Pádraig Ó Cuinn was an 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...

 Quartermaster

Quartermaster

Quartermaster refers to two different military occupations depending on if the assigned unit is land based or naval.In land armies, especially US units, it is a term referring to either an individual soldier or a unit who specializes in distributing supplies and provisions to troops. The senior...

 General

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 in the Fourth Northern Division

Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army

The Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army operated in an area covering parts of counties Louth, Armagh, Monaghan, and Down. Frank Aiken was commander and Padraig Quinn was the quartermaster general. John McCoy was Adjutant General for the division; after he was shot and captured by...

 in 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...

.

Born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Quinn was raised in Newry

Newry

Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...

 where he attended the Abbey Christian Brothers Grammar School. His father, John Quinn, opened the first supermarket in Ireland, The Milestone, and he was a brother of Seán F. Quinn

Sean F. Quinn

Seán Francis Quinn was an Anti-Treaty IRA officer in the Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army .He was educated by the Christian Brothers in Newry....

. He lived in the USA and England for many years before returning to Newry to work as a general practitioner

General practitioner

A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...

.

During the War of Independence he commanded a unit that operated against the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in Dublin city centre. He was involved in numerous operations in the field. He was sympathetic to the anti-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...

 side in the Irish 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....

 and was wounded when he tried to escape an ambush at the end of this conflict. After the war, he presided over the Newry Easter commemoration ceremonies in St Mary's cemetery in Newry, on the border between County Armagh

County Armagh

-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...

 and County Down

County Down

-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...

, for 30 years http://archives.tcm.ie/newrydemocrat/2005/09/07/story4807.asp. He also lobbied the Irish Government to recognize men who served under his command in both conflicts as veterans entitled to veterans' benefits.

Pádraig Quinn was a co-founder of the Old Newry Society http://www.thebookofnewry.com

Sources

Ernie O’Malley, On Another Man's Wound. Ernie O’Malley, The Singing Flame (Anvil Books Limited, Ireland, 1978)

• The Newry Reporter, Thursday, August 25, 2005, page 6.
• Newry Democrat September 7, 2005
• Old Newry Society, The Book of Newry (Old Newry Publications, N. Ireland, 2008)