Clonmult

Clonmult Massacre

Introduction from Chronology

At Clonmult, Co Cork (five miles north of Middleton) the twenty-one men of the ASU of the 4th Battalion Column of the Cork No. 1 Brigade IRA (4th Battalion covers Middleton, Cobh and Youghal) get surrounded in an abandoned farmhouse by a combined force of British Army soldiers (from the Hampshire and Dorsetshire Regiments) and the RIC - 12 IRA men are killed and eight captured. Two of those captured were subsequently executed. Some of the IRA men were killed after surrender.

Introduction from Chronology

More Detail

The Men Killed

The twelve IRA men killed were Richard Hegarty (Garryroe); Jeremiah Aherne (Midleton), Christopher [O’]Sullivan (Midleton); Joseph Morrissey (Athlone); Michael Hallahan or Hallinan (Midleton); James Glavin (Cobh); John Joe Joyce (Midleton); James Ahern (Cobh); Michael Desmond (Midleton); Dónal Dennehy (Midleton); Liam Aherne (Midleton); David Desmond (Midleton).

The ‘False Surrender’

Hart says that the British claimed that there was a false surrender by the IRA and some policemen were shot as they went to accept the false surrender and that "twelve men were dead and four wounded before army officers got the enraged policemen under control. The Irish survivors testified convincingly that that … They surrendered in good faith and were gunned down as they emerged or else stood against a wall and executed" (Hart (1998), pg 98). O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say that a number of IRA sources claim that the Volunteers were killed in cold blood and they go on to say that “the Hampshire Regimental Journal and WO 35/89, perhaps mimicking IRA dissimulation about Kilmichael …, claimed that there had been a false surrender” (O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 307). O’Neill claims that that seven men were killed after surrender and these killings were carried out by Auxiliaries. He says that they “were lined up alongside the wall of a haggard with their hands up. Immediately, the Auxiliaries set upon them.” (O’Neill (2006), pg 38). He goes on to say that the killings were stopped by a BA officer – “The arrival of the [British] Army officer ended the killing spree.” (O’Neill (2006), pg 38). O’Neill names the seven men killed after surrender as Liam Aherne, Jeremiah Aherne, Dennehy, Desmond, Galvin, Morrissey and O'Sullivan.

Only one IRA Volunteer, Jack O’Connell, escaped.

The Crown Forces had no fatalities but two were wounded (one RIC man and one BA soldier) during this ambush. Hart says that “both sides suffered losses” (Hart (1998), pg 98). If by “losses”, Hart meant Crown Force deaths in this encounter then this was incorrect.

The Court Martials

Eight IRA Volunteers were captured. Fit prisoners were tried by court martial between the 8^th and 10^th March. Two of those captured (Maurice Moore and Patrick O'Sullivan) are executed in Cork on April 28^th. The death sentences on five others (John Harty, William Garde, Edmund Terry, Robert Walsh and Jeremiah O’Leary) were later commuted. Patrick Higgins was wounded but, when he recovered, he was also court martialed and sentenced to death. The Truce saved him.

Intelligence

Hopkinson says that the column was betrayed but Hart says that the Intelligence Officer of the Hampshire Regiment tracked them down. The IRA believed that they were betrayed and they kill six people as informers (including Michael O'Keefe and David Walsh – see May-01-21/8 and May-14-21/16 respectively) in the Midleton area in the period after Clonmult.

Tom O’Neill has written a detailed account what happened in his book The Battle of Clonmult – The IRA’s Worst Defeat. He says that “It is an indisputable fact the British Army patrol that travelled to Clonmult on the 20^th of February, 1921, was acting on information received from an informer … The informer was hidden onboard [one of the BA tenders]” (O’Neill (2006), pg 67).

O’Neill gives the IRA report on the capture and execution of an ex-BA soldier, David Walsh for being the person who informed the Crown Forces on the IRA men in Clonmult – (O’Neill (2006), pgs 67-68) – see May-14-21/16. It is clear from this report that Walsh’s confession was extracted from him under duress and false pretences. It was therefore totally unreliable. Also, David Walsh’s brother (Andrew) claimed that David was mentally unbalanced as a result of his war injuries. It is also possible that Walsh was in hospital at the time of the Clonmult massacre. O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say that IRA scapegoated Walsh “even though he was plainly unstable and probably an innocent man” (O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2000), pg 419

Aftermath

Lieutenant Henry Hammond received an OBE for his actions during this encounter. Private C. G. Vautier was also decorated.

O’Halpin and Ó Corráin note that this encounter “decimated the ASU, and demoralised the 4th Battalion thereafter” (O’Halpin and Ó Corráin (2020), pg 307).

Memorial to the IRA men shot at Clonmult on the site of where the abandoned farmhouse stood.

Memorial to the IRA men shot at Clonmult in the graveyard of the local Catholic church.

Tom O’Neill has published a detailed account of this ambush in his book The Battle of Clonmult – The IRA’s Worst Defeat. He says that the column was betrayed (by an ex-soldier) and that the killings after surrender were carried out by Auxiliaries before being stopped by an officer of the Royal Hampshire Regiment.

Back