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Michael Collins and the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
Extract
On the morning of 22 June 1922 Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson left his home in London to unveil a war memorial at Liverpool Street railway station. When he returned at 2.30 that afternoon, two young men, Reginald Dunne and Joseph O’Sullivan, were waiting for him. What happened next is best described in Reggie Dunne’s own words:
Joe went in a straight line while I determined to intercept him [Wilson] from entering the door. Joe deliberately levelled his weapon at four yards range and fired twice. Wilson made for the door as best he could and actually reached the doorway when I encountered him at a range of seven or eight feet. I fired three shots rapidly, the last one from the hip, as I took a step forward. Wilson was now uttering short cries and in a doubled up position staggered towards the edge of the pavement. At this point Joe fired once again and the last I saw of him he [Wilson] had collapsed.
Dunne and O’Sullivan subsequently shot three pursuers (two policemen and a civilian) in their attempt to escape, but, fatally slowed by Joe O’Sullivan’s wooden leg, they were caught shortly afterwards. They were tried, convicted and, on 10 August, hanged in Wandsworth Prison.
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References
1 Excerpted from Dunne’s (apparently genuine) official report, smuggled out of prison and first published in Sunday Press, 14 Aug. 1955.
2 Conclusions of a Conference of Ministers, 22, 23 June 1922 (P.R.O., CAB 23/30, c.36[22], c.38[22]).
3 See Freeman’s Journal, 6, 8, 12 June 1922.
4 Times, 23 June 1922.
5 A copy of Dunne’s statement is in the Art O’Brien papers (N.L.I., MS 8442). Dunne’s few words in court echo this defence of his actions on the grounds of personal principle (see Taylor, Rex, Assassination: the death of Sir Henry Wilson and the tragedy of Ireland (London, 1961), pp 167-71Google Scholar).
6 See Irish Independent, 11 Aug. 1922. For the widespread British belief in a conspiracy see Morning Post, 24 June 1922 (which accuses members of the Provisional Government) and Callwell, C. E., Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: his life and diaries (London, 1927), ii, 349.Google Scholar
7 This was the comment of a Mr O’Leary, who was praying for Dunne and O’Sullivan outside Wandsworth Prison on the day of their execution (Times, 11 Aug. 1922).
8 See Lyons, F. S. L., Ireland since the Famine (London, 1973), pp 460-61Google Scholar; Townshend, Charles, Political violence in Ireland (Oxford, 1983), p. 383 Google Scholar; Lee, J. J, Ireland, 1912–1985 (Cambridge, 1989), p. 62 Google Scholar; Foster, R. F., Modern Ireland, 1600–1972 (London, 1988), p. 510 Google Scholar. Curran, Joseph is more circumspect in The birth of the Irish Free State (University of Alabama, 1980), pp 224-5Google Scholar. O’Connor, Frank’s The Big Fellow (London, 1937)Google Scholar should be compared with the revised edition published in 1965. Richard Mulcahy made some interesting comments on these revisions (University College, Dublin, Archives (henceforth U.C.D.A.), Mulcahy papers, P7/D/66). Taylor’s somewhat muddled conclusions are presented in Assassination.
9 Hopkinson, Michael, Green against green: the Irish Civil War (Dublin, 1988), pp 112-14.Google Scholar
10 These details have been gathered primarily from: Taylor, Assassination, pp 106–10; statements taken in the case of R., v. Connolly, and O’Brien, (the names first given to the police by Dunne and O’Sullivan) (House of Lords, Lloyd George papers, F/97/1/30)Google Scholar; ‘Shooting of Sir Henry Wilson’ (report of a speech by Seán McGrath) in Irish Democrat, Feb. 1948; Dunne’s and O’Sullivan’s farewell letters to their parents (N.L.I., Art O’Brien papers, MS 8442; U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/b/146).
11 Nunan, Ernie, ‘The Irish Volunteers in London’ in An tÓglach (autumn 1966), p. 4 Google Scholar; ‘An Rathach’, ‘London Volunteers’ in Irish Democrat, Apr. 1948.
12 Seán McGrath to Michael Collins, 7 Oct. 1919 (Irish Military Archives, Dublin, A/0457). The proposal to form a ‘division’ is in an undated letter to the adjutant-general in the same file. For the affiliation of the London companies see Collins to McGrath, 1 Apr. 1920 (N.L.I., O’Brien papers, MS 8430).
