Our friendly and excellent guides are available as Step On Guides for any visiting tour or coach operators who may like a unique, entertaining and educational tour of Irish History and the events of Easter Week 1916.
Welcome to Episode Four
of our series on the pubs of Ringsend. These stories will form the basis of the
forthcoming The Historic Pubs of Ringsend Walking Tour in 2022 and a book on
the history of the pubs in both Ringsend and Sandymount. Today we will look at
the story of another long lost pub in the Village, ‘The Old England Tavern’.
Located at Number 6
Thorncastle Street, this pub began life as ‘The London Tavern’ in the
early 1800’s. By 1850 it was in the hands of John Nickells (or Nicholls) and it
was Nickells that renamed the pub as ‘The Old England Tavern’. There had been a
previous incarnation of ‘The Old England Tavern’ for many decades at 10 Georges
Quay but when it was sold in the 1840’s and renamed the tavern title became
available.
In the 1870’s it was
purchased by Patrick Mulholland. Mulholland was declared a lunatic, which was a
nineteenth century name for an alcoholic. Following his death, ‘The Old England
Tavern’ was run by his widow Mary. Mary died on July 29th 1884,
following which her pub was put on the market by the executors of her will in
November of that year. It was purchased by James P. Purcell, who within weeks
of opening found himself in court on a charge of serving afterhours and was
fined. Purcell obviously over-extended himself as he was declared bankrupt on
December 14th 1886. On April 1st 1887 the pub was sold at
the auction house of Frank Hodgens to James Byrne for £270 (£37,000 in today’s
cash). Byrne stayed just five years in Ringsend before selling his pub to
William McEvoy in 1892.
In 1906 the pub was
purchased by Tipperary born Thomas James Carroll, the license being transferred
from Joseph Mulholland into Carroll’s name. Carroll was a married man, having
married Elizabeth from Kildare in 1900. On September 18th 1908, the
pub was raided by the local police from Irishtown for serving afterhours after
a number of men were spotted playing billiards in the pub after closing time.
The last occupant of Number 6 Thorncastle Street was William Phelan but upon
his death the pub was sold in January 1920. The pub was described as having a,
‘compact,
well-appointed bar, bagatelle room, good cellarage, bottling store etc and four
living rooms. The house has an entrance also from Fitzwilliam Street, which is
a great business advantage.’
When the property was
sold for £2,530, the license was allowed lapse and a grocery business was
operated from the building. In recent decades, under various names the former
Old England Tavern has been a chemist. In the next Episode we will feature one of the most fascinating pub history in Ringsend and so vast is that history that the story will be spread over three posts. We will begin next with the early history of the pub known today as THE OARSMAN.
Welcome to part three of
our look at some of the Pubs of Ringsend. In 2022 a Walking Tour will commence
bringing you the colourful history of the many pubs and tales of Ringsend or
Raytown as the locals know it. One of the now departed public houses in
Ringsend but one of the most popular was known as Fitzharris’s for over a
century. A popular place for the local dockers. Number 4 Bridge Street, now
home to Domino Pizza’s, was also one of the earliest pubs in the village.
One publican who bettered
himself after his time trading at 4 Bridge Street was Richard Hill. In October
1781 he announced through adverts in the newspapers he was opening a new tavern
at No.2 Crow Street off Dame Street. He had been running a tavern in Ringsend
known as Clements for a number of years. By June 1782 he was off loading his
premises in Ringsend and it was put up for lease. It was described as having
‘stables, a good kitchen, garden and a large assembly room, all in good order.’
Hill had taken over from James Clements who had traded there since 1777. Both
men were ship builders along the River Dodder and the River Liffey, which was
common that they also owned a local tavern where their workers not only
received their wages but then encouraged to spend them. Clements went bankrupt
and Hill took over the running of the tavern with little or no experience as an
innkeeper.
It was known as
Harrison’s Tavern in 1782. The Dublin Chronicle newspaper reported on September
23rd 1788 that being exhibited at the tavern was ‘a radish of surprising
magnitude, it measures in length one yard and a quarter and in circumference
eleven inches and a quarter.’
By the early 1800’s the
Ringsend Tavern, as it was now known, was a popular eatery. Originally run by
John Howard in 1805 the running of the pub was in the hands of Mr. and Mrs.
Madden. The pub was located approximately where Clarke’s public house is today.
An advertisement in the Saunders Newsletter stated,
‘Howard’s
is fitted in an elegant manner where clubs, parties etc can be accommodated in
the shortest notice with best dinners in season and with Wines, Malt Liquors
and spirits of superior quality.’
It also importantly added
for the time,
‘Excellent
accommodation for horses and carriages’
Howard had been a partner
of Thomas Bray in the prosperous Ringsend Salt Works until a legal dispute
erupted between Howard and Bray’s brother Michael[1].
In 1830, the pub was
being run by John Eustace and his pub found its name in the newspaper for all
the wrong reasons. John Higgins and George Eastwood were local fishermen who entered
Eustace’s pub to have a drink. Eustace was also a fellow fisherman. The Dublin Observer
then reported what happened next.
‘The
deceased and Eastwood, the prisoner in custody for the murder, were fishermen
living Ringsend, and had an altercation in the early part Saturday last,
relative to some expressions which the latter (Eastwood) made use of towards a
female member of the deceased’s family, which, however, were not much minded
the latter, who offered shortly afterwards to shake hands with the prisoner,
and have nothing more about the matter; but this was refused by Eastwood, who
said on more occasions than one, ' I’ll have your life's blood, and make you
drink before the day ends.” In the evening both parties met together in a
public house belonging to a man named Eustace, of Ringsend, when, after sitting
there a short time, and some conversation having arisen, during which reference
was made to the original dispute, and the deceased again proffered the hand of
friendship. Eastwood suddenly rose from his seat, and pulling out sharp pointed
instrument, something like a dagger, plunged it into the body of his
unfortunate companion between the fifth and sixth rib, and penetrated into the
cavity of heart. The deceased bad only time to say (putting his hand upon the
wound), He has done for me,” when he fell forward and immediately expired. His
friends then brought the body to Jervis Street hospital.’
The Freeman Journal
reported the testimony of the publican John Eustace,
'The
prisoner (Eastwood) came in and commenced using irritating language to the
deceased. Higgins desired him to go away, that he wished to have nothing to do
with him. The prisoner still (continued to annoy him, when deceased gave him a
shove. The prisoner then said, "1 will have satisfaction of you for that
before I sleep.", This was about five o'clock. In a subsequent part of the
evening, about an hour afterwards, deceased invited the prisoner to make it up,
and asked him to take a drink of porter. His reply was, ‘No, I won't but I'll
give you some of your own blood to drink before you go to bed.’ About seven
o'clock witness joined the deceased (Higgins) in Eustace's public-house.
