Dick McKee

Irish republican (1893–1920)

Dick McKee

Native name|

Risteárd Mac Aoidh

Birth name| Richard McKee
Nickname(s)| 'Fergus'
Born| (1893-04-04)4 April 1893
Phibsborough, Dublin, Ireland
Died| 21 November 1920(1920-11-21) (aged 27)
Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland
Buried|

Glasnevin Cemetery

Branch|

* Irish Volunteers (1913-1919)
* Irish Republican Army (1919-1920)

Rank| Brigadier
Unit| Second Battalion, Dublin Brigade
Battles / wars|

* Easter Rising
* Irish War of Independence

Richard "Dick" McKee (Irish: Risteárd Mac Aoidh; 4 April 1893 – 21 November 1920) was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He was also friend to some senior members in the republican movement, including Éamon de Valera, Austin Stack and Michael Collins. Along with Peadar Clancy and Conor Clune, he was killed by his captors in Dublin Castle on Sunday, 21 November 1920, a day known as Bloody Sunday that also saw the killing of a network of British intelligence agents by the "Squad" unit of the Irish Republican Army and the killing of 14 people in Croke Park by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC).[1]

## Early life

[edit]

McKee was born at Phibsborough Road in Dublin on 4 April 1893. He became an apprentice in the publishing business at Gill & Son, Upper O'Connell Street, and then a compositor.[2]

## Military career

[edit]

McKee joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, serving in G Company, Second Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. He served in the 1916 Easter Rising in Jacob's Factory, under the command of Thomas MacDonagh.[3] McKee was later incarcerated by the British authorities in Knutsford Gaol and subsequently the Frongoch internment camp in Wales.[4]

McKee was promoted within the IRA shortly after his release. He became Company Captain and then Commandant of the Second Battalion, eventually being placed as Brigadier, or the Officer Commanding of the Dublin Brigade.[4] He was also active as an ex-officio member of IRA General Headquarters Staff – which included Collins, Richard Mulcahy and Russell. He was a prime innovator in the formation of the flying columns along with Mulcahy and Collins.[citation needed] He was Director of Training for this duration, though he was jailed again as a political prisoner in Dundalk Gaol, in 1918.[4][5]

McKee participated in several IRA operations during the Irish War of Independence, including an arms raid on Collinstown Aerodrome (now Dublin Airport) in which his unit captured 75 rifles and approximately 15,000 rounds of ammunition and the Kings Inns raid in which his unit captured 25 rifles, two Lewis guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition.[4][6] In the final chapter of his revolutionary activism, he was on full-time active service, moving covertly through a network of safe houses.

He was engaged to May Gibney, a volunteer during the Easter Rising and an active member of Cumann na mBan.[7] In January 1920, he resigned from Gills and worked for a time printing the An tÓglach newspaper. Eventually he returned to being a full-time Volunteer officer, operating under the nom-de-guerre of 'Fergus'.[4]

## The Squad

[edit]

In July 1919 Collins asked McKee to select a small group of men to form the Squad.[4][8] McKee was intimately involved in the planning of Bloody Sunday 1920 which was a day of violence in Dublin on 21 November 1920, during the Irish War of Independence. More than 30 people were killed or fatally wounded which included twenty British intelligence agents at eight different locations in Dublin.[9]

## Arrest and death

[edit]

A memorial to Dick McKee was officially unveiled in Finglas village, by Éamon de Valera, on 10 June 1951

McKee was betrayed to the British authorities by an Irish veteran of the British Army, James "Shankers" Ryan, and captured at Sean Fitzpatrick's before Bloody Sunday by the Royal Irish Constabulary. (In retaliation, on 5 February 1921, an IRA squad led by Bill Stapleton walked into Hynes' pub in Gloucester Place and shot Ryan dead.)[4][10]

Brought to Dublin Castle he was tortured under interrogation with Peadar Clancy and Conor Clune from County Clare.[11] The three would later be shot on 21 November 1920. The official account was that he and the other men with him were shot while trying to escape.[11] This account was widely disputed at the time, although some historians believe it was actually true. Michael Lynch, a IRA Brigade Commander stated that McKee suffered severe beatings prior to being shot to death: "I saw Dick McKee's body afterwards, and it was almost unrecognizable. He had evidently been tortured before being shot...They must have beaten Dick to a pulp. When they threatened him with death, according to reports, Dick's last words were, "Go on, and do your worst!"[12] Medical examinations of the three bodies revealed broken bones and abrasions consistent with prolonged assaults and bullet wounds to the head and bodies.[13]

A book titled Death in the Castle: Three murders in Dublin Castle 1920, written by Sean O'Mahony, and published by 1916–1921 Club records both the life and deaths of the three Republicans.[citation needed]

## Burial

[edit]

McKee and Clancy's tricolour-adorned coffins lay side by side at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street, Dublin. Aged 27 and 32 years, respectively, they were laid to rest at the Republican Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery.[2]

McKee Barracks, formerly the Marlborough Barracks, in Dublin is named after Dick McKee.[4]

## Gallery

[edit]

* McKee Barracks, Cabra, Dublin 7

* The Grave of Clancy and McKee in the Republican Plot, Glasnevin Cemetery Dublin

