The Story of Julia & St Lomans graveyard
About Julia Leonard
Photo of Julia with 3 of her Children - 1890s
Julia Leonard (nee Caffrey) was born in 1863 in Ongenstown, Navan, Co.Meath. She worked as housekeeper. Later she married Christopher Leonard from Trim and they had six children. In November 1897 Christopher committed Julia to St.Lomans Hospital Mullingar following a row where she accused him of having an affair. Julia was pregnant with their sixth child and was forced to leave behind her five other children – the youngest was 18 months old. Her baby boy was born nine months after her committal and taken from her very shortly after he was born. Julia resigned herself to her life in St.Lomans and died 22 years later of heart failure .She was buried in 1919 in Plot 4, grave number 339 in St Lomans graveyard.
About St Lomans Graveyard
Photo of St Loman graveyard in the 1970s.
There are 1300 patients buried in the graveyard at St.Lomans. The last burial was in 1970. They were single burial graves. Each grave was marked with a white cross – the cross had a number instead of a name. Most of the crosses were there until 2011 when they were removed to address vandalism and facilitate maintenance.
Building a Record of 1300 people buried at st Lomans
Photo of St Lomans graveyard today
In July 2021 the Clarke Family erected a headstone on the grave of their relative Julia Leonard to honour her memory. We would like to use this website to allow relatives build some sort of a memorial and memory to the other 1300 buried at St Lomans. Please contact us if you would like us to record your relatives’ story here.
Contact Us
Photo right: With the erection of this new headstone in 2021, Julia's granddaughter can once more visit her grannies grave.
CONTACT US
If you have any further information about St Lomans graveyard or wish to have a family member remembered on this site please email julie@friendsofjulia.com
