Margaret Farmer, Catherine McCarthy, Helen Donovan: The Emergency; The Black and Tans;

Margaret Farmer, Catherine McCarthy, Helen Donovan: The Emergency; The Black and Tans;

Life History;

Margaret remembers that her father used to shout “Up the Mollies” when he had drink taken. [Note: These particular Mollies were agitators controlled by Joseph Devlin MP in opposition to William O’Brien]. She recalls the days of the Black and Tans; on her Communion day a bomb went off in Cork, this was the Blackpool Bombing where several RIC officers were killed, and the tram she was in was stopped and passengers were taken off. She also talks about a raid by the Black And Tans on a neighbours house. They talk briefly about historical Irish figures, including President Seán T O’Kelly, who they say was nicknamed “The Leprechaun”. Margaret recounts that Noonan’s Road is named after two of her cousins killed by the Black and Tans. She talks about rationing during the war and the difficulties of using flour. Tea could be made from fried, grated carrot. Coal was carried along in a boxcar, which had two wheels and was pulled by too long handles. She talks briefly about “the glimmer man”, an official who checked houses for using rationed gas. She sings a verse of “The Night the Goat Broke Loose on Grand Parade”. She remembers being issued with gas masks during the Second World War; and the interviewees recall air raid sirens going off in Cork, and the locations of several air raid shelters. She sings a verse of a song about rationing [adapted from the song “Bless Em All”]. She finishes by singing a verse of a song beginning with “My lovely rose has lost its crimson gold…”

Margaret made a reference to the television, her son Donal Farmer, played the part of the priest in the series "Glenroe".

28 November 1998

CFP_SR00181_farmer,mccarthy & donovan _1997

Ireland; Cork; 1900s

Published Material:

Hunter, Stephen (1999), Life Journeys: Living Folklore in Ireland Today, Cork: The Northside Folklore Project.

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Cork Folklore Project

English

Sound

.wav

33min 18sec

O'Connell Court, Windmill Road, Cork

Cassette