On this day in 1828, CJ Kickham, novelist, poet and patriot was born near Cashel.
In 1873, Kickham produced his greatest literary work- 'Knocknagow'. According to William Nolan, Professor Emeritus of Geography at Trinity College, Knocknagow 'remains the best literary "photograph" of land, landscape, and life in nineteenth-century Ireland.' The novel was a scathing indictment of English misrule and Irish gombeenism that together were destroying the community of small farmers and cottiers that Kickham revered.
On this day in 1915, the 2nd battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers received general absolution from their chaplain, Fr Francis Gleeson from Templemore, on the eve of the battle of Aubers Ridge.
The scene was later painted by Italian artist Fortunino Matania which he called ‘The Last General Absolution of the Munsters at Rue du Bois’. The painting became one of the most iconic of the war and has been called ‘the most haunting and poignant image of Irish involvement in the first World War.’
In a catastrophic day for the British army, most of the men in the painting died at the Battle of Aubers Ridge the following day. “What a day for the Munsters,” Fr Gleeson wrote in his diary. “We lose at least 350 men, between killed and wounded and missing. Spent all night trying to console, aid and remove the wounded. It was ghastly to see them lying there.”
Francis Gleeson was born on May 28, 1884 in Eastwood, Farrenderry, just outside Templemore. He was ordained in 1910 and after volunteering at the start of the Great War, he was appointed chaplain by the War Office in London in November 1914.
Gleeson was renowned for his bravery. According to a book published during the war, ‘The Irish at the Front’, he was not afraid to put himself in danger. During a bombardment of the trenches, “Fr Gleeson stuck to his post, attending to the dying Munsters….Indeed if anyone has earned the VC [Victoria Cross], Fr Gleeson has.”
Eventually the horrors of the front took their toll on him and in November 1915, he left the front. “I am sorry to be leaving the dear old Munster lads”, he wrote in a letter, “but I really can’t stand it any longer.” He would return to the front once more in May 1917.
At the outbreak of civil war in Ireland, he became a chaplain with the Free State army in 1923. He later became Parish Priest of St. Catherine’s in Dublin. He died in June 1959 and is buried in Glasnevin cemetery.
Sources:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/mystery-surrounds-location-of-haunting-image-of-irish-soldiers-in-first-world-war-1.1886612
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20283785.html
