The Clan Chieftain
The Chieftain was born at Bishopscourt, Straffan, County Kildare on 17th December 1939 and Christened Dermot Patrick Donough in March 1940 at Rathmore Church near Naas.
World War II had broken out. His Father, Dermot left his legal practice of Darley & Co. in Kildare Street, Dublin to join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during the Battle of Britain. He returned to Darley & Co after the war with the rank of Squadron Leader.
He served in Fighter Command, Air sea rescue and briefly at Nurnburg. His sporting achievements are summed as an excellent oarsman, Eton and Trinity, Dublin and rugby for the RAF v. Combined Services in 1945. He became well known in Irish legal and sporting circles and as Manager of Punchestown race course.
The Chieftain's Mother was 4th daughter of the eminent Irish bloodstock breeder, Mr Edward Kennedy of Straffan Station Stud, (The Tetrarch).
Donough was principally educated at Eton College, and briefly at Neuchâtel University. He ran and rowed well at Eton before joining the Irish Guards, 1958-62. A long stint of Public Duties in London
District was combined with the specialities of anti-tank gunnery and air portability. Post service education was a year at Le Pin-au-Haras, HQ of the French National Stud in Normandy studying bloodstock breeding and equitation. He married Wendy O'Connor (Don) Spencer at Winwick, Northamptonshire on 4th April 1964. Her father was the late George Spencer, JP. FRS, who married Susan Ballam, born at Manorhamilton, Leitrim, in 1931.
Donough and Wendy raised Piers, Lavinia, Michael and Jocelyn in Northamptonshire and educated them in England and Scotland.
After 2 years in Normandy, Donough's learning was put into practice as Manager of Stenigot Stud farm for the Dennis family in Lincolnshire.
The stud was made economic by selective stock pruning and having most of the remaining horses in training sent to France where the prize money was so much better than in England.
Four years later, life took on a different educational course following the death of Wendy's brother Michael at the age of 29, when involved in the family textile business.
At Leicester Polytechnic in the early 70's he sailed through the City and Guilds of London Institute technological exams and gained a Diploma in Management Studies. Agriculture was more Donough's metiér and the appearance of Warwickshire Pheasantries on the market took them into commercial game hatching.
The link with equipment and dog food supplier, Gilbertson and Page Ltd was the channel exploited to put that company's principal product onto the shelves of the major English retail grocery multiples in the 1980's. As a result it was an extraordinary growth period for the company, one which they were unable to sustain.
From early childhood, Donough participated in field sports, mainly hunting, both on foot and well mounted. He briefly played regimental polo and cricket and managed the battalion football team.
Beagling and rowing took up far too much of his time at Eton for academic prowess to be recorded. Following 23 packs of hounds after 6 quarry species in 4 countries and occasionally hunting the Albany Bassets imbued the hunter-gatherer with considerable knowledge of venery and the ability to cross country swiftly on horse and on foot.
Trout fishing and deer stalking are extensions of pursuits enjoyed by his forebearers. He has also sailed extensively including at 12 metre level and taught guardsmen to ski in Bavaria.
The distinctive Irish name is the signature to well over 250 'McGillycuddy Letters' to people of political influence such as editors of daily newspapers and agricultural and sporting journals.
Taking the cue from his late Father and his more active Grand-Father, this McGillycuddy for over 30 years tirelessly sought peace in Ulster, a province missing out on Ireland's involvement in the European Union.
His Grand-Father was a signatory to the 1937 Constitution and within a few years combined the roles of clan Chieftain, Senator of Dail Eireann and Commanding Officer of a Transport Training depot in Co. Down following re-enlistment in 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards at the age of 57 at the outbreak of WW II.
He was retired on his 60th birthday. If Ireland's recent peace is anything to go by, every letter and phone call to those who worked with Lady Thatcher, Gerry Adams, John Major and Tony Blair was worthwhile. Many of the other letters
covered the agricultural scene especially Foot and Mouth Disease and the debate that raged over Britain's Government impinging upon the Liberty and Livelihood of those involved in hunting. He was instigator of a campaign named "Tally Ho, Tony!"
McGillycuddy's views in SA Farmer's Weekly upon the South African farming scene have thrice earned him 'Letter of the month'. One was a rebuke of the South African authorities who accused the Irish of dumping Irish Cheddar cheese on the South African market.
He wrote that it was the duty of SA buyers to source the best cheddar that they could buy! Kerrygold butter and two excellent cheeses (Dubliner and Vintage Cheddar) are sold in S. Africa. If you can buy them, and Irish whiskey locally you are doing something worthwhile for Kerrymen, Munstermen and Ireland.
