Maurice Twomey ( ga, Muirgheas Ó Tuama; 10 June 1897 – October 1978) was an
Irish republican and the longest serving
chief of staff 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 th ...
(IRA).
Early life
Twomey was born in 1897 in
Clondulane, near
Fermoy
Fermoy () is a town on the River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,500 people. It is located in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, and is in the Dá ...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...
, Ireland and was educated by the
Congregation of Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers ( la, Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice.
Their first school was opened i ...
.
The son of a
labourer
A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...
at Hallinan’s
Flour Mills in the town, Twomey went to work there at the age of 14 where he rose to the position of works manager. In 1914 he became active in 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 ...
.
Character
Twomey was a dedicated and well respected Irish Republican who successfully dealt with factions within the Irish Republican movement. "He was dedicated to Irish freedom and nothing else mattered to him. Compromise was not in his vocabulary."
War of Independence
By 1918 he was
adjutant of the Fermoy Battalion and a year later became an adjutant of the Cork No. 2 Brigade. He took part in an ambush of
British troops
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas ...
in Fermoy in September 1919, one of the first attacks on British soldiers in Ireland since the 1916
Easter Rising and one of the first of the
Irish War of Independence.
During 1920 he helped direct IRA
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...
in his brigade area. He was staff commandant of
Liam Lynch’s 1st Southern Division when he was captured and imprisoned on
Spike Island during 1921. He managed to escape from the prison by rowing boat along with
Dick Barrett, Tom Crofts and Bill Quirke.
Civil War
Twomey opposed the
Anglo-Irish 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 ...
of December 1921, although he was critical of the tactics adopted by the anti-Treaty forces headquartered in 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 Circui ...
. He was influenced by Oscar Traynor's opinion that the garrison would destroy the Republic during June 1922. The Four Courts episode had showed the leadership that it was out of touch with the reality of the awesome power of artillery. Twomey concurred with Liam Mellows that if a government was to be formed in the interest of labour, it must be a republic.
During the
Irish Civil War, Twomey became adjutant general on the staff of
Liam Lynch, IRA Chief of Staff, and was with the commander when he was killed in the Knockmealdowns mountains on 10 April 1923. Twomey was
imprisoned
Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
in the same month in Dublin.
IRA Chief of Staff
During 1924 he became involved in the reorganisation of the IRA, inspecting its southern divisions that summer and its northern units during 1925. First elected onto the IRA Executive at the November 1925 IRA General Army Convention, he became a full-time IRA activist. He disguised this by describing his profession as "
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
", justified somewhat by his regular contributions to the IRA weekly
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...
, ''
An Phoblacht
''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; en, "The Republic") is a formerly weekly, and currently monthly newspaper published by Sinn Féin in Ireland. From early 2018 onwards, ''An Phoblacht'' has moved to a magazine format while remaining an ...
''. During ''1926'' he was acting
IRA chief of staff
Several people are reported to have served as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army () in the organisations bearing that name. Due to the clandestine nature of these organisations, this list is not definitive.
Chiefs of Staff of the Irish ...
in the absence of
Andrew Cooney, and in 1927, he was confirmed in that position.
In the summer of 1925, the anti-treaty IRA had sent a delegation led by Pa Murray to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
for a personal meeting with
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
, in the hopes of gaining Soviet finance and weaponry assistance.
A secret pact was agreed where the IRA would spy on the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and pass information to
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
(
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
)
spymaster
A spymaster is the person that leads a spy ring, or a secret service (such as an intelligence agency).
Historical spymasters
See also
*List of American spies
*List of British spies
* List of German spies
*List of fictional spymasters
This ...
s in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in return for £500 a month.
The pact was originally approved by
Frank Aiken
Francis Thomas Aiken (13 February 1898 – 18 May 1983) was an Irish revolutionary and politician. He was chief of staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA at the end of the Irish Civil War. Aiken later served as Tánaiste from 1965 to 1969 and Minister ...
, who left soon after, before being succeeded by Cooney and Twomey who kept up the secret espionage relationship.
Twomey was not himself an ideological
Marxist-Leninist (though there were some communists in the IRA at this time such as
Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell ( ga, Peadar Ó Domhnaill; 22 February 1893 – 13 May 1986) was one of the foremost radicals of 20th-century Ireland. O'Donnell became prominent as an Irish republican, socialist activist, politician and writer.
