THE IRISH CIVIL WAR

The arrest of Maire Cleary in Upper Dorset Street, Dublin in 1922

Maire Comerford, the gun-toting countess, the Clearys and Mrs Tom Clarke - they were all there.

In 1973 I met Maire and Nellie Cleary in the Fire Station across the road from their original home at 21 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin. The tenement at Upper Dorset backed on to Granby Lane, where the girls' father Daniel had a cooperage. On the other side of the lane was the back garden of Vaughan's Hotel - situated in Parnell Square - a Michael Collins haunt. Hence his journeys through Number 21. I had no contact with the women after 1973 and they now lie in Glasnevin Cemetery. I'll never forget the stories that unfolded in the kitchen. Brendan Behan, Liam Lynch, Michael Collins and a stream of famous republicans had taken refuge at 21 Upper Dorset. Writer Sean O'Casey was born not far away in Upper Dorset Street, on 30 March 1880.

The Fire Station in Upper Dorset Street where the Cleary women spent their last years and I was treated to one great historical journey.

For nearly thirty years I've tried to piece together the lives of the Clearys in Dorset Street during the Irish Civil War. Maire and Nellie were gaoled in 1923; Maire on 20 February 1923 and Nellie some time after - she doesn't appear in a list in the Irish Daily Bulletin of 6 April 1923 - and were released on 7 September and 11 September 1923, respectively.

Maire (Molly in the records) was held in Kilmainham from 20 February 1923 until being transferred to the North Dublin Union on 3 May 1923. It was a tradition for Republican prisoners to autograph each other's diary.

On 11 June 1923 Maire Cleary autographed Bridget Reid's book with a poem 'Oh boys who died for Ireland' and signed Lily Gleason's (sic) book on 2 August 1923, both times in the NDU. On 15 June she signed Mary Twamley's book.

Maire Cleary's signature in Mary Twamley's book. Note the use of the Irish language and the words 'Concentration camp'.

Nellie appears to have spent her whole time in Kilmainham. According to their niece, Joan Cleary (her father was the girls' brother, John) the Free State army had arrived at Upper Dorset Street looking for a woman on the run. When their mother wouldn't or didn't provide the information concerning the whereabouts of the woman the army took the girls away. According to Joan, Nellie was released on the orders of a doctor.

Another relative, Dan Howard - whose mother Alice was Mary and Nellie's sister - told me in a letter in 2000 how IRA man Sean McEntee was secreted out of the house during the war of independence dressed as a woman. McEntee made his escape to Kingsbridge Station. Joan didn't cite the name McEntee but did tell me about a man from Belfast having once taken refuge in the house. It could only have been MacEntee, who was elected to the Dail in 1918 and went on to become a minister in the Fianna Fail Government. His daughter Maire is married to Conor Cruise O'Brien and is famous in her own right as an Irish language poet.

I'm told by Dan Howard that in a book he wrote about his respite at 21 Upper Dorset Street McEntee failed to acknowledge the Clearys, prompting a letter from Nellie that induced McEntee to visit the flat and apologise.

On a list compiled from Kilmainham records are some fascinating vignettes of the civil war. Mary (sic) Comerford, from the famous republican family is listed as having escaped from the NDU on 5 May 1923, two days after Maire Cleary arrived there. Maire Comerford had reported to Countess Markievicz at St Stephen's Green during the 1916 uprising. She was turned away due to her age. After her escape from the NDU in 1923 Comerford was re-captured and held in Kilmainham where she went on a hunger strike. The Cleary girls were in good company.

Maire's signature in Lily Gleeson's book.

 

A Brutal Time

Peter Cassidy

On the same Civil War Prisoner List page that carries Maire and Nellie's names is recorded Peter Cassidy of 7 Usher Street, Dublin. He was executed on 17 November 1922 after being arrested in Thomas Street, Dublin on 26 October 1922 in 'possession of a full webley .45'. Cassidy was a member of the Dublin brigade of the IRA. It was a brutal time.

Patrick Clare

Patrick Clare, of 23 Heylesbery Street, Dublin, was arrested - 7 November 1922 - in possession of a webley.

Mrs Tom Clarke, widow of the executed Easter Rebellion republican, appears also. She was arrested and released on the same day, 12 February 1923. Too famous to be treated badly?

Mrs Plunkett's cell in Kilmainham

contact me: philcleary@bigpond.com