Teresa Brayton

Teresa Brayton (29 June 1868 – 19 August 1943; born Teresa Coca Boylan), pen name T.B. Kilbrook, Her family were long-time nationalists, with her great grandfather previously leading a battalion of pikesmen at the Battle of Prosperous. She was described as "a patriot, but never in the vulgar sense a politician" in The Irish Times. She was closely associated with leaders of the 1916 Rising, Later on, Brayton trained to be a teacher, and then became an assistant teacher to her older sister Elizabeth in the same school she received her education.

Brayton continued writing under the pseudonym until moving to America, where she became an acclaimed writer and continued to contribute to papers including Boston Pilot, New York Monitor and Rosary Magazine. Her patriotism to Ireland admitted her to the Celtic Fellowship in America, where she shared her poetry at events. Many more of Teresa's best-known ballads include, The cuckoo's call, By the old fireside and Takin' tea in Reilly's.

She made her permanent return to Ireland after the death of her husband in 1932 and continued her career as a journalist writing for Irish newspapers and published religious poetry in the volume Christmas verses in 1934. A short story called The new lodger written by Brayton was published by the Catholic Trust Society in 1933. Brayton dedicated much of her work to the exiled Irish living in America, incorporating themes of nostalgia, the familiarity of home and religion throughout her poetry.

Later life and death

She returned to Ireland to live permanently in 1932, at the age of 64, following the death of her husband, Richard. Initially upon moving back to Ireland, she lived for a few years with her sister in Bray, County Wicklow. Brayton then moved to Waterloo Avenue, North Strand, County Dublin. Here, she witnessed the bombing of the North Strand on 31 May 1941 during World War II. Shortly after the bombing, she eventually settled back in Kilbrook, County Kildare where she was born, and she lived there for the rest of her life. She spent a brief period of time in the Edenderry Hospital before her death. During her stay there she became a good friends with Padraig O'Kennedy, the "Leinster Leader", who was able to reveal to her something that was linked to a family member of his. A copy of her Old Bog Road which had been set to music and autographed by her while she was living in the United States. She had it sent to Mr. O'Kennedy's eldest son and on it she wrote the words: "To the boy who sings the Old Bog Road so sweetly". Two years after her return to Kilbrook, on 19 August 1943, Teresa died in the same room where her mother had given birth to her over 75 years previously. Brayton was buried at the Cloncurry cemetery in County Kildare. Her funeral was attended by many, including the then Taoiseach, Eamonn De Valera.

Legacy From the vivid imagery she speaks of in her poetry, Teresa Brayton, both a poet and a novelist is described by some as "the poet of the homes of Ireland". Such scenes include the vivid imagery of the fireside chats, the sound of her latch lifting as neighbours in to visit at night from her poem "The Old Boreen" and about her home cooking and work from "When the leaves begin to fall". Such images can be compared to most Irish households and can depict a vivid picture to those reading her poetry.