by Dermot Keogh
Acknowledgements
When I look at my notebook of names I realise with sadness that many people who helped to shape this book are no longer with us. But I am deeply grateful to them and to all the people who guided me from the surface to the depth of Michael Collins’ work and especially his reliance on women to help him towards his goal of independence for Ireland.
The late Tom Barry was the first to tell me of Leslie’s (his wife’s) involvement with Michael Collins. This led me to interviews with Leslie Price, with Máire Comerford and Dave Neligan and I am most grateful for their assistance. I am also indebted to Madge Hales-Murphy who gave me some useful information some years ago, as did Todd Andrews and Emmet Dalton after much persuasion. Gratitude is also due to other contemporaries of Michael Collins: the late: Peg Barrett, Dell Barrett, Bill Stapleton, Vinny Byrne, Dan Bryan, Ernest Blythe, Seán Collins-Powell, Seán MacBride, Ned Barrett, Seán Hyde, Bill Hales, Siobhán Lankford, Mary Collins-Pierce and Kitty Collins O’Mahony. All these people gave me first-hand information and without them this book would be incomplete.
I am indebted to Michael Collins (nephew of Michael Collins) who gave me the diary found on Michael Collins’ body, and Michael Collins-Powell who gave me other treasured documentation, as did Mary Clare O’Malley; to John Collins-Pierce, who trusted me with the Memoirs of Helena Collins and Mary Collins-Powell; to Liam Collins for his reminiscences; also to Liam O’Donoghue for the Nancy O’Brien letters. A further dimension was added to the book when Dorothy Heffernan and Máire Molloy willingly gave of their time and supplied letters and documentation in relation to their mothers – Dilly Dicker and Susan Killeen respectively. I also found original insights in the letters of Moya Llewelyn Davies, given to me by Diarmuid Brennan.
I am extremely grateful to Iosold Ó Deirg who let me see Michael Collins’ journals, which were written in Sligo jail in 1918 and given to her mother Sinéad Mason during a subsequent raid. I am also grateful to Maura Hales-Murphy and Eily Hales MacCarthy for access to their family letters in relation to Michael Collins.
A sincere word of gratitude to Domhnall MacGiolla Phoil, to his wife Mary, also to Eily Hales MacCarthy and her husband, Gus, who have been most generous with their time and advice.
I owe a special word of gratitude to Peter Barry, who generously allowed me access to the Kitty Kiernan collection of letters and gave permission to reproduce material from it.
I greatly appreciate the assistance and courtesy of the staff of the following bodies and thank them for access to and permission to quote from the archives in their care: Seamus Helferty, Kerry Holland and staff at the Archives Department of University College, Dublin; the Mulcahy Trust (the papers of Richard Mulcahy); Commandant Peter Young, Military Archivist and his staff; Gerry Lyne and staff at the National Library; Dr Bernard Meehan and staff of the manuscript department, Trinity College, Dublin; the Director and staff of the National Archives, the State Paper Office and Public Records Office; Niamh O’Sullivan, Archivist, and staff at Kilmainham Museum; Stella Cherry, Curator, Samantha Melia and other staff in the Cork Public Museum; the British Library Newspaper Board; Noel Crowley and staff at Ennis County Library; John Eustace and the library staff at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick; also Bríd Frawley at the University of Limerick.
I valued the positive response of the many people who gave interviews and helped me over my years of research: Dan Cahalane, Frank Aiken, Dr Ned Barrett, Jim Kearney, Bill Powell, John Toolan, Tom McCarthy, Tony Killeen, Josephine Griffin, Mary Banotti, Andy Tierney, John L. O’Sullivan, Todd Andrews, Ernest Blythe, D. V. Horgan, Margaret Helen, Criostóir de Baróid, Seán MacBride, Dave Neligan.
