George Sigerson: Poet, Patriot, Scientist and Scholar

Sigerson family coat of arms: see Appendix 6

DEDICATION

To my wife,

Helen, and children,

Jacqueline, Siobhan, Fiona,

Declan and Ciaran.

GEORGE

SIGERSON

POET, PATRIOT, SCIENTIST AND SCHOLAR

KEN McGILLOWAY

Ulster Historical Foundation is please to extend thanks to the following groups/organisations for the financial support they provided towards the publication of this book:

Ard Chomhairle CLG

Comhairle Uladh CLGComhairle Ardoideachais CLG

Coiste Tír Eoghain CLG

Cumann Mhic Sioghair CLG, Strabane

O’Neill’s Sportswear

Strabane History Society

All contributions are gratefully acknowledged.

First Published 2011

by Stair Uladh

(an imprint of Ulster Historical Foundation)

Charity Ref. No. XN48460

E-mail: enquiry@uhf.org.uk

Web: www.ancestryireland.com

www.booksireland.org.uk

Except as otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means with the prior permission in writing of the publisher or, in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of a licence issued by The Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publisher.

© Ken McGilloway

Epub ISBN: 978-1-908448-16-3

Mobi ISBN: 978-1-908448-15-6

Printed by MPG Biddles

Design by Cheah Design

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

1 The Sigersons of Derry and Tyrone

2 Student years

3 Early poetry and politics

4 Sigerson the doctor

5 The Mansion House Relief Committee

6 The National Literary Society

7 Bards of the Gael and Gall

8 Family and friends

9 Sigerson’s later life, 1900–25

10 The Sigerson Cup

Select bibliography

References and notes

Appendix 1: Tributes and appreciations

Appendix 2: Honours and distinctions

Appendix 3: Sigerson’s publications – a select list

Appendix 4: Popular songs and poems by George Sigerson

Appendix 5: Introduction to Songs and poems by George Sigerson (1927) Padraic Colum

Appendix 6: ‘A Pale family’

Appendix 7: Memorial preface to Bards of the Gael and Gall (3rd ed.) Douglas Hyde

Appendix 8: Extracts from a lecture by Dr George Sigerson at the inauguration of the National Literary Society in Dublin, August, 1892

Appendix 9: ‘The Holocaust’ written by Dr Sigerson in Dec. 1867 following the execution of the Manchester Martyrs

Appendix 10: Dedication to Love songs of Connacht Douglas Hyde

Index

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are many people I want to thank for the help and assistance I received in seeing this book reach completion. I earnestly hope that I have adequately acknowledged their generosity in sharing their time and knowledge with me.

My wife, Helen, provided the original inspiration for the book and has given constant support and encouragement over the years to help me complete the journey.

Eibhlin Humphreys gave me access to her grandfather’s and her mother’s unpublished manuscripts and other important related material, including photographs and letters; I made a promise to her that her grandfather’s name would be properly remembered. Dermot Humphreys, her grandson, provided me with additional valuable family photographs and other important information.

From the moment I first shared the story of George Sigerson with him, my late brother Olly gave me his enthusiastic support and encouragement, set me the task of producing 20 pages of text every week and then spent long hours working on a word processor trying to arrange and make sense of my scribble. To him I am eternally grateful.

Joe Martin played a pivotal role in seeing the book reach publication. In 1990, on learning that I was doing research into the life of George Sigerson, he wrote to me, urging me to ‘preserve the memory of this great man’. When he eventually had the opportunity to see my work, his response was positive and encouraging, and for this and for the practical help and advice he has given me I offer my sincere thanks.

John Dooher has embraced this project and supported it with enthusiasm since we first met almost two years ago. His extensive knowledge of Irish history, an area in which my knowledge is sadly limited, has proved invaluable and has added much to this story. His role in editing the text has been particularly crucial in the last few months and he has also helped smooth my journey through the publishing process.

Without hesitation, Dónal McAnallen generously provided a very comprehensive and valuable chapter on the history of the Sigerson Cup and has been a tireless worker in promoting the memory of George Sigerson.

I wish to thank the following, who were of particular help in the publication process: Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation for the Foundation’s support in agreeing to publish the book; Alicia McAuley, who edited the manuscript with thoroughness and with much patience; Jill Morrison, Cheah Design, for her valued contribution on the design of the book; and John McCandless for his excellent work on the cover and photographs.

