The Battle of Clonmult: The IRA's Worst Defeat

By Tom O'Neill

Exhaustive research by the author of newly available primary source material has unearthed new facts surrounding the battle. The new information allows this edition to more accurately document and analyse the Battle of Clonmult. The book makes an enormous contribution to our understanding of the events surrounding this battle and of the manner in which both sides conducted their military operations during the War of Independence.New insight revealed by the author’s research into the details of military operations by both sides is applicable not just to East Cork, but nationally. The information and analysis provided is timely as it increases our awareness of a period in our history which we are currently preparing to recognise and commemorate over the next few years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Oct 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9780752481029

Tom O'Neill

Tom O’Neill is one of a very close knit family of eleven brought up on a farm in County Carlow. His working life started in science teacher training in impoverished schools in South Africa and he is currently involved in computer based education as well as running a farm in Kilkenny. Restoring the ancient Killahara castle in Tipperary and helping his father publish a social history reconnected him to stories and beliefs that were still vibrant in his own childhood and prompted him to pull together the Fionn Mac Cumhaill tales he had made up to entertain his own children en route to school.

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This book is dedicated to my wife, Ann, and our sons, Finbarr and Philip.

Thanks for the support and patience.

First Published 2006 by Nonsuch Publishing Ltd

This paperback revised edition first published 2019

The History Press

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© Tom O’Neill, 2019

The right of Tom O’Neill to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Revolutionary Cork

The Column’s Failed Security Plan

The Column’s Reconnaissance Group

The British Army at Clonmult

The Battle of Clonmult

The Aftermath of the Battle

The Trial by Military Court of the Clonmult Prisoners

The Executions

The IRA and Crown Forces Reprisals

The Trial by Military Court of Capt Paddy Higgins

The Battle of Clonmult Conclusion

List of Appendices

Primary Sources and Interviews

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research and completion of this, the second edition of The Battle of Clonmult, would not have been possible without the co-operation, assistance and support of a number of individuals. Mr Gabriel Doherty was my supervisor in University College Cork for my MA thesis in Local History, for which ‘The Battle of Clonmult’, was my chosen subject. I want to thank him for his guidance, advice and encouragement. To Mai Kerins must go a very special thanks for her invaluable work in proofreading the text of both editions of this book.

I wish to thank the Officer Commanding, Irish Military Archives, Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin and his staff, for their efficiency in producing copies of the Bureau of Military History, Witness Statements. I wish to thank the staff of the reference department of the National Library of Ireland, Dublin, and in particular Mr Tom Desmond. Thanks also to the staff of the Cork Archive Institute, and the Special Collections Dept., (Q–1), U.C.C. To Mr Dan Breen, acting curator of the Cork City Public Museum, Fitzgerald Park, for locating some of the original Clonmult photographs and to Mr Brian McGee, chief archivist, and the staff of the Cork City and County Archives for their assistance.

In East Cork I am grateful to the following for supplying information: the late Miss Mary Murnane, daughter of Volunteer Mick Murnane, the late Miss Eimer Burke, daughter of Capt Michael Burke and niece of Capt James Ahern, killed in action at Clonmult. Thanks to Miss Ursula O’Mahony of Ballinacurra and the Cloyne Historical Society. My thanks to Ms Anne McAuliffe, widow of the late Mr John McAuliffe, for allowing me to use original photographs from her late husband’s collection. I am also indebted to Mr John Mulcahy of Whitechurch, County Cork, for locating the British Army reports of the battle – these had been misfiled at the United Kingdom National Archives (UKNA), London – and to Mr John Arnold.

It was a privilege to interview the late Mr Jim Hegarty, a native of Clonmult and a witness to the battle. Many thanks also to Miss Pauline Cotter for arranging the interviews with her late mother, Mrs Theresa Cotter. Thanks to the late Mr Tomás O Riordán for providing some valuable information. To my brother, Vincent, for his involvement in the Battle of Clonmult lectures.

In addition to those already mentioned I wish to add the following for their assistance, advice and support: Mr Eugene Power, Mr Donal Vaughan, and Mr Gerry White for directing me to the Clonmult Military Court case file. A special thanks to Dr Andrew Bielenberg, Senior Lecturer, UCC History Department for sending me the details of the Military Court of Inquiry in lieu of an inquest, the Patrick Higgins lecture and the Clonmult details in the Mulcahy Papers. To Dr Gillian O’Brien, Reader in Modern Irish History, Liverpool John Moores University, and Dr Daithi O Corrain, Lecturer in History, School of History and Geography, DCU. To Lt Col Colin Bulleid, secretary of the The Royal Hampshire Regiment Trust, Winchester, UK, for providing some information from the British military side and for the photographs of some of the members of the Hampshire Regiment involved in the battle.

