Niall agus Séamus 'ac a' Bháird (1871–1951)


Robert French photo showing the two lighthouses on Oyster Island (NLI)

Séamus 'ac a' Bháird (1871–1951) - James Ward - was a Gaelic poet, songsmith, stepdancer and author, Prince, and later King, of Tory Island, and helped lead the struggle in Donegal to keep Gaelic culture alive at a time when Britain was trying to wipe it from the face of the land.
Surprisingly, he was part-reared on Eagle Island and Oyster Island.
His father, Neal, became assistant keeper on Tory Island on 2nd November 1867, when he was 23 years old. This was a handy posting for him as he had been born and reared in Burtonport in northwest Donegal. It was probably during this first stint on Tory that he married Éilis (Bessie) Ní Dhubhgáin of that island. 
Son Séamus was born on Tory in 1871 but his first memories were of Eagle Island. The family were later transferred to Oyster Island in Sligo. He first went to school back on Tory Island, aged around 7 years, when his father, Neal, was transferred back there.


It is not known when Neal ceased his lightkeeping duties. On the 1901 Census, he is described as a publican and he was also a shopkeeper, operating out of the same premises where the Óstán Thoraí now sits. He died in 1925, aged around 81.
On the same census, Séamus is described as a telegraph clerk and doubtless had links to the lighthouse. One resource describes him as also serving as a lightkeeper. This was probably so but as a temporary keeper only. In 1928, he moved to Downings where he became an officer in the Department of Land and Fisheries. Three years later, he recorded a piece for the Doegen recordings an initiative that preserved the various accents and spoken word in Ulster.


A cropped 1912 photo of a special visit to Tory Island. Front row, left to right, Neal Ward, former lightkeeper, his daughter, Ellie Ward, some guy called Roger Casement and James Ward aka Séamus 'ac a' Bháird

Despite his many accomplishments, Seamus, it appears, incurred the wrath of the poet Austin Clarke: -

Black luck upon you Seamus Mac-an-Bhaird 
Who shut the door upon a poet 
Nor put red wine and bread upon the board; 
My song is greater than your hoard, 
Although no running children know it 
Between the sea and the windy stones.


Tory Island lighthouse (State Library of South Australia)


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