1926

Broadcast Pioneer

Séamus “Clan” Clandillon was born near Gort, County Galway, on 6 June 1878 into a household closely connected with education. His father, William A. Clandillon, was a national school teacher, while his mother, Joanna Little, also came from a family shaped by work, migration and service. The countryside surrounding Gort preserved a strong inheritance of Irish-language speech, traditional singing and local storytelling. These influences entered Clandillon’s life early and later guided his work as a teacher, musician, civil servant and broadcaster. The child born in rural Galway would eventually help determine how the newly independent state presented Irish culture through radio.

Champion Born

Joseph Francis Devlin, later known throughout international badminton as Frank Devlin, was born at 11 Wellington Place in Dublin on 19 January. He was the son of Joseph Edmund Devlin, a government official, and his wife, Elizabeth. Nothing surrounding the arrival of the child suggested that he would become one of the most successful competitors in the history of his sport. Badminton remained largely associated with private clubs, schools and middle-class recreation, but the game was developing rapidly. Devlin’s extraordinary ability would eventually carry an Irish player from domestic competition to sustained success at the most prestigious championship in the badminton world.

Artist Born

Harry Aaron Kernoff was born in London on 9 January 1900 into a Jewish family whose origins reached across eastern and southern Europe. His father, Isaac Kernoff, was a furniture maker of Russian-Jewish background, while his mother, Katherine, came from a Sephardic Jewish family. The household combined skilled craftsmanship with the experience of migration, placing the future artist within a world shaped by manual work, cultural inheritance and adaptation. Although born outside Ireland, Kernoff would become closely associated with Dublin and would eventually be recognised as one of the most distinctive visual chroniclers of Irish urban life during the twentieth century.

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