On the 4th August, 1919, at about 11.15pm, two RIC members - a Mr John Riordan (48) and a Mr Michael James Murphy(19) - were ambushed in the Curtin's Gate area, at a crossroads called '81 Cross', three and a half miles from Ennistymon and three quarters of a mile from an RIC hut (in Derrymore), in County Clare, which was where they were headed to.
Shots were fired at them, and they fired back.
In the gunfight that followed, RIC man Murphy was shot dead, his colleague was wounded and died the following day from the wound, and Volunteers Martin Devitt (pictured) and Ignatius O'Neill were also wounded (Volunteers John Joe Neylon and Seamus Conneely also took part in that operation).
Anyway - on the 13th August (1919), British military command in Dublin Castle issued legislation (!) for the county of Clare - they deemed Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers, Cumman na mBan and the Gaelic League to be "prohibited organisations in Clare" but, as expected, the rebels continued rebelling!
==========================
ON THIS DATE (13TH AUGUST) 56 YEARS AGO : THE BATTLE OF THE BOGSIDE BEGINS.
Amongst other acts of provocation perpetrated by Westminster and its agents in the Occupied Six Counties, the attack on the Devenney family was still fresh in the memory of the population in the deprived Bogside area of Derry.
The 'Battle of the Bogside' has had so many thousands of words printed about it over the last 56 years that it is unlikely that we can give any fresh insights into it nor do we feel it necessary to even attempt to do that - regardless of the position that this incident is viewed from, it is beyond doubt that it helped to further expose the lie from Westminster that its 'police force', the RUC, and its army, were only in that part of Ireland to 'keep the peace between two warring religious factions'.
And it should be remembered that some of the files related to/connected with that event did not become public until 2022 - 53 years after the event!
The Free State administration declared that it "...could not stand by and watch innocent people injured and perhaps worse.." and they didn't - they dressed the wounds of the injured (!) but backed off when it came to intervening to prevent any more injuries and, indeed, have themselves inflicted injuries on those of us who continue to oppose the British military and political presence in Ireland.
But we have broad shoulders, as had those whose footsteps we follow, and we will persist, as will, no doubt, those who follow us.
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.
An Irish rig-worker told 'Magill Magazine' -
"Eventually, we managed to get about 26 jobs.
In the 1970's we had about 80 jobs per rig, so it was down a lot, but we figured that that was as good as we'd get at that time.
The oil companies were starting to cite EU law - free movement of labour within the EU - and other new equations, and the excuse of pay was also used, but that wasn't the issue ; the Brits were on higher pay, the Dutch and Norwegians were on higher pay, too."
'Magill Magazine' spoke to another rig worker who told us -
"Irish rig-workers believe the real reason behind this is that it's an effort to remove the only people in Ireland who would know what the oil companies are really finding in Irish waters - lads with local educated knowledge.
To add insult to injury, Enterprise Oil and Statoil want Bord Gais, at Irish State taxpayers expense, to build a gas pipeline from Mayo to Dublin via Galway, so they can sell the gas to the ESB for their new gas-fired power station..."
(MORE LATER.)
"Doubt was expressed as to whether the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act (pictured) would succeed for any length of time unless the opinion of the country was behind it.
Strong measures would be required to put down the policy of the extremists, and there might come a point when public opinion would desert the Government..."
- from the Minutes of a British Cabinet meeting, held on the 13th August 1920.
The 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act (ROIA)' of 1920 was a British law, for Ireland, passed in response to the escalating conflict during that part of our on-going campaign to remove the British military and political presence from Ireland.
It strengthened the British writ by increasing military powers and limiting civilian oversight in Ireland, more-or-less replacing the'Defence Of The Realm Act (DORA)', expanding the use of courts-martial, including the power to jail individuals without charge or trial.
When the Free Staters took power in their Free State, they changed the name of that Act but kept those powers...
At the same time as 'DORA' was being replaced by 'ROIA' (13th August 1920), the British military and political 'Head Office' in Dublin, in Dublin Castle, began the 'in-house' distribution of a weekly pamphlet entitled 'Weekly Summary of Outrages' (pictured), a propaganda exercise designed to put 'fire in the belly' of its military and paramilitary groups and gangs in Ireland.
The objective was two-fold : to "boost morale" by 'spinning' the truth of what happened and to unofficially encourage retaliation.
After studying and monitoring the phamplet for a few months, the Republican Movement, through its 'The Irish Bulletin' publication, described the phamplet of having.. "..the deliberate intention of inciting the English armed forces in Ireland to acts of outrage and violence against the Irish people.."
Before it had the opportunity to fade into obscurity, the 'Weekly Summary of Outrages' ceased publication when the Staters agreed to take over the 'policing' of Ireland from the British.
In 1920, between 7,000 and 8,000 workers, Catholic and Protestant, were laid-off/sacked/expelled from their workplaces in the Occupied Six Counties (mostly in the Belfast, Counties Antrim and Down, area).
The expulsions were orchestrated by loyalist workers, fueled by sectarian tensions and political unrest.
Dozens of factories, Harland and Wolff and Workman Clark shipyards threw their employees out of the workplace, under 'instructions' imposed by loyalist paramilitaries and, on the 13th August that year, 'The Irish News' newspaper published an appeal from the 'Expelled Workers Group' for funding to relieve the distress and economic hardship among the expelled workers and their families.
