The Boxing Parson of Killarney

This book explores the complex life of Robert "Bob" Hilliard, a renowned International Brigadista and maverick figure in Irish history, as his granddaughter, Lin Rose Clark, uncovers his legacy of love, war, and personal contradictions while seeking to understand the impact of his choices on their family. Celebrated in song by Christy Moore and affectionately recalled in many memoirs, Robert “Bob” Hilliard, the author’s grandfather, is one of Ireland’s best-known International Brigadistas. His death in Spain destroyed the peace of mind of Clark’s mother, and hung like a shadow over her childhood. This book unravels Hilliard’s enigmas, uncovering an engaging character and a very human story. Hilliard was a maverick figure. Radicalised at school by the Irish revolution and variously a journalist, an Olympic boxer for Ireland and a Church of Ireland priest, he became a communist and anti-fascist in London, fought with the International Brigades in Spain and died of wounds sustained at the Battle of Jarama. The eloquent, colourful Hilliard inspires puzzlement as well as admiration. Why was his life so full of contradictions? One question haunted the author’s mother: how could he leave his children? Lin Rose Clark has set out to find answers. Through meticulous research and deeply personal exploration of her family’s past, Lin Rose Rose has brought together an incredible tale of love, war and flawed romance, set against intense social struggle, framed by her own mother’s lifelong quest for understanding and ending with her revelatory discovery of Hilliard’s last missive to his family. Drawing on unpublished family material and original research, it portrays him as part of a turbulent history that still reverberates today.