Pádraig Ó Fathaigh (1879–1976) was a member of the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...

and an

Intelligence Officer An intelligence officer is a member of the intelligence field employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a r ...

of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

Background and early life

A native of Lurgan,

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 2,800 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 road (Ireland), R458 and R460 ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, Ó Fathaigh was the fifth of six children (and third son) of Laurence and Bridget Ó Fathaigh. Like most of their neighbours, the family were tenant farmers "who lived in a three-roomed house and raised grains, root crops and livestock for sale at local markets. They also maintained a few outbuildings for their animals, indicating that the family was able to invest in some improvements on their farm." Growing up amid the

Irish Land War The Land War () was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 1882, or include later ...

and

Home Rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...

, Ó Fathaigh – whose family spoke Irish at home – joined the

. He was certified to teach Irish in national schools in 1907 and two years later became the full-time ''múinteoir taistil'' (travelling teacher) for the Gort area. He regularly cycled all over the district each week, his night classes been as large as 150 pupils.

Irish Volunteer

He joined the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

in 1914, possibly becoming a member of the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

around the same time. His older brothers, Mícheál and Seán were also Volunteers, while their youngest sister, Mary, was secretary of the local

Cumann na mBan Cumann na mBan (; but in English termed The Irishwomen's Council), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and dissolving Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and in 191 ...

Liam Mellows William Joseph Mellows (, 25 May 1892 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England to an English father and Irish mother, he grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne before moving to Ireland, ...

was a regular visitor to the family home. His participation in the

Easter Rebellion The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an in ...

of 1916 was cut short by his arrest at

Kinvara Kinvara or Kinvarra () is a sea port village in the southwest of County Galway, Ireland. It is located in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the Barony (Ireland), barony of Kiltartan. Kinvarra is also ...

presbytery, while the main group of over six hundred Galway volunteers gathered near

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...

and

Oranmore Oranmore ( or ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, east of Galway city on an inlet of Galway Bay. At the 2022 census, Oranmore had a population of 5,819. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. Etymology Oranmore is the anglicisat ...

under Liam Mellows and Larry Lardner.

Active service in County Galway

After the failure of the rising, Ó Fathaigh served time for

penal servitude Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included inv ...

in England until released in 1917. With the start of the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the 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 Unite ...

he was on the run, serving as an intelligence officer. He was arrested in January 1920 and was imprisoned in England. He participated in the ten-day

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

at London's

Wormwood Scrubs Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs (or simply Scrubs), is an open space in Old Oak Common located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the borough ...

prison in 1920. He escaped on 16 May, arriving back in the Gort area in June. Over the following year his friend,

Joe Howley Joseph Howley, from Oranmore, County Galway, was a member of the Irish Volunteers. He mobilized and led a combined contingent of 106 Volunteers from Oranmore to attack the Oranmore barracks on the Tuesday morning of the 1916 Easter Rising. The c ...

, and informant, Constable Kearney of the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

, were killed by the

Black and Tans The Black and Tans () were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence. Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920, and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflic ...

, while other events included the killings of Eileen Quinn, Fr. Michael Griffin, the Loughnane brothers, Frank Shawe-Taylor and Captain C.E.N. Blake. Following the death of the latter, his wife and two fellow officers at the Ballyturin ambush, Ó Fathaigh's family home was burned by Crown forces, after which they ran riot in Gort. After the Truce of 1922, he was congratulated for his efforts from

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

. However, he took the Anti-Treaty side in the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

Later life

After the war, he earned a degree in

Celtic Studies Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celts, Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art h ...

from

National University of Ireland, Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

, teaching in his locality. In later years he worked as a Health Board clerk for Galway County Council and was secretary of the committee which erected a monument to

Eyre Square Eyre Square ( ; ) is a city public park in Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The park is within the city centre, adjoining the nearby shopping area of William Street and Shop Street. Galway railway station is adjacent to Eyre Square. The ...

Memoir

Pádraig Ó Fathaigh wrote a memoir of his life in 1968, which is now

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ) is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is "To collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the ...

MS 21288. It was published in 2000.

References