The fund-raising drive was a huge success, with financial aid flowing in from Ireland, Britain, North America, France and Australia, among other countries but, just as important, the sectarianism of British interference in Ireland was highlighted and further exposed.
One man who didn't read the newspaper appeal was a Mr Henry Rowland Gould (31), from 5 Crosbie Row, in County Limerick, a member of the British Army 'Royal Army Service Corps' ('RASC Service Number 57101, 1166th MT Coy').
Mr Gould had 'seen service' in West Africa, South-West Africa and Sudan, came to Ireland to further his military career and, on the 13th August (1920), died in a motor traffic accident in Ballysimon, County Limerick, and is buried in his own country in Wales, in Rhyl Church Cemetery, Denbighshire.
'The Luck of the Irish...'
On the night of the 12th August/morning of the 13th, 1920, the 'Big House' belonging to a Mr William Upton Tyrell (/Tyrrell), 'Ballindoolin House' (pictured), Carbury, County Kildare (near the Kildare-Offaly border) was attacked by the IRA as a warning to the man.
The Tyrell family were 'civil servants' for the English Crown, employed as 'Land Agents', and had connections with the 'Royal Military Academy' in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England, and were associated with the 'Royal Irish Rifles'.
Mr Tyrell himself had 'served' with the British Army in India and with the 'Royal Air Force', during which times he is on record for stating.. "..shooting Germans was very like shooting snipe at Ballindoolin..."
Anyway - in the early hours of the 13th August (1920), Mr Tyrell claimed he fired shots at the rebels who, he said, fired about thirty shots back at him (!) and not only that, he stated he wounded one of the Volunteers.
Job done, message delivered, the IRA withdrew from the scene ; the message was apparently understood, as Mr Tyrell lived to be 79 years of age, dying in 1983.
==========================
CASH NO EXCUSE FOR RTE PUTTING DOCUMENTARY TO DEATH...
It has been a disastrous 12 months for RTE.
£23.5 million in cutbacks, a bid to increase the licence fee rejected, an enforced postponement of digital expansion, and a predicted £20 million loss to report for 2001.
By Belinda McKeon .
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
But if anything should serve as assurance that there is a large audience for Irish-produced arts documentaries, however, it is a look at the international scene.
Last month, 'Freedom Highway', the latest film from the Irish producer Philip King, received pride of place at the International Documentary Forum in Amsterdam.
Again, backing a successful producer like Philip King is a safe option for RTE, but evidence that there is a market for work of less obvious international appeal comes from TG4, which has sold documentaries on artists like Michael Hartnett and the poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh as far afield as Mexico and Korea, despite the purported Irish-language barrier.
This is where the question of the duty of a national broadcaster meets the question of commercial returns...
(MORE LATER.)
"The geographical propinquity of Ireland to the British Isles (sic) is a fundamental fact.
The history of the two islands for many centuries, however it is read, is sufficient proof that their destinies are indissolubly linked.
Ireland should recognise the force of geographical and historical facts ; no derogation from Ireland's status as a Dominion..."
- Mr David Lloyd George, British 'Prime Minister', in a letter he sent to Éamon de Valera on the 13th August, 1921 and, at that same time, Mr George was telling the media in his own country that Ireland and the Sinn Féin rebels had been offered "freedom" without mentioning the restrictions which he was so quick to tell Mr de Valera about!
He also told his own audience that the alternative for the Irish to accepting that "freedom" would be (more) military coercion in Ireland.
But sure isn't that how politics 'works' (!) - speaking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time, and Mr de Valera himself would have not only recognised that, but done it himself...
==========================
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
It appears, however, that Malta had not been informed of any inbound flight by Tunisia, despite the fact that this is standard aviation practice.
Bizarrely, at 4.35am, some 25 minutes after its last alleged radio contact with Captain Bartolo, Djerba ATC telephoned Malta ATC asking it to to make radio contact with the aircraft.
Initially, Malta ATC treated the flight as a communication failure, however, when the aircraft failed to arrive or make contact, Malta Radio was asked to broadcast distress messages so that ships in the area would look for possible signs of a crash.
These broadcasts commenced at 7.45am.
The first aircraft to assist in the search mission was dispatched by the Italian armed forces at 8.12am, almost four hours after concerns for the safety of the flight began and, also, other local civilian aircraft were later called to assist...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 13th August, 1922, a search party of six Free State troops were travelling in a car in the Crosspark area on the Kilkenny/Tipperary border, on a mission to locate, 'arrest' or kill IRA Volunteers that were thought to be in the location.
They pulled-in at a row of houses in the Bawnmore district and proceeded, quietly, to get out of the car, but just then a shot was fired.
One of the Stater soldiers, a man named Norton, shouted "Ned Maher is hit...".
FSA Lieutenant Edward Maher (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher), from Gortnahoe in County Tipperary, was staggering around on the footpath, having been hit in the leg by a shot he himself fired, accidently, as he was getting out of the car!
He was bleeding heavily, and his colleagues laid him down, removed his trousers and bandaged the wound as best they could, then drove off with him to a Doctor Mitchell in nearby Johnstown.
The doctor dressed the injury and accompanied Mr Maher and his colleagues to their barracks in the town of Urlingford (in County Kilkenny) : the wounded man was conscious and in his full facilities during the journey but, at about 5am on the 14th, he took a turn for the worst, the doctor tended to him but advised to send for his family and for a priest.
