Former Mayo TD Henry Coyle's extraordinary life, all in the cause of Irish freedom
In the first of a series of articles marking the centenary of the War of Independence in Mayo, Gerry Coyle tells the remarkable story of his late father's involvement in the conflict and the huge personal price he paid
My late father Henry served as a Mayo TD for the North Mayo constituency as a Cumann na nGaedheal representative from August 27, 1923, to May 9, 1924, when he was disqualified after being sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for what I consider to be one of the greatest acts of political mistreatment in the history of the state he fought to establish.
In order to set the record straight about his remarkable life and his huge contribution to the fight for Irish freedom by his courageous efforts in Ireland and the United Kingdom, I am currently completing a book about his extraordinary life and times.
And, yes, it was extraordinary in so many ways.
The book, due to be published later this year, details the history of the Erris native and IRA Commandant's involvement in the cause of Irish freedom and the complete mistreatment of him afterwards by the Irish State, which he fought so hard to achieve.
His key role in the War of Independence resulted in him being arrested in Scotland on December 4, 1920, after a long police chase through the Scottish countryside.
In his vehicle, police discovered the largest cargo of explosives, guns, ammunition, fuses and detonators ever uncovered by police on the British mainland.
The load was one of many making its way to Ireland for use in the Irish War of Independence.
My father was in charge of the purchase and transportation of war materials in Scotland after being appointed to the role by General Michael Collins, to whom he remained a trusted and faithful lieutenant. He was also a member of Collins’ Intelligence Committee.
The previous Saturday night, on November 28, 1920, he had taken part in the Liverpool burnings when 17 warehouses and five timber yards were burnt, causing millions of pounds in damage in the city.
The burnings in Liverpool were in retaliation for the massacre on Bloody Sunday at Croke Park and the burning of Cork by the Black and Tans.
My father remains one of the forgotten heroes of Ireland's fight for independence and I intend to put the record straight once and for all in my book.
His story is one of turmoil, sorrow, regret and tragedy.
And his life only began to achieve some level of normality in later years after he met and married my wonderful mother, Molly Ginty, from Dooriel in Ballycroy in 1937.
For the purpose of this publication, I am recalling the defiant speech he gave during his trial, along with 15 others, on charges of conspiracy in an Edinburgh court in March 1921, in which nine of the accused were found guilty, with some, including my father, being sentenced to up to five years penal servitude.
He had previously been found not guilty in a Liverpool court in respect of the aforementioned burnings in the city.
CHARACTER OF THE MAN
His words in Edinburgh Courthouse summed up the character of the man in so many ways.
He told the judge: “I am the one and only person responsible for all that has happened.
“I don't mind what I suffer or what punishment I undergo for justice sake, as I know I am suffering for justice sake, but I don't want to see anyone else suffering for anything I have done.
“I don't want to deny anything I have done. If I have any regrets it's not for what I have done but for being deprived of the opportunity of doing more.
“Neither do I want to deny my membership of the Irish Republican Army. I am a soldier of that army and I pride myself on that.
“Of course, it's being said during the course of this trial that the Irish Republican Army is an illegal organisation. But, in my opinion, it is not.
“Ireland is as much entitled to an army as any other country and I, like everyone else, am entitled to my beliefs.
“The Irish people are provoked and, if they had not been, there would be no trouble.
“Even the learned Lord Advocate in his address to the jury said that the citizens of any country are entitled to choose any form of government they want 'by constitutional means'.
“By those same constitutional means the Irish people choose their form of government in the 1918 general election. But what was the result?
“The parliament established by those constitutional means was proclaimed illegal and the elected representatives of the people were cast into prison for no other reason than they represented the people.
“Now are the Irish people provoked?
“All we are asking of England is what belongs to us and nothing more. We’re fighting for our country, our homes and our liberty. Yet who our invaders are need not be questioned.
“I don't believe in the taking of lives although the lives of Irish men have been taken by England for hundreds of years - apart from the hundreds of thousands of Irishmen who have sacrificed their lives for England in all her wars and battles."
A FASCINATING INSIGHT
Many years later – in June 1964 – my father wrote a letter to the Western People in response to a number of articles and memories by Sean Mor Lynchehaun and John P. McPhillips, who were former members of the old IRA that were based in Scotland and England during the 1920s.
This, I believe, is the only time my father wrote or spoke publicly about his own very active involvement in the cause of Irish freedom and the War of Independence, until my taped interviews with him in the 1970s.
For a short letter it contained an amazing and fascinating insight into a largely forgotten piece of Irish history.
It also referred by name to some of the other great heroes who are part of Ireland's forgotten freedom fighters, those who fought gallantly and bravely behind enemy lines, and who fearlessly carried the fight in to the very heart of the British empire.
The following is a section of transcript as it appeared in the Western People on June 27, 1964.
He wrote: “I want to give all due credit to Sean Mor Lynchehaun and John P. McPhillips and all the others who helped to carry the fight into the enemy’s camp and whose services were most valuable and praise worthy indeed.
“The work carried out by Irish men across the water was no small factor in bringing the members of the British government to their senses and it proved to them that the battle wasn't going to be fought on Irish soil alone and that the people of England and Scotland would have to bear the brunt of it.
“When I mentioned Irish men over there I should have included Irish woman, too, for they certainly done their part as well as the men.
“The trial in Liverpool was the first big Sinn Féin case in England, as it was then called, and the British government sent down the Attorney General, Sir Gordan Hewart, to lead the prosecution for the crown.
“He was one of the British representatives who signed the Treaty afterwards along with Lloyd George, Winston Churchill and Lord Birkenhead.
“It was little he thought during the course of that trial early in 1921 that he would be signing a peace treaty with the hated rebels before the end of that same year."
I have been intrigued by the trials and tribulations of my father's life and the time has now come to set the record straight about so many things and remembering all the good he has done.
(Gerry Coyle is an elected Fine Gael member of Mayo County Council).
* This series of articles is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 201202023 initiative.