Anthony Magan (15 December 1910 – 4 July 1981) was an Irish republican and chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Biography

Magan was born on 15 December 1910. He was a son of farmer James Magan and his wife Elizabeth Foley, of Kilmore, Dunshaughlin, County Meath. Magan took part in the IRAs 1939-1940 sabotage/England Campaign (the S-Plan). The S-Plan was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic and military infrastructure of England. In London, Magan took classes in the construction of bombs to be used in the sabotage campaign. In February 1939 Magan was arrested in connection with bombing attacks in Londons Underground subway system. Magan was interned in the Curragh during the Irish Emergency (during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

). In March 1946, he was arrested along with a number of other IRA men in the Ardee Bar,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. Jailed, he was released in December 1946 along with Micksie Conway. Both men resumed their attempts to reorganise the IRA. A lifelong bachelor and

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

farmer, Magan sold his farm and devoted all his time and money to the IRA. He was appointed IRA chief of staff by the IRAs Army convention in September 1949. The IRA had almost been destroyed in the 1940s and Magan immediately set out to reorganise the political and military wings of the Republican Movement, namely the 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 Gr ...

, along with Michael Traynor,

Paddy McLogan Paddy J. McLogan ( ga, Pádraig Mac Lógáin) (1899 – 21/22 July 1964) was President of Sinn Féin from 1950–52 and again from 1954 to 1962. Born in Markethill, Co Armagh, he spent some time in Scotland. He joined the Irish Republican Brot ...

, and

Tomás Mac Curtain Tomás Mac Curtain (20 March 1884 – 20 March 1920) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician who served as the Lord Mayor of Cork until he was assassinated by the Royal Irish Constabulary. He was elected in January 1920. Background Tomás Mac Curt ...

. Magan was not a popular choice for the position and several members of his previous IRA Army Council were not impressed by him but did not oppose his nomination outright. Magan drew support chiefly from

delegates, who felt that "the Army needed a steel core and that Magan could supply it". Magan was a determined physical force traditionalist. According to

J. Bowyer Bell J. Bowyer Bell (November 15, 1931 – August 23, 2003) was an American historian, artist and art critic. He was best known as a terrorism expert. Background and early life Bell was born into an Episcopalian family in 1931 in New York City. ...

, he "wanted to create a new Army, untarnished by the dissent and scandals of the previous decade", with "no shadow of a gangster gunman, no taint of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

, but a band of volunteers solely dedicated to reuniting Ireland by physical force". Tim Pat Coogan describes him as "priest-like - who had given all his money, time and thought to the IRA, a deeply religious man of the old-guard school of Irish Catholicism ndwhen he was again interned in the Curragh during the 1950s Border Campaign he organised a flourishing branch of the Legion of Mary". At the 1950

Ardfheis, Magan was elected honorary joint secretary of the party. Coogan recounts that Magan's Sinn Féin submitted key political and economic policies for review by friendly clergy, "to ensure that they contained nothing contrary to Catholic teaching". In May 1951, the IRA leadership established a Military Council to draft an overall plan for the Republican Movement as a whole. Its members were Magan (as Chief of Staff), Tomás Mac Curtáin (as chairman of the Army Council), Pádraig Mac Lógáin (as president of Sinn Féin and chairman of the IRA Army Executive), a former British army officer with

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

experience service who was an expert on guerrilla warfare, and one other person. In 1953, Magan played a role in organising and carrying out the Felstead arms raid on July 25, 1953. This was a IRA arms raid on the Officers Training Corps School at Felstead in County Essex. In that raid, the IRA netted over 108 rifles, ten Bren and eight Stem guns, two mortars and dummy mortar bombs. Unlike Seán Mac Stiofáin,

Cathal Goulding Cathal Goulding ( ga, Cathal Ó Goillín; 2 January 1923 – 26 December 1998) was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and the Official IRA. Early life and career One of seven children born on East Arran Street in north Dublin to an ...

, and Manus Canning, later jailed for the raid, Magan evaded arrest and managed to return safely to Ireland. Magan was chief of staff at the commencement of the IRA's Border Campaign, codenamed Operation Harvest, which began on 11 December 1956. He resigned from the Republican Movement in 1962 in a dispute over the relationship between the IRA and Sinn Féin. Magan, who lived at 45 Lower Dodder Road in Rathfarnham,

, subsequently worked as a taxi driver. He died on 4 July 1981 at Meath Hospital. On 8 July 1981 he was buried in

Mount Jerome Cemetery Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

, Dublin.''Irish Press'', 9 July 1981. A lifelong bachelor, he was survived by his sisters, nieces and nephews.

References

Sources

Bodenstown: IRA GHQ reorganised
, ''Saoirse'', June 1997. {{DEFAULTSORT:Magan, Tony 1910 births 1981 deaths Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members Irish republicans interned without trial Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict People from County Meath