I
recently visited the National Famine Museum in Strokestown and even though I
learned any of the facts in school, when it is presented to you in its rawest
form, it is still overwhelming especially with so many of the personal stories
and tragedies of Roscommon. While a nation struggled with the onset of famine
in 1845, how was Ringsend coping? The 1841 census put the local population as Sandymount
1,142, Irishtown 1,109 and Ringsend 1,755, a total of 4,006
In
May 1845, crowds lined the Liffey wall to watch a three-boat race on the river
with the Dublin Rowing Club hosting the event and in October, The National Glass
Company was announcing that it was expanding its business in Ringsend. Business
was good in Ringsend and the number of vessels using the Grand Canal basin expanded
and even more as thousands made their way to Dublin to escape the famine first
from Dublin to Liverpool and onwards to new lives in North America and Australia,
if they survived the journey.
The
following year the 135 foot long The Shamrock was launched from Mr. Barrington’s
Foundry in Ringsend. It was the first iron-screw steamer to be built in Dublin
for the British and Irish Shipping.
In 1847, the Dublin Reproductive Institution
was founded in Ringsend by Falconer Miles. That may sound like a fertility clinic,
but it was in fact a very successful organisation to ‘give temporary employment
to the industrious poor of the neighbourhood.’ They instructed locals to
improve skills including carpentry, building, cooking and even made mats and
collected chopped wood and sold it on hand carts travelling until the cart was
empty. To alleviate some of the poor lifestyle, the institution would pay the
men daily to keep a roof over their heads and food in the family’s stomachs.
In
April 1847 Devon born William Pullen was a new father, his son William was
born. The family were from the Torbay fishermen who settled in Ringsend and
created a fishing industry using their skills and technique from England. Pullen
was the owner of the Ringsend based fishing smack the Bessy.
On
13th April 1847, the paddle steamer ‘Granna Uile' ( a Gaelic version of Grainne
O’Malley) left Liverpool port bound for Drogheda at 8p.m. with 90 aboard and
carrying a cargo of grain, urgently required for a starving Ireland and flax. Many
of the passengers were returning to Ireland after failing to secure passage to
America to avoid the famine. At 6a.m. on April 14th she went on fire
north off Lambay Island. In a rush for the two lifeboats after the ‘Fire’ alert
was given, several passengers were drowned.
Captain Thomas Rawdon thought he could make port but at 7a.m. the
fishing smack 'Bessy' came alongside and rescued all on deck except, Captain
Rowden. He was killed during a rescue
attempt when he used a lifebelt and jumped into the sea but was caught in his
ships wash. His body was dragged into the Bessy. The Bessy made her way to Dublin with 68
survivors uncomfortably packed aboard, reaching the quayside in Ringsend at
6p.m. Twenty-three of the survivors were crew members.
According
to ‘The Torbay Fishermen in Ringsend’ by Edmond P. Symes,
‘On board the Bessy with Captain
Pullen were the mate, John Parker; a young man, George Upham, and a boy
apprentice, William Symes. George Upham was related to Elizabeth Upham who had
married Prince Symes in Brixham. Indeed, he was now also related by marriage to
Captain Pullen, who ten years earlier had married Anna Maria Syms, daughter of
Prince and Elizabeth. The boy, William, then aged 12, was their grandson.’
The
company secretary of the Drogheda Team Packet Company Patrick Ternan organised the
sum of fifty shillings as a reward for Captain Pullen and his crew.
In
October 1850, the landlord of the Pembroke Estate Sir Sydney Herbert arrived in
Ringsend and at a crowded meeting Herbert was praised by local politicians and
the clergy alike for keeping the most serious effects of famine out of
Ringsend.
‘The practice of other landlords
was to send the crowbar brigade to demolish the dwellings of the starving populace,
the intention of the Honourable S. Herbert was to erect houses for the poor
(cheers of hear hear). Although here were some poor in the neighbourhood, there
was not a single death from starvation during the famine in consequence of the
help and employment given by Mr Herbert to the poor of the locality’
(Freemans
Journal October 19th 1850)
In
April 1851 to great fanfare locally seven vessels of the Austrian Navy under
Captain Garguravich arrived in Ringsend. This was a third of the entire navy. At
8am on Sunday morning, with many of the senior personnel attending mass in St
Andrews Westland Row, three of the ships fired 21-gun salutes in the harbour.
This was repeated at noon but a planned salute at 6pm was cancelled due to
heavy rain in the area.
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