Leopold George Duncan Galwey-Foley (1888-1984) was the third child born to our grandfather's legal guardians, Ida Burke Browne (1868-1940) and her husband, Edmund Augustine Galwey-Foley (1852-1922).
Our second cousin 1x removed, stories of Leo's life always fascinated my father.
A rebel, an adventurer, a hunter, a miner, an engineer, a hermit, a jeweler, an Army deserter, an Army hero, a curmudgeon- all describe our cousin Leo at various stages of his life.
In the 1830s, our great great grandparents, Elizabeth Fleury (1798-1870) and Patrick Edward Reilly (1799-1872) leased Moher Lodge near Liscannor from Colonel Francis Macnamara of Ennistymon House. [1]
It was here - and on its 72 surrounding acres - where their five children were born and raised:
Eliza (Bessie, 1833-1881);
Hannah Marie (Nannie, 1835-1911);
Edward (1836-1890);
Mary (1837-1894);
Henry Patrick (1838-1894).
Of those five children, only the eldest and the youngest were to marry and have children of their own.
In 1860, Bessie Reilly married Edmund Burke Browne at the Ennistymon Chapel. [2]
The newlyweds set up house at the estate owned by the Burke Browne family in Kilmilhil. It was called Castlepark House. [2]
In all, the couple had seven surviving daughters, of whom Ida Anna was the fifth.
Born on September 22, 1868, Ida and her sisters attended school in Ennis at the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy where her future cousin-in-law, Mary Milward, had also been a student.[3]
Throughout her life, Ida was well known as an accomplished equestrienne.
In 1922, her cousin, William Patrick Gavin of Kildysart House, published his reminiscences of equestrian life in the hunting fields of county Clare.
Titled: True Sporting Verse, in the third of his thirteen verses in praise of Ida ........"a lovely young woman", Gavin writes:
"No matter what kind of horse she got on,
Trained or untrained ''twas the same,
For a minute she got up and sat on their backs,
They became gentle and tame."
When she was only 16 years old, Ida married the accountant in the National Bank on Parliament Street in Ennistymon - Edmund Augustine Galwey-Foley (1852-1922) who was 16 years her senior.
Over the years while living near Ennistymon, Ida seems to have developed a warm and close friendship with her cousin's wife, Mary Milward Reilly - who was our great grandmother. Mary named Ida to be the legal guardian of her only son, Patrick Henry Reilly AKA: Gillie - and the two women shared a love of riding and fox hunting.
Ida and Edmund Galwey-Foley had six children - two daughters (Gladys & Hilda) and four sons (Edmund, Leo, Tom & Percy) - all of whom were born and grew up in Lahinch near Gillie's home.
Gillie and the boys remained lifelong friends ....... even in America.
The third child of Edmund and Ida - Leopold George Duncan (1888-1984) - is the focus of this post.
In about 1900, the Galwey-Foley family moved from Ennistymon to Carrickmacross when Edmund was promoted to manage that branch of the Bank of Ireland in county Monaghan.
The family lived at the Bank House on Main Street in Carrickmacross until Edmund retired to Dublin where he died in 1922.
When Gillie's mother passed away in 1904, he moved up to Carrickmacross to live with his legal guardians and cousins.[4]
I am sure that Gillie regarded these cousins as his brothers (and sisters) because, as mentioned, he remained close to all of them throughout his life.
As you will learn, Leo led a bold and unconventional life - a life which had always fascinated my father.
A rebel, an adventurer, a hunter, a miner, an engineer, a hermit, a jeweler, an Army deserter, an Army hero, a curmudgeon- all describe our cousin Leo at various stages of his life.
Leo - like the entire Galwey-Foley family - loved the sporting life of the Gentry.
Anything to do with animals, hunting, shooting, riding, dogs was their passion.
Anything to do with animals, hunting, shooting, riding, dogs was their passion.
Once sport were involved, it mattered not whether the location was Kildysart, Leopardstown, Cheltenham or New Jersey -the Foleys were ready!
