"That's Just How it Was"

As a Social Worker working in many different social work area offices in England I came across social deprivation; poverty and all sorts of physical and mental abuse and much, more on a daily basis .This led me to thinking about my own grandmother and the harsh time that she lived through; following the Famine or "Great Hunger" 1844 as it became known all over the world, and later on another Famine in 1877-1881 devastated Ireland yet again. This book encapsulates the Famine (Great Hunger) , and how it destroyed the lives of millions of families' - the 1916 Easter Rising and the War Of Independence 1919-1921; and why Montgomery St Dublin became known as the Red Light District of Europe; why homosexuality was frowned upon and much more . Although Bridget was not born until 1884 she recalled the terrible mud huts and cabins and cesspits that were the norm that she and her family had to live in due to the harsh regimes of absentee landlords and their ilk; not least by the (British) government of the day. Bridget's life and the life of many, many millions of people in Ireland in this era - were blighted by poverty and deprivation in these living conditions - way, way beyond the imagination of any modern day people in Ireland. Education was not yet mandatory for the masses in the era that Bridget was born into, so when Bridget's parents both died when she was 14 years of age within hours of each other- the Nuns sent her to work in a barrister's office in Dublin. It was while she was working for this barrister that she learned how to read and write, subsequently, education then became her mantra. Bridget acknowledged that her employer was the source of her education and a ticket out of poverty; then meeting and marrying a 'good man' set her apart from those who had no work or trade. Bridget was a person who made the best of things whilst still retaining a sense of pride, of the worth of education as a ticket out of poverty and of the importance of retaining one's dignity and commitment to family through good and bad times. I have used the life of Bridget to celebrate; not only hers, but the achievements of other women in Dublin and Bray, in fact from all over Ireland, in this era, and as such, this story will ring true and be of interest to anyone with Irish ancestry wherever they live .. I hope that readers will enjoy the mix of history and biography as an authentic record of times past and that this hopefully will be an addition to Celtic history, and, will be read as an empathetic story of one woman's courage and determination to keep herself and her children out of the Workhouse and to show current and future generations how personal struggles shaped Irelands ancestry.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements; Foreword; Historical Background; Early Years; Moving to Dublin (Crosstwaithe Park); Getting Married/Living in Dublin; Moving to Bray; Andrew's Death/Life Without Him; Appendices; Bibliography; Books/Magazines/Archive Records; Index.

About the Author :
"Readers should enjoy this poignant read and be able to experience Bridget's woes and triumphs along with her. Moreover, they will end by thanking God that women like Bridget existed as role models for women everywhere and that such strong, hardy and steadfast women contributed to forming that charming, quirky, determined Irish character which shines in Irish eyes all over the world." (Shayne Langstroth BEd Hons.Med)