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Chairman of the Parsonstown (Birr) Union Board of Guardians.

William Joseph Gabriel Doyle was born on 3rd March 1873 at Melrose, Dalkey Avenue, Dalkey, county Dublin. Known as Willie, Billie or Sloper (a comic book hero of the time), he was the youngest of seven children of Hugh Doyle, registrar of the insolvency court, and Christine Doyle (née Byrne). Growing up, Willie was devout, caring and cheerful. Educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, in 1891 Willie followed his older brother Charles into the Jesuits. After two years as a novice, he taught at Clongowes Wood College, where he produced The Mikado and founded the school magazine, The Clongownian. His Jesuit formation included periods in Belgium and England, and further teaching at Clongowes and Belvedere Colleges. After ordination at Milltown Park on 28th July 1907, Willie began work as an urban missionary and retreat giver in Ireland. His positive attitude made him a great success, and he travelled all around the British Isles. He was also the author of best-selling pamphlets on retreats and vocations.

Volunteering as a military chaplain in First World War, Fr Doyle was sent to France with the Royal Irish Fusiliers in early 1916. Within days of his arrival at the Front, he showed himself outstanding in the work of a chaplain. Lt Col HR Stirke noted that Fr Doyle was ‘one of the finest fellows that I ever met, utterly fearless, always with a cheery word on his lips and ever ready to go out and attend the wounded and the dying under the heaviest fire’. Present at the battles of the Somme and Messines, Fr Doyle was killed during the third battle of Ypres on 16th August 1917, while going to the aid of a wounded man near Frezenberg. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial, Belgium. Fr Doyle was awarded the Military Cross, and he was put forward for the Victoria Cross posthumously but did not receive it. Writing to Willie’s father, Hugh, in December 1917, Major General WB Hickie remarks that: ‘I could not say too much about your son. He was loved and reverenced by us all. His gallantry, self sacrifice and devotion to duty were all so well known and recognized. I think that his was the most wonderful character that I have ever known.’

Father Provincial: 9 March 1975-31 August 1980

Catherine Lamb was the daughter of John Rice Lamb (b. 1786) and Margaret Stroud Horford (d. 1888).

Clergyman, academic, civil servant and politician

Anna Elizabeth Verner, daughter of George Verner and Johanna Hillingonda, was born 1 August 1846 in Cherapoorjee, Bengal, India. On 8 May 1866 she married George Bernard Johnston (1837-1867) in Akayab, Bengal, India. Her husband died a year later, on 2 March 1867. Anna married a second time on 2 June 1887 in Sutton, Surrey, England, to Charles Julian Dobson. Anna Elizabeth Dobson died 9 April 1944 in Bournemouth, England.

James Dillon was born in Clara in 1788 to Simon and Catherine Dillon. His father, Simon, was involved in property and his mother ran a shop and also had extensive property on New St. In the 1820s and 1830s he was politically active in opposing tithes, supporting Daniel O'Connell and the cause of Catholic Emancipation. He was appointed coroner for King's County in July 1836. In 1847, the county was split into two districts and he was assigned the Tullamore district serving the northern half of the county. He had married Alice Kelly in the 1820s and they had 10 children, 6 daughters and 4 sons. He died at the age of 71 in 1859 while on the way to Edenderry to undertake another inquest. He was succeeded in the post by William A. Gowing of Tullamore.

Reginald Digby was the fifth son of Rev Kenelm Henry Digby, rector of Tittleshall in Norfolk, younger brother of Edward, 9th Lord Digby. Reginald was born in 1847 and married Caroline Grace, daughter of Rev Thomas Fremeaux Boddington in 1872. They had three daughters and one son, Lionel Kenelm Digby, rector of Tittleshall, who was killed in action in 1918. He became resident agent on the Geashill Estate in 1871 following the resignation of Thomas Weldon Trench and sole agent in 1872 on the death of William Steuart Trench. He retired in 1923, having served as agent for nearly fifty years, although by this time he had more or less transferred the agency to Lewis Goodbody of A & L Goodbody, solicitors, Tullamore, who continued as agents for the Digby family. Like the previous resident agents before him, he lived at Geashill Castle. In 1922, he needed to go to London for an operation, but was unwilling to leave the house unattended, knowing that an empty house would be a target for burning. Eventually, he could wait no longer, and the house was burned down in his absence. He died in 1927.