Benedict Kiely was born in Dromore, County Tyrone to Thomas Joseph and Sara Alice Kiely. He was the youngest of six children, the other being Rita, Gerald, Eileen, Kathleen and Macartan; four of these predeceased him. His sister Kathleen (mother of Omagh country singer Brian Coll) survived him and at the age of 94 attended his funeral in Dublin but died herself six months later.
Kiely's father, Tom, a native of Moville, County Donegal, was a Boer War veteran. When he was only eighteen, he joined the Leinster Regiment. Over the next five or so years, he travelled over Ireland and abroad, including the Caribbean, and finally, to South Africa. He was decorated for heroism, for his actions in the Boer War (during which time he had met with General Christiaan De Wet). Sometime after having returned to Ireland, Tom took up employment with the Ordnance Survey as a survey measurer (or "chain man"--so called because a chain was used to do the measuring).
Three years later, Tom happened to be in Doyle's Hotel in Drumquin, and that was where he met a young barmaid by the name of Sara Alice Gormley, who came from the townland of Claraghmore, near Drumquin. (In Claramore there were so many families with the surname Gormley that each one used their own nickname to distinguish one from the other.)
In the spring of 1920, Tom and Sara Alice Kiely, and their six children, moved from James Campbell's farm in Dromore to Omagh, where Tom took up the position as the porter in the newly-opened Munster and Leinster Bank. After living for a short time in Castle Street and Drumragh, the family finally settled in St Patrick's Terrace in the Gallows Hill area of Omagh. This area was to be a lasting inspiration for Ben.
Teenage years
Whilst he was a teenager, Ben began to feel the urge to become a writer. He had a keen interest in the work of George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and Jonathan Swift. In 1936, after completing his education at Mount St Columba Christian Brothers School in Omagh, Ben went to work as a sorting clerk in Omagh Post Office, where his brother-in-law Frank McCrory was working(Frank was the husband of Ben's sister Eileen).
However, he soon realised that the post office would not provide him with the life of the scholar which he so desired. So, in the spring of 1937, he left Omagh and began a new life in Emo Park, Portarlington, Co. Laois, where he decided he would train as a Jesuit priest.
Life in Counties Laois and Dublin
His life as a Jesuit was not meant to be for, exactly a year later, in the spring of 1938, Ben suffered a serious spinal injury, which resulted in a lengthy stay in Cappagh Hospital in Finglas, Dublin. During his hospitalisation, Ben was given plenty of time to think about the course his life had already taken, and about a course it might take. He also realised that he lacked a vocation to the priesthood and abandoned his training as a Jesuit.
Part-time journalist
When he got out of hospital in 1939, Kiely returned to Omagh to recover from his back problem. It was here where he waited for the beginning of term at University College in Dublin. The following year, he began working as a part-time journalist in
The Weekly Standard newspaper (which was then edited by Peter Curry).
In 1943, Benedict Kiely graduated from National University with a B.A. in History and Letters.
First marriage
On July 5, 1944, Ben married Maureen O'Connell. This marriage produced four children:
- Mary Patricia Kiely (1945–1945)
- Anne Kiely (born: 1946)
- John Kiely (born: 1948)
- Emer Kiely (born: 1949)
