 
## Guide to the Military Service (1916–1923) Pensions Collection

©2012

Published by: Óglaigh na hÉireann.

Photographic reproductions:

Military Archives (IE/MA)

National Museum of Ireland (NMI).

The right of Defence Forces, Ireland to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright & Related Rights Act, 2000. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is distributed for your personal enjoyment. This ebook may not be re-sold but may be distributed freely.

Irish prisoners being escorted to the North Wall. 1916.

Reference: EW31.

Cover of Irish Citizen Army Member's Card 1917–1918, for Joseph Francis Doyle, and constitution.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/24SP5338 — Joseph Francis Doyle.

Weekly pass issued to Sergeant Major John Redmond, Canteen Board, Dublin Guards for Beggars Bush barracks, Dublin.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/24SP3066 — John Redmond.

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## Table of Contents

1. Foreword by Minister for Defence, Alan Shatter, TD

2. Military Service (1916–1923) Pensions Collection: Introduction

Catriona Crowe, Head of Special Projects, National Archives of Ireland

3. Origins, Scope and Content of the Collection

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

4. Guide to Medals

Patrick Blackwell, Veterans' Administration Section, Department of Defence

5. Short Guide to Relevant Legislation, 1923–1980

Patrick Blackwell, Veterans' Administration Section, Department of Defence

6. A Brief Description of the Military Bodies Constituting 'the Forces' as Applicable to the Military Service Pensions Collection

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

7. 'Active Service': Changing Definitions

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

8. Biographies of Boards of Assessors, Referees and Members of Advisory Committees

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

9. Academic Advisory Committee Essays

The Irish War of Independence: Context and Meaning

Charles Townshend, Professor of International History at Keele University

' **Always in danger of finding myself with nothing at all': the Mi** litary Service Pension and the Battle for Material Survival, 1925–1955

Diarmaid Ferriter, Professor of Modern Irish History, University College Dublin

The Military Service Pensions Project and Irish History: A Personal Perspective

Eunan O'Halpin, Professor of Contemporary Irish History, Trinity College, Dublin

10. Project Methodology

Cecile Chemin, Project Archivist

11. Appendices

Appendix i: Applicants Awarded Military Service Pensions at the Highest Grade

Appendix ii: MSPC Administration/Supporting Files Released Online

Appendix iii: File Designations and Descriptions

Appendix iv: Calculation of Military Service

Appendix v: Department of Defence: Early Organisation

Appendix vi: Rules for Determining the Grades of Rank in the Forces

Signed handwritten letter from Maud Gonne MacBride enclosing her application form for an award under the Army Pensions Act, 1932 in respect of her husband John MacBride executed on 5 May, 1916 by order of British Army Court-martial following the 1916 Easter Rising.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/DP6639 — John MacBride.

## Foreword

Minister for Defence, Alan Shatter, TD

The Military Service Pensions Collection is the single most important archival collection relating to Ireland's revolutionary period, comprising hundreds of thousands of individual accounts of the activities of nationalists from 1916 to 1923. The collection records the personal commitment and sacrifice by those men and women who shouldered the task of gaining independence for this country. This release provides a window into every parish and townland in this country and the activities undertaken by ordinary people pursuing the ambition of nationhood. The release of these records to researchers will transform the scholarship of the period, and provide Irish people at home and abroad with fascinating and copious information about their ancestors who played a part in the establishment of independent Ireland.

The collection is also a testament to the diligence of public officials in the early years of this State who undertook the huge challenge of collating and verifying these records. We are indebted to their foresight in preserving and maintaining these records, a tradition which continues to this day due to the diligence of a number of Departmental officials and the staff of the Military Archives. All these deserve our thanks for preserving such a cornucopia of detailed information about one of the most important periods in Irish history.

The Project is overseen by a steering committee comprising representatives of the Department of the Taoiseach, the Defence Forces, the Military Archives, the National Archives of Ireland, and my own Department. The Manager and staff of the Project have conserved, processed, databased and scanned a number of the files, largely dealing with 1916, and also gathered an impressive array of administrative and contextual material which underpins and illuminates the files themselves and the structures which governed the awards of pensions. Their archival methodology has been impeccable, protecting the often fragile records for the future, providing a detailed catalogue to the highest archival standards, and creating a website which will showcase the most important records in the collection.

This Guide has been prepared to give detailed guidance on the origins, scope and content of the records, the legislative framework within which they were created, the processes which led to grant or refusal of pensions, and the methodology underpinning their archival management. It also contains three essays on the collection by the three eminent historians who comprise the Project's Advisory Board, Professors Diarmaid Ferriter, Eunan O'Halpin and Charles Townshend. They are at one in their appreciation of the huge importance of this collection for historical scholarship of the period. Professor O'Halpin describes the release of the collection as "a groundbreaking initiative" which will "transform our understanding of Ireland's revolutionary years and of the activists caught up in them."

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## Military Service (1916–1923) Pensions Collection

##  Introduction

Catriona Crowe

Head of Special Projects, National Archives of Ireland

Member of MSPP Steering Committee

In John McGahern's masterpiece, _Amongst Women_ , the protagonist, Michael Moran, a veteran of the War of Independence, is reminiscing about their exploits with his old comrade-in-arms, Jimmy McQuaid. After reliving various ambushes, McQuaid says:

'I'd take that pension, Michael. You earned it. Take what they'll give you. Never question the colour of money'. The talk turned to easier waters as they drank tea.

'I've got on without it long enough. Why should I take it from them now?' It was plain from the blustering way he spoke that he wasn't so sure.

'It never did me no harm. There were times when I was starting in at the cattle that it stood between me and the road. It doesn't make much difference now but a hell of a sight of worse things come through the letterbox at the end of every month.'

Moran, a complicated man who is filled with many resentments, decides against applying for the pension. His ambiguity about the pension mirrors many other ambiguities in his character. But on the evidence of the massive numbers of applications for pensions for service during the period 1916–1923, all gathered in the Military Service Pensions Files Collection, he was unusual for his time.

The Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) is one of the last and largest pieces of the archival jigsaw relating to Ireland's revolutionary period. Numbering almost 300,000 applications files and supporting documentation, the collection provides an unparalleled and detailed picture of Irish Volunteer, Irish Republican Army, National Army and anti-treaty forces' activities throughout the period from the 1916 Rising to the end of the civil war in 1923.

This Guide describes the peregrinations of the collection throughout its existence to date, with many perilous moments when it might have succumbed to damp, vandalism, infestation or bureaucratic destruction. Its survival, due to dedicated public servants who made it their business to ensure it, means that public understanding and academic scholarship of this most important period in our evolution as a state will be greatly enhanced.

The Military Service Pensions Project began with an announcement by the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD, during the 1916 commemoration events in 2006, that access would be granted to the collection. A Steering Committee, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and comprising representatives from that department, the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces, the National Archives and the Military Archives was established to oversee the project, and a team of four archivists recruited by the Department of Defence. An Academic Advisory Board was established, comprising Professor Diarmaid Ferriter of UCD, Professor Eunan O'Halpin of TCD, and Professor Charles Townshend of Keele University.

The Project team, under Manager Patrick Brennan, with Archivists Cecile Chemin, Michael Keane and Patrick Long, faced into the formidable task of getting to grips with a large and complex collection based on many different pieces of legislation, and organising their material in the most lucid way. They chose an archival collection management and cataloguing system, AdLib, customised it to suit the needs of the project, and acquainted themselves with up-to-date conservation and scanning practices so as to provide optimum physical protection to the files in their care.

The results of their labours to date can be seen on the wonderful dedicated website which contains the first release from this very important collection, mainly dealing with 1916 personalities and survivors, but also containing crucial supporting documentation which will help the user to understand the pensions files in context, as it is hoped this Guide will also. Not everything will be able to be released online into the future, but there will be appropriate facilities for readers to view the files as they come, in phased tranches, into the public domain in the years leading up to 2016.

Many people deserve thanks for their input to the Project: John Kennedy, Neil Carron and Jerry Kelleher of the Department of the Taoiseach; Brigitta O'Doherty and Paul Connick of the Department of Defence, both assiduous in their support for the Project; Lieutenant Colonel Sean Hynes, Brigadier General Tom Behan, Colonel Derry Fitzgerald and Lieutenant Colonel Tom Aherne of the Defence Forces; Commandant Victor Laing and Captain Stephen MacEoin of the Military Archives; and Patrick Blackwell of the Department of Defence, all of whom have been, or continue to be members of the Steering Committee.

The Academic Advisory Committee, Professors Diarmaid Ferriter, Eunan O'Halpin and Charles Townshend have been extremely helpful in giving their assessments of the value of the material, and have each contributed fascinating pieces to this Guide, outlining the different facets of the collection.

The following also deserve our thanks: Maurice Quinn and Ciaran Murphy, Assistant Secretaries, Department of Defence; Orla McCartney, Pauline Swords and Eilis McCarthy for their voluntary professional archival assistance; Aidan Reilly, Thomas Brace and Katherine Kate Keane for their individual contributions; John and Mary Clare O'Malley for their research and writing; Commandants Les Boyle and Ciaran Motherway and the staff of IT Operations Section of Defence Forces HQ CIS Company and of 2nd Field CIS Company for their continued technical assistance; Zöe Reid of the National Archives for advice on conservation; the Barracks Foreman of Works and his staff at Cathal Brugha barracks; the successive Officers Commanding 2nd Infantry Battalion and Battalion Sergeant Major Andrew Murphy for help at various times; Sergeant Danny O'Neill; and Alan Manning, formerly of the Military Archives, for his invaluable early assistance to the project. Thanks are also due to Ger Garland, who designed the Guide, and to Commandant David O'Neill and Corporal Andrew O'Neill of Defence Forces Printing Press, who printed it.

Most of all, however, thanks are due to the Project team. Pat Brennan has lived and breathed this material since the beginning and at this stage he probably knows more about the collection than any other living human being, The commitment, dedication, incredible hard work and professional expertise of the team has made it possible to arrive at where we now are: the first release of an extraordinarily important collection of documents, which will have far-reaching effects on our understanding of the period which led to the foundation of Ireland as an independent state.

The first online release of the collection can be accessed at www.militaryarchives.ie

Group of 27 members of 1st Dáil Éireann taken outside the Mansion House, January 1919.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0862.

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## Origins, Scope and Content of the Collection

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

Introduction

The decision to afford public access to the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) was announced in 2006 by the then Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, TD, in the context of the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Following on from this decision the Military Service Pensions Project was established: a Steering Committee, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and comprising representatives from that Department, the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces, the National Archives of Ireland and the Military Archives was established to oversee the project, and a team of four archivists recruited by the Department of Defence. An Academic Advisory Board was established, comprising Professor Diarmaid Ferriter of UCD, Professor Eunan O'Halpin of TCD, and Professor Charles Townshend of Keele University.

Initial surveying, assessment, consolidation and gathering of material from the offices of the Department and the Military Archives revealed a complex and extensive collection of files and records. It was apparent that the material gathered dealt directly with the events, the participants and veterans of the independence movement from April and May, 1916 through to the War of Independence and the civil war. The collection comprises 270,000 to 300,000 files, and is now housed at Cathal Brugha barracks in Rathmines, Dublin 6.

The Steering Committee decided that the material should be released in phases leading up to 2016, the first release to deal mainly with participants in the 1916 Rising, some leading figures in the Independence movement and selected files and material to place the collection in an overall context.

The MSPC comprises a large and varied corpus of archival material and records. It should be noted that while the material in the MSPC is broadly outlined here, the first release is just a fraction of what will follow in the period leading up to 2016.

Origins of the Collection

The Military Service Pensions Collection owes its origins to the decision of the Oireachtas of Saorstát Éireann in June 1923 to recognize and compensate wounded members, and the widows, children and dependents of deceased members, of Óglaigh na hÉireann, including the National Forces, the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Republican Army and the Irish Citizen Army through the payment of allowances and gratuities. Over time, provision was enhanced and broadened to include members of the Hibernian Rifles, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Éireann and certain members of the Connaught Rangers. Legislation was introduced, commencing in 1924 and continuing in 1934 and 1949, to recognize the service of veterans from Easter week, 1916 through to 30 September, 1923, who were proven to have had 'active service' during the week commencing 23 April, 1916, and in the War of Independence and the civil war, through the payment of service pensions.

Two streams of legislation are relevant to the material in the collection:

• the Army Pensions Acts from 1923 to 1953;

• the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924, 1934 and 1949.

The Acts are examined in some detail later, but in summary, the Army Pensions Acts dealt with wounded participants and deceased participants' dependents, and the Military Service Pensions Acts dealt with surviving participants who could prove active service.

These various pieces of legislation generated applications from those considering themselves eligible for gratuities, allowances or pensions. Applicants were assessed by the Department of Defence, statutory bodies such as the Army Pensions Board, a Board of Assessors or the Referee and Advisory Committee as established under relevant legislation, and were deemed successful or not. The following pages provide a breakdown of the content and numbers of files created as a result of these processes.

Supporting material was gathered by the Department, the Assessors and Advisory Committee in the course of their work, to aid them in determining the accuracy of applicants' accounts of their service. These include membership/nominal rolls of the organisations involved (RO) and reports of activities (A) carried out by the military formations and units of the relevant organisations, providing detailed information on the course of events during the time period. Another major part of the collection comprises the award of medals to veterans of the Easter Rising, 1916 and of the War of Independence. A total of 68,896 such medals had been issued by 31 January, 1988.

Departmental files from the Department of Defence bearing on the establishment and administration of the schemes are also included in the collection as are administration files created by the statutory bodies established under relevant Acts.

Provenance, Locations and Archival History of the Collection

The files generated by the Department of Defence under the Army Pensions Acts have remained under departmental control from their creation. These files were originally located in the offices of the Ministry/Department at Griffith barracks on the South Circular Road, Dublin, later at Coláiste Caoimhín in Glasnevin, Dublin, and latterly at Finance Branch of the Department at Renmore, Galway. The non-current files relating to the collection were transferred to the Military Archives at Cathal Brugha barracks, Dublin, in 1989 for storage and retrieval as required by the Department.

The majority of the files and material generated by the Board of Assessors (1) under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924, were transferred from the Board's offices at Portobello barracks to the Department of the President of the Executive Council (Department of the Taoiseach) on 30 March, 1928. The Department of Defence retained files relating to 7,610 unsuccessful applicants (2).

Following the passage of the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934, the Referee and Advisory Committee sought various individual files generated by the Board of Assessors from the Department of the Taoiseach, and eventually all the files were transferred to the Office of the Referee, located first at Griffith barracks and later at Coláiste Caoimhín. These files would remain under the control of the Referee, being added to significantly by the creation in that office of the Nominal Rolls and Activities (3) file series as well as administration and applicants' files under the 1934 Act.

Finance Branch of the Department of Defence used the original applicants' files as 'payments' files in the case of successful applications under the 1934 Act, and records, ledgers and index cards demonstrate the control and accountability of files within the Department and the Office of the Referee. All of the files generated by the Office of the Referee under the Acts of 1934 and 1949 and including those files generated by the Board of Assessors (1924–1928) were passed to Finance Branch of the Department as the Referee and Advisory Committee system was wound up in 1957.

The decentralization of Finance Branch of the Department from Coláiste Caoimhín to Renmore, Galway, in 1989 saw a major examination of the files held at Coláiste Caoimhín. All non-current files generated under the Army Pensions and Military Service Pensions Acts relating to the period from 1916 to 1923 were transferred to the Military Archives for storage and retrieval as required for departmental use. Current applicants' files (relating to veterans and dependents still in receipt of payments), and the administration files created by the Office of the Referee and Advisory Committee, moved with Finance Branch to Galway.

All files relevant to the MSPC and stored at the Military Archives were handed over to the Project Manager in March, 2008. Following a detailed survey of files held at Finance Branch, Galway, identified files were transferred to the Project office and reintegrated in the MSPC in July, 2008. (Files in the DP series were treated differently, as explained later).

The files and records in the MSPC have suffered from poor storage conditions, use of poor quality paper, rusting of pins, staples and fasteners used and bad handling over the years. Well-meaning attempts to rectify some of the consequential damage has seen a widespread use of sellotaping, pruning of frayed and ragged margins of pages, the apparent removal of some pages, and replacement of original file covers, paper clips and treasury tags, notably in the RO and A files series, by departmental staff. Also, the imposition of modern sticky labels with written information on original file covers, obscuring original file numbers, is of concern. These interventions present significant challenges to project archivists. However, on a positive note, the survival rate of the material sourced, processed and surveyed to date is high.

Description of the Collection

The two broad streams of legislation outlined above can be used to illustrate the nature and content of the personal files of applicants and the relevance of the supporting administrative records and other material in the collection. The supporting administrative and other records were gathered to assist the Department of Defence and the bodies set up under the legislation in deciding on the merit of each applicant's case.

THE ARMY PENSIONS ACTS, 1923–1953

Summary of legislation and files created

The primary file series created under the Army Pensions Acts of relevance to the MSPC are titled 'P', 'D' and 'DP'. In addition, supporting file series created in the administration and processing of claims and applications by the Department of Defence have been identified, and where such records have survived they are outlined below.

The 'P', 'D' and 'DP' file series relate to the period commencing on 1 April, 1916 and ending on 30 September, 1924, and consist of individual applications for the payment of wound pensions to wounded members (P), allowances and gratuities to the widows, children, dependents and partial dependents of deceased members (D) of 'Óglaigh Na hÉireann, including the Army and the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army, 1916' under the provisions of the Army Pensions Act, 1923. Provision is also made for the supply of medical appliances and vocational training.

Successful applicants were proven to be '... on active service', killed or wounded as the case may be '... in the course of his duty', not due 'to any serious negligence or misconduct'. The grant of disability pensions (DP) (4) in respect of disease incurred and the grant of allowances and gratuities to dependents of those who died from disease attributable to service in the period ended 30 September, 1924 was introduced in the Army Pensions Act, 1927. This Act also provided for the establishment of the Army Pensions Board (APB) as the original Board of 1923, under the Chairmanship of Mr C Lavery, BL, was by then ineffective due to the resignation of members. The first appointees to the newly established Army Pensions Board (with effect from 29 August, 1927) were: Chairman Mr George Nicolls, BA, Solicitor; Mr Charles Dickson, MD, FRCPI and Major Thomas McKinney, Deputy Director, Army Medical Service.

The Army Pensions Act, 1932 amended and extended the scope of the Acts of 1923 and 1927 to include members of Fianna Éireann, the Hibernian Rifles and Cumann na mBan.

Military service was then defined as follows:

• 'pre-truce military service' meant military service during any part of the period beginning on 1 April, 1916 and ending on 11 July, 1921;

• 'post-truce military service' meant military service during any part of the period beginning on 12 July, 1921 and ending on 30 September, 1923.

The effect was to bring those persons who had pre-truce active service but who took no further part in activities, and those who carried out active service on the anti-treaty side in the civil war under the legislation.

The Army Pensions Act, 1937 extended the time limit for applications in certain cases under the Acts of 1923 to 1932, and made special provision for the relatives of the signatories to the Proclamation published on Easter Monday, 1916. Provision was also made for the grant of special dependents' allowances to those whose means were less than £40 per annum, and ex-gratia payments to certain persons wounded or injured during the period from 1 April, 1916 to 30 September, 1923 (5).

The Army Pensions Act, 1941 extended the time limit for application for wound and disability pensions and widows' and dependents' allowances under the 1932 and 1937 Acts.

The Army Pensions Act, 1943 provided for the grant of special allowances to persons whose means did not equal or exceed a prescribed sum, who were incapable of self-support, and who had been awarded pensionable service under the Military Service Pensions Acts of 1924 to 1934 in respect of service during Easter week 1916, or a wound or disability pension under the Army Pensions Acts in respect of a wound or a disability contracted during that week.

The Army Pensions Act, 1946 amended Section 7 of the 1943 Act to make eligible for the grant of special allowances persons whose means were such as already laid down and who were awarded a medal with or without bar in respect of membership of stated organisations continuously for the three months ending on 11 July, 1921.

The Army Pensions Act, 1953 provided special rates of allowances for widows, parents, dependent sisters and dependent invalided brothers of deceased persons who had pre-truce service and were killed in military service before 1 October, 1923 or who died before 1 October, 1927 from wound or disease due to military service. The same Act provided for allowances to each daughter and each son of a signatory to the Proclamation published in 1916.

Numbers of individual applicants' files

It is estimated that there are a total of ca. 5,444 individuals in the combined 'D' and 'P' series. An individual can have up to three files and more in these two series, dealing with matters under different Acts. The 'DP' file series is complicated by the fact that the series contains files dealing with the modern Defence Forces, applications for 'special allowances' from holders of the Service (1917–1921) Medal, and cases of veterans from the period 1916 to 1924 in receipt of allowances, pensions or other payments whose health has deteriorated or who have died, leading to the submission of further claims on behalf of widows or dependents.

Also, veterans whose health had improved through medical treatment had their cases re-examined and re-filed under the 'DP' series. As project archivists process individual files across the broad spectrum of the entire collection, information on whether a 'DP' file exists is gleaned and the relevant file is then sourced and included in the processing and databasing stage for the individual concerned.

It is estimated that the total number of 'DP' files of relevance to the MSPC is in the region of ca. 35,000 individual files.

Contents of typical applicant's file; 'P' series

A four-page application form (AP2) is completed by the claimant (the manuscript and a typed version are filed), detailing the nature of his/her injury/wounds, the circumstances of the incident, hospitals attended, etc. A request for investigation and information is issued to the military authorities, and the Adjutant General replies, outlining the known circumstances in the case and whether there was any negligence on the part of the applicant, the rank held and organisation (i.e. Irish Volunteers, Citizen Army, National Forces, IRA) stated. A four-page Medical Report (AP11), signed by the President and two members of the Board, issues in each case, whether successful or not.

A recommendation from the Army Pensions Board (AP19) issues and the applicant is informed accordingly. The amount of the award and degree of disablement will be stated in successful cases. A payments file is generally associated with each individual file in this series, although not in all cases. Some files contain results of investigations of family circumstances, and facts stated by An Garda Síochána. Personal letters, newspaper cuttings and recommendations from contemporaries of the applicant are often to be found.

Contents of typical applicant's file; 'D' series

A four-page application form (AP6) is submitted by the widow or dependent(s) of the deceased, in which they detail the circumstances of the deceased's death and their degree of dependency, total or partial (the manuscript and a typed version are filed).

A request for investigation and information is issued to the military authorities and the Adjutant General replies, outlining the circumstances in the case as known and whether there was any negligence on the part of the applicant, the rank held and organisation stated. A certificate of assessment is then issued outlining the nature of the award and amount, if applicable (6). In some cases a payments file is created and associated with the individual's file.

In most cases a report (AP16) is returned by An Garda Síochána, outlining the result of the Garda investigation and assessing the degree of dependency of the family members on the deceased, their age(s), status and reporting on their societal circumstances, Poor Law valuation if landowner, known income and other details. Personal letters and representations are to be found in some cases.

ARMY PENSIONS ACTS SERIES: SUPPORTING RECORDS

Minutes

Minutes of meetings of the Army Pensions Board (APB) consist of notes in manuscript and typescript of meetings relating to decisions arrived at in individual cases before the Board from 22 April, 1927 to ca. 1950. However, serving members of the Defence Forces at that time, reservists, members of the Local Defence Force, members of An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil as well as veterans of the period 1916 to 1923 are also seen by the Board and reported on in the same Minutes. Accordingly, these minutes cannot be released at present, but appropriate redaction will be explored in the future.

Other associated minutes deal with the period from ca. May/June, 1924 to 14 May, 1926, before the formal statutory establishment of the APB. This material is released online.

Ledgers

Ledgers were used to register applications. Each individual applicant is assigned a file, a file number and the details of name and address are entered. The ledgers record the movement of the file from the central registry to the various departmental offices during the processing of a claim. Notes in manuscript indicate if 'no award made' and date when file was 'PA' (put away), for example. The ledgers fell into disuse when a card index system was introduced, but remain a valuable working tool for project archivists for sourcing file references and cross checking to ensure that all files relevant to an individual in the MSPC are sourced.

Found ledgers as follows: 'P'x l ledger, 'D'x 1 ledger and 'DP' x 17 ledgers.

Administration files

M/xx/xx: 148 files dealing with the routine administration of the APB and Army Pensions Department of the Department of Defence from November 1923 to December 1933. The designation 'M' is used in conjunction with a numerical reference. A descriptive listing and digitised copy of these files is released online.

1/M/xx: Army Pensions Board 1923: papers, financial reports and files dealing with correspondence between the Army Pensions Department/Branch, the Secretaries of the Departments of Defence and Finance, White Cross and Old IRA Associations, for example. Also contains file listing the Dublin-based members of the Hibernian Rifles and Irish Volunteers with 1916 service alive in 1970s (1/M/141) and a listing of Connaught Rangers 'mutineers' extracted from press reports (1/M/143). There are gaps in the file series; 112 files have been found and cover the period April 1930 to May 1970.

APB files: ca. 3200 individual files dealing with medical assessments, examinations and decisions relating to individual applicants and dependents. Files also contain reviews of individual cases and determinations as to whether cause of death or disease is attributable to relevant service. Files found will be associated with individual applicants' files. It is clear that the material on these files is extracted and forms the basis of reports compiled from other files, more than likely held by the APB. Series is not complete and covers a date range from 1927 to 1952 with large gaps.

Military Service Registration Board files: Board No 1 (MSRB 1) was set up under the Act, 1932 and a total of three Boards operated at different times up to ca. 1957. Files refer to individual applicants and provide certified proof following investigation by the Board of service, injury, death etc. Ca. 9000 files/reports have been found and the series is incomplete. Again, it is apparent that the files/reports in this series are generated from other files not in the MSPC.

THE MILITARY SERVICE PENSIONS ACTS, 1924–1949

Summary of legislation and files created

The Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924, 1934 and 1949 provided for the payment of military service pensions to certain members and former members of the National Forces/Defence Forces and others who rendered active service during the week commencing 23 April, 1916, or throughout the period from 1 April, 1920 to 1 October, 1923. There are specific requirements as to the qualification of applicants for the payment of pensions set out in each of the Acts, as explained below (7). In addition, material of significant historical value gathered to assist in the verification and administration of claims by individuals under the Acts of 1924 and 1934 has survived and is listed hereunder, in broad outline, as relevant to each Act.

Military Service Pensions Act, 1924

The Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 (8), provided for the payment of military service pensions to persons 'who rendered active service in Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, Fianna Éireann or the Hibernian Rifles, during the week commencing 23 April, 1916; or throughout the period from 1 April, 1920 to 31 March, 1921; or throughout the period from 1 April, 1921 to 11 July,1921 and who in addition served in the National Forces or Defence Forces of Saorstát Éireann at any time subsequent to 1 July, 1922 and prior to 1 October, 1923' (9).

A Board of Assessors (10) was established; chaired by Mr Justice Cyril J Beatty, BL, a Justice of the District Court, with Edmund J Duggan, TD, Parliamentary Secretary to the Executive Council and Finian Lynch, TD, Minister for Fisheries as members and Lieutenant General Gearóid O'Suilleaváin (Retd.) as Secretary to the Board. The Board approved the payment of pensions to 3,855 applicants. About 9,800 other applicants were stated to have prima facie cases but were deemed persons to whom the Act did not apply.

The amount of pension payable varied according to the rank held by the applicant, based on the rank structure of the National Forces/Defence Forces, with a sum of £5 applying per year of service and per grade awarded. Thus in the case of Privates and Non-Commissioned Officers (Grade A) £5 applied, and £25 per year applied in the case of officers of a rank higher than Major General (Grade E). The number of years of continuous service counting towards pension was computed to arrive at a maximum of 14 years' active service throughout. Easter week 1916 was counted as 4 years' service, for example (11). The maximum pension thus awarded was £350.00.

All applicants' files considered and dealt with under the 1924 Act are designated 24/SP/xxx (SP being an abbreviation for Service Pension).

Content on typical applicant's file: 24/SP/xxx series

Applicants completed a six-page form (MSP 1), setting out details of their continuous service in named Units during seven defined periods commencing on 1 April, 1916 and ending on 30 June, 1922, naming the relevant Commanding Officer at the time and supplying the names and addresses of three officers then serving who could verify their service as claimed. Applications were required to be submitted on or before 1 March, 1925, although this deadline was subsequently extended several times. Details of service in the National Forces or Defence Forces (Army/ service number, date of enlistment, place or station at which enlisted, home address at that time, Unit (Coy/ Bn/Bde/Div (12)), date of demobilization, rank on 1 February, 1924, for example) were required on the same form and would be later verified by the military authorities.

Applicants were also required to state if they were '... a member of the Irish Volunteer Executive or of the headquarters staff of Óglaigh na hÉireann at any time prior to 11 July, 1921'. Each officer named as a referee was written to by the Secretary to the Board and required to complete a six-page form (MSP 7) verifying the applicant's service in the periods as set out.

Applicants were summoned to appear before the Board of Assessors. Evidence was taken under oath (13) and a half- to one-page summary of service, evidence and other information in manuscript is usually contained on the file.

A successful applicant received a signed 'Certificate of Military Service', a report by the Board of Assessors (MSP 2), detailing the periods of service recognised and awarded as equivalent of active service for pension purposes under the Act, (Section 4(2)), and setting out the rank defined (Section 4(3)).

In unsuccessful cases, form MSP 2 is usually stamped 'Act does not apply'. Appeals were made, forwarded to the Minister for Defence and the result recorded on each file concerned. Files will sometimes contain letters of reference and statements submitted by the applicant as to his character and service from contemporaries in public life or in the Defence Forces.

A total of 13,764 individual applicants' files are to be found in this series (24/SP/xxx).

Payment/Administration files

Each successful applicant will have an associated administration or payments file. This file will usually contain such details as changes of address, certified quarterly 'Life Certificate' (MSP A/cs 5), income tax affairs, details of other state remuneration or pension, copy of death certificate, copy wills, invoices for funeral expenses if paid for by the state, family details set out in claim for payment of widows' allowance (after 1971), final death details of relict, executors' affairs and cancelled cheques, for example.

MILITARY SERVICE PENSIONS ACT, 1924: SUPPORTING RECORDS

SPG/1 to SPG/129: the designation 'SPG' is thought to refer to 'Service Pension General'. A total of 117 files have survived. Those files not found have titles dealing with personnel matters, leave for staff and general matters relating to stationery and supplies. The files cover the period from 10 October, 1924 to October/November 1928 and deal with all other aspects of the administration of the Board of Assessors; including verification of claims, letters to high-ranking National Army members and TDs, difficulties of providing or finding proof relating to the service of 'Six Counties' applicants, and arrangements and appointments to interview applicants under oath at provincial centres, for example.

Series includes a typed memorandum from Gearóid O'Suilleaváin regarding the definition of 'active service' and procedures to be followed by the Board (14); handwritten listing with names and addresses of 234 applicants from Northern Ireland, mainly from Belfast (15); Report of Board of Defence Forces Officers (with IRA service in Northern Ireland) to Board of Assessors, grading 122 applicants from Northern Ireland as to recommendation for pension award, signed by Colonel F McCorley and others, dated 10 December, 1926 (16); typed letter signed by former Criminal Investigation Department (CID) members William Donegan and James McCormac, dated 18 November, 1927, outlining the history and structure of the CID, appealing the ranks awarded for pension purposes to former members, and including a typed listing of men who transferred from Oriel House (headquarters of CID) to the National Forces in 1922 to 1923, showing the rank on transfer and at demobilisation (17); typed copy 'Report of the Board of Assessors Constituted under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924' (18) and listing of 'Q' Company members qualified for pension (19), for example.

M/MSP/xx 1924: 9 files found (other files named in this series are not found). The material deals in the main with the office of the Army Finance Officer and concentrates on awards, cases passed for recommendation for payment, queries and other matters dealing with the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924. Period covered: December 1924 to February 1926.

Military Service Pensions Act, 1934

The Military Services Pensions Act, 1934 (20) was framed to amend and extend the Act of 1924. It brought Cumann na mBan within the definition of the bodies already listed as constituting 'the Forces' and effectively opened the legislation to allow persons who had pre-truce service but took no further part in activities or active service, and those who participated in the civil war on the anti-treaty side, to apply for military service pensions.

A Referee, with significant statutory powers (Sec 5) and an Advisory Committee of four members, two being '... persons who held high rank in the Forces before the 11th day of July, 1921' and to be nominated by the Executive Council, (Sec 6) was established. The first Referee was Mr Justice JK O'Connor. The Advisory Committee consisted of John McCoy, former Divisional Commander 4th Northern; Humphrey Murphy, former Brigade Commander Kerry 1st Brigade (died 13 November, 1935); replaced by Seamus Robinson, former Divisional Commander 2nd Southern; and civil servants Edward Fahy and John Jordan from Departments of Defence and Finance respectively.

Rules for determining notional grades of rank and for calculating the amount of pensions are set out in the First and Second Schedules to the Act. In effect, they differed little from the procedures followed in 1924, although Grade A now referred to the rank higher than Major General and Grade E referred to the rank held by Privates and Non-Commissioned Officers (21). The computed years of service were retained and the sum of £5 per year of service and grade remained unchanged (22).

Applications were made to Pensions Branch, Department of Defence. Each applicant was assigned a file under the Series 34/SP/xxx and the application form (MSP 1) was passed to the Referee, who initiated a file for that applicant under the Series MSP/34/Ref/xxx. The Referee went on to take oral evidence under oath, which is typed up verbatim, and filed in each case. A pension was awarded where the case was proven.

The 34/SP/xxx file usually functioned as a payments file in the case of successful applicants. The detailed procedures followed in the adjudication of claims by the Referee and Advisory Committee, and the roles of 'Brigade Committees' are set out in a public notice issued by the Department of Defence in February, 1945 and reproduced online.

