(Author Sam McGrath has previously examined the fatal shooting of IRA member Peter McCarthy on Lower Clanbrassil Street in 1937 and the killing of another young republican Jackie Griffith near Merrion Square in 1943)

Introduction

On 24 May 1950, 17-year-old Patrick Murray was accidentally shot dead in the backyard of the headquarters of the Republican Prisoners’ Release Association in Dublin. At his funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery the teenager’s coffin was “draped with a tricolour” and was “accompanied by a guard of honour of the deceased’s former comrades”. His recently restored headstone describes him as “Vol. Padraíg Murray” attached to the Dublin IRA.

However, his name is not included any republican roll of honour including a list of 1936-1963 deaths published by Sinn Féin in 1966 or The Last Post (1972 edition). There is also no mention of his death in any of the major studies of the IRA in the period (J Bower Bell, Donnacha Ó Beacháin etc.), any of the books which cover the Border Campaign era (Barry Flynn, Matt Treacy etc.) or any of the memoirs from Dublin IRA men who were active in the early 1950s (Mick Ryan, Éamonn Boyce).

Background

Patrick Mary Lorenzo Murray, also known as Pádraig Murray, was born in Dublin in 1933. His father, John Murray, a 37-year-old carpenter, had died on 18 September 1932 in the Richmond Hospital of “bronchiectasis pneumococcal meningitis” according to his death certificate. His address at the time was 54 Walsh Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.

By the 1940s, the Murray family was living at 51 St Joseph’s Place in the Dorset Street area of the North Inner City. Patrick lived with his mother Mary, two brothers Sean and Philip and two sisters Maura/Máire and Ellen [tbc]. St Joseph’s Place comprises of seven parallel rows of redbrick terraced cottages (one or two bedrooms) within a U-shaped perimeter avenue. They are accessible via Nelson Street, Blessington Street and Upper Dorset Street (beside the Findlater public house). Built by the Dublin Artisan’s Dwellings Company in the 1890s for renting to working-class tradesmen, they were bought out by Dublin Corporation in the 1920s.

In April 1946, Belfast man James McCorry (or McCurry) (25) was sentenced to six months imprisonment for firearms offences in the Special Criminal Court. He gave his Dublin address as 51 St Joseph’s Place which indicates that the Murray home was a safe house for Belfast IRA men who were involved in IRA re-organising work in the capital. A Mrs J McCurry was listed as a sister of Patrick Murray in a 1950 report on his funeral which suggests that James McCurry later married Patrick Murray’s sister. A 13-year-old Patrick Murray would have been undoubtedly affected by the republcian activities of his future brother-in-law and may have helped shape his own politics.

Republican Prisoners’ Release Association, 9 North Frederick Street

The Republican Prisoners’ Release Association (RPRA) was established in October 1945 to campaign for the release of republicans prisoners. In that period there were 80 in Belfast, 40 in England and 30 in the 26 Counties. Its founding members included long-standing IRA veterans including Maurice Twomey, Jim Killeen and Simon Donnelly (who had been inactive since the Civil War). Other figures associated with the group included Peadar Cowan, Sean MacBride and Con Lehane. The organisation had 29 branches across the island by early 1948 as reported in the Dublin Evening Mail (30 January 1948).

The organisation had offices at 9 North Frederick Street from at least 1946 which it shared with other groups (sharing a overlaping membership and support base) including the Easter Commemoration Committee (1946), the Harry White Defence Fund (1946) and the National Commemoration Committee (1949). By mid 1950, there were only a very small number of IRA prisoners left in Belfast jails (including Liam Burke and Jimmy Steele) which left the release and welfare organisations largely defunct.

IRA activity

The death of Patrick Murray in 1950 occurred in a decade long gap of major IRA activity between the end of the Northern Campaign (1942 – 1946) and start of The Border Campaign (1956 – 1962). Due to state harassment, arrests, emigration and internal infighting, the Republican movement was at one of its lowest ebbs. According to Bowyer Bell in The Secret Army (pg 296), the Dublin IRA was the “strongest” unit in the country in 1950 but only had 40 members, divided into two companies which could seldom parade more than a dozen men each. (The IRA did re-organise in late 1950 and grow under the direction of Tony Magan but this did not start until after Murray’s death.)

Although the Dublin IRA was small in the late 1940s and early 1950s period, there was still a turnover of membership of young men from overwhelmingly working-class backgrounds. They included Tom Mitchell (later MP etc), of Inverness Road in Fairview who joined the IRA in 1949, Éamonn Mac Thomáis, of Goldenbridge in Inchciore, who joined in c. 1950; Eamonn Boyce, of Galtymore Road in Drimnagh, who joined in 1952 and Mick Ryan, of East Wall, who joined in 1954.

Who was in charge of the Dublin IRA Patrick Murray was active in its orbit in early 1950? J Bowyer Bell (pg 286) states that Sean Sheehy replaced William McGuinness when the latter was promoted to Chief of Staff in 1947. Gearóid Ó Broin presumably took the place of Sheehy as Ó Broin was described as “O/C of the Dublin unit of the IRA in the early 1950s” in Éamon Boyce’s Insider (pg 11). He was replaced by Éamonn Mac Thomáis who held the position from 1952 to mid-1956 according to Insider. So it’s likely that Sean Sheehy or Gearóid Ó Broin were head of the IRA’s Dublin in summer 1950.

In mid 1950, Patrick Murray was 17 and a half and worked as a carpenter’s apprentice. His best friend and close neighbour was Éamon Deegan who lived at 2 Brennan’s Cottages, rere of 114 Upper Dorset Street, which was about five minutes walk (400m) from Murray’s home. The pair both lived less than a five-minute walk from 9 North Frederick Street which was an important social hub and meeting point for republicans in the city.

