A Revolution in Profiles: Offaly

19/11/2025

Tullamore man's tome traces tales and tunes with focus on 1913-1923

23/04/2025

IN PICTURES: Heroes who fought for Irish independence honoured at event in Offaly

27/03/2025

This month marks four years since the Dictionary of Irish Biography adopted an open-access model, granting free access to its entire collection of nearly 11,000 biographical entries for the first time.

Image source: Noelle Middleton / dib.ie

22/03/2025

22/11/2024

Paddy Boland was born at Castletown, the Island in 1890. Boland’s mother Anne raised four sons on a small farm after the death of her husband.

In October 1918, along with his brothers Michael and James, Boland physically resisted a police raid on the family home. While his two siblings were imprisoned after court martial proceedings’, Patrick avoided arrest and spent late 1918 and early 1919 on the run .

Elected as a Sinn Féin councillor in 1920, in the same year he took part the demolition of the vacated RIC building at Ballycumber and the largescale IRA attack on Clara police barracks.

The rail system served as an important logistical resource during the War of Independence and was regularly targeted by the IRA. Boland was in involved in several of the 13 attacks and hold ups on trains between Clara and Ballycumber carried out by the the 1st Battalion, Offaly No. II Brigade during the period.

Originally serving as a Battalion quartermaster, he was promoted to Brigade intelligence officer and was later appointed Brigade police officer. In this role he was involved in the dealing with a series of arson attacks at Endrim outside Ferbane. Republican police under his command, also investigated robberies at Clara and oversaw the deportation to Liverpool of the suspected culprits.

In the period between the signing of the Treaty and the outbreak of Civil War, a serious breakdown of order occurred across Ireland. The causes of these disturbances were multiple. In some cases, IRA men had begun to operate on a freelance basis for personal gain. In others, neighbours sought to settle long standing grudges. Simmering land disputes boiled over and a large amount of opportunist crime occurred.

This crime wave was compounded when the RIC were disbanded before a replacement force was created. Boland and a small group of untrained subordinates found themselves responsible for enforcing some kind of order over a large area. Arrests were made in relation to a serious home invasion and assault at Moystown House, threats to kill at Birr, cattle rustling at Kinnitty, robberies at Kilcormac, violent land agitation at Redwood and a failed bank robbery in Ferbane.

Boland opposed the Treaty and while he does not appear to have taken part in fighting during the Civil War, he continued to provide shelter and support to those that did. The Boland home served as a safe house/headquarters to anti-treaty brigadier Sean Robbins in late 1922 and early 1923.

Using his position as an elected official Boland condemned the Free State government’s ex*****on policy stating…

‘The firing squads of Maxwell and MacCready not less detestable than the firing squads of Mulachy. Ambushing Free State troops by so called irregulars was bad but ambushing a few women at a protest meeting was worse. Those ex*****ons exceeded in vindictiveness all the ex*****ons since 1916 and were a travesty of law and justice.’ (1)

In February 1923 he served on the national executive of the Neutral IRA Men’s Association which called for a ceasefire. He was arrested the following month by the National Army who claimed he remained military active, a claim disputed by Offaly councillors.

Boland returned to political activity on his release from internment and went on to serve as county council chairman for 20 years. A founder member of Fianna Fáil, he was elected to Dail Eireann in 1927 and served as a back bench TD until 1954 despite bad health.

On his death in 1962, Old IRA veterans accorded military honours at Boland’s funeral, while Nicholas Egan TD provided the graveside oration.

Speaking at a meeting in Mountmellick, the Fine Gael TD O.J. Flanagan described Boland as…

‘A man who had devoted his life to the service of the people and country, a shining example to other public representatives.’ (2)

Sources:
1901 and 1911 Census. Search online at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Bureau of Military History Statements: Patrick Boland (Witness 1600). Sean Dockery (Witness 1711) Search online at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/bmhsearch/

Michael Byrne. The King’s County/ Offaly County Council election of June 1920: ‘remarkable, memorable and revolutionary’. Online at offalyhistoryblog.wordpress.com

Pat McLoughlin. ‘The Railwaymen: 1st Battalion, Offaly No. 2 Brigade the War of Independence and attacks on trains in the Ballycumber – Clara area.’ Online at https://offalyhistoryblog.wordpress.com/2021/07/28/the-railway-men-1st-battalion-offaly-no-2-brigade-the-war-of-independence-and-the-attacks-on-trains-in-the-ballycumber-clara-area-by-pat-mcloughlin/

Phillip McConway. Offaly and the Civil War Executions. In Offaly Heritage 5 edited by Roy Masterson. (Tullamore) 2008.

