Captain Otway Cuffe, benefactor, Gaelic revivalist, twice mayor of Kilkenny and a founder of businesses and organisations to profit the local people, is born in London on January 11, 1853.
Cuffe is born the Honourable Otway Frederick Seymour Cuffe to John Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart, and Lady Elizabeth Lucy Campbell. He has an older sister and two older brothers. After the death of his eldest brother William Ulick, 4th Earl of Desart, his seecond eldest brother, Hamilton, becomes the 5th Earl of Desart. As the 5th Earl has no male heirs himself, Cuffe is nominally his heir. However, as he also dies without heirs, the line becomes extinct upon the death of the 5th Earl.
Dedicated to ensuring a strong Irish identity in the area, Cuffe works with his sister-in-law, Ellen Cuffe, Countess of Desart. He joins Conradh na Gaeilge soon after his arrival in Kilkenny. He is elected president of its Kilkenny branch in 1904 and remains so until his death. He is replaced by Lady Desart. Together they open the theatre in Kilkenny in 1902 and he is the first President of the Kilkenny Drama Club. He also performs on stage.
Cuffe is first elected Mayor of Kilkenny in 1907 and again in 1908. With Lady Desart, he builds the Kilkenny Woollen Mills, Desart Hall, the Talbot’s Inch model village and the Kilkenny Woodworkers factory. He lays the foundation stone for Kilkenny’s Carnegie library. He is also President of the Irish Industrial Association.
Cuffe is a friend of William Morris whom he had met on a trip to Iceland. He believes in the Arts and Crafts movement and tries to implement it in the projects which he drives. He is also a friend and supporter of Standish James O’Grady and helps him found the weekly radical conservative paper The All-Ireland Review and runs it between 1900 and 1906.
In 1911, Cuffe becomes ill and is forced to move to warmer climates until he recovers. He decides to go to the south of Europe but then a visit to Australia seems appropriate. However, on the journey there he contracts pneumonia and dies at Fremantle in Western Australia on January 3, 1912. He is buried at Perth, carried to his grave by Kilkenny hurlers. The Kilkenny Moderator calls his death “a thunderbolt to the people of Kilkenny.” He is remembered as a visionary who made a permanent impact on the physical landscape of Kilkenny.
Remaining active during the interwar years, Dill serves as chief assistant to the commandant of the Staff College (1919–22) before commanding the Welsh Border Brigade, TA (1922–23), and 2nd Infantry Brigade at Aldershot (1923–26). In late 1926, he is appointed army instructor at the newly established Imperial Defence College. A period in India follows as general staff officer of the Western Command (1929–31), based at Quetta. On return to England, he is promoted to major general and made commandant of the Staff College. Appointments as commander of the British forces in Palestine and Transjordan (1936–37) and the Aldershot Command (1937–39) follow. During this period, he shows a remarkable ability to both train and inspire those under his command. Most of his colleagues expect him to become the new chief of the Imperial General Staff and are surprised when Major General Lord Gort, junior to Dill in both rank and seniority, is appointed to the post.
At the outbreak of World War II Dill commands I CorpsBritish Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France and is made a full general. In April 1940, he is made vice-CIGS and in May takes over as CIGS. His initial period in office is not a happy one, and he has to inform the public of setbacks in both Norway and France. His workload is enormous, and after the evacuation at Dunkirk in late May he devotes himself to preparing the defences of Britain against invasion. He clashes with Winston Churchill throughout 1941, advocating a more cautious and realistic approach to the situations in North Africa, Greece, and Crete.
The workload begins to affect his health adversely, and in November 1941 it is announced that he will resign as CIGS on reaching the age of 60 and serve as governor-designate of Bombay with the rank of field marshal. He seeks to be more actively involved in the war effort, however, and in December 1941 he visits the United States with Churchill, remaining there as head of the British joint staff mission in Washington, D.C. He plays a significant role in promoting Anglo–American military cooperation and attends the Casablanca, Quebec, and Tehran conferences.
Dill first marries (1907) Ada Maud Le Mottée, daughter of Col. William Le Mottée of the 18th Regiment. Their son, Major John de Guerin Dill, serves as an artillery officer throughout World War II. In October 1941, Dill marries Nancy Isabelle Charrington, widow of Brigadier Denis Walter Furlong. Dill’s honours include a GCB (1942), an honorary degree from Princeton University (1944), the Howland Memorial Prize of Yale University (1944), and a posthumous Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) from the United States government. There are portraits of him in Cheltenham College and the Imperial War Museum, and a statue in Washington, D.C.
(From: “Dill, Sir John Greer” by David Murphy, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009 | Pictured: Sir John Greer Dill, bromide print, 1932, by Walter Stoneman, National Portrait Gallery, London)
IRA intelligence establishes that an Auxiliary patrol usually leaves Victoria Barracks (in the north of the city) each night at 8:00 p.m. and makes its way to the city centre via Dillon’s Cross. On December 11, IRA commander Seán O’Donoghue receives intelligence that two lorries of Auxiliaries will be leaving the barracks that night and travelling with them will be British ArmyIntelligence Corps Captain James Kelly.