I am also indebted to the following people, some of whom, sadly, are no longer with us but who have contributed in no small way to the telling of this story: Eddie McIntyre, former county librarian, Lifford; Michael G. Kennedy of Strabane Historical Society; Jacqueline McIntyre of Belfast; Professor Robert Welch of the University of Ulster at Coleraine; Dr Billy Kelly of the University of Ulster at Magee College, Derry; Dr Éamonn Ó Cíardha of the University of Ulster at Magee College, Derry; Dr Norman Chestnutt of Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry; Tadhg MacConnell of Buncrana; Betty Caffrey of Dublin; Elizabeth Bell of Kent; Michael Harron of Strabane; Bernadette McGilloway of Derry; Charles McGarrigle of Kent; Fr John Walsh of Buncrana; Charles Gallagher of Derry; Nuala Cassidy of Derry; the staff of Derry Central Library, Belfast Central Library and Downpatrick Library; James Roche of University College, Dublin; and the librarian of the National Library of Ireland, Dublin.

If I have omitted anyone from these acknowledgements, it has been done unknowingly and I offer my sincere apologies.

PREFACE

It was in a second-hand bookshop in Dublin many years ago that I first encountered the name Sigerson. I overheard my wife, Helen, enquiring of the bookseller if he had any books by a Dr Sigerson. Curious, I asked her who he was. She informed me that he was a relative, the brother of her great-grandmother, Jane McGinnis. She said he was famous in his day but that was all she knew about him. My interest was immediately aroused. I wanted to find out who this man was. I did not know it at the time, but that simple question marked the beginning of a fascinating and compelling journey of discovery which would eventually result in this book.

Early on in my research, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Eibhlin Humphreys, the daughter of Hester Sigerson Piatt and granddaughter of George Sigerson himself. At the age of three, Eibhlin and her brother, Donn, had moved in to live with their grandfather, after the sudden death of their father, also named Donn Piatt, who had been the American vice-consul in Ireland. I spent many enjoyable hours in her company listening to her memories of her mother and grandfather and of the comings and goings in Clare Street, where the Sigerson family lived from 1877 to 1925. Eibhlin gave me access to her mother’s unpublished manuscripts,¹ to letters, photographs and other primary sources which have been invaluable in piecing together the story of George Sigerson’s life.²

The more I learned about Sigerson, the more intrigued I became. His influence was wide ranging, especially regarding the revival of Irish language and culture, medical research and political journalism. Yet many people had never heard of him. There is no doubt of his importance in Irish history – contemporary sources prove this – but researchers and writers have not yet attempted to document his life or his work. I was determined that the story of this exceptional man’s life should be told.

This book has assumed many forms since my interest was first aroused in George Sigerson. It began as an attempt to describe in a straightforward way the more obvious facts about Sigerson’s life. It became clear at quite an early stage, however, that his story was much more complex – that many of his attitudes, ambitions, achievements and activities had been greatly influenced by the events of the past and by concern for the future. Sigerson lived for 89 years. In that time he was active in helping to establish an independent university, teaching there, caring for the sick, translating Irish poems and songs into English verse, carrying out medical, scientific, political and social research, challenging the understanding of current affairs and helping to promote reform in a wide range of areas.

I have adopted a largely, though not entirely, chronological approach, beginning with Sigerson’s journey from his birthplace in Artigarvan near Strabane in County Tyrone to his death in Dublin. He lived through some of the most pivotal events in Irish history, including the Famine and the Easter Rising. As I describe his life, his achievements are set against the backdrop of the literary, social and political conditions of the time, and of course the characters and personalities of his immediate family and close friends. For parts of the story of Sigerson’s life, information was scarce. He was always reluctant to talk about his own life and, although he had spent many years researching the history of the Sigerson family in Ireland, he resisted all requests to write his own memoirs. It was said that because of his Nordic reserve his personality was seldom revealed, even to family and close friends.

This publication is intended to stimulate interest in one of the great figures of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ireland and to encourage scholarly research into the life of a man whose influence on many aspects of Irish cultural and political history was significant. Lord Acton (1834–1902), an English historian, considered one of the most learned people of his time, said that George Sigerson was the greatest Irishman he had known. Douglas Hyde (1860–1949), an Irish scholar, founder of the Gaelic League and first president of Ireland, said shortly after Sigerson’s death, ‘Ireland will not forget him and cannot replace him.’³ Sadly, Ireland does appear to have forgotten him.

