February 1923
|
Feb-01 |
Lynch issues a
proclamation saying that the anti-Treaty forces would resort to reprisals if
there were further executions of prisoners. (The pro-Treaty forces had
executed 54 by this point.) |
|
|
Feb-01 |
In a memo to
Cosgrave, O’Higgins said that they should escalate their own reprisals for the
anti-Treaty burning campaign “shoot those captured with arms on the spot …
Destroy the anarchists and their sympathisers’ property in reprisals. Suspend
the Coroners’ Court, suspend disloyal corrupt bodies like Dublin Corporation
and give their members hard labour. Do
not hold general elections and keep prisoners in jail indefinitely.” Writing in the margins after O’Higgins’
memo was sent to him, Mulcahy noted that his suggestions were “not
practicable” and, with regard to the proposed destruction of the homes of
anti-Treatyites, he noted “our people have more property for the destruction
than the Irregulars”. |
Dorney (2017), pg
230 |
|
Feb-01 |
Moore Hall, the
ancestral home of Senator Colonel Maurice Moore, is burnt. |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 195; Price (2012), pg 247 |
|
Feb-02 |
An unoccupied
breakdown train is seized by anti-Treaty volunteers near Durrow station in
Co. Waterford and sent speeding towards the broken Ballyvolie viaduct. |
McCarthy (2015), pg
118 |
|
Feb-02 |
A section of Martin
Medlar’s east Kilkenny anti-Treaty column attempts to ambush a pro-Treaty
convoy at Shankill, near Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny. However, the convoy is
larger than expected and the resulting fighting leads to the death of one
anti-Treaty volunteer, Patrick Barcoe, and to the capture of five anti-Treaty
men. |
Walsh (2018), pg
225 |
|
Feb-02 |
Clermont House,
near Blackrock, Co. Louth (owned by Colonel Charles Davis Guinness) is burned
down. Ballygassen House at Annagassen,
Co. Louth (owned by John J Russell) is also destroyed. |
Hall (2019), pg 118 |
|
Feb-03 |
Anti-Treaty
volunteer, Michael McSweeney is shot dead at Shrone near Rathmore, Co. Kerry. |
Doyle (2008), pgs
258-259 |
|
Feb-05 |
Writing to Joe
McGarrity, de Valera ‘One big effort from our friends everywhere and I think
we would finally smash the Free State’. He acknowledges that ‘Deasy incident’
was a setback but that he was certain ‘all will be right again’ in some time. |
Hopkinson (1988),
pgs 231 & 235; Curran J M (1980), pgs 270-271F |
|
Feb-05 |
In an attack on
sentries guarding Portobello Barracks, two anti-Treaty volunteers (Nicholas
Murphy and George King) are killed. |
Dorney (2017), pg
228 |
|
Feb-06 |
Tom Barry and Tom
Crofts go to Dublin to meet Liam Lynch and strongly request a meeting of the
anti-Treaty Army Executive but Lynch declines to call a meeting. |
O'Donoghue (1986),
pg 294 |
|
Feb-06 |
An appeal from
anti-Treaty prisoners in Limerick jail to the O/C of the 2nd
Southern Division stated “A continuation of the present struggle is a waste
of blood … and ought to stop now.” Similar appeals were made from
anti-Treaty prisoners in Cork and Clonmel jails. |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 232; McCarthy (2015), pg 117; Horgan (2018), pgs 132-133 |
|
Feb-08 |
Major speech by
Devlin in Belfast lamenting the delay in setting up the Boundary Commission
and the paralysing effect this was having on nationalist politics in the
North. AOH subsequently sets up a ‘Provisional Council for Ulster’
under John J Nugent which organizes a series of public meetings in each of
the six counties for the 10th May. This is part of an
ongoing campaign by Devlinites to unify northern nationalists especially in
the light of Leech’s electoral division changes and the new education bill
being introduced by Lord Londonderry. Devlin still thought it was too
early for nationalist representatives to take their seats in the Northern
Ireland parliament until after the Boundary Commission. |
Phoenix (1994), pgs
276-277 |
|
Feb-08 |
Pro-Treaty
Government offers another amnesty to anti-Treatyites who surrendered with
their arms before the 18th February. Also announces
suspension of executions. |
O'Farrell P (1997),
pg xxiii; Curran J M (1980), pg 270 |
|
Feb-09 |
Pro-Treaty
government issues Liam Deasy’s letter and a similar letter from anti-Treaty
prisoners in Limerick. Liam Lynch rejects amnesty offer, Deasy's call
and the Limerick letter. He claims that anti-Treaty forces are “in a
stronger military position than at any period in its history … The war will
go on until the independence of our country is recognized by our enemies,
foreign and domestic. … Victory is within our grasp if we stand
unitedly and firmly” |
O'Farrell P (1997),
pg xxiii; Hopkinson (1988), pg 229; |
|
Feb-09 |
Anti-Treaty raid a
post office in Poleberry in Waterford City.