Leo once told of a noteworthy hunt for rabbits when he was a boy near Ennistymon.
One night, a Lancer-man from the local garrison enticed the son of the Macnamara game-keeper into a night of drinking in an Ennistymon pub.
While the Lancer-man was getting the son drunk, Leo and the lads had "capital sport" on the Macnamara estate using ferrets to hunt rabbits! (Wonder if Gillie were among the "lads".)
As Leo told it - of all the Banks in Ireland - the National Bank had a fierce reputation for frequently "interfering" or prying into the family lives of its managers.
Sons of Bank Officials were meant to socialize with sons of Military Officers - NOT with the sons of ordinary soldiers.
I am sure, his father's employers were NOT amused upon hearing of this 'hunting expedition'.
In 1906, when he was 19 years old, Leo left Ireland to emigrate to Halifax, Nova Scotia where he worked for a jeweler.
A few years later, we find Leo working for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) during the construction of the Connaught Railway Tunnel.
In 1913, the CPR had awarded to the firm of Foley Brothers, Welch and Stewart a contract valued at $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 to construct a six mile double-track tunnel through the Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia. It was considered the longest railway tunnel in North America.
At the Western Approach to the Tunnel, the engineers were faced with diverting the River Illecillewaet!
This required shifting a 56 foot glacial moraine off the hard rock bottom.
To accomplish this feat, the contractors employed a 100 ton Bucyrus steam shovel which they had mounted onto a platform of railroad ties.
Leo was there - often hitching a ride to and from the site on the footplate of a light locomotive.
After work, he'd often drop off for a "dip" at the nearby Canyon Hot Springs.
A few miles West of Leo's Connaught Tunnel, an historic marker reads:
"A nebulous dream was a reality: an iron ribbon crossed Canada from sea to sea. Often following the footsteps of early explorers, nearly three thousand miles of steel pushed across vast prairies, cleft lofty mountain passes, twisted through canyons and bridged a thousand streams."
Stories of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Cariboo Gold Rush of the 1860s must have been part of Leo's general education as a boy in Ireland.
In 1881, shortly after his Grandmother Bessie Reilly had died and 25 years before Leo had emigrated, Edmund & Ida had bought shares in The Electric Light and Power Generator Company.
In that year, the Ottawa Electric Light Co. had built a small power plant to feed the 325 arc lamps that illuminated several streets in the city. Thomas Edison had also perfected the light bulb that same year.
In 1883, electricity illuminated the Canadian Houses of Parliament and streetcars made their appearance in Ottawa.
This investment became an important source of financial support for the Galwey-Foley family and in the educational formation of their six teenagers.
Leo had been in Canada for eight years when World War I broke out.
A keen hunter and horseman, in Vancouver, he enlisted into the 11th Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force Mounted Rifles while in March 1915.
While his unit was heading for the Canadian port for embarkation to Europe, Leo would already be aware that poison gas had been used in the trenches during the Second Battle of Ypres.
Advance information circulated among his Canadian unit that The Mounted Rifles were scheduled to be dismantled and used in Trench Warfare as foot soldiers.
July 1, 1915, marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme - an infamous battle of trench warfare which lasted until November 13th.
About this time, SOMEWHERE in Canada, Leo Foley suddenly disappeared....... By all appearances, a deserter.........
However, on July 7, 1916, our Leo re-surfaces in Ottawa enlisting (with an Irish pal) into the 52nd Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery.
Leo had re-invented himself - he was now Daniel Joseph Burke.......born 1891.
"Daniel" was assigned to be the Driver of the Horse-Drawn Artillery.
Daniel Joseph Burke.
Clues to his choice of names may possibly be derived from his mother's families.
O'Grady was one.
The name Daniel was given to generations of first-born O'Grady sons.
Joseph?
One of his brothers (our Uncle Tom Foley) was baptized Thomas Joseph. Tom had already emigrated to the United States and was serving in the United States Army.
Burke?
