The amazing story of General Lucas and his kidnapping by the IRA in Cork
THE CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH GENERAL NEAR FERMOY LED TO THE SACKING OF THE TOWN AND WAS CELEBRATED IN SONG
‘Where Did General Lucas Go?’ became a popular song around North Cork 100 years ago.
It concerned the kidnapping of a British general by the IRA and was often sung by children to taunt British soldiers on the streets.
The song stemmed from the kidnapping of one of the most senior British officers in Ireland at the time, Brigadier General Cuthbert Henry Tindall Lucas.
General Lucas was a veteran of WWI who saw action in various places from Gallipoli to the Somme. After the war General Lucas thought more peaceful days might see him into his retirement, but when he was made commander of the 16th Infantry Brigade in Ireland in 1919 little did he know that a physical push for Irish freedom was sweeping the land and he was to become a target of those orchestrating this war.
On June 26, 1920, General Lucas, who was based in Fermoy barracks, found himself captured by the IRA when he left his guard down while fishing on the banks of the Blackwater at Kilbarry.
On that warm summer day General Lucas was accompanied on his fishing trip by Colonel Danford of the Royal Artillery and Colonel Tyrrell of the Royal Engineers along with his personal servant who stayed in the fishing lodge to prepare lunch while the three fishermen set off.
Meanwhile two young IRA scouts had spotted the men fishing on the banks of the river and rushed to tell the officer commanding the Cork No.2 Brigade, Liam Lynch. A plan of kidnap was then set in motion.
Lynch led the party of kidnappers in two cars towards the fishing spot. Among the party were George Power, Paddy Clancy and Sean Moylan, who has been credited with authorship of the song ‘Where Did General Lucas Go?’
Lynch and his men crept into the fishing lodge and took the servant hostage. They waited for the three British officers to return but got tired of waiting and let the servant go back to the barracks with a letter Lynch had written informing them of the impending kidnapping and what demands had to be met for their release.
Lynch and his men went off to the river bank and before long came upon the army officers who were taken by surprise. They gave no resistance and were put into two separate cars with their captors.
Moylan and Power were in the first car with Tyrell while Lynch and Clancy were behind in the second carrying Lucas and Danford. Unbeknown to Lynch and Clancy their two prisoners were quietly conversing in Arabic, a language they had acquired during their WWI days, and they were hatching a plan of escape.
Danford lunged forward to take the wheel but in the chaos that followed the car headed straight into a ditch and hand-to-hand fighting ensued. Lynch and Lucas were busy belting fists at each other in the back seat of the crashed Ford while Danford was getting the better of Clancy on the roadside.
The Lynch and Lucas fisticuffs on the Shannon was the chief bailiff and salmon was successfully caught there that night.
It was while at a safe house under the command of Michael Brennan, O/C of the East Clare IRA, that Lucas made his escape on July 30. Brennan grew financially tired of having to buy the English general a bottle of whiskey everyday out of his own pocket and preferred to attend to more pressing matters such as arms raids and ambushes and this resulted in the guard on General Lucas being scaled back.
It was 1am when General Lucas climbed out a window in a house he was kept in at Herbertstown and in stockinged feet ran to the nearest RIC barracks through a torrential downpour.
General Lucas reached Pallas village RIC barracks shortly before dawn and had a bath and change of clothes. He wrapped the clothes he had been wearing in a parcel and asked for it to be posted to an address in Cork city. The parcel reached its destination a week later with a note attached inside: ‘ to the Sinn Feiner’s, or to the IRA, with compliments of General Lucas.’
He was put on a military mail lorry headed for Fermoy and as the lorry was nearing Oola in Co. Tipperary it was ambushed by IRA volunteers and 30 minutes of a fire-fight followed. The