* Commemorative plaque in memory of the Volunteers killed in Dublin Castle 1920

## References

[edit]

1. ^ O'Mahony, Sean. Death in the Castle: Three murders in Dublin Castle 1920. 1916–1921 Club.
2. ^ a b "Dublin Folklore Project honours IRA Volunteers". An Phoblacht/Republican News. 24 November 2000. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
3. ^ Mac Eoin, Art (22 November 2001). "Murder in the Castle". An Phoblacht/Republican News. Archived from the original on 13 November 2005. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Coleman, Marie (10 October 2020). "Dick McKee: the Dublin Brigade leader who was shot on Bloody Sunday". RTÉ History. RTÉ. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
5. ^ Rogers, Ailbhe (November 2017). "The welfare of Irish political prisoners in Dundalk Gaol in the aftermath of Thomas Ashe's death, Oct 1917 - Jul 1918" (PDF). Maynooth University. p. 5. Retrieved 10 February 2025. "Dundalk Gaol, 1918. Back Row (L-R): Diarmuid Lynch, Ernest Blythe, Terence MacSwiney, Dick McKee, Michael Colivet"
6. ^ Collins, Lorcan (2019). Irelands War of Independence 1919-1921. Dublin: The O'Brien Press. p. 111\. ISBN 978-1-84717-950-0.
7. ^ McCoole, Sinead (22 February 2016). "Seven women who played a key part in 1916 and beyond, impacting on society". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 23 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
8. ^ Hartline, Martin C.; Kaulbach, M. M. (4 August 2011) [1969], "Michael Collins and Bloody Sunday", Center for the Study of Intelligence, vol. 13, no. 1, Central Intelligence Agency, pp. 69–78, archived from the original on 4 March 2016, retrieved 13 January 2016
9. ^ Hopkinson, Michael (2004). The Irish War of Independence. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. p. 89\. ISBN 9780773528406.
10. ^ Connell, Joseph E. A. (2006). Where's where in Dublin: A Directory of Historic Locations, 1913-1923: the Great Lockout, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Irish Civil War. Dublin: Dublin City Council. p. 55\. ISBN 9780946841813.
11. ^ a b "Chapter 16 - 'The 'Troubles' and the End of British Rule". Dublin Castle. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
12. ^ Collins, pg 166
13. ^ O'Halpin, Eunan; Ó Corráin, Daithí (2020). The Dead of the Irish Revolution. Yale University Press. p. 233\. ISBN 9780300123821.

* v
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Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)

General|

* Genealogy
* Irish Volunteers
* Irish Citizen Army
* Easter Rising
* Sinn Féin
* Declaration of Independence
* Irish Republic
* Dáil Éireann (First Dáil & Second Dáil)
* Irish Bulletin
* Irish War of Independence
* Flying column
* Government of Ireland Act 1920
* Partition of Ireland (Northern Ireland & Southern Ireland)
* Anglo-Irish Treaty
* Irish Civil War
* Irish Free State

Organisation|

* Brigades of the Irish Republican Army
* Irish Republican Police
* The Squad

Actions|

* Soloheadbeg ambush
* Rescue at Knocklong
* Listowel mutiny
* Rineen ambush
* Tooreen ambush
* Battle of Ballinalee
* Dublin Bloody Sunday
* Kilmichael ambush
* Clonfin ambush
* Dromkeen ambush
* Upton train ambush
* Clonmult ambush
* Coolavokig ambush
* Sheemore ambush
* Clonbanin ambush
* Selton Hill ambush
* Burgery ambush
* Crossbarry ambush
* Headford ambush
* Scramoge ambush
* Kilmeena ambush
* Custom House burning
* Carrowkennedy ambush
* Rathcoole ambush
* Coolacrease killings
* Belfast Bloody Sunday

Chiefs of Staff|

* Cathal Brugha (1917–1918)
* Richard Mulcahy (1918–1922)
* Eoin O'Duffy (1922)

Personalities|

* Michael Collins
* J. J. "Ginger" O'Connell
* Terence MacSwiney
* Emmet Dalton
* Dick McKee
* Paddy Daly
* Piaras Béaslaí
* Erskine Childers
* Liam Mellows
* Joe McKelvey
* Michael Brennan
* Frank Aiken
* Gearóid O'Sullivan
* Tom Maguire
* Seán Lemass
* Seán Mac Mahon
* Stephen Behan
* Andrew Cooney
* Seán Treacy
* Dan Breen
* Seán Hogan
* Séumas Robinson
* Tom Barry
* Seán Mac Eoin
* Charlie Hurley
* Seán O'Hegarty
* Seán Moylan
* Tom McEllistrim
* George Oliver Plunkett
* George Lennon
* Michael Kilroy
* Ernie O'Malley
* Frank Aiken
* Moss Twomey
* Tom Hales
* Seán Hales
* Peadar O'Donnell
* Liam Deasy
* Liam Tobin
* Joseph McGrath
* Richard Barrett
* Louis Darcy
* W.J. Brennan-Whitmore

Associates|

* Irish Republican Brotherhood
* Cumann na mBan
* Fianna Éireann
* Clan na Gael
* Irish Self-Determination League
* National Association of Old IRA
* 1916–1921 Club

Derivatives|

* National Army
* Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

People|

* Ireland

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