Jailhouse tales

The story of Kilmainham jail's  famous prisoners – DeValera, Robert Emmet, Charles Stewart Parnell – is well known. But a new book on the history of the jail gives an insight into the prisoners who were not famous.

  Every Dark Hour: A History of Kilmainham Jail
By Niamh O'Sullivan
Published by Liberties Press, out 26 June
€14.99

“What do you think of Kilmainham?” asked the magistrate in Maria Edgeworth's historical novel  Ormond (1817). “I think it's a fine jail” replied the prisoner Michael Dunne, “and it will be no (e)asy matter to get out of it”. But get out of it he did. In real life, however, prisoners had a much more difficult time, as this new book ably demonstrates. 

Kilmainham Jail has long loomed large in the national consciousness of this island. Opened officially in August 1796, it served as a prison for the United Irishmen in 1798 and 1803, the Young Irelanders and the Fenians, Charles Stewart Parnell, the 1916 rebels, and was last used for republican prisoners during the Civil War. Perhaps it is no wonder that it has been referred to as a university, “because it was the training ground for Irish patriots and a man had not finished his education as an Irish patriot until he had put in a term as a prisoner in Kilmainham or some other jail in the country”. 

De Valera was the final person to be released from the jail in 1924 before it closed for ever as a prison. For years afterwards he thought it should be razed to the ground, but instead it was decided to reopen it as a national museum and historical monument in 1966. De Valera returned as president of Ireland for the opening and in his speech called it “this old dungeon fortress”. The ceremonies over, he returned his old prison cell and sat there quietly, alone with his thoughts.

This new telling of Kilmainham's story is written by Niamh O'Sullivan, a veteran of the jail, having worked as a tour guide and then as an archivist for almost 25 years. In part it is a retelling of the most dramatic periods of the history of the jail, from the 1798 Rebellion to the Civil War, but there are also fascinating chapters on the types of  prisoners incarcerated during its history, their crimes, and what life was like in the prison at different times in its long history. The prison was imposing from the beginning, with five stone dragons above the huge entrance doorway representing the five felonies considered to be the most serious: murder, rape, theft, treason and piracy. Throughout its history treatment of prisoners depended  on social class and what you could afford. Leading rebels like Robert Emmet were treated well during their incarceration. The rest were not. Emmet's fellow conspirators languished in jail after his execution. His cousin complained about the “putrid food… and when I was led out, once a day, to my food, I had to wade up to my ankles through human excrement… Life is left without value and literally becomes a burden to  us”. The head jailor, George Dunn, delighted in taunting the prisoners and would show them the blade which had cut off the heads of their friends. 

The most famous hangman of this period was Tom Galvin, who became something of a celebrity in his later years. Visitors would come to Kilmainham to see him, and he amused himself by casually slipping a rope around their neck and giving it a sly tug. Whenever a prisoner was reprieved Galvin would complain loudly, “it is a hard thing to be taking the bread out of the mouth of an old man like me”. He hated delays. One condemned man, Jemmy O'Brien, terrified of his impending death, began to pray loudly. Galvin grew impatient and shouted at him “Mr O'Brien, long life to you, but make haste wid your prayers; de people is getting tired under de swing-swong”. 

Conditions in Kilmainham had not improved by 1867 when various Fenians were imprisoned. Captain Augustine Costello, an American citizen who had attempted to smuggle guns into the country, denounced his treatment as “most severe, most harsh, not fit for a beast, much less a human being”.  One of the most famous of all the prisoners in the jail's history was Charles Stewart Parnell in 1881. But again there was a difference between the treatment of Parnell and the rank-and-file Land Leaguers. One prisoner noted bitterly how “from the first day to the last the ‘Chief' was as unapproachable in Kilmainham as he had always been in the lobby or dining-room of the House of Commons.  Within a few days of his arrival, in fact, there came to be an ‘Upper' and a ‘Lower House' in the prison”. 

Parnell was oblivious to this resentment, and was content in what he described as “a beautiful room facing the sun – the best in the prison”.  He enjoyed his daily games of handball and often breakfasted in bed, where he was allowed to read the newspapers. 

The story of the 1916 rebels in Kilmainham will be familiar to many readers and it is well told here. But the best parts of the book are the descriptions of the prisoners who were not famous. Kilmainham wasn't just for Ireland's leading rebels, it was also a fully functioning prison. O'Sullivan tells of Michael Donahue, a 14 year old boy, who was sentenced to 48 hours in jail in 1855 for “ill-treating a bear in the Zoological Garden”.  A labourer, Peter Henry, was jailed for two months for stealing a pair of shoes from a dead man in 1859.  Two young adults were given a month in 1856 for milking a cow and stealing a quantity of milk; they got a further two months for being in possession of a stolen bucket. In 1909 a farmer Paul Griffin was given a month with hard labour for cycling while drunk!

The prison also housed female prisoners. In 1837 Hannah Connor was given six months with hard labour for trying to steal six waistcoats belonging to the lord lieutenant. Rose Tyer, a 72 year old woman, was jailed for a month in 1858 for stealing some flowers in a garden. It was a harsh time, with harsh penalties for those who could not afford to stay out of  prison. The youngest ever prisoner was only five, jailed with her family for trying to evade a railway fare. Alicia Kelly, aged eight, was given five months in 1839 for stealing a cloak. 

When reporting on his visit to Dublin in 1842 William Makepeace Thackeray was surprised by how popular Kilmainham Jail was for locals. Pointing at Kilmainham, he noted that “Poor Emmet is the Irish darling still – his history is on every book-stall in the city, and yonder jail [is] a spot where Irishmen may go and pray. Many a martyr of theirs has appeared and died in front of it”. Today Kilmainham remains a focal point for visitors from around the world wanting to get a sense of Ireland's contested past. This volume is a good place to start before setting out. 

Dr Patrick Geoghegan is the co-presenter of  Talking History on Newstalk 106-108 on Sundays from 7-9 p.m.  He is a lecturer in the Department of History, Trinity College Dublin.