Charlie McGlade was a
volunteer
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
in the
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...
(IRA) and later member of the member of
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
''Ard Chomhairle'' (executive committee).
Originally from
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
(and later moving to Drimnagh in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
), McGlade joined the IRA in the late 1920s. In the late 1930s, McGlade was responsible for the creation of the IRAs Northern Command. He was arrested several times for IRA activities and (in 1936) received a two year sentenced at hard labor. McGlade was involved in the planning of the 1939-40 sabotage/ bombing attack on British soil - the
S-Plan
The S-Plan or Sabotage Campaign or England Campaign was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic and military infrastructure of the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1940, conducted by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). ...
In June 1941 McGlade arrested
Stephen Hayes who was accused of being a spy for the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
government.
In the early 1940s was shot and wounded by
Special Branch Gardaí in Dublin. McGlade's shooting was one of the justifications given by the IRA for the killing of Special Branch Sergeant
Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...
(9 September 1942).
Charlie Kerins
Charlie Kerins ( ga, Cathal Ó Céirín; 23 January 1918 – 1 December 1944) was a physical force Irish Republican, and Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army. Kerins was one of six IRA men who were executed by the Irish State between Sep ...
was charged with the killing of Sergeant O'Brien. Kerins refused to recognize the authority of the court and was found guilty and hung in
Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland.
The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins.
History
...
on 1 December 1944.
Following this incident, McGlade was imprisoned until the conclusion of the Second World War. Upon his release he re-involved himself in republican activism, eventually siding with the
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
in the 1969 split in the IRA.
[English, Richard, (2003), ''Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA'', Pan Books, London, pg 105, ISBN 978 0 330 49388 8]
References
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members
Year of birth missing
{{Ireland-bio-stub