Early life
Pea ...
), he saw the arrangement purely as a means to gain the IRA badly needed funding. Twomey also repeatedly accused the Soviets of being "shifty" and "out to exploit us."
Nevertheless, London-based IRA
spymaster
A spymaster is the person that leads a spy ring, or a secret service (such as an intelligence agency).
Historical spymasters
See also
*List of American spies
*List of British spies
* List of German spies
*List of fictional spymasters
This ...
Seán MacBride
Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish Clann na Poblachta politician who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 19 ...
passed specifications of "submarine detection sonar and aeroplane engines for bombers, military journals and manuals, and gas masks"
to the USSR through
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
-based GRU operative
Walter Krivitsky
Walter Germanovich Krivitsky (Ва́льтер Ге́рманович Криви́цкий; June 28, 1899 – February 10, 1941) was a Soviet intelligence officer who revealed plans of signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact after he defected to ...
, whom ciphered IRA communications referred to only by the code name "James". Meanwhile, the IRA's main
spymaster
A spymaster is the person that leads a spy ring, or a secret service (such as an intelligence agency).
Historical spymasters
See also
*List of American spies
*List of British spies
* List of German spies
*List of fictional spymasters
This ...
in America "Mr. Jones", whom historians Tom Mahon and James J. Gillogly have identified as
Daniel "Sandow" O'Donovan, passed "reports of the
army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
’s
chemical weapons
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...
service, state-of-the-art gas masks, machine-gun and aeroplane engine specifications, and reports from the
navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
,
air service and army" to the Soviet GRU.
Twomey was considered a
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
, albeit one who put practicality before ideology. Twomey considered himself a moderate, had a deep sense of history, and the belief that Ireland had the resources to provide a good living for all of its people. His policy as chief of staff was to allow individual members of the IRA to join left-wing groups, but not to let the IRA itself become attached to any
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
. He simultaneously feared undermining support for
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
and thus handing power back to Cumann na nGaedheal; but he was also apprehensive about the IRA being seen as attached to Fianna Fáil.
In 1930, Twomey married Kathleen MacLaughlin of
Donegal and had two children in the early 1930s.
Saor Eire and Fianna Fáil
![CnG 1932 Posters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/CnG_1932_Posters.jpg)
In 1931 Twomey tried to quell different factions within the IRA (those seeking to establish a social programme vs those against it) by permitting IRA members to create
Saor Eire, a far-left political party. However, Saor Eire quickly found itself under attack from both Cumann na nGaedheal and by the
Catholic Church in Ireland
, native_name_lang = ga
, image = Armagh, St Patricks RC cathedral.jpg
, imagewidth = 200px
, alt =
, caption = St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.
, abbreviation =
, type ...
for being a Pro-Soviet organisation, with the IRA painted as guilty by association. Simultaneously, the Cumann na nGaedhael government gave itself emergency powers and began arresting IRA members. Both Twomey and the IRA decided that in order to hold off Cumann na nGaedheal, they would need to rally around Fianna Fáil.
In February 1932 Cumann na nGaedhael called a snap election, hoping to catch both the IRA and Fianna Fáil on the backfoot. However, Fianna Fáil were able to secure victory. To the surprise of many, Cumann na nGaedhael choose to respect the result of the vote and stood aside to let Fianna Fáil into power. Initially, many Republicans and members of the IRA were overjoyed with the result. At first Fianna Fail seem to signal goodwill to the IRA by releasing many IRA prisoners. However, it quickly dawned upon the IRA that Fianna Fáil were not going to declare a Republic, and this put them in an awkward spot. A week after Fianna Fáil came to power, an internal document produced by the IRA leadership asked two fundamental questions: "can Fianna Fáil’s methods and policies achieve the Republic?", to which they answered No, and "can the IRA launch a successful revolution against the Fianna Fáil Government?", to which they also answered No. Both Twomey and the IRA were unsure how to proceed. In Twomey's own words "nobody had visualised a Free State which Republicans were not supposed to attack".
Following the election of Fianna Fáil,
Tom Barry and Twomey clashed over the direction going forward. Barry wished to see Saor Eire ended (believing its policies never gain mass support, and in fact, this made Saor Eire an undemocratic concept) and for the IRA to reconcile with Fianna Fáil. Twomey instead thought that the social programme of Saor Eire could and would gain democratic support.
On 21 May 1936 Twomey was arrested in his house in Dublin under Article 2A of the
Irish Constitution
The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditio ...
. On 18 June 1936 the Fianna Fáil government banned the IRA. The following day Twomey was tried and jailed for three years for membership of the newly proscribed organisation. Under the IRA constitution, his tenure as IRA chief of staff ended automatically upon his arrest. He was imprisoned in
Arbour Hill Prison
Arbour Hill Prison () is a prison located in the Arbour Hill area near Heuston Station in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The prison is the national centre for male sex offenders.
Adjacent to the prison are the Church of the Sacred Heart, ...
and the
Curragh
The Curragh ( ; ga, An Currach ) is a flat open plain of almost of common land in County Kildare. This area is well known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the ...
from 1936 to 1938. During his period of imprisonment his family depended heavily on money sent to them by
Joseph McGarrity
Joseph McGarrity (28 March 1874 – 4 September 1940) was an Irish-American political activist best known for his leadership in Clan na Gael in America and his support of Irish Republicanism back in Ireland.
Early years
McGarrity was born in C ...
of
Clan na Gael
Clan na Gael ( ga, label=modern Irish orthography, Clann na nGael, ; "family of the Gaels") was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister org ...
, a US-based IRA
fundraising organisation. On his release, Twomey became
adjutant general
An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer.
France
In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
on
Seán Russell
Seán Russell (13 October 1893 – 14 August 1940) was an Irish republican who participated in the Easter Rising of 1916, held senior positions in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, and was Ch ...
's
army council. He travelled to
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
and inspected the IRA's units there. Twomey concluded that the IRA was in no position to launch a campaign and withdrew from IRA activity. In 1939 he opened a
newsagents
A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...
and confectioners in Dublin's
O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry S ...
.
Post IRA life
Following a crackdown on the IRA by
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...
's government, he was
interned
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
for two weeks during 1940. He remained close to the IRA, giving assistance to republicans deported from Britain and mediating in disputes between IRA factions. While he did not take an active role in politics after the 1940s, he did speak at a number of republican
commemorations, most notably at the restoration of
Wolfe Tone's grave at
Bodenstown
Bodenstown Graveyard ( ga, Reilig Bhaile Uí Bhuadáin) is a cemetery located in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. Containing a ruined medieval church, it is best known as the burial place of the Irish patriot Wolfe Tone (1763–1798).
His ...
in 1971. He never claimed an IRA pension from the Irish government or gave an account of his record to the
Bureau of Military History
The Bureau of Military History in Ireland was established in January 1947 by Oscar Traynor TD, Minister for Defence and former Captain in the Irish Volunteers. The rationale for the establishment of the Bureau was to give individuals who played ...
, set up to record the recollections of participants involved in the struggle against British rule.
He was badly injured in an accident in 1971 and was deeply affected by the death of his wife Kathleen Twomey in April 1978. Twomey himself died in October of that year. The presence at his funeral of members of
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
and
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil ...
,
Sinn Féin The Workers’ Party and
Provisional Sinn Féin, the Irish
labour movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
and old IRA comrades from the 1930s was evidence of his enduring popularity.
Twomey's papersfrom his period as IRA chief of staff, consisting of 28 boxes, are now kept at the Archives Department of
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
.
References
Bibliography
* Dalton, Charles, ''With the Dublin Brigade 1917-1921'' (London 1929)
* English, Richard, 'Green on Red: Two Case Studies in Early Twentieth-Century Irish Republican Thought', in D George Boyce et al. (eds.), ''Political Thought in Ireland since the Seventeenth Century'' (London 1993)
* English, Richard, ''Ernie O'Malley: IRA Intellectual'' (Oxford 1998)
* English, Richard & Graham Walker (eds.), ''Prisoners: The Civil War Letters of Ernie O'Malley'' (Swords 1991)
* Greaves, C Desmond, ''Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution'' (London 1971)
* Hanley, Brian ''The IRA. 1926-1936'', Dublin (Four Courts Press 2002).
* Williams, T.Desmond (ed.), ''The Irish Struggle 1916-1926'' (London 1966)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Twomey, Moss (Maurice)
1897 births
1978 deaths
People from County Cork
Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members
Irish spies for the Soviet Union
People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side)
People from Fermoy
Spymasters