I remember Eddie Daly. It’s 1958 and he’s in the back of a car driven by my big brother. The two had been fellow-students at the Irish College in Rome and I’m struck by how informal Eddie Daly is – talking to everyone, even me, as though they were his equal.
I remember him again at my father’s funeral in 1971. There is a large crowd in the cemetery but Eddie stands out because he’s so alive, energetic, drawing people to him like a magnet.
Years later, after he’d served as a priest in the Long Tower parish and succeeded in drawing to St Columb’s Hall some of the biggest names in British show business, years after he’d displayed compassion and heroism on Bloody Sunday, I interviewed him about his early memories of growing up in Belleek. As always he was informal and welcoming, and gave me an interview that glistened with significant detail.
My last encounter with him was in the Foyle Hospice. It was 2004 and a class-mate of mine from St Columb’s College days, Finbar O’Kane, was in his final weeks of life there. Eddie Daly was the Catholic chaplain to the hospice and he sent out word that Finbar was in the hospice and would welcome visits from old acquaintances and friends. Thanks to Eddie Daly, I had the chance to see Finbar on a weekly basis until he died. More often than not the former bishop would be there, a sympathetic and unobtrusive presence for my dying friend and so many others.
He was opposed to all violence: he saw it as inhuman and even hellish. Since his death, radio and television have emphasized his condemnation of IRA violence in Derry and elsewhere. Less attention has been paid to his equally heartfelt condemnation of British army cruelty and lies in the wake of Bloody Sunday.
In his autobiography, Mister Are You A Priest?, he recalled his years as a boarder in St Columb’s College and how grim life was during those years. Had he never done anything else – and he did so much – I would love him as a truth-teller. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis – May he rest in peace.
To my shame I didn’t know who Eddie Daly until his death yesterday. I knew the iconic photo from Bloody Sunday, but never knew what he went on to do.
I like hearing stories about people such as Father Daly because in this world we are continually bombarded with news of hate and violence, it’s always helpful to remember that there are many people out there who just like Father Daly, exemplify what is good in humanity.
I think when the end comes the highest compliment that can paid to someone is to simply say…
He was a good man.
Well said, Scott…
Thank you Jude
I would also agree with that Scott, …”He was a good man” , would be enough for anyone and he seems to have been all of that.The film of him holding the handkerchief is iconic and very much part of the Troubles history , but it is only one very telling moment of the rest of the man’s life.I’m glad you made reference to the man’s passing Jude, and helped flesh out a bit more of his undoubted character.
I will remember Bishop Daly as a kind ,caring and compassionate man who exemplified his pastoral duties as a shepherd of his flock., and as a past boarder pupil of St Columbs, albeit a different decade, I found his reminiscences of college life in his time amusing. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
It’s always good to hear from a fellow internee, Patrick…My memory of his St Columb’s section was that he found the place harsh and some of the staff flinty. He even referred to one priest who was still around at the time of writing and I remember thinking it’d be an awkward moment were the two to meet again…Greek-speaking ex-goalie for Derry City, Eddie Mahon, said he wept the day he left St Columb’s, he’d miss it so much. I was dizzy for several days after leaving it: I couldn’t quite grasp that I had actually finally completely left that whole regime behind. It’s a marvel I didn’t break both ankles, what with all the leaps of joy I performed….
Jude, this morning Nolan covered the photography of Bloody Sunday when he interviewed Cyril Cave, who had taken the newsreel on behalf of the BBC.
Cyril, who started his photography in the Lurgan Mail, went to the BelTel and then to the BBC, had his own personal memories of that day.
But more significant, I thought, was an Italian, Silvio Grimaldi, who had taken that iconic white hankie shot, he was very explicit about the import of what he saw that day, and to add gravitas, had a voice which would hold anyone’s attention.
If you want an outsider’s view of that fateful day, told with clarity and eloquence, you should try to get an interview with Silvio, I think you would appreciate the experience!
I only ever once had dealings with Bishop Daly, Esteemed Blogmeister and my experience was of the most positive kind.
It was in connection with an idea for a documentary I was developing at the time, some years ago. It had to do with Derry of course but not with the events of Bloody Sunday: rather was it in connection with an event which occurred almost nine years previously.
This was the occasion when Gentleman Jim Reeves performed at St. Columb’s Hall on successive nights, June 7 and 8, 1963. Fr. Eddie Daly was a young curate at the time and, as manager of the hall, welcomed the American to the venue. The mellow Texan baritone was possibly the most popular singer on the planet at the time.
