fr kehoe's bazaar and famine
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Uí Cinsealaigh Historical Society
Fr Kehoe's Bazaar and FamineAuthor(s): Tom McDonaldSource: The Past: The Organ of the Uí Cinsealaigh Historical Society, No. 28 (2007), pp. 98-105Published by: Uí Cinsealaigh Historical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25520137 .
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98
Bazaar and Bizarre
Tom McDonald
I
Fr Kehoe's Bazaar and Famine
On 6 July 1918 the Enniscorthy Guardian reported that 'the promoters of
the two day Bazaar at Cloughbawn on Saturday and Sunday were very fortunate in having such beautifully fine weather associated with their
undertaking'.1 The blissfully fine weather on that weekend does not
necessarily indicate premature global warming: as the report noted 'the
weather back for sometime did not give any guarantee of the suitability of
the open street as an ideal place for the erection of the stalls'. The Bazaar was of course in Clonroche; the parish is named Cloughbawn as the
parochial church is at Cloughbawn. The avuncular, charismatic, dynamic and futuristic Fr Paul Kehoe, a native of Cullen's Cross Tullicana, and reared on the broad family lands at Moortown, in the parish of Carrig-on-Bannow,
was the pastor in Cloughbawn then. He was closely associated with the
Sinn Fein movement and may have aspired to create a Catholic/Christian
Republic in Ireland but he was not crudely sectarian as a prominent Church
of Ireland family participated in the Bazaar. He spoke French and Spanish but abhorred bull-fighting. Fr Kehoe was a mover of metaphorical
mountains. His long flowing beard gave him a Biblical aura.2
The Bazaar was intended 'to defray the large expenses in beautifying the
parish church and grounds and also the erection of a village hall'. The hall was by modern standards not especially large but the debts on it do not
seem to have been fully paid off until the 1960s when Tops of the Parish
contests raised money to do so. In 1918 the conventional response of
parishes to debt was to run bazaars.
Fr Kehoe in organising the Bazaar was aided 'by a committee of active
and willing workers who left no stone unturned to achieve success with the
undertaking'. As in a ballad commemorating a team of sporting heroes I
shall name them: Michael Furlong, John Sinnott, Denis Kehoe, Martin
Murphy, Michael Walsh, James Harman, Laurence Harte D.C., Nicholas
Cullen, Thomas Cullen, Gerald Flood C.E., Luke Nolan, Patrick Mullany,
James Maguire, Patrick Buckley, James Lambert, P.J. Doyle. The last
mentioned name is presumably that of the principal teacher at Clonroche
National School who died circa January 1944. The D.C. after Mr Harte's name denoted District Councillor and CE. after Mr Flood's name denotes
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Bazaar and Bizarre 99
County Engineer. The absence of women from the committee indicates the
prevalence of patriarchal assumptions. One of the local wits was quoted as saying that the village had washed
its face for the weekend; every house in it having been re-painted or
whitewashed. Four stalls were erected on the village street and with 'the
active assistants displaying and disposing of the varied articles that generous
patrons had presented' the overall appearance was that of an eastern town; that would be quite appropriate as the word Bazaar had oriental origins.
We are told that the lady assistants at the stalls 'made full use of their
charms and the person, those of the masculine sex particularly, would be
dead to all charms of beauty and grace were they to turn a deaf ear to the
applications made for the purchase of tickets or a throw of the dice for the
tempting articles put up for competition'. The romantic and near erotic
language used here hints at a secondary purpose to the Bazaar: it might serve a catalyst to encourage the young men of the area to seek partners in
marriage, in a community blighted by bachelordom and spinsterhood. The
upsurge in the price of farm produce resultant on the Great War would have
temporarily abated the economic dread of marriage. Mrs Laurence Harte
presided over the refreshment stall set on the street also. Those assisting at
the Bazaar were given a sumptuous dinner and tea in the school that stood at the top of the hillock on the New Ross road.
