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Sgt. James O'Donoghue RIC

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BrendanJoseph.valentiaisland	Sgt. James O'Donoghue RIC		Lead	[-]
Registered User Posts: 1 19-Oct-2009 5:28 PM	Remove this ad RIC Sergeant James O'Donoghue is shot dead by the IRA in White St, Cork November 1920. That night three men were shot dead in Cork by men in military uniform (Patrick Hanley, 2 Broad St; Eugene O'Connell, 17 Broad Lane and James Coleman, 15 North Mall) and two others (Charlie O'Brien; 17 Broad Lane and Stephen Coleman, 2 Broad St) were wounded. (O'Farrell says that Stephen Coleman died.) In 1968/70 his daughter Maria O'Donoghue interviewed all the relations of the people involved to find out who killed her father. These interviews are known as the Maria O'Donoghue diaries, they were passed on to her daughter Eithne Barry. Maria was also known Sr, Benigna headmistress of Laurel Hill Convent in Limerick. There is a full account of the killing in The I.R.A. and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923 written by Peter Hart, Oxford University Press. If you search under Google Books there is a full preview that includes the full story, I have his photo and obit in the Cork Examiner. His granduncle Morto O'Donoghue also joined 1861, he emigrated to Rhode Island 1868. The Dublin City Library has RIC records on microfilm. Brendan O'Donoghue
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Peter Mc RIC		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 131 19-Oct-2009 7:34 PM Inspector-General	A sad tale indeed of those troubled times. Interesting also how his daughter sought to come to some sort of terms with what had happened. Have you seen the brief summary of Sgt O'Donoghues killing in Abbott's book? If you could post his photo and obit, that would make a very poignant thread. Peter Mc
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The Third Policeman		#2	[url]	[-]
District Inspector 2nd Class Posts: 8 21-Oct-2009 8:15 PM	Brendan I have read the story again of the killing of Sergeant O'Donaghue as related by Peter Harte and it is without a doubt a very sad episode.He lived within the community and no doubt was known well within that community and was the softest of targets. May he rest in peace. Michael Guilfoyle
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Peter Mc RIC		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 133 21-Oct-2009 10:41 PM Inspector-General	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. Peter Mc Last Edited By: Peter Mc RIC 22-Oct-2009 1:39 PM. Edited 2 times.
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