By Paul Murphy
A panorama of images from the past will be conjured up when Meath historian Brendan Matthews takes to the podium for a historical talk at Netterville House Dowth on Saturday 15 th August from 12 noon to 1.30pm as part of the John Boyle O’Reilly Festival, which runs from 13th to 16th August.
The festival is being supported by Meath County Council and the Heritage Council.
Brendan Matthew’ talk will cover the local Drogheda connections to the Fenian movement, the background as to how Drogheda looked in the 1860s and how Irish-American federal officers arrived in Drogheda following the ending of the American civil war in 1865.
The meeting in Drogheda between John Devoy and a local veterinary surgeon who happened also to be a regional Fenian captain took place in West Street which formed the initial stages of a meeting that took place afterwards in Dublin with John Boyle O’Reilly. A local Fenian leader from Duke Street in Drogheda was deeply involved in the killing of Constable Brett in Manchester in 1867, and for which crime the Manchester Martyrs were wrongfully executed.
John Cade, a native of Drogheda who had fought in the American civil war returned to these shores, in 1867 accompanied by over 40 Irish-American Feians, hardened ex-Union army veterans. Local women were involved in the Fenian conspiracy, and Matthews will go over how they played an instrumental role within the movement. Matthews will talk about Thomas Flynn, another native of Duke Street, who later on patented a number of early combustion engines including an early aeroplane engine after he had to flee from Drogheda because of his involvement in the Fenians. This will be a powerpoint presentation with images and photographs.
