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Attempts to Capture the
North Kildare Flying Column
February – July 1921

Published in the Liffey Champion, 1^st of May 2021

Throughout the first half of 1921 during the most intensive period of the War of Independence, Kilcock and the surrounding area experienced more harassment by Black and Tans than any other town in County Kildare. The population of the town were subjected to regular searches, intimidation and extortion by the Crown forces in their attempts to capture members of the local IRA Company who were heavily engaged in resistance to British rule.

In the second half of 1920 in order to counter the Black and Tan threat and utilise men on the run the IRA formed flying columns, but they did not make an appearance in County Kildare until early 1921. The monthly report for May 1921 of Major Victor Scott, the County Inspector of the RIC in Kildare, indicated the existence of two flying columns in the county one in the north and the other in the south. The latter column was concentrated in the area of the Kildare No. 2 Battalion. While one report suggest it operated from late 1920, detail emanating from the IRA headquarters suggests it was formed in April 1921 under the command of Martin O’Neill. The column was centred in Ballymore Eustace and operated mainly in the Kildare – Wicklow county boundary area. The IRA had organised their volunteer activists along military lines such as brigades and battalions. The No. 1, Kildare Battalion operated throughout North Kildare extending from Leixlip to Clogherinka, but also included districts of Enfield and Coole in County Meath. Subsequently, this battalion became part of the Meath Brigade which was headed by Sean Boylan who had his headquarters in Dunboyne. In early 1921 the battalion was commanded by Paddy Mullaney whose headquarters was in Leixlip.

The Maynooth Ambush on 11 February 1921 which resulted in the death of an RIC sergeant was the circumstance that led to the formation of a flying column in this battalion area. While two parties on either side of Maynooth planned to ambush an RIC party, it was the unit manned mainly by Kilcock activists that carried out the ambush. This resulted in an immediate and extensive dragnet by Crown forces aimed at capturing the IRA party responsible. The initial search concentrated in the Dunboyne area, but within a short time, the search concentrated on Kilcock indicating that some level of intelligence had been obtained by the RIC. While there were fears of reprisals by Black and Tans in Maynooth, close family members of the Kilcock IRA likewise feared reprisals. At this point a female relative of one of the Kilcock activists passed on the names of most of the Kilcock Company to the RIC, in the hope that it would prevent reprisals and, in the misbelief that arrests would be avoided. Her action gives some indication of the fear and panic and even hysteria experienced by vulnerable relatives of the IRA at the time.

With the names of the Kilcock IRA members known to the RIC, practically the entire company were forced to go on the run. This led to the establishment of the North Kildare Flying Column in the No. 1 Kildare Battalion area in late February 1921. It was organised by Paddy Mullaney who appointed Mick Flynn, the company captain of the Kilcock IRA in charge. While Mullaney’s role at this time was unknown to the RIC, he remained in overall command of the battalion and was able to continue with his teaching duties in Leixlip National School, by day while engaged in IRA activity by night. As the new flying column was based in Kilcock the various safe-houses and hideouts were in the general vicinity of the town. Hideouts included, Ballycahan Foxcovert, situated one and a half miles west of Kilcock, where the column constructed a small wooden shack, and an isolated unoccupied farmhouse three miles south of Kilcock at Graiguepottle. One activist, Michael McCormack, who at times served as second in command of the column built his own dugout in which the entrance was concealed by a bush. Many accounts survive of heroic assistance given to the wanted men by the women of the locality who put their own lives and the lives of their families at risk.

Great care was taken in concealing their weapons which were only used when undertaking active operations. Various details survive regarding the hiding places including one account which suggests that a local farmer was compelled to hide weapons in a beehive on his farm. In January 1921, prior to the formation of the flying column, operations by the IRA in North Kildare upped a gear with companies engaging in counter mobility operations aimed at hindering the mobility of Crown forces. Detailed intelligence from the British army indicated that on one night alone in the second week of January eight bridges were partially or seriously damaged in the north of the county. Other operations included cutting of telegraph wires, mail robberies and trenching roads. Support was given to operations outside the county such as on the 4^th of February when backup assistance was given to the Meath IRA when Summerhill House was burned. This escalation of IRA activity in early 1921 resulted in the arrests of several suspects including a large number from Kilcock.

