Liam Mellows

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Liam Mellows (25 May 1895 – 8 December 1922), often spelled 'Liam Mellowes', was an Irish Nationalist and Sinn Féin politician.

Contents

[edit] Career

Mellows was born in Manchester, England to William Mellows, a British Army officer, and Sarah Jordan, of Inch, Co Wexford,[1] where he grew up. A nationalist from an early age, Mellows joined Fianna Éireann (the republican boys' movement) and was active with the Irish Volunteers. He was arrested and jailed on several occasions under the Defence of the Realm Act. Eventually escaping from Reading Jail he returned to Ireland to command the "Western Division" (forces operating in the West of Ireland) of the IRA during the Easter Rising of 1916. He led roughly 700 Volunteers in abortive attacks on Royal Irish Constabulary stations at Oranmore, and Clarinbridge in county Galway and took over the town of Athenry. However, his men were very badly armed and supplied and they dispersed after a week, when British troops and a battleship were sent west to attack them.

After this insurrection failed, Mellows escaped to the USA, where he was arrested and detained without trial in the Tombs, New York on a charge of attempting to aid the German side in the First World War. After his release in 1918, he worked with John Devoy and helped to organise Éamon de Valera's fund raising visit to America in 1919–1920. He returned to Ireland to become Irish Republican Army "Director of Supplies" during the Irish War of Independence, responsible for buying arms. At the 1918 general election of December, he was elected to the First Dáil as a Sinn Féin candidate for both Galway East and for North Meath. (According to United Kingdom law, these were Westminster constituencies but Sinn Féin did not recognise them as such, but rather took them as de facto Dáil Éireann constituencies).

He considered the Anglo-Irish Treaty to be a betrayal of the Irish Republic, saying, in the Treaty Debates of 1921–22:

“ We do not seek to make this country a materially great country at the expense of its honour in any way whatsoever. We would rather have this country poor and indigent, we would rather have the people of Ireland eking out a poor existence on the soil; as long as they possessed their souls, their minds, and their honour. This fight has been for something more than the fleshpots of Empire. ”

He wrote a social programme based on the Dáil's Democratic Programme of 1919 aimed at winning popular support for the anti-Treaty cause.

[edit] Civil war

Mellows was one of the more strident TDs on the approach to the Irish Civil War. On 28 April 1922 he told the Dáil:

"There would no question of civil war here now were it not for the undermining of the Republic. The Republic has been deserted by those who state they still intend to work for a Republic. The Volunteers can have very little faith at this moment in the Government that assembles here, because all they can see in it is a chameleon Government. One moment, when they look at it, it is the green, white and orange of the Republic, and at another moment, when they look at it, it is the red, white and blue of the British Empire. We in the Army, who have taken this step, have been termed “mutineers,” “irregulars,” and so forth. We are not mutineers, because we have remained loyal to our trust. We are not mutineers except against the British Government in this country. We may be “irregular” in the sense that funds are not forthcoming to maintain us, but we were always like that and it is no disgrace to be called “irregulars” in that sense. We are not wild people."[1]

In June 1922, he and fellow republicans Rory O'Connor, Joe McKelvey and Richard Barrett, (among others) entered the Four Courts, which had been occupied by anti-Treaty forces since April. However, they were bombarded by pro-Treaty Free State forces and surrendered after two days. Mellows had a chance to escape along with Ernie O'Malley, but did not take it. (See also Battle of Dublin).

Imprisoned in Mountjoy Gaol, Mellows, O'Connor, McKelvey and Barrett were executed by firing squad on 8 December 1922, in reprisal for the shooting of TD Seán Hales. (see Executions during the Irish Civil War)

[edit] Commemoration

Mellows is commemorated by a statue in Eyre Square, Galway, in the official name of the Irish Defence Forces army barracks at Renmore, Dún Úi Maoilíosa and a bridge, Mellows Bridge, in Dublin. There is also a commemorative statue in Oranmore, about 10 km from Galway city.

Mellows is buried in Castletown cemetery, County Wexford, a few miles from Arklow. An annual commemoration ceremony is held at his grave site in December, in which a wreath is laid by a member of the Liam Mellows Commemoration committee.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Irish Independent, 2 December 1952.

[edit] Further reading

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Patrick White		 Sinn Féin MP for Meath North and Galway East
1918–1922		 Succeeded by
Constituencies abolished
Oireachtas
Preceded by
Newly created office		 Sinn Féin TD for Meath North and Galway East
1918–1921		 Succeeded by
Constituencies abolished
Preceded by
Newly created constituency		 Sinn Féin TD for Galway
1921–1922		 Succeeded by
Vacant
v • d • e
Easter Rising
Signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic
(executed after the Rising)
Also executed for their role in the Rising
Other Irish figures
British figures