On the 13th March, 1920, about sixty Volunteers from the Listowel, Ballyduff and Ballybunion Companies of the IRA, County Kerry, ensured all roads leading into the town of Ballybunion, from the Listowel, Tralee and Ballylongford directions, were impassable.
Then, under the leadership of Jim Sugrue and Stephen Fuller, the Volunteers attacked and attempted to take over the RIC Barracks in Ballybunion but the bomb they intended to use was a dud so, armed only with shotguns, rifles and revolvers, they fired on the barracks for about an hour, then noticed lights coming from the direction of the Liselton RIC hut and, running dangerously low on ammunition, retired from the attack and returned safely to base.
==========================
On March 13th, 1920, a Mr Peter Gavin appeared on bail in front of Major Thackeray at Kildare Petty Sessions, charged with arson at the military
pumping station, Brownstown, County Kildare, in February.
In February (on the 11th), a military shed at the Brownstown pumping station was burnt down in the early hours of the morning.
The fire brigade from the Curragh Camp tried to save the building.
The shed was at the spot where Patrick Gavin was shot by a sentry while on his way from Tully to the fair at Newbridge...
==========================
'SINN FÉIN REPLIES TO MR. HANNA'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Speaking at the Annual Conference of the 'Ulster Unionist Council' on March 10th last, Mr Hanna, the Stormont 'Minister of Home Affairs', referring to the Sinn Féin candidates in the forth-coming Westminster election, said -
"The law with regard to candidates in the Imperial Parliament is this : a person must be a British subject.
But that has been extended in such a way that a person who is either a full British subject or who has the rights of a British subject is entitled to be a candidate.
Under the recent 'Ireland Act' it is possible that the citizens of Éire can claim the rights of a British subject. How they have the nerve to claim that right I do not know, but they have it..."
Mr Hanna's assertion that Sinn Féin candidates are claiming British citizenship for the purpose of the Westminster elections is ridiculous and meaningless and would not even provoke a reply from us but for the amazing credibility of the Irish people...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 13th March, 1921, a Mr Thomas Shannon, a magistrate in the Dáil Courts, answered a knock on his house door, late at night, in Moyasta, County Clare, to be met by two Black and Tans from the Kilkee area (men with "strange accents", according to his wife) and was shot dead.
In June 1919 Dáil Éireann (not to be confused with the Leinster House institution) had issued a decree authorising the setting up of 'Republican Arbitration Courts' and West Clare was the first electoral area to respond.
Propagandised rumour was circulated by anti-republican elements that Mr Shannon 'was not identified as with any political organisation...he was in conflict with local republicans...he had refused to pay a Sinn Féin levy..' but Mr Shannon was known to be a well-liked and respected local magistrate by all who dealt with him, except the British.
Another Judge, a Mr Bodkin, awarded his widow, Bridget, €3,000 in compensation.
==========================
On the 13th March, 1921, a farm labourer, Tim Hourihan (57), was walking across a field at Paddock, Coppeen East, Enniskeane, in County Cork, when he was shot dead by a member of the British Auxiliaries.
The British 'police', the RIC, later claimed that two warning shots were fired in his direction before the fatal shot was fired, but this was disputed by an IRA Volunteer who witnessed the event -
"Tim Hourihane, to whom I had been speaking a short time before, appeared about 20 yards away.
I beckoned to him to move off, and just as I did, the Auxie, who had seen him, came along and searched him.
I remained under cover. After the search Hourihane was allowed to proceed, and as he moved along the high ground, I heard a shot and saw poor Hourihane fall to the ground.
In a short space of time about twenty Auxies were gathered around him..." - more here.
==========================
"About the end of the summer 1920 a raid for mails was made at Waterfall which resulted in the capture of a letter from (Thomas) Nagle, a local postman, to a man by the name of O'Sullivan, an ex-British soldier.
They (the IRA) arrested Nagle, who gave all information, also a photo of O'Sullivan and details of the place in Cork city where he was to meet with him.
Leo (Murphy, Officer Commanding, Third Battalion IRA) and some others went there instead of Nagle and shot him dead.
Later Nagle was also tried and shot. Nagle had been in the RIC and actually had a brother still in the force and stationed at Tuckey Street Barracks in Cork city..."
- statement issued by the Third Battalion (Ballincollig) of the Cork Number 1 Brigade, IRA, and verified by the IRA Volunteers from the D (Aherla) Company, Cork Number 1 Brigade IRA, who pulled the trigger.
Mr Thomas Nagle was arrested by the IRA on the 12th March, 1921, charged with espionage, tried, and executed by them, at Kilbawn, Aherla, County Cork, on the 13th March 1921.