While members of the flying column were full-time guerrilla fighters, the terrain of the general Kilcock area did not provide suitable locations for ambushes. But due to their presence and involvement in the Maynooth Ambush an increasingly hostile Black and Tans increased their activity in the Kilcock area with the local community taking the brunt of what seemed to be punishing tactics. On the 4^th of March a number of men in Kilcock were rounded up by Black and Tans and brought to Courtown where they were forced to repair a damaged bridge. Much of the material used were commandeered from business premises in the town, corrugated iron and railway sleepers from Con Buckley’s hardware premises and tools from Connolly’s shop. Three weeks later on the 25^th of March roads were trenched close to Kilcock. The following day Black and Tans converged on the town and searched a large number of men before placing some under arrest. Men, horses and cars were then commandeered to fill in the trenched roads.

Between August 1920 and January 1921 there had been no RIC barrack in North Kildare. The nearest barracks to Kilcock was at Lucan almost ten miles from the town. In late January 1921 a new barrack was opened in Maynooth. However, in the aftermath of the Maynooth Ambush the IRA suspected that the RIC intended in establishing a barrack in Kilcock. At the time a new Ulster Bank premises was nearing completion in the town and speculation that Black and Tans would commandeer the building for use as a barrack was rife. Ulster Bank was owned by Belfast concerns and the fact that there was an ongoing boycott of Belfast goods presented the IRA with an additional excuse to target the building. On the night of the 15^th of March 1921 the IRA burned down the new Ulster Bank building, causing an estimate of £8,000 worth of damage. Subsequently, a report by Major Scott, denied claims that the building was to be commandeered as a police barrack.

Three weeks later on the 11^th of April the fair of Kilcock was targeted. Following the Maynooth Ambush fairs and markets were banned within a two-mile radius of Maynooth. However, this did not apply to Kilcock where the activists responsible for the ambush resided and were sheltered by the local population. On the day of the fair Auxiliaries and RIC seized a large number of bicycles belonging to both residents and people attending. Receipts were given to the owners who were informed that the bicycles were to be taken to Trim. The actions of the Crown forces could be regarded as a form of reprisal and a method of punishing the local population for giving sanctuary to men on the run.

Later in the month, on Sunday evening of the 24^th of April a more serious incident occurred. Crown forces on entering Kilcock observed a man moving away from a group and gave chase. The man was pursued along Mill Lane by three Black and Tans who opened fire. Some of their colleagues went around by the Square to cut him off. In all, about eight to ten shots were fired but the man escaped uninjured, running in the direction of the Commons adjacent to Rye Water River. At this point with the RIC and Black and Tans unable to capture or eliminate the North Kildare Flying Column the army were called and it was hoped that a military drive would accomplish the job. This involved army units cordoning off an area of countryside, searching all men before moving to another area and carrying out the same procedure. The operation in addition to targeting the general Kilcock area also included a separate military drive throughout a more substantial area of the midlands. A cavalry column was formed for the various operations. One section made up of the 15^th Hussars marched on the 20^th of May from Dublin to an area four miles north of Kilcock. The remainder of the cavalry column marched from the Curragh on the 27^th of May and initially concentrated on an area of the Bog of Allen. Later in the day they advanced to search Rathangan and Edenderry, before proceeding to the midlands to engage in a marathon drive which was to continue for more than three weeks.

The Hussars in the Kilcock area also began operations on the morning of the 27^th of May. Armoured cars and lorries as well as airplanes were involved in the search. The Black and Tans advanced from Kilcock while the military column proceeded from their base in the Summerhill area. From 8 am to 2 pm seven or eight miles of the country were closed in from different points. The military encircling movement which searched fields and farmhouses extended as far west as Cloncurry. The airplanes, which were based in the RAF airdrome at Baldonnel, engaged in low level reconnaissance manoeuvres over ditches as well as other features of the terrain. The numbers of military participating in the Kilcock offensive alone were substantial which included fourteen armoured cars and lorries with each lorry accommodating some 30 soldiers. A conservative estimate of the numbers involved suggests that almost 500 participated.

According to local reports some of the wanted men took refuge in the isolated safe-house at Graiguepottle which was not in an area earmarked by the army for searching.

Three weeks later the other section of the cavalry column operating in the midlands, having traversed eight counties moved to the Summerhill area and the 15^th Hussars who had been based in that area moved back to Dublin. On the 19^th of June, units consisting of Carabiniers and 12^th Lancers conducted a night-time operation. Cyclist posts were established at road junctions on a broad front between Kilcock and Longwood from 11 pm to 3 am, in which motor cars and cyclists were stopped and searched. The military column then returned to the Curragh on the 20^th of June.

