The Capture of
Mallow BA Barracks
Introduction from Chronology
IRA men from the Cork No. 2 Brigade, led by Liam Lynch and Ernie
O'Malley, capture the only BA barracks to be captured during the War of
Independence at Mallow, Co Cork.
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Detail
There were
about 15 British Army soldiers in the barracks (most had gone to exercise their
horses on the outside of town) - there were about 20 IRA men in the attacking
party with others covering the RIC barracks from the Town Hall.
Sergeant
William Gibbs of 17th (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Lancers was killed during
attack. A number of BA soldiers were taken prisoner but subsequently
released. The IRA captured a substantial amount of material - Lynch says
27 rifles, 2 Hotchkiss light machine guns, boxes of ammunition, and other
military material taken. Others who took part in the raid included Mallow
Battalion IRA Volunteers Richard Willis and John Bolster (who were working in
the barracks) and Patrick MacCarthy
(QM of Newmarket Battalion).
In retaliation
the Crown Forces sack the town, burning many buildings including both the large
Cleeve creamery and the Town Hall.
Many residents leave their homes and sleep outdoor. One young mother, Hannah
O’Connell, who spent the night in the grounds of the St Mary’s
Catholic Church with her infant daughter, contracted an illness from which she
died on October 15th.
Another woman, Mary Quirke, who was a widow and mother of fourteen
children, also never recovered after spending the night in the grounds of St
Mary’s Church. She dies on
November 8th.
According to
O'Donoghue, the BA soldiers carrying out the reprisals were under the command
of officers and Hopkinson says that "ironically" it was the
Auxiliaries who moved in to quell the violence by the British Army.