SENTINELS

An evening of history was held in Malahide Cricket Club based around an old club photo from the year 1901.

The night was divided into three parts with Paddy Ryan of Malahide Historical Society opening up with a fascinating insight into team member Tom Kettle who was tragically killed in action at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Brian Gilmore followed with a review of local cricket in 1901 based mainly on the extensive coverage of the game in the various newspapers of the day.

Finally, Gerry Kingston author of the book Malahide Snapshot 1901, drawing on details from the 1901 Census provided a pen picture of the players and umpire in the 1901 photo. So for example, the Census revealed that Umpire James Stubbings had eyesight issues!

Interesting facts peppered the evening. The population of Malahide in 1901 was around 300. Today maybe 10,000. The 1901 team was representative of the entire village with a healthy mix of backgrounds and creeds.

A feature of the photo are two tall young men standing like sentinels at either end of the back row. Tom Kettle (age 21) on the left and Charlie Adams (age 17) on the right. In what seems to be the custom at the time both Kettle and Adams are each holding a cricket ball indicating the pair as opening bowlers. And both are figures of note.

Tom was an idealist, a war poet.  He was also a Home Rule politician and Member of Parliament, Professor of Economics at UCD, journalist, barrister and soldier. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was MP for East Tyrone from 1906 to 1910. He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913. On the outbreak of World War I he enlisted for service in the British Army and died on the Western Front at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

The Kettle family farmed land in Artane, St Margarets and Malahide in north Dublin. The family homestead was Millview House, Malahide. Tom turned out for the Village for a number of years at the turn of the century having developed his game at school in Clongowes Wood, Co Kildare. He was more than a useful bowler and was a regular wicket taker. The Irish Times reported on 16 July 1901 that Kettle "bowled splendidly" when taking 8 for next to nothing versus the Great Southern & Western Railway XI.

Charlie Adams also fought at the Somme. He was Lieutenant with the 10th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He was captured by the German army in 1917 and became a prisoner for the remainder of the Great War.

Charlie was a mainstay of the Malahide cricket team with bat and ball for many years both before and after the War. Also, he was capped 16 times as a forward for the Irish Rugby XV between the years 1908-1914. There is no doubt that more caps would have come his way but for the War. Charlie’s brother Archie, vice-captain, also features in the photo. Charlie’s son Norman who was a long standing member subsequently became President and later Patron of the Club.

Another name of note in the photo is Harry Holton whose family owned a grocery shop on the Main Street in the Village. Also, Daniel Campion who was captain of the 1901 team was a member of the well known family of publicans from Balgriffin on the Malahide Road. Edmond Crowley continued to play after the War and later served on the Committee in the Club in a number of positions.

The talks were followed by a question and answer session and refreshments. An enjoyable evening was had by all.

To My Daughter Betty
by Thomas Michael Kettle
In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown
To beauty proud as was your mother's prime,
In that desired, delayed, incredible time,
You'll ask why I abandoned you, my own,
And the dear heart that was your baby throne,
To dice with death. And oh! they'll give you rhyme
And reason: some will call the thing sublime,
And some decry it in a knowing tone.
So here, while the mad guns curse overhead,
And tired men sigh with mud for couch and floor,
Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead,
Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor,—
But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed,
And for the secret Scripture of the poor.

4th September 1916

This is Tom Kettle’s most famous poem.  It was composed in the trenches a few short days before his death on 9th September 1916.

Brian Gilmore 2025