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Michael Collins 1890 – 1922. One of most Iconic leaders of the War of Independence; who masterminded one of history’s most successful guerrilla campaigns
Commander Michael Collins One of the most iconic figures that emerged out of the Easter Rising was Michael Collins …Born in 1890 , he was the third son in family of eight children . Some sources would suggest that the Collins family were a part of a very ancient clan, who were widely spread over Co Cork. Collins senior did not marry until he was 60 years of age, which was not unusual in this era, he then met Mary Anne O’Brien who was 23 years of age. They had eight children who were said to have been all over achievers, and to have had had a rich intellectual lifestyle that had been inherited from past generations of republican connections. The seventh son of a seventh son, the elder Collins was said to have the gift of prophesying, determined by Irish tradition and belief. On the elders Collins death bed, he prophesied that the then young six year old Michael would become a great figurehead in Ireland, and that one of his daughters would become a nun. Both of these prophesy came to pass. ….Already steeped in Irish History within his family; Collins [jn] would go on to give credit to his Headmaster James Santry at Lisavaird National School and Dennis Lyons a local blacksmith as the first nationalist outside of his family , to inspire his pride in his Irishness . They origins of his nickname ‘The Big Fellow ’are said to have come from his family; because he was always keen to take on any task way beyond his years ; ‘the big fellow’ , became a term of endearment . This nickname would follow him into boarding school at Clonakilty National School, when he was only thirteen, so this name had been established very early on as a young child, and not as some claim, when he became a political or Military Leader.During the school week he lived with his elder sister Margaret and her husband Patrick O’ Driscoll. At the weekends he would return to the family farm, and would ‘muck’ in and do any and all chores that needed to be done. When his brother-in- Law- O’Driscoll founded the newspaper ‘The West Cork People’. Such were the young Collins talents and abilities. that O’Driscoll trusted him, to assist him with general reporting jobs, and preparing any issues for the newspaper. Leaving school at 15years of age, Collins then took the British Civil Service examination in Cork 1906. He was appointed to the department of the Royal Mail. Feeling trapped in a an office, he then moved to London to live with his sister Hannie [Joanna] and got a job as a messenger at a London Stockbrokers called Home and Company . He then made the decision to study Law and secured a place at Kings College London..Talented, noisy [ as the Plunkett family can attest too] and always looking for ways in which he could he could expend his abilities in Irish affairs he joined the London Gáelic Athletic Association [GAA],where he became an accomplished wrestler amongst many other sports he involved himself in. It was through the GAA that he met another Cork man Sam Maguire from Dunmanway Co. Cork , and it was Maguire that introduced the then 19 year old Collins to the Irish Republican Brotherhood.By 1915 he had immigrated to America where he gained employment in the Guaranty Trust Company of New York; wherever he went he would seek out the Irish Brotherhood Associations or anything to do with Irish Politics, always believing that Ireland would have to take up arms to win back her Independence. His heart belonged in Ireland and when homesickness overcame him, he returned to Dublin… So in early 1916 he moved back to Dublin, where he joined Craig Gardiner & Co an accountant company as a part time accountant; in Dawson Street Dublin, and it was through this company that he met Count Plunkett, who had been created a Papal Count by Pope Leo X111Count Plunkett offered Collins a job as his Financial advisor- which he took up, [some sources would argue that it was through the IRB that he was offered the role of Financial Advisor to Count Plunkett] however, in this scenario, the Count in turn introduced Collins to his sons, Joseph Mary; George and John [Jack]. All the Plunkett family were involved in the Irish Republican Brotherhood or Irish Movements of one kind of another.Count Plunkett's interest in politics likely came mostly through his sons, Joseph, George and John, and though it was following the execution of Joseph that he became radicalised. Collins of course was in his element; here he was in the mists of a family that not only understood his motives for ‘War against the British ‘but he was a big part of it all, joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood immediately in Dublin. As an organiser of quite considerable intelligence he soon became highly respected within the Irish Republican Brotherhood; and was soon taking part in preparing arms and drilling troops for the insurrection. He would also be attached to Joseph Plunkett, who was one of the seven inner sanctum Leaders, shot for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising1916] Plunkett had Tuberculous and was only days out of hospital having undergone major surgery] Collins became his aid –de camp at the rebellions headquarters in the General Post Office Dublin on the fateful Easter Monday Morning 1916. This was Collins first appearance in Irish national events. Collins was not a background aid – de- camp, while still administering to Plunket’s needs and commands; he was pro- active in all the fighting, alongside James Connelly; and other members of the Rising’s leadership, his well-earned nickname ‘ the big fellow ‘ coming into play at this pivotal moments, earning him the