Richard "Dick" McKee (; 4 April 1893 – 21 November 1920) was a prominent member of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA). He was also friend to some senior members in the republican movement, including

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

, Austin Stack and Michael Collins. Along with Peadar Clancy and Conor Clune, he was killed by his captors in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle () is a major Government of Ireland, Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin. It is a former motte-and-bailey castle and was chosen for its position at ...

on Sunday, 21 November 1920, a day known as Bloody Sunday that also saw the killing of a network of British intelligence agents by the "

Squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

" unit of the Irish Republican Army and the killing of 14 people in

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

by the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

(RIC).

Early life

McKee was born at Phibsborough Road in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 4 April 1893. He became an apprentice in the publishing business at Gill & Son, Upper

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry ...

, and then a compositor.

Military career

McKee joined the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

in 1913, serving in G Company, Second Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. He served in the 1916 Easter Rising in Jacob's Factory, under the command of

Thomas MacDonagh Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh (; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, a signatory of the Proclama ...

. McKee was later incarcerated by the British authorities in

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East district, in Cheshire, England; it is located south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and south-east of Warrington. The population of the parish at the 2021 Uni ...

Gaol and subsequently the

Frongoch internment camp Frongoch is a village located in Gwynedd, Wales. It lies close to the market town of Bala, on the A4212 road. It was the home of the Frongoch internment camp, used to hold German prisoners-of-war during First World War, and then Irish ...

in Wales. McKee was promoted within the IRA shortly after his release. He became Company Captain and then

Commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

of the Second Battalion, eventually being placed as

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

, or the

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of the Dublin Brigade. He was also active as an ex-officio member of IRA General Headquarters Staff – which included Collins, Richard Mulcahy and Russell. He was a prime innovator in the formation of the

flying column A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ''ad hoc'' unit, formed during the course of operations. The term is usually, though not necessarily, appl ...

s along with Mulcahy and Collins. He was Director of Training for this duration, though he was jailed again as a political prisoner in Dundalk Gaol, in 1918. McKee participated in several IRA operations during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

, including an arms raid on Collinstown Aerodrome (now Dublin Airport) in which his unit captured 75 rifles and approximately 15,000 rounds of ammunition and the Kings Inns raid in which his unit captured 25 rifles, two Lewis guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition. In the final chapter of his revolutionary activism, he was on full-time active service, moving covertly through a network of safe houses. He was engaged to May Gibney, a volunteer during the Easter Rising and an active member of Cumann na mBan. In January 1920, he resigned from Gills and worked for a time printing the ''An tÓglach'' newspaper. Eventually he returned to being a full-time Volunteer officer, operating under the nom-de-guerre of 'Fergus'.

The Squad

In July 1919 Collins asked McKee to select a small group of men to form the ''Squad''. McKee was intimately involved in the planning of Bloody Sunday 1920 which was a day of violence in Dublin on 21 November 1920, during the

. More than 30 people were killed or fatally wounded which included twenty British intelligence agents at eight different locations in Dublin.

Arrest and death

McKee was betrayed to the British authorities by an Irish veteran of the British Army, James "Shankers" Ryan, and captured at Sean Fitzpatrick's before Bloody Sunday by the

. (In retaliation, on 5 February 1921, an IRA squad led by Bill Stapleton walked into Hynes' pub in Gloucester Place and shot Ryan dead.) Brought to

he was tortured under interrogation with Peadar Clancy and Conor Clune from

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

. The three would later be shot on 21 November 1920. The official account was that he and the other men with him were shot while trying to escape. This account was widely disputed at the time, although some historians believe it was actually true. Michael Lynch, a IRA Brigade Commander stated that McKee suffered severe beatings prior to being shot to death: "I saw Dick McKee's body afterwards, and it was almost unrecognizable. He had evidently been tortured before being shot...They must have beaten Dick to a pulp. When they threatened him with death, according to reports, Dick's last words were, "Go on, and do your worst!" Medical examinations of the three bodies revealed broken bones and abrasions consistent with prolonged assaults and bullet wounds to the head and bodies. A book titled ''Death in the Castle: Three murders in Dublin Castle 1920'', written by Sean O'Mahony, and published by 1916–1921 Club records both the life and deaths of the three Republicans.

Burial

McKee and Clancy's tricolour-adorned coffins lay side by side at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street, Dublin. Aged 27 and 32 years, respectively, they were laid to rest at the Republican Plot in

Glasnevin Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum. Location The cemetery is located in Glasnevin, Dublin, in two part ...

. McKee Barracks, formerly the Marlborough Barracks, in Dublin is named after Dick McKee.

Gallery

Image:McKee Barracks, Dublin 7.jpg, McKee Barracks, Cabra, Dublin 7 Image:Grave of Clancy and McKee.JPG, The Grave of Clancy and McKee in the Republican Plot, Glasnevin Cemetery Dublin Image:Dublin Castle 1920 IRA Memorial.jpg, Commemorative plaque in memory of the Volunteers killed in Dublin Castle 1920 File:Dick McKee commemoration November 1958.jpg, Dick McKee commemoration, November 1958

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, Dick 1920 deaths Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members People from County Dublin Irish Republicans killed during the Irish War of Independence 1893 births