Jewel in the Crown

Following service in South Africa with the 3rd (line) Battalion of the Manchester Regiment (https://www.roscommonstanley.me.uk/military/boer-war-concentration-camps/ ), Patrick was transferred to the 1st Battalion on 28 October 1906. He was sent to join them in India. The 1st Battalion had also served in South Africa, departing in December 1904. They arrived in the port of Madras…

Searching for James Mullooly

Having failed to follow the trail of Elizabeth McDermott, what about James Mullooly? (James and Elizabeth were the baptismal sponsors for my Grandfather in 1883.) In 1901, there are two families called Mullooly living in Clooneenbaun. In House 3, there is John (37), his wife Bridget and four young children. In House 4, there is…

Elizabeth McDermott: who was she and where did she go?

The relative dearth of information about my grandfather Patrick has forced me to examine leads that I would not normally pursue. Recently, I re-visited some of my earliest records. In November 2007, I received a report from the Roscommon Heritage and Genealogy Company. The baptismal sponsors for my Grandfather Patrick in March 1883 were Elizabeth…

Missing from the records

In my quest for more information on Thomas Stanly (1807-1887) (http://www.roscommonstanley.me.uk/possible-relations/thomas-stanly-1807-1887/) I looked at the census return for Edward Naughton. He reported the death of Thomas. The document has a reference to a missing record. Edward, his daughter, son-in-law and family are listed at house number 13 on the sequence. On viewing a list of…

Thomas Stanly 1807 -1887

DNA evidence suggests that I am not related to the Ballyglass Lower branch of the Stanley family. (James Stanley and Oliver Stanley are shown as living almost next door to each other on the Griffiths valuation records.) When I published the blog “Ballyglass Stanley”, https://www.roscommonstanley.me.uk/possible-relations/ballyglass-stanley/, I was contacted by another researcher. He was able to…

Wilfred Owen and Patrick Stanley

Patrick Stanley was posted to France to re-join the 2nd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment on 13th November 1916. He would have been just one of a number of ordinary soldiers sent as replacements for the casualties incurred. As such his arrival was not noteworthy in any way. It is extremely doubtful if there were…

Poetry Please – Part 2

At school I studied poetry as part of the English Literature course. Having to analyse, criticise and deconstruct poems can drain the joy from reading them. Despite this handicap, there is one poem that sticks in my mind from that time. I read avidly, and have done so from an early age. My local library…

Poetry Please – Part 1

“Do not go gentle into that good night” Dylan Thomas “I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky” John Masefield Robert Frost, Elizabeth Browning, Lewis Carroll, WB Yeats, John McCrae, the list of memorable poets and their works is a lengthy one. Poetry has the power to move, to…