Peter Tyrrell

Peter Tyrrell was born on 16 October 1916 to James Tyrrell and Mary Cronin near Ballinasloe in County Galway, Ireland. He had nine siblings. His father refused to help the family make money, so Mary begged to support her children while the children scavenged their neighbours' fields for turnips, potatoes and other crops. The family lived on a farm, but their house (originally a stable) had a cobblestone floor, no windows and only two rooms. James Tyrrell neglected to make repairs or renovations to the house. Students, including Tyrrell, who came from poor families were both bullied by their peers and singled out for abuse by the Christian Brothers. ==Adult life==

Tyrrell continued working in Ballinasloe until he emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1935. He cited attitudes by local people against former inmates of industrial schools, and his resultant inability to reintegrate into Irish society, as reasons for the move. He primarily lived in London. He realised he was treating Indians badly, as well. In writing, he likened his own behaviours to those of the Christian Brothers and remarked that he had become, in some respects, like them. He met with the Superior General in 1957, and then with the Provincial of the Congregation, though the latter dismissed his allegations as blackmail. which was published in Hibernia magazine. Rudd introduced Tyrrell into a literary and political group called Tuairim which published pamphlets on various issues, including corporal punishment in institutions. Tuairim accepted Tyrrell's account of his abuse and put him on the committee that wrote Tuairim's pamphlet about child abuse in Irish institutions, but, to Tyrrell's frustration, did not incorporate his specific details into their publications; they thought that abuse in industrial schools had become less severe since Tyrrell had left Letterfrack. ==Death==

On 26 April 1967, Tyrrell, disgruntled by the failure of his attempts to bring the issue of child abuse to the public eye, went to Hampstead Heath in London, poured petrol over his body The body had abdominal wounds that may have come from a knife, though no weapon was found at the scene. Investigators initially believed Tyrrell to have been between 20 and 30 years old. The only clue as to his identity was a torn postcard, addressed to Sheehy-Skeffington, next to the body. In 1968, Scotland Yard contacted Sheehy-Skeffington inquiring about the postcard. Sheehy-Skeffington sent them a letter from Tyrrell for them to use as comparison, and Scotland Yard positively identified the remains as Tyrrell shortly thereafter. ==Legacy==

Founded on Fear In 2005, 38 years after Tyrrell's death, Irish historian Diarmuid Whelan, who was going through the archives of Owen Sheehy-Skeffington's papers, came across the manuscript of Tyrrell's autobiography. He edited it to fix Tyrrell's idiosyncratic grammar (Tyrrell started random words with capital letters and used commas incorrectly), The Commission included Tyrrell in the report because they thought the Christian Brothers' dismissive response to the allegations was noteworthy. In a column for the Irish Examiner Whelan condemned this decision, stating that Tyrrell explicitly wanted for his efforts to be appreciated under his real name. 2019 vigil at Hampstead Heath On 26 April 2019, a vigil, organised by therapist Nuala Flynn, was held on Hampstead Heath in honour of Tyrrell. It consisted of a walk, lit by candles, across Hampstead Heath, from Parliament Hill to the civic hall of Highgate. The vigil commemorated the 52nd anniversary of his death and the 10th anniversary of the publication of the Ryan Report. Many of the attendees were themselves survivors of industrial schools. ==See also==