Leitrim features in the Last Voices of the Irish Revolution by Tom Hurley

In the early 2000s, Tom Hurley, an author and documentary-maker, wondered if many civilians and combatants left from across Ireland had experienced the years 1919 to 1923, their prelude and their aftermath. 

He spoke with 20 people about their experiences, with some highlighting strong Leitrim connections during the Irish Revolution.

Tom also spoke to a cross-section (Catholic, Protestant, Unionist and Nationalist) 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.

The Limerick native William Geary (interviewed in the United States), aged 105 at the time he spoke to the author, joined an Garda Síochána in 1922 and did his training at Newbridge Barracks. He encountered two recruits from Leitrim named Michael McKenna and Farrell Liddy. 

One night, whilst off duty, both men went to licensed premises in Newbridge after breaking curfew in the barracks. The publican described them as being in a 'partly jolly' but sober state on leaving. 

McKenna claimed that just before midnight, whilst on their way back to the barracks, he saw what appeared to be suspicious groups of men and drew his revolver from his pocket. It went off suddenly, fatally injuring his friend. The verdict at the subsequent inquest was that Liddy died from 'shock and haemorrhage caused by a gunshot wound accidentally fired by Michael McKenna.' Liddy was buried in his native Leitrim.

The author also spoke with Mai McMahon née Grogan, aged 101, from Co. Clare. She discusses her early life, school, Lusitania, Kilrush, the 1916 Rising, de Valera, WW1, matchmaking, women, pubs, black and tans, ambushes, IRA, priests, destruction of bridges and those who emigrated to America in the 1920s including her brother. 

She also discusses a local landlord named Francis William Hickman. One of his sons, Thomas O'Brien Gore-Hickman, was an ex-army officer who had served as an RIC district inspector during the Anglo-Irish War, having been appointed to the force in 1919. He had been based in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, but fled for England after the Selton Hill Ambush of March 1921, in which a patrol he led was responsible for the deaths of six IRA men. He returned to Ireland briefly after the Truce but emigrated to Alberta, Canada, following the disbandment of the RIC. 

Bantry native Daniel O'Donovan, who lived and worked as a garda in Tralee for many years, is also featured in the book. Born in 1903, he spoke to Tom about his early life in Bantry, WW1, joining the IRA, Black and Tans, Auxiliaries, his imprisonment on Spike Island, the Treaty, Collin's death, joining the Free State Army, coming under fire in Bantry, damage done to roads, leaving the army and joining the gardaí in 1925. His first posting was to the Garda Division of Sligo / Leitrim. 

One hundred years after the Civil War ended, the Last Voices of the Irish Revolution creates a unique oral account of the revolutionary period and the tensions brewing in the run-up and aftermath. 

Last Voices of the Irish Revolution by Tom Hurley is available in bookshops nationwide and can be ordered online. It is published by Gill Books.