Peadar Clancy

Clancy was one of seven sons and six daughters born to James and Mary Clancy (née Keane), of Carrowreagh East, Cranny, County Clare in 1888. The Clancy home had been the meeting place for local Fenians since the 1860s. Though the Fenians had been instrumental in reawakening Irish culture through the Gaelic League, drama and the Gaelic Athletic Association, this form of "advanced nationalism" was not popular at this time. Educated at the local national school, which was close to his family home, at sixteen he became apprenticed in the drapery business of Dan Moloney, in Kildysart. On completing his apprenticeship he went to Newcastle West, County Limerick, where he worked as an assistant in the drapery business of Michael O'Shaughnessy on Bridge Street. From there, he moved to Youghal, County Cork, where he lived at 6 North Main Street, from which address he wrote to his infant nephew in Chicago on 17 October 1912. In 1913 he went to work for Harkin's General Drapery, at 70A New Street in Dublin. ==Easter Rising==

On coming to Dublin, Clancy joined the Irish Volunteers upon their inception, becoming a Volunteer in "CO" company, 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade. During the 1916 Easter Rising he served in the Four Courts garrison, alongside Dick McKee. Clancy was to distinguish himself in combat, when, with a group of Volunteers, he repelled an infantry attack at Church Street Bridge and forced an enemy retreat towards the Phoenix Park on Easter Monday. Shortly afterwards, Clancy personally burnt out a sniper from a house, and during the course of the Rising single-handedly captured Lord Dunsany and Colonel Lindsay. Lord Dunsany, though wounded by Clancy, said of the Republicans after his release: "Although in different uniforms, we are all Irishmen and you are all gentlemen." For the "courage, leadership and intelligence" shown during this period, he was promoted to Lieutenant by Captain Frank Fahy. After the Rising he was court-martialed and sentenced to death for his part in the rebellion; but his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for 10 years. He remained in English jails until June 1917, and upon his return to Dublin he helped to re-organise the Volunteers. ==Republican Outfitters==

After his release, Clancy started a drapery business of his own, called The Republican Outfitters, which was located at 94 Talbot Street. According to Dan Breen, it was one of the best-known meeting places in Dublin for the IRA, and was so closely watched that it was never advisable to remain there for long. Clancy's initial partners in the business were Maurice Brennan, Thomas Walsh (who, like Clancy, had been in the Four Courts garrison at Easter 1916, had been sentenced to death, but was later reprieved) and other comrades. By 1920, the initial partnership had been dissolved, Brennan and Walsh had gone out on their own at 5 Upper O'Connell Street (which was also used as a base by the Volunteers, with Walsh acting as intelligence officer of the 1st Battalion) and Tom Hunter had become part proprietor of the Talbot Street business with Clancy. ==Sinn Féin==

After his release from prison he was selected as the Sinn Féin candidate in the East Clare by-election, but his candidature was not ratified by IRA General Headquarters (GHQ) and Éamon de Valera was chosen at a second convention in Ennis. ==War of Independence==

During the Irish War of Independence, Clancy became immersed in the underground movement and carried out a number of daring feats, which ensured his rise to become the second-in-command of the Dublin Brigade, IRA, with the rank of Vice-Brigadier. He was also attached to GHQ where he held the rank of Director of Munitions. His immediate superior was his Easter Week colleague Dick McKee. The escape was considered a major coup by Republicans and was a boost to morale. The Squad, also known as the Twelve Apostles, was a counter-intelligence unit established in September 1919. This unit was to function as an urban flying column, which was to specialise in the killing of British intelligence agents and those police who were attentive in combatting the IRA. At its inaugural meeting the IRA leadership was represented by Peadar Clancy, along with Dick McKee, Michael Collins and Mick McDonnell. Clancy was also involved in the Republican breakout from Strangeways Prison in Manchester, England on 25 October 1919. Michael Collins had taken a particular interest in the escape, and actually visited Austin Stack in the prison to finalise the arrangements. In all six prisoners were to escape, among them Piaras Beaslaí who had again been arrested. On 19 December 1919, the Squad assembled at Kelly's, known locally as the Halfway House, on the Navan Road in Cabra. They planned to ambush Lord French, as he made his way from Ashtown railway station to the Phoenix Park. The Lord Lieutenant escaped the ambush, but one of the Volunteers, Martin Savage, was killed. On 11 October 1920, Seán Treacy and Dan Breen narrowly escaped capture while staying in a safe house in Fernside, a middle class area of Dublin. Professor Carlon, the owner of the house, was later to die as a result of the attack on the house, along with five British soldiers. Clancy and McKee became actively involved in the protection of both Breen and Tracy. On 14 October 1920, the Squad, along with Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, planned to assassinate Hamar Greenwood, and General Tudor, two of the top British officers in Ireland. They met in the back of Clancy's shop, The Republican Outfitters, in Talbot Street. When they received intelligence that neither of the officers would be present at the intended event, the operation was called off. As some of the Squad was leaving they met Seán Tracy, and informed him of events. Tracy continued on towards the shop. Tracy was in the process of planning the rescue of Dan Breen, who lay wounded in the Mater Hospital. They had learned that the hospital was to be raided, and wanted to get Breen out in time. According to Dan Breen, Tracy had been so intent on providing for his safety that he had neglected his own. Tracy had been followed to The Republican Outfitters, and he had failed to notice. The others had not moved much further when they heard the shots ring out. A raid on the shop had been planned, and Tracy had arrived just before the soldiers. Clancy was at Nelson's Pillar when he saw the trucks filled with soldiers pass, he surmised that the shop was to be raided, but had no way of warning his comrades. Tracy, along with two civilians, was killed in the incident. McKee only narrowly avoided capture, by escaping on a bicycle during the confusion at the time of the shooting. On 20 November, Clancy, along with members of the GHQ staff, met at 35 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin. The meeting was called to discuss the final arrangements for what would be the rout of the British secret service, with the elimination of the Cairo Gang. Cathal Brugha felt there was insufficient evidence against some of those named, and there was to be no room for doubt. Collins stated that the operation must be done at exactly 9am. Collins remarked: "These whores, the British, have got to learn that Irishmen can turn up on time." ==Arrest and interrogation==

