Bernadette, Margaret and Nuala

In the history of the Irish in Britain Representation Group many women were active; but,  as in other organisations,  their role has been often  marginalised and underestimated.

One of those women was  Margaret Mullarkey of Bolton IBRG. Sadly, she is now dead,  so  I turned to her daughters,  Bernadette and Nuala,  to find out more about her life and activity within IBRG,  in the Bolton community and as their mother and Joe’s wife.

Margaret was born in Bolton with no Irish connections until she met and married Joe Mullarkey.

She was born  on 24  April 1945 into a family of seven children. Her father was an alcoholic while  her mother died when she was 13 years old. And Margaret then became responsible for bringing up her two younger brothers. She finished secondary school and then gained catering qualifications through a job at a local Army barracks where she met her first husband. They had 2 children –  Tracy and George –  but the marriage failed and her brothers helped her escape.

Looking for a new relationship she wrote a letter to the local paper and Joe Mullarkey replied. In 1972 they married and had two children;  Bernadette born that year and Nuala in 1974. On marriage Joe adopted Margaret’s children by her first marriage.

Joe worked in a local factory;  Margaret would work at night in various places,  including a cinema and a  bingo hall.

In 1981 Joe was one of the founders of the IBRG. Their life would change when  he started a Bolton  branch in 1983. He  recalled: “My motivation in convening the inaugural meeting of the Bolton branch of IBRG in 1983 was to give a voice to Irish people like myself whose views and concerns particularly in relating to events in Northern  Ireland were never heard as a community and  we were treated with derision, grossly stereotyped by the media as drunken, stupid, bigoted, and sectarian.”

Joe was  an activist in his trade union, a republican and socialist. His politics  would dominate the life of the family.

Margaret’s politics according to her daughter Nuala,  were  “grounded in coming from a  poor, unequal community. She cared for people; in the local youth club, in the older people’s group.”

Margaret and Joe wanted their children to have a better education than themselves. Bernadette remembers how she wanted to learn the flute but  there were no peripatetic teachers in her school. “Mum would pick me up from school and we would spend an hour on the bus so that I could get to a music lesson.” 

Typically,  Margaret and Joe  lobbied the local Council for music lessons for all children and by the time Nuala wanted to learn the violin the Council was  employing  music teachers in the schools across the borough.

Bolton IBRG revived Irish culture in the local area and Margaret was involved in creating Irish dances and encouraged Bernadette and Nuala to get involved with Irish dance and music.

Bernadette was in her school orchestra and when they were scheduled to play for the local Freemasons Joe asked her not to take part and she agreed. “He used to pick me up after the concerts but would not come in until after the National Anthem had been played!”

I asked them if they remember any problems they had as young people with Joe  having a prominent local profile. Nuala says “We were not unique. We went to school with the children of Paula and Noel Spencer who were IBRG members and Labour councillors. We knew Neil Duffield’s  (chair of Bolton Trades Council and Bolton Socialist Club) children .”

Nuala does remember going around to an English friend’s house and the news was on with an item about the IRA. “The reaction was ‘put them all against the wall and shoot them.’  I was shocked that people did not have a clue. We were more informed than our English friends. But I was young and just kept quiet.”

Nuala went to work for Bolton Council , and with her father’s prominence locally,  she says:  “I was tested by them, asking my opinion but I just kept out of it.”

Looking back, Nuala  reflects: “Growing up Irish in England there was a responsibility to get involved. Mum and Dad wanted us to keep the connection through going to GAA matches and Irish dancing and music.”

Bernadette says: “Mum was always 100% supportive of Dad’s politics. She expressed her politics through her compassion for vulnerable people and would do anything to help people.”

The work that women do in groups such as IBRG is often unrecognised. Margaret for instance  only attended one national meeting in Manchester where she ran the creche.

In 1986 She went on the annual International Women’s Delegation to the North of Ireland,  Coming from a similar background she could relate to the poverty and oppression of the family she stayed with on a West Belfast council estate. She kept in touch with the family,  and when she returned, she encouraged other women to go on the delegation.

The Mullarkeys   were very active in the cultural life of the Irish in Bolton: activities  that in the 1980s was seen as political.  Margaret and Joe were harassed locally through smears about their Bolton Irish Festival being a “fundraiser for the IRA” which was a headline in the local paper.

In previous eras it could have meant the whole family arrested and charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. IBRG existed so that Irish people could express their Irishness in everything from a cultural festival to an opinion on Britain’s role in Ireland.

In the 2000s IBRG folded.  Joe and Margaret retired to Ireland. Joe kept up his activity for disabled people while  Margaret created  a new life for herself in Mayo.

Margaret died in 2019, Joe in 2022.

Bernadette, now married with her own children, is proud of her Irish heritage. “After Joe left, I took over his role as chair of  Comhaltas in  Bolton and today I am still a member.”  Nuala  now lives in Ireland with her husband and children and is not involved in politics. “We are living in different times,  and although my children were born in England, they see themselves as Irish.”

The lives and commitment of Margaret and Joe  show how working-class people can change their own lives and their community for the better.

Read more about Margaret here https://lipsticksocialist.wordpress.com/2020/01/19/margaret-mullarkey-working-class-boltonian-ibrg-activist/

Read more about Joe here https://lipsticksocialist.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/my-review-of-memoir-my-early-life-by-joe-mullarkey-2021/

Find the IBRG archive at the Working Class Movement Library here https://www.wcml.org.uk/