Brian Molloy, member of 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...

, fl. 1916-1921

Molloy, along with Michael Newell, was desceibed as ".. a born leader ... was the guide and motivator of the Castlegar Company in the 1916 rising and later in the War of Independence." He had been captured in the aftermath of the Easter Rising

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

 and sentenced to death. This was subsequently commuted to ten years penal servitude, but he was released in June 1917.

He planned many of the ambushes in the locality of the town of Galway. His family home was burned to the ground by the Black and Tans

Black and Tans

The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...

.