The Way We Were

It surprises me how ignorant I am about the 20th century history of the country where I was born and bred.

Of course I only had first-hand experience of the second half of the century but I was brought up by my Irish grandparents (and English mother) and might have been expected to learn some history. My only source turned out to be the stamps issued prolifically in Ireland. In 1966, the 50th anniversary of the 1916 rebellion, the rebels executed by the British government were commemorated. My grandfather, sensibly, said their execution was a terrible mistake – making martyrs of mischief-makers.

Mary Kenny’s latest book lifts the veil, as it were, on such an interesting period (The Way We Were: Catholic Ireland Since 1922). She intertwines her own life with the history of the Free State, Eire and the Republic of Ireland. Maybe you know how the Senate was composed in 1923 – I didn’t. You certainly know that Irish politics is still divided by pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty parties – Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. It has taken a century to write about Ireland’s history.

To digress I enjoyed this extract: “ On the day I was born in April 1944, there was but one modest entry in the Independent’s ‘Social and Personal” : ‘Lady Elaine Bellew, who has arrived in Dublin from Kilkrean House, Kilkenny, is staying at the Royal Hibernian Hotel.’ Lady Elaine’s class and ranking would recede , and the delightful Royal Hibernian Hotel is now a shopping mall.”

Elaine, Lady Bellew,  married my great-great uncle in 1927 and was widowed in 1935. She was born in South Africa in 1885, trained as a nurse and served in World War One with distinction. She was only Irish by marriage but as a widow played her part in local politics in Kilkenny and raising funds for charities. “She was well known as speaking her mind.” (Wikipedia)

She is a small stitch in the rich tapestry of life in Ireland that Mary Kenny brings to life so vividly.