The weather was bad when Joseph Hutchinson arrived in Tullamore. For 22 years Hutchinson had dedicated himself to the Irish National Foresters and as a result a small mutual aid society founded by 18 men in Dublin, had spread across the globe and recruited over 20,000 members in Ireland. On Sunday 9 April 1899, Hutchinson had come to the midlands to recruit some more members and establish the first INF branch in King’s County. His visit that day would have profound repercussions for Tullamore, but it had its roots in the north of England.
Killaderry civil parish, is part of the ancient territory of Clann Colgain which was made up of three tuaths. The parish lies in an area which splits Kilclonfert civil parish into two parts and has the town of Daingean at its Centre.
Down is in the Electoral Division of Mountbriscoe, in Civil Parish of Killaderry, in the Barony of Lower Philipstown, in the County of Offaly The Irish name for Down is Domhain meaning Deep.
Down townland has a possible burial mound here and there is also a platform ringfort in the townland which is 26 metres in diameter and enclosed by a slight bank. [1]
Today with the canal being a popular walking destination, you can see along the canals places associated with the townlands . Just outside Rhode, on the way to Edenderry, are the ruins of old windmills of the eighteenth century. These once had a wind shaft mounted in the cap (one is preserved at the Guinness brewery and was used by the Roe distillery). The wind turned the millstones in the tower below and were used to help ground grains for flour.
Seven windmills are known to have been constructed during this period in Offaly. By 1830, most of the windmills had gone out of service. The last windmill to be used was dated up to 1880, called the Fahy Windmill[1]. Tullamore had two in the eighteenth century on the hill behind O’Moore Street.
Along our Grand Canal Journey from Edenderry to Shannon Harbour we come to Rogerstown, a small townland, in the Electoral Division of Monasteroris, in the Civil Parish of Monasteroris, in the Barony of Coolestown, in the County of Offaly.
The Irish name for Rogerstown is Baile Risteird meaning Richard’s/land.
(01.Monasteroris civil parish from the Index map Kings’ County 1838. Image source Offaly History Centre)
This article looks at the north Offaly towns featured in Major (later general) Vallancey’s report carried out in 1771 and designed to support the construction of the new Grand Canal line to Tullamore and the Shannon. Vallancey was then a young engineer, employed to report to the Commissioners of Inland Navigation and his findings were published in, AReport on the Grand Canal or Southern Line (Dublin 1771).[1] This report is useful as a window on some of the north King’s County (hereafter generally referred to as Offaly) towns and villages.[2]
Nineteenth-century Edenderry experienced a prolonged building programme, spearheaded by successive members of the Hill family, marquess’ of Downshire. Chief amongst these was the building of a branch line of the Grand Canal to Edenderry in 1802, furthering the line which had passed within two kilometres of the town in 1796. This line brought extensive investment to the area and was the catalyst for the building of stone and slated houses which replaced cottages and cabins.
Jane W. Shackleton’s Ireland compiled by Christiaan Corlett (Cork, 2012) is an attractive large format publication was issued by Collins Press and consists of 180 well produced photographs by Jane Shackleton. These pictures are important for the photographic record in County Offaly and mostly date to 1894.
Not surprisingly there are many pictures of mills in this book and there are about ten pictures of Offaly interest. Jane Shackleton started taking pictures in the 1880s and made several tours on the Shannon and along the Grand Canal and Barrow lines. These waterways photographs contribute greatly to the history of the canals and the great mills which were associated with river locations. Many of these were in fact owned by Quaker industrialists. Like other interested women of the period Jane Shackleton was a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries (RSAI) and took photographs of some of their tours including that of June 1904 around Ireland. Midleton Biddulph, the amateur photographer and retired army officer of Rathrobin near Tullamore was also on this trip and some of his pictures survive and have been published as Rathrobin and the two Irelands; the photographs of Middleton Westenra Biddulph, 1900–1920 (Tullamore, 2021). Corlett informs us that the Shackleton collection consists of 1,000 lantern slides and 44 albums containing several thousand prints, mostly of Irish subjects. This writer had the pleasure of seeing some of the Grand Canal and the turf works at Pollagh back in the early 1970s with Richard Shackleton and Jonathan Shackleton.
