William Francis Roantree. A colourful Fenian from County Kildare
The story of
William Francis Roantree’s involvement with the republican movement spanned six
decades. Born in Leixlip, County Kildare in 1828, he joined the Fenian
Brotherhood in New York around 1860, after serving in the American Navy and
spending a term as a soldier-of-fortune in Nicaragua. He soon became a trusted
member of the organisation and was given the task of passing on money from John
O’Mahony to James Stephens, which involved moving between Ireland and the United
States. Around 1864 he was put in charge of the recruitment of Fenians in the
British Army, at which task he was highly successful, until he was arrested in
the police swoop of September 1865. Regarded by the authorities as one of the
most dangerous and committed of the Fenians, he served time in Richmond and
Mountjoy before being moved to England in 1866, initially to Pentonville
.
From here he was moved to Portland where he was put to work in the prison stone
quarries. His health broke down under the ferocious regime and he was
transferred to Woking prison infirmary, from which he was amnestied and exiled
in January 1871.
His wife and two small children joined him in Cobh and he sailed to the United States to start a new life. He continued, however, to take an active part in republican activities and he joined John Devoy’s new Clan na Gael movement as an enthusiastic organiser in the coal-mining districts of Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia he helped to raise funds for the famous Catalpa voyage that succeeded in rescuing the Fenian prisoners from Freemantle Jail in 1876. In 1877 he was one of a small group of Fenians chosen to accompany the remains of John O’Mahony back to Ireland for burial. Still a flamboyant figure and mounted on a white horse, he marshalled the huge funeral on its way to Glasnevin Cemetery. The following year he gave the welcoming address to Michael Davitt, when the latter visited Philadelphia. His movements during the following years are not very clear and he may have gone on his travels again. One story that has come down through his Irish relatives is that he spent time in Macao, a busy Portuguese trading post on the south coast of China. There is even a suggestion that he was the American consul there. While this is not at all clear, it is interesting to note that there is, in the National Museum of Ireland, a fine Chinese mandarin’s robe, presented by him in 1913, when he was an old man. He is also reputed to be the author of a number of sea shanties.
William Roantree returned to Ireland sometime around 1900 and secured a job as a ‘canvasser’ with Dublin Corporation, in which organisation there were several prominent republicans including Fred Allan andMajor John McBride. His work involved erecting canvas awnings over the men engaged in pipe-laying and other outdoor work. He became a well-known character around the city and was still much respected by the younger generation of republicans. In 1909 he gave the oration at the erection in Glasnevin of a memorial to his old leader, James Stephens. In his speech he expressed the hope that ‘before long, suitable memorials shall be erected over the mortal remains of Bellew McManus, O’Mahony and others of the faithful and the few who lived and died for Ireland and who lie here sleeping together in this cemetery in neglected graves’. By a twist of fate it was to be exactly one hundred years before his own memorial was to be unveiled in 2009.
William
Francis Roantree retired in 1913. Due to his great age – he was now in his
mid-eighties – the Corporation sought to provide him with a full pension. The
Dublin Castle authorities had long memories, however, and insisted that he only
receive such pension as his thirteen years service allowed.
His last hurrah was still to come. According to the late Professor T.P O’Neill, who carried out much research on this period and on the reminiscences of contemporaries, Roantree managed to make his way down to O’Connell Street from his lodgings in Gardiner Street when the Easter Rising broke out. The eighty eight year old made his way as far as the front of the GPO, where he is said to have shouted advice and good wishes to the young men inside.
He died in February 1918 and his funeral in Glasnevin was attended by the Lord Mayor, Larry O’Neill and numerous old Fenians. Also present were Count Plunkett and Joe McGuinness of Sinn Féin, recently successful in the by-elections of North Roscommon and South Longford respectively. His grave was in a plot owned by the Caseys of Leixlip, his wife’s people. It remained unnamed and unmarked until 2009, when the combined efforts of Leixlip residents, Roantree relatives and the National Graves Association resulted in the unveiling of a fitting memorial to a colourful and uncompromising Fenian.
Michael Kenny