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The speech, delivered by Rory Delany Chairman Dublin Unitarian Church prior to the unveiling of the framed copy of the Marriage Certificate of Robert Holmes and Mary Ann Emmet.
St Stephens Green Sunday 20th September 2009 Deputy Lord Mayor, distinguished guests, members of the Emmet & Devlin Committee and, in particular, members of Emmet Family, as Chairman of Dublin Unitarian Church, I would like, on behalf of the Ministers, Congregation and Managing Committee, to extend to you a very warm welcome to the unveiling of a Copy of Marriage Certificate of Robert Holmes and Mary Ann Emmet. -------------------- As Fergus mentioned in his address, in November we will, as we do every year, hold a Remembrance Sunday Service. Also, in December, along with other events, we will host a Gay & Lesbian Carol Service. Many Churches and congregations would feel honoured to host an Emmet Commemoration. Some, unfortunately not enough, will hold services on Remembrance Sunday, but very few would host a Gay and Lesbian Carol Service. We are unique in being comfortable and seeing no contradiction in hosting all three events. But then, we like to think we are a unique Church! This is a modern outward looking Church but we are not a new Church. We have been around for some time. We have a history of which we are very proud and that history includes a long list of people who played active roles in the life of our city. Members of our Congregation have included; several Members of Parliament, at least two Lord Mayors and founding Members of the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Dublin Society, Dublin Zoo, and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. So, for a congregation aware and proud of its history, the discovery by Rev. Bridget Spain of the original marriage certificate of Mary Ann Emmet and Robert Holmes was a source of great excitement. However, after lodging the certificate with Royal Irish Academy I felt some slight reservations about the discovery. Congregations within the Dissenting Protestant tradition, particularly in Northern Ireland, are often reminded of their role in United Irish Movement. (As if they needed any reminding! The Northern Congregations are full of excellent historians.) These reminders are issued almost in form of a challenge; “you were on the right side once, return to that side and we will overlook all that occurred before and after”. And so, my concern was that the discovery would intensify the focus on one period in our history to the exclusion of all others. The period of United Irishmen occurred at about the half way point in our history. The Church which we are in today opened in 1863 and was built by a Congregation which was already over two hundred years old. The Congregation previously met at Strand Street and, prior to moving there in 1764, had met at Wood Street since the 1640s. (Tradition has it that this Congregation had its origins in the Elizabethan era.) Shortly before moving from Wood Street it was joined by the Marys Abbey Congregation and, in 1787, it was joined by the Cook Street Congregation. The Cook Street Congregation was itself formed in the 1660’s. In 1867 the Stephens Green Congregation was joined by Eustace Street Congregation which itself previously met in New Row since it was formed in the 1660s. We have over these years accumulated some reminders of our history. In addition to our written records we are also in possession of Church silver, portraits, wall plaques and memorial windows. When this Church first opened, the windows were plain and the walls unadorned. Gradually as members passed on, their families and friends saw fit to commemorate their lives and work through memorials in this building. To take just some examples, we are reminded of; Margaret Huxley: A pioneer on behalf of the Nursing Profession and Nursing standards and for improvements in Public Housing. The Philanthropist Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw who was Registrar - General and a Public Health pioneer. The Hutton Family: A remarkable family whose history spans from the earliest days of this congregation up to relatively recently. They were coach builders (ironically given the subject of today’s service, they built the Irish State Coach in which the Queen travels to open Parliament) and provided two Ministers for our earlier congregations, an MP and a Lord Mayor for Dublin city. In our Vestry we hold a number of portraits of past Ministers including Rev John Owen, a Puritan Minister of the Commonwealth and Rev Stephen Charnock who was Chaplain to Henry Cromwell. Our Church Silver, which is now on display in the National Museum, includes communion cups which were left to us by the Rev Thomas Harrison who preached a lamentation in Christ Church following death of Oliver Cromwell. All the first generation of Ministers in our early meeting houses can be described as Cromwellians. So, in returning the challenge which is sometimes laid down to us, I put the questions; How do we reconcile the received image of Puritan Ministers with the Liberal Theology which we in this Congregation espouse today? How do we reconcile the involvement of activists of the United Irishmen with a Congregation which they would have known was founded by Cromwellians? That’s a discussion for another day, but I will conclude by saying that a general categorisation of the political views of this Congregation has us first as Cromwellians, then United Irishmen, then Liberal Unionists right up to our members today who could be described as ‘Pinko Lefties’ !. If we accept the received version of our national history, these positions represent some remarkable twists and turns!! But actually, in my opinion, there is a remarkable consistency running through our history. This consistency travels through the generations; From the Cromwellians, those English Republicans, who challenged arbitrary power and the Divine Rights of Kings; to Rev Thomas Emlyn jailed for his Unitarian views; to those at the forefront of the Enlightenment and the opening up of the worlds of science and philosophy; to the members and friends of Emmet Family in the United Irishmen; to James Haughton the Anti Slavery Campaigner; to the Social Reformers of the Victorian Era and right up to the Congregation of today; it is the consistent insistence on ‘Freedom of Conscience’ and a consistent desire to improve the lot of their fellow citizens. If there was a tapestry of our history it would depict some villains but many heroes. Among the heroes would be those members of the Emmet Family about whom we learned so much today. And so it gives me great pleasure to ask Mr Philip Emmet to unveil this frame which contains a copy of the Marriage Certificate of Robert Holmes and Mary Ann Emmet.
Rory J.Delany
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