Threats to Limerick postal officials, June 1922

Date: 22 Jun 1922 to 23 Jun 1922
Location: Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland
Surnames/tags: Waldron Hetherington Phelan

Paddy Waldron created this page on 23 June 2022 to mark the 100th anniversary of an event which had a profound impact on the subsequent history of the Waldron family.

Ireland in June 1922 stood on the verge of civil war. A general election had taken place on 16 June, with the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Féin emerging as the largest party.^[1] Since April, anti-Treaty forces had been in occupation of the Four Courts in Dublin, which was attacked by the National Army on 28 June 1922, resulting in the loss of census returns, Anglican parish records, wills, and countless other irreplaceable genealogical sources.^[2]

In Limerick, the British had handed over the Castle Barracks to the National Army, but merely vacated the city's other three barracks, which were occupied by anti-Treaty forces, who were in undisputed possession of the city by 12 May. In the weeks which followed, lawlessness prevailed. For a humorous account of this Fourth Siege of Limerick, which was undoubtedly far from humorous for those experiencing it, see "The Fourth Siege of Limerick: Civil War, July 1922", by P. J. Ryan in The Old Limerick Journal.^[3] The humour in this account makes up for its lack of precise dates, which leaves the reader guessing at the exact state of affairs on one of the shortest nights of the year.

A relatively minor incident in Limerick a few days before the attack on the Four Courts was to have a profound impact on the subsequent history of the Waldron family. Both Thomas Waldron (c1825-1902) and his son and namesake Thomas Waldron (1855-1917) had settled in Limerick City after retiring from the Royal Irish Constabulary on 16 Jul 1877 and 1 Dec 1898 respectively. A number of their descendants left the city for good immediately after the 1922 incident.

Contents 1 The Public Version 2 The Waldron Family Version 3 The Hetherington Family Version 4 Endnotes

The Public Version

The Limerick Leader of Monday 26 Jun 1922 reported a "CITY SENSATION: Postal Officials Threatened: Noticed to Leave Town". Late on the previous Thursday night, the house of Mr. P. Waldron at Ballinacurra, who was employed as an overseer in the General Post Office, Cecil street, had been visited by a body of armed men, estimated as from ten to a dozen. They ordered him to leave the locality, giving him three days to comply with this order. A little later, a similar party visited the residence of Mr. J. Waldron at Verona Esplanade, O'Connell Avenue, employed in the same capacity as his brother. He was also warned to leave the city, and likewise Mr. R.J. Hetherington, Chief Clerk of the Limerick General Post Office. Mr. T Phelan, also a Post Office official, who resided in the South Circular Road, was also visited and received the same instructions. No motive had been attributed for these domiciliary visits. Mr Hetherington, in escaping from his unwelcome visitors, fell, and had to be treated at Barrington's Hospital.

The Irish Times of 5 Aug 1922 reported (without precise dates) on a public inquiry into the Limerick incident under the headline "WARNED TO LEAVE: TREATMENT OF LIMERICK POSTAL OFFICIALS".

The inquiry investigated the circumstances under which four members of the clerical staff of Limerick Post Office were compelled under threat to leave the city the previous June. The four individuals were Mr. Hetherington, P. Waldron, J. Waldron and T. Phelan. (The two Waldrons were identical twin brothers, and their wives were sisters.) The charges against them were that they had refused to join a strike of the Limerick Post Office staff on 14 Apr 1920, more than two years earlier, organised as a protest against the treatment of patriotic Irishmen in English prisons. It was found that not a single member of the postal clerical staff had absented himself from duty that day, and that anyone who had would have stood out alone and would have been dismissed. The Irish Postal Union claimed that it had nothing to do with the outrage, and had passed a resolution denying responsibility for the expatriation. The Limerick Branch of the similarly named Irish Postal Workers' Union had passed a resolution on 3 Jul 1922 condemning the attack on the officials and expressing abhorrence at such conduct.^[4] The trade and labour bodies in the Limerick Trades and Labour Council repudiated any connection with the outrage. Evidence was given that the Waldrons and Phelan had subscribed to Republican funds and a Redemptorist priest stated that from a moral point of view there were no better men than Messrs. Waldron and Phelan. (The priest did not mention Mr. Hetherington, who was a member of the Church of Ireland.)

The Court of inquiry held that the victims had done nothing to deserve the drastic treatment meted out of them, and on behalf of the citizens invited them back to Limerick. Only Hetherington returned to live in the city. The Court also asked the Post Office authorities to reinstate Messrs. Kelly, McLoughlin and McGrath, who had been suspended in connection with the matter, as the Court believed that there was no intention on their part of instigating, or of being parties to, the outrage.

The victims of the June incident were long gone from the Post Office in Limerick by the time of another strike there in September 1922.

