Chris Lawlor

DUNLAVIN – Chris Lawlor

The War of Independence in and around Dunlavin: July 1920 to July 1921

The local elections of June 1920 were the first to use the proportional representation system of voting, and in Wicklow they returned an overwhelmingly republican chamber of Sinn Féin and Labour councillors. The first meeting of the council was held on 18 June, and the newly elected Councillor Christopher M. Byrne (1880–1958), who was on the run from the authorities, was briefly present. Robert Barton TD was unanimously elected chairman of the council. Barton had escaped from Mountjoy Jail on the night of 16-17 March 1919, but was recaptured in January 1920 and tried by court martial. At the time of this meeting, he was incarcerated in Portland prison in Dorset. Joseph Campbell was elected as vice-chairman and became the acting chairman in Barton’s absence.

Baltinglass pledges allegiance to Dáil Éireann

The monthly meeting of Baltinglass Number One District Council was held in Dunlavin on Tuesday, 13 July 1920. This was the first time a council meeting was held in Dunlavin, and ‘a Sinn Féin flag was unfurled in the courthouse during the proceedings’.1 Chairman John J. Cunningham presided over the attendance of James Byrne, J. Murphy, John J. Carroll, Denis Fay, John Kelly, A. J. Metcalfe, J. Hayden, J. R. Dagg (clerk) and P. J. Foley (engineer). Among the items of local governance discussed at the meeting were cottage rents, the building scheme for labourers’ cottages, estimates for the repairs of existing cottages, maintenance of the pumps in Dunlavin, payment of expenses pertaining to the Allotment Order, inspection and repair of the Hollywood sewer and work on the roads in the Glen of Imaal. However, some other items discussed had a decidedly more political flavour. At the time, both the British parliament and the fledgling Dáil claimed to be the rightful government of Ireland. There was no ambivalence in the council on the matter. The following resolution, proposed by John J. Cunningham and seconded by James Byrne, was passed

unanimously: ‘That this council of the elected representatives of Baltinglass No. 1 Rural District Council hereby pledge our allegiance to Dáil Éireann, the legitimately elected and constituted parliament of the Irish Republic …’ It was agreed to send copies of the full resolution to the republican Minister for Foreign Affairs for ‘transmission to the governments of Europe and to the President and Chairman of both the Senate and House of Representatives in the USA’. The forces of law and order were also contested between Westminster and the Dáil and two legal systems were vying for control. In light of this, and to support the Sinn Féin courts, the clerk J. R. Dagg, who was a Justice of the Peace, was called upon by the council ‘to resign his J.P.ship’. This motion was proposed by J. Hayden and seconded by John J. Carroll. Three financial claims

Sinn Féin election handbill for Robert Barton (West Wicklow candidate in 1918). By kind permission of theNational Library of Ireland

in relation to the burning of Blessington police barracks were also submitted, along with an expenses claim from the engineer, P. J. Foley, for measuring the distance between Hacketstown and Rathvilly police barracks. The council decided to ignore all these claims.

Support for Jim Larkin and Robert Barton

Another resolution passed at the meeting related to James Larkin, the workers’ leader during the 1913 Dublin lockout, who had since gone to America and was imprisoned there for labour activities.2 This resolution, proposed by Denis Fay and seconded by John J. Carroll, read:

That we, the members of the Baltinglass No 1 District Council, demand the release of James Larkin, who is at present undergoing a sentence of between five to ten years in Sing Sing prison in America, and that he be allowed to return to Ireland to take up his duties as General Secretary of the I T G W U That copies of this resolution be sent to the American Consul, Dublin, the Republican Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Larkin Release Committee.

The last train to Tullow at Colbinstown, 27 January 1947. Photo: The collection of the late Jack Thomas.

A third resolution concerned Robert Barton, the TD for west Wicklow. Proposer John J. Cunningham and seconder Denis Fay had no trouble in getting support for it: ‘That this council demand the release of our worthy representative, Mr. R. C. Barton T. D., and request the [IRA] Volunteers to hold Brigadier General Lucas as a hostage until Mr. Barton is set free’.3

Outside of the council chamber, the republican message was relayed at west Wicklow gatherings, which Dunlavin people would have attended, such as the aeridheacht (open-air gaelic festival) in Blessington in August (at which the Dunlavin Fife and Drum band played, and which was addressed by TDs Donal Buckley [Ó Buachalla], Art O’Connor and Roger Sweetman),4 the aeridheacht in Donard in September (which was addressed by Countess Marckievicz, among others),5 and at local GAA gatherings, which were also addressed by members of the Dáil.6

