Old IRA Dublin Brigade

[Private 1st class]

Hi I looked after the basement part of 51 Parnell Sq, I was also in the HQ Branch of O N E That was there at the time, 1962, I was there till 1973.I would be in and out of the place at other times with my father. I met a lot of these men and I seen a lot of them. In 1966 I was drinking with them in the bar of 51 Parnell sq, Spent a lot of time talking to Martin Walton, He would be there most Friday nights. with Brian his wolf hound. I loved to hear the tales of his times and other men that were there.I worked with some of them in Beggars Bush Barracks. Peter Nolan, Frank Flanagan, Frank Stynes are ones that come to mind at the moment. The same in 196 Pearse St, Great times, They had a wonderful three quarters size  billiard table in Pearse St. When the college took back the houses in Pearse St they had to move, They went to 51 Parnell Sq, Along with the other tenants, Red Cross Branch, ON E branch, The Wine club I had that table for years. So most of what I know I learned from the people themselves. As a child  O Traynor would hold me on his lap and feed me all kinds of nice sweets. Much to the horror of my mother. They were starting up branches of Fianna Fail in the Santry and Whitehall area.They called one of the branches  after Colley and Cole. It was still there in the 70s I believe. Some of these things I wrote down on sheets of paper. Others are burnt into my mind, Often I will read some thing and it will trigger things that i had forgotten. There may be books out there or notes and the like. This stuff can be with third generation people who ofter do not know what they have It lies in boxes and the like. It often then gets put into a skip.For years I listened to Rose Fitzpatrick Josephine Lyons Marsella Crimmins, Maggi Jordan and a host of others saying why does no one write a book or pamphlet about us and the Dromcondra Branch of the Cumman naBan. When I was old enough I said one time to them That you will have to write this yourselves as no one else is interested. I have been looking for years for information on this group. I have a few little items on them. They were a great bunch of women, Lots of them would be on holidays in Lay town. Have a few photos of them. They seemed to meet up there every year. As a child then you had to be seen and not heard, We were always earwigging. So keep looking its out there but as time goes on it gets less and less.

[Private 1st class]

Hi Thanks Capel St Man. With time and the mind. these little mistakes you make like tans and augs. The picture gets distorted over time. I found that out many years ago. The National Museum sent out a number of pages asking basic questions of the men. The amount that they had forgotten was un real. Stuff that you would think I would never forget that. They had. Another thing I found They often mixed two or three events into one. So by saying what someone else said was often enough to bring them back on track, Some uncommon names in the list of Q. might trigger someones mind, Keep looking and never give up.

[capel street man]

Private 1st class, thank you for your memories and input on "Q" Company, I am very interested in the subject, my family worked in the docks and my grandfather and most of his brothers were active members of "E" Company 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade.
I am also interested in what you posted about Sean McMahon's father, that he was one of the strikers in McCormacks Coal Yard, Sir John Rogersons Quay, Dublin in 1890.

Let me explain, my great grandfather, Patrick Duffy worked on the quays as a coalman and the family story is that he was involved in efforts to organise a port workers union in the 1890,s, he allegedly " Pushed a policeman into the docks " during the attempted strike and had to leave Dublin and went to Australia for a few years until it was safe for him to return, when he returned he helped in the establishment of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in January 1907.

I have never been able to confirm or find out any more about the events, or how badly hurt the policeman was, for him to leave his wife and  young family, he was smuggled out by his fellow dockers and sailors .
If you have any more information on the strike, it would be most appreciated.
CSM

[Private 1st class]

Hi Capel St Man, My Grand father James McDowell was what they call a"Button man"Dont know the full meaning of that, He traveled on the Lady Wicklow for most of his time and was responsible for the cattle. If they got hurt in the crossing I was told that his job was to put them down. He had six daughters no sons. He died in the street of a heart attack and taken to Jervis St Hospital. That was 1935 His brothers worked for a company called Wallaces, They supplied Large horses for shunting down on the point and pulling the large mail carts from the docks to the sorting office, They later became C I E. aS THERE WAS NO MALE MEMBER IN THE FAMILY TO FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS. We no longer had a connection with the dock area. They lived in Summerhill paradeThe strike in 1890

[Private 1st class]

A lot of people think the labour movement started with Larkin and Connolly, But there were men working in the back ground some twenty years before, James joined the union at 12 mid night. At 8pm he was given the sack. Someone seen him going into the union offices and reported him to the bosses. He was caretaking Wallaces at that time. The girls and his wife were out on the street. My aunts told me that the fellow that reported him got his job. Some six months later a horse kicked him to death in a stall, They played with the horses and groomed them even when sick. They never  turned on the girls at any stage. My aunt Josie told me that she had heard that he often hit the animals. Might have done it once to often, The times were so different then. Putting him into the water. He might not have been able to swim and came close to drowning. He may have been a leader and would be singled out for harsh treatment. My father was enrolled in the Fianna by his mother. Oscar Traynor enticed him away to F Company and A company of the second battalion. Oscar lived next door to my dad at that time. He came back from the U S A. 1935. He joined the Transport and General Workers Union. He would later become Hon Chairman of number 5 branch,I'll watch out for stuff and will post it up if I get anything, Take care, Private 1St Class

[capel street man]

Thanks Private 1st class, you started a sentence about the strike in 1890 but that's all that has come through on the post, check it out and re - send it, I appreciate you looking into the strike for me.
My grandfathers brother, Benny, born 1888, worked on the docks as a Stevedore, then he was head of transport, which was the horse drawn carriages, he later became a manager in the B.&I. he probably would have known your grandfather.
Good luck
CSM

[Private 1st class]

Hi yes I do not know what happened there. I was typing away and and the page jumped and went on to the board. I do not think I left out anything, I more or less started again. Company's where not big it is possible that if they did not talk to one another they would have know one another to see. As manager he would have to know who was on each ship. My father traveled on the Lady Wicklow to take part on the sea landing in Tralee. I think that is the only time the Irish Army has done that.

[capel street man]

Hello Private 1st class and JohnMB, the following is from a book by Piaras Beaslai, "Michael Collins and the Making of a New Ireland",volume 1

I must now refer to Collins work in connection with foreign communications and the smuggling of men and arms into Ireland - a very important branch of his activities. This work was carried on chiefly through Liverpool.

As far back as 1908, when Collins , as a youth of 18, visited Liverpool with a London - Irish hurling team to play in a match, he made the acquaintance, at a meeting of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in that city of Neil Kerr......

Neil Kerr had succeeded in collecting a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition in Liverpool, which he subsequently succeeded in shipping to Dublin......Kerr,who was at this time in the employ of the Cunard Steamship Co., had already got sailors working for him on ships sailing between Dublin and Liverpool.....

Neil Kerr had an active and able assistant in Steve Lanigan, who held an important position in the Liverpool Custom House.... he was an old member of the I.R.B., and from the inception of Kerr's work for Collins, he acted as his Lieutenant, making frequent trips to Dublin to see Collins.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of the many mariners who carried on the dangerous and difficult work of communications between Ireland and England, the importation of arms, and the secret conveyance of men in and out of Ireland, was Ned Kavanagh.

Other seamen on the cross - Channel boats ....... were Paddy MacCarthy, Willie Verner, Paddy Wafer, Maurice Byrne and Henry Shortt, Tommy O,Connor, Dick O,Neill, the last two carried dispatches across the Atlantic.

There were many other helpers in Liverpool and on the boats in the work of communications, but while I would like to put the names of all these brave and zealous workers on record, the time has hardly yet come when it would be expedient to do so.

CSM

[cruisedub]

Does anyone have any information about "B" company ,  first battalion , South Dublin Brigade . Also seeking information about James "jimmy " O"Connor . Unfortunately I have no Information about which unit he was attached to but I can tell you he owned a barber shop that was located oppisite the Garda station in Donnybrook . Any help would be appreciated .