respect of all those present ; Cumann na mBan , and some ordinary citizens who just happened to be in the GPO at the pivotal moment in history and not least all the Leaders . … Although the Easter Rising was considered to have been a military disaster, it would appear that these brave men and women achieved their goal of holding their positions for the minimum time required, to justify a claim to independence under the International criteria. When the surrender was initiated by Pearse and the other leaders; Collins, like all of the other participants was arrested and taken prisoner, and sent with large numbers of men to Frongoch internment camp in Wales. Not a person to let anything like being locked up in prison cell, deter him, he began to hatch plans for ‘the nest time’ while serving his sentence! So in the aftermath of the Easter Rising when it became clear that all of the leadership of the Irish Republican Brotherhood had been shot or imprisoned, a void of a magnitude that appeared insurmountable, had been created, without a rudder to steer the Irish Republican Brotherhood ship, [some had said it was beyond repair] knew that Kathleen Clarke [wife of Thomas Clarke] held the all-important Irish Republican Brotherhoods documents. Knowing full well that she now had to hand these over to the most trusted person, and the one who had the ability to manage these documents with the priority and importance that she had held them in - had by June 1916 sent out the first post – communiqué to the Irish Republican Brotherhood to open up a dialogue with them…, declaring that the Rising to be only the beginning and directing Irish nationalists to prepare for "the next blow." Via the internal grapevine of the Irish prisoner’s network in Frongoch internment camp, Collins learnt about Kathleen Clarke’s communication with the Irish Republican Brotherhood. So it was no surprise that on Collins release from Frongoch internment camp Christmas 1916- Collins headed straight back to Dublin to visit Kathleen Clarke.. Not unsurprisingly, it was during the discussion she had with him, that Mrs Clarke appointed Collins – Secretary to the National Aid Volunteers Dependants Fund [FAVDF], not least, she also passed onto him the secret organisational information and all contacts which she had held in trust for the Independent Movement.It was at this time that Collins first began to emerge as a major figure in the vacuum created by the executions of the 1916 leadership. With Author Griffith, founder of Sinn Fein and editor/publisher of the United Irishman, which Collins had read avidity as a child; spear heading this post- rising independence movement. It was under Griffiths policy, and not least Collins that all of the mainstream Irish movements, would continue to act under the umbrella group of the none violent Sinn Féin- to unify all of the different fractions of the nationalist movements.Author Grittiths Founder of Sinn Féin / editor - publisher of The United Irishman . They agreed to disagree on the Griffiths moderate ideas of a duel monarchy, which Griffiths had based on the Hungarian model. By October of 1917, Collins had risen in rank to become a member of the executive of Sinn Féin and director of organisation for the Irish Volunteers, while De Valera, another veteran of the 1916 Easter Rising stood for the Presidency against Griffiths. Griffiths stood down in favour of De Valera and supported De Valera Politics …..During 1917, Collins had travelled around Ireland promoting his ideas and Politics, recruiting and in general terms making himself know to the people of Ireland. So it was while he was touring, he was invited to a ball in Longford by his cousin Gearóid O’Sullivan, who introduced him to the Kiernan twin sisters. The hotel that they ball was taking part in, so happened to belong to the Kiernan family. Suffice is to say that he started a relationship with one of the twins called Kitty , and this relationship turned into an engagement, and subsequently a date was set for their wedding. Despite the fact that Collins was often on the run from the Crown Forces,, their relationship was intense, and some three hundred letters between them is a testament to this intense relationship. A date was set for a joint wedding between Kitty’s sister Maud and Collins cousin O’Sullivan –and Kitty and Collins. And as history now records, this joint wedding did not take place,,…. Collins death prevented this from happening.By 1918, Sinn Féin had become a force to be reckoned with, and they swept into high office on the back of the electorate giving them an overwhelmingly parliamentary majority in Ireland, many seats were uncontested. Collins was elected as an MP for Cork South, with members of the Sinn Féin Party now having the right to sit in the House of Commons London.. .. None of the Sinn Fein party took up their seat in Westminster; instead they choose to set up their own Irish Parliament in Dublin. Member of the first Díal ..first row, left to right: Laurence Ginnell …Michael Collins,.. Cathal Brugha … Author Griffits…,Eamonn De Valera …. Count Plunkett …. Eoin MacNeill ….. W.T Cosgrove… Kevin O’HigginsSome sources would suggest, that more than any other men in the Irish Dial , Collins and De Valera were the architects of the fight with the British Authorities that ended the British Authorities long suffocation of Irish Nationalism. Collins, a good looking, legendary athlete, his nick name ‘The Big Fellow’ suited his personality, while De Valera was perceived as an nerdish bookish bespeckled intellectual, earned him the name of ‘The Long Fellow’- however, they could not have differed more in their methods of achieving their respective goal ; an independent Ireland. Collins favoured an outright guerrilla war fought in the dark back streets