Gilbert Potter

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Missing D.I.

District Inspector C.M (sic) Potter
Royal Irish Constabulary, reported by Dublin Castle to have run into an ambush
between Clougheen (sic) and Cahir last week.

Notice that appeared in The Freeman's Journal of Wed. April 27, 1921, during Potter's time in captivity.
Nationality Irish[1]
Other names 'Chum'[2]
Occupation District Inspector, Royal Irish Constabulary

Gilbert Norman Potter, a District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary,was born on 10th July 1878 at Dromahair, County Leitrim and was laterally stationed at Cahir, County Tipperary, during the Irish War of Independence.[3]

Contents

[edit] Capture by the I.R.A

In 1921 he was captured by the 3rd Tipperary Brigade, I.R.A. following the Hyland's Cross Ambush, near the village of Ballylooby.The ambush party comprised of a combination of the 1st and 2nd Flying Columns of that unit.[4] As the Flying Columns dispersed after the engagement which left one soldier dead and two others wounded, one mortally, Potter, who was returning from duties at Ballyporeen drove into the withdrawing No.1 Column under the command of Dinny Lacey. Although in mufti, he was recognised by one of the I.R.A Volunteers and taken prisoner. He was held as a hostage for the safe release of Thomas Traynor, an I.R.A Volunteer, (and father of ten young children), then under sentence of death at Mountjoy Jail in Dublin.[5]

[edit] Hostage

Local accounts from Rathgormack County Waterford, suggest that he may have been kept for at least one night at a nearby Ringfort before being taken down the hill to his ultimate fate.
At 7p.m., on the 27th of May, following news of Traynor's execution, he was shot to death in the foothills of the Comeragh Mountains,[6] and hastily buried at the site in a shallow grave on the banks of the Clodagh River.[7]
A diary he kept during his period of captivity and some personal effects including his watch, a gold ring, cigarette holder, cigarette box and farewell letters were returned by the I.R.A. to his wife.[8] It was the first confirmation she had that he had been killed.[9] (The artefacts other than the letters were later lost when the ship in which his son, Gilbert Charles Potter was a Commander, was torpedoed.) .[10]

[edit] British Official Reprisals

On 18th May the following notice appeared in local newspapers.

Official Reprisals in South Tipperary
14 Homes Destroyed
We are requested to publish the following.
(1) The houses of the following persons were destroyed on Friday 13th May and Saturday 14th.
Cahir District
(1) Mrs. T. O'Gorman, Burncourt Castle (2) Mrs. Tobin, Tincurry House (3) Edmund Mulcahy, Coolagarranvoe (4)Pat McCarthy, Drumlummin
(5) James Slattery, Killbeg (6) Robert Keating, Ballylooby
Tipperary District
(7)Bryan Shanahan, Grantstown (8) J. Dwyer Ballinavasin (9) J. Barry, Cross of Donohill (10) Patrick Corbett, Donohill
Cashel District
911) Edmond Riley, Coolanga (12) J. Ryan, Turrabeen (13) O'Keefe,,Glennagh (14) John Grogan, Shanballyduff
The contents of the following person was destroyed on Friday 13th May
James Taylor, Cashel.
(2) The destructions were ordered by Colonel Commandant N.J.G Camerron C.B., C.M.G A.D.C Commanding 16th Infantry Brigade and Military Governor on the grounds that the persons concerned are active supporters of armed rebels and especially of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Republican Army and that they reside in the area and that the 3rd Tipperary Brigade has admitted responsibility for the brutal murder of District Inspector G.N. Potter R.I.C. (D.I. of Cahir) on or about 20th April 1921.
(3) Before the work of destruction commenced, Notice "B" was served on the owner of each house telling him that his property was going to be destroyed and the reason and giving him one hour in which to clear out valuables and foodstuffs, hay and corn, but not furniture.[11]

.

[edit] Truce

During the Truce , Gilbert Potter's body was disinterred and conveyed to Clonmel where it was returned to his widow Lilias.[12] Two days later he was brought to Cahir and buried with full military honours at the Church of Ireland cemetery at Kilcommon, 4 kilometres south of the town. The funeral, presided over by Bishop Miller of Waterford, and attended by the Band of the Lincolnshire Regiment, the locally stationed Royal Field Artillery and officers and men of the R.I.C. took place in the afternoon of Tue. 30th August, 1921 [13].

