VOLUNTEER DANIEL CAREW
B Coy., Third Batt., Third Tipperary Brigade IRA.
G Coy., Third Battalion, Dublin Brigade IRA.
Daniel Carew was born into a staunchly Nationalist family in Goldengarden in 1897. His parents were James Carew and Mary Ann, nee Lacey, an aunt of Brigadier General Dinny Lacey, O/C Third Tipperary Brigade IRA. He attended school in Anacarty NS, where his teachers were Mary Ann Slattery and Michael Slattery. Along with his older brothers, Tom and Jack, he joined the Irish Volunteers and became active in the struggle for independence. He was a member of B Coy. 3rd Batt. Third Tipperary Brigade IRA. His eldest brother, Tom, was the Coy. Captain. He saw active service locally. That consisted of sniping at Dundrum and Anacarty RIC barracks. Volunteers cratered or blocked roads and cut telegraph and phone lines, as well as stealing RIC and Military mail. They did guard duty, collected money, explosives, arms and ammunition, and carried despatches. Later he went to Dublin and worked in the pub trade, like many fellow Tipperary men. In 1921 his address was given as, “c/o The Thatch, Whitehall”.
He also joined G Coy. 3rd Batt of the Dublin Brigade IRA. The Brigade’s OC was Oscar Traynor. The OC of the 3rd Batt. was Joseph O Connor. Robert (Bob) Moore was Captain of G Company, George Heuston was 1st Lieutenant, and John Cummins was 2nd Lieutenant. With a compliment of 177 men it was the largest Company in the Battalion in spite of the restricted base from which it drew its members. The Company’s area of operations was bounded by the river Liffey on its northern perimeter. Starting at Parliament Street and proceeding in a clockwise direction the boundary was the Liffey to Ringsend, south along the coast to Merrion, Nutly Lane was the SE boundary, then on to Stillorgan Road, west to Milltown and Dartry, then north through Mount Pleasant Avenue, Portobello, Camden Street Georges Street, Dame Street and back to Parliament Street. However the Coy could operate outside that area if necessary.
Joseph O Connor, Commandant of the 3rd Batt. recorded the following in his statement to the Bureau of Military History[1],
“G Company was a particularly difficult Company to enter for as their men were almost exclusively assistants in the various grocery establishments in the city. They were very poorly armed, and owing to their being a recent formation very unlikely to get arms from the Battalion Quartermaster[2] if he had any.
After some training Bob Moore, the Company Captain, asked my permission to hold up the military police patrols operating in the city. About twenty or so of these men used meet in Westmorland Street outside the Bank of Ireland. They would assemble there preparatory to reporting back to Dublin Castle for dismissal. Moore surrounded the party and disarmed every man in it, taking both revolver, lanard (sic) and ammunition. Unfortunately, the Sergeant in charge apparently had a concealed weapon and drew the smaller automatic and fired on our men. This unfortunate man was shot and that was the only casualty we had that night. It was a fine piece of work done in a workmanlike manner, and, of course, made a very substantial contribution to the Armament of “G” Company. They very shortly afterwards had a big engagement in Harcourt Street in which they lost two men killed.”
Another IRA officer, Laurence Nugent[3], Lt. K Coy. 3rd Batt remembered the type of work and active service life the Volunteers experienced, and also the passive support they received from the non-combatants,
“I.R.A. men engaged on those attacks were for the most part working men and men engaged in offices and business houses. It was nothing unusual to see a boy working behind a counter in a public house suddenly throw off his apron, put on his coat and tell the boss that he would be back in a few hours. This boy would have just received a mobilisation order to be on duty at a given place. The boss passed no remarks when the boy returned. This was a daily occurrence in every walk of life in the city. Every man obeyed orders when he got them and the bosses took no notice. These men were all good workers, honest and straightforward, and they were recognised as such.
And so the fight went on. G Company patrolled the Harcourt St. area. In an attack at Harcourt St. Station[4] they lost some men owing to an error in tactics.”
Dan also saw service with the Brigade’s Active Service Unit which had its headquarters in Great Denmark Street.
On 6th April 1920 he participated in an ambush against occupying British troops in Harcourt Street in Dublin. That was an unusual site for any kind of military action as the Sinn Féin HQ and Bank were at 6 Harcourt Street. Dáil Éireann had offices, including its Dept. of Agriculture, at number 76.
