Our mother's name was Carmel Bourke. She came from County Mayo, Ireland. Over the years we have gathered lots of information about the Bourke Family.
- History of Research Acquired on the O’Malley and Bourke Family up to Sept. 1988
- The Bourke Dynasty
- Photographs
History of Research Acquired on the O’Malley and Bourke Family up to Sept. 1988
This typed and much-photocopied document was found in Carmel (Bourke) Behan’s papers after her death. Carmel (b. 7 May, 1920; d. 2 November, 2002) was the daughter of Josie Bourke of Castlebar. The author is Edward King of Achill.
Recently (January, 2020) Edward told us that he planned to amend the story. He has gathered new information.
The history of the O’Malley family dates back to 700 AD and may even be traced farther back, though unreliably, to the legendary High Kings of Ireland and finally to Milesius, the mythical origin of the Irish people. A chart containing the main branches of the family was drawn up by Dr. Austin O’Malley of Philadelphia in 1913 and was registered in the Dublin Genealogical office. I shall not include the history behind persons mentioned in the chart in this summary, but shall rather concern myself with the last member of the chart from which I am descended and his (Owen O’Malle’s) descendents – the Bourke family of Castlebar, Co. Mayo. My research was accumulated through the following sources – Miss Josephine Bourke, great-granddaughter of Owen O’Malley, her brother John (Chappie), Castlebar state records, and a copy of a letter from Margaret O’Malley, granddaughter of Owen O’Malley, to Lizzie Bourke, her niece.
The above-mentioned letter was written by Margaret O’Malley, known as “Ma Mere”, a Reverend Mother of a French convent in Chantilly near Paris. She wrote in 1907 to Lizzie Bourke who had written inquiring about the family history. She was ill at the time and was unable to finish the letter, hence only part of the history was revealed. She died some months later. The letter which she wrote reads: “I shall tell you with pleasure what I knew of it. Firstly, my grandfather was Owen O’Malley of Burrishoole, Newport, Co. Mayo. He had three brothers: firstly Joseph who was hanged as a rebel, secondly Austin who escaped to France on one of the French ships sent by Napolean Bonaparte to pick up all the Irishmen they could get to enter his army, as they had gained the names of being great fighters, and indeed they were fighters, and the poor fellows gained but little for their courage. Austin married in France; he had two sons. The eldest, Auguste entered the French army and rose to be Colonel through his bravery. Uncle’s sight became impaired and he returned to Ireland when my mother was young, and he lived with my grandfather. His wife was dead and his oldest son was an officer in the French army. He went to live at Burrishoole near Newport. He had his second son with him, Alexander, but this poor boy had met with an accident at school and was quite deaf. The French government kindly paid him a yearly pension, even after his father’s death. He died in Dublin some years ago. Alexander’s brother, Auguste O’Malley, rose to be a general in the French army. At the siege of Algeria in the north of Africa, only two men were left alive in one particular regiment. They were Uncle Austin’s eldest son Auguste, and a private soldier. Auguste was made Captain at once and the private soldier a Lieutenant. During a visit which I paid to the French nuns near here in the Island of St. Pierre I met a laysister who was acquainted with General O’Malley, Uncle Austin’s son, when she was a nurse in a military hospital…..”
I shall now fill out this history as much as I can with information gathered from Josephine Bourke.
Joseph O’Malley – eldest of the four brothers mentioned in the above letter, was hanged as a rebel with his cousin Seamus Ban O’Malley after a skirmish with British troops at Ballinamuck, Co. Mayo in the 1798 uprising. Owen O’Malley, second brother, joined with General Humbert’s army when they landed in Kilalla in 1798, and was an officer under him. Apparently he escaped the wrath of the British victors and retired to civilian life after 1798. He lived, as “Ma Mere” said, in Burrishoole near Newport, for centuries the O’Malley family seat. Towards the end of his life, however, he appears to have lost much of his wealth and in the end of his life, he sold what remained of his property to his cousin George O’Malley, a general in the British army who took sides with the British in 1798 and became a protestant. Owen lived with his daughter in Castlebar until his death, presumably in the 1940’s. He had married a Miss O’Hanlon from Streamstown in Co. Westmeath and had one son who died in infancy as a result of his nurse overlaying him in sleep. He had also at least four daughters – Mary, the eldest – I shall deal with presently. Some of the other daughters are thought to have emigrated to the USA.
