"Sixty-one persons have been convicted since 1st January last for complicity in attacks on military or police (sic), or on
police barracks (sic).
In 21 cases, sentences of penal servitude for periods exceeding two years have been inflicted, and there have been 20 cases of sentences of imprisonment with hard labour for periods of two years.
In the remaining 20 cases, sentences ranging from 18 months to one months imprisonment with or without hard labour were imposed.
There has been no case in which capital punishment has been inflicted..." (*)
(* Not 'officially', anyway.)
- the words of the British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', a Mr 'Sir' Thomas Hamar Greenwood (pictured), 1st Viscount Greenwood, PC, KC ETC ETC in the British 'House of Commons', on the 21st October, 1920, and reported on in newspapers on the 22nd.
Mr Greenwood also stated that, between the months of January 1919 and the 21st of October 1919, about 127 (political) meetings had been prohibited, 22 newspapers suppressed, 16 creameries had been totally destroyed and 11 creameries had been partially destroyed or damaged.
So - a perfectly normal ten month period in British-occupied Ireland, then...
On the same day that people were reading the newspaper reports in which Mr Greenwood was basking in the destructiveness of his 'Empire', the 10.45am express train from Cork ran into trouble in Newbridge, in County Kildare.
For t'was in the Newbridge Station that British Army soldiers boarded the train, on their way to no doubt give Mr Greenwood more material to write about, when the railway workers said "NO!!" - and refused to operate the train until the foreign gunmen disembarked!
And the same thing happened later that day with the 1.15pm train from Dublin : when it arrived at the Sallins Station, in County Kildare, the workers refused to proceed until the foreign gunmen disembarked.
The reason given was 'health and safety' - the British Army soldiers were likely to be attacked by the IRA, which put the workers and other passengers in danger etc etc but...ah, sure, ya know yerself... ;-) !
And I'd say that those soldiers of the 'Empire' were disappointed that they couldn't get up the country to the county of Leitrim, about 140km (90 miles) from Kildare where, on that same date (the 22nd October 1920) their equally-armed and troublesome comrades were burning the local hall (community centre) in the small town of Aughavas, but they probably made it for the 'Greenwood Goodies' that took place in Leitrim over the following two weeks - town halls were burned down by those armed thugs in the villages of Annaduff, Fenagh, Gorvagh, Gowel and Ballinamore.
Had those bowsies taken the time to read that days 'Times of London' newspaper (22nd October 1920) they might have had a change of heart (!) because of a write-up in it about the 'Cambridge Union Society' having discussed and passed a motion condemning the British government's actions in Ireland ; a game-changer, if ever there was one, for sure...
On that same date (22nd October 1920), 'The Cork Constitution' newspaper reported that the Mayor of Wexford, a Mr Richard Corish, had received a threatening letter from "the Wexford Branch" of a pro-British grouping, the so-called 'Anti-Sinn Féin Society' ('ASFS').
The letter stated that there would be "severe reprisals against Sinn Féin supporters in the event of the shooting or wounding of government officials (sic)..."
That 'organisation' was known by the IRA to be a loose network of pro-British intelligence agents involved in 'counter-insurgency' activities, on a 'plausible deniability'-basis by Westminster ; indeed, on the 25th November (1920), Mr Greenwood stated, in Westminster -
"The Government have no information concerning this so-called society, and no branch of the public service in Ireland has relations with any such organisation..." (From Hansard HC Deb Vol 135 c645W).
The grouping made itself a target for the IRA and, when located, its members and leadership were executed ; for instance, a Mr James Charles Beale, an 'ASFS' leader, was shot dead in February 1921 and his living quarters were searched.
An 'ASFS' membership list was found, leading to the execution of 13 other pro-British spies and marauders and the IRA let it be known that they had
names, addresses and contact details for other members and supporters and those people were advised to back off, which they did, rather sharpishly, as the British themselves might put it...
By March, 1921, the grouping had outlived its usefulness to the British and had effectively ceased to exist.
"We approached (RIC member) Cullen's house and knocked at the door.
He asked who was there and we said 'Open up in the name of the IRA'.
Cullen refused to open the door.
Volunteer Andrew Kirwan then fired a revolver shot up towards the roof of the house and Volunteer Walter Walsh and I began to break in the door with a hatchet we had with us.
When Cullen heard us smashing the door he went upstairs and threw a grenade out through the window ; it landed about three-quarter ways across the street before it exploded.
Volunteer Walsh and I fell down with the blast and then got up and ran around a corner out of range.
Volunteer James Power, who was some way out on the road, went across the street and into the chapel yard after the explosion, but we lost him in the darkness.
I set out for the IRA Commandant's house at Ballycraddock, about four miles distant, with a view to getting hold of a few rifles and, when I returned to the village of Kill ('1169' comment - the village of Kill in Waterford, not Kildare) later that night I found that our men had dispersed to their homes.
The following day I heard that Volunteer James Power had been badly wounded the previous night by the grenade thrown by the RIC man, Cullen.
Volunteer Power had apparently gone home a distance of over a quarter of a mile the previous night in spite of his bad wound.
We brought Doctor (Joseph C.) Walsh of Bunmahon (pictured) to attend him but it was no use, as the poor fellow died three days afterwards and is buried in Kill Graveyard.
At the time of Volunteer Power's death it was said by his relatives that he died of pneumonia, and everybody - except those of us who really knew - believed that.
The idea was, of course, to keep the British ignorant of the truth and so save his people from raids or, maybe, arrest..."
- a statement from one of the IRA Volunteers who was on that military operation with Volunteer James Power.
(Incidentally, a well-known [apparently?!] British comedian [!] with a very poor grasp of Irish history has a family connection with an IRA Volunteer of the same name as the Volunteer we wrote about, above, who is also from Waterford, and was actually on the same military operation as Volunteer Power ; more here.)
RIP Volunteer James Power.
On the same day that Volunteer Power was caught-up in the grenade explosion, 150 km/95 miles or so up the road in County Offaly, the newly formed Flying Column from the Athlone Battalion IRA were waiting at an ambush point they had established in the Parkwood area of Clara, County Offaly (just inside the Offaly border, outside the town of Moate).
Volunteers James Tormey and George Adamson were in command of the rebels who, with limited ammunition, were waiting for an RIC patrol (19 armed members) to pass that way, on its journey from Gormanstown Barracks in County Meath to the town of Ballinasloe, in the East of County Galway.
At about 1pm, three Crossley Tender trucks drove up to the ambush point, the first of which the rebels allowed pass unhindered - but a continuous fusillade of shots from revolvers and rifles stopped the second truck immediately.
Intermittent fire was returned and, as the rebels were low on ammunition, they used the last of their firepower to withdraw from the scene.
One of the RIC members, a Mr Harold Biggs (23, 'Service Number 73983'), from London, died the following day from his wounds.
Mr Biggs had only joined the RIC on the 9th October that year but, even at the young age he was when he died, he had eight years of military training to his 'credit' : at 15 years young he had joined the British Army but was discharged a year later and re-enlisted at 18 years of age.
Before he was discharged, he had been wounded in France, had been a member of the London Metropolitan Police (from which he resigned after four months) and then continued his military 'career' with the RIC in Ireland.
He ended it here, too...
On the same day of that successful IRA ambush (22nd October 1920), the villages of Moate and Horseleap, in County Westmeath, and the village of Killbeggan, on the border between County Westmeath and County Offaly, were attacked and terrorised by armed Crown Force members, many civilians were wounded and a former 'Irish Parliamentary Party' urban councillor, a Mr Michael Burke (50, pictured), was shot dead by the foreigners.
Those Crown Force revenge attacks were raised in the British 'House of Commons', and a Mr Thomas Hamar Greenwood ('1st Baron Greenwood' - him again!) replied to the concerns expressed -
"It is inevitable that in the conditions prevailing in Ireland, the innocent should sometimes suffer for the acts of the wrongdoer..."
It should not have been "inevitable", but Mr Greenwood died peacefully ('unspecified causes') at 78 years of age, in London, on the 10th September, 1948.
Marbhfháisc air!Léan léir air!Drochbhreith ort!Díth béasa ort!
"The creation of the Special Constabulary would place the lives of Catholics at the mercy of opponents, armed by the British government.
If I had the power, I would organise special constables to fight your special constables.
The Chief Secretary is going to arm pogromists to murder the Catholics. Their pogrom is to be made less difficult. Instead of paving stones and sticks they are to be given rifles..."
- Mr Joe Devlin, addressing Mr Hamar Greenwood in the British 'House of Commons', on October 25th, 1920.
The occasion was necessitated due to an order issued on the 22nd October by the British military and political 'Head Office' in Ireland, in Dublin Castle that, under the British 'Special Constabulary Ireland Acts of 1832 and 1914', a 'Special Constabulary' was to be created for Ireland, recruitment for which was to commence on November 1st.
Four groupings were to be established ; full-time 'A Specials', part-time 'B Specials', reserve force 'C Specials' and 'CI Specials', consisting of loyalist paramilitary members.
In order to lessen opposition to this new group of bandits, guarantees were given that the 'Specials' would not be let loose on their own ie only allowed out accompanied by, and under the command of, an RIC member - a faulty warranty, if ever there was one!
Overall, the financial situation faced at the time by Westminster would indicate that they were reluctant to recruit more soldiers and RIC members for placement in Ireland and believed they could get the same results (ie defeat the Irish opposition to their presence) by initiating a new (para-)military force.
"I sincerely trust there is no foundation for this rumour.
You cannot in the middle of a faction fight (sic) recognise one of the contending parties and expect it to deal with disorder in the spirit of impartiality and fairness essential in those who have to carry out the Orders of the Government..."
- 'Sir' John 'Pompous John' Anderson (pictured), the British 'Under Secretary For Ireland' (appointed to that position on the 16th May that year), in a letter he wrote to a Mr Bonar Law, on the 2nd September, voicing his opposition to the formation of any new 'official' (para-)military grouping.
British Army General 'Sir' Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready was not in favour of the new grouping, and the British 'Chief of the Imperial Staff', 'Sir' Henry Hughes Wilson, also spoke out against the 'Specials' (but Mr Wilson later publicly changed his opinion of them - on St Patrick's Day in 1922, of all days, when he called for an increase in the number of 'Special Constables' especially, he said, the 'C Specials'!)
"The proposal to arm 'well-disposed citizens' raised serious questions of the sanity of Government...", wrote 'The Daily Mail' newspaper on the 15th September, stating that it shows that the British Government had abandoned any pretence of impartiality.
"Membership of the Special Constabulary was a perfect fit for all the eager spirits who have driven nationalist workmen from the docks or have demonstrated their loyalty by looting Catholic shops...", wrote 'The Westminster Gazette' newspaper, on the 16th September.
"The special constables would prove to be nothing more and nothing less than the dregs of the Orange lodges, armed and equipped to overawe Nationalists and Catholics...", wrote 'The Fermanagh Herald' newspaper, on the 27th November.
At the time and, indeed, since then, various political authors have stated that the formation of the 'USC' gave the Stormont administration "the ability to legitimise the UVF as an arm of the state, thereby controlling its unruly nature, while harnessing its power...in the summer of 1920 loyalist violence predominated where the balance of forces favoured the UVF, such as Belfast, Lisburn and Banbridge or Cookstown in Tyrone. The creation of the 'USC' facilitated the westward spread of unionist violence...it is likely that some police officers (sic) were guilty either of direct involvement in the murder of Catholics, or else of collusion with loyalist terrorists. Certainly the Specials became pariah figures for many Catholics...in essence, the arming of the majority against a minority..."
British imperialism the world over - set the majority against the minority by fostering religious and ethnic divisions : divide and rule...
(The 'Ulster Special Constabulary' (USC) was 'officially disbanded' in March 1970, with most of its members being absorbed into a new part-time grouping, the 'Royal Ulster Constabulary' and its 'Reserve Force', and/or the new 'Ulster Defence Regiment' (UDR), equally treacherous outfits.)
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
Meanwhile, sources say that compulsory purchase orders are being issued to landowners along the Mayo/Galway route of the proposed pipeline to ensure that the framework of the pipe network is in place prior to the general election this year.
The American Kingspan pipeline construction company recently offered to fund the development cost of a North-South interconnector, at no cost to Bord Gais, in order to pool all of the State's existing gas infrastructure with Keyspan.
