- Home
- Collections
- Atlas Resources for Schools
- Cork Fatality Register
- Mapping the Irish Revolution
- Mapping IRA Companies, July 1921-July 1922
- Mapping the Burning of Cork, 11-12 December 1920
- Martial Law, December 1920
- The IRA at War
- The Railway Workers’ Munitions Strike of 1920
- The Victory of Sinn Féin: The 1920 Local Elections
- The War of Words: Propaganda and Moral Force
- The IRA Offensive against the RIC, 1920
- De Valera’s American Tour, 1919-1920
- The British Reprisal Strategy and its Impact
- Cumann na mBan and the War of Independence
- The War Escalates, November 1920
- The War of Independence in Cork and Kerry
- The Story of 1916
- A 1916 Diary
- January 9-15 1916
- January 10-16, 1916
- January 17-23, 1916
- January 24-30, 1916
- February 1-6 1916
- February 7-14, 1916
- February 15-21, 1916
- February 22-27, 1916
- February 28-March 3, 1916
- March 6-13,1916
- March 14-20, 1916
- March 21-27 1916
- April 3-9, 1916
- April 10-16, 1916
- April 17-21,1916
- May 22-28 1916
- May 29-June 4 1916
- June 12-18 1916
- June 19-25 1916
- June 26-July 2 1916
- July 3-9 1916
- July 11-16 1916
- July 17-22 1916
- July 24-30 1916
- July 31- August 7,1916
- August 7-13 1916
- August 15-21 1916
- August 22-29 1916
- August 29-September 5 1916
- September 5-11, 1916
- September 12-18, 1916
- September 19-25, 1916
- September 26-October 2, 1916
- October 3-9, 1916
- October 10-16, 1916
- October 17-23, 1916
- October 24-31, 1916
- November 1-16, 1916
- November 7-13, 1916
- November 14-20, 1916
- November 21-27-1916
- November 28-December 4, 1916
- December 5-11, 1916
- December 12-19, 1916
- December 19-25, 1916
- December 26-January 3, 1916
- Cork's Historic Newspapers
- Feature Articles
- News and Events
- UCC's Civil War Centenary Programme
- Irish Civil War National Conference 15-18 June 2022
- Irish Civil War Fatalities Project
- Research Findings
- Explore the Fatalities Map
- Civil War Fatalities in Dublin
- Civil War Fatalities in Limerick
- Civil War Fatalities in Kerry
- Civil War Fatalities in Clare
- Civil War Fatalities in Cork
- Civil War Fatalities in the Northern Ireland
- Civil War Fatalities in Sligo
- Civil War Fatalities in Donegal
- Civil War Fatalities in Wexford
- Civil War Fatalities in Mayo
- Civil War Fatalities in Tipperary
- Military Archives National Army Fatalities Roll, 1922 – 1923
- Fatalities Index
- About the Project (home)
- The Irish Revolution (Main site)
1921-177
Civilian Frederick Charles Stenning
Civilian Frederick Charles Stenning (aged 57) of Innishannon (Innishannon)
Date of incident: 31 March 1921 (killed as suspected spy by IRA)
Sources: CC, 1 April 1921; IT, 1 April, 27 June, 19 Oct. 1921; CCE, 2 April 1921; CWN, 9 April 1921; Military Inquests, WO 35/159A/40 (TNA); Register of Compensation Commission (Ireland) Cases of Private Persons (CO 905/15, TNA); Richard Russell’s WS 1591, 21 (BMH); James ‘Spud’ Murphy’s WS 1684, 21-22 (BMH); Malicious Injury Claims, Box 16/41, Cork County Secretary Files (CCCA); Fitzgerald (2012), 188; Donnelly (2012), 177-78; Ó Ruairc (2016), 121.
Note: Described as one of the ‘best-known residents’ of Innishannon, Stenning was gunned down at about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night, 31 March, reportedly after he had answered a knock on the hall door of his mansion (details of this report were soon revised). See CCE, 2 April 1921. Stenning had become a target of the IRA because of his loyalist associations and also because he had been observed watching as members of the local Volunteer battalion took up ambush positions at Granure on the road from Bandon to Ballineen; he then cycled off to Innishannon, where the RIC were still entrenched in their barracks. A native of England, a member of the Church of Ireland, and the father of a British soldier killed in the Great War, Stenning was the sub-agent of the gentleman Moreton Frewen, the owner of the fair-sized mansion called Innishannon House and the proprietor of most of the houses and shops in the village. A staunch loyalist, Frewen was also the holder of fishing and shooting rights in the valley of the River Bandon. In his capacity as sub-agent, Stenning collected the rents of shop and house property in the village; he also served as Frewen’s gamekeeper and woodranger. See CC, 1 April 1921; IT, 1 April, 27 June, 19 Oct. 1921; CWN, 9 April 1921; Military Inquests, WO 35/159A/40 (TNA). Given Stenning’s professional duties, he must have acquired quite a few local enemies, but it was not any overly aggressive performance of these duties that led to his demise.
Stenning had been identified by the IRA as a major loyalist informer—important enough that the IRA sent two Volunteers from the West Cork Brigade Flying Column to kill Stenning; he was at home when IRA men John Lordon and James ‘Spud’ Murphy approached the front door of his house in the village. Volunteer Richard Russell had been posted at the rear of the house to prevent Stenning’s escape. As Russell vividly remembered years later, Lordan and Murphy ‘knocked [at the front] and the door was partly opened by Stennings [sic], who tried to close it again but was prevented from doing so by John Lordon. Stennings then dashed along the hallway, pursued by Lordan and his companion. As Stennings dashed away, he drew a revolver and opened fire on his pursuers, who, replying to the fire, shot him dead. Following this incident, I joined the column in [the] Newcestown area with the party who had taken part in the execution of Stennings. The column had just returned from the attack on Rosscarbery R.I.C. barracks on 31st March 1921.’ See Richard Russell’s WS 1591, 21 (BMH). According to testimony given at the subsequent military inquest, Stenning was known as the staunchest loyalist in his neighbourhood, and according to this witness, that fact no doubt accounted for his murder. See Military Inquests, WO 35/159A/40 (TNA).
The surviving members of Stenning’s family (his wife Annie and three adult children) were forced to flee even before their fourteen-room house was burned down on 25 June 1921. The name of Frederick Stenning appears in the Compensation Commission Register under 30 March 1921, with the notation that British liability was accepted, and with a note that compensation of £5,500 was awarded. See Register of Compensation Commission (Ireland) Cases of Private Persons (CO 905/15, TNA). The Stennings belonged to the Church of Ireland.