The Irish Civil War (June 28, 1922 – May 24, 1923) is fought between Pro-Treaty forces (led by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith) who support the Anglo-Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State within the British Empire and Anti-Treaty IRA (led by Éamon de Valera and Liam Lynch) who reject the Treaty, seeing it as a betrayal of the 1919 Irish Republic.
By mid-1922, the Free State controls only Dublin and parts of the east, while anti-Treaty forces hold much of the south and west, including Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, forming the self-styled “Munster Republic.”
On September 15, 1922, Anti-Treaty IRA units in Dundalk attack Free State troops stationed in the area and seize control of the local power station, cutting off the town’s electricity supply.
This is a typical example of anti-Treaty tactics: using sabotage and localized attacks to disrupt Free State operations, weaken their hold on territory, and maintain control over key infrastructure. Such actions are part of a wider pattern of resistance in areas not yet recaptured by the National Army.
While Dundalk is not a major strategic city, the attack reflects the guerrilla and sabotage phase of the Civil War, which follows the Free State’s July–September 1922 offensive that retakes major towns in Munster and the west. The Free State’s victory in that offensive ends the conventional phase, but anti-Treaty forces continue to resist through hit-and-run raids, sabotage, and control of rural areas.
In summary, the Dundalk incident of September 15, 1922, is a localized but symbolic act of anti-Treaty resistance, illustrating the ongoing struggle to control infrastructure and disrupt Free State operations in the months after the decisive military phase of the Irish Civil War.
(Pictured: Dundalk, County Louth, in the early 20th century)
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.
By mid-August 1922, the Irish Free State, under Michael Collins, has launched a decisive offensive to re-take towns and strongholds in the south and west. The anti-Treaty IRA, led by figures such as Liam Lynch, has been holding areas like County Cork, County Limerick, and much of County Kerry, including Killarney, in defiance of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Free State’s campaign aims to consolidate control over the territory and end the conventional phase of the war.
The ambush at Glenflesk is one of several IRA actions in County Kerry during this period. It occurs as Free State forces advance in the west, seeking to secure supply lines and isolate remaining anti-Treaty strongholds. The Anti-Treaty IRA, using guerrilla tactics, targets convoys and patrols to disrupt Free State operations.
While the exact casualty figures for this specific engagement are not detailed in the available records, such ambushes are part of a wider pattern of republican resistance. In County Kerry alone, Free State forces suffer multiple engagements in August, including a sniper kill at Tralee and ambushes on supply columns.
The Glenflesk ambush reflects the shift from conventional warfare to mobile, hit-and-run tactics by the anti-Treaty IRA after the Free State’s conventional offensives begin. County Kerry remains a contested area, with Killarney and surrounding towns serving as republican bases. Ambushes like this one aim to delay Free State advances and protect supply routes. While the Free State’s overall campaign succeeds in capturing major towns by late August, such ambushes prolong the conflict and keep republican forces active until the “dump arms” order in 1923.
In summary, the Glenflesk ambush of August 27, 1922, is a localized but significant IRA resistance action in County Kerry, emblematic of the guerrilla warfare that follows the Free State’s conventional offensives and contributes to the prolonged nature of the Irish Civil War.
(Pictured: Michael Collins (left) and Liam Lynch (right))
By mid-1922, the Irish Civil War begins after the Anglo-Irish Treaty splits the IRA into pro- and anti-Treaty factions. The 4th Northern Division, based in counties Armagh, Down, and Louth, is one of the most formidable Anti-Treaty units in the region. Frank Aiken, a veteran IRA commander, has rebuilt this division during the Truce period, using it for guerrilla operations and border raids.
The Free State Army, under the National Army, is consolidating control in southern and midland counties, while Anti-Treaty forces focus on border counties to prevent Free State expansion and to maintain resistance.
The August 16 assault on Dundalk is a border raid aimed at disrupting Free State supply lines and communications, isolating and weakening Free State positions in the Louth area and demonstrating Anti-Treaty strength to other IRA units and the wider population. They use two mines to breach the walls of the barracks and temporarily take over the town.
Seven Free State soldiers are killed and fifteen are wounded. Two republicans are killed, accidentally by one of their own mines, and thirty are wounded. About 240 republican prisoners are freed from the prison and 400 rifles are taken. Aiken, however, does not try to hold the town and, while in possession of it, calls for a truce in a meeting in the town square.
