Wrong Place Wrong time. The 25th May 1921 The IRA attacked the Custom house hoping to carry out a spectacular raid using over 100 men. The men were lightly armed as the damage that was to be caused would be from Gallons of Petrol that was to be poured over paperwork and furniture, it was hoped that every man would know what his part to be and act accordingly. Sadly things went wrong and when things go wrong with such an operation innocent people would lose their lives and thats exactly what happened. John Byrne worked as a poulterer in Rathmines, he was 22 years of age,It seems that there may be a difference in addresss given for him at the time, in one account he was living as a lodger at Number 24 Killarney St (1st photo) which was/is known locally as The Priests house In another account number 14 Killarney St is mentioned, I checked both addresss on the 1911 census and there are several Byrne families living on Killarney St but none with a 10-11 yr old boy called John. Anyway John must have been a fit enough young man as everyday between 1 pm -2.30pm he would cycle home from his place of employment in Rathmines to Killarney st via Beresford place. 25th May was no different but it was to be the last time he would cycle this route or any route for that matter. John turned into Beresford place as a gun-battle took place between the Volunteers and the British soldiers who had arrived on the scene at the Custom House. Its unclear who shot the young man but he was shot in the back and he would be one of 9 people died from his wounds in the vicinity, some like James Connolly a dockworker working nearby were caught in the Crossfire. It would be a week before Johns family were to see his body,they would have his funeral mass at the Pro Cathedral and he was later buried in Glasnevin. The others who died. Francis Davis..custom house caretaker. Patrick Lawless..civil servant James Connolly..docker Patrick And Stephen Reilly who were brothers (IRA)Their mother went to identify 1 son and thought the other was on the run only to see his body on a slab. Dan Head..Apprentice Carpenter (IRA) Edward Dorrins..(IRA) later years there was an unsuccessful attempt to have Custom house quay named after him. Sean Doyle..(IRA) Brother of Patrick Doyle who was hung in Mountjoy and became known as one of the Forgotten Ten
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 15:25:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015