The O’Keeffes of Glenough by Robert O’Keeffe Nora O’Keeffe was born in Glenough, Rossmore Co. Tipperary in 1885, and was one of 12 children. The family were steeped in the nationalist tradition and her father, Dan, was a Nationalist Justice of Peace and a respected nationalist figure locally. There are uncorroborated stories of involvement in the Fenian outbreak of 1867 (Fr Denis Matthew O’Keeffe’s history). Nora emigrated to the US in 1909 and worked as a typist/stenographer. She appears to have returned to Ireland in 1918/9 along with her brother Patrick. During her time in the US she appears to have met Margaret Skinnider with whom it is thought she had a life long same sex relationship. (McAuliffe) She became active with Cumann na mBan and was among those listed in Bureau of Military History statements as having dispersed the gelignite from the Sologheadbeg ambush across the Brigade area. The younger members of the family seem to have immersed themselves in the national struggle at this time. This was probably due in no small part to the presence in the locality of staunch Republicans such as Fr Matt Ryan of Knockavilla, Eamonn O’Duibhir of Ballagh and the Irish teacher, Padraig Breathnach. The house at Glenough was used as a safe house and also played host to brigade meetings. The “Big Four” of Robinson, Breen, Treacy and Hogan were regular visitors as was Ernie O’Malley. O’Malley mentions the family in his autobiography “On another man’s wound” and also in his book “Raids and Rallies”. The “Big Four were staying at O’Keeffe’s on the night when Sean Hogan was captured and the initial plans for the rescue at Knocklong were laid in the kitchen of the O’Keeffe home. At some point in 1919/20 Nora appears to have moved to Dublin and was working as private secretary to the Labour leader Thomas Johnson (Desmond Ryan’s “Sean Treacy”). She remained involved with Cumann na mBan and appears to have been involved at a national level. Dr Mary McAuliffe in her biography of Margaret Skinnider quotes a British military report from 1921, which references her as “one of the most notorious dispatch riders for the IRA in Ireland. This ‘girl’ is said to carry dispatches between Dublin, Kerry, Tipp and Waterford”. The report was given in the aftermath of the sinking of a ship on which Nora was travelling. Her travelling companion was drowned in the wreck. The ship was coming from Glasgow and it is likely that they were smuggling arms. (Mary McAuliffes “Margaret Skinnider”) Following the death of Sean Treacy on Talbot St, it was Nora who travelled to George V hospital and claimed the body. Treacy was a distant cousin of the O’Keeffes through the Allis family and had always maintained a close friendship with the family. Nora is quoted in Desmond Ryan’s biography of Treacy as saying that the British treated Treacy’ s remains with the utmost respect. Nora was on the executive of Cumann na mBan with women like Sighle Humphries and Marie Comerford through the 1920s and was mentioned in intelligence reports from the early 1930s as being a potential dangerous dissident. (Dissident women- Ann Matthews) After the outbreak of the Civil War, Brighid O’Mullane, who ran a publicity office for the IRA and Cumann na mBan, appointed Nora O’Keeffe as publicity agent for Tipperary. Nora also became Director of Publicity for the 3rd Tipperary Brigade and, with Seán Fitzpatrick, edited a newspaper called Chun an Lae from Divisional Headquarters in a dugout at Meagher’s of Blackcastle. The first leading article was written by Seamus Robinson. Seán Fitzpatrick later commented that “the conditions under which this bulletin was published would not be tolerated by any self-respecting printer”. The paper was printed on a Platen press which had been stolen from the Clonmel Nationalist earlier in the year, and it ran from December 1922 until February 1923. After this, Nora was captured by Free State forces and interned in Cork and Kilmainham Jails (Claire Guerin, UCC, Herstory project) . Nora worked in the civil service from around 1939 until her retirement. Please see below, a cartoon I found in a book of Countess Marckievicz sketches which depicts Nora and either her sister Bridget or her sister Helena (most likely Helena) being arrested and assaulted by the Free State army. Bridget, Nora’s sister was born in 1899 and was also involved in Cumann na mBan. Sean Hogan had accompanied Bridget to a dance at her cousins Meagher’s of Annfield when he was captured. As Dan Breen rather coyly put it “Sean was greatly in love with Bridget O’Keeffe of Glenough at the time”. I suspect it may have been one of the other emotions more closely related to love but at this remove who can tell! She married a man named O’Dwyer who I believe was either an aide de camp to De Valera or an election agent for him. Bridget’s pension application was recently released as part of the Military History pensions series and should be searched for as Bridget O’Dwyer, Dublin. In it she details her activities in the war of independence and tells of how, even in the aftermath of the destruction of the house, up to thirty IRA men would be fed and housed at Glenough. (https://www.militaryarchives.ie/en/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions- collection-1916-1923/search-the-collection) A third sister Helena had spent time in Paris as a governess and, on returning to Ireland, taught in Glenough school. When she got married and became Helena O’Brien, she and her husband lived in Kilshenane down the road from Eamon O’Duibhir’s farm which served as the IRB headquarters. Their own house also served as a safe house and O’Duibhir and Seamus Robinson often stayed there. Helena spent time in Kilmainham prison with Nora during the Civil war. Of the O’Keeffe brothers, four were active to varying degrees. Patrick, who had returned from the States was arrested in 1918 for giving his name in Irish to a policeman, serving a month in Limerick prison. Patrick was later arrested and deported back to the States for seditious activities. He was held in solitary confinement in a Liverpool prison for four months before being shipped to New York. His brother Joseph was active locally. He later married Nora Walsh of Boola, Cappoquin who had been active in 1916. Nora’s pension application paints a depressing picture of the economic hardships which they both underwent as a result of their national activities. Incidentally, Nora’s application also references her sister in law Nora as being active in the area, recruiting and re- organising Cumann na mBan. Two older brothers had emigrated and Denis had fought for the American army in France during WW1, while his brother William had fought in Gallipoli for the Anzacs. An uncle was an abbot in Mount Mellary during this period. Con O’Keeffe was very active in the Rossmore (D) Company of the third battalion, Third Tipperary brigade and served in the Active Service Unit. He is named in quite a few of the Military bureau statements as being involved in various actions, including several ambushes and gun battles. He also helped to hide and distribute some of the gelignite from Sologheadbeg. He and his brother Dan also raided Molloy’s yard in Thurles for gelignite in 1917 in the company of James Leahy the North Tipp commander. He was arrested in 1923 and interned for a period of time. Brigade activity reports from the battalion adjutant, compiled in the 1930s and listing major actions and their participants show the scale and involvement of Dan and Con. They were present at a number of barracks attacks, ambushes and arms raids. My grandfather, Dan O’Keeffe, was one of the volunteers who lay in wait at Sologheadbeg in the days preceding the ambush. He was later involved in digging up the gelignite from Carew’s farm and transporting it to a new safer spot in Carhue. He served as the battalion intelligence officer for a while. He was a member of Dinny Lacey’s flying column and was involved in the ambush at Thomastown where three members of the Northhamptonshire regiment were killed. During this ambush, he and another member of the flying column were pinned down under fire by the British soldiers. The rest of the column were on the other side of the road and shifted position to concentrate fire and allow them to escape. Dan was later involved in the Active Service Unit in the Rossmore/ Hollyford area. He was on the run during this time and stayed in various parts of the family farm, safe houses in Doon, the hills around Hollyford and on one occasion, was sent to Fethard for a few weeks with other volunteers. On March 9th 1921, Dan was captured by the military at Kingsbridge station and brought to Dublin Castle. Todd Andrews in his book “Dublin made me” writes of a “genial giant of a Tipperary man named Dan O’Keeffe” being put into his cell. They became good friends and were moved from Dublin Castle to Arbour Hill and from there to the Rath camp. Incidentally, when Andrews was captured in the Knockmealdown Mountains during the Civil War, he claimed to be an “O’Keeffe, Glenough”. The officer arresting him replied that, “not with that accent you’re not”. On release Dan re-joined the battalion and was one of a small number of Tipperary men requested by Cathal Brugha to serve in the garrison at O’Connell Street.