What events did Patrick Murray possibly attend in the year or so before his death? He might have been one of the 500 revellers at a cèilidh in the Mansion House on 11 February 1949 organised by the Republican Prisoners’ Release Association. The two most important republican commemorations in the year were to mark the anniversary of Easter Rising (April) and Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown (June). The National Commemoration Committee’s 1916 Easter Commemoration took place on 17 April 1949. A procession with a colour party and pipe bands marched from St Stephen’s Green to Glasnevin Cemetery headed by the “Dublin Battalion IRA” followed by contingents from Cumann na mBan, Clan na Gaedheal (Republican Girl Guides), Na Fianna Éireann, Sinn Féin, the National Graves Association and Cumann na Poblachta. A wreath was laid on the republican plot by J Dunne (Chairman, NCC) and a decade of the rosary was recited in Irish by Michael O’Neill. A statement from the IRA was read by Cristóir O’Neill (Christy O’Neill) and the main oration was given by Sean McGrath who told the crowd: “The Army and the physical force movement … appeal to all young men and women to come again into the ranks and carry on the fight begun in 1916 which carried on in 1919 and 1922 and bring it to fruition”. (The Irish Press, 18 April 1949).

The NCC were also the organisers of the Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown Cemetery, Sallins, County Kildare on 19 June 1949. Wreaths were laid by Micheál Mac Conbuidhe (Michael Conway) (Secretary, NCC) and Margaret Buckley (Sinn Féin). Thousands listened to the main oration by Cristóir O’Neill (Christy O’Neill) who appealed to the crowd:
“I appeal to all the young men who are willing to fight for their country’s freedom and their own salvation to come into the IRA … take the your stand with the men who have never ceased to resit the invader … there are some people … unsuited to a military organisation by reason of sex, age or temperament. Sinn Féin, the Republican civil organisation, caters for these”. A meeting was held afterwards addressed by Emmett McGinn (Clann na nGaedhel, Philadelphia) with J Dunne (Chairman, NCC) acting as chief steward.

Just six weeks before Patrick Murray’s death, the NCC’s 1916 Easter Commemoration parade on 09 April 1950 at Glasnevin Cemetery was addressed outside the gates by Tomas Óg MacCurtain (1915-1994) who was a member of the IRA Army Council. Murray may have been part of the 1,000 strong who were told by MacCurtain that the IRA “stood for the aims and objects for which those who had died in arms had stood. It was not their duty to pay attention to politicians who thought that paragraphs in American or French Press would free Ireland. The struggle would be a struggle in Ireland by Irishmen with guns in their hands”. (The Irish Press, 10 April 1950). Anthony McGann [Magan] (1910-1981), IRA Chief of Staff from 1948 to 1957, read a statement issued by IRA General Headquarters (GHQ) which reminded the crowd that: “It is for the ordinary people to Ireland to ensure that those who are pledged to freedom by force of arms are not misled by the politicians who are bankrupt of everything except promises” (The Belfast Newsletter, 10 April 1950).

Evening of shooting

On the evening of 24 May 1950, Patrick Murray and Éamon Deegan had a few drinks in a local pub before going to 9 North Frederick Street at about 10pm. In subsequent testimony and statements, it transpired that the pair were in the toilet in the yard in the rear of the building examing a .38 automatic pistol. Deegan later said that he believed the safety catch was on when he pulled the trigger of the weapon. At about 10.25pm, witnesses heard the gun go off and Murray was accidentally shot at close range. It was reported by the Irish Press (25 May 1950) that there were “three other young men with Murray at the time of the shooting” but no further information about the identities of the men – besides Deegan – was subsequently revealed.

Deegan admitted in a later statement that he lifted Murray from the yard into the hall and then dumped the gun in a nearby laneway. He claimed that he returned to try to help his friend but saw an ambulance outside and left the scene in a frenzied state Miss Nancy Berry, of 151 Mount Pleasant Buildings in Ranelagh, ran an Irish dance class in one of the back rooms of the building which was in progress at the time of the shooting. Her students heard a loud bang and came out of the room to investigate. Maureen McNamara, of 8 Annamoe Terrace in Cabra, saw:

“…. a man [Murray] coming from the toilet in the yard. He came into her view, but stepped out of view again. She then saw him coming towards her again and she noticed him falling. Later she saw another man [Eamonn] coming from the same direction … this second man knelt down beside the man on the ground and then dragged [him] … towards the house.” – The Evening Herald, 22 June 1950

The classes’ piano player Thomas Dullaghan, of 13 McKee Barracks, found Murray “lying on his back” and “groaning” in the hallway. He asked Murray what had happened but received no reply. Dullaghan telephoned for an ambulance and the police at Fitzgibbon Street. He also picked up one of Murray’s shoes which had fallen off while he was being dragged into the building.

The Irish Press reported that Murray was “shot through the back under the left shoulder” and the body was found “lying face down in a pool of blood in the hallway leading from the yard to the hall door”. Patrick Murray was taken to the Mater Hospital in a Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance and was pronounced dead on arrival at 10.40pm by Dr Joseph Greenan.

The building at 9 North Frederick Street was searched by a large number of police under the command of Chief Superintendent Jim O’Neill and they interviewed numerous people who were in the premises or attending the Irish dance lesson. During the search of the building, they found an empty cartridge case in the garden area.

At about 2.30am in the morning, Station Sergeant Timothy Hurley of Fitzgibbon Street Police Station stated that Eamonn Deegan walked into the station and placed a pistol on the counter. (This suggests that he retrieved the firearm which he said he had dumped in a laneway or that he possibly never got rid of the gun in the first place.) Hurley described the scene:

“There was an unnatural flush on his face. He was restless and turned his head from side to side. He then turned to face me and I took up the pistol. The safety catch was off and I pulled back the elector but there was no bullet in the breech. I emptied the magazine and found three live bullets in it. When I removed the last bullet the elector got caught in the platform of the magazine and I handed the gun to [Deegan] who took out the magazine”.

