Foreword [Introduction]
The following essay was put together by my uncle, Gerard Noctor, some years
back. It is my pleasure to be able to reproduce it here on my home page. Ger wrote the
text by hand and drew two of the illustrations, the "Eponymous Ancestor" and
"Cian of Cashel". The essay was put together in booklet form and photocopied so
that each of his children, nieces and nephews could have a copy. Unfortunately my copy is
a little ragged at this stage, and even with the help of a scanner, I cannot do the
original artwork justice. I have typed up the text for easier reading and scanned the
illustrations. The illustrations were originally interspersed with the text, here I have
left them separate.
Ger comments in his introduction are that the work is never going to be complete as
there is always some element to add. This is somewhat true also of the representation here
of his essay, which I will probably re-arrange using frames and what not - sometime in the
future.
Unfortunately at this time I don't have access to Gaelic true types, but this will be
updated in the future - so no sheimhu's and no fada's !
If you have any comments/questions - please submit them.
Maeve Noctor.
Introduction [Contents]
Mr. Deasy, late headmaster of the Model School in Limerick, and a dedicated educator through the medium of Irish, first introduced me to the Irish version of Noctor. It is still recorded there in the roll-book as Mac Conchubhair. His source, I think, was probably Woulfe’s Sloinnte Gael ‘s Gall. Later, as a civil servant, I used this as my “official” name. Over the years I have collected quite an amount of information on the history of the name and indeed the family also. However, by it’s nature, such a work is never complete, and although a finished product has been forthcoming on many occasions, it has always been withheld on the basis of having to wait for some essential element to be included. The work continues, but recently it occurred to me that a voluminous edition on the name history would only be favourably received by those connected with family, and least of all by publishers, whereas a short account of the background of the name might serve the mildly interested or simply curious reader. For this reason , but also to bring an obscure name into historical perspective, as there is no small element of pride involved, I have prepared the following brief essay and embellished it with some genealogical tables, maps and a little artwork for the readers amusement. Reference sources are included for anyone who may be interested in further reading.
G.R. Mac Conchubhair
(Gerard Noctor)
CONTENTS
The Eponymous Ancestor [Contents]
As mentioned in the foreword, this essay was originally in booklet form. The cover is shown here.
Locations of Surnames [Contents]
Geographical Location of some of the Surnames mentioned in the text.
Name History [Contents]
The surname Naughter, often spelled Noctor, is one of the many anglicised versions of the old Irish family name Mac Concobair, which has a conspicuous association with the ancient history of Ulster.
Concobar, the source name, was a frequently used Gaelic personal name, said by some to have been derived from an old Celtic word meaning wise. However the con prefix is a common one in Irish surnames, and a more popularly held theory suggests it’s meaning to have been hound. It is likely that con as in Mac Con Mara or Mac Con Ulaid was common usage for warrior and used in much the same context as scourge when applied to the infamous Atila. The second part of the source name - cobar - presents little difficulty, translating from the Irish as help. Concobar, therefore, on the basis of these assumptions, can clearly be interpreted to mean Hound of Help or Warrior of Help.
Whatever the meaning, Kings of Connaught and Ulster frequently bore the name, and it is mentioned in early Irish mythology as well as the earliest documented sources of history. Concobar, King of the Ulaid, is one of the central figures of the famous folk saga known as the Tain, the events of which are generally acknowledged to relate to a period in the first or second century BC. Its antiquity as a personal name is undisputed, but it was not until the tenth and eleventh centuries that surnames were adopted, the practice before this being to quote several generations as a litany of identification. Surnames immediately derived from Concobar were Mac Concobair and O’Concobair ( from Ua Concobair) which meant Son of Concobar and One of Concobar respectively. The latter became O’Conchobhair and finally O’Connor and represents numerous independent and unrelated families and septs whose illustrious histories are well documented.
The primary concern here however is with the name Mac Concobair. The name implies, according to Irish genealogical tradition, direct lineage to a person of the name Concobar - a fact which was considered of sufficient import to warrant the use of a distinctive surname by direct descendants, even though the surname O’Concobair may also have been used in the same clan and may also have been derived from the same eponymous ancestor.
Since there are several separate clans bearing the name O’Connor, it follows that there existed also several distinct families of the name Mac Concobair, and associated derived surnames. This was indeed the case, but most are now extinct and those that have survived are not only rare, but have evolved in distinctly separate patterns. Mac Connagher or simply Connagher - of Galway origin - is one such example. The only other surviving family known which bears the name originated in Ulster.