He was an 'ex'-RIC operative, a green grocer, caretaker of one of the local Masonic Halls and was registered at the 'Petty Sessions Court' as a 'Civil Bill Officer'.
'British liability' was accepted, and compensation of £1,400 was awarded to his family.
==========================
On the 13th March, 1921, IRA Volunteer Richard Newman (a scout/messenger with the Castletownbere IRA Company), from Na hAilichí ('Allihies', the Cliff Fields), County Cork, was in his house when, at about 2pm, he seen armed and uniformed members of the 'King's Own Scottish Borders' regiment of the British Army approach his house to raid it, and 'arrest' him.
He decided to make a run for it out the back door but a BA Private, named Reid, spotted him and opened fire ; the bullets hit him in the loins and in the stomach and he was taken to the hospital in Castletownbere, but died there at about 2am the next day.
His funeral was witnessed by "a large attendance of the people of Castletown" and John Cronin, the Captain of the Castletownbere Company IRA, and other Volunteers, were also present.
==========================
On the 13th March, 1921, a Mr Thomas Hennessy (48), an ex-British Army 'Labour Corps' member, who was now employed as an agricultural labourer and worked occasionally for a Mrs Kate Sisk on her farm, was present when a joint British Army/RIC patrol, from 'Queenstown', consisting of about 20 armed men, raided her house, in the Crosshaven area of Cork.
A report in 'The Cork Examiner' newspaper stated - 'During the searches the residence of Mrs Sisk was visited, and while the armed party were there, two shots were heard.
A few minutes later, some of the party brought Thomas Hennessy into the kitchen and laid him on the ground. One of them said they had ordered Hennessy to put up his hands, but Hennessy had not complied with the order and was fired upon...'
Mr Hennessy, a widower, died from his wounds shortly afterwards, leaving his eight children with no parent.
==========================
On the 11th March, 1921, as three 'off-duty' RIC members were crossing Victoria Square, in Belfast, they were shot at by the IRA.
Two of them - 'Constables' John McIntosh and Robert A. Crook - died in the shooting, and their colleague, Walter H. Cooper (28), died from his wounds two days later, on the 13th March 1921.
==========================
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.
The resulting flow of foreign investments was sufficient to create rapid economic growth, but only because Ireland is so small to begin with.
These are things that other countries cannot emulate ; they can reduce their tax rates but they cannot teach everyone to speak English, they can cut back on social spending and wages but they cannot reduce their populations below five million and, most of all, not everyone can get a forty per cent share of US investments in Europe.
There is just not enough to go around.
The 'Irish Industrial Development Authority' can be praised for its foresight and success in attracting foreign industry ; don't expect anyone else to follow.
But we may even want to question whether the 'Celtic Tiger' strategy works for Ireland...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 13th March, 1922, an 'Appointments Office' was opened at the Courthouse, Naas, County Kildare, by the new Free State administrators, to secure recruits for their new 'Civic Guard' ('An Garda Síochána') in the Kildare and Carlow areas.
We don't know how many people they recruited at that time, but it hasn't gone too good for them since then...
==========================
On the 13th March, 1922, as RIC 'Sergeant' Christopher P. Clarke was making his way up the Falls Road in Belfast, he was shot dead by the IRA.
He had just attended the funerals of two of his colleagues, RIC 'Constables' James Cullen (23) and Patrick O'Connor (35), who were shot dead at the corner of Dunlewey Street and the Falls Road on the 10th March.
Even though fire was returned by other RIC members, the IRA Volunteers returned safely to base, but they hit and killed a civilian, a Mr Daniel Rogan.
Mr Clarke was said to be also a member of 'the Nixon Gang', which would have brought him to the particular attention of the rebels.
==========================
On the 13th March, 1922, the 'Limerick City Workers Housing Association', led by William James Larkin, took over houses in Garryowen Villa that had previously being occupied by the British Army's 'Royal Engineers Corps' (who were evacuating the city as per the 'Treaty of Surrender' arrangement) ; forty adults and 87 children moved into 27 houses.
The 'landlords' (some of whom were local politicians) classed them as 'squatters' and moved against them, legally, and the occupied houses were soon back in the possession of the 'landlords', supported by the Free State court and 'police' system.
==========================
On the 13th March, 1922, Mr James Craig, the '1st Viscount Craigavon PC PC (NI) DL' ETC (!), and the 'First Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (sic)', brought it to the attention of his Stormont Cabinet that Field Marshal 'Sir' Henry Wilson (who had just retired as 'Chief of the Imperial General Staff') had agreed to take the position as 'Military Advisor to the NI Government'.
