Music, like the wind, travels – and so it is no surprise to find the repertoire of Castleisland born Patrick Daniel Reidy, Irish dancer and Professor of Dance, in the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. The manuscript is a musical treasure, containing thirty-seven dance scores from Irish musicians who long put down their instruments.[1]
It includes two tunes, Slieve-na-mhon (or Poll Halfpenny) and The Stack of Barley, by Michael O’Grady of Castleisland, and a dozen by Michael Buckley Shanahan, including The Brown-eyed Girl ‘composed in 1865’ and The Irishman’s Heart for the Ladies (Drops of Brandy).[2]
The name Kelleher appears frequently in the collection. Among nine tunes by Daniel Kelleher of Clonough, Castleisland are Whiskey & Beer and The Strawberry Beds.[3] Daniel Darby Kelleher of Castleisland – who may or may not be related to the aforementioned – contributes five tunes including The New Post Office and The Missus is Sick[4] while Daniel J Kelleher is credited with The Dear Irish Boy and Boher ohogue (O’Huig).
Two tunes from Tralee musicians also feature, Jeanie Picking Cockles by Thomas Gallivan and St Patrick’s Day in the Morning by Thomas Sullivan. Five tunes, including O’Donnell Abu stand alone.[5]
University of Notre Dame
Records in the University of Notre Dame show that Professor Reidy’s manuscript is contained in the music collection of Corkman Captain Francis O’Neill (1848-1936), who donated his archive to them in 1931.
In Captain O’Neill’s book, Irish Minstrels and Musicians, it is learned how he obtained the manuscript:
The talented and kindly “professor of dancing, London and Castleisland” obligingly forwarded us a MS book of music and a treatise from his own pen entitled: Dancing-Theory as It Should Be. The latter, while decidedly interesting, especially on account of the celebrity of its author, cannot be utilized for the present, however.[6]
Captain O’Neill also mentioned how, in 1868, Professor Reidy gave an exhibition at Letter House, the residence of Dr Wren, in north Kerry,[7] at which the ‘Ballybunnian piper, Thomas McCarthy, commonly called Tom Carty, played the music for him in fine style.’[8] Captain O’Neill described how Professor Reidy was one of the ‘surviving dancing masters of the old traditional school’ because he was taught by his father, a student of the ‘Great O’Kearin’ and thus could claim his place as ‘a lineal exponent of O’Kearin’s art.’[9]
O’Kearin (Tomás Ó Céirín) was a Castleisland publican, as noted by Professor Reidy in a letter to the editor of the Limerick Leader:
My father was a dancing-master, and was taught by Thomas O’Kerin (alias ‘The Great’) who was a publican at Curragh, Castleisland, where he died. I was taught dancing by my father 52 years ago, on the same correct system, which was improved to the highest degree in skill and correct time, without which dancing and music are of no value.[10]
Captain O’Neill concluded his remarks on Professor Reidy with a paragraph from the writings of J. G. O’Keeffe:
Professor Reidy, who has for years past taught the Gaelic League of London, is one of the best Irish traditional dancers living. He comes of a family renowned in Kerry for dance.
London Gaelic League
The London branch of the Gaelic League was founded in November 1894:
This branch was established by Dr Douglas Hyde, President of the Dublin League, on the occasion of his late visit to London. The object is well known – to give Irish-speaking Celts an opportunity of meeting together and exchanging Irish ideas in their own tongue.[11]
During the 1890s, Professor Reidy was engaged by the London branch to give step-dancing classes:
Inspired by the Scots ceilithe nights in London, Fionán Mac Coluim and J G O’Keeffe, organizers of the London Gaelic League, decided to follow suit by inaugurating the Irish Céilí (Gaelic for ‘an evening visit, a friendly call’) in the Bloomsbury Hall, London, in 1897.[12]
The following describes how Mac Coluim ‘found’ Professor Reidy:
Mac Coluim got sanction from the Branch to engage a professional teacher and take larger premises for the class in the Bijou Theatre off the Strand in central London. He found living in Hackney in north-east London a Patrick Reidy, or Professor Reidy as he styled himself, who had been a dancing master in Ireland … before he left Ireland, his dancing circuit was through north Kerry and west Limerick up to the Feale and to the Shannon and he would be on circuit from six to twelve weeks at a time … He was an excellent step dancer but he also knew a number of group dances, later to be called ‘Céilí’ dances, which were eagerly taken up by his pupils.[13]
The dance program was an immense success:
It triggered a general zeal for native dance in London and Dublin alike. Field trips to Kerry were subsequently organized to pay homage to the ‘origin’ of native dances more than to collect dance repertoires as originally intended.[14]
Professor Reidy was adamant that Irish dance be taught ‘in its Traditional and Correct Order’ and on this subject published a number of instructive articles in the local press.[15] The record shows that he made excellent progress in this respect. Indeed, he is credited with introducing the well-known Siege of Ennis and Walls of Limerick Céilí dances.
