Published by Killoran Press, Trim, Co. Meath. Copyright Michael Farry 1992 and 2005. First published 1992 ISBN 0 9520135 0 9 This electronic edition 2005 In memory of my parents, Thomas and Brigid Farry, who died before this work was completed.

INTRODUCTION. (1992 Edition)

One night as I was completing the research for my book on Killoran and , Sean Lee took me to see Pat Hunt and his wife Mai in . As Pat recounted his memories of the War of Independence and Civil War it struck me that these and memories from other survivors should be collected.

That was six years ago and here at last it the fruit of my researches. It soon became apparent that the book would have to extend back in time to 1914 to begin with the founding of the Volunteers in . It also became clear that two volumes would be necessary to cover the whole period to the end of the civil war. Accordingly this present work ends at the Truce and it is hoped that a companion volume will deal with the period from the Truce to the end of the civil war in the county.

My intention in writing this book has been to present as far as possible a simple chronicle of those years. This is of course much more difficult than might at first appear. Sources, though relatively plentiful, rarely give the full picture. Very few written accounts by participants are available and very few participants now survive. Again and again when making enquiries I was told "It's a pity you didn't call ten years ago!" Many of those I interviewed have since passed to their reward, may they rest in peace.

I have been constantly amazed by the friendly welcome and ready co-operation I received from people, almost without exception, even when I called unannounced. People went to great lengths to locate information and photographs and have been very trusting with precious material.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to all those people who have been so generous with their time. In I have to thank Pat and Mai Hunt, Jim Hever, Margaret McBrien, Neil Farry, Joe Hunt and Mrs Kathleen Hunt, Kathleen Carroll, Paddy Dwyer, Mr and Mrs Frank Mulvey, Sis O'Brien, Andy Marren, Alexander Perceval, Kathleen Mullen, Shiela Kivlehan, Andy Marren, Martin Dan Gallagher, Mary McGuinn, Michael McGovern, Tony Noone, Jackie Conlon, Thomas Clancy, Ena McLoughlin, Michael Burgess, Ted Nealon, Mattie Brennan, Patrick Heraughty, Tom Maguire, Tom Deignan, John Kilcoyne, Willie Frizzell, John Sweeney, Michael Walsh, Thomas Kilcoyne, Michael O'Beirne, Rory O'Beirne, Sidney Gallagher, Gerry Healy, Joe Carolan, Seamus Monaghan, Mrs A. McNamara, James Devins, Mrs Frank Carty, Tony Foley and Sister M. Elizabeth. Others who provided valuable assistance included Seamus Hunt, Tom McGetterick, Brendan Perry, Michael Dyer, Eugene Perry, Bat Keaney, Cannel Potter, Ann Casey, Agnes Farry, Michael Hargaden, Owen Tansey, Mairin Ni Dhomhnalláin, D. Breathnach, Maire Ni Mhurchú, Cecil A. King, S. P. Farragher, J. A. Gaughan and Caitriona Downey.

Special thanks are due to Noel E French who proof read the book and gave valuable advice, encouragement and assistance whenever consulted. Frank Kelly gave important assistance with the typesetting and Rodney Bill was always a source of inspiration and fresh ideas.

I owe much to the personnel of the various libraries and archives I consulted and who in many cases offered valuable advice on sources. In Dublin, the staff of the National Library, UCD Archives and the National Archives deserve grateful thanks as do the staff of the Public Records Office in London. John McTernan and his excellent staff at the Sligo Library deserve a special mention. The Town Clerk in Sligo went to great trouble in searching out dusty files for my perusal. The staff of the Public Records Office in Belfast provided copies of very valuable material. The material on pages 276 and 277 is Crown copyright and is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

A special word of thanks is due to those people who gave me photographs for inclusion. These include Rodney Bill, Eugene Perry, Teresita Tiernan, Elsie Clarke, Mary McGuinn, Owen Tansey, Bat Keaney, Mrs A. McNamara, Joe Hunt and Mrs Kathleen Hunt, Michael Dyer, Patricia Devlin and Caitriona Downey, The photographs were expertly copied by Ann Crinion, Trevor Looney, Sean Dempsey and Donncha MacNiallais.

My brothers and sisters have given valuable encouragement and assistance in many different ways and my parents who unfortunately died before the completion of the work were a constant source of encouragement. Special thanks are due to Barry Flood who gave me a base in London from which to use the Public Records Office there. All my friends, colleagues and relations who have encouraged me over the period of research and writing deserve special thanks. A kind enquiry often gave renewed faith and hope.

Finally how can I thank my wife, Winifred, and my children, Fiona, Oisin, Sinead and Aisling? Their support and understanding while this work was in progress was unfailing and their anticipation of its completion an unfailing source of renewed strength when the struggle seemed too much! I only hope the finished product lives up to their expectations.

Michael Farry, Trim. 28 September 1992. FOREWORD (2005 Edition)

This study of the period 1914 to 1921 in county Sligo has been unavailable for many years and I often get requests for copies. I have decided to make it available as an E-book so that those anxious to obtain a copy may easily do so.

I have withstood this temptation to undertake a revision and updating of the work using the many new sources which have become available since its publication. I have therefore made only a few minor changes. I hope I have corrected most of the embarrassing misspellings and typographical errors in the original. I have included some paragraphs which I omitted from the original because of considerations of length. These are printed in italics in this edition. Otherwise this is merely the original work in a different format. I hope those who read it will consider its reissue worthwhile.

Michael Farry Trim, Co. Meath. 10 May 2005 [email protected]

More Books by Michael Farry:

Killoran and Coolaney - A Local History (Trim, 1985) (Book out of print, an electronic version is available.)

The Aftermath of Revolution: Sligo 1921-23. (UCD Press, Dublin, 2000) CHAPTERS

1. 1914 - IRELAND ON THE BRINK OF HOME RULE

2. VOLUNTEERS: JANUARY - JULY, 1914.

3. WAR, VOLUNTEERS AND HOME RULE. AUGUST 1914 - FEBRUARY 1915.

4. RECRUITING. FEB 1915 - MARCH 1916 .

5. THE EMERGENCE OF SINN FEIN, 1916.

6. SINN FÉIN ORGANISES. JANUARY 1917 - JANUARY 1918.

7. SINN FEIN AND THE LAND QUESTION.

8. UNITED AGAINST CONSCRIPTION.

9. THE VOTERS DECIDE: SEPT 1918 - JAN 1919.

10. THE DRIFT TOWARDS VIOLENCE: 1919.

11. RAIDS, ARRESTS AND BOYCOTTS: 1920.

12. LOCAL GOVERNMENT: JAN. 1920 - MARCH 1921

13. REPUBLICAN LAW AND ORDER: JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 1920.

14. EARLY IRA ACTIONS: JUNE - SEPT 1920.

15. AMBUSHES AND REPRISALS: AUG - NOV 1920.

16. THE CROWN FORCES FIGHT BACK: OCT 1920 - JAN 1921.

17. MOVE AND COUNTER MOVE: JAN - JUNE 1921.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ILLUSTRATIONS

North Sligo MP Thomas Scanlan speaking at a Home Rule rally at Sligo Town Hall. Parliamentary Constituencies 1914 Sligo Ancient Order of Hibernians & United Irish League branches 1914 John Jinks, Mayor of Sligo County Sligo RIC Barracks and Districts Seán Ó Ruadháin Fr Michael O’Flanagan, curate at Cliffony, 1914-1915 Sligo Town Hall Advertisement for initial Sligo Volunteer meeting 1914 Irish Volunteers at Keash, Garland Sunday 1914 Major Bryan Cooper Bat Keaney, Ballymote, in Volunteer Uniform Fr P J O’Grady, PP Keash. Patrick Dyar James Gormley, RIC, a native of Ballintogher, killed in 1916. Group on the occasion of the granting of the freedom of Sligo to Countess Markievicz. Darrell Figgis addressing a meeting in County Sligo, July 1917 Henry Monson Most Rev. Dr. Coyne, Bishop of Elphin. John Hennigan Letter from Michael Collins to Jim Keaveney October 10 th 1918 Pádhraic Ó Domhnalláin “ “ To the Unionist Electors” from The Sligo Independent, November 30 th 1918 Owen Tansy Sinn Féin election notice from The Sligo Champion, December 14 th 1918 Alec McCabe, TD for South Sligo & J J Clancy, TD for North Sligo Martin Savage Templehouse Mansion Thomas H Fitzpatrick, Mayor of Sligo 1920 Pledge signed by Dudley M. Hanley for local elections 1920 Letter from the IRA to North Sligo Sinn Féin asking them to nominate Seamus Devins to the Sligo County Council. June 1920. The Sligo County Council minute recording the motion of allegiance to Dáil Éireann Sligo Jail Frank Carty Sligo creameries destroyed by Crown forces. Sergeant Patrick Perry, RIC The remains of Cliffony Hall bearing the inscription painted on by the Crown forces. Linda Kearns: Joseph McDevitt Sligo-men who were imprisoned in Dartmoor. County Sligo: Showing places mentioned in text 1919/21 Extracts from the October 1920 report of the Sligo County Inspector RIC, Thomas Neylon Michael Nevin Liam “Billy” Pilkington A group of IRA from the south Sligo area Tom O’Donnell and Eamon de Valera at Rockwell College, County Tipperary Frank O’Beirne Martin Brennan Michael J Marren 1. 1914 - IRELAND ON THE BRINK OF HOME RULE

In 1914 it appeared that Ireland was on the brink of greatness. In the previous decades momentous changes had taken place, which had greatly altered the lives of the people. Land purchase had to some extent solved the age-old land problem and the great landlords of County Sligo, the Wood-Martins, Gore-Booths, Coopers and O'Haras had now sold off much of their estates to the occupiers who were no longer tenants but owners of the land. The same great landlords had also lost their political power as a result of the new system of local government introduced in 1898 and the new County Council had taken over. Changes in the franchise meant that the two Sligo parliamentary seats were no longer fought over by the Ascendancy families of County Sligo but by nationalists. With the land and local government in the hands of the people it only remained for the Irish Party at Westminster under the leadership of John Redmond to have a Home Rule Bill passed. Such a bill had been introduced in 1913 and it seemed that it would become law sometime in 1914.

(i) "All the outgoing officers were unanimously re-elected".

County Sligo had been divided in 1885 into two parliamentary constituencies, North Sligo and South Sligo. Both were held by Home Rulers since 1874. In 1891 the sitting member for North Sligo, Peter MacDonald, died and a by-election resulted. There were two Nationalist candidates, local man Bernard Collery an anti-Parnellite, and Dubliner, Valentine Dillon, a pro- Parnellite. After a bitter hard fought campaign the anti-Parnellite won, 3261 votes against 2493. Unionists contested both Sligo seats in the General Elections of 1892 and 1895 being badly beaten in both. A Parnellite also stood for North Sligo in 1895 but fared badly. From then on the Irish Party, dedicated to the achieving of Home Rule, reigned supreme in Sligo and there were to be no more contested Parliamentary elections in the county until 1918.

There were two important political organisations in County Sligo in 1914 - the United Irish League (UIL) and the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH). Both were nationalist and were allied with the Irish Parliamentary Party. The UIL had been founded at Westport, County Mayo in January 1898 as a radical agrarian organisation in response to the depressed state of the West of Ireland. Among its policies was the redistribution of large estates among small farmers and it spread very quickly, first in the West of Ireland and then through the rest of the country. By December 1898 there were twelve branches in County Sligo, by the following March there were thirty four. Among the prime movers behind the UIL in County Sligo were north Leitrim man and Sligo Champion owner, P. A. McHugh and Bunninadden man John O'Dowd. Born in 1857 at Goldfield, , O'Dowd spent some years in the United States in his youth. When he returned in 1876 he joined the Fenians. He also took part in the Land League agitation and was imprisoned in Sligo and Dundalk in 1882.

