by Pauline Butler

From a Lighthouse Keeper's daughter and a Lighthouse Keeper's wife, to a Lighthouse Attendant

Mrs Pauline Butler, Attendant, at Galley Head Lighthouse
(Photo: Alec Butler)

'How do you live at a lighthouse. It must be very lonely and boring,' people ask. Well not one bit! There is a certain mystique about a lighthouse and, far from being lonely, a lighthouse is very much alive. It resembles a gracious old lady, winking and blinking, watching over us. I have always had great pride and satisfaction living in these magnificent buildings.

Seventy one years ago I was born in Larne. My father, Edmund Fitzgerald, was a young Lighthouse Keeper at Maidens Rock Lighthouse. He entered the Lighthouse Service in 1923 after serving in the first world war and having been a prisoner of war in Germany. My mother was a business woman from the midlands and knew very little about the sea or lighthouses. Once Dad sent her a cooked lobster ashore from the Maidens; when Mum opened the basket she quickly dumped both lobster and basket into the tide. But after some time she got quite used to the life and appreciated it.

In Larne I started my very happy life as a Lighthouse Keeper's daughter. Two years later we moved to Fanad Head and by this time I had a sister. Life at Fanad was fun but dangerouscliffs and steps. I know I kept my Mum and Dad very busy minding me.

No Rabbit
When I was about seven Dad was transferred to Inishtrahull, while we lived ashore on the mainland. It wasn't easy for my mother, with Dad away, to keep track of four of us, two boys and two girls. After a long time we moved again, this time to Inishowen, a beautiful land station and, boy, did we have a good timebeaches and sandbanks and fishing for tiddlers among rocks. Summer and winter was all the same, never a dull moment.

I remember going to school one morning and meeting our cat Minty waddling up from the sand banks with a fair sized black rabbit. When we got home from school there was rabbit for dinner. We asked Mum where she got the rabbit and jokingly she said 'Oh the cat brought it in'. Of course, we believed her: none of us would eat our dinner and gave all kinds of excuses. Never again was rabbit on the menu. It was years later that we told Mum the story about Minty.

We had great excitement each year when the Alexandra came with the Commissioners. They always brought sweets for the children and, of course, we were all dressed up in our best. Inishowen holds a lot of happy memories for me.

Next stop North Aran (Eeragh). I was just thirteen and had to go to a boarding school in Galway. I enjoyed my vacations on the island and even had a few trips out to Eeragh by currach. Holidays on Aran were fantastic, with plenty to do and see. I was always intrigued by the old churches, cliffs and rocks, and the old Fort at Dun Aengus. By now I was starting to take an interest in young single Keepers coming and going to Eeragh, all looking smashing in their uniforms.

Dad's promotion to Principal Keeper necessitated his transfer to a remote land station - Loophead, again a beautiful station with lovely houses. My mother kept hens and ducks and geese, as well as a fine vegetable garden, and we had goats for milk. I still had two years to do at school so I was only home for vacations.

Romance
After two years we were transferred to a rock station Eagle Island. I was making arrangements to go nursing in Belfast but my mother became ill and had to spend some time in hospital in Dublin, so I stayed at home. Just after Mother was back on her feet, Dad got sick and was also hospitalised in Dublin.

In the meantime I met this dashing young Assistant Keeper named Larry Butler and, as the song says, all the nice girls love a sailor. Larry had been a sailor in the Merchant Navy for three years and then joined the Lightships, where his father was Master. His family were all seafarers. He joined the Lighthouse Service at the start of the war and after a spell at Mine Head and Blackrock Mayo he was now at Eagle Island. I quickly learned semaphore and spent a lot of time talking with the flags.

Elopement
Eventually I was caught by my father and packed off to my uncle in Dublin, in the hope that I would go on with my nursing career. Meanwhile, I managed to get word to Larry and tell him where I was. I was waiting for a letter from him when he walked into my uncle's public house! Imagine my excitement when I saw himmy heart missed a beat and nearly went out through the top of my head. At this stage I had thought he was still out on the lighthouse. There he stood and said 'Will you come back to Belmullet and we will get married'.

'Now?' I asked and he answered 'Yes. I have all the arrangements made and have been to see our Parish Priest.'

I said 'Yes' and we headed back to Belmullet.

