1. Highlights
Owen Donnelly (MSP34REF20115) – Shooting of Sean Hales TD
Donnelly has been named in various books as the gunman who fatally shot Sean Hales TD (2D65) on 07 December 1922 outside the Ormond Hotel, Dublin. Pádraic Ó Máille TD (MSP34REF16495) was also badly wounded in the attack. Donnelly was a Staff Officer in General Headquarters (GHQ) Intelligence from August 1922 and worked alongside the Dublin Brigade’s Active Service Unit (ASU) in many operations. He does not specifically refer to the Hales killing but says on file that he “planned and carried out necessary retaliatory shootings”. Subject was captured, on about 10 December1922, a few days after the shooting of Sean Hales TD. Donnelly’s application for a military service pension was unsuccessful but he was awarded a disability pension under the Army Pensions Acts, 1923-1937 of £120 per annum from 1937 onwards.
Patrick Mannix (MSP34REF61616) – DMP double agent
Mannix was a serving Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) Constable in Donnybrook Station, Dublin who became an IRA Intelligence Officer in early 1919. He claims that he helped to procure arms and ammunition for the IRA and passed on important and confidential information regarding upcoming raids and suspected informers. Mannix received references from former high-ranking GHQ Intelligence Officers Frank Saurin (24SP1953) and Frank Thornton (24SP1302) and other former DMP double agents Eamon Broy (24SP9528) and David Neligan (24SP7492). Subjectt was awarded 1 and 3/4 years service for pension purposes in 1951 at Grade E under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934.
Sam Maguire (DP23975) – Cork Protestant GAA and IRA officer
First file in MSPC found for Cork-born Sam Maguire who was involved in GAA circles and republican politics in London from late 1890s. Believed to have initiated fellow post office employee Michael Collins (DP23755) into the IRB in 1909 in London and served as a leading IRA Intelligence Officer during the War of Independence. Suspected to have met Reginald Dunne (DP1462) and Joseph O’Sullivan (DP6925) on the night before Sir Henry Wilson was killed in London in June 1922. Returning to Ireland in early 1923, he was dismissed from his civil service job in 1924 and died in Cork in 1927. The winners of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship have been awarded the Sam Maguire Cup since 1928. Sam Maguire’s sister Mary made an unsuccessful/incomplete application in 1953 under the Army Pensions Acts, 1923 – 1953.
Phil Shanahan (DP11225) – Ran well-known pub in infamous “Monto” area
First file in MSPC found for Tipperary-born Phil Shanahan who ran a licensed premises at the corner of Foley Street and Corporation Street in Dublin’s “Monto” area. A 1916 veteran and a Sinn Féin TD from 1918 to 1922, the pub was an important meeting place and dispatch centre for IRA forces. Subject’s sister applied unsuccessfully for a dependants allowance following his death in 1931.
James Crofton (MSP34REF53954) – Garda double agent in 1940s
As a serving Special Branch officer, Crofton was a double IRA agent in the late 1930s and 1940s passing on information to Stephen Hayes (MSP34REF60311) (the then IRA Chief of Staff). Resigning in February 1941, he was arrested the following month for his involvement in a planned dramatic escape of Nazi Germany agent Hermann Goertz. Crofton had volunteered to sail Goertz from County Kerry to France. Crofton was sentenced to five years imprisonment and was released after serving nearly four. Subject states that he was active with the Irish Volunteers in South Wexford Brigade from early 1917 and was engaged in arms smuggling on ships sailing to Newport and Cardiff (Wales) and Antwerp, Belgium during the War of Independence. Deserting from the National Army when the Four Courts was attacked, he served with 3 Battalion ASU, 2 Dublin Brigade, IRA until capture in late September 1922. He had joined An Garda Síochána in September 1933. Crofton received a Service (1917-1921) Medal but his application for a military service pension was unsuccessful.
Hugh Corvin (MSP34REF24082) – Leading Belfast republican
IRA officer and leading member of the Gaelic League and GAA in Belfast. He served as IRA Brigade Quartermaster, Galway Brigade (1919-21), IRA Divisional Quartermaster, 3 Northern Division (1922) and IRA Divisional Commandant, 3 Northern Division (Oct 1922 – April 1923). He ran unsuccessfully as an independent republican in a 1943 by election in West Belfast. Corvin was awarded 4 and 1/2 years service for pension purposes in 1936 at Grade C under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934.
Frank Kerlin (DP7712) – IRA Director of Intelligence & Fianna Fáil TD in mid 1920s
Kerlin was IRA Director of Intelligence in 1925-27 period and was elected a Fianna Fáil TD in Dublin South in the September 1927 election. He had been active with Na Fianna Éireann from 1915 and transferred to C Coy, 3 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA in summer 1920. Subject was captured after an ambush of British forces on Dartmouth Road on 21 June 1921 and held until early 1922. Taking the anti Treaty side, he was active with GHQ Intelligence from Autumn 1922 until arrest in January 1923. He rejoined the Intelligence Department after release. Kerlin was awarded a disability pension under the Army Pensions Acts, 1932 of £150 per annum from 1932 and died in 1934 of TB.
James J Dineen (MSP34REF58318) – former US Army officer connected to Thompson guns
Travelled from Chicago to Dublin in May 1921 to act as an instructor (under the name “Major Jim Kelly”) in the use of the Thompson sub-machine gun and small arms to IRA forces. He was wounded in an engagement during the Civil War. Dineen served with the US Army from 1903 to 1918 and fought in the Somme in 1915 during First World War. He was later pistol instructor for the Chicago Police Department. Subject’s application for a military service pension was unsuccessful.
James Kirwan (MSP34REF1580) – ran one of the most famous IRA rendezvous points
Proprietor of public house at 49 Parnell Street, Dublin from 1920 which was an important clearing house for dispatches for IRA GHQ Intelligence and meeting place for the IRA’s contacts in the police, British Army and civil service. Vaughan’s Hotel and another pub on Parnell Street, owned by Liam Devlin (MSP34REF55488), were used in a similar manner.
Norah Doyle (MSP34REF29167) – first-hand account of a drunk Michael Collins during Truce
States that she was associated with 1 Battalion, 3 Cork Brigade, IRA from 1919. Four brothers were in the IRA. In late July 1922 just before the Civil War, she gives an interesting account of Michael Collins while both were staying in the Donovan’s Hotel, Clonakilty which begins: “It was drink made Collins do what he did, I know it, and I tell you why”. At 2am in the morning, she was woken up by Miss O’Donovan and a barmaid who were concerned about Collins who had got into an argument with some IRA men staying in the hotel. Both groups had revolvers drawn. She says that Collins “was so drunk he could hardly stand” and that she “cried that night” as “I knew he couldn’t be sober in England” [during the Treaty negotiations]. Taking the anti Treaty side in the Civil War, she says she attended a meeting in late November 1922 at Drew’s [public house], Shannon Street, Bandon attended by Sean Hales TD and National Army officers Emmet Dalton (24SP13470) and Tom Ennis (24SP7328). It was agreed that Sean Hales TD would call for a truce in the civil war at the end of the next meeting of Dáil Éireann. In the meantime, he agreed to “try to influence any others he could to act with him and resign as a protest if they didn’t agree”. Nora Doyle says that she agreed to go with a letter discussing these plans to Sean’s brother Tom Hales (MSP34REF2074) who was in Cork Jail. Dalton assured her that the prison censor would not open the letter. Sean Hales TD was killed in Dublin in early December 1922 which put an end to the scheme.
Crissie Nagle (née Coughlan) (MSP34REF33049) – sexual/gender violence
States that was attached to the Tipperary Town Branch, 4 Battalion, 3 Tipperary Brigade, Cumann na mBan from 1917. On 24 March 1921, she was arrested and taken to Tipperary Military Barracks where she says “all of my clothes [were] taken off by a masked unknown person and [I] was badly treated [and] paraded through town and barracks square”. She claims that another unnamed girl, who suffered the same treatment, later died and her family “maintained it was from the effects of exposure”. On 11 May 1922 during the Truce Period, the applicant carried out an armed raid with two others on Dobbyn’s Hotel, Tipperary Town to arrest Miss C Shaw (Cumann na Saoirse organizer) who was sent back to Dublin. The Cumann na mBan women seized an “attaché case” containing “Free State literature” and dispatches.
2. Highlights (Original documents)
Jeremiah Murphy (DP8295)
Served with 1 Cork Brigade and 5 Cork Brigade during the War of Independence. Taking the anti Treaty side in the Civil War, he was captured in September 1922 and held until January 1923. Emigrating to the USA, the subject died of tuberculosis in Banning Sanatorium, California on 28 May 1928 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery, California. File contains a black and white photograph of six men standing beside his coffin draped in the Irish tricolour and American flag.
