The Government of Ireland Act came into being on May 3 1921, resulting in a parliament for the six northern counties and devolved powers for the 26 counties.
Many of the business fraternity in the six counties were openly opposed to partition, nevertheless an election was set for May 24, with the Ulster Unionists, led by Sir James Craig on one side, and Sinn Féin president Éamon de Valera, on the other. While British Prime Minister David Lloyd George personally guaranteed the “freedom of election to the six counties parliament,” the reality was different.
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In Galway, seven candidates were selected for Connacht to contest the second Dáil, and a number of them were subjected to intimidation, in particular George Nicholls, a solicitor living on University Road. Nicholls was one of the first people to be arrested during Easter Week as head of the Galway branch of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
He suffered a severe beating on board the HMS Laburnum while being interrogated by Crown Forces. He was then sent to Frongoch where he was interned until 1917. Upon release he returned to Galway. While chair of the Galway City Council, his home and office were raided and many documents confiscated. This intimidation was ongoing and only added to his resolve.
The killings of Christopher Folan and Hugh Tully
Meanwhile in Galway, D Company Auxiliaries had received new information relating to the Galway IRA. The local men who joined the Black and Tans were proving extremely effective in gathering information and documenting the exact movements of persons of interest. The killing of Christopher Folan and Hugh Tully on May 11 highlights just how effective such quislings were in the “arsenal of Empire”.
By May 1921, James Folan was quartermaster of Galway IRA. He was arrested and sent to Galway Gaol in November 1920 for six months, charged, along with Thomas Connelly of Fairhill, Claddagh, of falsely detaining Bartley Stiffe and Patrick Durrane.
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On Folan’s charge sheet he is listed as a Sinn Féin policeman. However, in Thomas Hynes’ witness statement he claims Folan was stopped and searched - common in Galway at the time - and found to have a photo of the late Michael Walsh on his person. Although this is probably true, the former seems to be the main reason for his incarceration.
On Folan’s release, RIC Sergeant John O’Connell informed Thomas Hynes that Folan should not return to his house in Ó Donohue’s Terrace. Hynes seems to have conveyed this message to Folan who subsequently went on the run. When members of the Crown Forces called on the evening of May 11 and could not find Folan they shot and killed his brother Christopher and wounded another brother Joseph.
'When night came they went on an orgy of burning'
From Folan’s house the murder gang made its way to St Bridget’s Terrace, Woodquay, to the house where Hubert Tully was lodging. The owner of the house opened the door to the masked men who asked if Tully was at home. Tully, who was on his way downstairs at the time, identified himself. Without delay the masked men shot him dead. Tully worked in the goods stores in the railway station and was extremely useful to the IRA.
He knew exactly what was arriving for the soldiers and RIC as well as passing on special equipment such as weapons and grenades to the local IRA Quartermasters. He was a terrible loss to the local war effort. So who were the masked raiders?
Only a small section of Crown Forces were masked when carrying out such atrocities. The Auxiliaries and rank and file of the British Army, as well as the RIC, had no need to cover their identities. Therefore, the masked ones were possibly from the locality and most likely local ex-soldiers that joined as Black and Tans.
Events in An Spidéal
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In the early hours of May 14, the East Connemara IRA Brigade, with men from Moycullen, Barna, Furbo, and An Spidéal, under O/C Michael Ó Droighnain, attacked the RIC barracks in An Spidéal. At 4am, the men took up positions in and around the RIC barracks. The plan was to attack the RIC when they were stopping horses and carts delivering turf into Galway. As the RIC had been boycotted in the area this was the only way they could get turf.
'If anything happened to her husband, she would shoot and burn the town'
Three RIC men stepped close to the road to stop the cart that was coming through the village. The IRA opened fire. Two of the officers were wounded, but all three managed to take cover while the Barracks was sprayed with bullets. The order was given to withdraw. By midday two lorries had arrived from Galway carrying a mix of Crown Forces.
