Harry Boland: A Biography

by Jim Maher

Overview

The definitive story of Harry Boland, the ardent and prominent Republican, loyal confidant to de Valera and close friend and, later, love rival to Michael Collins for the heart of Kitty Kiernan. This is a detailed and dramatic account of the intricate part played by him in Ireland’s struggle towards independence. Covering Boland’s role in the 1916 Rising, his involvement with Sinn Féin and work in the 1918 general election, through his time in America during the War of Independence, when he came to national prominence campaigning for American support for Irish freedom, it also details Boland’s subsequent return to a broken homeland on the cusp of civil war and his ill-fated attempts to stop the worst from happening. A free Irish Republic meant everything to Harry Boland, and he was to give his all to try to make this reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781176603
Publisher:	Mercier Press, Limited, The
Publication date:	08/05/2020
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jim Maher is a native of Kilkenny City. He qualified as a teacher in St. Patrick’s Training College, Dublin. His first book was The Flying Column West Kilkenny 1916-1921 (1987). His second book was Harry Boland A Biography (1998) and he followed up with The Oath is Dead and Gone (2011). His first book was extended, updated and re-issued under the title, In the Shade of Slievenamon in 2015. Jim researched the Civil War for a long period and focused on Harry Boland’s efforts to avert that war.

Table of Contents

Acknolwlegements 5

1 Born into Patriotism 9

2 In the GAA 15

3 Hurling and Volunteers 22

4 From Fairview to the GPO 29

5 Lived to See an Irish Republic 38

6 A Prisoner after 1916 48

7 The German Plot 64

8 Boland Fills the Gap 74

9 Boland Wins South Roscommon 83

10 The Professor Decamped 93

11 Special Envoy to America 101

12 Disunity in America 108

13 I Feel at Home at this Work 118

14 On Tour in America 128

15 Oh! For a Good Game of Hurling 138

16 Boland Reports Home 152

17 Boland Packed a Punch 159

18 A Joyous Day 175

19 Gairloch and Kitty Kiernan 193

20 Home to Vote Anti-Treaty 209

21 Like Father, Like Son 226

22 The Ship Has a New Captain 234

23 Boland Loses Out 243

24 Drifting towards Civil War 249

25 There'll Be no Civil War 262

26 Boland's Peace Pact on the Rocks 274

27 The War of Friends 293

28 On the Dublin Mountains 302

29 Harry - It Has Come to This 314

30 I'm Going to Cathal Brugha 323

Notes 331

Bibliography 366

Index 373