Irish Republican Roll of Honour 1920
Keane, John. Killed in action, Dromin Hill, Co. Limerick, 3/1/1920.
Darcy, Michael, Cooraclare, Co. Clare, Drowned by R.I.C in river, Cooraclare, 19/1/1920. Buried at Kilmacduane Graveyard in Cooraclare, Co. Clare.
O’Kennedy, Michael. Emmet Place, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. Severly wounded during attack on Borrisokane barracks on the 26/6/1920, Died 23/7/1920. Buried in Kilbarron Old Graveyard, Co. Tipperary.
Heffernan, William. Knockmore, Conna, Co. Cork. Shot dead by an RIC constable at Castlemartyr, 27/11/1920. Buried Knockmourne Cemetery, Conna, Co. Cork.
Devitt, Martin. Cahersherkin, Ennistymon, Co. Clare. Killed in action by the RIC, 24/2/1920. Buried Clouna, Ennistymon, Co. Clare.
O’Brien, Seamus (James). Morriscastle, Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford, Murdered by the RIC, at Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, 12/2/1920. Buried Ballyvaldon, Blackwater, Co. Wexford.
O’Dwyer, Richard. Limerick City, Shot by Special Constabulary, 2/2/1920. Buried Killpatrick Cemetarym Co, Tipperary.
Bourke. Patrick (Paddy). Cooraclare, Co. Clare. Died T.B as result of active service, 19/1/1920.
McCurtain, Thomas. Blackpool, Cork. Murdered at his home 20/3/1920, Buried Republican Plot, St. Finbarrs. Cork.
O’Dwyer, Thomas. The Ragg, Bouladuff, Co. Tipperary. Murdered by RIC, Bouladuff 29/3/1920. Buried in Drom Cemetery, Co Tipperary.
O’Leary, Thomas. Ballard Rd, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. Murdered by RIC, Miltown Malbay, Buried Ballard Cemetery, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
Hennessy, Patrick. Church St, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. Murdered by RIC, Miltown Malbay, Buried Ballard Cemetery, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
O’Loughlin, John. Ennistymon Rd, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. Murdered by RIC, Miltown Malbay, Buried Ballard Cemetery, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
Fahy, Michael. Kilkee, Co. Clare. Died as result of accidental shooting, 19/3/1920. Buried at Kilferagh Cemetery, Kilkee, Co. Clare.
Mulholland, Thomas, John St, Dundalk. Killed in action, Bridge St, Dundalk, 16/4/1920. Buried Castletown Cemetary , Co. Louth.
Fogarty. Patrick. Brighton Ave, Clontarf, Dublin. Result of hunger strike, Dublin Hospital. 18/4/1920. Buried Glasnevin Cemetary Dublin.
Breen, Sean (John), Kilmihil, Co. Clare. Killed in action Kilmihil, 18/4/1920. Buried Kilmihil, Co. Clare.
Byrne, John, Gracefeild, Ballylynan, Co. Laois. Burned to death in Luggacurren RIC Barracks, 4/4/1920. Buried Rathaspic Cemetery Ballylanin.
Dowling, Thomas. Arklow, Co. Wicklow. Shot by British Forces, 4/5/1920.
Gleeson, Francis. Fairceiw, Dublin. Died as a result of hunger strike, Mater Hospital, Dublin, 9/5/1920. Buried Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Dalton, James. 5 Clare st, Limerick. Shot dead, Limerick City, 15/5/1920. Buried Mt St. Laurence Cemetery Republican Plot, Limerick.
Saunders, James, Limerick City, Shot by British forces, broad St, Limerick, 20/5/1920. Buried Mt St. Laurence Cemetery Republican Plot, Limerck.
Dunne, Thomas, Loughlinstown, Dublin, of Hollywood, Co. Wicklow. Died from wounds received at Ballybrack RIC Barracks 12/5/1920, at Mater Hospital on the 14/5/1920.
Meaney, Patrick, Leighlinbridge, Co.Carlow. Died from wounds received at Ballybrack RIC Barracks 12/5/1920, at Mater Hospital on the 21/5/1920. Buried Tomard Cemetery, Co. Carlow.
Sheridan, Thomas. Co. Cavan. Shot by British Foces near Crossdowney29/5/1920. Buried Ballinagh, Co. Cavan.
Scully, Liam. Glencar, Co. Kerry. Killed in action at Kilmallock RIC Barracks, 28/5/1920. Buried at Templeglantine Old Cemetery near Abbeyfeale, County Limerick.
Seery, Patrick. Cloneyhaigue, Ballinagore, Co. Westmeath. Died of wounds received from attack on Clara Barracks, 2/6/1920. on 8/9/1910. Buried at Meedin Cemetery, Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath.
McCreesh, Peter. Aghnaduff, Co. Armagh, Shot by RIC at Cullyhanna, 6/6/1920. Buried Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh.
