Honourable journey to find the grave of nineteenth century Sligo nationalist chief and editor of The Sligo Champion

As I listened to her account of rising up in a rural setting within the Eire of the twenties and thirties, I found a wealthy heritage.

She recalled seeing her grandfather John McLoughlin’s (1849-1937) hand-written speeches for Sligo County Council, his seal of workplace and cut-outs from outdated Sligo Champions strewn all around the parlour desk. She additionally remembered seeing the Sooey U. I. L. Banner in the home, with the portrait of Wolfe Tone on one facet and a portrait of P. A. McHugh on the opposite.

She additionally recalled {that a} framed picture of Mr P. A. McHugh graced the parlour wall in Knocknagee, sandwiched between an image of Mr John O’Dowd and her grandfather).

The picture of my nice grandfather accompanying this text is similar; sadly, the opposite two pictures don’t exist anymore.

Unhappy to say, not realising their archival significance, my ancestors piled all objects in a field, they usually had been relegated to reminiscence and by no means seen once more. After all, no person would have thought such issues can be like gold mud to us now.

My mom mentioned that her Granda had recognized that his great-granddaughter can be taken with his life story; he would have collected every little thing and lovingly positioned it in a field for me.

He would by no means have guessed that I’d discover a lot of him, his persona, his mates and political conferences and speeches, between the archived pages of his beloved Sligo Champion all these years later. Based on my mom, “he would have been as proud as Punch.”

The Sligo Champion was based in 1836 by Edward Howard Verdon. The custom of shopping for the “Champion” each week was began by my nice grandfather (additionally John) all these years in the past, and it continues to this present day.

I made a decision to discover my McLoughlin household historical past. I’m significantly indebted to Mr Paul Deering, Editor Sligo Champion, and to Sligo Native Research and Reference Library (specifically – Mr Malachy Gillen) for permitting me to analysis and reprint identical.

Throughout my investigation, I additionally discovered Mr P. A. McHugh and what a journey it has been. I realised that Mr McHugh was my nice grandfather’s shut good friend and political colleague. I used to be fortunate additionally to have had the invaluable, private account of my mom, Frances (R.I.P.), who shared the primary 13 years of her life, in the identical home, along with her Granda, John McLoughlin.

I couldn’t proceed the story with out mentioning his different nice good friend and political ally, Mr John O’Dowd, from Bunninadden, Co. Sligo.

The power of my nice grandfather’s friendship with Mr P. A. McHugh and Mr John O’Dowd was such that the three mates had been fondly often called the “Holy Trinity” within the McLoughlin home in Knocknagee. Based on my mom, “many’s the clandestine assembly was held within the parlour in Knocknagee, to the accompaniment of her mom’s tea and soda bread and a bit drop of the ‘cratur.’ (Irish whiskey).

In early 2019, I made a decision to go to Sligo Cemetery and discover the grave of Mr P. A. McHugh, who had meant a lot to my nice grandfather.

I enlisted the assistance of Mr Brian Scanlon, an skilled on the graves there. After I noticed no gravestone for P. A., I used to be unhappy, and there after which, I resolved to discover a method of placing a correct tombstone on the grave.

My subsequent activity was to seek out the household descendants of Mr P. A. McHugh. I’m a member of the very profitable Fb web page, Sligo Heritage and Historical past, which Mr Adrian O’Neill arrange in Could 2017.

I posted a request on March seventeenth 2019, for any household of Mr McHugh to get in contact. I had given up hope when finally, I seen a submit in Could 2019 from Breda Downs, additionally seeking to join with the household of P. A. McHugh.

She is married to Michael, the good grandson of P. A. McHugh, on the identical direct line as me; nice granddaughter of John McLoughlin.

I couldn’t consider my luck. I answered, and we organized to satisfy in entrance of the statue outdoors the City Corridor, in fact. It was an thrilling assembly and the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Michael and Breda.

“I’m positive the 2 gents can be happy that we acquired on so effectively, and their names and escapades are on the high of the agenda over 100 years later.We made plans, however Covid 2020 put a brake on issues.