Mac Concobair was the name of the ruling family of the Cianachta people in Central County Derry in ancient times. According to the annals, the family held sway over the area - known as the Cianacht - from the fifth to the twelfth century, at which time, following a protracted struggle, they were finally deposed. The surname was adopted from Concobar, a King of the Cianachta people in the eleventh century, whose ancestry is traced back to Cian, son of Ailill Ollum, the renowned king of Munster who is said to have died in or around 250 ad. The family name has survived in the area’s surrounding the ancestral territory - the Cianacht Gleanna Geimhin - and indeed also in the neighbouring counties. In the sixteenth century it is recorded as “Mac Conoher”. This very quickly evolved to Mac Naugher, which had much the same pronunciation, but the “Con” had diminished phonetically in regular usage and eventually was dropped entirely. The English historian - Campion - records the name in 1571 as Mac Connor, when he refers to a member of the family who was secretary to Shane O’Neill at the time of his death in 1566.
In the following century, Acts of Parliament designed to suppress the Gaelic way of life, militated against the characteristic “Mac” and “O” of Irish surnames. This further reduced the name to Naugher, but both versions of the name still exist to this day. During the seventeenth century the name is recorded variously as McKonor, McCnoghr and McKnogher, to mention just a few.
Irish surnames, generally speaking, tend to be found in the geographical area of their origin and as already mentioned, this is also the case here, but as also with many such surnames, some migration took place, and with it some further name distortion. During the 1798 period, a considerable migration occurred when county militia from northern - and some southern - counties were drafted to trouble spots such as Wicklow and Wexford for police duties after the rebellion. Several of these regiments are recorded in the Wicklow Parish Register during this period and it is very probably that members of the northern family, possibly the Naugher version, settled in that region at this particular time. The name was new here and within a decade had picked up the letter “t”, probably partly due to some confusion with the southern synonym Naughten but also possibly due to the guttural treatment in this region of the “gh” in the name. At any rate, the name had now evolved to Naughter, and eight different varieties of spelling are to be found on the same parish register from this period onwards, all having the same pronunciation.
At least seven of the original Wicklow family served in the first world war, mostly in the regiment of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and some were conspicuous in the troubles at home during the same period. One of these, John Noctor, is recorded as being a prisoner of war in Frongoch in Wales for his active part in the Easter Rising.
Many variations of the name still exist, Mac Naugher in Derry being phonetically closest to the original name, but also Naugher in Antrim and Monaghan and Naughter in Wexford. In Wicklow and Dublin the form Noctor is favoured.
Early Genealogy [Contents]
Family Name in Historical Records [Contents]
Donnchad, 1104 ad - Last King of Cianachta Gleanna Geimhin. He bore the
title "Ua Conchobair".
Una Ni Conchuir 1397ad - One of the old ruling family in Derry, married to Manas
O'Cathain.
Michael Mac Conchubhair - Scribe of "Caithreim Thoirdealbhaigh"
Dermond Mac Connor - Correspondent to King of Spain and claimant to title
"Lord Cormac"
Brene MacConnoher, 1543 - Listed in the army of the Earl of Tyrone engaged against
the Scots.
Neale MacConnor - Secretary and Advisor to the Earl of Tyrone - Shane
O'Neill and killed by the Scots in 1566
James McKnogher 1615 - Involved in rebellious activities after
Plantation of Ulster
Brian Mac Conchuir 1615 - Appointed Rector of Bo da Fhiach in Derry
Teig Mac Cnogher 1656 - Lands confiscated in Co. Kerry - not related to
Derry Family
Derby McCnoghr 1665 - Co. Tipperary, Hearth Money Rolls
Padraig Mac Concubhair - Commissioned Mich Og O'Longain to write "Eachtra
Conaill Gulbain"
James Naughter - Killed in Action in France 1916 RDF ( Royal Dublin Fusiliers) Co.
Monaghan
Aiden Naughter - Killed in Action in France 1917 RIR ( Royal Irish Rifles)
James Noctor - Killed in Action in France 1918 RDF Gorey, Wexford
Miles Noctor - Died from gas poising 1916 RDF
Patrick Noctor - Killed in Action in France 1916 RDF Wicklow
John Noctor - of Deansgrange Terrace, Blackrock. P.O.W Camp in Frongoch in Wales
1916 - Released 27.07.1916
The Cianacht as a Barony [Contents]
The Cianachta [Contents]
Bordered on all sides by natural boundaries of water, mountains and dense forest, the Cianacht Gleanna Geimhin survived unscathed as an independent kingdom under the Ui Concobair for seven hundred years. The family are mentioned frequently in most of the annals, while the Books of Leinster, Ballymote and Lecan are among the many manuscripts which trace their lineage through Findchan, the Glen Geimhin founder in the fifth century right back to Cian who gave his name to the clan. An early manuscript (lebor na gCeart) records the clan as “One of the six free and noble races of the Gael in Leth Chuinn” free of tribute to other kingdoms.
