Notes reveal poverty War of Independence left in wake
Mothers’ horror is revealed in historic f iles
RECORDS into pensions claimed by the families of IRA Volunteers reveal the horror and poverty the War of Independence left in its wake, as 150 historic files have been released.
The documents cast further light on the IRA, a motley crew of working class men, as they developed guerilla warfare tactics against the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and British soldiers.
Records detail further evidence from the infamous Soloheadbeg ambush on January 21, 1919 in Co Tipperary.
Two RIC officers killed that day – James McDonnell, in his 50s, from Co Mayo and Patrick O’Connell (30) from Co Cork – are thought to be the first casualties of the War of Independence.
Until recently the memory of the officers’ murders had all but been erased from history.
The Tipperary Brigade, 2 Southern Division of the IRA, surrounded and killed the two officers, who’d been escorting explosives to a quarry at Soloheadbeg. Mr McDonnell, an Irish speaker from Belmullet, was a widower with young children he left orphaned and Mr O’Connell, from Coachford, was engaged to be married. They saw their jobs as representing their community but from an IRA recollection the men’s lives seemed of little worth.
“Two policemen were shot dead, two rifles, equipment, and a quantity of explosives captured. Pat O’Dwyer (Capt “C” Coy (company) and Pat McCormack (A Coy) participated with others,” the note reads.
Meanwhile, on March 23, 1921, following information received from former IRA informer Patrick ‘Cruxy’ Connor, British forces captured and killed six IRA members at Ballycannon, Clogheen, Co Cork. Pension documents filled out or recorded on behalf of the families of three of the dead volunteers, Daniel Crowley (23), Jeremiah O’Mullane, (23) and Michael O’Sullivan, (20) show the trauma their families suffered.
“The remains of the deceased [Crowley] and his five comrades were conveyed in bags to Cork Barracks, due to their mutilated state,” an application made on behalf of the young man’s mother, Elizabeth reads.
“They were butchered with bayonets. The body of the deceased was scarcely recognisable to his parents.”
Margaret O’Sullivan wrote an extensive letter in 1932, some 11 years after her son Michael’s death.
Her handwritten letter, reveals the torment her family suffered for years after the tragedy.
“He was constantly on the run and finally killed along with five comrades by the Black and Tans in an outhouse of a farm at Ballycannon... at about midnight.
“My son worked as a plumber... and at Rushbrooke Dockyard, Co Cork and he usually gave me two pounds per week.
“My house was raided on several occasions by the military, who beside breaking things, took on one occasion a one pound note, which was all the money in the house at the time.” She said the health of her daughters was damaged by the shock of their brother’s death and the raids.