The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
‘I heard about it all my life but had never seen an image of my uncle’s funeral’
A nephew of one of the first Kerry volunteers shot by crown forces sees his uncle’s funeral for the first time in the pages of The Kerryman’s March 18 edition
WHEN he was growing up, the legend of his uncle loomed large in life for Ted Scanlon.
How could it not? His uncle, Daniel Scanlon, was one of the first ever Kerry martyrs of Independence, shot dead by the RIC in his hometown of Ballybunion during celebrations of de Valera’s election victory, over the Estuary in Clare in 1917.
The death of the 24-year-old Irish Volunteer became the national focus of the growing anti-British groundswell, with a massive turnout for his Funeral days later.
Nephew Ted, who now lives in Tralee, had long heard of the scale of the procession and the Crown response, posting soldiers to the resort to police it as they did.
But until last month, he had never once set eyes on any image of the historic scene. It was not until reading The Kerryman of March 18 last that Ted saw itforthefirsttime–inastory about Tralee man John Lawlor’s discovery of the scene in an old family album.
John thinks his Listowel native great-grandfather took the image – a resourceful business man with huge interests including travel and photography. Indeed, there were even remarkable photographs from
Hawaii taken in 1915 alongside the image of Daniel Scanlon’s funeral procession along the Sandhill Road.
“It is passing down by the Golf Course where he worked,” Ted said.
“When I opened The Kerryman and saw it I just couldn’t believe it! We had no photograph of it and, although I had long heard tell of the size of my uncle’s funeral, I had never seen it until now,” Ted added.
John said he was absolutely thrilled to have been able to bring this key part of Ted’s family history home in such a way to him.
Both men are now hoping to meet up once the lockdown restrictions ease, to discuss it all in detail.
Ted told The Kerryman he heard a lot about the assassination of his uncle on the day from lads who claimed to have seen it, but dismissed a lot of it.
“Dev won in Clare, and that night they went out in Ballybunion and had a parade and he was at the head of the parade, apparently as it went down to the Castle Green, where there were speeches,” Ted explained.
“They came back up the street, then, and had been standing around a drinking fountain when he was shot. The RIC officers were charged with manslaughter but were acquitted after a woman gave evidence that she had seen a rifle fired out a window.
“When I was growing up, I’m in my 70s now, I heard so many stories from fellas saying, ‘I was there on the night’ and ‘this and that happened’, but most of it was a load of rubbish.”
Ted holds the uncle he had never met in deep affection, Daniel Scanlon’s medals for active service taking pride of place among the family heirlooms.
As is his memory held in Ballybunion, with a lane dedicated – the Danny Scanlon Way – on the centenary of his death.
“When he was shot he was taken down that alleyway into the pub that became Eoin Liston’s, but at the time was Scanlon’s...John’s photograph of the funeral is just excellent. It’s clearly an aerial shot, however his great-grandfather managed it. According to The Kerryman of the time, there were 3,000 in attendance. The RIC were trucked in, as were British soldiers, to police it.
“I’m glad now it has been resurrected. The odds were against it and me being here still to set eyes on it. I couldn’t get over it!” Ted said.