A selection of the highlights from Release 15 (November 1923) of the MSPC divided up in the following categories:
1. Interesting incidents
2. Parliamentary politics and civic life
3. Arms work and intelligence
4. Sport
5. Interesting pre/post conflict stories
6. Original documents
7. Unsuccessful 1916 applicants 8. Successful 1916 applicant
9. Shooting of three British secret service agents in Waterfall, Co Cork (1920)
1. Interesting incidents
James Joseph Boyce (MSP34REF20661) – Accidently shot dead comrade in 1918
File contains a number of references to the accidental fatal shooting of Irish Volunteer James Gallagher during an arms training exercise in the Dublin Mountains in April 1918. No file for James Gallagher has been found in the MSPC to date. The subject is named by Michael Noyk in his BHW Witness Statement (no. 707) as the individual who “owing to some unfortunate error … fired … and hit young Gallagher … in the neck with fatal results”. James Gallagher was a 26 year old bank clerk originally from Cork who was attached to K Company, 3 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. He is buried in St Finbar’s Cemetery, Cork. The deceased was brother of Frank Gallagher (MSP34REF60750) who edited the “Irish Bulletin” in the War of Independence, was imprisoned for most of the Civil War and was editor of the “Irish Press” from 1931 to 1935.
Joseph Traynor (DP9656) – Killed in Croke Park during Bloody Sunday 1920
Traynor was a member of F Company, 4 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA and was present in Croke Park as a spectator when British Army soldiers opened fire into the crowd on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920. Traynor, an unmarried labourer aged 21, was fatally wounded “by machine gun fire” and died later on same day in Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin of “shock and haemorrhage due to wounds”. Application from father was rejected in 1937 as it was found that Traynor was not a member of any organisation covered by the legislation. However, the subject was posthumously awarded a Service (1917-1921) Medal when his brother applied in 1943, see MD1794.
Michael Hogan (24SP11037) – Arrested in London during the Truce
Hogan was active with the IRA in Galway and Cork during the WOI. Attached to the 1 Western Division, IRA during the Truce, the subject was sent to London by his OC Michael Brennan (24SP9375) to purchase arms. He was arrested in November 1921 with Ned Lynch (24SP2) following the removal of rifles and machine guns from Chelsea Barracks and Windsor Barracks through a friendly British soldier. Hogan was released in April 1922 and joined the National Army where he was active in Kerry alongside officer Paddy O’Daly (24SP617). He rose to rank of Major General. Subject’s brother Patrick Hogan was a Fine Gael TD and served as Minister for Agriculture from 1922 to 1932. Another brother James (1924A64) was an IRA officer, professor in University College Cork and served as Director of Intelligence in the National Army in 1923. Michael Hogan made the headlines in 1933 when he was arrested – but found not guilty of stealing official documents – which were passed to his brother James who was writing a book on communism in Ireland.
Thomas Daly (MSP34REF7580) – Leader of Civic Guards mutiny in summer 1922
Daly was active with Bantry Company, 4 Battalion, 3 Cork Brigade, IRA during the War of Independence and took part in several ambushes of British forces and attacks on barracks. Joining the newly formed Civic Guards in February 1922 during the Truce period, the subject had anti-Treaty sympathises and started to communicate with Joseph Griffin (MSP34REF40) (IRA Director of Intelligence). Unhappy with the number of ex RIC officers holding high commissions in the Civic Guards, over 1,000 recruits broke ranks on 15 May 1922, raided the armoury and took over the training depot at Kildare Barracks. In late June 1922, Daly claims that he organised the transfer of the entire arms store of the barracks to anti-Treaty forces in the Four Courts. Subsequent accounts put the number at over 160 rifles, over 240 revolvers and several thousand rounds of ammunition. He resigned from the Civic Guards on the same night as the ‘raid’. Subject took part in fighting against National forces in Cork and Tipperary until capture in November 1922. For more information see ‘The Civic Guard Mutiny’ by Brian McCarthy (Mercier Press, 2012).
