St Patrick’s Day 1917 was more of a bleak affair than previous years. The country was still under the dark cloud of the uprising of the previous year. In Achill it was no different but with the added extra of the deportation of Darrell Figgis, a prominent member of the Gaelic League in Achiil and indeed Mayo.

The celebrations went on in spite of all and a Ceili was held in the hall Emily had commissioned a few years earlier in Dooagh on the night of the 17th of March. The event proved lucrative and £5 was raised for the Gaelic League.

Sources

Claidheamh Soluis; April 7th 1917. p5

People in the present day travel sometimes for pleasure and to obtain acquaintance with what cannot be seen at home, and sometimes for the sake of health…

The above is taken from Wintering in the Riviera, with Notes of Travel in Italy and France, and Practical hints to Travelers, written by William Miller, S.S.C. in the age that travel to the South of France became fashionable. The quote could apply to Emily Weddall, as she had just qualified as a nurse and was also according to her biographer, Iosold ni Dheirg.

As a fluent French speaker the South of France was a perfect place for her to find employment as a private nurse. The Riviera became a new health spa, since Queen Victoria made the area popular a few years earlier. Qualified nurses would have been in high demand to provide round the clock care for health tourists.

As proximity to the sea air, or to be within hearing of the monotonous noise of the waves, does not suit some persons, while the proximity may benefit others, and as the temperature of the east and west bays differs considerably, it is not inadvisable for those in delicate health to consult a medical man, who should decide which part of Mentone is best suited to the particular case. There are about twenty doctors practising in Mentone. Of these, the English doctors are, I believe, the following:—In the west bay, Drs. Siordet, Marriott, Gent, and Sparks; and in the east bay, Dr. Bennett. It is also well to know that the fees of the resident English medical men are high, and are paid at each visit. If the visit be to two persons of the same party, two fees, I have been told, are charged or expected. The fees of the French medical men are greatly less. It would seem, on some points,[174] the doctors of the two countries differ,—as, for example, English doctors advocate sitting in the sun, and foreign doctors, sitting in the shade; and knowing how foreigners abhor their friend the sun, I can well believe they do.

PROMENADE DU MIDI, MENTONE at the time Emily visited

An advert for Splendide, at Menetone from the 1890’s

Sources

http://gutenberg.polytechnic.edu.na/4/7/4/6/47463/47463-h/47463-h.htm

Ní Dheirg, Íosold. Emily M. Weddall: Bunaitheoir Scoil Acla. Baile Atha Cliath: Coisceim, 1995

In 1879 William Miller published his book Wintering in the Riviera, a travel book, containing his travel notes of Italy and France, to advise travellers. Did Emily read the book? – Unlikely but it was a good history of the early days of destination Riviera.

The Rivera, particularity Mentone was becoming famous as a health spa in the wake of Queen Victoria visiting the location in the 1880’s. Although the climate was known for health benefits long before particularly for people recovering from TB. In his article for The Telegraph, travel expert Anthony Peregrine humorously describes health tourist in the Menton of Emily’s era;

The belief spread quickly through the consumptive classes. It was encouraged by doctors, not least the Manchester-born James Henry Bennett who’d had TB himself and apparently been cured by travelling to Menton. His resultant bestseller, Winter and Spring on the Shores of the Mediterranean, channelled the well-heeled and coughing to the Riviera in general, Menton in particular.

Emily’s services as a nurse would have been in high demand in the days before there was any known cure for TB.

http://gutenberg.polytechnic.edu.na/4/7/4/6/47463/47463-h/47463-h.htm#front

Sources

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/cote-d-azur/articles/Britains-150-year-love-affair-with-the-Cote-dAzur/

http://gutenberg.polytechnic.edu.na/4/7/4/6/47463/47463-h/47463-h.htm#front

So the Rebel Priest was hanged at Newport, Co. Mayo;

“Shortly afterwards a game-keeper passed by with his dog and gun, and saw the priest hanging on the crane. But instead of saying “Beannacht Dia ar a anam” no fada mar sin” he looked up and said he “Nac ard ara saol an saggart croicad  iniu” The scoundrel he was a noted rascal that fellow, he was one of Sir George O’Donnell’s nominees, but he got his reward, he did then. He went to the mountain with is dog and gun and he never returned, he got lost and there was no trace of him till several days afterwards when the dogs of the town found his remains on the mountain and dragged them thought the streets. I never heard of what happened to the body of Fr. Manus”

Fr. Sweeney remains were taken nearby Burrishoole Abbey, where he was buried with his parents. In 1922 a monument was erected to the memory of the Patriot Priest. He was not forgotten at his birthplace of Achill, when in 1944 Emily, Anita and Eva with the help of a committee and the islanders erected a monument too.

Fr Manus Sweeney Monument, Achill

Sources

Pat Molloy, Keel, Achill;  NFC 1015: 54-9

http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/newport/history/fr-manus-sweeney.html