Cromwell’s death is the result of a painful urinary tract infection that leads to blood poisoning. He has been in declining health for some time, and his final days are marked by illness and discomfort. His death comes just over nine years after the Siege of Drogheda in Ireland, which begins in August 1649 and becomes one of the most infamous episodes of his military career.
The Siege of Drogheda, in which Cromwell’s forces execute thousands of Irish defenders, remains a major point of controversy in his legacy. His death in 1658 is met with celebration by many in England, as it paves the way for the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660. After his death, his body is exhumed in 1661 and publicly hanged in chains before being thrown into a pit to ensure he is dead.
Cromwell is remembered as a decisive military leader who helps restore England’s status as a leading European power, but also as a controversial figure whose actions in Ireland leave a lasting scar on Anglo-Irish relations. His death on September 3, 1658, thus marks both the end of his political and military influence and a turning point in the post-Civil War period in Britain.
On August 29, 1922, six Irish Free State soldiers are killed in three separate ambushes, reflecting the intense and deadly engagements of the early Irish Civil War period.
The Irish Civil War (June 1922 – May 1923) erupts following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, which creates the Irish Free State. Pro-Treaty forces, forming the National Army, clash with anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) elements refusing to accept the Treaty. This conflict includes both conventional and guerrilla phases, with August 1922 marking the end of the conventional campaign as Free State forces advance to secure towns in the south and southwest.
On this day, six Free State soldiers are killed in three distinct ambushes. Two soldiers died in Tullamore, County Offaly, one in Macroom, County Cork, and two in an ambush and firefight between Killorglin and Tralee, County Kerry. In Tullamore, Lieutenant Matthew Cullen of the 3rd Southern Division is fatally shot near Bonaterrin Hill, while Lieutenant Leahy is seriously wounded in the same attack. These ambushes are carried out by anti-Treaty forces and demonstrate the difficulties the National Army faces while attempting to secure supply routes and rural areas, even after major towns have fallen under Free State control.
These casualties underscore the dangers posed by guerrilla tactics, including ambushes, during the Irish Civil War. Free State soldiers are often young and inexperienced, and many fatalities occur in such rural confrontations. Despite these losses, the Free State maintains strategic momentum, continuing the offensive that eventually consolidates the new government’s control.
Overall, the Irish Civil War results in roughly 1,426 deaths in the Free State counties, with the National Army sustaining substantial casualties in actions like these ambushes. The conflict’s fatal events, including Tullamore on August 29, illustrate both the human cost of the war and the localized intensity of battles beyond major urban centers.
In summary, August 29, 1922, represents a notable moment in Irish Civil War history, highlighting the lethal impact of ambushes on Free State forces and the challenges of combatting anti-Treaty operations in rural Ireland. These events contribute to the broader struggle to establish the Irish Free State’s authority.
Oliver Cromwell, English statesman, farmer and soldier, sets sail from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales, on August 13, 1649, with a fleet of about 35 ships, accompanied by a second and third flotilla that arrives days later. The invasion marks the beginning of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, a brutal four-year campaign (1649–1653) that reshapes the island’s political and demographic landscape.
Cromwell’s landing at Dublin is swift but not without hardship—seasickness plagues him during the voyage. He lands with around 9,000–20,000 troops, stores, and £20,000 in cash. His early actions include the Siege of Drogheda (September 10, 1649) where, following a prolonged cannonade, his forces breach the town’s defenses. On September 11, the entire garrison—about 8,000 men, including English troops, Irish soldiers, and civilians—is massacred, including commander Sir Arthur Aston. Early actions also include the Sack of Wexford (October 1649). Despite Cromwell’s public justification for the slaughter, Wexford’s garrison and civilians are killed in a similar manner.
Over the next four years, Cromwell’s forces defeat the Irish Confederacy by late 1650, engage in widespread plunder, executions, and displacement of Catholic populations, confiscate large tracts of Catholic land for Protestant settlers under the Cromwellian Plantation, and introduce the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, barring Catholics from most public offices and redistributing land.
Modern estimates suggest 15–40% of Ireland’s pre-1641 population perishes due to warfare, famine, and disease. The campaign entrenches Protestant dominance in Ireland and leaves deep scars in Irish memory.
Cromwell’s invasion is remembered in Ireland as a symbol of English conquest and sectarian violence. While some historians argue his actions are within contemporary military norms, many see them as part of a broader pattern of colonial subjugation. The detailed land surveys he orders—mapping every parish and barony—become a tool for land redistribution, shaping Ireland’s political and economic structure for centuries.
In short, August 13, 1649, is the start of a campaign that not only ends Irish Catholic political power but also alters the island’s demographic and cultural fabric for generations.
