Nolan, Thomas (1872/3–1939), newspaper editor and publisher, was educated at the CBS, Tralee, Co. Kerry; few other details of his early life are available. As a young man he joined the clerical staff of J. B. Healy, building contractors, and while there he met Maurice Griffin of Dingle, Co. Kerry, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship.
Following the divisions that beset the Irish parliamentary party at the close of the nineteenth century, many other groups, including the Cumann na nGaedheal/Sinn Féin movement led by Arthur Griffith (qv), favoured a more explicitly separatist approach. Both Thomas Nolan and Maurice Griffin became fervent followers of Griffith, as did Nolan's cousin, Daniel Nolan. They were acutely aware of the influence of the Irish party in Kerry, as all four newspapers printed in Tralee in 1900 gave overt support to its policies. Thomas Nolan, Dan Nolan, and Griffin were determined to counteract this situation, and with a meagre capital of £500 they formed a company in 1902 for the purposes of publishing a newspaper that, although largely supportive of Griffith's ideals, would be independent.
Griffin, an accountant by training, became managing director, and Thomas Nolan became the first editor. An extremely intelligent and widely read man, as well as an articulate writer, Nolan was the ideal choice for editor. The first issue of their newspaper, which they called The Kerryman, was published 20 August 1904, and it immediately set out its position by stating that ‘The Kerryman will be a straight, independent paper, conducted on sound catholic and nationalist lines’ (Kerryman, 20 Aug. 1904). The market for newspapers in Kerry was overcrowded at this time, with four other publications available. However, what the Kerryman team lacked in finance they made up for in hard work.
From its inception the paper reflected the political views of its co-founders, which were profoundly nationalist. It supported the views not only of Sinn Féin but of the Volunteers and the Gaelic League. Likewise it gave considerable coverage to the activities of the GAA and other societies that promoted Irish culture and tradition. Its political stance brought the paper into direct conflict with both the Irish party and the British authorities. After the rebellion in 1916 Maurice Griffin was arrested and sent to England, where he was imprisoned for a short period. Less than two months later British soldiers dismantled the printing plant and removed the equipment to Ballymullen barracks. By this time the founders of the Kerryman were also publishing an evening paper, the Liberator. These became the first two newspapers in Ireland to be suppressed on the orders of Gen. Sir John Maxwell (qv). Nolan and his partners were not to be denied, and made arrangements in Dublin to have the Kerryman printed by the Gaelic Press at Upper Liffey St. and then smuggled back in the coal bunkers of the Dublin–Tralee train, where they had been placed by sympathetic railway workers. With the collusion of the engine driver and fireman, the papers were dumped from the train when it was travelling at low speed a few miles outside Tralee. Consequently, despite police surveillance, particularly on the trains, the paper continued to be distributed from a number of locations, including the Nolan family pub in Tralee. The British authorities realised that the appearance of a banned newspaper was not in their best interests; Maxwell's order was later rescinded, and printing recommenced in Tralee.
In 1919 the Kerryman was again suppressed when it advertised the issue of government bonds on behalf of the Sinn Féin provisional government. By this time it had outlived all but one of its competitors. On 15 April 1921 Maj. J. A. Mackinnon, commanding H Company, Auxiliary Division RIC, was shot dead by the IRA while playing golf on the Tralee links. Nolan refused to have mourning columns in the Liberator to mark Mackinnon's death; the result was the destruction of the printing machinery and offices and the suppression of both the Kerryman and the Liberator. Nolan and Griffin also suffered from considerable harassment throughout this period, and their offices and homes were raided regularly. The Kerryman reopened in August 1923 and was largely pro-treaty in outlook, but did not force staff to take any one side in the divide. The circulation of the Liberator prior to suppression did not merit its continuance and it was not relaunched.
The success of the newspaper after 1923 resulted in a move (1926) to Russell St., Tralee, but two years later (1928) Maurice Griffin died and Thomas Nolan became managing director as well as editor of the Kerryman. His cousin and fellow founder Dan Nolan became chairman of the company. Thomas Nolan felt the death of his old friend Griffin deeply. During his tenure as managing director the paper extended to include Cork and Limerick editions. In his latter years Nolan became a solitary and patriarchal figure within the newspaper. In autumn 1938 he slipped and fractured his ankle, and his health deteriorated from this time, forcing him to remain housebound until he died (3 April 1939) at his home, 35 Castle St., Tralee. A member of the Irish Newspapers Association, he was the last of the founders of the Kerryman to die, and was buried at Rath cemetery. His son Dan (1910–89) took over the running of the newspaper.
He married first Ellen Langford, who died in childbirth when her son, Dan, was born. He married secondly Minnie Knightly of Ballyard; they had two sons, Michael and Edward. A photo of him with his fellow founders is in the Kerryman, 8 April 1939.