Along our Grand Canal Journey from Edenderry to Shannon Harbour we come to Rathmore, a small townlands, on the south side of the canal. Rathmore is in the Electoral Division of Edenderry Rural, in Civil Parish of Monasteroris, in the Barony of Coolestown, in the County of Offaly.
The Irish name for Rathmore is An Ráth Mór meaning great, big ring-fort.
Here we can find the site of a possible Enclosure, it can be seen in outline from aerial photos. Enclosures are one of the most common sites found in Co. Offaly, with over hundred found all over the county. They are often similar to other types of enclosures defined either by a bank or a fosse, such as the Ringforts.
They are identified from other enclosures by being either very large or small and without an entrance. Many are only known as cropmarks, visible only from aerial view, they have no original dates but some may be from the Iron Age.
At the opening of the nineteenth century Edenderry was said by one observer to soon ‘be a heap of ruins.’[i] The new Grand Canal was expected to bring relief to Edenderry and the surrounding hinterland. In the aftermath of the 1760s economic downturn in the woollen industry Edenderry suffered greatly having once employed 1,000 workers in the trade.[ii] The Downshire estate in the town and surrounding hinterland consisted of 14,000 statute acres of land.[iii]
The linking of Edenderry to the canal was of economic necessity in the last decade of the eighteenth century. As Ciarán Reilly explains:
‘Without the Grand Canal, Edenderry in the nineteenth century would have not as prospered as it did, the canal providing a much needed communication network and transportation for goods such as peat, corn and flour to Dublin.’[iv]
Charles Vallancey believed ‘the peasantry are starving and nothing will contribute so much to their relief as the Inland Navigation.’ John Hatch, as Edenderry agent for the Blundell estate was aware of the potential for economic progress of the Grand Canal for the town. (5 W. A. Maguire, ‘Missing persons: Edenderry under the Blundells and the Downshires, 1707-1922’ in William Nolan and Timothy P. O’Neill (eds), Offaly: History & Society (Dublin, 1998), pp 515-542 at p. 524.)
In June 1787 Hatch alerted the Blundells that it was confirmed the canal would pass near Edenderry:
‘… by this resolution of the company everything will rise again and higher than ever and I have not now the smallest doubt of our going on with the canal to or near Edenderry.’[vi]
Richard Biggs was born in Devizes, Wiltshire, England into a Presbyterian family of educated and educators. Religious faith was prevalent in the paternal side of his family. Richards’s great grandfather James Biggs became a Presbyterian Minister, his grandfather Richard Biggs became a Senior Deacon and alongside Richard’s father Richard W. Biggs ran a highly acclaimed private boarding school for boys in Devizes Wiltshire between 1822 and 1865.
Richard Biggs’ (b.1847) maternal side were the Purser family of Rathmines Castle. His mother Sarah Purser was the youngest daughter of John Purser’s first marriage to Sarah Smith. The Pursers were also educated, and educators. Richards’s uncles and cousins were Civil Engineers, Chief Engineers, Barristers, Millers and Grain Merchants, Physicians, Artist, Secretaries, Teachers, including Professors of Mathematics, some of the Purser family worked and owned shares in the firm of Guinness Brewers Dublin. It is said that John Purser who died in Cork in 1781 was the first to brew porter In Ireland[i]
Richard Biggs’ (1847) early education began in the Biggs boarding school in Devizes alongside his cousin John Purser (b.1835). Some members of the Geoghegan family also attended the school (www.devizesheritage online). John Purser received numerous prizes and awards for his mathematical skills. He became tutor to the four sons of William Parsons earl of Rosse Birr, in 1857, including Charles Algernon Rosse who is known for inventing the steam turbine. Another first cousin, Sarah Henrietta Purser (b.1848) a well-known artist and stain glass worker who launched An Tur Gloine (The Tower of Glass), was the first female member of the Royal Hibernian Academy 1923. Sarah painted amongst others, William Butler Yeats, Maude Gonne and Countess Markievicz, some of her stained glass work is in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. A further first cousin, Alfred Purser (1847), a School Inspector, married Ellen Hilderbrand. Their daughter Olive Constance Purser born in Parsonstown (1886) was one of the first women to be admitted to Trinity College Dublin in 1904. Both Richard Biggs (b.1847) and son Henry Biggs (1882) are named in The Atlas of Irish Mathematics Fermanagh 2022 (online).