The Irish Civil War (June 1922–May 1923) pits pro-Treaty Free State forces against anti-Treaty IRA units who oppose the Treaty’s terms. Aiken is a key republican commander, and Dundalk is a stronghold for his forces. By mid-July 1922, Free State troops have taken several towns, and Dundalk is next in line for reoccupation.
General Hogan’s forces enter Dundalk, engaging republican snipers and irregulars. The attack targets the Gaol, where Aiken and many of his men are held. The Free State troops overpower the defenders, leading to Aiken’s arrest and the capture of a significant portion of the Fourth Northern Division.
Aiken and about 104 other prisoners escape on July 27, 1922, through a narrow gap in the jail wall, later dubbed the “Hole in the Wall.” This escape is a major republican success, temporarily reoccupying Dundalk. However, Free State forces retake the town on August 14, 1922, and the jail remains under military control until 1924.
The capture is significant as it marks a turning point in the Free State’s campaign in County Louth, weakening republican resistance in the area. Aiken’s arrest underscores the Free State’s determination to dismantle anti-Treaty leadership. The events in Dundalk become a symbol of republican resilience, as the escape through the “Hole in the Wall” is widely reported and commemorated.
In summary, the July 16, 1922, capture of Frank Aiken in Dundalk is a decisive Free State action in the Irish Civil War, leading to a notable republican escape and a prolonged military standoff in the town.
(Pictured: Frank Aiken and the 4th Northern Division)
During World War I, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers expand to six additional battalions and see action on the Western Front, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. The regiment suffers heavy casualties at battles such as LeCateau and the Gallipoli landings at Helles, where only 11 of 1,100 men survive the landing. Members of the regiment are awarded three Victoria Crosses for acts of bravery during the war.
Following the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, along with four other southern Irish regiments, is disbanded. The regiment’s history and the service of its soldiers are commemorated by the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association, which maintains archives, exhibitions, and digitised collections of letters and records from World War I. These archives provide insight into the experiences of Irish soldiers and the conditions they face on the front lines.
The regiment is remembered for its courage and sacrifice, with dedicated websites and museum collections preserving its history, medals, and personal accounts of soldiers. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers remain a significant part of Irish military heritage, reflecting both the contributions of Irish soldiers to the British Army and the complex history of Ireland during the early 20th century.
On July 1-2, 1915, in Gallipoli, Turkey, when, owing to hostile bombing, some of his troops had retired from a sap, Sergeant Somers remains alone there until a party brings up bombs. He then climbs over into the Turkish trench and bombs the Turks with great effect. Later on, he advances into the open under heavy fire and holds back the enemy by throwing bombs into their flank until a barricade has been established. During this period, he frequently runs to and from his trenches to obtain fresh supplies of bombs.
In a letter to his father, Somers writes:
“I beat the Turks out of our trench single-handed and had four awful hours at night. The Turks swarmed in from all roads, but I gave them a rough time of it, still holding the trench. It is certain sure we are beating the Turks all right. In the trench I came out of, it was shocking to see the dead. They lay, about three thousand Turks, in front of our trenches, and the smell was absolutely chronic. You know when the sun has been shining on those bodies for three or four days it makes a horrible smell; a person would not mind if it was possible to bury them. But no, you dare not put your nose outside the trench, and if you did, you would be a dead man.”
Somers had previously been severely wounded during the Retreat from Mons in August 1914.
Mernin is born in Clanbrassil Street, Dublin, on November 16, 1886. Her parents are John Mernin and Marianne “Mary” (née McGuire). She has one sister, May. Her father is a baker and confectioner of Dorset Street, Dublin. After his death when Mernin is young, the children are raised by his family in Dungarvan, County Waterford.
In the 1910s, Mernin works as a typist in a number of Dublin companies, and by 1914 she is a shorthand typist in Dublin Castle at the garrison adjutant’s office. She is a member of the Keating branch of the Gaelic League, and through this her cousin, Piaras Béaslaí, introduces her to Michael Collins in 1918. From 1919 she begins working for Collins as an intelligence agent. She uses her position in Dublin Castle to obtain important documents and, in 1920, intelligence on British intelligence officers and the auxiliary police.
Under the alias of “Little Gentleman” or “Lt. G.,” Mernin is one of Collins‘a most important agents, so much so that many believe the Little Gentleman is a British intelligence officer. One of the most important contributions she makes is identifying the homes of British intelligence officers who are later killed on Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920, by Collins‘s Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit The Squad. She aids Frank Saurin and Tom Cullen in identifying senior British agents in Dublin, typing secret reports for Collins in a room in 19 Clonliffe Road.
In February 1922, Mernin is discharged from the British service, taking up a position as a typist in the Irish Army from July 1922 until February 1952, when she retires. She works primarily at Clancy Barracks. She is awarded a military pension for her service from 1918-1922, and her statement is held in the Bureau of Military History in the Military Archives.