Mr Craig said it should be celebrated that he had managed to get "so distinguished a soldier" to advise on security issues.
At 2.20 pm, on Thursday, 22nd June 1922, Mr Henry Wilson was shot dead on the doorstep of his Belgravia home, in London, by IRA Commandant Reggie Dunne and Volunteer Joe O'Sullivan.
==========================
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.)
ROBERT EMMET AND THE IRELAND OF TODAY...
"Did, then, these dead heroic men (sic) live in vain?
Has Ireland learned a truer philosophy that the philosophy of 1798, and a nobler way of salvation than the way of 1803?
Is Wolfe Tone's definition superseded, and do we discharge our duty to Emmet's memory by according him annually our pity?
To do the English justice, I do not think they are satisfied that Ireland will accept Home Rule as a final settlement. I think they are a little anxious to-day.
If their minds were tranquil on the subject of Irish loyalty they would hardly have proclaimed the importation of arms into Ireland the moment the Irish Volunteers had begun to organise themselves.
They had given the Ulster faction which is used as a catspaw by one of the English parties two years to organise and arm against that Home Rule Bill which they profess themselves so anxious to pass : to the Nationalists of Ireland they did not give two weeks.
Of course, we can arm in spite of them : today we are organising and training the men and we have ways and means of getting arms when the men are ready for the arms..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the evening of the 12th March, 1923, three IRA prisoners - John Creane (from Taughmon, County Wexford), James Parle (Clover Valley, Taughmon, County Wexford) and Patrick Hogan (William's Street, County Wexford) - were informed by a Free State representative that they were to be executed the following day at 8am.
A republican and former parish priest of Rathangan, Father Patrick Walsh, attended the men, and later stated that Volunteer John Parle had requested him to get word to his Commanding Officer, Robert Lambert (the Volunteer in charge of the Kyle Flying Column, IRA) that he did not want reprisals carried out following their executions.
On the 13th March, 1923, the three IRA prisoners were blindfolded and lined up against the outside wall of the jail.
The Free State troops fired a volley of shots but Volunteer Patrick Hogan, who had been placed in the middle, was the only one of the three to die instantly.
A Free State officer then shot Volunteer Parle and Volunteer Creane twice in the head with his revolver.
'And now you three – we'll honour thee,
And your memories shall not fade,
Since 'twas your lot – in the rebel plot,
Your bodies to be laid.'
Also, on the 13th March, 1923, William Healy (from Donaghmore, County Cork) was executed by the Staters in Cork, and James O'Rourke (1 Upper Gloucester Street, Dublin) was executed in Dublin (for his part in an attack on Free State soldiers in Dame Street, Dublin, on the 21st February 1923).
Ten days later three Free State soldiers were taken from a public house in the townland of Ballagh, near Adamstown, in County Wexford, and shot dead later that night as a reprisal for the executions.
==========================
IRA Volunteer John Walsh, from Kilmacthomas in County Waterford (who operated with Thomas Keating's Column of the West Waterford Brigade IRA) had been 'arrested' by the Staters in March, 1923, and taken to Kilkenny Jail (pictured).
On the 13th March, during the morning role call, the IRA prisoners decided not to cooperate with the Staters and they refused to acknowledge their names, when called upon to do so.
A Free State soldier started to beat Volunteer Walsh and then shot him ; he died from his wound the next day in the prison hospital and was brought home to Kilmacthomas to be waked, and then buried in the Republican Plot in Kilrossanty, County Waterford.
==========================
On the 12th March, 1923, two IRA Volunteers, Frank Slevin and James O'Donnell, were in the town of Manorhamilton, in County Leitrim, on a fund-raising operation, disguised as women, to investigate how secure the bank was but, finding it heavily guarded inside by Free State soldiers, they decided to leave and report back to their base.
Both Volunteers were 'arrested' by the Staters on their way out of the town.
In the town of Kiltyclogher, County Leitrim, on the 13th March, 1923, the Staters came across eight IRA Volunteers, led by Philip Rooney, and a gun battle ensued, which lasted for about two hours, following which the eight Volunteers were captured.
==========================
On the 13th March, 1923, 'The Irish Times' newspaper (!) quoted Mr Kevin Christopher O'Higgins, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher (who 'served' in several high-ranking positions in the Leinster House assembly) as declaring that the 'Neutral IRA' were either "moral cowards" who knew that the IRA campaign was wrong and were afraid to say so or were "physical cowards" who thought that it was right but were afraid to participate in it!
The IRA (proper), however, were not 'neutral' in regards to Mr O'Higgins ; at 12 Noon on Sunday, 10th July 1927, Mr O'Higgins (35) was assassinated by three IRA members (Tim Coughlan, Bill Gannon and Archie Doyle) in revenge for his part in the executions of 77 IRA prisoners during the Civil War (in the six months between November 1922 and the end of the Civil War in May 1923, the Staters executed 77 IRA men for political offences).
Mr O'Higgins was walking from his home on Cross Avenue, in Blackrock, Dublin, to mass on Booterstown Avenue.
He had sent his armed State detective away to buy cigarettes and, as he approached the junction with Booterstown Avenue, one of the IRA men emerged from a parked car and shot him.
Mr O'Higgins ran a short distance before collapsing, and one of the Volunteers shot him again as he lay on the ground.
The men then got back in their car and drove away but, despite being hit eight times, Mr O'Higgins did not die for almost five hours.
==========================
On the 13th March, 1923, two Free State soldiers, Captain Michael Cleary (from Whitegate, in County Clare, a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher) and Lieutenant Alfred Glynn (from Gort, in County Galway), were experimenting with throwing grenades into the River Neale, near Listowel, in County Kerry.
The 'experiment' went wrong and led to both of their deaths ; there was a premature explosion which killed Mr. Glynn instantly, and seriously wounded Mr. Cleary, who died in hospital the next day.
==========================
'Politician Shoots Himself In The Foot...'!
On the 13th March, 1925, Mr Winston Churchill - realising that his 'Government of Ireland Act 1920' in relation to 'the Irish Question' - gave his puppet Stormont political administration in 'the North of Ireland' (sic) responsibility for funding social services but wrote, in private correspondence (in his personal diary?) that the provision of such social services depends on a "sufficiently large area and large numbers of trades" which that particular area doesn't have!
Too late, Mr Churchill : you break it, you bought it...!
==========================
NA hOILEÁIN CHANÁRACHA - SEO LINN ARÍS!
ISLAS CANARIAS - AHÁ VAMOS. ¡DE NUEVO!
Well...
...it's that time of year again!
Myself and the Girl Gang are going back to the Canary Islands in a few days time, courtesy of our families, who have gifted the five of us very special (and much appreciated!) 'Mother's Day' presents, all paid for (including a few bob spending money each), in a beach-front Villa (own pool) on an 'extendable holiday' - meaning that we can stay on for another week (or longer) if we book it in the final three days.
And we just might do that, if the three weeks aren't enough for us!
We're going to Lanzarote, where we have been before, for a well-deserved break (...or so the husbands, brothers, children and grandchildren tell us!) and we are really looking forward to temporarily exchanging a wet, wind-swept, 10ºC island for a sun-kissed, warm-breezed 25ºC island, and having nothing to do and all day to do it!
So, obviously - because the two lads that work the blog with me will also be taking a break - we won't be posting again until sometime in April (as we probably will take up the offer of an extra week) but I'll probably still manage to post a few comments on 'Twitter/X' (if they stop censoring me!) and on 'Facebook', as well.
So, until we meet again on the blog...behave yerselves, and remember :
'The Great Only Appear Great Because We Are On Our Knees. Let Us Rise!'
Slán anois - go n-éirí leat!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading ; see yis in April!
Sharon and the team.
NATIONAL GRAVES ASSOCIATION FOUR COURTS RALLY, DUBLIN, SUNDAY 26TH JUNE 2022.
'In Defence of The Republic.
Join us as we mark the 100th anniversary of the Shelling of the Four Courts on Sunday 26th June (2022) at 12 noon.
Assemble at the Croppies Acre, Dublin, and march to the Four Courts where we will remember the commitment and sacrifice of those that occupied the
Courts and stayed true to the Irish Republic...
...participants are invited to assemble at Croppies Acre and march to the Four Courts where we will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the shelling of the Courts...' ('National Graves Association', from here.)
At 3.40am, on Wednesday, 28th June 1922, the republican forces inside the Four Courts were given an ultimatum from Michael Collins, delivered to them by Free State Major General Tom Ennis, a republican gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher - 'Surrender before 4am and leave the building'.
The republicans ignored the threat and held their ground and, less than half-an-hour later - at about 4.30am - the Staters opened fire on the republicans with British-supplied 18-pounder guns and practically destroyed the building, an act which was recently described as "..a major national calamity..an assault on the collective memory of the nation..such actions are considered as war crimes..a cultural atrocity..". (from here.)
The IRA held out for two days before leaving the building, but fought on elsewhere in Dublin until early July, 1922, with Oscar Traynor (who later joined the Fianna Fáil party) in command.
'Within the Four Courts, Rory O'Connor deployed his men in a defensive role. The complex had been well fortified with Lewis machine guns and rifles covering the main approaches to the building. A commandeered armoured car had been placed at the gates, its Vickers machine gun covering any threat that might materialise. This vehicle could be moved rapidly from point to point depending on the direction of the attack.
Windows and doors had been barricaded and a number of improvised explosive devices had been placed at possible entry points. Outside the walls, the newly established Free State Army had recruited many ex-British army soldiers to bolster its ranks. Many of these soldiers were Irishmen who, having served in British regiments during the First World War had gained extensive expertise in tactics and the handling of weapons giving the State army a distinct technical advantage...' (from here.)
This sad day in Irish republican history will be remembered on Sunday, 26th June, 2022, at 12 noon ; those attending this 'National Graves Association'-organised event have been requested by the 'NGA' to assemble at the Croppies Acre, Dublin, at 12 Noon, and march to the Four Courts, where a few words will be delivered.
I'll be splitting myself three ways on that day, as myself and the '1169' crew are attending this event, as are some of our RSF/PSF colleagues, as are the rest of the New York 'Girl Gang' and, if you can get there, sure I might manage to split myself four ways, and myself and the 'Girl Gang' might even let ya buy us a drink afterwards!
See y'all Sunday 26th, hopefully!
'WHETHER SHE WILLS IT OR NOT, ENGLAND NEEDS ULSTER'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
Mr Harold Macmillan, British Minister of Defence, speaking at a luncheon of Belfast Unionists on March 12th, said - "Whatever changes might be brought about by nuclear weapons, the importance of one part of Britain's defence structure remained unaltered ; the Atlantic routes across which lay Ulster must remain open as an outpost of defence."
England's real regard for Ulster is unchanging!
After years of speech-making by English statesmen (sic) about the rights of Ulstermen (sic) to remain in the British Empire - the problem of partition being only soluble by the Irish people themselves - that England would ensure justice was done etc etc it is at last clearly stated that Ulster must and will be held by England for the defence of her sea and air routes, whether Ulster or Ireland likes it or not.
We don't blame England for taking every possible measure to defend herself, but we do denounce her statesmen (sic) as hypocrites. Ireland would not be in the sorry plight she is in today if Irishmen (sic), North and South, realised the hypocrisy (some might call it 'diplomacy') of British leaders... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (22ND JUNE) 224 YEARS AGO : 'KELLY OF KILLANE' HANGED IN WEXFORD.
'Glory O! Glory O! to her brave sons who died
For the cause of long-downtrodden man!
Glory O! to mount Leinster's own darling and pride :
Dauntless Kelly, the boy from Killanne...'
One of the leaders of the 1798 Rising, John Kelly, was born in 1776 in Cill Áine (Killane), between Kiltealy and Rathnure, in County Wexford.
His parents, John and Mary (nee Redmond) ran an 'ale house' (a pub!) on what is now the site of Rackard's Pub, and young John worked as a 'Churchwarden' in the parish Church, Saint Anne's. He took an interest in his poverty-stricken neighbours and rightly concluded that people were being 'kept down' by the political system that they lived in, as did hundreds of other young men and women in that part of Wexford.
He joined 'The United Irishmen' and was to the forefront in many hand-to-hand battles with the British Army, taking a leadership position in the 'Battle of Three Rocks' on the 30th of May, 1798, when 'Kelly of Killane' and his fighters ambushed the British 'Meath Militia' and killed and/or captured about 90 enemy troops, taking their weapons, and using them to take Wexford Town back from the British.
It was during a later fight in New Ross that John Kelly was wounded, when he was in command of about 800 rebel fighters who attempted to retrieve that town from the British ; the rebels fought their way through the 'Three Bullet Gate' and entered the town area but were eventually beaten back by Crown Forces, and John Kelly was wounded in the leg.
He was captured by the enemy as he lay in bed, trying to recover from his injuries, and was taken into their 'custody', tried with treason and sentenced to death.
On the 22nd June 1798 - 224 years ago on this date - John Kelly and seven other rebel 'dissidents' were hanged on Wexford Bridge, following which John Kelly's head was cut from his body and it was kicked around the streets by the British, before they picked up what was left of it and stuck it on a spike and placed it in public view, as a warning to anyone else who was thinking of challenging their 'authority'.
The grave of brave John Kelly, 'Kelly of Killanne', is in Saint Anne's Churchyard, Killanne, in County Wexford.
But the gold sun of freedom grew darkened at Ross
And it set by the Slaney's red wave...