There are approximately 126,000 files relating to applicants in the 34 series (SP and Referee), which will be consolidated during processing and databasing. They cover the period from 1934 to ca. 1948. Some files have been consolidated and/or found in partial form in the 49/SP/xxx series.

Content on typical applicant's file: MSP/34/Ref/xxx series

Each applicant completed a nineteen-page form MSP/34/1, which is divided into three parts and provided for pre- and post-truce service in the Forces during the week commencing 23 April, 1916 or continuous service during either the period 1 April, 1916 to 31 March, 1921 or the period 1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1922 and in addition who served in the Forces at any time during the period 1 July, 1922 to 30 September, 1923. Replies were required to such questions as: Unit or Units, duration of service, district or districts in which active service was rendered, Officer(s) Commanding at all times, particulars of military operations or engagements or services rendered during the period in question; the names and addresses of three reputable references were to be supplied.

Form MSP/34/1 is frequently added to with typed or handwritten pages, expanding on the limited space available in the printed version. Sometimes original material such as notebooks, lists of Company members, original documents relating to internment or arrest orders and newspaper cuttings are enclosed. Some individual files also contain copies of sworn evidence in typed format, taken by the Referee in other cases. In some cases the Referee will question a claimant at length, where it appears the evidence given is useful in the broader sense of understanding particular incidents, chains of command and appointments held at critical times etc. (c.f. Ernest B O'Malley, 34/A6 and RO/601 released online).

Associated files

As in the 24/SP/xx series, payment files are associated with each successful applicant file. These can be the SP file or another file created strictly for payments. Material in these files is as explained earlier and in a great number of cases contains personal information relating to living individuals — the family of the claimant, with dates of birth, addresses, next of kin as executor of will and so on — some of which falls within the remit of the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003. These details are to be redacted by project archivists.

Disability Pension (DP) files and 'special allowances' files are also to be found and will be associated in data-basing and processing.

There are approximately 126,000 files relating to applicants in the 34 file series and an unknown number of DP or special allowance files, possibly in the order of ca. 15,000 files.

MILITARY SERVICE PENSIONS ACT, 1934: SUPPORTING RECORDS

Brigade Activity Reports

The Referee and his Committee formed Brigade Committees, comprising persons who had formerly held high rank in the Divisions and Brigade structure of the IRA. This approach was adopted in early 1935; the Brigade Committees gathered 'Brigade Activity Reports' (A/1 to A/92), commencing this work countrywide primarily in April, 1935 and finishing mostly in ca. 1943. (Some few reports are received in 1946.) Their intention was to gather material to assist in the verification of individual applications for pensions (23).

Brigade Activity Reports vary in the amount of detail submitted for specific operations by each Brigade Committee. The 'A' in the file title is thought to refer to 'Activity'. Common features in nearly all of the Brigade reports include: a brief description of the particular operation undertaken or planned; the date of the operation and its location; the number of the enemy engaged; casualties on either side (the names of Volunteer casualties being supplied). Maps and/or sketches accompany some reports and the members taking part are broken down by Company/Battalion, name and address, and classified as actual participants, outposts, road-blocking parties or otherwise in support of the particular operation.

Reports generally commence in 1918 (election work); in other cases the details of 1916 activities and Irish Volunteer participants are investigated and reported on in detail by the Referee (counties Louth, Galway and Wexford Brigades) and there is mention of bridge knocking and other civil sabotage, in April, 1917 'on the orders of Michael Collins' in the case of the Sligo Brigade, for example. The reports concentrate in the main on the period up to 11 July, 1921. However, reformed Brigades and Units active in the civil war continue their reporting up to 24 May, 1923.

A total of 151 files, numbering ca. 25,000 pages is to be found in the 'A' series. A complete survey of the Brigade Activity files is ongoing. A necessary conservation programme is also underway and only a very limited amount of material, relating directly to Easter week, 1916 is available for the first release from this series.

Battalion and Company nominal rolls

The Battalion and Company nominal rolls series (RO) is the title assigned by the Referee and Advisory Committee to the file series dealing with the membership of the Irish Republican Army, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann. The series gives details of the membership/strength of these organisations as of 11 July, 1921 and 1 July, 1922 and comprises a total of 49,982 individual documents.

In the case of the IRA, the membership of Brigades, Battalions and Companies and of Flying Columns/ Active Service Units and other specialist formations at Battalion and Brigade Headquarters were sought, as well as the officer membership at Divisional and General Headquarters (GHQ) level. The information is gathered from January 1935 and is consolidated in terms of military structure. Thus the series is presented as per the Divisional command structure of the IRA, giving a detailed picture of the organisation of the IRA on the ground from the command exercised by GHQ in Dublin to Divisional, Brigade, Battalion and Company level. The RO series includes the membership of the 16 Divisions of the IRA, constituting a total of 87 Brigades, including the Scottish Brigade, and a total of 390 Battalions. In addition, two files dealing with the appointment of the Chief of Staff, General Staff Officers, the commanders of the Directorates and the exercise of command by GHQ from 1919 are included. (RO601 and 601A).

The great majority of the files in this sub-series were gathered in 1935. The details of the organisation, structure and membership rolls for Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann were gathered at the same time and are included in the series.

In the case of the IRA Divisions, the Officers of the Brigades are listed by rank and appointment in the great majority of cases. The Divisional Headquarters file in each Division will contain the names and appointments of the Officers of the Division and at Brigade level. There are some exceptions. For example, the Midland Division lists an Inny Brigade and a north Leitrim Brigade, yet neither Brigade file contains relevant lists. Also, notably, the 2nd Eastern Division retains the designation 'Dublin Brigade' in honour of the Volunteers of Easter week 1916.

The Battalion and Company nominal rolls generally use a proforma or follow the style of that issued by the Referee to the Brigade Committees. The names of the Officers at Brigade Headquarters, at Battalion Headquarters and Company Headquarters level in each Brigade are listed, showing their appointment, on 11 July, 1921 and on 1 July, 1922. These are signed by the Brigade Committee members and the rank formerly held by these individuals is appended.

The Company nominal rolls of the Other Ranks/Volunteers are submitted on various types of paper and formats, and are dated and signed by the officer(s) in command showing membership/strength on 11 July, 1921 and on 1 July, 1922. They also list the Company Commander and the two Lieutenants per company in the great majority of cases, and will indicate where an officer has been replaced in a command appointment, through promotion, imprisonment or casualty, for example. The postal address and location of each individual officer and Volunteer in 1935 are shown in each case; for example whether a member of the Defence Forces, Garda Siochána, emigrated to USA, England or Australia etc. Some files contain original hand-drawn maps and sketches outlining Battalion and Company boundaries, including information appended on some maps/sketches as to activities/ attacks/ambushes carried out in the particular Battalion or Company area. Details of amalgamations/reorganisation of Companies and Battalions at later stages in the War of Independence are also given.

The condition of the records is generally poor, due to the type of paper used in some cases, poor storage from the date of creation and extensive sellotaping in later years. The 611 files in this series have been digitised and form part of the first online release of material from the MSPC.

Cumann na mBan nominal rolls

Membership rolls for Cumann na mBan are organised on a county basis and contain the ranks of officers, the names, postal addresses and maiden names where applicable of the membership at District, Branch and Squad level with the strengths on 11 July, 1921 and 1 July, 1922. Rolls are signed and dated by the officers concerned. Deceased members are named and location of surviving members, if abroad, given.

For example, files for Cumann na mBan in county Mayo (Files 27 to 40 incl) show a total membership of 2,045 on 11 July, 1921 and a total membership of 2,167 on 1 July, 1922. Westport District Council (File 28) has a membership of 579 on 11 July and was organised in fourteen Branches/Squads while Ballinrobe District Council (File 31) was attached to the south Mayo Brigade IRA and was organised in three Branches/Companies.

The membership rolls for counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, north county Dublin/Fingal Branch, south county Dublin and Dublin City District Council are released online Also, Files CMB 163 and 164 dealing respectively with the operation of Cumann na mBan Headquarters and the Convention of October 1921 are released online. The remaining material will follow as soon as possible.

There are 167 files in this series.

Fianna Éireann nominal rolls

Membership rolls for Fianna Éireann cover Dublin city and county, Cork city and county, Waterford, Kerry, Tipperary, Clare, Mayo, Sligo, Louth, Armagh, Cavan, Meath, Wexford, Wicklow, Offaly, Carlow, Kildare, Athlone, Mullingar, Belfast and Derry city. The designation 'FE' refers to 'Fianna Éireann'.

For example, FE/2 (Dublin Brigade) includes: a typed history of Fianna Éireann in Dublin city and county from 1916 to 1921, with an outline of organisation, naming the Officers of the Dublin Battalion and Sluagh Commanders pre-Easter Rising, during the period January to June, 1917 and thereafter as reorganised as the Dublin Brigade with Brigade Commander, Brigade Staff Officers, Battalion Commanders, Staff Officers and Company Officers on 1 July, 1921 and 1 July, 1922, and a 'Summary of Operations' carried out from Easter 1916 to 1921. Officers nominated to replace those in prison etc are also named. (12pp signed by [ ] Brigade Adjutant and by Herbert J Mellows, Adjutant General, Na Fianna, dated 10 April, 1935). The 41 files in this series have been digitised and are released online.

Other supporting files

Approximately 125 varied administration files that were sourced in Finance Branch of the Department of Defence in Galway are found and appear to be associated mainly with the work of the Referee and Advisory Committee. The work of processing these files will commence as soon as feasible. Some examples of the file titles are as follows:

Applications from the 6 Counties (Act, 1934);

General Principles applying, 1934 Act;

Surrendered Military Pensions;

Stamp duty on Pensions;

Alleged false claims under the Act, 1934;

List showing members of the Oireachtas in receipt of Military Pensions, Service Pensions or Disability Pensions–10th Dail Éireann;

Work of Verifying Officers in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties.

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949

The Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949 provided for the review of cases previously refused under the 1924 Act and the 1934 Act, by petition; the restoration of pensions forfeited under clauses of those Acts; and new applications from veterans.

There are ca. 9,500 individual file to be found in this Series (49/SP/xxx). Petition files will be associated during processing and databasing with relevant earlier files relating to the individuals concerned and new applications will be accessible under the individuals' names and file references 49/SP/xxx in the database in due course.

THE MEDALS (MD) SERIES

There are four medals awarded by the Department of Defence of relevance to the MSPC. These are the 1916 Medal, the Service (1917–1921) Medal, the 1916 Survivor's Medal and the Truce Anniversary Medal.

Brief details of the institution and award of the two primary medals are outlined here. The designation 'MD' is presumed to refer to 'medals'.

The 1916 Medal

The 1916 Medal was created on 24 January, 1941 and was awarded to persons and military pensioners who participated in the Rising during the week commencing 23 April, 1916 (24). Awards were made posthumously to dependents. Persons not in receipt of a Military Service Certificate, allowance or other award for service during Easter week, 1916 could apply to the Department of Defence and the medal was awarded if an investigation proved that it was merited.

The Service (1917–1921) Medal

The Minister for Defence, in a memorandum to the Government dated 18 May, 1942, proposed that a medal in respect of service subsequent to 1916 and prior to 11 July, 1921, be issued as follows:

• Medal and bar to all persons in possession of a Military Service Certificate entitling them to a pension under the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924 to 1934 in respect of the period subsequent to 1916 and prior to 11 July, 1921, and to those persons not in possession of a Certificate who satisfy the Minister for Defence that, had they applied for a pension, their service was such as would have merited the award of a pension;

• Medal, without bar, to all persons who were enrolled in the Irish Republican Army, Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan and the Irish Citizen Army not less than three months prior to 11 July, 1921, but who did not qualify for pension.

The Government, at a meeting held on the 26 May, 1942, approved of the proposal of the Minister for Defence (25).

Verification of entitlement

Each applicant for a medal was required to complete a form stating the names of his former Brigade Commander, Battalion Commander and Company Commander. If these officers were then deceased, emigrated or not willing to cooperate, the forms were sent to not less than two officers or members of the Unit/sub-Unit named for supporting testimony/signatures. These persons were usually in receipt of service pensions. Initially, applications for the medal without bar were investigated by a Committee of two members of the Military Service Registration Board (MSRB) (2), and one Interviewing Officer, who had acted for the Referee under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934.

The MSRB (2) ceased to function on 14 July, 1943 and thereafter the investigation of these applications became the responsibility of a section in Finance Branch of the Department of Defence.

Difficulties identified in the process

Following on an amendment to the Army Pensions Act, 1946, persons who held or were awarded the medal without bar became entitled to apply for a special allowance, previously only granted to veterans with service during Easter week and awarded Certificates under the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924 and 1934. This special allowance was means tested and the applicant underwent a medical examination if aged less than 70 years.

In practice, it was found that the verification system for the award of the medal was not robust or secure in all cases. Cases of non-entitlement to medals already awarded were identified from various sources in 1949– 1950 (Bureau of Military History staff, letters of complaint, internal reinvestigation, for example) (26). This led to the cancellation of special allowances already awarded and requests for the return of medals and monies from 62 individuals.

The Minister for Defence, Lieutenant General Sean MacEoin, wrote to the Referee on 24 January, 1957 (27) and outlining his plans '... in regard to tightening up of the system of verification of membership for the purpose of the award of the medal without bar,' requested the use of the files of the Referee (Activity Reports and Battalion and Company Nominal Rolls) by Finance Branch of the Department in verifying future applications. Permission for full access for 'verifying any claim for a medal' was forthcoming from the Referee, Mr Justice Eugene Sheehy, on 7 February, 1957 (28). Thereafter the supporting files and material generated by the Office of the Referee passed to Finance Branch of the Department of Defence, from whence they were sourced for the MSPC and are now being processed for release.

The total number of files in the MD series is more than 70,000.

DEPARTMENTAL FILES OF RELEVANCE TO THE MSPC

In order to place the files and material in the MSPC in an overall context, project archivists trawled through the records and card index system used to record files in the central registry of the Department of Defence at Parkgate. They examined files associated with: the exhumation of remains of persons executed by the British in the period 1916–1921 and persons executed in Kilmainham prison in the years 1922–23; the Old IRA organizations; applications for attendance of military parties at commemorations; loans of rifles and equipment to the Old IRA for ceremonial purposes; representations made by veterans, individuals and kindred organizations regarding the award of medals; complaints regarding payment of pensions and allowances; requests and suggestions for medical treatment for veterans; and other matters.

Following a request to the Department, the relevant files identified in the central registry were made available to the Project Manager, through the normal process of examination and release by the relevant Certifying Officers. The files handed over in this manner proved to be of clear significance in understanding the nature of the material in the collection, particularly in the matter of understanding 'active service' under the Military Service Pensions legislation and the concerns of Old IRA organizations in the 1940s and 1950s. Also, significant information relating to the order of burial of the executed 1916 leaders in Arbour Hill Prison grounds was sourced (29), as well as detailed information on the construction of the vault and the ceremonial dealing with the re-interment of Sir Roger Casement in Glasnevin Cemetery on 1 March, 1965 (30).

A descriptive listing of 33 Departmental files of relevance to the MSPC and a digital copy of each file is released online.

In addition, personnel files relating to the service of senior civil servants in key positions in the Department, directly associated in one way or another with the administration and management of veterans' affairs, were released for research to the Project Manager. This research has resulted in the production of a very short explanatory history of the first 10 years of the Ministry/Department of Defence as it generally applied to veterans' affairs, the payment of pensions and allowances and short biographies of those senior civil servants involved in administration and policy from the outset (31).

An approach to the Courts Policy Division of the Department of Justice for information relating to the Judges appointed by Government to act as Chairs of the Board of Assessors (Act, 1924), and Referees under the Acts, 1934 and 1949 resulted in privileged personnel files being made available for research to the Project Manager.

It was also felt that it would be useful to researchers and the public to provide as much information as possible on the elected representatives and former senior IRA officers tasked with or appointed to the statutory bodies dealing with the processing of applicants' claims. Accordingly, short biographical sketches of relevant persons are released online and as part of the Guide to the MSPC.

1. Chair: Mr Justice Cyril Beatty, Members: Parliamentary Secretary to Executive Council Mr Eamon Duggan, TD, Minister for Fisheries Mr Fionán Lynch, TD, Secretary Lt Gen Gearóid O Suilleaváin (Retd).

2. MSPC/SPG/117/2 and SPG/117/13 dated 28 March, 1928.

3. RO file series listing the membership of the Companies and Battalions of the Brigades of the IRA, the organisation and membership of Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna and Brigade Activities (A) files, explained in detail later.

4. The designation 'DP' is also used to refer to applications for 'special allowances' under the Acts, 1943 and 1946 and in the Medals file series.

5. There are 16 cases under Section 41 of this Act and all are released under the title 'Special Group/37'.

6. Army Pensions Act, 1923, Second Schedule and Army Pensions Act, 1927, Schedules 2 to 7.

7. The Army Pensions Act, 1971 provided for the payment of allowances to the widows of pensioners under the Military Services Pensions Acts, 1924 and 1934 or the Connaught Rangers (Pensions) Act, 1936. In addition, certain clauses and sections of the Army Pensions Acts, 1923 and 1949 applied to widows.

8. No 48/1924 dated 5 August, 1924.

9. MSPC/SPG 14/4 and A/12222 dated 6 September, 1924.

10. See Biographical notes.

11. See Appendix iv.

12. Military formations: Company, Battalion, Brigade and Division.

13. The sworn testimony was recorded in manuscript in 7 bound volumes, not to be found now.

14. MSPC/SPG/6, 3pp.

15. MSPC/SPG/10, 12pp.

16. MSPC/SPG/10/A, 4pp.

17. MSPC/SPG/5/4, 3pp.

18. MSPC/SPG/96, 16pp.

19. MSPC/SPG/127, 1p: marked incomplete.

20. No 43/1934 dated 13 September, 1934.

21. See Appendix i.

22. See Appendix iv.

23. MSPC/G36(e), dated 4 January, 1944, 1p — to be released later.

24. Department of Defence 2/62321 dealing with this medal is recorded as being 'destroyed' in 1993. Department of the Taoiseach, S.11409 (National Archives of Ireland), Easter Week, 1916, 25th Anniversary Commemoration – 1941 at the contains papers and submissions by Department of Defence relating to the 1916 Medal.

25. Department of the Taoiseach, S.12776 (National Archives of Ireland) and Department of Defence 2/75446, released online.

26. Department of Defence 2/75446 Part 2.

27. ibid.

28. ibid.

29. Department of Defence 2/46751.

30. Department of Defence 3/47020.

31. See Appendix v.

Extract from typed transcript of sworn statement made on 26 October, 1936 by Oscar Traynor TD (former Divisional Officer Commanding, 1 Eastern Division IRA and Brigade Officer Commanding, Dublin Brigade, IRA) regarding Mathew Stafford. Aged about 64 in 1916, Stafford took part in sniping activity against British forces in Dublin during the Easter Rising and, according to Oscar Traynor, had been involved as a teenager in the escape of James Stephens, founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), from Dublin to Paris in March 1866.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF2609 — Mathew Stafford.

Sketch map of Enniscorthy, county Wexford denoting key sites relating to activity in the town during Easter week 1916.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/A66/2/34.

Key to sketch map of Enniscorthy.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/A66/2/35.

Black and white photograph of signed typed letter of 30 April, 1916 from Colonel French, Officer Commanding Troops (British Army), Wexford addressed to Captain [Robert] Brennan regarding arrangements for Wexford Brigade Irish Volunteer officers to travel to Dublin to meet Patrick Pearse to confirm surrender order. This photograph was submitted by Robert Brennan in support of his military service pension application.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF18488 — Robert Brennan.

Letter (10 December, 1926) signed by Colonel F McCorley, Major T Glennon, Captain D McGuinness and Lieutenant J McNally enclosing the results of deliberations by a named group of Defence Forces Officers regarding pension applications under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 from applicants living in Northern Ireland.

Below: with first page of three page listing giving name, address, service pension reference of applicants concerned.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/SPG/10A/2/21–22.

Extract from typed transcript of sworn evidence given by Albert Rutherford (18 December, 1936) before the Advisory Committee.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF22365 — Albert Rutherford.

Reference from S Ó Conchubhair (Joseph O'Connor), former Lieutenant and Captain, 'C' Company, 3 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF22365 — Albert Rutherford.

Table of IRA GHQ Staff 1 July, 1922 compiled for Referee and Advisory Committee, Military Service Pensions Act, 1934.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/RO601 — GHQ IRA.

Extract from listing of members of Scottish Brigade IRA arrested between 1916 and 1922.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/RO603 — Scottish Brigade IRA.

Signed handwritten five page letter, 12 May, 1941, from Sean Lemass TD, Minister for Supplies, to Mrs Theresa Dalton, wife of Colonel Charles F Dalton, in support of her claim on her husband's behalf for a disability pension for nervous debility due to strain of service with the IRA and National Army during the war of independence and civil war.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/DP4 — Charles F Dalton.

Extract of letter from John Kennedy, former Captain Q. Company, GHQ, IRA, detailing membership ashore and afloat of veterans involved in moving material and personnel in and out of Ireland.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/RO611.

##

## Guide to Medals

Patrick Blackwell, Veterans' Administration Section, Department of Defence

There are four medals awarded by the Department of Defence of relevance to the MSPC. These are the 1916 Medal, the Service (1917–1921) Medal, the 1916 Survivor's Medal and the Truce Anniversary Medal.

The following pages show the different medals, describe their design, and outline who qualified for which medal. Some were issued to people in receipt of military service pensions, others to people who underwent a verification process as to their membership of certain organisations, or activities during the period 1916–1923.

Record of Medals issued up to 31 January, 1988 (1)

1. 9,789 applications were refused and 3,657 were abandoned. No figure for the number of 1916 Anniversary Medals issued is available at this time.

The 1916 Medal

DATE OF GOVERNMENT DECISION:

24 January, 1941

CONDITIONS OF AWARD:

The medal was awarded to persons with recognised military service during Easter week 1916.

DESIGN:

A bronze circular medal approximately 38 millimetres in diameter, fashioned (after the manner of the official Irish Army Crest) in the form of a circle of flame representing the sunburst on which eight points of a star are superimposed. Within the circle on the obverse is a representation of the death scene of Cúchulainn (a legendary Irish hero), partially surrounded by an ancient warrior's swordbelt.

On the reverse appears the following inscription: 'SEAC˙TAIN NA CÁSCA 1916', which is translated 'Easter week 1916'.

RIBBON:

Green (to the observer's left) and Orange in two vertical panels.

SUSPENSION BAR:

The suspension bar from which the ribbon is suspended bears a Celtic interlaced design.

The Service (1917-1921) Medal

DATE OF GOVERNMENT DECISION:

26 May, 1942

CONDITIONS OF AWARD:

This medal is awarded in two classes:

(a)Medal with bar to persons who are in possession of a military service certificate entitling them to a pension under the Military Service Pensions Acts in respect of active service in the period subsequent to 1916 and prior to 11 July, 1921 and to those persons not in possession of a certificate who satisfy the Minister for Defence that had they applied for a pension, their service was such as would have merited the award of a pension.

(b)Medal without bar to persons who were members of Óglaigh na hÉireann (Irish Republican Army), Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan or the Irish Citizen Army for the three months ending on 11 July, 1921.

DESIGN:

A bronze circular medal approximately 39 millimetres in diameter bearing on the obverse the Arms of the Four Provinces of Ireland. In the centre appears a standing figure, facing front, depicting a Volunteer, a member of a guerrilla force — termed 'Flying Column' — of the period 1917–1921 in typical dress (trench coat and cap with rifle, revolver and bandoleer). The word 'ÉIRE' (Ireland) appears horizontally across the centre of the medal in large letters (two on either side of the figure). The words 'Cogad˙ na Saoirse' which are translated 'The Fight for Freedom' appear below. The reverse shows a palm leaf symbolic of victory.

RIBBON:

Black (to the observer's left) and Tan in two vertical panels.

The combination of the colours black and tan was adopted by reason of its association with the terms 'Black and Tan' which had a particular significance in relation to the struggle for independence during the years 1917–1921. The term 'Black and Tan' was applied to the individual members of a body of auxiliary or quasi-military police employed by the British Government in Ireland during the latter part of the struggle for independence. The term 'Black and Tan War' came to be applied to the struggle during that period because in the initial stages of organisation, its members wore a black tunic and tan trousers owing to shortage of the complete uniform.

SUSPENSION BAR:

The suspension bar from which the ribbon is suspended bears a Celtic interlaced design.

SERVICE BAR:

The bar which is joined to the suspender bears the inscription 'Cóm˙rac', which is translated 'Combat', with a St Brendan's Knot at either side.

WITH SUSPENDER:

Formalised animals incorporated in an interlaced Celtic design.

1916 Survivors' Medal

YEAR OF CREATION:

1966

PURPOSE OF MEDAL:

Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Rising of Easter week, 1916.

CONDITIONS OF ISSUE:

Recognised military service during Easter week 1916. The medal was awarded to surviving participants only.

DESIGN:

A silver gilt circular medal approximately 38 millimetres in diameter bearing on the obverse a reproduction of the Cúchulainn statue which stands in the GPO, Dublin. The reverse bears the inscription '1916 CÁISC 1966'. Cáisc is translated 'EASTER'.

RIBBON:

Green with orange borders and a narrow white stripe down the centre.

SUSPENSION BAR:

The suspension bar from which the ribbon is suspended bears a Celtic interlaced design.

Truce (1921) Commemoration Medal

YEAR OF CREATION:

1971

PURPOSE OF MEDAL:

The jubilee anniversary of the truce (11 July, 1921).

CONDITIONS OF ISSUE:

The medal was issued to veterans of the War of Independence who were alive on 11 July, 1971 and who were awarded the Service (1917–1921) Medal.

DESIGN:

A bronze circular medal approximately 32 millimetres in diameter similar to the obverse side of the Service (1917–1921) Medal. The reverse side has the inscription '1921–1971'.

RIBBON:

Green, Tan, Black, Tan and Green, the Green stripes being narrower than the others.

SUSPENSION BAR:

The suspension bar from which the ribbon is suspended bears a Celtic interlaced design.

##

##

## Short Guide to Relevant Legislation, 1923–1980

Patrick Blackwell, Veterans' Administration Section, Department of Defence

ARMY PENSIONS ACTS

The Army Pensions Acts, 1923 to 1980 provide for the grant of benefits in respect of disablement attributable to service by members of the Defence Forces, the National Army, Óglaigh na hÉireann, (Irish Republican Army), the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, Fianna Éireann, Hibernian Rifles and Cumann na mBan.

The Acts also provide for the grant of benefits to the dependents of deceased members of the foregoing organisations.

The principal provisions in the Army Pensions Acts relating to persons involved in the 1916 Rising and in the War of Independence and the dependents of these persons are as follows:

The Army Pensions Act, 1923 provided for the grant of wound pensions to members of Óglaigh na hÉireann including the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army. The Act also provided for the grant of allowances and gratuities to the widows, children and other dependents of members of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army killed in the course of duty.

The Army Pensions Act, 1927 provided for the doubling of the allowances specified in the 1923 Act to the dependents of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. The Act also included provision for the grant of disability pensions in respect of disease attributable to military service contracted by members of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army and the grant of allowances and gratuities to the widows and children of members of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army who died from disease attributable to service.

This Act also provided for the establishment of the Army Pensions Board. The principal function of the Board was to assess the level of disablement, if any, due to service in the forces and to report to the Minister for Defence.

The Army Pensions Act, 1932 extended the scope of the 1923 and 1927 Acts to include members of all the organisations involved in the War of Independence. The organisations covered by the legislation were Óglaigh na hÉireann (Irish Republican Army), the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, Fianna Éireann, the Hibernian Rifles and Cumann na mBan (Old IRA and related organisations).

This Act provided for the establishment of the Military Service Registration Board. Every application for a benefit under the Army Pensions Acts by or in respect of a member of the Old IRA or related organisations had to be referred by the Minister for Defence to the Board. The principal functions of the Board were to determine if the person concerned was a member of the relevant organisations, whether the person was involved in military service and whether he/she had received a wound or injury, contracted a disease or was killed during his/her military service.

The Army Pensions Act, 1937 made provision for special increases in the allowances paid to the dependents of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. Where deceased members of the Old IRA and related organisations had been killed while engaged in military service or had died within four years from a wound while engaged in military service, provision was made for the grant of means-tested special allowances for the dependents of such members. The Act also made provision for special gratuities to be paid to persons who were wounded or injured as the result of keeping arms belonging to, or being accidentally shot by, a member of the Old IRA or related organisations.

The Army Pensions Act, 1943 made provision for the payment of special allowances for persons who were in possession of military service certificates under the Military Service Pensions Acts of 1924 or 1934 in respect of service during Easter week, 1916, or who were in receipt of a wound or disability pension in respect of a wound received or a disease contracted during the Easter Rising and who, in addition, were incapable of self-support either by reason of age or permanent infirmity of mind or body. Payment of the allowance was subject to a means test.

The Army Pensions Act, 1946 extended the scope of the special allowance provision in the 1943 Act to include persons who had been granted medals in respect of continuous membership of the Old IRA or related organisations during the three months ending on 11 July, 1921 provided that the Minister for Defence was satisfied that the medal was 'duly awarded'. The proviso that the medal had to be 'duly awarded' meant that the Minister for Defence could at any time review the original award of the medal to enable the Minister to be satisfied that the holder of the medal was properly entitled to it.

The Army Pensions Act, 1949 further extended the entitlement to a special allowance to include persons who had a military service certificate for any part of the period after the 1916 Rising and before 11 July, 1921 and also included those who were in receipt of a wound or disability pension for this period or who had been awarded a medal in respect of service during the Easter Rising.

The Army Pensions Act, 1953 provided for increases in pensions and allowances payable under the Acts and for a special increase in the allowance payable to the sisters of signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. The Act also provided for allowances with no age restrictions for the daughters and sons of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. In the case of sons, payment was subject to the sons being incapable of self-support by reason of age or permanent infirmity of body or mind.

Provision was made in the Act for the payment of a means-tested special allowance to certain members of the Connaught Rangers who took part in the mutiny in India in June and July 1920 and who had been granted a service, wound or disability pension under the Connaught Rangers (Pensions) Acts.

The Army Pensions Act, 1957 provided for increases in pensions and allowances payable under the Acts. The Act also gave legal authority to the Minister for Defence to stop the payment of a special allowance where the Minister ceased to be satisfied that the Service Medal for continuous membership of the Old IRA or related organisations for the three months ending on 11 July, 1921 was 'duly awarded'. The Minister could also restore payment of the allowance if further later evidence substantiated the original claim to the medal which was the basis for eligibility for the allowance.

The Army Pensions Act, 1959 provided for the repeal of the provision in the 1953 Act that the medal for continuous membership of the Old IRA or related organisations for the three months ending on 11 July, 1921 had to be 'duly awarded'.

The Army Pensions Act, 1971 provided for the grant of allowances to the widows of pensioners under the Military Service Pensions Acts and the widows of pensioners under the Connaught Rangers (Pensions) Act 1936.

The Army Pensions Act, 1973 provided for the grant of allowances to the widows of persons who were granted certificates under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924, who died while serving in the Defence Forces.

The Army Pensions Act, 1980 provided for the grant of means-tested allowances to the widows of persons who were granted special allowances under the Acts.

The other Army Pensions Acts are:

Army Pensions Act, 1941

Army Pensions Act (Increase) Act, 1949

Army Pensions Act, 1959

Army Pensions Act, 1960

Army Pensions No. 2) Act, 1960

Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1961

Army Pensions Act, 1962

Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1962

Army Pensions (Increase) Act, 1964

Army Pensions Act, 1968

Subsequent to 1964, increases in pensions and allowances under the Army Pensions Acts did not involve primary legislation.

MILITARY SERVICE PENSIONS ACTS 1924 TO 1964

The principal acts in this series of legislation are the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924, Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 and the Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949.

The Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 provided for the grant of service pensions to persons who rendered military service in Óglaigh na hÉireann or the Irish Volunteers or the Irish Citizen Army or Fianna Éireann or the Hibernian Rifles during Easter week 1916 or throughout either of the periods 1 April, 1920 to 31 March, 1921 or 1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1921, and who in addition served in the National Army or the Defence Forces at any time subsequent to 1 July, 1922 and before 1 October, 1923.

The Act provided for the setting up of a Board of Assessors to investigate and report on all claims referred to them by the Minister. This Board was to consist of three members appointed by the Minister for Defence with the approval of the Executive Council. One of the members was to be a judge of the Supreme Court, High Court, Circuit Court or District Court of Saorstát Éireann or a practising barrister of not less than 10 years' standing.

Persons seeking a service pension had to submit an application for a certificate of military service to the Minister for Defence. Applicants had to provide details of military service between 1 April, 1916 and 11 July, 1921 and also subsequent service in the National Forces. The Board of Assessors reported to the Minister for Defence on the extent, if any, of military service and the rank of the applicant and the appropriate number of years for pension purposes in accordance with the scale set out in the Act. If the report stated that there was service for pension purposes, the Act provided for the issue by the Minister for Defence of a certificate of military service to the applicant detailing the service accepted for pension purposes and also the rank of the applicant. The amount of the pension as laid down in the Act varied from £5 per annum for each year or part of a year of military service for a Private or non-commissioned officer to £25 per annum for each year or part of a year for an applicant whose rank was higher than that of Major-General.

The Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 provided for the grant of service pensions to persons who rendered military service in Óglaigh na hÉireann or the Irish Volunteers or the Irish Citizen Army or Fianna Éireann or the Hibernian Rifles or Cumann na mBan during Easter week 1916 or throughout either the periods 1 April, 1920 to 31 March, 1921 or 1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1921 and who also served on the anti-treaty side during the period 1 July, 1922 to 30 September, 1923. The Act also applied to persons who only had service during Easter week 1916 or during the period 1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1921.

