LITMIR.BIZ

      First published in 2019 by

      Merrion Press

      An imprint of Irish Academic Press

      10 George’s Street

      Newbridge

      Co. Kildare

      Ireland

       www.merrionpress.ie

      © Seán Enright, 2019

      9781785372537 (Paper)

      9781785372544 (Kindle)

      9781785372551 (Epub)

      9781785372568 (PDF)

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      An entry can be found on request

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      An entry can be found on request

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Typeset in Minion Pro 11/14 pt

      Cover front: Richard Mulcahy (left) and Chief of Staff Sean Mac Mahon (right) inspecting the new national army, autumn 1922. (Courtesy of IMA)

      Cover back: National army troops fighting near Nelson’s Pillar, June 1922. (Courtesy of NLI)

      Contents

       Acknowledgements

       Key Events and Main Protagonists

       Author’s Note

       Chapter 1. Jock McPeake

       Chapter 2. A State in Chaos

       Chapter 3. The Origins of the Execution Policy

       Chapter 4. Military Courts and the First Executions

       Chapter 5. Childers

       Chapter 6. Spooner, Farrelly, Murphy and Mallin

       Chapter 7. The Creation of the Irish Free State and the Mountjoy Executions

       Chapter 8. Trial by Army Committee

       Chapter 9. The Rathbride Prisoners

       Chapter 10. The Leixlip Prisoners

       Chapter 11. Christmas and New Year

       Chapter 12. January

       Chapter 13. The Pause in the Executions: February to 13 March

       Chapter 14. The Kerry Landmine Massacres and the Resumption of Executions

       Chapter 15. April

       Chapter 16. Summer and Autumn of 1923

       Chapter 17. Postscript

       Note on Sources

       Select Bibliography

       Endnotes

       Index

Acknowledgements

      I acknowledge the patience and support of my wife Lorna. Also, the Master and Fellows of Sidney Sussex where I was a visiting scholar: the facilities and library of the College made this book possible. In particular, I acknowledge the encouragement of Professor Eugenio Biagini.

      I also acknowledge and thank Hugh Beckett of the Irish Military Archives and the kind assistance of the staff at the National Library of Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the library staff at Stamford, Middle Temple and the British Library. Also, a special thank you to Aoife Torpey at Kilmainham Gaol Museum for generous assistance with photographs.

      My thanks also to Tom and Aideen Carroll for on-the-spot help in Dublin; Tim Horgan for a tour of the cliffs overlooking the Clashmealcon caves in Kerry and help with Ballyseedy; and Stephen Kelleghan for help with Cahersiveen. Also help from Seán Hogan (Tipperary), Fr J.J. Ó Ríordáin from Kiskeam and Michael Byrne of the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society in respect of the executions of Cunningham, Kelly and Conroy. My thanks to Ian Kenneally (Athlone) in respect of Tony Lawlor and Tom Toomey from County Limerick. Pat McCarthy in Waterford for help with the executions of Fitzgerald and O’Reilly and Kieran Glennon in respect of the Drumboe executions. A special mention for John Dorney who gave assistance in respect of James O’Rourke, Grealy and Burke. To Maura O’Cronin and Dr John Cunningham from NUI Galway, Meda Ryan from west Cork and Peter Beirne of Clare County Library in respect of the Ennis executions. Also, Tommy Mahony from Kerry, Eoin Walsh in Kilkenny and Ellen D. Murphy for help generously given. A big thank you also to Amelia O’Connor, Davide Corbino, Charles Falk, Christian Jowett and Al Smith.

      I acknowledge permission to use photographs given by the Irish Military Archives, National Library of Ireland and Kilmainham Gaol Museum.

      Mistakes and omissions are my responsibility.

Key Events and Main Protagonists

      The Key Events

      July 1921. The Truce between Britain and Ireland came into effect and brought the War of Independence to an end.

      December 1921. The Treaty was signed at Westminster. The contentious parts of the Treaty allowed the creation of an Irish Free State under the sovereignty of the British monarch and permitted the Unionist majority in Ulster the opportunity of opting out of the new state.

      7 January 1922. After lengthy and bitter debate the Treaty was approved by the Dáil by a margin of 64–57. A provisional government was formed to govern until the Irish Free State could be brought into being.

      The anti-Treaty Executive took over the Four Courts and plans were made to launch an attack on units of the British Army not yet evacuated and bounce the provisional government into a resumption of the war between Britain and Ireland.

      16 June 1922. The general election in which the Treaty was the dominant issue. Fifty-eight pro-Treaty Sinn Féin candidates were returned and thirty-six anti-Treaty. Most of the other elected deputies were broadly pro-Treaty.1 In total about 78 per cent of those who voted favoured

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