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The Thomas D'Arcy McGee Foundation is holding an exhibition in Dublin in tribute to one of Carlingford's most famous sons.
The event beginning this week entitled ‘Thomas D’Arcy McGee: Irish Rebel – Canadian Patriot’ is being officially opened this Thursday, 7 April by her Excellency Nancy Smyth, the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland in the EPIC Museum, Dublin. (The EPIC has been voted Europe’s leading visitor experience) and will run till the end of May. Newpoint Players will perform at the opening.
Is the building of a new country a denial of the old country? This question has been central to the legacy of Carlingford’s Thomas D’Arcy McGee, who in his youth was a physical force, Irish Republican but in middle age was assassinated as a founding father of Canada.
The colourful exhibition created by Anthony Russell, designed by Multi-Media Instructional Design, and imaginatively mounted by Michael McAteer tells the story from his 1825 birth in Dundalk Street, Carlingford to his 1868 death on Sparks Street, Ottawa. It tells of his transformation from Irish rebel to colonial loyalist. It examines the strength and frailties of a remarkable 19th century revolutionary, journalist, and politician whose ideas and ideals, especially 'Unity-in-Diversity', were central in the making of the Canadian Nation – and the Good Friday Agreement.
The exhibition features artefacts associated with Thomas D’Arcy McGee in both Canada and Ireland. The Bytown Museum, Ottawa lent a cast of McGee’s hand. There was no death mask as the bullet destroyed his face. The Library and Archives, Canada donated a wanted poster seeking McGee’s killer. Pat Brown, a descendant of John Mitchel’s sister Matilda, lent her family’s copy of ‘A Popular History of Ireland’ by Thomas D’Arcy McGee. D’Arcy Quinn, McGee’s great-great grandson, gifted a copy of Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith’s 1868 portrait of McGee to the Thomas D’Arcy McGee Foundation. Stephen Fitzpatrick gave the loan of a portrait of John Mitchel, once owned by Tom Clarke, the first signatory on the I916 Proclamation. Billy Fegan gave the loan of Jerimiah O’Donovan Rossa’s pipe, also once owned by Tom Clarke. Both John Mitchel and O’Donovan Rossa clashed bitterly with McGee, and both are featured in the exhibition.
Thomas D’Arcy McGee and John Mitchel were inspired by the Society of United Irishmen. The exhibition includes an original edition of its Northern Star newspaper, presented by Ross Chapman. Margaret Harold and the Carlingford Heritage Trust have generously allowed the Thomas D’Arcy McGee Foundation to display his christening robe.
The exhibition examines not only McGee’s political journey and legacy but also his battle with personal demons, including alcohol. It tells of a man much loved by his family, a man admired for his nation building, and a man despised for changing his mind.
At the opening of the exhibition, Newpoint Players will perform the ‘Trial of Thomas D’Arcy McGee before the Court of History’ by Anthony Russell. The exhibition will be in the EPIC museum until the end of May. The EPIC is a ten-minute walk from Conolly Station.
The Thomas D’Arcy McGee Foundation wishes to thank its chairman, Pat O’Callaghan and its manager Tommy Fegan for invaluable support.