Ahern, John, Ballyrichard, Co. Cork. Shot in action by British at Ballymore Cross, 16/6/1920.
Brett, Thomas, Drombane, Co. Tipperary. Died of woundsrecieved in action, 19/6/1020
Loughran, Patrick. Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. Shot during attack on Cookstown RIC Barracks, 18/6/1920. Buried Dungannon Cemetery, Co. Tyrone.
Crowley, Con. Bantry, Co. Cork. Shot by British Forces at Bantry, 26/6/1920. Buried Bamtry, Co. Cork.
Donnelly, Edward, Honeypound Rd, Croom , Co. Limerick. Burned in Croom Courthouse 6/1920. Buried Anhid, Croom, Co. Limerick.
Maloney, John. Honeypound Rd, Croom , Co. Limerick. Burned in Croom Courthouse 6/1920. Buried Anhid, Croom, Co. Limerick.
Hogan, James. Fanningstown, Co. Limerick. Burned in Croom Courthouse 6/1920. Buried at Mount Saint Laurence Cemetery Limerick.
Sears, Peter, Neale, Co. Mayo. Killed in action during mutiny of Connaught Rangers, July 1920, Dayshal Prison Yard, India. Re-interred Glasnevin.
Smythe, Patrick, Drogheda, Co. Louth. Killed in action during mutiny of Connaught Rangers, July 1920, Dayshal Prison Yard, India. Re-interred Glasnevin.
Counihan, Michael. Limerick. Shot by British Forces, 1/7/1920. Buried Limerick.
Lumley, Richard. Rear Cross, Co. Tipperary. Murdered by British Forces, 4/7/20. Buried Templemore, Co. Tipperary.
Small, Michael. Upperchurch, Co. Tipperary. Murdered by British Forces 4/7/20. Buried Templemore, Co. Tipperary.
Grant, Patrick. Mullabane, Co. Armagh. Shot by R.I.C. in his own home. 4/7/20. Buried Mullabane, Co. Armagh.
Mallon, Felix. Ballinllis, Meigh, Newry, Co. Down. Accidentally shot at council meeting, 5/7/20. Buried Meigh, Newry, Co. Down.
Dunne, James. Ballintray, Ferns, Wexford. Murdered by R.I.C. 5/7/20. Family Plot Gorey Cemetery, Wexford.
Burke, James. Cork City. Murdered by British forces, Shandon Street Cork, 18/7/20.
McGrath, William. Cork City. Murdered by British forces, North Main Street Cork, 18/7/20.
Conway, Michael. Ennistymon, Co. Clare. Killed in action. 21/7/20. Buried Kilighna, Co. Clare.
McGrath, Daniel. Corracunna Cross, Co. Cork. Murdered by British Forces at Corracunna Cross, 21/7/1921. Buried at Kilbehenny graveyard.
McDonnell Thomas. Corracunna Cross, Co. Cork. Murdered by British Forces at Corracunna Cross, 21/7/1921. Buried Glanworth, Co. Cork.
Cogan, Seamus. Stonefield, Co. Meath. Murdered by Auxies at Oldcastle, Co Meath. Buried Republican Plot, Ballinlough Cemetery, Co. Meath.
Harris, Thomas. Bruree, Co. Limerick. Shot by British at Bruree, 29/7/20. Buried at Kilmallock, Co. Limerick.
O’Sullivan, John. Limerick City. Shot by British Forces. 30/7/20. Buried Mt. St. Lawrence Cemetery, Limerick.
Mulcahy, James. Nicker, Co. Limerick. Shot by British Forces, 31/7/1920.
O’Brien, John Patrick. Cork City. Shot by British Forces 18/7/1920, Died the next day at North Infirmary, 19/7/1920. Buried Republican Plot, St. Finbarr’s Cemetery, Cork.
Feery, Thomas. Ballycommon, Co. Offaly, Shot by British Forces, 9/7/1920/ Buried Ballyconemoy, Offaly.
Nolan, Edward. Askamore, Wexford. Drowned at training camp, Davis Mills, 12/8/1920. Buried Ferns, Co. Wexford.
Lynch, Mathew. Mountscott, Co Clare. Became ill and died, on the 15/8/1920. Buried Kilbridget Cemetery, Co. Clare.
Hartnett, William. Emly, Co. Tipperary. Murdered by RIC 9/8/1920.
Lynch, Patrick. Hospital, Co. Limerick. Shot by British Forces, 14/8/1920.
McNeice, Francis. Tartaraghan, Loughal, Co. Armgh. Shot by British. Buried Tartaraghan Cemetery, Loughal, Co. Armagh.
Farrelly, Thomas. Dublin. Murdered by British Forces on patrol, Dublin, 10/8/1920.
Kennedy, Paddy. Annascaul, Co. Kerry. Murdered by British Forces on patrol, Annascaul, Kerry, 19/8/1920. Buried Annascaul, Co. Kerry.
