PHILIP GREY ; 1827 - 1857 : AN IRISH MILITARY MAN.......
....... November 1848 - informers in the ranks of 'The Young Ireland' Movement had told their British pay-masters about the proposed jail-break of William Smith O'Brien from Clonmel Jail ; Irish Rebel leader John O'Leary and about twenty other Irish Rebels were 'arrested' by the Brits , but Philip Grey escaped and fled to France , where he landed in April/May 1849 .......
Philip Grey was not long in Paris , France , when he was told that one of the Rebel leaders in Ireland , James Fintan Lalor , was organising for another challenge against English mis-rule in Ireland ; he returned to the South of Ireland (Tipperary/Waterford area) and , working with Lalor's men and women , soon established a network of Rebel fighters , numbering several-hundred strong , and set-about organising the importation of arms for the proposed Rising ... but fate intervened -
- an attack on the English Barracks in Cappoquin , Waterford , by the Irish Rebels , on 16th September 1849 , went wrong and led to the collapse of the insurgent Movement in the area ; in the confusion that followed , Philip Grey escaped and made his way to Dublin . It was a wonder in itself that any armed opposition at all could be raised against the English , at that time .......
(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 were questioning old Liam Jer as to the whereabouts of any " Shinners " ; Liam told them he had seen some "soldiers" earlier on that day ......."
" The British Auxiliaries were interested in these 'soldiers' - " How were they dressed ? Had they helmets on them ? What did they wear on their heads ? "
" Nothing at all on their heads ," said Liam .
" How were they dressed , old man ? "
" They had overcoats on their shoulders and breeches like them , " pointing to an Auxie's riding breeches , " and they had brown boots and gaiters . "
" Ah !" , said the Brits , " were there many of them ? "
" About two hundred , " said Liam.
" What did they look like ? What kind of men were they ? "
" Oh , fine , strapping young men , only one old man with grey hair , and I had great pity for him . "
" Why ? " , asked the Auxies .
" He was carrying a very heavy gun . It must be one of those machine-guns . Indeed , I had no pity for any other one of them , whoever they were . "
The Auxies looked doubtfully at Liam's small yard and the narrow road . Then one of them spoke - " Can I turn my car here ? "
" Begor , I always turn mine there anyway , " Liam replied .
Liam's car was one donkey-power .......
[END of 'COOLNACAHERA and COOMNACLOHY'].
(Tomorrow - March 1921 : 'A Drive To Cork City').
BREAKAWAY PARTIES HAVE POOR RECORD .......
By Carol Coulter.
(First published in 'The Irish Times' newspaper on Monday 22nd April 1985).
Reproduced here in 7 parts .
(2 of 7).
The next new party was radical : this was Clann na Talmhan , founded in 1938 to represent the small farmers of the West . Together with a number of independent farmers' candidates , it won 10.6 per cent of the vote and 14 seats in the 1943 general election ; ten of those seats going to Clann na Talmhan . In the general election the following year it won nine seats , and , in 1948 , seven seats . It entered the first inter-party government along with Clann na Poblachta , the Labour Party , the National Labour Party , Fine Gael and a number of independents .
In the next election , three years later (1951) its number of seats fell again , to six . It declined steadily thereafter , winning five seats in 1954 , three in 1957 - following which it supported the second inter-party government - and two in 1961 .
Clann na Talmhan collapsed in 1965 , twenty-seven years after its foundation .......
(MORE LATER).
