When my grandparents were born on this island, we “mere Irish” were an anthropological curiosity to the British landlord class.
Consequently, it should come as no surprise that we were studied zoologically by our colonial overlords.
Last weekend there was a burial with a difference on the island of Inis Bó Finne.
It was a proper ending to a shameful episode from Britain’s colonial past.
On Wednesday, 16 July 1890, Mr Alfred Cort Haddon, an anthropologist, and Andrew Francis Dixon – who later became professor of anatomy at Trinity College – sailed to Inishbofin under the pretence of carrying out a fishing survey.
Instead, they stole; there’s no other word for it, human skulls.
This was the era of craniometry, the measurement of the cranium, and anthropometry, the scientific measurement of individuals.
The Brits wanted to scientifically prove just WHY they were so superior to the people who they ruled over.
This awful story reminded me of the work of the immortal Brian Friel and an important event in Baby Doctor’s journey through her own history.
You can read about it here.
When she tread the boards in Letterkenny and Omagh as wee Maise McLaughlin, I couldn’t imagine that one day I would be writing these words about a graduate of Trinity College Dublin medical faculty.
The mortal remains of those people have now been returned to Inis Bó Finne.
When they were so savagely excavated, Britain owned us in every sense of the word.
What has become known in academic circles as “scientific racism” was very popular among Victorians at the time of the expedition to Inis Bó Finne.
In Friel’s play, Doctor Richard Gore, the cousin of landlord Christopher Gore, is an anthropologist who was visiting Ballybeg to scientifically examine the natives, including wee Maisie.
When my little one was near to completing her medical degree at Trinity, the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, desperately needed a trade deal with our gallant allies in Europe.
Rather abruptly, she discovered that such a treaty wasn’t possible without first approval from the Dublin government.
All is changed, changed utterly.
It is shameful in itself that these mortal remains have been at the university for 133 years, but that’s a scéal eile.
They’re now at their rest eternal in their home place.
As it should be.
These days you will find many a wee Maise McLaughlin absolutely smashing it at Trinity.
What was once the seat of learning of the British Raj in Ireland is now facing up to its past.
This is what progress feels like, and that’s why my grandparents’ generation was justified in rising up against those who saw us as a natural history exhibit.
When I learn about stories like the skulls that were stolen from a small island community, I’m reminded that the revisionist movement in academia, media and politics here never offered any analysis of our past, only amnesia.
Lest we forget.
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Koh-I-Noor
A good read Phil, unfortunately the British have done similar things far and wide in the world
That is undoubtedly true Patrick.
A wee bit like the BBC’s late seventies, or maybe early eighties, series, “The History of Ireland.”
It was basically a history of the English occupation of Ireland. It was as though Ireland never existed before the English arrived.
It was very informative, and fair, though, if it’s the one I’m thinking of, by Robert Kee.
Yes, I can see that. But for this left-wing, republican Englishman, the impact of that series on my teenage self was lasting and profound.
The British government are experts at hiding things from the people they rule over. On Saturday some of those secrets will be revealed to the people of Scotland. Finally the people will know why King Charles and his predecessors wouldn’t wear the Scottish crown or take the full Scottish oath and why the Treaty of Union is null and void.
Hopefully one day all the crumbling victoriana will be buried too. So many place names / road signs needing scrapped along with it.