Civilian Michael Crowley Jr

Civilian Michael Crowley Jr (aged 40) of Bauravilla near Skibbereen (Bunalunn near Skibbereen)

Date of incident: 15 Aug. 1919

Source: Death Certificate (Skibbereen District, Union of Skibbereen), 4 Oct. 1919; CCE, 16 Aug., 11 Oct. 1919.

Note: A farmer, Crowley was struck at Bunalunn by a military motor lorry while driving a horse and trap at about 3:30 p.m. on 15 August 1919. With the two vehicles going in opposite directions, the accident occurred on a steep hill and near a sharp curve on a part of the public road located a short distance from Hollybrook Gate, the entrance to Colonel Morgan’s residence near Skibbereen. Crowley was thrown by the collision between the trap and the lorry. He suffered a compound fracture of the left leg and other bodily injuries. Also riding in the trap at the time of the accident were Crowley’s wife Bridget, a girl named Jane Crowley, and his brother-in-law James Murphy. They too were thrown from the trap, but without serious injuries. There was conflicting evidence at the inquest about whether the military lorry was travelling slowly enough and far enough to its own proper side of the road; military witnesses suggested that Crowley and his passengers in the trap had been on the wrong side of the road. One military witness claimed, ‘The cause of the collision was that the horse shied and backed straight in front of the lorry. He was positive of that.’ Crowley died of his injuries at the Skibbereen Union Hospital on 4 October 1919. See CCE, 11 Oct. 1919.

Michael Crowley (aged 31 in 1911) was one of the six living children (seven born) of the Bauravilla farmer Michael Crowley Sr and his wife Margaret. Michael Jr and his sister Margaret Mary (both single in 1911) co-resided with their parents in that year.