Eastwood (the prisoner) was in the same room, but in a distant seat. He came
over to where deceased and witness were sitting, and said to deceased, "
You bloody villain, I'll have your life." Some words ensued, and deceased
took the prisoner up by the collar and the leg and carried him over to the
fire-place, where he laid him down, deceased observed, when he did so, "
you see it is not worth my while to strike a boy like you;" deceased had his
back turned to prisoner, coming back to his seat, when the later struck him in
the chest deceased then observed, "Johnny, damn me but he has done for me,
he has whipped it through me ;" deceased then fell without uttering
another word; in the conversation that took place previous to deceased's
lifting the prisoner over to the fire, the latter made some insulting allusions
to the sisters of the former; the prisoner was tipsy at the time, he was more
tipsy at the latter end of the dispute, when he struck the blow, than he was at
the commencement, deceased was also a little " hearty;" he appeared
to be some- what irritated when he lifted the prisoner off the ground.
Eustace’s son Joseph
Junior then bought a pub on Thorncastle Street before his father sold the pub
on Bridge Street.
In 1862 the pub was sold
once again by the now owner Captain Sloan who announced that he was leaving to
concentrate on other business interests. The pub was purchased by William
Heapes who then left the pub to his son Joseph. His daughter Elizabeth married local
shipwright James Barry. Upon the death of his father in law, Barry took over
the running of the pub. The pub was now being run by Barry and now the
Fitzharris name enters the story. Laurence Fitzharris, originally from County Carlow,
was employed as a barman in the pub next door at Number Eight, rising to the
role of manager. When the pub at Number Four was sold by the family of the late
William Heapes in June 1895, Fitzharris purchased the pub and put his name
above the door.
In 1914, the police were
attacked on Bridge Street in the aftermath of ill feelings after the 1913 Lock
Out. The police reported that they were showered with glasses and bottles
thrown from the upper floors of Fitzharris’s by customers without the knowledge
of the owner. Laurence Fitzharris passed away in December 1920 leaving the
family to run the pub. He missed out seeing his daughter Eleanor (also known as
Lillie) marry Sir John Esmonde in 1922. Esmonde served both as an MP in the
British Parliament and as a TD for Fine Gael in the Dail.
The Fitzharris Family as published by Martin Gueret
1948 was a traumatic year
for the Fitzharris family. Mary (nee Moran from Wicklow), Laurence’s widow,
passed away on January 7th 1948 and on May 22nd her youngest son Maurice also
died. A relative, Maurice Gueret writing in Sunday Independent recalled his
Uncle Maurice,
‘He
was known in the locality as ‘The Hump' Fitzharris, for he was born
with a hunched back, or acquired it when dropped as a baby. (There are two
medical opinions on his story). Maurice was the baby of the family
and, all his life, was very attached to his mother. In fact, he died just
months after she did. ‘The Hump' was a cruel sobriquet, you might think, but
Dockland could be an unforgiving place, and not a place for the sensitive soul.’
Following his passing,
his sister Kathleen Butterly applied for the transfer of the licence. In 1966
the licence was transferred to another sister Margaret who had married Phillip
Meers on August 3rd 1926. Laurence and Mary’s sons Laurence Junior died in New
York in December 1954 and John died in April 1967. According to Maurice Gueret was
sold by Ethel Fitzharris who had married Jack Fitzharris
In the new century
Fitzharris’s closed as public house and for a number of years operated as an
off licence before becoming a branch of Domino’s Pizza.
In the next episode of this series we will look at the wonderful and colourful history of another departed pub of Ringsend once known as The London Tavern but for over a century known more popularly as The Old England Tavern.
Welcome to part two of our look at some of the Pubs of Ringsend. In 2022 a Walking Tour will commence bringing you the colourful history of the many pubs and tales of Ringsend or Raytown as the locals know it. There were some early
public houses in Ringsend even in the days when Oliver Crowell landed there in
August 1649 with twelve thousand troops. Despite his proclamation against
drink, pub life continued. Having been seasick on the journey across the Irish
Sea, Cromwell and some of his Lieutenants went into the first tavern they met
in Ringsend, plied themselves with drink and then closed all the taverns in the
village.
It was said that at one
stage by the mid eighteenth century every third house in Ringsend was an
alehouse. One of the earliest infamous pubs was The Kings Head Tavern on
Thorncastle Street. In 1683 the tavern was run by a man called Brennan and
found itself under surveillance from the Crown Forces when three cousins of his
stayed in the Tavern. The Brennan’s Patrick and James from Kilkenny had been on
the run after a series of highway robberies and were the number one target of
the Chief Justice John Keating. They had been arrested for murder and robbery,
tried, found guilty and sentenced to hang but as they reached the scaffold they
were rescued by compatriots and went on the run. Having stayed a number of
nights enjoying the hospitality of the Tavern, they became aware that they were
being targeted by spies and the brothers, along with a young cousin Daniel,
slipped quietly out to a ship in the Basin and escaped to Britain. They arrived
in Chester but unluckily for them, one of their victims recognised the robbers
and they were arrested. They bribed their warders and escaped once more and
made their way back to Ireland where they stayed at liberty in their native
Kilkenny.
In 1698, British writer
John Dunston travelled throughout Ireland and as his tour ended, he wrote that,
‘I
had very agreeable company in Ringsend and was nobly treated at the King’s
Head.’
By the mid eighteenth
century another public house was enjoying success. Known as The Sign of the
Good Woman it was operated by a Mrs L’Swaire. It made its name with food and
drink and was a popular for its Poolbeg Oysters. The Oysters were fished for
and supplied at the time by Messers Bunit and Simpson, whose name would later
adorn a pub for many years in the twentieth century on Bridge Street in
Ringsend.
The name of a Ringsend
tavern known as the Good Woman would also appear in James Joyce’s work
Finnegan’s Wake[1].
In it he wrote
‘and
the foretaste of the Dun Bank pearl mothers and the boy to wash down which he
would feed to himself in the Ruadh[2] Cow at Tallaght and then
into the Good Woman at Ringsend and after her in at Conway’s Inn at Blackrock.’
