Peggy Medlar
Click on any image for a larger version.
Somebody has gouged out Peggy's face in this detail from a family photo.
Peggy was one of the Medlars of Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny. They were a seriously Republican family.
Her brother Larry was sentenced to death during the War of Independence for leading an attack on nearby Gowran RIC barracks in 1921. The sentence was commuted to life with hard labour. The Treaty was signed and Larry walked. He then took up arms against the Free State and spent most of the rest of his life interned in the Curragh.
Her brother Padraig was on the central council of the IRA during the War of Independence. I don't know how he fared in the Civil War but he was Peggy's Irish-dancing partner at some of the major Dublin concerts later.
Her sister Kate was in Cumann na mBan.
Her brother Martin also took up arms against the Free State, was on the run, and was captured in January 1923. He took part in the big hunger strike that year. He subsequently became a Fianna Fáil TD.
The day after Martin's arrest on the run, 27 January 1923, Peggy received the above telegramme from Kilkenny. Two weeks later [13 February 1923] she was arrested at her home in Adelaide Road. All of her photos and her correspondence was confiscated by Free State forces. They were never returned to her and reposed in a file among the "captured papers" in the Military Archives until I dug them out in 2008.
I have reproduced most of the photos below in an effort to identify the subjects. I have separated them into studio type photos and those which appear to be family and family friends. I am assuming that the studio type photos are of Peggy's friends from dancing, Irish language, or IRA circles. But I don't have a clue who these people are.
At the time, Peggy was an Irish dancing teacher. This was unusual as most Irish dancing teachers were men. She was also unusual in teaching through Irish.
I should mention that Peggy was a friend of Eileen Moylan who worked in Portobello Barracks. Peggy had some of Eileen's correspondence in her house at the time of her arrest. Some of the photos may also have belonged to Eileen.
If you recognise anybody please let me know in a comment on this post. I have numbered the photos for convenience.
Dance, Conradh, IRA
No.1
No.2
No.3
No.4
No.5
No.6
No.7
No.8
No.9
No.10
Family
No.11
No.12
No.13
No.14
No.15
No.16
No.17
No.18
No.19
No.20 - full photo from which detail at top of post
Hi, just wondering if these images are still held in the military archives?
ReplyDeleteHi, My name is John Purcell, my Gran uncle James "Jim" Purcell fought with Martin Medlar in the 4th Bat, Kilkenny and like that no grave stone exists for him in Paulstown (OLD) graveyard. are any of the current Medlar family interested in erecting a headstone to the these great men, i can be contacted on 086 2535187 or jpurcell@goodherdsmen.ie
ReplyDeleteHi Kieran
ReplyDeleteSorry for delay replying. Only spotted this now. Hectic tiess.
Yes they are.
Haven't got the file reference to hand but it's under captured papers, Peggy Middler, I think.
Hi John
ReplyDeleteThanks for that interesting comment about your granduncle.
There are two graveyards in Paulstown.
The old one is in the church grounds, where Peggy Medlar is buried, but without a headstone. The family headstone, among others, there was vandalised and never replaced.
The new graveyard is on the outskirts of the village and Martin is buried there with a headstone.
I have done a page on Paulstown on my website where you can see a picture of Martin's headstone.
http://www.photopol.com/james_st/paulstown.html