Many thanks to my fellow members of the Clonmult Ambush Commemoration Committee: chairman Christy O’Sullivan, secretary Tim O’Sullivan, treasurer Sean Hennessy, assistant treasurer Jim O’Callaghan, assistant secretary John Walsh, also Mary Barron, Cllr Michael Hegarty, Michael Hegarty, Clonmult, Cllr Michael Ahern and Jim Ronayne.

To my son, Finbarr O’Neill, for providing the support for the digitalisation of images and maps.

All of these individuals have helped me in the course of my research into this work. Any errors or omissions are entirely mine.

Very special thanks to Christy O’Sullivan and his wife, Geraldine, the owners and guardians of the site of the Battle of Clonmult. Their enthusiasm and hospitality towards all callers is fantastic.

Finally, I hope that anyone whose copyright my book has unwittingly infringed will accept my sincere apology.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

REVOLUTIONARY CORK

This chapter briefly covers in chronological sequence the political and military events, both national and local, from January 1913 to February 1921 that led to the Battle of Clonmult. It also introduces the individuals who were involved in the Flying Column of the 4th Battalion, First Cork Brigade IRA, the unit involved at Clonmult. It was the men of these flying columns, using the appropriate strategy, with a political mandate based on the results of the General Election of 1918 and on the material support of the people that made the War of Independence possible.

A public meeting to formally establish the Irish Volunteers was held in the Rotunda Rink in Dublin on the night of 25th November 1913, presided over by Eoin MacNeill.1 The public meeting that inaugurated the Irish Volunteers in Cork City and county was held in the old Cork City Hall, at 8.30 pm, on the evening of Sunday, 14th December 1913.2 The principal speakers were Eoin MacNeill and Sir Roger Casement, while also in attendance was Tomás MacCurtain, officer commanding the First Cork Brigade and the future Lord Mayor of Cork. During the first six months of 1914, a Volunteer Company was set up in Cobh that was one of the first in what became the 4th Battalion area.3

Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond MP, in a speech in Woodenbridge County Wicklow on 20th September 1914, proposed that members of the Irish Volunteers should militarily support Britain in its hour of need and by doing so would help end the war and thus ensure that Home Rule would be obtained. This led to a split in the Irish Volunteers. The majority, approximately 170,000, followed John Redmond and this group became known as the National or Redmond’s Volunteers and many enlisted in the British Forces. The remainder, approximately 12,000, retained the title and principles of the Irish Volunteers.4

Jack O’Connell, the acting column commander at Clonmult, was originally a member of the Irish Volunteers. After the split of September 1914, he joined Redmond’s National Volunteers and in March 1915 he re-joined the Irish Volunteers.5 Other men from Cobh who were active in the Volunteer movement from this period were Paddy Whelan, involved at Clonmult, Daithi O’Brien, (OC) officer commanding ‘A’ (Cobh) Company during the War of Independence, Michael Leahy who became (CO) commanding officer of the 4th Battalion and James Ahern, killed at Clonmult.6

During Easter week of 1916, the Volunteers were mobilised at Sheares Street in Cork City. Their mission was to act as security for the distribution of the arms and ammunition that they were expecting from the gun-running ship ‘Aud’. However, as a result of the capture of the ‘Aud’ off the Kerry coast on Good Friday evening by a Royal Navy warship and later its scuttling outside the entrance to Cork Harbour early on Easter Saturday morning, all the awaited weapons and ammunition were lost, therefore the men returned to the city empty-handed. Also, because of conflicting orders from Dublin and a lack of direct communications with their superiors in the city, the Cork units did not play an active part in the Rising of Easter Week.

In the immediate post-1916 Rising period the British authorities made at least two major errors. Firstly, they executed the leaders and overnight turned these men into martyrs. Secondly, they interned 1,863 of the insurgents in a disused distillery and former prisoner of war camp in Frongoch, North Wales.7 This internment camp has been aptly described as ‘a university of revolution’.8 This in my opinion was the greater error because it brought together many of the leading individuals of the War of Independence. Michael Brennan of Clare, Michael Collins, Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney of Cork, Michael Leahy of Cobh,9 Tom McEllistrim of Kerry, Dick McKee, Dick Mulcahy and Sean T. O’Kelly of Dublin, to name but a few.

It was at Frongoch that the lessons of the Rising were debated, the mistakes identified and the strategies and tactics of the War of Independence decided. It was decided that never again would they take on the might of the Crown Forces using conventional warfare.10 The next war would be one of guerrilla actions, no more taking over buildings and waiting to be attacked. It was at Frongoch that it was recognised that priority must be given to destroying the Royal Irish Constabulary, a force that was seen as the eyes and ears of Dublin Castle in every corner of Ireland and also the ‘G’ Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. The network of contacts that was essential for conducting a national resistance movement was forged during the long period of internment in North Wales. This camaraderie was the driving force that propelled the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence, 1917–21, a period described by the volunteers as the four glorious years.11

An Irish Volunteer Company was formed in Midleton towards the end of 1916. Jack O’Shea, John Brady and Sean Buckley were the Company officers.12 Towards the end of 1917, the 4th Battalion companies were redesignated and Cobh became ‘A’ Company and Midleton became ‘B’ Company.

Paddy Higgins, wounded at Clonmult, was the first Company captain of ‘L’ Company in Aghada and remained in that appointment until late 1918 when he was reappointed 4th Battalion (QM) quarter-master officer.13 He joined the battalion flying column during December 1920. Joseph Ahern, later second-in-command of the flying column, was active in the Volunteers in Midleton from the earliest days.14 Joseph Ahern was the commanding officer of the 4th Battalion at the Truce. The Midleton Company parade ground was a walled enclosure in an old ruined castle yard at Cahermone, a short distance on the east side of the town. Their rifles were ‘stout branches broken off nearby trees’.15 Diarmuid O’Hurley from Kilbrittan, west Cork and column commander at Clonmult, arrived in Midleton from Belfast in September 1918. Diarmuid O’Hurley worked as a foreman in T.S.R. Coppinger, grain merchants, on Main Street. It was here that he received the nickname ‘The Gaffer’. He was soon after appointed OC of the Midleton Company.16 Paddy Whelan, originally from Wexford, moved to Cobh where his father was employed by Irish Lights and worked on the Daunt Rock lightship. Paddy began work as a boilermaker’s apprentice in His Majesty’s Dockyard, Haulbowline, in September 1914.17 Paddy Whelan, Jeremiah Ahern and Jack O’Connell, worked in the Midleton Engineering Works, prior to joining the column. Joseph Morrissey, born in Carlow and later living in Roscommon and on the run from the Midlands, worked in Abernethy’s Bakery in Castlemartyr.

Up to 5th January 1919, the area of operations of the First Cork Brigade covered all of County Cork.18 On that date at a meeting held at Kilnadur, Dunmanway, and chaired by Michael Collins – who was representing G.H.Q. – the county was divided into three brigade areas as it was proving almost impossible to command and administer.19 The First Cork Brigade’s new and reduced area of operations covered the city, west to Ballingeary and east to Youghal with Tomás MacCurtain, later Lord Mayor of Cork City, as brigade commander. The 2nd Brigade covered north Cork with Liam Lynch in charge, and the 3rd (West Cork) Brigade under Tom Hales covered the western part of the county to the Kerry border.

There were ten battalions numbered 1 to 10 in the 1st Brigade. The activities covered in this book relate primarily to the Flying Column of the 4th Battalion, Cork 1st Brigade, Irish Republican Army. The territorial boundary of the 4th Battalion corresponded roughly with the old Parliamentary area of East Cork. The western boundary extended from Dunkettle Bridge adjacent to the northern entrance to the Jack Lynch Tunnel, north through Glanmire to Knockraha. The northern boundary was from Knockraha, east through Leamlara, Ballincurrig, Clonmult, Inch, Killeagh to Youghal. The southern boundary was the coastline from Youghal back to Dunkettle Bridge and including the Great Island.20

There were seventeen Companies in the 4th Battalion with a strength of more than 1,200 men.21 The Companies of the 4th Battalion were designated by a capital letter and were as follows. ‘A’ Company Cobh, ‘B’ Company Midleton, ‘C’ Company Youghal, ‘D’ Company Carrigtwohill, ‘E’ Company Knockraha, ‘F’