‘Doll-hopping and Tom-tilling around’
Professor Reidy’s desire for dance in its correct form was illustrated in his response to a letter about Irish dancing in a Limerick newspaper which clearly upset him:
Truthful persons in the county of Kerry, who were taught dancing – some few are still alive – can give testimony as to figure reels, and country dances being the correct dances of Ireland, and taught in conjunction with the step dancing, viz, the jig, reel, hornpipe, the nine-eight, and the numerous long set dances. If those dances are taught and danced in their correct order, with suitable music, they are the only graceful dances of any other nation, and free altogether from any polite hugging or other objectionable movements … I request an inquiry to be made through the Organiser, Fionin MacColuim, and the branches of the Gaelic League in the principal parts of County Kerry, such as Castleisland, which I left in 1874.[16]
Professor Reidy went on to explain that he was present at the Rotunda on the 5th of August 1904 for the eighth Oireachtas, and was clearly disillusioned by the dancing he witnessed, waxing indignant about parents who had taught their children ‘doll-hopping’ and how to ‘tom-till’ around instead of ‘true Irish dancing’:
Any itinerant music will suit such dancing best; just like the ‘Rocky Road to Dublin’ was played at break-neck speed. If this was the dancing of their parents they had not any. It would take five years with the most perfect teaching and constant practice to become an expert dancer, aided by the dancing melodies played to the correct dancing time.[17]
He said he saw the prize-winner’s dance but ‘the only dancer amongst them was Mollie Morrissey in the hornpipe.’[18] It was a farce, he wrote, for non-dancers to muse over dancing:
Let the superior dancing of the county Kerry and the parts of Limerick such as Tarbert, Glin, &c, be collected and made use of in its correct order. There is no other correct Irish dancing. … genuine dancing with the correct melodies, played by notes to correct dancing time, will be, and always was, the chief item at all gatherings … genuine dancing must be reasonably supported, as apart altogether from the little tipping and hopping and scraping at time in the cake dance style. Music should be taught in a correct manner, ie, to play from eight at all times. Two or more musicians will then be able to play in concert. Those who are gifted will keep improving.[19]
Professor Reidy signed his letter, ‘Patrick Daniel Reidy, Professor of Dancing, 21, St James’s Road, Victoria Park, London NE.’[20] In the same letter, he added biography, revealing that he was born in the parish of Ballymacelligot on 14 March 1844, son of Daniel M Reidy and Hannah Rea:
I lived by dancing alone for 13 years in towns and the country, where I could get paid reasonably. I taught the last dancing class in Robin Parker’s barn at Taulaught [Tawlaght], Fenit, Spa, Tralee, in 1874 which paid well. Figure reels, four and eight hand, and a country dance, with the step-dancing, was the instruction for a term of six weeks. Quadrilles and all foreign dances were ignored in the Barony of Clanmorris, except a few whom I taught privately at the Spa.[21]
An earlier letter added more detail about this period:
It is 26 years last July since I taught the last dancing school at Taulaught [Tawlaght], near Fenit Island, the Spa, Tralee. There were a great number of pupils at it. Some made good progress during the six weeks. They were a noble people in those days, and great judges of dancing and music. The school was in Robin Parker’s barn (one of the best men) whose son Mike was a good dancer and a judge of dancing.[22]
The letter also gave account of those who had received his instruction, the professor showing no signs of modesty when he wrote that ‘none of the dancing masters would have the least chance in competing with me in general dancing up to 1874, when I left old Ireland’:
Amongst those in the district who were worth looking at who passed through my hands were John Fitzgerald, Chapeltown; Maurice Harman, Lisodigue; Timothy Griffin, Listrim; there were numerous others whom I forget. John Henry Cook, of Kilcooley, near Causeway, is still alive. He was a good judge of dancing, and a good performer himself. He was present at a great gathering at Boherbee, Kilcooley, when I whipped the celebrated Tom O’Moore (alias Moreen) and was selected to teach the biggest school that was ever at the above place since this took place in 1868.
