Seán Treacy (IRA member)

Seán Treacy's memorial card

Seán Treacy ( Irish Seán Ó Treasaigh ; born August 14, 1895 in Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary , † October 14, 1920 in Dublin ) was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence . He was killed in a gun battle with British soldiers in Dublin.

Seán Treacy was a member of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the IRA, which initially consisted of him and three other officers, Dan Breen , Seán Hogan and Séamus Robinson .

youth

Seán Treacy's father died when he was a young child. The mother first moved in with her brother and later with her sister Maryanne Allis.

He learned the Irish language and attended classes in the Gaelic League . He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1911 . When the Irish Volunteers were founded in 1913, he joined them too. With the outbreak of World War I , the Irish Volunteers split into those who went to war alongside England against the promise of Home Rule after the war, and those who wanted to fight for independence in Ireland. Seán Treacy stayed in Ireland.

The 1916 Easter Rising was almost confined to Dublin. Seán Treacy continued to devote himself to the Republican cause in Tipperary. In the autumn of 1917 he was sentenced to several months in prison for disregarding the requirements of the police.

Start in Tipperary

At the beginning of 1919 the opportunity arose to ambush a transport of explosives. From an ambush, Treacy and seven other men attacked two police officers, James McDonnell and Patrick O'Connell of the Royal Irish Constabulary , who were escorting the material to a quarry. Both were fatally wounded. This ambush is believed to be the first incident in the Irish War of Independence . The raid happened to take place on January 21, 1919, the same day that the first meeting of the Parliament of the Irish Revolutionary Republic, which was not recognized by the British authorities , met in Dublin for the first time. This day is considered to be the beginning of the War of Independence.

From then on, the "Big Four," Treacy, Breen, Hogan and Robinson were on the run. They hid for the coming months, moved from house to house, stayed with sympathizers or slept in the open air.

Hogan was captured by the Royal Irish Constabulary in May 1919. His capture sparked a dramatic conflict of war. Treacy, Breen and Robinson, supported by men from the East Limerick Brigade of the IRA, freed the handcuffed Seán Hogan at gunpoint from a heavily guarded train led by four Royal Irish Constabulary officers at Knocklong Station on May 13, 1919 County Limerick . Hogan would certainly have been executed had he not been freed. Two Royal Irish constabularies were killed in the liberation of Hogan. Breen and Treacy were seriously wounded.

After the fight, Treacy and Breen traveled to Dublin and met Michael Collins there . When Tipperary finally became "too hot" for them and Dublin at the center of the war, they joined the "The Twelve Apostles" command unit founded by Michael Collins for counter-espionage, later also known as the Dublin Guard.

In the summer of 1920 they returned to Tipperary for some time and organized raids on RIC barracks before going back to Dublin.

death

On October 11, 1920, Treacy and Breen were tracked down by police officers in a house in Drumcondra, Dublin. They shot their way free. Dan Breen was seriously injured. With the help of sympathizers, he was brought to the Dublin Mater Hospital. Treacy was only slightly wounded.

On October 14, Seán Treacy met with fellow IRA officers at the Republican Outfitters store on Dublin's Talbot Street. After the meeting he stayed there for a while. When he realized he was being watched, he tried to escape on the bike he had come on. But he grabbed another one that was too big for him and therefore fell over. In the following exchange of fire, he killed two British soldiers before he himself was shot.

The coffin containing the remains was taken to Tipperary by train. The funeral took place on October 18th. Shops and banks in Tipperary were closed. Seán Treacy was buried in the Kilfeacle cemetery.

References

1. ↑ SEAN TREACY and the THIRD TIPPERARY BRIGADE IRA Desmond Ryan The Kerryman Ltd. Tralee 1945. All information.