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Edward Murphy's Father and Mother

Edward’s father was Patrick Murphy, and his mother was Elizabeth Tierney. Elizabeth was familiarly known as Lizzie and signed herself as “Eliza”.

Patrick

Patrick Murphy was born 12th March 1858 and baptised 14th March 1858 in Monaghan town. His parents were James Murphy and Catherine Barka (Barkey/Barker) with an address at Dublin Street, Monaghan. In adult life he was known as “Navvy Pat”. A navvy was a labourer employed in the excavation and construction of a road, railway, or canal coming from the term “navigator” or “navigational engineer”. According to the 1901 census records he had the profession of general labourer.

The next official record for Patrick Murphy is the birth of his first child Mary Catherine in Bruce Street, Belfast in 1888. Patrick and Elizabeth had moved to Belfast sometime before then; they were economically insecure, moving address frequently in poor parts of Belfast. They had four children in Belfast, and the birth records report various labouring professions for Patrick.

Mary Catherine was born in 1888 at Bruce Street. Edward was born at East Street in 1890 (see map below) and moved shortly afterwards to Raphael Street. Sarah was born in 1892 in Dunlop Place. These streets are in the Markets area of Belfast. This area was developed in the mid-19th century in response to the demand for housing in the city. It was designed to accommodate the maximum number of working people, often laid out in courts. The area was very compact, and exclusively Roman Catholic centred around St. Malachy’s church in Alfred Street. As late as 1959, Dunlop Place was described as “an enclosed yard of white-washed small houses, reached through a tunnel under No. 62 Cromac Street”[8] – yet this was advanced urban housing by Georgian standards.

The fourth child Pat was born in the Belfast workhouse, A background history of the workhouse system is included in Appendix 1. Elizabeth was admitted to the workhouse with her youngest daughter Sarah (who was 2 years old) on 20th January 1894. She may have been unwell and the workhouse provided a source of medical care for the very poor. She was listed as married and pregnant, and her occupation was given as “Smoother”. There was a big linen industry in Belfast and smoothing was ironing the linen – probably with a heavy metal iron. The workhouse entry lists her address at that time as 12 Murphy’s Row in the Markets area. Her registration number was 1615.

On 29th January Patrick was entered in the register with registration number 1968, as a child of Eliza, born in the workhouse. The entry gives his father as Patrick, a labourer. All three (Elizabeth, Sarah and Patrick) left the workhouse on 17th February 1894.

Workhouse conditions were normally grim and designed to discourage all but the most desperate, so they would have left as soon as possible. By the time Elizabeth’s fifth child, James, was born the family had made it back to Monaghan, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

Their first address in Monaghan was Pump Entry (also known as Hunter’s lane), off Dublin Street and a few doors from where Patrick’s parents lived. This was a very poor address, and according to the 1901 census, the house had two rooms and one window for a family of eight people. By 1911 they had moved to a better house on Glaslough Street that had four rooms and two windows. The house, since demolished, was located opposite the current garda station. They remained there for the rest of their lives.

Patrick outlived Elizabeth and died of “senile decay” in the county home in Castleblayney on 5th November 1932.

Elizabeth

Very little is currently known about Elizabeth Tierney before her marriage to Patrick Murphy. Family lore indicates that she worked at embroidering bed linen and was reported to have been very good looking. Family sources* describe her as a nice lady with red hair.

Elizabeth first appears on official records as a witness at the marriage of her sister Margaret in Larne in 1882. In the workhouse record of 1894 her age is 30, consistent with a birth date around 1863. Census records completed by her siblings state that they were born in Scotstown, Monaghan. The 1911 census indicates she was born in Co. Monaghan and her age was 48, again indicating she was born about 1863. This age is consistent with the 1901 census. No birth or baptismal record has been found to date.

This is a picture of Elizabeth taken in Monaghan, probably early 1920s, in the yard of her house in Glaslough Street.

A marriage record for Patrick and Elizabeth Tierney proved very difficult to find – with good reason. On all her children’s birth records from 1888 Elizabeth signed herself Eliza Murphy née Tierney. In the 1911 census she claims to be married for 23 years – indicating she was married about 1888. Having explored many channels without success, a local history researcher in Clones library came to our rescue and found the marriage record – Patrick and Elizabeth were married in St. Malachy’s church Belfast in 1907! They may have gone to Belfast in 1888 when Elizabeth discovered she was pregnant. Before the age of online data, she could easily have claimed in Belfast to have been married in Monaghan, and vice versa. By the time of their marriage in 1907 her eldest child was 19, and Edward was 17. This would have been considered quite scandalous at that time.

Elizabeth Tierney died at home on 31st July 1927 and Edward was present at her death. Her age on her death cert is 57, a few years less than indicated by the census records. Elizabeth and Patrick Murphy are buried in Latlurcan old graveyard in Monaghan. When the exact plot became unclear, their granddaughter Helen arranged for the memorial pictured here to be erected close to the spot in their memory. Edward was buried with his parents although he is also remembered in the new cemetery with his wife.