Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA

Subject: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: Big Tim
Date: 31 May 01 - 04:37 AM

Does anyone know what became of Sean Hogan after he was released by the Free State in 1932. When did he die? (If he were still alive he would be aged about 100). He is mentioned in the song "Galtee Mountain Boy".

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: Sarah2
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 08:54 PM

Big Tim,

Not much help after 1932, but maybe a lead or two...

There's some discussion in thread .086, and I find him again in Robert Kee's Ourselves Alone, volume III of his The Green Flag trilogy, which reports (page 58 of the Penguin Books 1989 USA publication)

"...Constables McDonnell and O'Connell, who, escorting a cart carrying gelignite to a quarry at Soloheadbeg were set upon by masked Volunteers and shot dead with revolvers at point-blank range. The Volunteers stripped the bodies of their rifles and ammunition and made off with these and the gelignite. The names of the chief participants in the attack were Dan Breen, Seumas Robinson, Sean Treacy and Sean Hogan, and they had take the action entirely on their own initiative.*

"The two Irish constables, both Catholics, one a widower with four children, were very popular locally and had never had any connection with political prosecutions. Their deaths aroused widespread indignation and horror, and there was a poignant moment at the inquest when one of McDonnell's sons asked if they had been given any time to surrender the explosives or had had a dog's chance.** The coroner's jury extended its sympathy to the relatives in their bereavement and a Tipperary priest immediately proclaimed in church that no good cause would be served by such crimes which would bring on their country disgrace and on themselves the Curse of God.*** Another said that no one would deplore the crime more than the leader of the Sinn Fein movement.**** The action was condemned as a crime at masses throughout Tipperary the following Sunday and the Archbishop of Cashel in Thurles Cathedral proclaimed it an offence against the law of God. He added: 'We pray that we may be spared a recurrence of such a deed' In St. Michael's Church, Tipperary, another cleric, Monsignor Ryan, cried: 'God help poor Ireland if she follows this deed of blood!'*****

"Nevertheless, in spite of an offer of £1,000 reward, the killers were able to vanish without trace until an even more sensational appearance three months later."

Kee cites as sources for the above:
*Breen, My Fight for Irish Freedom, pp 34-40
**Irish Independent, 22 January 1919
***Irish Times, 27-8 January 1919
****Tipperary Star, 25 January 1919
*****O'Donoghue, No Other Law, pp. 44-5

On page 72 of the same, Kee writes,

"The slow rebellion that the extremist Republicans were developing under the name of Sinn Fen was indeed gradually getting under way. And yet for all the rally of national sentiment in face of British activities, when, on 13 May 1919, two more RIC constables were shot dead in a daring rescue of a Volunteer prisoner from a train at Knocklong station, County Tipperary, many moderates felt dismayed, and the strongest condemnation was forthcoming from the Church at once. The parish priest of a locality in which the two constables had served declared that murder was murder, however much people might attempt to cloak it in a political motive. And Dr Harty, the Archbishop of Cashel who had been confronted with British bayonets outside the mansion House in Dublin a few days before, denounced what he called 'the deplorable occurrence' at Knocklong as 'a crime against the law of God and a crime against Ireland.' He asked the young men of the country 'not to stain the fair name of their native land by deeds of bloodshed.' It was, he sid, no use to appeal to the fact that the British Government had been committing outrages in Ireland: two wrongs did not make a right.* The inquest jury conveyed an ambivalence suggestive of the resentment which British military measures were creating. While expressing sympathy for the relatives of the dead policemen it added a rider that 'the Government should cease arresting respectable persons, thereby causing bitter exasperation among the people.'**

"As far as the respectability of the arrested person in this instance was concerned, he was Sean Hogan, a Volunteer who had been present at the Soloheadbeg killings. He had been rescued by his former comrades in that venture, Dan Breen, Seumas Robinson and Sean Treacy with help from other local Volunteers. Breen later wrote that he had to fire at once on this occasion because otherwise the constables would have shot their prisoner as they had done in the Limerick hospital. Though Breen was himself severely wounded he again successfully disappeared with the others into the countryside, getting help from local people and being passed along the Volunteer network.*** He and his comrades had again carried out the exploit on their own initiative."