The incident is also alluded to on p. 110 of "Everyday Violence in the Irish Civil War" by Gemma Clark (Cambridge University Press), quoting the Limerick Chronicle of 3 Jul 1922:

The republicans [denied] involvement in, for example, the intimidation of 'postal officials' in Limerick in July 1922. 'R. G. Hetherington, P. and J. Waldron and T. J. Phelan' were visited by 'masked and armed men' in their homes and served with 'orders to leave Ireland'. These 'outrages' were attributed 'to personal spite on the part of unauthorised individuals' and Stephen O'Meara,^[5] Mayor of Limerick, agreed to an 'inquiry' ... Irish Government plans to cut postal workers' wages had been causing resentment in the summer of 1922 and a Post Office strike began on 10 September.

The Waldron Family Version

Many details not mentioned in the newspaper reports are given in accounts written later by Ciss Waldron, wife of Jack, and by their son Paddy.

Masked men with revolvers had came to the doors of the four Limerick Post Office staff around midnight on 22 Jun 1922 and handed in notes ordering them to clear out of Ireland before 12 noon on 26 Jun 1922 or that they would be shot at sight if they failed to do so. Coincidentally, the two Waldrons and Phelan and his wife (who had also worked as a telegraph clerk before their marriage) all had fathers who had once been in the Royal Irish Constabulary. Based on where they eventually died, only Hetherington appears to have ever returned to live in Limerick. The Waldrons eventually settled in Dublin and Phelan appears to have remained in England.

Ciss's account, written in September 1924, states that on 22 Jun 1922, she:

experienced the greatest trouble of my life. Masked men with revolvers came to our door at midnight and handed us a note ordering Jack to clear out of Ireland before 12 noon on 26 Jun 1922 or he would be shot at sight if he failed to do so. The note said it was on account of his conduct during the Irish war that this punishment was, but we knew it was all Post Office jealousy & Paddy, Mr. Phelan and Mr. Hetherington got the same warning. They had an awful experience at Riverview^[6] because they saw the raiders through the window (it was not quite dark when they went there) & would not open the door so shots were fired & a window broken & three or four men tramped upstairs to the bedroom to them, it was awful, with Lil not well^[7] & the children laid up with measles & everything & Paddy was sure his last minute had come. D.G.^[8] we got no fright like that as we opened the door at once^[9] & a man just pointed the revolver at us & handed the note & spoke roughly & went off. It was bad enough when we read the contents of the note. Mr & Mrs Hetherington had the worst experience, they were afraid to open when they heard the loud knocking as there was trouble on between Catholics & Protestants in Belfast and there had been a few reprisals in the South so they thought perhaps those fellows were coming for Mr. H, he being a Protestant so he went out the back way and over the high wall into the Model School grounds before Mrs H opened the door, the raiders searched the house^[10] and back and were angry when they did not find him, but left the note & threats & went away. The worst part was that Mr H got a bad fall when jumping off the wall and was 4 hours lying in pain on the wet grass until about 4a.m. when poor Mrs H (who was half distracted when he was not coming back and afraid to go out until daylight on account of the Republicans in the barracks^[11] who might shoot anyone they saw stirring & not knowing whether the other crowd had gone or what had become of her husband) came to our door & told us he had gone over the wall at midnight & she was afraid they found him & that he was dead when he had not turned up. I'll never forget how dreadful she looked that morning. I felt ashamed for feeling so troubled myself over our warning when I had Jack safely with me anyway. The whole terrace was soon aroused & Mr Quaid & Jack got out into the Model grounds & found the poor man cold & suffering but quite conscious. His back was badly hurt & he could not move. We threw out pillows & rugs from the window & Mr Quaid went for the Dr & ambulance while Jack settled Mr H & covered him as well as he could. We aroused the Millers^[12] at the school who opened the gate & we all got in. How I pitied Mrs H! It was an awful time for her. Mr H recovered very slowly & he is not really the same yet & I don't suppose he ever really will be. His nerves are bad since besides his not being strong. Mrs H is not well at all since either. They live in London & they don't like it. They went back to Limerick about September 1923 & Mr H only stayed a few nights, he was too nervous. What trouble those ruffians brought on an innocent old couple. Jack, Paddy & Mr. Phelan cleared out that day. Things were so upset at the time that it would not have been safe for them to ignore the threat. They went on to Dublin & reported their case at HQ. They were offered positions in Dublin for the time being but they thought it safer to go to London. So they set out & only got positions in the PO that they did not like at all, routine work that they had not done at home for years. They stayed there til August & then got back to Dublin to the Sec's office. They were happy there only they were uncertain whether they would not be sent back to Limerick again. Then a PO strike came on in September 1922 I think it was & they WERE sent to Limerick. It was another awful time for them & for us, but they only stayed from Friday night til Sunday following at 2pm when they motored back to Dublin. They slept in the PO the 2 nights & they were anything but pleasant nights I am sure, even though there was a crowd of other men with them. It was known at once by the Limerick staff that they were there & they were wild & threatened all sorts of things. Luckily Jack & Paddy got off safely out of the place & I hope we'll never have such an unhappy time again. They were kept on in Dublin after that & we are all up here since 12 October 1922[?]. Mr Keogh^[13] bought 21 Marlborough Road^[14] in Dublin for us & we are paying £ 72 a year rent to him for it. It is supposed to be cheap, but I think it very expensive for us as we have only £ 320 a year at present but it goes up £ 13 a year. A clerical officer is Jack's rank, but he expects promotion any day ... Jack is in the accountant's office in Talbot House, Marlborough St.

Jack and Ciss's son, another Paddy Waldron, five years old at the time, wrote his memories of the incident to his son, a third Paddy Waldron, on 20 Apr 1988:

There was a 'quasi-judicial' enquiry held later, presided over by (I think) the Lord [sic] Mayor.^[15] (I have press-cuttings somewhere reporting the enquiry) IRA & PO officials etc denied responsibility & noone was ever found 'guilty'. Suggestions were that some PO officials (who resented the fact that Dad & Paddy were made Overseers in preference to themselves) got the IRA to do the 'dirty work' for them. Evidence was given that Dad & Paddy had contributed to republican funds (& I think that they had baptized their sons PHP and Thos McDonagh!^[16]) and that the IRA had nothing against them. The PO 'unpleasantness' arose (I think) out of an earlier PO 'Strike'. The postmen decided (again, I think) to down tools for a day as a protest against something (like the shooting of someone by the Brits) - but they insisted on signing on for the day first so that they wouldn't lose a day's pay. Dad and Paddy were too conscientious to follow suit (although equally sympathetic) - they would not take the day's pay unless they worked for it, which they did. Also, they were Overseers and thus not in the Postmen's Union (Paddy had been a leading figure in same until his promotion - see picture^[17]). Paddy had been brought to Dublin to Head Office about 1914 and again with Dad about 1920, for interview by 'The Right Hon' James McMahon & 'Sir' _____ for promotion. They also were sent to Whitehall, London for further interviews. After the raids, they were transferred to Dublin & the families moved in October 1922. Needless to say, I don't remember anything of this & Dad never (I think) told me the full story. Kit remembers a lot - I only remember bringing our black cat in a basket on the train to Dublin!! I don't know if Dad's friendship with Fred Flynn (who was in the British Army) had anything to do with it (Dad and Paddy were the first two original 'Ecumenists' - although the word, and the practice, were unknown then. Fred ... was a Catholic - and a saint - & his brother was a bishop - but Bill Hawker was a Prod and Mr Blanc in Portarlington either a Quaker or a Jehovah's Witness!^[18] They were all true 'gentlemen' in the best sense of the word). Dad received many letters of support and sympathy from some prominent Limerick and PO people - some of which I have. Merit was, I think, duly rewarded, especially in Paddy's case when he rose to be controller of the Dublin Postal District (the top job in the postal service).

The Hetherington Family Version

Richard Hetherington made several applications for compensation for the consequences of the 1922 attack.^[19]

These applications reveal that he lived at several different addresses in the first five years after his move to London. He resided for a time with his daughter when he first came to the city. He was at 121 Blythe Road, West Kensington, W.14, when the Minister of Finance of the Irish Free State turned down his first compensation claim on 7 Apr 1924. He was living at 49 Northcroft Road in West Ealing, London, W.13 at the time of his application on 26 Oct 1926 to the Irish Grants Committee, having previously lived at 53, Linzee Road, Hornsey, N.8. The first of these may have been his daughter's address.

His first application for compensation was on 22 Jun 1923 to the Compensation (Personal Injuries) Committee, which ruled that "no compensation was payable in this case", so that compensation was refused by the Minister of Finance of the Irish Free State. This decision was communicated by a letter on 7 Apr 1924 to his Limerick solicitor J. O. Myles from J. J. McElligott, then assistant secretary in the Department of Finance.^[20]

He next submitted a detailed claim dated 31 Dec 1924 to the Irish Claims Compensation Association, London. This claim said that his house "was raided by a gang of 10 or 12 masked and armed men". It gives the exact wording of the threatening letter:

After careful and impartial consideration of your case, and owing to your conduct during Irish War you are hereby ordered to leave Ireland by Noon on Monday, June 26th 1922. Failing to obey this order you run the penalty of being shot at sight.
By order

It also includes the full text of the letter written on 28 Jun 1922 to Stephen O'Mara, Mayor of Limerick, by M. A. Hetherington, C. Waldron, Anne Phelan and L. Waldron, Wives of the Victimised men, seeking the Mayor's help and "that of both Sections of the I.R.A."

