Charlie Daly (Irish Republican)
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Charlie Daly (10 August 1896 – 14 March 1923), born in Castlemaine,
Co. Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
, was the second son of Con. W. Daly, of Knockanescoulten,
Firies Firies ( officially Firies; ga, Na Foidhrí) is a village in County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after ...
,
County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
. He went to school, first to Balyfinane National School, and later to the Christian Brothers at Tralee. Daly had been an active member of the Irish Volunteers from 1913 before the
Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
and had risen to the rank of Commandant General and was the Officer Commanding (O/C) the Second Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Under the Defense of the Realm Act (D.O.R.A.) he was incarcerated at Cork Male Prison 1918-1919 for unlawful assembly; specifically "throwing stones at the police". In his wound pension application of 1937 IRA leader George Lennon noted Daly as O/C of No. 10 Wing. A "smash up strike" in the jail resulted in solitary confinement and ill treatment for the men. Accompanied by Liam Lynch and George Lennon he was at the Mansion House on 7 January 1922 when a majority voted to accept the Treaty. Daly subsequently took the
anti-treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
side in the
Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
and was executed on orders from a newly formed Irish Free State government.


O/C 2nd Northern Division & Civil War

In early 1920 IRA General Headquarters (GHQ) sent Daly to Tyrone naming him as the Officer Commanding (O/C) the IRAs 2nd Northern Division. Daly was to organize the few units there and was ordered to 'raid for arms' indicating how poorly armed the Tyrone IRA was at that time. Prior to Dalys arrival in Tyrone "...each IRA company was more or less acting independently on its own." Local IRA leadership welcomed Daly, he "impressed us very much with his example and bearing". Daly stressed to the local IRA that number of people would have to be prepared to make the supreme sacrifice and that "volunteering was not going to be an easy job". In the spring of 1921 Monaghan IRA leader Eoin O'Duffy was appointed as the Commandant of the IRA's 2nd Northern Division (Tyrone). Liam Kelly, a well respected Tyrone Republican felt the Daly should have gotten the appointment: "I am convinced that O'Duffys appointment was a mistake as Charlie Daly was a better man for the job. He knew the area much better and worked with the men for about twelve months beforehand. He knew all the officers in the area intimately and was a general favourite with all who had contact with him." During this time Daly was a senior leader of the IRA in
Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...
. Following the truce during the Irish War of Independence (July 1921), O'Duffy was reassigned to Belfast, and Daly again assumed command of the 2nd Northern Division of the IRA. In 1921 Daly commanded 15 active companies in Tyrone, each composed of about 50 men. During this time 27 people were killed by the local IRA with 20 belonging to the Crown Forces. Daly's forces carried out numerous attacks on police barracks and raids for arms/ammunition. Just after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, Daly recognized the different enemies his forces continued to face: "it seems curious that we must risk our lives for the sake of a cause that has been handed over to the enemy. Of course the Northerners must fight for their existence under whatever government is in power." In February 1922 Daly was removed form his position as O/C 2nd Northern Division and replaced with a pro treaty officer (Tom Morris). Daly stated that his removal was the result of his opposition to the Treaty and was just one of several moves made by the newly appointed Free State Minister of Defense Richard Mulcahy to replace anti treaty northern IRA leaders. Daly continued to fight - he planned the highly successful attack on the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barrack in Pomeroy, County Tyrone (19 March 1922). Approximately 20 heavily armed Tyrone IRA men gained entrance to the base and made off with 75 rifles and a large quantity of ammunition. On November 23, 1922 Daly led an attack by the Carrickmore Battalion on the RIC at Ballygawley, which resulted in the wounding of three police and two civilian drivers. In the spring of 1922 Daly was involved in the planning and execution of the IRAs Northern Offensive (see The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922)) and initially worked to avoid violence between pro and anti treaty forces who were divided over the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Speaking about the IRAs campaign in Tyrone while he was in command, Daly stated that: "Taking into consideration the hostile civilian population with superior equipment backed by Regular Forces, and the apathy of our own civilian population, this area did far more than several Southern Counties situated under far more favourable circumstances." During the Irish Civil War Daly found his forces under increased pressure from pro treaty forces. Facing overwhelming opposition Daly and the O/C the IRAs 1st Northern Division, Sean Lehane split their forces into smaller columns. In a letter dated 17 September 1922, Daly expressed his forces desperate situation: "Here we are with one small column trying to hold our own against desperate odds. A month ago I never expected that one of us would be left by now."


Arrest, execution and legacy

On 2 November 1922, Charlie Daly was captured and imprisoned at Drumboe Castle in Donegal, where he was held until 16 January 1923, when he was
court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
led and sentenced to death. On 14 March 1923, Commandant General Daly (aged 26), Lt. Daniel Enright (aged 23), Brigadier Commandant Sean Larkin (aged 26), and Lt. Timothy O'Sullivan (aged 23) were given an opportunity to prevent their execution if they each signed the following "Declaration": "I promise that I will not use arms against the Parliament elected by the Irish people, or the Government for the time being responsible to that Parliament, and that I will not support in any way such action. Nor will I interfere with the property or person of others." All four men refused to sign and faced a firing squad shortly thereafter. Like Daly, Enright and O'Sullivan were also from Kerry. Daly was shot in retaliation for an act he did not commit - the shooting of Captain Bernard Cannon a pro-treaty National Army officer.
Joseph Sweeney (Irish politician) Joseph Aloysius Sweeney (13 June 1897 – 25 November 1980) was an Irish politician and military commander. He fought in the Easter Rising in the GPO and was a member of the IRA during the war of independence. He later became Chief of Staff of t ...
was the Commander of the Provisional Government forces in Donegal and knew Daly from earlier years. Sweeney was quoted on the execution of Daly: "The terrible thing was that Daly had to be executed...Daly and I had been very friendly when we were students, and it is an awful thing to kill a man you know in cold blood, if you're on level terms with him...I didn't agree with it, but they were orders and you had to do it." His sister May Daly was a significant figure in Sinn Féin in Kerry up to the 1970s; she stood in the 1957 general election in Kerry North, polling 3,171 votes. One of his descendants, Mark Daly, was elected senator in 2007 for Fianna Fáil. Another one of his Descendants, Lorraine Clifford-Lee, was elected as a Fianna Fáil senator in 2016. While another one of his descendants,
Pa Daly Patrick Daly is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry constituency since the 2020 general election. He qualified as a solicitor in 1996, he worked in the United States before moving to Dublin. He return ...
was elected as a Sinn Féin TD in 2020.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daly, Charlie 1896 births 1923 deaths Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side) Executed Irish people People executed by Ireland by firing squad People from County Kerry People of the Easter Rising