OFFICERS OF THE PURCELL SOCIETY
CO-PRESIDENTS: Walter Ryan-Purcell (Ireland) and Ronald Purcell (USA)
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
Catherine Purcell (Ireland)
Hugh Purcell (England)
Geoffrey Purcell (Scotland)
Rear Admiral (Retired) Marc Purcell (USA)
Lieutenant Colonel Brent Purcell (Canada)
Lieutenant Commander (Retired) G.T. Purcell (New Zealand)
Colonel (Retired) Brien Purcell Horan (USA)
Welcome to the website of The Purcell Society, an organisation dedicated to the Purcell family of Ireland. The Purcell Society will be holding its first gathering or reunion in Ireland on Friday, June 21, 2024, Saturday, June 22, 2024, and Sunday, June 23, 2024. 215 Purcells and Purcell descendants have registered to attend. Registration for the gathering has now closed, because 215 attendees is our maximum number. We have, however, started a waiting list, in the event that some of those who have registered find themselves unable to attend.
As of January 2024, some 350 Purcells and Purcell descendants (from Ireland, Britain, North America, Hungary, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and other countries) have been enrolled in The Purcell Society.
We encourage those who are interested in The Purcell Society’s activities to contact our interim Hon. Secretary, Brien Purcell Horan, to be added to the e-mail list. Brien’s e-mail address is: bp.horan@post.harvard.edu.
See below for further details of the June 2024 gathering.
FORMATION OF THE PURCELL SOCIETY
The Purcell family of Ireland was closely associated over the centuries with the Butler family of Ireland. In 1967, The Butler Society was formed, with its headquarters in Kilkenny. The success of The Butler Society has directly inspired the formation in 2021 of The Purcell Society. We share the following eloquently expressed goal of The Butler Society: to establish ‘a focal point of friendliness and family lore and to arrange reunions, during which, for a few days, the ties of blood and family tradition will count more than the national and political differences, which inevitably divide us.’
The other goal of The Purcell Society is to be a means for various branches of the Purcell family to resume contact with each other and remain in contact; to increase research of and knowledge about the history of the Purcells; to assist Purcells with genealogical research; and to collaborate on projects of Purcell interest, such as the ongoing Purcell DNA project, the repair of the grave monuments of prominent Purcells, and the preservation of original documents.
Our co-presidents are Walter Ryan-Purcell, of Burton Park, Co. Cork, and Ronald Purcell, of Arizona, USA. We view Walter as representing the Purcells who remained in Ireland and Ron as representing the Purcells who left. Walter’s family, the Purcells of Burton Park, is the only current branch of the family to have maintained its position in Ireland from the 18th century to the present. The Purcells of Burton Park have exemplified the very best traditions of the Purcell family, especially during World War I. Although Ron is American, he is the head of a distinguished European branch of the family. His ancestor, John Baptist Purcell, who as a Catholic found himself deprived of the possibility of a military career in Ireland or Britain, left his native Kilkenny at age 21 in the 1740s to serve in the Austrian army of the Holy Roman Emperor. He finished his career as a Major-General and a Baron of the Holy Roman Empire. Ron Purcell, whose Purcell grandfather emigrated from Hungary to the United States in the early 1900s, is the senior male line descendant of Major General Baron Johann Baptist Purcell.
One of our vice presidents, Catherine Purcell, lives in Loughmore, Co. Tipperary, where the ruins of Loughmoe Castle stand and where the head of the Purcell family had his principal seat from circa 1220 to 1722. Another vice president, Brien Purcell Horan, has agreed to serve as interim Hon. Secretary. He is the author of the history of the Purcell family which is available in pdf format on this website, and he hopes it will be a useful addition to Purcell scholarship.
PURCELL REUNION IN IRELAND - JUNE 21, 22 AND 23 OF 2024
Purcells from all over the world, Purcell descendants, and those interested in the Purcell family are welcome to attend the Purcell gathering planned in Ireland.
We will send detailed information to those who get in touch, but the tentative plans at present may be summarised briefly. Travel will be by coaches hired for the gathering. Kilkenny will be our base of operations. It is a charming medieval city with excellent hotels and restaurants.
EVENING OF THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2024
The actual reunion will officially begin on Friday morning, June 21, 2024. But people will be arriving in Kilkenny the day before.
There will be a central spot in Kilkenny where attendees can register and collect their name tags.
We also envision a very informal and optional “meet and greet” at a pub in Kilkenny on Thursday evening. Attendees would have dinner on their own and then would have the option to go to the pub after dinner.
DAY ONE — FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2024
Attendees will have breakfast at their hotels. (In Ireland, breakfast is typically included in the room price.)
We will then all meet at Kilkenny Castle, which is centrally located and within a short walking distance of most hotels. See: https://kilkennycastle.ie
Kilkenny Castle was the seat of the Butlers of Ormond(e) from 1391 until the 1930s. In 1967, Arthur Butler, Lord Ormonde deeded the castle to Kilkenny, and it has been beautifully restored and refurnished by the Office of Public Works (OPW).
Attendees will walk through the castle at their own pace. There is a short film prepared by Ireland’s OPW on the history of the castle and of the Butler family. We will also give our own short summary of the strong ties between Butlers and Purcells over many centuries. After seeing the castle, we can visit the grounds of the castle, including the gardens and cemetery. (For many of the links between the Purcells and the Butlers, see: https://www.purcellfamily.org/butler-connections )
After Kilkenny Castle, we will travel by coach for a quick tour of nearby St. Canice’s Cathedral, also in Kilkenny. See: www.stcanicescathedral.ie
This ancient cathedral is one of the major historical landmarks of Kilkenny. It contains, among other noteworthy monuments, the tombs of several Butler earls of Ormond, feudal overlords of the Purcells. It also has very well-preserved tomb slabs of two prominent 16th century Purcells: James Purcell of the Garrans (d. 1552) and Captain Edmund Purcell (d. 1549), commander of the Earl of Ormond’s troops.
The coaches will then travel to Foulksrath Castle, which is located about 7 miles from Kilkenny and which was long the residence of a very distinguished junior line of the Loughmoe Purcells. The above-mentioned James Purcell of the Garrans, whose tomb we will see at St. Canice’s Cathedral, was from the Foulksrath line. He was a younger son of Philip Purcell of Foulksrath Castle (alive in 1491).
In contrast to most of the former Purcell castles in Ireland, which tend to be uninhabited ruins, Foulksrath Castle remains inhabited, as a private residence.
We are working out the details of our visit and have been in communication with the owner of Foulksrath Castle. He has very kindly made most helpful suggestions and is very mindful of the structure’s history and Purcell connections.
Our hope is to have a catered picnic or barbecue on the grounds of the castle, which will allow us to soak up the atmosphere and to get to know each other. And depending on whether the owner is in residence at the time, we hope that successive small groups of us might be able to see the interior of the castle.
The châtelain of Foulksrath Castle wrote to us as follows: “The castle is a traditional tower house which basically means there are a lot of steps. These are quite steep and uneven. From the Kitchen to the upper room is 62 steps. Each diversion from the main staircase to other rooms on various floors adds more. If people want to go to the battlements then there are about 30 more, steeper steps. Therefore, only those who are fairly fit and stable will make it to the top. Due to the narrow nature of the corridors etc it would not be possible to have a large number of people all going at one time. We have found that while you could probably get a group of 8-10 up and down in 20 minutes…it never happens as people stop and ask questions and others are just slower movers. You would probably have to factor in an afternoon with no other commitments…”
Because Foulksrath is a private home and not a museum, we would need to acquire insurance coverage in case anybody should fall or otherwise injure themselves while walking through. That insurance coverage has now been obtained, thanks to the kindness of Walter Ryan-Purcell.
At the end of our Foulksrath visit, we will return to our hotels. That evening, there will be a drinks hour followed by dinner. We have reserved the main dining room of The River Court Hotel for our dinner. The main dining room has a terrace which looks out on the River Nore and Kilkenny Castle. We think it will be an excellent venue.
DAY TWO —- SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2024
Again, attendees will have breakfast at their hotels.
The main event of Day 2 will be a visit to Burton Park, which has been the stately home of Walter Ryan-Purcell’s family for more than two centuries.