Clancy, Paddy J. Kilfinane, Co. Limerick. Killed at Kanturk, Co. Cork by Auxilaries 17/8/1920. Buried Kilfinane Family Plot.
O’Connell, Jack. Derrygallon, Co. Cork. Killed in his house at Kanturk, Co. Cork by Auxilaries, 17/8/1920. Buried Dromtaiffe, Co. Cork.
Galvin, Michael. Macroom, Co. Cork. Killled by British Crown forces during an ambush at Lissarda Co. Cork, 22/8/1920. Buried Kilmurray Cemetery, Co. Cork
Hynes, John. Shanagolden, Co. Limerick. Murdered by RIC, Shanagolden, 26/8/1920.
Buckley, Sean. Middleton, Co. Cork. Murdered while a prisoner by British Forces near his home, 27/8/1920. Buried Middleton, Co. Cork.
Fitzgerald, Timothy. Gaggin, Bandon, Co. Cork. Killed in action by British Forces at Brinny, Co. Cork, 29/8/1920. Buried Kilbrogan Cemetery, Bandon, Co. Cork.
Deasy, Sean. East Cork. Fatally wounded, Kilaclogue Bridge, Sept. 1920.
McDonagh, Thomas. Clonloo, Co. Sligo. Killed in action, Ratra ambush, Co. Roscommon. 1/9/20. Buried Temple Ronan, Co. Sligo.
Marron, Patrick. Co. Monaghan. Killed in action by British Forces, 1/9/20. Buried Corcreagh Cemetery, Carrickmacross.
Marron, Barney. Co. Monaghan, Killed in action by British Forces,1 /9/20. Buried Corcreagh Cemetery, Carrickmacross.
Lynch, Michael. Ballyvourney Macroom, Co. Cork. Killed in action by British at Ballymakeera, Co. Cork, 5/9/20 Buried Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry.
Hegarty, Liam. Ballyvourney, Macroom, Co. Cork. Killed in action by Black and Tans, Ballymakeera, Co. Cork, 5/9/20. Buried Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry.
Kerr, Neil. Pigeon House Road, Dublin & Liverpool. Accidentally Shot at Liverpool whilst awaiting arrival of arms from Glasgow, 6/9/1920. Buried Republican Plot, Glasnevin, Dublin.
Neil Kerr was a native of Armagh. He was, one of the Liverpool Volunteers who, with his brothers, Jack and Tom, fought in the 1916 Rising. He was very active in I.R.A. and I.R.B. circles in Liverpool and in the north of England. One of Kerr’s principal responsibilities in the military side of the Republican Movement was the collection, dumping and shipping of arms and munitions passing through Liverpool.
Some .45 automatics were received and, while his brother, Tom, was examining one of them in the cellar of 93 Scotland Road, young Neil was standing by. Tom thought the gun was empty, pressed the trigger and shot poor Neil through the forehead; death being instantaneous.
The father, Neil Kerr, who was in the vicinity, arrived a few minutes later and saw Neil was dead. While his son’s blood was hot on his hands, he took the gun, disposed of it, came back and informed the police. They arrived and asked for the gun. There was no gun to be found. In actual fact, Neil Kerr (the father) during his short absence had the gun shipped. to Ireland that night.
The accidental shooting did not result in any police inquiry. An inquest, of course, was held but no information was given as to how precisely the shooting took place or where the gun was that shot him. Seeing that they were up against a stone wall, they let the proceedings fizzle out.
Neil Kerr received a military funeral both in Liverpool and Dublin.
Quirke, Seamus. Cork. Murdered at Galway by Auxilaries, 9/9/1920. Buried Republican Plot, St. Finbarr’s Cemetery, Cork.
Mulvoy, Sean. Galway City Murdered by British Forces, Galway Station 8/9/1920. Buried St. James Cemetery, Merveiw, Galway City.
A Black-and-Tan lorry driver named Krumm had spent the evening drinking. In one pub he boasted about his aim and insisted on setting up a row of bottles as targets to show his skill. Tom Hynes, the IRA Intelligence Officer heard of this and sent his brother Michael to warn any Volunteers that an armed man seemed to be preparing to create trouble. The Volunteers were in the habit of going to the station every night to meet the train, watch the troop movement, collect despatches and meet Volunteers from other districts, and this night they were also going to collect arms from the Longford area. Krumm and a companion went on to the platform by the gate on the arrivals side. The Volunteers warned the men arriving with the Longford guns, and the train stopped for a moment outside the station while they went out by the signal box with the guns. The train came into the station and as the passengers started to go out the gate Krumm drew his gun and made as if to shoot into the crowd. Sean Turke jumped on his back, pulled him to the ground and tried to get his gun from him. Sean Mulvoy went to help him and Krumm managed to fire all the rounds in his gun in the struggle, killing Mulvoy and wounding another man. Another Volunteer shot Krumm just as Tom Fahy and Michael Hynes came to help and they took the gun away. Krumm’s companion was still with him but seems to have taken no part in the business. Tommy and the others carried Mulvoy to his lodgings but he was dead on arrival.
