Massacre in West Cork: The Dunmanway and Ballygroman Killings by Keane Barry

Author:Keane, Barry [Keane, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: ireland in 1922, history of Ireland, 1922 Ireland, what is the history of ireland, irish ira, protestant ireland
Publisher: Mercier Press
Published: 2014-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

Two pages from the Auxiliary intelligence diary (courtesy of the Bureau of Military History)

The article clearly rules out any of the men shot during the Dunmanway killings being taken from this list, as this loyalist was still alive after 1922 and the other three men are clearly identifiable in the military archives and do not include those killed.

According to Flor Crowley, the diary and the other papers found in the workhouse had been sent to IRA headquarters in Bandon for analysis. As previously stated, Meda Ryan suggests that those shot in Dunmanway were listed as ‘helpful citizens’ in the Dunmanway ‘find’.52 She claims that all the names of those killed are to be found in documents that were in the possession of Dan Cahalane, or in Tom Barry’s private correspondence, or in other documents and evidence in her possession or that she has seen.53 Such is the controversy surrounding this subject that all source documents should be made publicly available – redacted if necessary. This includes Peter Hart’s anonymous interviews.

Two other entries in the diary may be related to the men shot in 1922: the first is ‘“Rushfield House” Saturday night’ (underlined). In the 1911 census in Bengour, William Howe owned Rushfield House in Castletown-Kinneigh. He was likely to have been a cousin of Robert Howe, and Rushfield is only two kilometres from Prospect Cottage in Ballaghanure where Robert was shot. This connection between Rushfield House and the Auxiliary diary may have caused Robert Howe to be targeted in error by individuals who knew a Howe in Castletown-Kinneigh was in the diary, or it may just be a coincidence. It is also possible that John Chinnery was shot because he was William Howe’s nephew.

The case of Robert Howe has always been particularly problematic, as there is no evidence to connect him to any anti-Sinn Féin conspiracy. Even Peter Hart’s attempt to explain his targeting is unsatisfactory. Hart states that he was ‘no stranger to political controversy, having been accused of slander during the 1914 county council elections’.54 In fact, Howe took out an advertisement to apologise to local national schoolteacher Patrick Galvin for claiming that ‘he had sold his vote for a pecuniary consideration’.55 As there is no mention of any political affiliation, it is hard to see the relevance of this to the later murders.

John Chinnery must be considered in tandem with Robert Howe. The Chinnery household is fifty metres south-east of Prospect Cottage, and the Howes and Chinnerys were most likely distant relations.56 Given that they lived next door to one another, it is possible that Chinnery and Howe were actually shot for the trivial reason of refusing the ‘order’ to harness a horse by a couple of trigger-happy gunmen heading west to shoot John Buttimer and James Greenfield at Caher, five kilometres (an hour’s walk) to the west. However, Meda Ryan states that a 1949 letter from Risteárd Ó Glaisne, in Tom Barry’s private collection, says that John Chinnery had been targeted by the IRA on a

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