Professor Reidy declared that the next best in general dancing was John O’Daly, Knocknagoshel where there also resided a good dancer named Thomas Horan (tailor) ‘who was awarded a prize since I came away’:
All the best for 20 miles around were there, including Johnny Daly, D. M. Since the decease of the grand musicians of my time the only ones alive, as far as I know, who are the best judges of perfect time are Daniel Kelliher, Lower Clonaugh, Castleisland, and who cannot be surpassed. Thomas Galvin can be traced from 94 Rock Street, Tralee.[23] I intend to go to the Inquiry on dancing in Dublin next year, when I shall spread the light and spare none and put a stop to shamming.[24]
A Commission of Inquiry into Irish Dancing did take place at the Oireachtas the following year (1903) when the commission inquired into the reel. Those invited by the Oireachtas Committee of the Gaelic League to attend as commissioners were Michael O’Malley, Cornamona, Co Galway; James Murphy, Anamoe, Co Wicklow; Mr O’Farrelly, Loch Ramhar, Co Cavan; J Ryan, Railway Hotel, Limerick Junction and Mr Reidy of London.[25]
Professor Reidy of Castleisland and London
It is not known how frequently Professor Reidy visited his home town of Castleisland but he was there in 1903 when he attended a meeting of the Castleisland branch of the Gaelic League. He received a very enthusiastic welcome at their rooms, and informed those present he took great pleasure in being ‘back again in his native town.’[26]
As far as can be determined, Professor Patrick Daniel Reidy, son of Daniel M Reidy and Hannah Rea, married Hannah Donohoe and had twelve children, including two sets of twins.[27]
The year and place of his death have not been discerned, but it seems to have occurred in about 1915. In this respect, we would be very glad to hear from descendants of the professor to help complete our sketch.
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[1] P D Reidy Manuscript MSE 1435-B, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Reference courtesy Aedín Ní Bhróithe Clements, Irish Studies Librarian and Curator, Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Notre Dame. [2] A verse, Irish Hearts for the Ladies, the first line of which runs ‘One day Madam Nature was busy,’ is contained in The Emerald; or Book of Irish Melodies (1863). Other tunes in the manuscript by M B Shanahan are A Grand Hornpipe, A Hornpipe (x2), A Reel, Flanily [?] O’Kelly, The Rakes of Strade, The Bridal, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Bonnie Kate and Miss Thornton’s Reel. According to Professor Reidy, Shanahan, who had a great reputation in Kerry and Limerick in the 1860s, was a celebrated violinist, son of a piper born in Kilrush, Co Clare. It may have been Shanahan the professor had in mind when he wrote, ‘I am acquainted with a young man, a native of Ballylongford, who is here in London, a violinist of exceptional ability, with the command of perfect time and true music. He was taught by George Whelan of Kilrush, who is still in existence, and worth patronising’ (Kerry People, 4 June 1904). The Kerry Evening Post of 1842 and 1848 carried reports about a celebrated Irish piper named Shanahan passing through Tralee town, the young minstrel ‘delighting the lovers of the national instrument.’ He was described as the ‘prince of performers’ on the Union pipes on his way to the Ballyeagh races in 1842. [3] The other tunes are The Old Halls of Liscarrol, Co Cork; The Boys of New York, Jackson’s Morning Brush, The Blackbird, The Rising Sun, The Butchers March and Daniel the Sun (Donal A-Grêna). [4] The other three are Reynardine, The Cuckoo’s Nest and The Flowers of Edinburgh. [5] The Groves of Erinn, My Love is in America, Gallaghers Jig, and Peter Street complete the five. [6] Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913), ‘The Dancing Master’ Ch XXIX (includes image of Professor Reidy). [7] Notes on Letter House, Ballylongford, Co Kerry: George Francis Wren Dr Wren of Letter House (spellings vary, Letta, Litter, Littor, Littur, Liltor, Lettor), Ballylongford, Co Kerry was George Francis Wren, MD. He married and had issue. His eldest daughter, Aphra, died from a heart complaint at Litter House on 21 December 1882, unmarried. In November 1882, payment from the sale of Curraghdarrig Police Barrack was made to his daughter and evidently heiress, Miss Alice Julian Wren. On 19 November 1885, Alice Julian Wren married, at St George’s Church Dublin, barrister Thomas