While I have managed to collect much information about the man and his work, I would be the first to acknowledge that I have merely scratched the surface. I must leave it to others to analyse Sigerson’s writings, his contribution to medicine and to Irish cultural, literary and political life. My earnest hope is that this account might encourage other, better-qualified writers to take a renewed interest in Sigerson’s life and achievements and that it might ultimately help to restore him to his rightful place in Irish history.

INTRODUCTION

For the students who thronged the corridors of Dublin’s National University in the spring of 1923, the appearance of their professor of zoology must have been a source of amusement. Although in his eighty-seventh year, frail and slightly stooped, he stood out from the crowd. Resplendent in his long black frock coat and top hat, his white flowing shoulder-length hair and pointed imperial beard gave George Sigerson, MD an appearance that was 40 years out of date.

Old Sigerson was clever and he was a good teacher. He taught anatomy and physiology but his pursuits crossed many disciplines. All through his adult career George Sigerson carried a twofold loyalty: an allegiance divided between the world of science and the world of the humanities. As Douglas Hyde put it:

his mind was so broad and his genius so varied, and the elements so kindly mixed, that science, economics, history, and poetry all through his life appealed to him with almost equal force, though I have a suspicion that the appeal of poetry was strongest.¹

Qualified in medicine, Sigerson pursued postgraduate studies in France under the most eminent professors. In later life he would translate Jean-Martin Charcot’s book, Lectures on the diseases of the nervous system, adding important notes of his own.² In his medical practice he specialised in recognising and treating stress and psychosocial illnesses. Scholarly research work earned him membership of many learned societies; Charles Darwin was his proposer for fellowship of the Linnean Society of London. Despite this international recognition, however, he failed to obtain a hospital appointment in Ireland – perhaps because of his involvement in political journalism.

Besides publishing professional and scientific papers, Sigerson became involved in attempting to revive the Irish language and publicising the beautiful songs and stories of old Irish folklore. With the increasing anglicisation of Ireland, much of this material was beginning to disappear. Under the pseudonym ‘Erionnach’ he contributed numerous poems and essays in Irish periodicals and journals such as the Harp and The Nation. However, his main claim to distinction lies in the field of translation. Sigerson’s first and lasting contribution to literature was the second series of The poets and poetry of Munster (1860).³ Sigerson’s role as one of the dominant figures in the formation of an Anglo-Irish literature began at this time. His scholarly work on the Munster poets was to be followed almost 40 years later by what is considered his finest work, Bards of the Gael and Gall, which was published in 1897.⁴

Meanwhile, he had become involved in politics. In 1860 he was a member of a deputation that presented a sword of honour to General Patrice de MacMahon, a marshal of France who was destined to become the first president of the Third Republic (1875–9).

From 1860 on, Sigerson was invited to write editorials for the foremost Irish journals and periodicals of the day. One of the most famous of these editorials, entitled ‘The Holocaust’, referred to the execution of William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O’Brien on 23 November 1867.⁵ It was during this period, when writing for the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s paper, the Irish People, that Sigerson met that organisation’s leaders. The prominent Fenian John O’Leary, in his book on the Fenians, referred to George Sigerson as ‘the chief of literary staff’.⁶

Sigerson also began to write for some of the more liberal English journals. A collection of his articles – which first appeared in the Daily Chronicle – was eventually published as Modern Ireland: its vital questions, secret societies and government in 1868.⁷ When introducing his Irish land legislation, William Gladstone used Sigerson’s work on the land question in History of the land tenures and land classes of Ireland (1871).⁸ Sigerson had in-depth knowledge of Irish political history and wrote an important chapter in R. Barry O’Brien’s Two centuries of Irish history, 1691–1870 (1888).⁹ Sigerson later expanded this very considerably into a book – The last independent parliament of Ireland, published in 1918.¹⁰

The Dublin Mansion House Relief Committee appointed him to the post of medical commissioner in 1879–80, when the country was threatened with another famine and when typhus was affecting County Mayo. Following his experiences, Sigerson wrote a paper entitled ‘On the need and use of village hospitals in Ireland’.¹¹ In the early 1880s he was appointed to the Royal Commission on Prisons and was responsible for bringing about improvements in the health and social management of different categories of inmates. His work on the treatment of political prisoners – Political prisoners at home and abroad – was subsequently used by the suffragette movement to highlight the uses and abuses of force feeding.¹²

With the founding of the National Literary Society in the summer of 1892, Sigerson’s passion for Irish language and culture gained fresh impetus. Douglas Hyde was the first president of the society but, after a few months, he resigned and became president of the newly formed Gaelic League.¹³ Sigerson then became president of the National Literary Society and held office until the society ceased to exist in 1924. During the society’s existence, he and many others worked hard to encourage and foster an interest in all things Irish. It embraced every aspect of Irish life and from it sprang the Gaelic League, a new Irish theatre and the annual Feis Ceoil.

