Eileen Quinn (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Gilligan; 1895 or 1896 – 1 November 1920) was a young mother from

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. On

All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church, whether they are know ...

1920, she was shot dead outside her home by the

Black and Tans The Black and Tans () were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence. Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920, and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflic ...

of 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) in what was described as "essentially a

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrators to quickly strike their targets and flee the scene before l ...

". The incident was one of the most notorious civilian reprisal killings 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 ...

Background

Eileen Gilligan was born in County Galway. In 1920, she was a 24-year-old mother of three young children. In the spring of 1920, the

of the

(RIC) were deployed to Ireland to fight in the

. As a barracks town,

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 2,800 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 road (Ireland), R458 and R460 ...

, had a particularly strong presence of British forces, including both soldiers and policemen. The month of November was an extremely violent time in the county. Eileen Quinn and her family lived at

Kiltartan Kiltartan () is a barony and civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. The southern portion of this barony was formerly known as Cenél Áeda na hEchtge or O'Shaughnessy's Country, the northern portion was called Coill Ua bhFiachrach (the terr ...

near Gort. Her husband Malachy Quinn was a farmer. Their farm was located on the main Galway/Gort road.

Killing

On 1 November 1920, Quinn was seven months pregnant and waiting for her husband Malachy to return from the

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

in town. It was

and she was sitting on the front wall of her house with her three young children when she was shot. Her nine month old baby had been on her lap. The bullet pierced her stomach and the child she was holding fell from her arms. She crawled back to the house to tell her servant that she was shot, exclaiming, "Take in the little children!". Alarm was raised and local women tried to save both Eileen and her unborn child. One of the doctors who attended her, Doctor Sandys, said, "She had bled so much that she could bleed no more". Malachy returned home to find his wife dying on the kitchen

settee A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, chesterfield, or davenport, is a cushioned piece of furniture that can seat multiple people. It is commonly found in the form of a bench with upholstered armrests and is often fitted with springs and ...

. He had followed a trail of blood that led from the front garden wall. Kiltartan or Ballinamantain Castle geograph 2329536

The local priest, Father John Considine, was called to the house on the evening of her murder. Eileen had told him that she was shot by Black and Tans on a truck as they passed by her house. Father Considine administered the

last rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. The Commendation of the Dying is practiced in liturgical Chri ...

to Eileen and later strongly condemned the murder from the altar. The RIC chief constable in Gort refused to take a formal statement from her as she lay dying. She died from being mortally wounded eight hours after she had been shot. The incident was considered as "essentially a

". Eileen was shot in what her family believed was a reprisal for the killing of an RIC constable, Timothy Horan, two days earlier in an

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 ...

ambush five miles away at Castledaly. A Military Court of Inquiry was held by British authorities three days after her death, the same day as her funeral, and recorded a verdict of

death by misadventure In the United Kingdom, death by misadventure is the recorded manner of death for an accidental death caused by a risk taken voluntarily. Misadventure in English law, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is ...

. Despite an inquest, no one was ever held accountable for her murder. The fatal shot had come from a moving vehicle and so no one person was blamed. Days after the killing, RIC personnel took two brothers from South Galway from their home and tortured them before killing both and dumping their bodies.

Reactions

On 8 March 1921, the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

made an ''

ex gratia (; also spelled ''ex-gratia'') is Latin for "by favor", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ''ex gratia'', it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace. In law, an ''ex gratia payment'' is a payment ...

'' grant of £300 to Malachy Quinn. The case was referenced by the poet and Nobel Prize winner

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

in his poems "

Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen "Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen" is a poem by W. B. Yeats. It was included in his collection '' The Tower'' in 1928. The poem was likely influenced by Yeats’s knowledge of the 1920 killing of Eileen Quinn. In the ''Critical Companion to William ...

" and "Reprisals". The local protestant landlord and patron of Yeats

Lady Gregory Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Anglo-Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrot ...

wrote angrily about the killing in her journals. When she heard about the case she wrote six articles in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'' to alert the British public to atrocities being carried out in Ireland. She however did not approve of these poems for his references to her deceased son

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

. The case was raised in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

on a number of occasions.

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British Dublin Castle administration, administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretar ...

Sir Hamar Greenwood Thomas Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, PC, KC (7 February 1870 – 10 September 1948), known as Sir Hamar Greenwood, 1st Baronet between 1915 and 1929, was a Canadian-born British lawyer and politician. He served as the last Chief Se ...

was questioned on the case every week throughout the month of November by numerous Members of Parliament ( MPs). Greenwood said "two police lorries were passing at the time, and it may be that the wounding resulted from a shot fired in anticipation of an ambush in the neighbourhood". The then-

young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one's age is low, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an America ...

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

questioned the Chief Secretary on 25 November 1920:

Legacy

Her grandson Gerard Quinn is a human rights lawyer, and he has given talks on the case. Her grand niece is award-winning documentary maker Orla Higgins. In 2019, she made a documentary on the case for

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

entitled ''Reprisals: The Eileen Quinn Story''. In 2023,

Galway City Museum Galway City Museum (, IPA: �mˠuːsˠeːmʲˈkahɾˠəxˈnˠaˈɡal̪ʲəvʲə is a museum in Galway City, County Galway, Ireland. It was founded on 29 July 2006, and is located beside the Spanish Arch. History Origin Galway City Museum was ...

hosted an event in memory of Eileen Quinn.

References

External links

Reprisals Documentary
at

Eileen Quinn
at Find a Grave {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Eileen 1896 births 1920 deaths 1920 murders 20th-century Irish women Deaths by person in Europe Irish farmers People from County Galway People killed in the Irish War of Independence Police misconduct in Ireland Women in the Irish War of Independence