WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR TIMED ON-LINE AUCTION 17 MAY TO 7 JUNE 2024

83 History THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR · FRIDAY 7 JUNE 2024 207 1922 (6 December) Irish Free State badge. In the form of a Tara brooch, gilt with IRISH FREE STATE, pin back. Silver versions are also known. Issued to commemorate the inauguration of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922. Condition: Fine. Estimate €200-€300 (approx £170-£260) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 207 208 1923 (20 January) In Memoriam Card for five Volunteers executed in Athlone. Also with this lot are three small photographs of the funeral and burial place of the four Volunteers from Galway in Headford Church, taken by John Fahy (see lot 534). 4.50 by 2.50in. (11.4 by 6.4cm) Provenance: Family of John Fahy. Condition: Fine. The Irish Free State executed thirty-four anti-treaty republican prisoners in January 1923; to put this figure into context, the British authorities executed twenty-four Irish republican prisoners between November 1920 and June 1921 during the war of independence. On one day alone, 20 January1923, the Irish Free State executed eleven men - at Tralee (4), Limerick (2) and Athlone (5). Of the five men executed at Custume Barracks, Athlone, four were from Co. Galway: Martin J. Burke (aged 25) of Manus Flynn, Caherlistrane; Hubert Collins (aged 23) of Keekill, Headford; Stephen Joyce (aged 29) of Derrymore, Caherlistrane; Michael Walsh (aged 26) of Derrymore, The fifth man was Thomas Hughes of Bogginfin, Athlone; all five were members of the North Galway Brigade IRA and had been found guilty by a Free State Military Court of the unlawful possession of arms and ammunition. Their respective families were not informed until after the executions had taken place. When questioned in Dáil Éireann, General Richard Mulcahy – both Minister for Defence and Commander-in-Chief of the Free State Army – responded: “It is not the practice nor is it the intention to address communications to the relatives of men who are arrested, with the exception that, in the cases of men executed, formal notification is after execution at once sent to the next-of-kin or nearest relative, where any such are known. Also, it is not the intention to hand over to relations or friends the remains of men executed.” Estimate €150-€200 (approx £130-£170) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 208 209 1923. Curragh Camp republican prisoner badge. In the form of a Tara brooch, copper, etched ‘NAN TIN TOWN’ obverse, reverse ‘AON MAY 1923, AON Curragh Camp’. Pin back. Rare, possibly unique. Condition: Fine, lacking pin. Tintown was the nickname given to the tin huts used to house the anti Treaty republican prisoners held in 1922-1924 at the Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare. Estimate €900-€1,200 (approx £770-£1,030) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 209