The Act provided for the investigation of applicants by a Referee and for the Referee to be assisted by an Advisory Committee. The Referee was to be a judge of the Supreme Court, the High Court or the Circuit Court or a Justice of the District Court or a practising barrister of at least 10 years standing. The purpose of the Advisory Committee was to sit with the Referee and assist him in the exercise of his functions. The Committee was to consist of four persons, two to be persons who held high rank in the forces before 11 July, 1921, one person to be nominated by the Minister for Finance and one person to be nominated by the Minister for Defence.

The application procedure was similar to that set out in the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924. The Act also laid down detailed rules for determining the rank held by persons serving in the forces.

The Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949 enabled persons, whose applications for service pensions under the Military Service Pensions Act of 1924 and 1934 had been rejected, to send a petition in writing to the Board of Assessors/Referee through the Minister for Defence requesting the re-examination of their applications.

The following Acts make minor amendments to the Military Service Pension Acts:

Military Service Pensions Act, 1925

Military Service Pensions Act, 1930

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1944

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1945

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1945

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1953

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1960

The following Acts provided for increases in military service pensions:

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1953

Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1960

Military Service Pensions (Increase) Act, 1960

Military Service Pensions (Increase) Act, 1962

Military Service Pensions (Increase) Act, 1964

Subsequent increases in military service pensions did not involve primary legislation.

Statutory Instruments made under the legislation may be found at www.irishstatutebook.ie

##

##

## A Brief Description of the Military Bodies Constituting 'the Forces'

## as Applicable to the Military Service Pensions Collection

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

Óglaigh na hÉireann: Óglaigh na hÉireann is the Irish language name for the Irish Volunteers. It was subsequently adopted by the Irish Republican Army, following a resolution of the first Dáil Éireann on 20 August, 1919. Another name commonly used from 9 April, 1922, following the split in the Army, was 'National Forces', meaning all armed forces maintained by the Provisional Government or by the Government of Saorstát Éireann. The Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923, provided among other things, that

'4. — It shall be lawful for the Executive Council to raise and maintain an armed force to be called Óglaigh na hÉireann (hereinafter referred to as the Forces) consisting of such number of officers, non-commissioned officers and men as may from time to time be provided by the Oireachtas'.

and

'22. — The Forces shall be established as from a date to be fixed by Proclamation of the Executive Council in the Iris Oifigiúil.' The date fixed in accordance with Section 22 of the Act was 1 October, 1924.

The Defence Forces thus maintained its link, already established through the adoption of the uniform, cap badge, tunic buttons and officer rank of Commandant, for example, with the Irish Volunteers of 1913.

The Irish Volunteers: founded on 25 November, 1913 at a public meeting at the Rotunda, Dublin, which had been organized by Bulmer Hobson with the full support of Eoin MacNeill. The organisation's declared primary aim was 'to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland'. It attracted followers of Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association as well as members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

By May 1914 membership was around 80,000. Funds were collected through John Devoy and Clan na nGael in the United States, and by Alice Stopford Green in England. A split in the movement followed a speech by John Redmond, MP, at Woodenbridge, county Wicklow on 20 September, 1914 where he urged Volunteers to support Great Britain in the war against Germany 'for the freedom of small nations'. The majority followed Redmond and became known as the National Volunteers.

The minority of about 11,000 re-organised in October 1914; MacNeill became Chief of Staff, Patrick Pearse was Director of Organisation, Joseph Plunkett, Director of Military Operations, Michael 'The' O'Rahilly, Director of Arms, Thomas Mac Donagh, Director of Training and Hobson, Quartermaster. The movement was reorganised and revitalised after the failure of the military rising at Easter 1916, the execution of the leaders and the mass arrests of that time.

On 21 January, 1919, the first Dáil Éireann met and proclaimed the Irish Republic; those Volunteers who later took an oath of allegiance to the Dáil became the de facto Irish Republican Army.

The Irish Citizen Army: founded as a workers' defence corps by James Larkin and James Connolly on 23 November, 1913, during the Dublin lock-out. Their headquarters was at Liberty Hall. The movement was eventually taken over by Connolly in the spring of 1914. He re-organised them into an armed and uniformed force whose aims were the ownership of the land of Ireland by the people of Ireland and the establishment of a workers' republic. The General Secretary of the Army was Sean O' Casey. About 200 members took part in the 1916 Rising in Dublin. The Irish Citizen Army supported the anti-treaty forces during the civil war. A prominent influencing role in their refusing to accept the treaty was played by Constance Markievicz.

Na Fianna Eireann: the republican youth movement founded in Dublin in August 1909 by Markievicz and Hobson. There were 22 sluaghta or troops by 1912 in Belfast, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, Dundalk, Newry, Listowel and Clonmel. Members assisted in the Howth gun-running in July 1914, supported the Volunteers during the War of Independence and became a junior branch of the IRA/Sinn Féin in later years.

The Hibernian Rifles: a private, nationalist militia group, which was organised in the United States of America. The group came about following a split in the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH). It was the military arm of the AOH (Irish-American alliance), which had broken away from the AOH (Board of Erin) in 1907 because of 'the narrow sectarianism' of the latter. It then came under the influence of Clan na Gael and had a headquarters at 28 North Frederick Street, Dublin. As a movement it subscribed monies and levied members to support the workers during the lock-out of 1913–1914 and became friendly with the Citizen Army. It obtained arms from Connolly and the Citizen Army and bought others from British Army soldiers. About 30 or so members fought in the GPO and at an engagement at the Exchange Hotel in Parliament Street during Easter week 1916. The movement published a weekly newspaper, The Hibernian.

Cumann na mBan: republican women's organisation founded in Wynne's Hotel, Dublin in April 1914 under the chairmanship of Agnes O'Farrelly, with Constance Markievicz, Kathleen Clarke, Áine Ceannt and Mrs Thomas Kettle among those present. It lost membership in November 1914 when it declared support for the Irish Volunteers. Cumann na mBan supported the 1916 Rising, with its members acting as couriers, aides and nurses, for example.

In its constitution, adopted after the Rising, the organisation declared itself as pledged to work for the establishment of an Irish republic. Its organisation and territorial deployment in 1920–1921 was to mirror the brigade and battalion structure of the IRA and the membership actively assisted the republican movement during the War of Independence. A majority of its membership opposed the treaty. During the 1920s, led by Maud Gonne, the organisation supported the IRA and initiated the Easter lily commemorations in 1926.

Extract from typed statement, giving details of her role in events leading up to the Easter Rising, submitted by Mary Josephine Mulcahy (wife of Richard Mulcahy) in support of her pension application under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF1692 — Mary Josephine Mulcahy.

Letter from Patrick McCartan outlining the work carried out by Sidney Czira née Gifford.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF57134 — Sidney Czira.

Extract from sworn statement made by Margaret Skinnider on 13 November, 1936 in support of her application under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 recounting the circumstances of her wounding in action in 1916. Her claim had earlier been refused under the Army Pensions Act, 1923 as it was deemed the provisions of this act applied to men only. She was successful under the new legislation in the 1930s and was granted disability and service pensions in 1938.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF19910.

Letter from Christy Keenan, a former employee of Dublin and South Eastern Railways based at Harcourt Street railway station in 1916, to Thomas Sutton. The letter recounts Keenan's experience on the morning of Tuesday 25 April, 1916 when a party of British soldiers under the command of Captain JC Bowen Colthurst, and accompanied by the three prisoners who would later be executed in Portobello barracks on Bowen Colthurst's orders, searched the train station. The party were in pursuit of Sutton who had been firing on them from the station. The letter was submitted by Thomas Sutton in support of his application for a military service pension.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF23449 — Thomas Sutton.

Extract from Christina Brooks née Stafford's application for an award under the Army Pensions Act, 1932.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF8968 — Christina Brooks.

Letter from William Corri, former Military Governor, Kilmainham prison, regarding the condition of Christina Brooks's physical health.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF8968 — Christina Brooks.

##

## ' **Active Service': Changing Definitions**

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

Introduction

The term 'active service' or 'qualifying active service' or 'military service' is central to the granting of awards to all categories of applicants under the Army Pensions Acts 1923–1953, the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924, 1934 and the Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949. It is apparent from the Military Service Pensions files that some veterans refused awards under the legislation were dissatisfied with this outcome. This led to extensive lobbying of government and opposition elected representatives, other bodies and individuals by Old IRA Associations and veterans for a change in the definition of 'active service.'

Relevant departmental files from the Department of Defence have been sourced and are included in the Military Service Pensions Collection. A brief outline of the definitions and applications of 'active service' under the various Acts, and as seen in the departmental files, appears below.

Army Pensions Acts, 1923, 1927 and 1932

In the Army Pensions Act, 1923, the term active service is defined as applying to an officer or soldier ... [who is] '... attached to or forms part of a force which is engaged in operations against the enemy or is engaged in military operations in a place wholly or partly occupied by the enemy ....' The Act provided inter alia for the payment of wound pensions to wounded members of Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, 1916, and for the payment of allowances and gratuities to the widows, children and dependents of any deceased officer or soldier '... who has been or shall be killed in the course of his duty while on active service ...' ...'during the period April and May, 1916, to on or after the 1st day of April, 1922'.

The Army Pensions Act, 1927, amended and extended the 1923 Act, and the legislation was further amended and extended under the Army Pensions Act, 1932. The application of the term 'military service' is defined and interpreted in both Acts.

Administration and investigation of claims under this Act and the subsequent amending legislation were led by the Department of Defence, with supporting and other evidence sought from the military authorities, the Army Pensions Board and An Garda Siochána, and later through a Military Services Registration Board (1).

Military Service Pensions Act, 1924

In the case of the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924, Lieutenant General Gearóid O'Suilleaváin (2), who had been appointed Secretary to the Board of Assessors (3) by the government, pointed out that the two main questions which would face the Board were: 'What constitutes active service? What persons (not in actual fighting) may be awarded Service for week commencing 23 April, 1916? (4)'

He then went on to set out that an '... applicant for Certificate of Military Service under the Act will require to produce evidence to satisfy the Board that:

1. He was a member of Óglaigh na hÉireann, or of the Irish Volunteers, or of the Irish Citizen Army, or of Fianna Éireann, or of the Hibernian Rifles during the period for which he claims service;

2. He took part in the work of that organisation, and issued or carried out orders;

3. He took part in Acts of War as a member of that organisation, an Act of War to cover one or more of the following:

4. Attack on enemy forces or position;

a. Destruction of enemy property;

b. Manufacture, purchase or disposal of munitions;

c. Collection of information for (1), (2) or (3);

d. Organising or training for (1), (2), (3) or (4);

5. Carrying out 1, 2 and 3 involved grave risk and sacrifice to himself.'

Award of pensions to others not in fighting during Easter week 1916

In dealing with the second question, O'Suilleaváin pointed out that there 'are thousands who though not actually in the fighting will claim to have been "out" during Easter week'. Claims were to be expected from hundreds who when mobilised were ordered to

'Stand to, or

To disperse, or

Disperse and await further orders.'

He proposed that claims 'for service' for those ordered to stand to, disperse or disperse and await further orders should be dealt with in a 'Minute of Procedure' (5) to be submitted to the Board.

He further stated that 'The Board will not accept any service for the week commencing 23 April, 1916, except service in action in Dublin City, county Wexford, county Galway, county Louth, county Dublin or county Meath' (6).

Minute of Procedure: active service during week commencing 23 April, 1916

'Applicants who are able to sustain claim (for active service) in respect of periods (e)-continuous service from 1 April, 1920 to 31 March, 1921, or (f)-continuous service from 1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1921, of First Schedule of the Act (7) may claim for (a)-continuous service from 1 April, 1916 to 31 March, 1917, provided such service includes active service in the week commencing 23 April, 1916, even though they did not take part in actual fighting. In order to have service at (a) counted towards actual pension an applicant must

1. Qualify under active service in respect of period (e) and (f) of First Schedule of Act;

2. Produce evidence to the satisfaction of the Board that:

a. he was a member of Óglaigh na hÉireann or of the Irish Citizen Army or of Fianna Éireann or of the Hibernian Rifles on or before the 23 April, 1916;

b. he was not in operations because of orders received to the contrary

c. he carried out any orders issued him during week commencing 23 April, 1916

d. he did some specific act which would indicate his intention and desire to be on active service during the week commencing 23 April, 1916, viz. mobilised at place ordered for 23 April, 1916;

e. he continued to be a member of Óglaigh na hÉireann or of the Irish Volunteers or of the Irish Citizen Army or of Fianna Éireann or of the Hibernian Rifles;

f. he qualified under periods (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) or (f) of First Schedule of Act, whichever was the earliest period possible for him;

g. he did not break the period of service except as covered by First Schedule (4) to Act. (8)'

The 1924 Act applied only to applicants who, in addition to fulfilling the requirement for active service during the week commencing 23 April, 1916; or throughout the period from 1 April, 1920 to 31 March, 1921; or throughout the period from 1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1921, served in the National Forces or Defence Forces of Saorstat Éireann at any time subsequent to 1 July, 1922 and prior to 1 October, 1923 (9).

Statistics for successful and unsuccessful applicants under 1924 Act

3,855 pensions were awarded by the Board of Assessors under the Act and some 9,500 applicants were refused, Section 4 (2) of the Act being cited for refusal. Records indicate that 431 persons were awarded pensions for active service in Easter week (10). A listing of 104 applicants is found where active service was recognised by the Board for all or some of the three periods set out above, and pensions were not granted as the persons had 'no service in the National Forces' (11).

Other definitions of active service: 1924 Act

Department of Defence file SPG/6/7: Active service means 'service in an active service unit or flying column; or having actively conducted or administered a unit or column of this nature or any larger unit or Department of the Forces; or intelligence work carried out under direct authority of the Intelligence Department; or any other military or intelligence service or other service personally rendered which in the opinion of the Board involved corresponding risks and sacrifice, and was of an equally meritorious nature' (12).

Dáil Debates: Military Service Pensions Act, 1924

'...Does not include mere joining of Volunteers, mere drilling and going on with one's occupation in the ordinary way without interruption. That particular definition will be described and I expect it will take a military description. Does not intend that there should be any soft pensions. The description "Active service" is put down (in the Bill) to be on the safe side'. (WT Cosgrave (13))

Military Service Pensions Act, 1934

The most significant effect of the 1934 Act was that applications for the award of pensions were now to be considered from persons who were deemed to have been serving in the Forces while such persons were 'rendering active service' in any of the bodies which constituted the Forces. The specific requirement to have service in the National Forces/Defence Forces after 1 July, 1922 did not now apply.

Cumann na mBan was also now included in the 'military bodies' constituting the Forces (14). A Referee was appointed and an Advisory Committee consisting of four members was established (15), to whom all applications for a service certificate were referred and reported upon to the Minister for Defence as to whether '...the applicant is or is not a person to whom this Act applies' (16). The service periods were set out from 1 to 10, inclusive, covering the same years as under the 1924 Act, and computed to the same maximum of 14 years' service (17). While the rank structure set out remained the same as in the 1924 Act, (five grades A to E ), a change was effected in that rank 'E' referred to Privates and Non-Commissioned Officers in the 1934 Act, whereas rank 'E' had referred to ranks higher than Major General in the 1924 Act.

Easter week 1916: 1934 Act

The Referee and Advisory Committee 'adopted the standard applied by the Board of Assessors (1924) and recognised active service ... only in ... Dublin City and County and Counties Galway, Wexford and Louth-Meath, having awarded only a few pensions to particular individuals elsewhere. (18)' (See report 'Easter week 1916. 1 (Historical)', dated November 1946, which is to be found in A/21 (4) B/124 (10pp)).

Elsewhere in that report (19), the Referee notes 'Active Service has almost exclusively been interpreted as taking part in engagements with the British forces. The intention, or even the most intensive desire, to take part in such engagements has never been admitted to constitute active service'; and 'Any relaxation of the standard for Easter week must inevitably give rise to a demand for a similar modification in respect of the standards for the Tan War. There are thousands of men who had some engagements with the British during the Tan War and rendered valuable routine service over a prolonged period who are not eligible for pensions under the present standards; numbers of these have served in columns and lay in ambush on numerous occasions; others were members of an ambush party who held a road leading to the ambush position detached from an ambush party as part of the plan of an ambush, but, through circumstances over which they had no control, did not participate in the ambush; all these and numerous other categories would have a justifiable grievance if pensions were awarded for mere mobilisation under arms in Easter week' (20).

Rules and the Referee

It is likely that the Referee and Advisory Committee, having examined cases where clear evidence of qualification was present, and having looked at other cases where qualifying active service was only proven after lengthy investigation, set a standard or rules for like cases. This appears evident in their practice of cross-referencing decisions across a number of applicants' files for claimed operations of a similar nature or outcome in different IRA Brigade areas.

For example, the case of Patrick Flanagan (21) provides evidence that 'applicants incapacitated from active service by wounds or illness attributable to activities shall be entitled to credit for pensionable service for the period of such incapacity'; and 'Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Referee that an applicant has taken part in a major engagement during the 5th, 6th or 7th period in the Appendix to the Second Schedule, he shall be entitled to pensionable service for all subsequent periods if he proves that he was an active Volunteer for those periods, in the sense that he attended regularly the meetings and drills of his Company, and that he carried out to the best of his ability all orders given to him by his superior officers during those periods'. In all, six such points are set out and appended to this file. In other cases reference is made to Rule 1 applies, for example, but the rules mentioned are not spelled out. No document or file in which these supposed 'rules' are consolidated or set out has been found to date.

' **Key Men'**

It is clear that the Referee and Advisory Committee identified a class of service or participants which they referred to as 'key service' or 'key men'. These are men operating in almost whole-time capacities, carrying out duties such as the manufacture of explosives and grenades, despatch delivery, custody of prisoners, cleaning and maintaining arms, acting as orderlies, drivers and other such tasks. The Referee recognised that men so employed, while not having active service in a fighting capacity, rendered service of such a nature as would warrant it being considered as qualifying service, if it could be shown that the service was rendered regularly and continuously, involved risk and danger and formed an integral part of the fighting activities. As a corollary, where there was no fighting unit operating as such, there could be no key or pivotal service recognised as qualifying active service.

Cases in this category were identified, put aside and subjected to detailed investigation at a later stage by the Advisory Committee, consulting and gathering evidence from the relevant Brigade Advisory Officers. Decisions reached in individual cases are cross-referenced on like files.

Active Service during the truce

The practice followed by the Referee and Advisory Committee in awarding pensionable service during the period commencing on 12 July, 1921 and ending on 30 June, 1922 (8th period) is set out in a decision appended to the file of Fintan Patrick Murphy (22). Here it was pointed out that 'the only active service which a claimant could have during the 8th period in Southern Ireland was active service against the British Forces, and as, during that period, there was a truce in Southern Ireland, there could be no claim for active service from Southern Ireland ... In practice, however, claimants who have been able to establish that they spent the truce (8th period) in camps or barracks undergoing military training, or in other preparations for active service, have been allowed active service ... if they took part in active service when the occasion arose, viz; between 1st July, 1922 and 30th September, 1923 ... .(23)'

It was further set out that '... there was considerable military activity against the Crown Forces (in Northern Ireland) during this period and claimants who can prove that they took part in such activity are entitled to pensionable service ... Where claimants in June 1922 were ordered by their competent military authority to proceed to the Curragh for military training for projected action in Northern Ireland and, in pursuance of such order, did undergo a course of training in the Curragh, the period spent in training in the Curragh up to the time that the projected action was abandoned, shall count as pensionable service if:

• On their return to Northern Ireland they were forced to go on the run because of their activities during the 8th period, or

• They were imprisoned on their return to Northern Ireland for activities during the 7th (24) or 8th period, or

• They were on the run and could not return to Northern Ireland;

• They fought for the Republic in the civil war.'

Referee's decisions

The Referee did not furnish details as to why pensions were refused to individual applicants. In such cases, the certificate of military service form (Referee R3) was completed to the extent that service was claimed by the individual and if such service was not allowed, in part or in whole, the form was stamped 'Act does not appear to apply'. An appeals process required 'new evidence'.

Mr Sean MacBride, SC was engaged by a number of applicants to argue their case against the refusal of the Referee and Advisory Committee to award them service for Easter week in county Galway. In a detailed submission to the Referee and Advisory Committee, MacBride points to the unsatisfactory situation whereby 'existing standards' admitted to by the Referee, that 'have been evolved in the administration of this Act over the past ten years' ... are 'completely unknown to the applicant and me (MacBride) ... and ... is another distinction from case law' (25).

The matter was subsequently brought before the High Court (26) [May 1946] in the case of the State (William Corcoran) –v –The Referee, The Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. The High Court found the former standard for 'active service' as applied prior to 27 April, 1945 in certain 'Galway cases' to be erroneous, and that the Referee (Mr Justice Tadhg Mac Firbhisigh) '... recognised his own right to differ from the ruling of his predecessor and that he would advisedly make up his own mind on the matter.' Accordingly, service certificates were issued by Justice Mac Firbhisigh to applicants to whom they had been refused by previous Referees. The ruling in the case and the change in the existing standard for 'active service' for Easter week, '... which previously demanded the firing of shots against the enemy or service of an outstanding nature.', did not find favour with all members of the Advisory Committee (27).

Cumann na mBan service

General principles in interpreting Qualifying Service and Active Service under the 1934 Act for Cumann na mBan members are set out in a memorandum by Advisory Committee member, John Mc Coy (28). He points out that the service recognised should be 'service of a military nature' and 'if pretty continuous during a qualifying period should be taken into account as the essence for qualifying purposes'. He includes the following:

a. In charge of despatches in a despatch centre in an active service area or acting as a necessary link in an important despatch line ... carrying ... constantly ... through dangerous areas;

b. Important service in connection with places used as a headquarters in an active service area ... Brigade or Battalion Headquarters or for rest purposes between engagements by a column;

c. In charge of dumps where a considerable supply of arms and other munitions were constantly kept ... claimant with principal responsibility for safety and contents regularly handed out and replenished. Personal responsibility for the care and safety of important documents in claimant's own house;

d. Intelligence work ... valuable ... pretty continuous and carried out under dangerous conditions;

e. First aid where a claimant was specially detailed for attending wounded or looked after a wounded man in own house set aside for such purpose; the continuity and perhaps danger of service should be evident;

f. All full-time work of a dangerous nature which was considered essential by Senior IRA officer in command of the area or full-time work undertaken for Cumann na mBan Headquarters ...'

McCoy also stated that he considered that the constitution of the organisation should not have any influence whatever on the question of assessing military service. 'The Constitution was drafted before the intensive military activity of the Tan War commenced ... there is no mention made of the care of arms and dumps, despatches, intelligence work. These activities were generally more important than the activities mentioned in the Constitution'.

Statistics for successful and unsuccessful applicants under 1924 and 1934 Acts

A Memorandum for the government (29), dating from 1957, shows that a total of 82,000 persons applied for pensions under the 1924 and 1934 Acts. Of these 15,700 were successful and 66,300 were rejected. The Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949, enabled rejected applicants to appeal by petition and enabled new applicants to apply. It appears therefore that a total of ca. 18,300 pensions were awarded under the three Acts by the end of 1959, still leaving a significant constituency of dissatisfaction among veterans refused pensions.

Further attempts to broaden the scope of the Acts

Numerous Old IRA Veterans' Associations, particularly the Federation of IRA, 1916–1921 ('Mansion House Committee') (30) continued to make political representations, and the Federation met with the then Minister for Defence, General Sean MacEoin, in December 1955, May 1956 and December 1956.

General MacEoin had made public his intention to review the Military Service Pensions legislation in its entirety (31). In essence, he proposed new legislation involving the abolition of the Board of Assessors, the Referee and Advisory Committee, a review of all applications to date (those refused and awarded) and the appointment of about 20 boards on a regional basis, each consisting of a Deciding Officer and 2 Assessors. A definition of 'active service' was to be provided.

These proposals were not fully supported by the Minister for Finance, and were deemed to require 'further consideration' at a meeting of the government on 4 December, 1956. The matter was finally withdrawn from the Cabinet Agenda in May, 1957 (32).

The Referee, Mr Justice Eugene Sheehy, SC, appointed 16 May, 1950, had been asked for his opinion on the proposed definition of active service. His observations in reply include; '... any member of the Forces could get a pension who, during Easter week, gave a volunteer a cup of tea anywhere, or carried a message anywhere, or cut a telegraph wire anywhere or blocked a road anywhere. This would be bound to result in a very large increase in the numbers qualifying. I think it would be most regrettable if Easter week service were cheapened in this way' (33) (under the proposed definition 111: 'A person who, at any time during Easter week, 1916 rendered service in any of the duties set out in the Appendix') (34).

Sheehy did acknowledge '... that there is a certain number of cases in which, although the provisions of the Acts have been carried out, it could be argued that justice has not been done. In certain areas there was very little activity in the period immediately preceding the truce, and Volunteers have accordingly been unable to show the continuous service in this period which is necessary to qualify a person who has neither Easter week nor civil war service. Applicants in these areas without civil war service have had to be refused, although they may have rendered better service than others who had continuous service in the Seventh Period (1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1921) and ceased their activities at the truce' (35). He also sets out similar difficulties in Northern Ireland.

Justice Sheehy suggested two amendments, which if they were implemented would enable him to deal favourably with cases as outlined above and '... there would, I think, be no legitimate cause for further complaint'.

Essentially he required the following: '... that where a majority of the Referee and Advisory Committee are satisfied that an applicant for a service certificate failed to qualify because he could not show continuous active service in the Sixth or Seventh Period, but that his record of service warrants the conclusion that such failure was not due to causes under his own control, the Referee may reopen the case and may, if he thinks fit, qualify the applicant...'

The recommendation by the Referee for the implementation of these two amendments to the Acts was not successful.

Army Pensions Acts, 1943, 1946 and 1953

The Army Pensions Act, 1943, provided for the grant of a special allowance (36) in specified circumstances to persons who had been awarded pensionable service under the 1924 to 1934 Acts in respect of service during Easter week, 1916 or were awarded a wound or a disability pension for wounds etc. contracted during that week.

The Army Pensions Act, 1946, amended Section 7 of the 1943 Act so as to make eligible for the grant of special allowances persons (37) who fulfilled the conditions as to lack of means and incapability laid down in the 1943 Act, and who were awarded a medal in respect of membership of the IRA, Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan or the Irish Citizen Army continuously for the three months ending on 11 July, 1921.

Thus, persons with no active service were now entitled to a monetary award, once the conditions set out in the Act, as to their lack of means and incapability of self-support by reason of permanent infirmity of mind or body, were met.

Section 41 of the Army Pensions Act, 1953, also extended eligibility in respect of any period of service from 23 April, 1916 to 11 July, 1921 for which a military service certificate had been granted.

Service Medals

The Service (1917–1921) Medal, with bar (38), was issued to all persons in possession of a Military Service Certificate entitling them to a pension under the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924 to 1934. Persons not in possession of a Certificate, but who satisfied the Minister for Defence that, had they applied for a pension, their service was such as to qualify for the award of a pension, would also receive the medal with bar.

The medal without bar was issued to applicants who were enrolled in the Irish Republican Army, Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan or the Irish Citizen Army not less than three months prior to 11 July, 1921, but who did not qualify for pension (39).

Analysis and Conclusion

In the case of the Military Service Pensions Acts, a degree of dissatisfaction with the application of the term 'active service' on the part of persons refused a Certificate of Military Service and thus the award of a pension is apparent. Even though reasons were not furnished by the Board of Assessors under the 1924 Act, and the Referee under the 1934 Act, as to why applicants were not awarded certificates, the sticking point for veterans' organisations and individuals appears to centre on the lack of a definition of 'active service' in the legislation. This is seen in political representations, lobbying and protesting through various media by veterans' organisations, as applications and petitions made under the 1949 Act appear to do little to satisfy those refused certificates under earlier legislation. This dissatisfaction is very apparent in various papers, submissions and representations made to the government through the Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance and Defence in the early 1950s by various veterans' organisations and by public representatives and others on behalf of individuals (40).

There were other concerns raised by the veterans, notably health issues, medical treatment, commemorations and matters dealing with the award of medals, for example, and these can be sourced through the descriptive listing of the departmental files now released as part of this collection. Of course, there were financial considerations too on the part of governments of the day, as the files demonstrate.

In our approach to guiding the researcher in this area, the concentration of explanation is focused mainly on material not publicly available heretofore (41) and information on the process of drafting position papers, memoranda and submissions for the government on proposed new legislation and other matters as seen in the Department of Defence files now released. There are some crossovers. However, this happens mainly in areas where information is already in the public domain, such as Dáil Debates and the content of the actual legislation, for example.

Researchers and historians have had access in recent years to private collections that contain elements and copy forms relating to applications and references by prominent IRA veterans, former Commanding Officers and others in matters dealing with pensions claims. These papers have to be understood in context. It is only when researchers, be they historians or family members (42), can assess in an open and accessible manner the totality and complexity of the files in the MSP Collection that the question of why any applicant was refused a certificate of military service can be studied.

1. Established under Army Pensions Act, 1932. Sec 6. (in operation 1932 to July 1943 MSR Board 1.)

2. Adjutant General (AG) IRA, 1920 to 1921. Appointed AG National Forces November, 1921. Resigned on 24 March, 1924. Appointed JAG Defence Forces April 1927.

3. Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 Sec 3 (constituted 4 October, 1924 , members: Justice Beatty, Duggan, Lynch).

4. MSPC/SPG/6/13 Memo dated 16 October, 1924, 3pp.

5. MSPC/SPG/6/15.

6. MSPC/ SPG/6/13.

7. Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 First Schedule. Calculation of Military Service. Sections (a) to (i) covering military service during periods set out from 1 April, 1916 (a) to 30 September, 1923 (i). (These were computed to a maximum of 14 years for pension purposes). See Appendix iv.

8. Absence from duty following arrest, imprisonment, internment or deportation under DORA, 1914 or ROI Act, 1920 etc.

9. MSPC/SPG/14/4-A/12222 dated 6 September, 1924.

10. MSPC/SPG97 and SPG 11.

11. MSPC/SPG/83/2.

12. MSPC/SPG/6/7. Memo dated 23 September, 1924 by MP Keane, successor to Gearóid O Suilleaváin as Secretary following his election as TD, Dublin County (by-election) 14 August, 1927.

13. 27 June, 1924, Column 3241.

14. Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 Sections 1(f), 2 & 3.

15. ibid., Section 6(2)(a) 'Two members being persons who held high rank in the Forces before 11 July, 1921 ...' John McCoy, Humphrey Murphy (died 13 November, 1935) replaced by Seamus Robinson.

16. ibid., Section 8(2)(a).

17. ibid., Second Schedule. See Appendix iv.

18. MSPC:34REF54971 James Riordan; 24SP1, Sean O'Murthuile and 24SP9375, Michael Brennan.

19. MSPC/A/21(4)B/131.

20. MSPC/A/21(4)B/132(c).

21. MSP34REF455: 1916 veteran, later Column Commander, ASU, Dublin Brigade and Vice Comdt 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade.

22. MSP34Ref11815. Awarded rank greater than Major General, onetime QMG IRA and Chief Liaison Officer.

23. Leathán Miontuairisce (Minute Sheet) dated 9 Deireadh Fomhair (October), 1939 signed by Robinson, McCoy and Fahy, including copy 'decision' dated 18 November, 1937, 2pp.

24. The period commencing on 1 April, 1921 and ending on 11 July, 1921.

25. A/21(4)B/18 and B/25 Submission made by Mr MacBride, SC to Referee and Advisory Committee re Volunteer Activity in County Galway, dated 9 April, 1945.

26. Copy document on file in MSP34Ref9061 Martin McEvoy refers to a Supreme Court judgement in the matter in May 1946.

27. See copy High Court Judgement on file MSP34Ref9368 William Corcoran and MSP34Ref9061 Martin McEvoy and others.

28. MA/MSPC/CMB/163 General Headquarters-Cumann na mBan Service dated 21 June, 1939, 4pp.

29. Department of Defence 3/15110/12 & /13 dated 6 May, 1957.

30. Department of Defence 3/15110 and 3/13070.

31. Speech at Abbeyfeale and Athea during West Limerick by-election, as reported in the Irish Independent, 7 November, 1955, for example.

32. Department of Defence 3/13070/442 and / 486 (S.13602E) dated 17 Bealtaine/May, 1957.

33. ibid., /462(a)(i).

34. ibid., /323 to 326 Part 1. Proposed definition of persons to whom Service Certificates may be awarded and Appendix. Dated 13 October, 1955.

35. ibid., /460. 4.

36. Army Pensions Act, 1943 Section 7. (persons were means tested and had to be incapable of self-support).

37. Army Pensions Act, 1946 Section 14.

38. Approved by Government, 26 May, 1942 NAI Department of the Taoiseach S.12776, Department of Defence 2/75446. Part 1/41.

39. Department of Defence 2/75446 Part 1. /39 dated 18 May, 1942 and NAI Department of the Taoiseach S12776 dated 26 May, 1942.

40. Department of Defence 3/15110 and 3/13070.

41. ibid., 3/13070/97 to /102.

42. Family members applying for information have been furnished with material from the MSP Collection by Veterans' Administration Section of the Department of Defence for the past 15 years or so. While this has been very useful for family research, only material submitted by the applicant or in reply to him/her in the presentation of a claim has been supplied. Some authors have misinterpreted this type of material, not being in a position to view the entire file in context.

Extract from The Police Gazette or Hue And Cry, Friday November 17, 1916. This file also contains a signed handwritten letter dated 19 December, 1917, written by Liam Mellows to Michael O'Callaghan while O'Callaghan was being held at the Tombs prison in New York. As a former inmate of the prison, Mellows was not allowed to visit O'Callaghan in person and could only write to him instead.

Reference: IE/MS/MSPC/MSP34REF4189 — Michael O'Callaghan.

