BRIT SOLDIER BURIED 98YRS AFTER KILLING
Private’s remains recovered from bog where he was shot and dumped by IRA members
Private George Duff Chalmers, 18, was a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots based in Co Clare during the War of Independence.
He died on June 10, 1921, in Drumbaun after it’s believed he was captured and executed by members of the IRA – overseen by Clare Commandant Seamus Hennessy.
On Monday the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, working alongside the Office of Public Works and Clare County Council, exhumed Pvt Chalmers’ remains. His family contacted the Uk-based CWGC to request the exhumation after a survey last year confirmed there was a body at the site. The remains were taken to Ennistymon Church where a prayer service was held before the reburial at Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin. A CWGC spokeswoman said: “Until August 2016, Private Chalmers was not listed in our records, despite being eligible. A review of the case by the Ministry of Defence saw Private Chalmers officially recognised and CWGC records were amended.” Pvt Chalmers had been with soldiers from the Royal Scots travelling to IRA Commandant Seamus Hennessy Moughna in a convoy of four lorries. He is understood to have jumped from one of the trucks in the Lavoureen area.
It’s believed Chalmers was going to visit a girl he had been seeing while the convoy of trucks continued without him.
He is thought to have been captured by members of the IRA and brought before a group of local republican officers.
During his interrogation he refused to give his name or other information and he was subsequently court-martialed and sentenced to death.
He was executed on suspicion of being a spy on an intelligence-gathering mission and buried in an unmarked grave. The tale became a part of folklore and locals had been told not to cut turf in a local bog as a British soldier had been buried there. However, some dismissed the story as an old wives’ tale until the 1950s when a group of young men accidentally stumbled across what were believed to be Pvt Chalmers’ remains.
It’s understood they were quickly reburied.
The grave was later marked with a cross while about 20 years ago an inscribed slab was also placed at the site.
Pvt Chalmers is understood to have been one of four British servicemen who were executed by the IRA in Co Clare during the War of Independence.
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A review of the case saw Private Chalmers officially recognised COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION