Joseph McKelvey (17 June 1898 – 8 December 1922) was an

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 t ...

officer who was executed during the Irish Civil War. He participated in the anti-Treaty IRA's repudiation of the authority of the Dáil (civil government of the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

declared in 1919) in March 1922 and was elected to the IRA Army Executive. In April 1922 he helped command the occupation of the

Four Courts The Four Courts ( ga, Na Ceithre Cúirteanna) is Ireland's most prominent courts building, located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts is the principal seat of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit ...

in defiance of the new

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independ ...

. This action helped to spark the civil war, between pro- and anti-Treaty factions. McKelvey was among the most hardline of the anti-Treaty republicans and briefly, in June 1922, became IRA Chief of Staff.

Background

McKelvey was born in Stewartstown, County Tyrone, the only son of Patrick McKelvey, a Royal Irish Constabulary constable who later became a sergeant, and Rose O’Neill, a post office employee. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, McKelvey Snr enlisted in the special reserve of the British Army and, in 1917, was posted to the Northumberland Fusiliers. He died in 1919 in Belfast, due to a perforation of his stomach, at the age of 57. Joe McKelvey had a keen interest in the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

and the

Irish language Irish (an Caighdeán Oifigiúil, Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages, Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European lang ...

. He studied as an accountant and gained some of the qualifications necessary for this profession, but never fully qualified. He worked for a time at the

Income Tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

Office on Queen's Square in

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 Kingd ...

and later found work in the city's engineering industry with Mackies on the Springfield road. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

, which during 1919 became known as the

(IRA). He was a founder member of the O'Donovan Rossa Club, Belfast – established in 1916 on the Falls Road. Each year the club honour him with a juvenile hurling blitz, an invitational competition which is participated in by clubs throughout Ireland.

War of Independence

McKelvey participated in the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and United Kingdom of Gre ...

1919–1921 against the British, in which he commanded the IRA's 1st Battalion, Belfast Brigade. In April 1920, he and other Volunteers burned the tax office in

Belfast Customs House 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 Kingd ...

and two other Income Tax Offices. In July 1920, during a wave of violence in the wake of the IRA assassination of a northern police inspector (Gerard Smyth) in Cork, McKelvey was expelled from his job by loyalist intimidation. Roughly 7,000 other Catholics and left-wing Protestant political activists also lost their jobs in this manner at the time. Many of these unemployed Catholics were later recruited into the IRA. McKelvey later wrote to the IRA leadership that 75% of his volunteers were unemployed. In July 1920 McKelvey defended catholics during the ‘Belfast pogroms’. On 22 August 1920, McKelvey helped to organise the killing of RIC Detective Oswald Swanzy in Lisburn. The killing itself was carried out by IRA men from Cork, but McKelvey arranged a taxi to carry the assassins to and from the scene and disposed of their weapons. In reprisal for this shooting, 300 Catholic homes in Lisburn were burned out (see

The Troubles (1920–1922) The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an Ethnic nationalism, ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometime ...

). McKelvey was forced to lie low 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 ...

for some time after these events. In March 1921, the IRA was re-organised by GHQ into divisions, and McKelvey was appointed commander of the Third Northern Division, responsible for Belfast and the surrounding area. McKelveys three brigades covered Belfast,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

and north

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...

. He was criticized by some of the younger, more radical Volunteers in the IRA Belfast Brigade (led by Roger McCorley), for being reluctant to sanction the killing of police and British Army personnel in Belfast. McKelvey feared (and was proved correct) that such actions would provoke retaliatory attacks on the Catholic and Irish nationalist community by loyalists. Nevertheless, he was unable to control some of his younger volunteers, who formed an "active service unit" on their own initiative and killed policemen and soldiers on a regular basis. When such attacks occurred, loyalists, generally supported by the Ulster Special Constabulary, attacked Catholic areas in reprisal. The IRA was then forced to try to defend Catholic areas, and McKelvey feared that the organisation was being drawn into sectarian conflict as opposed to what he saw as the "real" struggle for Irish independence. In May 1921, McKelvey's command suffered a severe setback when fifty of his best men were sent to County Cavan to train and link up with the IRA units there, only to be surrounded and captured by the British Army on Lappanduff hill on 9 May. In most of Ireland, hostilities were ended with a truce declared on 11 July 1921. However, in the north and particularly in Belfast, violence intensified over the following year. McKelvey wrote to GHQ at this time that his command was very short of both arms and money. In March 1922, many of his papers, detailing the names and units of the roughly 1,000 IRA members in Belfast, were captured by the

B-Specials The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men") was a quasi-military reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the par ...

in a raid on St Mary's Hall in Belfast.

Civil War

McKelvey was alone among the leadership of the Belfast IRA in going against the acceptance of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Most of his comrades supported Michael Collins' assurances that, although the Treaty accepted the partition of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

from the rest of the country, this was only a temporary concession which would be dealt with later. McKelvey did not accept this. As a result, he left his command as head of the IRA Third Northern Division and joined the Anti-Treaty IRA in Dublin. McKelvey was replaced by Seamus Woods as O/C of the Third Northern Division. Seamus Woods would go on to senior positions within the Free State Army (Assistant Chief of Staff). McKelvey participated in the Anti-Treaty IRA's repudiation of the authority of the Dáil (civil government of the

declared in 1919) in March 1922 and was elected as the IRA Army Chief of Staff of the Executive. In April 1922 he helped command the occupation of the

in defiance of the new

. This action helped to spark the Irish Civil War, between pro and anti Treaty factions. McKelvey was among the most hardline of the anti-Treaty republicans and briefly, in June 1922, became IRA Chief of Staff, replacing Liam Lynch. On 28 June 1922, the new

government shelled the Four Courts to assert its authority over the militants defending it. The Republicans in the Four Courts surrendered after two days of fighting and McKelvey was captured. He was held for the following five months in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, McKelvey was never tried or convicted of any offense.

Execution

On 8 December 1922, Joe McKelvey was executed by firing squad along with three other Anti-Treaty militants, Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows and Richard Barrett. The executions had been ordered in reprisal for the Anti-Treaty IRA's murder of Sean Hales, a Pro-Treaty member of the

Third Dáil The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provisio ...

. McKelvey was a well respected Irish Republican leader and many Pro-Treaty Officers and men took his execution very badly.McDermott, pg 278 On the morning of his execution, he wrote this letter to Mrs Isabella Sullivan (née Letson) o
Walmer, Andersonstown, BelfastLetter written by McKelvey to Mrs Sullivan, 8 December 1922.

References

External links

* ''

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