| i. | REV. ANDREW2 WARD, d. Bef. 1860. |
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More About REV. ANDREW WARD: Occupation: Priest |
| 2. | ii. | WILLIAM WARD, d. Bef. 1860. | |
| iii. | REV. PETER WARD, b. 1790, Headford, Co Galway; d. 1856, Moyne, Cemetry, Co Mayo - inscription in Moyne says 1861. |
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Notes for REV. PETER WARD: Peter was the starting pivotal role in the Partry War - an war between the Protestant Evangelicsts headed by Lord Plunkett who owned the land in the parish of Ballyovey (who was also the Archbishop of Tuam) and the Catholic Church. Plunket had opened a school in the area which was connected with the Irish Church Missions Society. There was also another school in the region, this functioning with the National School system. Its patron Miss Catherine Plunkett, sister of Lord Punket. Even though the schoolmaster was a Caytholic, the school was not approved by the Archbishop MacHale, and as a result of this interference Miss Plunkett withdrew the school from the National School system. The probem was consequently compounded by the conversion of the schoolmaster to the Church of Ireland. By 1854 the Plunkets had 3 schools in the parish, a figure which was later increased to five. The only alternative local school was that established by the Third Order of St Francis, a body dependent on donations from the poor to keep its schools open. It was controlled by McHale and the land for the building had been donated by George Henry Moore during the famine. Under no circumstances would the parish priest Fr. Peter Ward or his curate Fr Peter Conway allow the Irish Curch Missions Society scholls to exist peacefully within their area. Fr Ward accused Bishop Plunket of being a proselytiser and this resulted in the newspapers taking up the case. Funds poured into Ward from English and Irish Sympathisers. Ward was prepared to take the fight to Plunket and in a letter to the Dublin Telegraph on 13 December 1854 he gave a list of 104 tenants evicted by Plunket since he accquired the estate in July 1854. In order to draw attention to the crusade Ward burned a bible in publice and this led to his conviction at May Assizes. Fr Conway, Fr Ward's curate also carried out the campaign in even more daring fasion by entering Protestant schools and removing Catholic Children. Conway was also a rabble rousers and in the 1857 general election in Mayo he controlled the mob that opposed the candidature of George Core Ouseley Higgins and as a result of this intimidation George Henry Morre was unseated after a House of Commons enquiry which condemend Conway and another cleric. Fr Peter Ward was trnasferred to Williamstown (Turlough) in 1858 and Plunket thought that McHale was admitting defeat. Two reasons were given for his departure - firstly that he grew ambitious when he saw the extent to which money poured in - and McHale was not too pleased. Secondly Ward had been persistent in his criticisims of Moore in the early 1850's. Moore stated that that the priest persistently abused him because he had not been given a lease which he claimed he had been promised. He did not however go on to say that Ward was levying money and using it wrongly. It was also maintained that the strain of his duties began to affect Ward's health and that he had asked his archbishop for a less demanding mission. His replacement Fr Lavelle bought the War to a totally new level. Extract taken from 'The Mayo evictions of 1860' by G. P. Moran, Foiilseachain Naisiunta Teoranta 1986. The parish priest of Partry, Fr. P. Ward was a pugnacious individual who in 1852 in an effort to highlight the proselytising attempts made on his parishioners, had burnt a copy of the bible issued by the scripture readers. The evangelicals were gaining the upper hand over Ward, as the numbers attending the schools rose from - 58 of the 124 were Catholic. In December 1854 Ward wrote to the Weekly Telegraph that the scripture readers and jumpers were attempting to proselytise the indigenous population and that 21 families comprising 104 people had been evicted because of their refusal to convert. Ward also complained to McHale that the schools operated by Plunket and the Church Missions Society were proselytising the children and were unsuitable for the education of Catholics. Extract from a Rebel Priest, also by G. P. Moran. He was in regular contact with Asneath Nicholson and in her diary she notes"From County Mayo the parish priest of Clare Island and Innisturk, Peter Ward, writes that unless immediate relief is provided 200 families will fall victim of starvation. He grieves to say that the landlords, Lord Lucan and Sir Samuel O'Malley are disposed to let the people die without the lease desire to subscribe one farthing" (1848) Peter Ward was a good friend of Fr. Feeney who was Parish Priest of Kiltulla and eventually Bishop of Killala. |
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More About REV. PETER WARD: Education: Irish College, Salamanca, Military service: 1817, Salamanca, Napoleonic War, Chaplin in British Army and Intrepreter Occupation: Bet. 1825 - 1854, Parish Priets in Aughergower Property: Moyne, bought 600 acres from a Captain Laprimondi |
| 3. | iv. | PAUL WARD, b. 1793; d. February 25, 1879, Moyne. |
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