13 Seán McGrath to Collins, 1 Oct. 1920 (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/A/8). For the role of the I.R.B. see the interview with McGrath in the Ernie O’Malley papers (U.C.D.A., P17b/100). This series of interviews with I.R.A. veterans will hereafter be referred to with the interviewee’s name only, followed by the location in the O’Malley papers (U.C.D.A., P17b series). See also Art O’Brien’s memoir of the organisation in London (N.L.I., O’Brien papers, MS 8427).
14 It was O’Sullivan, along with another man, who shot the spy Vincent Fovargue in April 1921 (Denis Kelleher (O’Malley papers, P17b/107)).
15 Most of our knowledge of these plans comes from the O’Malley papers. See Pa Murray (P17b/88), William Aherne (P17b/99), Denis Brennan, Frank Thornton and Liam Tobin (P17b/100) and Denis Kelleher (P17b/107). Also important is a letter from Florence O’Donoghue in Sunday Press, 25 Jan. 1959. See also Collins to Art O’Brien, 7 Sept. 1920 (N.L.I., O’Brien papers, MS 8430); Seán McGrath to Collins, 18 Dec. 1920 (ibid.); O’Brien to Collins, 13, 20 Sept. 1920 (ibid., MS 8426).
16 William Aherne (O’Malley papers, P17b/99).
17 ‘Report on a visit to Britain, September 1921’ [by Rory O’Connor] (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/A/29).
18 Letter to Sunday Press, 25 Oct. 1953.
19 See Collins to Seán McGrath, 26 Apr. 1920 (‘Unfortunately we have not been allowed to go ahead with this plan’) and 17 May 1920 (‘I have been trying to get this matter taken up but I have not been very successful. The others are very much opposed.’) (N.L.I., O’Brien Papers, MS 8430). For examples of Collins’s collaboration with Rory O’Connor and Cathal Brugha see Collins to McGrath, 17 Apr. 1920 (ibid.); McGrath to Collins, 13 Sept. 1920 (ibid., MS 8426).
20 Brugha’s first assassination plan in 1918 is described by Seán McGrath (O’Malley papers, P17b/100), Leo Henderson (P17b/105) and Fintan Murphy (P17b/107). His attempt to revive the plan in 1921 was blocked by Collins and Richard Mulcahy. See the accounts given by Mulcahy and Sean Mac Eoin (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/D/3). For the attempt to revenge MacSwiney’s death see Florence O’Donoghue’s letter to Sunday Press, 25 Jan. 1959; Pa Murray (O’Malley papers, P17b/88).
21 Pa Murray (O’Malley papers, P17b/88) and Denis Kelleher (P17b/107).
22 O’Connor’s own account of his activities is ‘Reorganising Britain’ (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/A/24). Collins’s continued authority is clear from his correspondence with agents in London and Liverpool (ibid., P7/A/4-7).
23 See the list of ‘Operations contemplated’ appended to the ‘Report on visit to Britain’. For some startling details of various O’Connor projects see Tom MacMahon (O’Malley papers, P17b/86), William Aherne (P17b/99), Denis Brennan (P17b/100) and Denis Kelleher (P17b/107). Not surprisingly, some of O’Connor’s comrades doubted his sanity.
24 See, e.g., McGuinness, Charles, Nomad (London, 1934), p. 166 Google Scholar; unpublished memoirs of Commandant Bat Keaney (Irish Military Archives, Dublin) and John Sherlock (N.L.I., F. S. Bourke papers, MS 9873).
25 For the documents see Conclusions of a Conference (P.R.O., CAB 23/30, c. 36[22]), especially app. 3; L. Curtis to Lloyd George, 1 July 1922 (House of Lords, Lloyd George Papers, F/10/3/14); Neeson, Eoin, The life and death of Michael Collins (Cork, 1968), p. 94 Google Scholar. For the conclusions of the Special Branch see Assistant Commissioner, Special Branch, to Commissioner, Metropolitan Police, n.d. (P.R.O., MEPO 2/1974).
26 Notes dictated by Home Secretary, n.d. [Aug. 1922] (House of Lords, Lloyd George papers, F/45/6/42).
27 O’Malley, Ernie, The singing flame (Dublin, 1978), p. 85.Google Scholar
28 Evening Press, 18 July 1958.
29 His story was also published in a peculiarly roundabout manner. Cathal O’Shannon, who reported it, was given Martin’s statement in 1958 by a professor at University College, Gal way, who was himself given it in London in 1935. I cannot find any mention of Martin in I.R.A. memoirs or correspondence. Denis Kelleher cannot remember him either — see Taylor, Assassination, pp 80–81. Michael Hopkinson’s notes mention evidence given by Martin, but he does not disclose the source (Green against green, p. 293, n. 6).
