'O see the fleet-foot host of men, who march with faces drawn,
From farmstead and from fishers' cot, along the banks of Ban;
They come with vengeance in their eyes. Too late! Too late are they,
For young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today...' (From here.)
'Upon Friday last, a most awful procession took place here, namely the execution of Roger McCorley who was lately convicted at a court-martial, to the place of execution, Toome Bridge, the unfortunate man having been born in that neighbourhood.
As a warning to others, it is proper to observe that the whole of his life was devoted to disorderly proceedings of every kind, for many years past, scarcely a Quarter-sessions occurred but what the name of Roger McCorley appeared in a variety of criminal cases.
His body was given up to dissection* and afterwards buried under the gallows...thus of late we have got rid of six of those nefarious wretches who have kept this neighbourhood in the greatest misery for some time past...'
- from the 'Belfast Newsletter' newspaper, 4th March 1800 (*..a 'politically correct' way of attempting to describe what had actually happened - Roddy McCorley's body was removed from the scaffold and, in front of the hundreds of on-lookers, was disembowelled.
The various parts were swept up and disposed of in a hole under the scaffold, at the rise of the bridge, where those going from Antrim to Derry and back again would be forever minded that such was the fate of those "nefarious wretches" who dared stand up to Westminster.
Those body parts lay there for fifty-two years).
However, the British exposed their own 'nefariousness' by presenting McCorley as a common criminal, a 'felon', yet prosecuting him at a military court martial rather than through the 'assizes' criminal system, which was where those they considered to be 'common criminals' were given 'justice'.
Anyway - that same 'newspaper' ('The Belfast Newsletter') had, one month earlier, published a 'letter to the editor' (signed as being from 'A Christian') in which Roddy McCorley was mentioned as being one of "..a knot of ruffians, who so lately infested the neighbourhood of Ballymena..(guilty of)..murders of the deepest dye, robberies and burglaries of the most calamitous kind.."
No change there, then, from those pro-British elements in this country - destroy the character first to make it easier to 'destroy' the person.
A depiction of the murder of Roddy McCorley, 28th February, 1800 - 224 years ago on this date.
Roddy McCorley was an Irish republican activist who was active in 1798 (considered to be "a common rebel", not a leadership figure, and is known to have continued on the fight afterwards until he was captured), a part he would have played even if he had not witnessed his father being put to death by the British for allegedly stealing sheep - the man was one of many hungry Irish 'peasants' murdered by Westminster as an 'example to other Irish troublemakers' : this 'sheepstealer' was a miller by trade, and was proud of his membership of 'The Defenders' - after he was 'given justice' by the British, his wife (a Protestant woman, from the McErlean family) and children were evicted from their hovel.
Roddy McCorley was unfortunate enough to be 'arrested', as he attempted to flee the country, in what the 'authorities' called "a clampdown on a notorious band of outlaws" which, they claimed, was led by Thomas Archer, from Ballymena in Antrim, who had left the notorious 'Antrim Militia', a proper 'band of outlaws' which had been assembled by Westminster in 1793 to 'put down' any inkling of rebellion by the Irish or, as the British put it - "the horrible and unnatural rebellion" (!)
Fifty-two years after he was 'dissected' by the British, his nephew Hugh McCorley found himself in charge of a construction crew who were working on a new bridge across the River Bann, in roughly the same location where the 'common criminal' was put to death in 1800 - he recovered the remains and gave them a proper burial in the graveyard at Duneane Parish, in County Antrim, but left the grave unmarked ; no doubt because he was aware of just what the ghouls in Westminster were capable of.
'The aged persons were telling the tales of bygone feuds and their consequences, and of chiefs who fell victims to their own folly. They were telling of the valiant youths hanged at Toome in those days, and pointed to the very trees on which they had atoned for their rebellious crimes. The young, with the interest peculiar to their years, were listening attentively, and gazed with awe as the stones were removed and the bones presented to view, of him who has been the subject of song, which has kept fresh in his country's memory the events of his short life and his sad end, having been cut down in maturity and vigour of life, before the eyes of those nearest related to him in this world...'
And so it continues to this day - the lives and times of those who stood here before us being relayed to those who will stand here after us.
'SINN FÉIN NOTES...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
The most urgent need at the moment is to ensure that sufficient funds will be available for the nomination of all 12 candidates and the expenses entailed by publicity during the campaign.
