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This distinguished family of solicitors and army officers was of Anglo-Norman origin and had arrived in Ireland from Wales in the seventeenth century. One of its early representatives in Ireland, Thomas Kemmis (1753-1823), held a number of distinguished positions, including Crown Solicitor to the Treasury, Deputy Keeper of the Seals of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, and Solicitor to Civil and Military Departments of the Ordnance in Ireland. He was succeeded by his third son, William Kemmis (1777-1864), a Crown Solicitor for the Dublin and Leinster Circuit. William married Ellen, second daughter of Nicholas Southcote Mansergh of Grenane, county Tipperary, in 1805, and in the same year commenced the building of Ballinacor, which partly incorporated an old dwelling house known as Drumkitt Lodge. His eldest son, William Gilbert Kemmis (1806-1881), died unmarried, and bequeathed the estate to his nephew, Colonel William Kemmis (1836-1900). A Professor of Artillery at the Royal Military College, Woolwich, Colonel Kemmis was the author of several instructional text books. He married in 1862 Ellen Gertrude de Horne Christy, eldest daughter and heiress of George Steinman Steinman of Priory Lodge, Peckham, and Sunridge, Kent. Their eldest son, William, succeeded to Ballinacor, while the second surviving son, Marcus (1867-1945), became heir to his maternal grandfather and assumed the surname of Kemmis-Steinman.

Like his father, William Henry Olphert Kemmis (1864-1939) followed a military career, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Artillery Militia. He retired on the death of his father to take on the management of the Ballinacor estate, and married in 1888 Frances Maude, second daughter of the Reverend Charles Beauclerk. Captain William Daryl Olphert Kemmis was the eldest of their three children. Having joined the Inniskilling Dragoons in 1912, he served in the First World War and retired from active service in 1923.

In 1927, Captain Kemmis married Winona Rosalie 'Jess' Armstrong (1893-1982), the second daughter of Captain Marcus Beresford Armstrong of Moyaliffe House, county Tipperary. When Captain Armstrong died in 1923, he bequeathed the Moyaliffe estate to Jess. Following the death of his only son, Captain Marcus Beresford Armstrong made the decision to pass the Moyaliffe estate to his second daughter, Jess. She and her husband divided their time between Moyaliffe and Ballinacor until the death of Captain Kemmis in 1965, when Ballinacor passed to his cousin, Major Richard Lomer.

Field Marshal Douglas Haig was a decorated military officer and commander of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. He was created Earl Haig in 1919.

Former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and one of the kidnappers of the industrialist Tiede Herrema in Limerick in 1975.

Ferenka Limited was a steel-cord manufacturing plant located in Annacotty, Limerick. Its managing director, Dr Tiede Herrema, was kidnapped in October 1975 by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) to secure the release of three republican prisoners.

Stephen O'Mara was born on 26 December 1844 as the eldest son of James O'Mara, founder of O'Mara's Bacon Company in 1839. Stephen became managing director of the company in 1919, following the death of his brother John O'Mara who had taken over the reigns when their father retired from business. Under Stephen's charge, the family business became one of the most prominent commercial enterprises in Limerick city. Stephen O’Mara was also a prominent figure in local politics. He became a Town Councillor on Limerick Corporation in the 1880s and was elected Mayor of Limerick in 1885. He was the first Mayor of Limerick to be elected on a Nationalist ticket. He also served as High Sheriff of Limerick city in 1888, 1913 and 1914. In national politics, he was a strong supporter of Isaac Butt's Home Rule movement. He later developed a close association with Charles Stewart Parnell and was elected Member of Parliament for Upper Ossory in Kilkenny South for the Irish Parliamentary Party in February 1886. When the Irish National League split from Irish Parliamentary Party in December 1890, O’Mara took the Parnellite side. Towards the end of his life, his moderate political views became more radicalised. He supported the Sinn Fein party in the 1918 General Election and took the pro-Treaty side in 1921, but remained on friendly terms with Eamon de Valera.

Stephen O’Mara married Ellen Pigott in 1867, and the couple had 12 children. From c. 1909 onwards, the family lived at Strand House, where Stephen O'Mara died on 26 July 1926.