By 1900 O'Dowd was chairman of Sligo County Council and President of the South Sligo executive of the UIL. When a vacancy arose in the North Sligo constituency in January 1900 because of the retirement of Bernard Collery, a UIL convention chose John O'Dowd as the candidate and he became MP unopposed. At the general election later the same year O'Dowd was elected unopposed for the South Sligo constituency, William McKillop being elected, also unopposed, for North Sligo. At the 1906 election McKillop was replaced by P. A. McHugh who was unopposed as was O'Dowd in South Sligo.

North Sligo MP Thomas Scanlan speaking at a Home Rule rally at Sligo Town Hall.

When McHugh died in 1909 the Parliamentary Party proposed solicitor Thomas Scanlan, a native of the area, who had been living in Glasgow for some time, as the candidate. He was supported by the majority of the UIL branches in County Sligo but there was some significant opposition to having an outsider imposed on the county. Pat Flynne, a native of Sooey and a member of the County Council, also sought the nomination and was supported by, among others, the well known Sligo politician, John Jinks. Flynne and his supporters refused to attend the convention and Scanlan was unanimously selected. Flynne then threatened to oppose him at the election but a letter from party leader John Redmond asking him not to do so had the desired effect and Scanlan was returned unopposed.

In the two General Elections of 1910 the Sligo members were returned unopposed. They continued to represent the county and never actually faced an electoral contest for the parliamentary seat until 1918. This was not unusual. In the general election of December 1910 for instance, only 41 of the 101 Irish constituencies were contested.

The Irish Parliamentary Party had been split since the fall of Charles Stewart Parnell and the rise of the UIL alarmed the various factions of the Party. This led to the unification of the party in 1900 and of its taking over the UIL under the leadership of John Redmond. From this time on the UIL acted as the constituency organisation for the Irish Party. The number of branches in County Sligo peaked at forty five in September 1902 and remained remarkably constant from then until 1914. The branches were organised under two executives depending on whether they belonged to North or South Sligo parliamentary constituency. Membership of the UIL was essential for anyone seeking office and it generally supported Party policy. The Sligo Champion carried a weekly column of reports from the county UIL branches detailing their concerns. These were often agrarian and local, often national and concerned with supporting their Party and leader. Numerous motions of confidence in both were recorded week after week.

Branches of the UIL active in County Sligo in 1914 included: Ballinacarrow, Ballinafad, Ballintogher, Ballintrillick, Ballisodare & Corhownagh, Ballymote, Ballyrush, Bunninadden, Calry, Castleconnor, Cliffony, Cloonacool & Tubbercurry, Cloonloo, Collooney, Conway's Cross, Curry, Drumcliff, Easkey, Geevagh, Grange, Highwood, Keash, Kilcreevin, Killoran, Knocknarea, Maugherow, Mullinabreena, Riverstown, Skreen & Dromard, Sooey, St. John's, Teeling (near Collooney), Templeboy, and Toulestrane, a total of thirty four. In many cases local clergy were involved, usually as president of the branch. Rev. Michael Doyle, P.P. was president of Ballisodare & Corhownagh, Rev. P. J. O'Grady, P.P. was president of Keash branch, Canon B. Quinn in Ballymote, Rev. B. Currid, Adm, Drumcliff, Rev. George Coyle P.P. in Geevagh among others. Local politicians, District Councillors or County Councillors were often among the officers of the branches.

Another organisation which had begun to rival the UIL in popularity by 1914 was the Ancient Order of Hibernians. This organisation, over four hundred years old, had been