Anti-Treaty Soldier James Buckley

Anti-Treaty Soldier James Buckley (aged about 46) of Clounfada near Macroom (Carrigaphooca near Macroom)

Date of incident: 16 Sept. 1922

Sources: Death Certificate (Slieveragh District, Union of Macroom), 16 Sept. 1922; CE, 18, 19 Sept. 1922; II, 21 Sept. 1922; MSPC/DP888 (Military Archives); O’Farrell, Who’s Who, 213; Cork One Brigade (1963), Roll of Honour; Ó hÉalaithe (2014), 360; Boyne (2015), 185-86; Keane (2017), 99-101, 306, 394; IRA Memorial, The Square, Macroom; http://www.irishmedals.ie/National-Army-Killed.php (accessed 7 July 2017).

Note: James Buckley’s remains ‘were found in the hole caused by the mine explosion at Carrigaphooca. There were bullet wounds on the body.’ He was ‘an elderly labourer’. From the bullet wounds local observers drew the conclusion that Buckley had not died as a result of the explosion of the mine. See CE, 19 Sept. 1922. The special correspondent of the Irish Independent who visited Carrigaphooca and Macroom in the aftermath of the mine explosion made specific reference to Buckley’s death: ‘A further mystery connected with the affair has been revealed by the finding of the remains of an elderly man named Jas. Buckley in the excavation in the road where the mine exploded. He was of the labouring class, and the body, when discovered, was found to be riddled with bullets. No explanation can be afforded as to how the deceased had met his death, or how the remains came to be found in such a position.’ See II, 21 Sept. 1922.

But explanations were soon forthcoming: ‘On the day of the explosion some of the outraged Dublin soldiers in Macroom decided to take revenge. . . . National Army soldier Tom Daly blamed the “Dublin Brigade” for taking the prisoner [James Buckley] into custody from other troops and then carrying out this summary execution. Buckley had apparently been captured earlier in the day when there was an engagement between a Free State contingent and an IRA group at Gortnalika. Daly later told how troops protested over the Buckley killing and “grounded arms” (i.e., went on strike), and General Tom Ennis had to come out from Cork to deal with the matter.’ See Boyne (2015), 185. 

Passions erupted on the Free State side in the face of the slaughter of National troops and of their officer Colonel Commandant Tom Keogh in the mine explosion. It seems that the killers of poor Buckley were members of ‘The Squad’, fiercely loyal to the memory of both Michael Collins and Tom Keogh and then present in the garrison town of Macroom. Barry Keane has drawn attention in his recent book to the striking letter of protest sent by the local Commandant Peadar O‘Conlon in Macroom to General Emmet Dalton in Cork city:

‘The shooting of this prisoner here in the operations has caused considerable contempt amongst the garrison here. They have paraded before me and have given me to understand that they will not go out on to the hills anymore. Therefore, you will want to tell these officers from Dublin that they will want to stop that kind of work or they will corrupt the Army. But at the same time that does not clear me here, and the situation here is at present very critical, I may tell you, among the men. If I was taken prisoner, I would want to be treated as one. Therefore, we must do the same. I oppose that policy in the strongest way [i.e., any revenge killing like that of James Buckley].’ See Keane (2017), 100-101.

General Dalton showed more indulgence towards the killers in a letter to General Richard Mulcahy: ‘The shooting was the work of the Squad. Now I personally approve of the action, but the men I have in my Command are of such a temperament that they can look at scores of their companions being blown to atoms by a murderous trick without feeling annoyed—but when an enemy is found with a rifle and ammunition, they will mutiny if he is shot. On this account I think it would be better if you kept the “Squad” out of my area.’ See Boyne (2015), 186. 

Buckley’s pension file indicates that he was shot dead at Carrigaphooca/Fairyland on 16 September 1922 while he was a prisoner in National Army custody. Daniel Corkery and the victim’s sister Margaret Buckley claimed that he had been shot in retaliation for the killing of the National Army soldiers in the mine explosion at Carrigaphooca Bridge earlier on the same day. In civilian life he had been a farm labourer. Despite his age (given as 46 years old on his death certificate—he had been born in 1875), he was indeed a member of the Seventh (Macroom) Battalion of the Cork No. 1 Brigade, as its commanders Daniel Corkery and Charlie Browne confirmed. Buckley had joined the IRA in 1919 and served throughout the War of Independence and during part of the Civil War. Nevertheless, his sister Margaret Buckley’s application for an allowance or gratuity under the Army Pensions Act of 1932 was rejected on the grounds of her ineligibility. See MSPC/DP888 (Military Archives).

James Buckley was buried at Clondrohid. He is commemorated on the IRA memorial located in The Square, Macroom. His name appears on the Roll of Honour of the Cork No. 1 Brigade as a member of the Seventh (Macroom) Battalion, with an incorrect death date of 15 September 1922. See Cork One Brigade (1963), Roll of Honour.

James Buckley was in 1911 one of the three co-resident adult children of the widow Margaret Buckley of Clonfadda townland in Clondrohid parish near Macroom. His older brother Stephen (then aged 42), a gardener, was recognized as the family head in the census, and James Buckley’s older sister Margaret was then 35 years old. The age of James Buckley himself was given as 32.