A quarter of an hour after we got home (to College Road) we heard several armoured cars go tearing down the road from Renmore and we knew the trouble had started… It was a wonderful still warm night and I could hear every sound in the town from where we were on the shore of Lough Athalia. The lorries full of armed men tore down the road from Renmore and the shooting began. The first shots sounded like machine gun fire followed by dreadful screaming. This was when Sergeant Fox shot young Seamus Quirke. Quirke was taken from his lodgings in the New Dock and shot through the stomach eleven times. He crawled on his hands and knees from the lamppost on the quay where he was shot to the door of his house. The screaming was the background to all the horrors of the next five hours until the poor boy died at dawn. Fr. Griffin was sent for and stayed with him until he died.”
Gill, Patrick. Corlara, Co. Leitrim. Murdered by Black and Tans, Drumsna, Leitrim, 10/9/1920. Buried Jamestown, Co. Leitrim.
Patrick Gill Volunteer of The Irish Republican army who was shot dead by British Forces in September of 1920 on his way to a wake in Foxboro. Volunteer Patrick Gill, a rather old man, was shot by the R.I.C. while proceeding up the village of Drumsna. It was believed that he was shot in mistake for Michael Feely who was “on the run” and wanted by the R.I.C.
Glavey, Michael. Clooncan, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon. Killed in action at Ballinlough, 14/9/1920. Buried Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo.
Glynn, Patrick, Aughaderry, Loughglynn. Killed in action at Ballinlough. 14/9/1920. Buried Kilruddane Cemetery, Loughglynn, Roscommon.
Keane, Michael J. Ballinlough, Roscommon. Killed in action at Ballinlough14/9/1920. Buried Granlahan Cemetery, Roscommon.
Michael Glavey was born in Clooncan, five miles from Ballinlough, County Roscommon, on the 20th October, 1883. He was the seventh child of a family of nine. He was born into an Ireland slowly recovering from the worst excesses of the Land War, 1879 – 1882, which had sounded the death knell of landlordism and brought about a revolutionary change in land ownership. But none of this would bother the young boy.
Michael’s father, also called Michael, came from the village of Coolnaha South on the Ballyhaunis-Toreen road. He was a tailor by profession. It was customary for tradesmen in the 19th Century to travel from place to place while plying their trade and in this way he met Mary Maguire who lived with her two brothers on the family farm in Clooncan. Later, when her brothers moved away, Mary and Michael inherited the entire Maguire farm.
Young Michael had five sisters, Kate, Bridget, Frances, Nora and Maria, all of whom emigrated to New Jersey and Manhattan, most of them destined never to return. He had three brothers, John, Luke and Jerry. Luke died aged sixty-eight in 1950 and the other two brothers, like Michael himself, were to die young, John in 1899, aged twenty eight and Jerry in 1917, also at the age of twenty eight.
Balfour’s Land Act of 1891 identified all of West Roscommon as a “congested” district, that is, where too many people were trying to make a living out of too little arable land. What this meant in reality was that times were extremely hard and money was scarce and that growing up in such an area was not easy. Yet, Clooncan was both peaceful and pastoral and the local landlord, Henry Brabazon-Coome, although an absentee like most of his class, was a benevolent man and there was little or no land agitation. Michael and Mary worked hard to make their large family as comfortable as possible and were lucky to have the income from the tailoring business to supplement that of tenant farmers. Consequently, the Glavey family reached a degree of prosperity and there is nothing at all to suggest that young Michael and his brothers and sisters experienced anything other than a very happy and contented childhood.
All of Michael’s brother and sisters were baptised in the Catholic faith in Castlerea church. In 1883, when Clooncan village was transferred from Castlerea to Loughglynn parish, Michael had the distinction of being the first Clooncan child to be baptised in Gorthaganny church. In 1890, when he was six, he began his education in Gorthaganny School. But when a new school opened in Clooncan in 1896, less than half a mile from his home, Michael changed there. It was here that he completed his formal education together with his younger brother and sister. By all accounts, Michael was a diligent and conscientious student with a high intelligence and a good singing voice. Unfortunately, second and third level education at the turn of the century was for the privileged few. Michael left school at fourteen to begin his tailoring apprenticeship with his father and older brother, John, in a workroom attached to the gable of their home.
But there were sorrowful days ahead. First, his brother John died in 1899 and two years later, his father passed away before Michael had completed his apprenticeship. He continued to learn the trade first with his uncle Darby Glavey in Coolnaha and finally with a tailor Murray at Two Mile Bush on the Roscommon-Strokestown road, his widowed mother paying Murray the ten pounds tuition fee. Soon, he had acquired what was known in the trade as “the cut”, that is the ability to mark and cut out a suit of clothes and then he was ready to continue the family business in Clooncan. His reputation as a skilled tailor spread quickly, he soon had a waiting list of two or three months and he was obliged to take on an apprentice and sometimes two. Michael could complete a suit of clothes in a day and that was the day’s work. In the evenings, his many friends would call by. There would be talk and discussion and Michael might oblige with a verse or two of “Wrap the Green flag around me boys”, a song popular at the time and one of his favourites.
