1844, Horses Killed!,
Names mentioned:
Connor, White.
Two page letter or "Information" in the
Pat Purcell Papers, dated 31st December 1844, addressed to
the Assembly of The Grand Jury for Carlow.
The Information of Shewbridge Connor.
Physician to the County Carlow Fever Hospital and officer of Health
for the Parish of Carlow. Who being duly sworn on the Holy
Evangelists.
Saith
--
That a Pond of filthy water of
considerable size has existed for many years opposite to the County
Court House on the Dublin Road.
That said Pond in his opinion is a
fertile source of contagious disease as Typhus Fever is frequently
prevalent in and but seldom absent from its immediate vicinity.
That from its unenclosed state and from
being many feet below the level of the High road adjoining it is
attended with great danger to the Public in proof - That about noon of
a certain day in the month of May last Her Majesty's Mail Coach was
upset into it and in consequence some Horses were killed, and many
human lives placed in most imminent peril.
That endeavours have been made,
(but apparently in vain) to interest the Proprietor and his
Agents in this important matter.
That he fears, unless the authorities
abate or indict this nuisance it will remain for ever a source of
Danger and Disease to the Inhabitants of this
town.
He also Maketh Oath and Saith that the
state of the unenclosed ground adjoining said pond, tends much to
injure the purity of the air, and is very disgusting to senses, as it
is a receptacle for the filth Collected in the town.
Sworn before me at Carlow in said County
this 31st December 1844.
Being a
Justice of the Peace appointed by our most Sovereign Majesty,
Victoria, Queen, acting in
and for said County.
-
[signed ] Matthew Edmond White.
-
[signed ] Shewbridge Connor.
[Note added by Michael Purcell 2012 -
according to notes in the PPP, the "pond" area referred to in the
above Information is where Statham's / Dooley's garage stood on the
Dublin Road.
Shewbridge
Connor was known as "the
Survivor Shewbridge" because he had survived a drowning accident in
1820 when a boat capsized at Meelick Bay, killing four men including
his two brothers.
Shewbridge was born in 1803 to Ogle Connor
M.D. and his wife Sidney Shewbridge in Dublin. Shewbridge died at
Carlow in February 1865. During his final illness he requested that
his son, also named Shewbridge Connor, be appointed as Health Officer
for the Parish of Carlow but this request met with some opposition.
Historian Alfie O'Brien publish the following
interesting piece on Dr Shewbridge Connor on
www.clonrush.eu -----
The Survivor, Shewbridge Connor, at seventeen
years was the youngest among the ill-fated party. Having already
completed two years at Trinity College, he returned there after his
ordeal and graduated with a B.A. degree within three years. Following
further study at the College of Surgeons, he qualified as a doctor in
1826 and practised at the Lying-in hospitals in the city. He was
appointed medical officer to counties Clare and Donegal during the
cholera epidemic of 1832. It could be fair to presume that he
especially petitioned to be assigned to these particular counties, so
far apart and distant from where he lived, so that he would have the
opportunity to visit Clonrush graveyard as he passed by on route to
Ennis, and also to visit his relatives in Co. Donegal.
He received a permanent post at Carlow Fever
Hospital in 1836 and later at the dispensary where he was to remain.
Keen to share his medical experience, he contributed to the Dublin
Medical Press, with articles on fever and natural remedies. He married
Elizabeth Walker and they had four children -- Fanny 1839; Shewbridge
John; Willis Ogle and the youngest Cecil Crampton, born 1852.
Dr. Shewbridge Connor was particularly concerned about the
number of deaths that occurred at lime-kilns. Though they were
considered to be a desirable facility among the farming community, in
the production of lime for agricultural use, the lime-kiln presented a
particular hazard to health and life while it was burning. When
limestone is subjected to great heat, carbonic acid gas is given off
and the pure lime remains. This gas being heavier than air was slow to
disperse, the movement being further hampered by the usual practice of
siting the kiln against the cliff of a hill or a high wall. Strangely,
it wasn't the workers at the kiln that became the usual victims,
though no doubt, they would keep to the side of the kiln facing the
breeze, for their own comfort if not for their safety, and they rarely
worked alone.
As late evening would come, a stillness
of air may ensue, while the fire of necessity would burn on. The
deserted kiln now became enshrouded in this poisonous gas, which was
invisible and had no smell, thus it presented no deterrent to a
visitor to linger. A burning kiln within sight of the public road was
a prime attraction to the homeless or itinerant who in their ignorance
would seek the comfort of the heat where they could rest for the
night. Neighbours also, oblivious to the danger, would go to the kiln
in the quiet hours, to boil pots or to dry clothes.
Inhalation of the gas would induce a
sudden drowsiness or sleep and the unsuspecting victims suffocated
where they lay, or falling into the fire or close to it, may be found
blackened and dried up, partly consumed, or the bones may be the only
remnants picked up. The men coming to dress the kiln after a night’s
absence, may find one or two individuals in some of the states
described; or may occasionally be in time to arouse them from their
dangerous sleep or to pluck them from the burning mass, only to see
them -- as Dr. Connor points out -- occupy for months a hospital bed,
perhaps to the exclusion of some labourer stricken with natural and
unavoidable disease.
