If walls could talk: Intriguing diary entry from start of the Civil War

Dr Paul O'Brien, lecturer at Mary Immaculate College, this week starts his biweekly column on local history beginning with an account from a turbulent time in Ireland.

A DIARY entry recorded by a woman named Ciss Waldron recalling the events of June 1922 provides a personal insight into the opening days of the Civil War and its effect on Limerick city citizens.

Ciss McNamara was born outside Kilkee, Co Clare, on February 22, 1884. Her sister Lil was two years younger. Their mother died in 1887 and the two girls were taken to live at 48 William Street, Limerick where their uncle George Clancy had a drapery business and lived with his sister and their godmother Lizzie Clancy.

In Limerick, they met the identical twin brothers John "Jack" Waldron (who married Ciss in 1908) and Patrick "Paddy" Waldron (who married Lil in 1912). Jack and Paddy Waldron worked in the Post Office. The two couples and their children lived in the newly built 4 Verona Esplanade, O’Connell Avenue from 1910 until the house became too small for the growing families and Paddy and Lil moved to Riverview, South Circular Road around 1915.

Both houses were visited by armed and masked men late on the evening of June 22, 1922. Ciss’s diary entry reveals the chilling and terrifying incident that she faced on that night. She described how “I experienced the greatest trouble of my life”.

“Masked men with revolvers came to our door at midnight and handed us a note ordering Jack to clear out of Ireland before 12 noon on 26 June 1922 or he would be shot at sight if he failed to do so. The note said it was on account of his conduct during the Irish war that this punishment was, but we knew it was all Post Office jealousy and Paddy Waldron, Mr. Phelan and Mr Hetherington got the same warning.

_{Ciss and Jack Waldron outside their home, 4 Verona Esplanade, O’Connell Avenue in the city}
 

“They had an awful experience at Riverview because they saw the raiders through the window (it was not quite dark when they went there) and would not open the door so shots were fired and a window broken and three or four men tramped upstairs to the bedroom to them, it was awful, with Lil not well and the children laid up with measles and everything and Paddy was sure his last minute had come. D.G. we got no fright like that as we opened the door at once & a man just pointed the revolver at us & handed the note and spoke roughly & went off. It was bad enough when we read the contents of the note. Mr & Mrs Hetherington had the worst experience, they were afraid to open when they heard the loud knocking as there was trouble on between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast and there had been a few reprisals in the South so they thought perhaps those fellows were coming for Mr. H, he being a Protestant. He went out the back way and over the high wall into the Model School grounds before Mrs H opened the door, the raiders searched the house and backyard and were angry when they did not find him, but left the note and threats and went away. The worst part was that Mr H got a bad fall when jumping off the wall and was 4 hours lying in pain on the wet grass until about 4a.m. when we found the poor man cold & suffering but quite conscious. His back was badly hurt and he could not move.”

As a result of the threats made on that occasion, the Waldron families moved permanently to Dublin.

Ciss kept detailed daily diaries for most of her life, although her account of the raids in June 1922 was not written until September 1924.

She died on February 24, 1966, two days after her 82nd birthday. Her personal papers are in the care of her grandson, Paddy Waldron Jr., to whom I am deeply indebted for allowing me to write about his grandmother.

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Originally from Kilrush in West Clare, Dr Paul O'Brien lectures in Mary Immaculate College. He was awarded his PhD in History from UL in 2014. His thesis, and subsequent book, examined the Glynn merchant family from Kilrush over the course of 130 years.

Paul is active in all matters history and heritage in Limerick and serves as the editor of the North Munster Antiquarian Journal. He researches and leads popular free walking tours of Limerick City.

Paul is passionate about collecting and preserving the social and architectural history of his adopted city and county.