A light hearted response to war fatalities

Over 750 handmade, decorated fabric heart shapes hang from a simple frame of timber and chicken wire, which in turn is hanging from the ceiling of the petite room. Each of the hearts have a brown cardboard label tied with twine to the heart detailing who made it.

A pew on either side of the room invites people to sit and spend a bit of time with the exhibition at Cavan County Museum in Ballyjamesduff.

Titled ‘Courageous Men of Cavan’, it’s a very simple yet effective exhibition.

Each of the hearts represents one of the 752 Cavan people who are documented as having died in the so-called Great War. It’s very likely there were more.

“That would be my most precious one,” says Caroline Clarke who has contributed around 20 hearts for the exhibition. She is pointing to a blue heart with the initials JC.

“JC is my grandfather, James Clarke from Knockbride.”

It seems James was a bit of a character. Aged only 17 he lied about his age and signed up to fight in one of the regiments of the British Army.

“He was injured and got his arm blown off in Ypres,” reports Caroline of James’ last contribution to the British war effort.

“He was left in a mass grave and a priest came to bless them, and James moved or something. I remember my mother always saying it – ‘This boy is not dead, get him out of here’. And they pulled him out, and he survived it.”

Despite refusing a prosthetic arm, upon returning home the injury didn’t seem to hold James back.

“He lived a very fruitful life – he had 19 children, and was a Fianna Fáil councillor and he loved poetry and could ride a bike like no other man with one arm, and very handy with a pitchfork apparently,” says Caroline, who was aged one when James passed away in 1971. He was affectionately known by the community as ‘The Wing Clarke’.

“The newspaper used to do ‘Keeping up with the Clarkes’ every now and again, because there was 19 of them. He was an amazing man – just the fact he came from nothing and this pension kept his family fed and alive,” says Caroline who is just one of James’ 68 grandchildren “at the last count”.

Caroline is one of the two main organisers of the ‘Courageous Men of Cavan’ exhibition. Her friend and fellow artist from Bailieborough Creative Hub, Sally Ann Duffy came up with the idea.

Sally Ann was moved by the impressive WWI displays in the museum, and the trenches, which incidentally reopened last week. One set of letters displayed in particular, that of William O’Reilly, resonated with her own family history of having a great-grandfather who died in the war. William left his pregnant wife in Kingscourt to fight in the war. His wife passed away not long after childbirth and her sister cared for the daughter. The handwritten letters held by the museum show how William kept in touch with his sister in law about how his daughter was developing.

William was seriously injured during the war and was being treated in hospital in England. He wanted to see his daughter, who by this time was three years old but the authorities held up the permissions usually only given to parents and wives.

“Eventually there was permission given, and the morning she arrived at the docks, he died. So he never actually got to see his daughter – it was such a moving story, because my own great grandfather died when my grandmother was only six months old,” said Sally Ann.

Sally Ann had participated in an artists’ project in England some years ago recreating sweetheart pin cushions, harking back to a past-time undertaken by many British casualties of war.

“They were for men to do something with their hands while they were recuperating and convalescing – it had to be something simple they could do while sitting in chairs or in beds.”

The sweetheart pin cushions were decorated and embellished with whatever simple materials were at hand.

“Then they were sent back to their loved ones – basically to let their loved ones know they were still alive.”

Bailieborough Creative Hub modified the idea for community participants, and had the number of hearts correspond to the number of war dead from County Cavan. They leant on the work of former museum researcher Michael Finnegan who compiled the list of Cavan natives who died in WWI as part of the Decade of Centenaries.

To recruit participants they offered workshops with whoever was interested and people aged from four to 103 and everything in between joined in.

Amongst those groups to contribute several hearts were Kingscourt Youthreach and Erne Quilters. A number of museum staff got in on the act too, amongst them was Research and Education Officer Catherine McGuinness who created two hearts.

“I did one from replica material from a World War One British uniform. And my Dad passed at Christmas so I used his pyjamas,” explained Catherine.

Some participants had direct connections with an ancestor who fought in WWI soldiers, many, like Catherine had no connection whatsoever and others only discovered their family had a Great War connection through participating in the project.

Despite the sombre message of the exhibition, the bright colours of the floating hearts makes it surprisingly upbeat. Suspended from the ceiling the appear almost like hot air balloons.

“To us it is a positive spin on such a sad time in history. It’s a joyful way of depicting what happened,” said Sally Ann.

“There’s a story for every one of these hearts,” adds Caroline. “It’s amazing when people tell why the put what they did on it.”

Perched on opposite pews, admiring the shadows cast on the walls, Caroline and Sally Ann are pleased by how the exhibition has turned out.

“I was overwhelmed,” says Sally Ann. “When the last one went up it made me cry because it’s been a long project and a personal project, as well as a whole community project. People have really got behind it – quilting groups and people who are really into textiles as well as children who just wanted to decorate something and be part of it,” observes Sally Ann.

“I think it’s a lovely way to remember them, and or their families – it’s a great nod for their service.”

‘Courageous Men of Cavan’ will be launched in Cavan County Museum, Ballyjamesduff on Tuesday, August 19 as part of Heritage Week and it will stay in situ until summer 2026.