I realised that finding photographs of those who lived in the early part of this century would be difficult. Therefore I am most grateful to those who went out of their way to contact other family members and did not spare themselves in locating photos: Michael Collins, Iosold Ó Deirg, Dorothy Heffernan, Máire Molloy, Ned O’Sullivan, Michael Collins-Powell, Helen Litton, Eily Hales-MacCarthy, Maura Murphy, Sylvester Barrett, Declan Heffernan, Ann Barrett, Josie Barrett-Leahy.
A sincere thank you is due to Jo O’Donoghue, editor of Marino Books/Mercier Press, who worked with me unstintingly through the final drafts of the manuscript, and also to Anne O’Donnell and Siobhán Cullen.
Thanks is also due to the many who could not help directly but who took the trouble to write or telephone me with snippets of information. A special word of gratitude is due to the members of my family and to my many relatives and friends for their patience throughout my years of research and writing.
The assistance of all has been gratefully appreciated and I regret if I have inadvertently omitted to mention any name.
Appendix 1
Maternal mortality (Ireland) 1923–61. Rate and numbers. National, all-inclusive rate taken from Statistical Abstracts; breakdown and numbers taken from Reports of Registrar-General, 1923–49
Year
Total
Rate
Peurperal Sepsis
Total
Rate
Other
Total
Rate
1923
297
5.32
135
2.19
162
2.63
1924
303
5.21
123
1.94
180
2.84
1926
299
5.38
115
1.88
184
3.01
1927
271
4.80
77
1.28
194
3.23
1928
292
5.37
103
1.74
189
3.19
1929
239
4.85
80
1.37
159
2.73
1930
278
5.04
81
1.39
197
3.38
1931
246
4.76
66
1.16
180
3.15
1932
256
4.98
78
1.39
178
3.16
1933
255
5.16
80
1.39
175
3.05
1934
271
5.25
104
1.80
167
2.88
1935
272
5.10
89
1.53
183
3.14
1936
273
5.14
104
1.79
169
2.91
1937
203
4.19
51
0.90
153
2.71
1938
234
4.69
46
0.81
188
3.30
1939
190
3.89
38
0.68
152
2.71
1940
208
4.01
55
0.97
153
2.70
1941
182
3.68
43
0.76
139
2.45
1942
163
2.86
43
0.65
120
1.82
1943
144
2.51
36
0.56
108
1.69
1944
156
2.69
32
0.50
124
1.90
1945
159
2.63
35
0.50
124
1.90
1946
137
2.39
20
0.30
117
1.70
1947
130
2.15
31
0.40
99
1.40
1948
104
1.88
18
0.30
86
1.30
1949
116
2.01
18
0.30
98
1.50
1950
99
1951
103
1952
92
1953
83
1954
69
1955
70
1956
52
1957
81
1958
61
1959
39
1960
35
1961
27
Appendix 2
Major causes of maternal mortality in Ireland 1938–1950 for 1938–1950, from Table XXXI, Annual Report of the Registrar-General 1950 (1953), xliii, and 1953, 1954 and 1958 (from tables in selected years, Vital Statistics 1953–58) as percentage of total deaths.
Year
Total
Deaths
Toxaemia
Puerperal
Sepsis
Haemorrhage
Other
1938
234
4.6%
39%
26%
11%
1939
190
4.6%
45%
23%
11%
1940
208
13%
34%
31%
10%
1941
182
17%
32%
23%
10%
1942
163
11.7%
31%
23%
17%
1943
145
11.6%
24%
33%
14%
1944
156
9.5%
34%
27%
17%
1945
159
16%
31%
28%
15%
1946
137
20%
11%
36%
16%
1947
130
24%
29%
23%
11%
1948
104
19%
20%
37%
13%
1949
116
16%
19%
32%
13%
1950
99
14%
20%
34%
25%
1953
83
19%
21%
19%
20%
1954
69
24%
26%
17%
11%
1958
61
26%
26%
14%
21%
Other minor causes of death included ectopic gestation, septic abortion, other or unspecified puerperal conditions, other diseases of pregnancy.