Henry BURKE, b1895, British Army, later IRA

[corisande]

Where does Keogh believe he was in 1960

Keogh does not say, but his notes go through what he thought were the whereabouts of all 56 men from the Irish Brigade in 1960 (when the notes were made)

He says either when the man died if before 1960, whether he was still alive (as with Harry Burke) or whether he did not know if the man were alive or dead.

Keogh is not always 100% accurate, but he did keep up with most of the men from the Irish Brigade (Keogh himself is of course now dead too) On balance I would say that Harry Burke was alive in 1960 and was in contact with Keogh.

When do you think Harry was in an English jail. I cannot find anything in the Times about a trial.

[corisande]

Another snippet on Burke the tailor :-

1919 Mar. Rahilly (another of the Irish Brigade) found Burke at his Foreign Office chief's house in Berlin. Burke did not stay long as he had joined the republican army, and was on duty that night. Rahilly never did find out why Burke was there, nor did he ever see Burke again.

The reference to the republican army is the German Republican army. It is virtually impossible to get that sort of German Army record in that early post WW1 year

[schneider]

henry burke born 08/12/1894 to William M Burke and Mary Burke nee Conroy 56 Cook Street.On RFD POW list Egypt appears beside Burkes name does this mean that he was part of 1st batallion at Gallipoli also any idea when keogh made statement saying Burke still in prison.

[corisande]

This link tells you about the Egypt volunteers

By the autumn of 1915 the Germans had all but abandoned any plans they might have had for a military invasion of Ireland. Casement and Monteith were instructed to "consider striking a blow at England... by joining the army for the invasion of Egypt and helping to free another small nation". When Casement and Monteith put this idea to the 56 members of the Irish Brigade on 3 Dec 1915, only 38 were willing to go along with the idea (their figures).

Nobody ever went to Egypt to fight, it turned out to be an academic exercise.

Sorry I do not have a date for that comment on being in prison, its from Keogh's notes. I have never been able to find out about why he was in prison, and have assumed (probably wrongly) that it was to to with the pre WW2 IRA bombing campaign

Another thought for you, schneider, have you tried to get Burkes Irish army records?

[schneider]

I didnt realize that there would be any irish army records.Do you mean in relation to 1920-21 ?Would there be such a thing also do you think a visit to kew would be of value ?

[corisande]

Perhaps Shane or one of the others that knows about Irish Army records can answer that for you

Keogh's notes actually say "Active in Old IRA after WW1 1920 - 1921 in IRA intelligence service"

(Kew will not be of any use - you can search their catalogue online, but unless you can get a trial there would be nothing else)

[shanew147]

I've no first hand experiance with Irish Army research - but from  www.military.ie

 Military Archives
and
 Collections

Since it doesn't seem that Henry was actually in the Irish Army the pre-independence collections would appear to be most relevant. ( Bureau of Military History Collection, 1913-1921 and the Collins collection 1919-1922)
 


Shane

[schneider]

Guidance much appreciated, will be followed and reported.Thank you both.

[schneider]

Reading Kehoes witness statement and he has Harry Burke" still in America October 1952".Im wondering has anybody viewed wo 141/36 Special Series Ref: Trial of Members of the German Irish Brigade.I read that it includes Dowlings trial but does it include any other ?