Timothy Crowley (31 July 1847
– 19 October 1921
) was an Irish revolutionary who was a member of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
(IRB).
He was involved in the
Fenian Rising
The Fenian Rising of 1867 (, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 1865, disaffection among Irish radical n ...
of 1867,
and was the secretary of the IRB in
Hospital
A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...
,
County Limerick
County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...
.
He was the patriarch of the prominent
Irish republican
Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...
Crowley family of
Ballylanders, and the father of the longest hunger strikers in history,
John Crowley and
Peter Crowley,
and the Fianna Fáil Politician
Tadhg Crowley.
Early life
Timothy Crowley was born in late July, 1847, in the small village of Elton, County Limerick. He was the eldest son and second child of James Crowley and Bridget Dwyer, and was baptised on 31 July 1847 in the parish of Knockainey, with Thomas and Bridget Dwyer as his sponsors.
His father was a herdsman employed by George Gubbins, Esquire, who allowed the Crowleys to live on a small one-acre holding in a small, thatched cottage. Elton's population was reduced by over 100 people during the
Great Famine, with Timothy having been born in its worst year, known as "Black '47".
Two of his younger sisters, Mary and Margaret, were among the dead.
Fenian activities
In the mid-1860s, while still a teenager, Crowley joined the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
. In 1867, he fought in the
Fenian Rising
The Fenian Rising of 1867 (, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 1865, disaffection among Irish radical n ...
, taking part in the botched storming of the constabulary barracks in
Kilmallock
Kilmallock () is a town in south County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, near the border with County Cork, 30 km south of Limerick city. There is a Dominican Priory in the town and King John's Castle (Kilmallock), King's Castle (or K ...
. While he managed to evade arrest by the authorities, his distant cousin,
Peter O'Neill Crowley, was shot dead by the forces of the Crown in Kilclooney Wood. Crowley would go on to name one of his sons in his honour. Another of his cousins, Patrick Crowley, was arrested at Bruff, though he was later released.
Following the failed Fenian Rising, Crowley stayed very much involved with the republican movement, holding the position of secretary of the I.R.B. in the
Hospital
A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...
district up until the early 1880s, at which point he moved to
Ballylanders with his sisters Kathleen, Johanna, and Delia. There, the siblings were employed in Margaret Fogarty's drapery.
Career and marriage
As the years went by, Crowley earned enough money to buy Fogarty’s Drapery, which he did in 1884 with the help of his Fenian cousin Patrick Crowley, though he would buy him out of the business in 1894. Beyond working as a draper, Crowley also became the village postmaster, and was on the committee to install a telegraph in Ballylanders during the 1890s. He also owned a camera and the equipment required to develop photographs, which he used for both personal and professional purposes. An early advocate of the
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...
, he served as the treasurer of the
Ballylanders Shamrocks Football Club.
On 19 February 1887, Timothy married Ellen Ryan of nearby Killeen, a farmer's daughter, and sixteen years his junior. Together, they had nine children: James Joseph Crowley (1889-1894),
Tadhg Crowley (1890-1969),
John Francis Crowley
The 1920 Cork hunger strike occurred in late 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, when 65 men interned without trial in Cork County Gaol went on hunger strike, demanding release from prison, and reinstatement of their status as political p ...
(1891-1942), Patrick Joseph Crowley (1893-1963), Joseph Mark Crowley (1894-1957), James Michael Crowley (1896-1944), Michael Thomas Crowley (1898-1952),
Peter William Crowley (1900-1963) and Bridget Mary Crowley (1902-1970).
By the turn of the 20th century, Crowley's business was prospering. This enabled him to send his older sons to board at Rockwell College, while he sent his only daughter to the Presentation Convent in Dún Laoghaire. Crowley's Drapery, which he had built up since he took it over, consisted, by that point, of nine rooms, and had fourteen windows at its front – it was one of the most substantial buildings in Ballylanders.
War of Independence
Crowley passed on his views to his children, and his sons became active in the Volunteer movement, and subsequently the I.R.B., while Bridie Crowley joined
Cumann na mBan
Cumann na mBan (; but in English termed The Irishwomen's Council), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and dissolving Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and in 191 ...
as a teenager. The only of the Crowley siblings not to join up was Patrick, who was training to be a priest at the time.
During the 1916 Rising, Timothy Crowley used his position as postmaster to intercept and forward British correspondence on to the Volunteer leaders, while his son John read the information that was coming in on the telegraph. The British were unaware of this, however, they caught on to the fact that the family were embroiled in the republican movement, and so, that same year, the postmaster of Kilmallock was ordered to come to Ballylanders to interview Timothy Crowley about his rebel activities, and pass on to him an order from the authorities to sever all connection with the Volunteers. Crowley refused to give an answer, however, upon consulting Eoin MacNeill on the matter, he and the rest of his family ceased their activities, on the surface at least. The following year, Crowley was badly injured in a baton charge by police outside of Galbally barracks, where his son Tadhg was being held, with him having to be tended to by his daughter Bridie afterwards.
By 1920, during the
War of Independence
Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...
, Crowley gained the attention of the R.I.C. after allowing his drapery to be used in the attack on Ballylanders R.I.C. barracks in April 1920 – having been asked by one of his sons for permission to use it, he did not object. He also attracted attention from the British after buying and also renting out a number of motor cars, which were being used to transport members of the I.R.A. The British decided to take action against the Crowleys, and, in early July, they planted a bomb outside of Crowley's Drapery, which exploded, smashing all the windows. The constables responsible for it came from Kilmallock, with the officer in charge stealing a bicycle from the shop which he would later gift to his young son.
At 3 a.m. on the morning of 16 July 1920, a shootout took place between the R.I.C. and Crowley's sons, who were holed up in the drapery. Eventually, the Crowleys ran out of ammunition, with John, Michael, and Peter being arrested, while the rest escaped to the mountains. After the initial attack, Timothy Crowley heard ahead of time that the Crown forces planned to attack the drapery once more on the morning of 25 July 1920, and so he pre-emptively emptied his safe, taking with him a number of documents and photographs to the house of his brother-in-law, Denis O'Grady, across the street. That night, he and his wife Ellen stayed there. With the building having been temporarily abandoned, British soldiers doused it with petrol and set it on fire, burning the drapery to the ground. The damaged caused to the premises and stock amounted to £22,500, worth in excess of one million euro today.
While, at first, Timothy Crowley was left alone by the British authorities, police arrived in Ballylanders not long after to interrogate him. They asked him where the automobiles in his possession were, to which he reportedly replied, "If I knew, I would not tell you". He was then arrested and thrown in Limerick Jail, where he was held without any charge. At the time of his arrest, Crowley had just recently turned 73. There was much discussion between various elements of the British army over what was to be done with him, and, specifically, over whether or not he should be compensated for the money he was owed after the destruction of his drapery.
The Major-General of the 6th Division wrote to General HQ in Dublin Castle saying, "Payment of such an amount to this man is most undesirable and is calculated to make us a laughing stock to the rebels". In another letter, a lieutenant colonel of the 1st Division, said, referring to Crowley, "The man himself, though old, is the most notorious rebel in the Galtees". He went on to declare that, "If he obtains the money allocated to him by the Crown, it will be used in all probability for the murder of the Crown forces". While many within British intelligence wanted Timothy Crowley tried and convicted, it was eventually decided to release him in September 1920.
Death
After his release, and due to the destruction of his home, Timothy and his wife moved in with her brother-in-law John Culhane, a draper in Glin. It was there that he died on 19 October 1921, aged 74, from sudden heart failure.
His funeral was widely reported upon, and was one of the largest ever seen in that part of Limerick. Thousands of people attended his burial in the Crowley family plot in St. John's Graveyard, Knockainey, with hundreds of Volunteers from various companies marching behind the hearse to the graveside. After the grave was closed, volleys were fired and the Last Post sounded.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowley, Timothy
Irish republicans
1847 births
1921 deaths
People from County Limerick
Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood