Family Histories of the Irish Revolution

Sarah-Anne Buckley

• Publisher: Four Courts Press
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781846827129
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Irish History
• Index: History

Some of the stories from current and retired staff at NUI Galway have been buried for generations, and their publication sheds new light on the complex politics of memory in post-independence Ireland. They tell of the famous – Peadar O'Donnell, Tom Kettle and the Sheehy-Skeffingtons – and the forgotten, including accounts of nationalists and unionists, British army soldiers and Irish Volunteers, members of Cumann na mBan and the RIC. The contributions discuss how family history and memory was imparted, and aim to explore the legacy of this on succeeding generations. An introduction from the editors, a foreword by President Michael D. Higgins on ethics and memory, and a background chapter from Gearóid ó Tuathaigh weave together key themes, including gender, memory, violence, reconciliation and family history. Ciara Boylan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Child and Family Research Centre, NUI Galway. Sarah-Anne Buckley is lecturer in history at NUI Galway. Pat Dolan holds the UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement at NUI Galway.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword by President Michael D. Higgins
• Introduction
• The Irish revolutionary decade, 1913–23: voices, narratives andcontexts
• 1 Our aunt Eilish’s untold story of rebellion, romance and religion
• 2 Family stories and secret keepers: who is Máire Bastabal?
• 3 The Sheehy Skeffington legacy and its influence on me today
• 4 The many sides of Tom Kettle
• 5 From family history to history: my grandfather and I
• 6 Martin Savage: Sligo’s working- class hero
• 7 ‘He did everything, he was the most reliable man we had’:Commandant Pat Fallon (1885–1958), South Mayo Brigade
• 8 A life less ordinary: Barney ‘the Miller’ and the War of Independence
• 9 Jack Morrogh and ‘Sinn Fein’s foredoomed dreams’
• 10 ‘Ireland will soon be free’: Paddy Maher and the Knocklong Raid
• 11 Dan McCann: IRA artificer and a ‘dangerous man’
• 12 Peadar O’Donnell: a rebellious relative
• 13 Michael Canavan: an ordinary (heroic) life
• 14 Caught in the conflict: the predicament of the Irish police forceduring the War of Independence
• 15 Cantans intra et extra Chorum: Patrick and Francis Shaw
• Contributors
• Index