Until the opening of the Tom Clarke Rooms in 1967, few people
connected Tom Clarke with Carrigallen. True, he
never set foot here or for that matter in any part of Leitrim.
But this district of low flat-backed hills which divide
the ancient lands of the two Breifnes can lay claim to his father,
James, who was born and reared in the shadow of
the little village.
Not only Carrigallen
but all Leitrim feels proud to have supplied the name and sent
forth the man who fathered the
great Irish patriot. James was born and reared in the picturesque
townland of Errew, parish of Carrigallen,
in 1829.
From the records available we know that his father, also James,
shared the small farm of four acres there with his
brother, Owen, in 1834. The family then, as in later years, was
also known by the name Clerkin and at this time
belonged to the then established church.
Then came the black years
of 1847 and the famine horrors which sent young James Clarke,
then 17 years of age,
and many other youths like him, scurrying to any exit that led
to survival. Without money for his passage to
America, the only port in the storm for him was the British army.
On September 1st 1847 he joined the Royal
Artillery, in whose ranks he was to endure for many years the
hardships and privations that were then the lot
of the Irish soldier of fortune in the service of an Empire whose
far flung had a continual crop of trouble-spots.
In 1854 he was in the
Crimea, fought at the battles of Alma and Inkerman, and took part
in the siege of Sebastopol.
In this madcap enterprise, a mere matter of prestige for Britain,
the English soldiers, ill-clad and ill-provisioned for
the rigours of a Russian winter, perished in thousands from frostbite
and cholera. However, James Clarke survived
the ordeal and returned in 1856 to barracks in Clonmel where he
was soon promoted to the rank of bombardier.
On May 21st 1857, James
Clarke married Mary Palmer of Clogheen, Tipperary. She was a Roman
Catholic and her
father, Michael Palmer, worked at the local Bridewell jail. The
marriage was what is known as a mixed marriage,
for James Clarke was a devoted Protestant and remained so during
his life. Mrs Kathleen Clarke has recently
testified that James Clarke 'would now be what is known as Church
of Ireland and was a devout member, going to
church every Sunday'. Mother Benignus of the Convent of Mercy,
Dungannon, Co Tyrone, daughter of Billy Kelly,
lifelong friend and school companion of Tom Clarke, has given
the similiar testimony.
However in the following
year, 1858, when their first child, Thomas James Clarke, the future
Irish revolutionary,
was born at Hurst Park in the Isle of Wight on March 11th, he
was in deference to his mother's wishes baptised a
Catholic. In April 1859, the Clarke family left for South Africa
where James served at various military bases in
Natal and the surrounding territories for six years. Here young
Tom began school and a second child, Maria Jane,
was born. Here, too, James continued to climb the ranks to corporal
and battery sergeant in quick succession. It is
a striking tribute to his high intelligence and aptitude for learning
that from a raw country lad in a poverty-stricken,
education-lacking rural environment he rose to the high position
that led to his being granted, in 1865, an easier
and more secure post. He was promoted to sergeant of the Ulster
Militia with headquarters at Charlemont Castle,
Co Tyrone. In the nearby historic town of Dungannon, the Clarke
family settled down in a house near St Patrick's
Chapel. Here a third child, Hanna Palmer, was born in August 1868,
and a fourth, Alfie Edward, in May 1870.
Here, too, young Tom
continued his education, attending St Patrick's National School
where he was taught by
Francis Daly and later by Cornelius Collins. The rich Celtic atmosphere
of the O'Neill country gradually caught the
mind of this apt young scholar and his education-conscious parents
saw to it that he received all the education then
available. He proved such a brilliant pupil that having reached
the age of 16 years, he was made an assistant teacher
under the old monitorship system, a post he held until he left
for the USA in 1881. James Clarke, despite his more
comfortable and secure position in his own country, did not serve
the British Empire for many more years. In 1869
he claimed and was granted his discharge at the of 39 years, having
served 22 years in the army. And so this native
son ofCarrigallen, driven to soldiering by dire necessity, made
his exit from the imperial service.
(Left) James Clarke c.1850's.
(Middle) Brian Lenihan, Mrs. Clarke, Emmet Clarke, Mrs
Sheridian & Michael Reilly at the official opening
of the Tom Clarke Rooms, Carrigallen in 1967.
(Right) Local people at the official opening of the Tom
Clarke Rooms, Carrigallen in 1967.
Tom Clarke left his father's house for the USA in October 1881.
He was accompanied by his companion, Billy Kelly.
Both had already been active in the re-organised IRB secret society
in Dungannon and it is therefore only natural
that on arrival in New York they became enrolled in the Clan na
nGael. Tom's subsequent Fenian activities with
Clan na nGael, his mission to England under the assumed name of
Henry Hammond Wilson, and his arrest and
imprisonment for life in June 1883, were for many years unknown
to his family in Dungannon. Tom never saw his
father alive again, because he had less than half his sentence
completed when this honest, upright and kindly man
passed away in Dublin to where he had moved with his wife and
daughter, Hanna, in the later years of his life.
What greater tribute
can we finally pay to two noble parents, James Clarke from Carrigallen
and his Tipperary-born
wife, than to quote from a letter Tom Clarke wrote from prison
to an old pal named Paddy Jordan in Dungannon:
'Here we are in 1893 with the first half of January gone. Time
goes rapidly enough for you, I dare say; for me it
creeps slowly enough, dear knows. By April 3rd I shall have been
in prison 10 years, almost a third of my lifetime.
Can you realise what this means? Ah no, Paddy, you cannot. No
one can understand all the hardships, but you can
realise that I do know that notwithstanding it all I am from the
heart's core to the fingertips Irish. Always proudly
Irish as in the old days. That though my clothing from the top
of my cap to the bottom of my boots be marked with
the Government's broad arrow, what does it matter when I know
within myself, thank God, that there is no broad
arrow, not even a suspicion of a broad arrow stamp, on this Celtic
heart of mine'.
This article by Michael Whelan
is from "Carrigallen Parish-A History."
"Carrigallen Parish-A
History."1996, Design inc.
© Ronan Ward Design
2003. All Rights Reserved.