National Army soldier killed in Civil War ambush in Offaly remembered

An estimated 500 National Army soldiers died in combat defending the infant Free State during the Civil War, only for their sacrifice to be largely forgotten or elided from commemorations over the last century or so.

A reluctance to memorialise the National Army dead may have been left-over guilt arising from executions carried out by the State during the Civil War.

However, the perception that they were overlooked is gradually being remedied in this Decade of Centenaries. The release online of the Military Service Pension files by the Military Archives has enhanced research on their deaths.

Last July the Defence Forces unveiled a monument at Glasnevin Cemetery commemorating National Army soldiers killed in the internecine conflict. An interactive Roll of Honour of their names is displayed at the cemetery museum.

In 1986 the Tullamore branch of the Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel (O.N.E.) erected a monument in Lloyd Town Park in remembrance of all deceased members of the Defence Forces. The monument was reportedly one of the first of its kind in the country.

Recently Offaly man and local historian P.J. Goode, along with Michael Kirwan and Dr Philip McConway commissioned a limestone plaque to honour a National Army soldier mortally wounded at an ambush a century ago. On 7 January 1923 fourteen National Army soldiers, garrisoned at Geashill village, were ambushed at the Range Wall, near the old Raheen chapel. Mass-goers scattered and took cover as a deadly hail of bullets from both sides of the road pinned the troops down. Four soldiers were wounded, two of whom subsequently died. The IRA unit was led by Sean McGuinness, commandant of the North Offaly Brigade. The IRA’s Lewis machinegun, which malfunctioned after firing ten rounds, was discovered in a follow-up search of the ambush site.

Private Patrick Lynch from Ballyfore, Croghan, was struck in the calf of his left leg. Transferred to the Curragh Military Hospital, his wound became gangrenous. His leg was amputated from the mid-thigh. He died from sepsis on 12 January 1923. Cadet P.C. White of Blessington, County Wicklow, died on 18 January 1923 from secondary haemorrhage to his left shoulder in the same hospital.

Lieutenant John Lacey, of Clopook in County Laois, the officer in charge of the Geashill garrison, was hit in his right shoulder. Undaunted, he continued to organise a defence from the ditches where soldiers had taken cover. Private Patrick Mulpeter of Togher, Daingean, was struck in the leg. Both survived. In recognition of Private Lynch’s death on behalf of the new Free State, his family was awarded a £40 gratuity. Following the Army Pensions Act of 1953, his mother was granted an annual allowance.

On a wet and windy Saturday afternoon recently the plaque was unveiled near Private Lynch’s unmarked grave in the old Croghan Hill cemetery. Michael Kirwan erected the plaque, funded from private donations, and sourced the local stone mason.

The 1st Infantry Battalion of the Defence Forces supplied a colour party of three soldiers. Ex-Army piper David Ussher provided the lament Hector the Hero. David, a retired Company Quartermaster Sergeant, also played The Minstrel Boy, Let Erin Remember, and The Dawning of the Day. The skirl of the pipes wailed out over the grave of a fallen comrade-in-arms, across the bleak bogland and over the high hill of Croghan.

The organiser, P.J. Goode of Cloneygowan and Dublin outlined Private Lynch’s military service. Born in 1898, he was the son of Thomas Lynch and Elizabeth Moran. He had three brothers and nine sisters. His father later enlisted in the National Army and served in Daingean. Patrick, a labourer, joined the Irish Volunteers in 1918 and reputedly possessed one of the Mauser rifles smuggled into Howth harbour in 1914. He was a Lieutenant of the pre-Truce IRA’s C (Croghan) Company, 3rd Battalion, Offaly No. I Brigade. Company Captain Patrick Egan recalled ‘…he was a fearless soldier and a true comrade, and always did his best to further the cause in every way.’ Joining the National Army in August 1922, he was stationed in the old Protestant school, converted into a makeshift barracks, in Geashill village.

Dr Philip McConway, an authority on the Revolutionary period in Offaly, gave a profile of the twenty-seven soldiers of the Geashill garrison listed in the November 1922 military census. They were overwhelmingly young and single, mainly small farmers and labourers. Only two soldiers were married. Over half of the garrison (55%) were aged in their twenties while 37% were teenagers. The average age was twenty-two years. The majority of the garrison were Offaly natives, primarily from the Daingean district. Among them was Private Lynch’s first cousin, John Moran from Croghan. They enlisted together in Tullamore on the same day.

Lethal violence was comparatively low in Offaly in the Civil War. The Offaly IRA, comprising two Brigades, killed five National Army soldiers and a civilian in 1922. The same year an Offaly IRA Volunteer died in combat in disputed circumstances. The IRA caused substantial damage to property and incessantly sabotaged the transport infrastructure.

Dr McConway stressed Private Lynch’s death had tragic consequences. IRA leaders Patrick Geraghty and Joseph Byrne were executed in Portlaoise Prison later that month in retaliation. Betrayed by an informer, they were captured in Croghan in November 1922. Private Lynch knew Geraghty and the Byrne brothers, Barty and Joseph from Cruith, during the War for Independence. They were his superior officers on the 3rd Battalion staff having oversight of IRA Companies in Croghan, Tyrrellspass, Rhode, and Kilclonfert. In counter-reprisals for the executions of Byrne and Geraghty, the IRA torched mansions at Ballyburly, Greenhill, Tubberdaly, Rathrobin and Durrow Abbey. Dr McConway contended the IRA’s co-ordinated burnings of these country houses owned by former prominent loyalists of the British regime, along with the executions in Portlaoise Prison, were interlinked to the fatal Raheen ambush.

Michael Kirwan thanked the Lynch family for helping to transport the plaque to the cemetery. He then read a local newspaper report of Private Lynch’s funeral: ‘The coffin was reverently carried by his late comrades up Croghan Hill’s steep side and there, within sight of the homestead where he was born…[Private] Lynch sleeps his last long sleep. The Very Rev. Father Norris, P.P., recited the last prayers at the graveside and referred in moving terms to the sad death of the young soldier … A guard of military, in charge of Lieutenant Jack Drumm attended to pay a last tribute to the memory of the deceased. The wreaths included one from Daingean Garrison, bearing the inscription –To the memory of a true friend and gallant soldier. May he rest in peace.’ Michael concluded with a poem by Joseph Rodman Drake: ‘And they who for their country die, shall fill an honoured grave, for glory lights the soldier’s tomb, and beauty weeps the brave.’

As the colour party, resplendent in their uniforms, stood to attention, Private Lynch’s niece Molly Lynch Feery unveiled the plaque. David Ussher played the National Anthem. Kilcappagh native Father John McEvoy, a Columban priest residing in Fiji who is to the forefront in financing heritage projects, blessed the memorial and the gathering. Local man Micheál Hannon thanked all involved. He said how pleased he was to see a fine memorial to one of their own. P.J. Goode placed a laurel wreath on behalf of the Cloneygowan and Geashill communities.

Thus ended the proceedings. The drenched attendees retreated down the slopes of Croghan Hill, happy in the knowledge that Private Lynch had received a fitting and overdue memorial to his life and his ultimate sacrifice.