The last and lonely days of Minnie Hunt

Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saggart Village

The Last and Lonely Days of Minnie Hunt

On the evening of Saturday 17th August 1907, Mary Hunt, a young domestic servant living in Saggart, made her way on foot to the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the centre of the village.  Passing through the pointed-arched door she ascended the great tower of the Gothic revival Victorian Church.  Mary Hunt had been ‘peculiar in manner’ in recent days.

She had, for reasons known only to her, resolved that her twenty five years was long enough on this earth.

A quiet and well conducted woman, Mary, affectionately known as Minnie, had originally come from Oghill, Monasterevin Co. Kildare where she had lived with her mother, before taking up employment as a parlour maid and domestic servant.  She had for the previous 18 months been in the employment of Mr Hugh Hutton, then resident in The Lodge in Saggart village.  She was an excellent and valued servant though was known, from time to time to be ‘out of form’.  On such occasions Hutton had her treated by the family doctor.   Minnie resided in the lodge with Mr. Hutton, his wife Maud, and their two young daughters, six year old Marjorie and three year old Ivy.

Hugh Hutton was of the notable Hutton Family of Coachbuilders of Summerhill, Dublin- and could trace his roots in Ireland back to Thomas Hutton, an officer in Cromwell’s Army who had been granted confiscated lands in Ulster, and to Henry Hutton, Dublin’s Lord Mayor in 1803.   The family firm of John Hutton & Sons Coachbuilders employed 160 staff and was at the very pinnacle of its commercial success in 1907, the year it turned down the franchise for Ford Motors in Ireland.

On the Saturday evening Minnie Hunt had become ‘almost idiotic’ before she left the lodge and made her way to the church.  When she returned to the Lodge later that evening she told Hugh Hutton she had been on the church tower.  Hutton sent for Dr O’ Riordan who called to the lodge to examine Minnie.  He found her in a ‘listless state’ and gave Hutton instructions that she should be closely observed as she was ‘not capable of minding herself’.  Rachael Tait, a cook in the Lodge, was informed by Minnie that she had made several attempts to throw herself off the Tower, but had been unable to see it through.  Tait thought Minnie was joking as she was laughing when telling the story.

On Sunday Morning, Minnie Hunt requested permission to leave the Lodge to attend Sunday morning Mass in the Church.  Hutton, acting on the advice of Dr O’ Riordan and concerned for the welfare of Minnie, declined her request and instructed her to remain in her room.

At 2 pm on Sunday afternoon Minnie Hunt quietly slipped out of the Lodge and made her way back to the Church where, shortly after, she was seen by villagers to emerge on the top of the castellated tower. Word quickly spread throughout the village.  A large and excited crowd gathered at the foot of the tower.  Arriving at the scene, Sergeant Kelly accompanied Rev. Fr Seaver C.C., through the parting crowd.  For the next two and half hours Rev. Fr Seaver and Sergeant Kelly tried to coax and cajole Minnie Hunt down from her precarious position.

Fr Seaver knelt on the staircase leading to the top of the tower.  He attempted to approach her, but as he did she stepped up onto the parapet, swaying dizzily close to the edge.  The crowd below waited with bated breath.  She repeatedly told Fr Seaver she had “not been acting fairly towards her mistress”.  The priest held out a crucifix and requested the girl to take hold of it.   ‘You can take it with you’ he said.  She declined it.  

At 4.30 pm Minnie Hunt climbed up onto the coping of the tower.   “I will meet you down there Father”, she told the priest.  A shriek was heard as Minnie Hunt departed from his line of sight.  As Fr Seaver rushed up the stair case, Sergeant Kelly heard a dull thud at the foot of the tower.  On reaching the top of the tower, Fr Seaver looked down to see the lifeless form of Minnie Hunt on the ground below.

Dr. O Riordan, having been summoned to the Church yard, examined Minnie Hunt after the tragedy and found several broken bones and a number of contusions.  Death was instantaneous and caused by shock as a result of the injuries.  Her body was taken away on a stretcher by police.

The following Tuesday afternoon the remains of Minnie Hunt were laid to rest in Passlands Cemetery, Monasterevin, Co. Kildare.  Her remains arrived on the 2 pm train in Monasterevin and were taken from the station, where a large crowd of friends and sympathisers had gathered with her mother.  The remains were carried around the town, before being brought to their final resting place in Passlands Cemetery.

At the inquest that followed, the jury expressed the opinion that a door should be placed on the entrance to the tower in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Albert Perris

A Ramble About Tallaght

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