In order to get a countrywide perspective of the incidence of
such deaths, Dr. Connor sent a questionnaire to the various county
coroners with mixed results. Some declined to reply, others admitted
that they were not situated in a limestone area of the country and had
no knowledge of it, or that a verdict of accidental death would often
be recorded in such cases, without note or comment. Others attested to
Dr. Connor's experience from their own records.
For the purpose of bringing the matter to
the attention of the authorities and to educate the general public to
the dangers, he wrote a booklet which he titled 'Aolee' -- 'aol' being
the Irish for lime --a word which he extends to assume the guise of 'Thuggee'
and 'Suttee' (suffocation and burning ) -- the then outlawed Indian
custom of burning widows, to which the careless exposure of the
lime-kiln to vulnerable individuals, bore as he saw it, a comparison
in its disregard for human life.
Accordingly, he sub-titled his book
"Human Sacrifices in Ireland". In it he calls for an official enquiry
from the clerks of the crown coroners and others, into the apathy or
indifference which prevailed in relation to such deaths, in contrast
to other potential dangers where every precaution was taken to prevent
it. Lime-kilns in the vicinity of towns were the haunts of loiterers
and the profligate and a theatre for vice; occasionally the body of a
murder victim would be thrown into the kiln to conceal the crime. In
his book, he outlines a number of measures which should be
implemented, such as, a compulsory fencing off of the kilns to prevent
un-authorised access; making a point by analogy, he states: "Persons
of humanity would strive to save the fly that hovers round their
light." He also recommended the removal of the kilns that were in the
proximity of schools and playgrounds, and from populous areas.
Lime was a valuable commodity in the building trade, in which
the upper classes or people with votes had a vested interest, and any
suggestion that might have a negative effect on its production, met
with rebuff. The urban dwellers in the suburbs of towns, close to
whose homes a lime-kiln might be situated, had little influence, since
in any case, they had no vote.
One Michael Blake of Carlow, writing of
his difficult situation to Shewbridge, knowing his stance on the
matter, stated:
"I did expend some portion of my philanthropy, striving to
avert a dangerous nuisance, a lime-kiln, which is built up against my
house, and is now in active use, which is unlawful and unjust. The
carbonic sulphur of this kiln has often descended into my house and
attacked every one of my family with head-ache. I have also spent some
of my money at law, hoping to get justice and have this nuisance
abated. However, all my exertions were in vain because there was a
vote out of this political lime-kiln."
Michael being overjoyed that someone of
influence had rallied to his support continues:- "It seems mercifully
intended by the Almighty, that a gentleman would be inspired with
feelings of humanity, to save unprepared sinners from a sudden death
and be the means of averting this cause of human destruction. Many a
prayer you have got . . . May you be guarded from all enemies, visible
and invisible and saved from a sudden or an un-provided death."
Unrewarding, as if it were, of his efforts to save the lives of
the underprivileged, Dr. Connor continued to witness untimely deaths
within his own family. His daughter Fanny died at the age of seventeen
years and his wife Bessy died when their youngest child was only six
years old. He died himself in Carlow on the 20th February 1865, aged
62 years.
Shewbridge Connor
Shewbridge John Connor (junior), succeeded his father as M.D.
at the dispensary in Carlow until 1873 when the family migrated;
destination unknown. He married Anne Elizabeth Allen and three
children were born in Carlow prior to their departure -- Mary
Elizabeth; Annie and Robert Shewbridge. Shewbridge Connor (senior) had
an older brother John who was also a doctor. John had a son Sidney
Shewbridge -- a name which he adapted from his grandmother. Sidney
worked as a clerk in Macroom, Co. Cork, where he married Elizabeth
Fetherston of the same place in 1869, but did not remain. Perhaps, an
associated descendant may yet travel to Whitegate; visit Meelick Bay
and Clonrush graveyard, and so recall a forgotten chapter in their
family history.
Alfie notes that Shewbridge had a
flag-stone table erected on raised masonry in Clonrush graveyard to
the memory of those who died ---
- Sacred to the memory of
- Ogle Nesbitt
Connor 79th Reg-md
- Willis Connor A.B.T.C.D.
- John Keys T.C.D.
- The Rev. Isaac Daniel B.D.T.C.D.
- 16th July 1820
- Erected A.D.1841 by the survivor
Shewbridge Connor M.D. Carlow.
Source: M. Purcell 2014.
Please report any links or images which do not open to
mjbrennan30@gmail.com
- The copying of these images and or
text is
strictly forbidden without the express permission of the owner of these
images and material
- The information contained in these
pages is provided solely for the purpose of sharing with others researching
their ancestors in Ireland.
- © 2001 Ireland Genealogy
Projects, IGP TM
By Pre-emptive Copyright - All rights reserved
TOP OF PAGE