Mitchel & Martin Article

Written by Adrian Murdock

Monday, 20 August 2007

On a wet March day in 1875 a frail man aged beyond his years stood at the graveside of a lifelong friend in a secluded cemetery in the centre of Newry, Co.Down.  As the service drew to a close, this stooped figure collapsed and was taken to the home of his deceased friend and before the week was over he was also dead.  For two lives that had been similar and had shared so many trials over the years, thier passing was almost identical.  Yo may ask in the human race could there be coincidences in the lives of two men, born many miles apart, three years between them, separated by outside forces for many years, spread over three continents and yet united together again before their premature deaths?  The answer is yes in the lives of John Mitchel & John Martin, to whose memory this article is dedicated! Their lives began in the second decade of the 1800's, John Martin was born in Loughorne,  Newry, Co.Down in 1812 and John Mitchel three years later in Dungiven, Co.Derry.  They first met at the private School of Dr Henderson in Hill street, Newry, Mitchel's father having come to minister in Newry.  Their love of nature, the beauty of the countryside and love of reading must have been what formed their deep friendship.  Perhaps they were able to comfort one another with their affliction with asthma. John Martin walked to Newry from Loughorne and quite often Mitchel would accompany him home and they would spend their time reading books and walking the countryside. When Mitchel was courting Jenny Verner, Martin may have known of it and perhaps arranged secret meeting places for them, it has often been suggested that he lent them money to elope to Drumcree Parish Church at Portadown, Co.Armagh to get married. Later when John Mitchel was living in Banbridge with his young family he would bring them up to Loughorne, to give him a chance to relax from his work as a solicitor, which he often grew tired of.  Many peaceful hours were spent by the edge of the lake in Loughorne with his young boys rolling over him and playing, how tragic that two of these as young men were to die so young in the Civil War in America.  We can only hope that as they faced death some of their happy childhood memories may have returned. In the days of "Young Ireland" in the 1840s the two Johns worked closely together in Dublin to try and obtain a better Government and living conditions for their fellow countrymen, who were suffering so much during the dark days of the famine.  At this time Martin also had as a close working companion Mitchel's sister Henrietta, who would later be Mrs Martin.  It is probable that they had also met many times before whe she was just a girl and he a schoolboy.  The arrest, trial and transportation of Mitchel in May 1847 must have brought the two families even closer together.  Indeed it had such an impact on John that he settled his affairs in Loughorne and moved permanently to Dublin, where he set up his own newspaper "The Irish Felon".   Unfortunately the Government also opposed his views, brought out a warrant for his arrest, but he gave himself up.  He was also sentenced to transportation, not to Bermuda, where Mitchel was sent, but to Van Diemen's Land.  So even in exile the two friends were to be separaated, but it wasn't to last for long and among the family photos, which Martin took with him was one of Mitchel, who was closer than any brother. In November 1849 John Martin arrived in his exile home, but he was not alone for long, as Mitchel was brought to join him in April 1850 on account of his health..  Thus the two friends were again united and could comfort each other as Martin nursed Mitchel back to health and read the papers to him.   Once he was stronger they went for walks and rides throughout the countryside and met up with fellow exiles.  Although best of friends they often quarrelled and disagreed over trivial matters and the different approaches they thought should be taken to ease the suffering of their fellow countrymen back in treland, yet they soon made up again and sat smoking their pipes contentedly together. In April 1850 John Mitchel had the idea of bringing his wife and family out to join him and he discussed it with Martin.  So in 1851 Mitchel was reunited with his family and they all lived togethr with Martin, who got the job of being tutor to the children and caring for them, when John & Jenny went on trips, returning from one time away they brought home a baby kangaroo, which provided great excitement. This seemed to be a very settled time for the Mitchels and they felt contented with the farm work and even safer than they did when they lived in Banbridge, Co.Down in Ireland.  Martin probabaly had similar contentment, but the plight of the people and concern for his siblings back home probably troubled him, as he would read of the continuing horrors, which were blighting the Island. This settled life of exile wasn't to continue, for in 1853 PJ"Nicuagara" Smyth arrived at Mitchel's door with a plan for his escape to America.  Martin was also interested in the idea, but later changed his mind, as it was Winter so his health would not be the best to endure the hardships of being on the run.  