Sam Morrow: A man of integrity

Well, if that is applied to Fermanagh, then the one and only Sam Boyd Morrow OBE – originally from Clabby, but who lives in Enniskillen – is right up there with some of the Erne county’s greatest citizens and servants.

Sam (87) is truly a local legend – a term his innate, grounded, supreme modesty would baulk at.

But the stats don’t lie in a life packed with action and achievement – a life where he gave so much to others as a public servant, as an historian (he does not fancy this title), and most of all, as a proud custodian of the church history of his native Clabby parish, and the history of St. MacCartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen – his “pride and joy”.

The first church on this site was built in 1627 by Sir William Cole and the current building was completed in 1842.

In March last year, the Cathedral celebrated 400 years of worship on this site.

Sam Morrow’s heart and soul is between these walls. His seminal ‘St. Macartin’s Cathedral – At The Heart of the Community’, which was published in 2019, is not just a history of the cathedral but also of the county he knows and loves so well.

It is crammed with some great photos and vignettes of people who had an impact on the cathedral and how the place played such a huge part in its life.

And he did all this after he retired in 1996.

But this was not his first foray into writing church histories, as he previously wrote ‘The Church of Ireland Parishes of Clabby and Tempo – A Shared Heritage’, and the other was ‘Clabby on the Map – The Church of Ireland Parish of Clabby and its People’.

These books are packed with information and garnished with some great photographs that bring the past and some characters to life.

But Sam’s biggest project was “Farming in County Fermanagh – Development in the Twentieth Century’, the bible for an agricultural county from the man who was its County Agricultural Executive Officer since 1977, having served as Deputy Officer from 1966.

This huge 338-page tome tells the story in well-written words and pictures of the advances in technology to mechanisation, grassland, fodder, drainage and marketing produce and environmental matters which have changed the approach to farming, and also covers two world wars, economic depression, and difficult weather conditions.

It was published in 2010 and Sam also took part in a BBC agricultural programme, ‘Rodney’s Farm’.

Prior to this, Sam also published, ‘A Landlords’ Legacy – The Fermanagh Farming Societies’ contribution to developments in agriculture in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’.

So it is little wonder that he is one of the most prolific and honoured citizens in this lovely land of wood and water.

Sam has been a member of St. MacCartin’s Select Vestry since 1968 (possibly the longest in Northern Ireland), and has been Secretary of the Vestry since 1989.

In 1986, he served as High Sheriff of Fermanagh, and received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 1996 for his services to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

And his wife Marie, from Bushmills – who still has her north Antrim accent – was presented with an MBE in 1997 for her services for the Riding for the Disabled Association.

Sam has served on the Northern Ireland Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside as well as the Western Education and Library Board for eight years, and was chairman of its Audit Committee.

He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Erne and Melvin Enhancement Company, which has the restocking of Lough Erne with native brown trout as its primary aim.

Sam has also been on the Board of Governors of Tempo Primary School, Devenish College and his old alma mater, Portora Royal School.

His father was from Clabby, Thomas Morrow, who emigrated to the US and stayed there for 13 years and met Sam’s mother, Jeanie Williamson from Antrim.

He came back to County Antrim and built and sold houses, but that ended in 1939 at the outbreak of World War Two.

Thomas had a quarry at Toome Airfield, and he moved back to County Fermanagh when St. Angelo came on-stream, and he had a quarry at Boho.

Towards the end of the war, the enterprising Thomas bought two neighbouring farms in Clabby (which means ‘pock-marked land’ in Irish), while Sam was born in County Antrim in 1936.

Sam was nine years old when he came to the 170-acre farm, where his love of the land began.

“I loved the farm and went to school in Clabby, and then went to Portora in 1949.

“There were 350 pupils there, and half were boarders, and half were day boys, and day boys were regarded as second-class citizens, I always felt.”

From there, he got to Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and loved it, and got a degree in Agriculture.

His mother was keen that he and the late Andrew should get an education.

