IRISH NATIONAL BOY SCOUTS

| Eamon Murphy

Band of 20,000 Formed to Combat English Influence – Daily Mirror 1912

carview.php?tsp=

Boy scouts will evidently take an important part in the Nationalist onslaught on loyal Ulster. They are not, of course, the trim, tidy and neatly-uniformed boy scouts as we know them in England, but a special band of boy scouts who are being taught to hate England and everything English-even the English language-and to fight for the independence of Ireland.

Recruiting for the ranks of the Nationalist Boy Scouts is now being carried on systematically in various parts of Ireland, circulars having been distributed broadcast calling upon the boys of Ireland to join the organisation. The circular runs:

NA FIANNA EIREANN

Irish National Boy Scouts

This organisation has come into being for the purpose of training Irish boys to work for the independence of Ireland and to combat the Anglocising influence of the Baden-Powell Scouts in this country. Our programme includes drill, physical culture, scouting, camping out, first aids, Irish history and Irish language. Hurling, cycling and other healthy amusements are encouraged.

THREEFOLD PLEDGE

Then follow the names of places where the boys can join the anti-English organisation.

Before being accepted as a member every boy must sign the following amazing declaration :-

I promise to work for the independence of Ireland, never to join England’s armed forces, and to obey my superior officers.

In the same connection I read the following attack on England in a Nationalist paper. It is headed ” A Word with Boys and Girls,” and runs:

It is heartening to see that many of the boys and girls of our unconquered land still treasure the hope and the dream of one day seeing the power of England levelled to the dust and Ireland a free nation, separate and distinct from every other nation on the earth.

Every young recruit secured for the ranks of Na Fianna Eireann, every page of Ireland’s history taught, every word added to your knowledge of Ireland’s language, every turn and twist of English cunning and deceit frustrated is a setback to England and a step towards freedom’s dawn for our motherland.

20,000 BOYS ENROLLED

This Irish National Boy Scout movement has, I am informed, met with astonishing success, especially in Dublin and the south of Ireland, and one Nationalist with whom I talked on the subject solemnly declared that 20,000 boys and even many girls had been enrolled. I have had no opportunity of verifying these figures, but assuming that they are accurate they emphasise the grave menace to the nation of any scheme of Home Rule for Ireland.

Credit: Daily Mirror newspaper, 10th January 1912

Eamon Martin and the Rathdown Board of Guardians 1916 Resolution

| Eamon Murphy
carview.php?tsp=

At Rathdown Board of Guardians on Wednesday 23rd June 1920, with Mr. James Hoey presiding, Mr. Eamon Martin referred to a resolution standing on the books since 1916 expressing regret at the death of a member of the board, Mr. John Murphy, Delgany.

The resolution he referred to was as follows:

“Proposed by Thos. Clarke, seconded by Dr. Usher: That we have learned with profound regret of the death of our esteemed colleague, Mr. John Murphy, Delgany, who lost his life in Henry Street, Dublin, when leaving his business premises there during the recent deplorable disturbances, and that we take this opportunity of tendering our sympathy to the bereaved widow. – May 6th, 1916.”

Mr. Martin referred to the circumstances under which Mr. Murphy was shot by the English soldiers as he was leaving his shop in Henry Street, and he proposed that the words “deplorable disturbances” be deleted from the resolution and that the board substitute it with the words “revolt against British tyranny in this country.”

The chairman seconded Mr. Martin’s resolution, which was passed unanimously.

Capture of Na Fianna training camp at Rosbrien, Co. Limerick  

| Eamon Murphy
carview.php?tsp=
I.R.A. and Fianna Éireann prisoners in Spike Island Jail, 1921.
Front Row: G. Corr (2nd from left), T. Dargan (3rd from left), M. O’Hehir (4th from left)
Second Row: P. O’Donnell (7th from left)

Capture of Na Fianna training camp at Rosbrien  by Thomas Toomey

At 4 o’clock on Sunday 22 May, a training camp, at Rosbrien, for the most active members of the Fianna in the Limerick city area was raided and resulted in the arrest of the ten young men and their instructor.

