Select Driscoll/O'Driscoll Miscellany
- The Origin of the O'Driscolls
- The O'Driscolls and Their Fishing Rights
- Peerless Jim Driscoll's Funeral
- Colonal Daniel Patrick Driscoll
- The O'Driscolls in Ireland
- The Corner House in Baltimore
The Origin of the O'Driscolls
According to one legend, Lugh Ith was the leader of an expedition of Celts who arrived in the Baltimore area seeking to escape Roman domination. He was given the name Hy Drisceoil or O hEidersceol which comes from the Irish Eidersceol meaning "go-between" or "bearer of news."
The first mention of a name resembling Driscoll occurs in the Annals of Inisfallen wherein the death of Conchobar Ua hEtersceoil in 1103 is reported. He was king of Corca Loegde.
The O'Driscolls and Their Fishing Rights
In 1609, an inquisition was held in the town of
Rosscarbery which examined the extent of the O'Driscoll holdings and
the income that they had brought in.
According to the records of the inquisition, every ship
and bark that came into the harbor of Baltimore paid the chief lord
O'Driscoll Mor four pence sterling to anchor there. If the ships
came to fish, then the lord was also paid nineteen shillings and two
pence, in addition to a berrel of flour, a barrel of salt, a hogshead
of beer, and a dish of fish three times every week on Wednesdays,
Fridays, and Saturdays from every boat. If the boats dried their
fish in any part of the O'Driscoll country, they also had to pay
thirteen shillings for the rock. If the boats fished between
Fastnet and the Stagges, but only stayed for three nights, two
shillings and eight pence were to be paid to the lord, in addition to
fish three times every week as above, and eight shillings and six pence
if they dried their fish on a rock.
In addition, if any fishing boat were to sell fish in
Baltimore or its environs, O'Driscoll Mor was to receive six shillings
and eight pence for every hundredth white fish and every barrel of
herrings or pilchards sold.
Peerless Jim Driscoll's Funeral
By any reckoning, it was the biggest funeral that Wales had ever
seen.
On February 3 1925, an estimated 100,000 people lined the
streets of Cardiff in respectful silence as the cortege slowly wound
its way from St. Paul's Catholic Church in the Newtown district of the
city to Cathays cemetery. Following the obsequies, the solemn
funeral procession moved onto North Road where the coffin, draped in
the Union Jack, was transferred from the bearers' shoulders to a gun
carriage. The band of the 2nd Battalion moved to the head of the
procession - now over a mile long - playing the funeral march, while
soldiers of the regiment carried their rifles reversed in honor of a
dead comrade.
Children from Nazareth House, the city's Catholic
orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity, carried striking floral
wreaths in honor of their staunchest supporter and patron, while a
number of former Welsh boxing champions and representatives of local
government and the military were also in attendance.
At the conclusion of a brief graveside service in the
gathering dusk, the Last Post was sounded. "Peerless" Jim
Driscoll, champion boxer and winner of a coveted Lonsdale Belt,
philanthropist and people's champion, feted son of Cardiff's "Little
Ireland," was dead.
Colonel Daniel
Patrick Driscoll
There is some doubt as to where he was actually born. It is
generally thought that he was born in Burma. However, his Indian naval
records indicate that he was born in Limerick, Ireland. He sailed
from India to East London in South Africa in 1899 where he joined the
British in the Boer War. Driscoll's Scouts were formed in March
1901. The Australian author A.J. Hales published a novel-style
book called Driscoll King of Scouts,
a slightly exaggerated view of his exploits during the war but no doubt
with elements of historical fact in it.
He returned to the UK in 1902 with a letter of
introduction to Roger Pocock and became one of the prime movers behind
the Legion of Frontiersmen. A picture of him, entitled "The Old
Warhorse," was published in Vanity
Fair in 1911. After the war he sailed on the Durham Castle for Kenya where he
became a soldier settler, purchasing a coffee farm and subsequently
becoming a District Commissioner.
The O'Driscolls in Ireland
Within Ireland the O'Driscolls do not stray far away from SW Cork. In the index to Griffith's Valuation there are 1,321 O'Driscolls and variants. Of these, 85 percent were in County Cork. Matheson's surname analysis based on 1890 births yields 91 percent. Further, Matheson's report shows that of the 121 Driscoll births that year, only one was outside the province of Munster. A similar analysis of the 2000 electoral rolls for the Republic of Ireland leads to the conclusion that even today 53 percent of the O'Driscolls are in Cork.
The Corner House in Baltimore
Bernadette O'Driscoll welcomes you to the Corner House, a friendly
family-run guest house right in the heart of Baltimore. Enjoying
a commanding view of the harbor, the Corner House is within easy reach
of everything in the village and only 50 meters from the seafront.
We offer B+B accommodation in comfortable en suite rooms
with a full Irish breakfast. Dinner is also available by prior
arrangement.
Return to Top
of Page
Return to Driscoll/O'Driscoll
Main Page