Deegan was charged with unlawful possession of a .38 automatic pistol and five rounds of .38 ammunition with intent to endanger life and possession of the firearm without a licence. After being cautioned, he gave a verbal statement which a Garda put in writing but Deegan did not sign it. Inspector R Kingston said that he took possession of a bloodstained jacket and trousers worn by Deegan.

The police searched the body of Patrick Murray in the accident ward of the Mater Hospital and found three live rounds of ammunition in the hip pocket of his trousers.

Deegan was represented by solicitor Captain Peadar Cowan who said that the young man was “very badly shocked” by the “regrettable accident” and there was no request for bail. (Peadar Cowan had taken the pro-Treaty side in the Civil War but while studying to become a solicitor, joined the left-wing republican group Saor Éire (1931) and was associated with the Republican Congress movement (1934). He was active with the left-wing republican party Clann na Poblachta from its foundation 1946 until he was expelled in 1948. It has been reported that Cowan tried to mobile a new armed group in early 1950 to “take Northern Ireland by force, but he failed to win popular support and the plan came to nothing”.)

Funeral

The newspaper death notice stated that Murray was “accidentally shot dead”. His funeral mass took place at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Berkeley Road on Saturday 27 May 1950. The Evening Herald reported a “large attendance” at the funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery including chief mourners Mrs Mary Murray (mother), Sean and Philip (brothers), Maura/Máire (sister), Mrs J McCorry (sister) and Mrs S Murray (sister in law). A Mrs M Hickey and Miss M Hickey were also in attendance. Patrick Murray was buried at grave EJ 248.5 in the St Patrick’s Section, Glasnevin Cemetery.

The Dublin Evening Mail was the only newspaper which reported on the obvious republican trappings of the funeral. They said that Murray’s coffin was “draped with a tricolour” and was “accompanied by a guard of honour of the deceased’s former comrades”. There was also a large procession of the public, Na Fianna Éireann and “Girl Guides” [Clann na nGael Republican Girl Scouts]. The same newspaper suggested that a “dance was being held on the premises” but they probably are referring to the Irish dance class which was taking place on the evening. However, it is true the building did also host social events and cèilidh’s.

Inquest

The inquest, held on 01 June 1950, was opened and adjourned by Dr DA MacErlean, Dublin City Coroner. Philip Murray, brother of the deceased, identified the body. Dr John McGrath, State Pathologist, said the post-mortem revealed that the bullet entered Murray’s back and was fired at close range. The bullet hit his left lung and penetrated the heart resulting in death due to shock and haemorrhage. The bullet was removed and handed it over to the police. Mr Walter Carroll, Chief State Solicitor’s Office, asked for an adjournment due to the fact that Deegan was being held in custody.

Conviction

On 26 June 1950 at the Dublin District Court, solicitor Peadar Cowan agreed that “there was evidence that the deceased died as a result of a bullet wound fired from an automatic pistol” in Deegan’s possession but there was “no evidence in the case to substantiate culpable negligence, or criminality or recklessness” on Deegan’s part.

At some stage over the next six months, Eamon changed his representation from Peadar Cowan to The O’Rahilly of the solicitors firm of Con Lehane. Richard ‘Mac’ O’Rahilly was a son of The O’Rahilly who was killed in action in 1916. He was a founder member of the Clann na Poblachta, became its treasurer and stood twice unsuccessfully in elections in 1951 and 1952. Lehane was also associated with Clann na Poblachta and was a leading Dublin IRA member in the 1930s.

Evidence was given in Central Criminal Court in December 1950 that Deegan had been convicted in February 1946 of two cases of larceny and heartbreaking and sentenced to two years in St. Conleth’s Reformatory School in Daingean, County Offaly. Upon release, he had worked for two years as a moulder’s apprentice but had been unemployed since Christmas 1949.

Deegan changed his plea to guilty and the State said they would enter a ‘nolle proseque’ “on the charge of having the pistol and ammunition with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property”. Justice Dixon said he “found it a difficult case to deal with because conduct of this kind should be punished and people had to be deterred from behaving in this reckless and careless manner.” In the hope that he might do Deegan more good than sending him to prison, Judge Dixon imposed a suspended sentence of twelve months imprisonment on the manslaughter charge and two months on the illegal possession of the pistol and ammunition. Deegan entered into a bond on personal bail of £50 of good behaviour for two years and was discharged from the court.

Legacy and postscript

Presumably to avoid giving the Republican movement any publicity, the police and the state’s legal team in court seemed to downplay any political connections to the shooting and the two young men involved. One of the few references comes buried in an article in the Irish Independent (23 June 1950) when Mrs Margaret Coughlan, of 9 North Frederick Street, told the Dublin District Court at Deegan’s first trial that she knew both men and said that they attended meetings of the National Commemoration Committee together. Coughlan said they “were on friendly terms … and were always together”. Patrick Coughlan, husband of Margaret, agreed that the two youths “were very pally”.

In a short piece titled “Boy Who Shot Best Friend” in the Irish Independent (01 Dec 1950), Mr Justice Dixon was quoted as saying that the “tragic” case was a result of “the accused’s best friend … play-acting or fooling … with a loaded pistol”. While this is generally a truthful description, the language used stresses an angle of two silly young boys acting foolishly with a gun. The incident could have equally been framed by others as two young Republicans examing a weapon when it went off accidentally.

The facts remain Patrick Muray was killed while handling firearms in the premises of the Republican Prisoners’ Release Association which had close associations to the wider republican movement. The evidence available suggests this was likely not an official arms training class of any sort as the two young men had been in the pub together earlier and a toilet would have been an inadequate and small space for such important and potentially dangerous activity.

Regarding the political dimensions to the shooting, it is crucial that the Dublin Evening Press reported that the coffin at the funeral was draped with a tricolour and that there was a “guard of honour” of his “former comrades”. The same piece described that units of Na Fianna Éireann and “Girl Guides” [Clann na nGael Republican Girl Scouts] were present at the burial. This was clearly the funeral of a young active republican. Although it should also be noted there were no reports of an oration, the Last Post being sounded or any volleys being fired into the air over the grave. While there were reports of a large attendance it is unclear which Republican leaders (if any) attended the funeral.

One important bit of evidence to verify Patick Muray’s IRA connections is that his family were very comfortable in calling him a “Volunteer” on his headstone and a member of the Dublin IRA. The fresh-looking gravestone was probably erected following the death of Patrick’s sister Máire in 2011. It would be very interesting to see any photographs of the former headstone from the time of Patrick’s death in 1950.

The only missing ‘link’ is the absence of memorial notices in any of the newspapers in the years after the death from his family or former comrades. He is also not listed in any republican rolls of honour as “accidentally shot while training” (or something similar) like in the case of IRA Volunteer Christy Bird who died in Dublin in May 1939. A friend was able to check the June 1950 issue of The United Irishman newspaper and there is mention of Patrick Murray. As he died in late May 1950, you would imagine that the June 1950 issue would be the edition where there would have been a memorial notice or funeral report. The United Irishman was the only Irish republican newspaper published in the 1950 period.

Another bit of corroboration that the two young men were associated with the IRA was the fact that Éamonn Degan was legally represented by Captain Peadar Cowan and later The O’Rahilly (Richard ‘Mac’ O’Rahilly) of the Con Lehane solicitors firm. As previously mentioned, Cowan and Lehane had strong IRA associations in the 1930s and 1940s. Both men, as well as the O’Rahilly, were active with Clann na Poblachta.

Eamonn Deegan continued his connections with the IRA and it is important to note that he was listed as one of the 64 “active” members of the Dublin Brigade IRA in attendance at the September 1951 unveiling of the Sean Russell statue in Fairview Park. This certainly proves Deegan’s IRA status and gives a lot of credibility to any claim that Murray was an IRA member or, at the very least, a close associate. In March 1953, Eamon Deegan was found not guilty to charges of firearms possessions. His brother, John, took responsibility for a cache of arms found in his workshop which was next door the family cottage. The haul included a .300 American service rifle, a .32 revolver, an automatic pistol, 37 rounds of ammunition, five Mills hand grenades, two pistol holsters, one ammunition pouch, gun powder, gelignite, detonators and fuses. John Deegan gave evidence that he did not know that the material was in the workshop and when they were found by the police “thought that this brother might have had something to do with them and accepted responsibility in order to protect him” as reported the Irish Press (29 April 1953). He was sentenced to nine months imprisonment.

The building at 9 North Frederick Street continued to be an important address for the Republican Movement in Dublin. In the 1950s it was the address for the Sean Russell Memorial Committee (that erected the Fairview statue), the Jackie Griffith Cumann of Sinn Féin (1955) and republican prisoner relief organisations after the Omagh Barracks Raid in 1954. The building was host to the Na Fianna Éireann ardfheis in May 1955. John O’Neill (Treason of Felony blog) has checked the report in the June 1955 issue of The United Irishman but there was no mention or acknowledgement of the fifth anniversary of Patrick Murray’s death.

Patrick Murray was the first Irish republican in Dublin who was killed in action, or while handling arms, since Jackie Griffith in 1943. The next individuals were Liam Walsh (Saor Éire) in October 1970 in a premature explosion; Peter Graham (Saor Éire) shot dead in an internal dispute in October 1971 and Jack McCabe (Provisional IRA) in a premature explosion in December 1971. The coroner ruled it as an accident but some believe that Paddy McLogan’s death in July 1964 was suspicious. He was found shot dead in his garden in Blanchardstown with a Walther 9mm pistol and a spent cartridge beside his body.

If you have any further information on Patrick Murray or any of other people, organisations or events mentioned in this piece, please email me at matchgrams@gmail.com.

References:
Belfast Newsletter, The Irish Press, the Irish Independent, Dublin Evening Mail, the Evenign Herald, The Irish Times

Further reading:

Browne, David Sean. Joining the Movement: Tradition and Ideology in the IRA 1948 – 1962 (2013)
Rynne, James P. Border States: Destroying Partition and Defending the Realm, 1949-1961 (2020)

Boyce, Eamonn. The Insider: The Belfast Prison Diaries of Eamonn Boyce, 1956–1962, ed. Anna Bryson (Dublin, 2007)
Bowyer Bell, J. The Secret Army: A History of the IRA, 1916-1970. (London, 1972)
Flynn, Barry. Soldiers of folly (Cork, 2009)
Foley, Conor. Legion of the rearguard: the IRA and the modern Irish state (London, 1992)
Hanley Brian. Millar Scott, The lost revolution: the story of the official IRA and the Worker’s Party (Dublin, 2009)
Kelly Stephen. Fianna Fáil, partition and Northern Ireland, 1926-1971 (Dublin, 2014)
MacEoin, Uinseann. The IRA in the twilight years , 1923 – 1948 (Dublin , 1997)
Nic Dháibhéid, Caoimhe. Seán MacBride: A Republican Life 1904–1946 (Liverpool, 2011)
O’Neill, John. Belfast Battalion: A History of the Belfast I.R.A., 1922-1969. (Wexford, 2018)

Thanks to: John O’Neill (Treason of Felony blog)

(This is the fourth part of a series of in-depth articles on the lives of Republicans who died in Dublin in the 1930s to 1950s period, author Sam McGrath has previously examined the fatal shooting of IRA member Peter McCarthy on Lower Clanbrassil Street in 1937, the killing of another young IRA Volunteer Jackie Griffith near Merrion Square in 1943 and the accidental shooting of Republican Patrick Murray in 1950.)