Mr Maher died at about 12.30pm that afternoon.
Lesson learned - when armed, be extra carefull when getting out of a car...
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated!
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 27th August 2025.)
WHY DOESN'T THE CENSUS ADDRESS ETHNICITY?
By Niina Hepojoki.
From 'Magill' Magazine, March 2002.
It has been suggested that James Joyce was one of the first artists ever to imagine a world without foreigners.
In his essay 'Strangers in Their Own Country', Professor Declan Kiberd defines this Joycean world as... "..one possible once men and women begin to accept the foreigner in the self* and the necessarily fictive nature** of all nationalisms, which are open to endless negotiations."***
('1169' comment -* There is no "foreigner in the self" [except, perhaps, for those that are 'Woke'] as far as any indigenous people should be concerned ; we are what we are, and shouldn't seek to change our very DNA to suit anybody.
** - Nationalism is not of a "fictive nature" ; rather it is of a factual narrative and nature.
*** - "endless negotiations" ie 'those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well, I have others...' ; the very 'building blocks' of a 'Woke' structure!)
Ireland, Declan Kiberd claims, has always been multi-cultural - "eclectic, open and assimilative", to use his words.
"The historical capacity of the Irish to assimilate waves of incomers should never be underestimated*. Eight centuries ago, after all, the Normans became more Irish than the Irish themselves**."
This assimilative capacity of Ireland has, however, been under strain*** with the latest wave of incomers to this country, be they in the form of asylum seekers, aliens or people with student or work visas.
Most recently, an advertisement by Amnesty**** on racism in Cork, prompted by Deputy Noel Flynn's famous remarks claiming that "asylum seekers are spongers", got the phonelines hopping wild on RTE's Joe Duffy show...
(*Nor should it be overestimated and/or abused, as is happening here now for decades - tens upon tens of thousands of 'asylum seekers/refugees/migrants', some from as far away as England (!), are already in this State, having 'lost' their passports and other ID on the ferry over, all looking for free accomodation and keep, unable and/or unwilling to offer anything in return.// ** And, as with the invading hordes today, not all the Irish welcomed them...// *** "under strain" in 2002 ; and way past our breaking point now, 22 years later.// **** The 'Amnesty Ireland' organisation works on behalf of foreign migrants, who they depend on for their very survival, not the indigenous Irish people.)
(MORE LATER.)
On the 4th August, 1919, two RIC members - a Mr John Riordan (43), from Macroom, in County Cork, and a Mr Michael J Murphy (19), from Leitrim - were killed in an ambush by Irish Volunteers at Eighty-One Crossroads, Mount Callon, near Ennistymon, in County Clare.
The republicans were attached to the Mid-Clare Brigade, and included Martin Devitt* (who was seriously wounded in the operation), John Joe Neylon and Seamus Connolly.
Ten days later (on the 14th August) a young Na Fianna Éireann member, Francis Murphy (15), from the village of Glann, near Ennistymon, in County Clare, arrived home at about 9pm, had his supper and joined the family in reciting the Rosary at about 10.30pm.
Francis then sat in his seat, in the small kitchen, to have a quick read before going to bed when, without warning, gunshots were fired at the house and at least three of the bullets smashed one window and killed the young lad, who died in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.
Rumours were then circulated that one or other of the family's neighbours fired the shots into the house in a dispute over land and/or that republicans had shot-up the house because the family were "talking too freely about republican activities" but an inquest ruled "that he was killed after a British army patrol fired shots into his home..", apparently in retaliation for the 4th August shootings.
His funeral procession was a mile long, comprising motor cars, pedestrians, men on horseback and boys wearing mourning badges, and all accompanied his body to the family burial ground at Ennistymon.
(*Volunteer Devitt was killed by the RIC on the 22nd February 1920 in the village of Inagh, County Clare. RIP.)
==========================
SO, FAREWELL THEN, CELTIC TIGER....
It had to happen, sooner or later.
Most of the pundits and economists were too busy singing the Celtic Tiger's praises to notice, but a few critical observers worried all along about the weaknesses of a boom economy that depended so much on a few companies from one place - the United States.
By Denis O'Hearn.
From 'Magill' Annual 2002.
Almost 23 per cent of the population are functionally illiterate, easily the highest level in the EU.
Ireland ranks last in the OECD in terms of investment per pupil as a proportion of per capita GNP.
It is possible that the Irish government (sic) will never again see the kind of revenues that it had in the late 1990's and, if so, it has blown a historic chance to use its spending power to improve the lives of Irish people instead of cobbling together a series of give-away budgets that favoured the rich.
Maybe the government had no choice or maybe its lack of social policies was part and parcel of the neoliberal package that was necessary to attract US companies in the first place...
(MORE LATER.)
'PATRICK LYNCH
SHOT BY THE MILITARY IN HOSPITAL
AUGUST 14th 1920, AGED 43 YEARS
ALSO BURIED HERE, SISTERS
MARY, ANNIE and ELIZABETH'.
On the 14th August, 1920, a Mr Patrick Lynch, from the village of Hospital, in County Limerick, was taken from his house by British Army soldiers and brought to a near-by green area and shot six times in the head and body.
It was said at the time that the Westminster executioners believed that he was Liam Lynch, who was 'Number One' on their 'hit list'.
And it was also said at the time that a local man, a Mr Cyril FH Brewer (26), from London, England, was involved in the killing of Mr Patrick Lynch.
On the 6th July, 1921, Mr Brewer was on his way to visit family members in Kilmallock, in Limerick, when Volunteers from the East Limerick Brigade IRA intercepted him and shot him ; he died from his wounds on the 7th.
Mr Brewer had only taken up his position in the RIC in February 1921.
The British 'War Office/National Archives' instructed that the file on Mr Brewer should not be accessible until 1950, for some reason...
==========================
One of the 'Big Houses' in Ireland, in 1920, 'Tyrone House' (pictured), a classic gothic style mansion, near the village of Ballindereen, in County Galway, built on a large estate (in the 1870's, that family claimed 15,777 acres in County Galway alone!) 'owned' by Christopher French St. George and his family, was rumoured in the vicinity to be on the verge of being repurposed (!) as a 20th Century-style 'migrant centre' - foreign men were apparently about to move in to it!
And it was indeed a 'grand' building -
'In the late Georgian style and the finest house in Ireland.
The ceilings were all painted by Italian masters and were regular works of art. The mantle pieces were all of rare Italian marble and very costly...'
The St George family were the main 'landlords' in the Ballindereen area but didn't socialise with their poorer neighbours - indeed, they insured that they kept their distance by hiring outsiders to collect their 'rents', and those outsiders were said to operate in "a heavy-handed manner".
On the 14th August, 1920, the 'Big House' was burnt to the ground and, shortly afterwards, the 'estate' was broken up and divided amongst the tenants.
Justice served, M'Lord...
==========================
A Mr John Coughlan, in his mid-to-late 40's, lived in a house on Barry's Lane in Cobh, East County Cork, with his wife and four children - one boy and three girls.
Two of his daughters were regularly seen in the company of British soldiers and he had been visited by the IRA and advised that socialising of that sort was not recommended, and that it would be for the best if it stopped.
It didn't.
On the 14th August, 1920, Mr Coughlan was arrested by the IRA and taken to a safe house in the village of Aghada, near Midleton, in Cork, which was owned by a Mrs May Higgins, where he was kept in a loft space while being questioned about the activities of his family.
A local IRA Volunteer, Michael Leahy, in a report to Ernie O'Malley, stated -
"The strangest thing about the first spy who met his death through us was that we didn't shoot him.
In Cobh we arrested this fellow, John Coughlan, for using his two daughters as prostitutes for the British, and we took him to Aghada and we wanted to (question him) for a while.
He was kept in May Higgins' house in a loft and there was a girl there. She was bringing him up his breakfast when she found him hanging to a rafter, dead..."
Four Volunteers were instructed to bury the body but, instead, they tied Mr Coughlan to an old cart axle and placed it in the sea - on the 3rd September that year his body was washed ashore at Ballybranagan Strand, eight miles south of Midleton, in Cork.
Harsh words, harsh 'burial'...and harsh times.
==========================
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.)
REPUBLICANS AND THE STATE :
In a statement dated December 31st, 1969, Thomas Maguire said -
"An IRA convention, held in December 1969, by a majority of the delegates attending, passed a resolution removing all embargoes on political participation in parliament from the Constitution and Rules of the IRA.
The effect of the resolution is the abandonment of what is popularly termed the 'Abstentionist Policy'.
The 'Abstentionist Policy' means that republican candidates contesting parliamentary elections in Leinster House, Stormont or Westminster give pre-election pledges not to take seats in any of those parliaments.
The republican candidates seek election to the 32-county Parliament of the Irish Republic, the Republican Dáil or Dáil Éireann, to give it its official title.
The declared objective is to elect sufficient representatives to enable the 32-County Dáil Éireann to be re-assembled..."
(MORE LATER.)
Before he returned to Africa in mid-1921, a Mr Jan Christian Smuts (pictured), a one-time Boer general-turned-South African 'statesman and British diplomat' had spoken to Lloyd George and Éamon de Valera about the 'Irish problem', and had written to both men about that subject matter, too.
On the 14th August, 1921, one of the letters from Mr Smuts to Mr de Valera was 'leaked' (!) to the media.
The 'leaked' letter was one in which Mr Smuts had strongly advised Mr de Valera to accept the 'Dominion Status' which was offered by the British to the Irish (on July 20th).
The letter highlighted only the alleged beneficial offerings (!) of accepting such a status, ignoring the down-side and restrictions of it and, indeed, the fact that the letter was released for public consumption (ie propaganda) at all prompted one Free State-minded politician, Timothy Michael Healy, to declare -
"To publish in advance of the text of the Cabinet offer and thereby give the world a false and unwarranted idea of its generosity, was sheer mischief...sharp practice.."
A pro-British historian, a Mr David George Boyce, was later to opine (wrongly, in our opinion)-
"That offer (of Dominion Status) had been wrung from the (British) government only at the last moment and after a protracted and bitter struggle which caused a revolt of the British conscience ; but once it was made, and made publicly, British public opinion decided that its leaders had adequately recompensed the Irish : justice had not only been done, it had been seen to be done.."
Mr Lloyd George later admitted that the decision to release the letter was "...because of the importance of ranging on the side of our proposals all sane opinion, not merely in this country and in Ireland, but throughout the whole world.."
Nothing "sane" about British imperialism, and especially not in connection with Ireland.
==========================
A British Army Private, a Mr M. Moody, who was attached to their 'Royal Welsh Fusiliers' regiment, was "accidentally shot dead in the 'New Barracks' in Limerick City" on the 14th August 1921. No more information on the incident or on Mr Moody is available.
==========================
FROM ANTI-TREATY, TO 'LUKE WARM', THEN ANTI-TREATY AGAIN, THEN...
Frank Aiken, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher (Francis Thomas Aiken, pictured), was born on the 13th February, 1898, at Carrickbracken, in Camlough, County Armagh, and was active in Irish republicanism from about 15 years of age, when he joined 'The Irish Volunteers'.
He was also involved politically with the Sinn Féin organisation in Armagh and was one of the leaders of the Fourth Northern Division of the IRA, which operated in in the borderlands of Armagh, South and West Down and North Louth.
He stayed with the Republican Movement following the split over the 'Treaty of Surrender' and succeeded Liam Lynch as Chief of Staff of the IRA on the 20th April 1923 (a position he held until the end of 1925) ; he was actually with Liam Lynch (30) on the 10th April (1923) on the Knockmealdown Mountains when Liam Lynch was killed.
On the 20th April, 1923, the IRA Executive met in Poulacapple, in County Tipperary, to discuss the campaign against the Staters. Those present included Frank Aiken, Liam Pilkington, Sean Hyde, Sean Dowling, Bill Quirke, Tom Barry, Tom Ruane (replacing Michael Kilroy, a respected Irish republican at the time), Tom Sullivan (replacing Sean Lehane), Sean McSwiney, Tom Crofts, P J Ruttledge and Sean O'Meara.
Frank Aiken was, as stated, elected Chief-of-Staff, and an Army Council consisting of himself, Liam Pilkington (pictured) and Tom Barry was appointed. The new Chief-of-Staff proposed that peace should be made with the Leinster House administration on the basis that "the sovereignty of the Irish Nation and the integrity of its territory is inalienable" and this was passed by 9 votes to 2.
His standing among most republicans at the time was good ; he was, after all, the IRA leader who, on the 14th August, 1922, with his IRA Division (consisting of between 300 and 400 IRA fighters), had recaptured the town of Dundalk, in County Louth, freeing about 240 republican POW's in the town, seizing 400 rifles and imprisoning the 400-strong Free State Army garrison.
However, he made no attempt to hold the town and, in fact, he and his men played no further significant part in the fight against the Staters and, in May, 1923 - as IRA Chief of Staff (20th April 1923 to 12th November 1925)- he issued a 'cease fire and dump arms order'.
In the State election of August, 1923, he won a seat in County Louth as a Sinn Féin abstentionist candidate, a seat he held on to until the early 1970's, but not as an abstentionist or, indeed, not for Sinn Féin ; at an IRA Convention held in November 1925, Frank Aiken notified his audience that his political friend, de Valera, was not altogether opposed to the then existing republican political administration entering the Free State Leinster House 'parliament' but the IRA objected and withdrew its allegiance from de Valera and his people and re-pledged allegiance to its own Executive, the Army Council. And Aiken's own actions also led to his expulsion from the IRA.
In May, 1926, he assisted de Valera and others in founding the Fianna Fáil political party and so began his political 'career' in the employ of a State which he once fought against ; his new career '..placed him at the forefront of Irish and international Free State politics...' as, indeed, that same 'career move' did for those that went into that particular gutter before and after him. But not one of them could take our republican principles with them.
He died at 85 years of age in St Vincent's Hospital, in Dublin, from pneumonia, on the 18th May 1983.
On the 14th August, 1922, a 'Special Constable', a Mr Albert Ross, was shot dead in Ballymena Barracks, in County Antrim, by one of his 'Special' colleagues who, apparently, mistook Mr Ross for an intruder.
In our opinion, they were all intruders...
==========================
"(Liam) Lynch was one of the few men I ever met whose authority while under command I accepted without question. He was also my friend, or I liked to think so. How can he be like a military man but have the appearance of a responsible superior of a great religious order. He was by nature most abstemious and he never raised his voice, which was gentle..."
- George Lennon, IRA Volunteer who served with IRA Chief of Staff, Liam Lynch.
On the 14th August, 1922, Liam Lynch and his staff abandoned their Headquarters in Buttevant, in County Cork, and retreated to the mountainous area near Ballyvourney.
He was killed by the Free State Army on the 10th April 1923 in the Knockmealdown Mountains on the border of counties Tipperary and Waterford.
RIP.
==========================
On the 14th August, 1922, as the Free State Army were searching for an IRA Column (led by Ned Bolfin) in the Arigna Mountains (pictured) in North County Roscommon, they found an IRA field hospital, staffed by four nurses.
It's not often referenced but, in the 1920's, among the first appointments to IRA Brigades was the Brigade Medical Officer (BMO), who was usually a doctor-in-practice in the Brigade area and who was known to be a (silent) supporter of the rebels.
Each 'BMO' was tasked to organise a medical service in his/her district and recommend appointments of doctor Volunteers as 'Battalion Medical Officers'.
He/she also organised a nursing service from the ranks of Cumann na mBan members, who were either formally trained nurses or had been trained in first aid with emphasis on war wounds, especially the control of hemorrhage and the treatments required for shock.
These Cumann na mBan nurse/medic Volunteer women were known to be very capable and efficient at their job, and acquired further significant experience and rendered priceless service during the fight against the British and, later, during the IRA fight against the treacherous Free Staters.
==========================
On the 14th May, 1916, the Lakeside Hotel (pictured) in Killaloe, County Clare, was taken over by the British Army ('G Coy') as an operational base, and they terrorised the community from there until the 22nd February 1922.
Between the 12th and the 14th of August, 1922, the IRA ensured that the building would never again be used by anti-Irish forces, British or Free State, by burning it to the ground.
At the time, the hotel was owned by a Mr John McKeogh and his family and, in 1924, he was given a 'Decree for Reconstruction', including a financial award, by the Free State administration in Leinster House, to rebuild the hotel.
However, then as now, these things move slowly (...unless you're looking to house 'asylum seekers/refugees/migrants', apparently...) and it was not until 1929 that their few bob came through.
And then a friend of Mr McKeogh's in Leinster House put out feelers regarding "compensation in this case of exceptional hardship" as Mr McKeogh and his family had lost their incomes between 1922 and 1929 arguing, presumably, that had the awarded compensation been paid in 1924, when the 'Decree' was issued, the family would have been able to rebuild the hotel and earn a living.
Perhaps they should have taken their case against Westminster which, as it happened, was responsible for the financial ills visited on the family...?
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**
On the 14th August, 1922, during its annual conference, the Labour Party leadership here criticised the IRA "for acting without popular support" and also criticised the Leinster House regime "for waging war without (full) Dáil (sic) support...on the civil war our views cannot be too often or too emphatically expressed. In a word they are : a plague on both your houses. Neither side serves any working class interest, and our job is to steer clear of both..."
Which proves that, even in 1922, wide fences were built which, even from their own 'yard', are not visible today...**
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (4TH AUGUST) 143 YEARS AGO : MARGARET MARY PEARSE BORN.
On the 4th of August, 1878, James and Margaret Pearse (nee Brady), then living in number 27 Great Brunswick Street in Dublin, celebrated the birth of a daughter, Margaret Mary, pictured (a sister for their future son, Padraig).
As a child, Margaret went to school at the Holy Faith Convent in Glasnevin, Dublin, and liked the experience so much that she wanted to train as a teacher, which she did, even though she didn't think too much of the education system that existed in the State at the time. And neither did her brothers, Padraig and William - so all three set about establishing their own school, in Cullenswood House, Rathmines, Dublin, in 1908.
In 1916, Padraig and William were executed by the British for their part in the Easter Rising that year, which left Margaret Mary in charge of the school, a position she maintained (with great assistance from Fergus De Búrca) until the early 1930's.
In the 1930s, the then relatively new 'Fianna Fáil' party was on the look-out for 'names' to help boost its political profile, and Margaret Mary was approached by two people she knew, a Doctor James McCann and her work colleague, Fergus De Búrca, and it was suggested to her that she join the new Party and contest a seat in a Leinster House election for it, in the then 'Dublin County' constituency.
She agreed, although one must wonder how and why she did so, as she must have known that Fianna Fáil's political policy, then and now, was counter to that which her brothers, and thousands of other political fighters, fought and died for.
In 1933, at 55 years of age, Margaret Mary, who was introduced as 'a spinster from St Enda's College', won a seat in Leinster House for Fianna Fáil but lost that position (on the seventh count) four years later but, as continues to happen now, that failed candidate was 'tucked away' in the Free State 'Senate' on the so-called 'Administrative Panel' for futher use by her Free State party.
Margaret Mary (pictured) stayed in that well-remunerated talking-shop until she died, at 90 years of age, in 1968, in Linden Convalescent Home in Dublin, on the 7th of November that year.
Sad to say that herself and, indeed, her mother, Margaret, 'lent themselves' to Fianna Fáil (and the State) as 'figureheads' ie the Fianna Fáil party and the State used their name as leverage when it was seeking votes and political legitimacy.
'THE BREAK OF ARMAGH : A SUGGESTION BY A WORLD-FAMOUS POET...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, July, 1954.
The present fortuitous opportunity for Ireland's holding the attention of a world awaked to her plight should not be thrown away.
The 'Break of Armagh' that so dramatically appraised the world of the rape of a nation needs following by further action to continue holding the world's attention - and I would humbly suggest a possible first step ; without loss of time, a detail of the most patriotic ones, regardless of party, in each of Ireland's Mayoral cities - and of course not omitting Belfast and Derry etc - should wait upon and request the man (sic) they have elevated to the Chair of 'Chief Magistrate', to form with his fellows a committee of Ireland's Mayors who, on an appointed day, at an appointed place, in the presence of a throng of people, come from Ireland's five ends, to decorate with medals, specially struck for the occasion, the breasts of fifteen boys (sic) who are worthy to shine hencefort in Irish song and story.
No harm, moreover, if the brave ones be rolled up to the grandstand in a lorry that has well-earned its share of immortality!
The arresting news that Ireland's Mayors lead such a remarkable demonstration will be flashed to the world's corners, and will, once again, arouse and impress that world... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (4TH AUGUST) 102 YEARS AGO : TWO BRITISH 'POLICE OFFICERS' KILLED BY THE IRA.
'Derrymore is a townland approximately four miles from Ennistymon and the same distance from Inagh. As a result of agrarian trouble some years before the war, a man named Kildare had been murdered, and consequently the R.I.C. (pictured) built a hut in the area. A sergeant, a constable and a number of other police went into occupation to try to identify the murderer. Their attempts, however, were unsuccessful and because of this they lost the confidence of the local people.
Sergeant O’Riordan and Constable Murphy did their rounds of duty on bicycles and their movements were carefully watched by the local I.R.A. members in the Lavareen Company area. It had been noted that the men got off their bicycles at the bottom of the hill near 'Curtin’s Gate' and it was here the ambush party, which consisted of Martin Devitt, John Joe Neylon, Jackie and Micko McGuane and Mickey and Tom Kelleher, lay in wait.
After getting off their bicycles, as the party had hoped, the sergeant took the lead and his comrade followed at a distance of about one hundred yards. When the sergeant reached Curtin’s Gate he was rushed on and overpowered. This had been the signal to attack the constable, whose rifle was slung over his shoulder in the usual way. Because of his surprise the constable fell across the bicycle and his shoulder strap became entangled in the handlebars and had to be cut by the I.R.A. in order to get the rifle.
The ambushing party then dispersed delighted with their success as this had been their first attempt to disarm R.I.C. in the area. The two policemen departed, shocked and swearing vengeance but glad to have escaped with their lives. A house search was carried out and locals, including some of the men who took part, were questioned, but no information was given.
Following the success of this ambush another one was planned for August 4th of the same year. However, this time the policemen put up a fight and both were shot dead. This ambush occurred at a place called “81 Cross” which is about three and a half miles from Ennistymon and only three quarters of a mile from the hut in Derrymore. The policemen were returning from Ennistymon to the hut at about eleven fifteen p.m. when they were fired on from behind a ditch.
They were not wounded by the first volley of shots and the Sergeant drew his revolver and fired on a man he saw in the ditch. The shooting continued and Constable Michael Murphy was shot dead. Sergeant John O’Riordan was wounded and died shortly afterwards...' (from here.)
One of the IRA Volunteers was wounded in that operation, but he lived to tell the tale. One of the RIC men, Michael 'James' Murphy (badge number 69587) was only 20 years young when he died, having been shot through the heart. The other British 'policeman', John O' Riordan, who was 44 years of age at the time, died from his wounds. But their colleagues in the British Army wanted revenge ; this is from the same source as above -
'...ten days later...a fifteen year old Sinn Féin Boy Scout was shot dead while reading a book by the fireside at his home in Glann, on August 14th, 1919.
At an inquest his father told of how the family had retired to bed on the night of the 14th at about 10.20 p.m. while Francis (pictured) remained in the kitchen reading a book. At about 12.30 a.m. he was awakened by the sound of shots and falling of mortar in his own room. Another shot was fired and then he saw a flash going through the partition.
As he went into the kitchen, he found his son lying in a pool of blood but he could see nobody about. After receiving evidence of some locals including Pete Connole, a night watchman for the West Clare Railway, the jury concluded that the murder was carried out by the (British) military as revenge for the shooting of the two policemen and passed the following verdict: 'Francis Murphy, of Glann, Ennistymon was unlawfully and wilfully murdered..by a bullet unlawfully and wilfully fired by members of the (British) military..which caused immediate death'.'
15-years-young Francis Murphy had played no part in the IRA ambush of the two paramilitary 'policemen' but the young lad was associated with the Republican Movement, so the IRA leadership sent one of its operatives, Michael Knightly, from Dublin to County Clare, to investigate what had happened. He went, as ordered, and handed his report in to Arthur Griffith -
"On returning to Dublin I went to Sinn Féin headquarters and informed Mr. Arthur Griffith that in no doubt young Murphy had been shot by crown forces. Mr. Griffith attached considerable importance to the matter and appeared to think that it would be a serious blow to British rule in Ireland if it could be proved that their forces had resorted to such measures.
He engaged Mr. Patrick Lynch, Kings Counsel, to attend the inquest on behalf of the Murphy family. I attended the inquest as a reporter and gave what assistance I could to elucidate the facts. A verdict of murder against British crown forces was returned..."
The verdict obviously didn't bring young Francis back to his family, but hopefully it gave them some small comfort.
'WHAT IS TO BE DONE? THE STRUGGLE IN THE 26 COUNTIES...'
The following article was solicited by 'IRIS' from a political observer in the 26 Counties. The article - whose author, John Ward, is not a member of the Republican Movement - is aimed at provoking discussion within (P)Sinn Féin. From 'IRIS' magazine, October 1987.
('1169' comment - please note that 'IRIS' magazine had, at that time, recently morphed from a republican-minded publication into a Trot-type mouthpiece for a Leinster House-registered political party.)
Fianna Fáil seemed to be living in the real world. As well as the 'national question' it talked about the everyday problems that faced the people, like land annuities, land redistribution, unemployment, slum clearance and public health.
And Fianna Fáil seemed to be prepared to use any weapon to hand - including entering Leinster House - to deal with these problems*. The people wanted a road forward and de Valera seemed to show them one. It turned out to be the wrong road, except for the Fianna Fáil fat cats who made money and careers out of it. But (P) Sinn Féin appeared to be against roads at all, regarding them as some sort of foreign invention. They wanted to stay barefoot in the boreens**.
Some of the IRA leadership saw the futility of all this and tried to adopt their own radical social and economic policies in 'Saor Éire' and then to ally with other left and radical elements in the 'Republican Congress', but apart from the specific reasons for the collapse of the 'Republican Congress', it was just not possible for a clandestine military organisation to carry on political campaigns...
('1169' comment * ; And how has that worked-out for them, do you think? Also, such innocent wishful-thinking comments remind me of Homer and alcohol in 'The Simpsons' - "Ah, beer. The cause of and solution to all of life's problems..". Leinster House is the cause of those problems and issues, not the solution to them. That is not the objective of that particular institution, never has been, and never will be, regardless of what type of so-called 'new beer' you pour into it.)
('1169' comment ** ; the author of that sentiment either has no idea, genuinely, of the history of Irish republicanism and electoral intervention and/or non-intervention and the reasons for such action or else he's hoping that you don't know of same and will take him at his word. Please don't, for fear you end up becoming him!)
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (4TH AUGUST) 103 YEARS AGO : GAA REBEL AGAINST BRITISH DIKTAT.
'In July 1918 the British government declared the GAA a 'dangerous organisation' and Gaelic games were banned.
The British authorities informed the GAA that no hurling or football games would be allowed unless a permit was obtained from Dublin Castle.
On 20 July 1918, the GAA held a meeting in the Sackville Street rooms in response to the Dublin Castle edict. Those at the meeting unanimously agreed that no such permit should be applied for, under any conditions, and instead defiantly organised a series of matches throughout the country. After a short discussion, it was decided that no permits would be asked for under any conditions and provisional councils, county committees, leagues and clubs were to be notified accordingly, and also that no member was to participate in any competition if any permit had already been obtained.
It was further decided to arrange for Sunday, 4 August, at 3 pm, a series of matches throughout each county to be localised as much as possible. The GAA organised a game in every parish, and on 4 August 1918 around 1,500 hurling or football matches were held throughout the country on what became known as 'Gaelic Sunday'.
In Dublin, matches were played at Croke Park, Phoenix Park, Ringsend, Clondalkin, Sandymount, Baldoyle, Fox and Geese, Crumlin, Balneary, Clonsilla, Terenure, Church Road and Bray. In all, there were 22 football and two hurley matches throughout each county to be localised as much as possible..'
(from here.)
That was back when the GAA had balls to spare (excuse the language and the pun) and they actually knew where they stood as an organisation, in relation to the British military and political presence in this country.
Even before the 'Top Table' in the GAA agreed to campaign for dropping Rule 21 and roll out the welcome mat for armed British and pro-British terrorists in this country, a sea-change had taken place around that 'Top Table', prompted by 'political considerations'.
If such an edict was issued today by the British in relation to GAA clubs in the Occupied Six Counties, the Ulster GAA leadership's first reaction would more than likely be to seek financial compensation for 'loss of earnings', and the GAA 'Top Table' would be ok with that, provided it got a share of the spoils.
A ball-less own goal, if you like.
'AN EMPTY FORMULA.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
In this country, political acrobatics has become a fine art, and there is certainly no question of 'conscience making cowards of us all'. It would seem, rather, that cowards make consciences for us all.
A few weeks ago, Mr de Valera, at a debate in UCD, was asked by a few students there about the 32-county republic, and he said he had done his share, an answer which prompted these young men (sic) to ask for an explanation of the execution of Irishmen for which he was responsible in the 1940's.
In the course of his reply, Mr. de Valera stated - "Pearse and Connolly would have done it, too." This outrageous statement passed, apparently, as gospel. There was no rush of 'Letters to The Editor' in the 'Times' or 'Mail' newspapers in defence of the men (sic) of Easter Week 1916. Would the men who signed the Proclamation knowing that it was their own death warrant, realising that they would pay for this deliberate repudiation of British 'law' in Ireland with their lives, have signed an 'Oath of Allegiance' to the same British 'law' and make the paltry and un-Christian excuse that it was "an empty formula"?
And, having by way of the "empty formula" got into a position of political power, would the Easter Week fighters have kept 'law and order' among the republican Irishmen and women by jailing and executions, because England was too taken-up with the rights of other small nations to keep them in proper subjection...? (MORE LATER.)
JUST A REMINDER...
(Sorry about the fuzzy pic, but if we posted a clear image it would probably be distributed by the State Admin as a 'WANTED!' poster..!)
...that this will be our last post until around the end of this month. The '1169' Crew are taking a break, which means that meself and the Girl Gang are going off on the rampage!
Not to New York, unfortunately, but a two-week staycation, in this country - with no menfolk [none that we're bringing with us, anyway!] and no little folk - is better than nothing.
I'll more than likely post a few comments during the holliers on Facebook and/or Twitter, depending on the internet/wi-fi availability and on my sobriety (!)...but, now that I've mentioned it, sure with a few drinks on me I'm liable to post stuff I normally wouldn't post, maybe even including a few decent pics of the Girl Gang in action!
Or maybe not. But who knows...?!
Anyway - the '1169' blog will be open for business again at the end(ish) of this month, lookin' down on ye all from our new perch located one-million-plus hits above the blogosphere. And thanks for that, readers - we do appreciate it ; heartening to know that our lil' aul corner of this vast platform can get such attention.
GRMA!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading,
Sharon.