En route, our coach will stop at Holycross Abbey in Co. Tipperary, where a guided tour will await us. See: www.holycrossabbey.ie The Holycross Abbey staff has told us that the tour guide will emphasize the various Purcell connections. (By the way, we will have prepared a detailed Purcell-specific narrative for each site we visit. To the extent that the official tour guides do not mention important Purcell facts, we will point them out separately.)
Holycross Abbey, which dates from 1182 AD and was established by the Cistercian Order of the Roman Catholic Church, was one of the most important monasteries of medieval Ireland. After breaking with Rome, King Henry VIII dissolved all the Catholic monasteries of England and Ireland, including Holycross. Holycross became a ruin. The abbey ruins were restored in the 1970s and 1980s, and the building is now a parish church. It has many Purcell associations. James Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe, one of the important figures in Co. Tipperary in the 1460s, is buried there with his wife, a Butler. The last abbot of the monastery prior to its dissolution by Henry VIII in the 1540s was Abbot Philip Purcell, who sat in the Irish House of Lords as a lord spiritual and who was the younger brother of another Baron of Loughmoe.
After this, we will head to Burton Park in north Co. Cork. When we arrive there, it will be market day at Burton, with lots of nice food options for lunch. After lunch, our co-president Walter Ryan-Purcell will give us a tour of his family’s longtime residence. As mentioned above, this house has been occupied by the Purcells of Burton Park for more than two hundred years.
After our visit to Burton Park, the coaches will return us to Kilkenny.
On this Saturday evening, we hope to organize something in Kilkenny for the late teens and twenty-somethings amongst us - ideally, a venue with food, drink and perhaps Irish music. This will be an opportunity for them to get to know one another better, and for some it may be a welcome respite from a surfeit of dusty history, old buildings and genealogy!
As to the rest of us, we will be on our own that evening and, having perhaps made friends with some Purcell kinsmen and kinswomen, will be able to choose among many excellent Kilkenny restaurants for dinner.
DAY THREE —- SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2024
Again, attendees will have breakfast at their hotels.
There will be no activities planned for most of Sunday morning. In late morning, we will travel by coach from Kilkenny to the village of Loughmore in Co. Tipperary. (The spelling of the village and of the Catholic parish is Loughmore. The spelling of the civil parish is Loughmoe.)
Loughmore, the site of the ruins of Loughmoe Castle, is where the head of the Purcell family had his main residence for 500 years. This tenure began with Sir Hugh Purcell, first Baron of Loughmoe, who acquired these lands circa 1220, upon his marriage to the daughter of the head of the Butler family. It ended in 1722 with the death in poverty at Loughmoe Castle of Colonel Nicholas Purcell, last Baron of Loughmoe. The oldest wing of Loughmoe Castle was built in the 1400s.
The village wishes to welcome us with a big party. As our co-president Walter Ryan-Purcell has said, they know how to organize a good party in Loughmore, and it would be a great day for our ancestral parish. We will be the largest group of Purcells to assemble in Loughmore for centuries. Our vice president, Catherine Purcell, who lives in Loughmore, is a key member of the committee planning this event. The Tipperary County Council and Tipperary Tourism, the county’s tourism authority, both have indicated an interest in supporting the event.
The committee will keep us closely informed of the evolving plans, but at this point the following is envisaged:
at noon, a Catholic Mass to be said at the site of the ruined chapel in the Loughmore churchyard. (After the Reformation, the Barons of Loughmoe remained Roman Catholics and did not conform to the Church of Ireland.) The ruin is referred to locally as the Abbey. But it is believed that it was actually the chapel of Loughmoe Castle. Under its roof, generations of Purcells of Loughmoe were buried, including the last Baron, Colonel Nicholas Purcell. Due to the unfortunate absence of a roof for a century or two, the inscriptions on the tombstones are now largely illegible. We know what some of these inscriptions were, however, because various local antiquarians transcribed them in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1853, an article in Dublin University Magazine described the chapel in these words: “It is long since the pastor uttered prayers for the living within these walls. Like most of the ruined temples of worship in Ireland, it has been a favourite resting place for the descendants of those whose piety served to erect it. Among the numerous tombs with which the area is strewn is one wherein is deposited all that earth receives of the Purcells, lords of the neighbouring castle.” This implies that the chapel roof was still intact in 1853. Those who do not wish to attend the Mass can have a stroll through the village.