Austin O’Malley, Owen’s brother, is mentioned in Dr. Edward McLysaght’s book as “a United Irish leader who fought with Humbert at Castlebar in 1789”, and his dates are given as 1760 – 1854c. This man spent several days hiding, some say in a ditch, before escaping to France on one of Napolean’s ships. He was then Captain Austin O’Malley. In France, Austin joined the Legion Irlandaise and finally became a Brigadier General. Austin’s son, mentioned as August O’Malley by “Ma Mere”, but referred to as Patrick in the family tree, commanded the 73rd. Infantry of the French Army during the Crimean war and was a Colonel in 1856. In 1861 he was in command of French troops in China at Tien Tain. In 1865 he became a General of a division of the French army and he died in 1889. When Margaret and Lizzie Bourke were at school in Chantilly, their aunt, “Ma Mere” brought them to visit General Auguste’s (Patrick O’Malley) grave.
Peter, the last of the four brothers, rose to the rank of Major, presumably in the British army. He had a son, Major Austin O’Malley.
At this stage I might mention various persons who were related to this O’Malley family, how exactly I cannot tell, but who kept in contact with Mary O’Malley, Owen’s daughter, and later on with her daughters. Josephine Bourke knew or heard about them as a child, and she always knew that they were cousins somewhere through the O’Malley side. Firstly there was a Miss Anne O’Malley of Islandeady and her brother, Reverend O’Malley, the parish priest there. When Anne O'Malley was dying, she sent for Joseph Bourke, Mary O'Malley's son, for him to come out to Islandeady and collect a watch and letter belonging to her father. The letter was from Owen O'Malley to her father or grandfather and was something to do with greyhound coursing or horses. Unfortunately Joseph never went, the watch passed on to the local priest, and though the letter may have found its way to Joseph, there is no trace of it now.
Another family, related through the O'Malleys were the Bourkes of Queenhill. One of these married a Captain Hackett, and Joseph and Anne Bourke used to visit her (Mrs. Hackett) whenever they were in Liverpool. Another member, related through the O'Malleys, who always kept up contact with the Bourkes was a Margaret Welsh of Castlehill near Crossmalina. She spent a lot of her life in America. The Welsh family moved out from Castlehill about twenty years ago to England. Cormac Welsh, Margaret's nephew, was the last member of the family. She and Mrs. Hackett and "Miss Anne" O'Malley were all cousins.
Now to return to Mary O'Malley, eldest daughter of Owen O'Malley of Burrishoole. She married in 1838 c. one Austin O'Malley, no known relative of hers, from Cork. He had started up a saddlery business in Castlebar, and continued it until his death in 1850. They lived in the premises now occupied by Parsons Shop and Owen O'Malley died there with them. They had children, Mary-Jane born in 1837c., Margaret, Elizabeth and Augustus. Mary O'Malley married secondly in 18??. Thomas Bourke. I shall deal with the circumstances of this marriage presently.
Mary-Jane O'Malley it seems, like her sisters, was always considered a lady of upper class background and breeding, and she taught in "Sunday Schools", as was fashionable for young Victorian ladies of the time. At the age of eighteen, she was engaged to be married to Sir Anthony McDonald - Lord Swinford, but on her mother's remarrying seemingly beneath her, she entered the Convent of Mercy and went to Newfoundland. There, as Sister Xavier, she kept up a correspondence with Sir Anthony for the rest of her life. It was through this gentleman that she secured positions in the British Army for the sons of Middleton O'Malley with whom I shall be dealing presently. Sister Xavier died in 1922. On her death, papers and letters were sent home to Joseph Bourke (Jr.) of Castlebar. They have yet to be investigated and may throw considerable light on the family history.
Margaret O'Malley had much the same background as Mary-Jane. She also became a nun, this time in the Order of Cluny and went to a convent in Chantilly near Paris. She became Reverend Mother Dination there, but was always best known as "Ma Mere". It was through her that her niece Margaret and Lizzie Bourke received part of their education in the convent. In 1905, however, religious orders suffered persecution form the contemporary French government who wished to turn all religious institutions into state schools. The nuns were forced to abandon the convent at Chantilly, but through the influence of the Rothschild family, Ma Mere was permitted to stay on in her convent with one lay sister. At her trial, Ma Mere is said to have conducted her own defense without the aid of a solicitor. So it was that when Joseph and Anne McHugh and their daughter Josephine visited Ma Mere in Chantilly, and also collected their daughter Margot who was doing a teacher's course in French there in 1907, that Josephine vividly recalls sleeping in the long deserted dormitories vacant as a result of the recent expulsion of its religious and pupils. On this occasion Joesphine, then aged eight, tried to lift her aunt who was small, but unfortunately caused the old lady to fall on her back. She died that same year (1907) and everyone had attributed her death as a result of Josephine's behaviour.