Having concluded the meeting, they dispersed. Collins, Clancy and some of the others went to Vaughan's Hotel. While they were in the hotel, the porter, Christy Harte, became suspicious of one of the guests, a Mr Edwards. Edwards had made a late-night telephone call, and then left the hotel. Harte informed the Volunteers, who then quickly left the building. In the confusion, Conor Clune had been overlooked and remained in the hotel. The hotel was then raided a few minutes later. Clune was the only one arrested as he was not registered as a guest. This, according to Seán Kavanagh, a member of the Squad, would ultimately cost him his life. Upon their arrest, the three men were taken to the old detective office in the Exchange Court. According to T. Ryle Dwyer, the room was being used as a kind of guardroom, and was furnished with some beds, tables and some stores, which included a box of hand grenades. Brigadier-General Ormonde Winter, head of the British Secret Service in Ireland, and two Auxiliary Division officers, Captain Hardy and Captain King, were the personnel who interrogated Clancy, McKee and Connor Clune. ==Death and inquest==

According to T. Ryle Dwyer, the prisoners "supposedly" got hold of hand grenades and threw them. One of the sentries testified that he and a colleague heard a noise behind them and noticed that two of the prisoners had thrown the grenades at them. They dived for cover behind some mattresses, but the grenades did not detonate. One of the prisoners was also said to have got hold of a rifle according to one of the guards, which he levelled and fired at the guard commander as he entered the room, but missed. The prisoner then turned the rifle and fired another shot at another guard. The guard said he then fired at the prisoner, and the prisoner dropped, and that the guard commander also fired at the prisoner. Conor Clune's employer, the genealogist Edward MacLysaght, took charge of his body when the authorities released it. He then had the body medically examined. The examination proved that Clune had been shot thirteen times in the chest. This, Sean O'Mahony writes, was abundant evidence that the excuse put forward that he was trying to escape was a complete fabrication. As a result of these deaths in custody the British authorities held a military court of inquiry. Its report, issued on 3 December 1920, found that death was the result of: "Bullet wounds fired by members of the Auxiliary Division, Royal Irish Constabulary, in self defence and in execution of their duty, i.e. in preventing the escape of the deceased party, who was in their lawful custody." The American Commission for Evidence of Conditions in Ireland commented in 1920 that: "numerous cases had come before the commission where the reason alleged by the Crown forces for shooting civilians has been their connection with the Irish Republican Army and their attempts to escape after they have been made prisoner". It stretches credibility somewhat, according to Sean O'Mahony, that the garrison of Dublin Castle found it impossible to prevent the escape of three unarmed prisoners from the guardroom without shooting them. Collins was later provided with information on the Auxiliaries responsible (F Company) through Major Reynolds of F Company. Frank Thornton, one of Collins intelligence staff, was to receive information and photographs of the "murder gang", not only of F Company but of Q Company and a number of others also. Brigadier-General Frank Percy Crozier later resigned in disgust as leader of the Auxiliaries. This came after General Tudor, head of police operations, undermined Crozier's efforts to discipline some of his men for their conduct. Among them was Captain William King, who was "particularly notorious", and believed by Republicans to have been involved in the deaths in the Castle. King was charged with the death of another two men who also had been killed while trying to escape. The Times newspaper at the time noted that "the postures suggest that the two men had been placed sided by side and with their backs to the wall before being shot". King along with two others were later acquitted. A book titled Death in the Castle: Three murders in Dublin Castle 1920, written by Sean O'Mahony, and published by 1916–1921 Club records both the lives and deaths of the three Republicans. ==Burial and legacy ==

The bodies of McKee and Clancy were laid side by side at a requiem mass in the Pro-Cathedral. Both were dressed in their Volunteer uniforms and their tricolour-draped coffins bore their caps and belts. Michael Collins risked his security to be present at the service. According to Richard Mulcahy, Collins was distraught at their deaths, as they were "the two men who fully understood the inside of Collins’ work and his mind, and who were ever ready and able to link up their resources of the Dublin brigade to any work that Collins had in hand, and to do so promptly, effectively and sympathetically." Part of Moore Street in Kilrush was also renamed as Clancy Street. Conor Clune's body was brought home to County Clare for burial. His coffin was draped with the tricolour, but when a British officer objected to it, the presiding priest removed the national flag. It was in Mountjoy that Todd Andrews first met him. In his memoir, Dublin Made Me, Andrews described Clancy's personality: "I was overcome by the extraordinary impact which Clancy’s personality had on me. I had never heard or seen Clancy before nor indeed did I ever see him again but he left an indelible impression of the superman, a man whose commands I at least would have a compulsion to obey as if I had been hypnotised ... In the presence of Clancy I felt a mere puppet on a string." Kathleen Clarke said of Clancy that he was of an "outstanding type". Dan Breen, in his book My Fight for Irish Freedom, described both Clancy and McKee as "kindred spirits", who belonged to a small band of gunmen who would take any risk in the country's cause. His great-grandnephew, Eoin Neylon was the president of Ogra Fianna Fáil for two terms. ==References==