I had only one request. I wanted my sister Margaret, who was at home, as my witness. To arrange this was a problem as my mother thought I was still in Dublin. We contacted a friend of Larry's, Tom Shevlin, who had a car, and told him our plans. We went in the car to collect Margaret. Tom called to the house and said Margaret was wanted in town. Mother said 'OK' but she would come too. Panic! Tom raced out to tell us. Fortunately, his car was a big Ford V8. He put both of us on the floor in the back and covered us with a rug.

When Mother and Margaret came out he put the two of them in the front seat beside him and we headed off for town. When Mother got out we popped up from back and told Margaret our plans. We kept in hiding until we were sure Mother had gone home, then off to see Fr Kilgallon. He was a good friend of Larry's, a very understanding man who had been an army chaplain in World War I.

Wedded Bliss
The knot was tied, and I exchanged my life as a Lightkeeper's daughter for life as a Lightkeeper's wife. All this time my father was out on the lighthouse and didn't know what was happening ashore. However we were all reconciled after floods of tears, and a clear assurance that I was not pregnant a crime in those days. My parents had to wait four years for their first grandchild.

Three months later, after a chat with the Inspector, we were transferred to Wicklow Head where we spent a three year honeymoonit was bliss. When he was on watch, I was on watch with him. We had fantastic times. Our mode of transport was a gent's bike, and I sat on the crossbar. It was fun.

Living at Wicklow Head was living in another world. We were half way down a cliff and had to come to the top to see civilisation. Our house was built on top of a cave and we could hear the tide swirling in and out over the stones. Sometimes we could hear the seals moaning and groaning and, of course, sea gulls would perch on our window sills.

All too soon the honeymoon ended and we headed for Castletownbere, where Larry was to be stationed at Roancarrig.

Life was totally different now, completely opposite to Wicklow Head. All my beautiful privacy gone. Larry gone out to the rock for twenty days and only ten days ashore, a prison sentence. Three months later our baby arrived and I had to settle down to housework, polishing and shining, nappies and bottles, and going for walks with the pram.

A Growing Family
By the time we left Castletownbere I had three children, including twin boys. We were back to a land station again. My father and mother were at Galley Head and Dad was Principal Keeper. It was nice being with my parents. They were a great help with five children.

After two years we moved to Ballycotton, a lovely seaside place. I had plenty of relations nearaunts and unclesas my father was a native of Ballycotton. Larry would spend three weeks out at the lighthouse and one week ashore. I would often visit the rock in a fishing boat for a few hours. I brushed up on my semaphore and learned Morse code, so I was always in contact with Larry.

By the time we left Ballycotton I had eight children. We went north to Dundalk, where I picked up two more children under a bush. I found the going tough at Dundalk; the children were getting older and going to school, and being so close to a big town brought its responsibilities. Through the kindness of a very accommodating Inspector we got back to another land station, Mine Head, and it was heaven.

Life was much easier and more enjoyable, now that we had a car. It was so much easier to manage and control the children. When they came home from school they played, did homework and watched TV. Yes, we got a TV and a washing machine; no more scrubbing clothes every single day. In 1965 we returned to Galley Head where, a few years later, Larry was promoted to Principal Keeper.

Attendant
Galley Head Lighthouse was electrified in 1969 and the Assistant Keeper was transferred. I was appointed Female Assistant Keeper. This meant a welcome extra few bob, and we had the whole station to ourselves. By this time I had fifteen children, enough for a football team. The family were now starting to move out, some to collegenursing, two Lightkeepers, two to Irish Shippingmarine engineers, the Civil Service, Customs and Excise, and one a Garda. They had all done very well, thank God, and Larry and I were proud of them.

In 1979 Larry retired as Principal Keeper but stayed on as Attendant of Galley Head for twelve years. Then he passed away after suffering a stroke.

I was appointed Attendant, and it meant so much to me. I don't know how I would have felt leaving the shelter of the lighthouse. With all my family gone it wouldn't have been easy to make the change. However, stepping into Larry's shoes I feel he is still there keeping a check on everything, polishing brasswork and cleaning the lens.

I see the Fastnet flashing to the west, Old Head of Kinsale to the east, and the sea all around me. Even when it's blowing a gale and the spray is lashing my windows it has its own magic and romanticism. My gracious old lady keeping a watchful eye on me, five blinks every twenty seconds.