Extract from a brief account of Fr. Hugo Kerr (1895-1986) by Fr. Paddy O’Donnell, CSsR.
Hugo Kerr was born on 7 September 1895 at Clondara House, Falls Road, Belfast. Clondara is now the parochial house of St. John’s Parish. His mother Isabella Magee was a native of Belfast; his father Frank came from Dromore, Co. Down. They had six children. The eldest Nellie became a Good Shepherd nun in Belfast where she died in 1960. Frank the second child became a diocesan priest and died in 1967 as parish priest of Saint Malachy’s, Belfast, and Dean of the Diocese. Mary died in 1914 at the early age of 30 after a long illness. Jack and Jim were killed in the Great War. Jack was in the Australian infantry and died near Bepaume on 20 March 1917. A year later Jim was killed near St. Quentin. He was a Lieutenant in the Royal Irish Rifles. The youngest of the Kerr family was baptised in St. Paul’s by Fr. McArdle and christened Hugh. The names of the Kerr family are carved on the Celtic cross in Hannahstown cemetery near the city where rest father, mother and daughter Nellie.
When baby Hugh, also called Huety and Hugo, was seven months old the family moved to Myrtlefield Park where they lived at the corner of the Malone Road in a house that still stands. After Hugo left home they moved down the street to No. 52 to a house which today is called Kerr Hall and was then called Altafort.
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Fr. Kerr’s father, Frank Kerr (1857-1933), deserves more than a passing mention. When he died on October 3rd 1933 the IRISH NEWS described him as “one of the most notable figures in legal and Catholic history in Belfast.” He was the first Catholic town councillor in the city. For more than forty years he served as a solicitor. He took part in many important transactions, particularly with regard to the acquisition of Catholic property in the city. He purchased a considerable amount of property for himself, a share of which he gave tor the erection of the church and schools of St. John’s Parish. Near this church Frank Kerr built two streets – still there – which he suitably called Hugo and Clondara.
He donated a stained glass window to St. John’s Church which the people called “Glorious Devon”. Why? The first Irish Hospital Sweepstake was on the Manchester November Handicap (1930). The winner of the race was “Glorious Devon” and the winning ticket was drawn by three Belfast men. Frank |Kerr acted on their behalf legally. Hence the name of his window. It is still there though unmarked.
Frank Kerr willed his extensive property “to the church”. In practice this meant the three institutions to which his children belonged, namely, the Diocese, the Good Shepherds and the Redemptorists. This property was held by a Limited Company called the Myrtlefield Estate. It was invested and yielded a yearly revenue. The estate consisted of 11½ acres of the Bog Meadows, the exclusive area of Myrtlefield and Maryville, three houses in Clonard Street and the area around Hugo Street and Clondara Street.