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362
1922 (22 June) Assassination of Sir Henry Wilson by Reginald Dunn and Joseph O’Sullivan, London IRA.
The very important archive of the IRA men’s defending solicitor, JH MacDonnell, comprising: 23 June 1922 slips(4)
with signed instructions to MacDonnell to act for them, signed by Dunne, O’Sullivan, also Seán O’Brien and James
Connolly; 16 July 1922 “strictly private and confidential” statement by Dunne in his hand and signed by him, with a
typed transcript “to be given...to the Officer Commanding the London District IRA Area”, giving a detailed account,
with diagram, of the assassination; notes on his defence to MacDonnell from Dunn; 16 July 1922 manuscript and
typed statements to the court (which the judge refused to have read out in court); 17/18 July 1922 manuscript letter
recommending Captain Brian O’Gorman to Captain J Shanaghan of Oriel House, Dublin (HQ of Michael Collins’
Intelligence Office) - an intriguing note possibly confirming Collins and Oriel House involvement in the killing of
Wilson; 3 August 1922 Court of Criminal Appeal Notification of Result of Final Appeal both for Dunn, dismissing the
appeal, with an inscription by Dunn to MacDonnell; 9 August 1922 manuscript Last Will & Testament documents of
both Dunn and O’Sullivan, signed by both and witnessed by the Governor of Wandsworth Prison, with manuscript and
typed detailed list of distribution of his personal effects by Dunn; 9 August manuscript letter by Dunn to his father
with typed transcript, with stamped and postmarked envelopes in his hand to his father and mother; July 1909
printed notification of a scholarship awarded to Dunn at St. Ignatius College SJ, London; undated 4pp pamphlet “You
can stop Reprisals NOW” defending the actions of Dunn and O’Sullivan; 21 July 1922 single sheet reprint from the
Irish Independent of Reginald Dunn’s Statement; 5 January 1923 a printed mourning letter in Irish to JH MacDonnell
from Seán Mac Craith enclosing memoriam cards for Dunn and O’Sullivan as well as Áine Ní Craith. (30)
Provenance: JH MacDonnell, Solicitor, London WC2;
thence by descent.
Literature: Irish Historical Studies Volume 28, Number 110, November 1992, pp150-170: Michael Collins and The
Assassination of Sir Henry Wilson by Peter Hart.
The assassination of Sir Henry Wilson was apparently authorised by the IRA and IRB in early 1921 but put on hold
due to the Truce of June that year. With the signing of the Treaty the action should have been cancelled; it is
therefore a matter of some controversy that it went ahead, possibly with the approval of either Michael Collins or
Rory O’Connor. The letter, in this archive, from Dunn to Brian O’Gorman, implying Dunn’s strong link to the
Intelligence Office of the Provisional Government in Oriel House, might be evidence that the action was sanctioned
by Collins. The killing of Wilson outraged the British Government, and, under immense pressure by Winston Churchill,
the Provisional Government were forced to attack the anti-treaty forces using artillery supplied by the UK, thus
starting the Civil War.
Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, born in Co. Longford in 1864, was one of Britain’s most distinguished army officers,
serving as Chief of The Imperial Staff in 1918. He oversaw the British military operations, including “the war of
terror” by the Auxiliaries, in Ireland during the War of Independence, and later became a Unionist MP for Co. Down.
Reginald Dunn and Joseph O’Sullivan were former British soldiers who had served in France, fighting ‘for the rights of
small nationalities’; O’Sullivan lost a leg at Ypres. On returning to England they joined the IRA, with Dunn rising to be
the commanding officer of London District.
JH MacDonnell, son of an Irish Nationalist MP, Mark Antony MacDonnell, was a distinguished London solicitor and
member of the Irish Self Determination League. He defended many Irish republicans, including 1916 Rising
participants.
€
5,000-
€
7,000 (£4,000-£5,600 approx)