Introduction
On 11 May 1939, 22-year-old Christopher (Christy) Bird was accidentally shot during an IRA training class in a house in The Liberties, Dublin. He died two days later of his wounds in hospital. His funeral in Mount Jerome Cemetery was attended by thousands of people but today there is no headstone or marker at his final resting place. A fellow IRA member was arrested and charged with manslaughter but was acquitted in court.

The death occurred in the background of the IRA’s bombing campaign in England which was launched in January 1939 and conceived by Seamus O’Donovan (IRA Director of Munitions/Chemicals in 1922-23), Sean Russell (IRA Chief of Staff) and Joseph McGarrity (Clan na Gael). The 12-month period saw the banning of the Bodenstown Wolfe Tone commemoration in June 1939, the death of five civilians in an IRA bomb in Coventry in August 1939, the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the IRA’s raid for arms and ammunition on the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park, Dublin in December 1939 and the arrest and hanging of IRA members Peter Barnes and James McCormick in Birmingham in February 1940.

Family Background
Christopher Bird was born on 25 July 1916 in Dublin just a few months after the Easter Rising. His father Bernard Bird (b. 15 July 1877) grew up at 22 Eccles Street, off Dorset Street, Dublin 7, with his parents Bernard Bird Sr, a porter, and Mary Anne (née Montgomery). His mother Christina Bird (née White) (b. 19 December 1875) spent her early years across the river at 25 Old Kilmainham, Dublin 8 with parents James White, a labourer, and Mary (née Gallagher). Bernard and Christina married on 08 July 1900 in St James’s Church on the corner of James’s Street and Echlin Street. At the time Bernard was employed as a butcher and lived at 61 Arbour Hill, Dublin 7, while Christina, of 29 Old Kilmainham, Dublin 8, worked as a ‘book folder’.

The author has been unsuccessful in locating the family in the 1901 Census. Christina gave birth to at least 10 children between 1903 and 1919, four of whom died under the age of three.

1. Patrick Joseph was born on 27 March 1903 at 57 Capel St, Dublin 1. He died of tuberculosis five months later on 05 September 1903 at 22 Usher’s Quay, Dublin 8.
2. Mary Christina was born on 4 March 1904 at 6 Sarsfield Quay, Dublin 7.
3. Michael Patrick was born on 16 March 1906 at 42 Watling St, Dublin 8. He died of pertussis (whooping cough) a year later on 01 May 1907 at 29 Old Kilmainham.
4. Elizabeth was born on 10 Feb 1908 at 6 Kearn’s Place, Dublin 8.
5. James was born on 16 December 1909 at 48 Watling Street, Dublin 8. He died of bronchitis two years later on 06 February 1912 at the same address.

The 1911 Census shows Bernard (35), a labourer on the railway, living in a three-roomed tenement at 48.1 Watling Street with his wife Christina (34) and their three children Mary C (7), Elizabeth (3) and James (1). The census records show that Christina had given birth to a total of seven children but four had died so information/birth certificates for two other deceased children are as of yet unaccounted for.

Christina gave birth to further children:

6. Matthew was born on 27 January 1912 at 48 Watling Street, Dublin 8
7. William was born on 02 June 1913 at 43 Watling St, Dublin 8. He died of “debility from birth” ten weeks later on 04 August 1913 at the same address.

By 1914, the Bird family had moved to 19 Usher’s Island on the River Liffey quays near Bridgefoot Street in Dublin 8 where the last of the three children were born:

8. Kathleen was born on 15 July 1914 and died of pneumonia, aged 3, on 11 February 1918 at home
9. Christopher was born on 25 July 1916 at home

10. Anthony was born on 19 Feb 1919 at home

It is unclear if the Bird family played any involvement in the politics of the 1919-23 period but their home was raided by the Welsh Regiment of the British army on 03 December 1920 in an attempt to arrest William Kelly who lived in the same building. Bernard, the father of the then four-year-old Christopher, was marked as being present and his surname was misspelt as “Bind” in the raid report.

In the late 1930s, the Bird family comprised of parents and five surviving children Mary, Elizabeth, Matthew, Christopher and Anthony. Two of them had settled down by this stage. The eldest daughter Mary Bird married John Gilmartin on 28 September 1929 at St Audoen’s Church, High Street, Dublin 8. The eldest son Matthew Bird married Mary Brophy on 09 April 1939 at Aughrim Street Church, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 just a month before his brother’s death.

There is little known about Christopher’s early life, schooling or any influences that helped shape his decision to join the IRA. The only personal detail available (so far) is that he was employed as a labourer in the Dublin Whiskey Distillery (DWD), Thomas Street.

Dublin IRA (1938-39)
The IRA in the capital was described as a “depleted” unit in early 1938 by J Bower Bell in the Secret Army (pg 177). It is apparent that the Dublin Brigade was reorganised and designated the Dublin Battalion in this period and comprised of four companies that mirrored the former battalion structure. This is corroborated by new recruit Tom Doran in 1939 who was “allocated to No. 2 Company, formerly the Second Battalion, whose stomping ground was Dorset Street, East Wall, Fairview [and] Artane” according to Uinseann MacEoin in The IRA in the Twilight Years (pg 499). Further evidence is a reference to a hall in Ballsbridge used by “3rd Battalion members … later No. 3 Company” until Spring 1940 in Twilight Years (pg 413).

The Dublin Battalion IRA officers in 1939 were Mairtin O Cadhain (O/C)(d. 1970), Myles Heffernan (Adjutant and/or Intelligence) (d. 1967), Jim Colton (Quartermaster) (d. 1959) and Christy Quearney (Training Officer) (d. 1984) according to Quearney and others in The IRA in the Twilight Years. However, while it was in reality a battalion in size, the IRA in the capital did still describe itself as the Dublin Brigade in some correspondence including newspaper memorial notices following the death of Bird. I believe Bird was a recent recruit to No. 4 Company which was based in the Southwest of the city.

Shooting (11 May 1939)
On the evening of Thursday 11 May 1939, Christopher Bird left his family home at 19 Usher’s Island at about 6.30pm. He spoke on the street to a friend and neighbour Arthur O’Hara, of 33 Watkins Street, for about 20 minutes and then headed off on foot southside in the direction of Donore Avenue off Cork Street. A distance of approximately 1.5km, this walk takes about 20 minutes and suggests that Bird arrived at his destination, Darley Terrace, at about 7.10pm.

What transpired over the course of the next 1 hour and 20 minutes has never fully been explained publicly but we can attempt to put together a timeline of events from the newspaper accounts and inquest. The next official incident was a phone call made for an ambulance at 8.34pm from Dwyer’s garage at 73 Cork Street by Seamus Dowling (17) of 22 Darley Terrace.

The ambulance’s driver, Fireman William Carroll of Rathmines Fire Station, was met on Donore Avenue by Dowling and directed to Darley Terrace. They entered the house and found Christopher Bird lying on the couch in the front room. He had been shot in the stomach with a .45 bullet from a Colt revolver. The lack of blood-stained sheets or blood on the furniture led to an early assumption in the press that the shooting had occurred elsewhere and Bird was moved to the house from a different location. Fireman William Carroll later gave evidence that he asked Dowling what had happened and was told: “It does not matter, get him away to hospital quick. He has a wound in the stomach”.

Bird was accompanied by Dowling on the five-minute drive in the ambulance to the Meath Hospital on Heytsbury Street, Dublin 8. Bird received immediate medical attention and the single bullet was extracted at about 11pm by surgeons Dr Charles E Tait and Dr Henry Stokes. Fireman William Carroll said that Dowling supplied Bird’s name but refused to give his address as he feared, in his words, that the ambulance men would tell Bird’s mother of the incident before he had the opportunity to do so. When he was told that the address was only for record purposes, Dowling gave a false address for Bird of 5 Old Bridge, Kilmainham. Dowling left the hospital at 9pm and was not seen by his family for a number of days.

Death (13 May 1939)
Christopher Bird was in a very weak condition and “suffering from great pain and grave shock” according to evidence later given by Dr Stokes. The bullet had entered his right side, passed through his stomach and lodged in the skin on the left side of the groin. His intestines and bladder had been torn by the bullet. Although conscious, he did not make any statement to the police. He held on for two days but succumbed to his wounds on Saturday 13 May 1939 at about 6.30pm.

Although he was described as 21, his birth certificate shows that he was born on 25 July 1916 and so was actually 22 years (and 9 months) at the time of his death. He was described as a “well-built young man” of “about 5 feet in height” and weighing nine stone (57kg) in the Irish Press (17 May 1939). His father Bernard told the Evening Herald that his son was a “reserved type of boy” who was “always home about 11 o’clock”. As far as he was concerned, Christopher was “not a member of any political organisation”.

Following the news of his death, it was reported in the Irish Press (16 May 1939) “that a large number of sympathisers had assembled in the vicinity of the hospital” including “many members of republican organisations”. As relatives were only allowed to see the body, six uniformed Gardaí and a number of plain-clothed detectives had to turn away hundreds of people. On the same day, the State pathologist John McGrath carried out a post-mortem examination on the body with Dr Charles Tait.

On 15 May 1939, a death notice was put in the national newspapers by the IRA that paid tribute to “Volunteer Christopher Bird, Dublin Brigade, IRA” who had “died as a result of wounds accidentally received in the service of the Irish Republic”.

A second death notice included the Irish sentence “Leabha gheal imeasc na bhFinghini go bhfagha a anam uasal” which I’ve been told translates as “May his soul obtain a wonderful resting place among the Fenians”.

The Garda investigation into the shooting was headed by District Inspector O’Sullivan and Superintendent Peter Ennis who worked under the overall direction of Chief Superintendent John McGloin. Although the local area was searched thoroughly and local residents questioned by police, the revolver was never found.

Arrest of Seamus Darling (15 May 1939)
On 15 May 1939, Seamus Dowling returned home to his parents who had not seen their son since the evening of the shooting four days previous. Mr William Dowling asked him “What was all the trouble out” to which his son replied, “It was only an accident, I will say nothing more about it”. Mr Dowling told his son that the Guards were looking for him and he replied “If they want me, they can come and get me”. Mr Dowling informed the police that his son had returned home. Seamus Dowling was arrested at home by Station Sergeant Joseph Reidy of Newmarket Garda Station who charged him with manslaughter, being in possession of a .45 revolver with intent to endanger life and without a firearms certificate. Bird was taken into custody in the Bridewell Garda Station by Superintendent Peter Ennis and remanded for a week in the Dublin District Court.

After speaking to his solicitor Con Lehane, Dowling issued the following statement which he refused to sign: “Christopher Bird was accidentally wounded while engaged in his duties as a soldier of the Irish Republic. I engaged an ambulance to get him to hospital. That is the lot. I don’t wish to state anything further”.

Funeral (17 May 1939)
The remains of Christopher Bird were removed on the evening of 16 May from the Meath Hospital to the Franciscan Church, Merchant’s Quay. The coffin was draped with a tricolour flag and accompanied by a guard of honour who walked beside the hearse. They were followed by 1,000-1,500 men marching in military formation. Hundreds of members of the public lined the streets as the cortege travelled through New Bride Street, Kevin Street, Dean Street, Francis Street and Bridgefoot Street to the quays.

Following the funeral mass at 10:30am the following morning, the cortege set off from Franciscan Church for Mount Jerome Cemetery in Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6. Christopher Bird was buried in grave A47-620. Wreaths were laid by Cumann na mBan, Clann na nGaedheal (Girl Scouts), Cumann na gCailini and other organisations. The chief mourners were Mr and Mrs Bernard Bird (parents); Matthew and Anthony (brothers); Elizabeth (sister); Mrs Mary Gilmartin and John Kilmartin (sister and brother-in-law) and Mr and Mrs J Brophy (relations).

