Keane of Kilnamona
Pat Keane of Ballymongaun, KilnamonaSummary
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* Seán Ó Ceallaigh
(S.T. O'Kelly) became the 2nd and 3rd
President of Ireland,
1945-59. (Click on inset to enlarge
original certificate)
After release from Gormanstown Internment
Camp, Pat taught Irish locally in Kilnamona, Dysart and Toonagh but
he found that there was "no future in it" (Br Thomas, 1989).
Later, in the mid-twenties, he was offered entry to the Teacher
Training College to train as a national teacher. This would
require a further year away from home. Being lately married
and having the first signs of coronary thrombosis (at the age of 33
believed to be the result of outdoor hardship while 'on the run'
from the authorities), he did not pursue it further.
Breaking
away from the futile militant Republicanism, and turning to
constitutional politics, he participated in the founding in Clare of
the national political party of
Fíanna Fáil (Soldiers of
Destiny) under Éamon de Valera in 1926. This party came to
power first in 1932 and still continues to be a major force in Irish
politics. It is interesting to note that at the time of his
untimely death in 1952, he was vice Chairman of the Clare
Cumann
(branch) of Fíanna Fáil
and also Chairman of
the local (Kilnamona) branch.
Lighter Side of Life in the
Volunteers
Life in the volunteers was not always serious. A story is told that at an all-night vigil for a local deceased person, a young man from outside the parish was very vocal about his commitment to the cause of the volunteers expressing a wish to join the local column. At the wake, the matter was brought to the attention of Pat, the local Commanding Officer, and it was 'agreed' that he must first prove his valour. That very night, the task was set for him to wrestle a shotgun from a local land owner. However, if he failed, he was to be court-martialled and shot immediately by a firing party.
In the meantime Pat
dispatched a local 'volunteer' to forewarn and assist the gun owner.
It was little wonder the young aspirant failed in his mission and
sentenced to be executed. The man was told to make his peace,
while the firing party debated as to the appropriate firing distance
from target. The poor soul was quietly advised to run away while the
firing squad argued. He was never seen in the parish again.
Later
Initiatives
Pat
participated in the life of the Kilnamona parish. He was for
instance Secretary to the St Joseph's Church, Kilnamona, restoration
project in 1933. Apart from re-roofing, the walls were raised
by two feet and a gallery installed (this gallery was removed in a
later renovation project in the 1970's, the numbers attending
services being smaller due to the introduction of an extra
week-end Mass after Vatican 2 and more mobile parisheners having
occasion to attend Church Services in Ennis). An original
raffle ticket, shown over, to raise funds for the restoration
demonstrates wide support for the undertaking. (Historical note:-
interestingly the return address on the counterfoil gives the state
as I.F.S. i.e. Irish Free State). Until his death, Pat with
neighbour Paddy Brody, assisted the parish priest in the seasonal
collection of church dues (stipends) levied on parishioners at
Christmas, Easter and harvest times*.
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*Apart from their abilities (Paddy Brody was the district
Rate Collector for the Local Authority), one might also speculate
that this particular pairing may have been an astute move by the
then parish priest as each represented opposite sides in regard to
the Treaty and politics. The sympathy of the parish had broadly
divided into two-thirds pro-Republican and one-third Free State. As
a counterpoint interestingly Pat's own testament from 1935, it seems
some 65% of Kilnamona volunteers remained neutral during Civil War,
less than 25% were active on republican side and some 10% joined
National Army or Civic Guards (see
Clare Library).
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Supervisor with
Department of Agriculture
Pat sat a national examination for Temporary Assistant Supervisor
(Cattle and Meat) during
the so-called Economic War between Ireland and Britain in the
mid-1930's, when the market for Irish meat produce to England was
shut off in a dispute over the unilateral ending by Ireland of
payment of land annuities to the UK. This caused much depression in
farming in Ireland over several years and led to the
institution by the Government of a Free Beef Scheme to needy people,
which required supervision and monitoring. Pat's
employment in this position began on January 1st 1935 and was in the
position for about three years.
The particular exam for entry to the post was of a high standard, competition was strong, even university graduates applying - his daughter Philomena recalls seeing the examination papers after Pat's death (which he had retained over the years), and although by then herself a trained National Teacher, deemed the maths and the English essay on mounting 'an agricultural show in your own locality' as particularly difficult (for the time).