This all-embracing love of Ireland included its national sports. Sigerson presented a cup for intercollegiate football in 1911. The Sigerson Cup has remained one of the most important competitions in the GAA calendar since that time.

One of Sigerson’s great ambitions was to save the Irish language from what seemed a slow but certain death. It was this aspect of his life that led Douglas Hyde to describe him as the outstanding force in the revival movement. In Hyde’s eyes, no living Irishman had done more to preserve the oral tradition than Sigerson.

In Bards of the Gael and Gall Sigerson offered translations of 139 Irish poems. This anthology of translated Irish song, which included poems from the earliest beginnings of Irish literature, revealed a fascinating and splendid ancient heritage which prompted Ernest Boyd to comment, ‘It substantiated the claim of ancient Ireland to be the mother of literature.’¹⁴ It was on one of these pieces, ‘The fate of the Children of Lir’, that Sigerson based The saga of King Lir, which was published in 1913.¹⁵

An enthusiastic and tireless worker in promoting the cause of the National University, Sigerson chaired many meetings and gave numerous lectures to enlist support. In a lecture delivered in 1906, he told students that the age-old passion the Irish nation had for learning had helped it to thwart the many attempts that had been made over the centuries to destroy Irish education.¹⁶ NUI became a reality as a result of the Irish Universities Act, 1908.

In 1922, Sigerson completed his final book, The Easter song, which contains translations from Latin into English verse of long sections of Sedulius’s original fifth-century Christian epic.¹⁷

Appointed by William T. Cosgrave to membership of Seanad Éireann, he chaired its first meeting in September 1922, pending the election of officers.¹⁸ He retired from university teaching in the spring of 1923 and died in Dublin on 17 February 1925, at the age of 89. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

1

The Sigersons of Derry and Tyrone

We begin our story with an extract from the final chapter of George Sigerson’s unpublished manuscript, ‘A Pale family’.

The Sigersons and the Williamite Wars

When in April, 1689, King James went to join his army before Derry, in the hope that the city would acknowledge him as its lawful sovereign, a Captain John Segerson marched northwards from the family homeland of Kerry with his regiment hoping to join in the battle. His wife, a near kinswoman of Col. Patrick Sarsfield, with a young son and younger daughter, accompanied him. As Sir Maurice Eustace’s regiment was there, they had many kindred and friends. When, owing to the inefficiency of its commander, the unsuccessful and dispirited army returned in August, menaced with the approaching invasion by Schomberg and a prolonged campaign, Captain Segerson considered it best to leave his wife and young children under the charge of an old and friendly priest, the Rev Mac Ardle, in the historic town of Benburb. This town, though close by his line of march from Derry to Dublin, was not likely to be approached again, and did remain in peace, the trail of war keeping along the eastern coastline from Carrickfergus to Dublin. Captain Segerson is stated to have fallen in battle with many of his kinsmen; his daughter died young; of his wife’s fate there is no account. ‘The boy, it appears’, writes the Rev Mr McCay, ‘was exceedingly handsome and promising, deeply loved by the priest. The priest took great care of the lad, giving him a high education, teaching him Latin and Irish. His Christian name was John. After some years the priest died’. John Segerson married and had off-spring who, in a country emptied by war, succeeded in acquiring land and setting up iron manufacturing in Derry and Tyrone.¹

The Sigersons in Derry

In the early 1800s, McCormack’s Forge along the banks of the Berryburn at Ardmore in County Derry was operated by a descendant of John Segerson, whose name had by now been altered to Sigerson. William Sigerson worked the forge with the help of his family. In time, two of his sons, Richard and James, emigrated to North America; another son, George, went to Australia.² Of the remaining members of the family we know little except that the youngest son, William, continued working with his father and grew into adulthood at the Berryburn. This stream separated