Peadar O’Loughlin (1894 – 1922)

Peadar O’Loughlin of Tullagha, Kilfenora was both a musician and a revolutionary, remembered in North Clare for his role in the struggle for Irish independence and for the tunes he left behind in the local tradition. 

Together with his close neighbour Andrew (Andy) O’Donoghue of Lickeen, O’Loughlin became active in nationalist circles as a teenager. In his memoir, O’Donoghue recalled how the two were introduced to the Irish Republican Brotherhood and sworn in at Markham’s of Clogher, Kilfenora. Their paths remained closely aligned thereafter: O’Donoghue rose to become Commandant of the 5th Battalion of the Mid-Clare Brigade of the Irish Volunteers (later IRA), while O’Loughlin went on to serve as Quartermaster and later Vice-Commandant of the Brigade.

O’Loughlin played a central role in the activities of the Mid-Clare Brigade during the War of Independence, including notable engagements such as the attack on British forces at Moanreel on December 18th, 1920. His leadership and determination earned him respect among his comrades, but his involvement came at a high cost. His family home was burned on the night of December 18th in reprisal for the Moanreel ambush earlier that morning. Wounded in action, he succumbed to diabetes in 1922, cutting short a life of promise and leaving a void in both the Republican movement and the community of Kilfenora.

Though his life was brief, Peadar O’Loughlin’s legacy endured. His role in the independence struggle is remembered in local history, while his musical contribution has lived on in the tradition. That inheritance continued in his family: his nephew, also named Peadar, is today a fiddle player and luthier, carrying forward the bond between music and heritage that defined his uncle’s life.

The following is an excerpt from a thesis that Garry Shannon wrote, which was published in 2000. Here, Garry is referring to an interview that Jim (Jimmy) Ward did with Harry Hughes and Muiris Ó Rócháin that was published in the 4th issue of Dal gCais (1978: 91).

“A regular visitor to Clogher was a man named Peadar O’Loughlin, a concertina player. O’Loughlin had a good reputation as a musician but Jimmy cannot recall how good he was because at this time, around 1918, he was only 10 years of age, “but I do remember that we kids used to hand him the concertina whenever he came on a visit”. The Ward parents liked to hear O’Loughlin play but they also liked to hear him talk. The Great War was drawing to an end, 1916 had made politics an emotive issue in Irish life and the big questions of the day were debated at the country hearths.

This Peadar O’ Loughlin was a well read and nationally minded man and between his news and music he kept the Ward family happy but it appears that O’ Loughlin’s music was penetrating Jimmy Ward’s subconscious because he tells a story of how, some years later, when he was making a name for himself as a tin-whistle player, he was carelessly whistling a few scraps of a tune (of which he didn’t know the name or anything else) in the presence of John Joe Lynch. “That’s Peadar O’Loughlin’s reel you’ve got there”, said Lynch.”

Note: The reel in question was “Boil the breakfast early”; it became known locally as “Peadar’s reel”.

I would like to thank Peadar’s nephew, Michael O’Loughlin for telling me that Peadar played music and for giving me some information for this page.