Family with Cork roots funds archive honouring Irish emigrants who 'built Britain'
Denis 'Joe' O'Donovan with his wife Kathleen, and their children Michael, Caroline, Anthony and Jacqueline.
A new historical archive tracing the lives of Irish men who spent their lives working in construction in Britain is set to open in London.
Funded by the O'Donovan family, who have links to Cork, the London Irish Centre is undertaking the huge task of creating a digitised collection of the stories and history of Irish emigrants who helped to rebuild Britain after World War II.
The archive will feature a vast array of recordings and documents that will chronicle the lives of the Irish people whose huge contribution to the construction sector in Britain is well known and recognised.
Irish historian Ultan Cowley started gathering the documents that will feature in the archive with painstaking care 30 years ago, as he wanted to capture the resilience, effort, and achievement of those who crossed the Irish sea for "the chance of a start in construction".
Mr Cowley said that when he started the project, the word 'navvy' — or labourer — carried "quite negative connotations in the public's imagination, on both sides of the Irish Sea".
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"I believe this unjustly impacted both the men themselves, and their families, and it has long been my ambition to endeavour to reverse this situation. Since the publication of The Men Who Built Britain, in 2001, that process has gained pace," he explained.
The project is being funded by O'Donovan Waste Disposal, a company that was set up by Cork man Denis 'Joe' O'Donovan in 1959. Mr O'Donovan established the business after leaving his native Cork in the 1950s with ambitions to become successful in London.
He set up a thriving company and had four children with his wife Kathleen. However, at the age of 51, tragedy struck the family when Mr O'Donovan passed away suddenly.
Today, Michael, Caroline, Anthony and Jacqueline still work together at the O'Donovan company, and it has gone from strength to strength as they have carried forward their father's legacy.
Mr Cowley said that as a historian of Irish male migrant labour in the 20th century, he has long followed the career of Jacqueline O'Donovan, the managing director of the company.
"She has been an exemplar of those qualities of toughness, tenacity, and common sense which distinguish the Irish descent in the industry and, to an even greater degree, their forebears," he said.
Ms O'Donovan, confirming the partnership, said that as the head of a London-Irish company, the project is "very close" to her heart.
"We are extremely proud of our Irish roots and are thrilled to be involved, especially as our own parents made the same trip across from West Cork in the 1950s.
"We feel it is so important and our duty to preserve the memory and legacy of those Irish men and women who sacrificed so much for the generations that have come after them.
"To be able to help fund the project to document and protect their stories for future generations is a privilege and we can’t wait to see the finished result later in the year," she said.
The director of the London Irish Centre, Gary Dunne, said that sharing the stories of Irish people who came to London is central to the centre's work, adding that there are few stories of greater importance than "those of the mid-20th emigrants who re-built post-war Britain."
"They are the generation for and by which our centre was founded, so we are delighted to acquire Ultan Cowley's archive of their stories. It is fitting that the O'Donovan family are generously supporting this project, given their family's role in the same sector and era," he added.
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