 |
| File Reference |
MSP34REF2397
|
| Name |
James C. Keogh |
| Gender |
male |
| Maiden/Other names |
Jimmy
Jim
|
| Address detail |
| Street |
8 North Stand, Dublin
|
| County |
Dublin
|
| Country |
Ireland
|
| Address detail |
| Street |
'Ardamine', 593 Howth Road, Raheny, Dublin
|
| County |
Dublin
|
| Country |
Ireland
|
| Date of birth |
1901
|
| Notes |
Exact date of birth not recorded on file
|
| Date of death |
1983-06-10
|
| Associated files in MSPA |
34D1097
|
| Related files |
24SP6953 (Martin Hore, applicant claims that he was passing on information from Oriel House to the anti-Treaty IRA)
|
| Easter rising service |
No |
| Organisation |
Irish Volunteers |
| Rank |
Unknown
|
| Unit |
3 Battalion
|
| Company |
H Company
|
| Brigade |
Dublin Brigade
|
| Commanding Officer(s) |
Liam Tannam; Mick Chadwick
|
| Organisation |
Irish Volunteers |
| Rank |
Unknown
|
| Unit |
3 Battalion
|
| Company |
A Company
|
| Brigade |
Dublin Brigade
|
| Commanding Officer(s) |
Sean Guilfoyle
|
| Organisation |
Irish Republican Army |
| Rank |
Section Commander
|
| Unit |
3 Battalion
|
| Company |
No. 4 Section, A Company
|
| Brigade |
Dublin Brigade
|
| Commanding Officer(s) |
Sean Guilfoyle; Sean Goulding
|
| Organisation |
Irish Republican Army |
| Rank |
First Lieutenant
|
| Unit |
3 Battalion
|
| Company |
A Company
|
| Brigade |
Dublin Brigade
|
| Commanding Officer(s) |
Frank O'Grady; James C. Keogh (self)
|
| Organisation |
Irish Republican Army |
| Rank |
First Lieutenant
|
| Unit |
3 Battalion
|
| Company |
N Company
|
| Brigade |
Dublin Brigade
|
| Commanding Officer(s) |
Noel Lemass
|
| Pension Claim |
Yes |
| Award Pension |
Yes |
| Army Pensions Act 1923/1953 |
No |
| Military Service Pensions Acts 1924 |
No |
| Military Service Pensions Acts 1934 |
Yes |
| Grade |
D |
| Notes |
Awarded 3 and 2/3 years service for pension purposes in 1937 following appeal
|
| Military Service Pensions Acts 1949 |
No |
| Digital file |
Scanned/digital copyMSP34REF2397 James C Keogh.pdf
Scanned/digital copy34D1097 James C Keogh.pdf |
| File dates |
24 September 1934 - 3 March 1983
|
| Subject Information |
File relates to James C. Keogh’s receipt of a military service pension in respect of his service with the Irish Volunteers and the IRA in the service periods between 1 April 1917 and 31 March 1923 during the War of Independence, Truce period and the Civil War.
James C. Keogh states that he joined H Company [Dundrum Company], 3 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers in April 1917. In the 1917-19 period; he claims that he was engaged in first-aid training; rifle, revolver and grenade practice; moving gelignite from the home of Con Mulligan (Lieutenant, H Company) in Ticknock to a house at Meadowbrook described as a “grenade factory at Dundrum” and was arrested while on parade in Company Hall, Dundrum but released after one day (July 1918).
In August 1918, the applicant states that he was transferred to A Company, 3 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers. In the 1918-19 period, James C. Keogh claims that he collected four rifles in Portobello from Lieutenant O’Mara who had sourced them from British Army soldiers and transported them to the workplace of Kit Farrell on St. Stephen’s Green; was in charge of an armed party which removed a large quality of material from a dump at Michael’s Hill before an enemy raid; escaped from a raid on a first-aid class at 34 Camden Street by scaling walls into Harcourt Street via Harcourt Street High School; did armed protective duty at No. 6 Harcourt Street when it was “endangered by mobs and soldiers” (November 1918); took part in arms-raids on private homes in South Frederick Street, Haddington Road and Rathmines and did patrol work during Sinn Féin and Dáil Éireann meetings in the Mansion House, Dawson Street.