There were 4,200 applicants for 120 places. Research with the Civil Service Commission has shown that following the written examination 285 were placed in the order of merit for call to interview. From this Pat secured 65th placing. Ultimately 141 names were sent to the Dept of Agriculture between 12/1934 and 12/1935 (File reference CS21/86/34). Pat as Temporary Supervisor (Cattle and Meat) over the next three years was posted to Cliften from January 1935 (where he lodged in the Ardbear Hotel), and later transferred to Tuam, County Galway (attempts to discover his personnel file among the many in the Department of Agriculture have been so far unsuccessful). During that time Pat's weekly wage was £5. 10s, a very good remuneration for the time (extracted from form which Pat filled for his Service Certificate, see below)!
During his period as
Inspector, Pat acquired a Ford motor car, an unusual spectacle in
the 1930's - probably two others existed in the parish at the
time, the priest and the school teacher. In fact he seems to have
graduated to a second car, one a two seater and the other a model
T-Ford, probably both acquired second hand in which he regularly
came home. He was also one of the first in the parish to
acquire (in 1937) a battery-operated radio, or a wireless as it was
known (This he had to relinquish for a time during Second World War
years due shortage of batteries). Locals often gathered on summer
Sunday afternoons to listen to live commentaries (by the up and
coming famous gaelic games and racing broadcaster, Micháel O'Hehir)
on the major hurling and gaelic football matches of the day -
occasionally batteries were known to expire before the game ended
which did not go down well with the frustrated listeners!
The Penultimate Years
Pat joined the Local Defence Forces (LDF, now known as
An Forsa Cosanta Áitiúil),
a volunteer reserve force founded at the onset of the 'emergency'
years of the 2nd World War,
1939-1945.
The LDF, a Part-time Defence Force (PDF), was organized
on 'a regional basis and designed to support the regular army by
point defence and guerrilla activities, surveillance, intelligence
reports, road obstructions, etc'. His children remember
army supplies for the unit (kaki army wear and other paraphernalia,
e.g. carrier bags) stored for distribution in his home during the
period, and also recall bicycle runners delivering dispatches to him
as part surveillance and communication exercises.
On enquiry with the Dept of Defence
(2011) a certificate of Pat's Service record in the LDF of
Óglaigh na hÉireann' (Defence Forces) showed him as having a
Service No. of S/86876, Rank of A/Leader (Area Leader), date
of Enlistment, 11 Jun 1940, date of Discharge, 31 Mar, 1946, and as having
served 5 years and 294 days; Finally his Military Conduct was judged
to be Very Good.
As any medal he may have been awarded for his services was not
available to this webmaster in 2011 (he perhaps did not apply for
one at the time of their issue), on enquiry with the dept of
Defence, Pat was deemed to be entitled to a
replacement issue of the Emergency Service Medal
& 2 Bars (L.D.F.); unfortunately the bars
(which indicated multiple of years of service, not rank) were
however no longer in stock (see medals above).
Postscript: Additional information has come to light regarding Pat's military potential as recalled in 2014 by his eldest daughter Angela (aged 88 years): in the early 1940s, i.e. during WW II, while in her secondary school years Angela recalls her mother telling her that her father Pat had been offered a post in the state army, i.e. Regular Defence Forces (RDF), but after due reflection did not take up the offer because of his ongoing heart condition. This would appear to have been the second time Pat was offered an officer post in the Irish army (the first being during the Civil War).
Pat supplemented his income to improve living conditions from the modestly small farm. He was one of the first producers in the district to supply milk to the newly built local branch of the North Clare community creamery in the mid-1930's (e.g. his milk supply Register at the creamery was numbered 1). He erected a substantial two-storied house in the early 1930's almost entirely with the assistance of a government grant (costs £150 less Government grant £80) and in the 1940's, he availed of farm improvement grants for e.g. the building of farmyard outhouses and double clad dry stone walled paddock enclosures.
During the 'emergency'
years of World War 2, compulsory tillage quotas were mandatory for
farmers irrespective of land suitability for cultivation. Pat
took on extra off-farm tillage (i.e. fulfilling a neighbour's quota)
to supplement his crop production - it was hard work for his
young family manually snagging (thinning) turnips and fodder beet or
to keeping those weeds and nettles at bay (one such cereal weed was
known locally as praiseach
(destructive) weed)!
Periodic income was earned from the Clare County Council, for
limestone quarried on his land (based on a volume or cubic yard
basis) used in road maintenance. In 1942/43, he supplied fresh
milk (more profitable than creamery returns) to an institution in
Ennis; ceasing this operation after a season he returned in
1949 to twice-daily shop and house-to-house milk rounds in Ennis
(the latter initiative being continued up to the mid-1990's).
He set up a farm supply store at Ballymongaun providing animal feed
provisions, fertilizer and limited hardware for sale to the local
farming community. The purchase in 1950 of a horse drawn
potato sprayer, then
new to the market, for hire to farmers and manned by his young
family, was another source of seasonal income. At the onset of
the economic upturn of the 1950's, sadly, Pat died in 1952.
Over: Copy of a Store Invoice pad from the mid-1950s, a few years after Pat's death
Reader of
News and Historical Events
Pat was a regular reader of the national daily newspaper,
The Irish Press,
which was available in Ennis some 4 miles away. If on any day a
family member was not travelling to Ennis, a passing neighbour would
be asked to oblige. He also liked to read the current books on
the Irish war of independence that were being published for the
first time in the late 1940's. He read aloud by the fireside
to his family and gathered neighbours, one chapter per night, such
books as 'My fight for Irish Freedom'
by Dan Breen, T.D. (Teachta Dála,
Member of Parliament) for Tipperary and
'Guerrilla Days in Ireland' by Tom
Barry (Cork), etc.
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Above: Bridget and Pat, 1947 and with newspaper in hand, 1949. Photos taken by nephew John Kane, Waterbury, Conn. when visiting Ireland from the US army base in Germany, and again on a return visit on his honeymoon.
Not wanting to pass on extreme republican attitudes to his children, Pat rarely spoke of his military activities. However, in reaction to some ambush incident recounted in one of the books, probably Tom Barry's, Pat recalled to the listeners a similar engagement mid-May, 1921 in which he had taken part. This was an ambush laid for a group of Auxiliaries recently transferred from Cork who regularly travelled on tender between Ennis and Corofin. It seems that the then IRA commanding officer (as it happened it must have been under (mid-Clare) Brigade O.C., Frank Barrett (see report 4; or at BHM.ws1326.pdf on page 49 at Bureau of Military History)) had placed his armed men on either side of the road behind ditch walls across from each other. Pat reflected that thankfully the Tans did not pass the way on the day as otherwise the IRA company would have shot each other in the crossfire. It seems this may have been the last engagement before the truce.
Life's Review
Pat was not an extreme republican. Thankfully the divide in
County Clare between republicans and Free State forces, was not as
marked as in some counties. For example, during the
civil war Pat made a successful plea to the Free-State forces
(perhaps via
Mick Hegarty*) to spare from court martial Mylie Keane, a local
'Free-State' soldier who as stated previously had agreed to assist
in the retaking of Ennistymon barracks by republicans.
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*Mick Hegarty was Captain, 2nd
in Command, 28 Batt., National Army, Gort 1923/4. His father
Patsy was pay officer, but 'wouldn't wear uniform' (information
supplied to the writer in 2005 by (the then one of only two still
surviving from old IRA active times) Lt Colonel Seán Clancy,
originally from Clonlara, SE Clare, then in his 105th
year; Seán died September 2006).
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Locally, as a young man, Pat was
thought of by the older generation as somewhat opinionated (at a
time when
young people should be seen and not heard
by their elders)! Later in life, Pat was always on hand to
help neighbours with the filling out of difficult official forms,
e.g. grants or old IRA pensions, which required to be done from time
to time. His eldest daughter, Angela, recalls that more than
once in the late 1930s a 'queue' of former IRA men developed outside
the front door of his home (probably on Sundays and probably when
Pat was home on visits from his post in Cliften, i.e. 1936/37 ) to
help in filling and witnessing their application forms for the Old
IRA pension - results of his guidance was said to have led to many
positive outcomes for the applicants (this can be verified, perhaps
in the not too distant futere, when these such applications are
released for public viewing). Through the years his advice was
also much sought after on various mediation
matters, with great success but sometimes incurring some knock-on
embroilment*.
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*The lingering after effects of the
civil war; the inevitable land disputes (Shallee, Ballymongaun
distributions including a local resentment at his purchase in the
early 1930s of Keating land at Caherbannagh; a petty contretemps
(including being the object of gunshot warnings by
hothead young protagonists) that spilled over into the wider parish in the
late 1930's between the local principal national school teacher
(with whom Pat was friendly) and the said teacher's neighbours.
