Category: War of Independence

Categories
Historical Biographies War of Independence

A Fearless Rebel

Bill Foley & The fight for west waterford

i. The Fight on the Western Front
It takes a rebellious heart for a mere teenager to leave the bosom of rural West Waterford and decamp to fight for the British Army in The Great War, especially considering the vast numbers of Irishmen who were falling at the ‘Front’. Nonetheless, this is what Bill Foley and his older brother Robert from Ballycurrane, Clashmore contended to do. They served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers and while in the forces they both qualified as proficient marksmen, a skill which would stand them in good stead for the challenges ahead closer to home.

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Categories
Historical Biographies War of Independence

James Mary Quain

on this day: a tragic loss of young life

On this day May 10th 1921, a young man named James Quain lost his life during an engagement in the War of Independence. That day a party of British Marines from Ardmore Coast Guard Station were on patrol carrying out ‘round-up’ operations in the Piltown/Monatrea area. Some local volunteers and others from the Flying Column itself were in the vicinity of Monatrea when four or five of them became isolated not far from Moord Cross Roads and were taken by complete surprise by the Marines. The volunteers had to flee and disperse under heavy fire, with the tragic result being that young James Quain from Youghal was mortally wounded as he tried to get away.

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Categories
Historical Biographies War of Independence

Cumann na mBan

A Brief local history of the cumann na mban

Cumann na mBan or the “Irishwomen’s Council” was founded in April of 1914 at Wynn’s Hotel, Dublin and was a Nationalist organisation which aligned closely with the Irish Volunteer movement. Initially much of their activities on a local level involved fundraising and providing first-aid training for their members, but their primary objective of “advancing the cause of Irish liberty” and to “assist in arming and equipping a body of Irish men for the defence of Ireland” would ring more and more true as Ireland approached the revolutionary events of Easter 1916 and latterly during the War of Independence.

Cumann na mBan Poster
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Categories
Historical Biographies War of Independence

Alice Colfer

Alice Colfer, Cumann na mBan (& her links to Clashmore)

Alice Colfer was a committed Nationalist and from a Waterford perspective was an early pioneer of the Cumann na mBan movement in the city, along with the likes of Rosamond Jacob et al. She was also an ardent supporter of the Conradh na Gaeilge movement and officiated for the Waterford City branch of that organisation and culturally important sub-groups such as the Waterford Feis. But admittedly what really piqued our interest in Alice was her earlier association with the parish of Clashmore…

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