When PG Wodehouse was interned in 1940 he had a long and uncomfortable journey to Upper Silesia, spending five weeks in the fort at Huy, a place better viewed from the outside. You will be curious about Huy and may not be quite sure where it is or how to pronounce it.
His lock-down is commemorated.
Plum was interned at Huy for five weeks. A celebrated Irishman with whom the Bellews have a connection has been interred there for more than three hundred years. Patrick Sarsfield is an unusual soldier to be so famous – he was always on the losing side until he fought with the French against an alliance of English, Spanish and Dutch armies at the Battle of Landen in 1693. The French won the battle but Patrick lost his life. To digress, it is mooted that the popularity of Patrick as a Christian name in Ireland is more a tribute to him than St Patrick. I read it on the internet, so it must be true.
Sarsfield, as you know, was a staunch Catholic supporter of James II and effectively commanded his army. After Aughrim he proved himself a statesman as well as a soldier. He negotiated the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 allowing thousands of Jacobites, including himself, safe passage to France – they became known as The Wild Geese.
Sarsfield was buried at Huy but the location of his grave has been a mystery … “some corner of a foreign field”. Now there is breaking news.
Following an intervention by Dr Loïc Guyon, the honorary consul of France in Limerick, the exact coordinates of the burial site have now been established.
Dr Guyon has reached out to the Mayor of Huy, as well as the Belgian Embassy, to get information to assist the search for Sarsfield’s remains.
In response, 28 documents were sent over by Huy city council, including one showing the burial of two French officers on August 8 and 12, 1963 – around the same time Sarsfield was interred.
The ‘Sarsfield Homecoming Project’ was launched last October to promote the cause of returning the remains to Ireland, so that Sarsfield can – finally, after more than 300 years – be buried in his home soil. (Irish Post)
And the Bellew connection? Jenet Sarsfield eventually married John Bellew; he was her sixth husband. She was John Bellew’s third wife. This was in the 16th century but establishes a nebulous nexus of sorts.
Wodehouse wrote from the camp “If this is Upper Silesia what on earth must Lower Silesia be like?”
Delighted Sarsfield gravesite has been located. Now if we can only do something for John Redmond …he’s buried under a desecrated memorial in a small permanently locked walled cemetery next to a Toshiba dealership. Co.Wexford could do much better ditto Order of St John; yes, graveyard seems to be called St Johns.