Michael Downs remembers: “Breda, my spouse, had lengthy adopted her native Skibbereen’s pages on FaceBook, and when she discovered the Sligo Heritage and Historical past web page, she posted about P. A. McHugh (“P.A.”).

“P. A. was my very own, my brothers Philip and Christopher and first cousins Kathleen, Peter and Helen’s nice grandfather. His daughter Kathleen was our grandmother. I used to be conscious of his public persona and the nice he had accomplished, having in 1966 been proven his statue in its unique setting.

“Mary Lehane, herself a Sligo resident, answered Breda’s submit and has grow to be a terrific good friend of ours since. Mary had her personal curiosity in P. A. as a result of she was researching the life and occasions of her personal nice grandfather, John McLoughlin. And John and P. A. had been socially and politically shut.

“The same train on the Leitrim Previous Photographs Fb web page drew the eye of our cousin Moira Dolan and her husband Jackie, siblings Pauric and Jacinta, and cousin Frank and his spouse Martina, all of whom we had been delighted to satisfy final month. We stay up for attending to know our new family and having a gravestone to mark P. A.’s resting place.”

Mary Lehane continues: “following on from Breda’s success on the Leitrim web page, I used to be contacted by Moira Dolan, the grandniece of P. A. McHugh. We met at Sligo cemetery and visited P. A.’s grave. It was the beginning of one other fantastic friendship.

“Moira is the household historian and has accomplished quite a lot of analysis on her McHugh household. I discovered it fascinating that she, I, and Breda had been engaged on comparable searches earlier than our assembly.”

Moira Dolan says: “It’s past a privilege for me to be concerned in my Granduncle, P. A.’s grave restoration mission. So many individuals know of his statue, which stands outdoors of Sligo Metropolis Corridor, however few are conscious that his resting place is an unidentified grave within the outdated cemetery in Sligo.

“I believe this mission is an acknowledgement and a really becoming appreciation of the work and sacrifices he made for the individuals of his beloved North Leitrim and Sligo.

“It is usually an acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by his household in supporting his nice work.

Guests to Sligo, distant family visiting from overseas, or individuals who have an curiosity in Sligo historical past, will now have an recognized grave to go to, spend a bit time and say a prayer for P. A. and his household, who share this most peaceable and tranquil spot with him.”

Mary Lehane continues: “In October 2020, I seen a submit from Adrian O’Neill on Sligo Heritage and Historical past in regards to the P. A. McHugh statue.

He requested if individuals knew that P. A. McHugh, whose statue as soon as missed O’Connell Road, a distinguished member of Sligo city who was very fashionable with the general public and was additionally mayor quite a lot of occasions, didn’t have his personal headstone. ‘No etching to recollect the good P. A McHugh.’

“There wasn’t a lot that could possibly be accomplished throughout Covid, so I simply took word.

“Fortunately Covid and its restrictions have gone, and I contacted Adrian in April. He thinks that “it’s a disgrace that Mr P. A McHugh, who was very influential and did a lot for Sligo, nonetheless doesn’t have his personal headstone.”

He kindly supplied to run a GoFundMe attraction on his Sligo Heritage and Historical past Fb web page to assist with the price of placing up a gravestone on the McHugh grave.

Any quantity of donation can be gratefully accepted.

Because the McHugh household and I’ve famous, we’re all indebted to Adrian as a result of with out his web page, we might by no means have met or began this mission.

The Sligo Champion has undertaken to make a donation in the direction of the price of the gravestone.

P.A.was born in 1854 at Glenfarne, Co Leitrim. His dad and mom, Peter McHugh and Ann McHugh-MacDermott, had been farmers. When Patrick completed his major schooling, he attended St. Patrick’s School, Cavan, to arrange for the priesthood.

After ending his schooling, he didn’t take Holy Orders and as an alternative went to Paris for a 12 months.

