The Cluxtons of Kilcullen is local history through real lives

The book cover and John Bailey Cluxton, and Kilcullen around 1900.

A curiosity about his grandmother’s surname was the trigger for a West Wicklow man to research his Kilcullen forbears, bringing him on a hunt through their past in both County Kildare and in Northern Ireland, writes Brian Byrne.

The result was the publication of The Cluxtons of Kilcullen, which is as much a social history from the early 18th century as it is the story of Barry Kinane’s family up to the foundation of the state. The background includes the 1798 Rebellion, the economic depression of the 1820s and 1830s, the Tithe Wars, the Great Famine, the Land Wars and ultimately Ireland’s winning of independence.

“My grandmother was Julia Cluxton of Calverstown, and I always wondered about such an unusual surname,” Barry told the Diary. “She didn’t actually know very much about it herself, except she had an idea the family had come from the north, and that they subsequently had land where the Cross and Passion College in Kilcullen is now.”

Julia married Edward O’Connor from Calverstown, and they moved to Poulaphuca in the late 1930s, during the construction of the hydro-electric scheme there, where they had a shop. Going back further than Julia’s own memories, which he had taped in conversations, Barry’s further research was made possible because of the digitisation of local newspapers. “I searched for the Cluxton name, and found references that included some reports of court cases which were controversial. That made me more interested to find out who they were and what was happening at the time.”

The newspapers also indicated that the Cluxtons had indeed come from the north, and that they had initially lived in Jigginstown. Family members who moved to Kilcullen had a house where Sunbury Close is now and leased farm land on both sides of the road south from the crossroads. “I found information in the Registry of Deeds," Barry says, "and the more I found out the more I wanted to know. My research took me to the National Archives and the Public Records Office Northern Ireland. I followed every little nugget of information in every possible source. Who married who, and how things happened.”

To help him with his project, Barry studied for a Certificate in Local History at Maynooth University. As part of the course he researched the early years of the Cluxtons in Kilcullen, writing some 10,000 words. That became the first part of the book which, by the time he completed the course, he had decided to write. “The second part is mainly about John Bailey Cluxton, born in 1847, who was a relieving officer with the Athy Poor Law Union while also farming at Calverstown. That became a study on its own, because as well as telling about his life it is also a history of the Athy Poor Law Union and what it was like to work in it.” John Bailey was the second son of Bailey Cluxton — the subject of those previously mentioned controversial court cases and who had died in prison.

Poor Law Unions were the forerunners of the County Councils. “Being a relieving officer was a difficult job, because in addition to going out to give money to people who needed it, looking after the destitute, you were also doing work that today would be handled by different council departments and by the HSE — monitoring any diseases that broke out, working with the local dispensaries, and handling public health inspections.” Barry discovered that relieving officers were poorly paid and could get a lot of hassle. “I found in the newspapers that John Bailey was beaten up at least once, and his home was also attacked and an attempt made to burn it.” Although he spent his working life helping others in poor circumstances, John Bailey Cluxton was not treated well by his employers, the Guardians of the Athy Poor Law Union. But he worked with them for 31 years, and the stories of his endeavours are of the tragedies and hopes of difficult times.

The third section of the book is about a number of John Bailey Cluxton’s 13 children. “Some of them had interesting lives as well. One of his sons was involved in the War of Independence, and a daughter, Bridget, was a nurse in WW1.” Because of those connections, publication of the book was made possible with help from the Kildare Library Service and the Decade of Commemorations programme. 

In all, The Cluxtons of Kilcullen took Barry five years to write, and he says publishing it ‘drew a line’ under the story of his forebears. “I did it for my grandmother,” he says, “and also for my children. They’re small now, but there will come a time when they’ll want to know where they came from, and it’s nice to be able to trace the family back to the 1700s.” 

The Cluxtons of Kilcullen is available through the Kildare Library Service and online. For anyone interested in Kilcullen and the wider Ireland of their time, it's a fascinating and highly informative read that tells history through real lives. Barry Kinane has been telling that story to local heritage groups since the publication of his book, most recently this week in Narraghmore as guest of South Kildare History & Heritage Group.

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