Tag: War of Independence

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Devlin’s Pub – meeting place of GHQ Intelligence

Photograph of a Dublin City Council plaque commemorating Devlin's Pub, Parnell Street, Dublin 1.

This plaque marks the location of Devlin’s Pub, which stood on the site of what is now the Point A Hotel, Parnell Street, Dublin 1.

In mid-1919, Derry born Liam Devlin relocated from Glasgow with his family of seven children to a public house that he bought at 68 Parnell Street, Dublin. Within a few weeks he had offered the use of upstairs rooms to Michael Collins.

The pub quickly became one of the main locations for meetings of the IRB Headquarters of Intelligence. It was a significant location during the War of Independence. Meetings were held daily at the pub, attended by Michael Collins, Frank Thornton, Liam Tobin, Emmet Dalton and many others of the leadership of the Volunteers and the IRB.

As many as eight to ten Volunteers and Officers were accommodated there every night during this period. Devlin was himself an Intelligence Officer and was entrusted with the safe keeping of National Loan Funds.

Michael Collins waited here for news about the abandoned escape and later execution of Kevin Barry. He was also in Devlin’s Pub on the morning of Bloody Sunday. The pub was the location of the Mutiny, which threatened the very survival of the Free State, led by Liam Tobin, in March 1924.

The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, and John Healey, grandson of Liam Devlin, on 5 April 2024.

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O’Leary, Jerome – youngest victim of Bloody Sunday 1920

A photograph of the Dublin City Council Commemorative plaque for Jerome O'Leary.

This plaque commemorates Jerome O’Leary who, at 10 years old, was the youngest of those killed at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920.

Find this plaque on Google maps.

The plaque reads:

JEROME O’LEARY
1910-1920
A Maraíodh i bPáirc an Chrócaigh ar Domhnach na Fola
A CHÓNAIGH ANSEO
Killed at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday
LIVED HERE

On the morning of 21 November 1920 fourteen suspected British intelligence personnel were killed, and one fatally injured, by the IRA.

That afternoon, as a reprisal, a force of Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), including the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, opened fire on the crowd attending a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary at Croke Park. 14 civilians were killed in the attack.

The second or third bullet fired killed 10-year-old Jerome O’Leary from Blessington Street. The boy was sitting on the wall at the Canal end of the pitch and was shot through the right side of his head.

Jerome was buried in Glasnevin where for many years his grave went unmarked. As part of its Bloody Sunday Graves project in 2019 the GAA erected a headstone for Jerome in Glasnevin.

Jerome O’Leary lived at 69 Blessington Street, where the plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor on 20 November 2023. The plaque was proposed by Mr Pearse Turner.

A detailed account of Bloody Sunday may be found in History on Your Doorstep volume 3, written by Dublin City Council historians-in-residence and available from any branch of Dublin City Libraries, or online at https://www.dublincity.ie/library/blog/history-your-doorstep-volume-3.

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Mac Grianna, Seosamh – Irish language writer

This plaque commemorates the Irish-language writer Seosamh Mac Grianna (1900-1990).

Born in Donegal in 1900, Mac Grianna came from a storytelling background, and his brother Séamus Ó Grianna was also an Irish-language author.

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Trained as a national school teacher in St Patrick’s, Drumcondra, Mac Grianna was a staunch republican, took the anti-treaty side in the Civil War, and was interned in Newbridge camp.

In 1924 he began writing as Gaeilge and during 1924–5 he contributed many of his early short stories, including ‘Teampall Chonchubhair’, ‘Teacht Cheallaigh Mhóir’, and ‘Leas ná Aimhleas’, to the newly founded An tUltach. These later formed the basis of his first book, Dochartach Dhuibhlionna & sgéalta eile (1925).

He also contributed numerous articles to a range of publications, including the Irish Press. Although his active literary career only lasted around eleven years, he made a significant contribution to the development of literature in the Irish language, publishing ten original works, translating twelve books into Irish, and also publishing a substantial number of reviews and letters.

Four particular books stand out within his body of work: An Grádh agus an Ghruaim (1929), An Druma Mór (1935/1969), Mo Bhealach Féin (1940), and Dá mBíodh Ruball ar an Éan (1940).

In the main, he ceased writing after 1935; in his own words “Thráigh an tobar” – the well dried up. Around this time, be began to suffer from psychiatric illness, which afflicted him for the rest of his life.

Mac Grianna lived in Dublin through the 40s and 50s, moving from place to place. Sometime around the early 1950s, he settled in a house on the coast road, in St. Anne’s Park, near Watermill Road. The commemorative plaque is erected on one of the remaining gate pillars of the house.

The plaque was unveiled on 29 May 2023.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

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Bryan, Thomas – executed Irish volunteer

This plaque commemorates Thomas Bryan, who, at the age of 24, in 1921 was hanged for High Treason by the British.

Bryan, a 24 year old electrician, was amongst a group of young volunteers who on 21 January 1921, set out to ambush Black and Tans as they travelled into Dublin city from Gormanstown. Another volunteer was 19 year old Frank Flood, after whom the bridge at Drumcondra was named in 2021.

Having been spotted in Drumcondra the party tried to escape via Gracefield Road and Clonturk Park, but surrendered after one the men was shot and killed.

Tried and found guilty of High Treason, four of the men, Patrick Doyle (29); Francis Xavier Flood (19); Thomas Bryan (24), and Bernard ‘Bertie’ Ryan (21) were hanged at Mountjoy Prison on 14 March 1921.

Thomas Bryan was only recently married, and the pension application, submitted by his grieving family, reveals the poverty in which his parents continued to live at 14 Henrietta Street in the aftermath of his death.

The plaque was erected at 14 Henrietta Street, where Bryan lived at the time of his execution, and was unveiled by Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy on 14 March 2023.

Locate this plaque on Google maps.

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Ballyfermot Train Ambush

On Friday, 8th July 2022, a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque marking the site of the Ballyfermot Train Ambush was unveiled at Le Fanu Road, Dublin 12, by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy.

On Friday, 8th July, 1921 a train carrying British troops, – members of the Gordon Highlanders – military supplies, cars, donkeys and horses, as well as civilians was ambushed as it passed under the railway bridge near the small hamlet of Ballyfermot.  This incident occurred hours before the formal announcement of the Truce and was to be the last major conflict of the War of Independence.

Dublin City Council historian-in-residence Cathy Scuffil has written an account of the ambush for the Dublin City Libraries’ blog, at https://dcpla.ie/3OJ9FrZ.

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Keogh, Margaret – Cumann na mBan

This plaque commemorates Margaret Keogh, one of two Cumann na mBan members to die in the fight for Irish freedom.

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The nineteen year-old printer’s assistant was shot at her home in Stella Gardens, Ringsend, Dublin, on Saturday 10th July 1921, during a series of raids by Crown forces. She died of her wounds two days later and was buried with military honours in Glasnevin.

The plaque was unveiled by Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland on 11th July, 2021, having been proposed by a group of local residents.

As well as being an active member of Cumann na mBan, Margaret Keogh was a member of the Irish Clerical Workers Union, and was the captain of the Croke Ladies Hurling Club. She had been due to play a match in Howth the day after she was shot. 

Speaking at the unveiling of the plaque on Fitzwilliam Quay, Ringsend, Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland said:  

‘Margaret Keogh was a young women who played an active part in the political, trade union, and sporting Dublin and her community. Only one of the many women who played a significant role in the struggle for Irish freedom, Margaret was one of the very few who paid the ultimate price. I congratulate the local community for proposing this plaque, and I’m honoured and delighted to unveil this Dublin City Council plaque on the street where Margaret Keogh lived.’