In Memoriam Armstrong - Sligo Poets

Sligo Champion 15 March 1913

           IN MEMORIAM
To the memory of Miss Maud Armstrong,
Tubbercurry, who died on the 15th March,
1912 – R.I.P.

Maud, you’re gone but not forgotten,
For they miss you from your place,
Ne’er again will they be happy
Till they meet you face to face.
I know well that your happy
In that bright celestial home,
In that high and heavenly mansion
God has built for His own.

Maud, you were good and courteous,
Kind-hearted and refined,
And to the poor as well as rich
You always were most kind.
Your companions now they miss you,
Your aunts and uncles sigh,
Whilst on bended knees they pray for you
To Him Who rules on High.

May God comfort now your parents,
Your brothers and sisters too,
And give them peace an comfort
Till again they meet with you.
Its sad to think in Kilcummin churchyard
Your body is laid down,
And ne’er again can they see it
Till the Archangel’s trumpet sounds.

But when the time at last arrives
That will end their earthly toil
It’s then, dear Maud, in a heavenly land
You will greet them with a smile.
With God’s mother and his angels
You will meet them on the shore,
And you will say my own my darling ones
We will never part no more.

–inserted by a sympathiser from Coolaney.

This elegy, with its short lines and fast rhythm, marks the first anniversary of the death of nineteen year old Maud Armstrong of Tubbercurry.  It concentrates on those left behind, stresses how much they miss Maud and offers them some consolation by picturing her happy in Heaven where they will eventually meet her.

Maud Armstrong was the eldest daughter of Luke and Kate Armstrong, Wolfe Tone Square, Tubbercurry. Luke Armstrong was a prominent figure in Sligo nationalist politics and the family owned a shop in Tubbercurry.

The family in the 1901 census. They had twelve children, eleven were said to be still living, in the 1911 census. Maud was entered as Mary I in the 1911 census form.

Maud Armstrong was buried in Kilcummin churchyard which is in Cloonacool, Co. Sligo. I have no idea who the sympathiser in Coolaney, Co. Sligo was.

A lament for Maud was also published in the Sligo Champion at the time of her death in 1912.

Luke Armstrong had been involved in the Land League and the I.R.B. and spent some time in prison in 1882. Later he was elected to local government bodies and served as Chairman of the Board of Guardians, Tubbercurry. Jack Brennan records that Luke Armstrong was one of the 'four elder men from Tubbercurry' who bought rifles for the Volunteers in 1920.