Coming up to two o'clock the Bunclody Brass Band paraded through the village and then assembled in the Square where they 'discoursed a few
choice selections, which evoked hearty applause from those assembled'. I
presume that the Square was the wide part of the street opposite the road
to Chapel or it could have been within Dier's lawn. Rev. J. O'Brien CC,
Bunclody, opened the Bazaar. He told the crowd that 'since Fr Kehoe came
to the parish of Cloughbawn he had spent hours untiringly beautifying God's House. In fact it might be said of him that the zeal for God's House
had eaten him up'. Fr Kehoe would undoubtedly have shared in the
theological disposition of that era which sensed in the Church, the physical
building, a seamless synthesising of the temporal and the divine. There is a
poetic grandeur to Fr O'Brien's description of Fr Kehoe's tender aspiration: 'In addition to their handsome parish church, they had beautiful grounds,
decked out with flowers of every hue to form, as it were, a bodyguard for
the Infinite Majesty concealed within.' His words humming with such
fragrant imagery must have electrified his audience.
Fr O'Brien then turned to a much more practical matter: 'Father
Kehoe's latest work was the erection of a village hall. A village hall was a
long felt want in Clonroche. It was a pity to see the boys of Clonroche going around of a winter's evening trying to amuse themselves, trying to get a
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100 The Past
place to pass a social evening. That want had now been supplied and the
hall in all its grandeur would remain as a tribute to the work and generosity of Father Kehoe.' Fr O'Brien's comments denote an utterly stark absence of
social facilities in the parish; although that begs the question: why did
previous generations not seek to build a hall? The probability is that they lacked the money to do so but improved means of transport by 1918 may
have meant an enticement for youngsters to visit the village and maybe further afield. The use of the word 'grandeur' in regard to the hall at
Clonroche will inevitably amuse the modern reader: in an era devoid of access to latter day technology the construction of the most elemental of
buildings represented an enormous project. The unwritten sub-script to Fr
O'Brien's words is that a hall could be a place both to have meetings and
classes to improve the young and via dances to induce the young men to
consider the possibility of marriage. The afternoon was taken up by fifteen sporting events in racing and
cycling; Phil Murphy of Enniscorthy served most efficiently as starter. Half
hour dances with the Bree Band providing the music in the hall were another
attraction during the afternoon and evening. The big event of the evening was the performance of 'Marriage of
Ballymarescal', written by Rev. Sylvester Cullen CC, Marshalstown, by the
Marshalstown Dramatic Class; the hall was packed. The stage must also
have been packed if all the actors and actresses listed in the report were
really there. At the conclusion Fr Paul Kehoe came onto the stage to
'rapturous rounds of applause'. He informed them that the parochial debt
of ?500 had been wiped out that day and as the applause abated he added
that 'the long contemplated hall was approaching completion'. The people of Cloughbawn were deeply indebted to Lord Carew (the 3rd Baron) for a
munificent gift of timber for the floor, roof and stairs that could not be
procured through the usual channels. Neither Fr Kehoe nor his audience
felt any irony at a strongly Sinn Fein-supporting priest in such ample laudation of a Peer of the British Empire. He further informed the audience
that a few public spirited parishioners had guaranteed ?300 to the Bank
and the Trustees of the Hall would have to pay off that amount through
staging entertainments in it. One presumes that the Tops of the Parish series
in the 1960 finally enabled the parish to pay off that ?300 or its residue.