They seem to have taken a shine to each other. In an interview which he gave to the Belfast Telegraph three years ago the former impresario remarked:
-We were used to hosting big stars like Ruby Murray and Roy Orbison. But, even fifty years on, not a month goes by without someone asking me about Jim Reeves and those memorable nights.
If Reeves possessed the most popular American singing voice in Ireland at the time, coincidentally, the American with the most popular speaking voice visited Ireland later in the same month, President John F. Kennedy.
Ireland, June 63, wasn’t the only occasion that the paths of the two eminent Americans almost crossed. A year later, both men , still in their forties, were dead, each having suffered violent deaths.
It was envisaged that one of the segments in the documentary would have featured Bishop Daly’s reminiscences about Reeves, closely followed by a clip of the singer’s final appearance on television shortly before his death in a plane crash outside Nashville, Tn. In that last appearance he sang ‘Danny Boy’.
It was more in hope than expectation that I wrote to Bishop Daly, wondering if he would be interested in participating in the proposed project. Almost by return post, I was as surprised as I was delighted by the enthusiasm of his reply. He would be more than happy to be involved.
He seemed to be particularly taken by the second occasion when the two Americans’ paths almost crossed. A coincidence which remains, strangely, little known.
On the night before the President was assassinated in downtown Dallas the singer was performing in the same city. The venue was the Long Horn Ballroom which modestly boasted of being the biggest rootin’ tootin’ ballroom in the – universe.
Two nights later while resting in his motel prior to a gig at Amarillo in the Texan panhandle, Reeves suddenly sat bolt upright while watching the news, as Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald down dead, live on television.
It wasn’t just the shooting which caught his attention, dramatic as that was: but he immediately recognized both shooter and victim. Jack Ruby, as a co-owner of the ballroom, and Lee Harvey Oswald as a regular dancer at the venue.
A certain amount of mystery surrounds the aftermath of the plane crash in which the singer was killed, nine months later. Although the location was in a densely wooded area, nonetheless there was an untoward delay before the main search party located the wreckage. Time enough, it is suggested, for some FBI agents to have removed a significant briefcase which belonged to the baritone.
Curiously, one of the few ear-witnesses to the crash was a nearby resident: Marty Robbins. He was washing his hair in a barrel of rainwater at the time. On hearing the earth-shuddering thud of the single engine plane hitting planet earth, the Balladeer of the Borderland remarked:
-No survivors there.
On the memorial to Reeves outside his home town these words may be read in an appropriate inscription in the form of a record, inlaid in the walkway approaching the monument :
-Gentleman Jim Reeves / Producer: God.
Bishop Daly’s favourite Reeves’ song was ‘Welcome to my World’ .
Although there can be no remaining certainty about these inter-worldly matters (uber-sure atheists have the market in cast-iron certainty cornered in this instance) one likes to hope that the native of Beleek, County Fermanagh is in the process of being welcomed into the other world, if there is one, by the native of Carthage, Texas.
Suiochan samh in amharclann na n-uasal do.
PS Having completed what one had naively considered the hard part of the documentary (tentatively titled: One leader, one lieder ), EB, one circulated the idea to a dictionary of documentary makers. Alas, the idea spawned a dormitory of yawns.
Perkin – what a BRILLIANT piece of cross-reference! Thank you so much for the information written, as always, with a masterly hand. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we are not worthy…
And for once I understood every word Perkin said……………
‘Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald down dead, live on television’ – every time I hear of someone being shot dead live on TV, my quirky brain momentarily stands upright!
GRMMA, a Mhaistir Ionuin Blog.
But one, being a (gulp) natural-born culpability shifter, prefers to fan the flame of blame in the direction of one’s literary mentors. Specifically towards one’s one and only tutor from the other side of the Black Sow’s Klondyke.
He (who must perforce remain anonymous) knew where Palgrave’s Golden Treasury was buried alright, but wasn’t telling. He left it up to his students to find out for theyselves. It’s a Nordie thing, seemingly. Aka , An Modh Direach / The Straight Right from the Shoulder, and came as a short, sharp shock to us detouring, sloothery Southies.
Simple as ?
In the immortal word of Davy: definitely.
Young Davy, it will be recalled, was reared on a mountain top in Tennessee.
And, as a result of this rather challenging environment during his formative years…. ?
Why, what else could he be expected to do, only…
Kill himself a bar when he was only three.
It’s not Crockett science, you know.
