Books reviewed. No Middle Ground - the Civil War in Kerry, Owen O'Shea, History of the Quakers of Limerick 1655-1900, Hiram Wood

‘Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested, that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.’ So wrote the English philosopher and Statesman Francis Bacon who served as Attorney General and later as Chancellor of England under King James I. With Christmas just passing over the horizon of memory I look back over an all too short holiday period when I immersed myself in reading many books keeping in mind Bacon’s advice, while recalling just two of those books. ‘No Middle Ground – the Civil War in Kerry’ was written by Kerry native Owen O’Shea who is the media, communications, and customer relations officer with Kerry County Council. Published by Merrion Press, O’Shea’s book is the best account I have read of the bitter and violent events in the Kerry kingdom during 1922/’23. The writer’s research allowed him to deal with the atrocities which marked the Civil War in Kerry with convincing detail. Names are given, individuals involved are named, with an objectivity and impartiality which is commendable. Of interest to Athy readers was the involvement of Eddie Flood, one of six Dublin brothers who fought in the War of Independence. He was a brother of Frank Flood who was executed in Mountjoy jail in March 1921 and the younger brother of Tom Flood who was captured and imprisoned following the burning of the Custom House two months later. Tom Flood came to live in Athy in 1927 after he purchased the Railway Hotel in Leinster Street. Tom was a Fine Gael Urban Councillor for Athy when he died in October 1950. Tom’s brother Eddie was a captain in the Free State Army under the now notoriously regarded Major General Paddy O’Daly. O’Daly, or Daly as he was then known, and his Dublin troops were responsible for many of the atrocities committed by Free State forces in Kerry during the Civil War. Eddie Flood’s involvement in the Ballyseedy massacre is recorded by O’Shea, while a Military Court of Enquiry established by Richard Mulcahy, Minister for Defence, found Flood guilty of involvement in a horrific attack on two young women who were believed to have been friendly with members of the British crown forces during the War of Independence. Eddie Flood emigrated to Australia sometime after the Civil War where he died in 1951. Interestingly his twin brother Peter who also served in the Free State army, later joined the Marist Order and served as a Marist Brother in China for many years. The Civil War has been the subject of several books over many years, with Dorothy McArdle’s ‘Tragedies in Kerry’, the first somewhat partial account of a sorry chapter in our history which was published in 1924. Eoin O’Shea’s book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the revolutionary Kerry story. Another book which I read over the Christmas holiday was Hiram Woods ‘History of the Quakers of Limerick 1655-1900’. This book is a significant addition to our understanding of the religious group which emerged during the English Civil War which in Ireland resulted in the Cromwellian settlement of the mid-17th century. Many of the early members of the Quakers, correctly known as the Religious Society of Friends, were Cromwellian soldiers who settled in Ireland. The first Quakers arrived in Limerick in the summer of 1655 just sixteen years before a Quaker meeting was settled in Athy. Quakers are unique among Christians in not having clergy, consecrated buildings or sacraments. They refuse to swear oaths or bear arms and consequently are opposed to war and violence. In the post Reformation period Quakers, like their Catholic neighbours and other dissenters, suffered prosecution and restrictions. They played a hugely significant part in providing relief for distressed Irish families during the Great Famine. Their work in that regard is documented in ‘Transactions of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends during the Famine in Ireland in 1846 and 1847’. Two interesting references in Hiram Woods book relate to Quaker figures in the nearby village of Ballitore. Abraham Shackleton started a religious controversy after claiming that the God of the Old Testament could not be a loving God as he intervened in violent wars. Shackleton was disowned by the Quaker community yet appears to have remained allied with them for the rest of his life. The Quaker writer Mary Leadbeater’s daughter Lydia, according to Woods, was in love with the Irish writer Gerald Griffin, who after publishing his most famous novel ‘The Collegians’ joined the Irish Christian Brothers. These interesting insights and the book generally give its readers an overview of a religious group which prepares its members for their own way to God and salvation.