From the office of Michael Collins to Westminster, 1920's - a letter of assurance that the armed men who had liberated a British Army payroll, killing an English soldier in the process, would be hunted down and punished. Mr Collins ordered the Republican Police and his State Army to assist the RIC and the British military in doing just that...
That's one of about 18 pieces we'll be writing about on Wednesday, 12th February, 2025, on this blog...
Why was it that, in the 1970's, the Leinster House administration purchased a grave in a cemetery just outside a small country town...?
Ireland, in the early 2000's - 'Black Gold' wasn't only valuable for the financial benefits it itself bestowed, but also for the 'add-ons' ie the provision of services, jobs in manufacturing businesses, infrastructure work, port upgrades etc, but short-sighted, greedy politicians thought otherwise...
..and we'll be putting some meat on the bones of those two, as well.
There'll be a few paragraphs on a few happenings from the 19th Century up to the 2000's, so hopefully yis will find something of interest for yerselves but ya won't know that until Wednesday, 12th February 2025. But, if'n ya don't, here's a few shillings ; sure ya can ring someone who cares...!
Thanks for dropping in - appreciated : see ya on the 12th!
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 205 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A 'UNITED IRISHMAN' FOUNDING FATHER.
"Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause, or the men, of the Emerald Isle..."
- the words of William Drennan (pictured), physician, poet, educationalist political radical and one of the founding fathers of the 'Society of United Irishmen', who was born on the 23rd May in 1754.
As well as his involvement with the 'United Irishmen', William Drennan will be forever associated with the descriptive term 'Emerald Isle' being used as a reference for Ireland, although he himself stated that that expression was first used in an anonymous 1795 song called 'Erin, to her own Tune'.
When he was 37 years of age, a group of socially-minded Protestants, Anglicans and Presbyterians held their first public meeting in Belfast and formed themselves as 'The Belfast Society of United Irishmen' (the organisation became a secret society three years later), electing Sam McTier as 'President', strengthing the link that William Drennan had forged with that revolutionary organisation - Sam McTier was married to Martha, who was a sister of William Drennan.
'..he was born on May 23, 1754, at the manse of the First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street, Belfast, where his father was minister. A doctor by profession, he became one of the pioneers of inoculation against smallpox. Drennan became one of the founder members of the United Irishmen, and upon moving to Dublin in 1789 was appointed its chairman...after he was tried and acquitted of sedition in 1794, he withdrew from the movement and emigrated to Scotland (but remained) committed to radical politics..he married Sarah Swanwick in 1800, and they had four sons and a daughter...' (from here.)
'When Erin first rose from the dark-swelling flood,
God blessed the green island, he saw it was good.
The Emerald of Europe, it sparkled and shone,
in the ring of this world, the most precious stone.
In her sun, in her soil, in her station thrice blest,
With her back towards Britain, her face to the West,
Erin stands proudly insular, on her steep shore,
And strikes her high harp 'mid the ocean's deep roar...'
William Drennan died on the 5th February 1820 - 205 years ago on this date - at 66 years of age, and is buried in Clifton Street Graveyard, Belfast. His coffin was carried by an equal number of Catholics and Protestants, and clergy from different denominations were in charge of the ceremony, as per his request.
On the 5th February, 1919, the Finance Committee of Kildare County Council held a meeting to discuss the fact that its road workers in the Newbridge, Kildare and Kilcullen areas had gone on strike in protest over the British Army having hired unskilled labourers to carry out repairs to roads that had been made impassable by the IRA.
The British obviously wouldn't have had full confidence in the 'quality' of repair work carried out by an organised body of workmen sent by an institution (the local Council) that they didn't fully trust (!) so, instead, they hired individual local labourers and monitored them, at the point of a gun, as they worked.
And, to rub salt into the wounds, they paid those labourers more than the Council repair crews were bring paid!
An agreement was reached in early March that trade-unionised Council workers would, in future, be tasked with such work and that their wages for that work would be increased.
However, the Council workers continued to agitate for a bigger win and, in August 1920, Council motions were passed instructing that only trade union labour be employed on the Council's direct labour schemes (such as road repairs) and Kildare County Council went one step further by passing a motion stating.. "...that we, the members of the Kildare County Council, in recognition of the good services rendered by trade union Labour, hereby call on all republican employers in County Kildare to employ none other than trade union labour..."
In effect, the British had opened a can of worms for themselves!
==========================
On the 5th February, 1919, newspapers carried reports of the previous days meeting in the British 'House of Commons' in Westminster, London.
The media noted that the elected Sinn Féin members did not attend (it was expected that they would boycott that foreign parliament) but that Ireland was represented (!) in that British political institution by 26 Unionist members and 7 'Irish Nationalist members of the House'.
A (proper!) British elected member, a Mr Horatio Bottomley (pictured), apparently disgusted that some representatives from Ireland would snub "the Mother of Parliamentary Democracy" ("Ya wha', Shar...?!") proposed 'to the House' that the absent Sinn Féin members be forced to attend by using the device of 'the call of the house' (last used in 1836).
But his boss, a Mr Bonar Law, replied to Mr Bottomley that he and the governing administration did not intend to take any action in the matter.
A wise move, surely, considering that they were still trying to deal with the earlier can of worms...
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
In a bizarre and inexplicable decision, the government of the day also agreed to abolish royalties and all other production-related levies, without any commitment from the oil companies to offset these unique benefits by guaranteeing a single Irish job, or indeed any agreement to use Irish goods or services.
Any business deal which could benefit one party only would appear to be foolhardy.
In a deal of this magnitude, and with such long-term consequences for the country, it is incredible ; that it was done in the name of each and every Irish citizen, by an elected government, demands explanation.
The oil companies secured a deal with the Irish government which will only benefit the oil companies.
That they have done so is no reflection on them ; they, after all, are in business to make money - big money - and this deal will ensure that they do...
(MORE LATER.)
On the evening of the 20th November, 1920, a ne'er-do-well alcoholic known as 'Shankers' (John/James) Ryan (pictured), who sometimes lived at Number 16 Railway Street, Dublin, with his wife, recognised two IRA Volunteers, Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, and knew the Crown Forces were looking for them.
