UCD Archives holds many memoirs and accounts of individuals involved in the events of the Irish revolution. Blaze away with your little gun: memories of three jails is an account by Maighréad and Siobhán de Paor of their experiences in three prisons, Tralee, Kilmainham and the North Dublin Union in 1923. It was written from memory in the 1960s.
UCDA P140, cover
Blaze away with your little gun was deposited in UCD Archives in 1994 by Dr Maurice Moynihan. Maighréad and Siobhán de Paor were from Tralee, Co. Kerry. They were cousins of Moynihan’s mother, Mary Moynihan née Power. The Moynihans and the Powers (anglicised version of de Paor) were prominent Kerry Fenians. Maurice Moynihan senior remained a member of the IRB until his death in 1918 (DIB).
The de Paor sisters prison memoir outlines the propaganda activities for which they were arrested; the circumstances of their arrest; the food and conditions in each of the prisons; prisoners’ pastimes and occupations; with anecdotal reference to their fellow prisoners and hunger strikers including Maude Gonne MacBride, Eithne Coyle, Sighle Humphreys and Mary MacSwiney. They write of the friendship, camaraderie and solidarity among the women prisoners and their admiration for the patriots of 1916. They note the meanness of their captors. When they arrive at Kilmainham and are greeted warmly by the inmates, some of whom they know, their jailors “ stood grimly by, making sarcastic comments, and one of them told us not to worry as we would all be hysterical in the morning” (UCDA P140, p. 3). They also describe the ill-treatment of the male prisoners who are sometimes brought in to help with repairs.
The memoir is prefaced with a note stating “These are only jottings from memory. As we did not keep a diary, we cannot be sure of the dates of some of the happenings, but the incidents are accurate.” (p.1)
Their account of their propaganda activities and how they led to their arrest is particularly interesting, outlining the drudgery (and sense of mischievousness) involved in producing written material and the daily risks associated with its production.
UCDA P140, pp 1–2
Three of the four of us owed our arrest largely to the publication of a little privately-typed propaganda paper which we called “The Invincible”. It contained fiery articles, political “Social and Personal” snippets, and it was headed by appropriate patriotic quotations such as “We shall not fail, we shall not fail”, “God be with the Irish Host”, etc. We were indebted for a typewriter to Mrs. Casey, Bridge Street. A copy of the paper was sent weekly to the Free State Officer in Command, by name Daly. That our shafts went home we had ample proof as this officer quoted our words verbatim when he visited us in Tralee jail, and made it clear to us that that was the reason he was sending us to Mountjoy or Kilmainham. Moreover, the type-writer was constantly raided for. The soldiers even dug up the garden at the back of our house on the day of our arrest in the search for it. It was shifted from place to place for safety, and as far as we know was never found. Only four or five legible copies could be got off at a time, and so each issue had to be typed several times so as to have a reasonable number of copies for our subscribers. We were sorely handicapped for want of a duplicator, and wrote to Dublin for one. This letter was found in the lining of Mrs. O’Connor’s hat when she was arrested at Tralee Station. One of the officers who arrested us enquired “Which of you is looking for a Duplicator?”. (UCDA P140 pp.1-2)
Among the details of their arrest, the sisters recount how one of the four taken into custody that day, was not connected to “The Invincible” but just happened to see them walking to the jail under escort:
she crossed the street to speak to us, … Great was her amazement when one of our escort some distance behind stepped forward, and ordered her to join us. … She protested vehemently and said that she had an appointment to go to Fenit that evening, but to no avail, and we were all hurried along. She did not see Fenit for many a long day afterwards! (UCDA P140, p.2)
The sisters note that their only companion in Tralee jail was “a Mrs O’Connor from Liverpool whose husband Sean was one of the Ballyseedy victims” (UCDA P140 p.2). They describe her as “inconsolable”. When they were told they would be transferred to Kilmainham or Mountjoy, they were allowed to request clothes and personal items to bring with them. They learned that prior to her arrest, Mrs O’Connor’s husband, Sean (John), had promised to bring their daughter a doll on his return to Liverpool.
When this was known, a doll was procured—a very nice one—and it was dressed by a well-known dressmaker in the town. There was no time to pack the doll, and so she focused some attention on us on our journey to Dublin. For poor Mrs. O’Connor, we felt that it was a sad reminder of her great loss. (UCDA P140, p. 3)
They describe incidents which stand out in their memory:
UCDA P140, pp 7–8
Clear in memory is the incident at Mass on St. Patrick’s Day when one of the prisoners, Brigid O’Mullane, stood up from her place in the gallery and asked for prayers for the souls of Charles Daly, Timothy O’Sullivan, Sean Larkin and Dan Enright executed in Drumboe Castle on March 14th. This was the first intimation that most of the prisoners had that these executions had taken place, and great was their grief and shock. (UCDA P140, p.7)
The chief incidents that occurred during our stay in Kilmainham were the arrest of Madame MacBride and later of Mary McSwiney. The former was taken to the upstairs part of the compound, and went on immediate hunger strike for release. How long this lasted we cannot remember. We have, however, vivid recollections of the night she was released when she was brought down the stairs on a stretcher, and the prisoners gathered round to give her a silent send-off. It seemed like a scene from a film with the lights burning dimly in the compound and dead silence prevailing. Truly it was a fit setting for her send-off, but Madame MacBride did not realise that her fellow-prisoners were gathered round to pay her this tribute, as she was only half conscious, and to some of us seemed already dead. A short time after she was taken away pandemonium broke out, and a doctor who was present was attacked—I do not mean physically—by some of the prisoners. He probably would have been but made an undignified escape before any incident of this nature occurred. (UCDA P140, p.8)
They note that “Several doctors resigned during these hunger strikes as the stigma of the blame for letting them go too far was attached to them” (UCDA P140, p.9)
We cannot definitely remember when Mary MacSwiney was arrested, but it cannot have been long before we were changed from Kilmainham to the North Dublin Union. She also went on immediate hunger strike for release. Our chief memories of this time are her requests for the rendering of songs sung so beautifully by Hannah O’Connor and Kathleen O’Carroll. They usually sang outside her cell, and there was dead silence in the compound while the strains of “The Dead Who Died For Ireland”, “Click, Click I’m a Rapparee” and others floated on the air. (UCDA P140, p.10)
UCDA P140, pp 10–11
Recounting meetings held among the women prisoners to discuss rumours of their transfer to the North Dublin Union, they note that the purpose was not to protest against the move, but against it taking place while Mary MacSwiney was still on hunger strike.
All were agreed that she could not be left alone in Kilmainham at the mercy of her jailers. It was finally decided that if the move did take pace, and if she had not been released in the meantime, the prisoners were to resist. (UCDA P140, pp 10–11)
The memoir is available to read in the UCD Archives reading room.
____________________________________________________________________________________
This blog post was written by Kate Manning, Principal Archivist, UCD Archives.