In 1857 THE Freeman’s Journal contained a news item about a young man named Patrick Sheehan who was arrested for begging on Grafton Street, Dublin.
He insisted it was the only recourse open to him for he had lost his sight fighting with the British army in the Crimean War and the pension of six pence per day for nine months which had been granted on his discharge had now expired. Despite this the prisoner was committed for seven days.
On reading it in the newspaper, Charles Joseph Kickham from Mullinahone, outraged by his shameful treatment, wrote a ballad under a pseudonym entitled ‘Patrick Sheehan’, which quickly became popular, aimed at discouraging other Irishmen from enlisting in the British army and suffering a similar fate.
In it, he ascribed this poor blind soldier to the Glen of Aherlow.
Ballad became popular
Much to the infuriation of Dublin Castle, the ballad quickly became popular and had the desired effect, with some accounts over the years claiming that, largely so as to defuse the situation, Sheehan’s pension was restored by the British government – other accounts were more sceptical.
Although immortalised through the ballad, which can still be heard in Co Tipperary today, little is known about Patrick Sheehan in terms of his life before, during or after the Crimean War and what became of him upon his release from confinement.
Was he really from the Glen of Aherlow, what were the circumstances of his blindness and was his pension truly restored by the British government? Also why did CJ Kickham compose the ballad under a pseudonym despite being a well-known revolutionary, novelist, poet and journalist at the time?
Now with contributors from the Premier County and further afield Patrick Sheehan’s compelling story is to be the subject of a 4-part documentary to be aired on Tipp Mid West Radio. The details behind Kickham’s composition of the ballad over 160 years ago are also investigated in-depth. A lot of new information has been uncovered, including the cause of the actual soldier’s blindness and the location of where he ended his days.
New facts
A lot of new facts and information has been uncovered, including that the cause of the actual soldier’s blindness was down to infectious disease, rather than resulting from any physical injury sustained on the battlefield.
It transpires that nineteenth century Ireland was a place where blindness was all too common; in 1851 for example the ratio of blind people to sighted people was one in every 864 of the population. At the time this was the 2nd highest in Europe.
That Sheehan died in 1920 is perhaps surprising when one considers his circumstances upon returning from the conflict. He in fact would have been among the last survivors of the Crimean War and ended his days in the workhouse in Ennistymon.
The Ballad
My name is Patrick Sheehan, and my years are thirty-four
Tipperary is my native place, not far from Galtymore
I’ve come of honest parents but now they’re lying low
And many the happy day I spent in the Glen of Aherlow.
My father died, I closed his eyes outside our cabin door
The landlord and the sheriff, too, were there the day before
And then my loving mother, and sisters three also
Were forced to go with broken hearts from the Glen of Aherlow.
For three long months, in search of work, I wandered far and near
I went into the poorhouse to see my mother dear.
The news I heard nigh broke my heart; but still, in all my woe
I blessed the friends who made their graves in the Glen of Aherlow.
Bereft of home, of kith and kin and plenty all around
I starved within my cabin, I slept upon the ground.
But cruel as my lot was, I ne’er did hardship know
Till I joined the English army, far away from Aherlow.
‘Arise up,’ says the corporal, ‘you lazy Irish hound
Why don’t you hear, you sleepy dog, the call to arms sound?’
Alas I had been dreaming of days long, long ago.
I awoke before Sebastopol, and not in Aherlow.
I groped to find my musket, how dark I thought the night
Oh, blessed God, it is not dark; it is the broad daylight
And when I found that I was blind, my tears began to flow
I longed for even a pauper’s grave in the Glen of Aherlow.
Oh, Blessed Virgin Mary, mine is a mournful tale
A poor blind prisoner here I am in Dublin’s dreary jail
Struck blind within the trenches where I never feared the foe
And now I’ll never see again my own sweet Aherlow.
A poor neglected mendicant I wandered through the streets
My nine months’ pension now being out, I beg from all I meet
As I joined my country’s tyrants my face I’ll never show
Among the kind old neighbours in the Glen of Aherlow.
Now Irish youths, dear countrymen, take heed of what I say
For if you join the English ranks you’ll surely rue the day
And if ever you are tempted a-soldiering to go
Remember poor blind Sheehan from the Glen of Aherlow.
Tom Hurley is a journalist and documentary maker. The 4-part documentary entitled ‘Reward of Valour’ by Tom Hurley will be aired over four consecutive Wednesdays just after the 11:00 am news on Tipp Mid West Radio beginning on April 25. The programmes can be heard outside the county on tippmidwestradio.com.
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