While army drives were successfully carried by orders of General Kitchener during the guerrilla stage of the Boer War from 1900–02, the operations in the Kilcock area of North Kildare in 1921 certainly did not have the expected results. General Jeudwine the most senior officer based in the Curragh and second in command of the British army in Ireland, who ordered the operation, afterwards admitted that the drives had little results, but he argued that they provided excellent training operations. Major Scott was also disappointed with the results indicating that the drives were unsuccessful. He also reported an upsurge in militancy in Kildare during May with the number of indictable offensives rising from 25 in April to 34 in May, an increase of 32 percent in one month.

The Crown forces however, kept up the pressure on the flying column and on Sunday the 26^th of June, targeted the Horse and Pony Races that were held in the old Bawnogue Racecourse, adjacent to Kilcock. The races were the most important social and entertaining event of the year and were well publicised throughout neighbouring counties. There was even a taxi service to the event available from the GPO ruins in Dublin. Five events were on the card. Bookies were in attendance and numerous venders operated stalls supplying snacks and refreshments. The event was held in glorious sunshine with large numbers particularly ladies turning up. When the third event ‘The Kilcock Plate’ was underway the field was surrounded by Crown forces which included, military, Auxiliaries and RIC. The attendants were gathered together and all males were searched but there were no arrests. At this point the remaining races were cancelled with the attendance quietly dispersing. While the search was in progress nearby Courtown Wood was also searched, but this was also a fruitless exercise.

The activities of the Crown forces at the Bawnogue amounted to yet another case of reprisal directed against local people. Throughout a five-month period the public in Kilcock were practically subjected to a reign of terror, with constant abuse, regular searches and numerous arrests by Crown forces. However, only a small number of those arrested belonged to the Kilcock IRA such as John Duff and Patrick Byrne. Many were targeted due to their relationship with well-known activists such as Con Buckley, a prominent trader in Kilcock who was a brother of Donal Buckley the local Sinn Féin TD. Paddy Mullaney also had to go on the run at this time and occasionally joined up with the flying column taking charge of them for a three-week period when they were in hiding in Ballycahan Foxcovert.

As the summer progressed there seemed to be no let-up in attempts by Crown forces to capture the flying column. However, on the 11^th of July 1921 a truce came into effect, which resulted in an undefeated IRA retaining their arms and activists on the run being able to return home without fear of arrest. The North Kildare Flying Column could now breathe a sigh of relief. While their ancestors in 1798 held out for three months in practically the same neighbourhood before negotiating surrender terms, on this occasion, the outcome was different. Generally, the IRA viewed the truce as a form of victory. As General Jeudwine put it, IRA leaders ‘came out of their hiding places – convincing themselves and the population generally that they had won the war’.

The truce curtailed the duties of Crown forces who in many areas were mainly confined to barracks. Black and Tans in Maynooth barracks, were virtually wound down without any powers of arrest and under the scrutiny of an IRA liaison officer. If the outcome of the war alluded to by General Jeudwine had winners and losers, then the North Kildare men could well afford to claim a form of victory. Negotiations the week following the truce, offered Southern Ireland a form of independence enjoyed by Canada, Australia and South Africa. For Paddy Mullaney, Mick Flynn and the other North Kildare activists, ‘convincing themselves that they had won the war’ was not too far off the mark.

Sources

1. RIC CI Kildare monthly reports, Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. 1921 (TNA, CO 904/114)
2. Leinster Leader, 19, 26 Feb. 1921, 12 March 1921, 4 June 1921, 25 June 1921, 2 July 1921, 28 Oct 1989
3. Hugh Jeudwine, ‘History of the 5th Division in Ireland, November 1919 – March 1922’ pp 44, 110; appendix xviii (Imperial War Museum (IWM) London
4. Paddy Mullaney interview (UCDA), O’Malley notebooks, P17b/106,110
5. Pension statement by Paddy Mullaney, 12 Dec. 1935 (IMA, MSPC, WMSP34REF35313)
6. Michael Smyth (BMH WS 1,531, pp 9, 13)
7. Michael Smyth, ‘Kildare Battalions – 1920’ in Capuchin Annual, 1970
8. Seamus Cullen, Kildare the Irish Revolution, 1912–23, (Dublin, 2020), pp 90–1, 111–2;
9. Interviewees – Kevin Simms; Mick Gill

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