The Committee urges all Cumann to make an all-out effort to organise committees in every parish throughout the country so that the Ulster people will know when the election takes place that the whole nation is with them in their demand for freedom.
These committees should consider ways and means of raising money most suitable to their particular district and need not be confined to members of Sinn Féin.
Local Government Elections :
Sinn Féin candidates will be nominated for Cork City Corporation, County Council and Urban Councils. Arrangements are being made to hold conventions to select candidates...
(MORE LATER.)
A sad, lonely entry, recorded here for the (internet) record(/'tag') :
On the 28th February, 1919, a pensioner, Thomas Meehan, died after being struck by a British Army vehicle in Dublin.
We were unable to find out more about the poor man.
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On the 28th February, 1919, a 20-year-old (Canadian) 'Royal' Air Force pilot ('54th Squadron'), Llyod Lyon, lost his life in Dublin Bay, when his plane fell 9,000 feet.
Three airplanes had left Chester, in England, to fly to Baldonnell, in County Dublin but, as they neared their target, Mr Lyon's airplane developed engine trouble and he was forced to land in Dublin Bay, where the plane sank.
It is known that the pilot survived the crash, but drowned afterwards.
==========================
SO, FAREWELL THEN, CELTIC TIGER....
It had to happen, sooner or later.
Most of the pundits and economists were too busy singing the Celtic Tiger's praises to notice, but a few critical observers worried all along about the weaknesses of a boom economy that depended so much on a few companies from one place - the United States.
By Denis O'Hearn.
From 'Magill' Annual 2002.
When economic growth continued, the name 'Celtic Tiger' stuck.
It came to signify a highly successful economic model that other developing countries might want to emulate.
Yet the usual explanations of Irish economic growth are debatable - most economists say that growth came from restraints on public spending, social partnership agreements that assured wage restraint and flexible labour (a nice term for weak trade unions and no job security), two decades of educating more engineers than we needed, and a generally stable macroeconomic environment.
EU economists use Ireland to support their orthodox economic mantra : if a country maximises the openness of its trade, gets the macroeconomics right and encourages labour flexibility, it will achieve rapid economic growth.
They prescribe the same neoliberal medicine for the 'convergence countries' (Spain, Portugal,Greece) and the 'accession countries' (Poland, Hungary, etc).
The IMF has used Ireland in pretty much the same way as an example for countries of the global South...
(MORE LATER.)
The 1920's in Ireland didn't only see the armed battles continue between Irish republicans and British forces in the country, but ensured that the 'pen and paper' battle between British 'Civil Servants' and Irish republican administration staff intensified, and sometimes armed British soldiers were used as scab labour to replace workers who were on strike.
This example is from 'The Freemans Journal' newspaper of the 14th July, 1919 -
'FARM-LABOURERS OUT.
Haymaking and Work at a Standstill in Kildare and Meath.
Owing to a dispute between farmers and labourers of Kildare and Meath, about 2,000 of the later are now on strike. Work on the land is accordingly at a stand-still.
The seriousness of the position will be realised now that thousands of acres of hay are in danger of being lost. Women workers, out of sympathy with the men, decline to assist farmers at this work, offers of 2s. an hour providing unavailing. On a farm in the vicinity of the Curragh Camp on Saturday military officers were seen haymaking.
A load of grains going from Hazelhatch station to a farmhouse was upset on the road by strikers. Pickets from the Transport Union, to which the men belong, are active in the various districts.
Within a radius of 5 miles of Celbridge practically all farm labourers are out. In a few cases employers granted the demands made by the Union. There is presently no prospect of a settlement of the matters in dispute...'
On the 28th February, 1920, labourers at Naas Urban District Council (UDC) went on strike for better pay and working conditions, as did the workers at Naas Waterworks and, once again, British Army scabs were called in - 'Royal Engineers' from the Curragh Camp took over the jobs in the Waterworks.
In March 1920, the members of Naas UDC issued a strong condemnation of the murder of Lord Mayor McCurtain in Cork "who was foully done to death because of his life's work and continuous sacrifices on behalf of his country's independence..."
==========================
On the 28th February, 1920, as a group of five armed British Army soldiers were making their way to their barracks in Rushbrooke, 'Queenstown' (Cobh) in County Cork, near the Bunker Hill area, they were approached by another group of men - IRA Volunteers.