Fr Kehoe indicated that after the vacation, usually timed to coincide with the harvest time, the hall would be used as a girls' National school,
'pending the erection of a new one and they would have for the first time
provision for the teaching of cooking. It would take a good deal of money to equip the hall for school purposes and they hoped that the Bazaar would
supply that too'. The present writer after examining the relevant file has
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Bazaar and Bizarre 101
always suspected that the scheming Fr Kehoe moved the girls into the hall
that autumn not because of dreadful overcrowding but as an exertion of
pressure on the Board of the Commissioners of Education to build a new
room to the school in Clonroche. The designation of girls' school merely means that girls were put in one room and the boys in another: the one
principal teacher (sometimes with an assistant) would teach all the classes
of girls in the one room. The obvious unspoken purpose was that of
inculcating a culture and disposition of gender segregation, possibly an
almost essential requirement of economically impoverished societies unable
to withstand surging demographics. It is important to point out, however, that the Commissioners of Education imposed these rules and that the more
efficient mode of non-segregated education became the norm in the post 1922 era. The emphasis on cooking for girls indicated an assumption that
girls would either work as mothers in the home or take situations as
domestics in the towns and cities at home and abroad. The emphasis on
cooking may also have been intended to rectify a perceived lack of such
skills in the community. Before the Famine Lady Carew had established a
girls' school at Castleboro to teach the young girls habits of cleanliness and
cooking.3
Fr Kehoe thanked Fr O'Brien, the Pioneer Brass Band from Bunclody, and anticipated that on 'the following day the Enniscorthy War Pipers, in
their new uniform, would stir the cockles of their hearts'. The metaphorical militarism of the name of the Enniscorthy Band is one supposes not entirely
unique in an era when Europe was at war. He then observed of the
Marshalstown Drama Group: 'It was surely a good thing that amusements of that kind should be
furnished by the people themselves and to place no dependence on a foreign
supply. Father Culien had shown his capacity in that respect. He was a
gifted man with a deep and sympathetic comprehension of the Irish
character, and his band of artistes possessed talent of a high order.' These
sentiments are classic representation of an assumption fundamental both to the Catholic Church and to the Gaelic League at this time that Ireland
and its civilisation was a divinely ordained repository of profound spiritual values; it was conversely believed that barriers of language via the revival
of the Gaelic tongue and enactment of legislation to prohibit foreign media
coming in were necessary to save this civilisation. There may be a resonance
of the theories of Canon Sheehan in Fr Kehoe's remarks, also: the celebrated
author had in My New Curate articulated his conviction that the Catholic
clergy should acquire the expertise to give leadership in all facets of Irish
society. Fr Culien was possibly taking on such a role in the cosmos of amateur dramatics.
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102 The Past
Fr Kehoe noted that 'audience's applause and appreciation of the
humorous points, the keen attention and orderly demeanour showed their
recognition of the excellence of the play'. That is a roundabout way of
saying that unless a community had some minimum level of literacy it could have little use for a hall! The work of the National Schools, however deficient and fragmentary it was, had created a society capable of
responding to hall-staged entertainments.
Fr Kehoe had a parting request of Fr Cullen, in a choice of words that
dovetailed humour and hard reprimand: 'He would suggest to Fr. Cullen, of whom he was very proud, to marry
another of Dempsey's daughters (laughter and cheers). Marriages in Ireland were so few that it was something new to see one on the stage. A
neighbouring priest whose name he would not divulge preached on
matrimony recently. One of his hearers afterwards declared to him that it was labour lost, as no one in the parish got married until qualified for the
old age pension.' One presumes that the old age pension was perceived as
a guaranteed income but the occupations available to Fr Kehoe's flock as
farmers, drovers, artisans, masons, labourers, etc., were not of such
remuneration as to induce a man to think of taking a bride. Marriage for
the greater majority was the ultimate in the unthinkable and in the official
records of that era the patterns are of brothers and sisters living together all
their lives and also of single people living alone. Fr Kehoe's anguish in the matter was most understandable: a community of bachelors and spinsters cannot perpetuate itself.
The beautiful weather continued on Sunday and the Bazaar was opened at 3 o'clock but the Corpus Christi Procession at Enniscorthy depleted the
crowd for the afternoon; the attendance hugely augmented as evening set in.