Martha Harkin (MSP34REF26795)
Claims that she was active with Derry City Branch, Derry City Battalion, Cumann na mBan from November 1918 until late 1922. File contains an undated small black and white photograph of seventeen unnamed IRA men held in Ebrington Barracks, Derry.
Margaret Guiney (MSP34REF28813)
Claims that she was a member of E Company (Rockchapel), 2 Battalion, 4 Cork Brigade, Cumann na mBan during the War of Independence, Truce period and Civil War. File contains a copy of the Cumann na mBan official newspaper dated May 1922 (Vol. 1, No. 3).
Mary Kate O’Leary (MSP34REF56052)
Active with Fermoy Branch, 1 Battalion, 2 Cork Brigade, Cumann na mBan during the War of Independence, Truce period and Civil War. File contains a typed letter from Cumann na mBan, 12 St Andrew Street, Dublin dated 6 March 1934 asking if the applicant would be willing to help in the re-organisation of a Cumann na mBan Branch in Fermoy.
Dorothea Donnelly (MSP34REF20924)
Active with Ranelagh Branch, Dublin Brigade, Cumann na mBan from 1918. She did extensive dispatch work for republican forces during the Civil War including carrying letters to London in early 1923. Her file contains a number of original documents from 1923 period regarding her work with the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Dependents’ Fund and IRA activity in County Westmeath.
Agnes McGrath (MSP34REF33133)
States that she active with Cumann na mBan in County Tipperary from 1917. File contains a pass for the Cumann na mBan Special Convention dated 05 February 1922 at Mansion House, Dublin. Her brother IRA Commandant Maurice McGrath (DP3132) was killed in Carrick on Suir, County Tipperary on 15 June 1922 in an engagement with the National Army.
Brigid McGeehan (MSP34REF36199)
Claims that she was attached to Newbridge Branch, 2 Battalion, North Kildare Brigade, Cumann na mBan. Her file contains some handwritten letters from IRA prisoners dated 1921 and a typed letter from Cumann na mBan Headquarters, Dublin dated 16 July 1921 to Branch Secretaries regarding training work during the Truce period.
3. Highlights (More Stories)
Cork
Margaret O’Donoghue (MSP34REF33220) was active with Cumann na mBan in Cork City from 1917. During the War of Independence, she was engaged in intelligence work and trailed a number of suspected informers. These included Con Sheehan (an attendant in the Mental Hospital, who was shot dead on Blarney Street); Miss Wallace (employed as a servant in the Military Barracks, who moved to England and never returned) and a man named Flynn (shot, wounded, taken to the Military Barracks and moved to England). Regarding the IRA member turned spy Patrick Connors of Cloghan, the applicant notes that “he was at this period a most trusted member of the company” and that she “received arms, ammunition, bandoliers and tin helmets” from him which she transported to the arms dump in the Mental Hospital farmyard. She says that Connors used to also identify and bring women he found loitering.
Mary Quill (MSP34REF28950) founding member of Cumann na mBan in Cork City, County Cork in April 1914 and was elected Branch President in 1918. File contains an undated typed account by applicant’s brother Sean about the 1920-21 period and his experiences of running a newspaper distribution business in Cork City. Refers to raids on his premises, the establishment of the Cork Anti Sinn Fein Society and the death of [James] Coleman, Mineral Water Manufacturer, North Mall, Cork which he blamed on that group.
Kate O’Sullivan (née Dunne) (MSP34REF29831) was a member of Adrigole Company, 6 Battalion, 3 Cork Brigade, Cumann na mBan. On 08 April 1923, her sister Margaret Dunne was shot dead by the National Army at Adrigole, Castletown, County Cork during an engagement with IRA forces. Subject states that her sister was Cumann na mBan secretary. No file has been found for Margaret Dunne in the MSPC to date.
Nora Donovan (MSP34REF29062) did significant nursing and first-aid work for IRA forces during the Civil Wars. She states that she transferred to Buttevant Barracks and helped 21 patients on the ground floor suffering from various complaints including tuberculosis, pleurisy, gunshot wounds and general debility. Subject claims that she procured bedding and 35 beds from tje Munster Arcade for the Buttevant Barracks hospital. States that she tended to Jeremiah Deasy, of Bannon and brother of Liam Deasy and Eugene Sullivan, of Ballyvourney, who had been shot in the thigh. Subject states that on evacuation she travelled with Eugene Sullivan to Mallow and then was transferred to Fermoy Hospital. After seven or eight days, Nora Donovan claims that she was transferred with an IRA escort to Dan Jer Og’s (Lynch’s house), Ballyvourney. She continued her work in Ballyvourney until they were surrounded by National Army troops and they had to evacuate. Further states that she did nursing work until the end of the war in West Cork and Kerry.
