McHugh's Miscellany - Donegal TDs whose IRA pension applications are now online

New material from the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) has shed life on the military activities of 28 Donegal individuals during the War of Independence and Civil War, including Fianna Fáil TD Brian Brady (1903-1949) and one time Sinn Féin and briefly Cumann na nGaedheal TD, Peter Joseph (PJ) Ward (1891-1970), who were both from Killybegs, as it happens.
The new insights are all the more poignant as the recent week passed, marks the cessation of hostilities in the Civil War, that followed on from the War of Independence.
This latest release of records is the fourteenth release of material under the MSPC Project and it comprises over 2,100 files representing records relating to 797 individuals.
This is the first release of material this year.
Among the 797 individuals whose files are being released, there were 28 individuals with addresses in Donegal.
When he made his application, Killybegs man Brian Myles Brady was earning £360 per annum as a member of the Dáil, and in one of the correspondence on file, he received a letter of confirmation of his activities from fellow Donegal TD, Neal Blaney.
Brady became a member of Donegal County Council in 1928 and from 1932 served as a Donegal TD, until his sudden passing in 1949, aged just 46, see the funeral photograph above.

The late Deputy Brian Brady from Killybegs, and former Fianna Fáil TD 

Some of his answers in a sworn statement before an advisory committee include that he joined the Volunteers in 1919 and was in continuous service until 1923. He was on the run during the Civil War and was interned for a period.
Included in the interview, which covers many aspects of his activities, is a raid for arms in February 1921 on a British Naval base, about two miles outside Killybegs.
“We raided the place, we got arms and ammunition and field glasses, a couple of revolvers, three or four shotguns.”
He was also involved in raids including those on Glenties and Ardara RIC barracks.
His obituary in September 1949 recalled: “A soldier of Ireland from the age of seventeen, Brian M.Brady TD, a man whose name was a household word in every home in his native County Donegal, was accorded the tribute due to soldiers when on Monday last his remains were laid to rest in the loping cemetery that overlooks the expansive waters of Killybegs Bay.”
Peter Joseph Ward was also born in Killybegs, the son of a local school teacher and Gaelic League organiser.

The late P.J. Ward TD, who was also a Killybegs man, who served with the Volunteers and whose old IRA pension application is now available to read online.  

As was the practice, he had to give a full account of his military activity at the time of his application and this had to be backed up with documentary evidence and testimonies from those who had also served with him.
Ward obtained a BA and LLB from UCD and later became active in the Independence movement.
In Killybegs and Donegal, he organised Sinn Féin all over the area and was appointed Commandant of the South Donegal Brigade of the IRA. As a Republican candidate in the 1918 elections he won decisively.
He spent two years on the run before he was arrested and jailed in Derry, Belfast and Wormwood Scrubs, where he went on hunger strike, which is also alluded to in his application for a pension.
He retired from active political life in 1924 and was re-elected East Donegal in 1923.
Two years later he became Donegal County Registrar, a role he continued in, until his retirement in 1961.
These are a fascinating read (www.military archives.ie) and I have only touched upon them.

A matter of Record - The Donegal Democrat down the years

So many Donegal plans, on the horizon, the use of Irish in Tirconaill courts, the new county library and the day that the Donegal GAA county team were 1-11 to 0-0 ahead at half time against Armagh in a 1963 McKenna Cup semi final