A party of RIC and Black and Tans, acting on information received and dressed in civilian clothes, surrounded a wood at Rosbrien. John Kane* an active member of the IRA in the city was instructing the Fianna members in how to disassemble and use a rifle. Thomas Dargan, who was then 16 years of age, was late for the training lecture and when he arrived with his friend Gus Gabbett, he was surprised to see his comrades sitting on the ground with a number of strange men in attendance. His surprise was even greater when he was told to put his hands up as he was under arrest. The party of Fianna and their instructor, John Kane, who had only recently been released from prison, were made march the couple of miles from Rosbrien to the R.I.C. Headquarters at William Street, where they were put on an identity parade.

On the following day Dargan stated they were brought in for individual interrogation and each of them was given a severe beating in the course of the interrogation. The raiding party, of R.I.C. and Black and Tans, was under the command of Sergeant Horan and Kane was made to march to William Street RIC Barracks with the rifle on his shoulder while Horan hovered in close attendance.

The men captured at Rosbrien were:

Thomas Dargan, 15 Rutland Street,

Gus Gabbett, 81 High Road Thomondgate,

Patrick O’Donnell, Mungret,

Gerard Corr, 9 Mount St Vincent’s Cottages Rosbrien,

Frank Cooney, 8 Mount St Vincent Cottages,

Patrick Tuthill, 2 Little Wesley Place,

Michael Hehir, Mount Prospect Lodge,

William Burke, of Coogan Place,

Thomas Kearns, 33 Bowman Street,

John. J. Kane, for whom no address was proffered.

The ten men were tried by courtmartial on Thursday 26 May and each was found guilty. Each of the Fianna members was sentenced to 3 years penal servitude, while John Kane was sentenced to 10 years.

* John/Sean Kane (or Keane) had been jailed for possession of seditious documents in November 1920. He continued his involvement with the Republican movement for decades. He was jailed in the 1940s and he was still active in the movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Above extract from the The War of Independence in Limerick 1912-1921 by Thomas Toomey

In Pat Dargan’s excellent article, The Fianna Eireann and the War of Independence – A Personal Experience in The Irish Sword (Vol. XXV, No. 99, 2006), he deals with the above events and draws on his father Thomas Dargan’s Bureau of Military History Witness Statement (WS 1404). Dargan laments on the many setbacks the Fianna experienced in 1921, including the burning of the Fianna Hall in Barrington Street, and the above capture of Senior Fianna Officers. Dargan lists twelve Fianna arrests, with P. O’Driscoll and Patrick Tubridy also included.

Dargan goes on to say that the convicted Fianna members were transferred from Limerick Gaol to Spike Island in Cork Harbour to serve out their sentences. He states that “the group seems to have managed to stay together, as can be seen from a photograph taken by the prison doctor in July 1921 (above). This photograph shows the Spike Island republican prisoners with the prison chaplain and includes Corr, Dargan, O’Donnell, and O’Hehir. Later in the year, the group was transferred to Kilkenny Jail and subsequently, in December of the same year, they were returned to Limerick Jail. There they remained until their release in February 1922, on the coming into effect of the Anglo-Irish Treaty”.

Dargan claimed that the “loss of these members deprived the Battalion of some of its leading officers and thereafter very little military activity seems to have been undertaken”.

Further reading: Limerick’s Fighting Story, The Kerryman, 1948 & Na Fianna Éireann: A case study of republican youth in County Limerick, 1911-1923 by Darragh McColgan, 2021.

Fianna Eireann Scouts Arrested at Rathfarnham, 30th March 1919

| Eamon Murphy
carview.php?tsp=

In the Dublin Police Court on Tuesday (1st April 1919), before Mr. Drury, KC., Hugh MacNeill (19), Seville Place; John Markey (19), Queen Street; Patrick Ryan (18), High Street; and John Murray (19), Wood quay, were charged with having engaged in drilling evolutions on Sunday last near Rathfarnham, contrary to regulations made under the Defence of the Realm Act.

District-Inspector O’Hara, R.I.C., Dundrum, handed in the necessary authority to proceed with the prosecution in a civil court He stated that thirteen other men who had been arrested with these had been discharged by order of the military authorities These four were the seniors of the lot.

Sergeant McTighe and Constable Killean R.I.C. gave evidence that they found 20 young persons engaged in drilling in the “Narrows,” which is a laneway in that part of the county.

The sergeant called upon them to halt, and ordered them to go back, which they at first refused to do. They, however, made towards the Dundrum end of the lane, where they met other members of the police force. Here they broke across the fields, but still kept in touch with each other.

