From an examination of old photographs of the Twin Towns, it is clear that some time in the 1800's Ballybofey and Stranorlar had a system of street lighting. The old street lamps were positioned at Johnston's Corner, at McKane's Corner and at several other places along the street (like the ones shown here outside the Presbyterian Meeting House in Stranorlar).

These old lamp stands were actually used to hold oil lamps - the most common type of lighting at the time. Electric lighting was still a novelty in the early part of the 1900's and Henry Mc Nulty, father of James McNulty and an uncle of Brendan McNulty saw the opportunity and set up an electric power business in 1923 to supply Ballybofey and Stranorlar with street and house lighting. With the exception of Ballyshannon and Donegal Town, no other town or village in the county had electric street lighting at that time. Not many people in the Twin Towns would risk such a business, but Henry was a very go-ahead man and was willing to try the new venture.

Born in 1888, Henry was the son of Henry McNulty (senior) and his wife Jane Harkin, who is believed to have worked for a time in Drumboe Castle. His father, Henry was a carter. He bought wagon loads of coal which came to the station in Stranorlar and sold the coal to the general public.

Henry and first wife, Susan McBride

About 1908, when the young Henry was about 20 years of age, he and his others brother and sisters received a legacy where each member got £900. With some of this money, about £200, Henry - bought a business premises at the lower end of Donegal Road. Henry then went to London and did a course which qualified him as an expert tailor in producing Clerical, Court and Military outfits. Henry returned to Ballybofey and set up a tailoring business in his new premises.

Henry employed many tailors who worked for £1 for each jacket they produced, work which was all done by hand. Good tailors earned about £3.50 per week and there were some of travelling tailors going about in those days. One time Henry wired £1 to a man living in Sligo to get the Bus and start work for him in Ballybofey. Being a hard businessman, Henry did not forget to deduct the £1 from the man's wages at the end of the week. Henry had many connections and friends and he secured several contracts from the Irish Army to produce uniforms. Henry was once heard to say "If I could only get enough tailors, I could do ten times the business."

Henry with two of his sons, James (left) aged 9 years and Harry (right) aged around 10 years old. Taken at First Communion Time.

Henry McNulty at 24 years of age in 1911, married Susan McBride from Dooish when she was 21 years. They had four children - Annie, born in 1912, Charlie in 1914 but died a few months later, Harry in 1916 and James in 1917. James, now aged 85 and living in Dublin, is the only surviving member of that family.

Tragically in 1918, when the great flu was widespread, Susan died at age 27 leaving the three children without a mother. Granny McNulty took in Harry and James, who were then both under three years. Their sister Annie was looked after by Granny McBride and later sent as a boarder to Mount Sackville Convent in Dublin, and sometime after that to Loretto Convent School. Annie died at age 21.

Fourteen months later Henry married Annie Scanlon from Ballina, who worked as a milliner in the Drapery Shop. She was just over 22 years and they had one child called Joan. After a short period of ill health, Annie died at age 24 leaving Henry widowed for the second time. Their daughter Joan was taken to live with the Scanlon family in Ballina.

About 1922 Henry married Mary McLoone from Glenties when she was aged 23 and they had three children - Paddy, Mary and Eileen.

James as an Army Officer in 1944

With the Drapery and Tailoring business doing well, Henry decided to go ahead with his plans to bring electric light to the Twin Towns.

He located the plant at the rear of the garment factory, a building which is still in existence behind the site of the former McNulty's wholesale warehouse, next to Cassidy's newsagents. The firm of Shannaghan and McLaughlin of Derry were the Engineering Company that installed the Power Generators in 1923.

The tailors had to be moved up towards the front of the house to make way for the machinery and other equipment. Energy was converted by two large diesel engines which drove two heavy fly-wheels, one 2.5 tons and the other 4.5 tons in weight. From these wheels, two dynamos provided the electricity for both towns. The electricity was mainly used for street and house lighting. Large accumulators were charged-up each day and stored enough energy to provide the power for the night time.

The supply was a direct current at 220 volts and the poles and wiring, which were supplied by Henry McNulty, were laid out to feed both towns. The lines served Donegal Street, Glenfin Street, Navenny Street and Ballybofey Main Street. In Stranorlar, the supply was available in Main Street, up as far as the Church of Ireland and over to the County Home. Because transformers could not be used with a DC supply, it meant that the voltage tended to drop at the end of the line to 210 volts or lower.

Willie Walsh was the first person in charge of the daily running of the plant. As well as running the plant, Willie read the meters and collected the money each month from the householders.

James as a schoolboy - Ballybofey, 1932

At the start of the 30's Henry's health began to fail and the people of the Twin Towns were shocked to learn of his death in 1931 at the early age of 42. He left a wife and three children - Paddy McNulty, now married in Castlefin with 5 children, the late Mary Houston of Clady (died in 1960) had 9 children and Eileen, married to John Hannigan in Killygordon with 3 children. In running the power house, Willie Walsh was succeeded by Charlie McNulty. Charlie did the day to day work and May Gallagher, who worked for Vincent McMullin, looked after the collection of the money.

Some years later Charlie asked Jack Gallagher to take over the work. Jack remembers going down to start the engines at 4 o'clock each day and later switching on the street lights which were kept alight until 11 pm and paid for by the County Council. The machinery was kept running until about 12 pm each night and the battery of cells which were charged up by that time provided sufficient energy to keep the homes supplied through the night and until 4 pm next day. These tasks had to be done 7 days a week.

The town people were glad to have the electric light but they used it only when really necessary. There was very little money around before and during the war years and the people had to economise. The electricity cost about one shilling a unit. Only low consumption bulbs of 15 or 25 watts were used in the houses. Most people used oil lamps or candles for most of the evening and used the electric light only for a short time when special jobs like ' sewing needed to be done.

Diesel oil, which was in short supply during the war, was used to drive the engines. At times, when dances were held in the Butt Hall, extra oil would be needed to keep the generator going for a few more hours. Matt Kee from Kee's Mill was often willing to provide a 5 gallon drum of oil to keep the show on the road.

During the early war years, electric wiring was so scarce that Jack Gallagher had to salvage wiring from Lord Lifford's house at Meenglass to enable a connection to be made to his own house.

Jack joined the Derry Fire Brigade from 1943 to 1945 and at that time both Danny McNulty and Charlie Mc Nulty continued to operate the power supply. In the 1950's the ESB bought the good will of the business, and after Danny and other electricians rewired the houses, the Twin Towns were connected to the ESB's National Grid.

James McNulty, now living in Dublin, has great admiration for his late father Henry and like many in Ballybofey they look on him as a man who was enthusiastic and ambitious. Had he lived a longer lifetime, he might have innovated and introduced other business ideas to the Twin Towns.

As a family legacy he now has 12 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren and so far 3 great great grandchildren. `More Power to Ballybofey' was the original title for this article, but now I think we might say...

More Power to Henry McNulty!

Article © Stranorlar Parish Magazine 2002