In 1765 another popular
Ringsend tavern was The Sign of the Highlander[3] which was run by Mrs
Sherlock. The pub had a billiards table which you could play for two pence and was
overseen by Mrs. Sherlock who acted as the marker for the games, the holder of
any bets and as an adjudicator for any disputes that may arise. Her brother had
emigrated to London where he was known as a great swordsman
‘who
many years before had been victor in every broad-sword contest of consequence,
at a time when the skilful management of that weapon was considered of
importance in London’[4]
One publican who bettered
himself after his time trading in Ringsend was Richard Hill. In October 1781 he
announced through adverts in the newspapers he was opening a new tavern at No.2
Crow Street off Dame Street. He had been running a tavern in Ringsend known as
Clements for a number of years. By June 1782 he was off loading his premises in
Ringsend and it was put up for lease. It was described as having ‘stables, a
good kitchen, garden and a large assembly room, all in good order.’ Hill had
taken over from James Clements who had traded since 1777. Both men were ship
builders along the River Dodder and the River Liffey which was common that they
also owned a local tavern where their workers not only received their wages but
then encouraged to spend them. Clements went bankrupt and Hill took over the
running of the tavern with little or no experience as an innkeeper.
The nearest pub to the
bridge crossing the River Dodder in 1788 was Harrison’s Tavern and the Dublin
Chronicle reported on September 23rd 1788 that being exhibited at
the tavern was ‘a radish of surprising magnitude, it measures in length one yard
and a quarter and in circumference eleven inches and a quarter.’
By the early 1800’s the
Ringsend Tavern on Bridge Street was a popular eatery. Originally run by John
Howard in 1805 the running of the pub was in the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Madden. The
pub was located approximately where Clarke’s public house is today. An advertisement
in the Saunders Newsletter stated,
‘Howard’s
is fitted in an elegant manner where clubs, parties etc can be accommodated in
the shortest notice with best dinners in season and with Wines, Malt Liquors and
spirits of superior quality.’
It also importantly added
for the time,
‘Excellent
accommodation for horses and carriages’
Howard had been a partner
of Thomas Bray in the prosperous Ringsend Salt Works until a legal dispute erupted
between Howard and Bray’s brother Michael[5].
In the next episode we
will be looking at the pubs popularly remembered at Fitzharris’s which was located
near the bridge in a building now occupied by a pizza firm.
Check our social media platforms for dates and booking details for the forthcoming Walking Tour.
Coming in 2022, following
the successful ‘The History of Sandymount’s Pub Walking Tour’ and ‘The Pubs of
Rathmines Tour’, we will be bringing you ‘The Pubs of Ringsend Heritage Walking
Tour’. To whet your appetite for some of the stories and tales you will hear,
we will bring you over the coming weeks some of the histories of the pubs no
longer open. Today we will be starting with North’s public house, in coming
weeks we’ll bring you the histories of The Sign of the Highlanders, The Old
England Tavern and the Hobbler’s End.
Now just a memory, but
for many of an older generation in Ringsend and Irishtown, Peter North’s pub on
Bridge Street in Ringsend brings back happy memories. Alas long gone but if you
walk through the lounge door of John Clarke’s public house today you will have
walked the route of many of North’s customers.
Peter North was a popular
publican who received extensive coverage in Irish newspapers in October 1967.
Peter was celebrating his hundred birthday and was described in the Irish Press
as ‘probably the oldest publican in the country’. While still living above the
pub, he had retired from serving pints to the locals just three years earlier
as his health began to fail.
He had been born on Upper
Baggot Street and served his first pint, aged sixteen, in the pub that had been
opened by his father Morgan North in Ringsend. A lively sportsman, Peter, along
with his brothers Francis and Bartle, played for the Isles of the Sea GAA
hurling club and they won the Dublin County Championship in 1890. Peter later
recalled,
‘it
was some sight with 42[1] players on the field.
There used to be some awful scrimmages.’
Source: The Irish Newspaper Archives
His brother Bartle was
the first superintendent of the electricity generating station at the Pigeon
House when it opened in 1904[2]. His son Bartle junior
became a popular bookie in Ringsend with a shop on Fitzwilliam Street. Morgan
North’s public house was located on the corner of Fitzwilliam Street and Thomas
Street as it was known then, now known as Irishtown Road. The newspapers
reported that in 1910 Peter North of 16 Fitzwilliam Street was fined by the
courts for allowing children on his premises despite the fact that their mother
was with them.
Morgan North pictured at the door of his pub on Fitzwilliam Street pictured in 1910
Source : Brian Siggins through his son Gerard
Today that former North
public house is home to the National Council of the Blind shop. Morgan’s only
daughter Mary Catherine married Valentine Nelson, the son of another Ringsend publican
Joseph Nelson. The Nelson’s also ran a butcher shop on Bridge Street. In the
early twentieth century, following a Pembroke Estate decision to renovate many
of the properties on the part of Fitzwilliam Street that connected with
Cambridge Avenue, by 1916 the North’s had moved their public house to a
building next door to the Nelson’s on Bridge Street. Peter often fell foul of
the licensing laws and was raided and fined on a number of occasion for serving
outside permitted hours including on Good Friday 1940 after which he was fined
£2 and had his license endorsed. The following June he was raided again for
serving afterhours with thirteen customers on his premises. He was fined twenty
shillings and was lucky not to lose his license.
Source: Google Maps
Source : National Archives of Ireland
The pub on the
Fitzwilliam Street had seen previous owners Michael Holden in the 1830’s and
Edward Smith in the 1850’s before the North’s arrival. Following Morgan North’s
premature death at the age of just forty five, his pub’s license was operated
by Anne Lowe who seemingly employed the young Peter North as a barman until he
became of age to run the pub himself.
Source: Brian Siggins
Having celebrated his
centenary in October 1967, just three months later in December the popular
local Ringsend publican passed away peacefully and enjoyed one of the biggest
funerals seen in the south Dublin suburb. When both Nelson’s[3] pub and North’s pub were
sold they were joined into one pub with a bar and lounge owned by the popular
Dublin publican family, the Dwyer’s. Today
the pub is occupied by John Clarke and family who had traded for many decades
successful just up the road in Irishtown.
Peter North's pub receiving a delivery of beer.
[1] 21
per side was replaced by the current 15 a side
The Leeds Mercury that was published in the Yorkshire City from 1718 up to its merger with the Yorkshire Post in November 1939.
In 1916 it ran numerous stories on the 1916 Rising which included photographs from various news agencies. Their stories were a combination of official announcements, eye witness accounts including those of a Leeds businessman who was in the city when the rebellion broke out and a series of unverified rumours which seemed to emanate from sailors who had crossed the Irish Sea.
A closer look at the pass given to a Leeds businessman to get out of Dublin signed by James Connolly that was printed in the Leeds Mercury
His memorial can be found in St. Patricks Cathedral and after being buried undiscovered in the grounds of Dublin Castle for decades after the Rising, he was reinterred at the insistence of DeValera in the British military plot at Grangegorman
One of the little known
stories of the 1916 Easter Rising was the sad death of Ringsend publican Robert
Woodcock. Robert and his brother Samuel were born in Mothel, Co. Kilkenny just
north of Kilkenny city. After serving his apprenticeship in a public house in
Dun Laoghaire, Robert purchased his first pub on Tyrconnell Road, Inchicore in
1909 on the banks of the Grand Canal known as Murrays, where the Black Horse
pub traded for many years. His brother Samuel also bought his own pub on the
corner of Thomas Street and Meath Street, now Baker’s Corner.
Meanwhile Carlow born
Peter Clowry, who owned the pub at 16 Thorncastle Street, now known as Sally
O’Brien’s (or the Shipwright), died in January 1916. The Woodcock’s, as well
known publicans in the Dublin, attended the funeral but also spotted an
opportunity. In February, thirty three year old Robert purchased Clowry’s from
his estate for £3,200 and immediately began trading. Robert was an active
member, like many of his fellow publicans in the South Dublin Union.
Two months after his
arrival in Ringsend, he decided to use the Easter bank holiday weekend to
travel home to Kilkenny to see his elderly farmer father, a widower. He
travelled down in his motorcar on Saturday and decided to return on Monday but
in his absence from Dublin, rebels from the Irish Volunteers, Cumman na mBan
and the Irish Citizens Army took to the streets of the capital and seized
control of a number of buildings. One of the battle sites seized mainly by
members of the Citizens Army was St. Stephens Green. As word of trouble spread
around the country, Robert decided to drive back to Dublin to look after his
businesses. He arrived first at Tyrconnell Road and decided to drive across to
Ringsend but he met a DMP policeman who asked him to give him a lift to
Phibsboro.
They drove down Harcourt
Street onto St. Stephens Green where they were met by rebels on the road who
held them up at gunpoint. The two men were taken prisoner and removed into the
green itself where they were greeted by Countess Markiewicz and Michael Mallin.
Woodcocks’ car was made into a barricade at the top of York Street. Robert
Woodcock was tied to a tree in the park while the policeman joined other
prisoners being held in the gate house in the park. At one stage after a number
of hours of being tied up, one of his captors decided to release Woodcock but
another rebel recognised Woodcock and harboured ill feeling towards him as he
appeared to side with the employers during the 1913 Lockout and was suspected
as being anti Larkin. He remained a prisoner in the park throughout the night
but by Tuesday as the British troops on the roof of the Shelbourne Hotel began
to attack the rebel forces. The rebels, who had dug trenches in the park, had
no answer or cover from the machine fire that was now focused on them.
The commander’s decision
was to retreat from the park itself and take the College of Surgeons as their
headquarters. Woodcock was taken across to the building but his exposure
throughout the previous night had an immediate detrimental effect on his
health.Woodcock was seriously ill. He
was taken by ambulance to nearby St Vincent’s hospital on St. Stephen’s Green, where
he died twenty minutes after being admitted on April 28th of double
pneumonia ‘brought on by exposure’, becoming a fatality of the Rising.
On May 16th the
Evening Herald reported that on that day,
‘At
the City Sessions, before the Recorder Mr. T.R. Holmes solicitor applied on
behalf of Mr. Samuel Woodcock of 45 and 46 Thomas Street that he should be at
liberty to carry on the licensed trading in the premises 16 Thorncastle Street,
Ringsend until the Quarter Sessions. The licensee, Mr. Robert Woodcock,
applicant’s brother, had been kept prisoner by the insurgents in St. Stephens
Green during the recent insurrection and died subsequently from pneumonia brought on by exposure. The recorder granted the application.’
The Freeman Journal[1] reported in June that
Samuel had been granted permission by the Dean’s Grange Burial Board to
disinter his brother’s body and have it removed to Kilkenny. The Journal did
report however that Robert had been accidentally shot during the rebellion. According
to the Irishmedals.ie website,
‘While the area Woodcock was buried in was being cleared 2014, a
headstone with the name Robert Woodcock, it is likely the disinterment did not
take place because Robert Woodcock buried with others without coffins and the
bodies were decomposed to such a degree the disinterment did not take place.
The new headstone was erected in 2016.’
In July, Robert’s brother
Samuel applied to the courts to transfer the license into his name which was
approved. The pub was sold two years later. The sadness of his passing was compounded
that when the at time controversial memorial wall to the victims of the 1916
Easter Rising was unveiled at Glasnevin Cemetery, the memory of Robert Woodcock
was somewhat obliterated when the engravers decided his name was ‘Richard
Woodcock’. Surely this should be corrected immediately to honour both his
memory and show respect to his family.
'IRISH DESTINY' Courtesy of the Irish Film Institute
With renovation work
beginning at The Motion Picture Conservation Centre at Wright-Patterson US Air
Force base in 1991, a nitrate copy of a film, believed lost, was discovered on
a shelf in the facility. Operated by the US Library of Congress near Dayton,
Ohio, the centre consisted of two divisions, the Film Vaults and the Motion
Picture Preservation Laboratory. The Film Vaults facility provided a safe
storage for the highly flammable nitrate film, which was the main method of
making motion pictures from its beginnings in the early twentieth century, by
maintaining the environment at a regulated temperature of 52 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit
and a relative humidity of between 35 and 40 percent. What had been discovered
was a copy of the first ever domestically produced feature film in the then new
Irish Free State in 1926. An Irish American, Patrick Sheehan, who worked in the
Library of Congress in Washington DC, made a remarkable discovery, a copy of
the film, lodged there for copyright purposes and had lain untouched and
unnoticed for decades. The 35mm film was in a perilously fragile state and the
US authorities initiated preservation at a specialist laboratory in California.
For many movie goers, the
1993 movie ‘Cool Runnings’ starring the late John Candy and Leon Robinson
introduced the unusual premis of a bobsleigh team from a nation that rarely
saw snow and ice, competing in the 1988 Winter Olympics. In St Moritz,
Switzerland, in January 1927, an Irish bobsleigh team was beating seasoned
winter Olympic nations in bobsleigh races and setting track records in the
process. The team was led by Paddy Dunne Cullinan who was an accomplished
sportsman and well known in horse racing circles as the owner of the Carrollstown
Stud near Trim in County Meath. He had taken over the running of the stables
from his father in 1923. St. Moritz had been developed by British entrepreneurs
after the First World War and its famous Cresta Run attracted thousands to
watch the incredible speeds achieved by the ‘boblets’ as they flew down the
hill. In the early twenties it became popular with horse racing jockeys from
both Britain and Ireland. Cullinan began visiting the resort from the early
twenties and would at one stage he would hold the world record for the fastest
decent on the Cresta track.