During the action he threw a grenade at soldiers in a lorry. But the grenade bounced off the protective wire mesh which had been put on all lorries to protect the occupants from just such grenade attacks. In an effort to protect his comrades and heedless of the risk to his life, Daniel bravely ran to kick it under the lorry. Unfortunately the grenade exploded and his right leg was blown off. The soldiers in the lorry fired on him and he received fifteen bullets in his body. Somehow he survived until the following day when he died in hospital. Vol. Terence Glynn of Coothall, Co. Roscommon was killed in the ambush.
The deaths and burials of the two Volunteers were reported in the media thus,
“The remains of the late Terence McGlin who was killed in the Harcourt Street shooting on Wednesday night last, were removed from the Pro-cathedral on Saturday morning to the Broadstone station for conveyance to his native place, Coothill, Co. Roscommon. A number of beautiful wreaths covered the coffin. The body of Daniel Carew, Anacarty, Co. Tipperary was taken on Saturday morning, after 10 o’clock Requiem Mass, from the Pro-cathedral to Kingsbridge[5] station, en route to Dundrum and thence to Anacarty church for internment in his native parish. Beautiful floral tributes were laid on the coffin”.[6]
Dan was twenty three years old at the time of his death. One hundred and fifty British troops were present at his funeral in Anacarty hoping to arrest any members of the IRA who attended the burial. He is interred in the family plot in Kilpatrick cemetery, as are his brothers, Tom and Jack.
On 17 June 1921 An t-Óglach, the official organ of the Irish Volunteers, published the following article.
A letter received by the Commandant of the Third Battalion Dublin Brigade from the Company officer bears striking tribute to the courage and devotion of Volunteers Terence McGlinn and Dan Carew who were killed in action in Dublin in April.
He says “Dan Carew, before his transfer to our Company, had a very good record, having taking (sic) part in a few affairs in Mid Tipperary. I cannot speak too highly of both of them. Good men, who died fighting a brave fight. The families of both had a fine record – both had two brothers also active and efficient Volunteers. If their comrades of the Company follow their example and emulate their deeds, the Company will have reason to be proud.”
This biographical note on Vol. Terence McGlinn was published in a booklet in 2016 by the Ardcarne Centenary Commemoration Committee, Coothall, Boyle, Co. Roscommon.
Terence Glynn (McGlynn) (1893 – 1921).
Vol. G Company, 3rd battalion Dublin Brigade
IRA (Killed in action, April 6 1921).
Terence was the fifth child in a family of seven children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Glynn (nee Logan) of Drumshinny, Coothall, Boyle. His brothers were Joseph, John Charles, Patrick and James and his sisters were Mary Ellen and Winifred. He was a Grocer’s Assistant and worked in Kings of Ballyfarnon, (now Shivnan’s), in Harold’s of Longford, in Lynch and O Brien’s of Dún Laoghaire and prior to his death he was manager of Thomas Hogan’s grocery and Bar, Dame Street, Dublin. He was killed in action in an ambush in Harcourt Street, Dublin on Wednesday, April 6, 1921fighting against a large contingent of British Crown Forces. Initially wounded, he continued to fight bravely to the end. He died of shock and haemorrhage caused by multiple bullet wounds. He is buried in the family plot in Ardcarne Graveyard.
Both Volunteers are commemorated on a memorial to the grocers’ assistants in Banba Hall, Parnell Square, Dublin. The inscription reads,
This plaque is erected to the memory of the members of the Irish National Union of Vintners Grocers and Allied Trades Assists. who died in the fight for Irish Freedom.
There are nine names on the plaque.
Vol. Daniel Carew is named on the Rolls of Honour of both the Dublin and Third Tipperary Brigades IRA.
[1] Witness Statement 487, 08 March 1951.
[2] Leo Duffy was 3rd Batt. QM.
[3] Witness Statement 907, 12 November 1953.
[4] The terminus of the Dublin to Bray line, 1859-1958, now a Luas Green Line stop.
[5] Now Heuston Station.
[6] Ó Haicéad, Pádraig, Keep Their Names Evergreen, The Nenagh Guardian Ltd., 2003.