This, say industry sources, allied with the impending privatisation of Bord Gais, will end any possibility of Irish involvement in the distribution of our own natural resources.
In another transaction described by experts as "incredible", the government recently disposed of the Irish National Petroleum Corporation (INPC) at a time when its raison d'etre was finally coming into force...
(MORE LATER.)
Listed in one of our sources was an unfortunate incident involving an IRA Volunteer, Hugh O'Neill who, in October, 1921, is said to have accidentally shot himself in his hand.
He was treated for the injury but tetanus set in and he was taken to a hospital in Newry, County Down, but died from the disease on the 22nd of that month.
This incident is not recorded anywhere else, at least not where we could find a record of it.
On the 17th October, 1921, Volunteers attached to the 2nd Battalion of Kerry No 2 Brigade of the IRA were securing an arms dump which was located on a farm in the village of Molahiffe, near the village of Firies, in County Kerry (underground passages ran from Molahiffe to Firies and were used by the rebels).
Volunteer Maurice 'Mossie' Casey was working on gunpowder supplies when the area he was working in exploded.
Badly burnt, he was taken to Tralee Union Infirmary but he couldn't be saved - the poor man died there on the 22nd of that month.
Circumstances at the time dictated that Volunteer Casey be buried in a local cemetery without a grave marker : those circumstances changed in time but not, unfortunately - God forgive us - for Volunteer Casey.
Not until 2016, that is - the 'National Graves Association' (NGA) take up the story -
"In 1921 Volunteer Mossie Casey died a terrible death after being horribly injured in an explosion while on active service near the village of Firies in County Kerry.
He was buried under a green patch of grass in a local cemetery without a marker.
Mossie Casey and his grave were soon forgotten by a nation who quickly consigned his memory to the national amnesia, even though he had died a dreadful death for the (limited) freedom that they now enjoyed.
After three years of investigations the cemetery and eventually the exact location of the forgotten, unmarked grave was identified by the NGA.
And so, after 95 years of lying forgotten, and with assistance of two local men who gave very generously of their time and skill, the NGA erected a headstone (pictured) over that fallen soldier.
Let all who pass now know that Vol Mossie Casey died for Ireland and will not be forgotten..."
RIP Volunteer Maurice 'Mossie' Casey (and sincere apologies for our carelessness).
==========================
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON...
Had the electoral rules entitled him to run again for the White House in 2000, few are in any doubt that Bill Clinton would be at this present moment in time relaxing in the Oval House, toying with a fat cuban and possibly smoking a cigar...
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
Firstly, niggling constitutional issues regarding our favourite President's right to a nomination could be swept aside by a referendum of the type we as a nation (sic) seem somewhat addicted to ; in the clause which demands that the President be a citizen of the republic of Ireland (sic) we need only insert the caveat 'unless the President's name is William Jefferson Clinton'. That motion would be passed with record approval.
We could, while we are at it, make him exempt from any other Irish laws which he might deem unsavoury or unwarranted so that he might enjoy a smoother presidential ride on this side of the Atlantic than he has done heretofore.
Secondly, with his faded good looks, financial problems, and uncertainty about the future, the man from Little Rock personifies the current post-Tiger Zeitgeist like no other could...
(MORE LATER.)
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
At a sitting of the Maltese Board of Inquiry on the 14th May, 1997, Piper Corporation Senior Accident Investigator, Paul Lehman, "..made reference to the missing alternator belt and the depletion of the aircraft battery..."
According to the inquiry report -
"He affirmed that a fully charged battery would render 30 minutes of energy but, considering the energy required to start the aircraft engine, the remaining battery life would not be more than 10-15 minutes.
Moreover, he asserted that in flight, once the battery went flat, the pilot would have lost all communications."
If, therefore, the aircraft did manage to start up and take off with a fully charged engine, Paul Lehman's expert opinion suggest that the energy remaining would allow the pilot to communicate for a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes, meaning that by between 3.54am and 3.59am communications between the missing aircraft and Djerba ATC would begin to fail...
(MORE LATER.)
In mid-October, 1922, the Free State Army were searching part of a mountain range, in the Woodhouse area, in Waterford for IRA rebels.
An IRA ASU was thought to be on the run in that area, with Volunteer Patrick Curran in command, and it was this Unit's ambush position that the FSA troops came across.
In the inevitable gunfight, two FSA soldiers, both from Waterford - a Mr Patrick Foley and a Mr Laurence Phelan - were killed.
At around that same time (3am-ish), across the country, eastwards, about 58 km (36 miles) away, a five-man IRA Unit, with Volunteer Robert Lambert in command, had established their own ambush position on a railway bridge over the main Ferrycarrig to Wexford road.
They were lying in wait for a FSA Lancia armoured car, which was fitted-out with steel plates on each side, front and back, but no added protection on its roof.
As it passed under the bridge, the IRA opened fire on it with heavy weaponry, opening its roof, through which a Mills Bomb was dropped from the bridge into it.
The bomb exploded in the vehicle, killing four of the occupants - Mr Christy Kearns (a Dublin man), Mr Patrick O’Connor (Wexford), Mr William Doyle (Wexford) and a Mr Peter Behan (Kildare) - and three of their FSA colleagues - Mr John Murphy, Mr James Kirwan and a Mr William Jones - were badly wounded.
The driver of the armoured Lancia lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into a wall.
The IRA Unit returned safely to base.
On that same date (22nd October 1922), about 115km (70 miles) to the west, an FSA soldier on sentry duty in Cashel, County Tipperary - a Mr James Burke - shot himself dead with his own gun.
As Mr Burke's life came to an end, 80km (about 50 miles) down the road in Cork, a Free State Army Brigadier-Commandant, a Mr Ahern, and his soldiers, were waiting outside a Catholic Church in the townland of Rathduane, Caherbarnagh, in Drishane Civil Parish, County Cork.
As the Mass-goers came out, the FSA grouping closed-in on two men that they suspected were IRA Volunteers, and 'arrested' both of them.
As the FSA bandits were returning the prisoners to their Millstreet Barracks, they were ambushed at Annagloor by the IRA, who opened fire from both sides of the road.
One of their number, a Mr Thomas Mahony (19), received a serious wound in the stomach and died at Blarney while being rushed in a military ambulance to the Mercy Hospital in Cork city.
And again, on that same date, and also in Cork (about 60km/35 miles from the Annagloor shooting), on Curragh Hill, near the town of Clonakilty, an FSA patrol was heading to the town of Rosscarbery with orders for their troops based there.
The IRA had set-up an ambush position, with a Thompson machine gun and small arms, and opened fire on the Staters, killing one of them, a Mr Daniel Sullivan.
His body was taken to O'Donovan's Hotel, in Clonakilty.
The 22nd October 1922 - a bad day for the Leinster House Army.
==========================
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated.
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 5th November, 2025.)
BURIED AT NIGHT, UNKNOWN LOCATION, UNMARKED GRAVE - FOR ALMOST 100 YEARS...
A shocking piece, from the 1920's in Munster, about an IRA Volunteer who was killed on active service, but circumstances at the time dictated that he would be buried by the IRA, with no marker or any other indication of who he was or how he died.
And there the poor man remained, for almost one-hundred years...
That's one of the pieces we'll be writing about on Wednesday, 22nd October 2025.
It'll be a six-part post, comprising about seventeen separate pieces, mostly from the 1920's, including...
...1920's, Westminster - behind-the-scene transcripts and quotes from British political and military figures in relation to the proposed establishment of a paramilitary grouping which was 'to aid the military powers in Ireland' but to do so at a distance - all knowledge of the gang was disavowed, even though it was financed by the British, 'under the counter'...
..and -
..in London, in the 1900's, a high-ranking political/military figure in Westminster wanted it put on the record (on their filing system 'Hansard') that, in Ireland, in a period of less than one year, more than 120 political meetings had been banned, almost two dozen newspapers had been suppressed, over one dozen businesses had been totally wrecked and closed down and almost one dozen other businesses had been either fire damaged or partially torched...
...wanna know more?
Course ya do!
Well, then - don't just give this partial promo piece a quick read over and then forget all about us : give us a shout and a rekkie on Wednesday, 22nd October 2025, and we'll tell ya the rest of the above pieces, and about fourteen others!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated, seriously - but we'll take that back on the 22nd, if'n yer a no-show...!
Sharon and the team.
"Reprisals are wrong.
They are bad for the discipline of the force.
They are bad for Ireland, especially if the wholly innocent suffer.
Reprisals are wrong but reprisals do not happen only by accident.
They are the result of the brutal, cowardly murder of police officers (sic) by assassins (sic), who take shelter behind the screen of terrorism (sic) and intimidation (sic) they have created.
Police (sic) murder (sic) produces reprisals. Stop murdering (sic) policemen (sic)."
- Editorial in the printed 'The Weekly Summary', 8th October 1920.
Those printed pages masqueraded as an in-house 'newspaper' for RIC members in the early 1920's in Ireland, repeatedly describing the Republican Movement as "enemies of humanity", but was a poor man's version of 'The Irish Bulletin', the Irish republican newspaper, which had a guaranteed readership outside of the Movement, and abroad.
'The Weekly Summary' was circulated among its in-house members from August 1920 until January 1922, when it folded due to a dying readership.
Literally.
Before it folded, 'The Summary' apparently lost one of its readers on the same date that it published that editorial - an RIC member, a 'Constable Dennison', in Dunamore (Dunnamore/Donamore), in County Tyrone, wouldn't surrender his revolver when ordered to do so by IRA Volunteers and, seemingly, involved himself in a scuffle with the Volunteers, during which a gun was fired, wounding him, at least.
Our sources record no mention of this event, and we couldn't find any other information on the incident.
When Mr Dennison may or may not have been involved in a situation in Tyrone, 270 miles down the road (about 430 km), in County Cork, a very definite incident was unfolding.
At least 30 IRA Volunteers, attached to the 2nd Battalion of Cork No. 1 Brigade (with Volunteer Michael Murphy in command), were in ambush position at the corner of Cove Street and Barrack Street in Cork when, at about 9am - as expected - a British Army lorry approached their position.
Seven armed BA soldiers, from the '2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment', were in the lorry and they were quickly joined by a ticking bomb (four bombs were thrown at the vehicle altogether, one of which failed to explode) which had been lobbed into the vehicle.
One of the BA soldiers, a Mr Gordon John Squibb (17, 'Service Number 5487222'), grabbed the device with the intention of throwing it out onto the street but it exploded when he lifted it, killing him : he is buried (12th October) in the Churchyard of the Baptist Chapel in Niton, on the Isle of Wight, in England.
Three of his comrade soldiers were injured as were at least four civilians - Mr Thomas Madden, Mr Denis Buckley, M/s Kate Fitzpatrick and a Mr Jeremiah Linehan - and two Volunteers also sustained injuries - Volunteer Michael Murphy and Volunteer Tadgh O'Sullivan - when the BA gunmen fired about 20 shots in, roughly, their direction.
The civilians recovered, shaken, but in good health.
On that same date (8th October 1920), a British Army Brigadier General, 'Sir' George Kynaston Cockerill (pictured, a Conservative/Tory MP for the Reigate Constituency in Surrey, 1918-1931) had his 'Letter to The Editor' published in 'The London Times' newspaper.
In his letter, Mr Cockerill called for.. "..a meeting of plenipotentiaries from Britain and Ireland to discuss settlement, to be preceded by a truce and amnesty with the resulting agreement to be submitted to both parliaments for acceptance or rejection but not amendment..."
In (officially) July, 1921, a truce was agreed, followed by negotiations, followed by the signing of same in December 1921.
He was deeply involved in the British 'Intelligence Services' and was was 'knighted' (!) in 1926, beginning (officially!) his political career in the so-called 'House of Commons'.
He either had good intuition or knew the inside track - my money's on the latter!
As 'Sir' Cockerill was reading his own letter in 'The London Times' on the 8th, his military colleagues in Ireland were raiding a house in Meelick, in County Clare, believing they were about to 'arrest' three rebel brothers Michael, Austen and Patrick Brennan.
The armed foreigners forced their way into the dwelling only to discover that the three brothers had been notified about the raid and had gone 'on the run'.
To ease their disappointment, the British soldiers put Mrs Brennan, a widow, and her daughter, out of the house and burned it to the ground, then left the area.
Mrs Brennan and her daughter and three sons were then homeless.
We wonder did Mr Cockerill write a letter to 'The London Times' about that...?
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
Pat Keating, spokesperson for 'Enterprise Oil', said -
"Exploration off Ireland had not been a great success, and it needed a regime to attract more exploration.
Enterprise Oil never came here because of a deal, but in the hope of making a discovery.
But the amounts of discoveries to date hasn't been great."
And on the subject of whether the terms of Irish licence agreements are more attractive than those of other countries, he said -
"I wouldn't have said so, because so many factors come into consideration in different countries.
It would be like comparing apples and oranges ; every area has its own frameworks and parameters."
Again, he stresses, that companies would come to Ireland not because the terms of licence agreements would be attractive, but rather in the hope of making a significant oil or gas find and, he says,... "Ireland has been dismally disappointing.." in that regard so far...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 8th October, 1921, Volunteer Patrick Dunne, from Greenhills, in the village of Kill, County Kildare, knocked on his own halldoor, having been imprisoned for nine months by the British, for having "seditious literature in his possession".
Our enquiries about Volunteer Dunne indicate that he shouldered a weapon for Ireland alongside the other brave men and women of the 7th Brigade, 1st Eastern Division of the Republican Army, that he had been active in the 1916 Rising and later served as Captain of the Kill Company of the Irish Volunteers.
More here...
As Volunteer Patrick Dunne was 'born again' after his nine months 'stay' (!), a British Army intelligence officer in Berlin, Germany, a 'Sir' John Arnold Wallinger, pictured, KBE, DSO, CIE, KPM ETC ETC (!), reported to his army superiors about IRA gunrunning activities in Germany.
In his (accurate) report, he provided scripture and verse on how a 'Mr Thompson' (Charles John McGuinness, aka 'Charles T. Hennessey', 'Nomad', 'Charlie', 'Night-Hawk') and another IRA Volunteer, William Beaumont (a 'Crossover' ie an ex-British Army man) had been sent to Germany by the IRA GHQ with two million German Marks to make further contact with the far-right, fascist 'Orgesch' organisation, to purchase weapons from them, which they succeeded in doing.
IRA conduits in Germany, Robert Emmet Briscoe and John T. Ryan, assisted in putting the deal together.
Mr Wallinger, somewhat exasperated, we imagine (!), also reported that the IRA Unit was also dealing with the German Communist Party to secure boats to transport the purchased weapons to Ireland!
So there ya have it - in short, in 1921, Irish republicans worked hand-in-glove with fascists and communists when the need and the opportunity to do so presented itself, for the objective of fighting for an Ireland for the Irish.
'Any port in a storm', as the saying goes, if the end result means the removal of the foreigners...
And, speaking of boats, ports and faraway lands, an event linked to the above took place on the 21st October, 1921 - German police in Hamburg raided and searched a ship called 'Anita', and found and confiscated a large amount of weapons destined for the IRA.
Volunteer Charles McGuinness was arrested by them, was eventually fined a sum of money and then released ; the ship was by all accounts rather worn but was up to the task, the weapons had been purchased by IRA GHQ from the fascist Orgesch organisation (also mentioned here) and, at his trial, the judge privately wished Volunteer McGuinness better luck next time!
...and, in yet another related incident, Volunteers Robert Briscoe and Charles McGuinness left the port of Hamburg in a small tug called 'The Frieda' on the 28th October, 1921, with a German crew supplied by the Orgesch organisation.
The tug was carrying about 300 guns and 80,000 rounds of ammunition for those weapons (some reports state 200 rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition), destined for the IRA.
Just before they set sail, Volunteer Briscoe sent a pre-arranged 'Thumbs Up!' telegram to Volunteer Liam Mellows, in Ireland, who was the IRA's Director of Purchases, and then Volunteer Pax Whelan, Officer Commanding of the Waterford Brigade IRA, was notified to prepare for 'The Frieda' landing on the shores of Helvick Head, in Waterford.
The tug got delayed by rough weather at sea and even worse weather made them take shelter behind a small island near Helvick Head, so Volunteer McGuinness and a few crew members decided to row a lifeboat ashore, and they then made to way to the house of a local Sinn Féin member, a Dr Vincent White (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher).
Between Mr White and Volunteer Whelan, transport was arranged, the cargo was safely unloaded from 'The Frieda' and taken to Keatings of Kilrossanty in the Comeragh Mountains, on the Waterford/Tipperary border, a republican owned and operated business and, from there, the goods were distributed between the Southern and Midlands Divisions of the IRA.
That gunrunning operation was successfully completed because of cooperation between Irish republicans, fascists and communists, an unlikely combination, but one that was deemed necessary by Irish republicans to free Ireland from the foreigners.
'In January 1937, Tom Barry, then IRA Chief of Staff, traveled to Germany to meet with Nazi intelligence (the Abwehr) seeking financial and military support for a potential war with Britain, and secured a commitment subject to the IRA focusing attacks on British military installations in Northern Ireland (sic).
The trip, which was controversial and resulted in Barry's eventual resignation from the IRA leadership, laid groundwork for future IRA-Nazi contact...in January 1937, IRA leader Tom Barry travelled to Nazi Germany at the request of German Abwehr intelligence, accompanied by a German agent named Jupp Hoven, to seek financial support and ensure a commitment to a war with Britain, which the IRA would respond to by attacking British military installations in Northern Ireland (sic).
Barry secured this support, but upon his return, the IRA Army Convention rejected the "Barry Plan" in favor of Seán Russell's S-Plan to attack targets in Britain. Barry resigned as Chief of Staff but continued to have contact with German agents until at least February 1939...' (From here.)
'When it became clear that victory could not be achieved, Barry proposed that the Anti-Treaty IRA should lay down their arms, which led to frequent clashes with Liam Lynch.
Barry still continued to be a part of the IRA after the civil war and served briefly as its commander-in-chief in 1937, during which he devised a proposed plan for an IRA offensive into Northern Ireland (sic) and opened contacts with Nazi Germany. After leaving the IRA, Barry would write Guerrilla Days in Ireland, a memoir about his service in World War I and in Ireland...' (From here.)
'Barry would assert in later life that he opposed both the 1930s bombing campaign in England and IRA contacts with Nazi Germany.
In fact in January 1937 he had taken a trip to Germany seeking Nazi support, which was assured to him subject to the condition that the IRA limit its actions to British military installations once war was declared.
Financing was to be arranged through the Clann na Gael in the USA.
The Army Convention in April 1938 adopted Seán Russells S-Plan instead.
Barry resigned as chief of staff as a result, but remained in contact with German agents at least to February 1939...' (From here.)
'1937–1939: the first IRA contacts :
The Abwehr had German agents in Ireland at this point.
Joseph Hoven was an anthropology student who spent much of 1938 and 1939 in Northern Ireland and the province of Connacht.
Hoven had befriended Tom Barry, an IRA member who had fought during the Anglo-Irish War and was still active within the organisation. They met frequently with a view to fostering links between the IRA and Germany.
At this time Barry had taken up the position of IRA Chief of Staff and it was within this capacity that he visited Germany in 1937 accompanied by Hoven, with a view to developing IRA/German relations...' (From here.)
'Looking around for allies, Barry would take what would become an extremely controversial trip to Nazi Germany in January 1937, organised after contacts between German agents in Ireland and Barry.
He would later claim he made the journey at least partially to discover how much penetration the Germans had been able to manage within the IRA.
There he secured a commitment from the Abwehr, the Germany military intelligence service, for financial support in the event of a war with Britain, to be organised through republican organisations in the United States : with this, the IRA would attack British military installations in Northern Ireland (sic).
Naturally history has taken a dim view of such contacts, but at the time Barry was simply looking to become friends with those who shared his enemy.
Of course Nazi racial ideology, anti-Semitism and aggressive territorial expansion was not some secret at the time, so Barry, and others who followed the same path afterwards, should not be entirely immune from criticism either...' (From here.)
'James O’Donovan set sail for Germany and held a series of meetings in Hamburg with his new best friends in the Abwehr, discussing IRA resources, capabilities and various issues of mutual interest. The Germans also set up a means of coded communication and provided contact details for Abwehr agents.
As no money was forthcoming from Germany, Sean Russell set off on a fundraising trip to America, meeting up with Joe McGarrity, the leader of Clan na Gael. It was through McGarrity that Russell had initially made contact with German intelligence.
It was the prospect of financial and military assistance from Germany, that had earlier helped Russell secure the role of IRA Chief of Staff. Whilst Russell was in America, Stephen Hayes was appointed the new Chief of Staff.
In April 1939, O’Donovan returned to Hamburg for further discussions with the Abwehr, hoping to secure the promise of weapons and radios, but the only outcome from the trip was the setting up of a courier route.
In the middle of August 1939, two weeks before Germany invaded Poland, James O’Donovan was back in Hamburg for his third and final meeting with his Abwehr contacts. On this occasion O’Donovan stated that the IRA was seeking German support for the occupation of Northern Ireland (sic).
Whilst this was not ruled out by the Abwehr, they requested that the IRA focused for the time being on British military targets in Northern Ireland (sic) and elsewhere (sic) in the UK.
O’Donovan also requested weapons, ammunition and explosives, but these failed to materialise.
German agents did however transport money to the IRA and a radio link was established...' (From here.)
'The Orgesch (Organisation Escherich) was an anti-communist, anti-Semitic paramilitary organization in Germany during the early Weimar Republic, founded by Georg Escherich in 1920.
It was formed from the larger Citizens' Defense (Bürgerwehr) and was supported by government and army forces but was eventually disarmed and disbanded by the Allies in 1921 due to its far-right connections and private army status...' (From here.)
And it should be noted that those who were sought out then by Irish republicans to do 'business' with were real, dedicated and active far-right fascists, not the pro-Irish Mammies and Daddies (me and mine included), teenagers and old-age pensioners who are called far-right fascists by the 'Come-One-Come-All/Open Borders' people and Irish self-declared 'republican' groups for taking to the streets of Ireland today to voice opposition to even more foreign vagrants - 'asylum seekers, migrants and refugees' - being 'chaperoned' into their housing estates and nearby industrial estates, hotels, B+B's etc by State cops (AGS) and local and Leinster House politicians, as part of the people-trafficking industry that has been organised and is being run by the 'Establishment' in this corrupt State.
We can't house the world, and we can't afford - morally, societally, financially, or physically - to try and house the world, we have no "international obligations" to try to do so and, no - we're not "far-right fascist Nazis" for wanting an Ireland for the Irish!
Éire ar leathphingin, ach cá bhfuil an leathphingin?
Éire do na Gaeil.
Éire Do na hÉireannaigh.
Éire do mhuintir na hÉireann.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (8TH OCTOBER) 182 YEARS AGO - THE 'DOC' BACKS DOWN.
The 'Monster Meetings' (pictured) held by Daniel O'Connell were a great success, despite all the 'misfortunes' (as the British would have it) that the Irish people were suffering in their daily lives ; the desire, the demand, for a British withdrawal had not gone away.
But, after the Tara 'Monster Meeting' (held on the 15th August 1843) the British decided such meetings were not to the benefit of the 'Union' and were not to be allowed. A 'Monster Meeting' planned for Clontarf, in Dublin, which was to take place on Sunday, 8th October, 1843, was, on Saturday 7th October - 182 years ago on this date - banned by the British authorities ; the day before the event was due to take place.
Daniel O'Connell and others in the leadership of 'The Loyal National Repeal Association' quickly lodged a complaint. They protested at the banning and were arrested by the British and sentenced to a year in prison for 'conspiracy', but this judgement was then reversed in the 'British House of Lords'.
When, on that Saturday, the 7th of October 1843, O'Connell noticed that posters were being put up in Dublin by the British 'authorities' stating that the following days meeting had been banned (those posters were issued from Dublin Castle and were written by the 'Prime Minister of Britain and Ireland', Sir Robert Peel, who called the proposed meeting [for the restoration of the Irish Parliament, abolished in 1801] "an attempt to overthrow the constitution of the British Empire as by law established") and O'Connell backed down.
In our opinion, he should have 'stuck to his guns' and ignored the British 'writ' - he should have went ahead with the Clontarf 'Monster Meeting' thereby 'putting it up' to the British but 'moral force only' won the day ; O'Connell issued his own poster that same day (ie Saturday 7th October 1843) as well as spreading the word through the 'grapevine' that the meeting was cancelled.
That poster makes for interesting reading -
'NOTICE
WHEREAS there has appeared, under the signatures of E.B. SUGDEN, C DONOUGHMORE, ELIOT F BLACKBURN, E. BLAKENEY, FRED SHAW, T.B.C. SMITH, a paper being, or purporting to be, a PROCLAMATION, drawn up in very loose and inaccurate terms, and manifestly misrepresenting known facts ; the objects of which appear to be, to prevent the PUBLIC MEETING, intended to be held TO-MORROW, the 8th instant, at CLONTARF, TO PETITION PARLIAMENT for the REPEAL of the baleful and destructive measure of the LEGISLATIVE UNION.
AND WHEREAS, such Proclamation has not appeared until LATE IN THE AFTERNOON OF THIS SATURDAY, THE 7th, so that it is utterly impossible that the knowledge of its existence could be communicated in the usual official channels, or by the post, in time to have its contents known to the persons intending to meet at CLONTARF, for the purpose of petitioning , as aforesaid, whereby ill-disposed persons may have an opportunity, under cover of said proclamation, to provoke breaches of the peace, or to commit violence on persons intending to proceed peaceably and legally to the said meeting.
WE, therefore, the COMMITTEE of the LOYAL NATIONAL REPEAL ASSOCIATION, do most earnestly request and entreat, that all well-disposed persons will, IMMEDIATELY on receiving this intimation, repair to their own dwellings, and not place themselves in peril of any collision, or of receiving any ill-treatment whatsoever.
And we do further inform all such persons, that without yielding in any thing to the unfounded allegations in said alleged proclamation, we deem it prudent and wise, and above all things humane, to declare that said MEETING IS ABANDONED, AND IS NOT TO BE HELD.
SIGNED BY ORDER,
DANIEL O'CONNELL,
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE. T. M. RAY, Secretary.
SATURDAY, 7th OCTOBER, 1843. 3 O 'CLOCK P.M.
RESOLVED - That the above cautionary notice be immediately transmitted by express to the Very Reverend and Reverend Gentlemen who signed the requisition for the CLONTARF MEETING, and to all adjacent districts, SO AS TO PREVENT the influx of persons coming to the intended meeting.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.'
'God Save The Queen' indeed!
Perhaps Mr O'Connell should have contacted his 'queen' and asked her to please permit the rally to go ahead...
The British had put pressure on their 'rebel pet', O'Connell, to enforce their ban, and had ordered a number of gunboats and land-based artillery pieces to train their weapons on the Clontarf area ; two British warships, the Rhathemus and the Dee, were already in Dublin Harbour, carrying around 3,000 British troops from the 24th and 34th regiments to ensure the mass rally in favour of repeal of the 'Union' did not take place.
The nationalist newspaper, the 'Freeman’s Journal', stated that the troops had been summoned to "cut the people down (and) run riot in the blood of the innocent".
Daniel O'Connell was aware that thousands of people would already be on their way to the Clontarf meeting (some having left their homes on the Friday, or earlier, for the walk to Dublin) so he sent his marshals out from Dublin on horseback, urging the crowds to return home : it was that or challenge Westminster, but that wasn't an option, as far as he was concerned.
O'Connell and his 'Loyal Association' had painted themselves into a corner ; they fell into a trap of their own making.
He had publicly and repeatedly vowed to work "within the law" (ie British 'law') which could have at any time been used, as it eventually was, to ban his agitation and he had vehemently ruled out the use of force in any circumstances in challenging the British.
One of the results of the decision by Daniel O'Connell to cancel the Clontarf 'Monster Meeting' was that the public lost faith in him and in the 'Loyal National Repeal Association' ; when he realised that he had lost that support, he expressed the view that "repeal of the Union" could not be won.
The 'Young Irelanders' denounced him and the manner in which he had directed the 'Repeal' campaign, and stated that his leadership had failed to address the threat "of the decay of Irish culture, language and custom" under British influence and interference.
One of the many who left O'Connell's side to lead the 'Young Ireland' Movement, John Mitchel, the son of a Northern Presbyterian Minister, called on the Irish people to strike back against the British - "England! All England, operating through her government : through all her organised and effectual public opinion, press, platform, parliament has done, is doing, and means to do, grievous wrongs to Ireland. She must be punished - that punishment will, as I believe, come upon her by and through Ireland ; and so Ireland will be avenged..."
The 'Loyal National Repeal Association' managed to limp along for a further four years but when O'Connell died in 1847 it fell into disarray and dissolved itself in 1848 proving, not for the first time in our history, that 'moral force' alone, when dealing with a tyrant, will not win the day.
On the 8th October, 1922, two Kildare IRA Volunteers, Thomas Murphy (mentioned here, page 3, an IRA Quartermaster, from the townland of Landenstown) and Denis Hannon (from the townland of Baile Nua Dhún Uabhair ['Newtowndonore'], a townland in Downings Civil Parish, in Barony, County Kildare) were in the town of Coill Dubh ('Blackwood') in North Kildare when they were surrounded by Naas-based Free State Army troops and 'arrested'.
The two rebels were taken to Naas FSA Military Barracks and held in a cell similar to the one pictured.
We have no more information on what happened to these two Volunteers.
==========================
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON.
Had the electoral rules entitled him to run again for the White House in 2000, few are in any doubt that Bill Clinton would be at this present moment in time relaxing in the Oval House, toying with a fat cuban and possibly smoking a cigar...
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
Alas, things have been on a slide for the Teflon President ever since he swapped the White House for a modest office in Harlem (the rent being prohibitive in downtown Manhattan) where he hopes to eke out a career as a lawyer, public speaker and an international nuisance to the Bush administration.
Whereas the only decent thing for a US President to do upon leaving office is die, thus saving the taxpayer money on Secret Service wages and Presidential pensions.
Bill Clinton would appear to have a few hand-shaking, wistful decades in him yet ; not an alluring prospect for an operator weaned on the lust for power.
The solution...?
- elect him President of Ireland.
'Magill' magazine senses your reaction and begs you to persist as the argument unfolds...
(MORE LATER.)
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
There is no evidence that Captain Bartolo managed to have the torn alternator belt replaced on his aircraft.
The idea, therefore, that an experienced pilot would place his own life and that of his passengers in mortal danger by taking off without an alternator belt, into a raging Mediterrean storm, is scarcely conceivable.
However, this is the primary conclusion of the Maltese Board of Inquiry -
"Given the known state of the alternator belt from the passengers account on the outbound flight, the time of night, weather conditions, the time that would be needed to repair same, the pilot flew the aircraft on a sole battery with limited time.
This short duration on battery life resulted in the loss of primary flight instruments, de-icing equipment, communications, lighting and navigational instruments, making it impossible to complete the flight..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the 8th October, 1924, the 'Executive Council' of the Free State administration "decided to demand" (ie went cap-in-hand, again, to their superiors in Westminster) that a plebiscite be held in all 'Poor Law Union' areas (established by Westminster in 1838 "to provide relief through workhouses" ; ie all the villages and towns in the Occupied Six Counties in which 'workhouses' existed).
The reasoning behind such a "demand" (request) was that it was mainly Catholics/Nationalists that had to avail of the 'services offered' by those workhouses and they were the people most likely to vote for a change in political leaderhip - from Westminster rule to Dublin rule, the Staters hoped.
Leinster House made its 'demand', and waited...
..and waited some more..
...until, in order to save face, they could wait no more and, on the 1st December (1924), they issued their request "demand" again.
The Brits said somethin' along the lines of 'Ah sure, what harm to humour them...', and told the Staters to present themselves in London on the 5th December to have a chat about the issue.
And so it was that Stater reps travelled over to their real capital city on the 5th and met with a Mr Justice Richard Feetham (pictured), one of the British reps on the failed 'Boundary Commission' junket, who bluntly told them that there wouldn't be any alteration to the imposed border because, says he, that would resonate negatively on the finances of the occupied area and, just for good measure, he told the Staters that the Treaty (of Surrender) which they signed did not delegate powers to that Boundary Commission to be abe to call for any such plebiscite - Staters snookered!
The Staters wrapped-up their packed lunches and went home, and there the matter rested - until the 22nd December, 1924.
For t'was on the 22nd that the still-limping-along Boundary Commission finished their 'fact-finding tour' (!) of the Occupied Six Counties ; they had visited political delegates in Armagh, Newry, Fermanagh and Derry and it was in Derry that Mr Feetham announced publicly that the Commission had no power to call a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the inhabitants, putting it up to the still-limpimg-along Staters, who didn't protest or challenge Mr Feetham's comments - don't bite that hand that feeds etc.
Finishing up for Christmas, Mr Feetham asked anyone intending to contact the Commission do so, in writing, before the end of January 1925.
And we'd bet that the Staters still sent him a Christmas Card...
==========================
ON THIS DATE (8TH OCTOBER) 203 YEARS AGO...
Richard D'Alton Williams, Irish rebel, author and doctor, is born in Dublin , 8th October 1822.
In Dublin, on the 8th October 1822, a child was born to Mary Williams, wife of a Tipperary Count, Count D'Alton ; the child, Richard D'alton Williams, was reared at Grenanstown, Nenagh, County Tipperary and educated at St. Stanislaus School, Tullabeg, in County Laois, and at St.Patricks College, County Carlow, and also studied medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.
His first published poem was entitled - 'The Munster War Song' and it appeared in 'The Nation' newspaper on 7th January, 1843, under the pseudonym 'Shamrock' ; at the time of its publication, Richard D'alton Williams was in the process of moving from Carlow to Dublin, to study medicine in St Vincents Hospital.
'The Nation' newspaper received a great response to Williams' poems, and 'Shamrock' became a regular contributor, with works such as 'The Dying Gael', 'Sisters of Charity' and 'The Haunted Man', which raised the profile and readership of the newspaper.
As well as the poems, 'The Nation' published a series of humorous articles from Richard D'alton Williams, entitled 'Misadventures of a Medical Student' and described the author, 'Shamrock' (in its July 1851 issue), in the following terms -
"His intellect is robust and vigorous, his passion impetuous and noble, his perception of beauty most delicate and enthusiastic ; his sympathies take in the whole range of human affections, and his humour is irresistible. We think, indeed, that 'Shamrock' excels all his contemporaries in imagination and humour."
Richard D'alton Williams, now a member of the 'Young Ireland' Movement, put his medical training to good use during 'The Great Hunger' of 1845-1849, by helping to ease the suffering of hundreds of cholera victims ; he was by now a hardened opponent of British mis-rule in Ireland and had joined the 'Irish Confederation' group, which was founded in January 1847 by William Smith O'Brien and other 'Young Irelanders' who had disagreed with Daniel O'Connell's 'Repeal Association'.
He was quickly elected to Council level in the 'Confederation' and was the driving force behind a short-lived newspaper called 'The Irish Tribune', which he published with the assistance of 'Young Ireland' leader, Kevin Izod O'Doherty ; the first issue was published in June 1848 but only five issues of the weekly newspaper made it on to the streets before it was suppressed by the British in early July that year and gave Westminster the pretence to arrest Williams and Kevin Izod O'Doherty.
Both men were charged under the 'Treason-Felony Act' with "intent to depose the queen and levying war". A famous barrister of the time, Samuel Ferguson, defended both men in a trial which lasted five months and caused great embarrassment to the British.
Eventually, in November 1848, Williams and O'Doherty were acquitted ; Williams went back to studying medicine, and qualified as a doctor, in Edinburgh, in July 1849 and, in June 1851, emigrated to America.
Whilst in New Orleans, he met and married an Irish woman, Elizabeth Connolly, and the couple moved to a town called Thibodeaux in Louisiana, where he wrote his last poem - 'Song of the Irish-American Regiments.'
On 5th July, 1862, just shy of his fortieth birthday, Richard D'alton Williams died of consumption in Thibodeaux, Louisiana, in America.
A patriot, a poet and a publisher, Dr Richard D'alton Williams is one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of almost unknown and/or forgotten Irish men and women that played their part in the on-going struggle to remove the British presence from Ireland.
They deserve to be remembered somewhere.
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated.
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 22nd October, 2025.)
