Ernie O'Malley
| Ernie O'Malley Irish: Earnán Ó Maille |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
26 May 1897 Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland |
| Died | 25 March 1957 (aged 59) Howth, County Dublin, Ireland |
| Allegiance | Irish Republican Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1923 |
| Battles/wars |
Irish War of Independence Irish Civil War |
| Other work | Teachta Dála, writer |
Ernie O'Malley (Irish: Earnán Ó Maille; 26 May 1897 – 25 March 1957) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) officer during the Irish War of Independence and a commander of the anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War. O'Malley wrote three books, On Another Man's Wound, The Singing Flame, and Raids and Rallies. The first describes his early life and role in the War of Independence, while the second covers the Civil War. The literary quality of these books and O'Malley's career after the political conflicts distinguish him from other IRA men who also penned memoirs of the times.
Born Ernest Bernard Malley, in Castlebar, County Mayo, he came from a lower-middle class Roman Catholic family in County Mayo. His father Edward Malley was a solicitor's clerk; living opposite a RIC barracks, the policemen would nod in courtesy walking by. He was the second of eleven children. His father, Luke Malley, was a clerk with the Congested Districts Board, which organised land reform in the west of Ireland. His family's politics were conservative Irish nationalist, supporting the Irish Parliamentary Party. His first cousin, Gilbert Laithwaite, would become the British ambassador to Ireland in the 1950s. The Malleys moved to Dublin when Ernie was still a child and the 1911 census lists them living at 7 Iona Drive, Glasnevin. His older brother, Frank, joined the British Army at the outbreak of World War I. O'Malley was studying medicine at University College Dublin in 1916 when the Easter Rising convulsed the city, and he was almost persuaded by some unionist friends to join them in defending Trinity College, Dublin from the rebels should they attempt to take it. After some thought, he decided his sympathies were with the rebels and he and a friend took some shots at British troops with a borrowed Mauser rifle during the fighting, provided by the Gaelic League. He joined F Company, 1st battalion, Dublin Brigade, because its base was north of the Liffey. From only 12 men the company grew to 60 during 1916. Collins, De Valera, and O'Hegarty visited the Drill Hall hidden at 25 Parnell Square.
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