Ralph McTell makes emotional visit to Roscommon where local man inspired popular song

A touching story involving legendary British folk singer-songwriter Ralph McTell and a Roscommon man, who inspired his popular song Mr Connaughton, had an unexpected but emotional chapter added to it in Roscommon Town recently.

The intriguing tale stretches all the way back to post-war London when Ralph, who shot to fame initially with Streets of London, was a young boy growing up in post-war London with his late brother Bruce and their mother, Winifred.

They first lived in a block of flats in Croydon, South London and above them in another flat lived Roscommon man Kevin Connaughton, his wife Margery and their only child, baby daughter Josephine.

Ralph’s father deserted the family home when he was just a boy and Kevin Connaughton, who hailed from Weekfield outside Roscommon Town, became a father figure to Ralph for a time.

The fond memories of that relationship inspired the successful singer-songwriter to write the song, Mr Connaughton.

The song references father-son activities that Ralph may have otherwise missed out on such as building a soapbox cart and fixing up a motorbike.

A few weeks ago in Roscommon, serendipity lent a hand in another chapter of this heartwarming story.

As part of a nationwide Irish tour celebrating his 80th birthday, Ralph was playing at Roscommon Arts Centre.

In the days leading up to it, he received an unexpected email from Caroline, a niece of Kevin Connaughton, who passed away in 2004.

Unaware that her uncle Kevin was from Roscommon, Ralph was surprised to learn from Caroline about the county connection.

To his further delight, he was also informed that members of the Connaughton clan from Roscommon, Dublin, the USA and the UK - including Kevin’s daughter Josephine - were gathering for an emotional reunion to hear Mr Connaughton being sung by Ralph for the first time in Kevin’s hometown.

After his rendition of the song at the Roscommon concert, Ralph, from the stage, introduced all the Connaughton clan in the audience with an extra special welcome for Josephine.

And when he announced that “Mr Connaughton wasn’t from Cork or Tipperary (as referenced in the song), he was from right here in Roscommon!”, the revelation was met with a cheer from the concert-goers.

Following the show, Ralph and Josephine enjoyed a joyful embrace and chatted about their memories of Kevin.

The extended Connaughton family later joined the singer in the Abbey Hotel where he was staying, and the nostalgic conversations continued into the small hours.

Speaking to the Roscommon Herald , Ralph described the whole experience of his first visit to Roscommon “as beyond all expectation”, and reflected on what inspired him to pen Mr Connaughton.

“As a sensitive lad, my father left the home early and the whole point of the song is all about needing a Dad without saying I needed a Dad, and being fascinated by male figures who were old enough to be my father. He was the right age to be my Dad.

“I remember Josephine’s father’s smile. As the song goes, he had a little gap between his front teeth and the idea was that I wanted to please him so much that I tried to keep the gap in my teeth open but it closed.

“Every reference to Mr Connaughton in the song references a time when you addressed adults by ‘Mr or Mrs’.

“Mr Connaughton’s wife brought me to the cinema for the first time and I used to run errands for her. She used to give me two pennies to push Josephine around the block.

“Kevin Connaughton had heard the song but didn’t get to hear me sing it and they used the song at his funeral mass,” he explains.

Ralph also recalls the time when his daughter Josephine came to one of his UK concerts when she was younger.

At a signing session afterwards, she came up to him and revealed that her father was the ‘Mr Connaughton’ and she was the baby also referenced in the song.

Needless to say, he was “overwhelmed” by the surprise encounter and it inspired him the following morning to write the composition.

The special connection forged all those years ago between Ralph’s family and the London Connaughtons was also made strong by their common working-class background. As Ralph noted with pride to the Herald, baby Josephine went on to become a doctor and “that’s really against the odds in working class communities”.

The British singer has no Irish blood despite his best efforts to find some. However, he explains that his warmth and affection for Ireland goes back decades because of the Irish people he met “in times of crisis”.

“The first time was when I was in an accident and I came home with an Irish accent because the nurse was Irish and the second time was through Mr Connaughton,” he said.

During his extensive Irish tour, President Michael D. Higgins attended one of his concerts in Dublin. “He wrote me a beautiful letter on my birthday, the 3rd of December 1944, and thanked me for my contribution to music through Streets of London and From Clare to here. He’s from Clare and we sang the song.

“If you look at relationships between people, there’s so much there as a stimulus for me to write, and enough people recognise that thread in what I do for me to have an audience for 60 years,” he said. Despite recent health challenges, Ralph continues to enjoy touring and creating music.

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'Still on a high' says daughter of Kevin Connaughton

Meeting Ralph McTell in the hometown of her late father Kevin Connaughton, who inspired a song written by the famous folk singer, has left Dr Josephine Connaughton floating on air.

“I’m still on a high!” said Josephine, speaking after Ralph’s recent sold-out show at Roscommon Arts Centre.

She and other members of the extended Connaughton family were in the audience to enjoy his concert, and especially his rendition of Mr Connaughton,a song dedicated to her father Kevin who lived in a flat above Ralph and his family in post-war London.

“When I looked at Ralph’s Irish tour and heard he was coming to Roscommon, I just had to come,” she said as an emotional reunion with the singer took place after the show.

