battleofdublin

National Army armoured car at Henry Street
near Nelson’s Pillar during the Battle of Dublin
in late June/early July 1922.
Attached to the car is an effigy of anti-Treaty IRA leader
Rory O’Connor, reading derisively ‘Rory Boy’. The British
army gave thirteen of these rolls royce armoured cars to
the Provisional Government in early 1922. Impervious
to small-arms fire, they carried a Vickers machine gun
in a rotating turret. Soldiers named them after songs,
patriotic heroes or separatist victories. In the case of this
armoured car, the name ‘Customs House’ celebrates the
burning of that structure by the IRA’s Dublin Brigade in
May 1921, an operation many National Army officers
had participated in.

theirishrevolution.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/U8.-TY-U...

The ARR known as the The Customs House, named due to the IRA attack on the building during the War of Independence. The figure on top has a noose around its neck and bears a placard entitled “Rory Boy” after Rory O’Connor, an Irregular leader captured during the first few weeks fighting

Certainly, the Irregulars had nothing to match them. Crewed by three soldiers, with a top speed of 45mph and armed with a .303 Vickers machine gun on a rotating turret, the ARR’s played a vital part in the opening stages of the war, whether it was supporting infantry, providing generals with mobile-command centres, or spearheading frontal assaults.

These ARR’s included such notable examples as The Customs House (pictured above), from which General Seamus Hogan led the Dublin Guards on their assault on the village of Bruree during the Battle of Killmallock, or the Ex-Mutineer, captured from the Irregulars during the first week of fighting and which subsequently spearheaded the seaborne landings on the Irregular stronghold of Kerry.

www.quora.com/How-were-armored-cars-used-during-the-Irish...

The internet's full of this stuff - looks like it's a famous enough photo.

Seems to have been replaced with an Opel now: www.google.ie/maps/@53.3497326,-6.2607722,2a,75y,76.57h,9...

Patrick J. "Specky" Griffin on the right, according to www.customhousecommemoration.com/2018/03/18/who-was-speck...

The destruction of so many records was a real loss for future generations, though I'm sure no one was too worried about that at the time!

How sad!

Respect..!

How shock sight...

People pleaded with them not to blow it and they did it anyway. A tragedy in the midst of tragedies.

Not a huge amount on him: www.limerickcity.ie/media/1922%2007%2024%20vol%201%20no%2...

I think this is his BMH Statement, which gives him a first name, Joe, and mentions that he was part of the Squad.

4 July 1922 was a Tuesday.

Leonard was on the "Ashtown Ambush" when the IRA failed to assassinate Lord French. www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/17069060140/in/photolist-... He seems to have had a wry sense of humour by his BMH account. "Lord Lieutenant Ffrench 19th December, 1919. Ashtown. Lord Ffrench was a gallant gentleman and he conducted his British affairs in Ireland to the very best of his ability but he fell very short of our idea as to how we could run our own country ourselves, consequently it was thought best to remove him from office by gunfire....!"

I see one source saying this is him aged 18 in the 1911 census.

Does it seem likely to anyone else that the armoured vehicle on the left is the same "Fighting 2nd" Whippet posted before? (The visible registration is compatible and the "double rear wheel" set-up, turret and rear platform look like that of the Whippets'...)

Such an interesting piece of history captured.

guliolopez Absolutely, Eagle Eye!! I was being sneaky, waiting to see if anyone'd spot it... Got so excited when I noticed it, because it's one thing to see the type of posed shot when we first met The Fighting 2nd / ARR 3, but to see it in action is something else!

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/resel] Thanks!

They don't look terribly nervous! When the 1916 rising, my mother's aunt cycled from Dublin to Athboy to escape!