James Spain was a 22-year-old Dubliner and member of the anti-Treaty IRA when he was shot dead by the Free State Army in November 1922. The killing took place in the area then known as Tenters Field off Donore Avenue, only minutes away from where Spain grew up. There is no plaque or monument to mark the spot of this incident. We have previously covered Noel Lemass and William Graham.
James was born in December 1900 to Francis and Christina Spain, both originally from Dublin.
James ‘Jim’ Spain. Image credit – John Spain (grandnephew)
The 1901 census shows that the family were living at 63 Harty Place off Clanbrassil Street Lower. Francis (30) was a boot maker while his wife Christinia (24) looked after their three sons – Joseph (4) Francis Jr. (2) and James (4 months). All were Roman Catholic.
1901 census return for the Spain family
Ten years later the family had moved to 9 Geraldine Square off Donore Avenue. The 1911 census tells us that Francis (41), still a boot maker, and his wife Christina (35) were now living with their six sons and one daughter. These being Joseph (14), Francis Jr. (12), James (10), Annie (7) who were all at school along with Michael (5), John (3) and Patrick (1). Francis had Christina had been married for fifteen years.
1911 census return for the Spain family
At the time of his death in 1922, James Spain was listed as a upholster living at 9 Geraldine Square which corresponds with the census records. Relatives told the subsequent inquest that he had escaped from a military prison three weeks previously. His grave states that he was 1st lieutenant of A Company, 1st Batt. of the Dublin Brigade IRA.
Spain was a part of a 20-30 strong IRA team who launched a major military attack on Wellington Barracks (now Griffith Barracks) on the night of 8 November 1922. The principal attack was delivered at the rear of the barracks while shots were also fired from house-tops in the South Circular Road area.
The Irish Times, the following day, reported that the neighborhood was the:
” scene of a miniature battle. Thompson and Lewis guns answered each other with equal vigour, the sounds of the firing being heard all over the city … For nearly an hour ambulances were busy taking the wounded to hospital.
A total of 18 soldiers were hit. One was killed instantly and 17 were badly injured.
Wellington Barracks on the South Circular Road c. 1900. Credit – National Archives of Ireland
Republicans like Spain tried their best to flea the area and escape arrest. John Dorney writing in The Irish Story summarised that:
The Republicans made their escape across country, through the villages of Kimmage and Crumlin, pursued by Free State troops. They were seen carrying two badly wounded men of their own.
Spain ran north, possibly out of instinct, towards the Donore Avenue area and his home. Witnesses claim that he was dragged out of a house by soldiers and shot in Tenter Fields while the Army’s official version of events claim that he was shot in the Fields after he refused an order to stop running.
The Irish Times of 10 November 1922 reported on the events leading up to his death. Two hours after the attack on the barracks, Spain ran up to 22 Donore Road. Here a woman, Mrs. Doleman, was feeding her birds in the yard. He shouted “for god’s sake, let me in” and fell just as he got inside the gate but managed to make it the kitchen where he collapsed onto a sofa. According to Dolenan, he was only there for a few minutes before a group of Free State soldiers ran into the house and grabbed Spain. Mrs. Doleman heard shots a few minutes after.
Map showing Geraldine Sq. in the top left hand corner (where Spain was grew up), Tenters Field (where Spain was shot) and Susan Terrace beside it (where his body was found)
As often in these cases, this is where the story diverges slightly.
At the inquest, an unnamed member of the Free State Army reported that himself and five riflemen in a Lancia car came across one of the attackers (Spain) in Tenter Fields and “called on him to halt four or five times”. After this request was denied, they shot him and the man fell.
Either way, the body of this young 22 year old local was found at No. 7Susan Terrace at the edge of Tenter Fields. He had been shot five times.
Susan Terrace today. (Google Street View)
The Irish Independent on 11 November 1922 wrote:
The remains of Mr. James Spain … were last night removed from the Meath Hospital to the Carmelite Church, Whitefriar St. A man who was introduced at a previous protest meeting as Mr. O’Shea of Tipperary mounted the ruins in O’Connell St. last night and addressing those about him, asked that the meeting of protest against the treatment of prisoners be adjourned as a mark respect to the late Mr. Spain.
