Like many of their fellow countrymen Patrick and John Geraghty had to leave their homes in Ireland to find work elsewhere. To make a better life for themselves and perhaps financially help out those left at home.  There are many examples in the English Census records between 1841 and 1939 of the Irish workers living and working on the farms in Halsall.

John Geraghty (1851) and Mary Kirby (1861) lived in Kilmaclasser in County Mayo, in the West of Ireland. John was a farmer.  In the years that followed they had 11 children. 6 girls and 5 boys.

In1889 their second child and eldest son Patrick was born, followed in 1891 by their second son also named John.

In 1901 the family can be found on the 1901 census, residing in Kilmaclasser a small area just East of Newport, in Ireland. John senior was a farmer with a growing family. By 1901there were 9 children, a very busy household.

In 1911 John and Mary together with 5 of their youngest children were still living in Kilmaclasser, John was still working the land.

It is now on the 1911 census for Halsall that we find Patrick Geraghty 1889-1969 and his brother John Geraghty 18891- 1965  living in Carr Moss Lane, Halsall.  In 1911 Patrick and John were employed by John Serjeant a farmer in Carr Moss Lane. Patrick was a ‘teamsman’, working with and looking after the horses. John was employed as a farm labourer. They were living at the farm with John and Mary Ellen Serjeant and fellow Irishman from County Mayo Michael Cannon.

Patrick and John would certainly be familiar with all aspects of farm work as they had both grown up on their father’s farm in Kilmaclasser. It is not known exactly were they lived on the farm but often the Irish farmworkers lived in the ‘Shant’. A small building on the farm but separate to the main farmhouse. It was often a small two storey building consisting of one room downstairs and one
room upstairs. With a fire to provide heat but no running water. The farmer’s wife often would provide meals.

The term ‘Shanty Irish’ is a derogatory term used to describe the poor Irish immigrants escaping from the Great Famine in the mid 1800’s. A shant being a tumbledown shack or building. There is evidence that at least one Irish worker was still living in a shant on a farm in Halsall until the early 1980’s.

Unlike many of their counterparts Patrick and John appeared to stay in Halsall. Often the workers would move on to other areas or return home, perhaps to look after elderly relatives. It is not possible to locate either of them on the 1921 census but in 1939 Patrick is certainly still in Halsall.

On the 1939 Register Patrick has moved and is living and working for John Rimmer at Model Farm in Plex Lane. He is employed as a ‘Horseman’ continuing his role of working with and looking after the horses. It was initially thought that Patrick’s brother John was also at Plex Lane working for John Rimmer. There are 6 individual workers listed as being employed by Mr Rimmer. The spelling of some of the surnames is unrecognisable. Whilst Patrick Geraghty is clearly written with a date of birth others including one with the first name
John is not, although the date of birth is similar. The dates of birth would appear to match the two Geraghty brothers and John is employed as a farm labourer, as he was in 1911.

It is doubtful, but is it possible that the two brothers decided to stay in Halsall together for a period of nearly 30 years?

1939 is the last time there is any evidence of either of the brothers in England. It is not known when they returned to their native Ireland but John died in Castlebar, County Mayo in 1965 and Patrick died in Castlebar County Mayo in 1969.

There is no evidence to suggest that either Patrick or John ever married or had their own families. They were both recorded as Batchelors on their death records. The two brothers are now buried together in Plot 130 at Kilmaclasser New Cemetery in
County Mayo, Ireland.