British soldier Private Smith or Smyth

British soldier Private Smith or Smyth (about 20) (Clashanafrinn near Ovens)

Date of incident: June 1921

Sources: JUS/H/147/39 (NAI); O’Halpin and Ó Corrain (2020), 18, 501.

Note: A soldier from Ballincollig was abducted and killed by the IRA shortly before the Truce in 1921. In 1924 a farmer named Jeremiah McCarthy of Clashanafrinn near Ovens reported that in the summer of 1921 he had received information that the body of a young British soldier, aged about 20, had been buried in a field on his lands. The victim was named Smith or Smyth and had been stationed nearby in Ballincollig. Bones and remnants of an army uniform were recovered by the Civic Guards in 1925 after digging down about 3 feet, and these remains were transferred to the British authorities. See JUS/H/147/39 (NAI); O’Halpin and Ó Corrain (2020), 18, 501. Although uncertainty remains over the name of the victim and over the exact date of his death, it seems clear that this soldier was disappeared by the IRA.