28 Facts About Kevin O'Higgins

Kevin Christopher O'Higgins was an Irish politician who served as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1927, Minister for External Affairs from June 1927 to July 1927 and Minister for Economic Affairs from January 1922 to September 1922.

Kevin O'Higgins served as a Teachta Dala from 1918 to 1927.

Kevin O'Higgins was part of early nationalist Sinn Fein, before going on to become a prominent member of Cumann na nGaedheal.

Kevin O'Higgins was later assassinated in retaliation by an IRA unit in Booterstown, County Dublin.

Kevin O'Higgins was born in Stradbally, County Laois, one of sixteen children of Dr Thomas Higgins and Anne Sullivan, daughter of the Nationalist politician Timothy Daniel Sullivan.

Kevin O'Higgins's aunt was married to the Nationalist Member of Parliament Tim Healy.

Kevin O'Higgins was educated at the Jesuit-run Clongowes Wood College, where he was expelled.

Kevin O'Higgins was then moved to Knockbeg College, St Marys Christian Brother School, Portlaoise.

Kevin O'Higgins was efficient, had a forceful personality and was appointed captain of Stradbally company, Carlow brigade.

Kevin O'Higgins joined Sinn Fein, but was arrested and imprisoned in 1918.

When Cosgrave was arrested in 1920, Kevin O'Higgins took the lead as head of the Ministry.

Kevin O'Higgins feared, as did many of his colleagues, that a prolonged civil conflict would give the British an excuse, in the eyes of the world, to reassert their control in the Free State.

Kevin O'Higgins was given a nominal posting to the Irish Army during the early stages of the war, which he described as "very short, though very brilliant".

Kevin O'Higgins had formed a negative view of Cosgrave, having worked under him at Local Government, and was not happy when the latter was appointed President of the Executive Council.

Kevin O'Higgins had set up the Garda Siochana, but by September 1922, the force was experiencing indiscipline in the ranks.

Kevin O'Higgins became increasingly authoritarian in later years a fact that caused several high-profile arguments between himself and O'Higgins.

Kevin O'Higgins was seen very much as the "strong man" of the cabinet.

Kevin O'Higgins once described himself as one of "the most conservative-minded revolutionaries that ever put through a successful revolution".

Kevin O'Higgins did not approve of feminism, for instance when asked by Leader of the Labour Party Thomas Johnson in the Dail whether he believed giving women the vote had been a success, O'Higgins replied,.

Kevin O'Higgins famously derided the socialist influenced Democratic Programme of the First Dail as "mostly poetry".

At approximately midday on Sunday 10 July 1927, Kevin O'Higgins was assassinated at the age of 35 by three anti-Treaty members of the IRA, Timothy Coughlan, Bill Gannon and Archie Doyle, in revenge for Kevin O'Higgins' part in the executions of 77 IRA prisoners during the civil war.

Kevin O'Higgins had been walking from his home on Cross Avenue, Blackrock to mass on Booterstown Avenue.

Kevin O'Higgins had been accompanied by an armed garda detective but had sent the detective back to Blackrock to buy cigarettes.

Kevin O'Higgins ran a short distance before collapsing, and one of the assailants shot him again as he lay on the ground.

Kevin O'Higgins lived to an old age, dying in 1980, and continued to take pride in having killed O'Higgins.

Kevin O'Higgins body lay in state in the Mansion House before a state funeral held at St Andrew's Church, Westland Row.

In 1927, a relief of Kevin O'Higgins was posthumously added to a 1923 cenotaph in the grounds of Leinster House dedicated to Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith.

Kevin O'Higgins's granddaughter Iseult O'Malley is a judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland.