Family remembers Capt Michael Neary more than 100 years after his death during the Irish Civil War
On March 22, 1923 Cloonacool native, Captain Michael Neary, was shot after surrendering to British troops during the Irish Civil War and would ultimately succumb to his injuries eight weeks later. 101 years on, his family and the local commemoration commi
WHEN the Army of the Free State attacked the Irish Republican Army’s Four Courts Garrison, on June 28, 1922, they wore British Army uniforms, dyed green, they fired ammunition from British supplied weapons and used artillery provided by England.
Those inside the Four Courts had declared their allegiance to the Republic, proclaimed in 1916, they rejected the partition of their country and the creation of a Twenty-Six County state with Dominion status within the British Empire.
Between November 1922 and June 1923, the Free State executed 81 Irish Republican Army prisoners. Between August 1922 and December 1923, one hundred and twenty-five other Republicans met their deaths at the hands of the Free State: Volunteers who were abducted, tortured and murdered – including teenaged members of Na Fianna Éireann – their bodies found miles away from the scene of their abduction; prisoners tied to mines and blown-up; wounded Volunteers shot dead following capture and Volunteers shot following surrender, as in the case of Captain Michael Neary, whose one hundredth anniversary, we commemorate. Amongst them were other County Sligo Volunteers: Brig, Gen. Séamus Devins, Capt. Joseph Banks, Lieut. Patrick O’Carroll, Capt. Harry Benson and Vol. Thomas Langan who along with Comdt. Brian McNeill of Dublin, were shot and bayonetted to death on the Ben Bulben Mountains, following their surrender on the 20th Sept. 1922; Vice Brig. Harry Breheny, Collooney, unarmed when arrested and shot in cold blood on February 16, 1923 and Vol. Patrick Stenson, shot following surrender, on March 13, 1923.
Michael Neary was born and reared on the family farmstead in Cloonacool, Tubbercurry, Co Sligo. He went to Dublin in his late teens to work in the grocery trade.
He joined the Irish Republican Army shortly afterwards and fought for the freedom of his country in the Anglo-Irish War.
At the Treaty, Capt. Neary remained true to his oath to uphold the Irish Republic.
After the attack on the Four Courts, he left his place of business in Bray, Co Wicklow and was part of a column operating in the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains.
Following a battle at Blessington, Co Wicklow, against Free State forces, in July 1923, he was captured near Enniskerry and was sent to Newbridge Military Prison Camp in Kildare. Approximately, one thousand prisoners, including many of the six hundred Volunteers previously held on the prison-ship ‘Arvonia’ were detained there.
An audacious plan was made of finding a way of escaping through a network of sewers which ran through the Camp to the banks of the river Liffey.
Direct descent into the sewer was not possible so a tunnel of approximately 30ft. needed to be dug to connect with the sewer.
Over three nights, in October, one hundred and sixty prisoners managed to escape. Michael Neary was in the last batch of escapees; he was fired on as he exited the sewer, falling into the Liffey, but avoided being shot by going down river. Having gained the river bank, he had to go through a barbed-wire fence before making good his escape.
Captain Neary returned to active service in South Dublin and was appointed Adjutant 2nd Battalion, 2nd Dublin Brigade, Irish Republican Army - taking part in operations with the Dalkey Column. On the morning of March 22, 1923, Free State soldiers surrounded a house in Glenageary, owned by the mother of a prominent member of Cumann na mBan, Lily O’Brien, at which members of the Dalkey Column, including Capt. Michael Neary, were staying. Fire was exchanged – a Free State soldier was killed, two Volunteers inside were wounded and Lily O’Brien was shot in the neck.
The two wounded Volunteers, Michael Meaghan and Patrick Thomas were badly beaten – only the intervention of Mrs O’Brien prevented them from being killed. In order to spare the O’Briens’ from further attack, Capt. Neary came out and surrendered.
Having surrendered, he was shot eight times by Lieut. Smith of the F.S.A. as he lay on the ground. He was taken to St Michael’s Hospital, Dún Laoghaire, where he died of his wounds eight weeks later on May 24, 1923. He was 24 years old.
The Republican weekly newspaper ‘EIRE’ in an article on August 25, 1923, headlined ‘Captain Michael S. Neary, His Work and His End’, reported “The funeral of Captain Michael S. Neary, 2nd Battalion, No. 2 Brigade, IRA took place from St Michael’s Hospital, Dún Laoghaire, on Sunday, May 28, to Tubbercurry, Co Sligo, by Motor Hearse.
Members of the Dún Laoghaire and Blackrock Cumann na mBan marched from the Hospital to Temple Hill, where a halt was made and upwards of forty beautiful wreaths placed on the coffin which then continued its long last journey to Tubbercurry, where it arrived at 7.30 pm. There, the parish priest, Canon Gunning refused to let the remains rest in the church overnight”
It recounted Capt. Neary’s service to the Republic, from 1919, when he joined the IRA until his death.
It concluded with the tribute: “He combined his patriotism with a deep religious faith. Always a clean fighter, his simplicity, honesty and courage endeared him to his comrades. He is gone to join a glorious line of martyrs. His name shall be as deathless as the cause for which he died.”
The Civil War, that began with the shelling of the Four Courts on June 28, 1922, effectively end with the death of General Liam Lynch on the Knockmealdown Mountains on April 10, 1923.
On May 24, 1923, Frank Aiken, who succeeded Gen. Lynch as Chief-of Staff, ordered the Irish Republican Army to dump arms.
It is important to note that arms were dumped, not surrendered or decommissioned, because the surrendering of arms or decommissioning of arms, would be tantamount to stating that they were not rightfully held in the first place.
As we commemorate Capt. Michael Neary, let us also remember Vol. John Durkan, Curry, Tubbercurry, who was killed in action on September 22 and Lieut. Thomas Neary, Cloonacoole, Tubbercurry, (first cousin of Capt. Michael Neary) who was killed in action on December 2,1922, who are both buried in Rhue Cemetery.
Captain Michael Neary, fought to establish the 32 County Irish Republic, proclaimed in 1916.