Questions without answers, and a few more to come. But
first, the story.
Long years ago I found these
snapshots in a Dublin
office. An empty office in a Georgian building in Fitzwilliam Square . The concern that had
carried on its business there had been long established, and the people who
carried on the business of the concern had been equally old. Their activities
were appropriate to a gaslit Dublin ,
long gone. But, although a venerable concern, their activities were still relevant
to the modern age. That’s how they survived.
How these snapshots survived is
another matter entirely.
The employees were long dead when I
found the photos. The organisation itself had merged, with a younger body. The
old desks and furniture and bits and pieces were left behind. The building was
awaiting refurbishment, the contents awaiting a skip.
I was an architect then. I mooched
about. I found the photos. That’s how they survived.
They date from the 1910’s.
They show a young man and a girl on
an outing.
They’re in DúnLaoghaire. I know
that, not from the photos, but because I grew up in DúnLaoghaire. I can feel
that place, even in black and white.
Yes, definitely DúnLaoghaire. Or,
rather, Kingstown
as it was, in those days.
So, why, why sixty years later
would I find these photos in a Dublin
office building?
Simple. Because the man who had
been in charge of the office had them there. And who was he? I didn’t know, for
years. But last year the Dublin
1911 Census came on line, and I tracked him down on that. I don’t think his
name is particularly relevant here, except to someone whom it might upset, so
we’ll leave that be. Enough to say that in 1911 he was pushing forty, living in
Sandycove with his parents.
Why? Why was he not married? He’d
certainly a good enough job to afford it. Maybe he was homosexual. Maybe he
just never found the right woman. Maybe he had found the right woman, and it
hadn’t worked out.
Whatever about those questions and
their answers, why didn’t he just keep the photographs at home?
Did he eventually marry someone
else, and maybe it wouldn’t have been politic to have photos of himself and
another girl around the place?
Perhaps, perhaps.
He worked a lifetime in Fitzwilliam Square .
How often did he look at these photos, through the decades of years?
They stayed in his office, through
the twenties, the thirties, the forties. Ireland and the world changed, and
the photos stayed the same. He looks happier than her. Is there a clue there,
in her solemnity?
Did he look for that clue
throughout his years?
Did he glance at the photos, after
a thoughtful lunchtime stroll?
How often did he think of her, as
he went home on the tram?
How many questions am I going to
ask?
No more, no need.
I suppose we all know our own
answers.
____________________________________________________
New postings will be made here from time to time, hopefully every few weeks.
Many earlier articles in the Connections series can be viewed
by going to this link ,and still more are held
on The Irish Times archive.
Other photographs from the Conan Kennedy Collection are to be seen on the discontinued blog http://cksoldphotos.blogspot.ie/
The National Library of Ireland hold a large selection of the Conan Kennedy Collection,
this link here will tell you all about it.The National Library of Ireland hold a large selection of the Conan Kennedy Collection,
No comments:
Post a Comment