Paddy Dunne
Kathleen often spoke of her Granny Cleary and said that she was also known as Mrs Dunne. After the death of her husband, Harry Cleary, Ellen Cole married Patrick Dunne. Paddy came from Co Louth, had been a friend of Harry’s and was active in various nationalist movements that Harry was in. Ellen and Paddy had two children, named Patrick and Brendan in the early 1920s. Kathleen did not know much of Paddy Dunne’s history as he had died when Kathleen was still a child.
Tracking down Paddy proved difficult. Paddy Dunne is a very common name, I could not find a record of marriage to Ellen, his birth, his death or a burial record. Narrowing down the many Paddy Dunnes to this particular Paddy Dunne was a challenge. In the 1911 census, when Paddy was lodging with the Clearys, his age is given as 37, and place of birth, county Louth. In the 1901 census, a person named Patrick Dunne, aged 27, single and from Co Louth, was living with his father John, 66, a retired farmer, born in Co Meath at 14 Wood Quay. The accommodation was above a shop and there were six families in the building. Adjacent to their home at numbers 15 and 16 were Dublin Corporation (Dublin City Council) offices and stores. Located behind them were the Corporation’s yards and other facilities. No doubt Harry Cleary would have been there as he had been a waterworks inspector with Dublin Corporation. The entry in the 1901 Census was likely to be the Paddy Dunne in question, but confirmation was needed.
Marriage of Paddy Dunne
The breakthrough came in two forms. The first was the Irish Government service for Civil Records expanded to provide additional marriage records and the record of Paddy’s marriage to Ellen Cole (Cleary) emerged, confirming that Paddy’s fathers name was John and he had been a farmer.
Patrick Joseph O’Dunne
The second breakthrough was finding Paddy’s death notices in the newspapers. Interestingly, Paddy is now styled ‘Patrick J. O’Dunne’, which may explain why the notices were not found earlier. O’Dunne is an unusual form of the name. In Irish Gaelic it is usually given as Ó Duinn or Ó Doinn and in English as Dunne, Dunn or even Dun. The adoption of the ‘O’ prefix is probably a reflection of the impact of the Gaelic revival as mentioned in a previous post. His 1901 census entry indicates that he could speak both Irish and English. Paddy is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery and that record confirms the ‘J’ as Joseph. So his name was Patrick Joseph (O’) Dunne, originally from Collon, Co Louth.
The notices tell us that Paddy was the chief ranger in the Branch Owen Roe O’Neill of the Irish National Foresters, of which Harry Cleary was a member. It confirms his father’s name was John and had lived in Cullen (Collon) Co Louth.
Paddy worked for J.G. Mooney, the well known public house chain. The business was started by James Mooney in 1845 in Dublin and had bars in Dublin, London and other places. Mooney’s pubs were a feature of Dublin city night scene until recent years with pubs named Abbey Mooney, Parnell Mooney, Earl Mooney and others. Several of Mooney’s premises were destroyed during the shelling of the GPO by British forces in 1916. There were many claims for compensation as a result. Paddy’s employment with Mooneys is consistent with records that variously describe him as ‘wine-tester’, ‘wine porter’ and ‘warehouse foreman in whiskey stores’.
Belpatrick, Collon, Co Louth
Collon is a town in County Louth and a townland that spans the border of counties Louth and Meath. It is within the registration district of Ardee. Official records for Collon are categorised as being in the district of Collon, within the union of Ardee and the counties of Louth and Meath. The district of Collon, Co Louth is subdivided into townlands of Belpatrick, Collon and Funshog.
If we rely on the ages provided in the 1901 and 1911 censuses, Paddy was probably born in 1874 in Belpatrick, Collon, Co Louth on 18 March, his father John Dunne and his mother Roseanne Carolan. His father’s occupation was farmer. There were several John Dunnes and Patrick Dunnes in Collon and I have no separate confirmation that this is the correct record. However, it seems likely that this is Paddy’s birth.
Paddy’s mother had died before he and his father lived at Wood Quay in 1901. His attachment to his father and Collon is apparent in his death notices, the only person named in the notice is his father John, who had passed 22 years previously. The references to Collon and Drogheda show a strong attachment despite having left more than 35 years previously.
Activism
The National Library of Ireland collections include a handwritten letter from Patrick Dunne of Branch Owen Roe O’Neill, INF to Éamonn Ceannt, secretary of the Pipers Club (Cumann na bPíobairí ) requesting a piper for a march by the INF. The letter is dated 9 July 1906. Éamonn Ceannt (born Edward Kent) was a signatory of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence and an executed leader of the 1916 Rising. In the documents of the National Library of Ireland, Patrick Dunne is associated with the Irish Socialist Labour Party and Irish Socialist Republican Party – not to be confused with the Irish Republican Socialist party of the 1970s. The Irish Socialist Republican Party was founded by James Connolly in 1896 with the aim of establishing an Irish workers republic. James Connolly was also a signatory of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence and an executed leader of the 1916 Rising.
Burial
Paddy was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in St Patrick’s section, plot QJ 166.5 in January 1935. Interestingly, Patrick was born the day after St Patrick’s day in a place called Belpatrick (Buaile Phádraig) and was buried in St Patrick’s section in Glasnevin Cemetery.