Thomas Vaughan Lawlor (1905 - 1965)

Born 13 Apr 1905 in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland

Ancestors

Died 15 Jan 1965 at age 59 in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland

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Biography

Early Life

Thomas Vaughan Lawlor was born on the 13th of April 1905^[1] at The Railway Hotel, number 47 Nelson Street (now Ashe Street) in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. The hotel was at the time the property of his grandfather, John Vaughan. Tom lived his earliest years in the family home at Clogherbrien, in The Kerries, Tralee. The house was owned by a cousin, Richard Savage who lived nearby at Mounthawk ^[2] . Then Ballygarry House was bought, and became the family home. Ballygarry was given the name by a former owner who named it after a son Garry who died in India. Tom’s grandparents John Vaughan and Margaret Davis Vaughan having sold the hotel in Ashe Street also moved to Ballygarry.

Tom’s early education was at Edward Street primary school in Tralee.

During the civil war in August 1922, the Free State Army (the Dublin Guard) took Tralee from the anti-treaty forces who had held the town until then. They had landed their troops at Fenit with an armored car and an artillery piece. After Tralee was taken, the force moved on to capture Castleisland. The young Tom supplied cigarettes to the anti-treaty men opposing their advance on the road passing Ballygarry. ^[3] When Free State army reached as far as Ballygarry, they requisitioned a horse belonging to the family to pull the heavy gun to Castleisland. It was told how the Dublin Guard was met with a storm of bullets from the Anti-Treaty forces at Castleisland. The horse pulled the big gun through all the shooting and all were amazed that the family’s horse had survived the desperate battle unscathed!

For his secondary education Tom was a boarder at the Jesuit school, Clongowes Wood College. There was a great demand for cattle around the time of the First World War. Richard Savage and other relations hired trains to bring their livestock to the market in Dublin. The boys often travelled back to college with these trains having their own carriage. At times the train was so slow that sometimes they would get out and walk or run along beside it.

University and New Zealand

After secondary school Tom went to UCD to study medicine as did his other two brothers, Jack and Florence while their sister Mary studied science. They took an apartment in Number 1, Hume Street, Dublin and their mother joined them there for a while.

In 1925 at the age of 20, Tom interrupted his studies to go with a group of young men to New Zealand (see photo) to work in the lumber trade. This group was led by a Vaughan relation, a certain Vernon Sheehy and included Tom’s uncle, Pat Lawlor and his cousin Mossie Healy. Tom arrived in Wellington, New Zealand on the 6 October 1925 on the ship "SS. Moeraki" together with his uncle Pat and cousin Mossie Healy^[4]. The work in New Zealand involved travelling to remoter parts of the country which were still relatively unexplored. In later years he recounted many stories of those days, of living in tents and hiking through lands that had never before been visited. After just one year time in New Zealand, Tom returned to Ireland. Travelling now alone on the SS. Ionic he is listed in the passenger list as ‘medical student” ^[5]and so seemed committed to completing his studies in medicine at UCD. He renewed his acquaintance with Lally Duggan. Tom enjoyed the literary scene in Dublin, frequenting Davy Byrne’s pub.

Tom and Lally became friends with a group of artists and writers in Dublin in the late 1930’s. The group included Ned Sheehy, a writer, art critic and artist, from Tralee. Among his stories was “The Black Mare.”^[6] Ned painted a portrait of Tom V Lawlor. Artists Harry Kernoff (who painted a portrait of Lally) and Sean Keating were other close friends in the group. Ned had a cottage in Glencree where they spent weekends. That world is evoked in a poem written by one of the group, Ewart Milne in 1975.^[7]

Glencree Morning

The winds blow over Glencree
and ruffle the shining waters of Lough Bray,
The reeds whisper
Ned Sheehy is long dead
And dead the Black Mare
That hated any master.
The grey-stone cottage stands aloof
On the hillside below the painted village ….

The group is described in a chapter of a recent book (2020) “Irish Writers and the Thirties.” ^[8]Being part of that group of artists, writers and poets was for Tom and Lally an important part of their life together in Dublin and something they often talked about in later years.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Tom volunteered to join the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. These services wrote back, acknowledging his offer but saying he would not be required.^[9] Years later showing these letters he remarked that they would have been glad enough to have him later on!

On the 7th of July 1943 at 7am Tom married Lally Duggan in St Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin. The witnesses were Michael Mulvihill and Lucie Duggan^[10]. Tom had first met Lally when she was only 13 years old^[11] During short breaks at the university, he and his brothers went down to visit their cousin Lil Vaughan O’Connell in Wicklow Town, whose husband had been in the RIC in Waterford where Lil had trained to be a nurse. In Wicklow they met the Duggans who were also ex-RIC family and Tom became friends with the eldest daughter Lally. Their friendship continued when Lally moved to Dublin and worked in the civil service. She helped and encouraged Tom to complete his medical studies.

Return to Kerry

After their wedding in Westland Row Church, Tom and Lally had breakfast at the Mount Clare Hotel on Merrion Square. Immediately afterwards they caught the train to Tralee as Tom had got a temporary position as doctor in Castlegregory village. They lived in the house at the turning down to the lake. During their time in Castlegregory, one of the events which they recalled in later years was when during the war, Dr Tom was called to the scene of a plane crash on Mount Brandon. Climbing the mountain he and Lally came to the plane which was still burning. There were some survivors who were badly injured, but most of the crew and passengers were killed. A first aid station was set up at the foot of the mountain to assist the dying and the injured.^[12]

Tom and Lally Lawlor would have liked to have stayed on in Castlegregory but the position there was a temporary one which was filled by Dr Healy, brother of the TD. Tom and Lally moved to 38 Ashe St where he set up his medical practice. The affection people had for Dr Tom is witnessed by the fact that still today, more than 50 years after his death in 1965, people recount stories of the wit, kindness and care that they experienced in him.

Tom Vaughan Lawlor passed away on the 15th of January 1965 and was buried in Rath Cemetery, Tralee.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ Civil Reg. Irish genealogy.Group Registration ID497291SR District/Reg AreaTralee
2. ↑ 1911 Census Returns
3. ↑ recounted by Lally Lawlor
4. ↑ New Zealand Passenger Lists
5. ↑ New Zealand Passanger Lists
6. ↑ “The Black Mare” by Edward Sheehy. Irish stories and tales.ed. Devin A Garrity. [New York], [Pocket Books], [1956, ©1955]
7. ↑ Ewart Milne, Irish University Review Volume 6, No. 2, Autumn 1976, p.203
8. ↑ Dublin Review of Books, Fe. 2014. …. group of friends and political comrades, interlocking circles which included Sean and May Keating, Edward Sheehy (of Ireland Today), artist Harry Kernoff, Leslie Daiken, Jack and Mina Carney, Margaret Barrington and Muriel MacSwiney among others……from the chapter on women writers in the book Irish Writers and the Thirties: Art Exile and War by Katrina Goldstone (Routledge) published on December 30th, 2020. It is a study of a number of writers and artists in the circle of Irish Jewish writer Leslie Daiken, and their political and cultural engagement at home and abroad during the Thirties.” Obituary Stella Hagan Fitzthomas, Saothar Vol 18, 1993 p 12.
9. ↑ Letters from the Armed Forces
10. ↑ Civil Register. Group Reg. 1041691. SR District/Reg Area Dublin. "Ireland Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958," Group Reg ID 1041691, SR District/Reg Area Dublin. Witnesses Michael Mulvihill and Lucie Duggan
11. ↑ Kerry's Eye, October 2015. These details and information on Tom Lawlor's later life is to be found in a long interview with his wife Lally Lawlor by Benda Joy and published in this local newspaper.
12. ↑ Kerryman 31st July 1943
13. ↑ Civil Register. Group Reg 2802024. SR Distrcit/Reg Area Tralee. Headstone in Rath Cemetry, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland (just inside the gate of the old entrance), See image of headstone on Billion graves website at https://billiongraves.com/grave/Tom-V-Lawlor/6982166 /6982162