A unit of six IRA volunteers commanded by O’Donoghue take up position between the barracks and Dillon’s Cross, a “couple of hundred yards” from the barracks. Their goal is to destroy the patrol and capture or kill Captain Kelly. Five of the volunteers hide behind a stone wall while one, Michael Kenny, stands across the road dressed as an off-duty British officer. When the lorries near he is to beckon the driver of the first lorry to slow down or stop.
At 8:00 p.m., two lorries, each carrying 13 Auxiliaries, emerge from the barracks. The first lorry slows when the driver spots Kenny and, as it does so, the IRA unit attacks with grenades and revolvers. The official British report says that 12 Auxiliaries are wounded and that one, Spencer Chapman, a former Officer in the 4th Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), dies from his wounds shortly after. As the IRA unit makes its escape, some of the Auxiliaries fire on them while others drag the wounded to the nearest cover: O’Sullivan’s pub.
The Auxiliaries break into the pub with weapons drawn. They order everyone to put their hands over their heads to be searched. Backup and an ambulance are sent from the nearby barracks. One witness describes young men being rounded up and forced to lie on the ground. The Auxiliaries drag one of them to the middle of the crossroads, strip him naked and forced him to sing “God Save the King” until he collapses on the road.
Angered by an attack so near their headquarters and seeking retribution for the deaths of their colleagues at Kilmichael, the Auxiliaries gather to wreak their revenge. Charles Schulze, an Auxiliary and a former British Army Captain in the Dorsetshire Regiment during World War I, organizes a group of Auxiliaries to burn the centre of Cork.
At 9:30 p.m., lorries of Auxiliaries and British soldiers leave the barracks and alight at Dillon’s Cross, where they break into houses and herd the occupants onto the street. They then set the houses on fire and stand guard as they are razed to the ground. Those who try to intervene are fired upon and some are badly beaten. Seven buildings are set on fire at the crossroads. When one is found to be owned by Protestants, the Auxiliaries quickly douse the fire.
British forces begin driving around the city firing at random as people rush to get home before the 10:00 p.m. curfew. A group of armed and uniformed Auxiliaries surround a tram at Summerhill, smash its windows, and forced all the passengers out. Some of the passengers, including at least three women, are repeatedly kicked, hit with rifle butts, threatened, and verbally abused. The Auxiliaries then force the passengers to line up against a wall and search them, while continuing the physical and verbal abuse. Some have their money and belongings stolen. One of those attacked is a Catholicpriest, who is singled out for sectarian abuse. Another tram is set on fire near Father Mathew‘s statue. Meanwhile, witnesses report seeing a group of 14–18 Black and Tans firing wildly for upwards of 20 minutes on nearby MacCurtain Street.
Soon after, witnesses report groups of armed men on and around St. Patrick’s Street, the city’s main shopping area. Most are uniformed or partially uniformed Auxiliaries and some are British soldiers, while others wear no uniforms. They are seen firing into the air, smashing shop windows and setting buildings on fire. Many report hearing bombs exploding. A group of Auxiliaries are seen throwing a bomb into the ground floor of the Munster Arcade, which houses both shops and flats. It explodes under the residential quarters while people are inside the building. They manage to escape unharmed but are detained by the Auxiliaries.
The Cork City Fire Brigade is informed of the fire at Dillon’s Cross shortly before 10:00 p.m. and are sent to deal with it at once. On finding that Grant’s department store on St. Patrick’s Street is ablaze, they decide to address it first. The fire brigade’s Superintendent, Alfred Hutson, calls Victoria Barracks and asks them to tackle the fire at Dillon’s Cross so that he can focus on the city centre. The barracks take no heed of his request. As he does not the resources to deal with all the fires at once, he has to prioritize the order in which the fires are addressed. He oversees the operation on St. Patrick’s Street and meets The Cork Examiner reporter Alan Ellis. He tells Ellis that “all the fires were being deliberately started by incendiary bombs, and in several cases, he had seen soldiers pouring cans of petrol into buildings and setting them alight.”
British forces hindered the firefighter’s attempts to tackle the blazes by intimidating them and cutting or driving over their hoses. Firemen are also shot at, and at least two are wounded by gunfire. Shortly after 3:00 a.m. on December 12, reporter Alan Ellis comes upon a unit of the fire brigade pinned down by gunfire near City Hall. The firemen say that they are being shot at by Black and Tans who have broken into the building. They also claim to see uniformed men carrying cans of petrol into the building from nearby Union Quay barracks.
At about 4:00 a.m. there is a large explosion and City Hall and the neighbouring Carnegie Library go up in flames, resulting in the loss of many of the city’s public records. According to Ellis, the Black and Tans had detonated high explosives inside City Hall. When more firefighters arrive, British forces shoot at them and refuse them access to water. The last act of arson takes place at about 6:00 a.m. when a group of policemen loot and burn the Murphy Brothers’ clothes shop on Washington Street.