While the attack is significant in symbolic terms, it does not achieve a decisive strategic breakthrough. Free State forces are able to regroup and counterattack, and the operation highlights the challenges Anti-Treaty units face in sustaining large-scale offensives against a better-equipped and more mobile National Army.
The raid exemplifies the “war along the border” strategy, where Anti-Treaty forces target Free State-held border towns and infrastructure. Aiken’s leadership as commander of the 4th Northern Division underscores his reputation as a skilled guerrilla leader. The attack reflects the early Civil War pattern of small-scale, mobile raids by Anti-Treaty forces against Free State-held towns and garrisons.
In summary, the August 16, 1922, Dundalk attack is a notable Anti-Treaty IRA operation that showcases the 4th Northern Division’s capabilities but also the limitations of their conventional-style assaults against the Free State’s growing military presence.
(Pictured: Frank Aiken and the 4th Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army)
By mid-1922, the Anti-Treaty IRA is in retreat after the Anglo-Irish Treaty has split the IRA into pro- and anti-Treaty factions. Lynch, a staunch opponent of the Treaty, had been appointed Chief of Staff in April 1922 to unify the Anti-Treaty leadership. Fermoy, a key County Cork town, has been a republican stronghold since the Irish War of Independence, but by August 1922, it is under increasing pressure from Free State troops.
Fermoy’s surrender is not a single battle but a series of engagements and encirclements. Free State forces have been systematically dismantling republican positions in County Cork, and Fermoy’s defenses are proving unsustainable. Lynch, recognizing the strategic and tactical inevitability of defeat, orders the withdrawal of IRA forces from the town. This move effectively ends the IRA’s presence in Cork city and its surrounding areas.
Fermoy’s fall is a strategic loss as it removes the last major republican-held town in County Cork, cutting off supply lines and communication with other Anti-Treaty strongholds. The abandonment underscores the crumbling of the Anti-Treaty position and the Free State’s consolidation of control over the south. It also results in a leadership shift as Lynch’s decision reflects his pragmatic approach — while ideologically opposed to the Treaty, he seeks to avoid further bloodshed and preserve the IRA’s remaining forces.
Following Fermoy’s fall, Lynch continues to command the Anti-Treaty IRA from the south, but without a major base. His leadership soon faces further challenges, culminating in his death on April 10, 1923, during a pursuit by Free State troops in the Knockmealdown Mountains.
In short, the abandonment of Fermoy on August 11, 1922, is both a military and symbolic end to the Anti-Treaty IRA’s last stronghold in County Cork, accelerating the end of the Irish Civil War.
On the morning of August 8, 1922, the National Army of the Irish Free State launches a decisive seaborne assault on Cork, County Cork, the Free State’s second largest city, which is held by anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) forces. The operation begins at Passage West, a ferry port and fishing village on the estuary of the River Lee, where the steamshipArvonia docks. The anti-Treaty IRA garrison in Cobh across the bay opens fire with three machine guns, but the National Army troops on deck respond with silence, surprising the sentry who had fired a warning shot.
Over 200 pro-Treaty soldiers disembark, quickly securing the town. The Arvonia is unloaded with 450 troops, an 18-pounder field gun, and several armoured cars. Simultaneously, landings are made at Youghal in east County Cork and Union Hall near Skibbereen in west County Cork, disgorging another 350 troops. This is part of Michael Collins’s plan to seize Cork and end the Irish Civil War swiftly.
Cork is a flashpoint of the Treaty split. While the majority of IRA fighters in the county oppose the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the majority of civilians support it. There are also strong neutral tendencies and peace calls within Cork’s civil and military communities. The Free State’s move aims to break the “Munster Republic” stronghold and force a rapid political settlement.
The landing marks the start of the Battle for Cork, which intensifies over the next days. National Army forces advance toward Cork city, encountering fierce resistance from anti-Treaty IRA positions in areas like Rochestown, Oldcourt Wood, and Garryduff. The fighting is brutal, with estimates of up to 20 fatalities and many wounded. The conflict also produces poignant moments, such as the death of Free State soldier Flood, shot by a former Irish War of Independence comrade, Frank O’Donoghue.
The August 8 landings are the decisive military stroke of the Irish Civil War. They re-take Cork for the Irish Free State, dismantle the Munster Republic, and end the conventional phase of the conflict, paving the way for a prolonged guerrilla war until the anti-Treaty side’s defeat. The event remains a key moment in Irish revolutionary history, remembered for its scale, the use of armoured units, and the deep divisions it exposes in Cork.