Above: Group of Irish deported from Arbour Hill Prison to Oxford, February 1917, featuring Liam Pedlar, Miceál Ó Foghludha, P McCartan, B Mellows, Seán T O'Kelly, D Figgis, [ ] McCabe, S Ó Ceallaigh, Joseph MacBride and [ ] Healy.

Reference: IE/MA/BMH/CD/95/3/14.

Group of Commanders, Irish Volunteers, featuring R Monteith, Edward 'Ned' Daly, MJ Judge, [ ] Kerrigan, Thomas McDonagh, [ ] Magee and S Lenihan (Capel Street). Original carte de viste features the handwritten text of Seán T O'Kelly on reverse and includes underlined term 'Irish Volunteers'; this handwriting sample mirrors the handwritten amendment to the printed caption on image, where the term National Volunteers is amended to read Irish Volunteers.

Reference: IE/MA/BMH/CD/95/1/4.

Two Enniscorthy prisoners being brought to Kilmainham prison, 1916.

Reference NMI, EW32.

Transcript of sworn evidence given before the Referee and Advisory Committee, Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 on 15 May, 1940 by Frank Aiken TD, Minister for Co-ordination of Defensive Measures and former Chief of Staff IRA, regarding the service pension claim of Tom Barry.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF57456 — Thomas Barry.

IRA flying column, county Galway (undated). Original is held with copy photographs featuring a close up of each member of the column, some named, including P O'Connell, Cloonfert (no 2), Mark Killillea (no 10) and W Malone, Westport (no 15). This photograph is from a series held within the Collins Papers (CP) called Captured Photographs.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0865.

Group of National Army Officers holding second in command positions in Infantry Battalions, pictured at a training course run by the Officer Training Corps, Curragh Camp, June 1923. Colonel Joseph Byrne, Officer Commanding, Officer Training Corps featured in second row and the two training NCOs' of Company Sergeant Major (I) are named.

Featuring bottom row CSMI W Cooke, Captain J McGorry, Captain M Leamy, Captain G Doherty, Captain J O'Dwyer, Captain P Whelan, Captain P Duggan, Captain P Cosgrove, Captain J Fulham and CSMI Carey.

Second row Captain W O'Dea, Captain J McKeon, Captain D McGrattan, Captain Joseph Byrne, Colonel Joseph Byrne, Officer Commanding OTC Captain M Murphy, Captain J Kelly, Captain J Connolly, Captain J McMonagle, Captain W Myles.

Third row Captain T Carroll, Captain GT Swayne, Captain J Murphy, Captain H Lenahan.

Top row Captain J Delaney, Captain M Mortell, Captain F Power, Captain J Bannon, Captain M Buckley, Captain D Houston, Captain JJ McCormack, Captain JP Cooney, Captain F O'Rourke.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0867.

List of despatch carriers and receivers 1st Southern Division IRA, with accompanying extract letter of explanation (below).

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/A1 — Cork 1st Brigade Activities.

##

##

## Biographies of Boards of Assessors, Referees and

## Members of Advisory Committees

Patrick Brennan, Project Manager

The material used in these biographical sketches originates from diverse sources. A primary source has been the individual files of applicants as seen in the Military Service Pension Collection. The Dictionary of Irish Biography Ed. James McGuire and James Quinn (Cambridge University Press 2009) has proven very useful in certain cases. Personnel files made available on a privileged basis by the Department of Defence and the Department of Justice have been of significance. Other material came from family sources, newspaper obituaries and privileged Defence Forces personnel files. The project is indebted to John and Mary Clare O'Malley for their invaluable voluntary research and assistance with this chapter.

BOARD OF ASSESSORS 1924–1957

A Board of Assessors, consisting of three members, was constituted under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924. Its purpose was to examine every application for a certificate of military service referred to them by the Minister for Defence and report as to the military service of the applicant.

Board of Assessors

BOARD OF ASSESSORS 1924–1928

Biographies

• Beatty, Cyril Joseph

• Duggan, Eamon

• Lynch, Fionán

• O'Suilleaváin, Gearóid (Secretary)

BEATTY, Cyril Joseph (1890–1968) (Chairman)

Cyril Joseph Beatty was born 13 August, 1890 at 50 Clanbrassil Street, Dublin. He was educated at Catholic University Secondary school, Leeson Street Dublin, the Royal University of Ireland and King's Inns, Dublin. He was called to the bar in November 1911.

He established an extensive legal practice in the Leinster area and officiated at republican courts during the War of Independence in Dublin city and county. He was one of the first appointed as a temporary District Justice by Kevin O'Higgins, Minister for Home Affairs, on 28 October, 1922 'pending the reconstruction of the Irish Judicial and Magisterial system.' He was later assigned to courts in counties Limerick, Clare and north Kerry and was formally appointed as a District Justice by warrant signed by the Governor General on 7 December, 1923.

In July 1924, Judge Beatty sought and was granted a transfer to the Longford District and was serving there when he was appointed, on 2 October, 1924, as Chairman and Legal Member of the Board of Assessors under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924. On completion of the work of the Board of Assessors in October 1928, Judge Beatty resumed duty as District Justice in the Meath-Westmeath District, to which he had been appointed in late 1927. He was to serve in that capacity until his retirement on 11 August, 1960.

Judge Cyril Beatty died on 23 October, 1968.

DUGGAN, Eamon (Edmund J), TD, Parliamentary Secretary, Executive Council, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Defence (member)

Eamon Duggan joined 'A' Company, 1st Dublin Battalion, Irish Volunteers in 1914, was promoted to Lieutenant and subsequently appointed as Battalion Adjutant. He saw active service as Adjutant during Easter week at the Four Courts, Church Street, King Street and North Brunswick Street areas. He was tried by field general court martial in Richmond barracks and sentenced to penal servitude, and was detained in Kilmainham and Mountjoy prisons and in Portland, Lewes and Maidstone convict prisons until the general amnesty in June 1917. On his release he reported for duty to the 1st Battalion headquarters at Colmcille Hall, Blackhall Street.

At a meeting of the surviving officers of the Volunteers, held at 32 Bachelors' Walk in autumn 1917, Duggan was appointed Director of Intelligence and continued to act in that capacity until the office became full-time, and Michael Collins was appointed in 1919 with Duggan as his senior officer. He also substituted for Eamon De Valera as a member of the Executive, Irish Volunteers, and regular meetings of GHQ staff and Executive were held at his father-in-law's house at 23 Victoria Avenue, Donnybrook (he was married to May, née Kavanagh, a member of Cumann na mBan and veteran of Easter week service (MSP34 Ref 20457)).

Throughout this time Duggan practised as a solicitor at 66 Dame Street. He had been arrested as part of the 'German Plot' round-up in May 1918 and was on the run for many months. He was elected as a Sinn Féin member for Meath South in the general election of 1918. His home at 35 Lower Leeson Street was raided on occasions and he was eventually arrested at his office on 25 November, 1920 and detained in Mountjoy prison, along with Arthur Griffith, until the truce. At a meeting of the Executive, which was held at his home on 8 July, 1921, Duggan was appointed as Chief Irish Liaison Officer and acted as such until the establishment of the Provisional Government in 1922, when he was appointed Minister for Home Affairs, having been elected as a member for Louth Meath in the general election of 1921 on a Coalition treaty platform. He had earlier served as a member of the treaty delegation and signatory to the treaty.

Eamon Duggan was appointed a member of the Board of Assessors under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924, at that time being Parliamentary Secretary to the Executive Council. He was later awarded a military service pension of 10 years' service in the rank of Lieutenant General. He served as Minister for Defence from 1927 to 1932, and was elected to the Seanad in 1933, dying from cardiac failure on 6 June, 1936 at the Town Hall, Dun Laoghaire. He was 58 years of age.

LYNCH Finian (Fionán O Loingsigh), (1889–1966), TD, Minister for Fisheries (member)

Fionán Lynch was born in Caherciveen, county Kerry in 1889 and educated at University College, Dublin, then employed as a national school teacher. He was Company Commander, 'F' Company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade during Easter week 1916 and held a line from North King Street to May Lane, adjoining the Four Courts, with his Company throughout the week. Captain Lynch was tried by field general court martial, sentenced to death, and later had his sentence commuted to 10 years penal servitude. On his release in June 1917 his re-employment was refused. He became an organiser for the Volunteer Executive, working in south Kerry, Armagh and Offaly, militarily as well as politically for Sinn Féin.

He was arrested on 13 August, 1917, sentenced to 18 months for wearing military uniform, and released in November while on hunger strike. He was re-arrested on 18 May, 1918, and released from Manchester jail, again while on hunger strike, on 19 August, 1919. He had been elected as Sinn Féin member for Kerry South in the general election of 1918. He was appointed to the GHQ Staff of the IRA as Assistant Director of Organisation under Diarmaid Ó'hÉigeartaigh in early 1920. Around this time Lynch set up an insurance business. He worked part-time as an organiser until his re-arrest in January 1921.

He was interned in Ballykinlar camp and released in August 1921 when he reported to south Kerry as an organiser and training advisor. His business collapsed as a result of his internment.

He enlisted in the National Army at Portobello barracks on 12 July, 1922, was appointed by General Collins as Vice-Commandant of the South Western Division in the rank of Lieutenant General, and served in that appointment under General E O'Duffy, General Officer Commanding the Division, up to 13 December, 1922. Lynch had been elected on a Coalition treaty platform for Kerry-Limerick West constituency in the general election of June, 1922 and was appointed Minister for Education in the Provisional Government. He had earlier served as Secretary to the treaty delegation. He was appointed as Minister for Fisheries in September 1923 and served in that position up to 1927, and as Minister for Lands and Fisheries up to 1932.

Lynch was appointed a member of the Board of Assessors under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924. He was awarded a service pension of just over 12 years in the rank of Lieutenant General on 17 November, 1926. He made a Witness Statement to the Bureau of Military History, 1913–1921 (Witness Statement 192).

Fionán Lynch retired from political life in 1944, and was appointed a Judge of the Circuit Court on 1 November, 1944. He died on 3 June, 1966.

O'SUILLEAVÁIN, Gearóid, Lieutenant General (Retd.) (1891–1948), (Secretary)

Gearóid O'Suilleaváin was born at Coolnagarrane, Skibbereen, county Cork in 1891, into a farming family. He graduated in Celtic Studies from University College, Dublin in 1913, and took a MA from the same college in 1915.

He joined the Irish Volunteers ,'F' Company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade, and was attached to the staff of Sean Mac Diarmada about one week prior to the 1916 Rising; he served in the GPO in Easter week, 1916. He lost his appointment as a national school teacher in Dublin city because of his activities in the Rising, and subsequent time in Wandsworth prison and internment at Frongoch up to December 1916.

He secured an appointment as a teacher in Carlow College, and became Organiser for the Irish Volunteers in the Carlow area in summer 1917. He carried out work as an organiser in west Cork and Kerry, and was arrested in summer 1918 and jailed for four months on a charge of sedition.

He was arrested at the Glandore training camp in August 1919 and released in October, following a period on hunger strike. He was then appointed as Adjutant General, General Headquarters Organising Department, and Carlow Brigade, with the rank of Commandant.

During the period up to 11 July, 1921 he was Adjutant General of the IRA and was confirmed as Adjutant General of the National Army at a cabinet meeting in November 1921 with the rank of Lieutenant General. His resignation was demanded by the government as part of the measures implemented following the army crisis of March 1924. He was appointed as Secretary to the Board of Assessors, Military Service Pensions Board, on 1 October, 1924.

Lt Gen Ó Suilleaváin was awarded a maximum military service pension of £350.00.

He had been elected as a Cumann na nGael TD for Carlow/Kilkenny (1921–1923), and he resigned his position as Secretary, Board of Assessors to stand as a candidate for the same party for County Dublin, in the by-election of 14 August, 1927 resulting from the assassination of Kevin O'Higgins. He was elected. He was re-elected in the general election of 15 September that year, and served as a TD to 1937.

He was called to the bar in 1926 and appointed as Judge Advocate General to the Defence Forces on 1 April, 1927. He was appointed a Special Commissioner of Income Tax on 10 June, 1940.

Lt Gen Gearóid O'Suilleaváin died on 26 March, 1948.

REFEREE AND ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Referees and Members 1934–1947

1. Thomas O'Donnell acted as Referee in the absence of Judge O'Connor.

2. Services of John McCoy and Seamus Robinson retained in a part-time capacity from 15 April, 1943.

3. William Cashman replaced John J Moran.

4. Michael Cremen replaced John McCoy from 28 February, 1945 to 06 March, 1945.

5. Frank Egan replaced Michael Cremen from 28 February, 1945 to 06 March, 1945.

Note: Referee and Advisory Committee concluded investigations on 31 July, 1947, Judge MacFirbhisigh being stood down as Referee on 5 December, 1949.

* Department of Finance appointee

JUDGES AS REFEREES

Biographies

• Fawsitt, Diarmaid

• O'Connor, Arthur James

• O'Donnell, Thomas

• MacFirbhisigh (Forbes), Tadhg

• Sheehy, Eugene

FAWSITT, Diarmaid (1884–1967)

Diarmaid Fawsitt was born on 7 May, 1884 at Ballymacthomas, Bandon, county Cork, and was educated at the Christian Brothers school, Blarney, county Cork.

He became a founder member of the Cork Industrial Development Association, was its secretary from 1912–1919 and was partly responsible for bringing the Ford company plant to Cork in 1917. Already a member of Sinn Féin, Fawsitt joined the Irish Volunteers at its inception. The following month, on 14 December, 1913, he was admitted to the IRB.

In 1918, he was sent to New York to sort out complex intra-nationalist rivalry which threatened to damage republican support. In 1919, on the setting up of Dáil Éireann, Fawsitt was appointed Consul General of the Irish Republic in the USA. His tasks as a diplomat in New York were liaison, public relations and intelligence gathering. In 1921, he was recalled to serve with the Irish delegation as technical advisor to the economic sub-commission during the negotiations leading to the Anglo-Irish treaty of 6 December. Highly regarded by Michael Collins, he was given official credentials to ascertain the attitude of the northern government towards the south. (Confidential Report to Provisional Government: 3/1/22).

Subsequently, Fawsitt was appointed Assistant Secretary in charge of Trade Branch, Department of Industry and Commerce on 1 November, 1922, but was dismissed from the public service on 21 November, 1922. (Fawsitt sought re-instatement to the public service in 1934 and was offered an appointment which he did not accept.)

He became proprietor of a tobacconist's shop on Dame Street, Dublin, and began to study law. He was called to the bar in 1928 and took silk in 1938. On 3 January, 1941 he was appointed a temporary Judge of the Circuit Court and assigned to courts in the combined circuits at Listowel, Tralee, Castlebar, Ballina, Killarney, Rathkeale, Limerick city and Clifden from 21 January to 4 March, 1941. He would later serve as a temporary Judge in the Western and Eastern Circuits before being appointed a permanent Judge of the Circuit Court for the Eastern Circuit on 3 June, 1943.

On 5 February, 1944, Judge Fawsitt was appointed Referee under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. He would later resume duty as Judge of the Eastern Circuit until his retirement on 7 May, 1956.

Mr Justice Diarmaid Fawsitt died 27 April, 1967 at St Joseph's nursing home, Kilcroney, Bray, county Wicklow.

O'CONNOR, Arthur James (1888–1950)

Arthur James O'Connor was born on 18 May, 1888 at Elm Hall, Hazelhatch, Celbridge, county. Kildare, and was educated at Holy Faith school, Celbridge, and afterwards in Blackrock College. He went on to study engineering in Trinity College, Dublin and graduated in 1910 in Arts and Engineering. He later worked as an engineer for Kildare County Council and Celbridge Rural District Council.

Art O'Connor was an enthusiastic supporter of the GAA and an active member of the Gaelic League. He was also a member of Sinn Féin and the Irish Volunteers. He was among the leadership of Sinn Féin arrested in May, 1918 as part of the so called 'German Plot'. During his internment in Durham prison he contested the December 1918 general election for Sinn Féin and easily defeated the nationalist candidate, Denis McBride. He was appointed Director of Agriculture in the first Dáil Éireann. This department's main concern during O'Connor's tenure was land distribution. Agrarian violence reached a peak in the spring of 1920. In September 1920, O'Connor convinced the Dáil to create the Dáil Éireann Land Settlement Commission, with Kevin O'Shiel and Conor Maguire as commissioners.

In May 1921 he was returned unopposed to the second Dáil for the constituency of Kildare-Wicklow and was appointed Minister for Agriculture. He opposed the treaty and failed to get elected in June 1922. He took the anti-treaty side in the civil war and fought under Cathal Brugha in O'Connell Street in July 1922. O'Connor was interned in Mountjoy and Kilmainham prisons.

In 1926 he was elected president of the republic when Eamon de Valera resigned the presidency of Sinn Féin. O'Connor failed to get elected for the Kildare constituency in the June 1927 general election and never ran for office again.

He resigned the presidency when he was called to the bar in October 1927. He had a distinguished career on the Eastern Circuit and was called to the inner bar in 1944. Shortly afterwards he became standing counsel to the Revenue Commissioners and was appointed Circuit Court judge on the Cork Circuit in May 1947, resigning when he was appointed by the government as Referee under the Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949. He died a few months later at Elm Hall on 10 May, 1950.

O'DONNELL, Thomas (1871–1943)

Thomas O'Donnell was born on 30 November, 1871 at Liscarney, in the parish of Ballyduff, Dingle, county Kerry. His father joined the Land League in 1879, and in an attempt to have his rent reduced withheld payment. The family was evicted. He attended Farrankilla national school with his brothers and sisters.

In 1885, O'Donnell became a monitor and assisted in the running of the school until 1890, when he won the Reid Prize, which qualified him for a place in Marlborough Street training college. He taught at Killorglin Boys' national school from 1892 to 1900. From 1897, he assisted his father-in-law, Michael Ryan, in running his public house, grocery and poultry business at Bridge Street.

In 1900, O'Donnell was elected MP for West Kerry, as a United Irish League candidate. His attempt to deliver his maiden speech in the House of Commons in Irish was greeted with derision, albeit receiving very considerable publicity. Initially, he had an uneasy relationship with the Irish Party. However by 1911, he was a confirmed Home Ruler and constitutionalist.

The execution of the 1916 leaders led to the annihilation of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and the political demise of O'Donnell. Sinn Féin won 75 seats in the 1918 election, and The Kerryman and The Liberator lampooned and ridiculed O'Donnell. He had qualified as a solicitor in 1905, and from 1917 he practiced his profession in order to support his large family. After incidents in relation to his property in Killorglin, perpetrated by the RIC and the British Army in 1920, he moved to 71 Wellington Road, Dublin, in 1921, and subsequently to 26 Raglan Road, Dublin.

In 1927, he joined forces with Capt W Redmond in the revived National League Party. The National League won eight seats in the June general election of that year, but O'Donnell failed in his bid to be elected in Clare. In an attempt to unseat the government, Fianna Fáil joined forces with Labour and the National League; O'Donnell was promised that he would be proposed for Attorney General. The Cumann na nGael government survived by one vote.

O'Donnell stood unsuccessfully as a Fianna Fáil candidate for the Dublin County constituency in the 1932 general election. He was called to the inner bar in April 1932 and served as a temporary Judge in the Cork Circuit Court (1935–1938).

His tenure on the Cork Circuit came to an end with his appointment, on 3 December, 1938, as Referee under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. On 29 September, 1941, Tom O'Donnell was appointed Judge on the Clare, Kerry and Limerick Circuits, where he served in addition to his duties as Referee until his death in 1943.

Mac FIRBHISIGH, (Forbes) Tadhg (1906–1954)

Tadhg Mac Firbhisigh was born in Cork in 1906, and was educated at the North Monastery Christian Brothers' schools. He was a member from his early days of the Gaelic League and of Fianna Éireann. He commenced studies at University College Dublin in 1922, graduating in Celtic Studies. He went on to study law and was called to the bar some years later. During this period he became an actor. The Abbey archives reveal that in August 1937 he played in 'The Lost Leader' by Lennox Robinson, alongside Cyril Cusack.

Tadhg Mac Firbhisigh was appointed as a temporary additional District Justice on the 12 June, 1943 to assist with the increased volume of work in the District Courts, and held his first court in Kildare on 15 June. He was appointed as Referee under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 on 25 August, 1944 and held that appointment until 5 December, 1949.

MacFirbhisigh was deeply interested in Irish music and culture. He possessed a very good singing voice and made several gramophone recordings. A few months before he died in 1954, he was appointed a Commissioner of the Land Commission.

SHEEHY, Eugene (1883–1958)

Eugene Sheehy was born on 26 March, 1883, the younger son of David and Elizabeth Sheehy from Loughill, county Limerick. David Sheehy had been MP for the Irish Parliamentary Party for Cork. Eugene Sheehy had one brother and five sisters; three of whom married persons prominent in Irish public life in the early part of the twentieth century: Hanna married Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Mary married Tom Kettle and Kathleen married Francis Cruise O'Brien.

Sheehy studied at Belvedere College, Dublin. The family lived at 11 Temple Street, and James Joyce was one of his fellow students in 1899.

At the age of sixteen, Sheehy entered the Royal University (now UCD). He graduated with a BA in 1903 and became a teacher in a secondary school in Bray, county Wicklow. In 1906 he joined the civil service in the accountant general's office of the High Court, where he transferred to the Chancery chambers of Mr Justice Dunbar Plunket Barton. He was called to the bar in 1910 and practised on the North-Eastern Circuit. He was prizeman at King's Inns with his brother, and won the O'Hagan Prize for oratory.

Sheehy was a member of the Irish Volunteers. Like his brother-in-law, Tom Kettle, he joined the British Army at the outbreak of war in 1914. He was a commissioned officer with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and served in Dublin during the Easter Rising. 'The Rising was a source of heartbreak to me and many tens of thousands of Irish Nationalists who had joined the British Army. We had done so at the request of our elected representatives'. He saw action with the 1st Battalion, RDF from July to November 1916 at the Somme and at Ypres. After he was demobilised in January 1919, he resumed his legal career as a barrister, this time joining the Leinster Circuit.

In June 1922, Eugene Sheehy was appointed as legal officer to the National Army, and from June 1923 to January 1925 he served as Judicial Commissioner under the Dáil Éireann Courts Act (1923). In January 1928, he was appointed Judge Advocate General to the Defence Forces, and in October the same year a Judge of the Circuit Court. In June 1950 he was appointed Referee under the Military Service Pensions Act 1934, being replaced later that year by Mr Justice Tadhg Mac Firbhisigh. He resumed his duty as Referee in January 1955 and served in that appointment until the office was wound up in September 1958.

In 1951, he published his humorous and tolerant account of a judge's life on the circuit May It Please The Court. Sheehy died on 23 October, 1958 in Dublin.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE REFEREE, MILITARY SERVICE PENSIONS ACT, 1934

Biographies of Former IRA Officers

• Brennan, Austin

• Liddy, Seán

• McCoy, John

• Mulvihill, Daniel

• Murphy, Humphrey

• Robinson, Seamus

BRENNAN, Austin, Colonel (1894–1983)

Austin Brennan is one of three brothers from Meelick, county Clare with prominent service in the Irish Volunteers from 1914 through to 11 July, 1922, and the subsequent civil war. All came from a farming background.

Austin Brennan served in the Irish Volunteers from 1914 and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in early 1916. He was an active organiser and was arrested prior to Easter week 1916. He mobilised with the Meelick Company, Limerick Brigade on Easter Sunday and marched to Bunratty, where Volunteers from Cratloe and Newmarket-on-Fergus also assembled. On receiving word from Battalion Headquarters in Limerick that the Rising was off, Brennan was given the responsibility for collecting and hiding the weapons and ammunition of the party.

On the organisation of a Clare Brigade in early 1917, he was appointed Captain, Meelick Company, and later went on to command the Battalion in that area. He was arrested in July, 1917 and went on 10 days' hunger strike in Cork prison, then in Mountjoy, where he was forcibly fed for seven days, and finally in Dundalk prison, from whence he was released on medical grounds. He resumed full-time activities as an organiser and in training. He was appointed Brigade Commander, Clare Brigade and took part in operations such as the attack on Scarriff barracks (September 1920), the Cratloe ambush (January 1921) and the Glenwood ambush later that month.

He went automatically into the National Army in 1922 and served in the rank of Colonel in Athlone Command and the Curragh, finally commanding 1st Brigade, Curragh Military District. He resigned from active service on health grounds on 16 February, 1929 and served as an officer on the Reserve up to 27 March, 1933. He was awarded a military service pension of 9 years' service in the rank of Colonel on 21 March, 1927 and subsequently was awarded a disability pension relating to his activities and treatment during the War of Independence.

He was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee, following the enactment of the Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949 on 6 February, 1950 and served in that appointment up to 31 December, 1955. He also served on the reconstituted Board of Assessors at that time.

His two brothers were Major General Michael Brennan who would serve as Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces from October 1931 to January 1940 and Major General Patrick Brennan, who resigned from the National Army on 11 December, 1922 while serving as OC 1st Western Division, and would later retire from public service as Superintendant/Clerk to the Oireachtas in the 1940s. Major General Patrick Brennan had also served as an Assistant Commissioner in An Garda Siochána when the force was being established from February 1922, resigning from that appointment on 10 September, 1922.

Colonel Austin Brennan died on 5 August, 1983.

LIDDY, Seán (1890–1965)

Seán Joseph Liddy was born 9 August, 1890 and grew up on a farm at Cooraclare, Kilrush, county Clare. He joined the Irish Volunteers in January 1917. He went on to form a Company of Volunteers at Cooraclare. He was appointed the Company Commander in the rank of Captain and was an active organiser throughout west Clare when he was arrested at Cree on the 15 August, 1917. Following a court-martial at Cork, he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment in Mountjoy jail, Dublin, where he was a hunger striker; after his transfer to Dundalk prison, he again went on hunger strike until his release in November 1917. He returned to Clare and continued his organising activities and was appointed OC 3rd Battalion, West Clare Brigade. In December 1918 he commanded a party of Volunteers and disarmed a RIC patrol near Cooraclare.

He was appointed Brigade Commander, West Clare Brigade in early 1919 and operated in a full-time capacity; leading and taking part in operations at Cooraclare, Cahercomaun, Tullycrine and Knock, for example. He took part in the attack on British forces in Kilrush, leading a party in street fighting and operating under the command of General Michael Brennan. He enlisted in the National Army and was appointed Captain in early 1922, but by March he had moved to become a founding member of An Garda Siochána, being appointed Superintendent under the command of then Assistant Commissioner Patrick Brennan on 1 April, 1922.

He was elected TD for Clare to the third Dáil, on a Coalition treaty platform, in the general election of 16 June, 1922.

Superintendent Liddy commanded an Active Service Unit (armed) of An Garda in county Kildare from July to September 1922, uniformed members of the force not bearing arms after 10 September, 1922.

Thereafter he went on to serve as Superintendent in Longford Garda District and as Chief Superintendent in Sligo. He was awarded a military service pension of 6.5 years' service in the rank of Captain under the 1924 Act on 13 October, 1927.

Seán Liddy was appointed a member of the Board of Assessors under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 on 1 January, 1955.

Seán Liddy died as a result of a traffic accident on 30 March, 1965. He is remembered today as a founding member and first President of the Garda Siochána Retired Members' Association, established in 1961. The Garda Veterans' Injury Award, the Liddy Medal, is named in his honour.

McCOY, John (ca. 1888–1971)

John McCoy was born at Tullymacrieve, Mullaghbawn, south Armagh in ca. 1888, into a farming family, and he was occupied as a farmer and auctioneer at that address when he joined the Irish Volunteers in December 1917. He became a full-time organiser and was appointed Captain of the Mullaghbawn Company, Dundalk Battalion in February 1918. He was appointed Battalion Adjutant, Camlough Battalion in May 1918 and Brigade Adjutant, Newry Brigade in May 1920. He had taken part in the raid on Ballyedmond castle and the planning for an abortive capture of Newtownhamilton barracks in February, 1920. He was arrested in July 1920 and released from Belfast prison in November of that year.

He went on to take part in operations at Camlough (12 December, 1920 and 7 January, 1921), Cullyhanna (13 January, 1921) and raids for mails on trains. McCoy was appointed Adjutant, 4th Northern Division in March 1921, with Frank Aiken as Commander and Seán Quinn as Quartermaster. He was wounded and captured at Mullaghbawn on 24 April, 1921 and treated in the military hospital, Victoria barracks, Belfast until his release on 1 August, 1921 (the photograph on page 108 depicts the wound caused by a bullet entering through the nape of the neck and exiting through his lower right jaw). He served as Liaison Officer for counties Armagh, Down and Louth during the truce.

Following the capture of Dundalk town and military barracks on the night of 15/16 July, 1922 by Units of the 5th Northern Division, under the command of Colonel Commandant Dan Hogan, McCoy as Acting Divisional Commander, 4th Northern Division led the party which attacked Dundalk prison on 27 July, resulting in the escape of Frank Aiken and 100 other prisoners. McCoy was captured by National Army forces and interned at Tintown in the Curragh camp. He escaped from there in April 1923, being wounded in the lower leg during the escape. Following his recapture 10 days later he was tried by court-martial and sentenced to death. This sentence was commuted to 10 years penal servitude and McCoy was released from the military hospital in the Curragh in June 1924.

John McCoy was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee, under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 on 17 December, 1934. He was awarded a military service pension of just over 8 years' service in the rank of Lieutenant General on 15 March, 1940. He served as a member of the Advisory Committee until the Referee concluded his investigations under that Act on 31 July, 1947. He also served as a member of the Board of Assessors as that board was reconstituted from time to time up to August 1944. McCoy went on to serve as a temporary Investigating Officer with the Bureau of Military History, 1913–1921 in 1948 and gave his own Witness Statement (WS 492) on 16 March, 1951.

John McCoy died on 17 January, 1971.

MULVIHILL, Daniel [?–1985]

Daniel Mulvihill of Brackhill, Castlemaine, county Kerry joined the Milltown Company of the Irish Volunteers in November 1916. He was later appointed Intelligence Officer for that District and operated in a full-time capacity, drilling and training, up to 10 October, 1919. On that date he commenced a course at the Department of Agriculture school, Clonakilty, county Cork and on completion in June 1920, returned to duty with 'A' Company, 5th Battalion, Kerry No 1 Brigade. He was in command of the Active Service Unit (ASU) of Kerry No 1 Brigade in the Lispoole ambush of 21 March, 1921 and commanded an element of the ASU in the Glenbeigh ambush of 26 April, 1921. Following the dismissal/suspension of the Officer Commanding Kerry No 1 Brigade and Column Commander (Paddy Cahill) on 15 May, 1921, and the subsequent re-organisation, Mulvihill organised a Battalion ASU of 6th Battalion, Kerry No 2 Brigade.

He commanded the ASU at the Ballymacandy ambush of 1 June, 1921 and effectively was Brigade ASU commander (elements of first and second Brigades) until he was transferred in August 1921 to the Brigade Staff, 2nd Brigade as Intelligence Officer. He was appointed Liaison Officer for Kerry in October 1921, and following the evacuation of British forces transferred to the staff of 1st Southern Division as Divisional Police Officer, being finally appointed as ADC to General Liam Lynch, OC Division. He was present with Lynch at the burning and evacuation of Fermoy barracks on 11 August, 1921, and shortly afterwards appointed as Command Adjutant, Kerry Command. He was arrested at Meelin, Kilcummin, county Kerry after a fight with National Army forces and held in Mountjoy jail until his release in December 1923.

Daniel Mulvihill was awarded a military service pension for 5 years and 10 months active service with the rank of Colonel on 15 February, 1938.

He was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee on 6 February, 1950 and served in that capacity at the Department of Defence until the 31 December, 1955. He also served as a member of the Board of Assessors, under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924, at various times up to 1951.

Daniel Mulvihill died on 9 January, 1985.

MURPHY, Humphrey H [?–1935]

Humphrey Murphy was a member of the Kerry Brigade, Irish Volunteers with continuous service from its formation. He functioned as an active Volunteer and as a full-time organiser from May 1918. He was appointed Brigade Quartermaster on the formation of Kerry 2nd Brigade, IRA, under Daniel Mahony as Brigadier, and later went on to command the Brigade. He took part in the attack on Gortlea and that at Scartaglin RIC barracks, which operation he commanded, as well as the fighting in Brosna, Rathmore, Farranfore and Castleisland.

He was an assistant teacher in Kilsarcon Boys' national school, Farranfore, county Kerry before his full-time active IRA service and returned to his profession at the end of the civil war.

Humphrey Murphy was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 on the 17 December, 1934. He is credited with the recommendation and decision to form Brigade Committees from the surviving officers of the Old IRA organisation and to seek the submission to the Referee of membership rolls and records of activities carried out by the Brigades and their sub-units to assist the work of the Advisory Committee

Humphrey Murphy died on 13 November, 1935 and his widow Bridget became the beneficiary of his military service pension, which was awarded on 23 July, 1941 for a total of 8.5 years' service in the rank of Brigadier.

ROBINSON, Seamus (1890–1961)

Seamus Robinson was born in Belfast in January 1890. He joined the 1st Fianna (Red Branch Knights) founded by Bulmer Hobson in 1902, and by the following year was a member of the Gaelic League in Glasgow, to where his family had emigrated. He joined the Irish Volunteers in December 1913 and in January 1916 moved as a Volunteer in a party from Glasgow to join the Kimmage Garrison and ultimately commanded a section of men holding the Hopkins & Hopkins premises at Sackville Street during Easter week, 1916. He was interned at Richmond barracks before being moved to Stafford jail, Frongoch and Reading jail, being released on 24 December, 1916.

Robinson became an organiser in Tipperary from early 1917, and was imprisoned in Cork and Belfast jails from April to October 1918. He was a full-time activist and was appointed Officer Commanding South Tipperary Brigade in October 1918. Full details of his activities during Easter week and the War of Independence are to be found in the Witness Statements he made to the Bureau of Military History, 1913–1921 (WS 156, 1721 and 1722).

