October News - Women Through the Century: Biddy Doyle
Women Through the Century
To celebrate the year 2000, Pavee Point highlights the experiences of Traveller women through the century.
Groups within Pavee Point give the female perspective on health, youth, culture and domestic violence.
Biddy Doyle died last year at the age of 88. She is one of the few Traveller women to reach such a ripe old age. Her life reflects many of the changes in Traveller life in the last 100 years.
Biddy Doyle spent some of her early years 'living in' . Unusually, for a Traveller family in the 1910s, she and her 6 brothers and sisters lived in a house in Rathangan, Co. Kildare. She went to school there for a few years.
Then her family took to the road again. "They couldn't rest," explains her son Tom, "And they went from road to road." The Doyle family travelled mainly in the Laois/Tipperary area. "She'd talk about going from fair to fair with her brothers and father and mother," says Tom. It was a life she loved.
It was in Laois she met her future husband, Mick Collins - born in Carrick-On-Shannon. When Biddy was about 18 years old, they got married. At that time they had their own tent and donkey and car. Mick was a tin- smith and dealt in asses and horses.
John Collins, another son, remembers the life. "My father'd get up at 5 or 6 on summer mornings. He'd make all sorts - buckets, cans and saucepans. My mother had the pony and car and would go around to farmhouses selling them. It was a great service. The stuff was hand made. Great stuff. And it was cheap."
"My mother'd bring back spuds or cabbage or bacon. She'd sell or swap things," adds John. Biddy used to wear the traditional plaid skirt and rug. It was half a crown or two shillings to get a skirt made. And she'd make her own aprons and pockets.
"She used to sell camphor balls - moth balls. You'd buy them in the chemist - 2p for half a dozen and get a half a penny for each of them," explains John.
All the food would be cooked on an open fire. A bag would be spread at the side of the road and the cooked spuds would dry out there. Three-legged ovens were used to roast meat or bake bread.
Biddy and Mick spent most of their lives travelling in Co. Offaly and most confirm it was a hard life. "You'd no money or nothing at that time, but they were still great times" says John.
Biddy and Mick had 7 children - 5 boys and 2 girls. Their eldest 2 children were born in a tent at the side of the road. The rest were born in the County Home for the Poor in Trim, Co. Meath.
Mary, Biddy's eldest child, says that Biddy's mother-in-law would have been there for the births in the tent. John explains that Travellers weren't allowed in hospitals then. "We never saw a doctor," says John. Some natural cures would be used.
"She always turned to the priest for help," says John. "When you're in trouble, she'd say - see the priest. If you're sick - go and see the priest. She had powerful belief. And He looked after her. She never suffered."
In 1955 Mick and Biddy got a barrell-top caravan. "They got their first caravan in Trim," says John, "My father bought it off a man called Small John McDonagh.
"We kids were delighted. It showed you were a well off person - there were very few around."
One thing Mary remembers Biddy saying was "Look to your living." Tom was the first of the family to come to Dublin. "We stayed because we got used to it," says Tom. "You could always get a living in Dublin. We worked at the scrap."
When Biddy and Mick travelled to Finglas 20 years ago, to be near their family, they arrived in their horse drawn caravan. When they got a house they sold the caravan.
"The biggest mistake they made was to come to Dublin," says John. "It killed my father anyway. He got a stroke through worry - it is my belief it was worry for the roads, the horses and the caravan."
"There was nothing she liked about Dublin," says John. "She always blamed Dublin for killing Mick. They were 50 years married." Mick Collins died 13 years ago when he was 73 years old.
But, Biddy kept up her traditional ways. Three times a week she'd go, house to house, selling ornaments or pins or clothes pegs. The people would give her food and clothes. They got used to her and knew her. And she enjoyed the socialising.
And she enjoyed life. The night before Biddy died, Mary her daughter remembers Biddy sitting in a big arm chair and breaking her sides laughing. It was the next morning when she passed away. She is survived by her 7 children, 50 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.
"Their eldest two children were born in a tent at the side of the road."
"The biggest mistake they made was to come to Dublin," says John.