The Burning of Clifden, St Patrick’s Day, 1921
On the morning of 14th March, 1921, thousands of people gathered in solemn prayer outside Mountjoy Prison in
Dublin as six IRA Volunteers were hanged within the walls. One of the men executed was twenty-three year old Thomas Whelan from Clifden, County Galway. The death of this man, despite appeals for clemency from many, including Monsignor McAlpine of Clifden and the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr. Gilmartin fell on deaf ears. Within a week, Clifden would be overwhelmed by violence writes Dominic Price in his Stories of the War of Independence
Throughout early March, Commandant Petie Joe McDonnell, O/C of the West Connemara Flying Column of the IRA had tried to carry out an ambush on RIC patrols from Clifden. The police had declined to oblige. Instead, McDonnell decided to attack the RIC in the town itself.