Page 18 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

WOMEN IN WORLD WAR I

When I watch the film of the procession down the
Quinsborough Road I wonder if one of the young women in the
smart hats is Biddy Whelan of Castle Street who lost her
boyfriend Rifleman Jack Madden in 1914 or if I can pick out the
face of Mrs Mary Brien of Ravenswell Row, mother of two names
on the monument, Private Michael Brien who died in France in
1916, and Private Joseph Brien who against great odds almost
survived the war until he too died during its last weeks in 1918.
Mary Brien was also the aunt of Rifleman Phelim Brien.

The names of the three Brien cousins from 11 Ravenswell
Row sit side by side on the Bray monument. For their families
this was the only remaining connection with the lost men who
just years before had been carefree boys playing on the back
streets of Bray.

The Story of Biddy Whelan and Jack Madden

We know about Biddy Whelan because of the long love letter
that her beau Jack Madden posted in August 1914 from Tidworth
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Camp in England, just days before he departed for France.
Biddy was a 27 year old kitchen maid and lived with her
widowed mother in a three roomed house on Castle St in Bray. I
can’t tell you exactly where on the street it was but we know from
the census returns that it had only two windows to the front which
makes it a little easier to visualise.

The Whelans lived next door to the Browns, another family
mentioned in the letter, and not too far away from where 25 year
old Jack Madden lived with his father Justin, a baker, also living
in Little Bray.

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