“In those days, there were 3,000 students at QUB, and now there are something like 30,000.

“It was a privilege to be there, and I decided to do Agriculture. I graduated in 1959 and got a post as Agricultural Adviser in County Antrim.”

While in north Antrim he met his wife, Marie, who was attached to the headquarters of the Poultry Division in the Department of Agriculture.

They met while she was on an inspection, and they married in 1964 and moved to Fermanagh in 1966.

They moved to Algeo Drive when he got a job as Deputy County Agricultural Officer, until he was made County Agricultural Officer in 1977, and before retiring in 1996 he served as Principal of Enniskillen College of Agriculture for two years.

Meanwhile, Sam and Marie’s two children, James and Janet, were born in County Antrim.

“We were lucky to get a house here, and houses were scarce, and Enniskillen was much quieter then, with a lot of family-owned shops in the main street – but it was a good business town.

“We worked as a team of advisors, and I had a supervisory role, and went out to the farms as issues arose.”

But Sam loved meeting people, which helped hone his social skills.

“I loved it and there were grants and subsidies to be sorted, and then entering the Common Market in 1973 was a really big thing.

“That changed the face of farming in Fermanagh, and there was an increase in grants and subsidies, and right through The Troubles we had meetings all around the county and I never encountered any difficulty.

“I got to know and like the people of County Fermanagh, and there were quite a number of progressive farmers, and the emphasis was and still is on production.

“At that time, there was a lot more attention paid to the environment, and an environmentally-sensitive area scheme was introduced dealing with the lakeland and west Fermanagh and this went on into the mid-1990s.”

Meanwhile, Sam got the county officer’s job in 1977. There were 40 staff members, and they worked from Inishkeen House.

They were very exciting times and Sam said he got a really good response from the farming community.

When asked how he got into writing the books, he said: “My local Church of Ireland parish in Clabby were interested in doing something and I had written some small pieces, and I was asked to do something more, and that got me started.

“I would not have started it if I had not been asked, and that was in 2002.

“I wrote two books on Clabby, and I went around the records of those who had lived and died in the area, and they had very good records with all the minute books from the beginning.

“It was originally part of Enniskillen parish before their own churches were built, so I had access to Enniskillen parish records, which gave a background to the whole thing.

“It was called, ‘The Church of Ireland Parishes of Clabby and Tempo – A Shared Heritage’, and the other was ‘Clabby on the Map – The Church of Ireland Parish of Clabby and its People’.”

Not only are these books priceless church history, but they are also a valuable social history of his home places, and social history runs through all his very well illustrated books.

“I was retired, so I was under no great pressure, so I did it in my own time, but photographs were very important.

“That is why I contacted the families that I knew, and I was given some great photos, which always brighten up a history book.

“To do a history [book] can be a dull affair, but I was lucky enough to know where to go, and that helped enormously.”

But his most detailed book is ‘Farming in Fermanagh – Development in the Twentieth Century’.

It is definitely his magnum opus – and is a huge contribution to the social history of the county, as it is packed with articulate information and peppered with some evocative photos, which makes it quite a unique publication across 338 pages with 600 photographs, published in 2010.

Looking through the book, you are struck by the sheer variety of topics covered as history unfolds in technicolour before your eyes, full of T20 tractors, Massey Fergusons, Internationals, and some great pictures of colourful farmers from the past.

“It took me three years to finish that book, and again, I had some very good sources, and I was interviewed about it by the BBC.

“I got the photographs from the people that I knew, and I was very lucky in that respect.”

When asked for the highlights of the book, he said there was information in it “that I could not get nowadays”.

He explained: “There is a time to do things, and a time to have access to the information, and a time to know people.

“A lot of the people pictured in the book are dead and gone, but their memory will be there forever for the families and loved ones in the book, and that is very important, too.

“The Impartial Reporter was very helpful in the research, and there was a scrapbook kept in the Agricultural Office in Enniskillen from the Impartial from 1934 of anything to do with agriculture in the county, and I had access to all of that.

