BRENNEN FAMILY CHRONICLES

© Christopher Earls Brennen

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE CHILDREN OF CECIL AND ANNE BRENNEN

Muriel Paisley about 1940. Dermot and Peter Paisley.

  1. Edith Muriel Shaw Brennen, known as Muriel, was the eldest child. She went to Pidgeon Memorial Primary School in Belfast and then to Ravenscroft School. She became a monitor or pupil teacher at Ravenscroft and, after two further years of training at Stranmillis College in Belfast was fully qualified as a teacher. She then went to work at Graymount, a school for the tubercular at Whiteabbey near Belfast. During this time she met Dermot Patrick George Paisley who was a medical student at Queens University, Belfast with her brother, Wilfred. Later Muriel and Dermot were married. Muriel had to resign from her teaching post since, in those days, female teachers were not permitted to work after their marriage. After a brief period during which Dermot worked as a doctor in Cheltenham, England, they returned to Northern Ireland. At the outbreak of World War II, Dermot joined the British Army and served in Burma (where he became ill) and spent six months in South Africa. Muriel spent the war in a cottage in Ballygarvin, County Down, with their eldest child, Peter. They saved sufficient money so that, after the war, Dermot started in general practice in Whitehead, County Antrim where they lived. Later Dermot went to work for the Northern Ireland Health Service as a Medical Officer and they moved to Mount Pleasant in Belfast. Dermot died in the 1970s. Muriel lived in retirement in a cottage in County Down and died on Jan.26, 1985.

    Wilfred and Muriel Brennen at
    their wedding in 1939.

  2. Wilfred Macauley Brennen, the second child and my father, was born in Belfast on Oct.6, 1911. He went on a scholarship to the Royal Belfast Academical Institution where he studied mostly the classics, Latin and Greek. He learnt to play the piano very well and throughout his life enjoyed classical music. He was a good rugby player, captaining the RBAI school team and playing for the Ulster Schools XV. He took part in dramatic productions, playing Cassius on one occasion. He then went on to study medicine at Queens University, Belfast. One notable adventure during his undergraduate years was a round trip of the Mediterranean ports with a travelling companion, Trevor Nicholl which he embarked upon from Southampton on Apr.7, 1931. At that time he was living at home at 17 University Avenue, Belfast. After graduation, he became an intern in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. Upon graduation he became a Tutor in surgery and one of the three registrars at that same hospital. He also worked in the Royal Belfast Hospital for sick children. Through his interest in drama he met, first, Irene Earls and later her sister, Muriel Maud Earls. Both sisters were students at Queens University though my mother, Muriel, dropped out and worked in several stores in Belfast. Wilfred and Muriel were married in the Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church in Belfast on Dec.20, 1939 and they lived at 6 University Terrace, Belfast. I, Christopher Brennen, was born in a Belfast nursing home, Johnston House, on Dec.3, 1941 and my brother, Michael David Brennen, was born in the same nursing home on July 28, 1943. During these war years my mother and I were briefly evacuated to a cottage in County Down because of the danger from the German bombing of Belfast. In 1944 Wilfred was offered the challenge of becoming the consultant surgeon at hospital in Magherafelt, County Derry - a hospital that did not as yet exist except as a building that once served as the local workhouse. As a part of the deal with the local town council a large Georgian manor-house was renovated and offered to him at reasonable terms. In late 1944 the family moved to Magherafelt and Wilfred opened the Mid-Ulster Hospital with a staff consisting of himself and 13 nurses. After a brief sojourn in one of the Nizzen huts beside the hospital, the family moved into the Georgian manorhouse that Wilfred and Muriel called ``Cranagh Dhu''. A third son, Colin Johnston Brennen, was born on June 1, 1946. As well as presiding over the growth of the Mid-Ulster Hospital (and instituting a number of novel medical practices including the first use of intensive care units in British hospitals) Wilfred was very active both in community and national affairs. He was one of the governors of the local grammar school, the Rainey Endowed School, which all three of his sons attended. He was active in the St.John's Ambulance Brigade and a Commander in the order of St.John of Jerusalem. He was president of the Mid-Ulster Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association. He was a founder member and later chairman of the Northern Ireland Marriage Guidance Council. He was always interested in the Boy Scouts and eventually became the Chief Commissioner of Scouts for Northern Ireland. In recognition of all this community service he was awarded the O.B.E.(Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's birthday honours list in 1971. The citation referred to his services on behalf of the youth of Northern Ireland. Later he was awarded the Order of the Silver Wolfhound by the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland, the first time this award was offered to anyone outside the Catholic Boy Scouts. This award was given for ``long and devoted service to scouting and, in particular, of the part played in promoting good relations between the two Scouting Associations in Ireland''. A fourth child, a girl called Paula Gay Brennen was born on May 10, 1949. Unfortunately Paula was a Mongoloid, a Down's syndrome child. Thereafter for the rest of their lives Wilfred and Muriel spent a great deal of time and effort working for improved treatment and facilities for Mentally Handicapped Children. They, nevertheless, found time for the sporting activities that they both loved. Muriel was always a first class athlete and competitor. She excelled at tennis and represented County Derry during the early fifties. Later she took up golf with comparable success. They both found many opportunities to play golf and enjoy the social aspects of the game. Wilfred also continued his lifelong interest in painting and many of his pictures now hang in his son's houses. During the early fifties Wilfred also took up skiing and there were several family skiing holidays in Switzerland and Austria. In 1959 they bought a summer home, a house called ``Silverbay'', at 40 Portrush Road, Portstewart, County Derry. The family spent the summer at this house for many years thereafter; it has a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. Indeed only the road and a narrow portion of golf course separated it from the rocky shore. After suffering from several strokes, Wilfred died on Feb.26, 1987, and is buried next to the First Presbyterian Church in Magherafelt. Muriel died on Feb.23, 2007, and is buried beside him.

