General Chat

I have yet to watch it but I remember watching his WDYTYA and found that very interesting because a English sniper shot his grandfather

I was glad he mentioned the 200 young Sherwood Forresters who were killed by 7 IRA - all because of the pig-headed commanding officer insisting these lads take this bridge whereas they could have detoured and gone across another.

They were lads fresh out of training and thought they were off to France.

It is still ongoing in the North - a prison officer has died this week as the result of a bomb under his car.

I felt as Emma did about his rather "lighthearted" interventions but I found it interesting and has helped me understand how it went from a "soft" rebellion to the conflict in 1922

I too will read more !

I read quite a lot on Irish history back in the '80s when I started looking at that side of the family, but don't know nearly enough...about everything lol, so much still to learn so little time! :-D

I read a lot of history mainly English, some Scottish
etc think I have to read up more on Irish.

I would love that Rose, he is very fortunate
to have that ...priceless :-)

I always come back to the thought of how fortunate to be able to go to the relevant places, meet people who know the history, and even better when some of that history is written in your ancestor's own words :-)

Agree Rose it is an ego thing with them, but these programmes
I find interesting and want to listen and learn the ins and outs
of them.

Mrs Brown I have enjoyed since day one but feel with this being
about his uncles he should have kept that in mind. :-)

I enjoyed it, it was a personal story of his uncles and so as such I didn't find his jokes distracting it's who he is. Most celebs who do this sort of programme, WDYTYA etc, tend to talk over others it's probably the ego thing that got them into tv in the first place lol , and it will have been edited to put a bit of 'drama' in.

Interesting though, I learned a few things I didn't know, and reference to things I did know of outside of Dublin were a neat personal tie in.

Brendan O'Carroll did not do a good job imo telling
this story.
I found it very interesting but he distracted me with
speaking over people and cracking jokes.

He should stick to Mrs Brown.

Did anyone ? Rose :-) watch this programme ?

What did you think ?

There were large numbers of southern irish men serving in n.ireland regiments in the 60 and 70's.

They wished to join the army but the south rates of pay were not as good as the north. Whether it is still the same I do not know.

Interesting Rollo, a pity you couldn't have had the photo.

But the question is now am I humming 'Fields of Athenry" for the rest of the day or "Come out you Black And Tans ..." :-S

Like most programs of its ilk Brendan O’Carroll looking back will leave some very large holes. One of them is the myth that the British Army hated the Irish.

The reality was that large numbers of Irishmen were serving in the British Army. There were long established barracks for enlisted men and officers, NCOs all around the Dublin area. Many of the soldiers of all ranks married an Irish girl.

That is one of the reasons why the IRA were able to hold Dublin city center for six days - a good chunk of the British Army in Dublin was related to the locals and had no wish to create a disaster. Also of course much of the regular army was in France.

Instead the Imperial General Staff resorted to a hotch potch of the 59th Division sent over from Liverpool and a hitch potch of Lancers, Yeomanry and the "Black and Tans" who were soon out of control. Public reaction in England was for the most part very much against the terrors vented by Churchill and others but by 1921 it was all too late.

Back in the 70s I was in Cashel, Co. Tipperary staying in a cafe/guest house in the middle of town. The landlady told me how the IRA met in the attic above the British Army officers billeted on the main floor. She had framed photos on the wall. And there he was, my grandfather, staring back at me from the ancient photo. The landlady gave me a funny look and said that life was funny but didn't one of them look like me? She had a list of the names somewhere and would look them up .... I passed and we moved on early the next day Ireland in 1974 was still a difficult place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AYR8rO0EKc

<3

Thanks Rollo. It makes interesting reading. I was not aware of the burning of Cork.

My paternal grandfather, who was living in County Tipperary, died in December 1920.

He was very I'll, but because of the curfew in place at the time, the local Doctor wouldn't come out to see him at night.

B the time he go to my grandfather the next day, it was too late.

I wonder noe if the burning of Cork had at bearing on the curfew and the Doctor's reluctance to break it. Will have to try yo check his date of death.

Got this information from my mother, who was only six months old at the time. This is what she was told by her family.

Some of the recently released records have proved enlightening as to possible family connections, old stories that seem to have substance, I'm hoping they will lead, by a sideways movement possibly, to getting beyond my gt gt grandfather.

Between 1922 and 1930 all of my Irish relatives (except my GGM of course who was married to a British soldier) left for the USA where they were safe from Michael Collins and de Valera.

It really is a myth that there was much support for Irish independence in 1916. The reality was that the English ruling class aka the Tory Party behaved as they had done in other parts of the UK and Empire creating an opposition out of nothing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVfsvGOf3hc
(Bloody Sunday, Croke Park, 1920 )

The Fenians of one stripe and another were nothing much to write home about. Most importantly ordinary people were well aware that if the Fenians did come to power the transition would see much shedding of blood and so it proved.

fwiw I got married in Co. Down and have spent a lot of time the other side of the water Ireland hasa been a large part of my life.

Not so 'few' where my ancestors lived Rollo.

It's a tricky subject to discuss with my Irish cousin, lol, his gt grandfather stayed, my gt grandfather ( brothers) left to join the British army ( way before the Rising) but my cousin sees him still as a traitor.

My great grandmother's young nephew was killed by the British Army during the Easter Rising.

The Rising was a mistake and had very little support at all in Ireland north or south it changed exactly nothing. It did create a lot of myths and material for folk singers. Despite the countless injuries inflicted on Ireland by the English for 500 years in 1916 the country was solidly behind the King and the BEF in France. Except of course for the few Fenians.

What totally changed things was the destruction of Cork probably the most loyal city in Ireland and certainly the fairest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Cork

If Castlereagh had not been assasinated in Pheonix Park, Dublin Irish Home Rule would have happened and the UK today would include the whole of Ireland. Tis a shame that never happened.