The 3rd Tipperary Brigade was one of approximately 80 such units that constituted the Irish Republican Army

Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 since the time of their formation from the Irish Volunteers

Irish Volunteers

The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...

, until after the Civil War

Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....

. The Brigade was based in southern Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

 and conducted its activities mainly in mid-Munster

Munster

Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...

.

Establishment

The core of the unit from its earliest existence was the group known as 'The Big Four'. These were Seán Treacy

Seán Treacy (Irish Republican)

Seán Treacy was one of the leaders of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence. He helped to start the conflict in 1919 and was killed in a shootout with British troops in Talbot Street, Dublin during an aborted British Secret Service...

, Dan Breen

Dan Breen

Daniel "Dan" Breen was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. In later years, he was a Fianna Fáil politician.-Background:...

, Séamus Robinson and Seán Hogan

Seán Hogan

Seán Hogan was one of the leaders of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence.-Soloheadbeg:...

.

War of Independence

The 3rd Tipperary Brigade was one of the most active during the War of Independence

Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

. The ambush led by Treacy, Robinson and Breen at Soloheadbeg

Soloheadbeg

Soloheadbeg is a small townland, some two miles outside Tipperary Town, near Limerick Junction railway station.The place is steeped in Irish history, for it was here that King Mahon of Thomond and his brother Brian Ború defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Solohead in 968...

 is generally acknowledged as the opening engagement of that war. Two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary

Royal Irish Constabulary

The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...

, James McDonnell and Patrick O'Connell were killed in the attack. Breen has left apparently conflicting accounts of their intentions that day. One implies that the purpose of the confrontation was merely to capture explosives and detonators being escorted to a nearby quarry. The other, that the group intended killing the police escort in order to provoke a military response.

Treacy had stated to me that the only way of starting a war was to kill someone, and we wanted to start a war, so we intended to kill some of the police whom we looked upon as the foremost and most important branch of the enemy forces ... The only regret that we had following the ambush was that there were only two policemen in it, instead of the six we had expected.

As a result of the action, martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

 was declared in South Tipperary

South Tipperary

South Tipperary is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Munster. It is named after the town of Tipperary and consists of 52% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. The county was established in 1898 and has had a county...

. Tracey, Robinson and Breen relocated to Dublin and were associated with a unit known as The Squad. Tracey was eventually killed in an exchange of fire with a British secret service agent in Talbot Street

Talbot Street

Talbot Street is a city-centre street located on Dublin's Northside and is one of the principal shopping streets of Dublin, running from Connolly station and the IFSC at Amiens Street in the east to Marlborough Street in the west. The street is named after Charles Chetwynd, 3rd Earl of Talbot,...

, while Breen and Robinson would later alternate between Tipperary and Dublin as the conflict continued.

Civil War

Reservations about the Treaty

Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...

 caused division within the Brigade. Some members sided with the Provisional Government

Provisional Government of Southern Ireland

The provisional Government of Southern Ireland was the provisional government for the administration of Southern Ireland between 16 January 1922 and 6 December 1922. The government was effectively a transitional administration for the period between the ratifying of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the...

, (later the Irish Free State

Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...

), while others remained neutral during the ensuing Civil War. The majority, including flying column

Flying column

A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ad hoc unit, formed during the course of operations....

 commander Dinny Lacey

Dinny Lacey

Dennis Lacey, better known as 'Dinny', was an Irish Republican Army officer during the Irish War of Independence and anti-Treaty IRA officer during the Irish Civil War. Lacey was born in 1890 in a village called Attybrack, near Annacarty, county Tipperary.He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and...

 and Seumas Robinson, took the Republican side. Lacey was killed in action against Free State troops in 1923 in the Glen of Aherlow

Glen of Aherlow

The Glen of Aherlow is a picturesque valley nestling between Slievenamuck and the Galtee Mountains in the western part of South Tipperary in Ireland. The principal village is Lisvarrinane or more commonly spelt Lisvernane with a hamlet at Rossadrehid where Aherlow creamery was located before its...

 while Robinson was a General throughout the civil war.

On-line sources

Ó Duibhir : The Tipperary Volunteers in 1916: A Personal Account 75 Years On : from County Tipperary Historical Society :THJ : 1991



Brendan A. Creaner : The Rescue at Knocklong (8th Dec. 2003)

Lt Col. T. Ryan

Thomas Ryan (Irish Army Officer)

Thomas Ryan , was born in Tubrid, County Tipperary, and fought during the Irish War of Independence attached to the 6th Battalion, , Third Tipperary Brigade, I.R.A.....

: (a) : One Man's Flying Column Part I : THJ : 1991

Ryan : ...............(b) : One Man's Flying Column; Part II : THJ : 1992

Colmcille : (a) : The Third Tipperary Brigade (1921-1923); Part I- From Truce to Civil War : THJ : 1990

Colmcille : (b) : The Third Tipperary Brigade (1921-1923); Part II- From Ambushes to Executions : THJ : 1991

Colmcille : (c) : The Third Tipperary Brigade (1921-1923); Part III- The End of the Civil War: THJ : 1992

All preceding accessed on or after 2 Nov. 2008