The five soldiers were relieved of their weaponry but, after they handed them over, one of them - a 20-year-old Private, William Henry Newman (Number 123987, a member of the 'Sherwood Foresters'), from Nottingham, in England tried to run away and was shot by an IRA man, and seriously wounded.
Private Newman died the next day, at 5.35am, from his wound.
Mr Newman had enlisted in the British Army on the 8th August, 1918, and was 'mobilised' on the 24th of that month, 'serving', at first, with the 51st ('Young Soldier') Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.
He was sent out to France on the 10th March 1919, left Germany on the 28th August 1919 and arrived in Ireland on the 2nd September 1919. His four colleagues were released, unharmed, on that faithful day, as it was only their weapons that the IRA wanted.
The coroner’s inquest did not return a verdict of 'murder'.
==========================
BEIR BUA...
Republicanism in history and today.
Published by the James Connolly/Tommy O'Neill Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin, The Liberties, Dublin.
August 1998.
('1169' comment - 'Beir Bua' translates as 'Grasp Victory' in the English language.)
ROBERT EMMET AND THE IRELAND OF TODAY...
"It is not that we are apostles of hate. Who like us has carried Christ's word of charity about the earth?
But the Christ that said, "My peace I leave you, My peace I give you," is the same Christ that said, "I bring not peace, but a sword.”
There can be no peace between the right and wrong, between the truth and falsehood, between justice and oppression, between freedom and tyranny. Between them it is eternal war until the wrong is righted, until the true thing is established, until justice is accomplished, until freedom is won.
So when England talks of peace we know our answer : "Peace with you? Peace while your one hand is at our throat and your other hand is in our pocket?
Peace with a footpad? Peace with a pickpocket? Peace with the leech that is sucking our body dry of blood?
Peace with the many-armed monster whose tentacles envelop us while its system emits an inky fluid that shrouds its work of murder from the eyes of men?
The time has not yet come to talk of peace..."
(MORE LATER.)
In late February, 1921, Cork Number 1 Brigade of the IRA give orders to the two City battalions to shoot any British soldiers found out of barracks in Cork City, without regard for whether the enemy soldiers were armed or unarmed or in uniform or in civilian clothes.
On the evening of the 28th February, the orders were carried out ; between around 7pm and midnight, six enemy combatants were shot dead.
Private John Beattie of the Hampshire Regiment of the British Army was shot around 7pm on the Infirmary Rd, Private Thomas Wise of the 'Royal Army Service Corps' (RASC) was shot a little earlier near Grand Parade, Bandsman Albert Whitear and Signaller George Bowden were shot at the corner of Leycester's Lane and Glanmire Road (Bowden died immediately and Whitear died the following day) William Gill of the Hampshire Regiment was killed on Patrick's Street and another soldier injured, also around 7pm.
At about 8.15pm, Corporal Leonard Hodnett of the 'RASC' was shot on the Ballyvolane Road.
All Volunteers involved returned safely to base.
==========================
On the 28th February, 1921, IRA Volunteers from the 2nd Battalion, 3rd West Cork Brigade (led by Battalion Commandant Jim Hurley) ambushed six RIC members near their barracks in Rosscarbery, in County Cork.
One RIC member - Alfred VG Brock (aged 31) from London - was shot in the stomach and died the following morning.
Mr Brock had seven months 'service' with the RIC, and originally worked as a labourer before joining the British Army, which he left for a 'career' with the RIC.
He 'made a name for himself' at what became known as 'The Battle at Burgatia House' where he was particularly 'gung-ho' about carrying out the 'queens writ' in this country and, apparently, some people didn't like the name he had 'made...'.
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On the 28th February, 1921, an IRA Volunteer in the Second Battalion area of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Northern Division (Glencolmcille and Kilcar region of Donegal), Mícheál O h-Ighne/Mícheál Ó hÉanaigh (Michael Heaney) was at home when he spotted a gang of British Black and Tans/Auxiliaries in his yard, about to raid his house.
He knew he was a wanted man and the raiders were coming to kill him, so he escaped from the house, heading for the cover of some sheds beside his home but was shot in the back and killed.
The 'County Inspector' later claimed that Mícheál O h-Ighne was shot when he pointed a shotgun at the RIC, while other reports state that he was shot by 'a soldier from the British Army's 'Rifle Brigade' who said that he seen him leaving an outhouse with two guns...'
