Irish Volunteers - Sweeney

while the better halfs' family has a number of rebels and fenians on the family tree, mine are near non-existent. Most seemed to be focused on earning a living (and in some cases drinking it away).

The Sweeney's, related by marriage, are the only ones that have shown up so far as having an interest in Irish independence.

George, Michael and Patrick were the children of Hugh and Bridget Sweeney. Bridget by all accounts was a fierce supporter of the independence movement. though Hugh and Bridget are listed in the 1901 census as English speakers, the children are all listed as Irish speakers, even 3month old Michael.

George Sweeney was a member of the Irish Volunteers but followed the Redmond route into the British Army. He was killed in 1917 aged 19.

His brother Michael was also a member of the Irish Volunteers but too young to enlist in the army. Not too young to be a member of the South Dublin Union garrison during the Easter Rising though. He went on to fight during the War of Independence, was wounded, later imprisoned in Mountjoy but killed after the Truce and just before the Civil War erupted. Shot by members of the new National Army whilst escaping from a lorry at the corner of Grafton St and Nassau St. It was reported that his funeral at Glasnevin  (I always thought he was buried in Mount Jerome) was attended by over 3000 and his death was raised in the Dail by Harry Boland. 

Their younger brother Patrick was involved in running messages during the War of Independence.

Mrs Sweeney was involved in smuggling arms for the IRA after the Civil War, using the shop at no 5 Harold's Cross as a delivery and distribution point. 

Private John Miranda, Connaught Ranger

Reading around WW1, the Easter Rising, Tan War, Irish Civil War, there are a number of people that become "persons of interest" to use the police term. John Miranda is one such person for me; a Connaught Ranger mutineer still in India, left behind when the bodies of Sears, Smyth and Daly were repatriated to Ireland.

Private John Miranda died in Dagshai military prison following his arrest for taking part in the Connaught Rangers mutiny. He, like a number of the mutineers, was English rather than Irish. Born in Liverpool/Bootle, his parents/step mothers address at the time of his death was 11 Shelley Street, Bootle. His gravestone/memorial carries the  army number 7144229 which he would have been issued as a result of the British army renumbering exercise of 1920. During the Great War he was 5734 and then 35038, Connaught Rangers. His service record is most likely still with the Ministry of Defence.

In the 1901 census, John and his older brother Joseph Peter Miranda (born 21st August 1897) are living with his mother Elizabeth, her father Andrew Wiggins (his country of birth is given as Sweden with British in brackets) and her nephew, another Andrew Wiggins. No sign of the father, Jose Miranda.

Elizabeth Wiggins was born in Liverpool and married Jose Miranda in 1895. She died in 1904 (the death registered as Elizabeth Meranda). Jose Miranda married Elizabeth McCardle, a widow, in 1905.

In the 1911 census, John and Joseph are living away from home at a school institution.

Elizabeth Miranda nee McArdle is living at 11 Shelley St, Bootle and lists her place of birth as Ireland. Age 49 she is in the property with unmarried daughters Elizabeth and Annie McArdle (25 and 18 respectively) at the address. Elizabeth states married for 5 years with no children. No sign of Jose Miranda.

Joseph Miranda appears to have joined the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards after the Great War, as number 19412. His enlistment date is 6th June 1919 and he lists Mrs E Miranda at 11 Shelly St, Bootle as his next of kin. He was charged with stealing by civil authorities and discharged from the Army in August 1920. During the Great War he had served briefly with the Royal Navy Reserve, no Z/687, and then as 520158 Royal Garrison Artillery and 518345 Labour Corps. He listed his occupation as seaman.

He appears as a Deck Boy in the crew list of the SS Addah in 1915. The entry shows this was his first voyage.  His record can be found by searching on https://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk/

The father, Jose Miranda appears to have died in Liverpool in 1931, aged 66. His records have proved elusive.

The well travelled cooper

Having identified my Gt Gt Grandfather as one Hugh Niland, a Dublin cooper who worked at Guinness, I found I was having no luck finding out anything about him.

A few years back, I then somehow stumbled upon a Hugh Niland mentioned in an online record at the British Library with regards India. Sent off for a copy of the document and duly found that this was my Hugh, He'd enlisted in 1854 into the 2nd Bombay Regiment of European Infantry, part of the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), and gone across to India. The Indian Mutiny took place while he was there but he didn't seem to be involved in this. Ditto the Anglo-Persian war took place and some Bombay troops were sent to this but not Hugh. With the transfer of the HEIC regiments to the British Army, Hugh appears to have decided to leave and is discharged in November 1859 and makes his way back to Dublin.