Eugene Dunne (MSP34REF29345) – Sister shot by National Army in Civil War
Dunne was a member of A Company (Adrigole), 6 Battalion, 3 Cork Brigade, IRA during the War of Independence and a served a term of imprisonment in 1921. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, he claims that he was captured on 09 April 1923 but was released to attend the funeral of his sister Margaret Dunne (Cumann na mBan secretary) who had been shot dead the previous day by a National Army officer during a fight between the IRA and National forces at Droumlave (Drumlave), County Cork. No file for Margaret Dunne has been found in MSPC to date.
Jeremiah O’Sullivan MSP34REF7859 – Allegedly court martialed and dismissed from the IRA Jeremiah O’Sullivan claimed to be a member of D Company (Churchill), 9 Battalion, 1 Kerry Brigade during the pre-truce period only. O’Sullivan was not awarded a pension as his service was not recognised and subject to significant controversy. According to documentation on file O’Sullivan was allegedly court martialed and dismissed from the IRA and his role as First Lieutenant in November 1920 for “refusing to take part in two operations” relating to the Spa Ambush. O’Sullivan’s file contains extensive material related to establishing if he was in fact court martialed and dismissed or if his military service continued to the end of the War of Independence. There are a number of contradictory testimonies on file from Officers/Captains and other Volunteers from O’Sullivan’s company and brigade.
Maurice Michael Fitzgerald MSP34REF55901 – Treated both anti-treaty IRA and National Forces during Civil War Fitzgerald was a Medical Officer with the IRA based in East Limerick during the War of Independence, Truce and Civil War. His file indicates he did not take a definitive side during the Civil War and rendered aid to the wounded and sick on both the pro and anti-treaty side, naming both Donnchadh Hannigan (National Army) and Sean T Riordan (IRA) as his Commanding Officers in the period from 1 July 1922 and 31 March 1923. It would seem however he acted as a Medical Officer in a more official capacity with the IRA and so was awarded a pension under the 1934 Army Pension Act as a member of the IRA but his open attendance of soldiers of both sides of the conflict is interesting.
2. Parliamentary politics and civic life
Thomas P Powell (MSP34REF22640) – Fianna Fáil TD (Galway)
Powell served as a Fianna Fáil TD in the Galway constituency from 1927 to 1932. He lost his seat in the 1933 general election. Subject was attached to Irish Volunteers in County Mayo from 1917 and claims that he was Brigade Director of Signallers of South Mayo Brigade, IRA in 1920 and Brigade Commandant of South Mayo Brigade, 2 Western Division, IRA during Truce period. He was captured in November 1922 by National forces during the Civil War and interned for one year.
John Flynn (MSP34REF5374) – Fianna Fáil TD (Kerry)
Flynn served as a Fianna Fáil TD in Kerry (later Kerry South) from 1932 to 1943. He was elected as an Independent Republican in the 1948 and 1951 general elections. Subject made the headlines in 1952 after punching Oliver J. Flanagan TD (Fine Gael) in the Leinster House Restaurant following an earlier comment made by Flanagan in the Dáil chamber. Re-joining Fianna Fáil, Flynn was re-elected in 1954 but lost his seat in 1957. Subject was a member of the Irish Volunteers in Milltown, County Kerry from 1917 and while attached to 1 Kerry Brigade ASU took part in several ambushes of British forces including at Lispole (March 1921), Glenbeigh Railway Station (April 1921) and Ballymacandy (June 1921). Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, Flynn served as Column Commander of a Battalion ASU and Brigade Commandant and took part in several attacks on National forces. He was on the run evading arrest until 1924.
Sean O’Donovan (MSP34REF20650) – Fianna Fáil Senator (Cork)
O’Donovan, originally from Cork, was a Fianna Fáil Senator from 1938 to 1948, 1951 to 1954 and 1957 to 1969. He lost his seat in the 1969 Seanad election. Subject served as Battalion Commandant, 2 Battalion, 3 Cork Brigade, IRA in the WOI and Brigade Police Officer of 3 Cork Brigade. He served two terms of imprisonment in 1920-1921 period. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, O’Donovan fought in Dublin against National forces and was interned from July 1922 to November 1923.