On Saturday August 25th
1925 at the Arcadia Ballroom near the Bray seafront, the Irish Cinema and
Theatrical Garden Party was held. It advertised that ‘stage and screen stars
will be in attendance. Outdoor cabaret
shows have been arranged’ and that there would be ‘non-stop dancing’ from 8pm
to midnight with the music provided by the Harrison’s and Adelaide Melody
bands. In newspaper advertising at the time one of the main attractions of the
Garden party was a ‘Ladies Face Competition’ with the prize announced as an
‘engagement in the new Irish film, ‘Irish Destiny’ for the winners’. It was a
gamble for the novice film producer but the publicity of both the competition
and the subsequent reporting, including photographs of the winner elevated the
film from an amateur production to an attempt to create a fledgling Irish film
industry on the back of the expected success of the Irish Free State’s first
venture into domestic movie production.
The Bray competition was
won by sixteen-year-old Evelyn Henchie, the daughter of a Commercial traveller
who lived on Palmerstown Road in Rathmines. The competition runner ups, Eileen
Grennan from Bray and Miss Hogan from Dublin were offered smaller parts in the
forthcoming production. ‘Irish Destiny’ was the brainchild of a Dublin Pharmacist
and leading member of the Dublin Jewish community Dr. Issac Eppel. Eppel had
begun to act as an amateur impresario by booking acts for the Rathmines Town
Hall variety shows. He used the funds generated from that enterprise to
purchase the Palace Cinema on Pearse Street.[1]
The cinema was often used as a meeting centre for the Irish volunteers in the
run up to the 1916 Easter Rising and as a meeting place for dissident and
underground groups.
Eppel decided to not just
show movies at his cinema but to make the first feature film to be entirely
made in the new Irish Free State. In September 1925, Eppel’s Films Limited was registered
in Dublin by Eppel with a capital of £5,000.[2] Eppel acting as both
producer and script writer, gathered a crew and employed both professional and amateur
silent actors to perform in his movie. He employed a veteran of the British
silent screen, Preston born George Dewhurst to direct the film. However,
whether there was a disagreement between Eppel and Dewhurst or that Dewhurst
did not want his name associated with the picture, the opening credits state
that the film was ‘written and directed by I. Eppel’
The script was written by
Eppel and shown on screen through 120 text frames. Some of the other crew
included Joe Rosenthal who was in charge of cinematography and Jack Plant who
created the special effects. In September 1925, filming began with outdoor
scenes filmed in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, which became the fictional town of
Clonmore. When O’Hara arrives back in Clonmore by train, the railway station at
Rathdrum doubles as Clonmore. Scenes are filmed around Glendalough and at the
Powerscourt waterfall. The chase scenes were filmed near the Sugar Loaf
mountain while the set piece of the film, the battle scene was filmed on the
open spaces of the Wicklow hills. The cast and crew then travelled to film
studios in London to film the interior scenes. Eppel then edited the movie in
London against the deadline of having it ready to screen on the tenth
anniversary of the Easter Rising.
According to the Movie
website IMDB, the film’s plot was,
‘When
the notorious "Black and Tans" arrive at his village of Clonmore, IRA
man Denis O'Hara discovers a plan to raid a secret IRA meeting, and he races to
Dublin to warn his colleagues. He reaches the city but is shot and captured by
British soldiers. Denis is imprisoned in Kildare but manages to escape along
with his fellow prisoners. Believing him to be dead, his mother goes blind from
the shock, and his girlfriend Moira is abducted by fellow villager Beecher, who
is in league with the Tans. Denis arrives back in Clonmore just in time to
rescue Moira. With the burning of the Customs House in Dublin, the War of Independence
is soon over and a truce is reached with the British.’
To give the film a sense
of authenticity, Eppel added newsreel footage filmed in Dublin during the War
of Independence including the destruction of the Custom House in Dublin and the
burning of Cork. This was cut with recreations filmed around the city making it
at times difficult for the viewer to differentiate between fact and fiction.
When Eppel was finished editing and his silent movie was ready, it consisted of
eight reels and was seventy-three minutes long. According to the Trinity
College database,
‘There
are graphic depictions of "occupying" British soldiers being attacked
and shot dead, a spectacular mass jailbreak by republican internees and scenes
of jubilant villagers celebrating the success of the "armed
struggle". The film also features a parish priest openly condoning the
violence and assuring grief-stricken parents that their son's valour is
"God's will" and will bring "peace and happiness to Ireland".
A racy sub-plot involves O'Hara's sweetheart, primary school teacher Moira
Barry, being abducted and threatened with rape by a sinister gang of poteen
distillers led by an "informer" and his malevolent dwarf sidekick.’
A more detailed
description of the film taken from Irish Destiny shows that it was set during
the War of Independence and up to the Anglo-Irish Truce of 1920- 21. At the
heart of the film is the love affair of Denis O'Hara and his fiancée, schoolteacher
Moira Barry. The film scenes are interwoven with incidents from the war shown
through newsreel material including the burning of Cork City[3] and of the Customs House[4], and the mass escape from
the Curragh Camp[5].
In the peaceful village of Clonmore, Black and Tans arrive to terrorise the
people. O’Hara’s mother is badly affected by these disturbances. Her eyesight
begins to fail from the shock and in reaction to the unfolding events in the
country, her son decides to join the IRA and is handed a weapon. Following an
ambush of a troop convoy by the IRA, an important communique is found on one of
the officers. This is the major battle scene and with a sense of reality it
portrayed casualties on both sides. The battle is depicted as a David v Goliath
attack. The intertitle[6] states,
‘at
dawn, a small number of volunteers with only a few rifles and shotguns, prepare
to attack lorries of powerfully equipped and numerically superior forces of
military and Black & Tans.’
The films showed the IRA
is numbered at thirteen and they take on three tenders of British forces with
approximately fifteen men on each, a total of forty five men. As the battle
progresses, the British casualty numbers increase and eventually the survivors
climb onto one tender abandoning the other two. This indicates thirty
casualties on the British side. In this attack and a subsequent raid on an
abandoned house the IRA Volunteers were using there were two IRA casualties. To
lend sympathy to the Irish cause in the film, the Black and Tans abandoned the
dying and wounded as they fled, while the IRA are seen picking up both of their
casualties and removing them from the battlefield.
