18 Facts About Tom Maguire

Tom Maguire was born 28 March 1892 in Cross, County Mayo, the fourth of eleven children of William Maguire, and Mary Grehan.

Tom Maguire joined the Irish Volunteers on their foundation in 1913, and after the 1916 Easter rising, he formed the first company of Volunteers in Cross in 1917.

Tom Maguire was elected as a member of Mayo County Council in June 1920 and was chairman of Ballinrobe district council.

On 3 May 1921, Maguire led an ambush on a Royal Irish Constabulary patrol in Toormakeady, County Mayo, killing five members of the RIC.

Tom Maguire was wounded and his adjutant killed, but the column managed to escape with no further casualties.

Some recent research has raised the possibility that fewer than forty British soldiers were in the vicinity and that Tom Maguire's column was forced to abandon their weapons with only one British officer wounded.

Tom Maguire was involved in numerous other engagements including the Kilfall ambush.

Tom Maguire opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and apart from saying "Nil" when the vote was called, did not participate in any substantial way in the Dail treaty debates.

Tom Maguire was returned unopposed at the 1922 general election.

At the 1923 general election, Tom Maguire faced a contest and succeeded in securing the second of five seats in the Mayo South constituency, winning 5,712 votes.

Tom Maguire was a member of the anti-Treaty IRA executive which commanded rebel troops during the Irish Civil War.

Tom Maguire was captured by the National Army while in bed and was told that he would be executed, but his life was spared.

Tom Maguire initially indicated a willingness to contest the June 1927 general election as a Sinn Fein candidate but withdrew after the IRA threatened to court-martial any member under IRA General Army Order 28, which forbade its members from standing in elections.

Tom Maguire subsequently drifted out of the IRA and became vice-president of Sinn Fein from 1931 to 1933 during the presidency of Brian O'Higgins.

When challenged on this, Tom Maguire claimed that, as the IRA "were no longer the same as they used to be", he disagreed with the organisation.

In December 1938, Tom Maguire was one of a group of seven people, who had been elected to the Second Dail in 1921, who met with the IRA Army Council under Sean Russell.

Tom Maguire's support meant that the Provisional Army Council could claim to being the legitimate government of Ireland and the caretaker of true Irish Republicanism.

Tom Maguire signed a statement which was issued posthumously in 1996.