Sean McGarry

Sean McGarry (fl. 1908-1925) was a 20th century Irish nationalist and politician. A longtime senior member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, he served as its president from May 1917 until November 1918 when he was one of a number of nationalist leaders arrested for his alleged involvement in the so-called German Plot.

Biography

An active member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, McGarry was a close friend of Bulmer Hobson and was frequently arrested or imprisoned by British authorities for his activities with the IRB during the early 1900s. McGarry participated in the Easter Rising of 1916 as an aide-de-camp to Thomas Clarke [My Fight for Ireland’s Freedom, Kathleen Clarke, RP 1997, ISBN 0 86278 245 7, page 75] and sentenced to eight years penal servitude for his role in the failed rebellion. [McHugh, Roger Joseph. "Dublin, 1916". London: Arlington Books, 1966. (pg. 206)]

He was sent to Frongoch internment camp in Wales, but was eventually released. McGarry assisted Michael Collins in his efforts to reorganize the Irish Republican Brotherhood and, at the Volunteer Executive Meeting held in late 1917, he was elected General Secretary of the Irish Volunteers. [Hopkinson, Michael, ed. "Frank Henderson's Easter Rising: Recollections of a Dublin Volunteer". Cork: Cork University Press, 1998. (pg. 81) ISBN 1-85918-143-0] [Bell, J. Bowyer. "The Secret Army: The IRA". Somerset: Transaction Publishers, 1997. (pg. 17) ISBN 1-56000-901-2]

On the night of May 17, 1918, McGarry was arrested along with seventy-three other Irish nationalist leaders and deported to England and held in custody without charge. The day following their arrest, he and the others were charged with conspiring "to enter into, and have entered into, treasonable communication with the German enemy". [Tansil, Charles. "America and the Fight for Irish Freedom 1866-1922". New York: Devin-Adir Co., 2007. (pg. 254, 256)] In his absence, Harry Boland was selected for the Supreme Council and became his successor as president of the IRB. [Fitzpatrick, David. "Harry Boland's Irish Revolution". Cork: Cork University Press, 2003. (pg. 114) ISBN 1-85918-386-7]

He was only imprisoned a short time when he took part in the famous escape from Lincoln Jail with Seán Milroy and Eamon de Valera on February 3, 1918. He and Milroy had managed to smuggle out a postcard, a comical sketch of McGarry to his wife, allowing a copy of the key to their cell to be made. They were later assisted by Harry Boland and Michael Collins who awaited them outside the prison. [Brown, Darren. "The Greatest Escape Stories Ever Told: Twenty-five Unforgettable Tales". Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot, 2002. (pg. 153) ISBN 1-59228-480-9] A month later, McGarry gave a dramatic speech at a Sinn Fein concert held at Dublin's Mansion House before going into hiding. [McConville, Sean. "Irish political offenders, 1848-1922: Theatres of War". New York: Routledge, 2003. (pg. 644) ISBN 0-415-21991-4]

Throughout the Irish War of Independence, McGarry served as a commander and was eventually elected to Second Dáil in the 1921 General Election as a Sinn Féin TD. representing Dublin Mid. He, like the majority of those in the Irish Republican Brotherhood, supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and was involved in debates against de Valera during the controversy, most especially discussing the status of Sinn Fein as a political entity. [Laffin, Michael. "The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916-1923". Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1999. (pg. 367) ISBN 0-521-65073-9]

He was re-elected as a Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TD in the 1922 General Election, siding with the Free State government during the Irish Civil War. According to Frank Henderson, as told to Ernie O'Malley, Liam Lynch and other members of the Eamon de Valera's Anti-Treaty faction began planning the assassination of McGarry among other TDs supporting the Public Safety Bill.

On December 10, 1922, shortly before the first meeting of the Free State, a fire was deliberately set by the Irregulars at his family home resulting in the death of his son. He was one of four others targeted by the anti-Treatyites during the December Free State executions. De Valera publicly denounced the attack. [Valiulis, Maryann Gialanella. "Portrait of a Revolutionary: General Richard Mulcahy and the Founding of the Irish Free State". Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992. (pg. 183-184) ISBN 0-8131-1684-8] [Cathal, Liam. "Blood on the Shamrock: A Novel of Ireland's Civil War, 1916-1921". Cincinnati: St. Padriac Press, 2006. (pg. xlvi) ]

McGarry was re-elected as a Cumann na nGaedheal TD in the 1923 General Election for Dublin North. Dissatisfied and disillusioned with the Free Staters, he resigned from the Cumann na nGaedheal after the Irish Army Mutiny and defected to Joseph McGrath's National Group. [Manning, Maurice and Moore McDowell. "Electricity Supply in Ireland: The History of the ESB". Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1984. (pg. 70)] He resigned his seat in 1925 and tried to retain his seat as a National Group candidate in the by-election but was defeated by Oscar Traynor. [Coogan, Tim Pat. "De Valera: Long Fellow Long Shadow". London: Hutchinson, 1995.]

Further reading

*De Burca, Padraig and John F. Boyle. "Free State Or Republic?: Pen Pictures of the Historic Treaty Session of Dáil Éireann". Dublin: Talbot Press Ltd., 1922.
*Darrell Figgis : "Recollections of the Irish War". New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1928.
*Knirck, Jason K. "Imagining Ireland's Independence: The Debates Over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921". Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. ISBN 0-7425-4148-7
*O'Donoghue, Florence. "No Other Law: The Story of Liam Lynch and the Irish Republican Army, 1916-1923". Dublin: Irish Press, 1954.

References