O’Hara is asked by
Captain Kelly, the commandant of the Clonmore Battalion, IRA to take the
information to the IRA's Dublin headquarters. He gets a horse from the jarvey’s
stable but before setting off he sees Moira and tells her why he needs to go to
Dublin. After he leaves, Moira's horse is startled by a shot, and O’Hara
gallops to catch the trap. Also on the scene is Beecher, leader of a gang of
poteen-makers based at the Haunted Mill. Beecher offers to look after Moira,
but when she recovers, he tries to molest her. He becomes suspicious of Denis'
activities. Arriving at the 'Meeting of the Waters', Denis rests his horse, but
he is spotted by a British army sentry on the bridge who opens fire and this
alerts a British army motorcyclist. During the chase, Denis shoots the soldier
on the roadway and steals his motorbike, which he uses to get to Dublin. The
film footage includes a camera mounted on a van filming the following
motorcycle through the Dublin streets. As he is driving down O'Connell St,
Denis believes he is being followed. At the IRA headquarters, Vaughan's Hotel, Parnell
Square, Denis delivers the message to an intelligence officer.
However, the Black and
Tans arrive outside on the Square, having been tipped off by Beecher, and Denis
is shot and captured. His parents and others, including Captain Kelly, believe
he is dead, but he is being cared for in a hospital. A sympathetic nurse
smuggles out a message[7], and when he recovers, he
is imprisoned at the Curragh Detention Camp. There, in September 1921, Denis,
along with 200 other prisoners, escape from custody. Despite a search,
including by aircraft shown through a newsreel footage the aircraft flying in
formation, Denis remains free. He is given help by an old woman, and eventually
finds his way to Shanahan’s, where he finds Kitty, the jarvey's daughter. He
enquires about Moira, who has gone by car with Beecher who falsely tells her
that there is a wounded IRA Volunteer on the road needing attention. When he reaches
the Mill, Beecher stops the car and violently drags the protesting Moira into
the Mill. Meanwhile, Denis and Kitty get on a horse and give chase. In the
Mill, Moira is tied to a pillar and is drunkenly assaulted by Beecher and the
dwarf poteen-maker, as Beecher accuses her of providing information about the
Tans to the IRA. A dispute breaks out between Beecher and the dwarf which leads
to Beecher shooting the dwarf dead. As a result of the shooting the Mill is accidentally
set alight. Denis and Kitty arrive at the Mill and Denis becomes locked in
struggle with Beecher, whom he subdues. He frees Moira as the flames engulf the
Mill and Denis and Moira join Kitty in safety outside, as the Mill burns. Peace
descends on Clonmore with the Anglo-Irish Truce. People dance on the roadway,
while in Dublin crowds celebrate the coming of peace. Though blind by now as a
result of the nervousness induced by the trauma of her son’s actions, Mrs
O'Hara is happy to have her son home, where he arrives with Moira, as his
father and the local priest give their support
There was little surprise
that the film was banned by the British censorship board but Eppel believed
that much needed revenue to recoup his investment would be generated by the
Irish audiences’ response being publicised in the United States. The novelty of
the first Irish film was expected to play well with the Irish diaspora across
the United States. On March 24th 1926 the film was premiered to cinema owners
and managers at the Metropole Cinema on Dublin’s O’Connell Street, nest door to
the iconic GPO. Also in attendance was much of the cast including the extras,
many of whom were IRA men who had seen action during previous decade. Once
seen, the cinema managers or owners would then bid on which cinema would get
the public premiere and the all-important first run. After the screening the
owners of the Corinthian Cinema on Aston Quay signed what was described as ‘the
highest price paid for a film in Ireland’. On April 3rd 1926, the film opened
in the Corinthian.
This was the opening credits
of the film, listing the characters and the actors.
The new Irish State was
emerging from a war of independence with Britain and struggled through a
violent and vicious civil war and any movie that would have been seen as
perhaps re-opening some of those wounds was always going to be controversial.
There was a genuine fear of the threats of violence against those involved with
the film. As a result, many of those who appeared in the film did so by using pseudonyms
but appeared with the real names in Irish newspaper advertisements. The actual
cast were,
Paddy Dunne Cullinan as
Denis O'Hara. This was Cullinan’s only film credit. He was employed for the
role primarily for his horsemanship. He had been a popular sportsman in Ireland
especially in the equine business. He was a well-known point to point trainer
and jockey and a number of his horses would go onto win some of the racing
world’s biggest races including the Irish Grand National. He was a leading polo
player in Dublin’s Phoenix Park and while on holidays in Europe discovered
winter sports including skiing and bobsledding.
Frances McNamara as Moira
Barry, a schoolteacher and Denis' fiancée. This was Ms. McNamara’s only screen
credit.
Daisy Campbell as Mrs.
O'Hara, Denis' mother. Ms. Campbell was an English actress, popular on the
London Theatre scene, who had been in a number of silent pictures prior to her
role in Irish Destiny. She was well known for portraying aristocratic white-haired
matrons and Lady’s. Her final film role would be as Mrs McPhillips in the film
‘The Informer’ based on Liam O’Flaherty’s work about an IRA informer. But she
was not the first choice to play the role.
Originally cast as Mrs.
O’Hara was Sarah Allgood, who had been the first Irish voice to be heard on
radio in the British Isles appearing on the forerunner of BBC Radio, 2LO. On
the day before Eppel showed his film to the assembled cinema owners in Dublin, he
appeared in the Dublin District Court before Justice Piggott. He was being sued
by Allgood under her married name Sarah Benson for a breach of contract as
Eppel had agreed to employ her for two periods of six days each, six in Ireland
and six in the London studios at a rate of four guineas per day. But when she
arrived in Greystones in September to begin filming, Eppel told her that she
looked too young to play the part of the mother. She told Eppel that she had
played motherly roles in the past and said ‘if you give me the part, I will
give you the emotions you want’ but Eppel said no and Allgood retuned to
London. She won her case and was awarded £29 8s.
But Allgood wasn’t the
only one to take Eppel to court. A year after her case was heard, another case
was taken against Eppel. John Byrne, a horse and jarvey owner of Queensboro
Road, Bray took a case against Eppel for the non-payment of £30 for the hire of
his horse and cart. He claimed that he had to be on call for a full month but
would only be used when weather was permitting and this was only fourteen days.
He sought payment for the other days. He said in court that his pony and trap
was used in the ‘runaway scene’ and that he would have to travel to the Sugar
Loaf, Greystones or Shankill depending on the filming schedule. He was awarded
£14 by Justice Davitt at the Dublin Circuit Court.