Studdart [Studdert] Brew Esq of Leadmore House, Kilrush, Co Clare. Thomas S Brew Esq BL of Littor House, Ballylongford died on 3 November 1911. He left estate valued at £4,726 to Mrs Alice Julian Brew, absolutely. His widow, Alice Julian Brew, died at Littor House on 25 June 1913, probate to Michael S Brew, JP, Ballyerra House, Kilrush, Co Clare. Dr George Francis Wren died on 9 August 1881: ‘A sad and fatal accident has taken place at Litter House, near Tarbert. On Monday morning Dr George Wren, having had his usual bath, was stepping on to the floor when he stood accidentally on a piece of soap. He fell heavily on the side of the bath rupturing the membrane of the stomach. Acute inflammation set in and notwithstanding all that medical skill could do he expired at an early house yesterday’ (Kerry Evening Post, 10 August 1881). The name of Dr Wren’s daughter, Alice Julian, suggests a link with the Julian/Julien family of North Kerry. The following letter of James Franklin Fuller (1835-1924) is worth noting. ‘Christopher Julien, 1821, mentioned in your issue of September 10th, was brother of Stephen, and both were elected burgesses of Maryborough in 1751. The former describes himself a ‘son of an ancient burgess’ and the latter ‘son and grandson of a burgess’ (see Index to Parliamentary Records, vol 9, page 2063, Record Office). Their sister, Elizabeth, married the Rev James Bland of Derryquin. The father was Christopher Julien of Tullamore, Listowel (agent to Lord Kerry) and their mother was Mary, daughter of Colonel Kirkby or Kirby (her sister, Jane, married James Julien, brother of the agent). Their grandfather was Christpher Julien, Governor of Queen’s County (who married Castiliana, daughter of Stephen FitzGerald of Monet – ‘Yellow Tom,’ by Martha Gilbert) who was the son of Colonel Alan Julien, of The Ridge, Maryborough. Martha Gilbert, above-mentioned, was the daughter of Henry Gilbert, of Kilminchy (by Martha, daughter of John Pigott of Grange, Queen’s County) son of Sir William Gilbert, Governor of Leix (by his wife, Thomasine Peyton) and grandson of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The wife of John Pigott, above-mentioned, was daughter of Sir Thomas Colclough of Tintern by Martha, daughter of Archbishop Adam Loftus. I possess a quarto volume, entitled A True Account and Declaration of the Horrid Conspiracy against the Late King, his present Majesty, and the late Government. As it was ordered to be printed, 1685. On the title page is written, Christopher Julian bought this book the year of one thousand seven hundred and five; and on another page and different writing, Here lyes the Good and Servisable hand of Christopher Julian of his son, Nathaniel does Be as good as he was in Every Thing. I am certain that I will – 1784-5. Christopher, the owner of the book, was evidently the man who married Miss Kirby, and he who scribbled the other sentence was his son (a brother of the Rev Christopher, ancestor of the present representative of the family). The old volume has a Herbert book-plate, impaling the arms of Brewster. Dean Bland (the first of the name in Kerry) married Lucy, daughter of Sir Francis Brewster. If I were not the great grandson of the Rev James Bland and Elizabeth Julien, I should be disposed to present the book to the present representative of the Julien family; but I find I am too genealogically selfish to part with it. Faithfully yours, J.F.F.’ (Kerry Evening Post, 13 September 1913). Leslie Wren Esq Leslie Wren Esq JP of Litter House was the brother of Dr George Francis Wren. Leslie Wren Esq married Eliza Valentina Henrietta, only daughter of Robert Day Stokes Esq, Paymaster Kerry Regiment, at Fainborough Church, Hants on 16 September 1858. He had a residence in France, La Tremissiniere, near Nantes, Loire Inferieure. His eldest son, George Francis Wren, died there from the accidental discharge of his gun on 27 Aug 1886, aged 21. A daughter, Eliza Alice Wren, married there on 20 February 1883 to Ernest F, son of (late) Russell Ingram of Waresley, Worcs. His third daughter, Margaret, married at Passage, Cork, in June 1837 to Pierce Crosbie Esq of Ballyheigue Castle, Major in the Kerry Militia. William Edward Battersby of Carra, Killarney, Surgeon, died 20 February 1880. His will was proved by George Francis Wren Crosbie of Tralee and Elizabeth Mary Battersby of Carra, spinster. Leslie Wren Esq JP died at Nantes on 1st September 1894: ‘Death of Leslie Wren, 40 years JP, the oldest and surviving