This brave man is buried in the local Church Graveyard in Glencolmcille, and is the first IRA Volunteer listed on the Donegal 'Republican Roll of Honour'.
Rest In Peace, Volunteer Ó hÉanaigh.
==========================
On the 28th February, 1921, the body of a man was found dead in a lane at Balreask on the outskirts of Navan, in County Meath.
He had been shot a number of times by men from the 2nd Meath Brigade, IRA. His name is unknown ('Michael O'Brien'?), but he is thought to have been from Scotland -
'As he finished, he dropped dead and fell on his back. I turned him over and took my handkerchief off his wrists. We left the scene, leaving him where he lay...the stranger was found next day. The RIC called on McLoughlin at his place of business and questioned him. He later attended the inquest and identified the body as that of the man who called the previous day and inquired about the IRA. The stranger spoke with a Scottish accent..' (...from here.)
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On the 28th February, 1921, Lieutenant Victor Bickersteth Murray, from Newcastle, in England (pictured), of the British Army's 'Cameron Highlanders', committed suicide on Spike Island, in County Cork.
His own people described him as "a 24-year-old veteran of the Great War" who, at the time that he shot himself in the chest, "was temporarily of an unsound mind..".
In 1921, Spike Island was the largest military prison operated by the British in Ireland (approximately 300 Irish republican prisoners and 900 internees were imprisoned there) and Mr Murray, an armed British military operative "of unsound mind" should not have been placed anywhere near other people. He should have been at home, under care.
==========================
IRA Volunteer Richard Boyce was shot dead by a mixed party of British Army soldiers and RIC members for allegedly failing to halt when told to do so at Bawnmore, Ardpatrick, Co. Limerick, on the 28th February, 1921.
Volunteer Boyce was born at Bawnmore, Limerick, in 1894, and was educated at Broadford National School.
He joined the Volunteers in 1917 and served with 'B Company', and was an active Volunteer until he was shot down by Crown Forces.
'Always Ready To Serve The Cause Of Irish Freedom'.
Rest In Peace, Volunteer Boyce.
==========================
"In accordance with the terms of the Treaty approved by the majority of the Dáil, a meeting of representatives elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland was convened to formally endorse the Treaty and set up the Provisional Government. That Government was duly established.
Dublin Castle has been handed over to it, and the evacuation of the country* by the British forces was begun and is still in progress. It was intended to ascertain the will** of the Irish electorate at the earliest moment, and if this will sustained the Treaty to proceed with the drafting of an Irish *** Constitution.
The leaders of the minority party in the Dáil, however, contended that more time was needed for the electorate to form a correct judgment, and that the Constitution should be published before the election. An agreement to this effect was signed, and in conformity with it I went to London **** with the Minister for Home Affairs and secured that no election will be held during the three months' period agreed upon.
Since the last meeting the Cabinet decided it was advisable to discontinue the Belfast Boycott, with a view to instituting an era of good will with our dissident ***** fellow-countrymen in the North-East.
The object is not yet achieved, but we are hopeful that it will be. The Dáil Departments will function as hitherto until the election. The Provisional Government Departments have been actively functioning in harmony with them, and in the interests of peace and good order will continue to do so..."
- Mr Arthur Griffith (pictured), speaking in the Leinster House institution on the 28th February, 1922.
* - "the country" wasn't evacuated by British forces then, and they are still here today. In 1922, they were evacuating the Free State, not "the country".
** - not "the will" of the people, but the fear of the people : "immediate and terrible war...".
*** - "Irish Constitution" ? No, not unless the whole of Ireland had input into it. What Mr Griffith referenced was a Free State Constitution.
**** - London : the Free State's 'Mother Parliament', where issues effecting Irish politics had to be discussed and approved first.
***** - "dissident" meant the same then as it does today - Irish republicans who continue to campaign for a Free Ireland, not just a 'Free State' within Ireland.
(That speech was delivered to the 'Fourth Session of the Second Dáil' (Day One), 28th February 1922 - more here.)
Meanwhile, as Mr Griffith was unpacking his bags after his sojourn to London, a patrol of British 'Ulster Special Constabulary' members was attacked by Irish "dissidents" in York Street in Belfast (on the 28th February 1922) – there were no fatalities.
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading.
Sharon and the team.