Irish Press. 25 January 1938.

Kings County Chronicle/Leinster Reporter. 20 May 1922. 3 June 1922. 17 June 1922. 1 July 1922.

Nationalist and Leinster Times. 2 November 1918.

Offaly Independent. 16 June 1962.

Westmeath Independent. 9 June 1923.

(1) Kings County Chronicle/Leinster Reporter. 9 December 1922.

(2) Nationalist and Leinster Times. 16 June 1962.

20/11/2024

Michael Flannery was born in Shinrone around 1902. His parents Andrew and Annie Flannery lived at Cangort Demense and Andrew worked as a herd.

During the Ranch War, Shinrone was the scene of numerous cattle drives instituted by the United Irish League against commercial farmers, who’s leasing of grazing acreage on the 11-month system was viewed as depriving smallholders’ access to land. As part of this campaign the Ormond Hunt was prevented from hunting in the locality. Flannery’s uncle is reported to have served a term of imprisonment for his role in this agitation.

Flannery joined the Irish Volunteers at a young age. At the time of the Truce, he was listed as adjutant in the Shinrone company, which along with other units at Roscrea, Dunkerin and Clonakelly formed the 7th Battalion, Tipperary No.1 Brigade. Following the signing of the Treaty he took an anti-treaty position in the Civil War.

In September 1922 a goods train travelling between Cloughjordan and Roscrea was derailed and its cargo seized. That December, Flannery and five others were charged in Dublin before the southern police court in relation the hold up.

Flannery was imprisoned in Mountjoy at the time of the reprisal killings of Rory O’Connor, Dick Barrett, Joe McKelvey and Liam Mellows. The ex*****ons imbued him with a longstanding hostility to the Free State government and its successors. Having participated in the mass hunger strike of republican prisoners in 1923, he was released the following year.

Emigrating to the New York, he found work with the Metropolitan Insurance company and married Margaret Mary (Pearl) Egan a Cumman na mBan veteran from Mullinahone who worked as a research chemist.

A devout catholic and a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Society, Flannery played a prominent role in the Tipperary Men’s Society and the GAA, serving as chairman of the New York county board and managing the cities Tipperary Gaelic football side to championship honours four times between 1928 and 1931.

A longtime member of the secretive republican support group Clan na Gael, on the outbreak of the Troubles, Flannery was central to the creation of the Irish Northern Aid Committee. Better known as Noraid, this organisation was viewed by many as ‘the fundraising arm of the IRA in America’.

While vocally and unapologetically supportive of the IRA’s campaign, Flannery claimed that donations to Noraid were ringfenced to support the families of republican prisoners, while money to finance arms deals were secured from separate sources. This position was challenged by the US Justice Department which initiated court proceedings over Noraid’s refusal to register the Provisional IRA as its principal foreign agent.

In 1981 Flannery was arrested as part of an FBI sting codenamed ‘Operation Bushmills’ after suppling $16,800 to purchase weapons. Flannery, Mayo born socialist republican George Harrison and three other co-defendants were found not guilty of arms trafficking having claimed they believed their smuggling network operated with the approval of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The decision of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians to make Flannery grand marshal of the 1983 New York St Patrick’s Day Parade created a diplomatic incident, drawing criticism from the media, the Archbishop of New York, politicians and the Irish government.

A republican legitimist Flannery believed that all Irish parliaments after 1921 were illegitimate and broke with Gerry Adams after Sinn Féin voted to abandon abstentionism in the south. Throwing his support behind Ruairí Ó Brádaigh’s Republican Sinn Féin, he left Noraid and established Cumman na Saoirse. In 1993, he assumed the position of Republican Sinn Féin patron.

Michael Flannery passed away in September 1994, shortly before his death he had given a series of press interviews opposing the IRA ceasefire.

Flannery was buried at Mount Saint Mary’s cemetery Flushing, Queens. Mourners at his funeral included well-known lawyer Paul Durkan and Pulitzer winning columnist Jimmy Breslin. George Harrison read a message from Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. The oration was given by Republican Sinn Féin treasurer Joe O’Neill.

The Michael Flannery cup is presented to the winners of the New York senior hurling championship For many years Cuman na Saoirse has hosted an annual Michael Flannery Testimonial event.

The author wishes to acknowledge the substantial existing literature on Michael Flannery in particular the works of Sean Boyne and Patrick Maume.