Robinson was an opponent of the Anglo-Irish treaty and later commanded the 2nd Southern Division in the civil war. He was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1928 and appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee, under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 to replace the late Brigadier Humphrey Murphy on 30 November, 1935. He also went on to serve on the reconstituted Board of Assessors, Military Service Pensions Act, 1924. He was awarded a military service pension of 14 years' service at the rank of Lieutenant General on 10 April, 1935.

The Referee and Advisory Committee concluded investigations on 31 July, 1947 and Séamus Robinson went on to be appointed, along with John McCoy, as a temporary Investigation Officer with the Bureau of Military History in 1948. He served for a time with the Military Service Registration Board (3) in the 1950s.

Seamus Robinson died on 8 December, 1961.

RECONSTITUTION OF REFEREE AND ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Passing of Military Service Pensions (Amendment Act) 1949

Referees and Members 1950–1958

1. Tadgh MacFirbhisigh acted as Referee in the absence of Judge Sheehy.

* Department of Finance appointee.

SENIOR CIVIL SERVANTS DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE AND ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Biographies

• Blunden, William Percival

• Brady, Hugh Constantine

• Cashman, William

• Cremen, Michael

• Fahy, Edward

• Lennon, Daniel

• MacMahon, Peadar

• Moran, John James

• Murphy, Patrick

• O'Brien, John

• O'Grady, Thomas

BLUNDEN, William Percival [1891–?]

William Percival Blunden was born on 6 February, 1891 and resided at 8 Belgrave Park, Rathmines, Dublin. He was successful in a competitive civil service examination in 1910, and appointed a 2nd Division Clerk in the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction. He held a Chamber of Commerce Certificate in book-keeping and a BA from University College, Dublin (1912).

Blunden was transferred on loan from the Department of Agriculture to the Adjutant General's office, Ministry of Defence on 24 January, 1923 with the rank of Executive Officer (Lower). He worked directly to Lt Gen Gearóid O'Suilleaváin and his permanent transfer was authorised by the Minister for Finance in the grade of HEO on the 8 August, 1923. On 1 December, 1924 he was appointed Deputy Army Finance Officer, this title being subsequently classed Finance Officer (he features prominently in correspondence and files in the SPG (1924–1928) series). On the reorganisation of the civil side of the Department in 1930–1931, Blunden was appointed HEO in charge of Section F3, accounting side, with responsibility for officers' pay, reserve pay (all ranks) and pensions (all ranks).

WP Blunden was promoted to Assistant Principal Officer on 24 July, 1934 in the administrative side of the Department. He was appointed as officer in charge of the Air Raids Precautions (ARP) Section on the civil side on 10 March, 1937 and was promoted to Principal Officer on 2 September, 1938. Blunden underwent a course of training in the British ARP School in Gloucestershire and was seconded to the British ARP Department of the Ministry of Home Security in 1937/38. He functioned as the officer in charge of administration and organisation of the ARP Branch, responsibility for which was placed by the government in the Minister for Co-ordination of Defensive Measures during the Emergency period, reporting directly to Sean Moylan, TD and Parliamentary Secretary.

By the end of the Emergency, an extract from a report to be found on a Department of Defence personnel file indicates that the Department believed '... that the system of defence organised through local authorities is no longer adequate to meet the position arising from the development of greater bombing power and from the atomic bomb' (14 December, 1946). Blunden would go on to head the Civil Defence Branch of the Department, be involved in the setting up of the Civil Defence School, undergo further specialist training in the United Kingdom, and prepare allocation of responsibilities, training and instruction with the Defence Forces and local authorities. He was promoted to Deputy Assistant Secretary on 2 August, 1947 and retired from service on 6 August, 1956 as head of the Civil Defence Branch of the Department.

BRADY, Hugh Constantine (1900–1973)

Hugh Brady was born on 7 June, 1900 in Dublin and commenced work as a Boy Clerk in the Education Department, London, where he was employed from 10 July, 1916 to 20 December, 1916. Thereafter he transferred to the Land Commission in Dublin. He joined the Irish Volunteers in August 1917, serving as a member of C Company, 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade under Joe O'Connor as Company Commander until August 1919, when he was dismissed from the civil service for his political activities. These activities included participation in operations by C Company, first as a Volunteer and later as a Squad Leader/Non-Commissioned Officer, placing an armed guard on the Mansion House in August 1918, the garrisoning of 6 Harcourt Street in November that year, a raid for arms on the United Services Club, St Stephen's Green, an armed guard on Volunteer General Headquarters in Parnell Street and other armed actions in 1919.

Brady was then promoted to officer rank, assigned to IRA GHQ Organising Department under Michael Collins, and despatched to re-organise the South Donegal Brigade. In February 1920 he was elected as Battalion Commander, Killybegs Battalion and took part in activities there including, the burning of Glencolmcille RIC barracks, enforcing a boycott on unloading coal at Killybegs for military or police use and the ambush of an RIC patrol at Bavin, near Killybegs. He was ordered to return to Dublin in August 1920, resumed duty with C Company and participated in the seizure of Dublin Castle mails at Westland Row, the operation at Pembroke Street on 20 November, ambushes at Dame Street, Redmond's Hill and Wexford Street and the Belfast Boycott raid. In March 1921 he was ordered to return to Donegal, and was arrested at Strabane, when recognised by an RIC officer from Killybegs while en route, and sentenced to 5 years in Dartmoor prison.

On his release he was employed as a clerk in the police department of the Department of Home Affairs, Dáil Éireann, up to March 1922 when he left for 'political reasons' and returned to Donegal to reorganise the West Donegal Brigade, as Brigade Adjutant. He commanded Finner camp, Donegal, and organised cross border raids on B Special and RUC forces/stations in Northern Ireland up to the outbreak of the civil war.

Commandant General Brady was appointed Divisional Adjutant on 1 July, 1922, and took part in fighting against National Army forces at Letterkenny, at Glenveagh Castle and at Tullyclave, Ardara, being actively sought by National Army forces.

By October 1923 he had made his way to Derry, travelled to Scotland and emigrated to the United States. On 6 February, 1933 he was re-employed as a clerk in the Land Commission and worked there until he transferred to the Department of Defence on 1 January, 1938 on promotion. Here he was successively promoted. He was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee on 6 April, 1947, serving until the committee concluded its investigations on 31 July, 1947. On the reforming of the Committee, consequent on the passing of the Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1949 he was re-appointed and served in a full-time capacity during the period 6 December, 1951 to 31 December, 1955. Hugh C Brady finally served as Secretary of the Department from 31 March, 1958, taking over from Lieutenant General Peadar MacMahon. He died on 10 March, 1973.

CASHMAN, William M / Liam Micheál Ó Ciosáin (1909–1971)

William Cashman was born on 7 November, 1909 in Fermoy, county Cork and commenced employment in the civil service as a tax clerk with the Revenue Commissioners on 29 December, 1927. Less than a year later, while retaining that grade, he is recorded as working with the Metropolitan District Court until his promotion to Junior Executive Officer in the Department of Defence on 18 June, 1930. Promotion to Higher Executive Officer followed in October 1938, to Assistant Principal Officer in February 1941, and to Principal Officer on 8 October, 1952. Cashman served as Finance Officer in the Department of Defence, until his promotion to Deputy Assistant Secretary in June 1954. He again served as Finance Officer from May 1958 until his death in service on 19 July, 1971. He had replaced Mr John J Moran as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee for a short term in 1943.

CREMEN, Michael (1882–1956)

Michael Cremen was born in 1882 and joined the Irish Volunteers at the inaugural meeting held in the Rotunda on 25 November, 1913. He served with E Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade in the GPO during Easter week 1916. At the time he was a civil servant with the Post and Telegraphs Service at Aldborough House (Portland Row, Dublin, dominant position overlooking the Five Lamps junction) and the original plan was to take over that house, in company with Sean Heuston, and to hold it under arms. Due to the difficulties raised by the countermanding order, that objective was changed and he found himself mobilised with his company on Easter Sunday morning at Liberty Hall and then escorting munitions from there to the GPO, where he fought until the evacuation to Moore Street. He was jailed at Stafford and released early in July 1916.

Cremen resumed his civil service career in early 1917, playing a prominent role in organising resistance to the British conscription threat through his presidency of the Civil Service Organising Body, arguing that the refusal of civil servants to implement government decisions regarding conscription would go a long way towards defeat of the government purpose. He led a delegation with Dermot Hegarty (Diarmaid Ó hÉigeartaigh ) to the anti-conscription conference held in the Mansion House, and was appointed to the Volunteer Executive as a proxy for Cathal Brugha. Cremen was dismissed from the civil service towards the end of 1918. He then carried out electioneering and organising work in Monaghan and south Down, and in early 1919 was appointed Commander 4th Company, 5th Battalion, Dublin Brigade; his activities are fully recorded in the Bureau of Military History 1913–1921 in Witness Statements (WS 563 and 903).

Michael Cremen was appointed Director of Purchases in April 1922, under Liam Mellowes as Quartermaster General. He continued to serve on the staff of GHQ until September 1923. He later resumed his career in the civil service and was serving as Higher Executuve Officer in the Department of Post & Telegraphs, GPO, Dublin when he was transferred to the Department of Defence on loan in 1944.

He had earlier been awarded a military service pension of 14 years in the rank of Colonel on 31 August, 1943. Michael Cremen was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee in a full-time capacity on 14 November, 1944 and served in that appointment until 31 July, 1947. He was promoted to Assistant Principal Officer, Department of Defence, during this period.

Michael Cremen died on 26 March, 1956.

FAHY, Edward [1876–?]

Edward Fahy was born on 1 July, 1876 and resided with his father William at 8 Sackville Place, Dublin. He commenced work as a Temporary Boy Copyist at the Office of Public Works on 12 March, 1894. He was successful in a competitive civil service examination and appointed a 2nd Division Clerk on 10 April, 1896 at the Office of Public Works. On 1 September, 1897 he was assigned as a 2nd Division Clerk to the Treasury Remembrancer's Office, promoted to Examiner in 1904 and to Clerk in that office in August 1915. Edward Fahy was assimilated to Higher Executive Grade on re-organisation in 1921, and he later served as Chief Clerk in the Paymaster General's Office before he was appointed Deputy Army Finance Officer, Department of Defence, on 15 December, 1924.

He was assigned as Army Finance Officer, replacing Mr Thomas Gorman, on 1 August, 1928 and served in that appointment until 13 September, 1934 when he was assigned as a full-time member of the Advisory Committee under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. He retired on 30 June, 1941. He held a BA (Mod) from Trinity College, Dublin and was a BL.

LENNON, Daniel (1896–1957)

Daniel Lennon was born on 8 October, 1896 and resided at 7 St Alban's Road, Dublin 7. He was successful in a limited Junior Executive Officer competition run by the Civil Service Commission in December 1934, and was appointed to Contracts Section of the Department of Defence.

Lennon had been educated at the Christian Brothers' school, Synge Street and Mungret College, Limerick, and had previously served as a Boy Clerk from 1912 to 1914 in the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, until his resignation in 1914. Thereafter he was engaged as a director of a printing and publishing company, editing and producing a monthly periodical and a weekly paper. He claimed to have worked in Scotland on behalf of the 'Executive of the Dáil' in a voluntary capacity in 1920, producing a weekly newspaper for circulation in Northern Ireland.

His career in the public service resumed when he was appointed a Clerical Officer in the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in 1926 and transferred on promotion to the Dublin District Court as a Court Clerk in 1935. He was serving as a Staff Officer, Unemployment Branch, Department of Industry and Commerce, immediately prior to his move to Defence.

Lennon was promoted to Higher Executive Officer in Contracts Section on 14 September, 1939 and dispatched to the United Kingdom to negotiate the purchase and delivery of pedal and motor cycles to the value of £30,000. He continued to act for the Department at times in England during the years up to 1944, negotiating the purchase of military stores with the British government. By 1947 he was assigned to the General Section of the Department and his duties included the departmental work connected with the National Blood Donation Centre while it was in operation, and the post-war recruiting drive for the Defence Forces. He received a letter of commendation from Colonel James Flynn, Adjutant General for his contribution during that campaign to the design of posters and the booklet 'Life in the Army'. In 1949, he was assigned as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee and promoted to Assistant Principal Officer on 15 August, 1951.

Daniel Lennon died in service on 8 March, 1957.

MacMAHON, Peadar / Peadar Mac Mathghamhna [1893–1975]

Peadar MacMahon was born on 10 January, 1893. He joined C Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers on its formation. He served as a Section Commander in the College of Surgeons and in Jacobs' biscuit factory during Easter week, 1916 and was imprisoned in Knutsford and interned in Frongoch until August 1916. He had been employed as a book-keeper in a shipping company and was not re-employed on his release. He linked up with the reorganised 2nd Battalion and in October 1917 was attached to the Limerick City Battalion, having been employed as a clerk by Daly's in that city. He formed the 2nd Battalion, Limerick Brigade and served as Vice-Commandant before being appointed Brigade Adjutant at the end of 1917. During the period from April to November 1918 he served with the Limerick Brigade, and was attached to the Dublin Brigade as a Staff Officer on his return to the city. He was appointed as a full-time organiser for the General Headquarters Organisation Department from April 1919. His organisation work was carried out in counties Leitrim, Mayo, Kilkenny, Kildare and Cavan.

He was arrested on 28 December, 1920 and imprisoned in Arbour Hill barracks before being interned in Rath camp in the Curragh, county Kildare, being released in December 1921. Peadar MacMahon enlisted in the National Forces at Beggar's Bush barracks on 1 July, 1922 at the age of 32. His address on enlistment was Coose, Laragh, Castleblayney, county Monaghan.

He served in the rank of Major General as General Officer Commanding the Curragh Command until his promotion to Lieutenant General and appointment as Chief of Staff, succeeding General Sean MacMahon in that appointment. Lt Gen Peadar MacMahon submitted his resignation on 30 March, 1927 and took up the position of Secretary of the Department of Defence.

He was awarded a military service pension of 14 years' service on 15 November, 1926. He also made a Witness Statement to the Bureau of Military History 1913–1921 (WS 1730).

Lt Gen Peadar MacMahon died on 27 February, 1975.

MORAN, John James (Sean) [1892–1970]

John J Moran was born on 21 July, 1892 and took up employment with the Land Commission as a Boy Clerk on 20 February, 1908. He served as a Temporary Clerk in the Valuation Office from November, 1911 and was promoted to 2nd Division Clerk in May 1912 in that office. He was later promoted to Junior Executive Officer and loaned to the Ministry of Defence in August 1922. Promotion to Higher Executive Officer followed in December 1923, to Assistant Principal Officer in October 1929 and on 3 January, 1933 he was appointed Secretary, Valuation Office. He then became Director, Gaeltacht Services in January 1935 (on loan) and served in that office until 8 July, 1940, when he was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee and served therein until his promotion to Assistant Secretary, Department of Defence on 9 December, 1942. He contributed a Contemporary Document (CD 123) to the Bureau of Military History 1913–1921. He died on 2 February, 1970.

MURPHY, Patrick / Padraig O Murchadha [1913–1987]

Patrick Murphy was born on 9 January, 1913. He was successful in the open competition for Junior Executive Officers and Customs & Excise Officers, July 1932. He achieved third place in the latter, and commenced employment as an officer of Customs & Excise in December 1932. In May 1933 he was appointed a Junior Executive Officer and assigned to Pensions Branch, Department of Defence. In July 1937 he was assigned as Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Industry and Commerce. In September 1939 he was assigned in addition as Private Secretary to Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Defence, and promoted to Higher Executive Officer in the Air Raid Precautions Branch of the Department in February 1941. He graduated from UCD with a BA in the 1940s. Promotion to Assistant Principal (Acting) in Pensions Branch followed in December 1951.

He was appointed by the Minister for Defence as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee, set up under the 1934 Act, with effect from 22 March, 1957. This appointment was full-time. Patrick Murphy continued to serve in Finance/Pensions Branch, until he was promoted to Assistant Secretary on 24 June, 1965 and to Secretary, Department of Defence on 1 July, 1975. He retired from that appointment on 1 May, 1977. He died on 23 July, 1987.

O'BRIEN, John [1916–?]

John O'Brien was born on 14 October, 1916. He was a native of Killickane, Mitchelstown, county Cork where his father Cornelius farmed. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' school, Mitchelstown, and following his success in the Clerical Officers' examination of 1934, commenced work in the Department of Agriculture on 3 December, 1934. Military records show that he was attested as a member of 3rd Battalion, Regiment of Dublin, Volunteer Force on 7 October, 1935 at Collins barracks, Dublin. On 21 November, 1936 he transferred to 2nd Field Signal Company. It was to this unit that he was called up for service in September 1939. Reservists were then stood down in October/November, and Corporal O'Brien was called up on full-time service on 29 May, 1940. He was promoted to Sergeant in October of that year and selected for training and promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant in November 1940.

On commissioning he was appointed Troop Commander, 6th Cyclist Squadron, Cavalry Corps. Capt O'Brien later commanded 11th Cyclist Squadron and served as Assistant Operations Officer, Headquarters 4th Brigade, Finner camp, county Donegal. He was appointed to the Reserve of Officers, First Line when he was stood down and resumed duty with the civil service in April 1946, as Higher Executuve Officer in the Department of Local Government.

John O'Brien was transferred from the Department of Local Government to the Department of Defence on 22 March, 1957 as Private Secretary to Mr Kevin Boland, TD and Minister for Defence. He was promoted to Assistant Principal Officer on 7 May, 1958, and he served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee from that date up to 30 September, 1960. On 17 November, 1966 John O'Brien transferred to the Department of Local Government. His military career continued with annual training with 2nd Infantry Battalion and the Eastern Command Training Depot at Cathal Brugha barracks, Dublin. Capt O'Brien was called up for service in aid of the civil power on the 16 August, 1969. He was stood down on 22 September, 1969 and relinquished his commission on age grounds on 14 October, 1970.

O'GRADY, Thomas Standish (Tomás Ó Gráda) [1909–1990]

Thomas O'Grady was born in Cork on 30 May, 1909. He received his primary education at Ballyclough national school and secondary education at the North Monastery, Cork. He entered the civil service as a Clerical Officer in September 1926, being employed in the Department of Defence, Stores Audit Section. He was appointed as Junior Executive Officer in January 1931, as a result of an open examination of July 1930, and assigned to the Claims Section of the Department. He was appointed to the post of Assistant Auditor in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General on 27 January, 1935, and reverted to the Department of Defence, at his own request, on 2 August, 1937, being appointed then to Officers' Pay Section (F3). In September 1938 he was promoted and assigned as a Higher Executuve Officer to Air Raid Precautions Section (S5), dealing with the administration of the auxiliary fire services and transport services being organised by local authorities, and annual estimates and grants. On 9 February, 1951 he was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee to the Referee and promoted to Assistant Principal Officer on 30 November, 1951.

Later he was appointed Assistant Finance Officer in charge of the sections of the Army Accounts Branch dealing with central accounts, officers' and soldiers' pay and stores audit section. Promotion to Principal Officer was effected on 13 June, 1964 and he was appointed to R4 Section. Thomas O'Grady was promoted to Finance Officer on 19 August, 1971 and served in that appointment until his retirement on 18 August, 1974.

Thomas O'Grady died on 2 September, 1990.

Eamon De Valera, Seamus Robinson, (foreground) Frank Aiken (in front of celtic cross, left background) at the grave of Countess Markievicz, Glasnevin 1927.

Reference: NMI EW144.

Typed memorandum dated 9 October, 1939 and signed by Seamus Robinson, John McCoy and Edward Fahy of the Advisory Committee to the Referee, Military Service Pensions Act, 1934, stating their opinion regarding Fintan Patrick Murphy's claim for service in period 8, between 12 July, 1921 and 30 June, 1922, and referring to enclosed copy memorandum of the ruling (below), governing types of service deemed applicable for pension purposes, including training for projected service in Northern Ireland with handwritten note initialled by Eamonn de Burca (Secretary to the Referee) noting the document as having been approved by the Referee on 18 November, 1937.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF11815 — Fintan Patrick Murphy.

John McCoy (ca. 1890–1971), member (17 December, 1934 – 31 July, 1947 & 1 May, 1957 – 30 September, 1958) of the Advisory Committee, and former Divisional Commander, 4th Northern Division, IRA. John McCoy also served on the staff of the Bureau of Military History. On 24 April, 1921 while attempting to escape from British forces near Camlough, county Armagh, he was wounded by a machine gun bullet entering through the back of the neck and exiting through his lower jaw. He was later wounded in the right thigh while attempting to escape from National Forces on 28 April, 1923 at Ratoath, county Meath following his escape from Tintown internment camp at the Curragh. The photograph is rare and comes from his wound pension application file.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/1P411 John McCoy).

Letter from John Kennedy, former Captain, Q Company, detailing history and activity of Q Company and enclosing list of members/shipping lines/routes involved.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/RO611.

## Academic Advisory Committee Essays

##

## The Irish War of Independence

## Context and Meaning

Charles Townshend

Professor of International History at Keele University

The significance of the War of Independence depends, in part, on where we view it from. In the frame of global conflict it barely registers — one recent writer notes that 'in terms of battle deaths per year it only just qualified as a war'. In fact, on the all-time table of wars listed by casualty totals, it barely sneaks in (between the 'Football War' of 1969 and the war in Lapland in 1945). In the circumstances of its time, it might be judged even less prominent. Obviously it was dwarfed by the titanic world war that had just ended; the casualty list for three (or even six) years in Ireland was routinely exceeded in a single day's fighting in France during that war. But most postwar conflicts were also vastly more destructive. As David Leeson has put it, 'The British and Irish let each other off lightly' (1). Compared to the Russo-Polish conflict, or the Turkish war of independence, or even the Riff war in North Africa, the Irish War of Independence was 'a bagatelle'. Thousands (including 500 British troops) died in Mesopotamia during the four-month Iraqi rebellion in 1920. Even countries not at war experienced incidents as destructive as any in Ireland — a bomb in New York in September 1920 killed 33 and wounded over 400 people.

Of course, neither conventional war nor the trauma of internal war can be measured solely — or even primarily — in terms of fatalities. (Only 62 died in the last war on the Wikipedia list, the Slovenian independence war of 1991, and only 907 in the 1982 Falklands war.) Ideas and attitudes are as relevant as legal definitions and statistical indices. Ireland certainly experienced a war in the process of establishing first the Republic and then the Free State in the years between 1916 and 1923. We need to try to recover something of the texture of that warlike experience. In the century since the struggle for independence, a great range of sources have emerged which help to make this possible. There is of course a mass of British official records (even though some failed to survive the process of evacuation in 1922). More surprising perhaps is the survival of a mass of documentation created by the republicans 'on the run', conducting armed operations against the Crown forces or trying to build up legal and administrative structures to undercut the authority of the British government. Unsurprisingly, much of this was lost — a big swath of the paperwork generated by the Chief of Staff of the Irish Volunteers, Richard Mulcahy, was lost when his office was raided in late 1920. But the surviving 1921 material provides an extraordinary picture of the IRA military organisation in the midst of war.

Fortunately, such documents are now being enlarged by some equally remarkable records, which have been locked up for many years. The release of the Witness Statements collected by the Bureau of Military History, intended to provide the basis for an official history of the war, but instead locked away for a generation, has had a dramatic effect on our knowledge of the personal experience of the revolutionary period. The release of the materials in the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) will provide the final key to the inner life and activity of the revolutionary organisations.

The domestic context is obviously crucial to understanding the war. Part of the long history of attempts at rebellion was a long dialogue within the Irish national movement between adherents of 'physical force' and practitioners of parliamentary 'politics'. In the late nineteenth century that debate seemed to have been resolved in favour of parliamentarianism. Even so, Parnellism had an ambivalent relationship with violence, and struggles over the land continued to throw up violent episodes long after the apparent end of the 'Land War' — in particular the 'Ranch War' of 1907–8. The revival of the IRB at this stage was well timed to exploit the crisis over the third Home Rule bill, the point at which the apparent final triumph of the parliamentary party was torpedoed by the threat of military resistance in Ulster. Within three years a Fenian insurrection, almost inconceivable twenty years earlier, erupted, and though its failure seemed to confirm the ineffectiveness of the physical force idea, the repression that followed actually crippled the parliamentary nationalist party instead.

By the end of the war a new, significantly more radical separatist movement was ready to take over. Not that Sinn Féin, or even the Irish Volunteers, had unambiguously adopted 'physical force' in principle or found a persuasive strategy for using it in practice. Activists remained a small, marginal minority. But they had the capacity to reset the nationalist agenda.

The external context is also highly relevant. The First World War generated new social, economic and demographic pressures as well as an intensification of the militarisation of politics. Resistance to conscription was probably the most potent single motive for radicalisation throughout the war, and the spring 1918 'Conscription Crisis' became the focus for the decisive political realignment in which Sinn Féin secured the leadership of national opinion. British reactions to republican resistance were conditioned by the sense of emergency: the fatal over-reaction of 1916 (the shooting of the leaders, the declaration of martial law and the mass arrest of 'Sinn Féiners') was followed by the 1918 'German Plot' round-up (though the evidence for this was exiguous, the underlying belief in German links with republicans was serious).

It takes two to make war, and much of the story of Irish politics is of the erratic efforts of the British government to grasp the significance of events in Ireland and find an effective response. Not publicly identified as a war (a 'small war' admittedly) until a month before its end, for the previous two years the Prime Minister had resisted demands for more extreme and explicit military control by saying 'you do not make war on rebels'. Insisting that the crushing of rebellion was 'a policeman's job' was partly a matter of public relations — minimising the loss of governmental control, and avoiding costly-looking military commitment in a time of financial retrenchment — and partly a real miscalculation of the threat represented by the republican movement. Lloyd George was right, for the wrong reasons. Somewhat paradoxically, nobody was more firmly and outspokenly convinced that there could be no military solution to the problem than the military commander-in-chief, General Sir Nevil Macready. Macready argued this consistently, to ministers (some of whom found his view welcome) and to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Henry Wilson (who definitely did not).

The British government — fortunately for the republicans — was unable to establish a coherent Irish policy. The main reason for this was that (like almost all its predecessors since the Union) it had little understanding of Ireland and took little interest in it. Ministers responsible for Ireland, usually second-rankers, had difficulty in finding an audience for their views. The handful with strong views on Ireland, and some claim to expert knowledge of it, were all too often hardline Unionists. Such, at this crucial juncture, were the Viceroy, Lord French, and the chair of the Cabinet Irish Situation Committee, Walter Long, whose political analysis was heavily grounded in a particular view of the 'Irish character'. They combined alarming (if not alarmist) views of Sinn Féin as a quasi-Bolshevik revolutionary threat with a conviction that firm action would bring the Irish back to their habitual submission. Reports in 1919 repeatedly suggested that Sinn Féin had 'shot its bolt'. Pushing for heavier repressive measures — French wanted martial law, which Lloyd George refused — they came up with a dangerous expedient, the recruitment of the Black and Tans. The process by which this happened demonstrated the lack of consistency or coherence in British policy making.

London had some excuse for failing to focus on Ireland — the postwar years saw major turmoil across Europe and beyond. Not only was there the international enterprise of the Paris peace conference in 1919, but, as Keith Jeffery showed in his Crisis of Empire, Britain also faced a vast range of imperial problems. In 1919 there was a serious anti-British rebellion in Egypt, and the fear of revolution in Punjab led to the shocking massacre at Amritsar; in 1920 the emerging Turkish national movement led by Mustafa Kemal was threatening to throw the whole Middle East settlement back into contention, and Britain was acutely conscious of lacking sufficient forces to impose its terms — the same problem was sharply revealed by the rebellion in Mesopotamia/Iraq. There were dismaying disorders in Palestine in 1920, and still more serious ones in spring 1921, as well as open rebellion in southern India (2).

The significance of the 1919 events was not clear to all or even most Irish republicans, either. Later writers have perceived a shift from what Joost Augusteijn calls 'public defiance' to guerrilla warfare, but even if this key shift could be charted with any certainty, the concept of guerrilla warfare is itself quite fluid (3). Many Volunteer leaders either knew little about it, or disliked what they knew of it. Those who clearly identified it as the appropriate form of military action had become more numerous than they had been in 1916, but remained a minority. (Many more would afterwards claim to have perceived this earlier than they perhaps really did.) The majority seem still to have been thinking in terms of 'open war' of the kind embraced by Pearse. But the beauty of guerrilla warfare as a mode of operation, of course, is that it can (and perhaps should) evolve spontaneously, with no need for strategic planning or central direction. Small unconnected actions could create the circumstances in which more ambitious and systematic operations became thinkable and feasible.

In terms of activity forming part of a recognisable guerrilla campaign, the Soloheadbeg ambush has been commonly identified as the starting point. There had been one or two fatal attacks on police before that, but the way this operation was planned and the spirit in which it was carried out seemed to mark a significant shift. But of course it did not trigger an immediate general upsurge of violence: most republicans were worried or even dismayed by the attack, and almost all Volunteer activity in 1919 remained much less aggressive. Raiding for arms, for instance — the crucial precondition for armed action — while widespread, was nowhere very intense. Large numbers of guns remained in private hands until the autumn of 1920, and the Volunteers seem to have secured only a small fraction of the quantities impounded by the authorities. Even the few significant operations — notably the seizure of rifles by Liam Lynch's unit in Fermoy — could barely be called armed engagements, and the one really spectacular attempt — to assassinate the Viceroy — failed.

The Chief of Staff of the Irish Volunteers, Richard Mulcahy himself, dated the start of systematic war to the first successful attack on a police barracks, at Carrigtwohill in January 1920. The assassination of the newly-appointed Assistant Commissioner Redmond also marked the intensification of the campaign against the only (more or less) effective police intelligence outfit, 'G' Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. These attacks coincided with a shift in the Chief of Staff's own attitude, and that of the Volunteer Executive and GHQ, to warlike activity. Up until then, the GHQ staff persistently tried to rein in local enthusiasm, possibly through fear of what Mao Zedong would later call 'guerrillaism', an anarchic breaking loose from central direction; possibly because Mulcahy himself had not yet figured out what kinds of operations would really work. Now his encouragement of barracks attacks produced a dramatic increase in the frequency of engagements and the resulting casualties. The casualty rate in the first quarter of 1920 was three times that of the last quarter of 1919; it then doubled in the second quarter and tripled in the third. Casualties inflicted on police and soldiers leaped from 67 in over three years (from May 1916 to December 1919) to 243 in the first six months of 1920, then nearly doubled to 481 in the second half of the year. (They would almost double again to 821 in the first six months of 1921.)

The tempo and intensity of military action still varied sharply from area to area, but as Joost Augusteijn has suggested, a kind of contagion caused many of the most active areas to spread. This was partly a process of emulation, partly a product of the increasing involvement of the British army, which unlike the old RIC did not operate on the same county-based organisational system as the Volunteers. He suggests that the undifferentiated countrywide impact of some British repressive measures also played a part in widening the Volunteer mobilization (4). (Though Special Military Areas and later Martial Law were locally restricted.) A huge confidence boost was supplied by the large-scale release of prisoners in April 1920, following the large-scale abandonment of local police stations during the winter. The burning of hundreds of these in April 1920 was the most striking republican action so far — a perfect guerrilla operation, with a public impact out of all proportion to the difficulties and risks involved.

By May 1920 the republican movement had hit on a formidable mixture of political and military actions, as the boycott and assault on the RIC was followed by the general paralysis of the court system and its widespread replacement by a system of republican courts. Once again the next step-change was accelerated (and probably initiated) by the British government's reaction to this serious challenge to its legitimacy. The Volunteers' military repertoire was significantly expanded by the creation of full-time 'active service units', initially formed to provide men 'on the run' with a support structure. GHQ was able to start talking of 'shock troops' and a 'standing army', and to develop quite elaborate strategic missions — on paper at least.

The self-image of the Volunteers as an army was fostered assiduously, though the reality was more problematic. Professionalism was certainly the ideal of some GHQ leaders, notably Mulcahy himself and JJ ('Ginger') O'Connell. But as the Volunteer journal An tÓglach, edited by Piaras Beaslaí, repeatedly noted, the Volunteers were very much a 'citizen army', in a sense representing or even embodying the nation. They were in this sense highly political, although they stood outside 'politics' (a concept that had always been anathema to Fenians). Many were conscious that their political commitment implicitly made them the guardians of the republic, and so placed them in an ambiguous relationship to the elected national assembly and government. The determination of the Dáil Minister for Defence to cement the subordination of military to civil authority by requiring the Volunteers to take an oath of allegiance not just to the Republic but to Dáil Éireann was not universally approved within the army, and while the oath was never openly resisted, it seems to have been unevenly adopted.

Oddly enough, Brugha was much less keen on committing the army's energies to the promotion of the republican 'counter-state'. He, like a number of field commanders, saw the civil apparatus (often identified, not entirely positively, with Sinn Féin) as a drag on the military campaign. The Republic, for him, remained an abstract ideal to be carried in the minds of republicans, not a fact on the ground in the meetings of republican courts or local councils. Mulcahy took the other side, seeing the alternative governmental system as not just a source of political legitimation but as actually the Republic in being. (These divergent perspectives would in time, of course, have fatal consequences.) Those like Michael Brennan in Clare who threw themselves wholeheartedly into the business of governing the country were possibly a minority. Yet it seems evident that only the military structure really worked consistently, and the civil structure in effect rested on it. At its best the relationship was symbiotic. ('The Republic has crystallised around the Army' as Sylvain Briollay reported one republican as saying.(5)) Overall, it seems truer to say that the Dáil was the political 'adjunct' of the army, rather than the army being the military adjunct of the Dáil.

