Yesterday, I wrote a piece on the assassination of Kevin O’Higgins and briefly discussed the theory on whether we should commemorate historical events regardless of whether we have strong positive or negative feelings on the individual or individuals involved.
Today, I plan to do a little research on the O’Higgins’ three killers:
1. Archie Doyle (? – 1980)
2. Bill Gannon (? – September 12, 1965)
3. Tim Coughlan (1906 – 28 January 1928)
1. Archie Doyle, described as ‘one of the more shadowy figures in the IRA’[1] , is believed to have fought in the War of Independence and on the anti-treaty side of the Irish Civil War.. He was interned afterwards and was then involved in the assassination of O’Higgins in 1927. Doyle took an active part in the IRA’s 1940s campaign including the September 1942 attack on the RUC barracks in Crossmaglen, County Armagh and the July 1943 robbery of a van outside the Willa Tobacco Factory on the South Circular Road, Dublin. [2]
The Irish Times, Friday, July 2, 1943.
Proinsias Mac Aonghusa in a Sunday Press article has described Doyle leading a double life between an unobtrusive private existence in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar in which he worked initially for the Board of Works and later for Woolworths where he was buildings manager travelling the country, and active service in the IRA during which he was ‘generally thought to be responsible for all or nearly all assassinations’ according to former IRA Chief of Staff[3]. Doyle died in St. Jame’s Hospital in 1980.
2. Bill Gannon is also believed to have fought in the War of Independence and on the anti-treaty side of the Irish Civil War. He joined the refounded Communist Party of Ireland in the early 1930s and was one of the defenders of Connolly House in the March 1933 attack [4].
Bill Gannon, founder-member of the CPI, 1933, recruiting officer of volunteers for Spain, 1936–38 (From CPI Website)
During the Spanish Civil War, he along with Frank Ryan and Peadar O’Donnell helped to organise Irish Volunteers to travel to Spain to fight on the Republican side. He died in September 1965 and was buried in Mt. Jerome cemetery with military honours. His coffin was draped with a red flag and the Irish tricolour.
3.Tim Coughlan , the second eldest in a family of nine, lived with his parents at 24, Ring Street, Inchicore. Coughlan played a role in both the Tan War and the Civil War. Interned for much of the latter, he re-immersed himself in republican activities upon his release. He was killed in very mysterious circumstances in January 1928. That day Coughlan and another IRA volunteer were on Dublin’s Dartry Road, opposite ‘Woodpark Lodge’, the home of Sean Harling – a former IRA comrade-in-arms turned government informer. It is accepted by most and Coughlan and co. were there on a fact-finding mission. At around 6:55pm, Harling returned home from work and he noticed two men watching him from the other side of the road. A gun fight broke out in which Coughlan was fatally wounded. Harling claimed he killed him in self-defence.
The Irish Times, Thursday, February 16, 1928
However, there are lots of unanswered questions surrounding the night which prompted the IRA to claim at the time that Coughlin was in fact ambushed and in effect extrajudicially executed. This version is especially supported by the autopsy carried out by Dr. Wilfred Lane which “amongst other anomalies, discovered that the IRA man died as a result of being shot in the back of his head”. Also, the doctor found a cigarette butt in his mouth, which again indicated he had been caught unaware and killed, and tenants on Dartry Road testified that there had been unusual police activity that evening and that they heard more shots than mentioned in Harling’s account.
I could not find Woodpark Lodge but this, the corner of St. Kevin's Park and Dartry Road, is where Harling first saw Coughlin and the other IRA volunteer.
Harling, fearing for his life, was relocated to the United States. Though blocked for a time, he returned to Ireland several years later and was given a job in the Revenue Commissioners. He lived on New Grange Road, Cabra unil his death in 1977. (The above was based on articles by Aengus O Snodaigh and Gabriel Doherty)
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Footnotes:
[1] The Irish Times, Monday, October 7, 1985, p. 9
[2] Saoirse, Issue 65. September 1992.
[3] The Irish Times, Monday, October 7, 1985, p. 9
[4] Uinseann MacEoin, The IRA in the twilight years:
1923-1948 (Dublin, 1997), p. 136
[5] Brian Hanley, The Storming of Connolly House, History Ireland Volume 7 (2), Summer 1999, p5-7
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
I was going to post about Tim Coughlan on the O’Higgins story but you got there first! Woodpark Lodge was a bit further south towards the Dodder on the left. It was demolished in the ’40s but another gate lodge built beside it still survives.
It used to be said that Harling was actually a double agent, who gave away a small arms dump to ingratiate himself into the Special Branch to tip off the IRA on any raids in the offing. Anyway, they never came after him and he lived to a ripe old age up in Cabra where he made sweets in his back shed(!). The kids used call him ‘Rubber Libs’ for some reason.
The identity of O’Higgins’ killers was always well known in the Republican movement and I remember hearing back in the ’80s that all three were court-marshalled afterwards, but that no action was taken.
BTW, have a look at Brian Hanley’s new book on the IRA. There are cheap(er) copies available in the little bookshop across the street from RSF…
Re: Woodpark Lodge
Click here:
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,715972,730298,7
Click on historic 25″ in bottom right panel.
Woodpark is bottom right and the lodge seems top left.
Move the slider at bottom of right panel to the right to overlay the modern map.
Hope this helps.
Rath ar an obair.
For the record,
Harling’s nephew wrote a book about the incident fairly recently:
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Shadows_of_Doubt/415/
Eoin
Cheers for that Eoin.
Thanks for the comment above.
Timothy Coughlan was a member of Fianna Fail when he was killed and a Dublin cumann of the party was named after him: it still existed in the 1980s. Several FF TDs attended his funeral and Sean MacEntee promised that Coughlan’s murderers would ‘not go unpunished.’
There is a statement from Bill Gannon’s son in the National Archives, describing his father’s memory of the O’Higgin’s shooting.
A nephew of timothy coughlan states that he never died .He worked in the botanic gardens up until his death in the late 70,s.Apparently HE left the country ,with his brothers help,(who was in the army) and returned 7 years later.
I,m in the process of retrieving more information and will post .
Mannix, i can assure you that Tim Coghlan, my Granmothers brother was in fact shot dead that day as his death certificate which can be found in the national archives will verify, also my grandmother Nora Coghlan (Cumman Na Mbann) mentions her brothers killing in the minutes of her pension application.
Can you contact me
[…] […]
My Grandfather was Patrick Redican who was in the house at the time of the assenation …… It wasn’t Harling home .It was the Redican house.His wife’s family home , which he knew was the safest place to live in dublin …..I’ve been
told Dev got him to go into the special branch , to make it easier for him to get into power. Read into that what ever way you want. He was that close to Dev . Also heard Dev was afraid of him ,cause he was very smart.
I also heard Dev had him watched …It could have been a set up to get rid of these 2 ! Cause they were causing to many problems for him.
I also heard that the one who survived live not far from Harling in Cabra
[…] that, at the same time as O’Higgins was on his way to Mass on that day, three IRA men – Bill Gannon, Archie Doyle and Tim Coughlan – were on their way to a football match when they crossed paths with O’Higgins and took […]