However, the pro-Treatyites had been forewarned and they were waiting
for them inside the post-office. Two
anti-Treaty volunteers – Thomas Walsh (23) and Michael Moloney (18) – were
killed and another, Nicholas O’Neill was wounded (but escaped). |
McCarthy (2015), pg
118 |
|
Feb-10 |
Tom Barry and Tom
Crofts (back in Cork) hold a meeting of the 1st Southern Division Council and
write to Lynch again calling for a meeting of the anti-Treaty IRA Executive -
in this they are backed by Humphrey Murphy and Sean MacSwiney. Barry
tabled a proposal from Archbishop Harty of Cashel (formulated with the help
of Fr. Duggan and Neutral IRA) that pending a General Election all
anti-Treaty arms should be dumped and that after the election the arms should
be handed over to the government. |
O'Donoghue (1986),
pg 294 |
|
Feb-10 |
Annaghskeagh House
near Mountpleasant, Co. Louth (owned by A. N. Sheridan) is burnt down. |
Hall (2019), pg 118 |
|
Feb-10 |
Anti-Treaty
volunteers accidently shoot dead Albert O’Brien from Kilfenora, Co. Clare
near Lemanagh Castle. |
Ó Ruairc (2009), pg
315 |
|
Feb-11 |
Armed men enter the
home of Thomas O’Higgins (father of Minister Kevin O’Higgins) at Woodlands,
Stradbally, Co. Laois and kill him in front of his wife and daughter. |
Doyle (2008), pg
260 |
|
Feb-12 |
Ballyconnel, Co.
Leitrim is raided in daytime by an anti-Treaty column from the nearby Arigna
mountains. |
|
|
Feb-13 |
Liam Lynch leaves
Dublin and heads south. |
O'Donoghue (1986),
pg 294 |
|
Feb-13 |
Two anti-Treaty
volunteers from Tralee (Michael Sinnot and James O’Connor) are killed in
their dug-out in Mrs Lyons’ shed at Carrahane Strand (between Tralee Bay and
Ballyheigue) in Co. Kerry. |
Macardle (1998),
pgs 14-15; Doyle (2008), pg 264 |
|
Feb-13 |
A pro-Treaty
volunteer called McGuinn from Curry, Co. Sligo is killed by pro-Treaty forces
|
Price (2012), pg
246 |
|
Feb-13 |
The London Times
states “a large portion of the [pro-Treaty army] … sympathises with the
Republican cause; that its movements have over and over again been betrayed
before they could be carried out” |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 243 |
|
Feb-14 |
The home of Senator
Sir Bryan Mahon, Mullaboden House in Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare (valued
at £60,000) is burnt by the 2nd Dublin anti-Treaty Brigade.
(Hopkinson says 14th, Dorney says 16th and Durney says
23rd.) The 2nd
Dublin anti-Treaty Brigade also reports to have burnt Lord Mayo’s Palmerstown
House in Co. Kildare (see 29th January); Horace Plunkett’s house
in Foxrock; Kippure Lodge in Co. Wicklow and three ‘informers’ houses in Co.
Wicklow. |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 195; Dorney (2017), pg 227; Durney
(2011), pg 137 &143-145 |
|
Feb-16 |
Neutral IRA (made
of pre-Truce members of the IRA who took neither side in the Civil War) ask
for a month’s truce to allow exchange of peace proposals. It is
rejected by both sides. |
Curran J M (1980),
pg 271; Macardle (1999), pg 835 |
|
Feb-16 |
A Lancia car with
pro-Treaty soldiers on board speed through an ambush at Knocklofty near
Clonmel, Co Tipperary. They stop a
short distance away and are ordered to dismount. When one soldier, James O’Keeffe, is
jumping from the car, his rifle accidently discharges. He survives for some time but dies on the 4th
May. |
Walsh (2018), pg
242 |
|
Feb-16 |
Provisional
Government threatens to ban import of the Daily
Mail unless the editor gives guarantees that it will not carry
anti-Treaty army statements and allow itself to be “used as a medium of
Irregular propaganda”. |
Dorney (2017), pg
148 |
|
Mid-Feb |
Large sweep by
pro-Treaty army of the Arigna mountains in Co. Leitrim produces few
results. (It is reported that Ned Bolfin, leader of the anti-Treaty
column in the area, got married in Leitrim village while the sweep was on.) |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 243 |
|
Feb-17 |
In a letter to the
press, de Valera resurrects Document No. 2 as a basis for compromise between
the two sides in the Civil War but gets no takers. |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 233 |
|
Feb-17 |
The Freeman’s Journal reports on the death
of a pro-Treaty soldier, Private Thomas Moran from Kimmage, Dublin in St
Brecan’s Hospital. He had been shot in
an ambush in Kerry. A few days later,
pro-Treaty Lieutenant Thomas Slattery from Ballymacelligott, Co Kerry also
dies from wounds received in an ambush. |
Doyle (2008), pgs
264-265 |
|
Feb-17 |
Cavanmore House,
owned by Patrick O’Rourke and Senator Bernard O’Rourke, is burnt to the
ground. |
Hall (2019), pg 118 |
|
Feb-18 |
Dinny Lacey,
Commandant of anti-Treaty Tipperary No. 3 Brigade killed at Cloghera, Glen of
Aherlow, Co Tipperary. |
O'Donoghue (1986),
pg 297; Hopkinson (1988), pg 244; Macardle (1999), pg 837; Walsh (2018), pg
225 |
|
Feb-18 |
A pro-Treaty
patrol, under Lieutenant Conroy, in the Ballyferriter area of Co. Kerry exchanges
fire with two anti-Treaty volunteers.
One of the latter is wounded and the other, Thomas O’Sullivan, is shot
dead. |
Doyle (2008), pg
265 |
|
Feb-19 |
A number of people
from Co. Wexford complain to Mulcahy that ‘In the rural districts,
Anti-Government forces are in effective control’. They also complained
about the inefficiency of the pro-Treaty army. Two anti-Treaty columns
operated in the New Ross and Wexford town areas (under Thomas O’Sullivan and
Lambert respectively). |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 245-246 |
|
Feb-19 |
The anti-Treaty O/C
of the local battalion, Thomas O’Sullivan, is shot dead fleeing pro-Treaty
forces near Ballineanig on the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry. |
Macardle (1998),
pgs 48-49 |
|
Feb-19 |
The mansion of Sir
John Keane is burnt in Co. Waterford.
He had been appointed to the Senate.
The same night the houses of Caroline Fairholme and Arthur Hunt are
burnt. |
McCarthy (2015), pg
118 |
|
Feb-21 |
Anti-Treaty forces
attempt the wide-spread burning of offices and other buildings in Dublin but,
for the most part, they are unsuccessful. However, offices are burnt in
Nassau St.; Upper Gardiner St.; and Lower O’Connell St. Of the 75 men
engaged in these activities, six are captured – including James O’Rourke (see
March 13th). In one attack
on an income tax office, civil servant Peter Carney is fatally injured when
the office in which he works is set on fire. |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 246; Dorney (2017), pg 222 |
|
Feb-22 |
A member of the
pro-Treaty Citizens Defence Force (CDF), Nicholas Williams, is found shot dead
on Hollybank Road, Drumcondra, Dublin.
|
Dorney (2017), pg
240 |
|
Feb-22 |
The home of Poer
O’Shea at Gardenmorris, Co. Waterford is burnt by anti-Treaty forces. So is the home of Hamilton Cuffe, 5th
Earl of Desart at Desart Court, Cuffesgrange, 10 kms south of Kilkenny
City. The reason for the
anti-Treatyites burning Desart Court is that Hamilton Cuffe’s sister-in-law,
Ellen Cuffe had agreed to be one of the Senators in the Free State Senate. |
McCarthy (2015), pg
118; Walsh (2018), pgs 226-227 |
|
Feb-23 |
226 Derry city men,
recruited for the pro-Treaty army, cross the border into Donegal. The RUC commissioner notes that most of
those who joined were out of work. (See 31st December 1922) |
Grant (2018), pg
145 |
|
Feb-23 |
A pro-Treaty patrol
is ambushed near Westport, Co. Mayo.
One of pro-Treaty soldiers is killed and five wounded. One of the wounded (Lieutenant McQuaid,
subsequently dies of his wounds.
(McQuaid is brother of John Charles McQuaid, the future Archbishop of
Dublin.) |
Price (2012), pg
248 |
|
Feb-23 |
All the officers of
the 1st Battalion of the anti-Treaty Dublin Brigade are arrested
in an early morning raid on 14 Royce Terrace in Phibsborough. (They were Robinson, Thornton, Brown,
Blacknelly and Byrne.) |
Dorney (2017), pgs
243 & 315 |
|
Feb-24 |
A civilian prisoner,
John Conway, is shot dead when trying to escape from the prison in Tralee
Workshop, Co. Kerry. See 6th
April for outcome of inquest. |
Doyle (2008), pg
267 |
|
Feb-26 |
The anti-Treaty 1st
Southern Division Council reconvenes at James Moynihan's Gortnascorta, Coolea
with Liam Lynch attending. Of the 18 officers at the meeting, only two
held out any prospect of military victory with most being very
pessimistic. The Director of Operations stated “If we intensify
our war it will mean losing some of our best men who will be
executed”. Lynch agrees that the position in the south is bad but
claims that things are better in other parts of the country. Most
disagree with this – Lynch agrees to the holding of an Executive
meeting. (Tom Crofts replaces Deasy as O/C 1st Southern
Division.) |
O'Donoghue (1986),
pg 296; Hopkinson (1988), pg 228 & 235-236 |
|
Feb-27 |
Anti-Treatyite
Thomas Gibson executed in Portlaoise. |
O’Farrell (1997),
pg 224; Macardle (1999), pg 985 |
|
Feb-27 |
In Kerry, Michael
Pierce and sixteen members of his column surrender to Brig General Paddy
O’Daly and hand in their arms. They
are allowed to return home after signing a pledge not to take up arms again
against the government. The following day,
Tom O’Driscoll and his Kilmoyley column of thirteen men also surrender to
Colonel David Neligan. |
Doyle (2008), pg
263 & 266 |
|
Feb-28 |
Lynch berates de
Valera ‘Your publicity as to sponsoring Document No. 2 has had a very bad
effect on the army and should have been avoided’ |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 234 |
|
Feb |
In February/March,
two anti-Treaty volunteers killed in Sligo.
Harry Brehony in Coolaney and Paul Geoghegan in Beltra. Also, in this period in Sligo, the
pro-Treaty army burnt down the houses of two anti-Treaty activists and the
anti-Treaty side burnt down six houses whose owners have sons in the
pro-Treaty army. |
Farry (2012), pg
106 |
|
Feb |
The CID was moved
from Oriel House to 68 Merrion Square. Its 75 officers were merged with
the Protective Corps (which had been set up in November 1922 to guard the
houses of ministers) and with the 101 full-time (and 50 part-time) officers
of the Citizens’ Defence Force. (This was comprised of former British
soldiers.) The merged forces were put under Joe McGrath. (Dorney says
88 Merrion Square.) |
Hopkinson (1988),
pg 225; Dorney (2017), pg 238 |