30 N.L.I., Count Plunkett papers, MS 11410.
31 Hansard 5 (Commons), civ, 1537 (23 June 1922); see also Times, 24 June 1922. Archer-Shee also claimed that Dunne and O’Sullivan only came to London the previous week. He was unable to provide any more concrete information to the Special Branch, who were deluged with conspiracy theories after the fact. See Assistant Commissioner, Special Branch, to Commissioner, Metropolitan Police, n.d. (P.R.O., MEPO 2/1974).
32 Macardle, Dorothy, The Irish Republic (London, 1937), p. 737.Google Scholar
33 MacManus, M. J., Eamon de Valera (Dublin, 1947), p. 216.Google Scholar
34 An Phoblacht, 17 Aug. 1929.
35 Ibid., 10 Feb. 1934.
36 We know from Home Office and Special Branch documents, however, that the British government knew nothing of Dunne or O’Sullivan before the murder, and concluded that they acted alone, thus contradicting this part of O’Crowley’s account. See notes 25 and 26 above.
37 Michael Maguire, ‘Did Collins have Wilson shot?’ in Sunday Tribune, 27 June 1982.
38 Patrick [O’] Sullivan and Frank Lee, ‘The execution of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: the facts’ in Sunday Press, 10 Aug. 1958. (The authors were chairman and secretary respectively of the Old I.R.A. and Cumann na mBan, London.) A few errors in the quotation should be pointed out: Collins was never chief of staff, and there never was a London battalion of the I.R.A. For the campaign see the 1938 open letter from the ‘Late Intelligence and Arms Officer, London Units I.R.A.’ (Seán McGrath) (N.L.I., O’Brien Papers, MS 8461) and ‘Shooting of Sir Henry Wilson’ in Irish Democrat, Feb. 1948. These arguments are found in their most complete form in the article by O’Sullivan and Lee, and in Remembrance, a pamphlet published by the London Memorial Committee of ex-I.R.A. and Cumann na mBan; the latter item can be found in the Florence O’Donoghue papers (N.L.I., MS 31285) and is reprinted in Taylor, Assassination.
39 Sunday Press, 27 Sept. 1953.
40 Taylor, Assassination, p. 219.
41 Seán McGrath (O’Malley papers, P17b/100). Bowen-Colthurst was the officer responsible for the shooting of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington in Dublin during the rising of 1916.
42 Denis Kelleher (O’Malley papers, P17b/107) and Denis Brennan (P17b/37,100); see also Art O’Brien’s memoir of the London I.R.B. (N.L.I., O’Brien papers, MS 8427).
43 Irish Democrat, Feb. 1948.
44 Proinsias Mac Aonghusa, ‘The day a field-marshal died’ in Sunday Independent, 2 July 1967.
45 Mick Murphy (O’Malley papers, P17b/112).
46 Notes of a conversation with Seán MacGrath and Denis Carr, 18 Feb. 1935 (N.L.I., O’Brien papers, MS 8427); Joe Carr to Art O’Brien, 31 May 1938 (ibid., MS 8461).
47 Eoin, Uinseann Mac (ed.), Survivors (Dublin, 1980), p. 243 Google Scholar; Pat Sullivan (no relation to Joe) (O’Malley papers, P17b/111).
48 Con Neenan (O’Malley papers, P17b/112).
49 Mac Eoin (ed.), Survivors, pp 243–4.
50 N.L.L, O’Donoghue papers, MS 31337.
51 Frank Thornton (O’Malley papers, P17b/100).
52 William Aheme (ibid., P17b/99).
53 Moss Twomey to Florence O’Donoghue, 10 Sept. 1953 (N.L.I., O’Donoghue papers, MS 31421).
54 From a review in Sunday Independent, 2 Nov. 1980, as quoted in Ryan, Meda, The day Michael Collins was shot (Swords, 1989), p. 20.Google Scholar
55 Sunday Press, 10 Aug. 1958.
56 Pa Murray (O’Malley papers, P17b/88, 89).
57 Sunday Press, 15 Oct 1953.
58 Denis Kelleher (O’Malley papers, P17b/107).
59 Taylor, Assassination, pp 181–5. See also Denis Kelleher to Rex Taylor, 20 Apr. 1961 (N.L.I., O’Donoghue papers, MS 31285), which casts doubt on Taylor’s presentation of the letter. Taylor is now deceased and his papers cannot be located, so his copy of this letter cannot be checked (information from Mrs Taylor).