The Enniscorthy War Pipers 'during the evening discoursed some very choice selections which were much appreciated'. GAA matches were played on the Sunday afternoon, in hurling and football. As on Saturday the
stallholders had a busy time and by Sunday night the stalls 'which on the
opening day were laden down with articles' were empty. The new hall
proved altogether too small for the large crowd that attended the dance
that concluded the Bazaar; the fee to go in was very low. The most exotic event of the weekend was of course the Mumming Competition: the village hall was crowded as Poulpeasty, the winners of the Mumming competition at the Co. Feis at New Ross, were opposed to the Rathfylane set from the
neighbouring parish of Davidstown. It was arranged that the votes of the
audience should decide the outcome but this proved impractical. The
performance went on for about an hour and a half and after it ended Fr
Kehoe once more took to the stage. He said that 'their portrayal and recital
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Bazaar and Bizarre 103
of the character and deeds of the Irish heroes and soldiers was well
calculated to inspire love of country and was worthy of the highest praise. The captains of both teams had authorised him to announce that the
performance that night was simply to be regarded as an exhibition'. The
appeal of Mumming, which never reached very high levels, was in its
simplicity: a story of Gael and Gall, Irish and foreigner and a minimalist
symbolisation of myths and stories from an uncomplicated nationalist
version of centuries of Irish history. A population educated to the merest
levels of literacy and numeracy would not of course respond to the nuances
and mental gymnastics of latter day historiography; they could only access
it via myths, stories, folklore and simplesse; in a certain sense they should
be commended for making such an effort! In the Co. Wexford the
Mumming took themes from the genre of rebel ballads such as 'Kelly of
Killanne' and 'Boolavogue'. The Gothic scenarios at the core of these
ballads were ideally suited to dramatic representation. The artistic excess
was not deemed significant in any sinister sense: nobody really believed that
the conflagration of 1798 could or would be ever re-enacted again. And if one exempts the relatively small amount of fighting at Easter 1916 and the
sporadic guerrilla warfare of the War of Independence it is correct to say that that the horrendous and ghastly sacrifice of life in 1798 was never
repeated. Love of country was a virtue most desired by the clergy of early 20th century Ireland: the identity of the country was deemed to be
essentially Catholic and most Catholic scholars, priests and opinion formers
believed that Providence intended that Ireland should become the heart of a spiritual empire. Love of country readily translated as love of the faith. Fr
Kehoe, himself, most fervently supported the Sinn Fein movement. His
diaries indicate that his family defied attempts to auction their cattle during the Land League agitation.4
The remarkable thing about the report of the Bazaar at Clonroche in
1918 is the presence there of so many artistic and musical groups: it is clear
that in contrast to the previous century when men and women worked
nearly all their waking hours that leisure time had become by 1918 a regular
aspect of ordinary life. A report of a hurling match in the early summer of
1864 between Ballinaslaney and Edermine observed that such a contest
could only take place on a Sunday as 'the working portion of our
population' were at work 'from sun rise until after sun down'.5 It would, for
example, take a group of men in a band a very long time to practise all their
airs, songs and tunes. A hall is essentially about the utilisation of leisure
time in an enjoyable and challenging manner. That is as good an explanation as any other of why there was such a determination to build and complete a hall in Clonroche in 1918.
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104 The Past
We now turn to observe Fr Kehoe in another guise: that of Chairman
of the Clonroche Co-operative Wheat Growing Society. In connection with
this it was noted: 'in addition to ministering to the spiritual wants of those
committed to his care, he has at all times exerted himself in the advancement
of their material ones'.6 His exertions did not at all approximate to the
gargantuan plans of Fr Letheby in Canon Sheehan's My New Curate but
there is a likeness of mindset. In February of 1917 he arranged for the
purchase of ten statute acres at a cost of ?27 at an auction and this was
allocated in portions to 24 labourers. Fr Kehoe intended to take advantage of a Government scheme whereby the clerks of each Poor Law Union were
enabled to provide seed at a reduced price to the poorer strata of people. I
am baffled that land could be bought at less than ?3 an acre even then;
maybe it was taken on a conacre system or the vendor gave it below its
