Francis 'Frank' Teeling (10 May 1899 – 25 January 1976) was a member of 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 tha ...

and one of

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who took part in the assassinations of members of the

Cairo Gang The Cairo Gang was a group of British intelligence agents who were sent to Dublin during the Irish War of Independence to conduct intelligence operations against prominent members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) with, according to Irish intel ...

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...

Background

Teeling was a native of Dublin. Both the 1901 and 1911 censuses lists him as living at 7 Jane Place Upper. He was one of ten children born to Christopher Teeling and Sarah Mc Grane of whom only four survived childhood. The 1901 census also lists three children born to Sarah Teeling from a previous marriage.

Bloody Sunday

On 21 November 1920 Teeling was one of a group of IRA men who entered 22 Lower Mount Street to assassinate Lieutenant Angliss, alias McMahon, and Lieutenant Peel. Angliss was shot dead in his bed while Peel, hearing the shots, blocked his bedroom door and survived. When members of

Fianna Éireann Na Fianna Éireann (The Fianna of Ireland), known as the Fianna, is an Irish nationalist youth organisation founded by Constance Markievicz in 1909, with later help from Bulmer Hobson. Fianna members were involved in setting up the Irish Volun ...

on lookout reported that

Auxiliaries Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, u ...

were approaching the house, the unit of Volunteers split up into two groups. One left by the front door, the other left by the laneway at the back of the house. Teeling was wounded in a gun battle with the Auxiliaries in the laneway and arrested. Teeling was the only Bloody Sunday participant to be captured at the scene. He was court martialled in January 1921, was sentenced to hang, and was held at

Kilmainham Gaol Kilmainham Gaol ( ga, Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leade ...

. On the night of the 15 February he escaped from Kilmainham along with

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and

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Civil War

Although Teeling was made a Lieutenant in the army of the newly-founded

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 th ...

, his behaviour and escalating

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became a cause for concern. He had become an embarrassment to the army, but his record of service during the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of o ...

made it awkward to publicly discredit him or discharge him. The commander-in-chief of the National Army complained that Teeling had been "publicly misconducting" himself and "bringing serious discredit on us". In October 1922 he accidentally shot a sergeant major dead in Gormanston camp, Co. Meath. The subsequent investigation cleared him of any malice in the incident. Plans were made to give him a sum of money in order to encourage him to emigrate to Australia. On 19 March 1923 the Department of Finance made out a cheque to Teeling for the sum of £250. The money was apparently to be drawn down from funds authorised by the Free State cabinet for use by the Secret Service. p 349 However, on 27 March, Teeling shot and killed William Johnson, a member of the Citizens' Defence Force. It seems a drunk Teeling objected to the fact that Johnson had brought a bag of tomatoes into the bar at the Theatre Royal and shot him dead in the ensuing altercation. At his trial Teeling claimed he had acted in self-defence, citing the fact that Johnson had also drawn his gun. The jury found him guilty of manslaughter and recommended clemency "on account of the state of his mind". Teeling was imprisoned for eighteen months.

Later life

Teeling remained in Ireland, continuing to live at Jane Place Upper. He was imprisoned on at least one further occasion in 1931. He died in January 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teeling, Frank Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Irish people convicted of manslaughter Irish escapees Irish prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by the British military Escapees from British military detention Year of birth uncertain 1976 deaths 1899 births