of Dublin and rural Ireland; while De Valera favoured a more conventional out- in-the- open fight on home ground, in the Dial, refusing any service or advise by a British run Government.Collins methods of gaining intelligence was to encourage the followers of Sinn Féin to gain employment in Dublin Castle, particularly in the Intelligence Department… So it was with a guerrilla fight in mind, Collin’s encouraged De Valera to go off to the USA to fund raise.. When De Valera set sail for the USA, to raise money for the cause of Irish Independence, the leadership of the Dail and other Irish movements fell increasingly to Collins.. With De Valera now in the USA, Collins took advantage of his leadership and masterminded one of history’s most successful guerrilla campaigns …His encouragement of men to gain employment in Dublin Castle paid off handsomely, with all his informants serving the cause well by supplying him with information, flowing straight into his hands … British Army units and Police barracks were ambushed on a regular basis by well-trained Irish ‘ flying squads’ tipped off by Collins , as causalities mounted.Dublin Castle and London were very aware that Collins was behind all of these causalities, with Winston Churchill the then Home Secretary raising the stakes by dispatching agents to Dublin, posing as business men or journalists. The notorious, brutal, undisciplined, trigger happy, Black and Tans were also sent to control the Irish, to try and infiltrate Collins organisation, in their blind attempt to either capture of kill, the by now, illusive Collins. This was a very bad mistake by Churchill , as within days of these agents arriving in Dublin ,Collins had all of their names and address, and these had then been passed on to ‘Irish the Flying Squad’ , killing off as many as twelve men and some sources would say fourteen men .Retaliation by Churchill followed, at a Gaelic Football Match Croke Park Dublin, in total more than thirty lives were lost with approx. sixty causalities…. This Bloody Sunday 21st, Nov 1920 tentivly marked the end of British Rule in Ireland…By this time De Valera had arrived back in Ireland 1921, which was gripped by the war of Independence. To try and counteract this outrage; De Verlra, combined with Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack Austin [veterans of the 1916 Rising] attempted to put pressure to bear on Collins to take up the reins of funding raising in the US , which adamantly Collins resisted . In the May elections of 1921, all the candidates fielded by Sinn Fein were returned unopposed, with some Sinn Féin gaining seat’s in Northern Ireland. De Valera, then, tried and failed to get Collin’s to desist from ambushing the police, and other British military barracks, but failed, so he relented, issuing support for the Irish Republican Brotherhood against his own better judgement.However, with the pressure of the Collins guerrilla tactics taking their toll on the British Forces, [not least on Collins own soldiers] pressure was put on Llyod Geroge [ the then Prime Minister]; which had been spawned by a powerful peace movement , by the forces of USA Irish /America movements, The Labour Party, The London Times; The House of Lords; famous playwright and author George Bernard Shaw , not least Pope Pius XI , to instigate negotiations with the Irish Government …. With all of this pressure taking its toll on Llyod George, overtures, by Westminster , were made privately to Arthur Griffiths [Sinn Féin founder] , which he welcomed. By July of 1921 a truce was offered by Lloyd George, which Collins; De Valera and Griffiths were astounded about, but welcomed it. Following the Truce with Llyod George , De Valera received an invitation to visit Llyod George in London 14th July 1921. . He went to London to meet Llyod George, with the war still raging in Ireland; DeValera was under no illusions about this meeting and what type of response he would get. No agreement was reached, and in fact Llyod George, threatened if the war did nor cease, he would put a soldier for every man, women and child in Ireland to end the war. . De Valera came back with proposals for the Díal to consider …. to send a delegation [peace conference ] to Westminster to negotiate terms and conditions for what history has now recorded as the “Treaty Negotiations “…. To take place in Westminster [October–December 1921] By August De Valera had also managed to gain approval from the Dial to change the Irish constitution of 1919 , to upgrade his position [office] from Prime Minister to the President of the Republic of Ireland ….. now declaring himself to be the full equivalent of King George V.Once De Valera had been declared as President ; the equivalent of King George , he argued, that he should not be one of the delegation who went to negotiate the Peace Treaty . Collins argued very forcefully that he was a foot soldier, and not a negotiator, insisting that De Valera was the best person for this role. In the end however, those chosen to travel to Westminster for the negotiations, with their administration staff, wereIrish side… Author Griffiths [ Founder of Sinn Déin /Chair- Secretary for Foreign Affairs}.. Michael Collins [ Secretary of State for Finance}.. Robert Barton [ Secretary of State for Economic Affairs] ..Robert Barton .