Page 21 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 8

started out that morning. The day that Jack died was the first
recorded date of the use of an early form of chemical warfare by
the enemy. His body was never recovered.

Two months later on December 27th 1914 the Wicklow
People newspaper reported that official news of the death of
Private John Madden had been conveyed to his father Justin in
Little Bray.

Less public record information is available about Jack’s
bereaved girlfriend Biddy Whelan. We do know that the Army lost
the record of Jack’s will but officials accepted the love letter as
his intention that Biddy would be the heir to his property. Sources
tell me that Biddy later married and had her own family. However
it’s hard not to believe that the loss of Jack Madden in such a
brutal fashion wouldn’t have left its mark on Biddy throughout her
life.

The Search for Mary’s son Private Brien

When I travelled to Ypres in Belgium earlier this year I knew
that it would be impossible to visit the memorial places of all the
Wicklow men that are known to be in Belgium.

I decided to find the Belgian buried sons of those Wicklow
families whose mothers had lost more than one son to the war.
There are actually four such families. Two are from Protestant
religions and two are from Roman Catholic backgrounds. All
came from relatively modest homes and in each case the lost
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brothers died in different countries.
One of the graves I was particularly keen to find belongs to
Private Joseph Brien, son of Mary and Michael Brien from
Ravenswell Row and later Green Park Road in Bray.

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