Anyhow he was of better help to his friends by arranging the sale of the Mitchel livestock and getting Jenny and the family safely on board the ship to take them to their new home. After the departure of the Mitchels the authorities kept a close watch on Martin as thgey thought he might also plan an escape, but he continued to live out his exile until given a "conditional" pardon in 1854 that he shouldn't visit any portion of the United Kingdom.  He went to live in Paris. In 1856 the pardon was made unconditional and he made a short trip to Ireland to see his family.  Back in Paris he had the sorrow of watching his youngest sister Anna grow frail and die of consumption in 1857.  Although her husband was Dr Thomas Archer Hirst, an Englishman, John still respected him for the care,  which he gave to Anna in her final months.  In 1858 he took another quiet tour of Ireland and then had his brother Robert and his wife Millicent over in paris.  It was to be their last time together for in October the lives of Robert & Millicent were both taken with Scarlet Fever.  John then moved permanently to Kilbroney near Rostrevor, Co.Down to care for his seven orphaned nephews and nieces. A year later he met up with his friend Mitchel in Paris and no doubt he was able to confide a lot of his sorrows in him and discover all about the Mitchels and their new life in America.  Seven years later when they met again in Paris, Martin probably provided the sympathetic ear for Mitchel, as the horrors of the civil War in America were discussed.  Perhaps he may have mentioned to Mitchel his thoughts about marrying the young Henrietta Mitchel, which event would take place in November 1868.  Now although they could never be brothers, they were as closely related as was possible.  It would appear that Martin was glad to have Henrietta as his wife, as she kept him on the move, as even he himself admitted he was lazy! In 1869 Mr & Mrs Martin went to America and Canada and visited the Mitchels in New York.  No doubt it was an emotional reunion as the past years had brought so many changes.  The mitchels had endured the civil War, loosing 2 sons and John himself was imprisoned for a while.  A daughter Henrietta had also died in a convent in Paris. The two Johns could once again smoke their pipes together and discuss politics, which they often disagreed about, yet remained the best of friends.  In appearance they were both getting old for their years, although Mitchel kept his head of curls whereas Martin was thinning on top. In politics they differed over the "Home Rule" issue, which Martin supported and was elected for the County of Meath in 1871, Mitchel had no faith in him over this and thought he would be useless in Parliament.  Yet the people of Meath believed in him, as they paid the expenses of his election and John as secretary of the "Home Rule" party took only half pay, so no one can say he wasn't devoted.  Indeed in 1873 he & Henrietta found themselves without a home, as they had to leave rented accomodation, as they had no money.  This was because John refused to take any pay as secretary of the "Home Rule" party and became Honorary Secretary.  If they had decided to return to Loughorne the properties would have had to be repaired to make them habitable, as his relatives had let them fall into bad repair.  Another hindrance was that Henrietta didn't like the idea of moving to the countryside.  So they moved around staying with relatives & friends.  Thus like the Mitchels they were wandering vagabonds. In 1874 Martin was agian elected for Meath with a majority and Mitchel must have thought there was some future for "Home Rule" as he decided to stand for County Tipperary in 1875.  He was overwhhelmly elected, but the Goverment declared the seat vacant  and in the re-election he again won.  He had travelled over to ireland for the event, but he was now a sick man, close to death and on 20th March 1875 he breathed his last in his childhood home at "Dromalane House", Newry. Seldom in history have two lives followed such similar patterns and although there were so many differences in them, yet there were similarities and no matter how much they disagreed, they always remained the best of friends. We can only wonder what the course of Irish History would have been if they had been given a few more years, for their love & devotion to their homeland was so great that they were prepared to endure whatever came their way in their pursuit of abetter land for their fellowman!  Although their epitaphs are often quoted, it will do noi harm to end with them, as they fully describe the two friends! For Martin -                                                                    For Mitchel - "He lived for his Country,                                            "After 27 years spent in exile  Suffered in her cause,                                                 for the sake of Ireland Pled for her wrongs,                                                    he returned with honour And died beloved and lamented                               to die among his own people"   By every true hearted Irishman"