RIC Constable John Ryle

RIC Constable John Ryle (aged 46) from County Kerry (O’Connell Street, Blackpool, Cork city)

Date of incident: 14 May 1921

Sources: CE, 16, 18, 19, 20, 25 May 1921; CCE, 21 May 1921; Charles O’Connell’s WS 566, 3 (BMH); Lieutenant-Colonel John M. McCarthy’s WS 883, Appendix, 11-12 (BMH); Patrick Murray’s WS 1584, 23-24 (BMH); Abbott (2000), 238-39.

Note: A native of Kilmoyley in North Kerry, Ryle suffered fractures in both legs in the ‘Blackpool ambush’, and doctors amputated his left leg from the thigh. Nevertheless, he died from shock and haemorrhage at Cork Military Hospital on 15 May 1921. His remains were removed to Tralee on 18 May and ‘conveyed to St John’s Church, where Requiem High Mass, presided over by Dean O’Leary, was celebrated this morning [19 May]. The funeral to Rath at one o’clock was attended by numbers of town and country people, in addition to crown forces.’ See CE, 20 May 1921. Ryle had seen as much as twenty-five years’ service in the RIC. Before becoming a policeman, he had been a farmer in County Kerry. He was single and 46 years old. See Abbott (2000), 238-39.