next will be boxed lunch, provided by The Cottage, the excellent café and restaurant in Loughmore
the organizers hope to hold the main event, the party, either in the village or at Loughmoe Castle’s walled garden field. The plan is to have a pipe band lead a march to begin the event. There will be musical entertainment (which Máiréad Nesbitt, the renowned fiddler and an original member of the group Celtic Women, is helping to arrange - she was born in Loughmore), Irish dancing, and refreshment. As to Loughmoe Castle itself: although the oldest wing, the south tower, built in the second half of the 15th century, is relatively well preserved, it is no longer possible unfortunately, due to insurance concerns, to climb the spiral staircase to the upper floors, including the great hall with its massive fireplace.
Again, the details will take firmer shape in due course, and Catherine, who is meeting with the local risk assessment manager and law enforcement, will keep us in the loop. We are informed that as many as 1000 people from Loughmore and surrounding localities in Tipperary might attend. It will probably be live streamed as well. Catherine has also made a very good point: there are Purcells living in Tipperary and Kilkenny and even in the Dublin area who may not sign up for our entire gathering due to work or family commitments but who might well come on the last day for the party at Loughmore. It will be well publicized beforehand. As stated above, this will be the largest gathering of Purcells in Ireland for centuries.
The party at Loughmore will be the finale of our gathering, after which the coaches will return us to Kilkenny.
Attendees who wish to spend more time in this part of Ireland are encouraged to arrive in Ireland a few days prior to our gathering or to remain in Ireland for a few days afterwards.
We hope this reunion will be the first of a regular series of Purcell gatherings in future years.
FAMILY HISTORY
In order to spark an interest in the Purcell family by Purcells who might visit this website, we are pleased to make available here a PDF of a new history of the Purcell family, covering the period of the 12th century to the present.
In the contiguous counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny, the Purcells prospered and multiplied over many generations. By the late 1600s, after 500 years in Ireland, the Purcell family had spawned numerous branches which remained linked to each other not only by kinship but also by geographical proximity and frequent intermarriage. The members of these many different branches tended by and large to know each other and to view themselves almost as part of a distinct tribe. The political and religious turbulence of the 1690-1750 period alas brought this ancient and deeply rooted Purcell ecosystem to an end. It was in fact thoroughly pummeled, beyond revival. The Purcell family writ large ceased to play a prominent role in Irish affairs. Much of the family’s history was lost or forgotten. Deprived of the lands they had held for generations, numerous members of the extended family scattered, while others remained as tenants in the vicinity of their old properties. The sense of identity as a tribe ended too.
We who live now in the 21st century will understandably view these glimmerings of the past as perhaps very distant and faraway, however real they may have been in their day. The purpose of the 2024 gathering then would be to try to counteract this sense of distance for a couple of days in Ireland – to provide an opportunity for Purcells of various branches of the family, now located from Australia to California to the British Isles to Hungary, to meet over drinks and dinners, to swap stories, to visit some key sites connected with the family history, and to learn a bit about family lore.
Since an earlier version of this website was launched in 2020, many Purcells and Purcell descendants have got in touch to express an interest in the family and its history. Many branches of the family long out of touch with each other are now in contact. We would be particularly interested to hear from relations of the following branches of the Purcell family: the Purcells, formerly of Albert House, Dalkey, Co. Dublin; the Purcells, formerly of Glenageary, Co. Dublin and of Glannanore, Co. Cork; the Purcell-FitzGeralds, formerly of the Little Island, Co. Waterford; the Purcells, formerly of San Gabriel, California (descendants of Gervaise Purcell and relations of the late Major Hugh D. Purcell, whose daughter is a member of The Purcell Society); the Purcell-Burets, formerly of Winchester, Hants; the family of Lieutenant Martin Purcell, Irish Volunteers, of Dundrum, Co. Tipperary (died in 1921) (his great-nephew saw this website and has been in contact with us); the family of the late Major J. Denis Purcell, stipendiary magistrate, who in the 1980s lived in Cheltenham Terrace, London S.W.3; and the family of Major Richard Guy Purcell, M.C., formerly of White House, Ferring, Worthing (killed in action in France in 1918).