James C. Keogh states that he was promoted to Section Commander of No. 4 Section, A Company, 4 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA in 1919 and was promoted to First Lieutenant the following year.
During the War of Independence (January 1919 – July 1921), it is claimed that the applicant took part in a number of IRA operations and general activity including: armed duty during Battalion Council meetings at 144 Pearse Street; a raid on Rathmines Post Office for telephone tapping instruments (April 1920); destroying books and papers held in the Income Tax Offices, Dawson Street (April 1920); capture of mails and a Ford car after an attack on Auxiliaries (‘Auxiliary Police Force’) at Shelbourne Road Post Office; ‘Belfast Boycott’ raids; arrested by Auxiliaries (‘Auxiliary Police Force’) after raid on Eason’s [Ltd.] and detained in Dublin Castle for one night; attempting to locate a man named O’Neill who was a former A Company member who joined the Auxiliaries (‘Auxiliary Police Force’); commandeered a tram on Harcourt Street to facilitate an escape after an ambush and supporting C Company during a major attack on Auxiliaries (‘Auxiliary Police Force’) on Dartmouth Road.
The applicant states that he took part in nearly every ambush of Crown Forces in the 1920-21 period in the “famous Dardanelles” area i.e. Camden Street, Wexford Street, Aungier Street, George’s Street, Dame Street, Parliament Street and Capel Street Bridge. James C. Keogh estimated 127 as the number of attacks that took place in and around this locality.
During the Truce period, the subject states that he organised Company training camps in Fingal, Loughlinstown and Errigal House, Rathgar and also attended an Officers Training Camp in Glenasmole (all County Dublin). In January 1922, James C. Keogh claims that he helped to organise a new Company (N Company, 3 Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA) with Captain Noel Lemass (MD915). In April 1922, the applicant alleges that he took part in the occupation of the Kildare Street Club.
Taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War (June 1922 – May 1923), James J. Keogh states that he had “conscientious objections to fighting fellow Irishmen” but did intelligence work, administrative work and transport work for the IRA until early 1924. The applicant states that he was approached by Paddy Brennan (O/C, 2 Dublin Brigade) and asked if he could establish an intelligence ‘line’ with Oriel House (Headquarters of the Criminal Investigative Department). James C. Keogh managed to successfully organise three lines of communication. They were his unnamed brother; an unnamed former Adjutant of A Company and Martin Hore (24SP6953) – all of whom worked in Oriel House. Reference Paddy Brennan states that the applicant was able to obtain information relating to impending round-ups and raids; names of Free State forces who “murdered or ill-treated prisoners”; names of enemy informers; names of persons and addresses of houses suspected by the Free State of assisting anti-Treaty IRA and details of anonymous and signed intelligence reports from informers.
Reference Paddy Brennan wrote of the applicant James C. Keogh: “His invaluable services could not be measured in mere words. It is no exaggeration to say that without him our work would have been much more difficult and less successful and that the Brigade Staff and many Battalion officers and men owed their freedom, and in many cases their lives, to his courage, efficiency and alertness”.
During the Civil War period, the applicant claims that he also carried urgent dispatches to Captain Erskine Childers at Annamoe, County Wicklow; located IRA members in his car and removed them to places safety before raids and round-ups took place; transported arms, ammunition, explosives and land mines to different parts of the Brigade area; carried a party of armed men acting as a guard to Liam Lynch (DP5482) when he traveled to Cork and drove a GHQ officer named Hyde from Sandymount, Dublin to Ballinakill, Queens County (County Laois).
Material on file shows that James C. Keogh married Muriel Keogh (née Coonagh) on 10 January 1945.
File includes signed handwritten and typed statements regarding subject's service from BP Hickey (Undated; 1937); Paddy Brennan (Undated); Michael J. Wedick (Undated); Thomas P. Jones (Undated); J. O’Connor (1936); Michael Carroll (1936); Martin Hore (1936): Sean Tumbleton (1936) and Seamus Fox (Undated).
File further contains a typed summary and sworn statement made by the applicant before the Advisory Committee on 5 October 1936.
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