SOLDIER AND SCHOLAR, OFFICER AND GENTLEMAN, WRITER AND HISTORIAN

Leinster Leader 12 October 2006

Tributes flow in honour of life and work of soldier and historian Con Costello

 Tributes flowed this week for Naas historian Con Costello who died just days before he was due to attend a 50th anniversary reunion of the Army Apprentice School. Con, a retired Lieutenant Colonel, was the first officer to command the first ever class at the apprentice school at the former Devoy Barracks. He regularly led the mass parade and, sadly, was laid to rest on Monday as the final preparations for the golden jubilee were being finalised. He recorded a speech for the reunion which will be delivered to more than 30 of his former colleagues this weekend.

Con died at the age of 77 at his Naas home on 6 October after a short illness.  The retired army officer was a celebrated and published historian, past president and editor of the Co Kildare Archaeological Society, and current chairman of Kildare County Council’s Historic Monument Committee.

His weekly column in the Leinster Leader, Looking Back, ran for 24 years and became a valued source for local historians comprising over 1,250 articles.  “Con was very highly regarded by the apprentices and I think he will always be remembered as something like a parent to us all,” said Joe Murray, secretary of the Army Apprentice School reunion organising committee.

“We were all 15 or 16 years old and it was a new concept to have apprentices boarding at a military barracks.  He looked after us very well and he never missed a night to check that we were all okay. I think he was an exceptional person and they couldn’t have picked anyone to do a better job with the first platoon.  Everyone was looking forward to meeting him again this weekend and he will be missed.”

Con is also fondly remembered by historians the length and breadth of the county and beyond. “Con Costello was the leading county historian of his generation,” said Liam Kenny of Naas Local History Group.  “He had left the most enduring legacy by way of his voluminous and authoritative published output.

“His dozen or so books, his numerous journal articles, and, of course, his column in the Leinster Leader for the past two decades will form the bedrock of source material for Kildare historians through the remainder of this century and well beyond.”

The late Lt. Col. Con Costello, K.M., Ph.D.

Soldier and scholar, officer and gentleman, writer and historian

Lt. Col. Con Costello, who died at home on Friday, 6 October 2006 after a short illness, aged 77 years, was a retired Army Officer, a celebrated author and historian, a recent member of the Heritage Council, a past President and Editor of the County Kildare Archaeological Society, and current Chairman of Kildare County Council’s Historic Monuments Committee.

He researched and wrote over one thousand articles on Kildare history for the Leinster Leader, and his twelve books included volumes on early Irish connections in the Middle East and Australia.  His reputation for excellence in researching and recording of the history and antiquities of his beloved County Kildare is will deserved and will endure to inform future generations.

The son of William Costello, a publican and shopkeeper on Main Street, Castleisland, Co. Kerry, and Maryanne Brosnan, Con Costello was born on 6 September 1929.  Suffering the loss of his mother when he was aged just eleven, the young Con was then brought up by his father, along with his two brothers, Denis and John, and sister Mary.

Following his education at Castleisland, and later, Good Counsel at New Ross, Con enlisted in the army cadets on 3 May 1949.  Strength of character saw him survive the uniquely arduous regime which prevailed in the Cadet School during that time.  He was commissioned on 8 May 1951 and posted to the Curragh Camp where he served in the General Training Depot and Third Infantry Battalion.

In September 1956, he was transferred to the newly established Army Apprentice School in Naas, where he was the first officer to command the first class of apprentices.  He recorded a speech for their 50th reunion to be held later this month.  One of his duties there was to commission a Christmas card, through which he was fortunate to meet Maeve Fitzsimons, an artist, to whom he was married in June 1959.  They built their home, Tullig (named after his mother’s townland in Kerry), on the Dublin Road in Naas, and had four children.

His first overseas posting was in May 1963, for a two-year term in the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organisation (UNTSO), where he served in Syria and Israel as a Military Observer, and later as Operations Officer at UNTSO’s headquarters in Government House in Jerusalem.  His interest in early Irish connections in the Middle East led to further short visits and his first book, Ireland and the Holy Land: Irish Links with the Levant from the Earliest Times (1974).  In 1976, Con was honoured by being invested as a Knight of Malta, and in 1978 published his second book, In Quest of an Heir about a Cork bishop who led a remarkable life.

A promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1981 preceded a second period in the Middle East, this time as Camp Commandant with UNIFIL Headquarters at Naquora, Lebanon, until May 1982.  On returning to Ireland, Con rejoined the staff at Army Headquarters in the Quartermaster General’s Branch, and later, moved to Military Intelligence.