The Chieftain and Madam live outside of Himeville, a small village in the foothills of Southern Drakensberg, and are soon to return to England.
They enjoy many scenic similarities to The Reeks, looking 24½ km. up to Hodgson's Peaks, the principal features (3251-6m.) of the Southern Drakensberg. The area is 1525m. a.s.l., and an agricultural district abutting the Kingdom of Lesotho.
The local Sani Pass through the mountains is part of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, (a World Heritage site), is renowned for it's steepness (4 x 4 required) and the final 14 hairpin bends within 280 m. One levels off into Lesotho at 2873m. The highest pub in Africa at the top of the pass serves Guinness with an excellent lunch of local fare. The highest point in Southern Africa (Thabana Ntlenyana, 3482m.) is a 14 km stroll compared with The Devil's ladder leading up to Carrantuohill, (1041m.).
In any domestic situation, three personal things tell a visitor a lot about the householders; the pictures in the loo, the stove in the kitchen and the owner's study.
The pictures in the loo are of McGillycuddy's house at Eton College-(AJM), hunting with The Pytchley, falconry and racing. The icon of the latter is that incredible former athlete Lester Piggott and the five greatest horses he ever rode. (He rode a treble at Killarney for his old master Vincent O'Brien on his last appearance there.) The kitchen stove is an AGA - (enough said)! The owner's study is part library, part picture gallery.
An 'oil' by English artist Evelyn Street of The Reeks from across Kenmare Bay dominating everything.
Cardboard Irish turf cottages and snapshots of The Reeks (in snow) dress the windowsill.
Either side the of the desk are family pictures, the most conspicuous being that of Michael McGillycuddy who was killed in action leading a company of 3/4th P.W.O. Gurkha Rifles on the morning of 28th June 1944. A rifleman who was with him then now lived in Nepal, aged 84. He received a small modicum of 'McGillycuddy' pension.
WW2 wartime photos of uncles John McG (2nd Bn. Northamptonshire Yeomanry) and Major 'John' Kennedy M.C. (Irish Guards) look down upon the desk from the other aspect.
The last named was killed leading his 13th Company attack 200 m. into Germany from Holland on 21st February 1945. The attack cleared Baron von Loë's Terporten Vriij castle of Germans and opened the way to the Rhine.
Foxhunting and Beagling trophies evoke memories of crossing several 'countries' of England and Ireland on horse and on foot.
A sitting ceramic Woodcock reminds one of Glencar and particularly of the bogs of Kerry and West Cork. I first met Tom Connor in one of them 62 years ago while he was cutting turf for my Grandfather and the house at The Reeks.
A leaping salmon and a Galway hooker, in Connemara marble - the works of the late James Jocelyn (a distaff cousin) - prod the memory of hours on the River Laune (and the Dee in Scotland), plus sailing the principle bays of Ireland.
A bottle of 'Kilbeggan', [Est. 1757], or maybe O'Brien's (matured in Locke's 200 year-old distillery warehouse), natural water and a few tumblers await visitors on the dumb waiter in the dining room.
Madam will transfer a tasty dish 2 m. from fridge to AGA. Drink on an empty stomach tends to make people describe larger fish than they actually caught! Cead milea failté - when you get here.
Donough and Wendy had lived 2 years in the Southern Drakensberg foothills of Natal when 2004 Christmas time bad news broke of his cousin Richard's terminal illness in Ireland. Richard presided over the inauguration of the tourism-inspired family-clan gatherings in Killorglin.
The idea and expansion of the May 2007 gathering was the first McGillycuddy matter that Donough put in place at the commencement of his tenure of this ancient Gaelic designation.
The second matter is the McGillycuddy Foundation for the promotion of philately in schools, post graduate music, apprentice farriery, golf and sailing for the physically disadvantaged / or traumatically stressed school children, support of the Kerry Mountain Rescue and a Career Advice data base.
The prefix ‘The’ to denote a Chief is comparatively modern and was given official confirmation by its use in Irish passports.
The ancient Irish linguistic custom of calling the Chieftain just by his surname, without prefix or Christian name, prevails.
McGillycuddy (1866-1921) is reputed to have clarified someone’s doubts by assuring them that God is not addressed as Mr. God! The wives of Chieftains are addressed as 'Madam', a trait originating in C.18th as some of the 100 families that were forced out of the country in 1607 by the English, gradually returned from fighting against them for foreign (principally French) armies.
They were 2nd and 3rd generation descendents of the 'Wild Geese' who had left Rathmullen on a Breton ship in September 1607 in what became known as 'The flight of the Earls'.
Others not engaged in military matters secured posts in Universities and hospitals and some were never to return to Ireland.