The third daughter of Mary and Austin O'Malley was Elizabeth (Lizzie) who from childhood was saintly. As a child she frequently stopped by a church to go in and pray. Once, by mistake, the sacristan locked her into the church in Castlebar, and a long search for her ensued when she did not turn up at home that evening. When they eventually found her, she turned on them and remarked casually "Why did you bother looking for me; I was quite comfortable here". She entered the Poor Clare sisters at 16 and took the name Sister Gertrude. When she first entered, the order was enclosed and she was visited by Joseph and Anne Bourke and their children, and could be seen through a grille. Later on however, she was not allowed see anyone as the rules of the order grew stricter. She died eventually in Galway in 1891.
Augustus, the only boy in the family, was also the youngest. It is to be presumed that he was called after his mother's cousin, General Augustus O'Malley, for nowhere else does the name Augustus appear in the O'Malleys. He was relatively young when his father died, and hence he was sent to Cork to be reared by his father's family. After receiving his education there, he joined the Merchant Navy and graduated to the ranks of First Mate, and eventually Captain of his ship. He married Miss Jane Lovelock of County Galway, and there were three daughters of this marriage - May, Rose and Lily. They lived in Liverpool, and were visited there by Thomas and Madge Bourke. In 1905, Captain Augustus and his family came to visit Joseph Bourke and his family in Castlebar. In 1907, however, Captain Augustus' sailing vessel was lost in a storm in the Bay of Biscay. All the crew were lost. His wife informed the Bourkes of the tragic accident. In 1914 when his three daughters once again paid a visit to Joseph Bourke in Castlebar, Rose told of how, on the night of the shipwreck, she had a dream about someone reading a poem about a shipwreck to her, and the next day she heard of the disaster. This was the last occasion that the three girls visited Ireland as they had to rush back to Liverpool before the war started. Amy, the eldest, born c. 1889, used to visit the Bourkes as a child.
To return to Mary O'Malley and her second marriage. She married Thomas Bourke and their meeting each other was a chance in a million. Thomas Bourke was of a once well off, but decaying family. He was educated in a protestant school and was a charming gentleman. However, he was a gambler, and just as he was excellent at gambling away money, he was equally hopeless about finding a way to earn it. His family were Bourkes from Belclare near Headford, presumably descendants of Sir Redmond Bourke, brother of Sir Ulick MacWilliam Righter, ancestor of the house of Clanrickards, for Sir Redmond is stated by genealogists to be the ancestor of the Headford Bourkes. Thomas was born in 1830, and by the time he was twenty five, he was quite bankrupt and decided to emigrate to America, in search of a better fortune. However, before leaving, he promised his cousin, Anthon Joyce of Clanagorn that he would make a harness and saddle for him - such was his profession. Saddlery was considered one of the more respectable trades at the time. He went to Castlebar to Mary O'Malley's saddlery to buy the necessary materiel, and she fell in love with his good looks and charm, while he fell in love with her money and prosperous business. Thomas put off going to America and within a year was wed to Mary.
In 1853 (June 29th) Peter-Joseph (Joe) Bourke was born. Gertrude was born two years later. Until he was seven, Joseph Bourke was educated at a "????" school in Castlebar which indicates that the family still retained some of the dignity it inherited from the O'Malley military background. In 1863, Mary O'Malley fell ill and Thomas' cousin Honoria Joyce (Sister Anthony of Clanagera) came to nurse her. Mary died and two years later Thomas married Honoria and moved to Ballinrobe as his business in Castlebar had deteriorated through his negligence and extravagant ways. Honoria, like Mary O'Malley, was older than Thomas, having been born in 1823, so this marriage it would seem was one of convenience for Thomas. Honoria endured Thomas' wayward nature and adventures and patiently reared his two children of his previous marriage - one named Henry, the product of their own marriage, and also a son Stephen, the illegitimate result of an affair between Thomas and a girl from Claremorris. As soon as the child was born, she dumped him in Thomas' arms and ran off to America. Stephen Bourke was like his father, charming but of little use. He eventually enlisted in the army and was secured a reasonable position in it through the influence of Mary-Jane O'Malley who still kept in touch with her ex-fiance Sir Anthony McDonnell. He was present at his father's bedside when he died on January 4th., 1904 in Claremorris, which would seem to indicate that they were the only two who understood each other and hence stuck to each other to the end. Henry Bourke, a more sober type, later married and kept on the saddlery business in Ballinrobe.