Con became editor of the army journal An Cosantoir when it was at a low ebb, and with remarkable skill, set about rejuvenating it.  Any spare time was spent on research and writing, and his next publication was The O’Connell Memorial Church, Caherciveen (1984), the church having been built by his grand-uncle, Canon Brosnan.  This was followed by Botany Bay: the story of convicts transported from Ireland to Australia (1987), and led to a lecture tour in Australia on the subject.

Following a few years based in Kilkenny as Officer Commanding the Curragh Command FCA, Lt. Col. Costello retired from the army in June 1988.  He then concentrated on his pursuit of history through several channels, producing works of distinction which gained him an esteemed reputation.

Through ‘Looking Back’, his weekly feature on Kildare history which was first published in the Leinster Leader in 1982, Con became a household name, in turn inspiring others to develop an interest in the past.  This particular series, a valued source for local historians, comprised over 1,250 articles.  His interest in family history, talking to people wherever he went and establishing all sorts of connections was evident in the wide variety of subject matter covered.

Having joined the County Kildare Archaeological Society in 1960, Con became Editor of its Journal almost immediately and remained in that role until 1985.  He was elected President of the Society in 1994, serving his five-year term with enthusiasm and distinction, whilst being a source of encouragement to the younger generation of local historians and archaeologists.  In 2002, the Society recognised his valuable work in awarding him its Lord Walter FitzGerald Prize for Research.

Con was passionate about the Curragh and appreciated it for its natural interest and conservation value as well as its unique cultural and socio-economic history.  His fascination of the Curragh led to in-depth research on the subject and subsequently a Ph.D.  The impact of this research is evident in his resulting book, A Most Delightful Station: the British army and the Curragh of Kildare (1996), which is regarded as one of the very few significant publications on the history of soldiering in Ireland.  The publication was launched by his good friend Brigadier General Paddy Nowlan and the occasion attracted a wide attendance including the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces at the time, General Gerry McMahon, other senior Officers, members of several long-established County Kildare families and representatives of historical groups.

His many other publications include Looking Back: Aspects of History, County Kildare (1988); Guide to County Kildare and West Wicklow (1991); Kildare – Saints, Soldiers and Horses (1991); Peerless Punchestown: 150 years of glorious tradition (2000) written in cooperation with racing writer the late Raymond Smith; Faith of Fatherhood: Bishop Dunboyne’s Dilemma (2000); Kildare: Visions of Cill Dara (2005), for which Con wrote the text and Rosemary Burns produced the painting, and A Class Apart: The Gentry Families of County Kildare (2005).

Con was a respected member of the Kildare County Council Historic Monuments Committee and was serving as its current Chairman.  His knowledge and expertise led, over the years, to the protection and preservation of many important features of the county’s heritage.  He was also a long-time member of the Castletown Foundation.

In 2000, Con gave further service to his country when he was appointed to the Heritage Council.  He found his role highly relevant, and served with great energy and enthusiasm until his term was completed in 2005.

Con loved to travel, and in his youth he travelled extensively across Europe.  His army postings to the Middle East resulted in the opportunity to explore and study Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt.  In 1965 at the end of his tour of duty, he sent the two children back to Ireland by plane and drove Maeve home from Damascus via Turkey and the Balkans.  In 1994, he travelled overland through a disintegrating Soviet Union, taking the train from London to Moscow and on through Central Asia, China, and along The Karakoram Highway to Pakistan and India.  He visited his daughter when she was in Zimbabwe, and recently visited China and his son’s family in New Zealand.  Always remembering friends, postcards would eventually find their way home from the most unexpected and remote places.

He had a great love for his family, his cottage in West Wicklow, his dogs and walking.  His love of nature’s landscapes, wildflowers, birds and other wildlife led to many long walks, especially around Wicklow and Kildare.  Visitors to Con’s study at home in Naas grew accustomed to talking with him, coffee in hand, accompanied by and in competition with Mahler and Puccini, or an evening concert on Lyric FM, ever-present in the back-round.

Con Costello is survived by his wife Maeve, sons Mark, Denis and Con, daughter Sheila, brother Denis, and grandchildren Áine, Joshua, Ossian and Liam.  They will miss him greatly, as will Maeve’s sisters Anne, DD, Jenn and Rose, and his many nephews, nieces, cousins and friends, as well as those from the wider world who had the great privilege to know and be associated with this exceptional man.