Paddy Ryan (Lacken) (MSP34REF38256) – Sinn Féin TD (Tipperary)
Ryan was elected as a Sinn Féin TD for the Tipperary constituency at the 1923 general election. Attached to the Irish Volunteers in Tipperary since 1917, the subject took part in a long list of attacks and shootings during the War of Independence while fighting with different IRA brigades in Tipperary and Limerick. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, Ryan served as Brigade Commandant of 1 Tipperary Brigade and in November 1922 and was seriously wounded in a fight with National forces at Knockahopple, County Tipperary. He was finally captured in April 1923 and took part in a 36 day hunger strike while imprisoned. Ryan emigrated to the USA in 1929 and died in New York in 1944.
Frank Purcell (MSP34REF22640) – Senator and trade union official
Purcell was General Secretary of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) from 1948 to 1959. He was an Independent member on the Labour Panel of Seanad Éireann from 1954 to 1960. He was re-elected at the 1957 election but died in office in 1960. Subject was attached to Irish Volunteers from 1917 in County Kildare and claims that he served as Battalion Adjutant of 1 Battalion, Kildare Brigade, IRA and Battalion Vice Commandant of 2 Kildare Battalion during the War of Independence when he took part in attacks/burning of police barracks, military barracks, courthouses and ‘big houses’ due to be occupied by British forces. He was imprisoned for about eight months in 1921. Purcell took the anti-Treaty side and served two terms of imprisonment during the Civil War.
Eamon Rooney (24SP11392) – Journalist
Rooney worked as a journalist with “The Irish News”, Belfast and “The Irish Weekly” and marched from Belfast to Dungannon, County Tyrone to take part in the 1916 Easter Rising. He later worked for “The Meath Chronicle” newspaper and was a trade union official with the ITGWU. Rooney was active with the IRA in Meath and Louth during the WOI. Taking the pro Treaty side in the Civil War, he served as Brigadier (1922-23), Captain (1923-1934), Commandant (1934-1941), Acting Major (1941-1946) and Major (1946) and retired from the Defence Forces on 22 April 1946. During the Second World War, he was the unnamed military correspondent of “The Irish Independent” and the “Sunday Independent” and was Press Liaison Officer for Defence Forces GHQ. He was later publicity and advertising manager for Aer Lingus.
3. Arms work and intelligence
Patrick O’Shea (MSP34REF1565) – Waiter in The Wicklow Hotel
Attached to the Irish Volunteers from 1917, O’Shea’s home in Drumcondra was used as a billet and meeting location for IRA GHQ officers including Michael Collins, Diarmuid O’Hegarty, Gearoid O’Sullivan, Tom Cullen, Liam Tobin and Frank Thornton. A waiter in The Wicklow Hotel off Grafton Street, he was asked to organise an intelligence network amongst waiters and hall porters of various hotels in the city. O’Shea collected information regarding British secret service agent “Jameson” (John Charles Byrnes) who was shot in February 1920 and the Wicklow Hotel’s night porter (William Doran) who was a suspected informer and killed by the IRA in January 1921.
Francis G Meagher (MSP34REF59531) – Arms importation
Meagher was secretary, manager and co-director of The Irish Overseas Trading and Shipping Company Limited with Patrick Moylett (MSP34REF16385). The company, run under the political supervision of Ernest Blythe, was used as a cover for communication from IRA GHQ Dublin to various republican consulates abroad and to procure arms and ammunition from agents across Europe. He did not take part in the Civil War.
Larry Byrne (MSP34REF23546) – Arms work in NYC
Byrne was involved in the procurement, storage and transport of arms in Liverpool for IRA GHQ in 1919 before being sent to New York City. He was part of the crew of the SS “East Side” which planned to sail to Ireland with nearly 500 Thompson machine guns but were stopped at Hoboken, New Jersey by federal agents in June 1921. He went ‘on the run’ and sailed back to Ireland as a stowaway in December 1921. He took no further part.