member of a family that has been identified with North Kerry for very many years and whose kindness, benevolence and charities have been dispensed with no niggard of unkindly hand … their goodness, generosity and liberality have been literally household words in the district in which they reside … he died after brief illness in France’ (Kerry Reporter, 15 September 1894). In 1897 creditors of Leslie Wren Esq were sought in a case brought by John Hugh Elliott, plaintiff and Elise Valentine Henrietta Wren and Oliver Robert Stokes defendants, creditors. Elise Valentine Henrietta Wren, widow, of Chateau de St Vallay Dinan, Cotes du Nord, France. Alice Jane Margaret Wren of Chateau de St Vallay Dinan, France, spinster, died 9 April 1907, administration to Elise V H Wren, widow. Agnes Elise Henrietta Wren of La Tremissiniere, Nantes, Loire Inferieure, France, spinster, died 9 November 1892. Administration granted in 1908 to Elise V H Wren, widow. Elise Valentine Henrietta Wren of Chateau de St Vallay Dinan, Cotes du Nord, France died on 16 June 1909, administration of estate to Ada Wren, Spinster. [8] ‘Tom Carty lived two years in the 18th century, the whole of the 19th, and one year of the 20th’ (Kerryman, 8 November 1941). ‘Through the long summer days, with his back to the old castle, Tom Carty sent the notes of his music among the clouds or away across the ocean waves at Ballybunion, until he almost became part of the old ruin itself, his weather-beaten, age-yellowed coat fitting in perfectly with the grey-stoned ruins of the once lordly keep of the O’Bannins. In North Kerry still people speak of Carthy’s Reel and often a musician is asked to play that dance tune which, through constant repetition by the old piper, came to be associated with him as his own composition but is in reality the well-known Miss McLeod’s Reel. It is related of the old piper that, with death creeping on him, he became more and more attached to his pipes and commanded that they be buried with him’ (The Liberator (Tralee), 25 September 1934). A photograph of Tom Carty, under title, ‘famous Irish piper of Ballybunion’ was published in the Sunday Express in September 1934. Further reference, Carty the Piper (2012) by Danny Houlihan. [9] O’Kearin is mentioned in A Handbook of Irish Dances (1914, 2nd edition) by J G O’Keeffe and Art O’Brien, and in which publication (p127) Professor Reidy is described as ‘formerly dancing master of Castleisland, Co Kerry’: ‘There were at least three great schools of dancing in Ireland about the year 1800; those of Kerry, Limerick, and Cork. There were, doubtless, others, but they do not appear to have attained the renown of the three great Munster schools. The fame of Munster dancing is attested to by many writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries … In Kerry alone there were professors of Irish dance, whose fame was as wide, at least, as Ireland. The great O’Kearin, who flourished in the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, was a man who, in a country like France of the seventeenth century, would have found his way into the history of the period as a man of genius. To O’Kearin was largely due the crystallization, if we may say so, of Irish dances; he it was who helped largely to reduce them to the order and uniformity they have attained, a uniformity which was very remarkable, and which was common to the four principal step dances. The Limerick dancing-master, in the best days of Irish step-dancing, was a worthy and (in the person of a man like Tadhg Ruadh O’Scanlan) a veritable rival of the Kerry man.’ [10] Limerick Leader, 15 May 1905. [11] Flag of Ireland, 22 December 1894. At the first meeting of the League in November 1894 there were but four persons present, Doctor Douglas Hyde, Dr Mark Ryan, Francis Arthur Fahy and Thomas Flannery. Ten attended the second meeting on 13 December 1894. The third meeting was held on 17 January 1895 at the rooms of the Irish Literary Society, 8 Adelphi-terrace, Strand. Its president then was Mr T Flannery, Honorary Secretary Francis A Fahy, who later became president. [12] ‘Ireland on Tour – Riverdance, the Irish Diaspora, and the Celtic Tiger’ by Yu-Chen Lin, EurAmerica, Vol 40, No 1 (March 2010), 31-64. ‘To keep their Céilí abreast of the already established Scots event, Mac Coluim and O’Keeffe appointed Patrick D Reidy, a dancing master in Limerick and in his native Kerry, to teach the London League members group dances.’ A biographical sketch of Fionán Mac Coluim, Honorary Secretary of the London Branch, is contained in Beans My Dear Woman, Gaelic Songs and Ballads translated by Sean Looney (2018). [13] From ‘The Beginnings of Céilí Dancing: London in the 1890s’ by Nicholas Carolan, Irish Traditional Music Archive Text of a paper delivered at a Folk Music Society of Ireland seminar ‘Traditional Dancing in Ireland’, 15 Henrietta Street, Dublin 1, Saturday 19 May 1990. [14] ‘Ireland on Tour – Riverdance, the Irish Diaspora, and the Celtic Tiger’ by Yu-Chen Lin, EurAmerica Vol 40, No 1 (March 2010), 31-64. [15] See Kerry Evening Star, 29 February 1904 for notes on the jig and step dancing, in which he added, ‘Ned Bat Walsh, known in Listowel, possesses dancing of a superior quality as step dancing. He would be about 65 years of age. It will be wise to learn from him at once’; Kerry People, 12 March 1904 for single reel step-dancing; Kerry Evening Star, 30 May 1904 for figure reels and country dances and in which he writes, ‘no true dancer can refute anything written by me. … In my next essay I shall explain the slight difference between reels and hornpipes, including the Ladies’ hornpipe for very expert dancers, together with the etiquette of dancing generally, which should be taught in a respectful, firm manner.’ Foregoing also published in the Kerry People. 4 June 1904. [16] Limerick Leader, 15 May 1905. ‘Sir – With the aid of the Limerick Leader, edited by Mr J Buckley, I beg to reply to ‘Gaedheal’s’ letter on Irish dancing.’ Gaedheal’s’ letter has not been sourced. [17] Limerick Leader, 15 May 1905. He added, ‘One stated he was not a dancer and only heard his mother speak of figure reels. Another was not taught but only picked up some dancing when young. He trebblied away without any order of steps. Another tom-tilled round about without any correct order of steps, a style of reel he was taught by his father. Mr P Nally was the only gentleman with an idea of true dancing as he is a judge of correct time. Mr O’Malley and Dr Tuohey were opposed to figure dances altogether, and denied their existence at any time. James Murphy is well known in Wicklow, but not as a dancer. Those men would act more honest if they gave their version of a subject of which they possessed a knowledge.’ [18] Miss Mollie Morrissey, Pipers’ Club, Cork, won 1st prize in the junior hornpipe section. [19] Limerick Leader, 15 May 1905. [20] Other addresses were 11 Victoria Street, King Edward Road, Hackney (1904), 21, St James’s Road, Victoria Park, London NE (May 1905), 2 Gore Road, Victoria Park, South Hackney 1910-1916. [21] Limerick Leader, 15 May 1905. [22] Kerry News, 21 November 1902. [23] In a later letter, Professor Reidy identified Galvin as follows: ‘Thomas Galvin, cook at Tralee workhouse, played for an exhibition I gave on a table about 1872. He played very well. I have reason to know he improved in violin playing since I heard him play’ (Kerry People, 4 June 1904). [24] ‘Gaelic League Notes,’ Kerry News, 21 November 1902. ‘A Kerry dancing master, who has been in exile for nearly thirty years, writes a letter which contains some interesting reminiscences. We give some extracts from the letter.’ [25] Messrs O’Malley, Murphy, Reidy and Padraig Mac An Fhailghe, secretary, attended. Examined were Daniel O’Driscoll, Clonakilty; William Houragen, Tipperary town; Mr Halpin, Limerick; James Lyons, Glasgow, native of Killorglin, Co Kerry; Michael Maher, Arran; Mr Loughrey, Birr; Dr Costello, Tuam; Dr Gribbon, Co Down; Mr McGlynn, Kiltimagh, Co Mayo; Mr Murphy, Co Wicklow. Report, signed by Padraig Mac An Fhailghe, Runaire, was published in the Cork Weekly Examiner, 26 December 1903. A note by Michael O’Maille about the reel was published with the report. [26] Report of occasion in Kerry People. 30 May 1903. A few months earlier, he had performed Irish dance at an Irish Ballad Concert at the Royal Assembly Rooms before an audience of almost 500. He was accompanied by his students Miss M Dineen, Miss A Leavy, Mr D Dineen, Mr R Purcell, fiddler; and Mr P Hickey (ref Woolwich Herald, 20 March 1903). [27] They were Daniel P Reidy (b1879), Patrick T Reidy (1880-1884), Hannah Reidy (b1882), Thomas P Reidy (1884-1939), Henry W Reidy (1885-1958), Maurice J Reidy (1888-1958), Margaret M Reidy (1889-1939), John F Reidy (1892-1896), Ellen Mary Reidy (1894-1896), James E Reidy (1894-1896), Kathleen M Reidy (1898-1953) and Mary Ellen Reidy (b1898). Sincere thanks extended to Marie H Wilson, Tralee for genealogical research.
