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Concept
Peter Tyrrell
Summary
Peter Tyrrell (1916 – 26 April 1967) was an Irish author and former inmate of St Joseph's Industrial School, Letterfrack, an institution run by the Christian Brothers.
Tyrrell was born in 1916 to poor parents near Cappagh, Ahascragh, County Galway, Ireland. His mother begged to support her family, and when Peter was aged eight the authorities petitioned the courts to place him and three of his siblings into St Joseph's Industrial School, where he remained until he was 16.
He worked as a tailor in Ballinasloe for a while, then in 1935 he emigrated and in 1939 joined the British Army. While in the Army in India, he realised he was treating Indians badly and felt he was behaving like the Christian Brothers in Letterfrack. He was captured during World War II and held in a German prisoner-of-war camp where he felt treated better than in Letterfrack.
When he returned to England he fell victim to anti-Irish racism, but was also rejected in the Irish community there because of his outspoken views.
For about a decade Peter Tyrrell had corresponded with Senator Owen Sheehy-Skeffington. Through Sheehy-Skeffington, he was put in touch with Hibernia (forerunner of The Phoenix) magazine correspondent Joy Rudd in 1964. Rudd co-wrote his account of events in Letterfrack in the June edition under the title Early Days in Letterfrack, but the story was ignored by mainstream media outlets. Tyrrell was introduced by Rudd to a group of writers called Tuairim, who accepted his account of brutality in Letterfrack as being truthful, but who did not include it in their reports on children's institutions in Ireland.
Tyrrell's charred remains were found on Hampstead Heath, London in 1967. The only clue to his identity was a torn postcard addressed to Owen Sheehy-Skeffington. After several months, Scotland Yard were finally able to make a positive identification. The verdict following an inquest was death by suicide.
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse published its findings in the 'Ryan Report' on 20 May 2009 into abuse in industrial schools in Republic of Ireland.
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