After the ambush at Dillon’s Cross, IRA commander Seán O’Donoghue and volunteer James O’Mahony make their way to the farmhouse of the Delaney family at Dublin Hill on the northern outskirts of the city, not far from the ambush site. Brothers Cornelius and Jeremiah Delaney are members of F Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade IRA. O’Donoghue hides some grenades on the farm and the two men go their separate ways.
At about 2:00 a.m., at least eight armed men enter the house and go upstairs into the brothers’ bedroom. The brothers get up and stand at the bedside and are asked their names. When they answer, the gunmen open fire. Jeremiah is killed outright, and Cornelius dies of his wounds on December 18. Their elderly relative, William Dunlea, is wounded by gunfire. The brothers’ father says the gunmen wore long overcoats and spoke with English accents. It is thought that, while searching the ambush site, Auxiliaries had found a cap belonging to one of the volunteers and had used bloodhounds to follow the scent to the family’s home.
Over 40 business premises and 300 residential properties are destroyed, amounting to over five acres of the city. Over £3 million worth of damage (1920 value) is caused, although the value of property looted by British forces is not clear. Many people become homeless and 2,000 are left jobless. Fatalities include an Auxiliary killed by the IRA, two IRA volunteers killed by Auxiliaries, and a woman who dies from a heart attack when Auxiliaries burst into her house. Several people, including firefighters, are reportedly assaulted or otherwise wounded.
Conservative Party leader Bonar Law says, “in the present condition of Ireland, we are much more likely to get an impartial inquiry in a military court than in any other.” Greenwood announces that a military inquiry would be carried out by General Peter Strickland. This results in the “Strickland Report,” but Cork Corporation instructs its employees and other corporate officials to take no part. The report blames members of the Auxiliaries’ K Company, based at Victoria Barracks. The Auxiliaries, it is claimed, burned the city centre in reprisal for the IRA attack at Dillon’s Cross. The British Government refuses to publish the report.
(Pictured: Workers clearing rubble on St. Patrick’s Street in Cork after the fires)
Three Irish regiments in the service of Spain fight in the Battle of Villaviciosa on December 10, 1710, during the War of the Spanish Succession. The regiments are commanded by Colonel Don Demetrio MacAuliffe, Colonel Don John de Comerford, and Colonel Don Reynaldo Mac Donnell. This last becomes known as the Hibernia Regiment.
The Battle of Villaviciosa is a battle between a Franco-Spanish army led by Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, and Philip V of Spain and a Habsburg-allied army commanded by AustrianGuido Starhemberg. The battle takes place one day after a Franco-Spanish victory at Brihuega against a British army under James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope. Both Philip V of Spain and the Archduke Charles of Austria claim victory, but the number of dead and wounded, the number of artillery and other weapons abandoned by the Allied army and the battle’s strategic consequences for the war confirm victory for Philip.
The battle is largely determined by the Spanish dragoons commanded by the Marquis of Valdecañas and the Count of Aguilar, which far exceeds the opposing forces. The Austrian forces retreat, pursued by Spanish cavalry, and the allied army is reduced to 6,000 or 7,000 men when it reaches Barcelona, one of the few places in Spain still recognizing Charles’ authority, on January 6.
After victories in the Battle of Almenar on July 27 and the Battle of Saragossa on August 20, the Habsburg allies supporting Archduke Charles capture Madrid for the second time and Charles enters Madrid on September 21. The 1710 invasion is a repetition of the one in 1706, and the 23,000-strong allied army is reduced at Almenara and Saragossa and in skirmishes with the Spanish-Bourbon militia. The allied troops are unable to maintain an occupation.
The allied position in Madrid is dangerous. On November 9, the city is evacuated and the retreat to Catalonia begins, pursued by Spanish cavalry led by the Marquis of Valdecañas. The archduke leaves the army with 2,000 cavalry and rushes back to Barcelona, while the rest of the army marches in two detachments. Austrian general Starhemberg and the main body of 12,000 men are a day’s march ahead of the 5,000 British troops under Lord Stanhope. The British force, surprised, is defeated at Brihuega on December 9, 1710. The British are taken prisoner, including Stanhope, who finally surrenders.
When General Starhemberg is informed of the attack on the British column, he moves his troops to help Stanhope’s army, unaware that the latter had capitulated. The next morning, December 10, the Franco-Spanish army is waiting on the plain of Villaviciosa. Compared to the Austrian general’s 14,000 troops, the Duke of Vendôme deploys about 20,000 men, including King Philip and other troops who had joined the duke that morning. The armies deploy in two lines on parallel ridges.
The battle begins during the afternoon, lasting until midnight. Each army has 23 pieces of artillery, deployed in three batteries. The artillery fire begins simultaneously, damaging both armies. The Marquis de Valdecañas, commanding the cavalry in the Bourbon right wing, begins the attack. Valdecañas sends his cavalry against the allied left wing, composed of German infantry and Portuguese and Spanish cavalry under Imperial General von Frankenberg. The German infantry and Portuguese cavalry try to stop the Bourbon charge before yielding, and the left wing is destroyed. The Spanish capture the artillery pieces, killing the Anglo-Dutch troops sent to aid the left wing. With the allied left wing defeated, the archduke’s infantry advances toward the Franco-Spanish center and drives back the Bourbon infantry. The Marquis of Toy tries to prevent losses in the center and avoid the division of the army, but most of his men are taken prisoner by the Portuguese.
Although the Bourbons in the center are in difficulty, the Count of Aguilar throws his cavalry against the archduke’s right wing, commanded by General Starhemberg and comprising the best grenadiers and cavalry squadrons of the allied army. The allies are unable to stop the Count of Aguilar’s cavalry. The archduke’s right wing is saved from disaster by support from the center, led by the Spanish general Antoni de Villarroel. Starhemberg regroups his forces, repulses the Count of Aguilar’s cavalry and charges the Bourbon left wing. After capturing the left-wing cannons, Starhemberg launches his army against the center.
The Bourbon center and left wing begin to retreat, and the right-wing cavalry pursues the allied left wing. The Count of Aguilar then attacks against the archduke’s right wing with his dragoons. Although the German and Portuguese cavalry, under Pedro Manuel de Ataíde, 5th Count of Atalaya, resist the first charge, Aguilar’s cavalry breaks the allied right wing. Valdecañas’ cavalry also deals a severe blow to the allied army, and Lt. Gen. Mahony and Field Marshal Amezaga’s troops charge from the right wing. Starhemberg in return launches three cavalry charges against them. During the fighting, Amezaga is wounded in the face. Starhemberg’s forces retreat to a nearby forest to escape the Franco-Spanish cavalry, and the allied forces begin their withdrawal under cover of night. The British regiments suffer heavy losses. Brigadier-General Lepell, the senior British officer, reports two regiments have been cut off while over 107 men are missing from his own and he has only two squadrons still available.
Although Philip V of Spain and the Archduke Charles both claim victory, the number of dead and wounded, the weapons abandoned by the allied army, and the strategic consequences in the war confirm French domination.
Starhemberg continues his retreat, harassed by Spanish cavalry. His army is reduced to 6,000 or 7,000 men by the time he reaches Barcelona. The Spanish throne is finally secured for Philip when Charles leaves Spain in April 1711 to become Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his older brother.
(Pictured: “Battle of Villaviciosa, December 10, 1710,” oil on canvas by Jean Alaux, Museum of the History of France)
Tobin is the eldest son of Mary Agnes (nee Butler) and David Tobin, a hardware clerk. He has two younger siblings, Katherine and Nicholas Augustine Tobin, also born in Cork. His family moves to John Street in Kilkenny and then to Dublin. He goes to school in Kilkenny and is an apprentice in a hardware shop at the time of the 1916 Easter Rising. As a participant in the Rising, he fights in the Four Courts garrison under Edward Daly. He is arrested, court martialed, and sentenced to death but his sentence is commuted to life imprisonment. He is a prisoner in Kilmainham, Mountjoy, Lewes, Dartmoor, Broadmoor and Pentonville prisons. He is released in June 1917.
In October 1921, Tobin travels with the Irish Treaty Delegation as part of Collins’ personal staff.
Tim Pat Coogan and James Mackay have examined Tobin’s involvement in the assassination of British Field MarshalSir Henry Wilson. Wilson’s public tirades about Collins is evidence of mutual personal dislike between the two men. In May 1922 Collins tells Tobin “We’ll kill a member of that bunch” to the news of “bloody pogroms” in Belfast. Wilson is intimately involved with the Ulster loyalist cause, including the Curragh Mutiny and the establishment of the Ulster Special Constabulary. Just before the shooting, Coogan places Tobin in London. He meets courier Peig Ni Braonain at Euston Station collecting a document that has been sent from Dublin. Returning to Dublin before the incident, he is jubilant when he tells defence ministerRichard Mulcahy about Wilson’s death. Mulcahy is appalled and threatens to resign.
In October 1922, Tobin’s brother Nicholas, a Free State captain, is accidentally shot dead by his own troops during the raid and capture of a bomb making factory at number 8 Gardiner’s Place, Dublin.
Tobin believes in the steppingstone doctrine which sees the Treaty as a stage towards full independence. With the outbreak of the Irish Civil War he remains loyal to Collins and takes the Pro-Treaty side. He leads in the fight against the Anti-Treaty IRA in the south. Disillusioned with the continuing hostilities and in the aftermath of the death of Collins, he forms an association called the IRA Organisation (IRAO) or “Old Irish Republican Army” to distinguish themselves from the anti-treaty insurgents.
Richard Mulcahy, the new Irish defence minister, proposes to reduce the army from 55,000 to 18,000 men in the immediate post- Civil-War period. Tobin knows his own position is to be affected and shares the perception that the Irish Army treats former British officers better than former IRA officers. On March 7, 1924, Tobin, together with Colonel Charlie Dalton, sends an ultimatum to President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free StateW. T. Cosgrave demanding an end to the army demobilisation. The immediate response is an order for the arrest of the two men on a charge of mutiny. The cabinet, already wary of the Irish Army, orders an inquiry and appoints Garda CommissionerEoin O’Duffy to the army command.
