Dismissed

Tuskar Rock (photo Damien Mcaleenan)

There is one word in the whole spectrum of lighthouse research that makes you sit up and wonder what the hell happened. A simple two-syllable word that, within it, masks a whole intriguing story.

Dismissed.
Was he drunk? Or insolent? Did he bugger the bursar, to use an elegant phrase from Educating Rita? But then you need to dig deeper. Why was he drunk? Why was he insolent? And so on. Chances are, you'll never know because the incident happened so far back in time that only a much-garbled and one-sided tale may have survived over the centuries.

But I still feel a frisson of excitement when I see that word, as I did recently when surveying Alan Hayden's wonderful Skellig List, which I will write about in full in due course. Quoting one of the journals from 1834, relating to one of the stations at Skellig Rock, he writes

 

CIL B/1/7/19 Carroll admonished & Hatton dismissed for negligence and frequent absences

Owen Carroll, I am assuming, was the principal keeper at either the upper or the lower station and John Hatton was his assistant. Presumably, Hatton was the transgressor and Carroll was admonished for allowing the situation to continue without informing the board. But was there more to the story?

There is some debate as to John Hatton's birthplace. Some say it was Dublin, others say it was Worcester in England. Whatever. He married Sarah Connell, daughter of a solicitor!, probably in Dublin, and their children, for whom I have records, were Sarah b. December 1822, while the family was living at Moore Street; Agnes, April 1824, Granby Row; John, May 1825, Britain St, who died aged 3 months; and another John in March 1827. The family was protestant and all children were baptised at St Mary's C of I church in Dublin. (For those of you who know Dublin, it's the church next to the Jervis Centre on Mary's Lane that is now a bar or restaurant or something.)

St Mary's Church, Mary Street

The addresses suggest that father, John, was not a lightkeeper. However, by 1832, he appears to have thrown in his lot with the Ballast Board. Michael Costeloe, Irish Lights historian, reported in Beam 30 that

Shore dwellings for the Tuskar Lightkeepers and their families were built in 1817 at Ballyhire, half way between Greenore Point and Carnsore Point. On 28 March 1832 the Inspector of Lighthouses, George Halpin, visited Tuskar Lighthouse to investigate charges of embezzling oil and other lighthouse stores brought against William Richardson, Principal Keeper, and James Dowling, Assistant Keeper, by the other Assistant Keepers, John Hatton and Henry Browne.
A special meeting of the Board to consider these charges was held on 12 June 1832 and the outcome was the dismissal of the two accused Keepers, the charges ‘having been proved after a very minute investigation’.

Reading between the lines, I wonder if John Hatton was the main instigator of the allegations, as his name precedes Henry Browne. This would lead one to think that John was not new into the service but already had a couple of years under his belt. To be fair, Halpin was nothing if not a very fair-minded man and it would appear the specifics of the charges were justified. Michael Costeloe goes on to say that

Two days later at their regular meeting the Board considered a report from Inspector George Halpin referring to the residences built for the convenience of the Light Keepers and their families’ at Ballyhire, stating: "this indulgence they have generally abused by living in a state of great dissention to the annoyance of the neighbourhood and the disgrace of the establishment, occasionally bringing persons from the shore and leaving them though unfit in discharge of the Light House duty while the Keepers were on shore thus endangering the many valuable lives and immense property depending on the maintenance of the Light at this important station . . . "
Halpin recommended disposing of the houses at Ballyhire, observing that "the Light Keepers being constantly on the Rock will be effectually prevented from idling on shore and forming improper acquaintences [sic] in the country: the duty of the Light House will be properly attended to, and the means and temptation to make improper use of the stores will be much diminished."

One assumes that the two instances were related and the embezzlement of oil and stores directly led to the sale of the shore houses. It is hard to see how transferring the families to the rock would have helped the 'dissention,' though, with the two main culprits dismissed, the situation night have eased anyway.

Incidentally, I love the notion of bringing their drinking buddies out to the light to mind it, while they busied themselves with 'idling.' That shows true class.

The 1817 keepers' cottages where the disgraceful behavior emanated

It would appear that John Hatton was spared bringing his young family onto the tiny Tuskar Rock, for Sarah Hatton had a baby on Skellig Rock on 15th March 1834, one of the first to do so. Elizabeth Eleanor Hatton was baptised in Valentia two weeks later and the next we hear of the family is the dismissal of John for 'negligence and frequent absences'.

The old Upper Skellig light

There is, of course, the suspicion that the Ballast Board members were getting revenge for the upsetting of the apple-cart at Tuskar. Although they would have publicly said that he had done the right thing, privately they may have not been enamoured by the lack of loyalty and camaraderie shown, especially if it ended up costing them money and losing two good keepers. But I have faith in Halpin and hope that the charges were justified.

On 27th December 1835, Elizabeth Eleanor was re-baptized at St. Mary's in Dublin, the family living at Paradise Row (which, I'm sure, was as far from Paradise as you could possible get) Father, John, was listed as a coachmaker. A note in the margin of the marriage register explains the child had previously been baptised at Valentia.

Some time in the next 20 years, the family left Paradise for New South Wales. Skellig baby Elizabeth married Conrad Appel in Sydney in 1858. Sarah and Negligent John died in 1889 and 1890 respectively.