George Gilmore

George Gilmore (1898 – 1985) was a Protestant Irish Republican Army leader during the 1920s and 1930s. During his period of influence the Republican movement moved significantly to the left. After leaving the movement in 1934 he remained a significant figure on the Irish left.

Life

Born in Portadown, Ireland, he led the South County Dublin Battalion of the IRA from 1915 to 1926.He fought in the IRA in the Irish War of Independence and in the Irish Civil War on the Anti-Treaty IRA side. After the defeat of the anti-Treaty forces he served as the secretary of the later Taoiseach Sean Lemass. [Bowyer Bell, "The Secret Army", p. 51] In October 1925 he organised the escape of 19 IRA prisoners from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. [Bowyer Bell, "The Secret Army", p. 53-54] He was arrested for IRA activities 1926, released 1927, arrested 1931, and released again in 1932. [Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army, p. 84]

In the late 1920s as a member of the IRA's Army Council he negotiated with repesentatives of the Soviet government in an attempt to arrange military training for selected officers of the IRA. [Bowyer Bell, "The Secret Army", p. 79] After the election of the first Fianna Fáil government under Eamonn de Valera in March 1932 Gilmore was one of the representatives of the Army Council that liaised with de Valera. [Biwyer Bell, "The Secret Army", p. 100]

In 14 August 1932 he was shot and wounded by plain clothes members the Garda Síochána in County Clare, an incident that was blamed on the police by an official Tribunal of Inquiry that reported one month later. [Bowyer Bell, "The Secret Army", p. 101] Along with Roddy Connolly, Nora Connolly O'Brien, Peadar O'Donnell and Michael Price he was one of the founders of the Republican Congress, a left wing socialist Irish Republican group, in 1934. [Mike Milotte, "Communism in Modern Ireland", p. 150] The group broke up in 1935 over internal differences. He was later active in 1936–39 as a supporter of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. [Bowyer Bell, "The Secret Army", p. 132]

During the 1960s when the Republican Movement once again moved to the left Gilmore and O'Donnell were once again in demand as speakers and as writers in Republican publications. [Bowyer Bell, "The Secret Army", p.345.]

He died in Howth, County Dublin, aged 87.

Literature

* J. Bowyer Bell, "The Secret Army: The IRA 1916-1979" (revised & updated edition), The Academy Press, Dublin 1979. ISBN 0 906187 27 3
* George Gilmore, "The Irish Republican Congress", The Cork Workers' Club, Cork 1978.
* Mike Milotte, "Communism in Modern Ireland: The Pursuit of the Workers' Republic since 1916", Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1984. ISBN 0 7171 0946 1

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/irelandscw/obit-Gilmore.htm Obituary]
* [http://www.searcs-web.com/gilmore.html Biography in Searc's Web Guide to 20th Century Ireland]