On March 18, the mutineers assemble with hostile intent at a Dublin pub. An order is made to arrest the mutineers and the cabinet demands the resignation of the army council. The generals resign, affirming the subservience of the military to the civilian government of the new state.
In later years, Tobin rebuilds relations with his Civil War foes and joins Éamon de Valera‘s Anti-Treaty Fianna Fáil party. He joins up with Joseph McGrath to form the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake in the 1930s. Many other former army comrades find work in this lottery. He leaves the Sweep in 1938. After World War II, he becomes Superintendent of the Oireachtas for the Irish Dáil.
On October 14, 1929, Tobin marries Monica “Mona” Higgins at the Church of the Holy Family, Aughrim Street, Dublin. They have two daughters, Máire and Anne Tobin. Following the death of his father, David, in 1956, Tobin’s health declines, resulting in his death in Dublin on April 30, 1963.
Hickie attends the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from 1882 to 1885. He is commissioned into his father’s regiment, the Royal Fusiliers at Gibraltar, in 1885 and serves with them for thirteen years in the Mediterranean, Egypt, and India, during which time he is promoted to captain on November 18, 1892. In 1899 he graduates as captain at the Staff College, Camberley, and is selected when the Second Boer War breaks out as a Special Service Officer in which capacity he acts in various positions of authority and command. He leaves Southampton for South Africa on board the SS Canada in early February 1900 and is promoted from captain of mounted infantry to battalion command as major on March 17, 1900. He is subsequently in command of a corps until eventually at the end of 1900 he is given command of an independent column of all arms. He holds this position for eighteen months. He serves with distinction at the Battle of Bothaville in November 1900 and receives the brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on November 29, 1900. He serves in South Africa throughout the war, which ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging in June 1902. Four months later he leaves Cape Town on the SS Salamis with other officers and men of the 2nd battalion Royal Fusiliers, arriving at Southampton in late October, when the battalion is posted to Aldershot Garrison. In December 1902 he is elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).
After the end of the war in South Africa there follows various staff appointments, the first from December 1902 as deputy-assistant adjutant general for district staff in the Cork district. In 1907 Hickie is back in regimental service in Dublin and Mullingar with the 1st Royal Fusiliers, where he is in command of the regiment for the last two years. From 1909 to 1912 is appointed to the Staff of the 8th Infantry Division in Cork where for four years he is well known in the hunting field and on the polo ground. In May 1912, he is promoted to colonel and becomes Quartermaster General of the Irish Command at Royal Hospital Kilmainham for which he is appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
When war is declared, the Staff of the Irish Command becomes automatically the staff of the II Army Corps and accordingly with the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Hickie is promoted to brigadier general and, as part of the British Expeditionary Force in France, takes charge of the Adjutant and Quartermaster-General’s Department during the retreat of the II Corps after the Battle of Mons, to Paris, and during the First Battle of the Marne. In mid-September 1914, he relieves one of the brigadiers in the fighting line as commander of the 13th Brigade (5th Infantry Division) and then commands the 53rd Brigade (18th Infantry Division) until December 1915, when he is ordered home to assume command of the 16th (Irish) Division at Blackburn.
Promoted to major general, Hickie takes over from Lieutenant General Sir Lawrence Parsons. It is politically a highly sensitive appointment which requires the professionalism and political awareness he, fortunately, possesses as the division is formed around a core of Irish National Volunteers in response to Edward Carson‘s Ulster Volunteers. He is much more diplomatic and tactful than his predecessors and speaks of the pride which his new command gives him but does not hesitate to make sweeping changes amongst the senior officers of the Irish Division. After putting the division through intensive training, it leaves under Irish command of which each man takes personal pride. It arrives in December 1915.
In the next two years and four months during which Hickie commands the 16th (Irish) Division, it earns a reputation for aggression and élan and wins many memorials and mentions for bravery in the engagements during the 1916 Battle of Guillemont and the capture of Ginchy, both of which form part of the Battle of the Somme, then during the Battle of Messines, the Third Battle of Ypres and in attacks near Bullecourt in the Battle of Cambrai offensive in November 1917.
During this period the Division makes considerable progress in developing its operational techniques but at a price in losses. The growing shortage of Irish replacement recruits, due to nationalist disenchantment with the war and the absence of conscription in Ireland, is successfully met by Hickie by integrating non-Irish soldiers into the division.
In February 1918, Hickie is invalided home on temporary sick leave, but when in the hospital the German spring offensive begins on March 21, with the result that after his division moves under the command of General Hubert Gough it is practically wiped out and ceases to exist as a division. Although promised a new command, this does not happen before the Armistice in November. He typifies the army’s better divisional commanders, is articulate, intelligent and is competent and resourceful during the BEF’s difficult period 1916–17, laying the foundations for its full tactical success in 1918. He is advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1918.
Hickie retires from the army in 1922, when the six Irish line infantry regiments that have their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new Irish Free State are all disbanded. He identifies himself strongly with the Home Rule Act and says that its scrapping is a disaster and is equally outspoken in condemning the activities of the Black and Tans. In 1925, he is elected as a member of Seanad Éireann, the Irish Free State Senate.
Hickie holds his seat until the Seanad is dissolved in 1936, to be replaced by Seanad Éireann in 1937. He is President of the Area Council (Southern Ireland) of the Royal British Legion from 1925 to 1948. He never marries.
Hickie dies on November 3, 1950, in Dublin and is buried in Terryglass, County Tipperary.
Five days earlier, Corcoran refuses tickets to a ball in the prince’s honor, telling those who invited him that he is “not desirous of joining in the festivity.”
As for the order to march, Corcoran says he refuses to ask the sons of Erin to honor the son of “a sovereign under whose reign Ireland was made a desert and her sons forced to exile.” He is also heard to refer to the prince as “the bald-faced son of our oppressor.”
Corcoran’s actions cause a firestorm of outrage around the country and especially in New York. U.S. citizens, most completely ignorant of the conditions under which many of these men had lived in British-controlled Ireland, see the actions of the men of the 69th Infantry Regiment as an insult to American hospitality in welcoming these immigrants to their adopted country, though in truth, the welcome is much less than lukewarm.
Corcoran has written his name forever in the pantheon of Irish heroes in America. New York’s Irish present the regiment with a green flag commemorating the event.
Corcoran is arrested and stripped of his command by New York and a court martial is planned. But before he can be tried on the charge, Fort Sumter is fired upon, and the country is more worried about saving the Union than honoring visiting princes. With the outbreak of war, the court martial is dropped and Corcoran is restored to his command because he had been instrumental in bringing other Irish immigrants to the Union cause.
Corcoran leads the 69th Infantry Regiment to Washington, D.C. and serves for a time in the Washington defenses building Fort Corcoran. On July 21, 1861, he leads the regiment into action at the First Battle of Bull Run with what is now called the “Prince of Wales Flag” flying proudly above his men.
After promotion to brigadier general, Corcoran leaves the 69th Infantry Regiment and forms the Corcoran Legion, consisting of at least five other New York regiments.
The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, unveils Ireland’s national monument to the Fighting 69th in Ballymote, County Sligo, on August 22, 2006. The monument is sculpted by Philip Flanagan. The inscription around the top of the monument reads “Michael Corcoran 1827–1863” Around the base is inscribed “New York Ballymote Creeslough Bull Run.” Underneath the monument is a piece of steel from the World Trade Center, donated by the family of Michael Lynch, who died in the tower on September 11, 2001. Lynch’s family are from County Sligo.
(Pictured: Michael Corcoran, Irish American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a close confidant of President Abraham Lincoln)
Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing, begins landing troops below the city on September 12, and begins moving in by September 16. Confident of victory and believing that British Lieutenant Colonel John Maitland‘s reinforcements will be prevented from reaching Savannah by Major GeneralBenjamin Lincoln, he offers Major General Augustine Prévost the opportunity to surrender. Prevost delays, asking for a 24-hour truce. Owing to miscommunication about who is responsible for preventing Maitland’s movements, the waterways separating South Carolina‘s Hilton Head Island from the mainland are left unguarded, and Maitland is able to reach Savannah hours before the truce ends. Prevost’s response to d’Estaing’s offer is a polite refusal, despite the arrival.
On September 19, as Charles-Marie de Trolong du Rumain moves his squadron up the river, he exchanges fire with Comet, Thunder, Savannah, and Venus. The next day the British scuttleRose, which is leaking badly, just below the town to impede the French vessels from progressing further. They also burn Savannah and Venus. By scuttling Rose in a narrow part of the channel, the British effectively block it. Consequently, the French fleet is unable to assist the American assault.
Germaine takes up a position to protect the north side of Savannah’s defenses. Comet and Thunder have the mission of opposing any attempt by the South Carolinian galleys to bombard the town. Over the next few days, British shore batteries assist Comet and Thunder in engagements with the two South Carolinian galleys. During one of these, they severely damage Revenge.
The French commander, rejecting the idea of assaulting the British defenses, unloads cannons from his ships and begins a bombardment of the city. The city, rather than the entrenched defenses, bear the brunt of this bombardment, which lasts from October 3 to 8. “The appearance of the town afforded a melancholy prospect, for there was hardly a house that had not been shot through,” writes one British observer.
When the bombardment fails to have the desired effect, d’Estaing changes his mind and decides it is time to try an assault. He is motivated in part by the desire to finish the operation quickly, as scurvy and dysentery are becoming problems on his ships, and some of his supplies are running low. While a traditional siege operation would likely have succeeded eventually, it would take longer than d’Estaing is prepared to stay.