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Pat's signature to a loan
document, November 1928
Rambling House Story
Before dance halls came into vogue, as was the custom of the time,
wren-boy dances and
soirées at Christmas time, and
occasional dances at other times, were in their turn held in Pat's
house (often agreed to after token resistance!). His house was also
a focal point or 'rambling house' for the local youth for
their nightly social gatherings, card playing, ring board games
(perhaps an added attraction was the oft-times presence of two
daughters!).
-Pat with daughter Philomena (right with school/digs friend Maura O'Gorman (left)) outside a store and bar in Parnell St. Ennis. Photo taken by Pat's American nephew John during John's first visit to Ireland while serving in the US army in Germany in 1947. (Note: although the shop was owned by Gerard and his sister Gelly (Geraldine) Duignan, their mother's original family name Kennealy was still retained on the shop front even for a further two to three decades.)
Pat did not always participate in the card games. Instead, he more likely continued to read his daily newspaper by the warm fireside. Now on either side of the fire were cushioned concrete hob seats where the children sat at night-time. One evening when a more youthful would-be card player arrived late, and no vacant chair to sit on, he was 'advised' by his elders to approach Pat for his chair inviting him to take to the hob. They awaited for what the knew would be a chastening retort ('go away you faiker!') to the naive aspirant.
As
was the custom among the farming community, Pat held a
licensed gun for culling excessive wildlife on the farm and
hunting. The point 22 riffle shown over was that owned
by Pat and is still in the possession of a member of
the family as a memento but disabled for licensing purposes.
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The Final years
As
well as the heart related condition, Pat suffered from sciatica in
later years and annually holidayed for a week in Lisdoonvarna at
autumn time to sample the curative waters of the sulphur baths, as
well as other liquids one presumes!
(photo of Pat taken in Lisdoonvarna in 1948).
He died from coronary thrombosis after a short illness at Ennis
general hospital at the relatively young age of 57 years on January
18th, 1952. His coffin was borne shoulder high from the hospital
mortuary by his comrades and neighbours for over a half-mile before
continuing onwards by hearse to Kilnamona Church. Pat's death
occurred six weeks after his brother Andrew died, November 30th,
1951, aged 51 years. Another brother Martin had predeceased
them in U.S.A. by two years, both brothers having succumbed to
tuberculosis - the scourge of that era.
Photo of Pat taken in Lisdonvarna, probably 1950
Pat was buried in January 1952 in
the old cemetery, Kilnamona (see first section) with military
honours provided by Old IRA comrades and firing party under the
command of Paddy Con McMahon, Ennis (former I.R.A. Mid Clare
Brigade, 1st Batt. O.C.). Shown over is the spent bullet
casing of one of the volley's fired on that occasion.
From the Clare Champion, January 26th, 1952
compiled by Bro. Thomas and local persons Paddy
O'Keeffe and Mick Keane (Kane)
The
death of Mr. Patrick Keane, Kilnamona, which took place after a
brief illness, at the Co. Hospital on Friday 18 inst., removes one
more veteran from the ranks of the Old I.R.A.
The deceased man was an energetic
organiser of the Irish Volunteer Force in the early days, and in
Easter 1916, he was in his place when the Volunteers in Clare
expected the order for insurrection.
In 1918 he was sentenced to
three months’ imprisonment for what was described in the Court as “a
tornado of folly which had gripped the country and had swept the
people off their intellectual hinges”, but which eventually achieved
the independence of Ireland.
On
his release he was appointed Captain of A Coy., 3rd
Batt.,Mid-Clare Brigade, where his enthusiasm and organising
abilities were responsible for making his Coy. the most active and
efficient in the area. He took part in practically all the major
engagements within the Brigade area, including the disarming of the
British soldiers in Ennis, the taking of Ruan Barracks and the
Monreel ambush.
When the Treaty was signed, he was a
commanding officer in the taking over of the Lisdoonvarna Barracks
from the Black-and-Tans. Afterwards he was transferred to Group
Headquarters in Ennistymon, where he remained until the burning of
the barracks in June, 1922. Two
months later he was arrested in Ennistymon, and having spent a
short term in Limerick Jail he was removed to Gormanstown Camp.
During his term in jail he perfected his knowledge of
Irish (Gaelic) and thus was certified by the present President of
Ireland, Mr. Sean T. O’Kelly, as a qualified teacher of Irish.
He then devoted his spare time to teaching the
language to the youth of his own parish, Kilnamona, and to those of
the adjoining parishes of Dysart and Toonagh.
Thus has passed one who has truly
imbibed the spirit of Pearse and who, notwithstanding alluring
prospects, never deviated from these principles.
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