PHILIP GREY ; 1827 - 1857 : AN IRISH MILITARY MAN.......
....... Ireland in 1827 - Daniel O'Connell was the 'name of the day ' ; his 'Catholic Association' was supported by the majority of the Catholic population .......
However , what Daniel O'Connell often referred too as "the horror of popular violence" (that which this scribbler , amongst others , would view as "self-defence") was not part of the agenda as far as O'Connell and his 'Association' were concerned . The SDLP / Provisional Sinn Fein of its day ...
With that huge support-base in place , Daniel O'Connell contested a seat in Clare (for the British Parliament - incidentally , Catholics were at that time banned from sitting in that Parliament unless they took an oath abjuring their Catholic beliefs !) in 1828 and won the seat . (Another tangent - Commenting on O'Connell's win , the then British Home Secretary , Robert Peel , spoke about "the fearful exhibition of sobered and desperate enthusiasm" with which 'The Catholic Association' ran their campaign ; Peel must have been glad that O'Connell was not a military man ...)
Philip Grey was born into this atmosphere , in February 1827 , in Dublin .......
(MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
COOLNACAHERA and COOMNACLOHY .......
"....... The British Auxiliaries , all ninty of them , were now easy targets ; those in the cottages were stationary and confined , and those wanting in had no cover worth talking about ......."
" Our IRA Column stood in a line along a fence . Every grenade we had was in a man's hand . We were ready for the final dash at them ; then suddenly we heard an exclamation from Sean O'Hegarty - " Look , lads , look ...! " He raised his Parabellum pistol and fired in the direction of an unbroken line of British lorries extended far to the east . The new enemy , thirty-six lorries strong , had come in time to save the Auxiliaries in the cottages . For a little time while they were massed together we fired at them in their hiding-place , then slowly we drew away to the high ground north of us . It was midday when we left them - the action had started at 7.45 a.m...
As we moved uphill we felt very disappointed - we had been very near victory despite many agencies working against us . First , the enemy had been forewarned , and arrangements had been made to send reinforcements from all quarters , then someone had blundered in the handing over of a vital position and a powerful weapon , to the incompetent and wretched "X" . Again there was the case of an IRA Section Leader who , though highly efficient in a town , could not understand the prolonged action and , thinking they were being encircled , withdrew a large number of the best men of the IRA Column . Thus was our striking-force much weakened and valuable time lost .
Looking at the bright side of the picture , the small number of us who engaged the British Auxiliaries had proved more than a match for those 'warriors' ; only six miles from their base , the strong Castle of Macroom , they had that day the heartening assurance of reinforcements converging on us from Cork and Ballincollig , Bandon , Dunmanaway , Bantry , Killarney , Millstreet and Macroom . We had fired on those reinforcements before we broke off the fight , and were destined to clash with more within two hours ......."
(MORE LATER).
THE CONVICTION OF WILLIAM QUINN .......
' William Quinn was recently jailed for life in Britain having been convicted of the murder of a London policeman on the basis of evidence and an identification which has given rise to considerable controversy . '
BY MICHAEL FARRELL .
(First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , April 1988 , page 18).
Reproduced here in 9 parts.
(5 of 9).
The lawyer Gareth Peirce says British Police Constable Adrian Blackledge literally had tunnel vision that day . He was brought into court along a corridor which left him facing the dock ; " The whole arrangements were so suggestive as to effectively point William Quinn out to him ," she says . She also notes that none of the other eye witnesses of the shooting were ever asked to identify William Quinn .
Quinn first learnt about the identification when he was arrested in America in 1981 . Chief Superintendent Patrick Doocey , who was in charge of William Quinn's case in the 'Special Criminal Court' that day , told the Old Bailey trial that no records were kept of the description of the two other men who were in the court or what any of the three were wearing . William Quinn himself cannot remember any details of an event which he dd not know was happening .......
(MORE LATER).
