. This boosted the amount of local businesses and trades men. By the time Emily was born in 1867, Edenderry was a prosperous little Leinster town, and a hub of activity. As a clergyman Rev. Burke would have been part of the establishment and status quo, but was not liked by all.

The statue of Arthur Hills, 3rd Marquess of Downshire, overlooking Edenderry

Sources

Reilly, Ciarán. Edenderry 1820-1920: Popular Politics and Downshire Rule. Dublin: Nonsuch, 2007.

findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/irish-petty-sessions-court-registers-1828-1912