Kathleen Madigan

Kathleen Madigan died in December 2000, well into her 80s, a sad loss for her family, regardless of her age, and also for those who knew something of her life.

Based in Birmingham, England, she was representative of those who remain Irish, however long away from Ireland, however difficult the circumstances. Widowed with small children, hers was the struggle of the average working person to provide for her young family. Later, she was not the one to close her door when the unfinished legacy of Irish history visited us from the `70s on. Tony Blair may have felt the hand of history on his shoulders outside Stormont, but it fell heavier on Mrs. Madigan.

A lover of all things Irish, I remember her as this very respectable lady, in bitter and driving snow at various protests in the 1970s. During those dark and terrible days, she stood for fairness and justice. I saw her then as a tall, straight quiet lady resolute in her determination, however hostile the environment. When the innocent men of the Birmingham Six were in the first years of their imprisonment and ignored by the majority of the media, she supported their long struggle to freedom. Hidden support it had to be as in those days, before even the most open minded of public figures could be persuaded to look at their case, the ordinary person who supported them in any way was open to retribution.

She was representative of many from the last decades and from previous generations who constituted the platform from which movements grew. Stretching over the last two generations, struggles in Ireland have had support movements in England. Despite the hostile environment in England in each generation, ordinary yet extraordinary individuals were active in support. Because it was in England, they passed unrecorded and consequently unsung. Newspapers in Birmingham reported in 1867 that following the public execution of the Manchester Martyrs, 2,500 Irish people demonstrated in Birmingham and gathered in prayer at St. Joseph's Cemetery, where those who escaped the famine are buried. Michael Davitt and John Denvir refer to active support movements in England, but there are few as yet discovered records of individuals.

Let us cease to only record the passing of notable leaders and include at least some examples of the selfless stout-hearted followers, without whom the leaders would have achieved far less.

BY MICHAEL WALSH