Everyone knows about the Wild Geese, but who were the Irish of Cadiz? Prof Patrick O'Flanagan, a historical biographer, and Mr Julian Walton, a genealogist, both of UCC, are in the process of finding out. It seems there is quite a story to be told.
In 1717, a monopoly of trade between Spain and her huge American empire was granted to Cadiz, switching the seat of commerce from Seville to that town and nearby ports. Within 50 years, the population of Cadiz exploded from 10,000 to 70,000 and the relatively sleepy port town became a cosmopolitan magnet for merchant adventurers. The opportunity was not lost on the Irish.
Those who emigrated to Cadiz and its environs were nearly all Catholic city-dwellers, according to Prof O'Flanagan. At home, they were barred by the Penal Laws from land ownership or professional advancement, but dynamic Cadiz posed no such restrictions.
The Irish made their mark but were subsequently forgotten by history, until Prof O'Flanagan and Mr Walton began their collaboration last year. Since then, painstaking research, using Spanish archives and parish records, has unearthed a neglected story.
The Irish came mainly from the south-east, principally Waterford, Wexford, New Ross, Kilkenny and Clonmel. They formed close family ties and helped each other to prosper. In modern Cadiz, the remnants of the 18th-century town may still be seen and while there is now little visible evidence of the Irish who made their lives there, there are hints.
The researchers found a street named Calle del Conde O'Reilly, and above the door of an art collector's home named Pedro Alonso O'Crowley, cut in stone, was the O'Crowley coat of arms.
The records offered up other tantalising clues. Irish surnames may be found unchanged in the records, but they may also be heavily disguised. The Langtons and Leys from Kilkenny and the Goughs from Waterford leap off the page unchanged. But Walsh becomes Valois (a form borrowed from French) and Tomβs Nunez turns out to be Thomas Nugent from Waterford (the Christian name was a vital clue).
At the Hospital de Mujeres, established in 1749, the tombs of two Irish benefactors were located, Lorenzo Ley of Kilkenny and Lorenzo Carew of Waterford. In the nave, a slab commemorated a bishop whose grandmother was O'Brien from Pellick in Co Cork.
Mnβ na h╔ireann made their presence felt too, Prof O'Flanagan says. Maria Gertrudis Hore, who wrote poetry, was born in Cadiz in 1742, the only child of Miguel Hore from Dungarvan, and Maria Ana Ley. Her beauty and social sophistication were so renowned that she was nicknamed la hija de sol (daughter of the sun.)
A wealthy heiress, she married Esteban Fleming whose father came from Clonmel, but in 1779 she renounced her wealth, left him abruptly and became a nun. She died in the convent in 1801.
Much work remains to be done on the settlers but the UCC team will press ahead. The book will be available in Ireland and in Spain.