Birr 1869–1874, the death of Mary Ward and the new school founded
Mary Ward, died Birr, 1869.
On the 28 July 1869 Richard Biggs, BA, Scholar of Trinity College Dublin, under the immediate patronage of the Earl of Rosse advertised in the Kings County Chronicle that he intended opening a school for young gentlemen in Parsonstown (Birr). The following advertisement reads under the headline Education: ‘Mr Richard Biggs BA, Scholar of Trinity College Dublin, and Honourman in the University of London announces that he intends early in September to open a SCHOOL FOR DAY PUPILS in his premises recently occupied for that purpose at 15, Oxmantown Mall, Parsonstown, and that he is also making arrangements for the reception of boarders [This house was later that of Mrs Burbage ]. In seeking to establish a first-rate school in this neighbourhood, Mr Biggs is honoured and encouraged by the immediate patronage of the Right Hon. the Earl of Rosse. Full particulars of the terms, the course of study etc. will be given on application. Birr Castle, Parsonstown’ (KCC 04 August 1869).
Oxmantown Mall c. 1900. The first school at no 15 was on the lower left. The Ward accident took place on the right corner below the trees.
On the 31st of August 1869 Richard was driving a steam engine when an unfortunate accident occurred, Mary Ward a scientist, astronomer, microscopist, and author was thrown from the vehicle. Mary’s death is known as the world’s first recorded motor vehicle accident. The following day, Richard Biggs gave evidence at the inquest as follows: ‘I was guiding the engine, at the corner of Cumberland Street and Oxmantown Mall on yesterday, at about half past 8 o’clock, we had just turned into Cumberland Street when I felt a slight jolt and saw Mrs Ward fall, I jumped off immediately, I cannot give any reason for the jolt’. The jury returned a verdict that ‘Mary Ward’s death was caused by an accidental fall from a steam engine on which she had been riding in the town of Parsonstown the previous day. The jury expressed their sympathy towards the Hon. Capt. Ward, they also stated there was no blame attaching to any person in connection with the occurrence.’ [ii]
The Rosse boys were educated at home. Charles Parsons did exceptionally well.
A year after the fatal death of Mary Ward Richard Biggs married Sarah Francis Geoghegan (c.1848) daughter of Thomas Geoghegan MD and Anne Purser, eldest daughter of John Purser’s first marriage to Sarah Smith in Dublin on the 12 January 1870. Sarah Geoghegan’s brothers Thomas Grace Purser (c1841) and William Purser (1843) were in 1870 leading brewers in the Guinness brewery, another brother Samuel (1848) followed as a leading brewer later becoming chief engineer to the firm. [iii] A daughter was born to Richard and Sarah at the Parsonstown School in August 1872.
Various articles in the King’s County Chronicle between 1872 and 1874 report:
Mr Biggs threw open the Chesterfield school grounds for the Sunday school of Birr Church to hold their annual fete (July 1872). Mr Biggs also threw the school grounds open to the respectable public so they could witness ‘this species of development of muscular Christianity’ at the Chesterfield Sports Day. (December 1873). Chesterfield school pupil Mr L’Estrange broke his left arm whilst enjoying a game of football in the recreation grounds, Mrs Biggs immediately placed him under the care of Dr Myles (February 1874). The Leinster Reporter mentions Dr Biggs Chesterfield Grammar School is now one of the best regulated and patronised private colleges in the country has consulted with builder Mr M. Moran in relation to building a new wing to accommodate the increasing number of boarders (LR 15 October 1874) An advertisement requesting ladies and gentlemen to join the choir of which Richard Biggs. L.L.D. was the Hon Sec. of Parsonstown’s Choral Society. (December 1874).