In the early morning of August 5, 1922, during the Irish Civil War, around 200 anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers are mobilised around Dublin. Their mission is to isolate the city by destroying all bridges and road crossings leading into it, cutting off Free State forces and supplies.
The anti-Treaty IRA, opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the newly established Irish Free State, aim to dismantle the stone bridges over Dublin’s rivers and canal, lay explosives on road and railway bridges, dig trenches in roads to block movement and scout the surrounding countryside for Free State troops.
They are organised in groups of 5–40, some armed with handguns and grenades, others with explosives and tools like spades and picks. Parties are sighted in the hills south of the city (from Kilakee to Roundwood) and across villages north of Dublin (from Raheny to Blanchardstown).
The Free State’s intelligence service intercepts the plan when Liam Clarke, a captured anti-Treaty officer, reveals the details to Free State Intelligence officers. This intelligence allows the Free State to anticipate and counter the operation.
On August 6, Free State forces move quickly to intercept the IRA. They capture 31 anti-Treaty irregulars at Glencullen Bridge (pictured) and later take 104 fighters in County Dublin, including officer Pat Sweeney. These actions cripple the remnants of the anti-Treaty IRA in Dublin and prevent the city from being isolated.
The “Bridges Job” is a major anti-Treaty attempt to cut off Dublin during the Irish Civil War. Its failure marks a turning point, as Free State forces can now move freely into the city, accelerating the end of the conventional phase of the conflict.
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)
Barry returns to Bandon in early 1919. He describes in his guerilla days in Ireland a Damascus-like conversion to Irish nationalism on hearing of the Easter Rising while with the Mesopotamian expeditionary force, but he is only accepted into the IRA with considerable caution. Initially tested in intelligence and training work, in mid-1920 he takes charge of the new brigade flying column, which is used both to train officers and to stage offensive actions.
Barry adapts his military experience successfully to the demands of guerrilla warfare, becoming the most famed of column leaders during the Irish War of Independence. In his memoirs, he pours scorn on the obsession of many with military titles and orthodox procedure, complaining of a “paper army.” He stresses the need for spontaneity, initiative, and knowledge of local conditions. “The reality,” he writes, “was a group of fellows, mostly in caps and not-too-expensive clothing, wondering how to tackle their job and where they would sleep that night or get their supper.” (The Reality of the Anglo–Irish War (1974)). He well realises that the war’s character does not permit any close control from the IRA’s GHQ in Dublin, hence increasing the importance of local leaders. His tactics put strong emphasis on speed of movement and on the need to attack the enemy at his weakest point. The column’s ambush successes are small in number but among the best-remembered of the war. He admits, however, that his own and his column’s lack of experience with mines frequently weakened their offensives.
The column’s first successful ambush is at Tooreen on October 22, 1920, followed on November 28 by the dramatic ambushing of a patrol of auxiliaries at Kilmichael while traveling from their Macroom base. A column of thirty-six men, divided into three sections, kill sixteen auxiliaries, with one captured and later shot, suffering two fatalities of their own. Controversy has raged since over whether a false surrender by the British force caused the brutality of some of the deaths. Together with the Bloody Sunday killings of a week earlier in Dublin, Kilmichael has a profound effect on the British military and political establishment, with the declaration in December of martial law for much of Munster and the implementation of wide-ranging internment, together with the authorisation of official reprisals.
After a short period in hospital with a heart condition, in early 1921 Barry leads unsuccessful attacks on Kilbrittain, Innishannon, Drimoleague, and Bandon barracks. The seizure of Burgatia House, outside Rosscarbery, in early February, and the successful resistance made there to British troops, wins much publicity but has little military significance. He is a leading figure in the brutal final stage of the war in the first six months of 1921, which sees widespread shooting of suspected spies and destruction of loyalist property. By March 1921, his flying column, with 104 men, is easily the largest in Ireland, and an explosives expert, Capt. McCarthy, has joined them.
The protracted engagement between Barry’s column and encircling British forces at Crossbarry on March 19, 1921, comes at a time when large-scale sweeps are making life increasingly difficult for the IRA. It consists of a daring and courageous breakout. Crossbarry is the largest action of the war, and Barry is to regard it as even more important than Kilmichael. Soon afterwards, Rosscarbery barracks is successfully attacked by a Barry-led party, representing one of the few successful such initiatives in 1921. Isolated triumphs, however, cannot hide the fact that pressure is increasing on the column, and he becomes increasingly critical of inactive regions. He is later to say that all County Kerry does during the war is to shoot one decent police inspector at Listowel Racecourse and a colleague of his. He is strongly critical also of the lack of assistance from GHQ and of the divisionalisation policy. He visits Dublin in May, travels around with Michael Collins, and is present when two American officers demonstrate the Thompson submachine gun. He is more aware than most of his 1st Southern Division colleagues of the scarcity of arms and ammunition at the war’s end.
During the truce, Barry becomes liaison officer for Munster, riling the British by insisting on his military rank, and criticising the IRA liaison men in Dublin for being overly deferential. He joins the overwhelming majority of the Cork IRA in opposing the Anglo–Irish Treaty but plays a characteristically maverick role throughout the treaty split. His independent attitude is heightened by his dislike of Liam Lynch, the republican IRA’s Chief of Staff, and his continuing respect for Michael Collins. He shows impatience at the long-drawn-out peace initiatives. In March 1922, therefore, he advocates armed confrontation with pro-treaty units over the occupation of barracks in Limerick, and on June 18 he submits a resolution, which only narrowly fails, at the army convention, giving British troops seventy-two hours to leave Dublin.
At the beginning of the Irish Civil War, Barry is arrested entering the Four Courts disguised as a woman. He escapes from an internment camp at Gormanston in early September 1922. For the rest of the war his actions mirror its confused nature. In late October 1922, he leads successful raids on the small towns of Ballineen and Enniskean, and later on Inchigeelagh and Ballyvourney. In December his column takes Carrick-on-Suir, demonstrating the weakness of the Free State army, but his talk of advancing on the Curragh and of large-scale actions does not materialise. There is no evidence that he is acting in accordance with any coordinated plan. By February 1923, he realises that the Republican IRA cause is hopeless and he is involved with Fr. Tom Duggan in efforts to get 1st Southern Division to declare a ceasefire. He journeys to Dublin to put pressure on the intransigent Lynch in this connection, telling Lynch, “I did more fighting in one week than you did in your whole life.”
Barry avoids capture in roundups after the war, remaining on the run until 1924. Unlike many republicans, he does not turn to constitutionalism, remaining strongly militaristic. He is always an unreconstructed republican, though by no means a naive one. In 1924 he becomes attached to Cleeves Milk Co., based in Limerick and Clonmel, and from 1927 to retirement in 1965 is general superintendent with the Cork harbour commissioners. He strongly advocates preserving the independence of the IRA army executive during the republican split of 1925–27. He is instrumental in continuing the drilling of IRA members and is a strong supporter of armed opposition to the Blueshirts.
During the 1930s Barry is arrested at various times for possession of arms and seditious utterances. He promotes an attack against a Freemasons’ meeting in Cork in 1936 and gives the orders for the killing on March 4 of that year of Vice-AdmiralHenry Boyle Somerville. He is opposed to the use by Frank Ryan of IRA volunteers to support the republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and to the proposals of Seán Russell for a bombing campaign in England. To maintain the link with traditional republicanism, he is elected IRA chief of staff in 1937. His plan, however, for the seizure of Armagh city, as part of a direct northern offensive, quickly collapses due to a leak of information, and he soon resigns his position. He forcefully attacks the bombing of English cities in 1938, regarding attacks on innocent civilians as immoral and counterproductive. He enlists in the National Army on July 12, 1940, only to be demobilised a month later. In 1946, he stands as an independent candidate in a by-election in the Cork Borough constituency, finishing at the bottom of the poll. He is more comfortable the following year touring the United States on an anti-partition platform.
In 1949 his Guerilla Days in Ireland is published. It proves a best-seller and has frequently been reprinted. It is well written in a forceful and direct style, one memoir needing no assistance from a ghost writer. Age does not mellow him: lawyers and bank managers are threatened by him over matters relating to his own column, and in 1974 he publishes a fierce pamphlet, angry at perceived slights in the Irish War of Independence memoir of Liam Deasy. He does strive to achieve a public reconciliation with Collins’s memory by unveiling the memorial to Collins at Sam’s Cross in 1966. On the outbreak of the Northern Ireland crisis in the late 1960s, he takes a militant line, castigating the argument that the Six Counties can be brought into the Republic by peaceful means, and asking when had peaceful means existed there. At the memorial meeting in Carrowkennedy, County Mayo, in 1971, he claims that there is a perfect right at the opportune time to take the Six Counties by force. He remains opposed to IRA bombing of civilian targets.