The police (some on bicycles) pursued them for a mile and a half, and ultimately seventeen of them were captured by the constables and a small party of soldiers on the Hermitage Road.

carview.php?tsp=

When they were searched at the Rathfarnham Police Station documents were found in the possession of some of then in which the destruction of bridges, railway stations, police barracks, and “doubtful persons” was laid down. There was also a list of “doubtful persons”.

Another document contained a protest of ‘D’ Company, 1st Battalion (and a number of names) against the appointment of P McSweeny as Captain and called for the appointment of Aodh [Hugh/Hugo] MacNeill.

carview.php?tsp=
Aodh MacNeill
Credit: Layfayette Photograph at National Library of Ireland

In reply to the magistrate, who asked if the accused had anything to say, MacNeill said that the Court was a British institution set up in opposition to Dail Eireann, and they, as members of the Fianna ignored it.

Their only law, he said, was that of the Dail, and they owed allegiance to no other Government. By the fortunes of war, they had fallen into the hands of the enemy, but they were not going to ask for mercy, as the police advised them to do.

They knew that for every officer or man of the Republican Army that was put into jail by the British Army today there would be twelve others willing to take their places and go on, and important work would not suffer because they were on the casualty list.

The other three young men repeated that they did not “recognise the Court” or anything connected with it.

Mr. Drury – I suppose that last observation is to include myself. You are well-conducted young men. I sentence each of you to six months’ imprisonment.

carview.php?tsp=
General Register of Prisoners, Mountjoy Prison 1919
carview.php?tsp=
Listed offence in General Register of Prisoners, Mountjoy Prison. Hard to read but from what I can make out it states “Acted in contravention of Regs  (1) E of the Defence of The Realm Regulations by taking part in a certain exercise for drill of a military nature.“

Sources: Newspaper report transcribed from The Weekly Freeman, 5 April, 1919 & Daily Mirror, 2 April, 1919

Joseph Coughlan (1907-1921)

| Eamon Murphy
carview.php?tsp=
OSI map of the Sunfort/Liscarroll area.

Fianna Éireann Scout Joseph Coughlan (aged 14) of Sunfort near Liscarroll (Sunfort Hill)

Date of incident: 30 April/1 May 1921

Coughlan, aged 14, was shot and mortally wounded at Sunfort Hill (just north of Liscarroll) by soldiers of the East Lancashire Regiment while he was acting as a guide for an IRA advance party, whose members ran away when challenged by the troops. Sunfort Hill was only about 200 yards from Coughlan’s residence. One report claimed that he had failed to obey a military order to halt and had been shot for that reason. The earliest newspaper reports misidentified the dead youth as Joseph Cotter.

Patrick O’Brien, Vice O/C of the Charleville Battalion, later reported that ‘on May Eve a trench was being opened about a mile from the village of Liscarroll, and some of the [IRA] parties on their way home after completing the work were intercepted by a military patrol which killed a young lad . . . only about 14 years of age’.

carview.php?tsp=
Death Certificate of Joseph Coughlan

Coughlan was the grandson of Mary and John Dennehy of Sunfort and lived with them; John Dennehy was an agricultural labourer.

Sources:

Dr Andy Bielenberg, UCC, and Professor Emeritus James S. Donnelly, Jr, UW-Madison at the Cork Fatality Register, 1919-23

https://www.ucc.ie/en/theirishrevolution/collections/cork-fatality-register/register-index/1921-206/

Death Certificate; 

CE, 3 May 1921; 

CWN, 7 May 1921;

Military Inquests, WO 35/148/34 (TNA);

Patrick O’Brien’s WS 764, 41-42 (BMH);

‘The Irish Rebellion in the 6th Division Area’, Irish Sword, 27 (Spring 2010), 14

Na Fianna Éireann in Cork city and the fight for Irish Independence (1910-1921) by Colmán de Róiste

| Eamon Murphy
carview.php?tsp=

NEW BOOK PUBLISHED!!

Na Fianna Éireann in Cork city and the fight for Irish Independence (1910-1921) by Colmán de Róiste

“This book offers a thoroughly researched and detailed account into the formation and development of Na Fianna Éireann in Cork city during a turbulent but fascinating period of Irish history.

Through access to the recently discovered personal notes and correspondence of his Grandfather Denis Woods, a former Fianna Company Commander in Cork city, the author Colmán de Róiste presents a unique insight into the membership and activities of this important military support organisation for the Cork IRA throughout the bloody fight for Irish Independence.“

Available now on amazon and https://orlakellypublishing.com/

In Memory of Madame Markievicz – 9th July 1967

| Eamon Murphy
carview.php?tsp=

One of the most remarkable women of her generation, was how the President, Mr. de Valera, described Countess Markievicz, when he unveiled a plaque to her memory at Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital, Dublin, where she died.

The President, who spoke in Irish and English, recalled visiting the Countess in the hospital after she had undergone an operation. Though obviously in pain, he said, she was still the grand person she had always been.

Seeing her in pain and in a public ward, Mr. de Valera said he thought she might not have been as comfortable as she could have been and suggested to her that she might like to go to some other part of the hospital, where she would be more comfortable. “She was angry with me for making the suggestion” said Mr. de Valera. She seemed to think that he was suggesting that what was good enough for the ordinary people was not good enough for her.

That attitude on the part of the Countess, did not surprise him, said the President. It was not the first time that she had put aside wealth, ease and situation, as she had done in the service of the workers who badly needed help. She was not merely willing to help them but wanted to be identified with them.

Those of their own generation said Mr. de Valera, would certainly not pass the memorial without thinking of her. The younger generation, on passing by, might be induced to learn of what she and other Irishwomen of her generation did for the cause of Irish freedom and in helping the poor.

carview.php?tsp=


The plaque, which was provided by the Fianna memorial committee, is inscribed in Irish and English as follows:

“In memory of Countess Markievicz, Gore-Booth, Sligo: President of Fianna Eireann.
A valiant woman who devoted her life to the cause of the Irish people, and who died in this hospital on 15th July, 1927.”


Welcoming Mr. de Valera, Mr. Eamon Martin, founder-member of Fianna Eireann, Dublin Brigade Commandant of the Fianna in 1916, and Fianna Chief of Staff, 1917-1921, said that they, “the comrades of Countess Markievicz, were proud of the fact that, under her inspiration, they were the pioneer army of their own resurgent times”.

When Madame became ill and sensed, as he believed she did, that she was nearing her death, “she had chosen to come to a public ward in the hospital so as to be amongst the people for whom she had so long laboured”.

Because they had been aware of the President’s recent illness, said Mr. Martin, their committee had been reluctant to impose any great strain upon him. They would have been more than content had he agreed to perform the simple unveiling of the plaque, but Mr. de Valera had insisted that he could not allow the particular occasion to pass without paying his spoken tribute to Madame.

On arrival at the hospital, the President was greeted by Mr. Eamon Martin, Mr. Paddy Campbell, president, Cumann Naisiunta na Sean Fianna; Mr. Eugene Kelly, chairman, Fianna Memorial Committee; and Professor W. J. E. Jessop, representing the hospital’s board of governors.

The Presidential Salute was played by St. Brigid’s Band, Blanchardstown. After the unveiling ceremony, the Last Post and Reveille were sounded, and the National Anthem was played.

The members of the Fianna Memorial Committee who arranged the erection of the plaque are:

  • Mr. Eugene Kelly, chairman,
  • Eamon Martin,
  • Liam Timmins,
  • Joe Valentine,
  • Frank Sherwin,
  • Jim Carroll,
  • Christy Keogh (secretary),
  • Patrick Campbell,
  • James O’Byrne,
  • Martin Humpton,
  • Michael Kelly,
  • Edward Kelly.

The colour party at the ceremony consisted of Mr. Christopher Doyle, Mr. A. McDonnell, Mr. Christopher O’Reilly and Mr. James O’Byrne.

The Secretary of the Department of Labour, Mr. Tadhg O’Carroll, attended the ceremony (the Countess was the first Minister of Labour).

The attendance included Ald. Sean Moore, T.D.; Mr. David Andrews, T.D.; Cllr. Gerry Dunne, Mr. Paddy Brennan and Mr. T. Watkins, South Dublin Brigade, I.R.A; Col. E. C. Hicks, secretary, Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital; Miss Katherine Brennan, matron, Mr. W. G. Fegan, representing the hospital medical staff; Mr. Cathal O’Shannon, Mrs. Nora Connolly-O’Brien, and Father Tom Walshe, O.P., chaplain, Dublin Brigade, Old I.R.A.

carview.php?tsp=


Earlier yesterday units of Cumann Naisiunta na Sean Fianna from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Armagh, Dundalk and Nenagh, attended a commemorative Mass for the Countess in St. Andrew’s Church, Westland Row.

The Mass was celebrated by Rev. Colman O hUallachain, O.F.M., whose father, Gearoid O hUallachain, was a close personal friend of the Countess, and succeeded Eamon Martin as Dublin Brigade Commandant of the Fianna in 1916.

The President was represented at the Mass by his Senior A.D.C., Col. Sean Brennan.

Following the Mass, members of the Fianna formed up behind the National Flag and the flag of Fianna Eireann and marched to the plaque unveiling ceremony.

Sources

Irish Press, 10th July 1967

RTE Archives https://www.rte.ie/archives/2022/0628/1307317-plaque-to-countess-markievicz/

History of Fianna Eireann https://fiannaeireannhistory.wordpress.com/2017/09/13/markievicz-plaque-at-sir-patrick-duns-hospital-dublin/

The Eamon Martin Collection

FIANNA VETERANS HONOUR FOUNDRESS

| Eamon Murphy
carview.php?tsp=

With military ceremonial the Service Certificate of Countess Markievicz, founder and Chief Scout of Fianna Eireann, was formally presented to Mr. MacBride, Minister for External Affairs, who received it on behalf of the Government at the National Museum.

Military honours were accorded by the 26th (Fianna), Battalion, F.C.A., while there was a big turn-out of members of the National Association of Old Fianna Eireann, which sponsored the ceremonies.

Mass was celebrated for deceased members of the Fianna by Rev. Father Ardiff, in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin Castle. The Battalion and the Association members then marched to the Museum, where a large crowd watched the ceremony. Lieut. H. MacNeill (F.C.A.), son of Major-Gen. H. MacNeill, G.O.C., Eastern Command, had the honour of carrying the original Fianna standard at the head of the parade.

Mr. Eamon Martin, President of the Association, making the presentation to Mr. MacBride, said that it was very appropriate that the Minister, who was one of Countess Markievicz’s boy-soldiers in the ranks of the Fianna, should accept the Certificate on behalf of the nation to which she rendered such unceasing and devoted service. This woman, he said, had “the foresight and the courage to launch a militant organisation which was to pioneer the trail for the glorious years which followed, and which witnessed the resurgence of their people“.

They could not pay a more fitting tribute to the memory of “Madame” than by renewing the pledge they took on joining the organisation which she founded. Let them resolve, once again, he said, that they would never relax in their efforts until every inch of their soil was rid of the occupation forces of an alien Government.

carview.php?tsp=

Mr. MacBride, replying, thanked the Association on behalf of the people and the Government for presenting the Certificate as a token to the memory and service of Countess Markievicz. Few people did as much to raise the flag of national freedom and of economic and social freedom as she did, and it was fitting that in these days they should have presented to the nation a reminder of the ideals of Fianna Eireann so that they might guide them in the tasks that lay ahead of the nation.

“I hope,” said Mr. MacBride, “that this token and this ceremony to-day will help to keep before our minds -the tasks which have yet to be achieved the task of securing the territorial unity of our nation which has been denied us by those who formerly occupied this country, and the task of making effective the pledge which this nation gave to guarantee equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens.”

Mr. MacBride appealed to the people to unite steadfastly in their determination not to rest until they had secured their ultimate national objective the re-unification of Ireland as the Republic of Ireland.

After the ceremony outside the Museum, the parade marched to St. Stephen’s Green, and a halt was made to observe a short silence outside the College of Surgeons, where Countess Markievicz was second in command in the 1916 Rising.

The final ceremony was outside 34 Camden St., where the first sluagh of Fianna Eireann was formed in 1909. Here a wreath was placed on the door by Mr. E. de Valera, T.D., who inspected a guard of honour of veterans of that first sluagh.

Among those present were Major Gen. MacNeill; Lieut.-Col. H. L. Murphy, Staff Officer, F.C.A., Eastern Command; Lieut.-Commander C. B. O’Connor, Naval Service; Lieut. P. Dalton, O.C. 26th (Fianna) Battalion, F.C.A.

Countess Markievicz’s service certificate is to be preserved in the Museum among the other relics of the 1916 Rising.

Credit: Irish Independent 17th April 1950