Chesterfield, Parsonstown [Birr] School
The following article of 1874 describes Birr’s/Parsonstown’s Chesterfield School run by Richard Biggs under the headline:
Probably Parsonstown stands first among provincial towns, as far as the facilities for obtaining a first-class education are concerned. To be sure in Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen and some other towns, there were endowed grammar schools; but thanks to Richard Biggs, Esq., M.A. Parsonstown, unendowed as it is, has all the advantages and privileges of the Royal School districts. Besides laying out a considerable sum in putting the fabric of Chesterfield School and the surrounding ground into a condition such as Eton might be proud of, and besides devoting his own time in the class room with a constancy which is downright amazing, considering Mr Biggs is a gentleman of independent private means, this philanthropic scholar has given other proofs without number of his resolution to make Chesterfield School second to none in the country. And it is gratifying to know that his exertions are receiving extending encouragement, as the number of the pupils attest to the value of his endeavours. Within the past ten weeks four additional masters, teachers of the various classic and modern continental languages, have been appointed by Biggs. The various details belonging to a first-class school, are not wanting and in the local appointments, Mr Biggs is to be congratulated. The Department Instructor, in the person of Mr Arundel being as efficient a drill-sergeant as could be chosen, and the other arrangements are in nice harmony. The natural salubrity of the elevation on which the school stands, could not be surpassed, while the sanitary arrangements – so far as art can go– are perfect to which happy combination is due the almost total immunity from sickness among the scholars, rendering the office of medical adviser and attendant, which Dr Stoney is so well qualified to discharge virtually a sinecure. The townspeople owe no little gratitude to Mr Biggs for the benefits which he has conferred, and is conferring in so many ways; and we are sure if the opportunity ever presents itself for their giving expression to the sentiment of good will that prevails for him among every class in the community, they will accord an ovation as warm as it will be genuine’ [sic] (KCC 26 February 1874).
Chesterfield school possibly about 1880-1900. It was on the Banagher Road, Birr. Offaly History will publish a further article on the school soon.
Galway 1875-1894
Richard Biggs and Sarah Francis Geoghegan had seven further children, Richard Thomas (1878-1883). Grace Elizabeth (1879). Henry Francis (1882). John (1884). James Richard (1886). Maurice William (1888). Edward (1891-1891). All the children’s place of birth is noted as College Road Galway and their father’s rank/profession is noted as Head/School Master or Gentleman.
Richard Biggs began his post as headmaster of Galway Grammer School in 1875, a newspaper advertisement reads under the headline, Education: ‘Galway Grammar School. On the foundation of Erasmus Smith. This school will after the summer holidays, be carried on by Richard Biggs, MA, L.L.D. Information can be had on application, to him at Parsonstown School. Boarders cannot be received for some months to come, but the work of the day school will be resumed by Howse, ex Scholar QCG, and the classes will be at once assimilated to those at Parsonstown School under the direction of the headmaster, Richard Biggs, MA, LL. D, Parsonstown’ (IT June 1875).
Despite unfavourable conditions Richard Biggs continued to build a reputable school. In 1876 he wrote to the Board of Harbour Commissioners requesting that an alteration of the strict rules would allow his boarders to bathe at the end of the jetty before seven o’clock in the morning. A Trinity College Dublin entrance examination placed a pupil of Galway Grammar School sixth out of eighty-five candidates, Mr F. Sheppard, son of Frank Sheppard, Esq was solely prepared by Dr Biggs headmaster of Galway Grammar School. 1885 saw Galway Grammar school rugby team join five other fledging rugby clubs to become Connacht Rugby, Richard Biggs became the first president of the Connacht branch of the IRFU.[iv]
An extract of a report given by inspector Professor Mahaffy employed by the Erasmus Trust reads, ‘Galway flourished under a new Headmaster Dr Biggs who was appointed in 1875 from Parsonstown School. Within 15 years numbers had increased to almost 90. This occurred in spite of conditions which Mahaffy described as unfavourable to a boarding school:
‘No advantage is offered by Galway except good bathing. The town is full of decay and pauperism. Idle boys trespass on the school grounds, and molest the school, because it is respectable.’
