the irish connection
(click here to access the british conection; here for an irish-british connection)
above left is the flag of tenerife - not to be confused with the scottish one which is a lighter shade of blue.
background
ireland & spain have been linked many times throughout history. this would appear to have been brought about by sharing the same religion – catholicism – and sharing a common foe – the british. (NB this is not an expression of a political belief on the part of SunDanceLanguage; it is merely a statement based on the "facts" as they are reported in history books.)
one of the most famous in popular irish memory is the sinking of the spanish armada (known in Spain as the armada invincible!) off the irish coast in 1588. the spanish had intended to conquer britain but were forced to retreat. they were ship-wrecked in storms off the west coast of ireland. most of those who actually managed to land were killed by the british forces in ireland.
but how did jacobs (no pun on word jacobite intended!) get the figs into the fig rolls?! translation: what brought the irish to the canaries? it wasn’t sun and tourism and they didn’t come with ryanair or aer lingus. meteorogically, it was the trade winds. but the first push factor was the cromwellian settlement. with the act of settlement 1652, many irish land-owning families were dispossessed. the penal laws meted out very harsh treatment on catholics. many heretofore wealthy irish families fled and some were even deported in the early 1650s. logically, many sought out fellow-catholic spain. what attracted the irish to the canaries and tenerife in particular was the incipient wine trade and the canaries’ strategic position between europe and the americas. some of the surnames of families to settle in the canaries at this time were cólogan, o’daly, walsh, sall, madan, commyns, creagh, o‘shee, gouh, cullen, kábana etc. see if you can recognise what the original irish surname would have been!
another wave of emigration followed the battle of the boyne in 1690 as many irish refused to recognise william of orange as sovereign of ireland. this time, surnames such as white (which became “blanco”), russell, forstall, power, de la hanty, key, linch turned up on canarian shores. at this time the o’donnell family left ireland and set up home on the spanish mainland. more about them later.
all of these families became involved in commerce and/or politics and made places for themselves in canarian high society.
spanish surnames
it seems that the practice of using two surnames became the custom in spain because of arabic influence. until the 1960s the "double-barrelled" surnames were separated by "y" meaning "and". this is not common nowadays though it is sometimes used when families preserve a surname from a previous generation.
normally, a child's first surname is the father's followed by the mother's. and the first surname is the principal one. there are exceptions to all of this. a notable exception to the latter is the spanish prime minister, josé luis rodríguez zapatero. somebody with these surnames would usually be referred to as rodríguez - in this case, he is known as zapatero.
josé murphy y meade
josé murphy y meade was born in santa cruz in 1774. his father, patricio – presumably patrick! – murphy y kelly was born in dublin in 1735. his mother, juana meade y sall was born in las palmas in 1747.
so, josé was not part of the first wave irish emigration. presumably his father was attracted to the canaries by the more lucrative business prospects. his mother was a descendent from one of the original arrivals.
at first josé worked in the family business. however, his political interests came to light early on. and, keeping it in the family, our hero married another irish descendent – juana naran y meade – in 1799. at this time he was already a member of the canary islands royal land & sea consulate and had been elected a city councillor for santa cruz. in 1806 he was elected "síndico personero" in the city hall. this title no longer exists but it appears to have involved defending the rights of the people, though presumably in this case, the rights of his social class. he became a member of tenerife's governing body in 1808. in 1821 he was sent to madrid to defend tenerife's candidacy for capital of the archipelago. the same year, he was elected to parliament.
he was forced into exile in london in 1823. in that year, spain's fernando vii called on the holy alliance - russia, austria & prussia - for help in deposing the liberal goverment and restoring absolutism. they sent the french army known as "cien mil hijos de san luis" - a hundred thousand sons of st. louis.