[ MP Kildare –Wicklow /West Wicklow] … Eamonn Duggan [ Louth- Meath / South Meath].George Gavin Duffy [ Dublin County/West Wicklow }British side … David Llyod George [Prime Minister ]…. Austen Chamberland [Leader of the House of Commons . Lord Birkenhead [ Lord Chancellor ].. Winston Churchill [Secretary of State for the Cononies].. Sir Laming Worthingworth –Evans [Secretary of State for War ] Sir Gordon Hewart [ Attorney General ].. Sir Hamar Grennwood [Chief Secretary for Ireland].After these prolonged negotiations, with Northern Ireland already having agreed they wanted to remain under British sovereignty, what the Irish contingent went back to Ireland with was, the Independence of the twenty-six counties which would be called the Free State, with the British retaining the Treaty Ports on the south coast of Ireland for the Royal Navy. The six Counties of Northern Ireland would remain as part of the British Empire.. Whatever De Valera’s rational was for not travelling to Westminster, for these vital negotiations, historians generally now agree that it was a bad mistake on his part, not to partake in these negotiations.Collins is on record as saying at this time “ I have signed my own political death warrant, and indeed, maybe my actual dearth warrant “ while acknowledging that “ we have the freedom to achieve freedom “ . De Valera did not see it that way, and opposed the Treaty, because it did create an Independent republic. The Treaty was passed by a narrow margin in the Dáil and Dev Valera resigned as President. In the aftermath of De Valera resignation, he went on to lead the anti- treaty side in a bitter civil war against the government of the Free State.The now newly formed Free State was in turmoil once again. The anti – treaty and the pro- treaty waged war against one another… When ‘J.J ‘Ginger ‘Roger’ Treaty [Free State General]..was kidnapped by the anti- treaty movement ..this fuelled an already heated Country at war – which led to an all-out war on the streets of Dublin; the Four Courts Garrison was served notice to quit or face Military Action ‘at once’ … The question still remains ‘by whom’ as no definite record as to who gave the order , historians only presume that it was Collins. .. artillery was provide by Pro-Treaty Richard Mulcathy [Chief of Staff if the Irish Free State Army } and the war continued to rage, around the country, particularly in Dublin , with O’Connell Street suffering very heavy damages.At this point, Collins's had profound mixed feelings about this whole situation of the Treaty and these are recorded in his private and official dairy’s.. By August 1922 the Free State Army had gained control of most of the Country. Collins was at his time making frequent trips to inspect areas of the country most affected. He decided to make a trip to his native Cork, against the advice of all of his known, and trusted most loyal associates, a dangerous and perilously journey it may have been but he was determined to do it, saying words to the effect ‘they won’t shoot me in my own country ‘ , having fended off a number of attacks on him in the preceding weeks…However, on this fateful day of 1922, despite all the warning by his closest and trusted associates, not to travel to Cork, history now records Collins died in an ambush in the village of Béal na Bláth on the 22th August 1922… . Some of the details most disputed are,” how did the shooting start,”, “Collins was the only casualty.. ‘why’ “ . “who moved Collins body immediately after death” .. “The inordinately long time it took to take the convey to cover the twenty miles to Cork City Hospital “ .. “medical evidence- which had Doctor examined him “” was an autopsy performed and how many bullets holes were found” “who searched his cloths” “what became of all his documents, which he carried everywhere with him “ his diary only turned up several decades later. The list of errors committed at a murder scene, of one of the most high profile, notorious, dominate, and much admired politician of this era, is astounding to say the least.Collins remains were transported by sea from Cork to Dublin, where in lay in state for three days in Dublin City Hall .. Tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects as they filed past his remains, some of these were British Soldiers departing Ireland who had fought against him.. His Funeral Mass took place at the Pro - Cathedral Dublin, where as many as 500,000 attended, which was approximately one fifth of the population in this era. Many foreign dignities attend also. ……………… Mystery still surrounds Colin’s death as all the witness gave conflicting statements, and supposedly, there were only anti-treaty and pro-treaty Army personnel present, this on its own, present its own unique historical discussion , the whole scenario reads like a “who done it “drama… More shockingly of all is, the fact that the authorities, did not investigate this crime properly, as it should have been . , Kitty Kiernan married Felix Cronin Quartermaster General in the Irish Army; they had two sons. The first child they called Felix, and the second they called Michael Collins Cronin. She died in 1945 of Bridget’s disease as did all of her siblings and she is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery not fat from Collins .The Great Haste. Written by Leon O’Broin is the subject of Kitty’s letter’s, and confirms her worst fears were realised when Collins was killed in action. These letters went on display 2000 in CorkThe1996 film ‘Michael Collin’s’ … received numerous reviews … both good and critical of Kitty being played by Julia Roberts. Several books have been written and Films have been made about Collin’s life, while there has been much speculation regarding what Ireland would have been like had he lived. This emphasises his view of the Treaty as a stepping-stone, his progressive social views and his potential to reunite a divided republican movement. Without doubt, the pro-Treaty side lost its most inspiring leader.J.Feehan and S.M. Sigerson who are experts on this subject have called for a full forensic examination of Collins remains, to try and attempt to settle as least some of the controversies that remain concerning his death and lack of evidence produced at the time. , Slainte See More