Joseph J. O’Connor Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

: Seosamh Ó Conchobhair) was an Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician. Joe O'Connor was born in the 1880s and remembered seeing Charles Stewart Parnell

Charles Stewart Parnell

Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...

 as a child. He joined the IVF

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"...

 in 1913 and by 1916 he was a captain in command of A Company, 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade under Éamon de Valera

Éamon de Valera

Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...

. When the vice-commandant failed to show for 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...

 Valera made O'Connor his second in command. O’Connor remained with his company and Valera at Boland’s Mill until they became the last battalion to surrender. He was imprisoned at Frongoch

Frongoch

The village of Frongoch is located in Gwynedd, Wales. It lies close to the market town of Bala, on the A4212 road in north Wales.It was the home of the Frongoch internment camp, used to hold German prisoners-of-war during First World War, and then Irish Republican prisoners from the 1916...

 Prison Camp in Wales and released in the 1917 Amnesty. Returning to Dublin O’Connor joined “The Squad

The Squad

The Squad is a Vietnam War novel by David Sherman published in 1990 by the Ivy Book imprint of Ballantine Books....

” under Michael Collins

Michael Collins

- Politics :* Michael Collins , Irish Labour party politician, Lord Mayor Of Dublin 1977–1978* Michael Collins , Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician...

 and killed Captain John FitzGerald of the “Cairo Gang” on Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday

-Events :* Bloody Sunday , a demonstration in London, England against British repression in Ireland* Bloody Sunday , a day of high casualties in the Second Boer War, South Africa...

 in 1920. By the end of the Tan War he was Commandant of the 3rd Battalion “Dev’s Own”. He was a member of the IRA’s “Banned Convention” in 1922 and in the Battle of Dublin

Battle of Dublin

The Battle of Dublin, a week of street fighting in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922, marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. The fighting began with an assault by the Provisional Government of the proposed Irish Free State on the Four Courts building which had been occupied by a hard-line...

 he held the Fianna

Fianna

Fianna were small, semi-independent warrior bands in Irish mythology and Scottish mythology, most notably in the stories of the Fenian Cycle, where they are led by Fionn mac Cumhaill....

 HQ in York Street near St Stephens Green. He escaped to Limerick

Limerick

Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...

 and succeeded Ernie O’Malley as the Quarter-Master-General of the IRA

Ira

IRA most commonly refers to:*Irish Republican Army, which has existed in various forms since 1916**List of organisations known as the Irish Republican Army**Provisional Irish Republican Army...

 with the rank of brigadier-general. After the war he became cattle salesman and farmer and in 1925

Irish Free State Seanad election, 1925

An election was held on 17 September 1925, for 19 of the 60 seats in Seanad Éireann, the Senate of the Irish Free State. The election was by single transferable vote, with the entire state forming a single 19-seat electoral district. There were 76 candidates on the ballot paper, whom voters ranked...

 Cumann na nGaedheal senator for Kildare

Kildare

-External links:*******...

. Despite joining Fine Gael

Fine Gael

Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...

he presented Valera with a scroll of those killed in the Easter Rising in a 20th anniversary remembrance. He also sued O’Malley’s in 1936 when his memoirs accused O'Connor of cowardice and he won £550 in damages.