Christopher was presumably a member of the Workers Union of Ireland as the trade union was represented by three officials – Sean Nugent, Sean Keating and R James. T Knowles attended on behalf of the Bottling Staff of the DWD where Bird was employed.

A number of senior republican figures paid their respects including Patrick E Sweeney, George Plunkett, Con Lehane and Joseph Clarke. Noted female republican activists – Madame Maud Gonne MacBride, Mrs Caitlín Brugha, Miss Brugha, Miss Eileen Tubbert and Mrs Nora Rogers – also attended the funeral.

Press photographers were approached by young men at the cemetery and warned not to take any pictures. This explains the lack of images published in the newspapers. Prayers at the graveside were received by Reverend Father Matthew Haran OFM (Franciscans). At the graveside, a bugler sounded “The Last Post” and the graveside oration was delivered by Mairtin O Cadhain. O Cadhain, who held the position of Dublin Battalion IRA O/C from mid-1938 to June 1939, told the large crowd:

“the bravery with which Christopher Brid approached death would be an inspiration to his living comrades to carry on the work for which he gave his life. The Dublin Brigade, his parents, the Irish Republican Army and the people of Ireland could be proud of him. The cause that called for such bravery and devotion must be a holy cause, a just cause, as otherwise, men like Christopher Bird would not show such fortitude in the face of death.” The Examiner, 18 May 1939

Inquest (16 May 1939)
An inquest into the shooting was presided over by Dr DA McErlean on 16 May 1939. The post-mortem confirmed that death was due to “toxaemia and shock following a wound inflicted by a bullet which pierced the abdomen, going in a downward direction from right to left”. The inquest was adjourned pending the result of the manslaughter case.

Dublin District Court (late May-June 1939)
Donough O’Donovan (Chief State Solicitor’s Office) opened the case on 23 May 1939 in front of District Justice Matthew Hannan. Seamus Dowling (17) was described as a factory worker employed by Messrs Spratt’s (dog food manufacturers). Bird’s parents said that they had never met Seamus Dowling before and had never seen their son with any firearms. O’Donivan went over the basic information and formalities regarding the case. It was accepted that the wound was not self-inflicted due to the direction of the bullet and the lack of scorching or powder on Bird’s clothes. On 10 June 1939, District Judge Hannan sent Dowling for trial to the Circuit Criminal Court. Dowling, who was not professionally represented, declined to make a statement or apply for bail.

Circuit Criminal Court (July 1939)
Seamus Dowling pled not guilty on 07 July 1939 telling the court that “Although I pleaded not guilty, I do not intend to call evidence. I am here, not because the police believe I am guilty, but because I would not divulge the names of my comrades. I did not shoot Christopher Bird”.

The state’s case was represented by Martin Maguire Senior Counsel (SC) and Walter Molony who admitted there was nothing to justify a charge of deliberate killing. After an absence of ten minutes, the jury at the Circuit Criminal Court acquitted Dowling on 08 July 1939 of the manslaughter and firearms charges. He was a free man. Judge Cahir Davitt summed up “before the jury could convict, they must be satisfied that Dowling had killed Bird and that the shooting, which all the evidence tended to show was accidental, had been the result of a high degree of negligence in Dowling’s handling of a firearm”. He continued that “if he just believed that the incident had some connection with the organisation known as the Irish Republican Army, they would consider that more than two people were concerned, not in the particular incident, but in the whole surrounding circumstances”

Memorials and grave
There were memorial notices put in the newspapers on the first anniversary of the death by his comrades and his “brokenhearted” family.

Christopher’s parents buried another child less than two years later. Elizabeth Lily Bird (32), a shirtmaker, died on 12 August 1941 of pulmonary tuberculosis and heart failure. Her mother Christina was at the family home at 19 Usher’s Lane when she died. Christina passed away, aged 63, at home on 28 January 1944. She would have buried at least five children in her life and perhaps as many as seven.

Her widower Bernard followed on 19 April 1949 aged 73 in St Kevin’s Hospital. All four family members are buried in the same plot which I was informed via email by the helpful Mount Jerome staff “lies two graves to the right of Kavanagh / O’Brien family headstone” which can be seen on the left-hand side of the photograph below. As it currently stands, there is no headstone or memorial to mark the grave of Christy Bird. It is unclear if there was one previously.

Legacy
Christopher Bird has received little attention in Irish Republican history books or articles that were published in the decades following his death. J Bower Bell in The Secret Army (1970) wrote briefly and concisely that Seamus Dowling “was acquitted of the accidental shooting of Christopher Bird during a training class”. Noted Dublin historian Eamon Mac Thomais, who joined the IRA in about 1950, wrote in The Irish People (07 June 1980) that Christy Bird died “while training in the Dublin Mountains”. Mac Thomais was clearly mixing up his stories as there is no suggestion he was shot anywhere but Darley Terrace. An unknown writer in The Irish People (20 December 1986) described how Bird had been “accidentally shot to death during preparations for the S Campaign in England”. While the time period is correct, I have seen nothing to corporate that Bird was going on active service in Britain. Conor Foley in Legion of the Rearguard (1992) refers to Seamus Dowling who “accidentally shot dead another volunteer during an arms training class” but does not name Bird.

The publication of Uinseann MacEoin’s The IRA in the Twilight Years 1923-1948 in 1997 revealed some important new information about the incident. Uinseann MacEoin, then known as Vincent McGuone, was active with the IRA in Dublin in the 1939 period and was interned in the Curragh for most of 1940-1943. In a piece in the book by Sean O’Neill, he reveals that Seamus Dowling was the “Training Officer of No. 4 Company” and suggests that it was another IRA member named Jack Campbell who fired the fatal shot that evening. However, it was Seamus Dowling who “awaited” the “police and ambulance men, taking the rap on a manslaughter charge”. This would chime in with Dowling’s assistance that “I did not shoot Christopher Bird”. Dowling was described as a “cheerful fellow with hair prematurely grey” by Sean O’Neill.

