To renew a subscription please login first

Tom Barry and the Kilmichael ambush

Published in 20th-century / Contemporary History, Issue 1 (Jan/Feb 2006), Letters, Letters, Volume 14

Sir,

—Seamus Fox (HI 13.6, Nov./Dec. 2005) bases his letter on ‘theaftermath of the ambush’ and the killing of ‘unarmed Auxiliaryprisoners’. Owing to the editor’s note closing the debate, I’mrestricted in responding. Since a late amendment to my article (HI13.5, Sept./Oct. 2005) did not make it to the printing stage, theeditor, in recognition of this omission, has allowed me clarify thisadjustment, as it has a bearing on Fox’s interpretation.
In the paragraph dealing with Peter Hart’s use of anonymousinformants’ material (top of p. 18) I wrote: ‘I quote directly by namethe evidence of Volunteers in the same section who fought besideVolunteers shot after the false surrender and final ceasefire’. Thisshould have read ‘after ceasefire and false surrender’, because aftercalling surrender followed by (first) ceasefire the Auxiliariesreactivated the fight, thus falsifying their surrender call. Withoutany guarantee as to the outcome, Barry took up the challenge. Thereforeit was a fight to final ceasefire, and consequently there were noprisoners.
Contemporary British supporters—Crozier (Auxiliary O/C) and Curtis(adviser to Lloyd George)—acknowledged the false surrender, as didKilmichael section commander Stephen O’Neill and Jack Hennessy insection 2 (Bureau of Military History). So also did contemporarywriters—Beaslai, O’Malley and MacCann. Therefore Fox’s interpretationof ‘Auxiliary prisoners’ (all armed with revolvers and rifles) beingkilled in ‘the aftermath of the ambush’ is not valid. Logically, inthat ambush climate Fox’s interpretation of Barry’s quotation (TomBarry: IRA freedom fighter (pb edn), p. 76) is misinterpreted, as thefalse surrender nullified the possibility of the taking of prisoners.
MEDA RYAN

On this Day

April 25

1922 Commandant O’Neill, 3rd Cork Brigade IRA, was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area over the following four days.
1920 RIC Sergeant Cornelius Crean, brother of the explorer Tom Crean, was killed by the IRA in an ambush near Upton, Co. Cork.
1870 Daniel Maclise (64), history and portrait painter who worked for most of his life in London, died.
1719 The life and strange adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was published.
1819 Vere Foster, philanthropist and educationist, born in Copenhagen, where his Irish-born father was British minister.
1987 Lord Justice Gibson and his wife were killed by an IRA bomb as they crossed the border south of Newry, Co. Down.
1917 Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer, born in Newport News, Virginia.
1922 Commandant O’Neill of the third Cork Brigade IRA was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area between 26 and 29 April.
1915 During the First World War, Allied troops landed on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula. The disastrous Gallipoli campaign, ending in January 1916, cost 46,000 Allied lives, including over 2,295 Irishmen.

Tom Barry and the Kilmichael ambush

Personal Histories

On this Day

April 25