Michael Carolan (1875 – 1930) was an Irish republican activist. Born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Carolan joined the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

in 1914, then participated in the Easter Rising, although as part of the Belfast Division, he did not see any action. Following the rising, he was arrested and sent to the

Frongoch internment camp Frongoch internment camp at Frongoch in Merionethshire, Wales was a makeshift place of imprisonment during the First World War and the 1916 Easter Rising. History 1916 the camp housed German prisoners of war in a yellow distillery and cru ...

. On his return to Belfast, he joined the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

(IRA) and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

.J. Anthony Gaughan, ''Memoirs of Senator Joseph Connolly (1885-1961): A Founder of Modern Ireland'', p. 84 Carolan stood for Sinn Féin in Belfast Shankill at the 1918 Irish general election.Northern Ireland Elections,
The Irish Election of 1918
This was a unionist stronghold, and he took only 3.8% of the vote. At the 1920 Belfast Corporation election, he was one of five Sinn Féin candidates elected, That year he was one of four anti treaty IRA men arrested in the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. Carolan was wounded in the hip and imprisoned at

Mountjoy Prison Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins. History ...

. He took part in a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

in protest. Carolan stood in Belfast North at the 1921 Northern Ireland general election, but was not close to election. An opponent of the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

, he became Director of Intelligence for the anti-treaty forces in the Irish Civil War, then filled the same post for the surviving IRA. In 1925, he was involved in planning to break IRA prisoners out of Mountjoy, but was arrested and himself imprisoned for a year, many IRA intelligence papers being obtained by British authorities. Frank Kerlin replaced him as Director of Intelligence, but

George Gilmore George Frederick Gilmore (5 May 1898 – 1985) was a Protestant Irish republican and communist who became an Irish Republican Army leader during the 1920s and 1930s. During his period of influence, Gilmore attempted to shift the IRA to the polit ...

arranged a successful jailbreak in November and Carolan was one of nineteen men sprung in November.James Gillogly, ''Decoding the IRA'', p. 150

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carolan, Michael 1875 births 1930 deaths Early Sinn Féin politicians Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members Members of Belfast City Council Politicians from Belfast Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates