1916 Seachtar Dearmadta, TG4, Wednesdays, 9.30 pm

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

A reminder that the next episode of this excellent series is on TG4 tonight at 9.30pm.

This week is about John MacBride. I always thought MacBride got a bad rep due to Yeats' description of him as a 'drunken vainglorious lout'. There was a lot more to his character than that brief hatchet job!

It will be interesting to see how he is portrayed in tonight's programme, especially his fall from grace.

MacBride's reputation suffered from that jibe by Yeats

He was shot not so much for his part in 1916. He did not know of the Rising that day. He was on his way to his brother who was getting married that week. He joined in when he saw the volunteers taking over Jacobs. He was executed by the British really for his fight against them in the Boer War,

Tradition in Westport is that he led a cavalry charge of the 400 strong Irish Brigade, capturing some guns from fleeing British Infantry. At Colenso I think. If so, the incident would not be marked as battle honour by them

My late father told me that when news of his part in the Rising reached Westport ( by train, before newspapers became available again ) that there were mixed views. The MacBrides were ( and are still ) a highly respected Mayo family. There were different views - that the timing was wrong, that Home Rule was on the way etc. There was shock at his execution. This increased anti-British sentiment, and later increased enrollment into the IRA.

The West Mayo FLying Column was very effective. A man who was involved in these matters at the time told me that the success of the Carrowkennedy ambush on the Westport/Leenane was one of the deciding factors influencing Lloyd-George to start truce talks. In that ambush the MFC under Michael Kilroy killed a number of RIC and Black and Tans, took their arms, including a machine gun, gave some first aid to their wounded, and released one of them to cycle into Westport to get treatment for their wounded. This chivalry and self confidence by Kilroy and his men impressed the British.

Regarding Yeats' reference to MacBride - locally it was felt he was jealous of MacBride as it is said that Maude Gonne would not accept him as his lover.

Maude Gonne used to bring Seán over from Paris each summer to visit his grandmother. She lived where the Helm is now at Westport Quay. The large ruined mill about 400 yards to the west was then owned by the Pollexfen family - Yeats' aunts people. There was a manager's residence at the mill, so it is likely that Yeats called down there from Sligo when M Gonne was in the area.

Might be a Eng Lit or Hist Ph.D there for someone, as soon as someone finds a collection of unpublished WBY poems, left by him in some Westport pub. Working on that.

MacBride was a brave man,

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

Thanks for that nuac, very interesting and always great to hear first hand accounts of this period in our history.

Another great episode tonight - MacBride came across as something of a pathetic figure in the years before the Rising. He seemed to find the redemption he needed in the Rising and jumped at the chance to take part - even though he was on the way to his brotehr's wedding!

One thing that is a bit unclear, was MacBride accused of molesting Maud Gonne's daughter? One of the historians mentioned allegations of abuse in relation to Iseult and I have heard this mentioned before but the contributors on the show tonight seemed to imply that Maud Gonne was attempting to blacken MacBride's name so as to retain custody of their son... Was there any evidence to back these claims up?

Thanks but my knowledge was not first hand. I am only 74 ffs. Knew his son Seán well

I do recall my father saying that news of MacBride's execution came to Westport via the Dublin train. Huge shock and sadness. I believe that is the first his mother and family in Westport heard of it. The execution led to a change of and hardening of sentiment locally regarding the Rising and the British etc.

My father would have been some years older than Seán. He met him on his various summer visits to Westport and were lifelong friends. He recalled about 1910 Maude Gonne describing Seán to my grandmother as the future President of Ireland. Now that is an Irish mammy.

When Seán became Minister for Foreign Affairs my father mentioned that to me, saying that he was on the way

Locally the view is that the allegations about Iseult were not true,