And poor Wexford stripped naked hung high on a cross
With her heart pierced by traitors and knaves.
'DIVIDED LOYALTIES...'
Ulster loyalism displayed its most belligerent face this year as violence at Belfast's Holy Cross School made international headlines. But away from the spotlight, working-class Protestant communities are themselves divided, dispirited and slipping into crisis.
By Niall Stanage.
From 'Magill' magazine, Annual 2002.
But if both sides suffer this abuse, why are loyalist working-class areas shrinking and their Catholic counterparts expanding?
Davy Mahood, a former loyalist prisoner, who is now a community worker in North Belfast, believes the answer lies partly in contrasting conventions -"In a loyalist area, if somebody gets a job or a qualification from university and becomes a professional, the first thing they do is move out," he says. "With nationalists, they tend to stay within their area and reinvest in it."
There is a more straightforward reason why more territory is becoming nationalist-dominated ; the Catholic birth rate remains significantly higher than that of Protestants. Public housing within existing Catholic districts is already being used to its full capacity, so the burgeoning population means that expansion is a necessity. Protestants often don't see it that way, however... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (22ND JUNE) 100 YEARS AGO : 'SIR' HENRY WILSON EXECUTED BY IRISH REPUBLICANS.
On the 22nd June 1922 - 100 years ago on this date - British Army Field Marshal and Conservative (British 'Tory') Party politician 'Sir' Henry Wilson attended the unveiling of a memorial statue to 'the Fallen of the Great War' at Liverpool Street railway station in London and took a taxi home afterwards.
'Sir' Wilson was a particularly arrogant mouthpiece when it came to 'the Irish problem' and favoured a military solution rather than a political one and was not shy about saying so - he stated that, in his opinion, the 'Truce' of the 11th July 1921 was an episode of "rank filthy cowardice" on the part of the British Government!
His military and political contacts had confirmed to him that the IRA Intelligence Department at that time was an extremely efficient war machine, run by Michael Collins, and Mr Wilson and his colleagues were well aware of that fact.
'Sir' Henry Wilson wanted it and Collins eliminated, and sanctioned the use, in Ireland, of 'The Cairo/Special Gang', a unit of British agents which specialised in political assassinations - they got their name, and their reputation, from 'hits' in the Middle East, carried out on the instruction of Wilson and others in Westminster. And they also got their comeuppance in Ireland.
Anyway - Field Marshall Wilson (58) had returned to his home on Eaton Square, in London, after his 'jolly', on the 22nd June, 1922, but didn't notice that he had been followed home by, ironically, two veterans of that same 'Great War', Joe O'Sullivan (who had lost a leg at Ypres) and Reggie Dunne, both of whom were now IRA Volunteers. Before Mr Wilson could get from the taxi to his front door, he was shot dead.
Two policemen were shot and wounded trying to stop the IRA men from escaping and then a crowd of people jumped in to the melee in an attempt to deliver 'street justice' to the republicans, but more cops arrived to the scene and Joe and Reggie were arrested and charged with murder. They were hanged in August of that same year, 1922. RIP.
The possibility was mentioned at that time, and later, that the London IRA acted on its own in that operation, and it was also speculated that the men were acting on their own initiatives. Other 'what ifs..' were that they were acting on orders from anti-Treaty/pro-republican forces in Ireland or London and/or that Michael Collins himself had given the order for the execution of Wilson but kept those details to himself.
What is known, however, is that just six days after Mr Wilson was shot dead, the 'Civil War' began in Ireland. And Westminster is responsible for that.
ON THIS DATE (22ND JUNE) 125 YEARS AGO : JAMES CONNOLLY ARRESTED OVER 'FAMINE QUEEN' PROTESTS.
The 'Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India', Victoria (the 'Famine Queen') celebrated (!) her 60-year reign (her 'Diamond Jubilee') on the 22nd June 1897 - 125 years ago on this date.
James Connolly and Maud Gonne (McBride), among others, organised street protests in opposition to interference from Westminster in Irish affairs and James Connolly was arrested and detained overnight by the British 'authorities' for doing so ; 'It was not until as late as 1879 that a group of Wexford men living in Dublin founded the '98 Club' with the aim of commemorating the Rebellion. Irish nationalists were well aware of the Irish unionist celebration of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897, and were intent on celebrating the Rebellion with their own ceremonies and the erection of monuments throughout Ireland...' (from here.)
James Connolly was born on June 5th, 1868, at 107, the Cowgate, Edinburgh. His parents, John and Mary Connolly, had emigrated to Edinburgh from County Monaghan in the 1850s. His father worked as a manure carter, removing dung from the streets at night, and his mother was a domestic servant who suffered from chronic bronchitis and was to die young from that ailment.
Anti-Irish feeling at the time was so bad that Irish people were forced to live in the slums of the Cowgate and the Grassmarket which became known as 'Little Ireland'. Overcrowding, poverty, disease, drunkenness and unemployment were rife - the only jobs available was selling second-hand clothes and working as a porter or a carter.
James Connolly went to St Patricks School in the Cowgate, as did his two older brothers, Thomas and John. At ten years of age, James left school and got a job with Edinburgh's 'Evening News' newspaper, where he worked as a 'devil', cleaning inky rollers and fetching beer and food for the adult workers. His brother Thomas also worked with the same newspaper.
In 1882, aged 14, James Connolly joined the British Army in which he was to remain for nearly seven years, all of it in Ireland, where he witnessed first hand the terrible treatment of the Irish people at the hands of the British. The mistreatment of the Irish by the British and the landlords led to Connolly forming an intense hatred of the British Army.
While serving in Ireland, he met his future wife, a Protestant named Lillie Reynolds. They were engaged in 1888 and the following year Connolly discharged himself from the British Army and went back to Scotland. In 1890, he and Lillie Reynolds were wed in Perth and, in the Spring of that year, James and Lillie moved to Edinburgh and lived at 22 West Port, and joined his father and brother working as labourers and then as a manure carter with Edinburgh Corporation, on a strictly temporary and casual basis.
He became active in socialist and trade union circles and became secretary of the 'Scottish Socialist Federation', almost by mistake. At the time his brother John was secretary; however, after John spoke at a rally in favour of the eight-hour day he was fired from his job with the corporation, so while he looked for work, James took over as secretary. During this time, Connolly became involved with the Independent Labour Party which Kerr Hardie formed in 1893.
In late 1894, Connolly lost his job with the corporation. He opened a cobblers shop in February 1895 at number 73 Bucclevch Street, a business venture which was not successful. At the invitation of the Scottish socialist, John Leslie, he came to Dublin in May 1896 as paid organiser of the 'Dublin Socialist Society' for £1 a week. James and Lillie Connolly and their three daughters, Nora, Mona and Aideen set sail for Dublin in 1896, where he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party in May of 1896.
In 1898, Connolly had to return to Scotland on a lecture and fund-raising tour. Before he left Ireland, he had founded 'The Workers' Republic' newspaper, the first Irish socialist paper, from his house at number 54 Pimlico, where he lived with his wife and three daughters. Six other families, a total of 30 people, also lived in number 54 Pimlico, at the same time!
In 1902, he went on a five month lecture tour of the USA and, on returning to Dublin, he found the ISRP existed in name only. He returned to Edinburgh where he worked for the Scottish District of the Social Democratic federation. He then chaired the inaugural meeting of the Socialist Labour Party in 1903 but, when his party failed to make any headway, Connolly became disillusioned and in September 1903, he emigrated to the USA and did not return until July 1910. In the US, he founded the Irish Socialist Federation in New York, and another newspaper, 'The Harp'.
In 1910, he returned to Ireland and in June of the following year he became Belfast organiser for James Larkin's Irish Transport and General Workers Union. In 1913 he co-founded the Labour Party and in 1914 he organised, with James Larkin, opposition to the Employers Federation in the Great Lock-Out of workers that August. Larkin travelled to the USA for a lecture tour in late 1914 and James Connolly became the key figure in the Irish Labour movement.
The previous year, 1913, had also seen Connolly co-found the Irish Citizen Army, at Liberty Hall, the headquarters of the ITGWU - this organisation, the ICA, was established to defend the rights of the working people. In October 1914, Connolly returned permanently to Dublin and revived the newspaper 'The Workers' Republic' that December following the suppression of his other newspaper, 'The Irish Worker'. In 'The Workers' Republic' newspaper, Connolly published articles on guerrilla warfare and continuously attacked the group known as The Irish Volunteers for their inactivity. This group refused to allow the Irish Citizen Army to have any in-put on its Provisional Committee and had no plans in motion for armed action.
The Irish Volunteers were by this time approximately 180,000 strong and were urged by their leadership to support England in the war against Germany. It should be noted that half of the Provisional Committee of the Irish Volunteers were John Redmond's people, who was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Irish Volunteers split, with the majority siding with Redmond and becoming known as the National Volunteers - approximately 11,000 of the membership refused to join Redmond and his people.