John Francis Morris (MSP34REF46833) – Arms work in Liverpool
Morris states that his family’s grocery shop at 64 Boundary Street, Liverpool near the docks was used as an important ‘clearing house’ for arms and ammunition from 1917 onwards. Subject was active throughout the WOI and CW and remained connected to the IRA until 1925. It has been noted in other sources that subject’s father Hughie Morris helped to transport escaped Fenian prisoners Kelly and Deasy to the Liverpool docks after they were freed from police custody in Manchester in 1867 (“Manchester Martyrs” incident).
Francis Scannell McLoughlin (MSP34REF59614) – IRA agent in Post Office Engineering Department
Scannell supplied the Irish Volunteers in Derry with information from early 1918 regarding his knowledge of all telephone and telegraph installations in Derry and parts of County Antrim and County Tyrone. Following transfer to Dublin in late 1920, he did similar work and helped provide an instrument to IRA intelligence officers to intercept telephone lines between British government and military posts.
Charles Murphy (24SP4403) – IRA double agent in CID during Civil War
Murphy was attached to F Company, 2 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA and was interned for a year during the War of Independence. Subject states that he enlisted with the pro Treaty Criminal Investigative Department (CID) at Westland Row as a Detective Officer in May 1922 and says that he began to supply Tom Burke (MSP34REF3868) (Battalion Commandant of 2 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA) with copies of documents and information regarding upcoming raids. Witness to the arrest of Eamonn Hughes (DP4559), Brendan Holohan (DP4496) and Joseph Rogers on Cloniffe Road by National Army officers in Drumcondra on the night of 06-07 October 1922, he was asked by fellow CID officer Gerry Hughes (1924A56) (brother of one of the deceased) to provide evidence at subsequent inquiry into the three men’s deaths. Shunned by colleagues as a result, he claims that there were attempts made on his life and he resigned from CID in May 1923.
4. Sport
Daniel Stapleton (24SP11145) – Kilkenny hurler & future Garda State ballistics expert
Stapleton won All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship medals with Kilkenny in 1904, 1905 and 1907. A trained chemist, the subject served as Brigade Chemist of Kilkenny Brigade, IRA during War of Independence and was involved in the importation of potassium chloride, the manufacture of explosives and the procurement of arms through his brother in Germany. Subject served with the National Army from April 1922 and took the pro Treaty side in the Civil War. Subject resigned from the Defence Forces on 15 July 1936 to take up a post with the Technical Bureau of An Garda Síochána as Garda Superintendent where he served as official State ballistics expert until his retirement in 1951.
Thomas McGrath (24SP11147) – Clare hurler
McGrath won an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship medal with Clare in 1914 and several Clare Senior Hurling Championships with his club O’Callaghan’s Mills. Subject served as Brigade Vice Commandant of East Clare Brigade, IRA in 1920 and took part in several ambushes and attacks of British forces. Taking the pro Treaty side in the Civil War, the subject enlisted in the National Army in early 1922 and was serving as a colonel in the Defence Forces at the time of his application in 1926.
5. Interesting pre/post conflict stories
William Kelly Sr (MSP34REF42625) – Active since late 1870s
Born in 1861, Kelly was a friend and schoolmate in Dungannon, County Tyrone of Tom Clarke (1D447) (executed in 1916). The pair were active with Clan na Gael in New York City in about 1880 before the launch of the Fenian’s ‘dynamite campaign’ in 1883. Kelly was active in the run up to the 1916 Easter Rising in Dungannon and was mobilised during the week. He was arrested afterwards and interned until December 1916. Subject was a central figure in the Irish Volunteers and the IRA in Dungannon and was arrested again in January 1921 and interned until August of same year. References on file state that he continued to store arms in 1922 period and did organising work for the IRA in 1923. Subject’s son William Kelly Jr (MSP34REF23742) was Brigade Commandant of 1 Brigade (Tyrone), 2 Northern Division, IRA.
Cornelius Rahilly (MSP34REF2194) – Veteran of Casement’s “Irish Brigade”
Rahilly joined the 2 Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, British Army and fought in Mons, Belgium during the First World War. Subject claims that he was captured by German forces in August 1914 and joined Roger Casement’s (1D475) “Irish Brigade” while a Prisoner of War (POW) in 1915. He states that he started work for German secret service agents in late 1918 and was active in Berlin. Arrested in the Hague and deported back to England, he returned to Cork and was attached to B Company (Dooneen), 1 Battalion, 4 Cork Brigade, IRA during the WOI. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, Cornelius Rahilly states that he was active in Cork, Limerick and Waterford until capture on 20 July 1922. He was interned until April 1923. More information on the life of Cornelius Rahilly can be found here.