Back in Dublin he marries Ellen Hawkins and has a child. Then disappears again.

Late in 2011 I had a look at the familysearch.org records and there's a new record for a Hugh Niland, a cooper from Ireland enlisting in the US Navy. A website called fold3.com then appears to have a record for the widow of a Hugh Niland. Upon signing up for the free trial it turns out that this is my Hugh Niland once again and the fold3 document is his widows application for a pension following his death in Dublin in 1895. He appears to have taken a chance to emigrate to Canada (this tallies with an entry in the Coopers Guild records at UCD), gone across to New York and enlisted in the US Navy for one year. He then re-enlisted for another year and serves on a ship off the coast of Florida intercepting British ships trying to break the Union blockade of the southern states.

Having travelled from Ireland to India, back to Ireland, over to Canada and the USA before going back to Ireland, Hugh is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in an unmarked grave. There is a possibility that he is entitled to a US Veterans gravestone.

On his death certificate, Hugh is initially recorded as Hyland. His date of death is originally given as December 1894 and then corrected to December 1895.The incorrect recording of surnames seems to be a regular issue with this family. Ditto incorrect dates.

Hugh was baptised in the Pro-Cathedral (a church linked to the Coopers Guild) in January 1836 and is recorded as Hugh of Joseph and Bridget Niland.

Of the children of Hugh and Ellen, John (1864-1913), Hugh (1869-1913) and Joseph (1872 - 1917) all became coopers.Only Joseph undertook any form of military service (killed in 1917 while serving with 179 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers).

Edit 5th March 2019
I am indebted to Damian Shiels for an excellent article re the Niland family, adding information re the Niland family and their time in the workhouse in Dublin :

https://irishamericancivilwar.com/2019/03/03/the-nilands-uncovering-a-19th-century-working-class-dublin-family-story-in-the-american-pension-files/

Knocklong 1919

Although my better half is C of I, she has quite a bit of republican family history.

The maternal Gt Grandfather, Martin Joseph Pender, is listed in The Paper Wall as a proof reader at the Irish Independent and as having republican sympathies. I've contacted the author of this book, Ian Kenneally, to see if it's possible to find out some more information about Martin Pender's career. Of Martin's children, Charles became a compositor at the Irish Independent while Aidan became editor of the Irish Independent and the Evening Herald.

The paternal grandfather, John Joe O'Brien  from Galbally in Co Limerick, was in this thick of things early on and participated in the rescue of Sean Hogan at Knocklong in May 1919. John Joe's brother Ned also took part, being wounded in the action and eventually making his way to the USA where he worked with Harry Boland. Jeremiah Ring, one of the policemen at Knocklong, later became a friend of and regular visitor to John Joe.

Ned and John Joe's younger brother William Patrick (aka Willie Pa) was arrested after the Easter Rising as a member of the Cobh, Co Cork Volunteers. He was sent to Wakefield and then onto Frongoch. Willie Pa died shortly after his release in November 1916.

Willie Pa and a number of his colleagues from Cork appear in the following blog :

http://diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/irish-volunteers-officer-training-january-1916.html#

One of the RIC men accused of mistreating Willie Pa at the time of his arrest was Sgt James Kingston. John Joe believed that he shot and killed Sgt Kingston at the fight at Annacarty in which Sean Wall was killed.

Of the men detained by the authorities after Knocklong, Edmund Foley and Patrick Maher were tried, found guilty and suffered death by hanging in Mountjoy Prison on the 7th June 1921. Immediately after their execution, the last man to be executed by the British in Ireland, Black and Tan Constable William Mitchell, was hung for his part in a robbery/murder in Co Wicklow.

Thomas Toomey's book "The War of Independence in Limerick 1912-1921" carries a good chapter about the Knocklong Rescue and touches on some of the exploits of John Joe and Ned O'Brien.

Both John Joe and Ned wrote Witness Statements for the Bureau of Military History.

(Links change : last update 16th April 2020)

John Joe O'Brien

Ned O'Brien

We were able to visit the grave of Willie Pa, Ned and John Joe during the Knocklong Centenary Commemoration.

Stan O'Brien was one of the wreath layers at the Knocklong Commemoration.

Stan was able to complete a book about John Joe, Ned, Willie Pa, their family and friends. 

A selection of photos still at the old O'Brien house in Galbally :