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1921-257

Private P.J. Cagney

Private P.J. Cagney of the First Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps (near Charleville)

Date of incident: 23 May 1921 (captured, executed, and disappeared as suspected intelligence operative by IRA)

Sources: CE, 26 May 1921; FJ, 26 May 1921; II, 28 May 1921; CWN, 4 June 1921;The Police Gazette, 4/7/21; Darcy pp. 50-1, Michael Geary and Richard Smith’s WS 754, 25 (BMH); O’Connell (1991), 21; D’Arcy (2008), 50-51; Commonwealth War Graves Commission; http://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/list-1921.htmlhttp://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/deserters/charleville/charlville-deserters.html (accessed 8 Aug. 2014).

 

Note: Two members of the Machine Gun Corps stationed at the RIC barracks in Charleville either deserted or posed as deserters and suffered the fate of alleged intelligence operatives at the hands of the IRA. See the previous note. A military officer had notices posted up, stating that unless information concerning the two soldiers missing from barracks since Monday, 23 May, was received by 27 May, all auction sales in Charleville would be prohibited. Threats of the destruction of houses in reprisal were also broadcast. See CE, 26 May 1921. Neither tactic produced the desired results.

The Irish Revolution Project

Scoil na Staire /Tíreolaíocht

University College Cork, Cork,

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