Mary B. Dunphy, part-time collector from South Wexford

With the submission of a copybook of completed material for the Schools’ Collection of the Irish Folklore Commission in 1938, the Principal of St Leonard’s National School, Ballycullane wrote an accompanying letter which read:

A chara,

My folklore collection herewith. I got it completed just now because my teaching career finishes here directly. Any job going in your department would be very acceptable as I have always had a flair that way. I retire according to the New Rule for women teachers on the 30th inst. If you want a folklore collector, ring me up.

Yours faithfully, (Miss) Mary B. Dunphy

NFCS 871: 25A and NFCS 871:05

The ‘new rule’ Miss Dunphy refers to here is the introduction of a regulation by the Department of Education in 1938 that reduced the retirement age of women teachers from sixty-five to sixty. This followed the marriage ban for female teachers introduced a few years earlier. Miss Dunphy had been Principal of St Leonard’s since 1901 and, as she writes in the manuscript, the rule was introduced ‘with a view of relieving unemployment in the teaching profession’. According to an article from the Irish Times in December 1938, 203 teachers were retired under this rule, despite protest from the Irish National Teachers’ Association. The introduction of such a rule would impact not only the immediate position of the retirees, but would also have an impact on their pensions. In a letter written in 1946 to Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Archivist of the Irish Folklore Commission, Miss Dunphy explains that the reduction of the retirement age meant that teachers were not able to fulfil the total years of service required for a full pension, and asks the support of Ó Súilleabháin and other Commission officials in an upcoming campaign by pensioned teachers to protest this oversight.

NFCS 871:01b and NFC 577: 436

Séamus Ó Duilearga, Director of the Irish Folklore Commission, replied to compliment Miss Dunphy on her excellent submission to the Schools’ Collection – ‘one of the finest I have ever seen’ – and asked Miss Dunphy to join the work of the Commission as a part-time collector. Thus began a correspondence with the Commission lasting almost ten years. Letters written to Miss Dunphy from Seán Ó Súilleabháin also compliment her collecting work, highlighting some of the areas most of interest, such as death customs, fishermen’s folklore, and the Irish language, all of which Miss Dunphy would return to in subsequent manuscripts.

Miss Dunphy’s interest in the folklore and history of Ireland and Wexford is clear from her letters and collected material. The material she collected for the Schools’ Collection is mainly her own knowledge and recollection, and therefore some evidence about her life can be gleaned from its pages. Her father, it seems, had emigrated to Newfoundland in his youth, while her mother was the daughter of a local businessman, Mr James Hammond. She is also a descendent of the owners of Dunphy’s Mill in New Ross. As time goes on she assumes the role of a more traditional collector, relying on other local informants to share their knowledge. She also diligently answers many of the early questionnaires sent to her by the Commission.

NFC 577: 300-301

A survey of her collected material confirms why the Commission were interested in retaining her as a collector, as Miss Dunphy’s knowledge of the locality was clearly extensive. The address she gives the Commission on leaving her post in St Leonard’s is ‘Michael Dunphy, Grocery and Provision Stores’, and her place in a local family-run shop would have put her in touch with many members of the community. Her work is also neat and clear, including illustrations throughout, as well as photos, postcards and maps depicting the locality, with notes indicating various landmarks. Her earlier work also includes indices. She mentions local landmarks in the vicinity, well-known figures to the community, from St Moling, to local celebrities, to political figures like O’Donovan Rossa. She gives many references both to the history and the historical tradition of New Ross and surrounding areas. She often mentions traditional life, covering trades, household and farming practices, and clothing worn in the past. She also includes quite a few references to games played in the past.

The following description of Oliver Cromwell, written by Miss Dunphy, was accompanied by a postcard depicting St Mary’s Abbey with a ‘x’ to mark the cross mentioned:

Local traditions about St Mary’s Abbey New Ross.

Cromwell sent one of his soldiers up to take down the cross over the E[ast] window. He fell down and was killed. Up he sent another and another and yet another, all met the same fate. So it had to be left there. It is there to this day!

There was an underground passage leading from the Abbey to the Priory in Priory St. Cromwell discovered the passage at the Abbey and curious to know where it led and hoping to discover some ‘Papist’ priest hiding, he sent a few of his soldiers with a drummer along the passage ‘below’ while he himself with others followed the sound of the drum ‘above’. All went well and the drum was clearly heard down Mary St. as far as the houses opposite the entrance to the Augustinian Church, there, the sound of the drum was lost and there, suffocated Cromwell’s soldiers and drummer. So the secret of the underground passage was kept from Cromwell.

NFC 577: 382-384

Another frequent occurrence in the material collected by Miss Dunphy is references to the Otherworld, as she collected many stories about ghosts, fairies, the Devil and the Banshee, though she admitted to having been a sceptic in the past. In material collected for the Schools’ Collection, she writes:

The writer [i.e. Miss Dunphy] always made fun of people who asserted there was a ‘Banshee’. This Friday night about 20 years ago I was sleeping soundly in my home in New Ross when all of a sudden a piercing sound penetrated my sleep. I awoke, vaguely conscious I had heard a shout. Listening, and snuggling up again to sleep an awful scream filled the entire vault of the heavens! Calling the rest of the household for company, we all heard the third scream. It was weird! Next morning the whole street was alive with accounts of disturbed sleep of the previous night. All had heard the Banshee! I should not like to hear her again. I had been a ‘Doubting Thomas’. An old man named McCarthy died that night in town.

NFCS 871: 10

NFC 577: 287 and NFC 577: 407

The letters from the Commission remained encouraging to Miss Dunphy and her work throughout their ten-year correspondence. Her work also reveals some of the gaps left by the absence of full-time female collectors working for the Commission. Because of this, the work of female part-time collectors is valuable in allowing further study of womens’ traditions. Indeed, women and womens’ traditions feature often in Miss Dunphy’s work, as she gives accounts of farming women, womens’ clothing, household responsibilities, keening women and more. Though her career as a part-time collector was limited in comparison to the momentous work of the full-time collectors, it remains an important record of material from South Wexford. Some of her work is currently available to browse on dúchas.ie and more will be available in the near future.

This post was written by Ailbe van der Heide, Cúntóir Leabharlainne | Library Assistant, Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann | National Folklore Collection.

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Further Reading:

“Retirement of Women Teachers: Strong Protest from Official Body Minister of Education Warned.” The Irish Times (1921-), 12/12/1938.

Redmond, Jennifer and Harford, Judith. “One man one job”: the marriage ban and the employment of women teachers in Irish primary schools. Paedagog Hist. 2010; 46(5): 639-654.