Ambush in Fermoy
– the Wesleyan Raid
Introduction from Chronology
Attack by the IRA on British Army soldiers on route to church in
Fermoy, Co. Cork – one BA soldier (Private William Jones) is
killed.
More Detail
O’Donnoghue says that the attack was carried out by
Fermoy Battalion of Cork No. 2 Brigade of the IRA led by Larry Condon and Liam
Lynch (who was O/C of the Cork No. 2 Brigade).
According to O’Donoghue, the
attack was on 15 BA soldiers with one BA soldier (Pte.
William Jones of Kent Light Infantry regiment) killed, three wounded and
fifteen rifles captured (O’Donnoghue (1986), pg 50). Townshend differs slightly in the details. He says it was an attack on 18 BA soldiers of the
Shropshire Light Infantry, that 13 rifles were captured and four soldiers
injured. (Townshend 1975, pg 30). However, in a later book, Townshend says that it was the East Kent Regiment, that
there were 15 soldiers and one soldier got killed (Townshend (2014), pg 105). O’Halpin and Ó Corráin
say that Jones was in the BA’s King’s (Shropshire Light Infantry)
regiment.
There were about thirty men in
the IRA attacking party but only six were armed (all with revolvers). Townshend also says that Lynch only got
GHQ approval on the basis that there would be no loss of life. Eight local men were subsequently
arrested - four of whom were involved in the ambush which shows that the RIC
had some knowledge of the local Volunteers – see Sheehan (2017), pg 73. One of
the men arrested was Michael Fitzgerald (see Aug-16-20/2).