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SLIGO’S NOBLE SIX

Published in Issue 6 (November/December 2022), Letters, Volume 30

A chara,—I refer to an item in September’s ON THIS DAY in the last issue (HI 30.5, Sept./Oct. 2022) on p. 7 and referenced 20/1922. The item erroneously states that four people (it uses the term ‘Irregulars’ for Republican forces, a pejorative term coined by pro-Treaty propagandists) were summarily executed on Ben Bulben, Co. Sligo. In fact six, not four, Republicans were murdered, having either surrendered or been taken prisoner (opinions vary on this), by pro-Treaty forces under Capt. Charlie McGoohan of Mohill, Co. Leitrim. The six murdered men were:

Brigadier Seamus Devins TD
Brian MacNeill, divisional adjutant
Captain Joseph Banks
Lieutenant Paddy Carroll
Captain Harry Benson
Volunteer Thomas Langan

This Ben Bulben/Glencar incident, the events leading up to it and the funerals of the six murdered soldiers, still referred to as ‘Sligo’s Noble Six’, are well documented.—Is mise,

LIAM MAC an ULTAIGH
Co. Ros Comáin

On this Day

July 27

1920 Recruitment began, mainly from among demobilised British Army officers, into a new force—the ‘Auxiliary Division’—to augment the RIC.
1939 Michael Longley, poet, notable for ‘Gorse Fires’ (1991), ‘The Weather in Japan’ (2000) and ‘The Stairwell’ (2014), born in Belfast of English parents.
2004 Bob Tisdall (96), Olympic gold medal-winner in the 400m hurdles (Los Angeles, 1932) in a world record time of 51.7 seconds—which was not recognised under the rules at the time because he had hit a hurdle—died.
1866 The SS Great Eastern completed the laying of a transatlantic telegraph cable between Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, and Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.

SLIGO’S NOBLE SIX

Personal Histories

On this Day

July 27