In the heated debates in the Dáil following the signing of the Treaty, when the names of the dead were invoked by both sides to justify their respective positions, Richard Mulcahy made the following appeal:[14]

Are we going to choose in the next onward march of this nation the weapons which will give us dead in our country- the Crompton-Smiths of England and the Potters of Ireland; or, are we going to take our own resources and grow to manhood, in friendliness and with some chance of avoiding that polarisation of mind and polarisation in antagonisms with the English people that we have been forced into at the present time? (see On-line Sources )

[edit] Family

Lily and the four children Hilda (7), Georgina (6) , hospitalised since age 4, (Gilbert) Charles (5), and Freddie (4) emigrated by cattle boat to Tunbridge Wells in England soon after. She received a modest pension on the basis of her husband's death, but the family were in dire financial circumstances. Within a short period of time, she died of meningitis and two of the children succumbed to Tuberculosis. The two surviving children Hilda amd Charles lived for some time with an uncle in Liverpool.
Gilbert Charles joined the Royal Navy at a 13 years of age. He survived when his ship was torpedoed during the Second World War and lived to see a daughter married. While serving in the Navy, he met an Irish sailor named Traynor in the South China Sea,whose father had been executed by the British during the Irish War of Independence. Charles believed him to be a son of the man in retaliation for whom his father had been shot.(see Notes)
In the mid 1960's, he returned to Cahir. During this, his first visit back in Ireland he met with Dan Breen, one of the I.R.A officers who had participated in his father's detention. He was gratified to learn that many people in the Cahir area had held his father in high regard as a kindly and honourable man,[15] notwithstanding his participation in the 'wrong side' of the war. [16]

[edit] Bibliography

Goulden Papers: Manuscripts Collection: Trinity College, Dublin
Herlihy, Jim; The Royal Irish Constabulary A complete alphabetical list of officers and men, 1816-1922; Four Courts; Press; 2005
 Breen D. My Fight for Irish Freedom Talbot Press (1924)
Tobin, Peter: Witness Statement (W.S. 1223): Bureau of Military History Copy accessed at National Archives of Ireland, Dublin
Abbott, Richard: Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922: Mercier Press: 2000:
O'Dwyer, Kate: The Third Tipperary Brigade: its guerilla campaign (1919–1921): in Tipperary Historical Journal pp 65-73:1997
Younger, Carlton: Ireland's Civil War: 3rd Impression :Fontana Collins: Great Britain: 1979

[edit] On-line Sources

Dáil Éireann - Volume 3 - 22 December, 1921 DEBATE ON TREATY [1]

[edit] Refefences

  1. ^ Goulden Papers, Cover Letter addressed to 'those in authority with I.R.A.' dated 27 April.
  2. ^ Goulden Papers 7882/3
  3. ^ Herlihy p255
  4. ^ O'Dwyer p?
  5. ^ Breen p?
  6. ^ Abbott p226
  7. ^ Tobin (W.S. 1223) p?
  8. ^ Goulden Papers 7382/10
  9. ^ Tipperaryman and Limerick Recorder 14th May 1921.
  10. ^ Goulden Papers, 7382a/196
  11. ^ The Nationalist (Clonmel) 18th May 1921.
  12. ^ Tipperaryman and Limerick Recorder, 3rd September 1921.
  13. ^ Goulden Papers 7380/10 ref. Clonmel Nationalist 31st August and 3rd September, 1921
  14. ^ Younger 222
  15. ^ Goulden Papers Tom O'Connor to Dan Breen 30th September 1966
  16. ^ Goulden Papers, 7382a/196, Gilbert Charles Potter to J.R.W. Goulden, 14 Nov. 1967 ;

[edit] Notes

D.I. Potter's headstone at Kilcommon is located towards the end of the path on the right hand side. It reads
Gilbert Norman Potter, D.I. R.I.C., Dearly Loved, Killed In Ireland, April 27th 1921, Aged 42, Faithful Unto Death
Below which his son is also acknowledged:
Gilbert Charles Potter, R.N. D.S.C, 1916-1975.

In his letter to Breen in 1966, O'Connor , a locally based I.R.A officer states
We were all sorry for Potter who seemed to be a very 'good' man. He did his best to get the Tans out of Cahir, he got a certificate from the Medical Officer in Cahir to state the barracks was not suitable.

The following is a transcript of the letter received by Lilias Potter on 9th May. It was typed and enclosed in an unstamped envelope.
"D.I. Potter, having been legally tried and convicted, was sentenced to death, which sentence was duly carried out on Wed. 27th April." (Signed O.C.)

The supposed meeting of Charles Potter and Thomas Traynor's son was related by Dan Breen to Carlton Younger for his book. (see bibliography) . Younger dismisses it as "a nice storey, but an old man's fancy, it appears." (p 146). However the event is recalled in the correspondence between Charles Potter and Mr. Goulden and was likely told to Breen during his discussion with Charles in 1966.