60 George White (O’Malley papers, P17b/105).
61 Idem (ibid., P17b/99).
62 Coogan, Tim Pat, Michael Collins (London, 1990), pp 375-6.Google Scholar
63 Liam Tobin (O’Malley papers, P17b/94).
64 This point is underlined by the fact that this statement is followed by. ‘Dunne and O’Sullivan had hoped it would bring about unity between the two sides’, which, if Tobin said it, would seem to support the idea that they acted on their own. However, it is probable that these are O’Malley’s words, inserted when he recopied his notes.
65 See Hopkinson, Green against green1, p. 62. Mulcahy’s discomfort with the subject of the Wilson assassination may be indicated by the fact that his notes and writings, so informative on every other subject, avoid the question altogether.
66 Sunday Press, 11 Oct. 1953.
67 O’Connor, The Big Fellow (1965 ed.), p. 203.
68 Statement of Robert Dunne (House of Lords, Lloyd George papers, F/97/1/30).
69 Griffith, Kenneth and O’Grady, Timothy (eds), Curious journey: an oral history of Ireland’s unfinished revolution (London, 1982), p. 281.Google Scholar
70 Joseph Sweeney (O’Malley papers, P17b/97).
71 Notes of conversations with Joseph Sweeney, 1962 and 1964 (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/D/43).
72 Ryan, The day Michael Collins was shot, p. 20.
73 Broin, Leon Ó, Michael Collins (Dublin, 1980), p. 133 Google Scholar; Ryan, The day Michael Collins was shot, p. 18.
74 Irish Times, 23 June 1922.
75 Taylor, Assassination, p. 83.
76 See, e.g., Michael Maguire in Sunday Tribune, 27 June 1982. I myself have been told by several people that they have seen such a document, but no one has been able to produce it.
77 See O’Connor, The Big Fellow (1965 ed.), pp 200–04; Coogan, Michael Collins, p. 354.
78 Hopkinson, Green against green, pp 112–14.
79 Statements of A. W. Watson and Ernest John Jordan (House of Lords, Lloyd George Papers, F/97/1/30).
80 RobertWaite, L. G., Vanguard of Nazism (New York, 1952), pp 218-20.Google Scholar
81 O’Brien to Collins, 10 Feb., 20, 26 July 1921 (N.L.I., O’Brien papers, MS 8430).
82 Director of Engineering (Rory O’Connor) to Chief of Staff (Richard Mulcahy), 31 Oct. 1921 (U.C.D.A., Mulcahy papers, P7/A/27).
83 See Denis Kelleher (O’Malley papers, P17b/100) and Denis Brennan (P17b/107); Art O’Brien’s memoir of the I.R.B. (N.L.I., O’Brien papers, MS 8427).
84 Michael Cremins (O’Malley papers, P17b/89), Robert Briscoe (P17b/97) and William Aherne (P17b/99).
85 William Aherne (ibid., P17b/99). Robert Briscoe reported that Dunne said: ‘In a couple of days you’ll know differently’ (P17b/97).
86 Statement of Robert Dunne (House of Lords, Lloyd George Papers, F/97/1/30).
87 N.L.L, MS 2653 contains Dunne’s prison letters.
88 Several of Dunne’s and O’Sullivan’s comrades also believed they acted on their own for these reasons (see William Aherne (O’Malley papers, P17b/99) and Michael Cremins (P17b/89)).
89 See the statement of Ernest Jordan (House of Lords, Lloyd George Papers, F/97/1/30).
90 See Dunne’s report in Sunday Press, 14 Aug. 1955. He mentions meeting another, unnamed, officer the night before. This could have been Dennis Brennan, who says Dunne made no mention of Wilson (O’Malley papers, P17b/37, 100), or possibly Sam Maguire. Billie Aherne reports that the latter saw them the night of 21 June, but he never knew if they discussed the murder (P17b/99).
91 Taylor, Assassination, pp 182–4.
92 I would like to acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in carrying out this research, and also the helpful criticism provided by Michael Hopkinson, Anne Hart and Robin Whitaker.