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1920-176

Volunteer Tadhg (Timothy) Crowley

Volunteer Tadhg (Timothy) Crowley (aged about 20) of Behagullane (Ballyhalwick near Dunmanway)

Date of incident: 15 Dec. 1920

Sources: CE, 16, 17, 18, 22, 28 Dec. 1920; II, 16, 17 Dec. 1920; SS, 21 Dec. 1920; CCE, 8 Jan. 1921; II, 8 Jan., 5, 18 Feb., 22, 28 March, 5 May 1921; CWN, 15 Jan. 1921; FJ, 18 Feb., 4, 26 March, 5 May 1921; List of IRA Casualties in 1920 (Collins Papers, A/0436, Military Archives); Military Inquests, WO 35/155B/12 (TNA); Ted O’Sullivan’s WS 1478, 27 (BMH); Rebel Cork’s FS, 207; Barry (1949, 1989), 236; Last Post(1976), 77; O’Mahony (2010-11), 59-61; Leeson (2011), 204; Ó hÉalaithe (2014), 147.

 

Note: Crowley was cycling about one mile east of Dunmanway when he was stopped by RIC Auxiliary Cadet Sergeant Vernon Anwell Hart, who at first demanded to see the permit for his bicycle and soon thereafter shot him dead, despite an attempt at intervention by Canon Magner. At the subsequent military court of inquiry a witness stated that after Hart had shot Crowley, ‘two of the [Auxiliary] cadets jumped out [of their lorry], but Hart warned them back with his revolver’. The Auxiliary cadet ‘who gave this evidence said that Harte [sic] seemed to be “clean off his head”. He had been drinking steadily for some time and was on the verge of the “D.T.’s.”’ See CE, 18 Dec. 1920. Too late, Hart was found to be insane. For the case of Cadet Hart, see SS, 21 Dec. 1920; CCE, 8 Jan. 1921; II, 8 Jan., 5, 18 Feb., 22, 28 March, 5 May 1921; FJ, 18 Feb., 4, 26 March, 5 May 1921.

Tadhg Crowley was designated an IRA member in Volunteer leader Ted Sullivan’s BMH witness statement and in lists of the republican dead in 1919-21. See Ted Sullivan’s WS 1478, 27 (BMH); Barry (1949, 1989), 236. Crowley was also so recognised in a list of IRA casualties in 1920. See Collins Papers, A/0436 (Military Archives).

Tadhg Crowley was one of the ten children of the Behagullane farmer, county councillor, and widower Florence Crowley. In 1911 six sons and only one of his four daughters co-resided with him. Timothy or Tadhg Crowley (then aged 11) was the second youngest of his sons. His father had been ‘one of the most esteemed and popular members’ of the Board of Management [of the Cork Lunatic Asylum] for many years. Tadhg’s brother Jeremiah (Jerome) had succeeded to a place on the same board. See CE, 28 Dec. 1920.

The Irish Revolution Project

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