Irish National Invincibles

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The Irish National Invincibles , commonly known as the Invincibles ("the invincibles", Irish na hInvincibles ), were a radical faction of the Irish Republican Brotherhood . The group of assassins was active in Dublin between late 1881 and 1883. Their stated aim was to drive all "tyrants" out of the country.

Phoenix Park murders

After numerous failed attacks, including on Viceroy Francis Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper , and the previous Chief Secretary for Ireland William Edward Forster, the group planned to kill the permanent Undersecretary of State Thomas Henry Burke. Newly appointed Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish was walking with Burke from Dublin Castle through Phoenix Park on the first day of his office when the assassination attempt took place on Saturday, May 6, 1882, at 5:30 p.m. Initially, Burke was killed by multiple stabs with scalpels . Lord Cavendish, who was not originally the target of the assassins, wanted to help Burke and was therefore also killed. This event came to be known as the Phoenix Park Murders .

The culprits were Joe Brady, who stabbed Burke, and Tim Kelly, who killed Cavendish. The British press called for the perpetrators to be caught quickly and punished.

After apparently no trace of the perpetrators had been found for a long time, 17 suspects were arrested on January 13, 1883, after several months of collecting informant reports. By pitting one suspect against the other, Superintendent John Mallon of the Dublin Metropolitan Police's G Division got a few to reveal what they knew. The leader of the Invincibles, James Carey, as well as Michael Kavanagh and Joe Hanlon agreed to testify against the others. On February 13, 1883, they testified in court under Judge William O'Brien as key witnesses . Joe Brady, Michael Fagan, Thomas Caffrey, Dan Curley and Tim Kelly were sentenced to death (the last one after an unusual third trial due to his youthful age of 19 and childlike appearance) and by executioner William Marwood at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin between the 14 May and 4 June 1883 hanged . Others were sentenced to long terms, including James Fitzharris (known as Skin-the-Goat ), the coachman of the getaway coach, and Patrick Delaney, the failed assassin of Judge Lawson.

However, no member of the founding board has ever been brought to justice by the UK government. John Walsh, Patrick Egan, John Sheridan, Frank Byrne, and Patrick Tynan were welcomed, if not solemnly, to the United States , where opposition to the murders was less severe.

aftermath

Carey was shot on board the ship Melrose Castle off Cape Town , South Africa , on July 29, 1883 by Invincibles member Patrick O'Donnell from Donegal, because he had incriminated his former comrades. O'Donnell was arrested and taken back to London , where he was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey . He was hanged in Newgate on December 17, 1883 .

Charles Stewart Parnell condemned the murders in a speech in 1882. This increased his already great popularity in both England and Ireland as a rather moderate reformer who does not approve of such methods.

However, Parnell's policy of alliance with Gladstone's Liberal Party in 1886 to allow self-government ( Home Rule ) for Ireland failed, mainly because of the Phoenix Park murders. Gladstone's minister, Lord Hartington, was the elder brother of the murdered Lord Frederick Cavendish. Saddened and angry at his untimely death, he broke up with Gladstone over the home rule issue. This led to the overthrow of the Gladstone government. Lord Hartington led the breakaway Liberal Unionist Association , which allied with Lord Salisbury's subsequent Conservative government. In the subsequent election of the lower house in 1886, they were victorious. This delayed the introduction of the Home Rule for 28 years until the third Irish Home Rule Bill in 1914, which, however, was also not implemented.

In March 1887, the Times published alleged letters from Parnell alleging that he expressed sympathy for the Invincibles and that his public condemnation of their actions was insincere. However, it turned out that the letters were forgeries by journalist Richard Pigott, the so-called Pigott forgeries . Parnell was rehabilitated by the Parnell Commission in 1888-89. Pigott committed suicide shortly after his forgeries became known.

Literary processing

In episode seven of James Joyce's novel Ulysses , Leopold Bloom and others discuss the murders in the offices of the Freeman newspaper.

The Invincibles and Carey are mentioned in the folksong Monto (Take Her Up To Monto) :

When Carey told on Skin-the-goat,
O'Donnell caught him on the boat
He wished he'd never been afloat, the filthy skite.
Twasn't very sensitive
To tell on the Invincibles
They stood up for their principles, day and night
And they all went up to Monto , Monto, Monto ...

When Carey betrayed Skin-the-goat,
O'Donnell caught him on the ship.
He wished he had never embarked, the filthy braggart.
It wasn't very smart
to betray The Invincibles
They stood for their principles, day and night
And they all went up to Monto , Monto, Monto ...

Individual evidence

  1. ^ JL McCracken: The Fate of an Infamous Informer . History Ireland, Dublin 2001, p. All.
  2. ↑ Senan Moloney: The Phoenix Murders: Conspiracy, Betrayal and Retribution . Mercier Press, Dublin 2006, ISBN 1-85635-511-X , p. 146 et passim.
  3. ↑ Senan Moloney: The Phoenix Murders: Conspiracy, Betrayal and Retribution . Mercier Press, Dublin 2006, ISBN 1-85635-511-X , p. 250 et passim.
  4. ↑ Lyons (1977), p. 209-211

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