A footnote states that “the writer” (Uinseann MacEoin) “was present and remained” at the scene of the shooting. This would suggest that there were at least four people at the arms training class – Seamus Dowling (training officer), Christopher Bird, Jack Campbell and Uinseann MacEoin. However, it should be noted that none of the contemporary newspaper articles made any reference or hints to there being any other people present. If Sean O’Neill did remain behind at the scene, this was also not mentioned by any witnesses or the ambulance men at the inquest. If Jack Campbell did handle the revolver which went off, there was nothing to suggest that the judiciary and authorities were aware of this or tried to find anybody else in relation to the shooting. The judge in the case was quite clear in his view that Bird’s death was caused by the “high degree of negligence in Dowling’s handling of a firearm” and never referred to a third party named or otherwise.

Postscript: Dowling brothers
Seamus Dowling’s younger brother Liam Dowling (19) was arrested on 31 March 1940 with 22 other IRA recruits while drilling in St Anne’s Park, Raheny. On 15 April 1940 in Collins Barracks, Liam Dowling was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to 18 months imprisonment on charges of engaging in unlawful military exercises and being a member of an illegal organisation. The commanding officer Mick Dunne, of 66 Carleton Road, Marino, received a two-year sentence. Following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, about half a dozen IRA internees signed them out of the Curragh to join the British army to fight against Germany. Amongst this number were Liam Dowling, Jim Kerr of Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Kevin Neville of Cork City and International Brigade veteran Paddy Smith of Dublin. What became of Liam Dowling, I’d love to know.

Seamus Dowling, who had been acquitted of the manslaughter of Christy Bird, remained active with the IRA. He was arrested on 13 June 1940 in a house in Oberstown, Skreen, Tara, County Meath in possession of arms, maps and other documents. On 10 August 1940, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Special Criminal Court for the unlawful possession of a .45 Webley revolver, 13 rounds of ammunition and for refusing to give an account of his movements. Seamus Dowling was found not guilty of having the revolver with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to properly.

A third Dowling brother, Sean Dowling, was arrested with 27 other IRA men at a meeting in Crumlin Brickworks on 02 May 1941. The police were clearly acting on specific information and the raid was later described as “a set up” by one of the arrestees Sean O’Neill in The IRA in Twilight Years. Giving his address as Derry Road, Crumlin, Sean Dowling was sentenced to one-year imprisonment in the Special Criminal Court for refusing to account for his movements and being a member of an illegal organisation. More senior men Paddy Brown and Tony Ruane (a Civil War veteran from Bohola, County Mayo) were sentenced to 2 years and 18 months imprisonment respectively.

Contact
If anyone has any further information on the life, death or funeral of Christy Bird, please email me at matchgrams(at)gmail.com. It would be great to track down a photograph or mass card. I would love to speak to any of the descendants of Chrity’s surviving siblings (Matthew, Anthony and Mary/May Gilmartin) and the Dowling family. Or indeed anyone who has any further information on the events or characters mentioned.

References
The Examiner, the Evening Herald, the Irish Independent, the Irish Press, The Irish Times, the Sunday Independent, The Wolfe Tone Weekly from 12 May 1939 to 13 May 1940

Bowyer Bell, J. The Secret Army: A History of the IRA, 1916-1970 (London, 1972)
Foley, Conor. Legion of the rearguard: the IRA and the modern Irish state (London, 1992)
MacEoin, Uinseann. The IRA in the twilight years, 1923 – 1948 (Dublin, 1997)

Thanks to
Frank McGarry (Mount Jerome Cemetery); John O’Neill (The Treason Felony blog)

In February 2015, I published an article listing the remaining 12 or so ‘early house’ pubs in Dublin city centre along with some brief historical background about why these bars have special licenses allowing them to open at 7am. I wrote an updated article in January 2019 which listed the 11 still remaining and questioned the future of some of them.

In the last four years, there have been several significant changes and the number has reduced to six (four if you’re being strict). There were 44 early houses pubs in Dublin in 1962 and no pubs have been granted an ‘early morning exemption licence’ since then. I imagine changes in people’s socialising habits post Covid, the cost of living crisis and pub staff shortage issues have played a big impact in the last few years. Although new proposed legislation to allow Irish nightclubs to open until 6am may give Dublin early house pubs a new lease of life!

These are the changes that occurred since early 2019:

– M Hughes, Chancery Street has closed.
– The Chancery Inn, Inns Quay has closed.
– The Fisherman’s Bar in Howth (attached to The Waterside pub) has closed.
– The Metro, Parnell Street closed and was reopened under new owners as Mema’s. It is no longer an early house.
– Delaney’s, North King Street was refurbished and no longer opens early. It is now 12.30pm Friday/Saturday, 2pm Sunday and 3pm Monday to Thursday.
– Madigan’s, Connolly Station now opens at 10.30am Monday to Friday not 8.30am.

As you can see below, Slattery’s and The Boar’s Head changed their times as well but I have included both as they still open partially before the usual legal opening of 10.30am. The Boar’s Head just scrapes in with their new opening hours of 10am.

So as far as I can assert, these are the six remaining ‘early house’ pubs in Dublin city as of late 2023. Four of which only open at 7am for most of the week.

Northside:

1. Molloy’s, Talbot Street (Mon-Sat 7am)

2. Slattery’s, Capel Street (7am Monday; Tues-Sat 9am). Changed from Mon 8.30am; Tues-Sat 9.30am

3. The Boar’s Head, Capel Street (Mon-Sat, 10am) Changed from Mon-Fri 8am; Sat 11am.

Southside:

4. The Galway Hooker, Heuston Station (Mon-Sat, 7am)

5. The Pádraig Pearse, Pearse Street (Mon-Fri 7am; Sat 10am)

6. The Windjammer, Lombard Street (Mon-Sat 7am)