However, in February 1915, 'The Workers' Republic' newspaper was suppressed by the Dublin Castle authorities. Even still, Connolly grew more militant. In January 1916, the Irish Republican Brotherhood had became alarmed by Connollys ICA manoeuvres in Dublin and at Connollys impatience at the apparent lack of preparations for a rising, and the IRB decided to take James Connolly into their confidence. During the following months, he took part in the preparation for a rising and was appointed Military Commander of the Republican Forces in Dublin, including his own Irish Citizen Army. He was in command of the Republican HQ at the GPO during Easter Week, and was severely wounded. He was arrested and court-martialed following the surrender.
On May 9th, 1916, James Connolly was propped up in bed before a court-martial and sentenced to die by firing squad - he was at that time being held in the military hospital in Dublin Castle. In a leading article in the Irish Independent on May 10th William Martin Murphy, who had led the employers in the Great Lock-out of workers in 1913, urged the British Government to execute Connolly.
At dawn on May 12th 1916 - 105 years ago on this date -James Connolly was taken by ambulance from Dublin Castle to Kilmainham Jail, carried on a stretcher into the prison yard, strapped into a chair in a corner of the yard and executed by firing-squad. Connolly's body, like that of the other 14 executed leaders, was taken to the British military cemetery adjoining Arbour Hill Prison and buried, without coffin, in a mass quicklime grave.
The fact that he was one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation bears evidence of his influence. He had told the Irish Citizen Army, on 16th April, 1916, that "..the odds are a thousand to one against us, but in the event of victory, hold onto your rifles, as those with whom we are fighting may stop before our goal is reached..."
He died, strapped to a chair, but that should not be seen to infer that he wanted that chair placed at a table where a compromise would be the outcome.
James Connolly, 5th June 1868 - 12th May 1916. Executed by the British at 47 years of age, on the 12th May, 1916.
Members of the 'Irish Socialist Republican Party' carried a black coffin throughout the streets of Dublin, accompanied by a band playing the 'Dead March', and Maud Gonne, William Butler Yeats and John O'Leary, among other Irish republicans, took part in those protests, and Maud Gonne reported afterwards on the events -
'The police were only beginning to realise the meaning of the procession and rushed for reinforcements from the Castle and other police stations. The crowd was so dense that (they) could not attempt to break it up till they were in force. The foot and horse police arrived and there were charges by mounted police and baton charges and people began to be carried off in ambulances.
(James) Connolly was not a man to be easily stopped and the big procession arrived in fair order at O'Connell Bridge. Here the fighting was furious and, seeing the coffin in danger of being captured by the police, Connolly gave the order to throw it in the Liffey.
The whole crowd shouted "Here goes the coffin of the British Empire. To hell with the British Empire." Connolly was arrested. People began to notice that the city was in darkness ; none of the Jubilee illuminations were visible. Everywhere could be seen excited crowds being dispersed by the police.."
The 'Inghinidhe na hÉireann' organisation, which was founded at the turn of the century by Maud Gonne, hung a black banner over O'Connell Street in protest at the visit, and they hung black flags from the windows of many houses throughout Dublin, in many cases barricading the doors of the houses to impede the RIC when they tried to get in to pull down the flags and, when the RIC were busy trying to remove black flags and otherwise disrupt the protests, Maud Gonne and the women of her organisation held a party in Dublin's Phoenix Park for the poor children living in the Dublin slums. Not for them the 'pomp and ceremony' of so-called 'royalty'.
Maud Gonne, 21st December 1866 - 27th April 1953. The Lady was born in Tongham, in Surrey, England, and died in her 87th year at her home in Roebuck House in Dublin.
'CONNRADH NA GAEDHILGE'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
An Co-Choiste an tSiamsa Mhoir (Craobh Moibhi agus Craobh an Cheitinnigh de Connradh na Gaedhilge) have sent along a cheque for £25-18-0, being the proceeds of the Ceili in the Mansion House, Dublin, on Sunday January 16th last, in aid of An Cumann Cabhrach.
Taimid fiorbhuidheach diobtha! ('We are very grateful!') (END of 'Connradh Na Gaedhilge' : NEXT - 'Armagh', from the same source.)
Thanks for the visit, and for reading ; see y'all on Sunday 26th, hopefully...
..'cause ya won't 'see' us on Wednesday, 29th June 2022 : we have two outings, plus the 'NGA' event at the Four Courts, between now and the 29th, so we won't have time to put a blog post together. But we'll be back here on Wednesday, 6th July, 2022 with, among other pieces, a discussion within the Republican Movement, including the IRA GHQ Staff, in connection with a proposed rescue operation of some big operators..!
Sharon and the team.
