Francis Fahy, ‘Ireland in London — Reminiscences’

Abstract

Francis Fahy (1854–1935) was born in Kinvara, County Galway and moved to London in 1873 to join the civil service, for which he worked for the next 46 years. His interest in Irish expatriate culture in the capital, which was for him ‘the world-city of my readings and my dreams’, was awakened by the outbreak of the Land War in his native Connacht and the emigration of his parents and two siblings to London in 1879. Over the next four years, Fahy, described as ‘small in stature, genial in disposition and unassuming in manner’,¹ emerged as a guiding force in the first, often overlooked, wave of Irish cultural revivalism in London that had its epicentre in Southwark. In addition to organising lectures and debates on social and political topics for the local Home Rule Association, he coordinated the activities of the Southwark Junior Irish Literary Club, formed in 1881 to inculcate in second-generation Irish children an awareness of their cultural and linguistic heritage. The dearth of suitable teaching materials led Fahy to write and compile children’s reciters and songbooks that were published by John Denvir, with whom he kept up a two-year correspondence. It was during this time that he wrote his most celebrated poem, ‘The Ould Plaid Shawl’, which was later set to music and became hugely popular. In January 1883 Fahy was instrumental in founding the Southwark Irish Literary Club, the forerunner of the Irish Literary Society established in 1892. He went on to serve as the first president of the London Gaelic League from 1896 to 1908, years that witnessed a rapid growth in membership and an expansion of the group’s cultural and educational programmes.

National Library of Ireland, MS 11431. 44pp.; pp. 27–31; 34–6.