There is a plaque on the North Street Block nearest High Street celebrating the life of one Seamus Mac Conmara (McNamara) who was born near there (7 North Street) at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Seamus was first and foremost a surgeon. He graduated from Queens University Belfast in 1931. He wrote in Irish (one of the very few of the twentieth century so to do) a number of successful novels, notably ‘The Stranger’. He suffered from ill health and died in 1936 at the age of twenty seven years.
His father, a sergeant in the RIC, owned two businesses in North Street, a tobacconists and a draper’s shop. Seamus is the son of this James by his second wife Johanna (nee Lacey). There was also a daughter from this marriage who married into the Murtaghs of Kilmorey Street.
further information: Seamus mac conmara died of tuberculoses after a long illness. The sister mentioned, Mary (known as “Molly”, married Daniel Murtagh. Seamus’ father, James, had three children from his first marriage and five from his second. My father, Frank, was Seamus’ eldest brother from the second marriage.
David McNamara