Patrick Gavin (DP386) – Prisoner in England from 1925 to 1930
Gavin served with Connaught Rangers, British Army from 1915 to 1919. After he was demobilised, he joined the Manchester Battalion, IRA. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, Gavin claims that was one of four men who raided a bank in Prestwich, England on 17 July 1922 under official GHQ orders. Bartley Igoe (MSP34REF54160) and John Foley were captured on the day. Patrick Gavin and Francis Breen escaped and fled to Dublin where they took part in fighting against National forces with the IRA until arrested in September 1922. Gavin states that he was released in December 1923 and returned to England for work. He was arrested, charged with the Prestwich bank raid and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in July 1925. He was released in December 1930.
Sean Cunningham (24C194) – Veteran of wars in Middle East, Ireland and Spain
Cunningham joined the British Army in 1904 and served in the Middle East in the First World War. Following discharge in 1920, he was active with the IRA in Belfast during the WOI. Taking the pro Treaty side in the Civil War, he served with the National army until 1928 and had a short career in An Garda Síochana (1931-1933). Subject joined Eoin O’Duffy’s (24E10) ‘Irish Brigade’ in the Spanish Civil War in late 1936. His file contains a letter from the applicant while in Lisbon, Portugal in February 1937 an internal department note that one of his pension warrants was attested by the chaplain to the brigade Reverend JJ Mulrean in the Hotel Alvarez, Caceres, Spain. Cunningham’s main 24SP application file has not been found to date.
Hugh Donnelly (MSP34REF2647) – Killed with whole family in Blitz in Belfast, 1941
Donnelly was active in the Irish Volunteers in Belfast from 1914 and marched to Coalisland, County Tyrone during Easter Week 1916. He took part in several arms raids during the WOI and was appointed Company Captain of D Company, 3 Battalion, Belfast Brigade, IRA in August 1921. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, applicant was arrested in March 1923 and interned until July 1923. Subject spent some years in the USA and then Dublin but returned to Belfast in late 1940 or early 1941 to live with his brother Patrick Donnelly. On the night of 15-16 April 1941 during The Blitz, their house at 26 Unity Street was hit by a landmine dropped by the German Luftwaffe in an air raid. Hugh Donnelly, his wife Bessie, his only child Maura (aged 5), his brother Patrick and his sister Mary were all killed.
O’Hanlon brothers of Mullaghbawn, Co Armagh – uncles of former Fianna Fáil TD Rory O’Hanlon and granduncles of comedian Ardal O’Hanlon
Bernard (MSP34REF4268) was Battalion Quartermaster of 3 Battalion (Camlough), 1 Brigade (North Louth), 4 Northern Division, IRA in WOI. Patrick (MSP34REF42603) lost his right leg in fight between IRA forces and National army at Dungooley, County Louth in August 1922. Peter (MSP34REF42604) was captured by National forces and interned from October 1922 to December 1923. Files relating to their brother Michael (MSP34REF20993), sister Bessie (MSP34REF4407) and mother Sarah (MSP34REF59647) have already been released by the project.
6. Original documents
Sean Desmond Keane (MSP34REF2426) – IRA GHQ correspondence (1921)
Keane served with C Company (Blackrock), 1 Battalion, 2 Dublin Brigade, IRA and contains original documents from 1921 period including typed communication from IRA HQ, Dublin Brigade regarding the shooting and justification of “enemy transport animals” (no date); typed order (Copy No. 24) from IRA HQ, Dublin City Brigade stating that individuals providing information to “the enemy” concerning the “work or personally of the army” was a crime punishable by death and signed “by order / Adjutant General” (09/10 June 1921) and other notices from Director of Engineering, IRA GHQ and Director of Training, IRA GHQ.
