Edmond Foley sometimes known as Edmund or Edward, was a 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...

 (IRA) who was hanged in Mountjoy Prison

Mountjoy Prison

Mountjoy Prison , founded as Mountjoy Gaol, nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security prison located in Phibsboro in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. It has the largest prison population in Ireland.The current prison governor is Mr...

 on 7 June 1921. Together with nine other men executed by hanging 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...

, he was one of The Forgotten Ten

The Forgotten Ten

The Forgotten Ten is the term applied to ten members of the Irish Republican Army who were executed in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin by British forces following courts martial from 1920-1921 during the Irish War of Independence. Based upon military law at the time, they were buried within the prison...

.

Background

Foley was a native of Galbally

Galbally, County Limerick

Galbally is a village in southeast County Limerick, Ireland, on the border with County Tipperary. It is located at the foot of the Galtee Mountains and at the western approach to the Glen of Aherlow...

, Co. Limerick

County Limerick

It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...

 and was 23 years of age at the time of his execution.

Arrest, trials and execution

He had taken part in the rescue of IRA member 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:...

 at Knocklong

Knocklong

Knocklong is a small village situated in County Limerick, Ireland, located on the main Limerick to Mitchelstown to Cork road.-History:Knocklong was originally known as Druim Damhghaire, the Ridge of the Oxen, but takes its present title from Cnoc Luinge, the Hill of the Encampment. According to...

 Railway Station on 13 May 1919 along with Sean 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...

, Séamus Robinson and 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:...

 in which two policemen died. Hogan had been captured a day earlier following the 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...

 ambush. The beginning of the Irish 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...

 is generally traced to the events at Soloheadbeg. After going on the run for two weeks Foley was arrested and charged with the murder of the two men killed at Knocklong. Foley and another Volunteer Patrick Maher

Patrick Maher (Irish Republican)

Patrick Maher was a member of the Irish Republican Army executed in Mountjoy Prison. He was aged 32 and a native of Limerick.-Background:...

. were tried three times for these murders with juries failing to reach verdicts on two occasions. Their third trial was by court martial on the 15 March 1921 in Dublin and both were convicted of murder. Among the many who appealed for clemency was the father of one 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...

 (RIC) men killed at Knocklong. Nonetheless, both Foley and Maher where hanged on 7 June 1921.

Reinterment

Foley is one of a group of men hanged in Mountjoy Prison in the period 1920-1921 commonly referred to as The Forgotten Ten

The Forgotten Ten

The Forgotten Ten is the term applied to ten members of the Irish Republican Army who were executed in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin by British forces following courts martial from 1920-1921 during the Irish War of Independence. Based upon military law at the time, they were buried within the prison...

. In 2001 he and the other nine, including Kevin Barry

Kevin Barry

Kevin Gerard Barry was the first Irish republican to be executed by the British since the leaders of the Easter Rising. Barry was sentenced to death for his part in an IRA operation which resulted in the deaths of three British soldiers.Barry's death is considered a watershed moment in the Irish...

, were exhumed from their graves in the prison and given a full State Funeral. He is now buried in Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery , officially known as Prospect Cemetery, is the largest non-denominational cemetery in Ireland with an estimated 1.5 million burials...

, Dublin.

Further sources

• The Rescue at Knocklong
• Galbally Memorial Inscription from irishwarmemorials.ie 3-11-2008