Nevertheless, Mahaffy was impressed by the school, although both the schoolroom and the boys ‘wanted brushing and cleaning.’ The Headmaster was ‘a very able man and thoughtful man, full of new ideas and very attentive to his school’ and his staff were also praised.[v]
In May of 1878, the Irish Times reported that Mr and Mrs Richard Biggs paid a short visit to Chesterfield school, and that a fete given by Mr and Mrs Rev. W. Ewing in honour of the late principal’s visit.
Portora, 1894-1904
In November 1894, an announcement in The Northern Whig named Richard Biggs as successor to the Rev. W.B. Lindesay headmaster of Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. Over the following years further advertisements at the beginning of each school term naming the assistant Masters, along with some of the pupils’ scholarships, first honours, prizes and various exam achievements were placed in newspapers.
In early 1899 the Intermediate Commissioner conducted an inquiry into the workings of the Intermediate Education Act. Mrs Biggs headmaster of Portora School amongst others gave his opinions and beliefs. Biggs believed it was highly desirable and practicable to have separate papers for pass and honour students, he also thought the middle grade be abolished, at that time there were one hundred pupils of which eighty-six were boarders in Portora School. (Daily Express, 09 February 1899).
In Portora (Enniskillen Rural, Fermanagh) the address on the Biggs family’s 1901 census, named the residence as, Richard Biggs Headmaster Royal School aged fifty-four, born in England, his wife Sarah F. Biggs, no occupation aged fifty-two born in Dublin, three of his children: Grace E. Biggs, no occupation aged twenty-one born in Galway; Henry F. Biggs, Scholar aged eighteen born in Galway; Maurice W. Biggs, Scholar aged twelve born in Galway; Nephew Richard Thomas, Scholar aged thirteen born in India; Margaret Bell Matron of school aged forty-seven born in England, and eight servants.[vi]
Richard Biggs, aged fifty-seven, drowned in Lough Erne on the 23rd of June 1904. A solicitor, Mr James Pringle, when arriving at his own boat house noticed Mr Biggs canoe floating on the lake. ‘The Sad Death of Dr Biggs’ headlines the inquest for Richard Biggs Headmaster of Portora Royal School, whose body was found close to Portora boat house about five yards from the shore in Lough Erne after his canoe was seen floating upside down. The jury found ‘that the deceased came to his death by drowning and added that they agreed with Dr Kidd’s evidence that from the appearance of the body it was not incompatible with heart seizure or a fit of apoplexy as a factor in the cause of death’ the jury expressed heartfelt sympathy with Mrs. Biggs and family. (Weekly Irish Times, 02 July 1904). Richard Biggs was buried in Rossery COI cemetery, Fermanagh on the 27th of June 1904. His effects in the sum of £21,970 13s 9d was granted to his wife Sarah Francis Biggs. Richard Biggs was the second member of his family whose death occurred accidently at Portora School, his cousin Robert Mallet (1843-1859) Purser, son of Benjamin Purser the brother to Richard’s mother, died in an accident on the 22nd March 1859 aged sixteen at Portora School Enniskillen.
Trinity College Dublin Entrance Awards Biggs Memorial Prize.
The Old Boys of Parsonstown and two other school where the late Dr Biggs was Principal and other friends supported by subscription a memorial which is to take the shape of a Trinity College Annual Prize. Subscriptions varied from £50 to 10s.
19041217 The Leinster Reporter Entrance award. This prize was founded in 1905 by subscription in memory of Richard Biggs. It is awarded annually on the basis of public examination results as defined in section 1, to the person who achieves the best results of those who have been pupils for at least one year at Chesterfield School, Birr (or such other school at Birr as may take its place), or at Portora Royal. The list includes (among others) Archie Wright of the Chronicle, Birr, an old boy of the school.
[i] Ronald Cox. Dublin Port Chief Engineers (Dublin 2023) p. 70.
[ii] King’s County Chronicle (Offaly 18690901), p. 3.
[iii] Patrick Lynch & John Vaizey. Guinness’s Brewery in the Irish Economy 1759-1876 (Cambridge 1960), p. 236.
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