In Ballinrobe, Joseph Bourke met Anne McHugh. From childhood they intended to marry, and though Joseph would sometimes do a line with another girl, he always returned to Anne and spoke to her family about it. Gertrude Bourke met and married Malachy Flannery and they emigrated to America. They had three children: Malachy, a businessman last heard of in Chicago in 1951, Thomas, an engineer, and Mary, married to a passenger air pilot. Gertrude died in 1915c. of cancer. All of her children are now presumed dead. Malachy kept in touch with Margot Bourke and helped her when in America. It was he who acquired the copy originally of the O'Malley chart as made out by Dr. Austin O'Malley.
On February 13th., 1832 Joseph Bourke and Anne McHugh were married in Ballinrobe. They came to Castlebar shortly afterwards, and many people afterwards remarked that "they were the finest looking couple in the town". However, they were penniless except for ten shillings, which Joe has in his pocket, and on this he started off a business. A Mr. Aton of that town however offered Joe the premises of Beckets to start off in, free of rent, if he was unable to pay it. Here he started off a saddlery. Shortly afterwards he acquired the premises of a Mr. Heffernan of Ellison street, and that became the saddlery and subsequently bicycle shop that stands today with the sign above the door: "Joseph Bourke and Sons, Established 1882".
Perhaps it would now be opportune for me to unfold the history behind Anne McHugh of Ballinrobe. She was born on June 11th., 1857 of John McHugh of Ballinrobe and Bridget McEvilly. Her father John was born in 1810 and married on 19th. November, 1856 to Bridget McEvilly. He died on October 26th., 1899. He owned horses and carts and transported grain for Livingstones of Ballinrobe, and also bought from neighboring farms. So it was that Anne McHugh was always herself a good judge of a horse. She had one sister Mary who died during childhood, and three brothers, James, John and Myles, whose descendants I have not yet investigated. Anne's mother, Bridget McEvilly, was born on January 3rd. 1834 in Triangle, Ayle, Westport. Her parents were David McEvilly and Margaret Bourke who was curiously an aunt of Thomas Bourke, so that Joseph Bourke and Anne McHugh were second cousins. Thomas Bourke and his brothers used to visit the McEvillys in their farm as boys. Bridget McEvilly had two sisters, one names Honor who married a labourer on her father's farm and was a disgrace in the eyes of the family. When David McEvilly died, his farm was divided equally between the three daughters, though the eldest got the choice of which third to pick. The McEvillys were relatively well-off farming class and during the Famine, David and two other farmers were in charge of distributing the relief grain to the peasants - it is said that the one names O'Malley kept part of it for himself! David also went into the house of those with "the fever" and buried many who died from it. Archbishop McEvilly of Tuam was claimed always as a cousin of this family. Anne McHugh lived for a while with her grandparents at Triangle and went to school there for about a year.
Another family with whom Anne McHugh spent a lot of her childhood was the Connors of Near Lough Mask, who were related to the McEvillys. There, Matt Connor lived on a large farm with his widowed sister. On the farm they employed "cottagers" to work for them, who on Sundays took their meal from the farmhouse together with the Connors. Anne McHugh also recalled that at the end of the week, each of the farm-hands handed in "tally-sticks" on which where marked nitches representing each day's work for payment. On the warm summer days she would bring the haymakers buttermilk, which one drank from mugs attached to long sticks - to drink from one of those without spilling a drop was acclaimed as an art in itself. There were also related to Anne, Cannons of Knockmore and a Mr. Cannon of Hollyhill who was a teacher. The Connors of Lough Mask farmed opposite the estate of Captain Boycott. He frequently consulted Cannons on farming matters. Anne McHugh remembered, at the time of the "boycotting" of Captain Boycott by the Joyces, seeing soldiers coming to his relief as she came home from mass one Sunday. The McEvillys and the Bourkes were also related to the Joyces. One McEvilly relation - a Mrs. Mitchell, came back from America and bought the McEvilly farm at Triangle. She lived with her nephew, Pat McEvilly, but in later years went to live with Lizzie King in Ayle. It was here that she died, leaving 700 pounds. This sum was donated toward Masses for her soul as Lizzie insisted that unearned money so aquired was unlucky!
With regard to the Joyce family of Clangera, Anthony had a son Walter who married a miss McDonald who was disapproved of by the Bourke family and from there on, the two families lost contact.
