Page 64 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

IT IS THE HOME RULE BILL THAT HAS DONE THAT

her signature on the standard form, but her own handwritten
copy of the text, carefully transcribed and signed, which must
have been submitted separately and later appended to the
official signature sheets.

The Signatories

So now, having set the scene, let’s take a look at the
individuals themselves. Using a variety of online sources –
chiefly the 1911 and 1901 census returns, but also the civil
records of births, marriages and deaths and the church records
at www.irishgenealogy.ie, the calendars of wills and
administration, 1858-1920 from www.nationalarchives.ie/ , and
the will calendars from PRONI (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni ) as
well as contemporary newspapers – I’ve been able to find out
something, often quite a lot, about all forty-six Wicklow
signatories.

First, the features in common – all were Protestant, the great
majority Church of Ireland. A much smaller number were
27
Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist, while a small cohort – all
28
from Greystones and all related – were Plymouth Brethren.
Only five of the forty-six had been born in Co Wicklow , and
29
most had Ulster connections, although some were closer than
others: Emily and Georgina Tottenham, for instance, had lived in

27 Thirty-six were Church of Ireland, although two of those were probably
born Presbyterian. Only one was Church of England. On contemporary
reports of Catholic signatories, see Fitzpatrick, Descendancy, p. 109.
28 Three were Presbyterian, two were Methodist, and one Baptist. All those
described as Plymouth Brethren were members of the Evans family of
Greystones.
29 The Wicklow-born signatories were Annie Jane Evans of West View,
Emily Evans and her sister, Mary Storey of Hillside (all of Greystones), Lucy
Loftus Mates, Redcross, and Georgina Isabella Tottenham, who had,
however, spent most of her early life in Co Fermanagh, where her father
was rector of Inishmacsaint.
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