Against the advice of many of his officers, d’Estaing launches the assault against the British position on the morning of October 9. The success depends in part on the secrecy of some of its aspects, which are betrayed to Prévost well before the operations are supposed to begin around 4:00 a.m. Dillon’s regiment is sent to the right of the main assault, but their guides prove to be unreliable, and the column goes down the wrong path into a swamp. The British have already learned of the assault and the bagpipes of a Highland regiment begin playing at daybreak, unnerving the allies since it signals that surprise is lost. It is nearly daylight when the attack finally gets underway.
The redoubt on the right side of the British works had been chosen by the French admiral in part because he believed it to be defended only by militia. In fact, it is defended by a combination of militia and Scotsmen from John Maitland’s 71st Regiment of Foot, Fraser’s Highlanders, who had distinguished themselves at Stono Ferry. The militia includes riflemen, who easily pick off the white-clad French troops when the assault is underway. Admiral d’Estaing is twice wounded, and Polishcavalry officer Casimir Pulaski, fighting with the Americans, is mortally wounded. By the time the second wave arrives near the redoubt, the first wave is in complete disarray, and the trenches below the redoubt are filled with bodies. Attacks intended as feints against other redoubts of the British position are easily taken.
The second assault column is commanded by the Swedish Count Curt von Stedingk, who manages to reach the last trench. He later writes in his journal, “I had the pleasure of planting the American flag on the last trench, but the enemy renewed its attack, and our people were annihilated by crossfire.” He is forced back by overwhelming numbers of British troops, left with some 20 men, all being wounded, including von Stedingk. He later writes, “The moment of retreat with the cries of our dying comrades piercing my heart was the bitterest of my life,”
After an hour of carnage, d’Estaing orders a retreat. On October 17, Lincoln and d’Estaing abandon the siege.
The Irish Brigade of France suffers more than 40 killed and close to 150 wounded. Among the dead is Captain Bernard O’Neill, a 5th generation officer in Dillon’s regiment. Dillon’s regiment is the only one of the Brigade units to remain in command of one family for its entire service. Count Arthur Dillon, commander at Savannah, is the grandson of Colonel Arthur Dillon, who brought the regiment into French service in 1690. The Count later becomes a victim of the French Revolution. He is condemned for alleged participation in a prison conspiracy and executed by guillotine on April 13, 1794.
Cosgrove is the son of Michael and Mary Cosgrove. He has four brothers, Dan, Ned, David and Joseph, and a sister Mary-Catherine. While they are still young their father emigrates to Australia, but later returns. In the meantime, his mother moves with his siblings to a cottage in nearby Peafield and they attend school at the National School, Ballinrostig. He begins work as an apprentice butcher at Whitegate. One of his daily chores is a morning delivery to Fort Carlisle (now Fort Davis) with a consignment of meat for the troops. It is from Fort Carlisle that he joins the army.
Cosgrove enlists in the Royal Munster Fusiliers on March 24, 1909, and is given the regimental number 8980. At the outbreak of war, the 1st Battalion of the Munster Fusiliers is stationed in Rangoon, Burma, as regular battalions are routinely stationed overseas. They leave Rangoon on November 21, 1914, and Cosgrove, now a corporal, lands in England on January 10, 1915. Upon landing they still wear their Indian issue uniforms and stand on the cold quay in their khaki drill shorts. The battalion is then assigned to the 86th Brigade of the 29th Division (United Kingdom), in preparation for the landings at the Dardanelles in Turkey.
During the Battle of Gallipoli, Turkey, the 1st Munsters, together with the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and Royal Hampshire Regiment, are on the converted collier River Clyde when it runs ashore for the Cape Helles ‘V’ beach landing at 6:20 a.m. on April 25, 1915. On departing from the ship’s bay they are subject to fierce enfilading machine gun fire from hidden Turkish defences. One hundred or more of the Battalion’s men fall at this stage of the battle, with just three companies of Munsters making it to the shelter of the dunes. They are unable to advance due to the withering Turkish fire.
At daybreak on the following day it is decided to take the village behind the Sedd el Bahr fort overlooking the bay. Cosgrove leads a company section during the attack on the Turkish positions. Barbed wire holds them up and he sets himself the task of pulling the stanchion posts of the enemy’s high wire entanglement single-handed out of the ground, notwithstanding the terrific fire from both front and flanks with officers and men falling all around him. Thanks to his exceptional bravery, his heroic actions contribute greatly to the successful clearing of the heights. Turkish counter-attacks are held off. It is during this attack that his actions earn him the regiment’s first Victoria Cross of the war. He is also wounded during this action. Promoted to Sergeant, he sees no further action due to his wound, which is a contributing factor in his death years later.
Cosgrove transfers to the Royal Fusiliers in 1918, to the Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment in 1920, the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers in 1922, and later goes as an instructor to the Indian Territorial Force in 1928 to become 7042223 Staff Sgt Instructor. He comes home in 1935 pending discharge to pension. However, he is admitted to Millbank hospital and takes discharge before he is fit. After a short leave in Cork, he returns to London, where he is admitted to Middlesex Hospital. He is later transferred to Millbank hospital London, where he dies at the age of 47 on July 21, 1936.