On returning to Eire, he married Mary Harte from Sligo. After his marriage, he taught in Athlone Intermediate College and later at Summerhill Intermediate School, Sligo.

He subscribed to the rules of the Land League, which Michael Davitt formally arrange, in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, on August sixteenth, 1879.

In 1885, Mr McHugh grew to become the proprietor/editor of the Sligo Champion.

He was true to his Nationalist rules as editor, being a member of the Sligo Department of the Irish Nationwide League.

Mr McHugh was elected Mayor of Sligo in 1888, once more in 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898 and 1900.

He was actively concerned within the County Sligo Committee of the Gaelic Athletic Affiliation.

In 1892 he grew to become the Member of Parliament for the constituency of North Leitrim with a sweeping majority.

Nevertheless, his illustration of his constituents’ grievances triggered the Coercion Act’s repeated invocations to silence him and his newspaper.

P. A. McHugh’s relationship with Sligo Gaol started in 1888. He was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment underneath the Coercion Act.

His crime was that he had revealed an article in The Sligo Champion of July seventh, 1888, denouncing a land grabber from Templeboy, Co. Sligo, who had occupied a farm from which a widow had been evicted.

‘On Wednesday, November 14th, 1888, he was transferred to Derry Gaol within the custody of “a number of policemen and a few warders.”

There had been no warning provided that Mr McHugh was to be transferred. (Sligo Champion 1888-11-17)

He subsequent encountered the hospitality of the jail on February 1st, 1890, when he was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment on fees of publishing Nationwide League stories from Sooey and Collooney relating to landgrabbing of evicted farm holdings.

After sentencing, Mr McHugh was “conveyed to the jail at Cranmore.”

“A big crowd of mates and sympathisers had assembled to want him goodbye. Because the ‘bus’ containing the prisoner and 6 policemen drove off, the group raised a hearty cheer for the ‘prison.’”

On February seventh, Mr McHugh was eliminated to Tullamore Gaol by a police escort on the six o’clock practice.

“The utmost secrecy was noticed by the authorities as to the time of the ‘prison’s’ elimination, however the solicitude of his mates enabled a few of them (together with Mrs McHugh and Miss Harte, his sister-in legislation to be current on the platform to offer him a parting salute to want him God pace.

“Mr McHugh seems to have suffered significantly from the coldness of the cell through which he was confined in Sligo, the temperature of the house we study virtually touching zero.” (Sligo Champion 1890-02-08)

Mr P. A. McHugh was launched from Tullamore Jail on June 2nd, 1890, and returned to a hero’s welcome in Sligo.

Mr McHugh’s subsequent incarceration was in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin.

By this time, he was a member of the primary Sligo County Council, which had convened on April sixth 1899.

He was prosecuted in Sligo on December thirteenth, 1900, for publishing three “seditious libel” articles in Sligo Champions throughout 1899 and 1900.

He had questioned and criticised the number of the jurors in a courtroom case relating to the prosecution of two males who had been accused of intimidating a ‘landgrabber.’

On December twenty first, 1900, the prosecution moved for a change of venue from Sligo to Dublin as a result of they felt that “a good and neutral trial,” couldn’t be heard in Sligo.

The reason is that “Mr McHugh was the proprietor of The Sligo Champion, a newspaper which had a big circulation within the city and county of Sligo amongst the courses from which the jury panel, each particular and customary, had been drawn.

The defendant was additionally a member of the Sligo County Council.” Accordingly, the venue was modified to Dublin. (Sligo Unbiased 1900-12-29)

On April twenty second, 1901, on the 4 Courts, Mr P. A. McHugh was sentenced to 6 months in Kilmainham Jail.

He was launched on October twenty first, 1901. (Sligo Unbiased 1901-10-26)

In 1902, Mr McHugh was once more prosecuted for articles revealed within the Champion and was imprisoned in Sligo Gaol. Chapter in 1903 meant a short lived trip of his North Leitrim seat.

Throughout this time, his newspaper was revealed by Bernard McTernan underneath the title of the Sligo Nationalist.

