Paddy (O')Daly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1888 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | January 1957 |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  Irish Free State |
| Service | Irish Republican Army Irish Army |
| Years of service | 1916–1924 |
| Rank | Major general |
| Unit | The Squad |
| Battles / wars | Easter Rising Irish War of Independence Irish Civil War |
| Spouse(s) | , , Norah Gillies |
| Children | 4 |
Paddy Daly (1888–1957) sometimes referred to asPaddy O'Daly, served in theIrish Republican Army during theIrish War of Independence[1] and subsequently held the rank ofmajor-general in theIrish National Army from 1922 to 1924.
Daly was born inDublin in 1888. He fought in the 1916Easter Rising under the command of his namesakeNed Daly, leading the unsuccessful attempt to destroy theMagazine Fort in thePhoenix Park. He was later wounded in the particularly vicious fighting near the Linenhall. He was subsequently interned inFrongoch internment camp for his part in the rebellion until 1916, when he was released as part of a general amnesty for Irish prisoners.[2]
In the War of Independence (1919–1921), he served as leader of the "Squad",Michael Collins' assassination unit.[1]
On 19 December 1919, Daly along withDan Breen led an abortive ambush, at Ashtown railway station near thePhoenix Park, on the BritishViceroy,Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Supreme Commander of the British Army in Ireland,Lord French, as he returned from a private party which he had hosted the previous evening at his country residence inFrenchpark,County Roscommon.Lord French escaped the ambush butMartin Savage was shot dead.[3]
Daly and the men under his command were responsible for the killing of many British intelligence officers, in particular District Inspector Redmond, who had been putting increasing pressure on the squad.[4] Daly himself personally killed several people, includingFrank Brooke, director of Great Southern and Eastern Railway, who served on an advisory council to the British military, in June 1920. He did not directly lead any of the attacks onBloody Sunday but was on standby in one of the Squad's safe houses. In the aftermath, 23 November 1920, he was arrested and interned inBallykinlar Camp inCounty Down.
He was released on parole from Ballykinlar in March 1921 – the British apparently being unaware of his senior position within the Dublin Brigade of the IRA. After his release, Daly, along withEmmet Dalton, was also involved in the attempt to freeSean Mac Eoin fromMountjoy Prison on 14 May 1921. He and his men hijacked a British Army Peerless armoured car inClontarf at the corporationabattoir, while it was escorting a consignment of meat to a barracks and shot dead two soldiers in the process. The plan involved Dalton and Joe Leonard impersonating two British army officers (wearing Dalton's uniforms from his days as a soldier during World War I) and using forged documents to "transfer" MacEoin toDublin Castle. They gained entry to Mountjoy, but were discovered before they could free MacEoin and had to shoot their way out. They later abandoned the armoured car after removing theHotchkiss machine guns and setting fire to what they could. Towards the end of the war, in May 1921, the two principal fighting units of the IRA's Dublin Brigade, the "Squad" and the "Active Service Unit" were amalgamated after losses suffered in theBurning of the Custom House. Daly was put namedOfficer commanding (OC) of this new unit, which was named theDublin Guard.[5]
Daly's own account of his activities during the War of Independence is held at the Bureau of Military History in Cathal Brugha Barracks.[6][7]
After theAnglo-Irish Treaty split the IRA, Daly and most of his men sided with the pro-treaty party, who went on to found theIrish Free State. He was appointed to the rank ofBrigadier in the newly createdIrish National Army, which was inaugurated in January 1922. When theIrish Civil War broke out in June 1922, Daly commanded the Free State's troops who secured Dublin, after aweek's fighting.
In August 1922, during theIrish Free State offensive that re-took most of the major towns in Ireland, Daly commanded a landing of 450 troops of the Dublin Guard atFenit,County Kerry which went on to captureTralee from the anti-treaty forces. Acting with severe brutality in Kerry, Daly commented that, 'nobody had asked me to take kid-gloves to Kerry, so I didn't'.[8] As the Civil War developed into a vicious guerrilla conflict, Daly and his men were implicated in series of atrocities against anti-treaty prisoners (seeExecutions during the Irish Civil War), culminating in a series of killings with landmines in March 1923.[9] Daly, and others under his command, claimed that those killed were accidentally blown up by their own mines. Statements by theGarda Síochána (stymied from procuring evidence), two Free State lieutenants on duty – W. McCarthy andNiall Harrington – and one survivor,Stephen Fuller, maintained the claims were fabricated.[10][11][12]
Daly resigned from the Free State army in 1924 after anincident in Kenmare, Kerry, concerning the daughters of a doctor. A court martial was held but collapsed as no one was prepared to give evidence.[13]
He volunteered his services for theIrish Army again in 1940 and was appointed as a Captain to the non-combatant Construction Corps.
Daly was a carpenter by trade.[14] Daly marriedDaisy Gillies in 1910. His brother James (Seamus) married Daisy's sisterNora, aCumann na mBan activist, in a joint wedding ceremony.[15] After Daisy's death in 1919, Daly marriedBridget Murtagh, also a Cumann na mBan activist, in 1921.[16] Murtagh and Nora O'Daly had carried out intelligence gathering for the planned attack on the Magazine Fort in 1916.[15] She was a sister ofElizabeth Murtagh, the first wife of Commandant Michael Love who served with Daly in the Collins Squad of the IRA, in the Irish Free State Army of the 1920s and during the Emergency period. Murtagh died in childbirth in 1930. Daly subsequently married Norah Gillies, his first wife's niece.[16]
On his death in January 1957[17][18] he was buried with full military honours inMount Jerome cemetery. He was survived by his brothers, ComdtSeamus O'Daly and Capt Frank O'Daly, his sons Patrick and Colbert, and his daughters Brede and Philomena.
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