The Sacking Of Thurles Co Tipperary & Fr Ted

Today, Thurles, Co Tipperary is a quiet, historic, picturesque, busy rural town, situated on the edge of the Golden Vale, latter the richest agricultural farmland in Europe. However on the night of January 20th, 1920, nothing could have been further from the present situation.

Tipperary, under English rule during this period, was fast becoming even more politically rebellious. On Tuesday January 21st, 1919 two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C,), namely Constable James McDonnell aged 56 and Constable Patrick O’Connell aged 36, were both shot dead when ambushed by a group of armed men at Soloheadbeg, some three miles from Tipperary town. The two R.I.C. men had been placed in charge of escorting and guarding a cart containing 160 lbs of gelignite and thirty electric detonators, together with two civilians, Patrick Flynn latter a Tipperary County Council employee and their horse drawn cart driver, one Edward Godfrey. A short distance from the quarry at Soloheadbeg they were halted by a group of armed masked men and the two armed police officers murdered. The shots fired here were the first retorts marking the beginning of war for independence against the then British establishment.

On Monday the 23rd of June 1919 District R.I.C. Inspector Michael Hunt, aged 46, was shot dead in Market Square, (Now Liberty Square) Thurles, County Tipperary. Hunt was hit twice by large calibre, blunt nosed revolver bullets, latter which travelled diagonally through his torso, resulting in instant death. First cousins Jim and Tommy Stapleton from Finnahy, Upperchurch, and Jim Murphy (Latter known as “The Jennett”) from Curreeney, Kilcommon, would be later named as responsible for his killing, in a statement made by James Leahy, Commandant No.2 Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) (Mid) Tipp-Brigade.

On the 2nd of September 1919, a 48 year old R.I.C. Sergeant, Philip Brady, was shot dead in an ambush between the villages of Carrigahorig and Lorrha, County Tipperary. Sergeant Brady was killed outright and another Constable named Foley travelling with him, was badly wounded. Sergeant Brady belonged to the County Fermanagh R.I.C.Force and had only arrived in Lorrha to take up duties on the previous Friday.

Pictured above: (Left) Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co Tipperary around the year 1920. (Centre) Constable Luke Finnegan with sisters Mary and Bridget. (Right) Constable Luke Finnegan’s now forgotten headstone.

On the night of January 20th, 1920 at about 10.00pm to 10.15pm, Constable Luke Finnegan was shot dead as he walked from the R.I.C. barracks in Market Square, Thurles to his home on The Mall a short distance away. Approaching his front door he was fired on by four men.  They had been standing some 10-15 yards from his front door, close to a street lamp which had been conveniently extinguished. His killers would be later named in a statement to the Bureau of Military History (Document No. W.S. 1454.) by Tubberadora Co. Tipperary born James Leahy, (Formerly, Commandant No. 2 (Mid) Tipp-Brigade) as Jerry Ryan, Mick Small and John McCarthy (Coorty) and the former James Leahy, himself.

Leahy in his statement claims: “On the night of 20th January 1921, Jerry Ryan, Mick Small and John McCarthy (Coorty) and myself, all armed with revolvers, watched for Constable Finnegan in the vicinity of his own home in the Mall. He was returning from the barracks at about 10 o’clock and was about 10 yards from his house when we fired at him. He was badly wounded and died the following morning.” (Here Leahy’s statement is incorrect: Constable Finnegan was pronounced dead on January 22nd, two days later.)

Shot in the stomach, the Constable staggered some steps to his front door calling his wife and stating “Mary, I’m shot!”  Mary’s own screams could soon be heard by neighbours throughout the street. Collapsed now at his door, some neighbours rushed to assist. The Constable again uttered the words “Mary, I am done for, what will you and the babies do?”

