William Butler Yeats died in the Hotel Idéal Beauséjoue in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in France on the January 28, 1939 aged 73. His wife Georgie and himself had often discussed his death, and he told her, “If I die, bury me up there at Roquebrune and in a year’s time when the newspapers have forgotten me, dig me up and plant me in Sligo.” His funeral was a discreet and private affair. His body was later exhumed and removed to the ossuary. Because of the outbreak of the war, it was not possible to bring his coffin back to Ireland for several years.
On this day, September 17, 1946, eighty years ago, the Irish Naval corvette the MACHA docked in Galway, carrying his remains. They had taken the coffin, draped in an Irish tricolour, on board in Nice in the South of France to the accompaniment of “La Marseillaise” and “A Nation Once Again”. The port of Sligo was ruled out to receive him because of tidal conditions, and as Galway was the nearest suitable docks, he was landed here.
The ship arrived very early on a damp and dark morning and had to wait, all lit up out on the bay, for the tide. It eventually came into the docks and Mrs Yeats, her son Michael, daughter Anne, together with Jack B Yeats, brother of the poet, went on board. Our first photograph shows the family on the higher level behind the rails while the naval officers salute as the remains are being prepared to be piped off the ship. The man on the left of this photograph is Michael Lydon, then an elected member of the Corporation who would later (in 1952 ) become mayor.
There were not very many people there to meet the remains; it was all very low-key. Among the small crowd were Michael Grealy and his son Tommy, also Maureen Kenny and her nephew Ivor. Our second photograph shows a number of sailors waiting at the ramp to transfer the remains to a hearse. The Irish Press reporter Liam MacGabhann wrote: “As the reburial casket was unshipped, the corvette’s company presented arms and as the bells tolled out their sad alarms, the vessels’ flags along by the docks dipped.”
There was some difficulty getting the very large coffin into the hearse and then the funeral procession, which included the poet’s family, left fairly quickly on the road to Sligo. Many people along the roadside knelt in reverence and in prayer as the cortege passed. There were some ceremonies in Sligo and then the cortege moved on to Drumcliffe, the poet’s last resting place. A large crowd had gathered for the final farewell including some Galway representatives, Senator Martin Quinn, Chairman, Galway County Council; Mr C Copeland, representing Galway Harbour Commissioners; Alderman Miss Maggie Anne Ashe representing Galway Corporation; and Mr D Curley representing Galway Chamber of Commerce.