The Irish Press was a national daily newspaper founded by Éamon de Valera from money collected during a series of fundraising drives to finance the first Dáil. The drives were terminated following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The trustee of the funds, Stephen O'Mara (1884-1959) considered himself as the exchequer to the Irish Free State and refused to hand over the funds to the pro-Treaty administration, which resulted in his imprisonment in 1922-1923. The bulk of the money was left in various banks in New York and remained untouched until 1927, when a court in New York ordered that money outstanding to bond holders must be paid back. Having anticipated such a ruling, de Valera’s legal team invited bond holders to sign over their bonds, for which they were paid 58 cents to the dollar. The funds thus accumulated were used as capital to launch the Irish Press, with Frank Gallagher as its first editor. The paper remained under the control of de Valera and his family and as a consequence its views followed closely those of the FIanna Fáil party. At its peak, the paper had 200,000 subscribers. The paper was wound down in 1995, following several years of financial difficulties.

John Daly was born in Limerick City on 18 October 1845 as the son of a labourer. At the age of 18, he became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), founded in 1858 to crusade for the establishment of an independent Irish Republic. Its sister organisation in the United States was known as the Fenian Brotherhood. Fenianism was particularly strong in Limerick where John Daly emerged as one of the leaders of an ill-prepared Fenian Rising in 1867. When the attack was repelled, Daly was forced to flee the country. After a period of exile in America, he returned home to reinvigorate the IRB and to promote its aims among the general public. In 1883, John Daly was arrested for his involvement in the so-called Dynamite Campaign, a transatlantic conspiracy directed by Clan na Gael, the rebranded Fenian Brotherhood in America. He was sentenced to penal servitude in Chatham and was later moved to Portland Prison in Dorset. Here he met and befriended a fellow-Fenian, Thomas Clarke, who was serving a sentence for his involvement in a failed attempt to blow up London Bridge as part of the Fenian Dynamite Campaign. Born on 11 March 1858 as the son of a sergeant in the British Army, Clarke had joined the IRB in 1878 and become one of its leading figures.

John Daly was released from prison on health grounds in 1896. His brother Edward having died in 1890, Daly was now responsible for the support of his widow and ten children. After a year of fundraising in America for Clan na Gael, he returned to Limerick and established a bakery in May 1898 at 26 William Street, where several of his nieces worked. John Daly became a figurehead for Limerick nationalist politics and, in spite of efforts to disqualify him, won a seat on the City Council. He was elected Mayor of Limerick City on three occasions (1899-1901) and became known as the Fenian Mayor. The spectacular elevation to civic office of a convicted felon was indicative of the appeal of the republican message to the artisans and labourers of the city.

When Thomas Clarke was released from prison in 1898, Mayor Daly arranged to have the Freedom of the City bestowed upon him as a mark of respect for his contribution to the pursuit of Irish independence. It was during this time that Clarke became acquainted with Daly’s niece, Kathleen (1878-1972). They later married in America, where Clarke joined Clan na Gael and became highly regarded among its leadership. His return to Ireland in 1907 proved a catalyst for the reinvigoration of the IRB. A new generation of Fenians emerged in Ireland, promptly imposing their militancy on the aging upper political structures of the organization. Among the key figures of this movement alongside Clarke were Seán Mac Diarmada, Patrick Pearse and John MacBride, all friends of the Daly family.

The IRB influenced the formation of the Irish Volunteers, a military organization established in 1913 to lend nationalist support to the Home Rule Bill then going through parliament. The Limerick branch of the Irish Volunteers was founded on 25 January 1914 and located its offices at No 1 Hartstonge Street. Among its most prominent members were Con Colbert and John Daly’s nephew Edward (Ned) Daly. When an auxiliary branch of the women’s nationalist organisation Cuman na mBan was established in Limerick on 5 June 1914, John Daly’s nieces became heavily involved in its activities. As the Irish Volunteers grew in strength, they made a significant declaration of intent by landing rifles at Howth and Kilcoole in July-August 1914. In 1915, the Irish Volunteers displayed their organisational capabilities by mounting the Dublin funeral of the celebrated Fenian hero Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa. Patrick Pearse’s impassioned oration at Rossa’s graveside, in which he extolled a continuation of the Fenian tradition, was effectively a declaration of war on the British presence in Ireland. Both Thomas Clarke and Edward Daly were key figures in Rossa’s funeral arrangements, the latter as the Officer Commanding Irish Volunteers. Kathleen Clarke assisted by helping to manage the transport of Volunteers to and from the capital.

