Dick McKee | |
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| Native name | Risteárd Mac Aoidh |
| Birth name | Richard McKee |
| Nickname(s) | 'Fergus' |
| Born | (1893-04-04)4 April 1893 Phibsborough,Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 21 November 1920(1920-11-21) (aged 27) Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland |
| Buried | |
| Service |
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| Rank | Brigadier |
| Unit | Second Battalion, Dublin Brigade |
| Battles / wars | |
Richard "Dick" McKee (Irish:Risteárd Mac Aoidh; 4 April 1893 – 21 November 1920) was a prominent member of theIrish Republican Army (IRA). He was also friend to some senior members in the republican movement, includingÉamon de Valera,Austin Stack andMichael Collins. Along withPeadar Clancy andConor Clune, he was killed by his captors inDublin Castle on Sunday, 21 November 1920, a day known asBloody Sunday that also saw the killing of a network of British intelligence agents by the "Squad" unit of the Irish Republican Army and the killing of 14 people inCroke Park by theRoyal Irish Constabulary (RIC).[1]
McKee was born atPhibsborough Road inDublin on 4 April 1893. He became an apprentice in the publishing business at Gill & Son, UpperO'Connell Street, and then a compositor.[2]
McKee joined theIrish Volunteers in 1913, serving in G Company, Second Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. He served in the1916 Easter Rising in Jacob's Factory, under the command ofThomas MacDonagh.[3] McKee was later incarcerated by the British authorities inKnutsford Gaol and subsequently theFrongoch internment camp in Wales.[4]
McKee was promoted within the IRA shortly after his release. He became Company Captain and thenCommandant of the Second Battalion, eventually being placed asBrigadier, or theOfficer Commanding of the Dublin Brigade.[4] He was also active as an ex-officio member of IRA General Headquarters Staff – which included Collins,Richard Mulcahy and Russell. He was a prime innovator in the formation of theflying columns along with Mulcahy and Collins.[citation needed] He was Director of Training for this duration, though he was jailed again as a political prisoner inDundalk Gaol, in 1918.[4][5]
McKee participated in several IRA operations during theIrish War of Independence, including an arms raid on Collinstown Aerodrome (now Dublin Airport) in which his unit captured 75 rifles and approximately 15,000 rounds of ammunition and the Kings Inns raid in which his unit captured 25 rifles, two Lewis guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition.[4][6] In the final chapter of his revolutionary activism, he was on full-time active service, moving covertly through a network of safe houses.
He was engaged toMay Gibney, a volunteer during the Easter Rising and an active member of Cumann na mBan.[7] In January 1920, he resigned from Gills and worked for a time printing theAn tÓglach newspaper. Eventually he returned to being a full-time Volunteer officer, operating under thenom-de-guerre of 'Fergus'.[4]
In July 1919 Collins asked McKee to select a small group of men to formtheSquad.[4][8] McKee was intimately involved in the planning ofBloody Sunday 1920 which was a day of violence in Dublin on 21 November 1920, during theIrish War of Independence. More than 30 people were killed or fatally wounded which included twenty British intelligence agents at eight different locations in Dublin.[9]
McKee was betrayed to the British authorities by an Irish veteran of the British Army, James "Shankers" Ryan, and captured at Sean Fitzpatrick's beforeBloody Sunday by theRoyal Irish Constabulary. (In retaliation, on 5 February 1921, an IRA squad led by Bill Stapleton walked into Hynes' pub in Gloucester Place and shot Ryan dead.)[4][10]
Brought toDublin Castle he was tortured under interrogation withPeadar Clancy andConor Clune fromCounty Clare.[11] The three would later be shot on 21 November 1920. The official account was that he and the other men with him were shot while trying to escape.[11] This account was widely disputed at the time, although some historians believe it was actually true. Michael Lynch, a IRA Brigade Commander stated that McKee suffered severe beatings prior to being shot to death: "I saw Dick McKee's body afterwards, and it was almost unrecognizable. He had evidently been tortured before being shot...They must have beaten Dick to a pulp. When they threatened him with death, according to reports, Dick's last words were, "Go on, and do your worst!"[12] Medical examinations of the three bodies revealed broken bones and abrasions consistent with prolonged assaults and bullet wounds to the head and bodies.[13]
A book titledDeath in the Castle: Three murders in Dublin Castle 1920, written by Sean O'Mahony, and published by1916–1921 Club records both the life and deaths of the three Republicans.[citation needed]
McKee and Clancy's tricolour-adorned coffins lay side by side atSt. Mary's Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street, Dublin. Aged 27 and 32 years, respectively, they were laid to rest at the Republican Plot inGlasnevin Cemetery.[2]
McKee Barracks, formerly the Marlborough Barracks, in Dublin is named after Dick McKee.[4]
Dundalk Gaol, 1918. Back Row (L-R): Diarmuid Lynch, Ernest Blythe, Terence MacSwiney, Dick McKee, Michael Colivet
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