The Michael Collins Centre has acquired items related to Tom Kehoe, including pieces of the army uniform he was wearing when he was fatally wounded by a trap mine explosion near Carrigaphooca Bridge. To mark the addition of these artefacts to the museum’s collection, Tim Crowley recently visited the site of the explosion.
The Michael Collins Centre Museum has acquired several items belonging to Tom Kehoe, a key figure in Ireland’s struggle for independence and a member of Michael Collins’ “Squad”. These artefacts, once part of Vinny Byrne’s collection, include pieces of Kehoe’s uniform and other memorabilia. Tim Crowley, historian and owner of the Michael Collins Centre Museum in Castleview, just outside Clonakilty town in West Cork, shared the story of Tom Kehoe in a recent Facebook post.
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Tim tells us that Thomas Kehoe (sometimes styled Tom Keogh) was born in 1899 on the Wicklow-Carlow border. Kehoe’s involvement in Ireland’s fight for independence began with his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising. During the War of Independence, he was chosen by Michael Collins to be part of his so-called “Squad”. Kehoe saw action at 22 Lower Mount Street in Dublin on the morning of Bloody Sunday in 1920; that afternoon, he was in the stands in Croke Park during the football match between Dublin and Tipperary when a mixed force of Royal Irish Constabulary, Auxiliaries and military killed 14 civilians.
Tim also highlighted Kehoe’s involvement in the team that commandeered a British Army Peerless armoured car on 14 May 1921 in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue IRA commander Seán MacEoin from Mountjoy Gaol. Less than two weeks later, Kehoe himself was captured during the IRA attack on the Custom House.
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During the Civil War, Kehoe rose to the rank of colonel-commandant in the pro-Treaty National Army. On 16 September 1922, while leading a patrol of troops westwards near Carrigaphooca Bridge, between Macroom and Ballyvourney, Kehoe and his men came upon wires crossing the road.
As they attempted to disarm a mine, a secondary device detonated causing the mine to explode also. This resulted in the deaths of seven National Army soldiers, either instantly or soon after from their wounds. Tim stated that “the scene after the explosion was too horrible to describe”.
Kehoe was the last to succumb to his injuries, passing away some hours later in the Mercy Hospital in Cork city. Mary Collins Powell, Michael Collins’ sister, nursed Kehoe in his final moments. In a letter to Kehoe’s mother, Mary enclosed a lock of his hair and wrote:
“I was present when Tom died, he died like a tired child going to sleep, he just closed his eyes and his mouth, and all was over. After all of his brave fights, God took him to join the Big Fella.”
Kehoe’s death occurred just 25 days after his good friend, the “Big Fella” (Michael Collins), had been killed at an ambush in Béal na Blá.
A memorial cross and plaque near the site of the trap mine explosion in Carrigaphooca memorialize the men who lost their lives in that incident, as well as in a subsequent incident at the same site on the same day in which an anti-Treaty IRA prisoner, local man James Buckley, was shot dead as a reprisal. Buckley’s remains were found in the hole created by the mine explosion.
The Tom Kehoe artefacts
After Kehoe’s death, Vinny Byrne – a close friend and the last surviving member of Michael Collins’ “Squad” until his own death in 1992 – received fabric, service stripes and buttons from the uniform Kehoe wore at Carrigaphooca. Byrne cherished these mementoes, framing and displaying them in his home.
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The Michael Collins Centre Museum purchased these relics late last year and added them to their ever-growing collection. Recently, Tim Crowley visited the site of the Carrigaphooca mine explosion, bringing the Kehoe artefacts back to the scene after nearly 102 years.
The Michael Collins Centre is currently open to visitors Monday through Friday at 11am for a 90-minute presentation; this includes a live dramatized Michael Collins slide show, a guided tour of the collection and a tour of the outdoor exhibits. Presentations begin at 12 noon on Saturdays.
For more information, visit the Micheal Collins Centre website.
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