Bridget McEvilly died on June 16th., 1903.
Thomas Bourke had at least two brothers, one named John who had a saddlery at Ballinrobe and who married and had one child, Mary-Ann. Mary-Ann went to work in America but came back when her father died to look after her mother. She started a drapery shop after her mother's death, which was quite prosperous. She had intended to bequeath all her possessions to the convent in Ballinrobe, but she was suddenly taken ill with a heart attack and collapsed and died in Castlebar hospital c. 1946. The property then fell to the next of kin, who it was presumed to be Anne Bourke. However, Anne insisted that Thomas Bourke had, in fact, an older brother in America who also had a family. Having contacted solicitors in America, a son of the brother was traced and he inherited all. Mary-Ann never married, though she broke off an engagement to an American doctor in order to come home and mind her mother.
Joseph Bourke and Anne McHugh quickly rose from their penniless state, and by 1900 the saddlery was well established. In that year Joe turned the saddlery into a shop for bicycles, which were rapidly replacing horse transport. In 1892 he started up a saddlery in Westport and his eldest son, Thomas, undertook the running of it for 14 years. The prodigal father had meanwhile run down the business in Ballinrobe, but Joseph reinstated him, though to no avail. He even had his father live with him for a while, but Anne could not bear Thomas' sarcastic manner and she could not tolerate his presence after a short while. Eventually Thomas became separated from his wide Honoraria and went to work in Claremorris. He died there in 1904 and at his funeral, Anne Bourke was highly indignant that she should have to wear black crepe for such a man. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Castlebar Cemetery and his wives were certainly not interred with him.
The family of joseph and Anne Bourke expanded as rapidly as did their business. The eldest, Thomas-Andrew, was born on November 18th., 1882, Gertrude was born in 1884, Joseph on the 27th. April, 1886, Margaret-Mary on 21st. April, 1888, Patrick-Joseph on 18th. March, 1890, Elizabeth on 28th. July, 1892, John on 21st. October, 1894, Augustus-Mary on 12th. October, 1896, and Anne-Josephine on 3rd. March, 1899.
Thomas-Andrew Bourke, as already mentioned, ran the saddlery in Westport from an early age. In 1906, Joseph, his father, built a garage, and later an electricity plant on a site given free to him by Lord Lucan. The building obstructed the view of Canon Lyons' new church in Castlebar, and he and Joseph were at loggerheads over this issue for some time, so that Joseph and Anne Bourke would rather cycle out to Balla for Sunday Mass than attend in Canon Lyons' church. Thomas married in 1911 - Madge Ryan, and after his marriage, his father gave him and Josie twenty five percent shares in the garage. After Joe's death in 1911, Tommy bought out Josie and Anne's shares and ran it until his death in 1958 when Josie's son bought it back from his family for six thousand pounds. In 1916, Joseph Bourke Snr. bought Maryland, Castlebar and Clareview, Rosbeg, Westport for one thousand, eight hundred and ninety pounds from Sir Malachy Kelly. Maryland was occupied by British troups during the troubled times. In 1920, Thomas and his family moved into it. Thomas and his three older brothers started the first cinema in Castlebar in Ellison St. beside the bicycle shop in the 1920's for silent films. However, it gradually decayed until Augustus, the youngest brother, started up a new cinema, which runs to this day in Spencer St., Castlebar. Thomas and Madge Bourke had the following children: Michael (Miceal de Burga), director of the Art School in Dublin and a well-known artist. He married Bridie Kelly of Westport and has children Aodh, working with Ford motors in Cork, Joseph and Clara; Edward who died unmarried of tuberculosis in 1966; Mary who lives with Catherine (Kitty) and Thomas (mentally retarded) in the old bicycle shop premises in Castlebar, and Marge, married to Brendan Touhey, Auctioneer, who has two children, Maria and Peter.
