Margaret Thornton (19), Dublin 1 - ‘She was the baby of the family, we all doted on her’

The inquests into the deaths of the 48 young people who died in the Stardust fire in Artane, Dublin in 1981 feature pen portraits of each of the deceased by bereaved family members. Find all of the portraits and more coverage here.

Margaret was born in Summerhill in Dublin. She had sandy hair and blue eyes. She was the baby of the family. When she was just two years of age, our father was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Our mother was only 38 years old and she had to rear four children alone.

Our mam worked three jobs to rear the family and we had great family support. The loss of our father made us even closer as a family. Our mother worked very hard for us, she kept us all close to her and was very protective of her children. We all doted on Margaret as the baby.

Soon after our father died, we moved to the North Strand, close to our grandmother and other family members. We were surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins. At four years of age, Margaret started in Saint Vincent’s girls’ school in North Williams Street.

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Because, to support us, our mother had to go to work in the mornings, our grandmother would come over to get us out to school. And every morning Margaret would go out the door crying. She was a whinger. She really did not like our grandmother brushing her hair, so she would whinge on the way to school. Each day after school we would all go to my grandmother’s house. The house was always full of family.

Generally, the younger ones would end up doing the chores for the older ones. We’d get sent for the turf, bringing clothes to the laundry, going to the shops. But there were also the visits to the cinema, Mountjoy Square and Dollymount beach. There were many arguments and plenty of laughs.

After primary school, Margaret went to Parnell Institute of Tailoring and Textiles. She learned the skills of dressmaking and tailoring. Margaret loved her fashion and had her own style. She went to work in various sewing factories after school.

She loved her music and concerts, going out with her family and friends and doting on her nieces and nephew. She was enjoying her newfound independence, becoming a young woman and making plans and having dreams.

On the 13th of February 1981, she showered, put her make-up on, put her jewellery on, and put on her best clothes. She was going to the Stardust with her boyfriend, Murty [Kavanagh, who also died].

John was playing dominoes in Humphrey’s when he saw on the TV that there had been a fire at the Stardust. He got up and went straight to Jervis St hospital. He couldn’t find Margaret. He knew that she would never have let our mother have to wait on her like that, so he went to the morgue.

Father Lavelle was there, and John asked him to go into check if Margaret was there. He asked what she was wearing, and John told him she was wearing purple. He came back out with a Superintendent from Store Street who was carrying a necklace. It was a chain with a miraculous medal. They wouldn’t let John go in to identify her. John went home with the miraculous medal.

For me, most of those early days are a blur. It felt like we never got any kind of closure – just a few scraps of clothing material and jewellery. We had to wait before it was confirmed that she was dead. It was a closed coffin.

To say I miss her would be an understatement. I think a part of all of us died that day but – for our mother – I think the best part of her died with her youngest daughter, Margaret. I don’t think she was ever happy again.

Margaret would have turned 60 in November 2021 ... She never got the chance to become a wife, a mother, a grandmother. She never got to live her dreams or carry out her plans. Margaret has always been loved and will never be forgotten.