So a practice of guerrilla warfare was worked out, by trial and error as much as by thinking from first principles. The key elements of what would later be called 'partisan war', 'low intensity conflict', 'asymmetrical warfare', or 'operations other than war', had been extrapolated by TE Lawrence from his celebrated experiences advising the leaders of the Arab revolt in the Hejaz. The multiplicity of labels shows that the concept has always been a negotiable one. But it rests on a few elementary principles. They can be simply labelled 'diffusion' and 'protraction' — the converse of conventional military operations, which prioritise concentration for a decisive combat. Lawrence identified the potential of turning the characteristic strengths of regular armies into weaknesses by avoiding action except on terms that would guarantee success. This would inevitably take time, so a guerrilla campaign must rest on a belief that time is on your side. One index of this is public support, which also provides the basis for the information advantage which gives the insurgents a chance of surviving even in face of superior forces.

Even if the process of 'radicalisation', the transition of individual Volunteers to the use of violence, remains unclear, there is little difficulty in tracing how Volunteer practice emerged on the ground. Was there an underlying theory of how violence was expected to secure effects? An tÓglach asserted in August 1920 that 'we are carrying out a well-considered plan of campaign in which the object is to harass and demoralise the enemy without giving them an opportunity to strike back effectively'. This was clear as far as it went, though it did not answer the concerns of those — of whom there were many — who asked whether 'harassment' and 'demoralisation' could ever achieve anything approaching 'victory'.

Just when, how and by whom had the plan been considered? This remained less clear. Neither Mulcahy nor (perhaps more surprisingly) O'Connell set themselves to write a Lawrence-style analysis of the IRA's strategy and methods. There seems no evidence that they were aware of Lawrence's theory, which first appeared in a British military periodical in 1920. In literary terms they could hardly aspire to match him. Mulcahy (for all his reputation as a pen-pusher) was certainly not a gifted stylist, and some of his strategic appreciations are frankly obscure. O'Connell had a wordy old-fashioned style derived from the classical military writers. Mulcahy actually came up with one of the tersest and best guidelines, clearly grasping the essence of guerrilla strategy: 'The cumulative effect of numerous minor operations will give all the desired results.' Yet he did not write this in a general order, but in advice to one brigadier — urging him not to over-centralise decision-making, and delegate 'to at least Battalion Commandants'. ('There is nothing to be gained by hoping against hope for chances of big coups, whereby small real chances pass unheeded'.) And he wrote it very late in the war — in April 1921, suggesting that many local commanders had still not fully internalised the operating assumptions of the campaign.

What kind of army did the IRA become? It would probably be misleading to suggest (though some have done so) that it effectively consisted only of the Active Service Units and a small number of well organised local company and battalion units. Its regularity never approached the ideal model in Mulcahy's mind, certainly. Many areas remained inactive and weakly led — as GHQ's withering critique of 'serious deficiencies in country units' well demonstrated — and even most flying columns gradually lapsed into inaction as 1921 went on. The legendary IRA intelligence system evidently failed more often than it should (in GHQ's view) have done, leading to a mass of aborted operations and an uncomfortable number of narrow escapes. Special services, notably engineering, never developed as GHQ had hoped. But the essential support structure — especially the communications system — enabled the army to keep going and ultimately to outlast the British government's will to crush it.

A series of questions — such as the social composition of the IV/IRA, local variations in its activity, and the degree of control GHQ was able to exert over local units — have exercised historians of the last generation. None has been fully answered as yet, but the phased release of the MSPC offers the possibility of significant advances. The 'activity reports' compiled for all units, to provide a template to assess individual service claims, offer the most comprehensive operational history yet available. Nominal rolls for all units likewise offer the most systematic tabulation of unit staffs (those for Cumann na mBan offer a notably dramatic enlargement of available information). The MSPC applicants' files present a host of individual experiences, but within the process of individual claims and supporting documents gathered, many larger issues can also be clarified.

For instance, the Referee turned down the pension claim of Joseph O'Doherty (6), a member of the IV Executive, on the ground that he had not been on active service. Although the 1934 Act had specified that membership of the IV Executive counted as pensionable service, the Referee ignored this. It took years before the case was decided in O'Doherty's favour (by Justice Gavan Duffy in March 1941). In the process of his appeal, O'Doherty assembled testimony from several key figures, including Diarmuid O'Hegarty, Gearóid O'Suilleaváin, Sean MacEntee, and even Eamon de Valera, on the working of the Executive and its relationship with GHQ and the Dáil government. The result was some unique and fascinating exchanges, showing the difficulty of fixing these precisely. O'Sullivan suggested 'I think I would be right in putting it like this — that the policy of the Irish Volunteers was decided by the Executive and that policy was conveyed to us — that is to the Army, so to speak — through Cathal Brugha; whether that was qua Minister for Defence or qua member of the Executive I don't know ...'

A major issue was the point at which the Executive had been wound up. It became clear that, following the Oath of Allegiance to the Dáil, the Executive had given up control of the Volunteers but continued in existence as an advisory body (some called it a 'watchdog') and continued to be consulted on key issues, right through until late 1921. Twenty years on, memories had become hazy, even under close questioning, McEntee would go no further than saying that he could 'recollect what was probably the last meeting, and that was probably in the autumn of 1921'. McEntee was clear, though, that 'until the decision was taken formally to dissolve the Volunteer Executive in 1921', no 'formal transition took place. There was not any conflict of authority.' O'Doherty himself put this point well: 'to an unparalleled extent personnel were interchangeable. There was no rivalry.' But there was clearly rivalry at another level. 'Certain types — excellent fighters but who had no use whatever for the Volunteer Executive or for that matter the GHQ Staff or Dáil Éireann itself... have never lost an opportunity for expressing their contemptuous point of view... They claim to be the people who "won" the war.' He thought that by 'rightly withholding post factum sanction for military action taken in some areas without previous permission', the Executive had 'incurred an apparent undying hatred'. O'Doherty's own perspective was that 'for the greater part of the [war] period Volunteer activity was confined to organisation. I don't believe half a dozen could claim continuous active service in the strict sense in all Ireland for this period.

The pensions investigations also brought out illuminating points about the nature of 'active service'. The prevailing assumption that this meant carrying a rifle in combat was significantly modified by some field commanders, who pointed out that outpost duty could be just as important. In a barracks attack, 'if the OC detailed men off to block roads, he picked men he could have confidence in'; whereas 'the men that went to attack the barrack would probably be the men who had rifles for some reason or other, they were in possession of rifles'. (Clearly, in many if not most units the men who started off with rifles never gave them up.) Other men who were as good, but without rifles, 'were put in better positions'.

The picture of the republican army's military effectiveness generated by the rich documentation now available diverges to some degree from the traditional picture painted in earlier evocations of the 'fight for freedom'. This inevitably raises the interesting question whether the IRA was losing ground in the last months of the war, or even as Michael Collins notoriously told the British negotiators, 'you had us beat'. There has never been any doubt that the British army was convinced that it was 'winning' in the spring and early summer of 1921. Military commanders at almost all levels were dismayed by the truce, and though their angry reaction may have stemmed as much from wounded pride as from objective assessment of the military outlook, it points up again how unusual General Macready's position was, and how decisive his contribution to Irish history. If Macready had resembled either his immediate superior or his subordinates, he would not have negotiated the truce as he did.

The British army saw the truce as a defeat, but of course in the longer view many came to see the eventual political settlement as a British victory. Republicans in particular condemned the eventual Free State regime as a betrayal of the army's efforts, and (from a rather different perspective) some historians have also suggested that the war did not achieve any political advance on what Britain had been prepared to concede at the outset. If this were true it would indeed be hard to argue that the republican army 'won' the war in any meaningful sense. The argument must be counterfactual, since we cannot know how British policy would have developed if there had been no republican military activity. It is true that there had been some arguments for offering Ireland Dominion status even before the war (notably by Erskine Childers). It may well be that if the nationalist leadership had been prepared to accept the separation of Northern Ireland, the British government would have been prepared to enlarge the powers envisaged in the fourth Home Rule bill (which became the 1920 Government of Ireland Act).

But of course Sinn Féin could not accept this voluntarily, and would only concede partition under the pressure of negotiations following two and a half years of war. Those negotiations were very different from any that were likely to have occurred without that experience. It is important to remember that Lloyd George remained committed to upholding the Union almost until the end of the war — certainly until the May 1921 elections. (He saw himself as playing the part of Abraham Lincoln.) In this situation it seems hard to maintain that the war did not play a crucial part in pushing Britain towards a significantly larger offer, which did (at least tacitly) concede a kind of quasi-republican status to the Irish Free State. Those republicans who saw the treaty, with all its ambiguities, as essentially a victory were surely not wrong. The Tory party in Britain certainly took that view, and destroyed Lloyd George's political career in revenge. It was the fall of Lloyd George, and the civil war in Ireland, rather than the treaty, which finally ended any possibility of a united Ireland.

1. DM Leeson, The Black and Tans (Oxford 2011).

2. Keith Jeffery, The British Army and the Crisis of Empire, 1918–22 (Manchester 1984).

3. J Augusteijn, From Public Defiance to Guerrilla Warfare (Dublin 1996).

4. ibid., pp123, 185.

5. S Briollay, Ireland in Rebellion (London 1921), p62.

6. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF/16536 Joseph O'Doherty.

Copy typed letter dated 2 February, 1923 signed by Colonel Commandant Thomas Kilcoyne on behalf of the officers and men of 2 Battalion, Dublin Brigade (VR), Bantry, county Cork, addressed to the General Officer Commanding, Southern Command and stating that Unit's decision to resign from the National Army en masse, refusing to take orders from ex-British Army officers, protesting at the treatment of former IRA members in the National Army and demanding a full enquiry into their grievances.

Reference: IE/MA/24SP11277 — Thomas Kilcoyne.

Letter from Margaret Pearse (sister of PH Pearse) relating how she passed documents and money from Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera to Eamonn Bulfin in May 1919, prior to his deportation from England to Argentina. Bulfin was appointed Dáil Éireann Representative to Argentina.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF1098 — Eamonn Bulfin.

GPO clock showing time it stopped during Easter week 1916.

Reference: NMI EW29.

Taking down dangerous buildings after Easter week 1916. Mansfield's Corner, O'Connell Street.

Reference: NMI EW33.

Transcript of wireless message sent by Major General Patrick O'Daly, General Officer Commanding, Kerry Command, to the Adjutant General, Portobello barracks, Dublin, 9 March, 1923, regarding the condition of Private Joseph O'Brien, only survivor of incident at Knocknagoshel, county Kerry on 6 March, 1923 in which Captain Edward Stapleton, Captain Michael Dunne, Lieutenant Patrick O'Connor, Private Laurence O'Connor and Private Michael Galvin of the National Army were killed by a mine planted by IRA forces there during the civil war. Joseph O'Brien died on 12 February, 1962.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/4P66 — Joseph O'Brien.

Extract from typed transcript of sworn evidence given by Stephen Fuller on 29 October, 1935, before the Advisory Committee, Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. Stephen Fuller was the only survivor of the 'Ballyseedy Massacre' 7 March, 1923 in which fellow IRA prisoners John Daly, Michael O'Connell, Patrick Buckley, George O'Shea, Timothy Twomey, Patrick Hartnett, James Walsh and John O'Connor were killed by a mine while in the custody of National Army forces in county Kerry during the civil war. Stephen Fuller later served as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Kerry North constituency from 1937 to 1943. He died on 23 February, 1984.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF6759 — Stephen Fuller.

## Academic Advisory Committee Essays

##

## ' **Always in danger of finding myself with nothing at all':**

## the Military Service Pension and the Battle for Material Survival, 1925–1955

Diarmaid Ferriter

Professor of Modern Irish History, University College Dublin

Tom Barry, an IRA activist from Cork, lived a long and eventful life. Following service in the British Army, he became one of the best known and most admired of the flying column leaders during the War of Independence from 1919–21, as a result of the Kilmichael ambush of 28 November, 1920, when he led an attack on a patrol of Auxiliaries, sixteen of whom were killed. The ambush had a profound impact, resulting in the declaration of martial law for much of Munster the following month, official reprisals and wide-scale internment. By the spring of 1921, his flying column, with 104 men, was the largest in Ireland. Barry survived the War of Independence and the civil war, during which he fought on the republican side and was instrumental in efforts to end that war. He remained on the run until 1924, the same year in which he became involved in the Cleeves Milk Company based in Limerick and Clonmel, and from 1927 until his retirement in 1965 he was general superintendent with the Cork Harbour Commissioners.

In the midst of his working life, his book _Guerrilla Days in Ireland_ was published and became a bestseller (1). Barry is described in the Dictionary of Irish Biography as 'often prickly and autocratic' but also generous and charismatic. Intelligent yet intolerant, he was quick to take on lawyers and bank managers over matters relating to his IRA column's activities (2). He also had to take on the Military Service Pensions Board over another perceived slight, its decision that his activities during the revolutionary period did not merit the award of the most senior rank and grade for the purposes of payment of a pension.

In December 1938, Barry wrote to the assessment board to submit his form, which claimed IRA service from July 1919 to the end of September 1923: 'I would like to point out that I have not included what I would term the lesser fights, shootings or actions. I have only dealt with the major activities ... I claim that I was continuously engaged without a break for the period mentioned. In justice to myself and the officers and men I commanded, I claim Rank A. Apart from the post of Liaison Officer for the martial law area to which post I was appointed in the day preceding the Truce, by virtue of my rank as deputy divisional O/C prior to that date, I had under my absolute control all the fighting organisation of active service units in Cork, Kerry, Waterford and West Limerick. My post was NOT vice O/C but Deputy O/C. The late General Lynch handed me over all the Active Service Units about three weeks after his own appointment. My rank and activities also during the civil war period entitles me to rank A' (3).

Days later, he wrote another letter to the Board, suggesting 'it is possible that the Board would be facilitated by a more detailed statement in deciding the issue of my rank' and also to make the point that, at the outset of the civil war 'the ranks on 1 July, 1922 were indeed very vague for any of the GHQ officers' (4).

During his sworn statement before the Military Service Pensions Advisory Committee, he was asked was there a difference between Deputy Divisional Commander and Vice Divisional O/C. He replied, 'Certainly there was a difference ... Deputy Divisional O/C is one which ranks co-jointly with the OC, whereas the Vice O/C is only a staff officer'. In reply to the question about a later period — 'You claim your rank at that period was Rank A?' - His reply was adamant: 'Certainly. I would accept no other rank' (5).

Grave disappointment was to follow for Barry. In January 1940, he received his military service pension award of Rank B for 5 and 163/183 years, which 'I reject ... on the grounds of both length of service and of rank'. He was livid that the board had disallowed him full-time active service on certain key dates, including the period October 1919 to July 1921 and July to September 1923: 'It is sufficient to state that my award was humiliating to a degree'. As was usual with Barry, such a concise assertion of his grievance was not sufficient; a few lines later in the letter he wrote 'I do ask the Board now to understand that I am feeling ashamed and ridiculous at the award and that I am entitled at least to have this humiliation removed from me'. He insisted on his appeal being heard in person and maintained that he had many former IRA officers who were prepared to verbally testify on his behalf. Senior politicians, including Eamon de Valera and PJ Ruttledge, had already written statements of evidence on his behalf (6).

Bill Quirke, who was a member of the Army Executive and O/C of the 2nd Southern Division, and who had also been awarded rank B, wrote the following month to the Board: 'I always regarded him as my superior officer and if any man in Ireland is entitled to special consideration for special services, surely he is one man' (7). De Valera intervened the following month and suggested to the Board 'that you avail of rule 4, to step up his rank. Perhaps you could consider this' (8). The Honorary Secretary of the Old IRA Men's Association of Cork County, F Begley, gave evidence on his behalf in April 1940 and followed this up with a letter suggesting 'Re. Mr Barry's claim— As far as I can recollect he forfeited a pension from the British authorities by his actions in 1920. This should also be taken into consideration in his favour by your Board when deciding his case ... My experience on Wed. last in the presence of Board members has led me to believe that you are not a bad lot of chaps at all, though mind you I had not such kind feelings towards all of you previously. However time will I presume prove whether the moderately good opinion I have formed will be justified by the treatment of claims awaiting assessment from this area' (9).

Tom Barry gave further evidence in May 1940 and in August 1940 he was granted the rank of Grade A for pension purposes for 5 and 487/500 years' service, on the basis of which an annual pension of £149.7s was payable. His perseverance, righteousness, attention to detail, friends in powerful positions and adamant testimonials on his behalf had paid off.

The saga surrounding Barry's application for a pension and his vehement rejection of the Pensions Board's initial decision is a reminder of the longevity of battles over the legacy of the War of Independence in the state that was created at its end. Significantly, Barry's struggle in the late 1930s and early 1940s with the Pensions Board involved the issue of status rather than money. Given his professional life and job security and the success of his memoir, he was presumably relatively well-off materially, the files reveal for example, that income tax assessed for him by Revenue in 1973–4 was £225.75 (10), but for many others, the award of a pension could mean the difference between material survival and destitution.

While the list of those awarded military service pensions at the highest grade under the 1924 and 1934 Acts reads like a roll call of some of the best known gunmen and later politicians of that era, including Emmet Dalton, Piaras Beaslaí, Dan Breen, Oscar Traynor, Sean Moylan, Sean MacEntee and Frank Aiken, the bulk of the Military Service Pensions archive is filled with the voices of those who were not household names, and include many voices of desperation and urgent pleas for pensions due to the abject circumstances of a host of War of Independence and civil war veterans (11). Undoubtedly, as with Barry, status was a preoccupation for many of them also, but the monetary award was often of more immediate consequence.

The archive, with its wealth of information on military service, engagements, tactics and strategy will provide historians of the War of Independence and civil war with abundant material to deepen an understanding of the nature and logistics of the wars, but it is also an archive that opens a window on social and economic history. Many were not as fortunate as Barry; some were the relatives of republican icons, but such a family connection was not always a guarantee of material comfort.

Those affected by the events of Easter week 1916 and who were in drastic financial circumstances as a result of the Rising feature prominently in the correspondence generated by the pension and compensation issues from the 1920s, and it is clear that civil war politics intruded in some of the decisions that were taken. In May 1925, Mary Malone from Drumcondra in Dublin wrote to the Minister for Defence on behalf of her sister Annie Malone, from the South Circular Road in Dublin, who was 'badly wounded with a bullet that lodged in her hip' on Easter Monday outside the College of Surgeons in St Stephen's Green. The bullet was extracted over a week later at Mercer's Hospital: 'previous to her injuries she was training as a draperess, which occupation she is unable to follow owing to the injury to her hip, as she is absolutely unable to stand all day, as is required in drapery establishments as the injured hip to the present day gives her great pain, especially during the winter months ... After my sister was wounded a claim was lodged on her behalf, but owing to the fact that our brother Michael was "killed in action" in Easter week, her claim was dismissed because we were "rebels". If our brother Michael had not taken part in the Rising, my sister would have got compensation for the injury to her hip. I feel sure that my sister's case has only to be brought to your notice, when you will have it satisfactorily dealt with. As our mother died on the 4th ult. my sister must now look out for herself. Were it not for the injury to her hip she would be independent earning her living as a draperess' (12).

Three weeks later a confidential letter to the Department from the Office of the Director of Intelligence reported that 'this lady appears to be a sister-in-law of Dan Breen's. In that case, the whole family is tainted with irregularism' (13). Breen had been a key figure in the establishment of the IRA's South Tipperary Brigade, and his fame had been established by the Soloheadbeg ambush on 21 January, 1919 at the outset of the War of Independence. He subsequently worked for Michael Collins in Dublin. During the War of Independence he had married Bríd Malone, another sister of the letter writer, and had often stayed with the Malone family while on the run. Breen had reluctantly opposed the treaty and was involved in efforts to achieve reconciliation between the opposing sides. He had led a republican column during the civil war, but was keen to find some basis for a truce. Imprisoned in April 1923 he participated briefly in the republican hunger strike that autumn but was subsequently released after signing a pledge to desist from offensive actions against the Free State. In August 1923 he was elected a TD for Tipperary. He subsequently left the IRA. He had, according to Michael Hopkinson, 'major financial and employment difficulties for the first decade after the war' (14) despite the success of his ghost-written autobiography My Fight for Irish Freedom (1924).

One of the interesting aspects of the report from the Director of Intelligence, Colonel M Costello, was the assertion that the Malone family 'are supporters of the Irregulars in a similar sense to Dan Breen, probably for outward appearances and contrary to their better judgement'. It was noted that her brother Brian Malone sympathised with the republicans during the civil war 'but was not known to have taken any active part himself. I believe the only case that could be made against the family is an effort to keep up the "family traditions" exemplified in My Fight for Irish Freedom'. It was also noted that two grants of £100 each had been paid by the National Aid Society in respect of the death of Michael Malone after he was killed during the 1916 Rising (15). The compensation claim was rejected.

Others in difficult circumstances in the aftermath of the Rising included Lily Connolly, the wife of James Connolly, a woman long used to penury. Writing on her behalf in February 1924, William O'Brien of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union contacted Minister for Defence Richard Mulcahy, pointing out that she was still waiting to hear about her application for a pension: 'She has found it rather difficult to make ends meet during recent years and at the moment is rather embarrassed for the want of some ready money. She has one daughter who is a medical student in her last year and it is hoped she will be qualified in the next six or eight months ...' (16).

In the aftermath of the Rising, the National Aid Association had given Lily £1,500 at the time of James's execution, and she received £75 from the White Cross. Two days after the letter was written on her behalf, the secretary of the Department of Defence wrote an irate note to the Army Finance Officer (accounting officer for the Department of Defence), complaining of the 'utterly inexcusable' delay in getting the matter sorted: 'It should not take one day to get evidence that James Connolly was executed in 1916. It should not take one other day to verify that the applicant is his widow ... those dealing with the matter of such pensions might have some appreciation that if a woman loses her husband and has a family that she has been through very difficult circumstances and is actually in very difficult circumstances at the present time, whatever bit of luck even may come her way' (17). Nonetheless, she was interviewed by a sergeant of the Garda Síochána the following week who suggested 'she appears to be in comfortable circumstances as she has one unmarried daughter practising medicine and a daughter a boarder at the Loreto convent in North Great Georges Street'. By 1927, due to increases in allowances payable, she was entitled to a pension of £180 per annum, and her daughter was entitled to £40 per annum until she reached the age of 18. By the time Lily died in 1938, her pension was worth £500 per year (18).

In July 1941, Nora Connolly O'Brien, a daughter of James who had been an active member of Cumann na mBan as principal organiser of its Belfast Branch, and who was dispatched to Tyrone on Easter Monday 1916 to attempt to mobilise the Northern Volunteers, wrote to a confidant that she had not 'heard a word yet from the Pensions Board, so don't know what is going to happen in my case ... I am at my wits' end. We are absolutely on the racks. This week will see the end of us unless I have something definite to count upon. Seamus [her husband] has had no luck in finding any kind of a job. I was hoping that the pension business could be hurried up and what I could get might tide us over this bad spell. There seems no prospect of anything here so we have written to England applying for jobs. I'm absolutely blue, despondent, down and out, hopeless and at the end of my tether ...' (19).

Kathleen Clarke, the widow of 1916 Proclamation signatory, Tom Clarke, and a former Fianna Fáil senator who served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1940–41, wrote to one of the judges on her behalf, pointing out that Nora's husband 'is idle through no fault of his own and they have nothing. It is an awful position for James Connolly's daughter' (20). There was relatively good news for her in October 1941 when she was awarded an E grade pension of five and 7/8 years amounting to £29.7.6 per year (21).

For other relatives of executed 1916 leaders, financial support from the state was vital in allowing them to qualify as professionals, even decades after the Rising; it helped that their names carried considerable political clout and that they had relatives and friends who lobbied politicians on their behalf, ensuring some did not experience the impoverishment that threatened others. In June 1930, the sister of Muriel MacDonagh, wife of Thomas MacDonagh, another signatory of the Proclamation who was executed after the 1916 Rising, wrote to Dr T Hennessy TD, (she was also lobbying Sean T O'Kelly TD,) to point out that both their children, Barbara and Donagh, were supported and educated by an allowance of £80 per annum each and payment of school fees under the Military Service Pensions Act of 1924, but as Donagh was approaching the age of 18, both allowances would soon cease.

As his maternal aunt, she was pleading for the pension and allowances for education to be continued for his third level studies: 'His father, who was a lecturer in the National University, refused, to my knowledge, at least 2 professorships in Universities abroad in order to remain in Ireland and play his part in the 1916 Rising, thereby leaving his family to the care of the nation. Thomas MacDonagh would certainly have given his son a university course. His Mother was drowned in 1917 and her two children have since been in the care of friends, as none of their relatives are in a position to keep them. Had she lived, she would have been in receipt of the pension awarded to the widows of the 1916 leaders and this present application might not have been necessary.' She also pointed out that there was a sum of just under three thousand pounds invested for the children but that 'Donagh's share, if realised now, would produce only about £1,200. This sum would be sufficient to maintain him till qualified but would leave him with nothing to carry him over the first few years until he could be self-supporting' (22).

In October 1936, Donagh himself, then living in Sandymount in Dublin, contacted the Department of Defence with the information that, with the payments made to him to date, he had completed both his BA and BL degrees: 'as you probably know the first few years at the bar are at once hazardous and unremunerative; of those who have been called in the last few years I know only one or two who have made more than £20 or £30. I hope you will find it possible to extend my allowance for some period as otherwise I can see no possibility of practising- as it is we are living on capital. Further grants would need to be much less than in the past as now there are no educational or examination fees to be taken into consideration. I hope you will be able to do something; I am very grateful for your help in the past, without which I could never have qualified and I hope you will be able to help me further until I am able to actually earn money' (23).

At that stage his pension was £80 a year which along with National Aid money, was, as he had earlier that year noted in a letter to Eamon De Valera, 'the whole of my income ... this leaves very little, if any, margin, so that I am always in danger of finding myself with nothing at all' (24). He was looking for an increase. Early the following year, in 1937, a priest acquaintance of his appealed to the Minister for Finance, Sean MacEntee, to reimburse MacDonagh for expenditure in connection with his final examinations: 'the purpose of the annual grants was to equip the two MacDonaghs for the battle of life and I put it to you that it is not fair on Donagh to saddle him as he starts in life with a debt of £116.18.0 ... surely if we wish an end we must also wish the means to that end'. MacDonagh was granted the extra funds through means of 'extra statutory grants' (25).

As mentioned in the letter written by his aunt, MacDonagh had a difficult childhood; he was only three years old when his father was executed, and his mother Muriel Gifford drowned in 1917 while the hunchbacked MacDonagh was in hospital with TB. A talented writer, he was noted for his erudition in UCD and had spent a part of his second undergraduate year at the Sorbonne in Paris. He was an exceptional student and in 1934 his talent for poetry was revealed in a published collection. By the time he wrote the letters referred to above he was married and soon had two children to support and was later to describe himself as a 'briefless barrister'. He lost his wife after she drowned in the bath from epilepsy and he subsequently married her sister. But his professional life improved, as he was appointed a district justice in Wexford which provided him with a steady income until his death in 1968 (26). His was a life marked by both the privilege and the burden of his father's legacy, but it is clear that the pensions he received were essential to his education and professional status; quite simply, as he recognised, he could not have succeeded without them.

The Board of Assessors overseeing the Military Service Pensions Act of 1924 approved the payment of pensions to 3,855 applicants; however, about 9,900 other applicants were stated to have prima facie cases but were deemed persons to whom the Act did not apply. The Military Service Pensions Act of 1934 amended and extended the Act of 1924 and included members of Cumann na mBan within the definition of those who constituted the 'forces'. It also allowed for pension applications from people who had pre-truce (July 1921) service, but took no further part and those who participated in the civil war on the anti-treaty side. There are approximately 121,000 files in the 1934 series, but up to July 1957, only 10,832 awards were made. Even allowing for dubious or even dishonest claims, such a gulf between the numbers of applications and awards meant it was inevitable that there was a very large constituency of people who would have been, at the very least, disappointed at the decisions of the assessors.

Individual material circumstances did change and for some, prompted a rethink about an application. In March 1944, James Hogan, the historian and political scientist, applied for a pension. Hogan had joined the 3rd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers in 1915; his promising academic career had been interrupted at UCD by the outbreak of the War of Independence and he was a member of the East Clare flying column. He took a leading part in military engagements in Clare, Galway and east Limerick. He was successful in his application for the Chair of History in University College Cork in 1920, but did not take up the post until 1924; he subsequently became a very active member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, and he remained active in Fine Gael politics. He married in 1935 and had 6 children.

In his letter to the pensions board, Hogan noted that he had not applied for a military pension in 1924: 'I was at that time unmarried, and holding a professorship ... my circumstances were such that I did not think it necessary to look for any compensation for my services such as they were. But my position is very different now. I have been married for several years and have heavy domestic responsibilities. Moreover, my health has deteriorated in such a way as to impose upon me the duty of providing for the future of my family, and this disimprovement in my health I believe would not have arisen were it not for my participation in the national struggle. This then is why I have altered my old attitude and beg to submit to you my claim for a military service pension' (27).

The following month, the secretary of the Department of Defence noted that the Minister for Defence, Oscar Traynor, 'does not consider as satisfactory the reasons put forward' by Hogan, but significantly, indicating that senior politicians could and did intervene to reverse refusals, Traynor wrote in May that 'in view of certain information conveyed to me verbally, I have now decided that Professor Hogan's application may be accepted' (28). From September 1945, Hogan was awarded an annual pension of £120 (29); by the time of his death in 1963 it was worth £227 a year; his widow was informed that she could not claim it after his death.

Hogan's case was unusual in the length of time it took him to apply, but also because of the speed with which his case was processed. Some applicants had to endure years of waiting, frustration and tortuous correspondence, often with no positive outcome from their perspective. The tone of many of their letters conveys anger with seemingly endless bureaucratic delay and, as many saw it, inertia. What was an added insult to many was their genuine dismay that their service and sacrifices were not officially recognised, sometimes because of the difficulty of verifying the exact level of service or number of military engagements. Poverty formed the backdrop to many of the cases being considered, which gave an added urgency to appeals.

In November 1937, Mrs Annie Maher from Friar Street in Cashel, county Tipperary, made an appeal 'on behalf of my daughter', noting that 'my son always voted for the government and my son William did 3 weeks hunger strike in Hare Park camp and he has always given his services to the cause since 1916. He has not received any pension so far and is now out of work for the past 10 months and living on me, a widow on the side of the street, but so far as I can see it is the parties that are up against the government are getting all. My daughter who has worked for the cause since 1916 is employed in the Labour Exchange Cashel on a wage of 10/- per week to keep herself and her brother. It was Mr Lemass that gave her this job as she was in communication with him for some time ... is not that a miserable wage for a girl to work for. Surely the people that suffered should get more consideration. My daughter also is in for a pension but was not called yet and is waiting nearly three years ... if things don't improve I must send my son and daughter to England to seek for a better living' (30).

The file containing William Maher's application includes correspondence that ran for over twenty years. He gave sworn evidence before an interviewing officer in January 1942 in which he detailed his IRA service blocking roads and carrying despatches as well as transporting IRA men and taking part in one military engagement before the truce. He also had extensive civil war service and was interned for 18 months and released from Hare Park, where he partook in a hunger strike for 19 days, in March 1924. A note attached to the end of the transcript of his sworn evidence for the advisory committee read: 'Good civil war service. His one scrap before the truce may pull him through' (31).

But it did not pull him through. In April 1942 he was informed that he was 'not a person to whom the act applies' and was therefore not eligible for a pension (32). Under the terms of the Military Service Pensions (Amendment) Act 1949, a Referee could reconsider applications. The next batch of correspondence concerning Maher commenced in October 1956 when William's brother John, who was town clerk of Cashel, wrote to explain that a letter had arrived requesting William to appear at the courthouse in Cashel to deal with a review of his case. John explained that his brother had in fact died in November 1955 and the letter regarding his review had been sent to the wrong person. He pointed out that two IRA colleagues of his brother were available 'to vouch for my late brother's service' (33). He was informed in November 1956 that his brother's application was still under consideration. In September the following year those reviewing the case noted 'applicant claims an exchange of fire which lasted 20 minutes with British military. This incident has not been verified by witnesses. The act doesn't apply' (34).

Verification of that alleged twenty minutes of gunshot was the difference between the award of a pension and refusal. In June 1958, John Maher was again 'reluctantly compelled' to write to the Office of the Referee. Not unreasonably, he suggested 'surely after such a long time and especially in view of the fact that my brother is dead since November 1955, close on 2 years ago, a decision as to whether he was or was not entitled to a service certificate and allowance should long since have been arrived at'. The following month he was informed that reconsideration had resulted in the same conclusion and decision as before: that William was not a person to whom the act applied (35).

An emotionally charged John Maher wrote a subsequent letter to the Secretary of the Department of Defence, maintaining he could not understand the decision, given his brother's obvious sacrifices during the revolutionary period: 'Incidentally, I may remark that I am not in receipt of a certificate of allowance and though qualified for such, I have declined for same.' John had been in Maidstone prison in England: 'Within the past week spring cleaning and painting was being carried out by my sister in the house where she and my brother resided, and in an old box put safely away was found some papers on which were written details of his activities since he joined the IRA in 1917 ... they show sufficient evidence to prove that he was certainly a person to whom the provisions of the act of 1934 apply' (36). The reply he received informed him that the Minister had no function in the matter; that the Referees' decision was 'final, conclusive and binding' and that there was no action that could be taken to further review the case (37).