“The book records the changes that took place in Agriculture in the county in the century, and the amount of money that was coming into the county.

“It is all recorded and, for example, in 1982 £15m came into Fermanagh for Agriculture under the Capital Grant Scheme, and in 1994/95, £19m came in, and all from the EC.

“It was a very exciting time during the 1970s with improvements in drainage, with the likes of Joe Pat Prunty, and there was also a very successful scheme for concrete lanes into farms, where Tracey Brothers were to the fore.

“That tied in grant renovations from the Housing Executive.”

When asked what he thinks of Brexit, he said: “Well, I didn’t vote for it, although there could be potential in it, in that Northern Ireland has access to both the UK and the EU markets.

“We are where we are, and we can’t turn the clock back, and it could be of benefit if it is worked properly.”

Meanwhile, Sam is rightly quietly proud of his OBE in 1996 for his services to the Department of Agriculture, with his wife, Marie, awarded an MBE in 1997 for her services to the Riding For the Disabled Association.

“I knew nothing about the OBE when I got a letter, and I was delighted to accept, and was invited to Buckingham Palace with Marie, James and Jane, where we met Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, who presented the OBE.

“And when my wife got the MBE, it was the then Prince Charles who presented it in 1997. We were surprised and delighted.”

There are farmers from all over the county from all sectors of the community who hold Sam Morrow in the highest of esteem, so it is not hard to know why he got an OBE.

He was also involved with the Fermanagh Agricultural Show for many years, and previously wrote a book entitled ‘A Landlord’s Legacy – The Fermanagh Farming Societies’ contribution to the development of agriculture in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, which gives a great background to agriculture in the county, and is also a valuable social history.

This was published in 2014, has some great photographs, and is also a precious social history.

“The landlords started off the agricultural shows, and it was a way of improving livestock and crops.

“The Third Earl of Erne, John Crichton, was a very progressive landlord, and the whole secret in writing it was knowing where to go, and where to ask people, and I knew the people, and that is the whole secret.

“I typed it out on one finger, and I was not on a time scale.

“The Famine was a tragedy, but Earl Erne was a leader in dealing with it, and there is a lot in the book. He was trying to get farmers to grow different crops so as not to be totally dependent on the potato.”

Sam also has a chapter on Sir Horace Plunkett, who founded the creameries in Ireland.

In another sphere, Sam has a very deep faith, and has a long association with St. MacCartin’s Cathedral in Enniskillen.

“When I came to Enniskillen, we as Church of Ireland folk went to the cathedral in Enniskillen, and I was there for two years when Dean Thomas Clements asked me to serve as Church Warden.”

Sam did that for two years, and was a member of the Select Vestry. He has been on that body for 55 years, and has been Secretary for the past 25 years.

He takes minutes and helps the Select Vestry give communication on matters under Dean Kenneth Hall, whom Sam describes as a “super man”.

Sam has fond memories of the late Dean Brian Hannon, who later became Bishop of Clogher, and who was also a close friend of the Morrow family right up until he passed away in January, 2022, and whose son, Neil, is a talented and renowned musician.

“We were very friendly with him, and his family and his widow, Maeve, lives next door to my daughter Janet out in Ballinamallard.

“We became friendly through the Select Vestry, and my wife and Maeve still have a great interest in horses, and he was originally from Lurgan.

“Dean Brian was a great communicator, and he made a great impact with his fellow clergymen because he was appointed Bishop of Clogher after he was only here for four years.

“He was very popular, and he had a great way with people.”

Sadly, Bishop Hannon later developed dementia, and Sam used to take him for walks when he was in the Graan out by Ely Lodge.

But there was an earlier close connection when Sam’s son got married in Zimbabwe, and Bishop Hannon came out and performed the ceremony, and spent three weeks with the Morrows in Zimbabwe, in 2000.

“Zimbabwe is beautiful, but it is pretty volatile.”

