from Annaghdown Heritage Society Facebook page, June 2018

This month marks the 90th anniversary of the death of Seamus Ó Maoildhia, or Seamus O'Mulloy, of Cloonboo. Born in 1881 to Seaghán Ó Maoildhia and Bríghid Ní Áinin, Seamus received only four years of formal education, but exhibited a keen interest in the Irish language from an early age.

He was appointed as a teacher by Conradh na Gaeilge aged 19 years, teaching first in Ballaghderreen and later throughout Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim. He was acquainted through his work with Douglas Hyde, later first President of Ireland, and assisted him greatly in collecting songs and stories at the beginning of the Gaelic Revival. He later became an organiser for the United Irish League, losing this position when the Irish Parliamentary Party was decimated in the 1918 General Election.

He later oversaw the overthrowing of the ineffectual board of trustees of the Loughs Corrib, Mask and Carra Drainage Board, and was elected to the board following this, regularly calling attention to the neglect of the Corrib drainage in the 1920s. He stood at the general election in June 1927, and his failure to secure a seat, together with the death in 1926 of his brother, brought about a severe depression which exasperated his already poor health. He died on 22 June 1928 at the young age of 46 years.

Later, in 1940, his sister Sighle, herself a noted Irish teacher, collected and published his poems and songs as 'Dánta agus Amhráin'. One song, 'Amhrán Feise Mhuigheo', has been adapted by Scoil Acla (http://scoilacla.ie/2013/05/25/teanga-bhinn-ar-mathar/), and has been translated into Scottish Gaelic by the well-known traditional singer, Kathleen MacInnes.