Was Michael Collins a British Agent?

[scolairebocht]

View: https://x.com/erskinechilders/status/2091523548648993193?s=20


Erskine Childers, the grandson and great grandson of famous people of the same name, drawing apparently on family lore and on his own research in the National Archives in Kew Gardens in London, has hinted in a number of recent tweets, that, although not in so many words, he thinks Michael Collins was in some sense a British agent.

In particular he has highlighted the role of John Chartres, the mystery man of the Treaty negotiations, who apparently was in close contact with Collins throughout the war of independence, while being a short time earlier, or simultaneously, an important figure in the general munitions and labour part of the British war effort.

In any case to start such a debate, for the prosecution as it were, I thought I would throw out the following points:

a) He and his family were particularly friendly with the RIC in West Cork, not a crime of itself but somehow left out of most (?all) of his biographies.(i)

b) When in London in 1913 he became ‘intimate’ with Moya Llewelyn Davies, one of Lloyd George’s personal secretaries. She and he are together then after that throughout 1919, 20, 21 and she described herself as a spy and a close adviser of Collins. Collins was also a good friend all this time with her husband Compton who “had been largely instrumental in getting Lloyd George into Parliament.”(ii)

c) A fellow Cabinet Minister of Collins, Sceilg, pretty much accuses him of being a British agent. Sceilg, who’s real name was John J. O’Kelly, was quite a learned intelligent figure as you can read in his biography by Brian P. Murphy, The ‘Catholic Bulletin’ and Republican Ireland with Special Reference to J.J.O’Kelly (Sceilg) (2005) passim.(iii)

d) We are told that he had many meetings and was well in with Alfred Cope from the date of Cope’s arrival in Ireland, and specifically Richard Walsh says pre August 1920. Bear in mind that the war only really got going in the winter of that year (for example Tom Barry fires his first shot against the enemy on the 22nd Oct 1920) so Collins was closely involved with Lloyd George’s main man in Ireland from the very beginning of the intensive phase of the conflict.(iv) Incidentally Collins is often said to have been very close to Eamonn Duggan, who preceded him as Director of Intelligence, and Duggan - believe it or not! - has been described as a close friend of Cope’s throughout the conflict.(v)

e) Probably Collins’ closest political adviser was Tim Healy, who was advising him at least since early 1918, during the time he was on the run, and at the Treaty negotiations etc. Healy was accused by Sean MacBride of being the Castle’s biggest agent in Irish politics at that time.(vi)

f) A message was accidentally intercepted in August 1920 from a General in the ‘Imperial Intelligence Service’ writing to Collins.(vii)

g) Seamus Robinson TD, O/C of the 2nd Southern Division of the IRA and later a member of the Irish army’s Bureau of Military History, felt that ‘directions’ were given whereby exaggerated and ultimately positive publicity was ordered to shine on Collins during the war. The most likely explanation for this would have to be that Collins himself was an agent.(viii)

h) Instead of it being the case that the British military were baying for Collins’ blood at that time, and straining every sinew to lay hands on him, he even had a drink with a British captain at the time who well knew his identity.(ix)

i) Also his handling of IRA arms procurement,(x) unmasking of lesser spies,(xi) control of vital documents,(xii) and large operations like the French assassination attempt,(xiii) the Customs House and Stackumny railway attacks,(xiv) etc look a bit different in retrospect from the usual impression people have of Collins as “the man who won the war.”

So I’m a bit suspicious in any case!

 

[scolairebocht]

Footnotes
(The WS numbers are witness statements in the National Archives in Dublin, and this text is from Brian Nugent, In Defence of Conspiracy Theories (Corstown, 2008), p.76-78.)
i. Peter Folan WS 316.

ii. John J. O’Kelly (known as Sceilg) W.S. 384 p.66; Meda Ryan, Michael Collins and the women who spied for Ireland (Cork, 1996), p.21; Robert Barton WS 979 p.12; Pat Moylett WS 767 p.147; Peter Hart, Mick: The Real Michael Collins (Oxford, 2005), p.353.

iii. John J. O’Kelly W.S. 384 passim.

iv. Sceilg WS 384 p.60 et seq.; Richard Walsh WS 400 p.74; Lawrence Nugent WS 907 p.222-223.

v. James J O’Connor W.S. 1214 p.5 et seq. Even de Winter, the head of the British Secret Service in Dublin at the time, noted that
“many of Cope’s activities were centred in the person of E.J. Duggan, a solicitor whose office was situated close to the Castle gates.”
(Sir Ormonde de Winter, Winter’s Tale: An Autobiography (London, 1955), p.341).

vi. Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland (New York, 2002), p.390 et seq. quoting Sean MacBride’s interview in the Irish Press 16 and 18 October 1982; for the importance of Healy see e.g. Sean Moylan TD WS 505 p.2. and Richard Walsh TD WS 400 p.78.

vii. For a description of the message interception see Richard Walsh TD WS 400 p.74-76; and also Pat Moylett WS 767 p.51 who carried the message.

viii. Seamus Robinson TD, WS p.49.

ix. Sir William Darling, So it looks to me (London, 1952), p.212.

x. See e.g. the statement by Liam Mellows:
“He said he [Collins] was interfering with his job as Director of Purchases by buying arms across the water and paying more for them than he was. He was buying them, he said, not to use them but to prevent him (Liam) from getting them. This shocked me. ..”
(Peter Hart, Mick: The Real Michael Collins (Oxford, 2005), p.261 quoting Mrs Woods UCD P17a/150.)
Richard Walsh, who was in England for a time trying to procure arms for the Mayo Brigade, said that:
“there seemed to be nothing being attempted by G.H.Q. agents, and it could not have been for want of money”
(Richard Walsh TD from Balla Co.Mayo WS 400 p.131.)

xi. I think that the Quinlisk, Molloy and Jameson episodes are worth another look in that respect for which see Richard Walsh WS 400 and Peter Hart, Mick: The Real Michael Collins (Oxford, 2005), p.237.

xii. De Winter describes in his memoirs the huge haul of documents that they recovered. His department compiled ‘epitomes’ of the most vital information in the documents and for the period Oct 1920-July 1921 they compiled 1,200 such epitomes, some over 200 pages long. He himself noted that
“It was fortunate that the Irish had an irresistible habit of keeping documents.”
(Sir Ormonde de Winter, Winter’s Tale: An Autobiography (London, 1955), p.303-304.)

xiii. This was described by Seamus Robinson who, along with some others based in Tipperary, used to assist in Dublin operations. He wasn’t impressed with Collins’ role at all:
“The first time I found Mick Collins to be a bit of an artful dodger, was when he arranged the first, the “phoney” attack on French.”
(Seamus Robinson TD WS p.47-50).

xiv. Both being large operations that went suspiciously wrong. For Stackumny see Matthew Barry WS 932 where Collins’ military advise is found to be a bit perplexing in retrospect.

 

[Myles O'Reilly]

Nothing like a people trying to tarnish the name of one of their Country's greats.

We truly have fallen.