Poulnabrone Dolmen, County Clare

Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin

Andrew Blake [abt. 1776 - 1829]

Andrew Blake [abt.1776 - 1829] was born in Waterford, the son of James Blake and Mary Walsh. He married Mary Galwey, the daughter of Patrick Galwey and Mary Collins, in 1815. They had six children, James Stanislaus, Patrick, Andrew, Francis A., John Aloysius and Grace. The Blakes were Rope and Sail makers and had a Ship Chandlers on the Quays.

On the 26th January 1801 Andrew Blake, son of James Blake of the City of Waterford Merchant, received the Freedom of the County of the City of Waterford.

In 1821 Andrew Blake, 45, head shopkeeper, May Blake, 30, wife, and James Blake, 5, were living at no 46 King Street. (Census extracts Waterford).

Andrew Blake also owned a house and lands at Ballinamona, New Jerpoint, County Kilkenny.

Andrew's eldest sons James and Patrick attended Stoneyhurst College, Clitheroe, Lancashire.  On the 12 March 1829 Andrew died in a coach accident in Blackrock, County Dublin. Andrew and Mary had been returning from Liverpool to Ireland after a visit to their two sons, James and Patrick, in Stoneyhurst.

The Waterford Chronicle. Tue, May 18th, 1829.

Melancholy Accident.

It becomes our painful duty to record an awful accident which proved fatal to Mr. A. Blake, of Little George's-street, one of our respectable fellow citizens. Mr. and Mrs Blake had been to see their children, who are placed at school in England, and after landing at Kingstown last Saturday, on their return home, were proceeding to Dublin by the coach, which, in making the turn of the road at Temple-hill, near the Black Rock, unfortunately upset, and melancholy to relate, Mr. Blake, who sat on the outside, was so severely injured, that he expired almost immediately. Mrs Blake also received some slight contusions; but we regret to learn that she is suffering much from the awful nature of the accident, and from the pressure of severe affliction. Of fourteen other passengers in and on the coach at the time, twelve were more or less injured. The remains of Mr. Blake arrived in this City between two and three o'clock this morning.

In his will Andrew left the lands of Ballynamona, County Kilkenny to his eldest son James Blake. Provision was made for his wife Mary, and the younger children.  Michael Farrell, a faithful, honest and an attentive servant for upwards of thirty years, was left the yearly sum of thirteen pounds.

After Andrew's death, James and Patrick were removed from Stoneyhurst. Mary Galwey married again, to Robert Joseph O'Brien. She is buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Cork.

Portumna Castle, County Galway

Patrick Alfred Jennings (1831-1897)

            In Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, overlooking the sea, lies the neglected grave of an Irishman who was once the first non-Labor Catholic Premier of New South Wales. Surmounted by a tall cross it bears the words, “a good name is better than great riches and good favour is above silver and gold.”  This is the grave of Patrick Alfred Jennings, the son of Francis Jennings, linen merchant, and Mary O’Neil of Mill Street, Newry, Co Down.

            In 1852 aged only 21, he travelled as an unassisted passenger aboard the barque the Chaseley from Liverpool via Melbourne to Sydney. His name appears on a list from a letter of thanks to Captain Slaughter. The Ballarat and Bendigo Gold rushes had drawn many young men to Australia. Patrick prospered there, taking part in the 1855 gold rush as a merchant. By 1857 he was a Justice of the Peace.  He opened a store in what was to become St. Arnaud and operated a quartz mine at Bendigo. With the proceeds he went into partnership with another Irishman, Martin Shanahan, and bought a sheep station called Warbreccan. His mother, sisters and brother having followed him to Australia, they took over the running of the store. His sister, Mrs. Quigley, a widow, later married Thomas Gormley and the store then took that name.  The Jennings family were Catholics and the first Mass at St. Arnaud was celebrated at their residence.   For almost eight years Patrick lived and played an active part in the growth and development of St. Arnaud. There is still a Jennings Street in St. Arnaud. In 1863 he married Martin Shanahan's daughter Mary Anne at their Marnoo Homestead on the Richardson River and they made their home at Warbreccan.  Patrick and Mary Anne had one daughter and two sons.

            Patrick continued to acquire land and property, Garawilla, near Gunnedah, and Denobillie and Ulimambri, near Coonabarabran.

A Patron of the Arts, he was a trustee of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1876-87, and president of Sydney Liedertafel. He was an enthusiastic patron and performer of music and he contributed £1100 to Sydney University towards the cost of an organ.  In St. Arnaud he had, according to a biographer, led local amateur concerts and sometimes joined visiting professional singers in public performances of Rossini and Verdi.  His enthusiasm for Wagner was one of the few radical traits in a consistently conservative character. Patrick also donated a considerable sum of money through his friend, Archbishop Vaughan, to finance the building of a Library at St. John’s College. As a token of his generosity a window commemorating him was included in the building.

