Celeb Julie Walters ancestor Anthony Clarke : Short Biography

Antaine Ó Cléirigh aka Anthony Clarke of Ballynamarroge, Islandeady is the great-grandfather of "Mama Mia" and "Educating Rita" star Julie Walters.    

In 1869 he married Bríd Standún (Brigid Staunton) from a neighbouring townland (near Newtown) in the RC parish of Islandeady and settled on the Clarke home farm at Ballynamarroge 2a (just south of Greenhills Demesne).  The couple had 9 children 7 of whom were still living by 1911. 

Clarke, who spoke both Irish and English, was a tenant of Sir Roger Palmer, and an important figure in his local Land League.  In 1879, when he was aged 33, the Irish National Land League was founded at The Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. This was the time of the Land War (agrarian unrest and tenant farmers demanded more rights, particularly the right to buy the land they worked).  

In 1881, when the Irish National Land League was banned  (the authorities fearing unrest) Anthony was among those marked for internment without trial. Anthony Clarke never went to jail, however. It seems he might have gone to the USA instead. On his return, he was arrested after allegedly assaulting a local man (James Joyce, “an old car driver”) who subsequently died. Thankfully, the inquest revealed Joyce died following a stroke (and not the said assault).

“What the witnesses say is James Joyce, the taxi driver was driving through the town and Anthony Clarke crosses over and says something. All of the witnesses say James Joyce carried on down through the town.”

In spite of Anthony’s Land League campaigning (albeit successful) he never came to own the land he worked for so many years.  He died of old age in 1917, survived by his wife and with his daughter Maggie present at death. 

Anthony Clarke is the great-grandfather of "Mama Mia" and "Educating Rita" star Julie Walters. Julie's mother, Mary Bridget O'Brien (1915-1989) daughter of Patrick O'Brien and Bridget Clarke, grew up on the Clarke farm in Ballynamarroge. Mary worked as an Irish postal clerk before leaving Ireland for England in 1938. Within 6 months had met and married Thomas Walters in Birmingham.

In 2014, "Who Do You Think You Are" brought Julie Walters home to Ireland to visit the old family home in Mayo (now a partially ruined cattle shed) the graveyard where Anthony is buried.