PAUL GORRY - GORRY RESEARCH
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who is Paul Gorry?
    • What is Gorry Research?
    • Books by Paul Gorry >
      • Credentials for Genealogists
  • Our Services
    • Commissioned Research
    • Publication
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Links
PAUL GORRY
 this and that!  -  a very occasional blog

Sam McAllister: Our Oldest Resident

20/4/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
​If you were to take a photograph to capture the essence of Baltinglass you might think of a general view of the town from the Carlow Road, or one of the Abbey from across the river.  But you’re as likely to think of the McAllister monument as your symbol of Baltinglass.  McAllister has been at the heart of the town for a lot longer than living memory.  In fact, Sam McAllister has been standing in Main Street for exactly one hundred years [first published in 2004].
 
In May 1904 a huge crowd gathered for the unveiling of the new statue to commemorate the 1798 Rebellion.  Six years had passed since the centenary, but the idea of a monument had only been mooted in Baltinglass at a meeting in March 1898.  Raising money for the statue was a long process.  Two organisations based in Dublin were the driving forces behind the commemorations throughout Wicklow.  On a local level the Dwyer and McAllister Memorial Committee did their best to raise funds.  However, much of the money came from outside Ireland, with emigrants in America subscribing substantially.
 
The first ceremony at the monument site was the laying of the foundation stone on Sunday 15 June 1902.  Special trains ran from Dublin with a return fare of two shillings.  Hundreds of people poured into the town.  Despite unrelenting rain, there was a long parade before the stone was laid by E.P. O’Kelly, the Baltinglass man who was then Chairman of Wicklow County Council.
 
It was almost another two years before the monument was put in place and unveiled.  On Sunday 8 May 1904 an estimated 10,000 people crowded into the town.  Fortunately it was a sunny day.  A parade started at the railway station, where the Lord Mayor of Dublin and other dignitaries arrived.  With flags, banners, costumes and marching bands, it was an exciting day for Baltinglass in an era when entertainment was not to be had at the press of a button.
 
So began Sam McAllister’s long vigil in Main Street.  The railings that once surrounded the base of the statue were removed decades ago to be placed at McAllister’s grave in Kilranelagh.  In more recent years the area around the statue was paved, and now Sam is floodlit at night [not anymore].  After a hundred years keeping watch over the town McAllister is recognisable to all Baltinglass people as a symbol of home.  But the irony is that the real Sam McAllister was an outsider with no real links to the town.
 
Little is known about McAllister’s life other than that he was a Presbyterian, originally from Ulster, who deserted from the Antrim Militia and joined the rebels.  The historian Ruán O’Donnell says that McAllister joined the Antrim Militia on 1 April 1798 in Co. Wicklow and that he may have been resident in the area at the time.  That being the case, there is a strong possibility that he was living in Stratford, where there was a significant number of Presbyterians among the weavers working in the textile factory.
 
What gave him his heroic reputation was the circumstance of his death in the early hours of 16 February 1799.  A group of rebels led by Michael Dwyer were sheltering for the night at Derrynamuck in the Glen of Imaal.  They were ambushed by a detachment of soldiers and McAllister was wounded in an exchange of fire.  In order that Dwyer might escape, McAllister stood in the doorway and drew the fire of the surrounding soldiers.
 
Unlike other rebellions in Irish history, 1798 involved people from various religious backgrounds.  In Ulster it was primarily a Presbyterian phenomenon; in Leinster it was primarily Catholic, but there were Church of Ireland activists, such as Joseph Holt from east Wicklow.  However, it has to be admitted that in Wicklow the revolt had a sectarian element and the rebels were no heroes to the general Protestant population.
 
Sam McAllister was, therefore, something of an oddity.  It would be nice to think that the choice of McAllister for the Baltinglass monument was primarily inspired by a desire to be inclusive of all elements in Irish society.  However, tradition has it that he was selected in place of Michael Dwyer because Dwyer was held responsible in Baltinglass for a sectarian killing spree in Sruhaun and Tuckmill on 8 December 1798.
 
Monuments have a way of developing their own character.  In 1904 McAllister represented heroism in rebellion.  After a century on the street in Baltinglass, Sam has become a symbol of the town.  The real Sam McAllister was an outsider.  His image in the heart of our town is a reminder that today’s outsider is tomorrow’s old resident.
 
[First published in The Baltinglass Review, 2004]

2 Comments

    Paul Gorry

    I'm a genealogist by profession, with credentials from AGI.  I also dabble in local history and the history of Irish golfers, and I'm always writing something!

    Archives

    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    1798
    1916
    AGI
    Ancestral Lines
    Baltinglass
    Book
    Bridges
    Brophy Family
    Carlow
    Databases
    Delgany
    Dennis Family
    Derrynamuck
    Descent
    Disney Family
    Dominick Blake
    Eamonn Darcy
    Finn McCool
    Folklore
    Fred Ballingall
    Garth McGimpsey
    Genealogy
    Golf History
    Golf Internationals
    Graveyards
    Great War
    Greystones
    Gwen Brandom
    Hacketstown
    Halloween
    Harry Bradshaw
    Hezlet
    Hume Cronyn
    Hume Family
    Irish Golf
    Irish Professional Championship
    Joe Carr
    Joe McCartney
    John Burke
    Jones Family
    Juggies
    Keadeen
    Kiltegan
    Lahinch
    Lionel Munn
    Local History
    Martin Family
    McDermott
    Methodists
    Michael Dwyer
    Pat Doyle
    Philomena Garvey
    Professional Genealogists
    Rathmoon
    Rathvilly
    Rootsireland.ie
    Roscommon
    Sam McAllister
    South Of Ireland
    Stratford Family
    Talbotstown
    Tradition
    Tulsk
    Walker Cup
    War Dead
    Wicklow
    Woodenbridge

    RSS Feed

Picture
PAUL GORRY IS A MEMBER OF ACCREDITED GENEALOGISTS IRELAND

Picture

​Paul Gorry on Social Media
Picture
CONTACT US
​84 Ardglass
Baltinglass
Co. Wicklow
​ W91 RH59
Ireland
​info@gorryresearch.ie
Copyright © 2019 Paul Gorry
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Who is Paul Gorry?
    • What is Gorry Research?
    • Books by Paul Gorry >
      • Credentials for Genealogists
  • Our Services
    • Commissioned Research
    • Publication
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Links