Mary and Paddy

Peter Carton discovered his Irish family history contained hidden secrets, stretching back 100 years, involving religious prejudice that divided family members; bravery in service with the British Army; a presence at a Dublin massacre; an ambush by the IRA; elopements and hastily arranged marriages and, personal to himself, a startling revelation of the birth and burial of two twins. Together with his older brothers he encountered the, sometimes, rather harsh discipline of a Catholic education before discovering the joy and beauty of the City of Oxford.


This is the story about the author’s parents, Mary and Paddy. Commencing with their own background and lives in the rural counties of Wexford and Carlow, in Southern Ireland, it follows them on their journey, beginning with their momentous and life changing decision in 1958, to emigrate from Ireland. Determined to start a fresh life in England to secure a better future for their eight young children, this is informative of their day-to-day struggles to feed, clothe and educate them all in frequently difficult circumstances that required them to work so long and hard all their lives before the toil and stress eventually took its toll.


On behalf of the author, and his sisters and brothers, this book is written as a tribute and a thank you to them both, for a joyous childhood and a more prosperous adulthood bequeathed to both their children and grandchildren.