 He became Premier of New South Wales and Colonial Treasurer in 1886 but resigned in 1887. He was not a great Parliamentarian. During his Premiership he lived in Colebrook, a house noteworthy for its impressive ballroom and cast iron decorative work.  Banjo Paterson wrote an unflattering poem about him called “The Deficit Demon” in which he describes how

“…the people put forward a champion known as Sir Patrick the Portly.

As in the midnight the tomcat who seeketh his love on the housetop,

Lifteth his voice up and is struck by the fast whizzing brickbat,

Drops to the ground in a swoon and glides to the silent hereafter,

            So fell Sir Patrick the Portly at the stroke of the Deficit Demon.”

In 1887 he revisited Ireland and received an honorary LL.D from Dublin University. Two years later his wife died, aged only 42, and was buried in the family grave in Waverley Cemetery. In the Lady Chapel of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, there is a stained glass window dedicated to Dame Mary Anne Jennings by Patrick Jennings.

            By then Warbrecccan had been sold and he continued to live in Colebrook until 1892.  In the 1890s through drought, financial crisis and his own failing health he lost all his property except Westbrook.  He went to live in Westbrook, near Toowoomba, which comprised 80,000 acres on the Darling Downs. There he led a quiet retired life but took a keen interest in benevolent and social movements.

 He was decorated by Pope Pius IX, Knight of St. Gregory the Great 1874 (Papal Order) and by Leo XIII, Knight Commander of Order of Pius IX 1876, Grand Cross of that order conferring title of Marquis 1885, making him Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings.

Anecdotal evidence describes him as travelling everywhere with a man carrying water bottle. There may have been some truth in the story as the cause of death was diabetes, a symptom of which is thirst.

He died in Brisbane having travelled there to attend a wedding. His body was returned by rail to Sydney (via Jennings township) for burial. A man of equable temperament and a range of informed interest, he was an organiser, administrator and benefactor and had attractive personal qualities. His obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 12th of July 1897 stated that “As a politician it may truly be said that he made no enemies…. those who were privileged to know him personally can bear not less generous testimony to his private qualities… He acknowledged the influence of culture, and represented in our public life a high standard of personal character,”

James S Blake Portrait

Avondale

I found the journal when I was helping to clear a relative’s house for auction.  It was old and dusty, and a little worm eaten in places but it looked interesting. I saved it from the skip and the bonfire and put it carefully away. It wasn’t until recently that I finally found the time to take it out and examine it more closely.  With rapidly increasing interest I began to follow the adventures of a young Irish man called John, aged twenty-one, as he set out from Liverpool to New York for the first time.

            “We left Liverpool on the morning of the 8^th April 1834” he wrote. “Every thing favored us.”

In his company I met and dined with the best of American Society in New York, Philadelphia and Washington. Famous names cropped up constantly – Andrew Jackson, Nicholas Biddle, Barclay, and Cunard. He attended the races, saw Fanny Kemble perform in the theatre, visited the Law Courts, attended the Senate and crossed the River Hudson by steamboat.

Then he left the cities and travelled through Virginia and Kentucky.  Throughout he kept up a running commentary on life in America, on politics, on slavery, on agriculture. He visited a prison and attended a Shaker Chapel. He grumbled about the roads, the inns and taverns and he never failed to mention the pretty girls. It became obvious at this point that romance would strike sooner or later, and strike it did. By the time he reached the Military Academy at West Point he had met an eighteen year old American Beauty called Delia and had fallen in love. Delia Tudor Stewart was the daughter of a naval hero, Charles Stewart, whose family had played a prominent part in American public life since the Revolution. She was tall, vivacious and striking with her oval face, her dark hair and her blue eyes. Whenever she was mentioned in the journal she appeared lively, energetic and fearless. At Kosciusko’s Retreat – a favourite spot for lovers – he proposed to her, and she, surprisingly, accepted. Unfortunately the journal had been heavily edited at this point, presumably by him. Whenever he wrote about Delia pages had been removed, doctored and replaced.

From the States John travelled North on a Cunard Steamer – still a novelty then – to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he indulged in some fruitless Moose hunting. The journal ended in mid-sentence on the last page in Frederickton, Nova Scotia, on the 5^th October 1834.

 It seemed to suggest that there had been a second journal, perhaps even more, and now these were presumably lost forever. A little research  resulted in the discovery of a second journal in the National Library, which had been bought by them in 1926.  This journal started on the 7^th October in Frederickton, only two days after the end of my journal.  The story was now complete.

John and Delia were married at Grace Church, New York on 31^st May 1835. John brought his American bride back to Ireland, to his home at Avondale in Co. Wicklow. There she bore him eleven children. In 1854 she appears to have left Ireland to live in Paris with some of her children.

 Delia never returned to Avondale until after John’s death. It was her second son, named after her father, who made Avondale famous. He was Charles Stewart Parnell.

[Previously broadcast on RTE Sunday Miscellany]