Lily, 8, Nellie, 17... a roll call of innocent casualties of Irish war years

JUST a short skip from her home, Cork city was one big playground in 1922 for 8-year-old Eileen Gallagher.

Known as Lily, she lived at West View, Western Road, and on October 18 that year, was with a friend on Washington Street - one report said they were seen playing in the street.

As Lily and Margaret Twomey, 11, of College Road, passed the Lee Boot Factory (later Square Deal furniture store) around 6pm that Wednesday, tragedy struck

A grenade was thrown by an Anti-Treaty IRA Volunteer at a passing Free State lorry, it bounced off it, and landed on the footpath in front of the two girls where it exploded.

Lily suffered severe head injuries and died five days later at the Mercy Hospital. Margaret lost the sight in one eye.

More bombs were thrown and shots were fired. Washington Street was packed at the time and many sought refuge in people’s houses, only venturing out when the trams began to run again.

One cyclist, unnamed by the Examiner but described as a “well known athlete”, threw himself off his bike and lay flat on the ground. A bullet ricocheted off a wall and narrowly missed his face, and a bomb wrecked the front wheel of his bicycle.

The noise of the explosions could be heard as far away as Bishopstown and Clogheen.

The men who threw them, from the Hive Ironworks near the courthouse, fled and could not be located by troops.

Lily was just one of the many innocent child victims of the Civil War in Cork.

On November 13, 1922, in Brookhill, Riverstown, Eileen O’Driscoll, 3, was sat on her mother’s lap by the hearth. Her brothers had been playing in the local cemetery and found bullets hidden by a headstone. They brought them home and placed them near the fireplace. Before the children’s mother could scold them, one of the bullets rolled towards the open fire and exploded upon hitting the hot grate. When the smoke settled, little Eileen had suffered terrible injuries to her abdomen.

Her anguished mother wrapped her in a blanket and made the harrowing journey to the Mercy Hospital on a pony and trap, but poor Eileen had died before they got there.

A few days before Christmas, 1922, James O’Sullivan, 8, ran out of the school gate at Ballyhilow, Leap, just as a Free State military lorry was passing.

The four soldiers on board roared at him to clear the way, but in confusion James darted in zig-zag fashion in front of the lorry. It hit him and he suffered a severe head injury. He was carried to his home nearby where he died later that evening.

Ellen Patrica Hayes, known as Nellie, was a 17-year-old drapery apprentice from Tracton Park, Montenotte. On the evening of February 13, 1923, she was standing at her front door chatting with her sister and a friend.

Two young Free State soldiers passing by stopped to chat. One of the men’s rifles had an unsecure safety catch, resulting in a shot going off, hitting Nellie in her face, killing her instantly.

In an inquest which followed, the soldier was exonerated.

On November 4, 1922, a small sailing vessel, The Isabella, landed in Youghal from Gloucester, England. On board were Captain Arthur Jones, shipmate James Lacy, and Jones’ 15-year-old son Samuel.

It was late and the three ventured up Grattan Street in search of a hot meal. As they neared a barracks controlled by Free State troops, an inexperienced sentry on duty fired his rifle. A bullet passed through Lacy’s chest and hit Samuel in the head. Lacy died instantly and the teenager died hours later in hospital.

A military inquest found the sentry blameless as it was a warning shot to persons unknown.

In Blackpool, Peter Francis Cahill, 11, and his brother James, 18, were members of republican youth movement, Na Fianna Eireann.

On July 14, 1922, they were at home at 38, Thomas Davis Street when Daniel Mulroy, O/C of Na Fianna 1st Battalion, arrived with two revolvers he had just used as part of a firing party for the funeral of Jeremiah Pierce, O/C of the Fianna.

As James handled one of the guns in the kitchen, it went off accidentally and a bullet hit Peter’s chest, killing him in front of their mother, Annie. James was exonerated of all blame.

On April 8, 1923, a Free State sentry accidentally discharged his rifle on Timoleague’s main street, killing passer-by James Hunt Jr, 12.

The incident caused local outrage when the authorities refused to conduct an inquest. The boy’s father, James Snr, was offered just £10 compensation.

When local Labour TD Timothy J Murphy brought this up in the Dáil, General Richard Mulcahy said it was “merely an ex-gratia grant to cover funeral and incidental expenses. There is no legal liability on the military authorities to pay any compensation”.