Mernin never marries, although she gives birth to a son in London in June 1922, with some evidence suggesting Béaslaí is the father. She lives at 167 Mangerton Road, Drimnagh. She dies at the age of 70 on February 18, 1957, in Dublin.
On April 25, 1915, west of Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Ottoman Empire, Kenealy is 28 years old when he performs an act of bravery for which he is awarded the Victoria Cross. Three companies, and the Headquarters of the 1st Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, in effecting a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula to the west of Cape Helles, are met by a very deadly fire from hidden machine guns which causes a great number of casualties. The survivors, however, rush up to and cut the wire entanglements, notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy, and after overcoming supreme difficulties, the cliffs are gained and the position is maintained. Among the many very gallant officers and men engaged in this most hazardous undertaking, Capt. Willis, Serjt. Richards, and Pte. Kenealy are selected by their comrades as having performed the most signal acts of bravery and devotion to duty.
Kenealy is one of the six members of the regiment elected by their colleagues in the regiment for the award, and described in the press as “six VC’s before breakfast.” Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton, the overall Allied army commander at Gallipoli, orders that the beach be renamed Lancashire Landing because of his conviction that “no finer feat of arms has ever been achieved by the British Soldier – or any other soldier – than the storming of these beaches.”
Shortly afterward, Kenealy is promoted to corporal and then lance sergeant. He is seriously wounded in the Battle of Gully Ravine on June 28, 1915, and dies the following day. He is buried at Lancashire Landing Cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Luttrell was a captain in the Royal Navy but retires in 1789. He is returned to Parliament for Stockbridge in 1774, a seat he holds until 1775, and again between 1780 and 1785. Between 1785 and 1826 he is a commissioner of HM Customs and Excise. He succeeds his elder brother to the earldom in 1821. This is an Irish peerage and does not entitle him to an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
In 1766, Lord Carhampton marries the Honorable Elizabeth Olmius (1742-97), daughter of John Olmius, 1st Baron Waltham. In 1787, out of respect after the death of his father-in-law, he assumes by Royal Licence the additional surname of “Olmius.” In 1798, he sells the Olmius family seat of Newhall to the founding nuns of New Hall School. There are three children from his first marriage (however only his daughter survives to adulthood):
Lady Frances Maria Luttrell (b. 1768), married Sir Simeon Stuart, 4th Baronet
James Luttrell (d. 1772)
John Luttrell (d. 1769)
Lord Carhampton marries secondly Maria Morgan, daughter of John Morgan, in 1798. They have one child:
Lady Maria Anne Luttrell (1799–1857), married Lieutenant-Colonel Hardress Robert Saunderson
Alongside his older brother, Connor Maguire, Maguire is a prime mover in the conspiracy which leads to the outbreak of rebellion in Ireland on October 23, 1641. He is tasked with securing County Fermanagh for the rebels, but is only partially successful, with several key fortresses in the county, including Enniskillen Castle, remaining under Protestant settler control. His attempt to murder Sir William Cole immediately prior to the rising fails, but the landowner Arthur Champion is killed in one of the first actions of the rebellion. In November 1641, he joins Felim O’Neill of Kinard at Newry to issue a proclamation in which the rebels claim they are acting in defence of King Charles and Catholicism. In December 1641, the Fermanagh army under Maguire slaughters many of the garrison and refugees in Tully Castle, apparently in retaliation for the killing of the garrison of a Maguire castle which had been taken by assault some days previously. He also destroys Castle Archdale and its neighbouring settler village, and kills eight Protestant settlers at Monea Castle. In early 1642, he is expelled from the Irish Parliament and in the summer of the same year he is made a colonel in Owen Roe O’Neill‘s army in Ulster.
Maguire is appointed Governor of Fermanagh by the authorities of the newly established Confederate Ireland. He commands the rebel reserve in the Battle of Benburb in June 1646. He leads raids into Protestant-held areas in east Ulster, before joining O’Neill in his campaigns in Leinster in the autumn of 1646. Later that year, he raids lands in Connacht controlled by the Royalist commander, Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde. In August 1647, O’Neill and Maguire move the army to Leinster, where Maguire quarrels so vigorously with O’Neill over the payment of troops that the general orders his arrest and court-martials him. After the court-martial, Maguire and his supporters, about five or six regiments, draw up their forces and threaten to desert. The mutiny soon dissipates and Maguire remains allied to O’Neill.
In 1648, Maguire joins O’Neill in opposing the truce between the Confederates and Royalists. He plays a prominent role in the skirmishes and evasive manoeuvrings that occur between the two sides in central Ireland. In the winter of 1648, Maguire withdraws north and on November 13 he is killed while leading an attack on a fortress near Jamestown, County Leitrim.
seamus dubhghaill 