Who Do You Think You Are - Julie Walters 7th Aug

[kiterunner]

BBC1 at 9 p.m. Sorry I didn't post this earlier but was busy going out for lunch! :d

[Merry]

lol just in time......!

[kiterunner]

Julie Walters mother Mary O'Brien grew up in Ireland and moved to England in 1938 at the age of 23, where she married Julie's father. They had three children, Julie and her brothers Tom and Kevin. Mary's mother was Bridget O'Brien nee Clarke. Tom showed Julie a reference which Mary brought to England with her, from the parish priest of Islandeady in County Mayo. Also the birth certificate of Bridget Clarke, born 16 Apr 1878 at Islandeady, the daughter of Anthony Clarke and Bridget nee Staunton. Anthony's occupation is shown as Landholder.


The 1901 census of Ireland showed the Clarke family living in the hamlet of Ballynamarroge, parish of Islandeady, with Anthony's occupation shown as farmer. The family were shown as Roman Catholics with 7 children. Julie visited the village and was shown the ruins of the Clarkes' house. Julie was shown a document from 1880 which said that Anthony Clarke had 43 acres, but he was a tenant farmer, "tenant at will" which meant that he could be evicted at any time. His landlord was Sir Roger Palmer, an English Protestant.

Julie was shown newspaper reports of crop failures in the 1870's, and a petition of the parishioners of Islandeady to Sir Roger Palmer's agent, asking for a reduction in rents. A newspaper report from 22 Nov 1879 showed that this request was refused, and that Anthony Clarke chaired a big meeting of local tenant farmers, and that he was the Secretary of the local branch of the Land League, which campaigned against the landlord / tenant system, against evictions, and for reduced rents. The report of the meeting showed that Julie's great-grandfather Patrick O'Brien and 2xg-grandfather John O'Brien also attended.

In 1880 court hearings were held to look into the problems and there is a report of the evidence given by Anthony Clarke, where he described the poor quality of the land that he rented, and stated that 2 acres had been taken from him but his rent had not been reduced to reflect this. The tenants' situation was improved as a result of the court hearings but not enough.

In October 1881 the Land League was banned, and Anthony Clarke's name appeared on a list of agitators recommended for arrest, but there is no record of him actually being arrested at that time.


A newspaper report about the Islandeady branch of the Ladies' Land League showed that Julie's 2xg-grandmother, Maria O'Brien (wife of John) was the treasurer, at a time when she had seven children, the youngest only a baby. Maria's father was Cummins Buchanan who was a member of the Westport Board of Guardians in the 1870's, voting with his landlord from whom he had received 5 acres of land taken from an evicted tenant.

Julie was shown records of a case from 1884 where Anthony Clarke was charged with assault endangering life, and then murder, of a 75-year-old taxi driver called James Joyce. The inquest showed the cause of death to be natural causes, and Anthony was only convicted of common assault. The "report of outrage" described Anthony as a returned American, farmer, age 35.

By 1903 tenant farmers were able to buy the land they were farming, but Anthony's landlord refused to sell to him and when he died on the 31st Oct 1918 he was still a tenant farmer. In 1923 the British landowners were forced to sell the land that they still owned in Ireland.

Julie visited the graveyard where Anthony was buried, but there was no gravestone. She saw his newspaper obituary which said he was 72 when he died.

[kiterunner]

I felt that there would have been more suspense about the fate of Anthony Clarke if we had not been shown the 1901 census entry so early on! Could have been edited better, surely?

[kiterunner]

Link to the 1901 Irish census entry for the Clarkes:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001103925/
The buildings form shows that they occupied 3 rooms.

[ElizabethHerts]

I found that most interesting.

My eyes lit up when her brother produced the birth certificate of their grandmother and showed that the mother's maiden name was Bridget Staunton, as OH's great-uncle settled in Ballinrobe in Co. Mayo after marrying a girl whose surname was Staunton and came from Galway.

[kiterunner]

And here is the Clarke family in 1911:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003037340/

Two of their nine children had died.

