Fr Thomas John Whitty

Fr Thomas Whitty

(Bridge Lane, Carrick-on-Suir 24th June 1860 – Stillorgan Dublin 16th December 1919 )

Thomas Whitty was a twin, born in what is now known as Bridge Street in Carrick-on-Suir in 1860. The other twin, John, died in infancy. Thomas then became known as Thomas John. (I will presume he became known as Tom, as did his brother-in-law Tom Cleary). Like his brothers, he went to Castleknock College boarding school. What he did between leaving school and joining the seminary is unknown. He was ordained for Dublin diocese at the age of 28, in 1888. This is late for someone who entered straight from school. Normal course of studies would have been about 7 years. So three years are missing. While he was a student, he was joint Executor of his father Richard’s will, with his brother Anthony. Richard died around 1883. Tom is not listed in the register for Holy Cross College Clonliffe, the seminary for Dublin; it is possible that he trained for another diocese and then transferred. He may have started with the Vincentians. After ordination Tom was sent to Avoca in Co Wicklow as curate, and stayed there for 9 years. He then moved up the road to Castledermot for three years. In 1900, at the very early age of 40, he retired from the Dublin archdiocese. This is a very unusual move for a priest. No reason has been found why it happened. (His brother Martin was a Vincentian and based in Castleknock much of this time.)

In 1901, after his early retirement the previous year, Tom was living with Mary Anne Nolan, his sister, in Georges St. Waterford. Mary Anne, in fact, seems to have taken in strays. She also housed her aunt, Mary Hegarty (nee Marks, yes the famous Marks), a widow at this stage, seemingly childless. Mary Anne’s son Michael was gone to Dublin, later to join the Vincentians. Two of her daughters, Joey and Peddy had flown the coop. Only Molly remained at home. So the house in Waterford had Mary Anne, her daughter, her brother and her aunt. Her own husband, David, was living down the road in an institution. Whatever had happened between them initially, Mary Anne’s father only left her money in his will on condition that she did not take up with that man again. Mary Anne seems to have been a wounded heroine, the one in the family that the crippled and the lame came home to. Artistic license, allied to a few known facts, would at least allow us to think that of her. Her only sister Bridget Cleary, was a visitor to her house (as we know from the 1911 Census). By 1911 Mary Anne had moved to Tramore, and Tom had returned to Dublin. In 1911 He was boarding in a house in Northumberland Road, Dun Laoire, with the family of a George and Margaret Stevens. George was a furniture restorer from Mayo. There is no known connection with this family at the moment.

Tom did not travel to Liverpool to attend his brother Michael’s funeral in 1917. In the newspaper report of Michael’s death, Tom is referred to only obliquely: “Two other brothers of the deceased joined the Church, and one of them was a very popular member of the Vincentian order and was stationed at Castleknock for some years.” (You have to admire the journalism which managed to hide the man from public view so smoothly. There was obviously a story there, but it was covered over with grace. None of us even thought to ask about the failure to mention the other brother.) Martin, the Vincentian, had in fact died at this stage, But Tom was still alive. Dr Patrick and Mary Anne had died. Anthony, if he was still alive, had emigrated to New York in 1897, twenty years earlier. Neither of Michael’s surviving siblings, Bridget Cleary or Fr. Tom Whitty, attended the funeral. Bridget’s son Richard Cleary attended on her behalf. Fr Michael Nolan cm, another nephew of the deceased, was also at that funeral in Liverpool. Tom himself died aged 59 on Tuesday December 16th 1919. He was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery in grave no 49FW two days later, December 18th, a week before Christmas Day. The grave was purchased by his nephew Fr. Michael Nolan c.m of St Peter’s Phibsboro. It is likely that Michael also said the Requiem Mass. He is buried in a first class grave. There were four categories of grave in Deansgrange. First class was located near the main pathways – the most prominent and the most expensive; second class was near the smaller pathways; third class was surrounded by other plots. For third class payment had to be made within five years or the plot reverted to the Burial Board for further use. Fourth class was on loan only, no payment expected (except the cost of opening the grave) and the Burial Board took it back to bury others after a number of years. There were never any pauper’s graves in Deansgrange. However, while Michael purchased the grave (or got the money from the Vincentians or someone in the family to do so), there was no gravestone, kerbing or other ornamentation provided. Tom Whitty has lain in an unmarked grave for the last 93 years.

His address at death was given as St John of God’s Hospital Stillorgan, an institution that dealt with alcoholism and psychiatric illnesses. However, the Hospital records, which are complete and accurate, show that he was never a patient there. What would explain the address is this: the religious community of the brothers would regularly take in stray clerics who had no family or other means of support. Since Thomas was recorded in Deansgrange as being at the address of St John of God's this seems the most likely scenario. So why was Tom Whitty essentially a wanderer for 19 years, turning up first in Waterford with his sister in 1901, later in a Boarding House in Dun Laoire in 1911, and finally with the religious community of St John of God in 1919? Why did he retire from active ministry at the early age of 40? Why was he airbrushed so gently but effectively from the collective family memory? I offered Mass for Tom last night, that he might rest in peace. Whatever adversely affected him in life, whatever character traits or illnesses he may have had, whatever trouble he was in, if any, I am sure that the good Lord has long since forgiven him. I am happy that he is now back in his place in the family tree, with as much right to be there as the heroes and heroines we so rightly admire.