Denis "Sonny" O'Neill

A project a few years ago looking into the capture of a Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) from the South Irish Horse in January 1918. It wasn't too difficult to identify Corporal Denis "Sonny" O'Neill as the missing NCO after a delve into WW1 Prisoner of War Records held by the Red Cross.

Repatriated in a batch of severely wounded soldiers in June 1918, O'Neill would later find himself one of the chief suspects in the shooting of General Michael Collins in August 1922. 

I don't discount O'Neill as a potential suspect - I just don't think there is enough untainted "evidence" and unbiased opinion to come to an absolute conclusion. What I can say is there is no evidence to show that he was a trained sniper with a record of "kills" but I would expect his service in the Royal Irish Constabulary and the South Irish Horse to have established a good knowledge of how to use a rifle to shoot to a reasonable standard. 

Without a proper autopsy on Collins to confirm absolutely what type of bullet was used and what type of wound was inflicted everything is just opinion and red herrings.

Over in Sweden, an autopsy was conducted in 1917 on the remains of King Charles XII who had been killed in 1718 under less than clear circumstances. A good little analysis of the research into the possible weapons etc. Perhaps it needs that time distance to move forward with the Collins theories.

The Military Archives team generally do a great job with the archives but collected a bullet from a wall in Portobello/Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin and believe that a .44 Magnum (not developed until the 1950s) was used in the 1916 murders of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Thomas Dixon, and Patrick McIntyre. I would love to be able to see the ballistic report to see if this is really the conclusion reached.

The research into O'Neill capture and wound status is used in Paddy Cullivan's show "The Murder of Michael Collins". I'm not too sure I agree with Paddy's take on the role of a Musketry Instructor but he does raise other interesting observations.

Paddy's shows are well worth checking out just to see the reaction and rejection of some of his take on the world of Irish "history". Mark Perry's book on The South Irish Horse in the Great War is a good read too.

O'Neill's pension claims records are available to download from the Military Archives website, 4 files in total under the reference MSP34REF4067.