    Dorothy Ingram about 1940. Dorothy Ingram about 1971. Maurice Ingram.

  3. Dorothy Laura Brennen, the third child, was born on May 7, 1914. She was close to my father since he was often charged with her supervision. Dorothy (a diabetic) went to Ravescroft School in Belfast. There she won a King's Scholarship to train as a teacher and spent four years at Methodist College and then two at Stranmillis College to qualify. At ``Methody'' and ``Stran'' she was very friendly with Elsie Lee who was later to marry her brother Gibson. After graduation Dorothy taught at Ligoniel School in Belfast. She resigned to marry Maurice Parker Ingram who became a manager in the Belfast Bank Limited in Belfast. They lived first in Marlborough Park with Maurice's father and then moved to a house on Massey Avenue near Stormont, the home of the Northern Ireland parliament in Belfast. Maurice and Dorothy had two daughters. Upon retirement Maurice and Dorothy went to live in Perth, Scotland, close to their daughter, Adele. Maurice died in the early 1980s. Dorothy died on Jun.13, 1993.

    Gibson Brennen in 1939. Gibson Brennen about 1970.

  4. Robert Gibson Brennen, the fourth child known as Gibson was born on Jul.25, 1916. He went to Mount Pottinger Primary School in Belfast and then to the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. After RBAI he entered Queens University, Belfast where he studied medecine. World War II was in progress when he was an intern in Belfast. One night after a cycling trip to Lough Neagh, Gibson was on duty in the theatre and during a break between operations went for a rest in bed. The hospital was hit by a German bomb and a famous picture in the local newspaper shows one half of his second floor bedroom with his bed hanging over the edge where the other half of the building once stood. He was unharmed but the hospital was later completely destroyed. Gibson married Elsie Stafford Lee whom he had known from the age of twelve as a friend of his sister, Dorothy. Still during the war Gibson went as a locum to a general practice in Cheshire, England and then took a job in the Medical Health Service in Bristol. In the latter position he again received publicity for his in situ treatment of an engineer in a wrecked railway locomotive. With his body inches from the firebox, Gibson first administered morphine and then amputated the engineer's leg. Later Gibson moved to Kent to become the medical officer for Rochester and Chatham. Gibson was a keen gardener and enjoyed foreign travel. Elsie was a superb cook and a fine pottery enthusiast. Upon retirement Gibson and Elsie went to live in Tonbridge, Kent. Elsie died sometime about 1995 and several years later Gibson married his widowed neighbour, Angie. Gibson died on Sep.27, 2010, while on a cruise with Angie.

    Anne Brennen about 1946. Mercer-Smiths about 1995.

  5. Anne Shaw Brennen, the fifth child, was born on June 21, 1921. During the second World War Anne joined the army and while at Bletchley, England met Alan Mercer-Smith, an officer serving in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He had been seconded as a Japanese translator to the ``ULTRA'' project at Bletchley Park run by the Codes and Cyphers Branch of MI5. On the Bletchley Park Roll of Honour webpage, Alan's service there as a Sub-lieutenant, during 1944-45 lists him as in Naval Section, NS IV, NS III and head of NS II J(X), Japanese machine ciphers. Ann Shaw Brennen is listed as a Foreign Office Civilian working in Hut 7, in the Naval Section, Japanese. Alan and Anne were married in Mar. 1946. After the war Alan was stationed at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, until he moved to Belfast in 1946 to train as a teacher. Anne and Alan were married and lived near Ballykelly, County Derry while Alan worked as a teacher in Limavady. After her parents passed away, they moved into ``Church Hill'', Ballykelly. Anne worked for 16 years as a librarian in order to help with their children's educational expenses. Alan became a school principal near Londonderry and he and Anne lived at 26 Josephine Avenue, Limavady, County Derry, BT49 9BA. Alan died on Feb.16, 2011. Anne died on Oct.26,2018. Anne and Alan were buried in the Ballyoan cemetery, Londonderry.

    Cecil Brennen about 1940. Cecil Brennen about 1990.

  6. Cecil Ernest Brennen, the youngest child, was born on June 29, 1923. He joined the British Army at the age of eighteen immediately after grammar school. He served in the commandoes. He landed at the Anzio beachhead in Italy during the Allied drive up that peninsula. He led a squad of about 12 men on a reconnaisance mission that found nothing on the way out. However,as they were returning to their own lines, they were caught in a German/American crossfire. All of the men except Cecil were killed. Cecil was riddled by machine-gun bullets, knocked out by an anti-personel mine and was assumed dead when last seen hanging from a barbed-wire fence. However he miraculously survived and was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was lucky in that he received good medical treatment and then spent the rest of the war in a prisoner-of-war camp. He made a number of attempts to escape. The family at home did not learn of his survival until several months later. He was freed by the Americans who fed him so well that he almost died from the intestinal reaction to the rich food. On returning to Northern Ireland, Cecil studied to become a Presbyterian minister and married Marjorie Isobel Watt, born Dec.19, 1931. I recall their courtship. Cecil became the minister first at Crumlin and later at the Presbyterian church in Whitehead, County Antrim. Believing that they would not have children they adopted three children; their fourth was their natural child. Cecil later gave up the ministry to serve in an advisory capacity to young people.

Christopher E. Brennen