Castleblayney - People

People

• Lord Andrew Blayney (see above)
• General Eoin O'Duffy (1892–1944). Born at Caraghdoo, Laragh, near Lough Egish, south of Castleblayney; ex-IRA leader and controversial politician in the Irish Free State with links to Franco's Spain, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany. Aggressively nationalist in politics and cultural attitude, he founded the quasi fascist 'Blueshirts'.
• Clare Sheridan (1885–1970). Renowned sculptress of famous people including Lenin, Trotsky, Churchill and Gandhi, journalist, traveller, romantic adventurer and celebrity. Daughter of an English aristocrat and American mother; had Anglo-Scots-Irish connections, related to the Leslies of Glaslough, Co. Monaghan; first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill; a late convert to Roman Catholicism, from 1960 she resided in retirement for some years at the guest house of the Franciscan Convent in Hope Castle.
• Thomas Hughes (VC) (1885–1942). Born at Castlebayney, private in the British Army with the Connaught Rangers in the First World War; awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry; lived later in a small hill-farm (bought for him by public subscription) in Aghnafarcon, between Broomfield and Lough Egish. Had little or no local recognition after 1922 until recently.
• Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. A son of Queen Victoria, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Ireland 1900-1904, when he also rented Hope Castle in Castleblayney as a residence outside Dublin.
• Peadar Livingstone (1932–1987). Born in Castleblayney, teacher, historian and latterly Catholic priest of Broomfield parish (Castleblayney district). Graduate in history from Queen's University Belfast, his scholarly Monaghan Story (1980) is monumental in proportions and is an invaluable, reliable work of reference. His book is preeminently characterized by a highly informed, inclusive approach to the history of Monaghan communities of all political hues and religious persuasions - partly explicable by his own 'mixed' family background.
• Samuel Hemphill (died 1741). In a pioneer and frontier context, the first Presbyterian minister of Castleblayney (1718). Originating in either Cavan or Monaghan, he was a graduate of Glasgow University. He made some literary forays into contemporary doctrinal disputes. A traditionalist, he opposed liberal theological views held by Presbyterians of the 'Belfast Society'. Financially often in straits, he seems to have been arrested by the Sheriff of Monaghan, possibly for debt, and then bought out by the minister of Creggan (Freeduff) for £50, twice Hemphill's annual salary.
• John J. Clarke (1879–1961). Highly rated amateur photographer, he was a medical doctor in Castleblayney, like his father before him. Studied medicine in Dublin at the then Royal University of Ireland from 1897-1904. His fame rests on photographs of people and backgrounds of great historical value that he took around central Dublin during that Edwardian era (the Dublin of James Joyce) - a townscape that has largely vanished apart from prestige buildings. At that time, photography was still at the early stages of development. The National Photographic Archive of the National Library of Ireland holds a 'Clarke Collection' of ca. 200 photographs of not only old Dublin, but other areas of Ireland including some of Castleblayney. Many are viewable on-line: http://hip.nli.ie/#focus (click 'photographs', then insert 'clarke, j.j.')
• James McMahon Graham (1852–1945), was born in Casteblayney, and after emigration to the USA he became an attorney in Illinois. From 1909-1915, he was a Democratic Congressman in the House of Representatives. He published some works on Catholic religious matters.
• Hugh Keenan (ca. 1796-1882), was born in Castleblayney, emigrating to Pittsburgh, PA. He became a lawyer, and served as US Consul in Dublin 1847-50, and later in Cork, 1854-59. He is buried in the town of his birth.