The archive of the Military Service Pensions files is littered with such disappointments and desperate pleas against what must have seemed like a cold, harsh bureaucracy. It was not just the Department of Defence that had a role in the pensions process; for obvious reasons relating to expenditure controls, the Department of Finance was also involved and could be calculating in seeking to minimize spending on the pensions. Such an approach was evident in its reaction to a successful appeal by Denis Doran, who appealed against the abatement of pension payable to him due to his receipt of public monies prior to the granting of his pension award but during the period from which the pension ran. Doran, from Enniscorthy in county Wexford, who had been a member of the Irish Volunteers, was active in 1916, interned in Frongoch, and had been employed as a district court clerk from October 1934 to May 1938 when he ceased to be employed. His pension had been abated for that period. But the pension was not awarded to him until he was 15 months out of employment, at a time when he was not in receipt of any remuneration. He had been awarded an E grade pension based on service of 2 and 379/1000 years; his annual pension was £11.17.11.

LM FitzGerald, a civil servant at the Department of Finance, recommended settling Doran's claim, but not seeing it as a precedent; he suggested that Doran be repaid the pension amount previously abated but that in general the policy of pension abatements should continue with repayments only occurring where the pensioner challenged the practice in their own case and to ensure that when repayment took place, it did so before legal action commenced (38). In January 1942 Doran had approached Richard Corish, the Mayor of Wexford, informing him he was not in the employment of the government at the time the pension was granted; his solicitor had to point out that he had sent four letters from December 1939 to December 1940, to no avail: 'you will therefore see that another 12 months have now passed and still no word ... surely it doesn't take 2 years to decide a simple legal matter? My whole argument is: the Pension was not awarded to me until I was 15 months out of the government's employment and consequently, I was not in receipt of salary or remuneration during the continuance of such pension. There could be no continuance until there was a beginning and I was not in their employment at the beginning of the pension' (39).

The reason for the department's stalling was an obvious desire to prevent the payment of money legitimately due to pensioners. The Attorney General agreed with Doran's interpretation; he had 'no doubt' that a court would agree likewise, and the Department of Defence knew that 'there are a considerable number of cases which would be affected by whatever decision may eventually be reached in the present case ... these are the cases of persons who on the commencing date of the pension (1 October, 1924 or 1 October, 1934, as the case may be) were in receipt of remuneration payable out of public moneys, but who were not granted Military Service Pensions for some time after that date. Their pensions were abated with effect from the commencement date of pension. In view of the advice received in the present case it would appear that abatement of pension should not have been effected during the period from the commencing date of pension to the date when pension was actually granted, in each case' (40).

It was estimated that the approximate number of cases of this nature was a substantial 2,001. The Army Finance Officer, J O'Connell, was informed by LM Fitzgerald :'we have come to the conclusion that in that type of case ... you should continue your present practice of abating from the date from which the pension notionally begins to run, but should, if challenged by or on behalf of the pensioner, repay abatement ... if a pensioner challenges you, however, you should repay to him the sum, if any, by which the amount of the abatement on the basis of the annual rate exceeds the amount of the abatement on the basis of the annual amount. You should, of course, in all cases, make the repayment before matters have been carried so far as to involve you in the payment of legal costs' (41), a cynical move that sought to make savings from the hoped-for ignorance of those affected, and the probability that many of them would not have the means to pursue legal action.

In October 1942, a clearly distraught, but dignified Doran, and this was characteristic of many of these letter writers who struggled not to become too emotional in the face of bureaucracy's stone wall, wrote to the Secretary of the Department of Defence: 'I am a married man with a wife and 3 children to keep and being unemployed, I am at a big loss in not receiving the pay order punctually'.

Understandably, the Department of Finance was continuously vigilant about policing the cases of those whose pensions had been abated or suspended, as arose in relation to Patrick Wade from Balla, county Mayo. In 1943, he was indebted to the Department of Agriculture for £59 under levies incurred under the Slaughter of Cattle and Sheep Acts; the amount due was to be recovered from the military service pension payable to him and the payment of his pension was suspended. In October 1946 he wrote a plaintive letter to the Department of Finance: 'My pension has been stopped for years for cattle levy due ... I have 11 children and my wife dead. I lost £620 in the fight for Irish freedom in Cork and Mayo. My shop was closed for a few years owing to this levy ... I am now starting the world over again with a big expense over my head and my 11 children and can't get a job for them' (42).

Forfeiture of a pension could also occur if a recipient was convicted of a criminal offence. In 1940 John Guiney, a small farmer in Meath who was in receipt of an annual pension of £50, was convicted under the Offences Against the State Act arising out of a milk strike in Dublin; he was bound over to keep the peace for 12 months. In this instance, however 'the special criminal court considered ... that the loss of pension consequent on the conviction constituted an unduly severe punishment for the offence' and the pension payments were resumed (43).

Financial penury was certainly a factor in prompting applications, but intertwined with that were issues of pride and status and the difficulty of verifying the historical record, particularly 30 years after the events. In this regard, the judgements handed down by the pension bureaucrats were short, sharp and potentially devastating. In October 1941, Katie Walsh from Clonmel, county Tipperary, wrote to the Office of the Referee to appeal the refusal to award her a pension; she had been a member of the Touraneena branch of Cumann na mBan: 'I claim that my services which entailed hardship, privation and danger from the time of my enrolment to the end of hostilities entitle me to a just consideration from the government of this country' (44). She requested an opportunity to testify in person, which she did in July 1941. On the basis of this, the Advisory Committee was informed by the interviewing officer: 'Applicant had fair activities. She seemed to be very vague about periods. Her principal activities would appear to have been catering for the men who came to her cottage, none of whom stopped overnight, owing to lack of accommodation. She may probably have done more work than she can recall and her case may be worth consideration. Hold for officers.' Three months later the verdict from the Advisory Committee was succinct and negative. 'No Change. On appeal, applicant gave evidence. There does not appear to be anything outstanding in her service' (45).

Others who were disappointed with the decision reached about their rank expressed their dismay but did not pursue an appeal, being well aware how long the process could take; as John Scollan from Drumcondra, on whose behalf leading politicians Sean T O'Kelly of Fianna Fáil and Richard Mulcahy of Fine Gael testified, put it in May 1938: 'the question of rank is certainly disappointing. As I am now 62 years of age it would only delay matters considerably if I were to appeal. This I am not going to do.' Scollan had been Director of Organisation, Intelligence and Munitions for the Hibernian Rifles, and a member of the Executive Council of Sinn Féin and had, at various stages, been a prisoner in Frongoch, Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Reading jails. Although he had made his sworn statement in October 1935, he had still heard nothing by November 1936. In May 1938, he was informed his pension would be £20 per annum (46).

Many of the pension files also reveal the long-term effects of the loss of a significant earner within the family and the levels of dependency within individual families. In January 1933, Mrs Margaret Murphy, an invalided 68 year old widow with an unmarried daughter, sought a pension: her only son, John Murphy, had been executed in Beggars Bush barracks in November 1922 at the age of 19: 'He was a promising boy and a great help to me in keeping my home and if by the will of God he had been spared to me he would now be able to replace his father in keeping a home for myself and my only daughter' (47). The secretary of the Army Pensions Board subsequently received a report of an investigation of her claim, which involved a personal visit: she was 'confined to her bed and barely able to move'. At the time of her son John's execution her husband had been a labourer in Guinness; her eldest daughter was married and living elsewhere; her 22 year old daughter was earning 15 shillings a week in a draper's. According to the report, John 'appears to have been a very intelligent lad because at the age of 16? years he secured a clerkship in the railway ... he was stationed in Tullow ... and had, his mother thinks, about £2.10s a week. He used to send her on an average of 25 shillings a week ... about a month before his death he told his mother and sister that he had secured a job in Suffolk Street, but they have never been able definitely to say what it was ... the probability is that he was wholly engaged in IRA work'.

The situation in 1933, two years after the death of her husband, was bleak; she had an allowance of 16 shillings a week from her late husband's employer Guinness; she was keeping the two children of her middle daughter aged 7 and 10; the children's father gave her 10 shillings a week for their upkeep: 'their mother it was who opened and first read the official notification of her brother's execution, and she never recovered from the shock.' The matriarch was paying 5 shillings a week in rent and her younger daughter 'is obliged to devote her services to the household duties'. It was decided that this applicant was 'obviously in necessitous circumstances' and that there had been a 'partial dependence' on the executed son in terms of the income of the house (48).

Understandably, at a time of high unemployment, economic stagnation, and very limited prospects for the next generation, this dependency issue permeates the Military Service Pension files. In 1946, the 34-year-old daughter of an army pension recipient who had recently died asked the Department of Defence if her father's last cheque could be made payable to her 'as I am absolutely dependent for my support on my father's pension ... I should also like to point out that I am an invalid for over twelve years and I am not in receipt of any monies from any source whatsoever. I am unable to work, I get no relief or insurance benefits, and I have nothing left out of my death policy as any money received went to pay doctors for my father's illness and funeral expenses. My brother in law has asked me to live with him for the future' (49). The sum was paid to her as requested; it amounted to thirteen shillings and nine pence. For those seeking to survive or eke out a bare subsistence in the 1930s and 1940s, every penny generated by War of Independence service was precious.

1. Tom Barry, Guerrilla Days in Ireland (Dublin, 1962).

2. Michael Hopkinson, 'Thomas Barry' in James McGuire and James Quinn (eds), Dictionary of Irish Biography: from the earliest times to the year 2009 (Cambridge, 2009), Vol 1, pp349–51.

3. IE/MSPC/MSP34REF57456: Thomas Barry; Tom Barry to Military Service Registration Board, 27 December, 1938.

4. ibid., 27 December, 1938.

5. ibid., 29 December, 1938.

6. ibid., Tom Barry to Registration Board, 29 January, 1940.

7. ibid., Bill Quirke to Secretary, Military Service Pensions Board, 2 February, 1940.

8. ibid., Eamon de Valera to the Referee, Military Service Pensions Board, 2 March, 1940.

9. ibid., F Begley to Secretary, Military Service Pensions Board, 18 April, 1940.

10. ibid., Office of the Revenue Commissioners to Tom Barry, 15 January, 1974.

11. See Appendix i.

12. IE/MA/MSPC/Department of Defence2/4334: Michael Malone; Mary Malone to Minister for Defence, 5 May, 1925.

13. ibid., Secretary of Department of Defence to Director of Army Intelligence, Col. M Costello, 11 May, 1925.

14. Michael Hopkinson, 'Daniel Breen' in McGuire and Quinn (eds), Dictionary of Irish Biography, Vol 1 pp796–7.

15. IE/MA/MSPC/1D315: Michael Malone: M Costello to Secretary, Department of Defence, 20 May, 1925.

16. IE/MA/MSPC/1D178: James Connolly; William O'Brien to Richard Mulcahy, 6 February, 1924.

17. ibid., Secretary of Department of Defence to Army Finance Officer, 8 February, 1924.

18. ibid., Account of interview conducted with Lily O'Connor by Sergeant James Murphy, 15 February, 1924.

19. IE/MA/MSPC/1D178: James Connolly: Nora Connolly O'Brien to 'Seamus', 9 July, 1941.

20. ibid., Kathleen Clarke to Judge Thomas O'Donnell, 20 May, 1941.

21. ibid., Assessment Board to Nora Connolly O'Brien, 19 October, 1941.

22. IE/MA/MSPC/1D341: Thomas MacDonagh; C Gifford Wilson to T Hennessy TD, 21 June, 1930.

23. ibid., Donagh MacDonagh to Department of Defence, 26 October, 1936.

24. ibid., Donagh MacDonagh to Eamon de Valera, 16 January, 1936.

25. ibid., Fr 'A' to Seán Mac Entee, 10 February, 1937.

26. Bridget Hourican, 'Donagh MacDonagh' in McGuire and Quinn (eds), Dictionary of Irish Biography, Vol 5, pp916–7.

27. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF1985: James Hogan; James Hogan to Assessment Board, 15 March, 1944.

28. ibid., Oscar Traynor to Secretary, Department of Defence, 4 May, 1945.

29. ibid., Assessment Board to James Hogan, 19 September, 1945.

30. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF23572: William Maher; Annie Maher to Assessment Board, 17 November, 1937.

31. ibid., note for advisory committee, 21 January, 1942.

32. ibid., Secretary of Department of Defence to William Maher, 9 April, 1942.

33. ibid., John Maher to Office of the Referee, 22 October, 1956.

34. ibid., Office of Referee; note of 11 September, 1957.

35. ibid., John Maher to Office of the Referee, 24 June, 1958 and reply of 16 July, 1958.

36. ibid., John Maher to Secretary, Department of Defence, 22 August, 1958.

37. ibid., Secretary, Department of Defence to John Maher, 6 September, 1958.

38. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF24224: Denis Doran; LM FitzGerald, Department of Finance, to J O'Connell, Army Finance Office, Department of Defence, 20 May, 1942.

39. ibid., Denis Doran to R Corish TD, Mayor of Wexford, January 1942.

40. ibid., Attorney General to Secretary, Department of Defence, 2 February, 1940.

41. ibid., LM FitzGerald to J O'Connell, 20 May, 1942.

42. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF56199: Patrick Wade: Wade to Department of Finance, 25 October, 1946.

43. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF63404; John Guiney, unsigned note of 4 April, 1940.

44. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF25857: Katie Walsh; Katie Walsh to Office of Referee, 25 October, 1940.

45. ibid., note of Advisory Committee, 16 October, 1941.

46. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF463, John Joseph Scollan; sworn evidence of Scollan made before the Advisory Committee on 22 October 1935; Scollan to Office of Referee, 30 November, 1936 and 29 May, 1938.

47. IE/MA/MSPC/DP8262; John Murphy; Margaret Murphy to Secretary, Department of Defence, 28 January, 1933.

48. ibid., Report on John Murphy by Thomas Mackham, 2 May 1933.

49. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP24/4055: Patrick Byrne; Lucy Byrne to Secretary, Department of Defence, 10 May, 1946.

Above: Typed letter dated 17 February, 1922 addressed to MO Dublin Brigade from EM for Dr Ahearne.

Below: Relevant pay scale for members of Regular Medical Corps enclosed with letter of 17 February, 1922.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF975 — John Doyle.

Typed copy letter of 25 October, 1923 from Patrick Michael Moynihan, Criminal Investigation Department, Oriel House, Westland Row, Dublin to Patrick Swanzy regarding the closing down of the Criminal Investigation Department and consequently the ending of Swanzy's role as an agent for that organisation. Patrick Swanzy had acted as an intelligence agent for the National Forces during the civil war and Patrick Moynihan served with Irish Volunteers and IRA General Headquarters Intelligence Department. The letter refers to Joseph McGrath TD and Director General of the CID, Kevin O' Higgins TD, Minister for Home Affairs.

Reference: IE/MA/24SP8780 — Patrick Swanzy. See also IE/MA/MSP34REF15502 — Patrick Moynihan.

Statement submitted by Easter Rising 1916 and National Army veteran Michael Largan in support of his claim for a Disability Pension under the Army Pensions Acts in June 1945.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/24SP1596 — Michael Largan.

Internal Department of Defence memorandum regarding the welfare and condition of Michael Largan during his stay at St Bricin's Hospital, Dublin in 1945. Michael Largan was admitted to St Bricin's Hospital to undergo various medical examinations as part of the process of his Disability Pension application.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/24SP1596 — Michael Largan.

Group taken at Sinn Féin Headquarters, 6 Harcourt Street, Dublin, October 1918.

Back row: Sean Milroy and Robert Brennan.

Second row: Diarmuid Hegarty, Michael Nunan, Dan McCarthy, Michael Collins, Vera McDonnell, Desmond Fitzgerald, Anna Fitzsimmons Kelly, Brian Fagan and W Murray.

Front row: Joe Clarke, Barney Mellows, Jenny Mason and Seamus Kavanagh.

Reference: IE/MA/BMH/CD/95/1/4.

Mrs Pearse (mother of PH Pearse) speaking at Wolfe Tone's grave, Bodenstown, Kildare, 1921.

Reference: NMI EW135.

Maurice Crowe, Tipperary, and Councillor M Carolan, Belfast, Mountjoy hunger strikers. Released 14 April, 1920.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0864(7).

Letter (24 October, 1922) from the Matron, Louth County Infirmary, Dundalk, county Louth, to the father of Private Owen Sherlock.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/SPG/17/2/4-5.

Letter (1 January, 1923) from the Officer Commanding, Dundalk prison to the mother of Private Owen Sherlock.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/SPG/17/2/6.

##

## Academic Advisory Committee Essays

##

## The Military Service Pensions Project and Irish History:

## A Personal Perspective

Eunan O'Halpin

Professor of Contemporary Irish History, Trinity College, Dublin

The Military Service Pensions Project (MSPP) is a groundbreaking initiative. Taken in conjunction with the state's release in 2003 of the Bureau of Military History collection of witness statements and associated documents, the MSPP will transform our understanding of Ireland's revolutionary years and of the activists caught up in them. Once the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) records are released in their entirety, and catalogues and sample files made available on the Internet, there will remain only one missing piece in the state's archival mosaic of the Irish revolution: the enormous collection of 'medals' files in the Department of Defence, which document the applications of many thousands of people for medals and certificates recording their service in the independence struggle between 1916 and 1923. These too will eventually be catalogued and released as part of the MSPP.

In what follows I provide just a few illustrations of the nature of the MSPC records to show how they contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the revolutionary era and of its impact on Irish people and Irish families, as well as providing material of importance to the families of civilians, British servicemen and policemen who died during the independence struggle. Amongst instances chosen to illustrate this are examples relating to my own family. Such material sometimes supports and amplifies other evidence, including venerable family stories; but sometimes it challenges long-accepted narratives.

The MSPC records complement but do not supersede the Bureau of Military History material released in 2003. There are almost eighteen hundred Bureau witness statements, most of them the polished end-product of a series of interviews and edited drafts undertaken over a decade in the 1940s and 1950s, capturing the recollections and observations mainly of former IRA officers, together with those of a handful of political activists and relatives of key personalities (1). The MSPC records have a far broader spread, including not only the elite of the separatist movement but many thousands of foot soldiers of the republic, men and women whose individual contributions and personal circumstances were never recorded in detail elsewhere. Furthermore, the MSPC records on individual applicants often cover a considerable time span. Where a decision to grant an award was made, a separate file was created detailing the administration of the award over the years — that relating to my grandfather James Moloney runs from 1936 to his death in April 1981 (2).

The records discussed here are of three broad types: a) 'Activities Files'; b) files relating to individual applicants; and c) 'RO Files' containing lists of members of IRA and associated units, organised by divisions, brigades, battalions and companies, on 1 July, 1921 and 1 July, 1922. I draw mainly on the 'Activities' records, together with a handful of files dealing with the cases of individual applicants, and where useful I link these to other collections.

There were about 100,000 applicants under the MSP acts, 1924–1949 and related measures covering wounded and deceased members of the independence movement. The records generated by these mainly unsuccessful applications for pensions, disability payments, and compensation for the loss of relatives, consequently constitute the most complete single source on the individuals who were part of the Irish separatist movement between 1916 and 1923, and also often provide much information on their families in the years and decades following the civil war. Under the 1934 MSP Act, former members of Cumann na mBan and of Fianna Eireann were eligible to apply for awards: such applications consequently provide by far the broadest and most detailed picture available of the service and activities of women activists and of youths.

In some instances, as will be discussed below, the MSPC records also cast important new light on people, police, military, and civilian, whom separatists killed or sought to kill, or subjected to less drastic sanctions such as expulsion from their localities or even from Ireland, during the conflict.

Despite formal deadlines, there proved to be no effective time limit for applications under the various MSP acts passed from 1924 onwards, and without detailed research it is difficult to be precise about the final number of applicants and the final number of awards. In 1940, the Secretary of the Department of Defence told a Dáil committee that to date there had been 21,121 applications under the MSP Act, 1924, which had resulted in 3,850 awards (a success rate of 18%, or under one in five) (3). It is estimated that there were well over 80,000 further applications under the MSP Act, 1934 and subsequent measures.

A notable feature of these formidable sets of records are the very useful original systems of indexation and cross-referencing. These facilitate the tracing not only of documents concerning individual applicants for pensions, but also people who provided references, confirmation of details of an applicant's service, or other material. Thus I was able to trace references provided for various applicants by my paternal grandfather Hugh Halfpenny of county Down, who never sought a pension himself. One of these cases was particularly telling in terms of family history, as is discussed below. In due course I hope to track down references provided by other relatives on both sides of my family.

Historians are already familiar with many instances of individual MSP applicants' correspondence which can be found in collections of private papers. Most notably, Marie Coleman in her study of county Longford and the Irish Revolution made extensive use of the papers of General Sean MacEoin, the Longford IRA leader who seems to have kept a record of hundreds of applications submitted by his fellow county men and women (4). While fascinating in themselves, however, such records provide only one part of the story: they do not include confidential references and other material generated by the Advisory Committee and Referee or the Board of Assessors, including the deliberations leading to the decision to make or to refuse an award. That is why the recent decision to prepare the catalogue of all the MSPC records for release on the Internet is so significant, both for families across the world eager to trace ancestors who were involved in or were affected by the Irish revolution, and for people trying to gain greater insight into the nature, extent and impact of the Anglo-Irish conflict. We have only to consider the phenomenal success of the National Archives of Ireland's recent initiative in digitizing and placing on the Internet, free to all who wish to consult them, the records of the 1901 and 1911 censuses of Ireland to understand how important the MSPC records will be for Irish people and others across the world (5).

Individuals' MSPC records and life in and beyond the new Ireland

An individual pension applicant's file will typically contain a lengthy and detailed application form and confidential references. Verbatim transcripts of interviews with the applicant and sometimes with relevant brigade officers, departmental correspondence, and related documents are often included. The records do much more than document the activist records of individuals who sought awards. Even where pensions were refused, they also cast fresh and often harrowing light on social conditions in and beyond the new Ireland, where men and women who believed they had risked everything for the cause might find themselves marginalised and neglected by a state reluctant to face up to its responsibilities to those who had served and suffered to bring it into creation.

Take the case of Mary O'Carroll, who wrote from Balmain, New South Wales, about her MSP claim. Her correspondence with the Department of Defence was intercepted and copied by the Australian security authorities because of assumed IRA connections. She had been an activist in Dublin since 1914 — 'I was in the movement long before 1916 when our numbers were very few indeed' — and was shocked at the meagre disability pension originally awarded to her:

It reads to me as if we were but hired by the day a week or a month, and [were] not [regarded as] members of an army at all. Am I then to understand that my past experiences are but figments of my own imagination or something that I had read about. My activities during the Black and Tan terror ... [including] many other incidents MOST of which are in my statement of claim ... count for very little in view of the period granted on the certificate.

During the civil war she 'was wounded and promoted', stood 'in the bodyguard of the late Harry Boland', and travelled to Derry to rescue records of de Valera's American mission. Interned in May 1923, she was released that November following the collapse of the general republican hunger strike. She now sought a renewal of her disability pension, which had been stopped for some reason two years previously:

When I first applied ... I was blessed with five children; now that I am blessed with ten children my pension is stopped. Is this then the reward that is to be meted out to a Mother who devoted the best years of her life to her country (6).

The complaint of one Volunteer who was held on a murder charge in very harsh conditions in Belfast at the time of the truce embodies the anger of many who felt that they had not received due recognition: he wrote in 1925 that after his release, he 'applied to several Government Departments for work[.] I was laughed at & made a fool of. That is all the thanks we got for making the Free State possible & fighting to keep its ministers in power'. In fact he did eventually secure a modest award (7).

The hardship experienced after independence by many who fought for it is illustrated in a letter sent from Birmingham by one GPO veteran in 1936:

'I am sorry the years are not dealing kindly with me. I have done no work for 5 years. [I have] run out [of] all benefits. Wife and 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls: eldest 14 just started work. Wife suffers from an affliction. She cannot help. Our Circ[umstance]s are: I have O[ld] A[ge] P[ension] and the Public Assistance have to do the rest. So you can guess. I should like to try my luck in Ireland if only I had the means to get there' (8).

Even where awards were made, many recipients were offended by the small amounts awarded, and the basis upon which these were calculated. This was not simply a matter of money: pensions for those deemed eligible were calculated by reference to full-time service over a number of fixed periods from the Rising to September 1923. Many applicants, such as the celebrated and truculent west Cork IRA commander Tom Barry, wrongly believed that they had been slighted in the awards which they received, even when the basis of the calculations were spelt out to them. As his extensive MSP application file makes clear, Barry was under a misapprehension about the legal basis of his award: so far from doing him down, at the Taoiseach's gentle prompting in 1940 the MSP board eventually stretched a point to increase his pension beyond the amount to which, strictly speaking, he was entitled (his allowable full-time IRA service was less than the maximum because he only joined the IRA in the course of 1919, while he had never formally been appointed to the rank of Commandant General which he claimed although no one disputed that he had acted in that capacity) (9).

The MSPC records were created in order to determine eligibility of individuals for financial compensation arising from their service in the independence movement. While this resulted in the granting of service pensions to an estimated 18,300 individuals, also about 80,000 applications were declined for one reason or another. Amongst the reasons were that individuals were unable to prove their details of service, or that their service was not of a kind to permit of the granting of a pension. In the great majority of such cases, the claims were honestly made. In a minority, however, applicants deliberately misrepresented the extent of their involvement and activities in hopes of a financial windfall. In a few cases, individuals were prosecuted where they secured pensions by making false claims; in others, even when criminal prosecutions failed, awards were stopped and some attempts made to secure repayment of monies previously granted (10).

There was a good deal of scepticism surrounding the award of pensions and service medals, and various accusations of political partisanship were levelled in the Dáil at ministers of both of the main parties up to the 1960s. The reality was that no government gained popularity by its administration of the various MSP acts, because for every applicant who succeeded in obtaining a pension, five or six suffered the humiliation of rejection for one reason or another. As James Dillon TD put it in characteristically colourful terms in May 1940, judging by the 81,000 applications by then received under the 1924 and 1934 MSP acts, 'We are very much more war-like than I ever knew, and I lived through most of it. There must have been a lot of warriors that I did not know were waging war at all'. Yet only about 8,000 pensions had actually been granted to date: it followed that there were 'about 81,000 persons ... walking about suffering under the illusion that they fought and bled for Ireland, of whom only about 8,000 are correct in their assumption. The others are suffering from a delusion?' (11)

The records of the 80% or so of applicants whose quests for pensions and related disability and hardship awards under various MSP Acts and Army Pensions Acts were unsuccessful are equally as important as those of the minority who did secure something. The Acts were designed essentially to compensate people engaged on full-time active service or who suffered from disabilities arising from service, not to reward individual acts of courage or self-sacrifice. Dissatisfaction was as evident amongst anti-treaty as amongst pro-treaty applicants and their families. In 1955 the Secretary of the Department of Defence acknowledged that 'we have had allegations' from applicants that officers with whom they had personal or political differences were refusing to validate their service claims out of personal spite.

An anonymous letter, signed 'Fare Play' [sic], sent from Cobh, county Cork, in 1941, is typical of many alleging favouritism and prejudice: 'I have herd [sic] of some 10 or 12 fellows that is on that list of names that never was one hour in the IRA and to give you proofs they were never on the run they never left their home here. They were never interned either in the Tan time or the Free State time', whereas 'other old IRA men that did suffer for the freedom of their country' were being excluded from recognition and awards (12). As one rural TD put it during a discussion on special hardship grants provided for elderly veterans and for men under seventy who were 'destitute and incapable' of earning a living, 'if you were listening to some people down the country, you would hear them saying that some of their neighbours are getting special allowances and they do not know what they are for ... The consensus of opinion is that the procedure needs to be tightened up' (13). We should also note that, even where no monetary factor or medals were involved, strong feelings were often aroused by the posturing on public occasions of people whom the Limerick republican Eamon Dore dismissed as 'some of our heroes who never fired a shot' (14).

Applications reveal much about the incidental hazards of service, for example long term illness contracted while on operations or in prison. The case of Peter O'Donnell, a farm labourer who was in perfect health prior to imprisonment in Belfast jail from June 1921 to January 1922, illustrates this. Seriously ill on his release, in 1923 he was granted a disability pension. When he died the following year his elderly mother, who was 'in poor circumstances', was awarded limited compensation (15).

MSP applications reflect other realities of the independence struggle. Veterans from northern counties often stressed the hostile local conditions in which they had operated, instancing not only the British army, the police, the Ulster Special Constabulary and local Protestant communities, but also many nationalists and especially the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Other applications and associated documents illustrate widespread difficulties faced by IRA units, for instance the unreliability of improvised explosive devices — a Down Volunteer recalled how 'when the stuff was put into the wall [of a police barracks in Ballynahinch] it did not go off', and the next barracks attack 'failed for the same thing' — and a chronic shortage of suitable weapons in most IRA units. As one Leitrim applicant put it, 'I never used a rifle[.] I was never lucky enough to get one'. Yet he still found himself facing a murder charge for involvement in the killing of the elderly Church of Ireland clergyman John Finlay at Bawnmore, county Cavan, who died from a blow to the back of the neck administered by an unidentified member of an IRA party which had come to burn down his house (this gratuitous killing caused much local controversy and was condemned by local Catholic parish priests, two of whom walked in Finlay's funeral procession) (16).

The MSPC records and the history of individuals involved in the independence struggle

The MSPC records provide an extraordinary range of opportunities for families across the world to probe their own private histories within the framework of the Irish independence struggle. This is very significant for the descendants of people involved in events during the 1916 to 1923 era as members of the recognised separatist organisations: the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, the Hibernian Rifles, Cumann na mBan, Fianna Eireann, and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), or as covert helpers of the independence effort, for example members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), or former Connaught Rangers and other ex-servicemen in British forces who lost their British entitlements for aligning themselves on the separatist side.

The applications process differed somewhat from one MSP Act to the next. The 1924 Act required the applicant and his referees to provide considerably less detail about activities than did the 1934 and subsequent amending acts. Amongst the handful of 1924 Act applications I have reviewed were an unsuccessful one in which the claimant stated that he had been a secret informant for government forces during the civil war, and another in which the applicant Harry Murray was praised by referees not only for his fighting record — President of the Executive Council WT Cosgrave wrote that 'I think that there can be no doubt but that Mr H Murray fought during Easter week 1916, but I cannot give details as he was not with me ... I do know that at that time there were few better men in the 4th Battalion than Mr Murray and his brother' — but also for persuading large numbers of comrades to support the treaty: 'Claimant was to a great extent responsible for the fact that over 350 men from the 4th Battalion joined the National Army & that 150 Volunteers assisted the regular troops during the Four Courts struggle' (17).

The 1934 Act application records differ from those made under the 1924 Act in other respects: they take account of anti-treaty service during the civil war and up to September 1923; they include some minimal recognition of women's service as members of Cumann na mBan, and of youths as members of Fianna Eireann; and, remarkably, they often include verbatim transcripts of interviews between the Advisory Committee and Referee, applicants and their referees, and sometimes with representatives of the relevant IRA brigade. Such transcripts bring immediacy and humanity to the files. Take that contained in the application of John McCoy, the one-time Adjutant of the 4th Northern Division under Frank Aiken. He was asked about an attack on police at Camlough, county Armagh:

Q. How long did that attack last?

A. A few minutes.

Q. Just a few shots?

A. Yes. One of them was wounded. We were too cold to do accurate shooting.

McCoy's description of an attack on Newtownhamilton RIC barracks on 9 May, 1921 was equally direct: We had only about six grenades and we used the grenades on the barracks. The signal Frank [Aiken] was to blow a whistle and he lost it and could not find it. He whistled with his fingers. I withdrew our men out of the place. It was a very hostile area.

Hearing more explosions, McCoy and his party returned to the town, and ordered an RIC sergeant to surrender. Two other police also came out to surrender, but 'one of the fellows with me lost his head and fired', causing the RIC men to pick up their weapons and reply. As a result of this indiscipline, McCoy and his men had to withdraw and the chance of a victory was lost (18).

Such transcripts are powerful in other respects, particularly for descendants of those involved. This first struck me some years ago when, as a family member, I secured a copy of my grandfather James Moloney's application under the 1934 Act. A quiet and meticulous man described in an MSPC document by Ernie O'Malley as 'always eager to fight ... next to the Commandant I consider him the best officer in his battalion', he served in the 4th Battalion, Third Tipperary Brigade, and subsequently on Liam Lynch's staff during the civil war. It was only when I saw his application records that I realised what a wonderful source the MSPC records as a whole would be for the history of the Irish revolution and of the people caught up in it.

Yet the transcript of James Moloney's interview with the Advisory Committee in 1936, while fascinating in many ways — I included a copy of it in my letter to the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD urging the release of the MSPC records — also shows how even a punctilious man could make minor errors of recollection. He was wrong by a week in his dating of an ambush he helped to organise at Bansha, county Tipperary, in which RIC Constable John Nutley was killed as he and colleagues left Mass on 15 May, 1921. Moloney was vague about the date of another attack in which he was involved at Oola in July 1920, which resulted in the deaths of British Army Privates Daniel Bayliss and George Parker (19). He was uncertain whether it was on the night of 30 June or in the early morning of 1 July, 1922 that the anti-treaty IRA chief of staff Liam Lynch appointed him director of communications, a point of consuming interest to the Advisory Committee lest someone else claim service in that post for the same day. Finally, the interview transcript shows one notable and moving omission in his replies, which must have been deliberate. When asked how he became adjutant in addition to holding another post in the 4th Battalion on 1 May, 1921, he simply replied 'The adjutant was killed, and I took his place'. He did not add that the dead man was his brother Paddy, shot by police in a fight outside Tipperary town (20).

I offer a further family story to illustrate another key aspect of the MSPC records: the light which they can shed on individuals who were not themselves applicants. I never met my father's father Hugh Halfpenny of Loughinisland, county Down, who died more than a decade before I was born. I knew very little about his involvement in the War of Independence until I found files on him, on his brother Willie John, on his future brother-in-law Dan Rice, and on his one-time second in command and close friend Tommy Brannigan in Northern Ireland government records (21). Brannigan's Northern internment file included extracts made by the prison authorities from correspondence between him and my grandfather in which they disagreed about the treaty, with my grandfather responding to criticism from Brannigan by setting out the reasons why he had changed his mind on the issue (by then he had left county Down to avoid internment, and had joined the Garda Siochána) (22). I later found interesting accounts of Halfpenny's disputes over command with another Down IRA officer in Bureau of Military History witness statements, which portray both men as fractious if committed personalities (23).

