Father of actors Arthur Shields and Barry Fitzgerald. Adolphus Shields was born in Capel Street in 1857 in Dublin, Ireland. He married a German woman, Fanny Ungerland from Hamburg, in 1881, and their relationship produced seven children. Adolphus belonged to the Church of Ireland, and his children were all raised in the Protestant faith. He was a printer by trade, but life appears to have been difficult for the large family for a period, as in the words of Arthur, "we were always having to move because nothing could be paid. He was later a labor organizer, writer for The Freeman's Journal, and friend of James Connolly and William O'Brien. There never was enough money in those days, and the family was big." By 1911, things had improved, and the family were living in Clontarf. Despite being listed in the 1901 census as Church of Ireland, Fanny was now listed as an agnostic, while a daughter was listed as a Spiritualist. Historian Fearghal McGarry, in his recent and excellent study of the Abbey Theatre rebels of Easter Week, quotes from a source that provides great insight into Adolphus as a father and as a man:
"...Whenever they changed on private fencing that cut off what Papa knew to be public domain, to the great delight of the children, he would kick it down, pull it apart and set them to scattering the pieces. He was careful though to make the distinction between wanton destruction and concerned action to protect public rights."
"...Whenever they changed on private fencing that cut off what Papa knew to be public domain, to the great delight of the children, he would kick it down, pull it apart and set them to scattering the pieces. He was careful though to make the distinction between wanton destruction and concerned action to protect public rights."
Father of actors Arthur Shields and Barry Fitzgerald. Adolphus Shields was born in Capel Street in 1857 in Dublin, Ireland. He married a German woman, Fanny Ungerland from Hamburg, in 1881, and their relationship produced seven children. Adolphus belonged to the Church of Ireland, and his children were all raised in the Protestant faith. He was a printer by trade, but life appears to have been difficult for the large family for a period, as in the words of Arthur, "we were always having to move because nothing could be paid. He was later a labor organizer, writer for The Freeman's Journal, and friend of James Connolly and William O'Brien. There never was enough money in those days, and the family was big." By 1911, things had improved, and the family were living in Clontarf. Despite being listed in the 1901 census as Church of Ireland, Fanny was now listed as an agnostic, while a daughter was listed as a Spiritualist. Historian Fearghal McGarry, in his recent and excellent study of the Abbey Theatre rebels of Easter Week, quotes from a source that provides great insight into Adolphus as a father and as a man:
"...Whenever they changed on private fencing that cut off what Papa knew to be public domain, to the great delight of the children, he would kick it down, pull it apart and set them to scattering the pieces. He was careful though to make the distinction between wanton destruction and concerned action to protect public rights."
"...Whenever they changed on private fencing that cut off what Papa knew to be public domain, to the great delight of the children, he would kick it down, pull it apart and set them to scattering the pieces. He was careful though to make the distinction between wanton destruction and concerned action to protect public rights."
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