Joseph Considine (MSP34REF14702) – Prison sketch (1923)
Considine, of Ennis, County Clare, was editor of the IRA prison camp journal “Na Bac Leis” in Ballykinlar Camp, County Down in 1920-21. Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, he was arrested in Dublin by National forces but escaped from Portobello Barracks. Recaptured in November 1922, he claims that he was interned in the Curragh and was brought to the Glass House and handcuffed by his wrists and hung from the rafters for two hours when IRA escape tunnels were discovered in April 1923. File includes a sketch by Alf McLoughlin of the subject being hung by the wrists in the Glass House, the Curragh from the applicant’s autograph book (1923). Applicant was transferred to Mountjoy Prison, Dublin where he was editor of prison journal “An Barr Buaidh” and came close to death after a 41 day hunger-strike. He was released in December 1923.
John Joseph Killeen (MSP34REF17255) – IRA docs from 1925
Killeen was Brigade Director of Training and Brigade Director of Operations of 3 Tipperary Brigade, IRA during Truce period and Column Commander and Assistant Director of Operations for 2 Southern Division, IRA during CW. He was interned from September 1922 to June 1924 and emigrated to USA in 1925. File contains typed copy of letter from Éamon de Valera, President, Sinn Féin, 23 Suffolk Street, Dublin to subject Jack Killeen, 6 William Street, Clonmel, County Tipperary stating that he was sorry that he was “leaving the country” but told him to call to Envoy offices in New York (3 East 42nd Street) (27 October 1925) and copy of typed “certificate of discharge”; from Headquarters, 3 Tipperary Brigade for Captain John Killeen, Intelligence Officer, 4 Battalion, Tipperary Brigade, IRA signed by M O Síocháin (Michael Sheehan), Brigade General, OC Tipperary Brigade (02 November 1925).
7. Unsuccessful 1916 applicants
Release contains files from a number of applicants who claimed for 1916 service in Dublin. James Lynch (MSP34REF9459) (deported to Wakefield Prison), Matthew Blanchfield (MSP34REF9518) (deported to Knutsford Jail and Frongoch camp) and Patrick Byrne (MSP34REF59640) all claim to have fought in Church Street area attached to Four Courts Garrison. Michael McCarthy (MSP34REF48945) (Irish Citizen Army), Patrick Maguire (49SP8029) (deported to Wormwood Scrubs and Frongoch) and John Joseph White (MSP34REF26613) (deported to Stafford Jail and Frongoch) all claim to have fought in the GPO. Christopher Keeling (24SP8789) (Hibernian Rifles) states that he was part of outpost in Parliament Street. Michael Behan (MSP34REF58700) claims to have been stationed at Annesley Bridge in Fairview and Michael Davis (MSP34REF16826) states that he was part of an outpost near Mount Street as part of the Boland’s Mills Garrison.
8. Successful 1916 applicant
Martin Lynch (24SP13548) was a member of the Irish Volunteers, C Company, 2 Battalion, Dublin Brigade and took part on an attack on the Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park on the 24 April 1916. He states he was then attached to Headquarters at the GPO and in the Metropole Hotel on O’Connell Street under the orders of Michael Collins. Lynch was arrested and interned in Stafford Jail and then Frongoch until December 1916. He was awarded 1916 service in his successful service pension application.
9. Shooting of three British secret service agents in Waterfall, Co Cork (1920)
Release contains applications from four men of 2 Battalion, 1 Cork Brigade, IRA who took part in the armed hold up of a train and capture of three British intelligence officers in Waterfall, County Cork on 15 November 1920. They are Liam Power (MSP34REF1875), Michael O’Brien (MSP34REF1881), Patrick Leo Ryan (MSP34REF17536) and David O’Connor (MSP34REF7254) who told the Advisory Committee “We took them away in our motorcar. They were photographed, court-martialled and sentenced to death and executed that same day. It was one of the most important jobs that was done in the city during the whole of the fight”. Files relating to other IRA men involved in the operation – Peter O’Donovan (MSP34REF29066), Tadhg O’Sullivan (DP6928) and Patrick McGrath (MSP34REF1877) – have already been released.
Military Service Pensions Collection 