Exploring the lost Scottish voices of the Irish Civil War

The south would become known as the Irish Free State. Prior to this, between 1919 and 1921, the Irish War for Independence had been fought against Britain which was followed by a 12-month truce ­period.

Eighty years on from the end of the civil war in 2003 – my perception was that there didn’t seem to be much about it in terms of public conversation, ­coverage or commemoration. This can be a feature of any civil war, as close to 2000 people had died during the conflict which was fought between the pro and anti-treaty sides.

I began to wonder, however, if there were many ­civilians and combatants left from across Ireland who had experienced not only the revolutionary years from 1919 to 1923 but also the prelude and aftermath to those years.

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What memories had they, what were their ­stories, and how did they reflect on those turbulent times? If such people were out there, they would be of ­advanced years so time was naturally of the essence.

In early 2003, I recorded the experiences of 18 ­people in Ireland, conducting two further interviews in the United States in 2004. I spoke to a ­cross-section (Catholic, Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist) who were in their teens or early twenties during the civil war. My youngest interviewee was aged 92, and 13 were 100 or more.

The chronological approach I have taken to my book spans 50 years, beginning with the oldest ­interviewee’s birth in 1899 and ending when the Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland in 1949.

Therefore stories and experiences pertaining to a myriad of historical events such as the Boer War; ­the sinkings of the Titanic and Lusitania; the First World War; the 1916 Easter Rising; the Second World War, as well as others that impacted on Ireland feature. However, it is the revolutionary years of 1919-23 which come across as most prominent.

For me, the importance of documenting the lives of ordinary men and women during such ­major ­historical events is vital. For far too long, the ­discussion around such occurrences pertaining to Ireland has been centred around the actions or narratives of the well-known personalities.

As I’ll allude to later, those I spoke to had ­encountered and known some of these well-known figures but were modest about their own involvement and any association they might have had with them.

A key feature of any conflict – whether it be at home or abroad – is that ordinary life goes on as well. The ­interviewees had however seen and experienced much and interestingly, many of their memories and stories pertained to ­Scotland.

Among those I interviewed for the book was Patrick Greene (below), born in 1900, in County Longford.

In April 1922, he went to County Cork to learn the Irish language, and became good friends with a Scot living in the area named Ian Graeme Baun ­McKenzie ­Kennedy. Known locally as Scottie, he had come to Ireland with his mother around 1916. The latter had decided it best the pair left Inverness-shire to ­ensure he avoided enlistment for the First World War, as it had already claimed the lives of two family members.

McKenzie Kennedy was a proud Scot and over time also developed a love of Irish culture. Already fluent in Scots Gaelic, he also learned the Irish language and went on to fight on Ireland’s side in the War for Independence of 1919 to 1921.

Afterwards, McKenzie Kennedy’s mother appealed to him to return to Scotland but he refused, taking instead the anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War of 1922 to 1923. McKenzie Kennedy was killed following a shoot-out against soldiers ­belong to the newly formed Irish Free State’s army near Cork City in August 1922.

Patrick Greene remembered him as a “great character” and his bravery was saluted by the leader of those who had fought against him. Scottie’s grave lies in St Finbarr’s Cemetery, Cork.

McKenzie Kennedy (below), however, is not the only Scotsman detailed in the book to have died in Ireland during the 1919-1923 period.

In August 1920, Private James Ayton Jamieson of the Cameronians (­Scottish Rifles), died whilst on duty in Belfast, having been accidentally shot by a ­comrade. He is buried in Glasgow. Three months later, Lieutenant CJ Guthrie of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary was executed by the IRA, having escaped the Kilmichael Ambush in County Cork. The native of Dysart, Fife is the only member of the Auxiliaries buried in Ireland.

In March 1921, Peter Monaghan of Larkhall had been shot by Crown Forces during the course of another ambush in County Cork. Originally he had been a soldier with the Cameron Highlanders but instead deserted to join with those engaged in the Irish fight for independence from Britain.

I spoke to Norman Douglas from ­Belfast who was born in 1909. A member of the Unionist community, he ­recounted the death of Lieutenant Edward ­Stevenson Bruce of the Seaforth ­Highlanders, who had been shot in the city in March 1922. Both loyalist and ­nationalist sides ­accused the other of having killed him. Bruce was a native of Edinburgh.