Word of this shooting was quickly conveyed to the Thurles R.I.C. barracks and a section of the military known as the Sherwood Foresters, (Latter regimental name was based on the fact that they hailed from Nottingham and Derbyshire, England.) together with members of the local R.I.C.constabulary, appeared on the streets, armed with rifles. The R.I.C. and military now ran amok in Thurles town. They fired shots at random and went through the streets discharging shots through the doors and windows of the houses and business places of known Sinn Féin supporters. Windows in the nearby Sinn Féin Hall were also smashed and Crown Forces also fired a number of volleys down the Mall. No one was reported as injured although the disturbances lasted several hours.

This action would become now assigned to the history books as “The Sacking of Thurles”.

One of the houses targeted by the RIC that night was opposite the Ursuline Convent on Cathedral Street, then home to Denis Morgan (Irish: Donnchadh O’Muireagain). On January 15th, 1920, Denis, a known member of Sinn Féin and then a teacher of Irish and Mathematics at Thurles CBS, had been elected Chairman of Thurles Urban District Council. Watched in horror by some of the Ursuline Nuns awoken by the disturbance on Cathedral Street, the rented abode of Denis was attacked. Denis was forced to lay spread on the stone basement floor, together with his heavily pregnant wife Margaret and his five year old son Seamus, while R.I.C. bullets blazed through his windows, showering plaster and glass splinters all around. (This same Denis Morgan of course today would be best known as the grandfather of the late Dermot Morgan of  “Fr Ted” Channel 4 sitcom fame.)

Constable Finnegan was taken to Dr Steevens Hospital, one of Ireland’s most distinguished eighteenth-century medical establishments in Dublin. In an attempt to save his life, the then latest and newest concept of transfusing blood was attempted, the donor one Constable Patrick McGirr. However same was to no avail, and Constable Finnegan died of his wounds two days later.

Constable Finnegan’s body was taken by train, first to Ballinlough in Co. Roscommon were it was met by Patrick Kelly, himself an ex R.I.C. Sergeant. His body then travelled to nearby Williamstown in Co. Galway, accompanied by a Funeral Party representing officers from R.I.C. Dunmore barracks, before being buried on January 29th, 1920. Today his headstone reads; “Oh Holy Cross Under the Shadow I Will Rest. Of Your Charity Pray for the Soul of Luke Finnegan (of Gorthduff) Who died January 22nd 1920, Aged 32 Years.”

In his statement to the Bureau of Military History, Commandant James Leahy states; “Constable Finnegan, called on me at O’Connell’s (Mixey’s) and told me that they knew in the barracks which of the Thurles Volunteers were out that night and that these men would be rounded up in a few days. This Constable Finnegan knew everyone in Thurles well as he was the policeman who dealt with the Sugar Ration Cards during the First Great War. For some time previous to his visit to me, he had shown himself to be very hostile to the Republican Movement and was known to us, to have been busy making inquiries concerning the activities of members of the I.R.A in the town. After Finnegan’s conversation with me, I had a chat with another of his colleagues, Sergeant Hurley, who was friendly towards the I.R.A. and from time to time gave valuable information to us. The sergeant told me that Finnegan was compiling a list of men whom he suspected of being involved in the recent attacks on the R.I.C. barracks (Holycross). I decided it was time to put Constable Finnegan out of action.”

Up until this latter killing, the R.I.C. had endured assaults and attacks on their membership, countrywide. This night would now be the first time in Irish history that a police force would retaliate in frustrated anger at the killing of one of their officers, but same event would now also set a pattern of unofficial reprisals, which would be mirrored elsewhere in the country, as R.I.C. officers continued to be killed.

In the words of the now deceased Seán Moylan, latter Commandant of the Irish Republican Army, a member of Sinn Féin and later a Fianna Fáil politician, speaking about R.I.C. officers, stated; “They were of the people, intermarried among the people. They were generally men of exemplary lives and of a high level of intelligence. They did their often times unpleasant duty without rancour and often times with a maximum of tact.”

Maybe now is the right time to remember all those who lost their lives tragically, on all sides, during this dark period of Irish conflict.