Joseph (Josie Bourke), second eldest of Joseph and Anne Bourke, was sent to Whitworths in England to learn the bicycle trade in 1902. In 1904 he went to Coventry to study and gain experience about motorcars and electricity, at that time practically unheard of in Mayo. In 1903 c. Joseph Snr. constructed a small electricity plant from which he lit his own house and the protestant church in Castlebar. In 1911, he and Mr. Willie Dores M.P. travelled to London, and there acquired the monopoly for supplying electricity to the whole town. From then until 1932, with the introduction of the E.S.B., the supplying of electricity to Castlebar remained in the hands of the Bourke family. Joseph Sr. also bought the site known as "Forester's Hall" around this time, which he rented as a clubhouse and meeting place. Eventually it passed into Augusta (Gussie)'s hands, and was converted into the first dry-cleaning business in Castlebar. Josie broke away from the rest of the family in 1919 and set up his own garage, which, in addition to Thomas' garage, his son now controls. Josie married in 1910 Molly Fahey, and had by her the following children: Maureen who died aged 24; Anne born in 1915, married Thomas McHugh of Kenmare and Dublin (d. 1963) and had Barry (b. 1937) who married Irene Whelan and had children David (b. 1966) and Karen (1968), Niall McHugh (b. 1935) and Vora (b. 1942): Joseph (b. 1913) married Claire Ritchie of Belfast, and had Antoinette (b. 194?) married to Charles Garavan and has Karl (b. 1963) and Niall (b. 1965), Patrick, Joseph studying hotel management, and Patricia, teacher and artist; Carmel (b. 1920) married Michael Behan Dentist of Drogheda and has Valerie (b. 1948) and Mary (b. 1950); Francis (b. 1928) married Dr. Colm McHugh of Louisburgh and has Patrick (b. 1957), Joseph (b. 1960) and Columba (b. 1966); Patricia (b. 1918) married Patrick Flannelly of Castlebar and has Patrick and David; Sally (b. 1916) married Hyacinth Pelly of Castlebar (d. 1961) and has Veronica, Frank, Maureen and Hyacinth. Joseph Bourke died in 1962.
Gertrude Bourke, eldest daughter of Joseph and Anne was born in 1884, but when she was three or four, she burned to death. The maid in the house had left a pot of boiling water for washing clothes on the floor, and Gertrude backed into it and died from shock. Her mother, who at this time was in the early stages of T.B. was heartbroken and she went to Clangera to the Joyces to convalesce. Tommy and Josie were cared for by their grandmother, Bridget McHugh in Ballinrobe. There were other tragedies in the family other than this. Joseph and Anne Bourke spent a lot of their younger days travelling around Mayo, even to Achill on a tandem bicycle. Anne was often reluctant to go, however, and on at least one occasion she sent Tommy off to puncture the bicycle tyres so that they would not have to go. Joe seemed to have been a bit of an athlete, for Anne always claimed that he could do the mile in four minutes! They travelled considerably for the time when transport was not nearly as
convenient as it is now. They travelled to England on a few occasions and at least twice to France where their daughters were at school. Peter-Joseph died on February 7th., 1917, and at his funeral, Mary-Anne Bourke, his niece , remarked to Anne, his widow, how, at the time of his death she had seen him pass the window of their house in Ballinrobe, and she had said to her mother "Joe Bourke is back in Ballinrobe, he must be coming to see us". However, when she went to open the door there was nobody there. Joe Bourke died in Clareview and was interred in a tomb in Castlebar cemetry. Anne Bourke outlived him by almost forty years and nearly lived to see her great, great, grand children. She sat in a rocking chair in Clareview in her last years and her mind remained clear and her memory sharp until shortly before she died on Oct. 23rd., aged 99 years. She was buried in the same tomb as her husband, but there was no trace of his remains; his tomb was opened before her funeral!
Margaret Bourke went away to France in 1900c. and was so content in Chantilly that when the convent closed down and she was sent home, she wrote back to her aunt "Ma Mere" to see if she could take her back. Ma Mere took her back for another year or so to do a teaching course in French. In 1907 she returned to Ireland but she never made use of her training. In 1912 she married John Mulligan (Swinford), brother of Fr. Mulligan who had accompanied Joe and Anne Bourke to France when they collected Margot from Chantilly. The marriage was not a success, however and eventually Margot had to support her children Joseph, Jack and Anna on her own. They were reared in Clareview by their Grandmother and aunt while Margot worked for a while in America as a hairdresser. She was helped out there considerably by her cousin Malachy Flannery. She died in 1951. Her son Joseph married Colin McNulty of Achill and he runs a garage there. He has children Joseph (Jr.), Margot, Christopher and Aidan. Jack is unmarried and lives in Clareview. Anna married Michael Durant of Ballina and has children Pierce, Michael, John, Mary and Margot.
