Kildare resident launches historic book on her governess grandmother

A fascinating new local history book by Laois native Mary Conliffe was launched in Donaghmore Workhouse Museum in Co Kildare on Friday, November 4.

Launched by Dr Niall O’Doherty, Editor of the Rathdowney Review, the book entitled ‘Grandmother Catherine in France during the Great War’ and family memories from Laois tells the story of Mary’s grandmother, Catherine Cleere, who worked as agoverness in France during the First World War. It is based on a diary kept by Catherine during the war and discovered by the author in 2010.

Dr O’Doherty acknowledged Mary’s many interesting contributions to the annual Rathdowney Review at the launch. Senior Library Assistant at Laois County Council, Sinead Holland also spoke on the night and she emphasised the importance of local history publications such as this. 

Mary O’Riordan (nee Egan) of Borris in Ossory congratulated Mary on the publication and recalled many fond memories of Mary’s late mother, Kitty Cummins Hogan, who was a friend of her own mother, the late Cora Egan. 

Trevor Stanley, of the Donaghmore Workhouse Museum committee, welcomed the attendance. He said that the museum, whose walls were steeped in local history, was a very fitting venue for the launch of this historic narrative.

The book tells the story of her grandmother and her life as a governess in Tourcoing, a small city in northern France, during the First World War (1914-1918) and describes her life as she settled back to family life in Ireland after her four years in France. It also includes many memories of Mary’s own childhood growing up on a farm outside Borris in Ossory. 

The new book gives an insight into the life of Catherine Cleere, who was born in Clough, Laois in 1885 and later moved to nearby Donaghmore. She was educated by the St John of God Sisters in Rathdowney where she studied French. 

Following in the footsteps of her older sister Margaret, Catherine travelled to France to work as a governess. She was based in the household of a rich industrialist family in Tourcoing, a small city in northern France, when war broke out in 1914.

The book explores Catherine’s experiences during the long and lonely years of war and describes how she settled back to family life in Ireland in the years that followed. It contains a potted history of the regions Tourcoing and Montmirail, which the author visited when researching her grandmother’s wartime experience.

The book also includes a brief narrative describing the birthplace of the Cleere sisters in Laois and some fond memories of the author’s life while growing up in Laois.

Above: Mary Conliffe pictured at the launch

At the launch Mary had a selection of artefacts on display which her grandmother Catherine had brought back to Ireland from France. Among them a lace collar she wore, some old limoges chinaware, her grandmother's diary and french dictionary, along with some postcards, photographs and old books.   Mary extended her thanks to all who attended the launch and all who purchased the book.

Mary Conliffe (nee Cummins) was born in 1951 and grew up on the family farm in Doon, Borris-in-Ossory. She became an air hostess with Aer Lingus in 1971.

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Her writings have been published in Ireland’s Own and the magazine’s Annual Anthology of Winning Irish Short Stories in 2015 and in the following two years. One of her stories is featured in Beyond the Farm Gate, edited by P.J Cunningham in 2015. She contributes annually to the Laois Rathdowney Annual Review and has been published in the Family Fortunes section of The Irish Times.

Mary graduated in 2009 with a master’s degree in local history from Maynooth University. Her thesis was based on the Caragh Orphanage County Kildare (1865-1894) and the criminal convictions of Revd Samuel George Cotton 1895.

Mary served on the board of directors of Kare, the organisation for intellectually disabled persons in Kildare, for seven years (2015-2021).

She lives in Robertstown, Co Kildare, with her husband Kevin, a mathematics teacher. They have two children – Patrick a solicitor in Dublin and Marie Therese, a beautiful young woman who lives in a Kare residence for special needs persons in Clane.The book is on sale in local shops and all proceeds from the sales are going to Kare, an association in County Kildare for persons with intellectual disabilities.