Then Sam talks about his true “pride and joy”, which is the very well received ‘St. MacCartin’s Cathedral – At the Heart of the Community’.

That is a book for the ages on the history of the cathedral from the 17th Century with a background on the ancient Maguire chiefs, the Coles, Belmores and all the leading players in a great story that spans the centuries, and is studded yet again with some great photographs.

The book was published in 2019, and it took three years for Sam to complete the work.

“This is a first, and I was aware that the [cathedral’s] 400th anniversary was coming up.

“There was a very small summary done on the churches on the site about 80 years ago.

“I thought something much more comprehensive was needed, and so did the Dean Kenneth Hall, and it took me three years to do it.

“I had some great church records and The Impartial Reporter was very useful too, and I had access to all the other local papers in the library.

“I was going back a long time and there was a lot of records to look at too.

“The original church was part of the Plantation, and was built by Captain William Cole for the Church of Ireland. I looked up the Plantation as a background to the book.

“I am proud of the book, as it is not just a history of the cathedral, it is part of a history of Fermanagh.

“I got 1,500 copies printed, and we have 1,000 sold, and it cost £20, and the church – who sponsored the book – is selling it for £20.

“It is not a money-making venture, and I hope the book will be a parish asset, and it will not date.”

But when asked where his obvious writing skills came from, he said: “For years, the local Department of Agriculture produced a weekly report for The Impartial Reporter, and the Fermanagh Herald.

“I had the job of editing the articles every week, and if I have any skills, that is where I learned them.

But he does not mention that he is an excellent, succinct communicator, with not a word wasted.

All the books were published when Sam was retired, which is a testament to his great genes and endless eclectic energy and determination to complete a task to the very best of his ability.

When asked if he read a lot he said: “Local history interests me, but I hated history at school.”

Yet, he became a very good historian and explains in simple terms: “I got interested in local things and found out about how to do a bit of research.

“I like following the trail of things of things, and one thing leads to another, and most days I would do a bit, but I wasn’t tied to a time limit.

“The only time limit was that I better get it done while I was able to do it, and that is important when you get to my age!”

Bear in mind – he was in his 80s when he wrote the history of St. MacCartin’s Cathedral!

Outside of writing, Sam keeps fit by walking, out on his daughter’s farm in Ballinamallard, and he is a lean, hardy man and also a keen fisherman.

“I caught four salmon this year on the river Derg, but you are only allowed to keep two, and they were not too big, only about four and a half pounds each.”

When asked what is so special about Fermanagh, he replied: “The people – over the years, I got to love the people, who are very kind and gracious.

“I think I understand the place and the difficulties it has, the difficulties the farmers have, and I know Lough Erne and the rivers pretty well.

“I would be a bit concerned about Lough Erne, in terms of water quality, and we have had blue-green algae on it.

“When I retired in 1996, I was lucky enough to be employed on a scheme as a consultant, run by the Department of Agriculture, to do with phosphate levels on farms and to identify all the intensive farms in Fermanagh.

“A number of consultants were appointed to go around the farms and do soil sampling, and farms that were high on phosphate levels; farmers were advised not to put on more phosphate.

“Over 20 years on, the exact same scheme is coming in again to discourage phosphates.”

When asked where his social and leadership skills come from, typically, he shows The Impartial Reporter a testament somebody else wrote in tribute.

Joe Martin was the Chief Executive Officer of the Western Education and Library Board, and when Sam retired – after eight years in the Noughties – the following is what Mr. Martin wrote. (Note that Sam is too modest to read it, and asks this writer to do so.)

“The tribute says thank you so much for everything you have done since you joined the Board and one of the best things that I did was to try to convince you to return in 2001, and how glad I am that you did so.

“You have been such an influence in so many ways, and you helped to achieve so many positive outcomes.

“Keep up the good work – you do it so quietly and unobtrusively, but so effectively.

“I have greatly admired your skill in getting things done with no fuss and no debris in your wake.”

’Nuff said, Sam.