Barry dies in Cork on July 2, 1980. He is buried in St. Finbarr’s Cemetery, Cork. Early in the truce of 1921 he marries Leslie Price, one of the most active of Cumann na mBan members during and after the rising. They have no children.
While Barry always remains an influential figure in republican circles, he will be remembered best as the pioneer of guerrilla warfare, the hero of Kilmichael and Crossbarry. His military flair, individualism, and ruthlessness are well suited to the 1919–21 conflict. After that, his strained relations with colleagues and his lack of flexibility reduce his importance. While his life after the revolutionary era appears anti-climactic, he retains much of his charisma. In later years, he is ever willing to remind politicians and historians how far Ireland has retreated from republican ideals. He is often prickly and autocratic yet could be generous to old colleagues of either side of the treaty split. He is arguably the most intelligent but also the most intolerant of the revolutionary leaders.
(From: “Barry, Thomas Bernadine (‘Tom’)” by M. A. Hopkinson, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009)
Rice joins the Irish Volunteers in 1913 but does not take part in the 1916 Easter Rising. For a time, he shares lodgings in Rock Street, Tralee, with Austin Stack, and like Stack he is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) member, playing hurling with Kenmare. At the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), he becomes Officer Commanding of the 5th Battalion of the Kerry No. 2 Brigade. He also holds the post of second in command of that brigade, under Humphrey Murphy. On April 26, 1921, he attends the meeting in Kippagh, County Tipperary, that sees the establishment of the First Southern Division. After the truce, Murphy is transferred to command Kerry No. 1 Brigade, and Rice becomes commanding officer of Kerry No. 2.
Rice opposes the Anglo-Irish Treaty and leads the brigade throughout the Irish Civil War (1922-1923). When Michael Collins comes to Killarney on April 22, 1922, to speak in favour of the agreement, he is met at the train station by a group of fifty men, led by Rice, who attempt to prevent him from speaking. The meeting goes ahead despite several attempts by the group to stop it. During the civil war he leads his men into Limerick, briefly seizing Rathkeale, but for the most part they are on the defensive. In September he commands a force of seventy republicans to take Kenmare. This is a rare and morale-boosting success. When the First Southern Division council meets on February 26-28, 1923, he is one of only two senior officers, among a group of eighteen, who feel that it is worth fighting on.
Shortly after the civil war, Rice marries Nora Aherne, a Cumann na mBan member; they have one son, George. After the war he continues to be active in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Féin. He attends IRA executive meetings in 1923 and is involved in attempts to reorganise the IRA in 1924. He is a delegate to the Sinn Féin ardfheis in 1926, opposing the proposal of Éamon de Valera that abstention be a matter of policy rather than principle. He is elected as a Sinn Féin TD for the Kerry South constituency at the 1957 Irish general election. He does not take his seat in the Dáil due to the Sinn Féin policy of abstentionism. He is one of four Sinn Féin TDs elected at the 1957 Irish general election, the others being Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, John Joe McGirl and Eighneachán Ó hAnnluain. During his time as a TD, he campaigns against the Special Powers Act, which grants the Irish state extra abilities to deal with and punish suspected members of the IRA. He is defeated at the 1961 Irish general election.
In 1966, Rice and fellow Kerry Republican John Joe Sheehy are expelled from Sinn Féin, as are many others, by the new Marxist-Leninist party leadership that had recently come into power. This move both foreshadows and fuels the split in 1969/1970 of both the IRA and Sinn Féin, which leads to the creation of the Marxist-Leninist Official IRA and the more traditional but still left-wing Provisional IRA, and in parallel Sinn Féin – The Workers’ Party and “Provisional” Sinn Féin. Rice gives his support to the Provisionals.
Rice drives an oil lorry for a time and then becomes manager of the Tralee branch of Messrs Nash, mineral water manufacturers and bottlers. He remains in this position until his retirement in 1965. He dies on July 24, 1970, at his son’s residence in Oakview, Tralee.
Rice’s sister, Rosalie, is a member of Cumann na mBan during the 1916 Easter Rising and is arrested for sending a telegram alerting the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in the United States to the rising. His cousins Eugene and Timothy Ring are members of the IRB and are also involved with the telegram. His grandfather, Timothy Ring, was a Fenian who fought in the uprising. Two of his cousins are members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) who both help the republican side during the Irish revolutionary period.
