Alfred Rohu 1860-1952
Alfred Rohu was born in 1860 on Achill Beg Island, Achill, Co Mayo, whilst his father John Vincent Rohu was in coastguard service there. He grew up in Malahide, Dublin and began to earn his living by taking a job as a clerk in a solicitor’s office. Later he went to work in Pigott’s music showrooms and then to Cramer Wood, another music shop then in Dublin, as a ‘scrivener’ because of his immaculate handwriting. Alfred had learned to write ‘copperplate’ in school and was taught by a very severe master named Ganly somewhere on the quays. Since J V retired from the Coastguard in1870 and needed somewhere to live, he took 3 Bayview Avenue North Strand, making it possible for Alfred to attend school in Dublin City.
Alfred was ten when he commenced to attend Ganly’s school. According to himself, from about that age, he was following up his love of taxidermy. At the age of nineteen or twenty, in an effort to accomplish something never before attempted to his knowledge, he stuffed an ordinary garden snail, horns and all. It was accepted as an exhibit for the 1882 Cork Exhibition when Alfred was 22 years old. Interestingly, his brother William also exhibited an item – patent shoe-blacking.
Alfred was ten when he commenced to attend Ganly’s school. According to himself, from about that age, he was following up his love of taxidermy. At the age of nineteen or twenty, in an effort to accomplish something never before attempted to his knowledge, he stuffed an ordinary garden snail, horns and all. It was accepted as an exhibit for the 1882 Cork Exhibition when Alfred was 22 years old. Interestingly, his brother William also exhibited an item – patent shoe-blacking.
Argentina
Alfred’s stuffed snail was to be the means of securing a position in 1888 at the age of 28 in the Museum of Natural History in La Plata, about 60 miles from Buenas Aires, Argentina. His great desire to explore exotic birds, fish and reptiles was his reason for going to the Argentine notwithstanding his lack of the Spanish language. Incidentally, Alfred carried to the end of his life a scar on his wrist inflicted by a burrowing owl while retrieving the bird from its burrow. Alfred stayed only two years in Argentina having come down first with cholera, then with enteric fever and returned to Ireland (a month-long voyage by steamer) on stern medical advice.
Family man
Alfred married his second cousin, Emma Miller of Plumstead, Kent on November 16th 1892. The couple had two daughters before the birth of Charles in 1897. The first daughter, Hilda E. Rohu was born in 1893, but died eight months later. A second daughter, Lily, also died in infancy.
Taxidermist, Naturalist and Furrier
First Rohu Shop, 2 Castle Market
Alfred set himself up in 1890, aged 30, as a taxidermist in Dublin in 7b Great Brunswick St (now Pearse St). He both lived in and traded from this address from 1893 to the end of 1906. On an unspecified date in 1884, Alfred had to cope with a fire in his shop and went to London according to an entry in Emma’s diary. His stay there was probably with his uncle, Julius Joseph, Emma’s father, at Greenwich. His wife, Emma, being childless due to the death of her two daughters, would have been free to visit London to be with Alfred. They would have stayed with her parents in Plumstead.
In early 1907, Alfred transferred his business to 2 Castle Market. He is recorded in Thom’s Directory as living at 2 Sandymount Rd, Dublin from 1928.
In early 1907, Alfred transferred his business to 2 Castle Market. He is recorded in Thom’s Directory as living at 2 Sandymount Rd, Dublin from 1928.
Later years
Alfred on 90th birthday
In 1943, Alfred was interviewed on Radio Éireann (Ireland's national radio station) as the station's 'Personality of the Week'. A transcript of the interview remains, as does a page of Alfred's own handwritten notes. On 3rd January 1950, two days before his 90th birthday, Alfred's story was also featured in the column 'An Irishman's Diary' in The Irish Times.
Alfred continued to trade from Castle Market up to the end of his life. He was in the shop on the day of his death, felt unwell, returned home by bus with an assistant who worked in the shop, went to bed and died peacefully aged 92 on 23rd of March 1952. Emma, who was never the same after his death, died a year later on 2nd September 1953. They had been married almost 60 years.
Roy Rohu, in his late teens, wrote a eulogy to Alfred shortly after his beloved grandfather's death. 'He was a pattern of warm sincerity, complete gentility... my Grandad'.
Alfred continued to trade from Castle Market up to the end of his life. He was in the shop on the day of his death, felt unwell, returned home by bus with an assistant who worked in the shop, went to bed and died peacefully aged 92 on 23rd of March 1952. Emma, who was never the same after his death, died a year later on 2nd September 1953. They had been married almost 60 years.
Roy Rohu, in his late teens, wrote a eulogy to Alfred shortly after his beloved grandfather's death. 'He was a pattern of warm sincerity, complete gentility... my Grandad'.