In 1972, Cosgrove’s Victoria Cross medal is sold for a record price £2,300 to a private collector. When questioned about the high price which the medal fetches, the auctioneer replies “When one buys a gallantry medal, it is not just the medal one buys, but the act that won it.” His Victoria Cross, together with his other medals, are sold at an auction by Dix Noonan Webb held on September 22, 2006 for “the world’s most valuable auction of orders, decorations and medals.” A total of £1,965,010 is spent by 305 different buyers, a figure which represents “the highest amount ever realised by any numismatic auction in the UK.” The day’s highest price, £180,000, is paid by a collector for the Gallipoli landings Victoria Cross group of six, which includes the medal awarded to Sgt. William Cosgrove, Royal Munster Fusiliers.
A knee injury during a night training exercise in Omagh makes McDowell ineligible for active military service and he becomes a weapons instructor. The accident also leads to him meeting his future wife, Margaret Telfer, the physiotherapist who treats him in hospital in Bangor, County Down.
McDowell rises to the rank of major and is part of the Allied forces in occupied Austria following the end of the war, taking part in joint patrols in Vienna with Russian, American and French officers. In the post-war period, he is given two years to finish his college course and spends a summer studying law with a tutor before passing the English bar and returning to the British Army.
After a further military posting to Edinburgh, McDowell’s legal qualification brings him to the army legal service in the War Office in London. With little prospect of further promotion and every chance of being posted abroad without his young family, he decides to leave the army. He is offered a job as legal adviser in London to James North Ltd, a company which makes protective clothing. With no experience of industry, he asks to be given a managerial role at first. The company suggests a managing position in its operations in Dublin. He slots easily into the city’s old business establishment, joining the Kildare Street Club, becoming a director of Pim’s department store, and setting his career firmly on a commercial rather than a legal path.
McDowell’s involvement with newspapers comes about through the recognition of his business acumen. He is asked by some acquaintances to take a look at the financial troubles of the Evening Mail, which is bought subsequently by The Irish Times, adding to the latter’s own financial difficulties.
McDowell is asked later by The Irish Times to see if Roy Thomson, the Canadian-born British press baron whom he had met while they both looked separately at the Evening Mail, might be interested in taking it over. Thomson passes and the company then asks McDowell himself to take charge as chief executive in 1962. Among his first actions are to close the Evening Mail and the Sunday Review, a short-lived tabloid that is ahead of its time. A year later, another problem is resolved when Douglas Gageby, who had been hired as managing director of The Irish Times shortly before McDowell’s arrival, takes over as editor.
Thus, what had begun as a slightly awkward relationship, turns into a highly successful partnership as Gageby sets about broadening the newspaper’s editorial appeal and McDowell sets it on a successful commercial course. McDowell always credits Gageby and his successors as editor with the success of the newspaper. Although he has a close relationship with editors, especially Gageby, he does not interfere in the editorial running of the newspaper.
By the early 1970s, the circulation of The Irish Times has almost doubled in a decade to 60,000 and it is making money. Some of the directors indicate an interest in selling the company. McDowell proposes instead that it be turned into a trust. It is a period when several newspapers in Ireland and Britain have changed hands or are seen as being vulnerable to takeovers. His aims are to protect the newspaper’s independence, make it as difficult as possible for anyone to take over, and formalise its aims in a guiding trust.
McDowell works on the trust document for many months, going through 28 drafts before he is satisfied with the result. The five directors of the company, including McDowell and Gageby, transfer their shares in the company to a solicitor in the autumn of 1973 in anticipation of announcing the trust at the end of that year. Further delays in finalising the trust terms result in its announcement in April 1974, on the eve of the introduction of capital gains tax. The timing gives rise to suggestions that the directors are taking their cash (£325,000 each) out of the company before the new tax takes effect. McDowell always denies that this is the case, maintaining that the timing is coincidental. He is also adamant that the motivation behind the formation of the trust itself is altruistic.
The formation of the trust leaves the newspaper with a large bank debt, used to buy out the directors/shareholders, at what turns out to be a difficult economic period after the first oil crisis hits the western world in the autumn of 1974. McDowell successfully guides The Irish Times‘ financial fortunes through the subsequent recession and into further periods of growth throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
McDowell stands down as chief executive of the company in 1997 and retires from the chairmanship of The Irish Times Trust in 2001. He is given the title President for Life in recognition of his huge contribution to the newspaper.
McDowell is a private person and never seeks or exploits the public status or limelight that goes with being a newspaper publisher. During his visit to the new The Irish Times offices on Tara Street in June 2008 for the unveiling of a portrait of him by Andrew Festing, he describes the newspaper and his family as the two loves of his life.
McDowell dies unexpectedly at the age of 87 on September 9, 2009. His funeral takes place in Whitechurch Parish Church, Rathfarnham, followed by burial in the adjoining churchyard.
seamus dubhghaill 