Within the 1906 Normal Election, P. A. McHugh was returned for each constituencies of North Leitrim and North Sligo. He finally selected the Sligo seat.

Mr P. A. McHugh served six sentences underneath the Coercion Act in 4 separate phrases of imprisonment. But, on every launch, he emerged undaunted and was hailed a hero by his loyal followers.

Sadly Mr McHugh’s well being failed, and on Could thirty first 1909, he died in hospital in Dublin. A lifetime of unflinching precept on behalf of his constituents, coupled with lengthy hours of labor, conferences, and time spent in appalling circumstances in gaol, had undermined his well being.

“A NATION’S LOSS” was how the Sligo Champion described the demise of Mr P. A. McHugh, journalist, orator and scholar, on Could thirty first 1909.

Eire had misplaced a “fearless and unflinching advocate within the vindication of their simply rights.”

Mr McHugh was all the time ready to make any private sacrifice to defend the Irish individuals. He was an “in a position, eloquent and strenuous employee within the nationalist trigger” and “there was no extra amiable, tolerant, and kindly Irish gentleman than Pat McHugh, as he was recognized to his mates.”

He was “one of the vital high-minded and pure-souled Irish patriots, essentially the most devoted and affectionate of mates, and the noblest and most upright of males.”

The overall outpouring of grief that met the information of his demise resulted in lots of tributes and led to the organising of a McHugh Memorial Committee in August 1909 to collect the required finance to erect a monument to his reminiscence in Sligo.

On St. Patrick’s Day 1913, the inspiration stone of the monument in honour of Mr P. A. McHugh was laid by Alderman Edward Foley, J.P., Chairman of the Memorial Committee, within the backside of O’Connell St. in entrance of the Submit workplace.

He had been introduced with a silver trowel for the aim.

Throughout an emotional speech, John Mcloughlin mentioned he was proud to hitch his humble voice with the others to pay tribute to P. A. McHugh.

He mentioned that in 1882, the tenant farmers had been merely serfs on their very own land and that Mr McHugh had labored on their behalf with voice and pen. What was the outcome?

“We stand to-day with landlordism damaged down-smashed to atoms-and the ability of Dublin fort trembling within the stability, having only some months extra of existence (cheers).”

Once more, to loud cheers, he mentioned that P.A. McHugh, together with John Redmond and John Dillon, was instrumental in abolishing the Grand Jury system and establishing the Native Authorities Act, which they now had.

When Mr McHugh was refused admission to Ballymote courthouse on the event of the primary County Conference there in 1899, he broke down the door with a sledgehammer, and that was the day {that a} lethal blow was struck in opposition to Fort rule in Eire.

“Allow us to work every person to make that monument an enduring memorial, for future generations to look upon, to one of many noblest, most illustrious and self-sacrificing leaders of his time.”

The assembly completed with the singing of “A Nation As soon as Once more”, with everyone becoming a member of within the music.

On October twenty ninth 1916, the memorial in honour of Mr P.A. McHugh was unveiled in Sligo by Mr John Redmond.

Mr Redmond mentioned that no larger praise was ever paid to him than to be requested to participate within the ceremony to do honour to the reminiscence of Patrick Aloysius McHugh.

“He was a patriot and a scholar, a fearless comrade and a devoted good friend.”

Mr Redmond went on to say that if he had been requested what Mr McHugh’s chief attributes had been, he would say: braveness, sound widespread sense, and absolute unselfishness.

“Eire is the poorer for the demise of McHugh. I want we had extra of his stamp.

“If we had, there can be much less of false sentiment and extra of sensible patriotism in Eire.”

“I belief that this monument will educate future generations the teachings of Pat McHugh’s life – classes of persistence, knowledge, and customary sense; classes of utter unselfishness, classes of braveness and sensible patriotism. These are the teachings this statue ought to educate.”

– Supply: The Sligo Champion, June/July 1909, March 1913, October/November 1916.)

-Courtesy of Native Research and Reference Library, Stephen Road, Sligo.