value for charitable purposes. On the following Sunday Fr Kehoe,
presumably from the pulpit at Mass, requested fifteen farmers to plough the field, 'a help that was ungrudgingly given'. In early April Fr Kehoe
requisitioned the aid of a group not called upon on the previous occasion to 'harrow the ground and sow the seed'. The interested labourers turned out on an evening after work 'and spread the manure, the work of the
ploughing, sowing and preparing the ground on all occasions being
superintended by Father Kehoe'. On a fine Sunday in the harvest time two
machines were provided by Mrs Sweetman (of Ballymackessy, and widow
of Laurence Sweetman JP, I presume) and Mrs Lakin 'and with fifty willing hands six acres of the crop were tied and stucked in about four hours'. The
rest of the crop was saved in a similar manner on the following Sunday. The report continues: 'The appeal by Father Kehoe for horses to draw the corn in for threshing was responded to with alacrity and all was deposited in a corner of one of one of the fields in about two hours. The next day an
engine and machine was provided free by a parishioner and the twenty-four labourers assisting in the threshing they had the satisfaction of having
provided for their use 80 barrels of wheat'. (Syntax is as quoted). The reverse of Murphy's Law may have blessed the initiative of Fr
Kehoe: that most erratic and irritable of phenomena, the Irish weather,
certainly favoured the scheme! The willingness of farmers to provide horses,
ploughs and both harvesting and threshing machines may have derived less
from an innate generosity on their part than a reticence about baulking at
a direction from Fr Kehoe, a man of immense prestige due to the reverence
then had for the priestly office. Furthermore Fr Kehoe was a man of great charisma and total determination. The query that I wish to put is: if a
scheme such as the present one was vastly expanded might not the pressure on their resources prompt the farmers to metaphorically drag their feet?
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Bazaar and Bizarre 105
Six barrels was kept as seed for the next year before the rest was equally divided between the 24 labourers. Mr P O'Neill, JP and auctioneer from
Enniscorthy, sold the straw for ?25 and returned his commission to the
society. The sale of the bran when the gain was ground into flour realised
?23 and this plus the members' subscriptions brought the total receipts to
?89. The scheme cost ?66 4 shillings, that is the cost of the land, seed, and
coal for threshing. Those who supplied these goods-Mr O'Neill, JP,
Enniscorthy; Mr J.R. Dier, JP, Clonroche; Mr P. O'Doherty, Clonroche, and
the Co-operative Society did not seek payment until the crop had been
disposed of and thus the members, labourers, did not have to seek an
overdraft from the Banks, a favour that might have not been forthcoming. The obvious deficiency of Fr Kehoe's scheme as a paradigm for greater
application is that it redistributed wealth rather than creating it; the prestige of his priestly office and his charismatic personality enabled the
Cloughbawn pastor to cajole and coercively persuade the better-off people to aid his scheme. The overall macro-economic context favoured him also:
in 1917 there was a widespread and genuine fear of serious food shortages, an apprehension entertained at the highest echelons of Irish society and
government at the time. The respectable strata would have felt an obligation to respond to appeals such as that of Fr Kehoe. In the neighbouring parish of Bree the newly founded Irish Countrywomen's Association were engaging
with Captain Alcock of Wilton and Captain Cliffe of Macmine in plans to
provide labourers with firing and to organise wheat growing schemes.7 In one respect Fr Kehoe's scheme generated extra productivity: it
mutated the leisure time of the labourers into productive work totally for
the provision of food for themselves and their families. It is significant that
the labourers came to work on Sundays and in the evenings after normal
working time. The writer would, however, categorise Father Kehoe's scheme as inadvertently futuristic in an unanticipated direction: the principle fundamental to it of the more secure social strata contributing to the relief
of the distress of the poor was also fundamental to the social welfare
systems then beginning to emerge.
1 The Enniscorthy Guardian July 6 1918. The Wexford Library. Unless specified otherwise all quotations are taken from this issue.
2 Quotes from diary of Fr Kehoe in the All Hallows Annual 1959. In the National Library Dublin Ir 37941 A23.
3 William Russell Farmar, agent to the Carew estate, boasted about it to the Devon Commission. 4 Ibid 2. 5 The Wexford Independent May 11, 1864. In the Wexford Library. 6 The Enniscorthy Guardian February 9, 1918. In the Wexford Library. All quotations on the wheat
growing from this source. 7 Ibid 6.
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