ON THIS DATE (6TH DECEMBER) 102 YEARS AGO : A TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE IS BORN.
One of the leaflets (pictured) distributed by Irish republicans in late 1921 to counteract anti-republican propaganda that the 'Treaty (of Surrender)' was "a stepping stone" to that which they had fought for - indeed, one of those who accepted that Treaty, ex-republican Arthur Griffith, declared, in a press release immediately after signing same - "I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe that treaty will lay foundations of peace and friendship between the two Nations. What I have signed I shall stand by in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand."
Yet historian Nicholas Mansergh noted that, at practically the same time as Griffith had penned the above, the British were talking between themselves of "...concessions (from the Irish) wrung by devices..some of which can be described at best as devious..every word used and every nuance was so important..."
On Monday 5th December 1921 - the day before the Treaty of Surrender was signed - the then British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, announced to the Irish side in the negotiations that he had written two letters, one of which would now be sent to his people in Ireland ; one letter told of a peaceful outcome to the negotiations, the other told of a breakdown in the negotiations - Lloyd George stated that if he sent the latter one "it is war, and war within three days. Which letter am I to send?"
(Years later, the Minutes of a British Cabinet meeting at which the 'Treaty' was discussed were released, and they showed that the majority of British politicians at the meeting "generally agree" that "the rough treatment to which the Irish extremists had been subjected during the past twelve months... had brought home to the (IRA) men in the field the need for some equitable compromise..." [UK National Archives, CAB 23/27/17]. Those people were also of the opinion "that a Boundary Commission would possibly give Ulster [sic] more than she would lose..")
That 'war letter' meeting took place on the afternoon of Monday 5th December 1921 ; at around 7pm that same evening, the Irish team left the Downing Street meeting to discuss the matter between themselves and returned to Downing Street later that night.
At ten minutes past two on the morning of Tuesday 6th December 1921 - 102 years ago on this date - Michael Collins and his team accepted 'dominion status' and an Oath which gave allegiance to the Irish Free State and fidelity to the British Crown - the Treaty was signed (and it should be noted that Collins and his team did not consult the [32-County] Dáil, the institution on whose behalf they were acting, before they signed it. Also, Mr Collins took the time to write to Kitty Kiernan saying that he did not get to bed until five o'clock that morning. He added - "I don’t know how things will go now but with God's help we have brought peace to this land of ours – a peace which will end this old strife of ours forever." He was wrong about it bringing peace, but was soon to catch up on his sleep. Also, when Mr Arthur Griffith got back to Dublin after his meetings in London, one of his first acts was to organise various meetings with 'representatives of the Southern unionists' [ie anti-republican elements in the country] to guarantee that "their interests would be safeguarded" in his new Free State!) :
On the 16th December (1921), the British so-called 'House of Commons' (by a vote of 401 for and 58 against) and its 'House of Lords' (166 for, 47 against) ascribed 'legitimacy' to the new State and, on the 7th January 1922, the political institution in Leinster House voted to accept it, leading to a walk-out by then-principled members who, in effect, were refusing to assist in the setting-up of a British-sponsored 'parliament' in the newly-created Irish Free State.
Mr Éamon de Valera was reportedly very annoyed when he heard that the 'Treaty' had been signed without his final consent but, later that same day, he dressed-up in his academic robes and, in his capacity as 'Chancellor of the National University of Ireland', he chaired an event to mark the anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri in 1321. Mr de Valera was later to fully enforce the structure and operation of that same 'Treaty'. Mr Alighieri was known to have penned some verses on 'hypocrisy'...
But, at an IRA convention on the 26th March (1922), at which 52 out of the 73 IRA Brigades were present - despite said gathering having been forbidden by the Leinster House institution (!) - the 'Treaty' was rejected and a statement issued deriding Leinster House for having betrayed the Irish republican ideal.
Within six months, a Civil War was raging in Ireland, between the British-supported Free Staters and Irish republicans who did not accept the 'Treaty' and that vicious fight continued until the 24th May 1923 when the IRA were ordered by their leadership to "..dump arms (as) further sacrifice on your part would now be in vain and the continuance of the struggle in arms unwise in the national interest...military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic.." , but, 'unofficially', Free Staters continued to exact revenge on republicans for some time afterwards and, indeed, are still doing so today, albeit in a different manner.
On the 11th July 1924, the Treaty was registered at the 'League of Nations' by the Free State authorities which, in our opinion, would have been the ideal occasion for a legal challenge to it, based on the fact that, when Michael Collins and his supporters were attempting to 'sell' it to their own side, they made a big deal of the 'Boundary Commission' clause and in particular the part of it which stated that the 'border' could be adjusted "in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants", which is precisely why Westminster 'took' only six of the nine Ulster counties - a built-in 'majority'.
Also, the British actually took it on themselves to amend the 1921 Treaty of Surrender to allow themselves (ie Westminster) to unilaterally appoint a representative to speak on behalf of the Stormont 'Parliament'.
That Boundary Commission clause ('Article 12') was not properly adhered to by the signatories of the 1921 Treaty thereby, legally, negating the Treaty itself but deep pockets would be required to take such an action.
And the only grouping in this State in a position to mount a challenge like that is the same (Free State) grouping which benefited then and continues to benefit today from that Clause and that which spawned it. For now they do, anyway...
(Incidentally, decades after the 'Treaty of Surrender' had been signed, the diary kept by a prominent British Army officer and politician, a 'Sir' Henry Wilson, was opened [after his death] and, in it, he had opined about that 'Treaty'- "The Agreement [sic] is complete surrender...a farcical oath of allegiance...withdrawal of our troops...a Rebel Army! The British Empire is doomed..."
If only it truly was, Mr Wilson. If only...)
'AMERICAN NOTES...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
The New York GAA have given the use of Gaelic Park for a field day in aid of the 'Prisoners Dependents Fund' on March 27th.
The president of the New York GAA, John Kerry O'Donnell, and the other officers of the New York Council, have given of their time to help plan the event, and preparations are also now nearing completion for the biggest Easter Commemoration that New York has had for years, and the 'Clan na Gael-IRA Veterans of America Inc' will direct the proceedings.
An active committee representative of many organisations in overseeing arrangements for the function to be held at the Pythian Temple, West 70th Street, New York, on Easter Sunday night : Barney Rooney is the General Chairman (sic)...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (6TH DECEMBER) 98 YEARS AGO : A 'CON' ARTIST IS BORN!
Con Houlihan, pictured, a sports writer who sometimes strayed into other subjects, was born on this date - 6th December - in 1925, 98 years ago on this date.
One of those 'other subjects' that Mr Houlihan occasionally visited was politics (he was a Fine Gael supporter, it seems) which prompted us to post a piece on this blog a few years ago in connection with a highly coloured article (!) that the man wrote after he happened to share street-space with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh -
'Not so much (or at all, even) 'speaking ill of the dead' in this piece as highlighting the straws an 'artist' will clutch at when they attempt to stray onto another 'canvass'. And Mr. Houlihan was indeed an 'artist' when it came to discussing and dressing-up/colouring in matters of the field and had wonderful turns of phrase which he employed with great timing.
But he done himself no favours when he attempted to 'stray' on to the well-trodden anti-republican 'canvass', where he was not as sure-footed as he was 'on the field' - indeed, the only way he could sustain an 'away trip' of that nature was to use a straw man argument in the hope that those as unfamiliar with that particular 'turf' as he was would consider him to be as good a 'pol corr' as he was a sports writer.
The first fault with Mr. Houlihan's effort in this piece is that a radio station would not be played through the same loudspeakers on the same stage at the same time as an Irish republican was addressing an Irish republican gathering. It just wouldn't happen, simple as and, whilst some might dismiss this example as 'nit picking', it is from such 'little acorns' that mighty deceptions spring from.
It was a 'straw man' introduction that the author invented in order to 'colour' the gathering as "inflamed with hatred..indoctrinated by bigots in pubs and cafes or by mob orators..", before bringing in the standard 'Nazi' comparison.
All standard fare for any 'straw man' author - invent a 'connection' then rage against it. Mr. Houlihan got his answer days later from that particular "bigot (of a) mob orator" but the damage had been done : through deliberate misrepresentation, one anti-republican had 'confirmed' to others of that ilk just how right they were to despise Irish republicans and republicanism in general and, job done, Con parked his 'straw weapon' (in the back of the net, no doubt) to be (ab)used another day. Which he did, by the way - and often - but I'll not go into that here , as I have no desire to 'speak ill of the dead'..' (from here.)
Mr. Houlihan died on the 4th August, 2012, at 86 years of age. He was a fantastic sports writer, so I'm told (regular readers will know that I'm not big into sports or those that write about it etc) but I knew Ruairí, and I know how republicans carry themselves at rallies and protest marches etc and considered it fitting, and necessary, to repeat the above piece on the 'Con Almighty's' birthday.
IRELAND ON THE COUCH...
A Psychiatrist Writes.
'Magill' commissioned Professor Patricia Casey to compile an assessment of Irish society at what may emerge as the end of a period of unprecedented growth and change.
This is her report.
From 'Magill Magazine' Annual, 2002.
Further evidence for the ongoing role that Catholicism has in people's lives came from the study by Greally and Ward, published in late 2000, which surveyed 1,010 people in the Irish Republic (sic) as part of a larger, longitudinal European study.
The results are fascinating, not least because many of them are counter-intuitive and challenge the much-vaunted belief that the churches are empty and that our '20-somethings' have no interest in religion.
According to the results, Ireland is still the most religious country in Europe and there has been little change in weekly mass attendance during the 1990's, with the decline to the present level of 63 per cent occurring before the crop of clerical sexual scandals came to public attention.
The attitudes to the priests working in parishes at the coalface remain very positive, and the cohort now in their 20's have higher regard for these priests than any other age group, even when compared with their grandmothers born in the 1930's.
However, the institutional Church has suffered a serious decline in confidence since the last survey in 1991, with just 28 per cent having a great deal of confidence in the institutional Church...
(MORE LATER.)
6TH DECEMBER...
1919 :
IRA Volunteer Edward Malone, of Dunbrin, Athy, in County Kildare (a nephew of well-known cleric Reverend JJ Malone), was back in a British prison (Ship Street Barracks), having been in 'court' the previous day (5th December).
He had been charged with possession of 10 detonators, a document "likely to cause disaffection", a document "likely to prejudice discipline within the RIC" (!) and possession of a Winchester Rifle.
Volunteer Malone refused to recognise the 'court' but was sentenced anyway - to two years imprisonment with hard labour (but one year was remitted later).
==========
1919 :
John Charles Byrne (pictured) , aka 'Jack Jameson/Keith Prowse', a former British Army soldier who had been recruited into 'British Intelligence' by a Mr Basil Thomson of the London Metropolitan Police, arrived in Dublin on the 6th December, 1919, posing as a socialist theatre worker/musical instrument salesman, and let it be known that he could be helpful to the Irish republican Cause.
He was eventually put in contact with Michael Collins, who contacted one of his agents in London (Art O'Brien), who had supplied Mr Byrne with a cover note of introduction to Collins. The two men discussed the new 'benefactor', who had met with Collins twice and left an uneasy feeling behind him, on both occasions, with Collins and Squad members.
Mr Byrne was given false information by the IRA and, when that information was acted on by British operatives, the jig was up for the 'benefactor' : his body was found in Drumcondra, in Dublin, on the 7th March 1920.
'British Intelligence' later described him as "..the best Secret Service man we had...".
==========
1920 :
On the 6th December, 1920 (listed as 'October 1920' by some sources) as a Republican Court was in session in the village of Craggaknock, near Kilkee, in County Clare, armed and semi-uniformed men burst in to the building and stopped the proceedings.
The Black and Tans had arrived.
They were looking for one person in particular - an IRA man named William Shanahan (pictured) - they knew he had been there, but was no where to be found now.
But they wanted blood, so they opened-up on the unarmed civilians in the room, killing a local man, a Mr Thomas Curtin.
A local doctor stated that "the bullet had caused a wound about three to four and a half inches long. It had ripped up the skull, the coverings of the brain and the brain itself. The wound was about one inch wide. An ordinary rifle bullet was used, at about 500 yards range..."
==========
1920 :
On Monday, 6th December 1920, as Dublin Corporation was holding its monthly meeting in 'City Hall' in Dublin, British Auxiliaries stormed the venue, led by a Captain William King, and 'arrested' six elected political representatives - Michael Staines, Thomas Lawlor, Joseph Clarke, James V. Lawless, James Brennan and Michael Lynch.
Their intention was to disrupt Irish political life in Ireland, as they were aware that not all politicians supported 'the Crown'. They then "requisitioned" (under DORA 'legislation') the 'City Hall' building and another political institution, 'Municipal Buildings', for use by the British political and military forces.
==========
1920 :
On the 6th December, 1920, having been instructed by his betters (!) in Westminster to do so, British Army Lieutenant-General 'Sir' Henry Hugh Tudor ('KCB, CMG etc!') issued a notice to the British 'police force' in Ireland, the RIC, to, basically, 'calm down'.
That grouping, the RIC, had 'unofficially' been given carte blanche by Westminster to run riots in Ireland and terrorise the population, in order to 'restore and maintain law and order'. Britain's version of 'law and order', that is - the order was effective, for a few days, and then ignored. Westminster, too, ignored the fact that it had issued the order in the first place.
==========
1922 :
On the 6th December, 1922, Free State forces finally took over the town of Kenmare (pictured), in County Kerry.
The town had been held by the rebels (IRA) since September, 1922, and the Staters had tried, twice, to take it from them, but failed on both occasions. But, on the 6th December that year, the Leinster House Free State administration sent in three military columns of their armed forces to 'secure' the town, which they did, this time, and 'arrested' fourteen rebels in the process.
==========
1925 :
In order to 'legitimise the new Irish State in Northern Ireland' (sic) in the political eyes of the world, Westminster and its offspring in Leinster House needed to present the 'Stormont Government' (sic) in the Occupied Six Counties as 'an agreed positve advancement'.
So those three anti-republican, pro-British political institutions came up with a 'Tripartite Agreement' which all three would get on board with and sign off on.
In a speech in Dublin, Mr Éamon de Valera (playing the rebel) loudly objected, calling the 'Agreement' a "mediated crime" and described those in Leinster House as "Free Staters who had sold our countrymen for the meanest of all considerations – a money consideration..".
However, within two years, Mr de Valera and his followers had accepted political office in the Free State 'parliament' and Establishment...!
==========
BEIR BUA...
The Thread of the Irish Republican Movement from The United Irishmen through to today.
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.)
Republican Sinn Féin, likewise, follows in the traditions of Tone, Emmet, the Fenians and Pearse.
We accept the programme of previous generations of republicans - 'Ireland Free'. No compromising 'interim settlement' is acceptable.
"The task we take up again is just Emmet's task of silent unattractive work, the routine of correspondence and committees and organising. We must face it as bravely and as quietly as he faced it, working on in patience as he worked on, hoping as he hoped, cherishing in our secret hearts the mighty hope that to us, though so unworthy, it may be given to bring to accomplishment the thing he left unaccomplished, but working on even when that hope dies within us..." - Padraig Pearse.
The Union Creed Of The United Irishmen :
"I believe the land, or any part of it, cannot become the property of any man, but by purchase, or as rewards for forwarding and preserving the public liberty.
I believe our present connection with England must be speedily dissolved.
I believe that old age, pregnant women and labour should be honoured.
I believe that treason is the crime of betraying the people.
I believe religious distinctions are only protected by tyrants.
I believe applying the lands of the church to relieve old age, to give education and protection to infancy, will be more acceptable to a united people, than maintaining lazy hypocrites and ravenous tithe-gatherers.
In this faith I mean to live, or bravely die..."
(MORE LATER.)
Thanks for the visit, and for reading.
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (24TH MAY) 82 YEARS AGO : 'DRAFT RIOTS' AS WESTMINSTER PUSHES FOR CONSCRIPTION IN IRELAND.
In Ireland, in 1941, conscription was again being discussed in Westminster ; this time for the partitioned six north-eastern counties of Ireland.
It is recorded that, at a meeting between the then 'American Ambassador to Ireland' (sic - the Free State), a Mr. David Gray (who was said to be friendly with the British Ambassador to America, 'Lord' Halifax and Eamonn de Valera, which took place in January 1941, Gray rounded on de Valera "for capitalising on hatred of Great Britain for political reasons and so must take some responsibility for the existing popular state of mind..", by which he meant the Free State policy of so-called 'neutrality' and the then impending strong possibility of conscription by Westminster in the Six Occupied Counties, which de Valera and his State Administration were opposed to.
Grey stated that de Valera "began to talk about his rights. I told him that the only right that he and myself enjoyed was to believe in our religion, and be burned for it if need be. Every other right depended upon force to maintain it, and he was steering a very dangerous course if he thought otherwise.."
Although pro-British in his mindset, Gray recognised the reality of the then existing political situation in Ireland : on the 24th May, 1941 - 82 years ago on this date - he sent a wire-cable (like a 'text message', for our younger readers!) to the American Secretary of State, stating - "Opposition leaders yesterday informed me that conscription without a conscientious objectors escape clause for minority Catholic nationalists will constitute a major irretrievable and probably fatal political blunder at this time and play directly into de Valera's hands with grave possibilities for American interests.
They [the opposition leaders] predict draft riots, the escape of draft dodgers to Southern Ireland who will be acclaimed as hero martyrs by three-quarters of the population and the fomenting of trouble by republicans and fifth columnists.
The clearest-headed leader predicts that de Valera will seize the opportunity to escape from economic and political realities by proclaiming himself the leader of the oppressed minority and with the blessings of the Cardinal will rouse anti-British feeling and call a Holy War. I think it a very likely prediction. All classes of opinion here unite in condemning the move as calamitous.
It appears to be a repetition of the same fatal blunder made during the last war. The weak and failing Ulster [sic] Government is probably seeking to sustain itself by provoking a crisis. Unless Great Britain is prepared from a military point of view to seize the whole country it appears to be madness. So little can be gained and so much lost.
Eighty thousand Irish Volunteers in the British Army will be disaffected, there will be no material number of nationalist conscripts, a government, a popular majority and an army inclined to be friendly to Great Britain rather than to the Axis will become definitely hostile, possibly giving active aid to Germany and most important of all the pro-British opposition will be helpless and the opportunity for dividing the country on the question of the ports will be lost for the duration. The effect on Irish-American opinion at this juncture is not for me to estimate. This is a grave situation."
Shortly afterwards, Churchill wrote -"..the (British) Cabinet is inclined to the view it would be more trouble than it's worth to go through with conscription. No immediate decision will be taken and in the meantime the less made of the affair the better."
As usual, it took the threat of force, or force itself, before the British realised that there would be a consequence to their action.
And it still takes that threat today.
ON THIS DATE (24TH MAY) 100 YEARS AGO : IRA ORDERED TO 'DUMP ARMS'.
"To All Ranks : Comrades - The arms with which we have fought the enemies of our country are to be dumped. The foreign and domestic enemies of the Republic have for the moment prevailed" - 'Dump Arms' order issued by the then newly-appointed IRA Chief of Staff Frank Aiken (pictured), on Thursday, 24th May 1923 : 100 years ago on this date.
"Further sacrifice on your part would now be in vain and the continuance of the struggle in arms unwise in the national interest. Military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment, with those who have destroyed the Republic. You have saved the nation's honour, preserved the sacred national tradition, and kept open the road of independence" - an echo of the above 'Dump Arms' order to the IRA, issued on the same date [24th May 1923] by Éamon de Valera (pictured).
Yet, three years later, that same man actually joined those "who have destroyed the Republic" when, in March 1926, following an extraordinary meeting of the then Sinn Féin organisation, he resigned as leader and, splitting the Movement, brought others with him in forming (on the 23rd March 1926) "a new national movement" - Fianna Fáil.
He and the other defectors stated that they had no option except to leave the Movement after their Ard Fheis motion calling for elected Sinn Féin members to be allowed to take their seats in the Free State parliament (Leinster House), if and when the controversial 'Oath of Allegiance' was removed, was defeated in a vote.
'He was born in New York on the 14th of October in 1882 to Catherine Coll (a young Irish immigrant from County Limerick) and Juan Vivion DeValera, an immigrant of Spanish origin. Little is known of his early childhood except that his family moved from America in 1885 to Ireland where the young Éamon studied at Blackrock College in Dublin and was largely reared by his Grandmother.
He studied languages and mathematics and was, like Michael Collins, a student of English Rule in Ireland. The early 1900's was a time of the great Gaelic cultural revival in Ireland as literature, drama, sport and the language of the Gaelic nation were all revived. The main spearhead of the revival was The Gaelic League which he joined in 1908. He was greatly influenced by the League and learned the Irish language whilst immersing himself in the Gaelic culture.
The Gaelic League was an obvious recruiting ground for the various revolutionary organisations of the time and it was not long before de Valera became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was second in command to Thomas MacDonagh of the Dublin Brigade during the Easter Rising of 1916. The Rising failed and the seven leaders, MacDonagh and Pearse among them, were executed, along with 9 other rebels. de Valera was also sentenced to death as an organiser of the revolt but was to escape the firing squad because of the confusion surrounding his ancestry (the English authorities did not want to risk the execution of an American citizen)..'(from here).
New York-born Éamon de Valera died at 92 years of age in Blackrock, Dublin, in 1975, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. His 'Dump Arms' colleague, Frank Aiken, also died in Blackrock, Dublin, eight years after de Valera (1983), aged 85 ; 'From an adolescent farmer to a local Sinn Fein activist and provincial guerrilla leader, and eventually to chief-of-staff of the IRA, Frank Aiken has an early, hidden history. As with so many of his political generation, Aiken's path to politics began amid the violent upheaval of the Irish revolution..' (from here).
On the 20th April 1923, Frank Aiken was elected as Chief of Staff for the IRA and almost had his tenure brought to an end within two days : on the 22nd of that month, Aiken was holed up in a so-called 'safe house' in Castlebellingham in County Louth with the Quinn brothers, Pádraig and Séan.
The three men were part of the leadership of the IRA's 'Fourth Northern Division' (Frank Aiken was commander of that unit, Pádraig was the quartermaster general and Séan was adjutant general) and, as such, were high on the Free Staters 'Most Wanted' list.
The 'safe house' was surrounded (on the 22nd) by Free State forces and a firefight ensued, during which both Quinn brothers were wounded (Séan died from his wounds, and Pádraig was captured) but, in the melee and confusion of the action, Frank Aiken managed to escape. Three short years later, however, he left Sinn Féin and, working alongside (colluding with, to be more apt) Seán Lemass, Gerry Boland and Countess Markievicz, established a political party - Fianna Fail.
The Republican Movement continued its struggle against the British military and political presence in Ireland and found itself having to do battle, too, with Frank Aiken and his fellow Free Staters who, in their attempts to present the Free State as 'a normal society' rather than that which it was (and, indeed, still is today) - a corrupt and bastardised political entity - tried to control the news of the day :
'Censorship was under the charge of the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures, Frank Aiken. It was necessary to prevent publication of matter that might undermine the neutrality of the State and to prevent it becoming a clearing house for foreign intelligence, though over the period of the Emergency, the Act started to be used for more party political purposes such as preventing the publication of the numbers of Irish soldiers serving in the United Kingdom armed forces or industrial disputes within the state. In addition, the information made available to Irish people was also carefully controlled...' (from here).
As the Free State 'Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures' (as he was from 1939 to 1945), Frank Aiken could (and did) 'authorise and provide for the censorship, restriction, control, or partial or complete suspension of communication' - in other words, he propagandised for Free Statism on behalf of Westminster and, as such - like his Fianna Fail/Free State colleagues - was seen as a persona non grata by the IRA.
Indeed, when his old IRA 'boss', Paddy Rankin, died in 1964, Frank Aiken made the journey from Dublin to Newry to attend the funeral and was told in no uncertain terms when he got there that it was an IRA-organised funeral and his presence might not be appreciated by all concerned. It was recorded at the time that, following that conversation, "..Mr Aiken made a quick retreat up the Dublin Road..".
Free Staters, and the Free State entity itself and the mentality that they and it support and represent, has 'dug in', politically, since de Valera and Aiken, among others, nurtured it into life, and its 'retreat' will not be quick but, for the sake of those of us who respect this country, it has to happen.
And the sooner, the better.
'MUTUAL GOODWILL...!'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Surely it is not difficult to understand that if England at any time in the past 800 years wished to demonstrate her goodwill that the first act would have been to withdraw her armed force.
The slave and moral coward will speak of concessions that followed negotiations, but a little reflection will show how almost all 'negotiations' were conducted immediately after or during an armed insurrection and that virtually all concessions were mere bribes to defeat or detract from the physical force movement.
As for any unrequested gifts that England may have offered - Timeo Danaos et Dona Ferentes - we usually paid dearly for them afterwards.
(END of 'Mutual Goodwill' ; NEXT - 'Resurgent Ulster ; Northern Speakers Address Dublin Meeting', from the same source.)
(1) ON THIS DATE (24TH MAY) 102 YEARS AGO : FIRST ELECTION TO A PARTITIONIST ASSEMBLY HELD IN IRELAND.
'The first election to a devolved legislature in Northern Ireland (sic) took place on 24 May 1921*. A record-breaking turnout delivered 40 Unionist seats in the Northern Ireland’s new House of Commons, with Sinn Féin in second place. At a time of political uncertainty, when the future status (or even location) of the Border was not yet established, the election was a crucial moment in the construction of Northern Ireland's (sic) political infrastructure for the next half-century and more...' (from 'The Irish Times' newspaper, here / *under the terms of the British 1920 'Government of Ireland Act' ie two 'Home Rule Parliaments' for Ireland)
And, today - 102 years later - that institution is still there, still funded by Westminster and, as 'he who pays the piper calls the tune', still doing the bidding of the British political establishment.
Irish republicans are abstentionist in relation to the Stormont institution and the Leinster House assembly in Dublin (and the parent body in Westminster), as both of those 'parliaments' were put in place by acts of, and to the advantage of, Westminster.
Neither 'House' can be of any use in regards to Irish reunification, as both accommodate advocates of the continued partition of this country, regardless of what they may say or put in writing ; as with all career politicians, you have to watch what they do as opposed to what they say.
'THOUGH THE HEAVENS MAY FALL...'
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
Dr Moira Woods (pictured).
Following the election of a new 'Fitness To Practice Committee', the inquiry eventually began on 4th October 2000 and concluded, after 43 days of hearings, in May of this year. The complainants were later informed that the 'Fitness To Practice Committee' had concluded its deliberations on 27th July, and that a report was being typed up.
In recent weeks, having heard nothing further, the complainant families have written to the Medical Council seeking a time-frame for information concerning the outcome of the deliberations of the 'Fitness to Practice Committee' and sight of the report on the inquiry.
The complainants have been told informally that they will not be informed of the verdict or given information concerning the deliberations of the 'Fitness to Practice Committee', and that they are not entitled to sight of the report.
Dr. Woods, they have been told, will receive a copy of the report...
(MORE LATER.)
(2) ON THIS DATE (MAY 24TH) 102 YEARS AGO : "ALMOST AN IMPOSSIBILITY" TO DEFEAT THE IRA - BRITISH ARMY GENERAL.On the 24th May 1921 - 102 years ago on this date - British Army General 'Sir' Nevil Macready (pictured) wrote a memorandum to the British Cabinet in which he stated that a full military victory against the guerrilla forces of the IRA was almost an impossibility ; he suggested the introduction of total martial law, the suppression of all newspapers, the licensing of all public traffic on the roads, identity cards and the suppression of any Irish republican parliament!
A proper Gentleman, by all accounts...
However, Macready's political masters in Westminster let it be known that, in their opinion, 'such measures were too extreme' ; in reality, however, there was one over-riding reason why such an order would not be issued to General Macready - Westminster was already voicing its opinion, diplomatically, to as wide an audience as it could get to, that the 'behind-the-scenes' talk about a 'Truce' was the 'answer' to the 'Irish Question' : Westminster was not worried about being too harsh on the Irish - if Macready's demands were met, the British 'spin' would be blown apart and questions would be asked as to why such measures were needed when the issue had been, as Westminster was insinuating, practically settled.
Macready's 'wish list', if implemented, would have led to a fresh wave of American support for the IRA, and the British politicians in Westminster knew it.
British 'King' George V, Lloyd George and General Smuts had sent-out 'peace signals' to the IRA and those they perceived to be its political leaders or representatives - among those 'come-hither' advances was this beauty of political hypocrisy, delivered in Belfast on the 22nd June (1921) by British 'King' George V, who was in Belfast to open the new 'Home Rule Parliament' at Stormont -
"I speak from a full heart when I pray that my coming to Ireland ('1169' comment - yes, he was in Belfast, Ireland...!) today may prove to be the first step towards an end of strife among her peoples, whatever their race or creed.
In that hope, I appeal to all Irishmen to pause, to stretch out the hand of forebearance and conciliation, to forgive and forget and to join in making for the land which they love a new era of peace, contentment and goodwill."
Blaming the Irish for the situation, but willing to forgive us for trying to defend ourselves. The 'king' should have stuck to collecting stamps, and more's the pity he wasn't introduced to his doctor sooner than he was...
However - those 'peace signals' bore fruit - a message from Richard Mulcahy, IRA Chief of Staff was circulated to all active personnel - "In view of the conversations now being entered into by our Government with the Government of Great Britain, and in pursuance of mutual conversations, active operations by our forces will be suspended as from noon, Monday, 11 July..."
Then, in London, on the 6th December that year (1921), the 'Treaty of Surrender' was signed, bringing this cursed Free State into being and succeeding only in 'kicking the can down the road' - to this day, Westminster continues to claim jurisdictional control over part of Ireland, a claim enforced politically and militarily.
We have had other 'Treaty's ' since then : 1973 (Sunningdale), 1985 (Hillsborough) and 1998 (Stormont) - and no doubt we will suffer more of them in the future. But until such time as any offered treaty contains a date for British military and political withdrawal from Ireland, it will not 'solve the Irish problem' ; Irish republicans have not endured an 854-years long struggle for freedom only to now say to Westminster, as those in the Free State 'parliament', and system, have said - 'Stay if you want, just treat us better'.
WAITING TO FALL.
If this year sees the end of the 'Age of Tribunals', it won't be a moment too soon.
By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
A good start for any Irish opposition party seeking popular support - at least up until about four months ago - would have been to issue the crie de couer - 'First kill all the lawyers.'
The 'Moriarty Tribunal' looked as if it had disappeared to the legal equivalent of Tír Na nÓg and the 'Flood Tribunal' appeared to be enjoying the quaint slumber of the lost souls in limbo.
The situation was so grave that some cheeps of dissent were even heard in 'The Irish Times' - now there's a rare sound - though the fretfull noises emanating from Michael McDowell were rather more significant within the new political context - 'Where McDowell goes, Fianna Fail follows'.
Then the miracle occurred ; just as the waves began lapping above the knees of our 'Tribunal Canutes', the tide was swept back by the Flood Tribunal interim report...
(MORE LATER.)
Thanks for the visit, and for reading,
Sharon and the team.
AN APOLOGY TO OLIVER HOYLE, WILLIAM BURKE AND CHRISTOPHER BYRNE.
When Ireland called forth her true sons of the heather,
O'Boyle was the foremost to answer the call,
The sons of the Rosses he banded together,
To drive the oppressor from dark Donegal.
'Neil O ‘Boyle was born, on a small farm, at Leac Eineach near Burtonport, County Donegal in 1898. It was here in the Breac Ghaeltact area of the Rosses that the young Boyle's character was formed and his determination strengthened. According to his schoolmates he was tall for his age, lanky and silent. Not overly particular about his appearance, he always appeared to have something on his mind. He had a look in his eye "as if he was going to do something".
They led young Michael Barrett to the scaffold at Newgate,
He was indeed a Fenian but they blamed him in the wrong,
They had to have a scapegoat and Michael was the one.
He came from north Fermanagh near the county Donegal,
And he had lived through the hunger, Michael seen it all,
He went away to Glasgow like so many from this land,
There he joined up with the Fenian’s to help free Ireland...' (from here.)
Michael Barrett, Bold Fenian Man ; 1841 - 26th May 1868.
NO RIGHT OF APPEAL...
Why the media consensus on a broad range of issues is increasingly disturbing. By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
The real problem with Cardinal Connell is that our liberal elite don't like his views on morality ; unfortunately, you will observe, the Cardinal is not a great believer in moral equivalence. He tells it in black and white.
"Oh, right then..." sez the plain people of Ireland, "...a bit like Mary Ellen Synon, is he? Oh, he's fair game, so.."
('1169' comment - ironic that the author should seek to claim that Ms Synon is a 'black and white person', as her support for, among her many other oddities, the Ku Klux Klan, is well known.)
Note to the plain people of Ireland : this is not you talking, but rather the mythical, spectral 'plain people of Ireland' who jostle raucously in the corner of every Dublin newsroom. So be quiet and listen - the good Cardinal's first faux pas occurred after a function organised by the Taoiseach to celebrate Mr Connell's elevation to the position of Cardinal. Bertie respected his guest so much he brought his mistress...our apologises... - partner - along to the festivities. Not a problem, perhaps.
Even the Cardinal was prepared to turn a blind eye until he received his invite in which he was graciously invited by the happy couple. This was a ridiculous mistake which absolutely did not have to happen, and placed a senior churchman in an unforgivably difficult position... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (26TH MAY) 124 YEARS AGO - BIRTH OF AN ANTI-TREATY IRA COMMANDER.
On the 26th May, 1897 - 124 years ago on this date - Ernie O' Malley, fighter and author
(Earnán Ó Maille, pictured, in 1921, in Dublin Castle, during his 'arrest' - he was using the alias 'Bernard Stuart'), was born in Castlebar, in County Mayo.
On August 10th and 11th, 1924, the remaining original members of the pre-Civil War Irish Republican Army Executive (that is those of them who had opposed and fought against the Treaty of Surrender in 1921), together with the co-opted members of the Executive during the Civil War (about 26 people in all), met secretly to review the past and decide policy for the future.
Ernie O' Malley was voted on the 'Sub-Commission Committee to the Executive for Emergency Consultative Purposes', and it was he who proposed the following motion, at this first post-Civil War general meeting of the Executive : 'That Volunteers be instructed not to recognise Free State and Six County Courts when charged with any authorised acts committed during the War or for any political acts committed since, nor can they employ legal defence except charged with an act liable to the death penalty.' This motion was passed unanimously, and that refusal to recognise those courts in one way or another lasted until the 1970's.
An important theme of his books is the treatment of republican prisoners , who were even then denied prisoner-of-war status : a concern for all IRA men unaccepted as political prisoners or prisoners-of-war, and all his life he supported their lonely cause. He himself had taken part in the mass hunger-strike of October/November 1923, although medically exempted and suffering intense pain from old wounds and bed sores, for the length of its 41 days and being one of the four in Kilmainham Jail who had wanted to continue.
While in exile in America, Ernie O' Malley's diaries showed support for the republican prisoners in the Free State, of whom he wrote - " ...who are there for the very same reason that the men we read of and revere were imprisoned ." Back in Ireland, at a meeting in 1939 of the Irish Academy of Letters, he voted in favour of Peadar O' Donnell's motion that a concert be organised to support dependants of IRA prisoners - not surprisingly the motion was rejected. His was the drama and sacrifice of a really doctrinaire republican - a very brave man, at once ruthless and sensitive, whose contrasting traits of character are well revealed in his autobiographical writings. He was very nearly killed in November 1922 when Free State troops besieged his headquarters, ensuring ill health that affected him for the rest of his life and very likely resulted in his comparatively early death, aged 57.
But while not shirking the possibility of death in action, he fought for military victory, and for a time believed that it was possible. An old Ulster proverb says it is easy to sleep on another man's wound : there are many in Ireland today who rest cruelly or carelessly on the hardships and sufferings of brave men and women who fought and still fight for their country's freedom. The only books Ernie O' Malley wrote were about the Irish wars and it is in those that he should be most remembered.
Ernie O' Malley's book 'On Another Man's Wound' records the war against the British forces from 1916 until the calling of the 'Truce' in July 1921 and is told by one who volunteered for Oglaigh na hEireann in 1917 and by 1921 was Officer Commanding of the 2nd Southern Division and, later, Assistant Chief of Staff in the Civil War. It is an exciting read, always enthralling, beautifully written, and far and away the best of the Tan War books.
Ernie O' Malley was brave and energetic in his total dedication to the Republic as proclaimed in Easter Week 1916 : his personal adventures, dramatic and varied, are an integral part of the wider significances of the national struggle. Unlike some of his companions who later called themselves 'the Old IRA' or 'the Neutral IRA', he did not change his republican beliefs - indeed, he recognised that some Irish have always helped in the conquest (those people and groups are what we on this blog refer to as 'service providers' ; they can be found everywhere, in all walks of life, and cohabit with each other in the posh halls and corridors of Leinster House and Stormont, to name but two such venues).
During the 'National Emergency' years of World War Two, de Valera himself was very keen to have so famous a fighter as Ernie O' Malley join the Free State army and pressure was put on him to follow many renowned republicans into its ranks . O' Malley asked - "Would I have to inform on my former comrades and work against them? But of course! Join? Certainly not!" And that was that. Indeed, only a month or so before his last illness he was writing in his diary - "I can never see a peeler without feeling uneasy.."
Hopefully, Ernie O' Malley's books should fire the imagination of a new generation of Irish republicans. In so many ways 'On Another Man's Wound' relates to what is happening today between the British and Irish nations. It is tragic that his wartime experiences should remain so pertinent but, nevertheless, those experiences are a source of guidance and encouragement to those who continue the struggle today. That book is one to convert the unbeliever and to inform the ignorant, just as Ernie O' Malley himself turned to republicanism at Easter 1916 when as a young medical student he witnessed Padraig Pearse reading the Proclamation outside the GPO in Dublin and then followed the subsequent events of the Rising.
His well-to-do family never discussed national politics at home - his elder brother was an officer in the British Army and died in that service, but Ernie devoted the best years of his life to the fight for the Irish Republic, so that in 1923 the Sinn Féin news-sheets claimed that he had '..perhaps the greatest individual record during the Tan War and was one of the bravest soldiers who ever fought for the independence of Ireland.' He wanted to show the struggle of a mainly unarmed people against the might of an 'empire' and his book pays constant tribute to the heroism of a risen people.
He was famed for his own courage, although like the truly brave he freely admitted to feelings of fear and inadequacy. Undeterred by mass condemnations from the British and their Irish allies, by newspapers and professional politicians and by the Catholic Hierarchy, between 1919 and 1921 the Irish Republican Army waged a war that also involved shooting 'policemen', executing British Officers, burning buildings, punishing spies and informers - in short, all those actions which Westminster and Leinster House vie with each other in condemning today. And Ernie O' Malley was very active in all such actions.
Ernie O' Malley was very active in attacks on British Army barracks, ambushes, raids and always in organisation and leadership crucial for the building of a people's army. He fought the Auxiliaries, an elite group of ex-BA officers attached to the RIC - a sort of 1920 SAS. He admitted that the RIC had "the guts to stick it out" but insisted "we can't admire Irishmen who fight for foreigners against us." His books are still useful handbooks for contemporary guerrillas.
A significant section of 'On Another Man's Wound' concerns his eventual capture by British forces in Inistioge, County Kilkenny, on 9th December 1920 (a notebook found on him had the names of all the members of the 7th Battalion IRA (Callan) of the West Kilkenny brigade - many of whom were subsequently arrested) and the torture and imprisonment he underwent at the hands of the British Army, including his interrogation ordeal in Dublin Castle, the 'Castlereagh of the Tan War'. Threatened with hanging for an action he did not commit, in the midst of brutal questioning, Ernie O' Malley replied - "With us hanging is no disgrace." It is a revealing line, and one which puzzled his British torturers, who never will understand the mentality, motivation and moral strength of their opponents.
The prison chapters of his books illustrate how he and his comrades defied the prison system and bewildered their guards who, as O' Malley stated, "..had been told that we were murderers. That meant an image from a Sunday newspaper - twitching hands and furtive walk, or sullen hardness. They heard us laugh and sing, rag and annoy each other, joke and refuse to take prison regulations seriously.." But he pays tribute, too, to those who showed humanity to prisoners, which makes his verdicts on the others and on the British caste system all the more convincing.
After an historic escape from Kilmainham Jail on the 14th February 1921, Ernie O' Malley returned to the Martial Law areas and an intensified war campaign, until he was first baffled, then broken-hearted by the truce called in July 1921. One of the grimmest incidents had taken place one month previously, when Ernie O' Malley, as Officer Commanding of the IRA Division involved, had taken it upon himself to execute three captured British Army officers because "..any officers we capture in this area are to be shot until such time as you cease shooting your prisoners.."
He wanted the Irish Republican Army to have status abroad, rather than be hidden behind the image of a suffering colonial people. As he bluntly put it to his affronted superiors later in 1921 - "We (the IRA) had never consulted the feelings of the people. If so, we would never have fired a shot. If we gave them a good strong lead, they would follow." If his books were required reading in schools and universities, instead of the shoneen or revisionist or simply non-existent versions of modern Irish history, then the people of Ireland would be better prepared to achieve a true independence. As Ernie O' Malley wrote of the best of the IRA recruits, in words that typify his own unyielding spirit - "At times one came across a man who had been born free. There was no explaining it. One just accepted and thanked God in wonder!"
Ernie O' Malley's two books are best read together : it is in 'The Singing Flame' that the British faces fade and are replaced by Irish counterparts and the high noon of summer darkens to the Mulcahy/Cosgrave years. Of course 'The Singing Flame' is partisan ; one intended by its author as support for the republican tradition - with the 'cult' of 1916 transformed into the 'cult' of 1922, where the Four Courts of Dublin stands in place of the GPO. It is also an exciting story, full of incidents and answering some questions that had been posed for half a century ; relating his Civil War days as Assistant Chief of Staff in Dublin where he commanded future Fianna Fail ministers like Sean Lemass and Tom Derrig, while leading a hunted existence in a city resembling Belfast of the 1970's.
The second of the books also has clear lessons for today, containing many parallels and the same abuse and falsified arguments used against the republicans then as now. In the early days of the Civil War, Ernie O' Malley and his IRA Company heard a priest at Mass denounce them as looters and murderers : "The Hand of God was against us.." , according to the priest, he said. His officers wanted to walk out, but he motioned them to remain ; "If we were going to be insulted when we could not hit back, we might as well be dignified. It was good to get out in the fresh air again."
He could have accepted power and privilege under the Free State but he remained faithful to the Republic and rejected both the 1921 Treaty and de Valera's alternative Document No. 2. He told a Free State general, J.J. 'Ginger' O' Connell, at the time of the Treaty debates - "You'll have to fight in our area if you are false to your oath. That's where you'll meet with immediate and terrible war."The irony was pointed : Lloyd George had threatened an "immediate and terrible war" if the Treaty was not accepted.
True to his word, when the 1921 Treaty was ratified, Ernie O' Malley's Second Southern Division IRA was the first to renounce its allegiance to both IRA GHQ and Dail Eireann : in the war against the Staters, Ernie O' Malley was (Acting) Assistant Chief of Staff to Liam Lynch and was also Officer Commanding of the Ulster and Leinster Commands. Liam Lynch was in the South/Cork area while Ernie O' Malley remained based in the enemy's stronghold of Dublin. He wrote of waging a guerrilla warfare that, this time, for him, was urban based rather than rural and, when asked by a journalist why the IRA were still fighting, he replied : "I think they think they're fighting for a younger generation." Ernie O' Malley was 24 years of age at that time.
He himself knew that he was fighting imperialists, both British and Irish varieties, and believed that the Free State Cabinet and a few Catholic bishops should not be immune from the war. He also recognised and acknowledged the great support given to the republican cause by Cumann na mBan and other Irish republican women, and one feature of his books is the courage, strength and involvement of such women. As he wrote - "During the Tan War the girls had always helped but they had never sufficient status. Now they were our comrades, loyal, willing and incorruptible comrades. Indefatigable, they put the men to shame by their individual zeal and initiative."
His book 'The Singing Flame' reveals much of Free State treachery and covers inside stories of the critical months before the IRA attack on the Four Courts began, and he paints a vivid picture of the war. But perhaps the most important pages are the prison chapters, detailing the scenes of prison life in Portobello Barracks, in Mountjoy, in Kilmainham Jail and in the Curragh internment camps, highlighting the deaths of comrades and the hunger-strike. Despite his wounds (hit over 20 times by Free State gunfire), the threats of execution, and a wasting sickness worsened by forty-one days on hunger-strike, Ernie O' Malley was a leading challenge to "..the petty automatons that help to keep one captive..". Some of his most inspiring passages in 'The Singing Flame' concern that 'other war' that prisoners fought : in jail.
Then as now, Irish republican prisoners fought against criminalisation and for prisoner-of-war status : as Ernie O' Malley wrote - "Free men cannot be kept in jail, for their spirits are free. In our code, it is the duty of prisoners to prove that they cannot be influenced by their surroundings. Make the enemy feel a jailer but be free yourself." An appendix of prison letters documents that spirit of defiance. Not surprisingly, O' Malley was the last republican leader to be released from the Curragh in July 1924, although he had been confined to bed with his many wounds for most of his imprisonment : despite medical operations, he carried in his body five bullets to the grave.
When 'The Singing Flame' was published in 1978, twenty-one years after his death, the chief political book reviewer of 'The Irish Times' newspaper saw Ernie O' Malley as "..the unrepentant Fenian and perhaps even as the very first Provisional.." ('1169' comment : we disagree - O' Malley fought against the Free Staters and Westminster, he didn't administer political or military 'control' on their behalf.) Ernie O' Malley was one of the bravest, most idealistic, most dedicated and determined of socialist republican fighters, ruthless against imperialism, but chivalrous in war.
On the 30th June 1922, Ernie O' Malley, as Officer Commanding of his IRA Garrison, most unwillingly surrendered the destroyed Four Courts in Dublin : when Free State officers accused him of deliberately causing the fire and the great explosion that had wrecked the building, he denied that republicans had set off a mine - "It was the spirit of freedom lighting a torch. I'm glad she played her part." Two years before he died he wrote - "The spirit of freedom is immeasurable and its strength can suddenly increase in unexpected ways."
The time will come when through that Spirit of Freedom the Irish Republic will not just be realised in the mind, and then the epitaphs of those like Ernie O' Malley and Bobby Sands and Francis Hughes can indeed, together with that of Robert Emmet, be truly written, as part of a living tradition.
(This is an edited version of an article we first posted here in 2008.)
'FORCE : MORAL OR PHYSICAL...?'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
Out of O'Connell's moral force was begotten the 'Irish Parliamentary Party' ; out of the 'Young Ireland' movement was begotten the Republican Brotherhood and the Rising of 1916.
Britain, by ruthlessness and intrigue, crushed the flowering of freedom and imposed by force - the threat of immediate and terrible war - the partition of our country and the disunity of our people.
We do not doubt the sincerity of Mr. Cosgrave and his colleagues when they advocate the use of "moral pressure". We do not doubt the sincerity of any Irishman who advocates policies different from ours. But we do doubt their wisdom. In the face of present-day realities, in the face of our history and our traditions, there can be only one wise national policy - to break the connection with England, and be prepared to meet British force with Irish force when necessary.
(END of 'Force : Moral or Physical?' ; NEXT - 'Talk, Force and Politicians', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE - 26TH MAY - IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS :
On the 26th May 1798 – United Irishman Rebellion : The rebels are defeated at Tara Hill ; this marks the end of the rebellion in Co Meath. Rebellion begins in Co Wexford. Fr John Murphy and local people confront the Camolin yeomanry at The Harrow. Thomas Bookey, Lieutenant of the yeomanry, is killed.
On the 26th May 1919 – Members of (the 32-County) Dáil Éireann sent a statement concerning 'Ireland’s Case for Independence' to the Paris Peace Conference.
On the 26th May 1919 – Capture and destruction at Ticknock, Co Dublin of military field kitchen and 2 mules in the charge of 2 unarmed soldiers, by members of the 3rd Battalion Dublin Brigade IRA.
On the 26th May 1921 – Attack on Naval base and wireless station Dún Laoghaire. When the attack was in progress one hour, a (British) armoured car leading a party of troops from the naval base advanced up Marine road. Another party from the wireless station proceeded from Clarence St. Both patrols were attacked on the way and shortly after capturing Georges St. they (British patrols) clashed and opened fire on each other. They suffered some killed and 5 wounded before they realised their mistake.
On the 26th May 1954 – Birth of Mickey Devine, a volunteer of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) who died on the 1981 hunger strike.
THE ACTRESS AND THE IRA MAN.On the 26th May 1979 – Death of actor, George Brent (pictured, with Bette Davis). Born in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, during the Irish War of Independence, Brent was part of the IRA. He fled Ireland with a bounty set on his head by the British government, although he later claimed only to have been a courier for guerrilla leader and tactician Michael Collins. He eventually moved to Hollywood, and made his first film in 1930. Highly regarded by Bette Davis, he became her most frequent male co-star, appearing with her in 13 films :
'...(she) wrote about Brent as a courier for Collins, but also about his second job as Collins' doppelganger. "In Dublin," she wrote, '..his most convincing double was a young actor George Brendan Nolan. A tall, well-built young man that fit Collins’s official description, Nolan was interested in the stage but was also a full member of the Fianna Éireann. For many months he played the dangerous but successful role of stand-in for Ireland’s most wanted man. He would conspicuously attend a public meeting or event as a 'Big Fella' in expensive suits and, since the (British) authorities were never quite sure what Collins looked like, they would follow him, thereby leaving the real leader free to go about his business.
Then, suddenly, in 1920, Brent disappeared. "Dublin Castle issued a warrant for Nolan’s arrest that charged him with treason against the state, a crime punishable by execution, Collins’s spies immediately informed the leader who thus arranged Nolan’s urgent, secret escape out of Cobh harbor in County Cork. As the Black and Tans thundered through the quiet village of Watergrasshill, just 12 miles away, bent on arresting Nolan, he was already bound for New York and a new life. They had missed their quarry by only a few hours..." (from here.)
'George Brent' was born George Patrick Nolan, in Galway, on the 15th March 1904 ; he died in Solana Beach, in California, on the 26th of May, 1979, 42 years ago on this date.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