With a touch of irony that Michael would have smiled at, a large part of his business was making uniforms for the R.I.C. stationed in the nearby barracks at Ballinlough, Loughglynn and Ballyhaunis. Michael knew many of these men personally and although they were in the service of the Crown, no animosity existed. It was not until after the 1916 Rising when Sinn Fein became the driving force in Irish politics and the R.I.C. were boycotted that a change of attitude took place.
Most able-bodied men at the turn of the century took part in the traditional rural Irish customs and pastimes of running, weight-throwing, wrestling, cycling, jumping, or as Archbishop Croke of Cashel called it “leaping”. What distinguished Michael from the rest was his all round exceptional ability. Alert, quick off the mark and blessed with strength and speed, he excelled at the shorter distances especially the one hundred yards. He took Connacht titles in this event on several occasions. There are no medals extant recording his many victories but his nephew Luke can distinctly remember Michael with a Gladstone bag full of sports gear and clocks. Obviously, winners were rewarded with clocks in those days and Michael usually had a few of them in his bag. He seldom held onto them but with typical generosity gave them away to his friends.
Important as track and field events were to Michael, Gaelic games became one of the dominant themes of his life. The G.A.A. was founded by Michael Cusack in 1884, the year after Michael’s birth. It was a powerful new force in cultural nationalism. It swept the country like a prairie fire and Michael grew up under its influence. It was characteristic of the G.A.A. to name football and hurling clubs after revered Irish patriots. The evidence was and still is all around – Castlebar Mitchels, Dunmore MacHales, and Thurles Sarsfields, to mention three. Little did Michael know as he played football to his heart’s content all over the locality that, one day too, his name would be added to this distinguished list.
He would have been influenced too by what his fellow county man. Douglas Hyde from Frenchpark was trying to achieve. Although Hyde belonged to a different class and background, Michael could easily identify with the aims of Hyde’s Gaelic League. He would have read Hyde’s speech “The necessity for deAnglicising Ireland”, which promoted a separatist philosophy and which recommended the use of the Irish language, Irish music and Irish games. He would have endorsed these sentiments. After all they were the ideals closest to his heart.
Michael worked hard and played hard and life was good to him. His tailoring business was thriving, he was financially comfortable and he grew into a handsome and popular young man. As well as football matches and athletic events, there were dances in Loughglynn, Ballinlough and Ballyhaunis. He met and fell in love with Mollie Keaveney from Loughglynn who taught in Clooncan National School. Soon they were engaged to be married.
But the storm clouds were gathering. National events like the 1916 Rising, the rise of Sinn Fein, the formation of the First Dail 1919 and the War of Independence 1919 – 1921 were taking place with bewildering rapidity. Always a man of action and courage, Michael did not want events to pass him by. True to his character and ideals and wanting to play his part in the guerrilla warfare that Michael Collins was successfully waging against the combined British forces of the R.I.C., Black and Tans and Regulars, he made the fateful decision to join the military wing of Sinn Fein. He became a member of the Ballinlough Company of Volunteers, one of the nine Companies that made up the 1st Castlerea Battalion of the South Roscommon Brigade I.R.A. He reached the rank of Lieutenant. Given that 1920 was the bloodiest year in Irish history, the chances were that Michael would be called into action sooner rather than later.
By mid 1920 the R.I.C. had taken a terrible hammering from the Volunteers. In every county police barracks were attacked. Many simply surrendered, some were burned to the ground and more were blown up. On one particular occasion in the space of two nights, some three hundred barracks were destroyed nationwide. The British Crown had enough and introduced a policy of withdrawing the R.I.C. from small barracks like Ballinlough which were very vulnerable and restationing the men in larger garrisons like Castlerea which were easier to defend. As soon as a barracks was evacuated, the local Volunteers burned it to the ground so that it could not be re-occupied. On the 14th September 1920, the R.I.C. stationed in Ballinlough, together with a unit of regular British soldiers, the 9th Lancers who were there in support, were withdrawn from the barracks and transferred to Castlerea. Once this happened, the die was cast for Michael Glavey.
That fateful September evening, the order went out to Lieutenant Glavey and the Ballinlough Company of Volunteers to burn the barracks to the ground. A small unit of men gathered after dark to do the job. They got several warnings, including one from local landlord Sampey, who knew the Volunteers well, to stay away from the barracks on the grounds that the R.I.C. and the Lancers had something up their sleeve. Michael heeded the warnings and decided to call off the attack but Pat Glynn, the Battalion Commandant insisted on it going ahead. He had come from Loughglynn to burn the barracks and he wasn’t going to make a second journey to do it.