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Local people were taken hostage by the soldiers and placed on the lorries for fear of ambush. This practice was now being scrutinised in Westminster and was raised by then Liberal MP, father of future Labour activist Tony Benn, Captain Wedgwood Benn [pictured above], while debating with Sir Hamar Greenwood. Benn asked: “Has the policy of carrying hostages in defiance of the rules of war received the approval of Government?” Greenwood’s view of the situation was, “I cannot answer about cabinet approval...carrying hostages is a policy carried out in different parts of Ireland, and has been most effective.” Meanwhile in An Spidéal, the reprisals began.
Michael Ó Droighnain, in his witness statement, claimed: “When night came they went on an orgy of burning.” The houses of Eamonn Breathnach, Pádraic Costello, Pádraic Folan, and the Ó Droighnains, among others, were all attacked and burned.
Shootings at Gort
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The next day, May 15, at Ballyturin House near Gort, RIC District Inspector Cecil Blake, his wife Lily, along with Captain Cornwallis and Lieutenant McCreery of the 17th Lancers, and Margaret Gregory, widow of Major Robert Gregory, were spending the day with the Bagot family playing tennis. Blake and his wife Lily had no shortage of enemies in the area. Both were well used to using their revolvers to get their way and instil fear into the locals.
Mrs Blake stated one day while shopping that: “if anything happened to her husband, she would shoot and burn the town.” It would not take long for a plan to be drawn up to neutralise them. A combined force of IRA men from Clare and East Galway broke into groups and took up positions. Pat Houlihan and John Coen were at the Gatehouse. Tom Keely and Tom Cravan, an on-the-run from the Tuam area, were behind a wall which ran around the house and adjoining road. Dan Ryan, who was quartermaster, Pat Glynn, Michael Kelly, and Joseph Stanford were close to the main gate of Ballyturin House.
'Fortunately Lady Gregory managed to survive the attack by getting out of the car on the right side with her hands up'
Two scouts would keep watch and report back to the groups what was going on in and around the house. All passersby were stopped and brought into the gatehouse and kept there until the attack was over. The IRA were in position from 1.30pm. Finally, at 8pm, they heard the sound of a motor starting.
To slow the party down one gate was closed. The car stopped. The IRA ordered the party to put their “hands up” as women were in the car. Captain Cornwallis got out of the car and opened fire with his revolver.
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IRA man Joseph Stanford recalled: “Tom Keely saw Cornwallis and brought him down with his Winchester. Blake was in front of the car with him. Mrs Blake was in the back with Lieutenant McCreery and Lady Gregory...Cornwallis was the only one of the party to use his gun. Blake was dead inside the car, his much vaunted .45 in his pocket. McCreery was also dead inside the car beside Mrs Blake...Pat Houlihan sounded his whistle. The signal to cease fire...Fortunately Lady Gregory managed to survive the attack by getting out of the car on the right side with her hands up.”
The men quickly searched the bodies and a note was left warning against reprisals. Bagot’s daughter Mary dashed to Gort in a pony and trap to sound the alarm. Not long later RIC men arrived with Dr James Sandys. As they were checking the bodies it is believed that some of the RIC officers were firing randomly and Officer Kearney was hit by one of his own men. He would die of his wounds on May 21. The note left by the IRA did nothing to stop any reprisals as on May 16, nine houses were burnt, a curfew was imposed and all businesses in the area ordered to close.
A bomb in Tuam
The election on May 19 saw a resounding victory for Sinn Féin in the 26 counties with all 124 candidates returned to the second Dáil. In Galway, all seven Sinn Féin candidates were returned including George Nicholls. The election in the six counties would be held later on May 24.
As May drew to a close, Crown Forces searched an apartment belonging to St Jarlath's School in Tuam and some documents were confiscated. A bomb was thrown through the window of Mrs Guys Imperial Hotel causing some damage and the houses of Celia and Bridget Cullinane of Corofin and McHughs of Belclare were set ablaze.
Damien Quinn is a military historian specialising in Irishmen in the service of the British Crown Forces. He studied politics and history as an undergraduate, and gained a Masters of Literature in History from NUI Galway.
