Rineen Ambush
Introduction from Chronology
An RIC tender is ambushed at Rineen, Co
Clare (between Ennistymon and Milton Malbay) by the 4th Battalion, Mid-Clare Brigade,
IRA. The ambush leads to the deaths of six members of the RIC.
Earlier Resident Magistrate Alan Cain Lendrum
was shot by the IRA at Doonbeg, Co. Clare.
More Detail
All the RIC men in the tender were killed. The RIC men killed were one
Sergeant (Michael Hynes) and five constables: Reginald Hardman, Michael Harte,
John Hodnett, Michael Kelly and John Maguire. Except for Hardman (who was from London
and had less than three months’ service in the RIC), the others killed
were Irish born.
It was claimed that Constable Harte, who got out of the lorry when
wounded in the opening salvo and tried to crawl towards the nearby shore, was
discovered by the IRA and shot when unarmed.
The ambush was carried out by men from the 4th Battalion,
Mid-Clare brigade led by Ignatius O'Neill (Battalion O/C and ex-soldier with
the Irish Guards, British Army). [Hopkinson says that they were led Sean
Liddy but this is unlikely as he was O/C of West-Clare brigade and the ambush
took place in the area of the 4th Battalion of the Mid-Clare
Brigade.]
The RIC tender had passed through the ambush site in the morning but was
let through as it was wrongly thought that there were three tenders in the
patrol. The ambush took place when
the tender made it return journey from Miltown Malby. The IRA
retrieved six rifles, six revolvers and 3000 rounds of ammunition and burnt the
tender.
There were approximately sixty men in the ambushing party but only nine
had rifles. Among the men who took part were Seamus Hennessy, Peter
Vaughan, Dan (Dave?) Kennelly, Steve Gallagher, Michael O'Dwyer,
Michael Curtin, Pat (Pake) Lehane,
Sean Burke, Lehane, Dan Lehane,
Donal Lehane, Patrick (Patso)
Kerin, Anthony Malone, John Joe Neylon,
Owen Nestor, Tom Burke, Alphonsus O’Neill, Ned Lynch, Michael
O’Keefe, Pat Frawley, Pat McGough, Dave Kennelly, John Crawford and Ned
Hynes. Thomas Moroney was in charge of the scouts, one of whom was
John Clune (who cycled into Milltown-Malbay to check
when the tender would return).
After the attack on the tender, the IRA had not fully withdrawn when the
British military, consisting of about 150 soldiers, arrived on the scene (they
were on their way to the site of the capture of RM Lendrum
– see below). The IRA withdrew and a running pursuit followed which
continued for some time. A small
number of the IRA riflemen provided cover for their escaping comrades. There were no deaths in the IRA or Crown
Forces during this withdrawal/pursuit but O'Neill and Curtin were wounded
(neither seriously).
Earlier, Resident Magistrate Captain Alan Lendrum
had been shot at a level crossing at Caherfeenick
near Doonbeg, also in Co. Clare - about 11 miles from
Rineen on the other side of Miltown
Malbay. The shooting was carried out by men
from the Doonbeg Company of the West Clare including,
William Shanahan, James Neylon, James Griffin,
Patrick Boland and James McGrath.
Hopkinson says "It is unclear whether he died at once, but his body
was secretly buried in the sands nearby". Hopkinson quotes Father Patrick Gaynor,
a local Sinn Féin priest as commenting
that "the incident was not to our credit". Ó Ruairc says that it was the intention to commandeer Lendrum’s car but he was shot when he drew his
revolver. He also says that
Shanahan thought that Lendrum was dead and
“took him to a lake, tied a weight to him, and threw him in the water,
where the unconscious captain died of drowning”.
Abbott says that Lendrum “had been
buried to his neck in sand on nearby beach by his attackers. On their return,
they supposedly found that they had buried their victim above the high tide
line, so they then buried him below it and as a result he drowned”. Shanahan adds “Later accounts
added the gruesome detail that the victim was deliberately faced towards the
advancing tide, so that he might witness his own impending fate”.
The story of Lendrum being buried alive
– and subsequently drowned by the incoming tide - was widely circulated (see
Shanahan (2010)). However, it would seem that this story was totally made up by
British propagandists. On October 5th, 1920, a Military Court of Inquiry was
held in Kilrush (in lieu of an inquest) and the death
certificate of this Inquiry stated that the cause of death was “murder by
shooting by persons unknown”.
See Sep-26-20/4.
There is disagreement as to the date - Hopkinson, O'Malley, Abbott, O’Halpin & Ó Corráin and Ó Ruairc say September 22nd while Townshend
and O'Farrell say the 20th. To confuse matters Lynch gives
both the 20th and the 22nd.