NOTES FOR PRESIDENT ROBINSON ON D’ARCY MCGEE, CANADA, 20 AUGUST 1994
NOTES FOR PRESIDENT ROBINSON ON D'ARCY MCGEE, CANADA, 20 AUGUST 1994
Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a former member of the Young Ireland movement, became a leading proponent of Confederation and was elected from Montreal to the Federal Parliament. He was assassinated in Ottawa allegedly by a member of the Fenian Organisation. An Irishman, Patrick Whelan, was convicted and executed for the crime but considerable doubt surrounds the case. McGee was expelled from the St. Patrick's Society in January 1868 for slandering the Society persistently by alleging involvement with the Fenian movement.
The Black Rock is a memorial in Pointe Saint-Charles, Montreal, to the 6000 immigrant Irish who died in 1847/8 and whose mass grave was found during the construction of the Victoria Bridge in 1859. The workmen on the bridge project erected the monument. The stone was removed by stealth by the Grant Trunk Railways in 1898. It took a campaign of 13 years to have the stone returned to its original and current location.
It has been necessary to maintain a keen vigilance to prevent other more recent attempts to move the Rock or Stone as it is sometimes called. A more satisfactory arrangement with the authorities has been worked out recently. It remains to be seen whether it will honoured.
The Lachine Canal was originally commissioned by the British Government and a large number of Irish immigrants were employed in its construction. The project was taken over by civilian contractors (in an early example of privatisation) and wages and other conditions of employment worsened dramatically. the Irish labourers gathered to protect and the riot act was read after which British troops (a regiment with mainly Irish troops) opened fire killing at least six and wounding several more. It is of interest in that the incident predated the Famine influx.
"The Luck of Ginger Coffey" was awarded the Governor General's Award for Fiction in 1960. Brian Moore emigrated to Canada in 1948 and worked as a Journalist on the Montreal Gazette for four years. He currently resides in the U.S.A.
Emile Nelligan's grandparents were Patrick Nelligan and Catherine Flynn. They emigrated from Ireland in 1855. His father, David, was born in Dublin in 1848 and his mother Emile Amanada Hudon was born in Quebec. Her father was the first mayor of Rimouski. Emile was born in Montreal on the 24th of December 1879. His best work was written in the three year period 1896 to 1899. He did not enjoy good health and was admitted to hospital with schizophrenia in 1899. He spent the rest of his life in hospital where he died in 1941.