Reading this book reminded me when I joined on a protest sometimes in the 1980s outside the West Midlands Police HQ for the Birmingham 6. I remember the children and grandchildren of the imprisoned men who stood alongside campaigners. They too, have an important story to tell.
Of course, unlike the people in this book, they were not the children of combatants, but survivors of a conflict that affected the Irish community in Britain in different ways.
Written in 2011 Bill Rolston’s book is groundbreaking in giving a voice to the children of the war in Ireland. He is the right person to produce the book, coming from Republican West Belfast where he worked as a youth worker and personally knew many of the families. I think this insight is invaluable in any research and missing from much of the academic books produced about working-class history. To quote my friend, historian and communist Eddie Frow, “there is bosses’ history and workers’ history.” This is definitely workers’ history.
Many books have been written about the Northern Ireland conflict but, as Bill says: “towards the bottom of the narrative ladder is the story of the children and the conflict, and within that, the direct voice of children of combatants has barely been heard at all. To tell at least part of that story is the reason for this book.”
The combatants were members of Republican and Loyalist militarised groups in the North during the thirty years of the conflict; chiefly, the Irish Republican Army and the Irish National Liberation Army one side and the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association on the other side, although there some small groups.
Of the 20 children interviewed by Bill only two had parents who were not combatants.
Reading their stories makes for an emotional experience, even though as an activist in the Irish in Britain Representation Group and having been involved with prisoners’ campaigns, I was aware of some of their experiences.
Their stories are the stories of childhoods lived out in a war zone and the constant presence of police and army in their homes and on their streets; of parents taken away for long absences; of journeys to prison; and of broken up relationships.
One of the issues that struck me is that of class. Most of the families were from poor families and the impact of their father (and sometimes their mother, too) being incarcerated was not just a devastating emotional blow but an economic one.
Jeanette Keenan, daughter of lifelong Republican Brian Keenan, had a very different life, even from other Republican children. She says; “we did live in poverty in that mammy had to sustain six children with virtually no money.” Brian was in prison in England and money had to be found if they were to visit him there. Her mother got together with the mother of framed prisoner Paul Hill of the Guildford 4 who was also trekking across to England to visit him and together jointly forced the Department of Health and Social Security to provide the money for a monthly visit to the men. Over the years in this country prisoners support groups were started up to support the prisoners and their families.
But, on a visit to London by herself, her mother was arrested and held in prison for a year whilst awaiting trial. Jeanette was now 15 and her brother 17 so they stayed in the family home , looking after themselves. “When my mammy went on family visits, we all knew how to run the house; she had taught us that.”
Jeanette went on to become involved in Tar Anall, a youth project to support the children of republican prisoners.
Speaking to children from the Loyalist community proved more difficult for Bill. “Republican ex-prisoners have been traditionally more rooted in their community and less likely to be wary of breaking cover.” Some of the children he interviewed from the Loyalist community did not want to their names or the names of their fathers to be used.
John Lyttle, son of Tommy “Tucker” Lyttle a leading member of the UDA West Belfast Brigade, was happy to use his name and talk freely about his relationship with his father. He grew up in a household where one night he went downstairs to find his father torturing a man in his kitchen.
John had a secret life. “Thank God I was gay. I was able to stand outside, live in parallel and look in. I never bought it.” When he was 18 years old, he left Ireland and has lived and worked as a journalist over here since then.
This is an important book. There are few books that allow the children of activists, including those who were active in the Irish community in this country, to tell their story and to explain how it has affected them in their lives.
My overwhelming response to the stories is one of admiration for the children and their amazing fortitude in growing up in a society with so much violence. As Bill says :“In the end, some individuals were clearly traumatised by their experience, but all display a remarkable level of resilience in the face of what violent conflict brought their way.”
Buy the book here http://www.billrolston.weebly.com
Anarchy in the Sticks! 