[ElizabethHerts]

This looks like the marriage :

Name: Anthony Clerk
Birth Date: 1843
Age: 26
Spouse's Name: Bridget Stanton
Spouse's Birth Date: 1844
Spouse's Age: 25
Event Date: 08 Feb 1869
Event Place: Westport, Mayo, Ireland
Father's Name: Pat Clerk
Spouse's Father's Name: John Stanton
Marital Status: Single
Spouse's Marital Status: Single

A slight spelling variation of "Stanton" and not "Staunton".
Also, "Clerk" instead of "Clarke".

[Olde Crone]

I struggled to enjoy this, probably because I have no (known) Irish connections. I spent the first 15 minutes shouting "Land holder isn't Land owner!" and then they finally got there.........

I was also irritated by JW's silly "Awww!" when it was revealed that her Ladies Land League had raised £2. She almost said "Bless them!". She obviously had no idea how much £2 could buy in 19th century Ireland.

OC

[kiterunner]

There is an Anthy Clark, age 35, farmer, on a passenger list from 7 Apr 1882, ship name Parthia, from Ireland to New York.
New York Passenger List on ancestry (http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/7488/NYM237_448-1250/11884543?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dnypl%26so%3d2%26pcat%3dROOT_C ATEGORY%26MS_AdvCB%3d1%26rank%3d1%26new%3d1%26MSAV %3d2%26msT%3d1%26gss%3dangs-g%26gsfn%3dant*%26gsfn_x%3dXO%26gsln%3dcl%253frk*% 26gsln_x%3dXO%26msady%3d1882%26msady_x%3d1%26cpxt% 3d1%26catBucket%3drstp%26uidh%3dvm5%26msadp%3d2%26 cp%3d12&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults)

[kiterunner]

The researcher said that Cummins Buchanan "slipped off the radar" or some such but surely he is the Cummin Buchanan whose death was registered Apr-Jun 1888 Westport, age 75?

[Guinevere]

I love Julie and I really wanted to enjoy this but I didn't. I agree that's probably because I have no Irish connections so I struggled to relate to it.

I love that she made the best of the land grabbing grass of an ancestor, though.

[Merry]

lol Gwynne!

I quite enjoyed the story and Julie's reactions.

I could accept that the name Anthony Clarke might be sufficiently rare for the researchers to be able to say with some certainly that all the records they found were for the same man. I was less able to think that when they "knew" Mrs J O'Brien would definitely be Julie's ancestor and not some other Mrs O'Brien. They did say Joyce was a common name, but that was OK as they didn't have to tie James Joyce to her tree! Even with uncommon names and searching in the UK with the benefit of the census and other records, I've often been unable to tell whether newspaper info relates to an individual or his father/brother/uncle/cousin etc brought up in the same place.

[maggie_4_7]

I felt that there would have been more suspense about the fate of Anthony Clarke if we had not been shown the 1901 census entry so early on! Could have been edited better, surely?

That's exactly what I thought, when they kept saying what happened to Anthony after 1881! I know I was tired last night after our lunch but I thought I'd dreamed they'd already showed the 1901 census. I was talking to myself and the TV but we know what happened to him we've just seen the 1901 census!

[JBee]

Was interesting for me because it was where bf came from and I've never been to Ireland. I noticed a couple of names that might have been related but as was said there are lots of common names.

[Shona]

A episode of missed opportunities.

The President of the Land League, Charles Stewart Parnell, is a huge figure in Irish history and pivotal in the campaign for Irish Home Rule. Why no mention of this?

A more famous land agent than Cummins Buchanan in Co Mayo was Captain Boycott. It was his shunning by tenants and the wide community which gave rise to the term 'boycott'.

[Nell]

I found it enjoyable, as I vaguely remembered learning about the Irish Land League for O-level history.

It's also good to have a programme about ancestors who were struggling rather than people who are related to royalty. Cummins Buchanan is also such a good name to have in your tree!

[Anstey Nomad]

Did anyone else wonder if Cummins Buchanan was Protestant?

[maggie_4_7]

Did anyone else wonder if Cummins Buchanan was Protestant?

Yes I did and more so a Presbyterian Scot perhaps.

[kiterunner]

Did anyone else wonder if Cummins Buchanan was Protestant?

According to post #13 of the thread in the following link, he was Roman Catholic (there is a grave inscription):
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=91648634