BRAY
BRAY
– James Scannell
Two weeks in Bray, Easter 1919 Local newspapers and the proceedings of Bray Urban District Council (UDC) and the Rathdown Board Guardians reveal that even as the War of Independence was gathering pace across the country and the Spanish flu was exacting a heavy toll, in many ways, normal life continued in extraordinary times.
Saturday 12 April Bray Petty Sessions Sir Albert Meldon presided at a sitting of the Bray Petty Sessions (District Court), at which he was joined on the bench by Col. G. Rowan-Hamilton, Mr. M. Langton, Mr. Wellington Darley, Mr. W. Sullivan (RM), Mr. V. C. Le Fanu, Mr. J. W. Reigh, Mr. F. Jameson, and J. Cuddy. The police representative was District Inspector H. B. Molony. Influenza death Sir Albert Meldon opened the proceedings by stating that the magistrates had learned with great regret of the death of Constable McGoldrick who had died from influenza, which was widespread in the town and had affected nearly every household. The District Inspector thanked the magistrates for their expression of sympathy, stating that the deceased had only been married for a short time and had been cut off in the prime of his life. Boy banished
Bray Esplanade, 1924. Photo: Courtesy of Wicklow County Library
In the case of the much adjourned proceedings against Shankill boy Andrew Rourke, Sergeant Hurst (Ballybrack) said that the boy had left the district but was not in Scotland where his father had promised to send him. His father said that he would not be brought back and Sir Albert Meldon, in dismissing the case without prejudice, said that if
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