My genealogy ireland: Getting started, and my dad

To start any family history project it is good to start at the present day, so I shall talk about the present day Curran family as I see it, starting with my immediate family and then moving onto my siblings, cousins and so on.

So for a very brief moment, I shall talk about my favourite subject, me! I was born in London in 1965, grew up mainly in London, though two years were spent living in Sydney, Australia. My schooling was done in Wix’s Lane Primary in Battersea, and Wandsworth secondary, went on to do all sorts of jobs, including British gas and the ESB(Irish electricity company) I currently work as a carer. I have been married for nineteen years and have three children, Jack 18, David 15 and Grace 8.

I also have a large number of brothers and sisters, who are dotted all around the globe. My brothers are Michael (Thornton Heath, Surrey), Andrew (British Colombia) and Martin RIP (Wanstead, east London). My sisters are Teresa (Switzerland), Madeline (Nottingham), Carol (Sutton, Surrey), Dot (Glasgow) and Brigid (Wolverhampton). My mum and dad are both still alive, though divorced, mum lives in Battersea, and dad lives down in Thornton Heath with Michael.

I can’t really pass on to much information about these people for the fact that I respect their privacy, and would probably get into trouble for posting anything else about them. I will tell of my father, who is a fascinating character, and my mother, who has had a really interesting life story. I will also talk about my brother, Martin who has passed on but has also an interesting life story. I will also show links to more information about these individuals too, where possible.

Dermot Leo Curran

Dermot was born a month after the Russian revolution, in a Dublin that was grappling for its independence from British rule. He started his youth in Richmond Avenue, Fairview Dublin with his mother and father, Martin, a policeman in the British Dublin Metropolitan Police, and Margaret. They later moved up to the Thatch in Santry, and later up to Santry Hall, a house they built in Cloughran, North Dublin. His initial schooling was carried out at St Patrick’s primary in Drumcondra, Dublin, and later in St Endas College, Rathfarnham. The latter was a boarding school, which was a ‘grooming’ school for a future republics senior members of public, as it later proved to be. The school was formed by the Pearse family, and Margaret Pearse, the sister of Padraig Pearse, the Irish patriot, was the headmistress of the school. After leaving school, Dermot(more well known as Des) tried his arm at various jobs, but early 1930’s Dublin didn’t have much going on, so he up and left one night to live in London. After working around various menial jobs in the London area, he went to become an officer in the Fleet Air Arm, he had to get a reference from many people, including his headmistress from St. Endas, who of course being the sister of Paidraig Pearse, was quite disgruntled at the fact that one of her pupils was going to fight for the ‘enemy’ which she stated in the reference. Dermot has said that he didn’t receive that commission on those grounds. Around 1936 he joined the royal air force. Whom which he served with right up to the end of world war two. During that time, he married his first wife, ivy and had one child, Ivy. After the war, he spent a temporary period back in Ireland but came back to London after. With Ivy, he also had three more children, Carol, Martin and Andrew. Ivy passed away in the early fifties, and he went on to meet his second wife Mary. They went on to have another five children, Madeline, Patricia, Michael, Peter and another who died in infancy.

Dermot on left next to brother vincent and two pals

Dermot on his confirmation day aged thirteen, on a boat trip to carlingford lough

He took his sizeable family to emigrate to Australia, but it only lasted for a couple of years, and they returned back to London again. During this time he gained teaching qualifications, and became a water sports teacher for the ILEA, and had taught around various pools in southwest London. He was also quite well known for his outlandish travels, he had made numerous trips from London to John O Groats to landsend to London roundtrips on a moped. He also cycled on a pedal bike down to Spain. Also he has hitchhiked and camped rough around the United States and Canada many times, the last time he done this, he hitched around 3000 miles at the age of 87.