In June 1921, interviewee ­Daniel O’Donovan (born in 1903) was ­transferred from Cork County Gaol to Spike Island Prison in nearby Cobh by a military vessel which departed from the quay in Cork City. He had been convicted of engaging in nationalist activity against the British Crown in Ireland.

Known as Ireland’s Alcatraz, the island was being used by the British as both a prison and an internment camp and was run by soldiers including those from the Cameron Highlanders. A month prior to Daniel’s arrival, internee Patrick White from County Clare had been shot dead by a sentry named Private Whitehead from the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

The internees played hurling every day in the barrack square but were ­forbidden to touch the barbed wire. On this ­particular day, the ball went into the wire, and White was shot while he ­attempted to retrieve the ball.

Ellen Troy née Maloney from County Laois was also interviewed for the book. She was born in 1900 and from the age of one was raised by her grandaunt and granduncle who ran a public house.

Ellen’s father was posted to Scotland with the British army. Her mother found his absence difficult and moved there to join him. Ellen never saw her again as she died from cancer while in Scotland. Afterwards, Ellen’s father returned to ­Ireland but she continued to be raised by her grandaunt and granduncle.

William Geary of County Limerick is the oldest interviewee and I met him in the United States. Born in 1899, he joined An Garda Síochána (Irish Police) in 1922. Three years earlier he had qualified as a wireless operator, having studied and become proficient in Morse code.

In February 1920, he embarked on a voyage around the world that lasted ­almost a year in total. The ship he sailed on was called the City Of Birmingham and it departed from Jarrow in England.

William was the second wireless ­operator aboard – his senior was a ­Scotsman named Charles Kelso.

William reflected on how life aboard the ship was good. The work was not hard, there was a great sense of discipline and he received good pay. He got to see the world and both he and Charles Kelso got on very well together.

The pair signed off the ship when it docked in Liverpool in January 1921 and William returned to Ireland. He and Charles Kelso never laid eyes on each ­other again. William emigrated to America in 1928.

ANOTHER man detailed in the book is John McPeake. He had been the Scottish machine gunner in Irish pro-treaty leader Michael Collins’s convoy on the day he was killed during an ambush in County Cork in August 1922.

McPeake’s machine gun had jammed during the ambush, resulting in many of Collins’s supporters giving him a hard time over it afterwards. McPeake ­became ­disillusioned with the Irish Civil War and some months later – in exchange for ­assisting those fighting against the Anglo-Irish treaty – he was smuggled back to his native Glasgow.

In June 1923, he was arrested there, ­escorted back to Ireland, and in the ­finish, sentenced to a six-year prison ­sentence. Having served his time McPeake ­returned to Scotland, changed his name and died in England in 1974.

Interviewee Anthony McGinley from County Donegal was born in 1905. In his youth, much of Donegal’s countryside was poverty-stricken, and it suffered from high migratory labour to Scotland at certain times of the year. Anthony emigrated to America after the Irish Civil War in 1926. In Long Island, he met a Scot named Eddie Miller from Ayrshire who owned a motorbike.

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The two men became firm friends and used the motorbike to travel across ­America. They got part-time jobs to make ends meet and got to experience life in many places including Illinois, ­Oklahoma, Fort Worth and California. Anthony returned to Donegal in 1936, having spent a number of memorable years in the company of Eddie Miller.

There are numerous other references to locations, landmarks and personalities connected to Scotland contained in the book also.

Many of the more prominent ­politicians and military leaders of both a unionist and nationalist persuasion were brought to mind by the people I spoke to. John Parkinson, aged 96, in Belfast, had memories of Edward Carson while Seán Clancy of Co Clare, aged 101, encountered Michael Collins.

Éamon de Valera was another known to some of those I interviewed. However, there were also some surprising names which surfaced – George Carpenter of Cork, born in 1908, recounted meeting Adolf Hitler whilst on a visit to Germany in 1935.

From my point of view, it was a most worthwhile experience to have spoken with these 20 people about the 1919–1923 period and its prelude and aftermath in the year that coincided with the 80th anniversary of the end of the Irish Civil War.

Twenty years later, my resultant book corresponds with the 100th anniversary of the end of that conflict, when to be fair, there does seem to have been more about it in terms of public conversation, coverage and commemoration. The last voices of the Irish revolution whom I met, however, are all long since gone.

Last Voices Of The Irish Revolution by Tom Hurley is available in bookshops throughout Ireland and the UK and can also be ordered online. It is published by Gill Books.

Tom Hurley is a radio documentary maker and producer from Cork, Ireland