IRA activity

The local IRA was also active in the Dunlavin region during 1920. A number of Volunteers, including Richard Keating of Usk, Dunlavin, and James Kenna of Milltown, Dunlavin, were involved in a variety of activities, including Belfast boycott raids,7 the destruction of RIC barracks, a mail raid at Colbinstown station, the capture of maps and magazines from the RIC, burning income tax books, collecting arms, assisting in a mail raid in Kildare Town, an arms raid on Ballysax rectory, carrying out armed police duty at republican courts martial (including those of prisoners named Hanley for cattle stealing and Kelly and Holt for cycle theft), continuous road blocking and trenching, and ongoing intelligence and despatch duty.8 The mail raid at Colbinstown station took place on the morning of Wednesday 18 August. When the goods train travelling from Sallins to Tullow arrived at Colbinstown station, it was held up by a party of armed men, who took the mail bags for Grangecon, Baltinglass and Tullow. 9

In September 1920, the Baltinglass Number One District Council received malicious injury claims from Miss Tynte of Tynte Park House (for the destruction of a shed), Thomas Molyneaux (for firearm loss) and W. C. Merrey, the clerk of the petty sessions (for the loss of official books, forms, etc.). The council took no action.10 Molyneux also resorted to the official court system to seek compensation. His claim was heard by the judge at Baltinglass quarter sessions (held in Bray) in October. Molyneux’s solicitor argued that the offence fell under the heading of ‘riotous assembly by three or more persons with the object of causing terror’. Molyneux and his family were at prayers, the court was told, when armed men burst into his house and made off with a shotgun and a rifle. The judge dismissed the case, ruling that he could not allow such a claim because, if he did so, he ‘did not know where it would end’.11 Intimidation against the RIC also continued apace, and was successful enough to force resignations.

In September 1920, Baltinglass Number One District Council read and approved a communication from the Dáil recommending that every effort should be made to find work for these former constables.12 Threats against the RIC were also extended to those who worked with them, and in the same month Dunlavin doctor Edward Lyons responded to the council’s requests that he resign his magistracy and cease medical attendance on local RIC members. Lyons complied with the first request, but refused the second, stating in correspondence that he must claim privilege … his mission in life was to attend the sick of the district … in all countries the priest and the doctor are left free to carry out their duties … the prevention of infectious diseases is important … not long ago such a case occurred in Dunlavin barrack [and] by seeing the sick man early he stamped out the infection Had he not been free to act there would have been an epidemic of scarlatina in the town There is the possibility [now] of an epidemic of smallpox a rapidly spreading disease which, if not got hold of immediately, would spread all over the country

13

Lyons’s plea seems to have been successful as there is no record of any action being taken against him.

Ongoing disruption in west Wicklow

Council minutes record the ongoing impact of the War of Independence on life in Dunlavin during the period from October to December 1920. The Baltinglass Number One District Council again met in the village in October, this time in the Foresters’ Hall. The dangerous condition of burned-out Tynte Park, Dunlavin. buildings, including Baltinglass courthouse, and Photo: Irish Independent three malicious injury claims for arson, as well as one for damage caused by rifle fire, were among the items discussed. In all these cases, the alleged perpetrators were the Black and Tans. Other damages claims presented at the meeting included the cutting down of trees at Donard ‘during the raidings’ and the loss of furniture at Blessington RIC barracks; the order of the council was that these claims be ignored.14 Sporadic violence continued in the vicinity of Dunlavin throughout the back end of the year. The police report of August 1920 noted that ‘Dunlavin was in

John Lawlor and his wife Bessie (née Lambert). Photo: Author’s collection. a worse state of unrest than most of the country’.15 In December, when Sergeant Brophy, who had been stationed in Wicklow Town, was transferred to Dunlavin RIC station, it is probable that he was more than a little anxious.16 On 2 February 1921, the RIC in Dunlavin was shaken by the involvement of two of their temporary constables (Black and Tans) in the murder of Robert Dixon, Justice of the Peace, at Milltown. The case was labelled ‘The Dunlavin Tragedy’ and made headlines in the national press. Constable Arthur Hardie committed suicide the following day, and Constable William Mitchell was subsequently tried and executed for the crime.17 It has been suggested that the case soured ‘the relationship the R.I.C. had built up with unionists and the farming community’.18 It certainly made for uncomfortable headlines for the British authorities at a time when the war in Ireland and the conduct of the Black and Tans was coming under increasing international scrutiny.

The IRA remained active in and around Dunlavin in the first half of 1921. It was involved in disrupting communications and road trenching around Dunlavin,19 intelligence and despatch work, policing under arms and carrying out raids for goods included in the Belfast boycott. It also attacked Dunlavin RIC barracks and conducted a mail raid on Harristown railway station. Volunteers involved in these actions included, among others, Christopher O’Toole of Spratstown and Thomas Flood of Ballinure.20 Nine Volunteers ambushed and captured an army supply lorry en route to the army camp in the Glen of Imaal at Tynte Park, Dunlavin. The Volunteers exchanged fire with the three soldiers on board. Two soldiers were captured, their uniforms burned and their weapons taken—two rifles and a revolver. About twenty Volunteers ambushed a six-man RIC patrol at Colbinstown, wounding two policemen. The local IRA were joined by Volunteers from other units for the Colbinstown ambush, and they in turn aided another company in an attack on Baltinglass RIC barracks. Five local Volunteers also ambushed and captured a despatch rider, his revolver and his motorbike.21 In addition, John White of Rottenhill, Rathsallagh, had his motor car damaged by ‘persons unknown acting

Prisoner huts for Company A at Rath Camp, the Curragh, Kildare 1921. Photograph taken with smuggled camera by IRA prisoner Joseph Lawless. Courtesy of the National Museum of Ireland Three internees at Rath Camp. Photo by Joseph Lawless , 1921. Courtesy of the National Museum of Ireland

in a seditious and unlawful conspiracy’.22 In May, Alf Metcalfe of Crehelp was among the fourteen Volunteers who attacked Hollywood RIC barracks,23 and shots were fired at Dunlavin police barracks on Wednesday 8 June. The RIC returned fire and suffered no casualties.24 The Dunlavin attack may have been prompted by the arrest of local IRA Volunteer John Lawlor two days earlier.25

Truce

On 11 July, when news of a truce and a cessation of hostilities broke on a largely unsuspecting public, A Company (Dunlavin), 6th Battalion, Carlow Brigade had fifty-six active officers and men, and the following members interned at the Curragh: Captains Laurence O’Toole (Spratstown) and Joseph Deering (Milltown) and Volunteers John Lawlor and Joseph Grennan (Dunlavin), John Smyth (Grangebeg) and Henry ‘Hal’ English (Fryanstown)26 were interned in the Rath Camp;27 P. Lawlor (brother of John) of Dunlavin, was interned in Hare Park Camp.28 The fate of internees such as these was only one issue that would have to be addressed in the long and uncertain negotiations that lay ahead. The truce had come into force, but the consequences of the terrible divisions that it would cause were as yet unknown.

Notes

1 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 17 Jul 1920. 2 Manus O’Riordan, ‘Larkin in America: the road to Sing Sing’ in Donal Nevin (ed), James Larkin: lion of the fold (Dublin, 1998), 71. 3 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 17 Jul 1920. 4 Leinster Leader, 24 Jul 1920. 5 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 18 Sep 1920. 6 Leinster Leader, 4 and 11 Sep 1920. 7 The Belfast boycott (of goods which originated in the North) was approved by the Dáil in

August 1920 in response to developments there, including the eruption of violence, the proposal to establish a special constabulary and the threat of partition becoming enshrined in the Government of Ireland Act (which was eventually passed in December 1920). 8 I.M.A., I.R.A. brigade activity reports, MSPC/A67, ff 76-9. 9 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 21 Aug 1920. 10 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 18 Sep 1920. 11 Leinster Leader, 16 Oct 1920. 12 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 18 Sep 1920. 13 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 18 Sep 1920 14 Nationalist and Leinster Times, 16 Oct 1920. 15 The August police report is quoted in Kevin Cullen, ‘The R.I.C. and the I.R.A. in Wicklow’s War of Independence’ in Journal of the West Wicklow Historical Society, vii (Naas, 2013), 68.

The report also stated that Baltinglass was ‘in a state of terror’. 16 Wicklow News-Letter, 11 Dec 1920. 17 For a brief account of the Milltown murder case, see Chris Lawlor, The little book of Wicklow (Dublin, 2014), 90–102. The case is the subject of a separate essay (entitled ‘The Dunlavin

Tragedy’) in this publication. 18 Kevin Cullen, ‘The R.I.C. and the I.R.A. in Wicklow’s War of Independence’, 70. 19 Leinster Leader, 12 Mar 1921. 20 I.M.A., I.R.A. brigade activity reports, MSPC/A67, ff 28–9 and 74. 21 I.M.A., I.R.A. brigade activity reports, MSPC/A67, ff 78 and 84. 22 Leinster Leader, 5 Mar 1921. 23 I.M.A., I.R.A. brigade activity reports, MSPC/A62, f. 15 (paginated as 12). 24 Leinster Leader, 11 Jun 1921. 25 National Archive, Kew, London, Prosecution of John Lawlor; believed leader of IRA; 6th June, 1921; Dunlavin, County Wicklow; to be recommended for internment; released 9th December, 1921, WO35/125/64 [C693683], f. 1. 26 I.M.A., I.R.A. nominal rolls, MSPC/RO/560, ff 16–7. 27 James Durney, Interned: the Curragh internment camps in the War of Independence (Cork, 2019), 246 and 272. Thomas (rather than John) Smyth of Grangebeg is listed in this work. 28 James Durney, 226.