Due to poor reconnaissance work, Pat Glynn was not aware of the fact that when the Crown forces were being evacuated earlier that evening, the lorries stopped two miles out the road and that the Lancers got out and hid in Cashlieve wood while the lorries drove on to Castlerea. They were under the command of the notorious Captain Peake who had vowed to “get every Shinner in the locality” and who was shot dead the following March in the Scramogue ambush. The Lancers hid among the trees and when darkness fell they doubled back across the fields, which were much more wooded then than now, and took up their positions in the gardens directly across the road from the barracks, well hidden behind a high boundary wall. There they lay in wait for the unsuspecting Ballinlough Volunteers.
They hadn’t long to wait. The Volunteers arrived to carry out what should have been a simple job. They had with them some straw and petrol which had been captured in a raid on a train at Ballinlough railway station the previous June. The amount of arms they carried was minimal. They set about their task totally oblivious to the fact that they were under observation and completely unaware that the Crown forces had them in their sights.
Pat Glynn and Michael Glavey climbed up the front of the building on ladders. They stuffed some straw soaked in petrol into holes in the roof and set it alight. Flames lit up men and building. Captain Peake and the Crown forces had easy targets and opened fire. Three Volunteers fell, mortally wounded. Pat Glynn managed to discharge his pistol in the direction of the gardens opposite before his died. Michael Glavey died after a short while calling for a drink of water with his dying breath. A third man, just nineteen years old, Private Michael Keane from Ballinlough fired his shotgun in the direction of the enemy before he too passed way. No prisoners were taken, the rest of the men made their way to safety. But the damage was done and the Ballinlough Volunteers had paid a terrible price.
The remains of the three comrades were taken by lorry to Castlerea barracks and left in a shed overnight. Nobody wanted to tell Mary Glavey that her son was dead but eventually she was brought the tragic news. She asked that the coffin be opened so that she could have one last look at her son. Very reluctantly, because he wished to spare her further grief, Fr. Cunningham agreed. There were no bullet marks visible on the body. Michael’s remains were brought to Gorthaganny church and the following day, after Mass, he was laid to rest in the family grave in Ballyhaunis.
Thus ended the life of Michael Glavey, a life that was and always will be synonymous not only with athletics and Gaelic games but also with Gaelic culture in general and Irish freedom in particular.
Connolly, James. Kinlough, Co. Leitrim. Shot by British Forces, 14/9/1920. Buried Kinlough, Co. Leitrim.
The Volunteers of No. 3 Brigade burned the Dunkineely RIC Barracks in the early hours of Tuesday morning 14th September. The Barracks had been evacuated the previous week. Later that day the home of James Connolly Captain of the Kinlough Company, was raided by members of the RIC and Black and Tans in reprisal.
The Connellys were woken by the sound of gunfire in the early hours of the morning.
After thoroughly searching the premises and failing to find their intended target , James junior who was not at home at the time of the attack they decided that his father sufficed.
James was shot in the kitchen a number of bullets were sprayed indiscriminately into the house one hit a grandfather clock. Mrs Connolly when she discovered her husband ran for help to a neighbour’s house. She knocked on door but apparently the occupants were to scared to open the door they had heard the shooting and feared for their lives.
Athy, Joseph. Maree, Oranmore, Co. Galway. Murdered by RIC 16/9/1920. Buried Kilcamin Cemetery, Maree, Oranmore.
Doyle, Sean. 159 Emmett Rd, Inchicore, Co. Dublin. Killed by auxilaries in Kilmashogue Mountains, Dublin 18/9/1920. Buried Esker Cemetery, Lucan, Dublin.
Sean Doyle was shot dead in the Dublin Mountains in the area of Power’s Wood. Doyle was part of a gathering of young men numbering between 40 and 50, a group of plain clothes R.I.C. approached and arrested up to forty of the men. It was reported that some of the young men attempted to flee the scene and shots were fired. Doyle was hit and died from a bullet wound to the lung. Doyle was 19 years old and lived at Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin. He was the son of Mr. P. S. Doyle T.C. Doyle was a member of the 4th Battalion Engineers I.R.A
Healy, Jeremiah. Abbeyfeale, Co. limerick. Shot by British Forces, 20/9/1920. Buried Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick.
Hartnett, Patrick. Abbeyfeale, Co. limerick. Shot by British Forces, 20/9/1920. Buried Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick.
Patrick Hartnett and Jeremiah Healy. Murdered in Abbeyfeale by Crown Forces. 20th September 1920. Thomas Darrell Huckerby shot two young men, named Healy and Hartnett, on their way home from work at about 7pm. He told the British inquiry that he saluted them and they failed to respond, so he thought they were up to no good. He followed them and when they looked back , he says they started to run and he shot them. Firing only 3 shots to do so. He the told Latimer what he had done. There is no doubt that he accepted that he had shot the two men. Neither of them had any involvement with the IRA. The death certificates were issued by a military court of inquiry, the cause of death was put down as ‘Shot by revolver shots fired by T.D. Huckerby’ instead of the usual terms used in police shootings: ‘justifiable homicide’, ‘shot while trying to escape’, etc. Regan’s reaction was to transfer Huckerby to Limerick City ‘in order that he would be under our eye’.
Lynch, John Aloysius. Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. Murdered by British Forces at Royal Dublin Exchange Hotel 22/9/1920. Buried Shanboha Cemetery, Co. Limerick.
In the early hours of the morning of 22nd of September 1920, armed and uniformed men entered the Royal Exchange Hotel in Dublin and, breaking into one of the bedrooms shot the occupant dead. The victim was John A, Lynch, a native of Kilmallock and a member of the Limerick County Council. He had been a very active member of Sinn Féin. When the remains of the murdered man arrived at Kilmallock railway station, and again on the day of internment in the local cemetery, the place was swarmed with military. All approaches to the town were guarded by armed troops and everybody entering the town was searched. Armed military patrolled the streets and Black and Tans were very much in evidence. Military with machine guns were stationed at all junctions, and an armoured car was drawn up in the centre of the town. As the coffin was borne along the streets to the cemetery. soldiers standing at the edge of the street kept their guns trained on the funeral procession. Only the relatives and clergy were allowed into the cemetery.
Sammon, Joseph. Lahinch, Co. Clare. Murdered by RIC, Lahinch 22/9/1920. Buried Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
Lawless, Seamus. Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Tortured and murdered, Balbriggan, 20/9/1920. Buried Balscadden, Co. Dublin.
Gibbons, Sean. Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Tortured and murdered, Balbriggan, 20/9/1920. Buried Balscadden, Co. Dublin.
At 11pm on the evening of 20 September 1920, the Black and Tans arrived into Balbriggan from Gormanston Barracks.
They were seeking reprisals for the killing of Detective Inspector Peter Burke of the Royal Irish Constabulary and his brother Sergeant Burke who were shot dead while in Smyth’s pub, Balbriggan earlier that day.
The Tans ran amok, destroying 20 houses on Clonard Street. Several pubs were looted and burned including Derham’s Pub and McGowan’s pub on George’s Hill.
Deeds and Templar Hosiers, an English-funded company, completely destroyed. This factory had employed 130 workers and an additional 180 who worked for it from home, according to Pat O’Neill who complied a factual account on the Burning of Balbriggan.
Amongst seven local men arrested were Séamus Lawless, the town barber, and Sean Gibbons of Hampton Street. Both men protested their innocence but they were nonethelss bayoneted to death. A plaque on Bridge Street in the town commemorates their murder.
The event – one of the more infamous acts of the Irish War of Independence – received widespread international attention because there were a large number of foreign news correspondents in Dublin at the time.
A commission from the United States pledged to rebuild the houses and the hosiery factory.
A subsequent inquiry put the blame firmly at the doorstep of the British forces and awarded compensation to the families of Lawless and Gibbons of £1,750 each, to be paid by the ratepayer.
Also levied to the county was damages totalling over £80,000, with costs, for Deeds and Templar which, having put 200 people out of work, would take nearly three years to rebuild.
Lehane, Patrick J. Lahinch, Co. Clare. Murdered by British Forces at Lahinch 22/9/1920. Buried in Lahinch Cemetery, Co. Clare.
Patrick Lehane was a native of Lahinch. He was a tall, youthful, and militaristic type of individual, with membership in the Volunteers from 1917. He was Captain of the Lahinch Coy, and had a spectacular record of activities during the Anglo-Irish War. Promotion to Vice Commandant of the 4th Battalion came early, and on the formation of the Active Service Unit in that Battalion he became one of its members. He participated in an attack on the RIC Patrol at Crows Bridge, Inagh, and later in the famous “Rineen Attack”, where he so ably distinguished himself. The glory of this triumphant operation was short lived however, for this heroic and patriotic soldier, who went to his death that very night, under the most tragic circumstances. The shocking news of his death was gravely accepted by his comrades, and the 4th Battalion was minus another great “Leader”. He received a Military Funeral, and was buried in Lahinch Cemetery.
Connole, Tom. Ennistymon, Co. Clare. Murdered by Black and Tans, Ennistymon, 22/9/1920. Burned at home body not recovered.
Tom Connole a trade union organiser with the I.T.G.W.U. was murdered by British forces on the night of 22nd September 1920 at Ennistymon, Clare. He had not taken part in the Rineen Ambush on the 22nd September 1920, even though his killers claimed he had been as a justification for his murder a few hours later.
Lehane, Patrick. Lahinch, Co. Clare. Shot and then burned to death, Lahinch, 22/9/1920. Body not recovered.
The R.I.C. and Auxiliaries had rampaged through the town looting and burning buildings after six of their comrades were killed in an ambush at Rineen. Patrick Lehane had played an active part in the ambush, his father Dan had been killed by British Forces at Cragg Lahinch earlier the same night, when he refused to answer questions about his son’s whereabouts. Lehane was hiding in Flanagans shop when the R.I.C. and Tans set it on fire. Apparantly they were unaware that he was hiding inside and he was trapped by the flames and burned alive. Lehane was a member of the I.R.A. and was ‘on the run’ at the time of his death and that is probably why his relatives made such great efforts to remove and hide the body for fear of further reprisals.
Trodden, Eamonn. Falls Road, Belfast. Murdered in his home by British Forces raiding party 2.20 am, 25/9/1920/ Buried family grave Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.
Eamonn (Ned) Trodden was born in the Old Lodge Road area of Belfast. He took up the trade of hairdressing and opened his own shop at 68 Falls Road. He was a foundation member of the Peter O’Neill Crowley G.A.C. He became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood early in life and also in 1913 joined the Irish Volunteers. For years the I.R.B. used to meet at his home 68 Falls Road on Tuesday nights.
Early on the night of Saturday 25th September 1920 two policemen were shot dead at Broadway. Big Ned and his son Eddie were working in the shop up to eleven o’clock. After finishing his last customer he sat on the window-sill outside enjoying a smoke. At 11.45 p.m. he decided to retire to bed. At 2.30 a.m. the Trodden household were awakened by heavy knocking on the door. Ned from an upstairs window asked who was there, and received the reply, “Military to raid”. They gained access to the house, went upstairs, found Ned in the front room and three of the raiders took him between them with his arms screwed up around his back. He was taken downstairs and shots rang out. Moments later the family found Ned lying in the yard brutally murdered. His funeral to Milltown Cemetery was one of the largest seen in Belfast.
Gaynor, Sean. Springfeild Road, Belfast. Brutally murdered by British raiders, 2.30am on the stairs of his home, 26/9/1920. Buried Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.
Sean Gaynor was born in Newtownards, Co. Down in 1896 and came to Belfast when he was six years old. He was educated at St. Gall’s School, Waterville Street. Leaving school he became apprenticed to the plumbing and at the expiration of his apprenticeship he worked in the South of Scotland for some months. Returning home he became a cinema operator in the Central Picture House, Smithfeild.
Of a humerous disposition and standing 6 feet 2 inched in height he became Captain of the O’Connell’s Hurling team. He was also a member of B Company, Belfast Battalion, Irish Republican Army.
Sean Gaynor from 236 Springfield Road, who lived with his parents and was the brother of Liam Gaynor, a very active republican. On the night that Sean was killed, it is possible that the murder gang were looking for his brother, who had gone that day to Dublin on IRA business. Sean was also an active republican, having joined ‘B’ Company, 1st Battalion, Belfast Brigade in 1918 and remaining a member up to the time of his death. A second party of RIC under Head Constable Giff forced an entrance into Gaynor’s house and shot him in the bedroom. Giff before leaving the room drove a bayonet through Sean Gaynor’s body, fired shots through the rooms in the house and threatened Gaynor’s mother with the butt of is rifle for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of her elder son Liam.
Thousands of people were present at Sean Gaynor’s funeral and the Belfast Brigade marched behind the funeral. Armoured cars accompanied the funeral and the British Officer in charge of the leading car threateningly turned his machine gun on Sean’s father and two brothers and said he would fire if the Tricolour was not removed from the coffin. Liam Gaynor answered that it would not be removed and so it remained on the coffin.
McFadden, John. Springfeild Road, Belfast. Brutally murdered by British raiders, 2.30am on the stairs of his home, 26/9/1920. Buried Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.
Corbett, William. New Road tipperary. Shot by RIC 30/9/1920. Buried Tipperary.
Lahane, Dan. Lahinch, Co. Clare. Died of wounds at Lahinch inflicted by RIC 22/9/1920, on the 26/9/1920. Buried Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
Connolly, John. Bandon, Co. Cork. Murdered by British Forces in Bandon, 1/10/1920. Buried Kilbrogan Cemetery, Bandon, Co. Cork.
O’Hanlon, John. Lackagh, Turloughmore, Co Galway. Murdered by British forces at his home in Lackaghmore, County Galway, 2/10/1920. Buried Lackagh, Turloughmore, Co. Galway.
Clifford, John. Derry City, Co. Derry. Murdered by British Forces, 6/10/1920. Buried Ardmore Cemetery, Derry City.
Thompson, Patrick. Lisnadarragh, Finea, Co. Cavan. Murdered by the RIC, 6/10/1920. Buried Carrick Cemetery, Ballymachugh, Finea, Co. Cavan.
O’Herlihy, Jeremiah. Ovens, Co. Cork. Died of wounds received in action at Viaduct ambush, 3/10/1920, on the 14/10/1920. Buried Carrigadrohid, Co. Cork