Kisimul Castle, Barra, the Hebrides, Scotland. Home of a Gallowglass branch of my family, the McGrails (Gaelic – Mag Réill) of Clan MacNeil.
Above article from – The Catholic Transcript, Volume XXXIV, Number 27, 10 December 1931.
As you may notice in the above article, there is reference to the Milesians, the Irish-Spanish, who where originally the Skythians. Here’s a bit of research I’ve done that may be of interest…
‘abhain lí an chun, glas an gorm’ – ‘the color of the river, green of the blue’
The rivers lli and Chu (Shu) in Kyrgyzstan & Kazakhstan, are the original settlements of the Scythian tribe of Sai, according to the Chinese. The legendary origins of the Milesians, of Ireland and Spain.
In China, one of the Li ethnic group is the Sai. The Shu Li people (remember the aforementioned rivers) live in the foothills of the Five-Fingers mountains, China. Is this the origin of the Milesian trail? Surely possible…
Irish Phrases –
shu líss – That’s right
shu lís – That Flower
shu lí – That colour
Anyway, whilst the most widely known of our motley ancestral brood are maybe Grace O’Malley and her father Black Oak… other legends of lucrative piracy and royal claims, adorn our McGrail legacy. Though sadly my great grandmother Mary McGrail (1878-?) was very poor and died in her mid 20s whilst living in Withington Workhouse, Chorlton, Lancashire.
Samuel Horobin Wild (1872-1939) fought in the Somme, France, WW1, and later went back to help bury the dead in there. In later life living with my grandparents. He was likely to be of Jewish/Near East decent (my dna results and research).
My Grandad Sam (1911-1983) was brought up in Gorton and Ardwick, Manchester, mainly by his Auntie, Bridget McGrail, also from Ireland. They lived in abject poverty, no lock on the door, taking each day as it came.
At 16 he had a military career in the Navy; later volunteering to fighting in Spain and was promoted to Commander of the British Battalion of the international brigades.
My grandmother Bessie Berry (1911-1985) his wife, worked tirelessly for the communist party on the executive committee at this time of the war, later teaching in prisons.
Sam became President of the IBA (International Brigade Association) Veterans Society in later life.
Due to illegitimate birth, Bessie took her surname Berry from her mother, my Great Grandmother, Elizabeth.
When Sam died, he was awarded the Blue Plaque for his contribution to fighting fascism. It is fixed to my Dads old family home growing up in Moss Side.
“Well, to me it was elementary. Here was fascism spreading all over the world, the rape of Abyssinia, the rise of fascism in Germany and the persecution of the Jews there, and the rise of the Blackshirts in Britain with their anti-Semitism, and especially their anti-Irishism. I felt that somebody had to do something to try and stop it.” – Sam Wild
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