Hetherington's 1924 claim also confirms, quoting the Limerick Chronicle of 3 Aug 1922, that the Solicitor representing to the Postal Union had stated to the Mayor's Court of Enquiry that

On the 14th April 1920, there was a protest strike in the Post Office, in connection with the treatment of prisoners in Mountjoy. On that occasion, 80 men in the Post Office were punished for going on strike, and these four remained at work. That is the reason they were guilty of National Sins.

Hetherington claimed that several other members of the Supervising force also remained at their posts during the Strike, but were left unmolested. He alleged that by the premature withdrawal of the Crown Forces from Ireland, he, in common with all other Southern Irish loyalists, was left without the protection to which he was justly entitled.

Two applications were made by Richard George Hetherington from Co. Limerick to the Irish Grants Committee, on 26 Oct 1926 and 18 Dec 1926. The latter was for £ 2,000 for personal injuries, suffering, etc., and for £ 1,764.3.0 for loss of employment and other special financial losses, and for interest on these sums, on the grounds that his premature "retirement was caused by ill-health directly resulting from the criminal attack". It confirmed that his two Sons served in the British Army in France in the Great War - one in the South Irish Horse and one in the 1st Bat. Grenadier Guards - and the latter was killed in the battle of the Somme. Their father remained in hospital in Limerick until 7 Sep 1922, at which point he left for London, and never returned to duty.

The case was scheduled for hearing on 21 Jan 1927. The file includes a letter dated 11 Jul 1927 from Hetherington's local M.P., Herbert Nield, to the Colonial Secretary, Leo Amery, complaining that no decision had yet been issued six months after the hearing. Hetherington was eventually awarded just £ 500.

Endnotes

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_Irish_general_election
2. ↑ Fewer, Michael. "The Battle of the Four Courts, 28–30 June 1922" History Ireland, Features, July/August 2019, Volume 27, Issue 4.
3. ↑ The Old Limerick Journal, Vol. 38, Winter 2002.
4. ↑ These two unions merged the following year; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Postal_Union
5. ↑ Recte O'Mara.
6. ↑ Paddy Waldron and his family lived at Riverview on the South Circular Road in the townland of Ballinacurra (Hart).
7. ↑ Lil was seven months pregnant with her fifth and last child.
8. ↑ deo gratias.
9. ↑ Jack and Ciss and their family were living at 4 Verona Esplanade, off O'Connell Avenue, which had until recently been known as Military Road.
10. ↑ The Hetheringtons were neighbours of Jack Waldron at 7 Verona Esplanade.
11. ↑ Verona Esplanade is overlooked by what is now Sarsfield Barracks, but was then referred to as the New Barracks. The barracks remained in the possession of the anti-Treaty Republicans until later in the summer.
12. ↑ Samuel Millar was Head Master of the Model School; see 1911 census.
13. ↑ James P Keogh was married to Elizabeth Clancy, aunt, godmother and guardian to the two Mrs. Waldrons, whose mother had died when they were infants.
14. ↑ The advertisement for the auction of 21 Marlborough Road on 11 Sep 1922 appeared in The Irish Times of 2 Sep 1922; the Solicitor for Vendor was Alfred Norman - Jack Waldron's third cousin once removed!
15. ↑ Limerick has a Mayor, not a Lord Mayor, a technicality of which most of those unfamiliar with the life of William Lane Joynt are probably unaware - Lane Joynt at different times was Mayor of Limerick and Lord Mayor of Dublin.
16. ↑ After the executed patriots Patrick Henry Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh.
17. ↑ This refers to a framed group photograph of the Mansion House Conference of the Association of Irish Post Office Clerks, Dublin, July 1904, which is still in the possession of the Waldron family.
18. ↑ The 1911 census lists Charles William Blanc, Post Office Clerk, and his wife and infant son as Members of the International Bible Students Association (mistranscribed at census.nationalarchives.ie), a precursor of what became known as Jehovah's witnesses in 1931. Jack Waldron had spent the period from 27 Mar 1907 to 18 Oct 1907 working in the Post Office in Portarlington. His colleague Mr. Blanc came to the rescue with a short-term loan when there was a cash flow crisis in the Waldron family on the eve of the departure of Jack's brother Tot for New York on the maiden voyage of the Lusitania on 8-13 Sep 1907.
19. ↑ See Irish Distress Committee and Irish Grants Committee: Files and Minutes CO 762/34/11; Brian Hughes of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, kindly provided a copy of this file to Paddy Waldron.
20. ↑ https://www.dib.ie/biography/mcelligott-james-john-jimmy-a5654