For this, Kee cites:
*Irish Independent, 16 May 1919
**ibid., 21 May 1919
***Breen, My Fight for Irish Freedom, pp. 83-105

So you might try some places in County Tipperary on the net -- libraries, newspapers. I did stumble upon this at Bookworm.ie:

"Biographical Dictionary of Tipperary - Martin O' Dwyer PRICE: IRP£ 13.95 pbk PUBLISHER: Folk Village '99

This much-needed reference work on Co. Tipperary provides detailed biographies of the figures who shaped the county's history. From the kings of Cashel to scarcely-remembered soldiers in the old IRA, this comprehensive work provides a detailed cross-section of the men and women who shaped the county throughout the years. Includes over 2,000 entries."

There, more than you ever wanted...hope there's a clue in there somewhere.

Sarah

P.S. I hope I made the correct slash (/) to stop the italics and bold face. Otherwise...Oh, well, I guess I can come back and correct. God knows it won't be the first/last time. -S

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: Sarah2
Date: 01 Jun 01 - 08:57 PM

Oh, by the bye, the same site lists a recent republishing of Breen's book.

Sarah

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: Big Tim
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 04:00 AM

Sarah: thanks a million, I'd just about given up on this. I've got the Dan Breen and Robert Kee books,it's really Hogan's later life I know nothing about. Many prominent old IRA survivors had long political careers in the Free Sate (like Breen) and I'm just curious what Sean Hogan did with his life after release. I've got a feeling that his idealism probably kept him out of mainstream politics. The last reference I have to him is in Uinseann MacEoin'e encyclopaedic "The IRA in the twilight years, 1923-1948", an unusual book as it gives no publisher, date or isbn, I picked it up once while browsing in a bookshop in Galway City. Hogan was jailed (interned) by the Free State from 1923-32. On his release his parents described him as "looking old but unyielding". I'm very interested in the Tipp biog dict that you referred to and will pull out the stops to trace a copy. Thanks again and all the best.

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: Wolfgang
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 02:41 PM

Sorry, Tim, if you object that I transfer this from another thread, but imagine someone else in two years finds this thread. She'll be delighted to have the information together. Everything below my signature is from Big Tim and I have only copied it.

Wolfgang

Anyone interested on a previous thread on Sean Hogan (old IRA) I got hold of Martin O'Dwyer's Biographical Dictionary of Tipperary, " he [Hogan] returned to work on his farm in Donohill but after a while sold it and moved to Dublin and started up a vegetable farm. He later married and had a son. Towards the end of his life Sean suffered from very poor health and lived on his own in a tenement flat on North Great george's Street in Dublin. he died aged 68 on Christmas Eve 1968. His remains were taken back to Tipperary and he is buried in St Michael's Cemetery, Tipperary Town". RIP.

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: Big Tim
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 03:22 PM

Thanks Wolfgang, I'd have done that myself if I knew how.

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: Wolfgang
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 03:39 AM

I see,

I often forget how long it took me to learn all the features of Mudcat.

I used the 'Forum Search' above (under the 'quick links'). I could have entered your name for a name search to get all your posts (but with an increasing number of posts that's sometimes a bad idea, for it takes too long) and to scan for the thread. But I usually use the 'subject' search which is effective if you still recollect at least one word from the title of the thread. I didn't recollect the title of this thread so I had to guess. I first tried 'Galtee Mountain Boy' to no avail and then tried directly 'Hogan' hoping you would have used that name in the title. You had and so by another one or two clicks I had the thread.

Very useful, but I also remember when I tried in vain to refind a thread about a song and did not guess that the first poster had spelled the name of the group 'Cheiftans'.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: GUEST,Kevin Moloney
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 11:16 AM

Just to let you know - my grandfather (Sean Moloney) was largely brought up by his aunt. Her name was Hogan and he became known as Sean Hogan. He lived in Limerick and was in the flying column. He was captured by the British on a raid and was kept in Limerick hospital. There was a plot to free him by taking a boat down the river and climbing the hospital wall - unaware that there were soldiers in his room with orders to kill him if any attempts were made. The attempt was aborted when a fire in the town (cinema?) lit up the side of the wall. He was killed in a car crash in 1935. This information was passed to me by word of mouth and I have no proof - but this story is also recalled in a book about Michael Collins.
I'd love to find out any other information about him. He is buried in Glasenevin.

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: GUEST,Miceal Geraghty
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 12:48 PM

read somewhere that he purchased a farm, Knocklong, in Country Kildare, where Dan Breen alsoi lived

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 12:57 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%A1n_Hogan

Subject: RE: Help: Sean Hogan, 'old' IRA
From: GUEST,john connors
Date: 18 Oct 13 - 08:49 AM

i have some imformation on sean hogan but a lot of it i would not like to share publicly. anyone interested can email me -- [e-mail] - and i'll give my phone number