Individual Details
John (Seán) J. TREACY
(14 Feb 1895 - 14 Oct 1920)
Sponsors at Seán's baptism were Michael Allis and Kate Allis. He was an only child. After his father died when he was only four, he and his mother moved from Soloheadbeg to Hollyford where his mother had grown up. They returned to Soloheadbeg when Seán was about 11. From an early age, Seán had nationalist leanings, and in his teens he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood which later evolved into the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
From 'My Fight for Irish Freedom', the memoir of Dan Breen, an IRA comrade of Seán's and later a politician, we have the following description of Seán's physical appearance: "He had been delicate during his boyhood because of his fast rate of growth. He was almost a six-footer, slightly stooped in carriage. He weighed about twelve stone, and in an emergency manifested the strength of a lion; this was chiefly due to his amazing will-power. His movements were brisk, as if he were in a constant hurry. His hair was of very fine texture like spun-silk, almost mouse-coloured. He was short-sighted and wore glasses". And in an account of Seán's life that he provided to the Bureau of Military History in 1958, Dan writes at length about Seán's intellect, saying he "had never met anyone whose thinking powers were greater than Treacy's"; he describes Seán as "an inquisitive man" and as someone with "vision [to whom] nothing was impossible".
In August 1917, Seán was arrested and spent two months in jail. The following year he was rearrested and spent four months in jail. Then on 21 January 1919, along with other members of the IRA's Third Tipperary Brigade, including Dan Breen, Seán took part in the Soloheadbeg ambush in which three members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, who were escorting a transportation of explosives, were waylaid and shot dead. This was the first military incident of the War of Independence.
Seán and the others who took part in the ambush now had a price on their heads, and Seán Hogan, one of those involved, was captured shortly afterwards. In May 1919 at Knocklong railway station in Co. Limerick, in a successful attempt by Seán Treacy and others to free Seán Hogan as he was being transferred to jail, Seán Treacy was shot in the neck and seriously wounded. He recovered, and throughout the latter half of 1919 and most of 1920 he led attacks against the British in Dublin and Co. Tipperary. But on 14 October 1920 in Dublin, following a raid by British forces on the Republican Outfitters shop at 94 Talbot St., where Seán was meeting with IRA comrades, he was shot and killed on the street as he fled the shop. He was 25 years of age. A small plaque above the door of the shop marks the location of the Republican Outfitters. Seán is remembered each year on the anniversary of his death at a commemoration ceremony in Kilfeacle where he is buried.
I have read that at the time of his death Sean was engaged to a May Quigley, but I have no further information on May.
From 'My Fight for Irish Freedom', the memoir of Dan Breen, an IRA comrade of Seán's and later a politician, we have the following description of Seán's physical appearance: "He had been delicate during his boyhood because of his fast rate of growth. He was almost a six-footer, slightly stooped in carriage. He weighed about twelve stone, and in an emergency manifested the strength of a lion; this was chiefly due to his amazing will-power. His movements were brisk, as if he were in a constant hurry. His hair was of very fine texture like spun-silk, almost mouse-coloured. He was short-sighted and wore glasses". And in an account of Seán's life that he provided to the Bureau of Military History in 1958, Dan writes at length about Seán's intellect, saying he "had never met anyone whose thinking powers were greater than Treacy's"; he describes Seán as "an inquisitive man" and as someone with "vision [to whom] nothing was impossible".
In August 1917, Seán was arrested and spent two months in jail. The following year he was rearrested and spent four months in jail. Then on 21 January 1919, along with other members of the IRA's Third Tipperary Brigade, including Dan Breen, Seán took part in the Soloheadbeg ambush in which three members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, who were escorting a transportation of explosives, were waylaid and shot dead. This was the first military incident of the War of Independence.
Seán and the others who took part in the ambush now had a price on their heads, and Seán Hogan, one of those involved, was captured shortly afterwards. In May 1919 at Knocklong railway station in Co. Limerick, in a successful attempt by Seán Treacy and others to free Seán Hogan as he was being transferred to jail, Seán Treacy was shot in the neck and seriously wounded. He recovered, and throughout the latter half of 1919 and most of 1920 he led attacks against the British in Dublin and Co. Tipperary. But on 14 October 1920 in Dublin, following a raid by British forces on the Republican Outfitters shop at 94 Talbot St., where Seán was meeting with IRA comrades, he was shot and killed on the street as he fled the shop. He was 25 years of age. A small plaque above the door of the shop marks the location of the Republican Outfitters. Seán is remembered each year on the anniversary of his death at a commemoration ceremony in Kilfeacle where he is buried.
I have read that at the time of his death Sean was engaged to a May Quigley, but I have no further information on May.
Events
| Birth | 14 Feb 1895 | Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary | |||
| Christen | 16 Feb 1895 | Solohead, Co. Tipperary | |||
| Death | 14 Oct 1920 | Talbot St., Dublin | |||
| Burial | 18 Oct 1920 | Kilfeacle, Co. Tipperary |
Families
| Father | Denis TREACY (1832 - 1899) |
| Mother | Bridget ALLIS (1863 - 1941) |