in 1826 he was condemned to death by a seville court. with that, he fled to mexico. following an amnesty for all the former parliamentary deputies in exile in 1837, he became consul general for spain in mexico. however, this was an honorary position and he didn't receive a salary. in order to "put a crust on the table" he seems to have taken advantage of his post to grant spanish citizenship papers (at this time mexico was at war with france and the u.s.). he resigned from the post in 1840 and died in 1841 penniless.
in 1895, a street was named after him.
teobaldo power y lugo-viña
the author of the canary islands anthem and the "cantos canarios" - or canarian songs - was also of irish descent. the powers came to the canaries following the cromwellian conquest.
he was a child prodigy giving his first public concert at the tender age of 10. though he was born in santa cruz in 1848, the family moved to barcelona when his father was stationed there. he won a scholarship to study in paris. after that he lived in cuba and in various european cities. power visited tenerife twice after that. however, due to ill health he withdrew to the mountain area known as las mercedes. here he composed the "cantos canarios" which were performed for the first time in 1880 by the philarmonic orchestra.
he was composer and organist in the real capilla - royal chapel - in madrid as well as professor of piano in the national music school.
he died at the age of 36 from tb.
in 1894, a street was named after him.
leopoldo o'donnell y jorris
leopoldo was born in 1808 in santa cruz. he was a descendent of calvagh o'donnell, chieftain of tyrconnell whose family settled on the spanish mainland following the battle of the boyne.
leopoldo's family moved to santa cruz as his father a high-ranking military man and was stationed in tenerife. from the tender age of 10, he as enrolled in a military regiment. he moved quickly up the ranks and held the top rank of captain general. he fought successfully for queen isabella ii aganst the carlists. when general espartero seized power in 1840, he went into exile with queen maría cristina. he failed in an attempted coup against espartero in 1841. after espartero's fall, o'donnell was named governor of cuba, a post he held from 1844 to 1848. during this time he embarked on a bloody campaign of repression against the afro-cuban population and against the white people who supported their cause. in 1854 he led a military revolt and, assisted by a popular uprising in madrid, overthrew the government of maria cristina. he then served as war minister under espartero whom he ousted in 1856, and was prime minister three times over the next 10 years. as the leader of the liberal union party, which he had founded, o'donnell followed a more or less moderate policy. he took command in the successful spanish campaign (1859–60) in Morocco and after the capture of tetuán was given the title duque de tetuán. in 1866 his harsh repression of an uprising organized by general juan prim led to o'donnell's dismissal. he died within a year.
like madrid and havana, santa cruz also has a street named after o'donnell. in 1906, the first and last stone of a monument to o'donnell was laid in the square popularly known as plaza de los patos. the war minister of the time commissioned a bronze bust to adorn this monument - it was actually fashioned in steel and a home was found for it in a room in the city hall.
nicolas estévanez y murphy
in order to show that not all irish descendents meted out such harsh treatment to cubans, we are including a biography of las palmas born nicolas estévanez y murphy. he was a military officer, politician and poet.
at the age of 14, he entered the military academy in toledo and participated in the north african war of 1859-1860 where he served with distinction and was awarded spain's highest military honor, the laureate cross of st. ferdinand (cruz laureada de san fernando). he served under o'donnell in the capture of tetuán.
in 1871 he was stationed in cuba with the rank of captain where he was ordered to carry out the execution of eight students who had been sentenced to death by a court martial who found them guilty of anti-spanish activities and of vandalizing some tomb sites. estévanez refused to carry out the order saying "before my country come humanity and justice". to this day, in the façade of the hotel inglaterra in havana, there is a plaque bearing his name and commemorating his refusal to carry out the orders of execution. for this reason he was expelled from the army but he never apologized or renounced his actions and was always proud of what he did.
he was later elected member of parliament and was appointed minister in the cabinet of pi y maragall during the first spanish republic but with the restoration of the monarchy he went into exile and died in paris in 1914.
however, he is probably best remembered in the canaries for his poetry (in spanish).
although a "palmero", a street in santa cruz was named after him in 1931.
back to josé murphy
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