Quinlisk - member of Casement's Irish Brigade

[corisande]

Thanks Mary.

His grandfather appears to be dead by 1911, in as much as I cannot find a suitable Quinlsk in 1911 census

If anyone can help further with any information on Quinlisk and does not want to post here, then please PM me.

[mefein]

Tomas MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork was killed by the RIC in his own home on 20 March 1920, on his 36th birthday. His son also Tomas was only 3 or 4 at the time. The Lord Mayor did not shoot Quinlisk. Mick Murphy said he did it in his statement to Bureau of Military History.
There are a few Quinlisk names in the list of members of the RIC.
Re  your 3rd point I dont know what "story about Quinlisk" you refer to.

[mefein]

mefein again.
Patrick Walsh of Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny, went to Wales to work in the mines in 1913. On outbreak of WW1 he joined Northumberland Fusiliers, was captured and sent to POW camp, escaped and recaptured twice and badly beaten twice. During 1916 in Pow camp was offered freedom if he returned to Dublin to fight in Rising. Did not take up the offer. When he returned home after WW1 he saw a photo of Roger Casement and realised this was the man who approached him in POW camp. He died on Armistice Day 1967.

[corisande]

Hi

Thanks for those bits, it all helps wth the picture

This is a copy of the newspaper report on the RDF POW who was in Casement's Irish Brigade, and who gave this report to the papers after the body was recovered.



Afraid its a bad copy, as its not my copy, its just what I have been sent. But you can probably get enough to get the sense of it.

[corisande]

Thanks for the clarification on Mick Murphy

My reference to McCurtain comes from
http://www.drb.ie/more_details/08-09-28/He_Could_Tell_You_Things.aspx
which is a review of Casement's biography
Roger Casement: Imperialist, Rebel, Revolutionary, by Séamas Ó Síocháin, Lilliput Press, 656 pp, €40, ISBN: 978-1843510215

I cannot claim to have read the biography, just the review

I realise now the Quinlisk died 18 Feb 1920, and Tom McCurtain, the Lord Mayor, was shot a month later. So could he have been involved?

[mefein]

In Tomas MacCurtain's role as one of the leaders of the Volunteers he may have been aware of Quinlisk and may have OKd his removal, but where is the evidence? In my opinion he was otherwise engaged in the day job.
Let me paraphrase Mick Murphy's statement made in 1956.
The Council of No1. Cork Brigade, leader Sean O'Hegarty, decide Quinlisk was to be shot. MM says it occurred on 25 Feb 1920 but the correct date is 18 Feb 1920. MM met Q by agreement the latter was asked to assemble a Hotchkiss gun and there would be £10 in it for Q. Later that night a man named Keyes brought Q to Curragh Road. Frank Mahony 2nd Battalion Intelligence Officer and Jimmy Walsh, local Captain turned up with MM.Keyes was sent home. The others walked through fields in the dark supposedly heading for the cottage wher the Hotchkiss was.MM stuck his .45 Colt in Q's back and ordered hands up. They searched him taking letters, cigarette case and newspaper cutting. "We shot him standing there". As it was approaching curfew the decided to leave but MM thought he would check, went back and hit Q with the butt of his Colt, the body moved, MM turned him over and put a bullet through his forehead. That night following a raid on the mails they found a letter from Q addressed to the County Inspector, RIC, stating Q had been in touch with a prominent IRA officer "meaning me, I suppose" who had told him Michael Collins was in Clonakilty Co Corkand this IRA officer was to introduce Collins to Q. when Collins arrived in Cork City.
Among the documents found on Q was a letter to the RIC saying Q had information on Collins and would be in touch again. In his cigarette case was a cutting from a Wexford paper"Daring rescue from the Nore". - a boy had been rescued from the River Nore by a John Quinlisk.
All this data was notified to GHQ in Dublin. Word came back that one of Collins's sources in Dublin Castlehad found Q's application for service as an agent of Dublin Castle and also his acceptance as such by the Castle.

The local newspaper in Cork City carried accounts of the shooting and the inquest held on 20 Feb 1920. By which time Q's identity was still not known
Throughout all this time MM thought his name was Quinn, the name he used in two Cork hotels.

[corisande]

Hi

Thanks for all that information, it gives me a much clearer idea as to what happened to Quinlsik

Amazing really that Mick Murphy put it all on the record.

[mefein]

I found more on Quinlisk in my local evening paper Evening Echo 22 Feb 2010. Article by military historians Gerry White and Brendan O'Shea entitled "The Execution of Quinlisk".Included is a photo of NCOs of Casement's Irish Brigade in Zossen, Germany in 1915 Cpl. Peter Golden, Sgt. Major Keogh, Cpl. O'Mahony, Sgt. Daniel Julien Bailey (alias Beverley) interpreter Zerhussen, Cpl. Kavanagh, Cpl. O'Callaghan and QMS Timothy Quinlisk. Also the Irish Brigade's Declaration.I dont have the knowhow to scan and attach these to you.
The article says that the overwhelming majority of Irish-born prisoners who were approached by Casement refused to have anything to do with him. 55 eventually agreed to join, not enough to form an active entity. Quinlisk continued to try to entice others to join up.
After Casements execution in 1916 the Irish Brigade were taken to Berlin where they were confined until the end of the war. They were returned to England where they were interrogated.
Quinlisk got to Dublin in Summer 1919, started using the name Quinn. Tried to join the Republican movement through a Republican Robert Brennan who knew the Quinlisk family. He ingratiated himself by suggesting schemes to procure arms and by repeatedly trying to get into Michael Collins inner circle. He was viewed with suspicion because of his cavalier attitude and his popularity with the ladies. As winter approached he had failed to get employment and he had failed to gain acceptance into the Republican movement so he decided to switch his allegiance. Then through the various sources at Collins disposal they realised where they stood re Quinlisk.

[corisande]

Hi

Thanks again for that article in the Evening Echo.

I do have the photo of Casements NCOs and their declaration. Not many photos exist, and as far as I know there is only the one.

I have a web page on Quinlisk here , which pulls together all that I have on the man. The photo of Quinlisk is extracted from that group photo.

Gerry White and Brendan O'Shea wrote the Burning of Cork . So maybe they are aiming to write a book on Quinlisk one day