Community notes Feb 5th

100Years Ago

Last week I made reference to the gradual transfer of power from the English to the Irish during December 1921 and January 1922. On December 18^th. 1921, General Sir Nevil Macready, Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ireland left Dun Laoghaire on HMS cruiser, Dragon bound for Holyhead. This marked the completion of the evacuation of the British troops.

On the Saturday night before, the naval evacuation was completed by the departure of Rear-Admiral CH Fox CB who was the naval officer commanding on land in the Dun Laoghaire area which included a large stretch of the east coast. Admiral Fox remained aboard the Dragon and he was joined by General Macready on the Sunday. The General and members of his staff had driven from the city in two cars with an armoured car to the front and another at the rear. When they arrived at Victoria Wharf, a pinnace from HMS Dragon was in waiting with a twenty-oared galley into which their luggage was placed. Very few people were present at that early hour to witness the arrival of the top -ranking officials. However, not long after, the town was startled by the booming of guns from the cruiser. When Sir Nevil stepped on board, a salute of 17 guns was fired and on the top deck the officers on board gave the General three rousing cheers of welcome.

At 3pm in the afternoon word began to filter through the town that the British were leaving port. The destroyer, Wolsey which was alongside The Dragon was first to steam out of the harbour closely followed by the cruiser. As the ships rounded the pierhead, a crowd of spectators had gathered at the pier and they gave the departing military and naval chiefs a farewell cheer. However, if the truth be known, it may have been a jeer rather than a cheer!

That was it. The end of 800 years of domination that came to an end on a Sunday afternoon without a whimper, a week before Christmas in 1921.

Ah yes, what is the Timoleague connection you may ask? Well, Admiral Cecil Henry Fox’s daughter together with her husband lived in Timoleague for many years – with curiosity sufficiently aroused, I will have more next week.

Correspondent Nods

In last week’s notes I made mention of the training exploits of Padraig Butler of Cregane and of his recent successes with Fons Vivus and De Capo Glory. The latter and not the former runs this week-end in the bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown on Saturday. It is said that the great Greek author and poet Homer, who penned the classics The Iliad and The Odyssey nodded, to say that your humble scribe would not succumb to a little “catnap”! Da Capo Glory won at Galway a number of months ago and though there is a top class field with leading trainers Willie Mullins and Gordan Elliott having a number of runners in the race, Padraig has already taken on the big boys successfully and who is to say that the Argideen dual star won’t repeat the oracle this week-end. He and jockey Darragh Allen and The Red Strand Syndicate carry the good wishes of all in the final race of Saturday evening’s card.