Dinny Lacey was killed by Free State soldiers in Ballydavid in the Glen of Aherlow on this day in 1923.
Lacey strongly rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty and a Free State army report concluded that ‘Lacey was the toughest leader which [sic] could be found in any part of Ireland’.
Denis Lacey was born at Attybrick, Annacarty in 1890. he was a keen Gaelic league activist and joined the IRB as a teenager. After the 1916 Rising, he aided Sean Treacy and Dan Breen in the reorganisation of the Irish Volunteers in Tipperary and became a member of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the IRA. After Treacy’s death in October 1920, Lacey became OC (officer commanding) of the flying column formed by Treacy.
Lacey was described by Dan Breen as an absolute dreamer and idealist who would not countenance compromise. Lacey strongly rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty and persuaded many young men, sometimes using intimidation and pressure, into the anti-treaty ranks in Tipperary.
During the prologue to the civil war he led the notorious raid on Clonmel Barracks in February 1922 when 300 rifles, 200,000 rounds of ammunition, bombs, and 12 armoured cars were seized by the Republicans. Often demonstrating reckless bravery, Lacey’s no. 3 Brigade was referred to as ‘a little republic of its own.’ Free State forces were clearly mindful of Lacey’s reputation as a fighting man and a National Army report concluded that he ‘was the toughest leader which [sic] could be found in any part of Ireland.’
Lacey was shot dead while on the run on 18 February 1923 in the Glen of Aherlow. He was buried at St. Michael’s Cemetery in Tipperary Town.
Sources:
https://www.dib.ie/biography/lacey-denis-dinny-a4628
County Tipperary 1921-1923 – a history in 60 documents, Denis G. Marnane and Mary Guinan Darmody, p30
