Kilkenny voices from the Irish Revolution included in new book

Author and documentary-maker Tom Hurley has written a book entitled ‘Last Voices of the Irish Revolution’ that was released nationally last week.

The book includes numerous references to locations, landmarks and personalities from Kilkenny.

The Irish Civil War ended in 1923.  Eighty years on, Tom Hurley wondered if there were many civilians and combatants left from across Ireland who had experienced the years 1919 to 1923, their prelude and their aftermath. 

What memories had they, what were their stories and how did they reflect on those turbulent times?

In early 2003, he recorded the experiences of 18 people, conducting two further interviews abroad in 2004. 

Tom spoke to a cross-section (Catholic, Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist) who were in their teens or early twenties during the civil war. 

The chronological approach he has taken to his book spans fifty years, beginning with the oldest interviewee's birth in 1899 and ending when the Free State became a republic in 1949.

Patsy Holmes, born in 1902, discusses being interned in Cork Gaol followed by Ballykinlar Interment Camp in 1921. In Cork Gaol, he tells of befriending a warder who was employed there from Kilkenny named John Comerford. Patsy then goes on to recall the men he met in Ballykinlar, among them were Jim Lalor, Tom Nolan and Tom Treacy. 

Other interviewees include Jack Duff, born in 1903, and William Geary, born in 1899. Jack was based in Kilkenny for a period in 1922 during the civil war as a member of the Free State Army. At the time the riding school was being used as a barracks. 

William was a member of the Civic Guard (Garda Síochána) when Garda Henry Phelan (who had been stationed at Callan) was killed in 1922.

100 years after the Civil War ended, these 20 interviews recorded by Tom Hurley come together to create a unique oral account of the revolutionary period and the tensions that were brewing in the run-up and aftermath. 

Together, theirs are the Last Voices of the Irish Revolution.

Tom said that the Kilkenny People archives were an important resource that he consulted when conducting research for the book.

'Last Voices of the Irish Revolution' by Tom Hurley is available in bookshops throughout the country and can also be ordered online via their websites. It is published by Gill Books.