Dublin
Bernard Doyle (MSP34REF28300) was employed as a buyer in “The Golden Key” ironmonger business, 154 Capel Street. Working under Sean Russell (Director of Munitions), the subject used his position to legally order tools, springs, striker pins, cases, rings and metal fittings for the manufacture of grenades. He visited businesses in Glasgow, Liverpool and Birmingham to procure different material and supervised the assembling and filling of grenades at various IRA munition factories across Dublin.
Joseph Doody (MSP34REF1013) was active with B Company, 1 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers from 1917 and took the anti Treaty side in the Civil War. He gives a first-hand account of the IRA operation to destroy the Carlton Cinema, O’Connell Street on 23 March 1923 during which IRA ASU member Paddy O’Brien was killed. No file has been found for Paddy O’Brien in the MSPC to date. Doody wrote:
“We had an awful job to get away. We were attacked by a foot patrol who came down from the Parnell Monument and they fired on us; and another from patrol came from the lower end of O’Connell Street. We retreated through Findlater Place and out Marlborough Street”.
William J Doyle (MSP34REF21587) was a full-time member of the IRA’s Dublin Brigade Active Service Unit (ASU) from its fondation December 1920 and was captured in the attack on the Customs House (May 1921). In the Civil War, he served as Assistant Brigade Intelligence Officer and organised many attacks on National forces in Dublin until arrest in May 1923.
Elizabeth Valentine (née MacGrattan) (MSP34REF14770) states that she was attached to the Eamon Ceannt Branch, 4 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Cumann na mBan from 1917. References on file state that she did full time dispatch work for IRA General Headquarters (GHQ) from early August 1922 to the ceasefire order in May 1923. She mainly did work for Ernie O’Malley (34A6) (Assistant Chief of Staff), Sean Dowling (MSP34REF43520) (Director of Organisation) and the Director of Engineering.
Margaret Copeland (née Byrne) (MSP34REF20950) claimed that she was active during Easter Week 1916 at St Stephen’s Green, the GPO and Four Courts/Church Street area. Her military service pension application was unsuccessful but she was awarded a Service (1917-1921) Medal. Her brother Sean Byrne (MSP34REF8777) and sister Lillie Byrne (MSP34REF20955) were both granted 1916 service in their successful service pensions.
Jenny Wall (MSP34REF33890) was attached to Ard Craobh (Central Branch), 1 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Cumann na mBan from early 1915. During the ‘Battle of Dublin’ in the Civil War, she says she did first-aid duty at “Tara Hall”, Gloucester Street before they moved to 73 St Stephen’s Green (home of Maud Gonne MaBrde) for one night. Applicant told the Advisory Committee: “Madame McBride was away. She said when she came back that she was strongly objected to Cumann na mBan in the house”.
Sarah Donohue (MSP34REF60623) says that she was attached to General Headquarters (GHQ) Dublin from April 1916 and was not a member of Cumann na mBan. Her husband James Donohue (24SP2649), a Chief Officer in the British and Irish Steam Packet Company (B&I), was described by Gearóid O’Sullivan on file as Michael Collins’ “most confidential man on the boats”. Sarah says that she helped to receive and store arms and dispatches that were left in her custody until the Truce period.
Catherine Ward (née Shiels) (MSP34REF25081) states that she was a member of Ard Craobh (Central Branch), Dublin Brigade, Cumann na mBan from 1916. Her home, 19 Upper Sherrard Street, Dublin City, was a rendezvous point for Irish Volunteers in the run up to the Rising and her brother Henry Shiels (MSP34REF50882) took part in the fighting. During the Battle of Dublin [28 June – 05 July 1922] in the Civil War, the subject agreed to store all arms held in Barry’s Hotel following evacuation orders. Stated on file that a bread van delivered 40 rifles, a couple of dozen hand grenades, revolvers, three landmines and two plungers.