Clifford Pembroke as Mr.
O'Hara, Denis' father. He was born Thomas Jones Williams in Pembrokeshire,
Wales in 1867 and appeared in over a dozen British silent films. He died in
London aged sixty-five, his last film was The Woman from China in 1930, written
by George Dewhurst who directed Irish Destiny.
Brian Magowan as Gilbert
Beecher, a gang leader of the poteen-makers. McGowan appeared in a number of
the early Irish located silent films with Fred O’Donovan including Knocknagow
and Willie Reilly and his Colleen Bawn.
Cathal McGarvey as
Shanahan, a jarvey. McGarvey was a well-known and popular veteran Dublin
entertainer known for his performances on stage at the Queens Theatre. In 1924,
he had been the beneficiary of a celebration night at the Queens and appearing
with him on stage was the aforementioned Sarah Allgood and the newspapers reported
that a highlight of the show was his music and comedy duets with Jimmy O’Dea.
He also recorded for the Gaelic League with future Irish president Douglas
Hyde. His fame from the film would be short lived as he passed away in November
1927.
Evelyn Henchie as Kitty,
Shanahan's daughter. Evelyn, having won the competition in Bray, was 16 years
old when the film was made, only appears in outdoor scenes, because these were
filmed in Ireland. She was not allowed to travel to London where the interiors
were shot in a studio.[8]
Later Evelyn would marry Sir Raymond Grace and become known as Lady Evelyn Grace,
living in Dublin splendour on Sussex Road, off Leeson Street in Dublin. She
would become well known as a dog breeder and exhibitor of pedigree bull
terriers.
In 1927, when the movie
opened in New York, the Evening Independent reported on April 20th that,
‘Peggy
O’Rorke, the young Irish woman who plays the leading part in ‘Irish Destiny’,
the all-Irish film play will arrive in New York in June and it is considered
likely she will appear in pictures in this country. She will also make personal
appearances with the film, as it is shown in theatres throughout the country. ‘
While Eppel was in the United
States promoting his movie, his Palace Cinema on Pearse Street[9] was badly damaged by fire.
In a telegram from New York, he immediately informed his sister Olga Weiner,
who had been running the cinema in his absence, that he intended to rebuild and
refurbish the cinema and reopen it under its original name ‘The Ancient Concert
Rooms’.
A letter appeared in The
Irish Times on October 1st 1984 from Evelyn reminisced about the making of
Irish Destiny and wondered, "Does anyone else remember?" The letter
stirred some memories, but all copies of the film were believed to be lost. And
that was almost the end of the matter until, a few years later, by truly
serendipitous coincidence, two original colour posters advertising the film
were found under linoleum during a house renovation in Ringsend, Dublin.
The Irish Film Archive
triggered a painstaking worldwide search of film archives on the remote chance
that a copy might have survived somewhere. Then Patrick Sheehan, who worked in
the Library of Congress, made his remarkable discovery, a copy of the film,
lodged there for copyright purposes.
Kit O'Malley as Captain
Kelly, commandant, Clonmore Battalion, IRA. O’Malley acted also as a
consultant on the movie as well as acting in it. 'Kit' O'Malley had been
Adjutant in the Dublin Brigade of the IRA during the War of Independence and he
also assisted in directing the battle scenes in the film.
Val Vousden as the Catholic
Priest. Carlow born Bill McNevin had a long career on stage, radio and in
films. In 1914 while travelling in a repertory company in England he joined the
British army during World War One and saw action of the green fields of France.[10]
Tom Flood as Intelligence
Officer, IRA headquarters. He was involved on the attack on the Custom House. Tom
Flood was arrested at the Custom House while is
brother Eddie who was also on the raid, escaped. It is
said Tom was jailed in Mountjoy and sentenced to death. Only to be reprieved
first by appendicitis and then the Truce.
Tom Flood, with the red star above his head, pictured several times
after his arrest outside the Custom House
Two of Eppel’s sons also appeared
in the film as extras. Derek Eppel as Schoolboy, while Simon Eppel portrayed a
man with cigar at Vaughan's Hotel.
The film, despite its pre
publicity did not wow the critics. The Irish Independent reported on that day
after it had been shown to Cinema owners and newspaper reporters that,
‘What is known an s a trade
show; of the film ‘Irish Destiny’ was given ay the Metropole today. The house
was crowded and included many of the men who formed the backbone of the old
pre-truce Volunteer force who carried on the great struggle against Great
Britain. Frankly, we were not impressed by the production. It has, however, several
good points but it has bad ones as well. Opinion will very likely differ on
those matters.
To begin with, if we exclude
what we might describe as the Hollywood atmosphere which surrounds part of it,
the film is an advance from the point of view of film production on anything
attempted here so far. The photography leaves nothing to be desired, the light
is good, the scenery quite pleasing and with the exception of the work of one
of the artistes, the hero, torn between love and duty, is a tribute to Irish
talent and is creditable to those who took part.
They are worthy of a better
story, a more suitable groundwork, something which would bring out more and, in
a manner, which would appeal to those who lived through the trying period, the
real spirit of those times, with particular relation to the work of the
Volunteers. There is nothing derogatory said of them, but there is little
either that is forceful or satisfying. What outsiders will think about it will
probably be quite different. We see a disconnected story. People in America may
consider it all right but as an insight into the past it is a pity that
something better could not be put upon the record.
There are clashes in arms which
are vivid enough and incidents which are week. The Customs House burning is
amongst the latter. It would probably be difficult to reconstruct scenes to
depict those happenings and to have them brought out with more thoroughness, is
probably expecting too much. We are given the impression of what the agony of
the struggle meant in the homes of the people, to the mothers whose sons were
fighting and to the men themselves as well. This is all right and is well acted
by Daisy Campbell as the mother, Clifford Pembroke as the father and Val
Vousden as the parish priest. Cathal McGarvey as the jarvey is suited to the
part and Peggy O’Rourke and Una Shields, the latter as the heroine cover
themselves well. ‘Kit O’Malley’, the IRA Commandant and Denis O’Shea, the hero,
are also good. Bryan McGowan as the poteen maker and treacherous character,
handles his role skilfully but the scene in his den appears to strike a foreign
note so as this country is concerned.
We are hurried through the
hectic period from 1916 to 1921 in whirlwind fashion. We see Black and Tans,
military tanks, armoured cars and we get glimpses of war. Sections of the
audience applauded. British arms were answered with hisses and we came away
unconvinced by the story or the theme.’