Bishop Daly had also a great sense of humour.In my own area an elderly man was renowned for having a very “rough” vocabulary and senility had worsened the problem.Bishop Daly on confirmation day would have visited all the “infirm” in the area accompanied by the local priest.The priest approached “Joe’s” door with some trepidation and before he could introduce the bishop,Joe’s collie dog set upon the pair of them.His worst fears were realised when Joe guldered the immortal line “lie down you hoor you, are you goin to ate the f—in bishop”! The bishop kept his composure but on getting back to the car laughed uncontrollably on the way back to the chapel!
Splendid, Michael C! I think it was from Eddie Daly that the Tale of the Praying Woman originated. There was a woman in Derry who had a great devotion to Our Lady and would spend considerable time in St Eugene’s Cathedral at the shrine to the Virgin Mary,praying aloud.A woman visiting Derry, not familiar with the ways of the Praying Woman, eventually became so exasperated she tapped the Praying Woman on the shoulder and asked her if she’d mind not praying so loudly, it was hard for her to concentrate on her own prayers. The Praying Lady took in the visitor with one swift critical glance before turning again to the statue of Our Lady: “As I was saying, Our Lady, before this hoor interrupted me…”
Beautiful ! …simply beautiful….Michael’s story’s excellent too!
Well yes, PK, I suppose I am….Oh. You’re talking about the Praying Woman…
Indeed I am ,Jude. A lovely funny little story full of human foible..
An interesting (if hugely unpleasant) insight into the mind of a Bloody Sunday soldier here –
https://twitter.com/sean_murray1/status/762983954714599424
Also an insight into the minds of Loyalists too, which comes as no surprise, when you look at the replies RJC. But that is only one of Mr Wood’s comments, he left a few more. I believe him when he says he was a Bloody Sunday soldier and I also believe he used his weapon that day. According to one twitter user he has been sacked by his employer due to his comments. But the question must be asked, will the police be investigating his comments and his role that day on Bloody Sunday? Or will they continue protecting those responsible for Bloody Sunday? I think Ireland is the only Western European country where British soldiers can murder and so openly be protected from Justice by the British Government and no one does anything….
The response from many Loyalists/Unionists to Fr Edward Daly’s passing has been sickening but unsurprising. The hatred in the facebook comments from Unionists towards Fr Daly’s passing is unexplainable. I really don’t understand how these people could have such hatred, pure vile hatred for a person simply because he was a Catholic Priest. You can sense the venom and the hatred by just reading those comments. It reminded me of what Susan McKay said when she was at Drumcree – “I needed to leave and get some fresh air because the hatred was too much”. I had to literally stop reading those comments because It made me feel unclean……
lovely contributions from Perkin and Michael C, and indeed yourself Jude. I find myself chuckling while imagining the bishop laughing at those couple of incidents, Joe and the praying lady.
Very sad to hear of the passing of Fr Edward Daly, the photo of him waving the blood stained white handkerchief while escorting a dying teenage boy shot by the British Army is maybe the most iconic image of the Troubles.
“Since his death, radio and television have emphasized his condemnation of IRA violence in Derry and elsewhere. Less attention has been paid to his equally heartfelt condemnation of British army cruelty and lies in the wake of Bloody Sunday.”
I was watching a clip of Fr Daly being interviewed after Bloody Sunday and the Pro-British Army bias in the reporters voice could be heard from beginning till end. Fr Daly says “They opened fire on us, nothing was thrown at them, not even a stone” but the reporter replies “But are you sure about that?”, Fr Daly replies “Yes I am certain, I was there, nothing was thrown, nothing was fired at them, they fired at us first, I am certain of that”. the reporter replies “So Nothing was fired? Can you be sure about that?”, Fr Daly again replies “Yes, I was there, I was in a position to judge. They fired at the crowd and even shot dead a young boy who was 15 who was running away. He was shot in the back. They call themselves an Army! they are a disgrace”.
Today I was on Facebook and I came across a man who lives in Scotland called “Allan Woods” who claimed to be a British soldier who was on the ground on Bloody Sunday. Mr Woods typed a long post mostly aimed at hurling disgusting and sectarian abuse at Fr Edward Daly. He calls him an “IRA Scumbag”, he accuses Fr Daly of having “a gun up his left sleeve”. He even types that him and his mates wanted to shoot Fr Daly dead but didn’t because they “knew the carnage it would’ve caused if we had have killed a Priest”.
Mr Woods works for “Parks of Hamilton” Coaches and apparently countless republicans have contacted his employer to alert them to their employees grossly abusive and sectarian post.
But if Mr Woods is telling the truth about him being at Bloody Sunday, his post (which has been saved by Republican facebook pages) is basically an admission that he was involved in the murders and attempted murders committed on Bloody Sunday.
RIP Fr Daly.