Two days later, the same newspaper reported on the funeral:
A number of the Cumann na mBan marched behind the hearse and there was a large cortege. The remains were received in the mortuary chapel by Rev. J. Fitzgibbon. A large numbers of wreaths were placed on the grave and three volleys from firearms were fired over the grave. The chief mourners were – Mr. F. Spain (father), Mrs. Spain (mother), Joe, Frank, Mickie, Jack, Paddy and Peadar (brothers), Annie, Molly and Crissie (sisters), Maggie and Mickie Spain (cousins), Annie and Mary Spain (aunts) and Jack Spain (uncle)
Spain was buried in the family plot in Glasnevin. Thanks to Shane Mac Thomais (of the Glasnevin Museum) for getting in touch and sending me the image of the grave.
James ‘Jim’ Spain grave, Glasnevin Cemetery. Credit – Shane Mac Thomais
James Spain was just one of dozens of young anti-Treaty IRA men who were killed by the Free State in Dublin from August 1922 to August 1923. Of the 26 murders as far as I can work out, 16 are marked by small monuments where the bodies were found.
If you have anymore information about James Spain, please get in touch by leaving a comment or emailing me at matchgrams(at)gmail.com
dfallon
hXci
Sam
I wonder if it had gone the other way would you even have reported this? You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Pity they didn’t heed Mick Collins
Valid point.
Personally, I think the stories of every individual killed in the 1913-1923 revolutionary/war period should be recorded and shared – I just don’t think it’s the job of this blog to do it.
I’m enjoying this series on anti-Treaty casualties lads. One thing though, to my count (not yet complete) there were out of 71 anti-Treaty fatalities in Dublin in the civil war, 29 that could be described as assassinations of killings of prisoners (and another 20 executed).
My research so far here;
http://www.theirishstory.com/2012/06/19/casualties-of-the-irish-civil-war-in-dublin/#.UQ_RdB2EzTo
Re the previous comment, there’s no point being partisan at this stage, but it was forgotten for a long time how badly some of the State forces behaved in 1922-23 and should be remembered just for the sake of honesty. That said, maybe the next bio should be of pro-Treaty politician Seamus Dwyer? (Killed in December 1922).
Thanks for the comment John. You’re probably right on the 29 figure. I was only going by the 26 figure in this list on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_Intelligence_Department_%E2%80%93_Oriel_House#Republican
I wonder could we cross reference and find out what 3 extra names you have?
Ok Sam, I’ll email you before the end of the week hopefully.
Hi John,
Think the 3 missing in the Wiki link are “Paddy Egan, Thomas Whelan and Thomas Maguire” who were killed near Blackhorse Bridge, Inchicore.
That would make 29 then.
[...] James Spain was a local republican. An hour after the attack on the barracks, he was spotted in the neighbouring streets, wounded in the leg, trying to find a friendly house. [...]
@ John: fair comment. The Free State army certainly did exceed its brief but neither does an implied semi-heroic, holier-than-thou status deserve to be conferred on the anti-treaty side. Remember they were quite prepared to murder and maim and did as much, often in a more cowardly way than the Army. As one who grew up in DeValera’s Ireland where the anti-treaty side was venerated almost to the point of sainthood, I feel duty bound not just to call for balance but think it’s time to let a pretty sick moment in our collective history pass. And if that period should be discussed, it should be done with historical rigour and objectivity, not dewy-eyed Republican nostalgia.
Yes, well whoever was more cowardly, I suppose those of us who grew up in John Bruton’s Ireland view it differently. The civil War was basically just not discussed and where it was it was the pro-Treatyites who were the good guys. The present takes what it wants out of all history I suppose. But I think it’s at least as important to remember the civil war as any other aspect of the 1916-23 period. Not to say who was good and who was bad but to see what we can learn from it.
I still find it amazing how the 90th anniversary of the Civil War was so easily glossed over last year, almost as though because it wasn’t a centenary it’s not worth remembering. Although there was a run of TV programmes before Xmas that did try to drag it into the light to an extent – the “Bású” series, “My Civil War”, “A Lost Son” featuring Michael McDowell.
One area I don’t think has been explored enough is just how much casual indiscipline there was among FS troops during the Civil War. While researching my granda, I was gobsmacked to read a 1922 Donegal Command Operations Report in Military Archives that stated, completely without shame: “Pvt. Boyle fired two shots at a man named Daly from the Ross. Mistook him for another man.” Six weeks after that, my granda put a notice into the Donegal papers saying any pub found selling drink to FS troops in uniform would be fined €50. Apart from him having no legal authority to levy such fines, I presume he intended to collect the fines at gunpoint if need be. My guess is Donegal wasn’t unique in that regard.
The killing of Lieutenant James Spain is covered in Martin O`Dwyer`s book ‘Death before Dishonour’ (privately published ,2010) which details the deaths of 124 people killed in ‘unauthorised’ killings by Free State forces during the Civil War. I am not sure how accurate it is to describe them all as unauthorised as several were the work of the Visiting Committee and other semi official murder gangs. In relation to James Spain,a witness, Mrs. Doleman of 22 Donore Road, also stated that when in the house Spain said ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph help me. If they get me they`ll shoot me’ When the soldiers took James from her kitchen she heard him say to them ‘Don`t shoot me’ This was followed by gunfire.Constable Anthony O`Reilly of the DMP saw him lying on the footpath at Susan Terrace with a number of soldiers standing about. He was shot five times with bullet wounds to the abdomen and knee and a bullet in the head which caused death.
The dirty war which was fought by elements within the officer corps of the Free State army and indeed the casual indiscipline which Dr. Nightdub mentions and to which a blind eye was turned at the highest levels are subjects which would well repay a visit by a historian. Most of the papers relating to the executions both official and unofficial were destroyed prior to the change of government in 1932.Not all were destroyed though and there were decent, honourable officers within the Free State army who documented the excesses of that army. See Niall Harringtons ‘Kerry Landing’ (Dublin, 1995) for the story of the Ballyseedy massacre for instance.
I am fully in agreement with John Dorney. I think it is time the Civil War was examined in all it`s elements and a few rocks turned over to see what crawls out.
Thanks for excellent article, would like to get my hands on that book , death before dishonour, if anyone knows where to get it. keep up work, great site.
@ oulfella: “I am fully in agreement with John Dorney. I think it is time the Civil War was examined in all it`s elements and a few rocks turned over to see what crawls out.”
I do believe I’ve been trying to make the very same point, if you read my posts.
@theholyfatherreilly. I apologise your Holiness for overlooking your point. The bit about the Free State Army ‘exceeding it`s brief’ in murdering prisoners may have led me to overlook you as the obvious candidate to write a history of the period. In all fairness it is probably one of the real thorny issues which needs to be dealt with. The hijacking of figures from the period by political parties which were formed much later led to one set of problems as does the approaching ‘decade of centenaries’. Some families are very happy to wrap the green flag around them in terms of what their relations did in the Tan War but are very anxious to prevent examination of their records in the Civil War.
Hello All, My Great Uncle Joseph Spooner of Spooners Cottages, Tenter Lane. Was 21 years of age when Executed in Beggars Bush, 30th November 1922.. He would have no doubt been a friend of James Spain, as they both lived very close to each other and were on the same side. I know a family from the Liberties and Im wondering are the related, I will make further enquiry’s. Whilst doing some research on Joseph, I discovered that his death was never registered , I wrote to the Military Archives looking for more info on Joes Excution, They replied telling me that on orders from The Free State Government all records were destroyed. Shame, shame on them. Joseph Spooner,Patrick Farrelly and John Murphy were arrested in the Erne Street vicinity after an attempt was made to blow up Oriel House.They were captured and sentenced to death in a secret military court. This was the HQ of the CID. It was here that republicans were held and tortured. Also it was from this building that the orders for the murders of many of our Republican patriots were issued. Fianna Boys were also not exempt from these atrocities. I agree with oulfella it now time for all this to come out into the open.
Is Mise
J.Spooner
Thanks for the comment James.
[...] Thomas O’Leary was a 22-year-old Dubliner and member of the anti-Treaty IRA when he was shot dead by the Free State Army in March 1923. There is a worn out monument, erected in 1933, to mark the spot where his body was found. We have previously covered the following Republicans who were killed during the final year of the Civil War – Noel Lemass, William Graham and James Spain. [...]