It must be remembered that for many cinema goers
accustomed to US and British made movies, the views of an Irish countryside
were a novelty. For those viewing the film in rural Ireland, who had often read
or heard about the importance of Vaughan’s Hotel to the Michael Collins led
war, would have been exited to see action filmed outside the Parnell Square
location. The use of actual newsreel film confused the supposed timeline of the
film. There was some confusion in the film about its exact periodisation in
1921. While the escape from the Curragh Camp occurred on 9 September 1921, it
appears in the film’s timeline to be followed by the Anglo-Irish Truce, which
came into effect on 11 July 1921, two months earlier. The impression one is
left with it is that it is the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 which ends
the film.
The other point made by
the Irish Independent was scene filmed in the poteen makers disused mill
headquarters. He had kidnapped the heroine, O’Hara’s girlfriend and his actions
intimate that she is about to be raped. The fact that a number of criminals are
there would seem to suggest that she was going to be gang raped and when one of
the criminals developed a conscience, he was killed by the villain. She is tied
up in a scene reminiscent of a BDSM scene from the modern era. The scene itself
seems gratuitous and unnecessary to the plotline, as the kidnapping alone would
send the hero into action to save his girl. There was also criticism from the
Catholic Church of these scenes especially as a Parish priest played a central role
in the film, although his acceptance of IRA violence was subsequently called
into question when it was first shown in cut form in Britain.
On the front cover of Peter
Cotterill’s book ‘The War for Ireland 1913 -1923’ is a photograph that is
credited as,
‘This remarkable
photograph, taken on 14 October 1920 by 15-year-old John J. Hogan, an
apprentice photographer, is of British intelligence officer, Lt Gilbert Arthur
Price RTR, only seconds before he was killed in a gun battle with the IRA
during a raid on the Republican Outfitters in Talbot Street, Dublin. IRA leader
Seán Treacy was also killed during this incident.’
The same photograph
captioned ‘14 October 1920 Lieutenant Price, British intelligence officer,
opens fire on Sean Treacy in Talbot Street, Dublin’ appears accompanied by an
article on the January 1919 Soloheadbeg ambush in the Spring 1997 issue of
History Ireland.[11]
The photograph while it was taken by Hogan, who would later become the Chief
Photographer at the Irish Independent, it was not from events in 1920 but a
photograph of Paddy Dunne Cullinan acting out the seen where he fires on the
‘Black and Tans’ who attempt to arrest him outside Vaughan’s Hotel.
In Britain, Irish Destiny
achieved the dubious distinction of being one of only five films banned in 1926,
another was the Russian produced Battleship Potemkin. In 2012 Battleship
Potemkin was named by the British Film Institute as the eleventh greatest film
of all time. Irish Destiny was cut by almost five minutes including much of the
centrepiece battle scene and was released under the title An Irish Mother, but
it flopped at the box office. Part of the problem for Eppel was that movie
technologies were moving faster than distribution of his film, making his
amateurish production look poor in relation to US imports. British audiences
and audiences in general did not care about its uniqueness as the first
domestically produced film. The story, acting and photography ranked higher in
the minds of those paying in at the box office. In America, where Eppel
travelled to, to promote the film, it received a snooty review in the New York
Times, a newspaper with a fearsome reputation for making or breaking movies published
on March 29th, 1927, under the headline "Dublin Fighting".
The critic noted that the
film "was presented at Daly's Theatre[12]
last evening to an audience composed largely of persons of Irish birth or
extraction" and described the acting and direction as "very
amateurish" and the photography as "deficient". But the audience
didn't give a hoot. "The scenes of Irish Destiny elicited constant waves
of applause. The spectators manifested their enthusiasm when the Black and Tans
fell, and they hissed, as in the days of old melodrama, when a Black and Tan
bullet struck an Irish Volunteer". The film was shown at Daly’s for five
weeks. When it was released in Britain under the title ‘An Irish Mother’ the
Daily Sketch said of the film,
‘There
is freshness as well as the charm of naivete about this Irish contribution to
the screen, albeit it would be useless to deny that the firstling has faults
which would or should not be found in the output of more experienced producers.’
It was re-released in
Ireland in 1927 with extra scenes of newsreel footage added and it continued to
sell out cinemas but despite its popularity in Irish, audiences in Ireland
alone would not return Eppel’s investment on the movie. The English premiere of
the edited version of Irish Destiny, retitled An Irish Mother, took place on
October 27th 1927 in Newcastle. The Kinematograph Weekly reported,
‘An
Irish Mother The premier presentation in England of Mr. Eppel's Irish-made
picture, "An Irish Mother." took place on October 27 at the Futurist,
Newcastle, where an excellent attendance was addressed by Walter C. Scott.
chairman of the North Western branch of the C.E.A. who briefly welcomed this
Irish production to the screen. Before the picture a prologue was presented, showing
"Mother Machree " seated at her spinning wheel, whilst an unseen
vocalist sang the song of the film.’
On December 1st 1927, it opened
in two picture houses in Liverpool. The project drove Dr Eppel to the brink of
financial ruin and he emigrated to England in 1928, having sold the Palace Cinema
to his brother and brother-in-law and the rights to his film to a European
production company[1].
His Eppel Film Company had debts of £13,000 when he met with creditors at his
solicitor’s office[2].
His marriage was also troubled and he moved alone to England where he resumed
practice as a GP, never making another film although the trade papers reported
that he had been appointed in April 1929 as the Four Northern Counties
representative of the British Talking Pictures Company. Before he left Ireland in 1928, Eppel found
himself in Court once again in relation to his movie. He appeared before the
Irish Supreme Court as a case reached the top court for a decision. He sued
Ernest Tahon of Brussels for unpaid instalments of £500. The court awarded £375
to Eppel when the objection to a Tahon affidavit being taken by an English
commissioner was rejected. Eppel died in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1942. By then,
Irish Destiny was already long forgotten. That was until the copy used in New
York theatres was found in the film archive.
On December 11th 1993 at
the National Concert Hall, Dublin, the complete restored copy from the Library
of Congress was screened at this invite only event accompanied by a new score
written for the film by Michael Ó Suilleabhain. 'Mother Machree' and 'Danny
Boy' were recommended as musical accompaniments on the film itself when it was
first released. The event was attended by President Mary Robinson. Alas the
woman who lit the spark to find a copy of the film Evelyn Grace (Henchie) died
the previous March.
The National Concert Hall
is once again the venue for a special screening in 2006, the eve of St
Patrick's Day. The score was again performed by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin,
together with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra conducted by Prionnsías Ó Duinn. It was
described in the Evening Herald, ‘It is an intriguing aide-memoire for a
society reflecting on the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising’.[15]
