Colm de Bhailis
By: John Smyth
Category: "john smyth", colm de bhailis, connemara, galway, ireland, lettermore, lettermullan, padraig pearse
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No – the dates on the plaque are not a mistake. Colm de Bhailís was a singer and songwriter who lived in Ceanntar na nOileán – the collection of islands in Connemara including Lettermore (Leitir Mór) , Gorumna and Lettermullan (Leitir Meallain). He was born in May 2nd, 1796 – the year that Napolean first won a battle and the last year of George Washington’s reign as the first U. S. president.
In his old age, Colm fell on hard times – after the death of his second wife in 1900, he ended up in the poorhouse in Oughterard, at the age of 104. A young schoolteacher heard of his plight and organized a collection for him. He spent a few years in private accomodation but returned to the poorhouse as his health failed. He died there, on February 27th 1906, just a couple of months shy of his 110th birthday.
The schoolteacher would achieve greater fame. Ten years ago later, on an Easter Monday 93 years ago, that schoolteacher, Padraig Pearse, stood on the steps of the GPO and announced an Irish Republic.
Update: I forgot to mention in the original post that most of the information on De Bhailís was taken from Sean Spelissey’s History of Galway.
