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1920-97

Lieutenant David Alfred Rutherford

Lieutenant David Alfred Rutherford, M.C. (aged 22) of the 115th Siege Battery, 7th Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery (Laharankeal, Rusheen, near Coachford)

Date of incident: 29 Oct. 1920 (abductedexecuted, and disappeared as intelligence operative by IRA)

Sources: II, 15 Nov. 1920; IT, 22 Aug. 1921; Charles Browne’s WS 873, 31-32 (BMH); Edward Neville’s WS 1665, 5 (BMH); Interview with Charlie Brown, Ernie O’Malley Notebooks, P17b/112 (UCDA); Borgonovo (2007), 21-22; Sheehan (2011), 74; irishmedals.org (accessed 28 July 2014); Commonwealth War Graves Commission; http://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/list-1921.htmlhttp://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/artillerymen/rutherford/rutherford.htmlhttp://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/artillerymen/missing-artillerymen.html (accessed 1 Aug. 2014).

 

Note: Rutherford was one of two British artillerymen who disappeared while on a motorcycle trip, and who were captured and killed by the IRA. Both artillerymen were intelligence operatives. See the previous note. Macroom Volunteer leader Charlie Brown recalled these executions decades later: ‘Two British officers Rutherford and Brown were shot in [the] Rusheen area. They were Green Howards and they were captured on a motor bike dressed in civvies. They had a camera. They were shot and were buried.’ See Interview with Charlie Brown, Ernie O’Malley Notebooks, P17b/112 (UCDA). 

The Irish Revolution Project

Scoil na Staire /Tíreolaíocht

University College Cork, Cork,

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