'Shankers' associated with members of his old employers, the British Army, and was friendly with the 'constabulary' in Dublin, the 'Dublin Metropolitan Police' and, to prove useful to them, was known to pass on to both groups any information he thought might 'earn' him the price of a few pints.
He followed the two Volunteers as they made their way to a safe house they were staying in - Number 36 Gloucester Street in Dublin City Centre (owned by a Mr Seán Fitzpatrick) - and, after they went inside, 'Shankers' made his way to Dublin Castle and told his Crown Force colleagues that he knew where the two Volunteers were staying that night.
An armed group of British Army soldiers followed 'Shankers' to the safe house and 'arrested' Volunteers Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, and took them back to Dublin Castle for 'interrogation' before placing them in cells.
Early next morning (Sunday 21st November 1920) what became known as 'Bloody Sunday' took place in Dublin (British spies executed by the IRA) and, later that day, Volunteers Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy were beaten to death by their captors or, as the British put it, "were shot dead attempting to escape...".
The IRA investigated the deaths of their two Volunteers and the name John/James 'Shankers' Ryan emerged as the person responsible for touting on them.
An IRA Intelligence Officer, Volunteer Patrick Kennedy, was tasked by the Volunteer leadership to ascertain Mr Ryan's movements and habits, most of which were found to centre around his drinking habits and his sister, a M/s Becky Cooper, a well known 'Lady of the Night' in the red-light 'Nighttown' (aka 'The Kips') area of Dublin known as 'the Monto'.
The tout Ryan started his days of nothingness with as much drink as he could afford in Hynes Pub at the corner of Old Glouchester Place and Corporation Street in Dublin City Centre and, at about 10.30am on the morning of the 5th February, 1921, as he was seated on his usual bar stool, at least five IRA Volunteers (William Stapleton, Eddie Byrne, Tom Keogh, Bernard C. Byrne and Paddy Kennedy) entered the bar.
Volunteers William Stapleton and Eddie Byrne went over to him and asked if he was 'Shankers' Ryan, he looked at the two men and replied that he was, and asked them why, what about it...?
They told him to get off the stool, which he did, and they searched him for guns or documents, but he had neither on him. With that they shot him dead.
The IRA Unit left the pub in two groups - two Volunteers up front, with the rest of the men walking about 15 feet behind them.
They walked towards the Gloucester Diamond district and veered off onto North Great Charles Street (near Mountjoy Square), where they returned their weapons to an IRA arms dump and went their separate ways.
Job done.
(British military records refer to 'British Intelligence officer Lance Corporal MPC/MFP John Ryan' in referencing this shooting.)
==========================
"The so-called Ulster difficulty is purely artificial as far as Ireland itself is concerned.
It is an accident arising out of the British connection and will disappear with it.
If it arose from a genuine desire of the people of the North East for autonomy, the solution proposed would be the obvious one.
But it is not due to such a desire – it has arisen purely as a product of British Party manoeuvring..."
- Eamon de Valera (pictured), speaking to journalists on the 5th February, 1921, about his recent American tour.
The "British connection" hasn't disappeared just yet - Westminster continues to claim jurisdictional control over six Irish counties, and enforces that claim with a political and military presence - so de Valera, despite all his faults, is right about that.
'Brits Out, North and South...'
==========================
During the 1916 Rising in Ireland, the Thornton family, from Drogheda, County Louth (pictured) - Frank, Nora, Hugh, and Paddy - played its part, and done so bravely.
Prionsias Ó Droighneáin (Patrick Thornton, aka 'Frank Drennan') was only 16 years of age when he stood then, with others, to oppose the British military and political presence in Ireland, and he was wounded twice in the fight.
Prionsias and his sister, Nora, and their brother, Hugh, had travelled from Liverpool to Dublin in order to participate in the battle.
As a result of his injuries, he contracted TB and was left in a physically weakened state but, having survived the Rising, he returned to Drogheda, where he got a job as the manager of a cinema ('The Boyne Cinema', the owner of which was a Mr Joe Stanley, himself an Irish republican), although his interest in, and support for, Irish republicanism, never wavered.
In late January/early February in 1921, Prionsias was 'arrested' by the Black and Tans (forcibly removed from the cinema) and 'interrogated' by them about republican activity in the area - the rough treatment and the TB was too much for him, and he died on the 5th February, 1921.
RIP Volunteer Prionsias Ó Droighneáin.
==========================
On the 5th February, 1921, a farmer, a Mr Dan Moloney (69), had just left his house at Lislevane, Barryroe, in County Cork, and was crossing a field just north of Lislevane Village, in the parish of Barryroe, to get to where his farmworkers were doing a job for him, to let them know that his wife, Mary, had a dinner in the farmhouse waiting for them.
A shot rang out from a British Army lorry carrying soldiers from the Essex Regiment that was driving past on a near-by road and Mr Moloney fell down, dead, having been shot through the head.
The Death Certificate stated -
'Fracture of the skull, shock and haemorrhage.
Bullet wound from military in execution of their duty.*
Information received from military. Inquiry held eight of February 1921...'
(* "In execution of their duty...information received from military.." : that explains that, then.)
Mr Moloney, who was not an IRA Volunteer himself, had four sons (ranging in ages between 22 and 28), three of whom were imprisoned at the time for IRA activity and the fourth son, Michael, was on active service with the rebels.
He was also the uncle-in-law of the four Crowley brothers from Kilbrittain - Patrick, Cornelius, Denis, and Michael - who were IRA Volunteers, but he himself was not an IRA man, and that was known by the British.
Mr Moloney is buried in Timoleague Abbey Cemetery in West Cork.
RIP.
==========================
On the 5th February, 1921, at least 12 IRA Volunteers from 'E Company, 4th Battalion' (pictured), Dublin Brigade of the IRA, with Captain Andrew Walsh in command, attacked a lorry carrying British soldiers on the Lower Rathmines Road, in Dublin, which was on its way to Portobello Barracks on the Lower Rathmines Road.
There were no fatalities on either side, it was stated, but a Volunteer, Miles Ford, was wounded.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 103 YEARS AGO : REBEL WOMEN SAY 'NO!'.
On the 5th February 1922 - 103 years ago on this date - the Cumann na mBan convention was held in Dublin to consider its response to the 'Treaty of Surrender' ; the executive of the organisation had already rejected that Treaty.