England and Wales
Mary Driscoll (née O’Donovan) (MSP34REF29193) was active in republican politics in Newport, Wales from April 1921. She states that she helped an arms trafficking network that was organised by JP Connolly, an IRA officer sent over from Dublin. She also took part in a successful arms raid on Salisbury Plain Barracks. She notes that JP Connolly was arrested, convicted on 17 November 1921, sentenced to 12 years imprisonment but released during the Truce. No file for JP Connolly has been found in the MSPC to date.
Kathleen Hanrahan (née Corcoran) (MSP34REF25414) and Sarah Farrelly (MSP34REF46517) both claimed service with Cumann na mBan in Liverpool, England. The applicants were involved in transporting arms to ships at Liverpool Docks; carrying paraffin oil which had been used in IRA arson attacks and moving guns from different arms dump to arms dump. Farrelly also says that she brought an unnamed IRA member to hospital in St Helens after he was accidently shot.
North of Ireland
Breid Dobbyn (née McCamphill) (MSP34REF20630) was active with the Gaelic League and Cumann na mBan in Belfast from 1914. She did dispatch work for GHQ during the War of Independence and says her family were put out of their home in Ormeau Road in the 1920 Belfast Pogrom and then again from Raglan Street in April 1922.
Fannie Hegarty (MSP34REF26798) was attached to Cumann na mBan in Derry City from 1914. During the War of Independence (January 1919 – July 1921), she was engaged in carrying ammunition from place to place during Derry Riots and was on duty in St Colmnb’s College for one week (19 – 25 June 1920); storing arms in her home and procuring information from two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) men named Crowe and Clarke. During the Civil War, she aided IRA forces in Skeog, County Donegal and did full time work with the Republican Prisoners Dependents Committee from April – September 1923.
Other
Nellie Wallace (MSP34REF59818) was attached to Newbridge Branch, Cumann na mBan from 1917. In early 1923, she helped the escape of 70 IRA prisoners from Tintown Camp, the Curragh, County Kildare, by providing wire cutters and chisels which were used to dig a tunnel.
Ellie Murphy (MSP34REF62576) was a member of Curreeny Company, 5 Battalion, 1 Tipperary Brigade, Cumann na mBan during the War of Independence, Truce period and Civil War. She gives a first-hand account of the deaths of IRA officers Matthew Ryan (DP24208) and John Sheehy near her home in March 1923:
“… my house in Foilduff was attacked on that tragic day when Mat Ryan and John Sheehy RIP lost their lives, when the battle died down I had to hide the arms and ammunition the fellows left behind. When I went down Sheehey was dead in the haggard, Mat Ryan was dead further down on the hill … poor Sheehey’s brains [were] blown out [and] scattered round. I had to gather them into a tin can, I had them removed the day of his funeral to the church yard of Kilmastulla as the Free State soldiers took their bodies off in the lorry the day they were shot … after the battle the house was wrecked and furniture broken”.
Mary Jane Poland (MSP34REF27581) states that she was attached to the Tullamore Branch, Cumann na mBan from September 1915. On 20 March 1916, reference Peadar Bracken (MSP34REF25453) states that he, Seamus Brennan and Joseph Wrafter helped to escort the applicant and other Cumann na mBan girls to safety after a “hostile mob” attacked the Sinn Féin rooms with stones and other missiles. The subject told the Advisory Committee that: “I happened to be in that hall with a crowd of other girls. A mob from the town broke in the windows and there were shots exchanged. I got beaten coming home … I was [hit] with an iron bar. They were very hostile in Tullamore at that time”.
Mary Lynam (MSP34REF25338) was Branch Secretary of Taghmon Branch, 4 Battalion, South Wexford Brigade, Cumann na mBan during the War of Independence and Civil War. She did significant work for IRA forces during fighting with National Army in Wexford town in July 1922 including transporting arms; tending to wounded IRA men; helping an IRA prisoner escape from Wexford Barracks and moving a landmine.
Thomas Murray (MSP34REF34659) was a member of A Company (Carniska), 3 Battalion, North Roscommon Brigade, IRA. He gives a first-hand account of shooting a RIC Seregant [Peter McArdle] in Strokestown, County Roscommon in January 1921:
“Liam O’Doherty brought me and 5 or 6 … from other companies … and I was one of the selected to go up the town with an automatic pistol … and search public houses for policemen. We caught one drinking and we waited until he came out and we fired at him and brought him down; and he died 3 or 4 days after. We came down the street, then the police were getting ready in the barracks beside us and when we came to the cross of the street a lorry was coming and Doherty had men to protect us and he opened fired on the lorry. We got away eventually”.
Military Service Pensions Collection 