7. The Wild Irish Girl and a Famous Ballyshannon Duel

Beautiful sketch of doorway in Castle Street connected to the duel

 courtesy of Rosemary Downey

Sunday 19th April 2020.  No. 7  in the top ten most popular blogs on Ballyshannon Musings posted on Facebook.
5 Fun Quiz find all answers in the blog below.

1. The Knather was the scene of this famous duel near which house?

2. Check out a beautiful doorway in an existing photograph of Castle Street (in the blog)  and how it is connected to the duel?

3. Where  is the young soldier who died in the duel buried?

4. A Ballyshannon man who lived at Laputa won the Victoria Cross. Who was he?

5. How was Lady Morgan connected to the duel?

Monday 20th April 2020. No. 6 in the top ten most popular blogs as selected by the Facebook viewers  posted on Monday.

Cause of the Duel

The duel centred around one of the most prominent young lady’s of the age, Sydney Owenson ( 1783-1859), a young actress who arrived in Ballyshannon in 1802, with her father Robert, to put on a theatrical performance for the garrison and the local gentry. She was a very attractive young lady and it appears that a local attorney and a young soldier from the Barracks at the bridge had a dispute over Sydney. Presumably they both wished to have her attention but their disagreement was to have serious consequences. Sydney Owensen later became a well-known writer and on her marriage became Lady Morgan.

The Duel at Laputa and McGovern’s Death

Lieutenant McGovern was based in the Barracks (on the left of the photograph)

His body was brought back here after the duel at "Laputa"

Lieutenant McGovern, of the Northumberland Regiment of Infantry and George Henderson, an attorney who lived in Castle Street, challenged each other to a duel which was fixed for the 2nd March 1802 in a field, just next to  the gardens at Laputa. 

The combatants, accompanied by their seconds, observed all the protocols for a duel, a handkerchief was dropped and a shot rang out from Henderson’s pistol which killed Mc Govern. The bystanders took the body of the young soldier back to the Barracks, at the bridge, and he was buried at St. Anne’s Cemetery at Mullaghnashee. Great anger was evident amongst his fellow soldiers and after the funeral Henderson’s house in Castle Street was attacked and the attorney had to flee for his life. He hid for a period on the island of Inis Saimer at the Mall Quay. This affair of honour did not result in a court case and, in due course, Henderson was allowed to return to his home.

Henderson’s House still stands in Castle Street

 Henderson’s house still stands, at the upper end of Castle Hardware, beside a former carriage archway, and has steps up to the front door. For locals it is between Mary McGuinness' A Novel Idea and Bernie Kelly's (McKenna) insurance premises. The building on Castle Street was for generations owned by the Stephens family who were prominent in the commercial life of the town. In recent times it was owned by James Likely and family. The building is a mid-terrace five-bay three storey former townhouse with Doric pedimented doorcase which can be seen in the photograph. There is also an arched carriageway beside the building.This former substantial townhouse was remodelled  with a shopfront on the ground floor around 1890 and the facade was enriched around 1925.

        Henderson who was in the duel lived  in the house the doorway 

of which is beside the red car today.

 Lieutenant McGovern is buried in St. Anne’s

Lieutenant McGovern who died in the duel is buried in St. Anne's 

(on top of the hill).

Mc Govern’s grave can be viewed in front of the doorway to the  church at St. Anne’s. Lieutenant Mc Govern’s gravestone has a curious epitaph which shows the esteem his colleagues had for him:

“Returned to his native land lieth all that was mortal of Lieutenant Taffe McGovern late of the Northumberland Regiment of the Fencible Infantry. He fell in a duel on the 2^nd March 1802, in the 23 year of his age. If the esteem and regard of his brother officers who have erected this stone to his memory could assist his soul in its flight to heaven, its ascent must have been rapid and its reception good”.

Lieutenant McGovern's grave flat white stone opposite 

the door into the church

Lady Morgan the Wild Irish Girl

In 1812 Sydney Owenson married Thomas Charles Morgan, surgeon to the Duke of Abercorn, at Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone,, and when he was knighted she became Lady Morgan. She  became a prolific writer and is remembered as, “The Wild Irish Girl”, a name taken from one of her most famous novels. She became a wealthy lady and died on the 14th April 1859.

What became of “Laputa”?

The duel was fought in a field beside this house called "Laputa"

The field at “Laputa” was subsequently called Mc Govern’s field after the death of the young soldier. This house was later the home of Robert Johnston who won a Victoria Cross for his part in the Boer War in South Africa. Dr. Simon Sheil who left £6,000 for the building of the Sheil Hospital also lived in “Laputa” for a time.

The house at “Laputa” was tossed during the Erne Hydro-Electric scheme and the last family to reside in the house were the Ramages. The house was reachable by the Knather road and was most picturesque overlooking the Erne. It was a split level with the part overlooking the river in the photograph and a two-storey part of the house behind. There were two  avenues to the house, one for staff and labourers etc. and the other for the family and gentry. The last family to live there were the Ramages who would be known to older residents as William Ramage was a solicitor in town and had his premises opposite The Imperial Hotel.

                                     Limited edition quality hardback with dust jacket as above available when things return to normal in                                   A Novel Idea and Local Hands Ballyshannon and Four Masters Bookshop Donegal Town. Also available for postage from anthonyrbegley@hotmail.com