Athy was a garrison town until after the Crimean war, but the tradition of service in the British army remained there long after, as it did in many places in Co Kildare.
Around 60 years later, some 2,000 men from the surrounding area volunteered to fight in the first World War, with at least 290 losing their lives and many others returning disabled.
They are remembered on a plaque in the old St Michael’s Cemetery, beside one for another Athy native John Vincent Holland, who won a Victoria Cross when the 16th (Irish) Division liberated the French village of Guillemont during the Battle of the Somme.
In between those the two plaques, a space has been created for another, which is to be unveiled on Sunday, to the anti-war song Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya.
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The song tells the story of a woman who meets, “on the road to sweet Athy”, her lover Johnny who is shockingly disfigured after returning from a war.
First published in the 1860s, it has been covered by artists including Joan Baez and the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
The following words will be included in the plaque.
“You hadn’t an arm, you hadn’t a leg
You’re a spineless, boneless, chickenless egg
You’ll have to be put with the bowl to beg,
Johnny I hardly knew ya.”
The plaque will be unveiled by Jean O’Meara-Sanders, the wife of US senator Bernie Sanders, whose family, the Coyles, trace their ancestors back to Athy.
Her connection with the town and the nature of the anti-war song, which chimes with the Sanders’ status as peace activists, caused local man Colm Walsh to reach out to the pair more in hope than expectation.
To his surprise, and delight, they quickly replied to say they would visit.
“They came back within a half an hour. I went back and checked the email three times,” he said. “They are aware of the song as it is very much in the American folk tradition, where it has been covered by the likes of Bob Dylan and Janis Ian.”
Walsh was one of the founders of the Made of Athy initiative, which began in 2018, and erects plaques in memory of notable people with links to the south Kildare town.
The latest plaque is a more earnest endeavour than some of the others, of a predominantly musical theme, from a town once famed for its marching bands.
To date the Made of Athy organisers have erected 26 plaques, with more to follow.
There is one to Johnny Marr, born John Maher, the guitarist behind The Smiths, whose parents come from Athy. His is not to be confused with the plaque to John Maher, the Buzzcocks drummer, whose parents are also from Athy and who settled in Manchester. What are the chances?
Alongside Johnny Marr is one to Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, the bassist from yet another Manchester band, The Stone Roses, whose mother is from the town.
There is one to the Finnish singer Erin Anttila. Who? Never mind. Her mother, too, is from Athy. Others with plaques include the veteran producer and broadcaster Bill Hughes, Planxty piper Liam O’Flynn and Leonard Cohen.
Cohen has no connection with Athy, but he co-wrote a requiem with local man John MacKenna, Between Your Love and Mine, which Cohen completed just two weeks before he died in 2016. That plaque was unveiled by President Michael D Higgins in 2019.
Non-musical themed plaques including those honouring the photographer John Minihan, famous for his pictures of Princess Diana and Samuel Beckett; and the Holocaust survivor Zoltan Zinn-Collis, who settled in Athy.
One relates to the works for the actor John Hurt, who lived at Ballintubbert House, outside the town, for a period in the 1990s.
“We very much wanted to break the mould of plaques and what historical plaques are about. We are celebrating ordinary people who have done extraordinary things,” said Walsh.
“Plaques like the ones to Johnny Marr and Mani are very much celebrations of working-class culture people made from here give to their adopted homes abroad”.
Adding Senator Bernie Sanders to that roster, someone known for his strong support for working-class struggles in the US, continues the theme.
During the couple’s visit to Ireland, Mr Sanders is due to deliver a keynote address at the Robert Tressell festival at Siptu’s Liberty Hall headquarters in Dublin on Saturday.
The plaques have ensured that Athy has more than the museum to polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, born in the nearby village of Kilkea, to attract visitors.
“We’re a midlands town. We have got to sell ourselves, however way we can,” said Cllr Aoife Breslin.
