Mary O’Dwyer fought alongside many people during the War of Independence and Civil War, including Dan Breen. The people with whom she was involved in the Newtown ambush were seriously committed fighters. The commandant was Tommy Donovan, who had ordered her to spy on the RIC patrol and who was shot dead in Killenaule only a few months later by the notorious Lt. Litchfield. Others included Michael Burke, who was arrested after the ambush and imprisoned in Cork, where he took part in the famous hunger strike of 1920, and Seán Hayes, who was with Liam Lynch when he was killed in the Knockmealdown Mountains towards the end of the Civil War. These friendships and connections show that the young Mary O’Dwyer was held in high regard by important people in Tipperary’s fight for independence.
1671 Irishman Col. Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London. Having switched sides during the English Civil War, during which he gained a reputation for intrigue and espionage, Blood lost most of his lands with the Restoration and thereafter conducted a terror campaign against the Stuart establishment. None of his operations were remotely successful. A conspiracy to take Dublin Castle and stage a coup d’état was easily foiled, forcing him to flee to the Continent with a bounty of £1,000 on his head. A year later he reappeared in a kidnap attempt on the duke of Ormond in London, which was also unsuccessful, as was an attempt to assassinate the king as he was taking a dip in the Thames. The theft of the royal regalia was similarly botched. Pursued by the guards, with the crown, globe and sceptre stuffed under their clothing, he and his accomplices were promptly arrested. Yet in terms of outcome the botched robbery was his one big success. Refusing to speak to anyone except the king himself, he admitted to all of his conspiracies and warned the king that he had many friends who would ‘expose his majesty … to the daily fear and expectation of a massacre’. On the other hand, were he free to use his experience in the spying profession as a secret agent for the royal administration, he could prevent such attacks. And his arrogance prevailed. Charles was won over and accepted his offer. Blood lived in comfort on a generous royal allowance for another decade. Whether his services were of any use is not known.