"As things developed in 1922, we could see that the Free State was toeing the line for Britain. Nearly all the girls stayed republican, but the men seemed to waver...we offer no apology to the rulers North or South of this partitioned land in asserting our rights as freeborn Irish women to repudiate that Treaty and the Imperial Parliament of partitioned Ulster.
We fight for an Ireland where the exploitation of Irish workers by imported or native capitalists will be ruthlessly exterminated. (We will) put an end for all time to that state of chaos and social dis-order which is holding our people in unnatural bondage..." - Eithne Coyle, Cumann na mBan President.
On the 5th of April 1914, in Wynn's Hotel in Abbey Street, Dublin, the inaugural meeting of the newly-established 'Cumann na mBan' organisation took place, with Kathleen Lane-O'Kelley in the Chair.
Its constitution made no secret of the fact that it was not opposed to the use of force to remove the British military and political presence from Ireland and the organisation also declared that its primary aim was to "advance the cause of Irish liberty (and) teach its members first aid, drill, signalling and rifle practice in order to aid the men of Ireland."
It was the first female military force in Ireland.
In 1918, Westminster threatened to conscript Irishmen into its armed forces and the then four-year-old Cumann na mBan organisation campaigned to such an extent against that conscription that its ranks swelled and it found itself ideally placed to assist the then Sinn Féin organisation in its election campaign in December that same year.
At this time, Cumann na mBan had approximately 600 active branches in the country, with the majority of its members aged from their late teens to their mid-30's, and all were active on the republican side during the War of Independence that followed, in which an estimated 10,000 women played an active part.
In October 1921, the Cumann na mBan leadership recorded that it had at least 12,000 active members in its then 800 branches.
However, when the 'Treaty of Surrender' was signed in December 1921 (resulting in partition and the creation of two bastard States) the republican forces, including Cumann na mBan, effectively split into three groups - supporters of the Treaty, those who opposed it and those who withdrew in a neutral stance.
A group of Treaty-supporting activists left Cumann na mBan and formed themselves into a new group, 'Cumann na Saoirse' and, five years later, when the Fianna Fail party was founded, more Cumann na mBan members left the organisation to join Eamon de Valera in his new party.
Also, in the mid-1930's, yet another group from within Cumann na mBan left to form 'Mna na Poblachta' but the Cumann na mBan organisation itself stayed true to its republican principles in 1970 and again in 1986, when opportunists again left the then Republican Movement to seek their political (and financial) fortunes in constitutional political assemblies.
The women of Cumann na mBan were involved in the planning and execution of the 1916 Rising, providing support through intelligence gathering, fundraising, and providing safe houses for members of the Rising.
They also worked as couriers, carrying messages and weapons between rebel strongholds and providing medical aid to wounded fighters.
The 5th of February (1922) marks the 103rd anniversary of a Cumann Na mBan convention which was held in The Mansion House in Dublin ; the organisation was meeting to decide if it would support the 'Treaty of Surrender' or not.
Almost 500 delegates were present and, of those, 63 voted in favour of supporting that Treaty and 416 voted against.
Cumann na mBan had overwhelmingly rejected it and, less than one year later (ie in January 1923), the Leinster House administration declared that Cumann na mBan was "an illegal organisation".
In the course of our on-going struggle for full independence, Cumann Na mBan have had over 400 members imprisoned, many in Kilmainhan Jail, in Dublin, where conditions were so bad that two Hunger Strikes were undertaken.
On a personal note, I remember my mother, and her mother, chatting between themselves about the organisation, talking about the activities of, among others, Jeannie Hynes*, Annie Hogan from County Clare, Josephine McGowan, Lily Bennett, Agnes MacNeill, Daisy O'Daly*, Kathleen Moore*, Bridget Murtagh and Nora O'Daly*. ( * Four sisters.)
The exploits, the derring-do's, the 'skin-of-the-teeth' near captures, the time when Kathleen was in an IRA arms factory and...
..but that's for another day.
Maybe...!
==========================
On the 5th February (and into the 6th), 1922, political representatives from Westminster and the Leinster House institution in Dublin met in London "to discuss procedural matters" in relation to the Treaty of Surrender.
Both groups were in agreement that Westminster's 'Irish Free State Agreement Bill' would legalise the Treaty and transfer authority to the Dublin institution.
The next step would be for Dublin "to authorise an election to a Provisional Parliament which would enact a constitution..." which Westminster would confirm, following which the 'Ulster (sic) Month' Clause would come into play.
A Mr Michael Collins stated that the Treaty (of Surrender) was signed on the basis that the (Occupied) Six Counties would have a month to decide if it wanted to join the Free State "or remain (sic) as part of the United Kingdom (sic)".
The very reason that those Six Counties were forcibly plucked from the nine-county Province of Ulster was because of the gerrymandered 'majority' in favour of 'the United Kingdom' that that area comprised!
A safe bet for the Brits, obviously...
==========================
THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE...
Emigration from Ireland to the United States continued throughout the 1990's, although the reasons were no longer so bluntly economic.
Now, in the wake of September 11th, the US authorities have been granted increased powers to investigate legal status, and Irish illegal emigrants are more vulnerable than ever before.
By Mairead Carey.
From 'Magill Annual', 2002.
Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin wants the Irish Government (sic) to campaign for an amnesty for Irish illegals in the US, but there is no chance of that happening, according to Bruce Morrison -
"The trend is going to be anti-immigration for a while because the people who flew those planes (on 9/11) were not Americans. It's not rational, it's emotional.
A lot of anti-immigrant feeling is coming out of the woodwork, which until a few months ago was impotent. But it will turn around again."
Fr Tom Flynn was walking off the altar after saying nine o'clock mass when he was told that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Centre.
When first contacted by 'Magill Magazine', he was officiating at the funeral of a New York fire fighter, Seán Tallon, whose parents were from Ireland...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (5TH FEBRUARY) 104 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF KATHERINE WOOD.
Katharine Wood (pictured, perhaps better known as Kitty O'Shea/Katharine Parnell) died on the 5th February 1921 - 104 years ago on this date - at 75 years of age, at 39 Eastham Road, in Littlehampton, in Sussex, England, and is buried there.
That fine Lady was born on the 30th January, 1846, in Braintree, Essex, in England, and we wrote a few paragraphs about her last week (here) and don't want to repeat ourselves now.
'She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps,
And lovers are round her, sighing ;
But coldly she turns from their gaze, and weeps,
For her heart in his grave is lying.
She sings the wild song of her dear native plains,
Every note which he loved awaking ;
Ah! little they think, who delight in her strains,
How the heart of the Minstrel is breaking.
He had lived for his love, for his country he died,
They were all that to life had entwined him ;
Nor soon shall the tears of his country be dried,
Nor long will his Love stay behind him.
Oh! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest,
When they promise a glorious morrow ;
They'll shine o'er her sleep, like a smile from the West,
From her own loved island of sorrow...'
(From here.)
RIP to that fine Lady, Katharine Wood.
During the 1916 Rising, three brothers - Volunteers George, Patrick and John King - made their way to Dublin to play their part in the campaign.
Volunteer George King (aka 'Nicholas Murphy') shouldered a rifle for Ireland in 'The Imperial Hotel' and in the GPO, and was deported out of Ireland to a prison in England after the Rising.
When he was released, he returned to Ireland and resumed his republican activities and stayed with the Movement after 'Truce and Treaty'.
In December, 1922, the Dame Street, Dublin, office of the Chief State Solicitor, a Mr Michael A. Corrigan, was attacked by the IRA and set on fire and, in January 1923, his house on Leinster Road in Rathmines, Dublin, was blown apart (pictured, above) by an IRA bomb.
And Volunteer King was active again, on the 5th February 1923, with his comrades, as they attacked Free State soldiers who were on guard duty at Portobello Barracks in Dublin ; a fire-fight took place, and he was wounded.
Volunteer George King died from his wounds in the Meath Hospital, Dublin, on the 6th February 1923.
RIP Volunteer King.
==========================
POLITICAL LIFESTYLES IN IRELAND...
His lavish lifestyle was funded by wealthy admirers.
Time after time, his debts were taken care of by friendly businessmen.
In exchange for giving people access to government leaders, he cheerfully lined his own pockets.
From 'Magill' Magazine, January 2003.
But then that's the problem with honours ; once they've been awarded, you can't change your mind and snatch them back later*.
This consideration alone should make the idea of setting up an Irish honours system a complete non-starter.
And yet, for the last few years, there has been a low-key campaign to do just that, led by none other than Bertie Ahern himself.
Supposedly a true-green Irish republican, the (State) Taoiseach is said to be disappointed that the idea hasn't gained more support from his government colleagues.
In fairness, you can see why the idea of honouring certain people has its attractions ; Ireland is full of unsung heroes...
( * ...or can they..?!)
(MORE LATER.)
That's it for now, and thanks for dropping in - appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
'But for now, let us give three cheers
And shout BRAVO!
For the unsung heroes of our streets,
who thanklessly brave the wind and rain,
to do an honest days work,
in a thankless task that must be done...'
(...but thanks, definitely [and apologies!], from us, to Bryan W!)
Ireland, 20th Century : the British political and military leaderships were wary of 'permitting' Irish work crews from established, organised entities to 'repair/prepare the land for them', so they put together their own teams but, not only did that not work out for them, it actually worked against them and, in the long run, worked in favour of the original work crews...
...and this particular 'work crew' here in '1169 Towers' are working on a 20-piece blog post for Wednesday, 5th February 2025, in which we'll be filling in (!) the missing parts of the above tale of (road)woe.
And we'll also be writing a few paragraphs about a man who was born in Ireland in the mid-18th Century and matured into a well-known and well-respected doctor, a man of medicine...and a political radical.
The British claimed he was seditious and a danger to society but, like all such Irish rebels, he was really a danger to their continuing 'misadventures' in Ireland. He laid low in another country for a while, but remained an Irish radical...
So...
..be a radical yerself and give us a look-see on Wednesday, 5th February 2025, for the above pieces and about 18 others.
And thanks for dropping in - it's appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (29TH JANUARY) 231 YEARS AGO : UNSUNG HERO CHARGED WITH DISTRIBUTING "A SEDITIOUS PAPER".
Archibald Hamilton Rowan (pictured), a United Irishman, was 'tried' on a charge of distributing 'a seditious paper'.
On the 16th December, 1792, Rowan (and Napper Tandy, among others) were present at a political meeting/protest in Dublin at which pamphlets entitled 'Citizen Soldiers, To Arms!' were distributed (...but, incidentally, Rowan himself wasn't distributing them, nor was he the author of the pamphlet).
Rowan was brought to 'trial' (two years later) on the 29th January 1794 - 231 years ago, on this date - at the old Four Courts, near Christ Church, Dublin, for this 'offence' and was sentenced to a fine of £500, imprisoned for two years, and instructed to "find security for his good behaviour" (!)
'Little about Archibald Hamilton Rowan's beginning in life suggested that he would become a leading political revolutionary...conceived in Killyleagh Castle in Co Down, he was born in 1751 and grew up in England surrounded by wealth and privilege...he lived a charmed and adventurous life, travelling in Europe and America, and lived for a time in France.
He could be reckless at times, lost a lot of money at the gaming table, became involved in duels, and 'had scrapes with married women'.
He came under the influence of the celebrated radical John Jebb, who held that no man should suffer persecution for his religious and political opinions and that the people have a right to resist tyrannical forms of government.
Rowan married Sarah Dawson in France in 1781, and thereby gained the lifelong love of a steadfast comrade. On his return to Ireland in 1784, he fought an unforgiving ruling class in the pursuit of justice for the poor.
He championed the cause of Mary Neal, a child who was raped by the Earl of Carhampton, and denounced the military for the shooting dead of tradesmen in Dublin who were engaged in bull-baiting (...for which, in our opinion, the [British] military should have been commended, not condemned).
In 1794 Rowan landed on the French coast in the run-up to the naval slaughter that became known to history as the 'Glorious First of June'. Such was the tense disposition of the French forces at this time that he was immediately imprisoned as a suspected English spy.
From his cell window he watched many men with their hands pinioned carted to the guillotine. At the height of the Terror he was fortunate to escape the guillotine himself. Within days of his release his boots were stained with the blood of revolutionaries guillotined by their erstwhile comrades.
Rowan was a founder of the United Irish Society, and was imprisoned, this time in Newgate Prison, in the Cornmarket area of Christ Church, in Dublin.
When he was implicated in a plot initiated by the Committee of Public Safety in Paris to bring a French revolutionary army into Ireland, Rowan successfully escaped from the prison ('1169' comment - he paid a prison officer £100 to allow him out of prison to visit his wife and sign some paperwork in near-by Dominick Street and, on the 2nd May 1794, he escaped from custody by jumping out a back window of his house and then laid low for about three days in the Lusk area of Dublin).
Had he not escaped he would almost certainly have been hanged.
He sailed to Roscoff in a small fishing craft, enduring 11 years of hardship as a political exile in France, America and Germany. Fortunately for Rowan, his wife, Sarah, successfully secured his pardon, and he returned to Ireland in 1806.
Without Sarah's tenacity, Rowan would almost certainly never have set foot in Ireland again...' (from here.)
He maintained his quest to free Ireland and continued his fight for justice for the working class but lost heart somewhat when his wife died, in her seventieth year, in late February 1834 ; they were married for 53 years, and were a 'team'.
His sorrow was compounded in August that same year when his son, Gawin William, 51 years of age, died, and the poor man never recovered from the pain those deaths caused him.
He died, aged 83, on the 1st November that same year, and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, on the corner of Mary Street and Jervis Street, in Dublin :
"My dear children,
Whilst (in residence) at Wilminoton on the Delaware, in the United States of North America, not expecting to return to Europe, and unwilling to solicit my family to rejoin me there, I was anxious to leave you some memorial of a parent whom in all probability you would never know personally.
Under that impression I commenced the following details, uninteresting except to you, who have requested me to transcribe them, that each of you should have a copy.
It was not at that time, nor is it now my intention to vindicate the act which occasioned (my) then exiled situation ; though I felt a strong self-justification, in the consciousness that if I had erred, it had been in common with some of the most virtuous and patriotic characters then in Ireland..." (from here.)
RIP : one of our unsung heroes, without a doubt.
On the 29th January, 1920, with Volunteer leader James Mansfield (pictured, Officer Commanding of the 3rd Waterford Battalion IRA) in command, about 50 Volunteers of the West Waterford Brigade of the IRA attacked the enemy barracks (pictured) in the village of Ardmore, in County Waterford.
To secure the immediate area, the rebels monitored and/or blocked all access to Ardmore from the Youghal, Clashmore and Dungarvan directions.
The plan was to blow an entry point into the barracks from a gable wall, using explosives and land mines and, as a rebel unit were making their way to that wall, their comrades concentrated heavy fire and grenade-type projectiles at the doors and windows of the building, to allow the explosives unit to get to their target.
But, unknown to the Volunteers, the gable wall (and others) had been 'loop-holed' (certain wall blocks were removable from inside the building) and, from those vantage points, the RIC directed constant fire at the approaching IRA unit, preventing them from reaching the gable wall.
Firing from the IRA and those in the barracks lasted for about two hours but, as they were running out of ammunition, the IRA had to withdraw, suffering no casualties (the RIC reported that a number of their members were wounded during the attack).
Incidentally, Volunteer James Mansfield escaped the clutches of the Free Staters after the then new IRA chief of staff, Frank Aiken, declared a ceasefire on the 30th April, 1923 and, on the 24th May, ordered IRA Volunteers to dump their arms and return to their homes.
Volunteer Mansfield escaped to Canada.
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
The problem stems from the fact that since the first offshore exploration licences were granted by the Irish government in the late 1960's, the balance of power has been with the oil companies.
Marathon Oil (USA) was granted a licence that effectively gave it control of the entire south coast of Ireland for the princely sum of £500 (€635).
Marathon went on to discover large quantities of natural gas in the Celtic Sea and, in the process, generated some work for Irish rig-workers, with ensuing economic and commercial spin-offs for the Cork region.
There should have been a lesson learned there but, as recently as 1992, long after the benefits of the North Sea finds had been realised, Ireland introduced an oil tax regime of 25 per cent - the lowest in the world ; Norway's oil tax is currently 78 per cent.
Ireland offered the oil companies a further benefit - all costs could be written off against this levy...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (29TH/30TH JANUARY) 144 YEARS AGO : EVE OF 'CONSTRUCTION' FOR MILITANT IRISH LADIES.
On the 29th and 30th of January 1881 - 144 years ago on this date - Charles Stewart Parnell's sisters, Anna and Fanny, put the final touches to a new organisation which they officially launched on the 31st : they established a 'Ladies Land League' which, at its full strength, consisted of about five hundred branches and didn't always see eye-to-eye with its 'parent' organisation, the 'Irish National Land League'.
In its short existence, it provided assistance to about 3,000 people who had been evicted from their rented land holdings and assisted and/or took over land agitation issues, as it seemed certain that the 'parent' body was going to be outlawed by the British and, sure enough, the British Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, introduced and enforced a 'Crimes Act' that same year, 1881 (better known as the 'Coercion/Protection of Person and Property Act').
That piece of legislation declared it illegal to assemble in relation to certain issues and an offence to conspire against the payment of rents 'owed' which, ironically, was a piece of legislation condemned by the same catholic church which condemned the 'Irish National Land League' because that Act introduced permanent legislation and did not have to be renewed on each political term.
And that same church also condemned the 'Ladies Land League' to the extent that Archbishop McCabe of Dublin instructed priests loyal to him "..not to tolerate in your societies (diocese) the woman who so far disavows her birthright of modesty as to parade herself before the public gaze in a character so unworthy of a Child of Mary..." - the best that can be said about that is that that church's 'consistency' hasn't changed much over the years, and that it wasn't only a religious institution which made an issue out of women being politicised - 'In the year in which the Ladies' Land League was formed, Ireland was first mentioned in the 15 January 1881 issue of the 'Englishwoman's Review'. Tellingly, this was a report headed 'Women Landowners in Ireland' (and) there was also a small report of a 'Catholic Charitable Association' being formed 'by a number of Irish ladies for aiding the families of poor or evicted tenants'.
The addition of the phrase "It is distinctly understood that the society shall take no part whatever in political agitation.." reveals the disapproval felt by the journal for those engaged in that agitation *. The formation of the Ladies' Land League was then noted :
'In anticipation of Government action against local branches of the Irish National Land League, arrangements are being made for the establishment of a Ladies' Land League throughout Ireland.
Such a movement has already been organised in America, where Mrs Parnell, the mother of the Member for Cork, is the President, and Miss Fanny Parnell and Mr John Stewart, the sister and brother of Mr Parnell, MP, are acting as organisers.
The Irish movement will be led by the wives of the local leaders of the existing league, and will devote themselves to the collection of funds...' ** (from here).
* / ** - That periodical was assembled and edited by, and for, middle-class women of the day (late 19th/early 20th century) and, while it did cover and promote economic independence for women, occupation outside of the home for women, the need for better educational facilities for women to enable and encourage women to seek employment in 'the male professions' ie politics and medicine, it was truly of its day in that it was felt to be a bridge-too-far to call for women to take to the streets for the right to be more than 'just' fund-raisers.
In short, the authors were, in effect, confining themselves to be further confined.
In October 1881, Westminster proscribed the 'Irish National Land League' and imprisoned its leadership, but the gap was ably filled by the 'Ladies Land League' until it was acrimoniously dissolved on the 10th August 1882, 19 months after it was formed.
On the 29th January, 1921, 'The Longford Leader' newspaper carried a report on the killing of two young (Protestant) men - William Charters and William Elliott - from the Ballinalee area of County Longford.
Both men had been executed (on the 22nd January 1921) by the IRA.
Mr Charters was charged by the IRA of giving information to the RIC which led to the arrest of two republicans, and Mr Elliott, a lieutenant in the pro-British UVF grouping, was charged with working with, and identifying local people to, the Black and Tans and the British Army Auxiliaries.
They were the first civilians (and only Protestants) to be executed in that county by the IRA - altogether, five civilians were shot by the IRA as alleged spies in Longford, three of whom were Catholics.
It transpired that Mr Charters's uncle and father (Robert and William Charters Snr) had brought a land dispute to the republican courts for arbitration and, while the IRA Brigade engineer, Barney Kilbride, was surveying the disputed plot of land, William Charters ran down to the town of Ballinalee and informed the Black and Tans and RIC that a known IRA Volunteer, Barney Kilbride, was on his farm, accompanied by a Republican Court Adjudicator, a Mr James Victory.
Volunteer Kilbride and Court Adjudicator Victory were both 'arrested' by the Crown Forces as a result of the tip-off.
Mr Elliott, the UVF member, was observed more than once travelling the area with the Crown Forces.."...directing them and giving them
information, who was who, and identifying people.."
The IRA subsequently issued a proclamation guaranteeing protection.."..of both the life and property of all citizens, both Catholic and Protestant, who remained neutral.."
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On the 29th January, 1921, the IRA let it be known that, in 'The Wicklow Hotel' in Wicklow Street, in Dublin, they had shot dead a Mr William Doran, on the previous day.
Mr Doran worked as a night porter in the hotel, a venue which Michael Collins and other (at the time) Irish republicans (among them was Tom Cullen, Gearóid O'Sullivan, Dermot O'Hegarty and Liam Tobin) met to discuss the business at hand.
One of Mr Collins' people in the hotel (Paddy O'Shea?) had previously observed Mr Doran chatting to the Deputy Chief of British Intelligence in Ireland, a Colonel Hill Dillon, and told Michael Collins that he was of the opinion that he was passing information to the British, and he was approached at least twice and told to stop or face the consequences.
But he ignored the advice.
Liam Tobin tasked IRA Squad Volunteers Joseph Dolan and Danny McDonnell to execute the spy Doran and, on the 28th January, 1921, Volunteers Dolan and McDonnell entered the hotel just as the spy was exiting a room - Volunteer Dolan shot him through the head and in the heart, and Volunteer McDonnell shot him in the stomach.
An 'Inspector' in the 'Dublin Metropolitan Police' (a British proxy grouping), a Mr Robert Forrest, later admitted that William Doran "had provided valuable information on burglaries..."
Incidentally, 'Mary's Bar and Hardware' now operates from where the hotel used to trade, the DMP are gone, too (...at least in name) and the British military and political presence has officially vacated Dublin and 25 other Irish counties, but continue to claim jurisdictional control over six of our counties.
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"This was an ambush of military forces in lorries by Dublin Brigade I.R.A. personnel at Terenure, in the course of which several bombs were exploded in the lorries filled with British troops and numbers of them were killed and wounded. The date of this ambush is recorded as 29th January 1921.
Sometime that same evening a couple of the warder NCO's who were quartered in the military barracks across the road (now Collins Barracks) told us all the gory details of what they had seen and heard in the barracks when they went to their tea. One fellow had apparently been in barracks when the lorries returned after the ambush, and his description of the state of blood and gore of the lorries left little to the imagination.
When the news of the action reached the Castle, which I suppose it did within twenty minutes or so of the opening of the attack, every Auxiliary in Dublin as well as other forces, sped towards the area and spent the day and night terrorising the inhabitants of the locality in the effort to locate any of the IRA participants..."
- IRA Volunteer Joe Lawless (pictured, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher).
On the 29th January, 1921, about two dozen IRA Volunteers from 'E' and 'G' Companies of the 4th Battalion of the Dublin Brigade (which had around 930 Volunteers 'on its books' at the time), under the command of Volunteer Francis Xavier Coghlan (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State poacher), took up three pre-arranged vantage points at Harold's Cross Road in Terenure, Dublin, at 7pm, waiting on two British Army lorries which were transporting soldiers from the 'Royal' Berkshire Regiment.
The IRA men were armed with hand guns and home made grenades.
As the two trucks arrived at a 'pinch point' on the road, IRA Volunteers lobbed grenades into and at the trucks and their comrades opened fire on the cabs and bodies of each truck ; disoriented British soldiers attempted to return fire, during which a civilian, a Mr John Doody (41), a milk delivery man, was shot dead (his mother, Anne, was later awarded £1,500 in compensation by Westminster ; two British Army Privates, a Mr W Preston and a Mr AF Goodchild, who were in one of the two trucks, were also awarded financial compensation).
The British Army's own record of the 'incident' stated that one officer and eight other-ranked soldiers were wounded.
Incidentally, one of the IRA Volunteers present, Christopher Stephen 'Todd' Andrews (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher), was later to claim that, just before the attack, the British troops were singing 'I’m forever blowing bubbles' and a Volunteer named Kane shouted at them "we’ll give you fucking bubbles" as the ambush parties opened fire with their revolvers!
The IRA Units all escaped from the area via nearby Rathgar Avenue.
==========================
A Mr Charles Thomas Ingledew, a soldier in the British Army in Ireland, left that employment in November 1920 and joined the British 'ADRIC' grouping as a 'temporary constable'.
'Out of the frying pan...'
And then, in January 1921, he left that 'job', too.
Maybe it was his own (ex-) works party he was at (...most certainly a 'Farewell' gig..!) but, whether or not, on the 29th January, 1921, in the evening, he found himself in Hannan's Pub in Listowel, County Kerry, having a few pints with two RIC pals, a Mr Andrew McBride and a Mr Sheridan Gallagher.
The ex-soldier/RIC man removed his RIC service revolver from his pocket (which he should have handed-in when he left that 'job') and, showing it to his two drinking buddies, asked.. "..what would the head constable say if he could see me with this..?!"
And, with that, he shot himself in the head with it and died a few hours later.
It was definitely his round.
I'll get me coat...
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THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE...
Emigration from Ireland to the United States continued throughout the 1990's, although the reasons were no longer so bluntly economic.
Now, in the wake of September 11th, the US authorities have been granted increased powers to investigate legal status, and Irish illegal emigrants are more vulnerable than ever before.
By Mairead Carey.
From 'Magill Annual', 2002.
The plan was that they would be exposed to a 'multicultural' US which would ease sectarian tensions when they returned to Ireland to revitalise their own communities.
The Walsh scheme, according to Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin, was "...very imperfect. The uptake was very poor because it was choked with bureaucracy.
It wasn't for people already there, but for young people at home. I don't think the take-up came anywhere close to what was intended.
But people still continue to travel from the border counties as illegals, there hasn't been a peace dividend here. A lot of traditional employment is gone and the only sponge that can soak up the loss is America.
In recent weeks I have seen a lot of CNN and a lot of political players and commentators looking for more draconian measures to be applied to be applied to illegals, and that voice of reaction * against the undocumented knows no boundaries in terms of race and ethnicity.
People seem to forget the British woman whose husband died in the September 11th attacks. She was served notice to leave because her papers weren't in order. Her month's mind hadn't even been reached.
In a grand humanitarian gesture, the INS (the immigration department) said they would not pursue her case but, only that the woman had the ability to articulate her situation, and get the media on side, she would have been just another victim of the harsh and cold administration in relation to the immigrant community..."
(* "voice of reaction" as if that was a bad thing - 'voice of reason' would be the correct term.)
(MORE LATER.)
29TH JANUARY 1859 (166 YEARS AGO ON THIS DATE) : EVE OF THE BIRTH OF A FUTURE SINN FÉIN PRESIDENT.
Edward Martyn, playwright, co-founder of Irish Literary Theatre, and Sinn Féin president, was born in Tulira, County Galway, on the 30th January 1859.
'Martyn was descended from Richard Óge Martyn (c.1604 - 1648), a leading Irish Confederate, and Oliver Óge Martyn (c.1630 - c.1709), a Jacobite who fought in the Williamite War in Ireland. Yet by his lifetime, the family were unionists.
Martyn's outlook began to change in the 1880's after studying Irish history, as well as living through the events of the Irish Land War. He came out as an Irish republican when he famously refused to allow "God Save The Queen" to be sung after a dinner party at Tullira.
By this stage he was involved with the political work of Maude Gonne and Arthur Griffith, and was a vocal opponent of the visit of Queen Victoria to Ireland in 1897.
He also protested the visit by Edward VII in 1903, this time as chairman of the People's Protection Committee. He was the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905 to 1908 (the party only taking that name in the latter year) (but) in 1908 he resigned from the party and politics in general to concentrate on writing and his other activities.
He became close friends with Griffith, Thomas MacDonagh, Joseph Mary Plunkett and Patrick Pearse, and deeply mourned their executions in the aftermath of the Easter Rising. A parish hall and church that he founded at Labane, near Tullira, were burned by the Black and Tans. He supported * the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921...' (from here.)
(* - indeed, a close friend of his, Isabella Augusta Persse ['Lady' Gregory] stated, after one of her visits to him [on the 14th January 1922] that he declared to her that "he is all for the Treaty..")
Edward Martyn : 30th January 1859 – 5th December 1923.
29th January 1922 - last preparatory meeting in Dublin of those who were about to draft a constitution for their new 'Free State'. The meeting was Chaired by Michael Collins.
30th January 1922 - first meeting of the committee to draft that constitution.
31st January 1922 - the Free State Army was 'officially' established in Beggar's Bush Barracks in Dublin and began training troops to be dispatched
around the new 'Free State'.
29th January 2025 - Mr Collins has long since departed us, but that which he helped spawn - the Free State - lingers on like a bad smell...
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ON THIS DATE (29TH JANUARY) 179 YEARS AGO : EVE OF THE BIRTH OF HISTORY-MAKER KATHARINE WOOD.
Born in 1846, on the 30th January - 179 years ago this month - Katharine Wood (pictured) matured into an unwitting femme fatale, said to be practically solely responsible for 'the most notorious scandal of the late Victorian Age' - the downfall of Charles Stewart Parnell and the split which followed in the 'Home Rule Movement' -
'Kitty' was a name she would have hated, as it was slang for a woman of loose morals. In fact, she only loved two men in her life and married both of them, though the marriage to Parnell was to prove tragically short-lived as he died in her arms after a few brief months of happiness.
She was born Katharine Wood in 1845, and was known as Kate to her family. Her father was a baronet, a member of the British aristocracy and her brother a Field Marshall, although their grandfather had started life as an apprentice and was a self-made man.
The Woods were closely linked with the Gladstone family and Katharine often acted as a go-between with William Gladstone when Parnell was trying to persuade the British government to grant Ireland independence.
She had married William O'Shea at the age of twenty-one, not long after the death of her father, and the marriage had produced a son and two daughters. O'Shea neglected his wife and pursued his own pleasures while she was often left to bring up the children alone, while also looking after her elderly aunt.
She played the part of a dutiful wife, however, and hosted dinner parties to help her husband's career. Parnell, an important figure in Irish politics, was always invited, always accepted and yet never showed up.
Annoyed and perplexed by these apparent snubs she went to confront him in person at his office in Westminster in July 1880.
The effect was immediate ; "This man is wonderful and different," she was to write later. Parnell was a bachelor who had once loved and been rejected, and never took an interest in women again until he met Katharine. It was a suicidal love as she was married to a fellow Irish MP and was a respectable wife and mother.
The power of the attraction between the two, however, was impossible to resist and before long they were living together in her home in Eltham in the suburbs of London. They had an illicit 'honeymoon' in Brighton and Katharine was to bear three children to Parnell while still married to O'Shea, the first of whom died soon after being born.
It is even thought that she bore Parnell a son who could take his name after they finally married, although this child was stillborn. O'Shea knew of the relationship but turned a blind eye to it. Then the Aunt died and left Katharine a large inheritance and he decided to divorce his wife and shame Parnell publicly. The ensuing scandal ruined Parnell's career and his health.
His traditional supporters in Catholic Ireland turned away from him when they learned he had been living with a married woman even though he and his beloved Katharine became man and wife after they married at Steyning register office in Sussex, the county where they made their home.
In an attempt to revive his flagging fortunes, Parnell went to Ireland and spoke at a public meeting in County Galway. He was caught in a thunderstorm and developed a chill from which he never recovered. Seriously ill, he returned to be with Katharine and died soon afterwards.
They had been married for only four months. It is estimated that half a million people lined the streets of Dublin to pay their respects to Parnell as his coffin was taken to Glasnevin cemetery to be buried near Daniel O'Connell.
Later Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins were also laid to rest nearby. On the granite stone above his grave lies just one word – 'Parnell', enough to identify Ireland’s flawed hero whose dream of a free and united country at peace with Britain was destroyed by his love for a married woman.
And what happened to Kitty, as the world now knew her? It was all too much for her and she lived out her days quietly in Sussex. She never married or fell in love again but looked after her children and died at the age of seventy-five.
When she was buried, only her immediate family came to the funeral and on her grave monument were the names of both her husbands with that of Parnell, the great love of her life, above that of O'Shea who gave her the name she is known by.
There is no sign of 'Kitty', however.
By the gravestone is a plaque placed by the Parnell Society with Parnell's promise to her :
"I will give my life to Ireland, but to you I give my love..."
Katharine Wood died on the 5th February 1921, at 75 years of age, in Littlehampton in Sussex, England, and is buried there.
RIP to that fine Lady.
POLITICAL LIFESTYLES IN IRELAND...
His lavish lifestyle was funded by wealthy admirers.
Time after time, his debts were taken care of by friendly businessmen.
In exchange for giving people access to government leaders, he cheerfully lined his own pockets.
From 'Magill' Magazine, January 2003.
Want some more, Garret? (That's a rhetorical question, by the way.)
How about this, from his tribute to the late Roy Jenkins, in 'The Irish Times' -
"A decade or so ago he asked me to help him launch, in Dublin, his book on Gladstone, of which he sent me a proof copy.
For the fun of it, I returned it to him with several hundred corrections - the need for most if not all of which his proof readers would of course have detected in any event..."
'For the fun of it'?
And they dared to call this man out of touch...
In Britain, of course, Garret would be 'Lord Fitzgerald' by now, along with 'Lord Haughey'. Doesn't sound quite right, does it...?
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (29TH JANUARY) 53 YEARS AGO : PLANS FINALISED FOR BRITISH ARMY MASSACRE IN DERRY.
After a peaceful Civil Rights march on January 30th, 1972 - 53 years ago on this date - from Creggan to Free Derry Corner, units of the British army Parachute Regiment opened fire with automatic rifles and shot dead 13 unarmed civilians, injuring many more, one of whom died later.
It was later revealed that some days prior to the massacre, the British soldiers involved had been briefed to "shoot to kill" at the march.
"This Sunday became known as 'Bloody Sunday' and bloody it was. It was quite unnecessary. It strikes me that the (British) army ran amok that day and shot without thinking of what they were doing. They were shooting innocent people. They may have been taking part in a parade which was banned, but that did not justify the troops coming in and firing live rounds indiscriminately. I would say without reservations that it was sheer unadulterated murder. It was murder, gentlemen" - the words of British Major Hubert O'Neill, Derry City Coroner, at the conclusion of the inquests on the 13 people killed by the British Army on that day.
The British Army are still in Ireland and Westminster continues to claim jurisdictional control over six Irish counties - the potential for another 'Bloody Sunday' still exists. That threat can only be removed when Westminster removes itself from Ireland, politically and militarily.
On the 29th January, 1923, at about 9.30pm, seven armed IRA Volunteers entered the Palmerstown House mansion (pictured, then valued at £60,000)which the 'Lord Senator the Earl of Mayo and the Countess of Mayo' owned, which was situated about two miles from Naas on the Dublin road (the mansion was built as a memorial house to Richard, the '6th Earl of Mayo and Viceroy of India', in 1872).
'Lord and Lady Mayo' had just finished eating, and were being tended to by their two male and six female servants.
The ten people in the mansion were told by the IRA Volunteers that they were there to burn down the dwelling and were about to do so as an act of reprisal because the Staters were executing their comrades in prison.
They advised all present that they had between fifteen and thirty minutes to gather up their personal possessions and vacate the building, which they did - 'Lord' Mayo exited the mansion "carrying his best pictures and plates".
The building was then burned to the ground, and the Volunteers left the area.
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On the 29th January, 1923, an armed Unit of IRA Volunteers were making their way along a lengthy tree-lined driveway towards a two-storey over-basement mansion, 'Milestown House', Castlebellingham, in Dundalk, County Louth (pictured, which extended to 1,096sq meters [11,800sq feet] in total) to have a chat with the resident, a British Army Major, a Mr Ronald Barrow.
On gaining entry to the abode (!), the Volunteers might have noticed the ornate cornicing and centre roses and the grand chimney pieces in the rooms, and would have been happy, I imagine, that they didn't have to search through its 22 acres of rolling parkland (on the banks of the River Glyde) to find the gaff.
The family and servants were ordered outside and the mansion was burned down.
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Thanks for dropping in - appreciated.
Sharon and the team.
