Putting a stop to their Gallop.
Carlow Sentinel. April 12th , 1919.
- Carlow Hunt and
Sportman's Races.
- to be run
- Over A Course At
Ballybar.
- Monday April 31st
1919.
Stewards.
W.H. Grogan, Master Fox Hounds. Lord
Rathdonnell, Michael Governey, Henry Bruen, Capt. W.F. Forbes,
Resident Magistrate; R.F. Bagenal, Colonel H. Eustace-Duckett, Major
Alexander, J. Fenton, Denis R. Pack-Beresford, H. Alexander, R.L.
Pike, R.W. Hall-Dare, Col. R. Browne-Clayton, D.S.O; General B.
Lewis, D.S.O., C. B. Judge - General R. Lewis D.S.O., C.B.; Starter -
Richard Fenton. Clerk of the Scales and Course - H. Herring-Cooper.
Hon. Sec.- H. Herring-Cooper.
Riders to wear hunting costume.
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From the PPP.
Letter addressed to,
Lord Rathdonnell, Lisnavagh. Brigadier-General
Robert Browne-Clayton, Brownes Hill. Mr.W.E. Grogan, Moyle House:~~
Carlow, April 11th 1919.
Sirs,
Owing to the treatment of political prisoners
in Belfast and other jails, we the undersigned, will not permit the
Carlow Hunt Races to be run over the land unless the accompanying
resolution be signed by the Carlow Hunt Race Committee. ---
Signed by, Peter Doyle, Clonmelsh. Richard
Doyle, Clonmelsh. Laurence Connell.
Letter addressed to,
H. Herring Cooper, Esq:~~
Graiguecullen Sinn Fein Club, 11th April 1919.
Sir,
At a meeting of the above Club held today, I
was directed to get into communication with the owners of the lands
of Milford, over which the Hunt Races are to be run on Easter
Monday, with a view to preventing same unless a resolution as
attached was adopted by your Hunt Races Committee, and copies of
same sent to the Press and Mr. Ian McPearson. ---
Yours truly, P.Whitney, P.Gaffney, Hon. Secs.
RESOLUTION.
RESOLVED ---That we the members of the Hunt
Races Committee, strongly protest against the callous and harsh
treatment meted out to our fellow-countrymen in Belfast and other
Irish and British Prisons, and also condemn the breach of faith of
the Castle Authorities in their compact with Most Rev. Dr. McRory,
L.O' Neill, Lord Mayor of Dublin; and Austin Stack, T.D.E.
Signed:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carlow Sentinel. April 19th. 1919.
Carlow Hunt Races Abandoned.
The Committee of the Carlow Hunt Sportsman's
Races have been forced to abandon the fixture for Easter Monday. The
popularity of this sporting event has not lessened, but
unfortunately the efforts of a section of the community to force
politics into the hunting field have been sufficiently successful to
compel the Stewards of the Hunt Club to cancel many fixtures,
including amongst others such favourites meets as those of
Punchestown and Fairyhouse, patronised by sporting men all the
country over, while for the same reason, minor events have had to
follow suit.
All the preliminaries for the Carlow races,
which were looked forward to by the Easter holiday makers, were
completed when the obstructionists intervened, making it a condition
that the Stewards should sign a petition in connection with the
treatment of political prisoners. This condition, needless to say
could not under the rules of the National Hunt Club be complied
with, and consequently they had no alternative but that of
abandoning the races - a decision which will necessarily prove a
great disappointment to the community at large.
Note added by Michael
Purcell 2010. Despite the fact that Fox- Hunting and Race Meetings
were abandoned all over Ireland, the organisers having yielded to
pressure from Sinn Fein, the Carlow Hunt Club advertised a Race
Meeting for April 31st 1919. This was to be the first of many
encounters during the War of Independence between the Gentry of the
county and Sinn Fein.
Note from
Turtle Bunbury
It may be of interest to some to note that on
Easter Sunday, April 30th 1919, ie the day before the abandoned race
meeting referred to below, Leonard Hutcheson Poe (1888-1929),
general manager of Lisnavagh, Rathvilly, Co. Carlow, married
Kathleen Gladys Grogan, daughter of William Edward Grogan of Slaney
Park, Co Wicklow, (and sometime of Moyle), who was Master of the
Carlow Hunt at this time.
Leonard was a grandson of the Tipperary
solicitor William Thomas Poe.
His father was Captain George Leslie Poe
(1846-1934), Royal Navy, of Santry Court, Dublin, and Glen Ban,
Abbeyleix. His mother was Mary Caldecott (d.28 Nov 1934), eldest
daughter of Edward Charley of Conway House, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim.
Leonard’s older brother Captain Charles Vernon Leslie Poe, KRRC, was
born in 1880 and served in the Boer War and the Great War but was
killed in action with the Expeditionary Force in March 1915.
(Reported missing March 8th). Leonard’s older sister Violet Mary Poe
(1878-1940) was married in 1902 to Gerald Edward Campbell Maconchy,
youngest son of George Maconchy of Rathmore, Co. Longford, and has
issue. Leonard’s youngest sister Muriel Gladys Poe was born in 1882,
won the MBE in 1920 and died unmarried on 30 August 1942. Leonard’s
uncle Sir Hutcheson Poe lived at Heywood Gardens and entertained
Empress Sisi of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when she visited. It is
worth looking at the profiles of both Sir Hutchison Poe and his
brother Admiral Sir Edmund Salmon Poe again, as they were
considerable achievers in the military, naval and art worlds of late
Victorian and early Edwardian era.
Turtle Bunbury
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The above is a true and
accurate transcript of the original document.
- Transcribed by M. Purcell c2010.
- Old newspapers in the PPP.