Biography
Mathew (on right) was born on October 18th 1906 to Patrick Callaghan and Mary Jane Kelly.
In the 1911 census Matthew is living in No 13, Shields Court, Dundalk, Co Louth with his parents and is attending school.
Shields Court no longer exists. It was one of three rows of tenement houses that once ran parallel to Patrick Street. Follow the link, the houses ran at 90 degrees to the back of the Bicycle Doctor shop. I have found a thesis titled an Oral History of Dundalk that gives some insight into the area and living conditions. There is also a map from 1900 showing Shields Court location.
At some point after 1911 and before 1919 the family moved to No. 5 York Street, as this is the address listed for Mary Jane on Francis death documents. I visited Dundalk last summer (2016) and took some photos, here is one of the dilapidated No.5 York Street, up for sale at the time.
I also went to visit Castletown Cemetery on the outskirts of the town on the Castleblaney road, on the wall outside is a map of the cemetery with the plot locations, the Kelly family plot is located next to the Callaghan plot, unfortunately both were overgrown so I could not physically locate them. The council were onsite and were busy clearing the overgrowth but had not got all the way to the corner where the plots are located.
Mathew joined the free-state army (1920’s), he left the army before WW2 but was called back during the emergency.
Matthew married Margaret McDarby on October 28th 1930 in Rathgar Church, Rathmines. Mathew fathered eleven children with Margaret. They are more commonly known as Mattie & Maggie. They lived in Dublin city before moving to Rush, Co Dublin in 1940. The original family home in the Sandy Hills, Rush no longer exists. In 1950 the family moved to Hayestown, Rush.
Mathew worked on building sites Jim Colman of the channel road, Rush and on other sites in Dublin during the 1940's.
Mathew, like many Irishmen moved to London in the late 1940's to work and support the family back home.
He passed away on March 14th 1975 in Kensington and is buried in London.