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Page 4
The GAA notes in this November issue mention the semi-final
of the Hut Championship played by teams representing Huts 34 and 35, with
the following description:
'During the
game we were treated to some fine football...'.
Hut 34 were the winners!
The article continues:
'The
match between Huts 8 and 16 so much looked forward to, proved rather disappointing'.
Unlike the typed Na Bac Leis,
the only copy in the Kilmainham Ballykinlar Collection of The
Barbed Wire, August 1921, is hand written. The front
page consists of a number of quotations referring to future troubled times,
among others:
Don't worry. All's well. President
De Valera's Cabinet is not made of Greenwood. Lloyd George proposes; Dail
Eireann disposes ... and To discuss the subject before it is discussed
by Dail Eireann is a stepping-stone to disgust.
The Editor of The
Barbed Wire could be reached in Hut 21.
This journal also has GAA notes and a small piece on the Camp Library,
which was opened in January 1921 in No 2 Camp 'with
a 'Capital' of about 100 books presented by internees'.
By this August issue, there were an estimated 2000 books on its shelves: 'The
Barbed Wire was printed and published at the Ballykinlar Press
for the proprietors. Irish paper and Irish labour only used - 19-8-21.' They
state tongue in cheek: 'Owing to
pressure on our space we are obliged to hold over many articles, notes
and advertisements.'
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Money tokens used
in Ballykinlar saved & displayed in an autograph book
(Courtesy of Kilmainham Gaol Archives)
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Finally, the Kilmainham Ballykinlar Collection
also contains letters written by Peter (O') Byrne to his wife Frances,
who lived in Barrow Street, Dublin (19 LR 1B13 18, 19 LR 1B13 19 and
19 LR 1B13 17). Peter
was in No 33 Hut in No 2 Camp and he wrote regularly every week to
Frances, both business and personal letters, from December 1920 until
December
1921. His letters range from a mixture of the very ordinary to the
very astute, as he confides his hopes and his fears together with words
of
practical advice to his far-away wife.
In early December 1920 he writes
that he was placed in Hut 37 No 1 Camp when he arrived on the Friday morning.
He tells Frances: 'I have just
heard when writing that we will have to supply our own notepaper and stamps'. On
16 January 1921 he was moved to No 2 Camp. In February he informs Frances
that all letters coming and going are censored 'before
you or I get them'. In March he explains how '25
of us sleep in each Hut'. On 7 April he writes: 'I
have no strange news as everything and everyday is the same in this Hell
of the Damned Place'. By 25 April he has cheered
up somewhat:
...there was an election here for
a new Hut Leader which means one man in charge of each Hut of 25 men. I was
elected by 16 votes to 9 so you see I am a favourite with the men.
Ìý Ìý
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