Sources:
1901 and 1911 Census. Search online at https://www.nationalarchives.ie/

Military Service Pension Collection. 7 Battalion, 1 Tipperary (North Tipperary) Brigade, 3 Southern Division, IRA RO190. Search online at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection-1916-1923

Sean Boyle. ‘Gunrunners: The Covert Arms Trail to Ireland’ (Dublin) 2006.

Patrick Maume. Royal Irish Academy, Dictionary of Irish Biography profile of Michael Flannery online at https://www.dib.ie/biography/flannery-michael-a3277

Michael Flannery Interview with Niall O’Dowd 1983 online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djMsTHk1Nro&t=205s

Cuman na Saoirse website online at http://www.irishfreedom.net/Obituaries/Michael%20Flannery/Michael%20Flannery%20(1902-%201994).htm

Financial Times. Online at https://www.ft.com/content/ba0f1bd5-2c92-421b-aca7-a8c91c2c4d8c

Cork Examiner. 27 March 1986.

Derry Journal 6 September 1994.

Donegal Democrat. 13 October 1994.

The Independent. 1 September 1994.

Leinster Reporter. 9 December 1922.

Irish Independent. 17 March 1983.

Nenagh Guardian. 9 December 1922. 20 January 1923. 3 September 1983. 8 October 1994.

Nenagh News. 7 November 1907.

New York Magazine. 22 November 1982.

New York Times. 2 October 1981. 2 October 1994.

The Scotsman. 2 September 1994.

Tipperary Star. 21 December 1991.

Washington Post. 22 March 1987.

18/11/2024

On Saturday 12th October, Offaly GAA hosted a very special event in Birr commemorating the county’s first team to win an All-Ireland final exactly 100 years ...

17/11/2024

Patrick McDonnell was born at High Street, Belmont in 1894. His family were extensive farmers. His brother was a member of the IRA during the War of Independence.

Moving to Dublin, McDonnell was employed as a shop assistant in Pims Department Store on South Great Georges Street. He won a Dublin Senior football championship with Kickhams and later won a Junior championship in Offaly with Belmont in 1923.

McDonnell was present at the first meeting of the Irish Volunteers at the Rotunda in November 1913 and was one of the new organisation’s earliest recruits serving as a member of ‘G’ company 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade.

In September 1914 the volunteers spilt over John Redmond and the Home Rule party’s support for the British war effort. McDonnell remained a member of Eoin MacNeill’s Irish Volunteers who opposed British Army recruitment.

The spilt strengthened the position of IRB military council within the Volunteers. When MacNeill rejected the councils plans for a Rising on Easter Sunday 1916 the IRB men deferred their rebellion for one day.

On Easter Monday morning Patrick McDonnell was given a list of volunteers and sent to act as a mobiliser around Dublin. Arriving at St Stephens Green he joined up as part of the Garrison in Jacob’s biscuit factory where he was stationed for the remainder of the week.

Arrested in the aftermath of the Rising, McDonnell was deported to Britain and imprisoned at Knutsford, Chesire and Frongoch, Wales. On his release from custody, he found that he had lost his job and with few prospects was forced to return to the family farm in Offaly. In Belmont he helped to establish an Irish Volunteer unit and was elected company captain.

In late 1918 a strike occurred at Perry’s Mills close to Belmont and troops from Birr were deployed to the village to protect the mill facilities. McDonnell was not employed at the mills, but he served 4 months imprisonment for illegal assembly after an exchange with men from the Imperial Yeomanry.

McDonnell was involved in road blocking operations and snipping operations throughout the War of Independence. He helped to plan the successful Belmont Ambush in October 1920, but fearing lax security advised the operation be cancelled or postponed.

He was not involved in the Civil War and moved to Dublin in the 1920’s, where he was a prominent member of the ITGWU. He relocated with his wife to Garrycastle, Athlone in the 1940’s. McDonnell was killed while attending a funeral at Clonmacnoise in 1949 when a tombstone collapsed. He was buried in the same graveyard a few days later.

In 1966 on the 50th Anniversary of the Easter Rising, GAA President Alf Murray unveiled a plaque at Clonmacnoise to Patrick McDonnell, his neighbour from High Street James Kenny and Kieran Kenny of Banagher, all of whom were veterans of the Rising and buried at the site. The event was attended by 100 Old IRA men, the St Colmcille’s pipe band and military honours were carried out by a detachment from the FCA.

The author wishes to acknowledge the existing work on Patrick McDonnell and Belmont during the revolutionary decade, carried out by Padraig Heavin.