My grandmother had told me that Hugh Halfpenny had served on a brigade committee which provided organisational details and membership lists to the Department of Defence. I was, therefore, pleased to discover from the MSPC records that as a one-time O/C in East Down he had various dealings with the Advisory Committee. In some instances he simply could not recall individuals who said they had participated in such and such an operation; in others, such as the case of a man of whom he wrote 'at least he did no harm', his confirmation served to damn rather than to lionize the applicant. Tommy Brannigan's MSP application file contains a fulsome reference from Halfpenny, written from Letterkenny Garda Station in a rather striking spikey hand. When the entire collection is open to research, I should be able to track down more such references written for Northern applicants who listed Halfpenny as a referee or who claimed to have served under him. I should be able to do the same for my grandmother's brother Dan Rice, for my other grandfather James Moloney of Tipperary, and possibly also for his wife my grandmother Kathy Barry (who was, amongst other things, a Cumann na mBan officer) (24).

This is not to say that everything in MSPC files will be reassuring, or reinforce family legend. I heard how Hugh Halfpenny and Tommy Brannigan often spoke regretfully of what happened when they raided the Inland Revenue offices in Downpatrick, county Down, in order to destroy tax records in May 1920. A man emerged from the gloom brandishing what looked like a rifle, and on my grandfather's orders Brannigan shot him in the leg. The London Times concurred, saying the man 'came armed with a poker' after the raiders (25). They afterwards discovered that this was the Reverend WTG Wilkinson, the minor dean of Downpatrick Cathedral (26). In the O'Halpin family version, the clergyman recovered, to the relief of his IRA assailants. In his pension application interview, however, Tommy Brannigan offered a rather different version:

Q. What is this about a man wounded?

A. When we came out with the documents a man dressed in black with something in his hand charged up the street ... The fellow in charge [Hugh Halfpenny] told me to shoot this man, thinking he was an RIC man. I shot at him. He shouted and we found out that he was a Minister ... We thought he was an RIC man ...

Q. Did you kill him?

A. No, but he died two years afterwards as a result of the wound (27).

Wilkinson died at his father Sir Hiram Wilkinson's house in Tobermore, county Derry, in December 1922. The Irish Times said only that 'his health had never been robust, but the end came suddenly' (28). I have no way of knowing if the benign version of his shooting recorded in family narrative was consciously abbreviated to avoid mentioning Wilkinson's eventual death, or whether Brannigan was going beyond the evidence in attributing the clergyman's death to the 1920 shooting.

The MSPC records and casualties inflicted by separatist organisations

The MSPC records will be very important for descendants of people who appear on the other side of the independence argument, whether the policemen and military who fought and died to maintain British rule, or civilians who were caught in the cross-fire or who were deliberately killed by the separatists. This is because the records capture so much of the separatists' activities, albeit in varying levels of detail and precision. For some families, it may be that these records will finally answer a question which tormented their forebears about the fate of a relative who was killed for unexplained reasons, or who simply disappeared without trace.

Take the case of Martin Heavy, a farm labourer and ex-soldier from Brideswell, county Roscommon. On the night of 30 December, 1920 he was kidnapped along with his mother, his sister, and her two young children by the local IRA Curraghboy company. They were imprisoned locally for two days, being moved from one hiding place to another at night, on the last occasion by boat. The last sight which his family had of Heavy was as he stood, his hands bound behind him, on the western banks of the river while they were rowed away into exile across Lough Rea on the upper Shannon, being abandoned in darkness on the eastern shore near Ballymahon, county Longford. The MSP 'Activities' file for the South Roscommon Battalion confirms that Heavy's captors killed him by throwing him into the river, identifies the two IRA men who conducted the expulsion of the family by rowing them away, and confirms that the Curraghboy company was decimated by the arrests which followed. In Heavy's case, most unusually, there was a successful prosecution: ten local men were convicted of kidnapping him in May 1921, because his sister and mother had recognised some of them as neighbours despite their disguises and courageously gave evidence against them (29).

My second example is that of John Harrison, a Protestant farmer in Leitrim who was killed in April 1921. The Leitrim 'Activities' records indicate that this was the culmination of a dispute which began the previous October when Harrison refused to contribute to an IRA arms levy. After the IRA took his 'best cow' and also forced him to hand over a revolver, a local Protestant clergyman mediated a settlement: Harrison paid the levy, and the cow was returned. The IRA believed he had a second weapon, but despite abducting him and firing shots over him, 'still he'd give up no gun'. Orders were later received to execute him: 'he begged us not to kill him [but] I said we had to carry out our orders, we told him he had to come with us, we also told [him] that he needed no coat'. He was shot about three hundred yards from his house. His death apparently led to an exodus of Protestant farmers locally (30).

My final example is of someone targeted for death, whose assassination was cancelled. The Cork Fianna Éireann 'Activities' file lists a number of cases in which young Fianna members assisted in dealing with suspected spies. The Fianna were instructed 'to waylay' two ex-servicemen named Farrell and Podesta in Tivoli 'and shoot them'. Podesta, a Protestant and a passionate loyalist invalided out of the army suffering from gas poisoning during the First World War, may or may not have been an informer in Cork in 1920–1. The almost industrial processes by which a large number of suspected British agents and informers, many of them ex-servicemen against whom only the flimsiest hard evidence was ever produced, were put to death and their remains disposed of by the Cork IRA in 1921 and 1922, has recently been explored in Gerard Murphy's The Year of Disappearances (31). Martin Corry of the 4th Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade, and later a Fianna Fáil TD, told the Advisory Committee that 'some 27 Ennemy [sic] spies & Intelligence officers were captured ... & duly executed' by E Company alone (32). It is, therefore, ironic that Podesta, whom the Cork IRA had in their sights but eventually decided not to kill, did become a significant though highly ineffective and insecure agent for the British intelligence agency MI6 in Dublin from 1940 to 1945 (33).

The MSPC Activities and RO files

Not every personal reference, every recollection, every assertion and every claim in the MSPC records can be taken as gospel. Issues of accuracy and veracity arise not only with individual applications, but also with the 'Activities' files and the 'RO' files. The latter, compiled by 'brigade committees' of former IRA officers in the mid- to late 1930s, give a detailed breakdown of the nominal strength of IRA units on two 'critical dates', 1 July, 1921 and 1 July, 1922. While these records are an exceptionally valuable resource for tracing the history of the independence struggle, they have to be treated with some circumspection.

'Activities' files were drawn up for the use of the Advisory Committee under the MSP Act, 1934. They typically consist of a list of key engagements and operations of individual IRA brigades, which were organized on a geographic basis. They sometimes include lists generated by individual battalions and companies; in other cases, the record of activities is very incomplete. Such lists played a key role in determining which individuals received pensions and medals.

Consulting the 'Activities' files, it becomes clear that some brigades and subordinate units provided far more detailed listings of activities than did others: it is notable that in relatively 'quiet' counties such as Meath, Westmeath, Offaly and Roscommon, considerable detail is provided by some IRA units about sensitive matters such as the killing of alleged spies, often including the names of those Volunteers directly involved. For instance, the South Roscommon Brigade 'Activities' records are very informative down to company level, and include the civil war era. Yet the Department of Defence experienced great difficulty in securing any semblance of an activities report for another 'quiet' county, Monaghan. Only an extremely cursory list could be assembled for the 1st (Monaghan) Brigade, and it makes no reference at all to one central aspect of IRA activities in Monaghan, the controversial execution of alleged local spies including Hugh Duffy, Arthur Trainor, Francis McPhillips, Patrick Larmour and Kate Carroll, killings which cast an enduring shadow over the recollections of many Monaghan IRA veterans (34).

If the problem with the 1st Monaghan Brigade's 'Activities' record is one of omission, that of their near neighbours in Longford presents a different difficulty. The Longford Brigade 'Activities' report includes an account of the killing of a party of Black and Tans at Rathcline, county Longford, in February 1921 of which no other trace can be found in contemporary Irish or British records. The Longford Brigade also claimed as a planned assassination what had been accepted after investigation and a court of inquiry in 1921 as an accidental shooting by a youth of RIC Constable Albert Smith in a tailor's house in Lanesboro (35). Similar doubts surround an 'Activities' report from Donegal: no other trace has been found of the reported killings of three unnamed Volunteers by Ulster Special Constabulary at Castlefinn, county Donegal, on 7 July, 1921.

A fourth problematic claim appears in the 'Activities' file of the 4th Meath Brigade. In March 1939 the Advisory Committee met with the brigade committee:

Q. Up to the end of March, 1920 had you any other important operations?

A. We were forgetting one in 1918. It was the attack on the train at Navan. It was during the strike, the big Labour strike and this was a train load of cattle that was expected to be guarded by Military.

Q. Was it guarded?

A. No, we derailed the train.

Q. There was no shot fired?

A. No, but there was 2 men killed.

Q. Who were they?

Q. The Guard and the Fireman.

There are several problems with this claim. Firstly, the derailment happened not in 1918 but in August 1919. Secondly, at the time it was widely attributed to sabotage by labour elements rather than by republicans. Thirdly, and most importantly, contrary to what the Meath Brigade committee recalled, there were no fatalities: in fact press coverage stressed the miraculous escape of the driver, guard and fireman (36).

All this is not to dispute the importance of the 'Activities', 'RO' and individual applicant records, but only to caution that none should be taken as representing pure and complete truth; they have to be used in conjunction with other sources including newspapers, contemporary reports to IRA GHQ by units in the field, Bureau of Military History testimonies, police and British army documents in London and Belfast, and papers in private collections in Ireland and abroad.

The 'RO' files merit greater consideration than can be given here. Broadly speaking, they represent an attempt at reconstructing IRA strengths by company, battalion, and brigade, on each of the two 'critical dates', 1 July, 1921 and 1 July, 1922. Cumulatively the July 1921 figure comes to over one hundred thousand Volunteers. This total presents certain problems (37). Many officers in units had emigrated or died by the time the RO lists were compiled by 'brigade committees' in the late 1930s, and at least a few were alienated from the state and unwilling to help reconstruct their units' order of battle. In addition, many of those included as rank and file Volunteers on the reconstructed rolls had emigrated, particularly in the case of units along the western seaboard from Kerry to Donegal, making cross-checking very problematic. Finally, as we have seen, there were frequent allegations that RO lists included undeserving friends of the surviving officers while genuine cases were excluded for reasons of personal or political spite.

Conclusion

The MSPC records constitute an enormously rich and diverse resource for the history of the Irish revolution, of the many thousands of Irish men and women who participated, of those who died at IRA hands, and of social conditions in independent Ireland. Taken together with the Bureau of Military History records already available, and the 'Medals' records which are also to be prepared for release and made available for research, they will constitute an astonishingly powerful and widely accessible means by which individuals, families, communities and localities can explore their particular histories within the wider context of the independence era.

1. The Bureau of Military History records are held in the Military Archives of Ireland. They may also be consulted in the National Archives of Ireland. On the Bureau's development and activities see particularly Eve Morrison, The Bureau of Military History: separatist veterans' narratives of the Irish revolution (PhD thesis, Trinity College Dublin, 2011). I am very grateful to Dr Morrison for her advice on the Bureau, and on the use which its officials made of military service pensions records.

2. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF4143 (James Moloney).

3. Dáil Éireann, Report of the Committee of Public Accounts (Appropriation Accounts,1938–1938) (Dublin, 1940), p75 (16 May, 1940).

4. Marie Coleman, County Longford and the Irish Revolution, 1910–1923 (Dublin, 2002), pp227–39.

5. Accessible at www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

6. Australian National Archives, A6122/A317, postal censorship extract of Mary O'Carroll to Department of Defence, 28 June 1943, accessed 1 March, 2011 at //www.naa.gov.au/

I have not yet traced Mary O'Carroll in the MSP records.

7. IE/MA/MSPC/24SP707 (Patrick Dolphin).

8. National Library of Ireland, Diarmuid Lynch MS11131, Thomas Ryan to Lynch, 2 April, 1936.

9. Barry's misplaced grievances are aired in Meda Ryan, Tom Barry: IRA freedom fighter (Cork, 2003), pp295–310.

10. Dáil Éireann, Report of the Committee of Public Accounts (Appropriation Accounts, 1957–58) (Dublin, 1959), pp42–3, 27 November, 1958.

11. Dáil Éireann, Interim and Final Reports of the Committee of Public Accounts (Appropriation Accounts, 1938–1939) (Dublin, 1940), p75, 16 May, 1940.

12. Dáil Éireann, Report of the Committee of Public Accounts (Appropriation Accounts,1952–53), p28, 15 July, 1954; MSPPA/1(4), 4th Battalion, Cork; 'Fare Play' to Department of Defence (received 14 October, 1941).

13. Dáil Éireann, Report of the Committee of Public Accounts (Appropriation Accounts, 1952–53) (Dublin, 1955), pp28–30, 15 July, 1954.

14. National Library of Ireland, Diarmuid Lynch MS11131, Eamon Dore to Lynch, 20 May, 1937.

15. IE/MA/MSPC/1D342 (Peter O'Donnell).

16. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF24161 (Thomas Brannigan), transcript of Advisory Board interview with Thomas Brannigan, 12 May, 1937; IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF58836 (James Tubman), appeal submission, 15 June, 1951.

17. IE/MA/MSPC/24SP3522 (Henry S Murray), references by WT Cosgrave and by Joseph Kinsella, 20 and 10 April, 1925. See Murray's recollections of 1916–21 in Military Archives of Ireland, BMH, WS0300 and 0601.

18. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF16473 (John McCoy).

19. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF4143 (James Moloney) Ernie O'Malley to Department of Defence, 15 March, 1936, The soldiers' mothers were awarded compensation of just £240 each. Irish Independent, 8 October, 1920.

20. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF4143 (James Moloney). The RIC believed that it was James whom they had killed. TNA, CO906/19, entry dated 2 May, 1921.

21. Public Records of Northern Ireland, HA/5/360, 617, 1921, and 2317.

22. Eunan O'Halpin, Defending Ireland: the Irish state and its enemies since 1922 (Oxford, 1999), p26; Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, HA 5/2317 (Daniel Rice). Rice was interned on his return to Northern Ireland in February 1923, being released in December 1924.

23. Military Archives, BMH, WS 0402 (Sean Cusack) and WS 0844 (Bernard Nolan). I am grateful to Dr Eve Morrison for these references.

24. Her papers are in the UCD Archives (P94), along with those of her siblings Kevin Barry (P93) and Elgin O'Rahilly (P200).

25. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF24161 (Thomas Brannigan).

26. The Times, 14 May, 1920.

27. IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF24161 (Thomas Brannigan).

28. Weekly Irish Times, 6 January, 1923.

29. IE/MA/MSPC/A/27 (Activities South Roscommon) WS 701 (Thomas Kelly); Irish Independent, 13, 14 and 28 May, 1921.

30. IE/MA/MSPC/A/31 (3) (North Roscommon New Records of Activities and IE/MA/MSPC/A/31(4) (Old Records South Leitrim North Roscommon Brigade 3rd Western Division Activities). Leitrim County Library Oral History Colllection, recording no 154 (Frank Darcy).

31. Gerard Murphy, The Year of Disappearances: political killings in Cork, 1921–1922 (Dublin, 2010).

32. IE/MA/MSPC/A/1(4), Incomplete note on Dáil letterhead for Advisory Board, undated.

33. Eunan O'Halpin, Spying on Ireland: British Intelligence and Irish Neutrality during the Second World War (Oxford, 2008), pp113–14 and 282–4.

34. IE/MA/MSPC/A/27 (Activities South Roscommon) and IE/MA/MSPC/A/54(1) (First Brigade 5th Northern Division Activities) Fearghal McGarry, Eoin O'Duffy: A Self-Made Hero (Oxford, 2005), pp62–73.

35. IE/MA/MSPC/A/70 (Longford Brigade Activities); Longford Leader and Roscommon Herald, 16 April, 1921.

36. IE/MA/MSPC/A/60 (Fourth Meath Brigade 1st Eastern Division Activitis); Meath Chronicle, 23 August and 27 September, 1919.

37. On this see Morrison, The Bureau of Military History.

Group of 58 Republican members of 2nd Dáil Éireann who voted against acceptance of articles of agreement for a treaty, January 1922, with key. Reverse of photograph contains an instruction to printer for the production of 1 dozen 10 x 8 copies and a dozen enlargements. This photograph and key is from a series held in the Collins Papers called Captured Photographs.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0863.

Key to photograph of group of 58 Republican members of 2nd Dáil Éireann.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0863.

Typed copy letter of 30 September, 1925 from Colonel Michael Costello, Director of Intelligence to the Secretary to the Minister for Finance regarding Daniel O'Neill. A former member of the RIC, O'Neill was appointed Battalion Intelligence Officer in April 1918 'by Commandants Charlie Hurley and Tom Hales'. He later served as Superintendent of Republican Police in charge of the Bandon and Clonakilty districts in County Cork in the period from 12 July, 1921 to 30 June, 1922. His brother Michael was shot and died during a raid on Ballygroman House, the home of Thomas Hornibrook and his son Samuel on the night of 26 April, 1922. Captain (Retired) Herbert Woods, son in law of Thomas Hornibrook, was present that night.

Reference: D.Defence 2/21085/55 & IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF27833 — Daniel O'Neill.

Group taken at an Officers Training Camp, Kilfenora, county Clare during the truce period. Accompanied by a letter from Intelligence Officer, Limerick Command to Director of Intelligence, General Headquarters, dated 19 July, 1923, with attached list of names and short histories of the 'Irregulars' featured in the photograph. This photograph is from a series held in the Collins Papers (CP) called Captured Photographs.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0872.

Letter and list related to OTC, Kilfenora, county Clare during truce.

Reference: IE/MA/CP/A0872.

Listing submitted by Kate Armstrong, former Branch President, Killeeneen Branch, Cumann na mBan, of some Cumann na mBan members active in county Galway during Easter week 1916.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/A/21/4/A — Easter week 1916 county Galway.

Final page of four page typed and signed statement from William T Cosgrave, submitted by him in September 1953 along with his military service pension application form. This statement, outlining some of his service and activities between 1914 and 1917, gives a listing of Irish Volunteers killed and wounded during the fighting at South Dublin Union in 1916 and provides details of negotiations involving Cosgrave, Dublin City Treasurer EW Eyre and future Irish Free State Senator General Sir Bryan Mahon, Commander in Chief of the British Army in Ireland, to prevent a confrontation between British and Irish Volunteer forces at the funeral of Thomas Ashe in 1917.

Reference: IE/MA/MSP/34REF63429.

Typed copy of signed statement from Roisin Walsh outlining events in county Tyrone and Ina Connolly Heron's activities there during Easter week 1916.

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF21565 — Ina Connolly Heron.

##

## Project Methodology

Cecile Chemin, Project Archivist

Project overview

The direction given by Maurice Quinn, Assistant Secretary at the Department of Defence, to the Project Manager of the Military Service Pensions files project, to deliver the Military Service Pensions Collection to the public, through the Military Archives, emphasised the importance of preservation and access, the two key elements of any programme of archival processing.

A preservation programme, enabling the long term preservation of the original records, was to be put in place, and the material in the collection was to be released to the public in accordance with the National Archives Act, 1986. The records were to be released on or before Easter 2016. A team of three archivists was assigned to the Project Manager, and they set about processing the collection.

A survey of the files in the collection, including those stored at the Military Archives, at Finance Branch of the Department of Defence at Renmore, Galway and in the central registry of the Department at Parkgate, indicated that the project comprised a complex collection, with some 40 to 50 different file series, numbering about 270,000 to 300,000 individual files. The non-active files of relevance to the collection which were identified in the Department of Defence were handed over to the project team.

Preservation and access

As the project team assembled, preservation commenced immediately. Files were physically cleaned, metal, treasury tags and other ties were removed and duplicated material of no archival significance was disposed of. Arrangements were put in train to establish an in-house laboratory and a programme for the conservation of badly damaged material. All files were re-foldered and re-boxed, using acid free archival standard supplies. Some file series were deemed suitable for microfilming, with the film to be digitised for further access. Other material was scanned in colour. These files were scanned directly as TIFF files and backed up and stored as preservation masters. Surrogates were created in PDF format to be used for web access. Photography was used for outsize and very fragile material.

The preservation mandate of the Project was greatly aided by an early decision from the Steering Committee that the relatives of veterans should be facilitated with high-standard copies of relevant files in the collection relating to their family members. This continued a tradition set by the Department of Defence in the case of a proven family connection (although third-party information on file was not released heretofore), enhanced interest and aided historical and genealogical research. The service will be extended to families and other researchers as the collection is released to the public through the Military Archives. It was also decided to release a database and selected digitised original documents online, through a Military Archives website which was to be developed through an upgrade of www.military.ie by the military authorities. This would maximise access to the collection. The collection will be released in phases, leading up to 2016.

Cataloguing and databasing

A major first step for the Project was to identify a suitable collections management software package. This process was carried out in conjunction with the National Archives of Ireland, as that institution was then in the course of planning an upgrade for their collections management systems. Around the same time the Defence Forces made available the services of a Senior Officer from the Communications and Information Services Corps (CIS Corps) of the Army as technical advisor to the Project.

A suitable product, Adlib Archive, was identified, tried and tested, and following the placement of a contract order by the Department of Defence, work began to customise the software selected to suit the quasi-military nature of the files and records in the Military Service Pensions Collection. The software remains basically unchanged in the catalogue section. The entire collection was divided into searchable databases, and two distinct searchable customised sections were then created in the 'authority files' area, termed 'Pensions' and 'Medals' respectively, reflecting the vast bulk of the individual applicants' files in the collection. Professional standards as set in the International Standard for Archival Description (General) and the International Standard for Archival Authority Records: Corporate, Personal and Families were followed throughout. The pensions database, portion of which was scheduled to go live on the first release, was drawn up and 47 fields or points of information to be populated in respect of each individual applicant's file(s) were approved by the Steering Committee.

Technical infrastructure

A basic technical infrastructure had been identified in pre-planning by the Military Archives and was to be put in place by the CIS Corps in the office space allocated to the Project at Cathal Brugha barracks. Forward planning by the project team for mass storage, offsite backup, a preservation programme and other aspects led to the supply and installation by the CIS Corps of:

Hardware:

• 12 workstations Local Area Network

• 5 Epson GT30000 A3 flatbed scanners

• 1 Epson Stylus Pro 4880 A3 colour printer

• 1 HP DL 360 GS server

• 1 HP mass storage system (NAS) of 48TB

Software:

• Adlib Archive (regularly updated to newest version)

• Photoshop CS4

• Adobe Acrobat 9 PRO

• Waterford Technologies MailMeter/File Archiver (extensively used by the Defence Forces on its own networks.

The Mail Meter software enables the project team and the support team of technicians from the CIS Corps to meet certain policy requirements such as deleting files, copying and storing files and protecting files by copying them to the archive server and for off-site storage). All data and files are backed up overnight to an off-site location in Cathal Brugha barracks via optical fibre. The mass storage system is scalable and provision for the migration of data to any new future IT system was built in as a project requirement.

Arrangement

As the work of gathering, processing and understanding the nature of the material in the collection progressed, it became clear that the original file reference codes and an understanding of relevant Army Pensions Acts and Military Service Pensions Acts were the keys to understanding the file series relating to individual applicants. In summary, the designation 24 related to applications under the MSP Act, 1924, the designation 34 related to material under the MSP Act, 1934, 'Ref' related to Referee files under the same Act, the 'D' series related to claims by Dependants in the case of deaths while on duty, and the 'P' series related to wounded veterans. It was also clear that veterans or applicants had several files in different series, often created over a thirty-year or more time-span, and under different strands of relevant legislation as enacted by the Oireachtas.

For this reason it was considered sensible and necessary to break the original series by co-locating all files relating to an individual, while maintaining the original file reference codes and the material in each file with its own identity, and using one unique file code as a primary key for reference and sourcing through the database. The experience and advice of serving and retired staff in the Military Archives was very helpful in this regard. Conventional archival practices, such as descriptive listing and respect for original order, are followed in all other areas in the work of the project team in delivering the collection to the public through the Military Archives.

In summary, the Project is observing best archival practice in terms of preservation, storage, processing, contextualising and ultimately, releasing this extremely important collection to public inspection, both physically and online.

Notice issued to John Mallin (brother of executed 1916 leader Michael Mallin).

Reference: IE/MA/MSPC/MSP34REF13690 — John Mallin.

## Appendix i:

## Applicants Awarded Military Service Pensions at the Highest Grade

## Appendix ii:

## **MSPC Administration/Supporting Files Released Online** www.militaryarchives.ie

It has not proven possible to include here the administration and supporting file titles and descriptive listings prepared by project archivists for the files of relevance to the MSPC. However, the file series, the titles, the descriptive listing for each file included in the first release and a digital copy of the relevant file are released online. These can be sourced at www.militaryarchives.ie under the following:

Organisation and membership

IRA Membership Series: File reference RO1 to RO611.

IRA Brigade Activity Series: File reference A/21/4/A, A/21/4/B, A/51/3 and A/66/2 (partial release from the series).

Cumann na mBan Series: File reference CMB1 to 24 (county Cork), CMB109 to 124 (county Kerry), CMB70 to 84 (county Clare) and CMB88 to 104 (county Tipperary), CMB124 (north Dublin/Fingal), 125 (south county Dublin), 126 (Dublin city), CMB163 General Headquarters and CMB164-Convention October 1921 are released online. The remaining files in this series will be released online as soon as possible.

Fianna Éireann Series: File reference FE1 to FE40.

Administration

Board of Assessors, 1924: File reference SPG1 to SPG129.

Army Pensions Board, 1923: File reference 1/M to 1/M/145 (full release of files found).

Military Service Pensions, 1924: File reference M/MSP/1 to M/MSP/12.

Army Finance Officer-Pensions Board, 1923: M/4/24 to M/211/33).

Department of Defence Files: File reference A/xxx, 2/xxx and 3/xxx.

33 files of relevance to the MSPC are released.

## Appendix iii:

## File Designations and Descriptions

P

1P: Wound pensions or gratuities under the 1923 Army Pensions Act — Personal claims made by ex-members (of Irish Volunteers or Citizen Army, 1916, etc.) in respect of injury prior to 1 April, 1922.

2P;3P;4P;5P: Same as above in respect of injury after 1 April,1922 or in respect of disease contracted after 1 April,1922.

D: Dependents' allowances or gratuities in respect of Volunteers killed prior to 1 April,1922.

DP: Disability pensions: include mostly special allowance claims and latterly disability.

MD: Applications for medals (1916 Medal and Service (1917–1921) Medal).

I RB/II RB/III MSRB: Military Service Registration Board: files dealing with claims for disability arising out of pre-truce service. These files deal with proof of service (wound and death under the Act 1932); from 1932 to 1957.

I RB/A: Military Service Registration Board: dealing with proof of service (wound).

APB: Army Pensions Board: dealing with applicants who had to attend medical examination.

24SP: Applications for Military Service Pensions under the 1924 Act, for service in the National Army and also pre-truce.

34SP: Applications for Military Service Pensions under the 1934 Act for veterans with pre-truce service or pre-truce service plus service with the anti-treaty forces.

34 REF: Same as above, claims which were sent before the Referee.

49SP: Applications for Service Pensions under the 1949 Act.

Con. Ran: Pensions applications by members of Connaught Rangers arising out of their mutiny in India in June 1920.

## Appendix iv:

## Calculation of Military Service

The numbers of years of military service counting towards pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 were computed as follows:

a) For continuous service from 1 April, 1916 to 31 March, 1917, provided that such service includes active service in the week commencing 23 April, 1916

5 years

b) For continuous service from 1 April, 1917 to 31 March, 1918

1/2 year

c) For continuous service from 1 April, 1918 to 31 March, 1919

1/2 year

d) For continuous service from 1 April, 1919 to 31 March, 1920

1 year

e) For continuous service from 1 April, 1920 to 31 March, 1921

2 years

f) For continuous service from 1 April, 1921 to 11 July, 1921

1 year

g) For continuous service from 12 July, 1921 to 30 June, 1922

1 year

h) For continuous service from 1 July, 1922 to 31 March, 1923

2 years

i) For continuous service from 1 April, 1923 to 30 September, 1923

1 year.

'In regard to the year 1 April, 1916 to 31 March, 1917, the equivalent of active service in the week commencing 23 April, 1916 shall be deemed to be four years, and the equivalent for the remainder of that year shall be deemed to be one year...'.

Note: Under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934, the week commencing 23 April ,1916 is computed to 4 years' service. The period comprising (a) the period commencing on 1 April, 1916 and ending on 22 April, 1916, and (b) the period commencing on 30 April, 1916, and ending on 31 March, 1917 is computed to be 1 year's service. (Second Schedule).

## Appendix v:

## **Department of Defence: Early Organisation**

From 1922 to 1928 the work on the civil side of the Ministry for Defence/Department of Defence was divided between the Army Finance Officer and the Secretary. The staffs were distinct and were located at Portobello barracks (now Cathal Brugha barracks, Dublin), Griffith barracks on the South Circular Road, Dublin and the Parkgate/Infirmary Road complex. The first Army Finance Officer (Mr Thomas Gorman) was formally appointed on 26 June, 1923 and he was also appointed Accounting Officer. A Deputy Army Finance Officer (Mr WP Blunden) and an assistant Finance Officer were appointed on 1 December, 1924. The Secretary, Mr CB O'Connor, was appointed on 1 July, 1923.

During this period the bulk of the work on the civil side fell to the Army Finance Officer's Branch; including the whole of the financial administration for the Forces, Regulations under Defence Force Acts, employment of civilian specialists and instructors and all cases and proposals to the Department of Finance, for example.

In many situations military officers and civilian staff worked side by side in the Ministry of Defence. In the Secretary's Branch proper the next highest grade after the Secretary was that of Higher Executive Officer.

On the retirement of the Army Finance Officer in July, 1928, Lieutenant General Peadar MacMahon, who had served as Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and had been appointed as Secretary, Department of Defence on 31 March, 1927, became Accounting Officer and the staffs were amalgamated and located at Parkgate. The work was then redistributed; the former Deputy Army Finance officer became Finance Officer.

In January 1929 the post of Chief Clerk was abolished and that of Principal Officer was created. Under a re-organisation carried out in the Department at that time the responsibility for certain functions dealing with contracts and disposals, officers' pay, soldiers' pay and marriage allowances and lands administration, for example were transferred from the military side to the civil side in the Department.

In a subsequent re-organisation of the Department in 1930–1931, the administrative side was divided into four sections (S1 Army Organisation Section, S2 General Section, S3 Establishment Section and S4 Contracts and Disposals Section), three under Higher Executive Officers and one under a Senior Staff Officer. On the accounting side four sections were also created, under five Higher Executive Officers. These were: F1 Accounts Section, F2 Stores Accounts and Audit Section, F3 Officers' Pay Section, F4 Soldiers' Pay Section. Lands administration was transferred at a later date to S2 .

The staff of both the administrative side and the accounting side was increased during the 1930s; additional posts being created by reason of the growth of work in payments to the Reserve Force, contracts, lands administration, pensions, air raid precautions, stores accounting and auditing, for example.

## Appendix vi:

## Rules for Determining the Grades of Rank in the Forces

Rules for determining the grades of rank in the Forces held by persons serving in the Forces are set out in the Second Schedule to the Military Service Pension Act, 1924 and in the First Schedule to the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934.

A summary of these notional grades as applied by the Referee and Advisory Committee and in cases of appeals made before the reconstituted Board of Assessors is to be found in MSP/34/Referee G 15 — Procedure in Appeals to Minister for Defence and is set out here. (Note: File G 15 is set aside for conservation treatment and will be released as soon as possible).

Chief of Staff, Deputy, Adjutant General, Quartermaster General and Divisional Officers Commanding (OC): Grade A

Vice OC Division, Division Adjutant and Quartermaster: Grade C

Captain on Staff at Division or officer at Division other than already named: Grade D

General Headquarters (GHQ)

Directors of Organisation, Intelligence, Engineering and Munitions: Grade B

Director of Medical Services or Service other than already named: Grade C

Officer other than a Director or Captain on GHQ Staff: Grade D

Brigade (Bde)

Bde OC (not less than 1000 strength): Grade B

Bde OC (less than 1000) Vice OC, Adjutant and Quartermaster where strength is not less than 1000: Grade C.

Officer other than mentioned above on Bde Staff: Grade D

Battalion (Bn)

Bn OC (not less than 300): Grade C.

OC Bns with strength less than 300, Vice OC, Adjutant and Quartermaster of Bns with not less than 100 strength: Grade D

Column

OC Column with strength not less than 30: Grade C and if strength was less than 30 Grade D applied.

Company (Coy)

OC Coy with strength not less than 60, Lieutenant, 2nd or 3rd in command with Coy strength not less than 120: Grade D. Lieutenant 2nd in command of Coy with strength not less than 100: Grade D

Medical Officer, other than GHQ Director: Grade D.

Note: MSP Act, 1924Grade A = Private/NCO.

Grade B = Lieutenant/Captain

Grade C = Commandant/Major

Grade D = Colonel/Major General

Grade E = rank higher than Major General.

The grades were reversed as they applied under the MSP Act, 1934.

Cumann na mBan badge belonging to Brigid Lyons Thornton, (1898–1987) only female recipient of a military service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1924 – see IE/MA/MSPC/24SP13615. This badge, along with other medals/memorabilia relating to Brigid Lyons Thornton, was donated to the Military Archives by her son Mr Barry Lyons.

Reference: IE/MA/PC519.

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