The determination of Clarke, Pearse and Mac Diarmada to advance the republican cause led to the Easter Rising in 1916. In the weeks prior to it, Roger Casement oversaw a German shipment to Ireland of rifles and ammunition. However, his ship was intercepted by British warships and failed to land its cargo. The Rising commenced in Dublin on 24 April, when Volunteers seized control of strategic buildings in the city centre and numerous detachments secured an outer defensive ring. The Military Council established headquarters in the General Post Office on O’Connell Street, where Pearse read aloud the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. Commandant Edward Daly led the Four Courts garrison where some of the most prolonged and intensive combat occurred. Éamon de Valera was Commandant of the Boland’s Mills garrison. Con Colbert headed a detachment at Watkin’s Brewery and later fought at nearby Marrowbone Lane. Sean Heuston commanded a small force at the Mendicity Institute. Proclamation signatories Clarke and Mac Diarmada remained in the GPO as members of the Provisional Government.

The military phase of the Easter Rising ended on 29 April 1916. Central Dublin was heavily shelled by British artillery, reducing much of the city centre to rubble. Following the Volunteers’ surrender, the British reacted swiftly and executed fourteen Volunteer leaders, including Patrick Pearse and Thomas Clarke on 3 May, Edward Daly on 4 May, Con Colbert and Sean Heuston on 8 May and Seán Mac Diarmada on 12 May. Roger Casement was hanged in England on 3 August for his part in the failed gun-running. Many others were arrested and interned indefinitely in British detention facilities. John Daly, devastated by the loss of his nephew and many close friends, died on 30 June 1916 aged 70. His influence and legacy was marked by the volume of good wishes the Daly family received from organisations and individuals alike. His and his Fenian comrades’ deaths in 1916 marked the beginning of a more organised and effective military campaign against British rule in Ireland.

Among those who fought in the Easter Rising was Edward Thomas Dore, a native of Glin, county Limerick, who had joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood while a student at Rockwell College. He was arrested and interned at Frongoch until the end of 1916 with many of the noted Irish freedom fighters of the time. In 1918, he married Commandant Edward (Ned) Daly’s sister Nora (1889-1977) and took over her family’s bakery business at William Street, Limerick, which he continued to operate until his retirement in August 1971. In 1931, he co-founded the Limerick Memorial Committee to fundraise for a monument on Sarsfield Bridge in Limerick city to honour those who died in the Easter Rising. The sculptor Albert Power (1881-1945), who was invited to design the monument, submitted his proposal in November 1936 and its construction began in 1938 with a view to unveiling the statue on the 25th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1941. However, the outbreak of the Second World War, the death of Albert Power and a shortage of funds stalled the project, and it was not until 27 May 1956 that the memorial was unveiled. Edward Dore died at his home on 17 June 1972.

Edward Dore’s son Edward Francis Dore was a devoted nationalist and adopted the Irish spelling of his name. Born in 1921, he studied at University College, Dublin and gained an MA degree in Modern Irish in 1941. While at UCD, he was active in An Cumann Gaelach and in the Language Movement. After some further postgraduate work he joined the translation department of the Dáil. In 1957, he was appointed director of the office of the Ordnance Survey. During his tenure, he upgraded and expanded the work of the Placenames Commission and became the country’s leading authority on place names. In 1964, he founded the Placenames Association (An Cumann Logaimneacha) to inform the public of the Commisson’s work and established the Association’s journal, Dinnseanchas, which he continued to edit until his death. De hÓir gave several lectures annually, wrote a number of articles on Irish language subjects and in 1963 published a book in Irish on the lives and work of Eugene O’Curry and John O’Donovan, his nineteenth-century predecessors in the Placenames Office. De hÓir also had a deep interest in archaeology and was a long-standing member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. He died on 20 December 1975 at Meath Hospital, Dublin, aged 54.