Sources:
J.F. Burke. The Midland Tribune 1916-1966 supplement article online athttps://www.offalyhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Supplement-1966.pdf

Padraig Heaney ‘On the banks of three rivers: Stories from West Offaly’ (Cork) 2015.

Padraig Heaney. ‘West Offaly and the 1916 Rising’ In Offaly Heritage 9 edited by Ciaran Reilly. (Tullamore) 2016.

Dr. Philip McConway. ‘Offaly’s links to the 1916 Rising’. Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkEiuHJc8J0

Military Service Pension Collection. Patrick McDonnell MSP34REF1561 Online at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection- 1916-1923

Leinster Reporter. 11 January 1919.

Irish Independent. 26 April 1966.

Westmeath Independent. 12 February 1949.

16/11/2024

Alice Cashel was born in 1878 in Birr where her father Blennerhassett Cashel was a station master for the Great Southern and Western Railway. As a result of Blennerhasset’s job, the family moved several times during Alice’s childhood and eventually settled in Cork. Alice’s sister Agnes married James O’Mara, whose family operated a large bacon factory at Limerick. O’Mara originally sat as a Home Rule MP, but he later embraced Sinn Fein, took part in de Valera’s American tour and voted to accept the Treaty.

Alice trained as a teacher, was a member of the Gaelic League and early manifestations of Sinn Fein. She helped Annie MacSwiney to establish Cork branch of Cumann na mBan in 1914 and attempted to assist Terence MacSwiney in the run up to the 1916 rising.

Throughout 1918 she took part in election campaigning and Cumann na mBan organisational work across Ulster. Based at a property owned by the Mara family she became a prominent figure in Galway throughout the War of Independence.

Co-opted on Galway council she served as a parish justice in the Dail courts, regularly hearing cases dealing with robbery, land disputes and poteen distilling.

Arrested in 1921 she was released shortly after the Truce and went to work in Erskine Childer’s propaganda department. Rejecting the Treaty, she was once again active in Galway during the Civil War recounting that …

‘I co-operated with the IRA carrying dispatches, feeding them etc. I was raided at least twice here. It was known that I had a revolver as, on being called for by the villagers I had gone to clear the village where there was trouble owing to poteen drinking’(1)

Employed in the civil service in Dublin, she returned to Galway suffering from bad heath. She lectured for a time at UCG and published a novel ‘The lights of Leaca ban’. Her funeral in 1958 from St Joseph’s church to the new cemetery Galway was attended by representatives of the President and the Taoiseach, along with members of the old IRA and Cumann na mBan. Her coffin was draped in the tri colour and in his oration Senator Liam O’Buachalla commented…

‘Alice Cashel was a lover of peace The terrifying roar of the Crossley’s; the shouts and jeers of their maddened crews; the crackle of the blazing roof, these things were not music for her. But her great love of Ireland steeled her to overcome the fears of war and enabled her to carry out her mission of national service and mercy solidly and courageously, and no braver soul ever stood sentinels at the lonely post or faced through the danger gap than Alice Cashel.’ (2)

Sources:
Bureau of Military History Statement. Alice M. Cashel (Witness 366) Search online at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913- 1921/bmhsearch/

Military Service Pension Files. Alice Cashel MSP34REF55390. Search online at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection-1916-1923

Connacht Tribune. 12 June 1920. 1 March 1958.

Cork Examiner. 29 November 1912. 15 April 1920.

Freemans Journal. 20 April 1920

Irish Press. 24 February 1958.

Christine Cozzens. Alice M. Cashel: A Fenian at heart online at http://www.christinecozzens.com

(1) Bureau of Military History Statement. Alice M. Cashel (Witness 366) Search online at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913- 1921/bmhsearch/

(2) Irish Press. 26 February 1958.

15/11/2024

Daniel Hoey was born in Rhode in 1888. His parents Peter and Bridget Hoey farmed at Clonmeen. Hoey joined the Dublin Metropolitan Police in 1910. The Leinster Leader described him as…

‘A sober, steady, ambitious young fellow, he soon got on and was very shortly transferred to the detective division, in which his figure became speedily familiar to the Dublin people. Over 6 feet in height, dark, good looking, athletic and always immaculately attired he was more of the city than of the country type.’ (1)

Joining G Division, Hoey was charged with investigating of seditious activity. The division had played a prominent role in thwarting the activities of the Fenians during the 1860’s and in the suppression of the National Invincibles in the 1880’s.

Hoey was deployed to monitor the arrival of suspected subversives at Dublin train stations and follow them to meetings with known separatist leaders such as Tom Clarke.

In the aftermath of the Easter Rebellion, Hoey became a particular bête noire for republicans who held him responsible for the identification of executed leaders, in particular Seán Mac Diarmada at whose court martial he gave evidence.

Hoey also served as a bodyguard to several Chief Secretaries for Ireland including Henry Duke, Edward Shortt, and Ian MacPherson.

In 1917, Hoey’s activities were criticised during a Sinn Féin rally at Edenderry, but he continued to visit and financially support his family at Rhode. Edenderry 1916 veteran Michael Foley suggested that Hoey used his trips to north Offaly to cultivate intelligence sources in the area.

Throughout 1919 republican hostility towards policemen escalated. During that Spring, members of G Division received threating letters, homes were raided, and one detective was assaulted. Some officers attempted to avoid confrontation with republicans. Others like Ned Broy had already begun to provide intelligence to Michael Collins.

By July, Collins and Dick McKee had recruited the nucleus of a Squad to carry out shootings on hostile detectives and suspected informers. This group centred around Easter Week veterans Mick McDonnell and Paddy O’Daly. On 30 July, Hoey’s colleague Sergeant Patrick Smith was shot close to his home in Drumcondra. Badly wounded Smith died of his wounds at the Mater hospital on 8 September.

Smith’s death was among the factors with influenced the decision by British authorities to suppress Dáil Éireann. On 12 September, Hoey joined a police raid on Sinn Féin headquarters at Harcourt Street. During the operation, two TD’s, Ernest Blythe and Padraig O’Keefe were arrested but Michael Collins managed to escape.

Hoey was already a target for assassination, but in the aftermath of Collins’s close call, Mick McDonnell mobilised Jim Slattery and Tom Ennis. Both men had taken part in the earlier shooting of Sergeant Smith. Slattery later told the Bureau of Military History…

‘Mick McDonnell called on me at 9 Woodville Road on an evening in September, 1919, and asked me would I mind going on a job. I told him I would not mind, and he said, “They very nearly got the man we want to guard. They nearly got him to-day” – he was referring to Mick Collins. That was the first, time I got an inkling that Collins was the heart of things. There had been a raid on the Sinn Féin headquarters at 6 Harcourt Street, and Collins had a very narrow escape. It became very urgent to get Detective Officer Hoey, because he was the leading spirit in the raiders, and at this time Daly and Kilcoyne had been looking for him for a fortnight.’ (2)

Shortly before 10 pm, McDonnell, Slattery and Ennis shot Hoey dead on Townsend Street a short distance from Great Brunswick Street police station. He appears to have been unarmed, just over £7 and some religious emblems was found on his person.

In November another detective, Sergeant John Barton was shot dead. While G Division continued to exist until the signing of the Treaty, its effectiveness as an intelligence gathering organisation diminished greatly after 1919. After an inquest at Mercer’s Hospital, Hoey’s cortege travelled to Rhode church for a funeral mass attended by family, friends and DMP members. He was buried in the adjoining graveyard.

The Author wishes to acknowledge the existing work on Daniel Hoey by Phillip McConway, T Ryle Dywer and Ciaran Reilly

Sources:
1901 and 1911 Census. Search online at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Bureau of Military History Statements: James Slattery (Witness 445). James Kavanagh (Witness 889)

Easter Rising Court Marital transcripts online athttps://courtmartial.nationalarchives.ie/pdf/355_Sean_McDermott.pdf

Military Service Pension Collection. Michael Patrick Foley MSP34REF20779. Search online at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection-1916-1923

T. Ryle Dwyer. The Squad: and the intelligence operations of Michael Collins. (Cork) 2005.

Dr. Philip McConway. ‘Offaly’s links to the 1916 Rising’. Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkEiuHJc8J0

Daithí O Corráin and Eunan O’Halpin. The dead of the Irish Revolution. (Yale) 2020.

Ciaran Reilly. Edenderry 1916 and the revolutionary era. (Edenderry) 2016.

Sean Ryan. ‘Shooting the Dog’ History Ireland July/August 2019 online at https://www.historyireland.com/shooting-the-dog/

James Scannell. ‘Attacks against the DMP 1919’ An Costantoir March 2020 online at https://digital.jmpublishing.ie/i/1215504-march-2020/29?

Freemans Journal. 20 September 1919. Leinster Leader 20 September 1920.

(1) Leinster Leader 20 September 1920.

(2) Bureau of Military History Statements: James Slattery (Witness 445).

14/11/2024

Alan Bell was born in Banagher in 1858 to Reverend James Adamson and Elizabeth Bell (Nee Tyrell).

Both the Bell and Tyrell families had provided many of the county’s church of Ireland clergy. The Bell family is best known for the marriage of the Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls to Charlotte Bronte in 1854.

A former Trinity moderator, in addition to his religious duties James A. Bell served as headmaster to the Banagher Royal School and was later secretary of the ‘London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews’. Alan’s uncle R.Y. Tyrell was a senior fellow at Trinity College.

Alan’s brother, James Bell is credited with saving the lives of republican prisoners while serving as a doctor at Gloucester Gaol during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Joining the RIC as a cadet in 1879, Alan Bell served a senior officer across Ireland during the Land War. In 1882 he arrested the world-famous American journalist, economist, and land reform advocate Henry George at Athenry. Later in the decade he provided information to the special commission investigating accusations in the The Times newspaper linking Charles Stewart Parnell’s with support for violence. Parnell was ultimately vindicated when, Richard Piggott the source of many of the allegations confessed to forging letters to frame the nationalist leader.

On his retirement from police work, Bell served as a resident magistrate and had settled in Armagh when the War of Independence started.

Bell’s experiences of investigating the Land League were diverse and early in the war he was called to Dublin to improve British Intelligence capabilities. T Ryle Dywer states that Bell was a member of a special security committee which advised Lord Lieutenant French in late 1919 …

‘We are inclined to think that the shooting of a few would-be assassins would have an excellent effect.’ (1)

By March 1920 the Freemans Journal while reporting on Bell’s efforts to target Sinn Fein’s finances drew attention to his own history…

‘The official who has been thrust into the light of publicity by the attempt of the castle to invest him with the powers of a grand inquisitor into the bank business of every man in Ireland who has a private or commercial trading account. The publication of this true story will awaken memories in the minds of veterans of the Land League campaign which freed Ireland from the rule of landlordism. Our correspondent writes: Mr Alan Bell, who is holding the Star Chamber into the confidential relations existing between Irish bankers and their customers, has considerable experience in obtaining evidence for the police.’ (2)

IRA intelligence learned that Bell commuted to the city centre from his home in Monkstown and sourced a photo from the files of the Irish Independent.

On the morning 26 March, members of Michael Collins’s Squad took Bell from a crowded tram at Simmons court road, Ballsbridge where he was shot by Liam Tobin and Michael McDonnell.

Speaking in the commons the chief secretary of Ireland Ian MacPherson commented…

‘Mr. Bell was not at the particular time of his assassination under direct police protection in the ordinary sense of being guarded by officers in immediate attendance. He repeatedly refused to avail himself of the offer. The Chief Commissioner of Police repeatedly pressed upon him after the venomous attacks in a certain section of the Dublin Press, as he felt as an old and experienced police officer himself that any ostentatious protection would defeat its own object. I should like to take this opportunity of testifying publicly to Mr. Bell’s courage and loyalty, and to the great service which throughout his long and distinguished career he rendered to the Crown.’ (3)

Lord French sent the following message to his wife Ellen…

‘Please accept my deep and heartfelt sympathy with you. Your gallant and distinguished husband has crowned a life of devoted and valuable service to Ireland by a noble death in fighting the cause of his country.’ (4)

Alan Bell was buried at Deansgrange cemetery Dublin after a private funeral.

The Author wishes to acknowledge the existing work by T Ryle Dywer and Patrick Long

Sources:
Daithí O Corráin and Eunan O’Halpin. The dead of the Irish Revolution. (Yale) 2020. P 127.

T. Ryle Dwyer. The Squad: and the intelligence operations of Michael Collins. (Cork) 2005.

Patrick Long, RIA Dictionary of Irish profile of Alan Bell online at https://www.dib.ie/biography/bell-alan-a0544

Bureau of Military History Statements: Josephine MacNeill (303). Joseph Leonard (witness 547). Joseph Dolan (witness 663). Michael Noyk (witness 707)

Clonmel Commercial 7 November 1888.

Kings County Chronicle/Leinster Reporter 14 January 1911.

Offaly Independent. 29 1994.

The Graphic. 17 November 1888.

(1) T. Ryle Dwyer. The Squad: and the intelligence operations of Michael Collins. (Cork) 2005. p70.

(2) Freemans Journal 11 March 1920

(3) Hansard online at https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/mar/30/murder-of-mr-alan-bell

(4) Belfast Newsletter. 27 March 1920.