Old IRA Dublin Brigade

[kristof]

removed

[kristof]

Regarding my above post, i was wondering if i might impose upon people to visit the "3rd Battalion, Fingal Brigade & Leixlip Flying Column" thread as i would be very interested to receive your input and feedback. 

Regarding my post above, i was wondering if anyone had any information on  any of the names of the referees or know if they left witness statements (in Australia, so I can't easily check that myself)?

[Gary Deering]

All the withness statement refs are online, & rumour has it it the pension stuff will be online soon

[kristof]

All the withness statement refs are online, & rumour has it it the pension stuff will be online soon

Really?  Would you have a link to them?

[Karyn P]

how did you get the information as i would like to get it for my great uncle thomas bryan who was hung in 1921 in mountjoy

[corisande]

As has been said only the index of WS is available at the moment. In other words just a list of the men who actually made Witness Statements

Click for index

Obviously not everyone made a WS, so if your man did not, then you will not get it. The statements were made a considerable time after the events, so a man who died in 1920s would not have made one. However if you know who his companions were, then look at their statement and see if there is a mention

[Gary Deering]

Kristof thats the link you need,If who your searching for did not make a statement ,they might be mentioned by other people who served in the same battalion or company as the person your researching.

Karyn your out of luck withThomas Bryan as he would not have made a pension application, your only hope is if he is mentioned in a withness statement made by someone else.

[kristof]

Thanks for that list, invaluable.

I was wondering if I might be able to impose upon the goodness of the forum and see if there is anyone who already has these witness statements or would be able to access them for me?  Being in Australia makes accessing research materials a little hard sometimes.  The ones I’m interested in would be:

Names that are mentioned on Francis Brennan’s pension application:
WS1446 - Thomas Markey, Commandant Fingal Frigade;
WS511 - Michael Lynch, OC Fingal Brigade;
WS1398 - Michael Rock, Commandant, IRA, Fingal;

Names connected with 1921 attempt to tunnel into Mountjoy:
WS1052 - Sean MacEntee, Senior Officer IV and IRA
WS1535 - Hugh Early, Commandant IRA
WS1754 - Mrs Tom Barry
WS1153/WS1154 - Sean O’Neill, Lieutenant, Dublin IRA

Names connected to Fingal Brigade:
WS503 - James Cahill;
WS1438 - Christopher Moran; member Fingal Brigade;
WS147 - Bernard McAllister, Captain, Officer IV and IRA, Fingal Brigade;
WS1494 - Michael McAllister, member IV and IRA, Fingal Brigade;
WS1399 - Thomas Peppard, Intelligence Officer, Fingal Brigade
WS1436 - Walter Brown, Officer, IRA, Fingal;
WS148/WS1395 - James Crenegan, member IV Fingal; Battalion Adjutant, Fingal;
WS1043 - Joseph Lawless, Member IV Fingal, Officer IRA Dublin;
 
I know, this is a huge list and a pretty big ask but I’d be particularly happy to get a copy of the top three as they were Francis’ commanding officers.  In fact Thomas Markey was a Finglas man as well, from a big dairy family; they both lived on the North Road, Finglas.

[Ms. Smokestoomuch]

Hi Kristof
Glad to see you survived the flood.
I came across the raid on the Aerodrome before when I was looking up Dick McKee. It was one of the activities that I could find that McKee was actually involved in rather than just organising.
He was living in Finglas too though he became next in line to Collins.
It was a successful raid, 75 Rifles, Bayonets, 6,000 rounds and not a shot fired during it.
McKee also attended the Coleman Funeral. It was a military style funeral and they had to escape through the back gate of Glasnevin cemetery.