Their history is one of intermittent alliances and conflicts with the various Cinel Eogain clans and similarly with their pictish neighbours, the Fir na croimhe, Fir Li and Dal nAraide when occasion demanded, while no alliance is recorded at all with the Ulaid , but occasional conflict.
Leadership passed to the Ui hAinndiariadh (O’Henery) Sept of Glenconkeine only when the internal problems arose within the Cianachta and then, it is suspected with some measure of co-operation from within. This was in the wake of the plague in 1095, which decimated the population, and left a mere boy as heir to the kingship. The “O’Henery’s” reign spanned a total of twenty six years, punctuated occasionally by other contenders, one of these being the last Ui Concobair king, Donnchad, the boy who had by 1100, come of age and successfully held kingship for four years.
With the passing of the last “O’Henery” in 1121, power passed to the O’Cathain line, partially through intermarriage with the O’Henery’s - and later the Ui Concobair’s - but also through suspected complicity in O’Henery’s death, - he was killed by his own kinsmen at Beannchar.
Ancestral Lands [Contents]
Cian of Cashel [Contents]
Illustration drawn by Gerard Noctor. Notes on the drawing are included further down.
Notes on Charioteer Drawing [Contents]
The idea of the illustration here - one of several associated with the theme - is to give a face or a tangible image to those ancestors who vague forms tend to loom from the misty past when one delves into the pages of history and mythology. This one, which is unabashedly heroic in style is intended to reflect the character of the Celt in the form of Cian, son of Ailill Ollum of Cashel in the third century ad , and ancestor of the Mac Concobair family.
The particular stance portrayed occurs on many early roman coins depicting Celts, but the drawing is in fact modelled on a figurine from Italy - also Celtic - and illustrated, in photographic form, in T.G.E Powell’s book, “The Celts”. Placing this figure in a chariot, in an attempt to reconstruct what may have been the original model, I took the liberty of placing on his head that exquisite helmet of gold and bronze from Amfreville in France, which is illustrated elsewhere in the same work. The torc is modified to represent the one found in the Broighter Hoard in the Cianacht in the last century, and is one of National Museum’s finest treasures. It is of the insular La Tene style and is dated to the first century BC.
The sword is of the urnfield type and the cloak is fastened by an Irish brooch, while the shield is contrived and possibly - in retrospect - inspired by Fitzpatrick’s grandiose style . The spearhead represents a bronze-age piece with half-moon cut-outs of a type found near Killaloe, whereas the spear itself is based on the formidable Gae Bolga of Cuchulainn. In fact the entire concept is influenced by the graphic descriptions in the Tain, and finally, the chariot is taken from the chariot-grave of La Gorge Meillet at Marne in France.
Noctor Genealogy [ Other "Noctor's" of Wicklow | Contents ]
|
Patrick Nockter m Bridgid Cavanagh 1820 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | William Anne Anne James Mary Denis ----? Michael b1831 b1813 b1828 b1836 b1811 b1815 b1821 b1824 m m m Catherine Mary Bridget Doyle Kearnes Byrne | 1856 1839 | | Patrick | ------------------------------------------- | | | | Mary James Denis Rebecca 1857 1861 1858 1860 m Catherine Gilbert | ------------------------------------------------ | | | | | Robert Denis James Daniel Mary b1898 m Madeline Mullins 1938 | ------------------------------------------------ | | | Gerard Margaret Denis b1941 b1939 m m Jean Catherine Ryan Hayes 1965 1966 | | -------------------------- ------------------------------------------ | | | | | | | | Fiona Eoin Daragh Maeve Denis Aoife Cathleen James b1968 b1978 b1969 b1967 b1972 b1979 b1973 b1969 |
Other "Noctor's" of Wicklow [Contents]
Miles Noughter |
Mary Naughtor |
John Noughter |
Daniel Naughtor |
Mathew Naughter |
Matthew Naughter |
Patrick Noctor |
Daniel Noctor |
Denis
Noughter |
|||
Name Variations of Mac Concobair [Contents]
Conacher |
Mac
Connagher |
Naghtur |
Sources of Information [Contents]
Limerick City Reference Library
National Library - Dublin
State Paper Office, Dublin Castle
Other Sources
This information is reproduced from the Essay "From MacConcobair to Noctor" written by Gerard Noctor (c)