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!

[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.i.../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.i.../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