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Sergeant James O'Donoghue 58216

James O'Donoghue personified that generation of policemen who existed in Ireland from the Edwardian period up until 1922. One of a large family, he came from a rural area in county Kerry, and joined the RIC in 1898. His sisters and brothers ended up as farmers, a nurse, a nun in religious orders, a priest, and a doctor.

James O'Donoghue (seated)

Joining the police was an aspiration for those sons who could not inherit the farm, or would not emigrate. It was a relatively well paid job, provided a pension, and conferred some social status on its members. Like many police of the time, he most probably had some Nationalist sympathies and certainly would have considered himself, first and foremost, an Irishman.

James and his wife, Margaret

He married in 1905 and was stationed in Cork City, where he raised his family of four children. On the evening of the 17^th November 1920, he was shot dead in White St, Cork, as he was returning to his barracks in Tuckey Street. His killers were known IRA men, and his death sparked off a vicious sequence of tit-for-tat murders which left 3 more men dead and 3 others wounded.

Sgt O'Donoghues killers were Charlie O'Brien, Willie Joe O'Brien and Justin O'Connor. An illegal reprisal party, probably of Black and Tans from Tuckey St, raided the O'Brien household that evening and shot dead Eugene O'Connell (brother in law of Charlie) and also shot Charlie O'Brien, leaving him seriously injured. They also raided the house of another family associated with the O'Briens and killed Patrick Hanley and wounded Stephen Coleman. In a separate but possibly related incident on the other side of the city, James Coleman was attacked and shot dead in his house.

The IRA, concerned that information had so quickly been given as to the identity of the killers, tried to identify potential informers. In an orgy of murder over the next few months they shot dead John Sherlock, 'Din-Din' O'Riordan, and Edward Hawkins; and seriously wounded Edward's father, Daniel.

The casual murder of a well known and much liked police sergeant had resulted in the deaths of 6 more men, and the wounding of 3 others. Margaret O'Donoghue was to die at an early age, in 1923, some said of a broken heart.

Peter Hart provides an excellent chapter on the killing of Sergeant O'Donohue in the introduction to his book; you can read it by following this link - The IRA & Its Enemies

Obituary notice for James O'Donoghue

with thanks to BrendanJoseph for permission to use these photographs and the obituary.