Leo's mother was a member of the Burke-Browne family.
But, no one knows Leo's motivation for sure.
As Driver Daniel Joseph Burke, Leo Galway Foley had his first encounter with enemy forces while he was somewhere in France.
UNARMED, his outfit had been transported to the Western Front.
Their task was to "disarm retreating Italians fleeing before the advancing Germans".
Using their boots, their fists and hand-to-hand combat, the Canadian Field Artillerymen wrested their guns from the Italians.
According to Leo/Daniel -
They then, fired those same guns on "Germans coming through .....shoulder to shoulder. No ranged was required."
He continued: "The Artillery used 'open sights' blowing holes in the advancing Germans, using those 18 pounder field guns on two-wheeled carts."
MEANWHILE......
Behind the Front Lines, Canadian Military Intelligence Units were hot on the trail of "two Irishmen missing from the Canadian Mounted Rifles".
At that time, British Military Authorities may have been concerned about gun-running to Ireland and the smuggling of other components.
Driver Burke's Sergeant was coming under increasing pressure from his superiors. He finally insisted on "leveling" with his men in order to get to the truth.
They made a deal:
"I'll look after you; you look after me. Whenever the Military Police come up on your tail, I'll send you along my section of the Front Lines to keep my positions fully manned.......maybe holding you there in reserve until they decide to move their search elsewhere."
"I'll look after you; you look after me. Whenever the Military Police come up on your tail, I'll send you along my section of the Front Lines to keep my positions fully manned.......maybe holding you there in reserve until they decide to move their search elsewhere."
In France, Leo was gassed four times.
Always as Daniel Joseph Burke, he spent THREE tours on the Western Front - exceeding the regulation quota.
Leo/Daniel was demobilized "without scars" but........ as his Irish cousins recalled - he was TRULY 'punch drunk' also known as "blighty".
During a week or so of "blighty" leave from the Western Front, Leo arranged to meet his sister Gladys who was working in Dublin as a clerk at the National Bank.
His younger sister, Hilda, was also working at the Bank of Ireland.
Their brother, Percy, had joined the Royal Irish Rifles and later became Consul in Boston for The Irish Free State.
On August 11, 1919 in France, Daniel J Burke received his Honourable Discharge "by reason of demobilization" and was awarded the War Service Badge Class "A" No. 176611.[5]
Before returning to Canada, he spent some time in Ireland.
Leo was very fond of his maternal aunt, Louisa Quinn, neé Burke Browne
He often recalled meeting her daughter, Venerable Edel Quinn.[6]
Here, we will conclude Part One of "From Ennistymon to the Cariboo Trail".
Please be sure to tune in next week for Part Two of Leo Foley's adventurous life as a Gold Miner in the Carboo Mountains of British Columbia.
Most of the details of Leo's life were taken from an article written by Father Edmund O'Keefe, SJ.
"From Ennistymon to the Cariboo Wagon Trail" was published in the Ennistymon Parish Magazine in 1994.
[1] For more information about our Moher Lodge history, see -
[2] For more information about Bessie Reilly Burke Browne, see -
[3] For more information about the education of the female members of our family in 19th century Ireland, see -
[4] For more information about Gillie's relationship with his Galwey-Foley cousins, see -
[5]
[6] For more information about our cousin, Venerable Edel Quinn, see -
EPILOGUE
History gives a nation its bearing on what it is and how its people are affected by what has happened in the past.
Its kings and queens, its wars - with victories and defeats - these all mold a nation’s culture into the way it views itself in the present.
In the same way, a family history presents how a family has survived and come to terms with the great social and cultural experiences of the ages.
We hope these stories will give each member of our family a foundation and, in some small way, explain how we came to be what we are today.
Hopefully, through these vignettes, our future generations will gain a knowledge of the energy and dynamism, the loves and hates, the errors and mistakes, the victories and failures, the struggles and successes that make us what we are.
Our family history presents a fascinating read - and, hopefully, some lessons to be learned in the process.
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