The Rossendale Bard from Addergoole

Andrew Houston was born in Doonbreedia in the parish of Addergoole, Lahardane, Co Mayo, Irish Republic on 1st May 1849, and would have attended Rathkell National School where is father was the principal. This is the same school that John and Mary Bourke attended from 1879. Andrew’s father was known as the Nephin Bard for the poetry he wrote. Andrew left Ireland around 1860 with his mother and her other three children and arrived in Lancashire. He eventually became known as the Rossendale Bard. One of his poems, “The Loss of the Titanic”, was published in 1912 in “Poetical Tributes On The Loss Of The RMS Titanic“. It has this final verse.

God solace all bereaved ones’

What're their creed or race,

And may His brightest seraphs

Their loved lost friends embrace!

And may the brave who perished,

Be lovingly remember’d

While rolls an ocean wave.

There is no evidence to suggest he realised that eleven people from the parish he was born in, including two from his old school, had lost their lives in the disaster.

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