A famous photographer in the Ox Mountains

More than ever today, we are taken with the idea of celebrity. Meeting a personal hero or having a well-known personality visit our locality is still a big deal for most people. However, it was only in hindsight that the people of Masshill, deep in the heart of the Ox Mountains, realised that a famous photographer once walked their roads and photographed their landscape.

Father Browne Francis Patrick Mary Browne, SJ (January 3, 1880 – July 7, 1960) was a distinguished Irish Jesuit priest and a prolific photographer. Browne was born to a wealthy family in 1880 at Buxton House, Cork, the youngest of the eight children of James and Brigid Hegarty.

His mother died just eight days after the birth of Francis. Later, after the death of his father in a swimming accident at Crosshaven in 1889, Browne was raised and supported by his uncle, Robert Browne, who was Bishop of Cloyne. Funnily enough, Browne’s introduction to photography came because of a poem written by Pope Leo XIII. Bishop Browne perceived, because of this poem, that the Pope had endorsed photography as an art form. Encouraged by this, he gave his 17-year-old nephew his first camera in 1897.

Without parents, and under the moral and spiritual direction of his uncle, it was little wonder Francis became a priest. The gift of the camera, however, bestowed on him a more enduring reputation because Francis was to become a very accomplished photographer during his lifetime. He also had one other claim to fame. In 1916, Father Francis joined the British Army as a chaplain. He served for most of the war with the Irish Guards at the front in the trenches and on the battlefields of Flanders. He was subsequently decorated for his chaplaincy work.

Photographer Francis, or Frank, Browne’s photographic legacy was assured when, at the age of 32, he was gifted a ticket on the maiden voyage of RMS Titanic in early 1912 – a gift that also came from his uncle. Camera at the ready, Browne boarded the ship in Southampton on a trip that was to take him to Cherbourg in France and on to his destination at the port of Cobh in Cork. While on this leg of the journey he was befriended by some wealthy American passengers who offered to get him an upgraded ticket to take him all the way to New York. Browne’s joy was short-lived however because when he informed his superiors by telegram of his good fortune, he was ordered to disembark at Cobh as previously arranged.

Whatever about his disappointment at having to return to dry land - and it must have been great – the move ensured that the photographic legacy created by Browne, while on board Titanic, did not end up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. It also ensured that a further body of work would continue for decades ahead. However, it wasn’t until 25 years after his death, that the full extent of Browne’s photographic collection was discovered.

In 1985, Father Edward O'Donnell SJ was searching in the basement at the Irish Jesuit Provincial's house when he came across a large black metal trunk. In it he found a large collection of negatives, photographs and most amazingly of all, the album containing the photographs of Titanic's voyage. The website, www.fatherbrowne.com, dedicated to Father Browne and his photographs, picks up the story.

Subsequent investigations revealed he had enjoyed worldwide fame in 1912 when his photographs of the Titanic’s journey to Cobh were published worldwide. He had travelled first class to Cobh having been given a ticket by his uncle Robert Browne, Bishop of Cloyne. His remarkable pictures proved to be unique. In following years up to the 1950s, he created almost 42,000 negatives in which he documented the life of the emerging Republic of Ireland. In the words of one critic, he was described as 'a master photographer with an unerring eye'.

Amazingly, Browne photographed at a prodigious rate despite the Jesuit vow of poverty. It seems he was able to use so much film because of the help provided by the Eastman Kodak company, which supplied him with free film for life after his Titanic pictures hit the headlines.

Cloonacool and Masshill 

The Eucharistic Congress of 1932 was held in Dublin. At the time, this was a huge event for a fledgling nation that was not only proud to be free, but proud to be Catholic. Hosting the congress was akin to hosting today’s World Cup finals. A report of the highlights gives some idea of the huge effort that was put in place to ensuring the success of the gathering.

The final public Mass of the congress was held on 26 June in Phoenix Park at an altar designed by the eminent Irish architect John J. Robinson of Robinson & Keefe Architects, at 1 pm on Sunday, and was celebrated by Michael Joseph Curley, Archbishop of Baltimore. A radio station was set up in Athlone to coincide with the Congress (known as Radio Athlone, in 1938, it became Radio Éireann and later RTÉ Radio). The ceremonies included a live radio broadcast by Pope Pius XI from the Vatican. John McCormack, the world-famous Irish tenor, sang César Franck's Panis Angelicus at the Mass.

It is not known if Father Browne attended the congress - it is likely that he did - but one of his first set of photographs to be taken subsequently were taken in the small village of Cloonacool in south Sligo. The local community there were photographed in all their glory while undertaking a procession in honour of the recent Eucharistic Congress. Fronted by community leaders, the congregation paraded through the village sporting a huge banner created especially for the occasion. Well-positioned, camera on tripod, Frank Browne captured the moment for posterity.

It is not known either how or why Father Browne came to be in Cloonacool that day but he obviously spent some additional time in the locality because several images in his collection came from this part of the country at that time. The following insight provided by David Davison ( The Irish Times, June 2015), may help to unravel the mystery.

For much of his life he was a popular preacher at week-long missions in parishes all over Ireland. During the day he was free to visit the people of the parish and observe the commercial and recreational activity of the region, and he always had his camera at the ready.

On one such day, Browne visited the O’Donnell family at an isolated mountain cottage near Masshill in the Ox Mountains. While there, he photographed the family outside their cottage, which still stands to this day. Included in the image is the mother with babe-in-arms, and three more of her children, all daughters. The rural scene is completed with the inclusion of the family sheepdog and a young calf. 

I have had the privilege of knowing one of those little girls all my life. Her name was Peggy and she was five years old when Father Browne took the photograph in 1932. She subsequently lived a long and full life locally and only passed away in recent years. Browne may have visited this region to photograph the recently installed statue of St Patrick at a nearby mass rock, which celebrated 100 years of Catholic emancipation. O’Donnell may have been his guide.

For almost 40 years now, Father Browne’s photographs have been published and exhibited around the world. He is recognised not only as the foremost photographer in Ireland of the first half of the 20th century but an outstanding photographer of world stature. Listed among the places he visited on his countless assignments are his famous voyage on board Titanic and his trip to Cloonacool.