The title Earl of Ormonde is one of the oldest titles in the peerages in the British Islands. It was first granted in 1328 to John Butler (d. 1338). The 19th Earl of Ormonde, James Wandesford Butler (1777-1838), held the office of Lord Lieutenant of county Kilkenny between 1831 and 1838 and the office of Militia Aide-de-Campt to King William IV from 1832 to 1837. In 1825, he was created 1st Marquess of Ormonde. The last holder of the titles was James Hubert Theobald Charles Butler, 7th Marquess of Ormonde (1899-1997), upon whose death the marquessate became extinct and the earldom became dormant. The family's main seats were Cahir Castle in county Tipperary and Kilkenny Castle in county Kilkenny.

Tiede Herrema was born on 21 April 1921 in Utrecht, Holland. He graduated in mechanical engineering in 1945 and gained a bachelor’s degree in industrial psychology in 1951. He continued his studies in psychology and sociology and gained a PhD in 1959, his dissertation dealing with the rehabilitation of disabled people. He married in 1948 Engelina Elizabeth Borren and the couple had four sons. Herrema’s distinguished career in industry spanned 37 years (1946-1983) and covered all aspects, including production management, general management and industrial relations. In 1973, Herrema was appointed managing director of Ferenka Ltd., and in September of that year he moved to Ireland with his wife Elizabeth and their two youngest sons to take up a position in the newly constructed cord manufacturing plant at Annacotty. Two years later, on the morning of 3 October, Herrema was abducted on his way to work by IRA leader Eddie Gallagher and his accomplices Marion Coyle, Brian McGowan and John Vincent Walsh. The objective of the abduction was to secure the release of three republican prisoners, including Dr Rose Dugdale, by whom Gallagher had a son. Herrema’s status as manager of a large multi-national corporation was hoped to bring international pressure on the government to yield to the demands.

For the next two and a half weeks, Herrema and his captors moved from location to location, and their whereabouts remained unknown until 21 October, when Herrema, Gallagher and Coyle were traced to a house in St Evin’s Park, Monasterevin, County Kildare. On the evening of 7 November, after prolonged negotiations directed by Chief Superintendent Laurence Wren, during which a minimum amount of food was allowed into the house, the kidnappers surrendered and Herrema was released after 36 days in captivity. He was later to attribute his survival to his strong physical fitness and his concerted efforts to befriend his captors to make it harder for them to kill him.

In the trials that followed the abduction, Marion Coyle was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment in Limerick Prison, while Eddie Gallagher received twenty years in Portlaoise Prison. For their courage and dignity, Herrema and his wife were honoured by Irish authorities with the honorary citizenship of Ireland and Freedom of Limerick in December 1975. In Holland, Herrema was voted Dutchman of the Year in 1975, and granted an officership of the Order of Orange Nassau by Queen Juliana in 1977.

Following a holiday in the Bahamas to recover from his ordeal, Herrema returned to his job in Ferenka, but in early 1976 was appointed Personnel Director of AKZO and returned to Holland. He later specialised in crisis management and worked in that capacity for Thomassen International, Lijnco Groningen, Silenka, and Radio Veronica. He also became a much sought-after speaker and adviser to the police and multinational companies in hostage preparedness and prevention. His humanitarian interests led to his appointment in 1984 as Director General of the Dutch Red Cross. In the meantime in Limerick, Ferenka Ltd., which throughout its existence had a poor record of industrial relations, was shut down in 1979, with losses of over 1,400 jobs.

Although Herrema and his wife returned to Holland, they never lost their love for Ireland and the Irish people and became regular and popular visitors to the country. Herrema campaigned for an early release of Marion Coyle and Eddie Gallagher, but the release was not granted and both prisoners served full term. Coyle was released in 1985, and Gallagher in 1990. Herrema felt no bitterness towards his captors and expressed a willingness to meet both following their release, but only if requested by Coyle and Gallagher. However, no such request was forthcoming and, in spite of attempts by journalists, the three never met again.

The kidnapping and the trials that followed caused an international media storm, which threw Herrema into the public arena and made him a celebrity for the rest of his life. He later joked that he could never forget his abduction because he was never allowed to forget it. Tiede Herrema died on 24 April 2020, a few days after his 99th birthday and just two days after the death of his wife.