Custom House Burning - Part 1 / John Wilson

[Private 1st class]

Hi, Frank Saurin, Liam Tobin, Frank Thornton were in the Custom House, at what part can not remember. Oscar Traynor last known position at the time of the whistle blasts was in the main hall. Mick Lane was on the 2ND floor landing. Edward Lane was on the first floor and in the first room of the building facing Liberty Hall and Brooks Tom Ennis was making his way back up the stairs and moving along the front of the building towards the liberty hall side. Mick lane came down into the hall and was forced back up the stairs at the point of Oscars gun. utter panic in that hall at that time . lots of shouting roaring etc  Guns being waved about. shots were being fired from the building and at the building. Vinny Byrne was on the Store St side with another Squad man. He may have been on the first floor. I have a photo of the committee on the day of the unveiling. not to clear it was taken from the railing in the street. Distance was to great. Looking at what can be done to repair photos its possible that it could be sharpened up.

[dublinbook1916]

Hi Joseph & welcome ! I was going to Email you about this but this is as good a place as any to ask, does the name Dan Hannon ring a bell ? Johnny Wilson was a friend of his & Married into the family.I know Dan Fought in the War of Independence & the Civil War I am just wondering if you ever came across his name in your research !

Sorry, Gary, my quick look didn't find that name.

I'll keep looking though

[Gary Deering]

Thanks Joseph,By any chance do any of you have Joe Leonards withness Statement ? Joseph told me via email  a few months ago that it mentions J Wilson.If not whats the story with the National Archive is it back open & can i just walk in off the street & ask for it & have a read?

[seanod]

Hi folks. A very warm welcome to Mr Connell. Dublin in Rebellion is a great book. A real mine of information. I'll try and listen to the broadcast. Thanks for the added details there, Private First Class. And I'm still planning a trip to Dublin this month, so I wouldn't mind finding out about the Archives. I'll email them or check the website. I'm sure I have a few questions. I'll sort them out and then post them. 

[margnip2]

Hi all, have not posted on here for a while.  But I have been following all the new threads.

I have looked through my grandads pension application again and he wrote that he was attached to Intelligence belonging to E Co II Battalion.  Does anyone know what that means.  He also said he was released from Kilmainham on 8th Dec 1921.

Also he took part in the attack on the L N W Rly Hotel.  Can anyone throw some light on this for me, and is this the place in the photo.  I did mention this in another thread and because of the answer I got I found these a web site.  It was on the North Wall Quay.

[seanod]

Hi Margnip, Welcome back. As I mentioned before, my father's uncle was in E company of the Second Battalion as well. Each company had an intelligence officer who would collect information, rumours, possible sightings of people or possibilities for missions and then pass relevant information on to a Battalion intelligence man who would be in touch with Collins's intelligence people. So I presume he must have been the IO for that company. E Company Second Battalion was involved in the attack on Bloody Sunday when Mahon and two Auxiliaries were killed at Mount Street. It is described in T Ryle Dwyer's Book on Collins and the Squad. I have read something about the hotel attack but I can't remember where - I think the brother of someone who was killed in the Custom House was shot at that attack. I'll find out and post it. 

[dublinbook1916]

Thanks Joseph,By any chance do any of you have Joe Leonards withness Statement ? Joseph told me via email  a few months ago that it mentions J Wilson.If not whats the story with the National Archive is it back open & can i just walk in off the street & ask for it & have a read?

Hi Gary

I do have Joe Leonard's Witness Statement, Number 547.  I just quickly checked and it does speak to the Burning of the Custom House, though I do not believe it mentions Johnny Wilson.  Have to check my notes further.

The Witness Statements are available in the National Archives in Bishop Street as well as at the Military Archives in Cathal Brugha Barrracks.  One needs a "Reader's Ticket" but that is easily enough completed on your first visit.  The "Reader's Ticket" at the National Library requires a passport photo.

[Gary Deering]

Hi Joseph,
                  To be honest I think the link might be Bloody Sunday ?,as the only time Johnny is mentioned anywhere is as part of the Squad, also Johnny stayed live long friends with Bill Stapleton.

[seanod]

Hi all, have not posted on here for a while.  But I have been following all the new threads.

I have looked through my grandads pension application again and he wrote that he was attached to Intelligence belonging to E Co II Battalion.  Does anyone know what that means.  He also said he was released from Kilmainham on 8th Dec 1921.

Also he took part in the attack on the L N W Rly Hotel.  Can anyone throw some light on this for me, and is this the place in the photo.  I did mention this in another thread and because of the answer I got I found these a web site.  It was on the North Wall Quay.

The attack took place on the 11th of April 1921. The Hotel is variously given in different sources as the Railway Hotel, the Holyhead Hotel or Hughes's, but seems to be the same place. A man called Peter David Freyne, an NCO of E Company Second Battalion was killed in the attack. He was 18. His brother Frankie Freyne was captured at the Custom House.