Patrick Bourke started off as a hardware assistant in Gibbons of Castlebar. Afterwards he started up a public house beside the site of the old clu??? in Ellison St. Eventually he settled in Plaatscoff (Sp.) Wales, where he bought a hotel and where he now lives. He married May Bedlena (of Italian extraction) and has the following children - Mary married to B. Holmes and has a son Anthony Joseph killed in World War II in the Pacific, and Paddy also killed during the same war at Arnhem, Holland. Anne married S. Blackmore and Freda married Gillander. Paddy and May Bourke are both still living in Wales.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bourke was called after his Aunt Lizzie O'Malley who became a Poor Clare Sister. She was intelligent but untamed as a young girl, so in 1904 (?) she was sent to Chantilly with her sister Margot. Chantilly closed in 1905 however, and she was sent with Nina and Eileen O'Malley-Keyes to Berkdale, Liverpool in 1906. These two girls were of an interesting family themselves, and were related to the Bourkes, so I shall move off Lizzie's history for a moment to recount the story behind Middleton O'Malley-Keyes.
John Bourke gives the story as follows: an illegitimate son of Mary O'Malley's brother-in-law or father-in-law (that would be on Austin O'Malley's side of the family) worked as a shop boy for a Mr. Middleton of Westport, and thus adopted that name as his christian name. He went to England and got a job as a locker-up in a liquor business through Lord Sligo. One day he rescued a lady in London from a stampeding horse and eventually married her. She ran a first class brothel. He returned on his own to Westport, his wife having died, and bought Seaview and then sold it to Ned King and bought Ross House. He remarried, this time Miss Laetivia Keyes of furry Park Co. Mayo, and had the following children: Middleton O'Malley-Keyes (b. 1882) married Jane, daughter of Edward O'Malley of Connecticut, USA and by her had Major Hamilton who married firstly Lady Iris Mountbatten, and to do this he had to have his illegitimate ancestry altered, and consequently one finds the O'Malley-Keyes fitted into the O'Malleys of Burrishoole on the chart, all quite fake of course. Hamilton divorced Lady Iris Mountbatten and remarried. He is at present living in Torremolinos, Spain and recently made news headlines when he had a row with his son Patrick in a night club over a woman named "Betty the Bullfighter" whom he intends on taking on as his third wife! His brothers and sister s are Niall, Rosemarie, Eugene and June. Middleton O'Malley and Miss Keyes also had children Tyrrel-Francis of Kinsale who married Miss Blackwell. Tyrrel had a brother, Major Harold of Tipperary who is married to Nancy Edwards. The two sisters in this family were Nina, married to William Gordon Blackwell and Eileen married to Sir Walter Nugent Bart who had Sir Peter (b. 1920), the present baronet. Heather married in 1931 Sir John Prichard-Jones and Gloria married Michael Veade Carville and subsequently divorced him.
To continue with the career of lizzie Bourke. In 1909 she went to Stuttgart, Germany on passing her senior Oxford, to teach English "Au Pair" and learn German and music. In 1911 she returned home where she lived until her marriage in 1918. She was brought up in extremely Victorian surroundings, and one day she went out walking with her friend Myra Durcan in the presence of two gentlemen and the incident (???) back to her parents' ears, quite a row ensued as a result of which the whole household was upset. She was friendly with Gertie Thornton whose family were far more liberally minded and with whom she occasionally went to Castlebar to dance.
During World War I, Margot one day received an interesting letter from a French soldier. He had found her name and address on the back of a door in the convent at Chantilly, which was then under military occupation. As Margot was then married, she passed the letter on to Lizzie. Lizzie wrote back to the soldier and thus started a correspondence, which continued until he was killed. In 1917 Lizzie met Pa (Patrick) King one evening in the house of one Mrs. Fogarty of Westport, and after a year they were married on April 15th., 1918. John T. Kavanagh and Josephine Bourke were witnesses of the marriage. For an account of Pa King C.P. Summary of king family research P.p. 11 and 12 - Pa and Lizzie went to live in Ayle where their son Joseph (Skiff) now lives. Edward Mary, their first child, was born on April 24th., 1919 in Clareview. Before his birth, Lizzie had been sketching a view of Clareview and after the birth she wrote the hour, day and date of his birth on the back of the sketch. Unfortunately the sketch has been mislaid.
