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Clergyman, academic, civil servant and politician

Fianna Fail politician and T. D. (1943-1948, 1957-1965)

Secretary of Offaly County Council, c. 1940-1945

Arthur Richards Neville was in practice as a land surveyor from the 1780s or earlier. He became Dublin City Surveyor in 1801 and retained the post until his death in 1828, when he was succeeded by his son, Arthur Neville.

Charles Moore, 1st Earl of Charleville of the first creation, known as The Lord Moore between 1725 and 1758, was an Irish peer and freemason. Moore was the son of John Moore, 1st Baron Moore. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and succeeded his father in the barony in 1725. He was sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1746 and created Earl of Charleville in the King's County, in the Irish peerage in 1758. He died in February 1764, aged 51, when the barony and earldom became extinct.

James A. Ennis (NUI) (E 1925), a native of Rhode, County Offaly, was educated at Mount St Joseph, Roscrea and later at University College, Dublin and qualified in 1925. A year later he was admitted a solicitor taking first place in Ireland in his final examination. He took over the Rogers practice on James Rogers being appointed county registrar in 1926. James Ennis became a member of the Tullamore Urban District Council in 1932 and later its chairman. Like his father he became a member of Offaly County Council representing Fianna Fáil of which he was a committed member. He was appointed county registrar for Offaly in September 1943 when his old partner, James Rogers decided to give up the registrarship and return to private practice. Prominent in bridge circles he was also a foundation member of the Offaly Archaeological and Historical Society and was its treasurer for many years. James A. Ennis died in March 1983 and is buried at Rhode cemetery. He had retired from the position of county registrar in 1971 but went back into private practice at his residence for a few years following his retirement as county registrar.

Peadar Bracken was born in Tullamore in 1887. A lifelong nationalist, he joined the Tullamore branch of the Gaelic League in 1902 and was recruited into the IRB in 1904 at the age of 17. A stone-cutter by trade, he emigrated in 1911 to Perth in Western Australia where he joined his brother Denis in the stone-cutting business there. On hearing of the formation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913, Peadar returned to Tullamore and was elected by the Tullamore Volunteers as their First Captain. In November 1914, he was arrested along with 45 others for his involvement in the Geashill Cattle Drive. Due to the fact that he had discharged a fireream during the melée, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment in Mountjoy Gaol but only served two.

In 1915 he was appointed First Commandant of the newly formed Athlone IV Brigade. In March 1916, he was a key figure in the Tullamore Incident and fired ‘the first shots’ in the affray. He and Seamus O’Brennan subsequently went on the run. During the 1916 Rising, he held key positions in the heart of the fighting, as OC O’Connell Bridge and holding the GPO until surrender. He was released from Kilmainham Gaol in June 1916 and immediately reorganised the Athlone IV Brigade. During the War of Independence he was appointed overall Commandant of No 1 and No 2 Offaly IRA Brigades and Staff Officer to IRA-HQ. He was interned in the Curragh Camp in 1921 but was released in October of that year. Following the establishment of the Free State, he was appointed first clerk of the courts for Tullamore and later to Daingean, Clara and Ferbane. In 1934 he was appointed commissioner for oaths and in the 1940s he served as staff officer with the Tullamore Local Defence Force. His military pension application was approved in 1940 and he was awarded medals for his involvement in the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence. He died in January 1916.

Architect to Lord Digby, Geashill Estate, Co. Offaly and winner in 1868 of best design for labourers' cottages in competition run by the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland.