Jeremiah O'CALLAGHAN shot Mallow 27 Aug 1922

[corisande]

I am researching Casement's Irish Brigade, and am in contact with one of the descendants of Jeremiah Callaghan who was a member of the Irish Brigade.

I am trying to uncover more information about his death, which has puzzled his great-grand-daughter

1. Jeremiah O'Callaghan was born in Mallow, 13 Nov 1892

2. Is in the 1911 census as living at 8 Bridewell Lane, Mallow. With his family

3. He joined the Royal Irish Regiment, Private 10844. I have the MIC

4. He was captured early in the war, went to Limburg Camp, and was recruited by Casement

5. He joined the Freikorps after the war. He married Katherina Seuffert in Nuremburg in 1919, and they had a son Andreas born in Nuremburg in Jan 1920

6. He returned to Ireland and an early death on 27 Aug 1922. This is the story his family have, which asks more questions than it answers

A newspaper report states he was accidentally shot in the head by a solider of the Free State Army who was cleaning his rifle. However the family have documents from the Irish Ministry of Defence that states his wife Katherina was paid his wages up to the day he died, as he was a private in the free state army, and also £50 compensation, for the 'accident' which caused his death
They report he was out after curfew,and was arrested and taken to the Mallow barracks, which is where he was killed.
Jeremiah may have been been singing rebel songs while drunk and thinking of changing sides. But I cannot substantiate this.

So can anyone add to this, perhaps from local Mallow newspapers or books.

[corisande]

I am a bit woolly on how the withdrawal of British troops took place.

As I understand it 60,000 British troops were gradually withdrawn between January 1922 and Dec 1922

These were difficult times in Mallow and I am trying to find out about the withdrawal from Mallow barracks in 1922

18 August 1922 Free State forces capture Mallow, the last major town in Republican hands.

20 August 1922. General Michael Collins visited Mallow, which was under the command of Tom Flood, and he died in an ambush a few days later on 22 August

27 August 1922. Jeremiah O'Callaghan shot in Mallow

Does this mean that the British had left Mallow by 18 Aug, and that there were no British troops in Mallow Barracks, or were there British troops still occupying the barracks, while the town was in Irish Free State hands

[Martincreagh]

During the civil war there was great bitterness on both sides, the death of Michael Collins on the 22nd Aug was a key event. Feelings were undoubtably running high, paronia and summary executions were likely

Immmediately following this incident key personnel of the Dublin squad were sent to Cork/Kerry and the rate of summary executions increased.

Wikpedia states:
The use of execution by the Irish Free State in the civil war was relatively harsh compared to the British record.
In contrast with 77 official executions by the Irish Free State government, the British had allegedly officially executed 24 IRA volunteers and the IRA had condemned to death a few dozen enemies during the 1919-21 War of Independence.[1] One of the reasons for the draconian Free State policy from October 1922 was the death of Michael Collins, the commander of Free State forces in an ambush on 22 August. Collins had hoped for a speedy reconciliation of the warring Irish nationalist factions, demanding that Republicans must 'accept the People's Verdict' but then could 'go home without their arms... We want to avoid any possible unnecessary destruction and loss of life. We do not want to mitigate their weakness by resolute action beyond what is required'.[2]

After his death, however, the Free State government, led by W. T. Cosgrave, Richard Mulcahy and Kevin O'Higgins, took the position that the anti-Treaty IRA were conducting an unlawful rebellion against the legitimate Irish government and should be treated as criminals rather than as combatants. O'Higgins in particular voiced the opinion that the use of martial law was the only way to bring the war to an end.[3]

Another factor contributing to the executions policy was the escalating level of violence. In the first two months of the Civil War (July–August 1922), Free State forces had successfully taken all the territory held by Republicans and the war seemed all but over. However, after the Anti-Treaty side resorted to guerrilla tactics in August–September, National Army casualties mounted and they even lost control over some of the territory taken in the Irish Free State offensive. The town of Kenmare, for example, was re-taken by Anti-Treaty fighters on 9 September and held by them until early December.

[corisande]

Martin

Thanks for the input.

I am, of course, aware of the generality of violence, and the general reasons for it.

What I am trying to get at here is the particular violence in Mallow in the last two weeks of August 1922 It has proved impossible to get anything on the taking of the town on 18 Aug by the Free State Army, or Collins visit on 20th. Let alone any shooting like that of Jeremiah O'callaghan on 28th Aug.

I am hoping that a reader here might have a detailed local Mallow history with that sort of information in

[mefein]

Cork Examiner Tuesday August 29, 1922
"Mallow Tragedy"
"Man Fatally Shot"
" While a young soldier of the detachment of National troops at present doing duty in Mallow was examining his rifle in a room at the Police Barracks on Sunday, the weapon accidentally went off, a young man named Jeremiah O'Callaghan from the town who happened to be in the room at the time being mortally wounded. The remains were subsequently taken to the mortuary chapel of the Parish Church".
I searched in later editions for further accounts without success.

[corisande]

Thank you very much for that cutting

It shows why the family (not mine) are uneasy about what happened. As far as I have been told, the shooting occurred at 4.15 am, which seems like an odd time to be cleaning your rifle!