Edward Mary was educated at C.B.S. Westport, Clongowes Wood College and took his M. B. Degree in U.C.D. In February 1947 he started medical practice in Achill and in 28th. July 1943 married Clodagh O'Dwyer and by her has three children: Clodagh-Mary (b.May 6th., 1949). Edward Patrick (b. June 1, 1950) and Anne Marie (b. May 7th., 1951), and Catherine Mary (b. 1961). One other son (b. 1956) died shortly after birth. Clodagh and anne were educated at Dooagh National School and Sacred heart Convent, Mount anville. Catherine attends the former. Edward went to Crumpan National School, St. Domnic's Prep. School, Dublin (Cabra) and clongowes Wood College. Clodagh-Mary is studying medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin and Edward Patrick is also studying medicine at U.C.D. Dr. Edward lived at The Bungalow, Keel, Achill until 1991. He now lives at the Mullagh, Dooagh, Achill, co. Mayo. Pa King's second child, Peter Joseph Mary (Skiff) was born on February 8th., 1921 at Ayle. He is a farmer living in the same house in which he was born. He married Nora Burke on February 21st., 1956 and has the following children: John Patrick (b. June 1st., 1957), Mary Margaret Nodlag (b. December 26th., 1958), Edward Joseph MAry (b. 29th., April, 1965), Elizabeth Anne (b. April 1st., 1962), Peter Joseph (b. 5th. Mary, 1963). anne theresa Mary King was borh November 19th., 1922 and died aged 1 and 1/2 years of meningitis, and John Brendan died in infancy from pneumonia. He was, interestingly enough, a red head. Sarah King was born 26th. July, 1924 and married john Murphy of the Quay Westport on 23rd. March, 1948 and has children William, student of science in U.C.G., Patrick and Mary. Patrick Joseph Mary King was born on 25th. November 1925 but was killed in a car accident at Keel, Achill on 20th. May, 1948. Edward, his brother, was called out to attend the victim, not knowing that it was his own brother who lay at the side of the road. Elizabeth Mary C?le??? (b. 24th. March, 1923) is at present employed in hospital work in the U.S.A. John Brendan King was born on 30th., July, 1929 and died some months later. Grania Josephine Mary (b. 3rd. July, 1931), qualified as a dentist and married Robert Felend and now lives in co. Derry. she married 8th. Sept. 1962 and has children Mary James and Grania. Francis Mary teresa was born on 6th. July, 1935 at Ayle, qualified as a nurse and works in the U.S.A.
Patrick King died from heart failure 26th. january, 1943. In 1935 the family moved house from Ayle to 'Kingsville' Westport . Edward, Sarah and Skiff spent most of their childhood in Clareview, Rosbeg. The girls nearly all received their education in The Bower, Athlone. Agnes King, (b. 8th. April 1879), married 28th. December, 1914 Michael McGovern of Garrison, Co. Fermanagh. The marriage was a 'match' and Pa King gave Aggie her dowry. In Garrison, Aggie and Phonsie (Michael) ran a hotel and Aggie had a reputation for being an extremely generous woman providing extravagant hospitality for any relations that called there. She was a big woman and always got her way. She is now living but with loss of memory and mental retardation. She has two children, Loretto (b. 5th. July, 1954), Deirde (b. 11 august, 1955), Clare (b. 28th. February, 1959), Michael and Caroline (twins) (b. 19th. Feb., 1963), Sylvia married to Frank McMurrow; children are Michael, Eamonn and Anne. Sylvia is a schoolteacher and phonie runs two hotels.
Michael Joseph Kinf was born 12th., August 1881 and married January 19th., 1914 Margaret McGing, sister to Marian, Ned King's wife (Seaview). Michael was also a cattle dealer, generally in partnership with Ned. He had children Joseph Michael King, Solicitor (b. 13th. Feb., 1918), qualified as a solicitor at U.C.D., married Rita Brennan, Carlow and has one son Alan (b. June 16th., 1930). Alan educated at Clongowes and C.B.S. Westport and attends U.C.D. Commerce Faculty. Rita died 18th. October, 1933. Joseph married secondly Mary Moore, Solicitor of Dalkey, Dublin 23rd. Oct., 1937. Margot King (b. 17th. April 1920) qualified in Medicine U.C.D. married Dr. Matthew Kelly of Warrenpoint Co. Down. She has children, Hilary...
The final page of the document in my possession is page 14. Clearly there is more.
Note: I Googled “General August O’Malley France” and came up with the following webpage:
blessington.info/history/historypage17.htm
Much of the information in it corroborates the document that I found in my mother’s papers. The wording is identical to that ascribed to “Ma Mere” in a convent in Chantilly, France.
The Bourke Dynasty
(Castlebar Annual Parish Magazine, 2019)
I contacted Sean Rice who gave me permission to upload his article. He said that he used to work in Josie Bourke's garage years ago. It's a small world!
(Castlebar Annual Parish Magazine, 2019)
I contacted Sean Rice who gave me permission to upload his article. He said that he used to work in Josie Bourke's garage years ago. It's a small world!