A retired GP, Josephine (73) lives in Enfield, Northeast London. and was born and reared in London all her life.

Her father Kevin Connaughton was one of ten children born to Mary and William Connaughton on a small farm in Weekfield, six miles outside Roscommon Town on the Lanesboro Road.

All of his siblings emigrated, except for two of his brothers, Peter and Ned, who remained in Roscommon.

For a time, Josephine, who was an only child, and her parents lived in an apartment block in Croydon, South London. Underneath them in another flat lived Ralph, his brother and their mother.

Speaking to the Roscommon Herald, Josephine recalls how her father, as a young boy in Weekfield, went to live with his aunt on the Ardsallagh Road in Roscommon Town. He later went to England on December 7th, 1941.

“A man came around looking for labourers to clear the bomb sites in London and there was an opportunity for my Dad to stay in a hotel in Dublin. He had never been in a hotel before so he said he’d give it a go,” she said. When Kevin got to England, he went on to work as a driver for the Co-operative Society in London.

Josephine’s mother Margery, who had health issues, died when she was only 56.

“My mother adored Ralph and my parents adored one another. They were utterly devoted to each other and they loved me too. My father was the kindest sweetest, man.

“They use to go to Ireland every four years and my goddaughter Caroline was born when I was 18 just before I knew I was going to medical school,” she said.

Kevin Connaughton passed away in 2004, aged 82 and his daughter treasures the poignant memory of the song Mr Connaughton being “played at his wake”.

Josephine has been to several Ralph McTell concerts in the UK and remembers the time years ago she revealed her identity to him after one show as the baby living above him in Croydon. “It was like someone had stuck a cattle prod in him when I told him,” she laughed.

As Ralph sang the song about her father in the Roscommon Arts Centre, she really did feel everything had come full circle.

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Fondly recalling memories of time spent with Uncle Kevin

Caroline Connaughton fondly recalls the times her uncle Kevin Connaughton came on his holidays to Ireland from London.

“We were little and he’d come home on holidays. Uncle Kevin was a very quietly spoken man, very unassuming and he would laugh easy,” she said.

It was Caroline who sent an email to Ralph McTell just days before his recent Roscommon concert, revealing to the singer that her uncle in the song, Mr Connaughton, was from just outside the county town.

In the email, she wrote about how Kevin’s daughter Josephine was travelling from London especially for his show at the Roscommon Arts Centre, and that she would be joined by cousins travelling from Roscommon, Dublin, England and New York.

She explained to the Ralph in her email that the family was coming together “to honour this beautiful connection and to hear you sing Mr Connaughton in the town where Kevin was born.”

“Who could have imagined that the young friend he once had in Croydon would one day sing a song about him in his own hometown. Thank you sincerely for the legacy you’ve created with this touching piece of music. It means more to our family than words can express,” she said in her email.

Speaking to the Roscommon Herald, Caroline described the Ralph McTell concert at the Roscommon Arts Centre as “a magical night for all of us”.

“When Ralph said the man in Mr Connaughton wasn’t from Cork or Tipperary as mentioned in the song, and that he was from Roscommon, you could hear the gasp from the audience,” she said.

Ralph and the Connaughton clan went back to the Abbey Hotel after his concert and many hours were spent sharing memories and stories.

“There was a big reconnection between Ralph and Josephine straight away. And when I sent the email to him, I just wanted to let him know we were so happy and proud that he wrote that song for Uncle Kevin,” she said.

Caroline’s father Peter was the youngest of ten children. He remained in the homeplace in Weekfield and passed away in 1999. Her mother Kathleen passed away last December.

The homeplace is gone now but Caroline’s brother and sister have retained the precious connection, building their homes in the Weekfield area.

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Mr Connaughton

- Song Lyrics by Ralph McTell

Mr Connaughton my memory's long, though the years have flown 

Though the years have gone 

Was your wife's name Margery or Mary?

Were you from Cork or Tipperary?

---

Mr Connaughton when we lived underneath 

Oh you said it was a lucky man had a gap between his teeth 

And for a while I had a gap too 

But it closed when my big teeth came through 

---

Mr Connaughton you seemed to laugh such a lot 

And that would make us smile too, as often as not 

Did you have a friend who was a soldier?

Well, I might join the army when I'm older 

---

Well, I know you paid a fiver for some old motorbike 

And they said it wouldn't run, but I thought that it might 

I was nearly asleep when it spluttered into life 

And I clenched my fist and smiled a secret smile of delight 

Was your first name Kevin or Mike?

---

And I remember when you built us a soap-box cart 

With the wheels off a pram, and a plank out in the yard 

And you gave us a bit of string but we steered it with our feet 

Oh boy, it was the best one on the street 

And you said: "Jesus, that's the best one on the street"

---

And I remember when your little girl was born 

And you brought her downstairs to show us all 

And we were allowed to kiss her 

And I wished she was my sister 

---

But Mr Connaughton, you moved away 

With your wife and your baby, but we stayed 

Till finally we got re-housed too 

And I never will forget you 

---

Mr Connaughton my memory's long though the years have flown Though the years have gone 

Was your wife's name Marjorie or Mary?

Were you from Cork or Tipperary?