- 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)
1921-339
IRA Soldier Michael Joseph Geelan
IRA Soldier Michael Joseph Geelan (aged about 23) of Woodstock near Midleton (near Carrigtwohill)
Date of incident: ca. 8 Oct. 1921
Sources: Death Certificate (Midleton District, Union of Midleton), 10 Oct. 1921; CE, 12, 13 Oct. 1921; CWN, 15 Oct. 1921; Military Courts of Inquiry, WO 35/150/64 (TNA); Cork No. 1 Brigade Memorial, Republican Plot, Holy Rosary Cemetery, Midleton; Last Post (3rd ed.), 145; http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/pdf/438.pdf (accessed 20 Feb. 2018).
Note: Michael Joseph Geelan was fatally injured in a road accident on ca. 8 October 1921 near Carrigtwohill and died at the North Infirmary in Cork city on 10 October. The cause of death was blood poisoning following his injuries. Employed as a farm labourer, he was reportedly the son of a policeman. See Death Certificate (Midleton District, Union of Midleton), 10 Oct. 1921; CE, 13 Oct. 1921; CWN, 15 Oct. 1921. Geelan was struck by a police lorry while riding on his motorbike between Midleton and Carrigtwohill. The RIC claimed that Geelan had no lights on his motorbike and that he had been driving on the wrong side of the road. See Military Courts of Inquiry, WO 35/150/64 (TNA). A separate inquest was held by the Irish Republican Police. See CE, 12 Oct. 1921. Geelan’s name (as Michael S. Geelan) appears with a death date of 10 October 1921 on the Cork No. 1 Brigade memorial at the Republican Plot in Holy Rosary Cemetery in Midleton. See Last Post (3rd ed.), 143; http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/pdf/438.pdf (accessed 20 Feb. 2018).
Michael Joe Geelan was in 1911 a resident in the house of his grandmother Margaret Lawton (aged 71) and her son James Lawton (aged 30) at house 1 in Woodstock townland near Carrigtwohill. James Lawton was an unmarried farmer, while Michael Joe Geelan (then aged 12) was still in school. The 1901 census return for this household clarifies the situation somewhat. At that time Michael Joe’s mother Margaret Lawton Geelan (then aged 29), a widow and one of three adult and co-resident children of Michael and Margaret Lawson, was still part of this farming household.
