ambush

I saw a documentary on Dan Breen over the weekend on TV4. Breen was involved in this ambush and was badly wounded. His views on killing were stark. see youtu.be/ty_U6U8iiTg

The ambush was at Ashtown crossroads near the Halway House (then Kellys), but the whole area has been rebuilt. Even the crossroads is a big roundabout now.

the Ambush was 19th December 1919. I would think this photo is dated very soon after that.

Irish Times 20th December 1919

Martin Savage was killed during the ambush, here is a report of his funeral from the Irish Times 24th December 1919.

There's something about that downpipe that make me think that this might be the building. Streetview 25"OSI That could well have been the highest Lewis machine gun in Ireland on that day.

THE MEELIN AFFRAY. An authoritative account of the Meelin affray, superseding the earlier official message, says the Sinn Fein attackers opened fire on the military patrol. using a machine gun mounted on a crest of a hill dominating the road. The range was 300 yards. The police and military took cover and replied. The fight continued for two hours, until reinforcements appeared, when the Sinn Feiners fled. The soldiers, when subsequently occupying the hilltop, found blood there, indicating that some of the Sinn Feiners had been wounded. The military arrested six men at Meelin, including a youth, who ran away when challenged and was shot in the stomach. Gen. Strickland has given orders that five houses near the Meelin road, from which premises shots were fired at the military and police party, are to be destroyed.

From trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55151458 (7/1/1921), which implies the reprisals happened a month later ?

I've a feelin' that the photos of Meelin in the NLI catalogue are not too reliable with the dates - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000218124 - 7/12/1921 (!) catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000218266 - 20/1/1921 catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000279878 - n.d. 1921 (amazing photo)

beachcomber australia I think you're right about the dates. The attrocities happened soon after the IRA attacks on the 4th January. The woman in your last photo may be the daughter of the widow, Mrs M Browne..... see page 2 of this Bureau of Military History Witness Statement. www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0785.pdf "The place was such after these reprisals that Madam Gonne McBride and several other members of the White Cross arrived on the scene a few days after and photos of the burning appeared on the Press later " I wonder are these the same photographs Maud Gonne saw in the press? .

In the modern age of internet and social media suppression like this can't be carried out without the world getting to know about it almost instantaneously.

www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/15766239474 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader) upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Sean_Collins_... www.racontour.com/michael-collins-remembered/ military.wikia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader) www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40036394.html collinsassassination.wordpress.com/2019/09/21/michael-col... www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bu... www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/arrest-warra... www.shamrockgift.com/blog/michael-collins-death-theories/ www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/top-10-facts-you-didnt-know-a... thewildgeese.irish/profiles/blogs/michael-collins-1890-19... www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/michael-collins-death-...

Behind the fellow with an "X" (what's that about?) might be Collins' brother and sister, via this Trove photo bottom left - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176523589?searchTerm=c... (needs confirmation)

Thank you so much for honouring my birthday with a picture featuring the man who was very indirectly responsible for my middle name. My grandmother really really liked the name Michael. But when her first (and only) son was born in 1922, it didn't seem right to give him the same name as the man causing such a fuss (as she would have put it) across the Irish Sea. So he was named Philip. When her first grandson (i.e. me) was born, she still liked the name Michael a lot and persuaded my parents to call their new baby Michael (as a middle name - I suspect a comprise). None of my siblings has a middle name and It's still an object of jealousy. So that's my very tenuous connection to Michael Collins.

John Spooner Happy Birthday John Michael! Another nail in the coffin! 🎂

John Spooner Wishing you a very Happy Bertie, John, from all of us here at Library Towers! And glad to see that sibling jealousy is equally daft the world over... :)