On this day 130 years ago, solicitor of Barnsley, Yorkshire received an intimation that his client Dr. Burke, was to be released from prison. Dr. Burke, Emily’s older half-brother, had served a year and a half of his life sentence, commuted, from the death penalty for the murder of his daughter. It was clear that his health was in rapid decline, and possibly would not live for much longer.
Parkhurst Prison
Sources
Barnsley Chronicle, etc. 31 March 1888
Yorkshire Evening Press 26 November 1889
27 May 1874 – Leicester Guardian – Leicester, Leicestershire, England
November 11th 1919 marked a full year since the Great War ended. It was almost a year since the beginning of another, the War of Independence. To an onlooker, it might have been hard to believe there was any conflict at all in most part of the country, apart from Munster and Dublin. There were plenty reports in the newspapers, telling of guerilla warfare such as ambushes and arson attacks on the authorities.
In the wake of the Uprising of 1916, when martial law war was declared, then relaxed when thing quietened down. But on July 5th 1918 – Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers, Cumann na mBan and the Gaelic League have all been proclaimed as illegal organisations by the Lord Lieutenant and banned. From time to time the papers contained notices such as the below reiterating the ban.
At the time Emily was living in Dublin at the time at an address in Ranelagh, away from her home in Achill. She had found employment in her old profession as a nurse, the previous year on the outbreak of Spanish Flu. She was in serious debt, having to work all the hours she could to save her home. She had little time to take part in political activities, but it did not stop her selling flags for the listed organisations, as an act of defiance as much as a support to them.
This year marks the 180th anniversary of the execution of patriot priest, Fr. Manus Sweeney. He was hanged in the Market Square in Newport in June 1799, for his supposed part in the 1798 Rebellion. In 1944, Emily, Eva O’Flaherty, Anita McMahon along with a dedicated group of Achill people, raised funds and commissioned a sculpture, dedicated to him. It seemed fitting to them, that he should have a dedication near his place of birth in Dukinella. His final resting place is marked by a Celtic cross, inscribed:
This Monument has been erected by the Parishioners of Burrishoole To The Memory Of Fr Manus Sweeney A Holy Patriotic Priest who wss hanged in Newport June the 8th 1799 because he had joined with his countrymen in the Rebellion of 1798
In the same graveyard lies the graves of little known martyrs, two Catholic Nuns who suffered a harrowing death during Oliver Cromwell’s campaign of terror in Ireland in the 1640’s and 50’s.
Martyred Nuns; Co. Mayo Ceremony
The President of Ireland Mr. Sean T. O’Ceallaigh, attended the ceremony at the ruins of Burrishoole Abbey, Newport, Co. Mayo last Sunday, in honour of two nuns who died of exposure when stripped and driven from their convent at Bunishoole by Cromwellian soldiers in the year 1653. There was a large congregation at High Mass in the Abbey, at which the archbishop of Tuam, Most Rev. Dr, Walsh presided and a sermon was preached by Most Rev. Dr. Fergus, Bishop of Achonry.
After Mass the President laid a wreath on the grave of Fr. Manus Sweeney, a priest who was hanged in Newport Market Square by British soldiers after the landing of the French in West Mayo in 1798. In the evening the President unveiled a stature of Our Lady, erected on a bridge near the Abbey in honour of the martyred nuns.
One hundred and fifty years ago today Emily’s youngest brother John Jasper Joly Burke was born. Like his older sister and brother, Richard he his birth took place at Windsor Terrace, Edenderry, Co Offaly. He was the last of the four M’arthur-Burke children.
His early life was the same as his sister Emily, but there may have more emphasis on his education, simply because he was a boy. He probably attended a school for the sons of Clergymen, like his sisters attended the equivalent for girls. His brother, Richard became a banker, therefore it is possible that John Jasper studied for a profession too.
Some time in the early 1890’s he followed his sister Miriam, to Australia. Miriam remained in New South Wales, where she eventually married and had children. John Jasper went to Victoria, perhaps in search of work. There are no records to confirm, why he went there and exactly when until his funeral notice appeared in the local newspapers in May 1893:
The Friends of the late Mr. JOHN JASPER JOLY BURKE are respectfully invited to Follow his remains to the Bendigo Cemetery. The funeral is appointed to move from tho Fifeshire Hotel, Mount Korong Road, Ironbark, This Day, at ten o’clock. WILLIAM FARMER, Undertaker
It appeared he died in the Fifeshire Hotel, in Bendigo. Today it seems a bit mysterious that he died in a hotel, but back then people lived in hotels for an extended amount of time. Perhaps he had some temporary work there, as it was a mining area. As his death was not reported on it can be assumed that he died of natural causes. Perhaps a disease, brought on by the hostile climate, that he was not used of or something minor such as a fever, which can be easily treated and cured today. He is buried at Bendigo Cemetery in an unmarked grave Internment number 12656.
