Michael Kelly of Caherbriskaun and Castle Lambert The more than one hundred pages of documents in the Michael Kelly file reveal many vivid details of his service for the Irish Republic. The documents were compiled at various times between the 1930s and 1950s. These interviews and statements were collected in connection with the award of service medals and pensions for veterans of the conflict. Recently, however, the Irish Department of Defense released on line the testimony collected from Michael Kelly and other 1916 and War for Independence soldiers. Martin’s father and his friends spoke proudly of their youthful years, during Ireland’s troubled times, but this was in the company of trusted neighbors who had experienced “the troubles” themselves. This short article is largely based on the conversations of Michael Kelly and his friends and especially with his neighbor while the young Martin Kelly listened. When neighbor Pat Kelly spent time doing work on Michael’s house in the 1950s, Michael chatted away amicably with his friend in the presence of his son, Martin, who listened with all the attention of a fascinated 11 year old.

Only when he was bantering in the company of a trusted neighbor did some of the past reveal itself. Although he had risked his life on many occasions, he chose not to talk about it very much. Like many of the men of rural Ireland, Kelly listened more than he talked. He was just one patriot among many who took up the cause in that fateful time of Easter Week 1916 for Irish Freedom. But Michael Kelly was much more than a simple farmer. Kelly was one of those people you would call “natives to the soil.” He was a farmer, but such a simple description did not do justice to men of rural Ireland in those days that had to combine many talents from carpentry to thatching to keep their families safe and warm. Galway on May 1, 1893, in an Ireland that was just struggling to lift itself from centuries of cultural and political subjugation. Michael Kelly was born at Caherbriskaun, Athenry, Co. Michael Kelly of Caherbriskaun and Castle Lambert, Co.

Featured image compliments of Martin Kelly

Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly