Seán McCaughey (

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: Seán Mac Eóchaidh) (1915 – 11 May 1946) 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 tha ...

leader in the 1930s and 1940s and hunger striker.

Background

McCaughey was born in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone in 1915 and in 1921 his family moved to Ardoyne in Belfast. McCaughey was Adjutant-General of the IRA and Officer Commanding (O/C) of its Northern Command. McCaughey was held in high regard and was considered to be one of the best officers of the northern IRA. At the time of his arrest in

Rathmines Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to t ...

, Dublin on 2 September 1941 he was acting Chief of Staff.

Trial and Imprisonment

In September 1941 he was found guilty by a

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

court of having detained and assaulted Stephen Hayes,

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 ...

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 th ...

government. McCaughey was sentenced to death by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

. His sentence was commuted to a life sentence of penal servitude. Imprisoned in

Portlaoise Prison Portlaoise Prison ( ga, Príosún Phort Laoise) is a maximum security prison in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland. Until 1929 it was called the Maryborough Gaol. It should not be confused with the Midlands Prison, which is a newer, medium secur ...

(24 July 1941), McCaughey refused to wear prison clothes, was kept in solitary confinement and spent nearly five years naked except for a blanket. This form of resistance by

Irish Republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

prisoners was used in the 1980s

Blanket protest The blanket protest was part of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners held in the Maze prison (also known as "Long Kesh") in Northern Ireland. The ...

in the

Maze prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sep ...

(also known as "Long Kesh") and the HM Prison Armagh (women's prison) in Northern Ireland. McCaughey and other Irish Republican prisoners endured years of hardships: "Sitting month after month, year after year in bleak solitary cells, they were taken out once a week for a bath, and for the rest of the week lived the life of an animal trapped in a burrow...That they did not go mad is a remarkable comment on mans capacity for survival." McCaughey commenced a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

on 19 April 1946. After 10 days, he stopped taking water and died on 11 May 1946, the twenty-third day of his protest. An inquest was held in the prison at which the prison doctor admitted that during his four and a half years of imprisonment that McCaughey had never been allowed out in the fresh air or sunlight and that "he would not treat his dog the way Seán McCaughey had been treated in Portlaoise." Sean McCaughey was buried in a family grave in

Milltown Cemetery Milltown Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Bhaile an Mhuilinn) is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and the M1 motorway. History Milltown Cemetery opened in 1869 as part ...

which is under the care of the

National Graves Association, Belfast The National Graves Association, Belfast ( ga, Cumann Uaigheann na Laocradh Gaedheal, Béal Feirste) is a private Irish republican organisation which undertakes to care for and maintain the graves of some Irish Republican Army volunteers who are ...

Hunger Strikes

Seán McCaughey was the last person to die on hunger strike in the Irish state. There is a long history of hunger striking in Ireland - within the 20th century a total of 22 Irish republicans died on hunger strike with survivors suffering long term health and psychological effects. The largest hunger strike in Irish history was the 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes. Ten men died during the

1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republicanism, Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government ...

Sources

*, ''Time Magazine'', 29 September 1941.
National Graves Association

* ''Biting at the Grave'', O'Malley, Padraig, Beacon Press, Boston 1990 ISBN 0-8070-0208-9 * ''Pawns in the Game'', Flynn, Barry (2011), Collins Press, Cork, Ireland ISBN 9781848891166

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCaughey, Sean 1915 births 1946 deaths Irish people convicted of assault Irish prisoners sentenced to death Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members People from County Tyrone Irish prisoners who died on hunger strike