My ancestors - O'Rahilly - Contents

Clyne

Cumann na mBan group at a commemorative march, possibly in 1940s.
Left to Right: Rosie Hackett, Maire Comerford, Elizabeth Bloxham, Bridie Clyne.
From Wikitree.
See other version from RTE.

Terence Clyne,
or Terrence.
He was a farmer, of Drumod More, S of village of Drumod (or Dromod), Annaduff par, Co.Leitrim (N of Roosky).
Lived beside Killinaker Bridge (over the Eslin River), S side of Drumod More. See map.
He mar Bridget Moran.
See the family listed in 1901 census at Drumod More.
See the family listed in 1911 census at Drumod More.
They had issue:

Bridie Clyne,
Brigid, Bridget, Bride.
She was born 5 July 1898, Drumod More. See birth cert from here.
Revolutionary in 1919-1926:
Bridie was involved in Cumann na mBan and republican activities in 1919-1926.
She was on the republican side in the Civil War 1922-1923.
She was with the republican garrison in the Four Courts when it was shelled by the Free State, June 1922.
See [McCoole, 2003, p.90,93].
See The Battle of the Four Courts, Michael Fewer, 2018.
In the Civil War she worked for the republican underground in Co.Dublin and Co.Wicklow.
She was said to have been in a car with De Valera when it was attacked in an assassination attempt.
She was arrested by the Free State in 1923 in a raid on Strand Rd, Sandymount, and jailed in Kilmainham Gaol. Probably also jailed in North Dublin Union.
She was in jail with Sighle Humphreys and Elgin Barry. She went on hunger strike in 1923.
At mar 1940 she is "journalist", living at what looks like "Cranford", Dundrum, Co.Dublin.
"William Sweetman" is listed at Cranford, Dundrum, on p.1586 of [Thom's, 1940].
Bridie mar 3 June 1940 to Niall O'Rahilly and had adopted issue.
She was age 41. He was age 33. NOT July.
They mar at Holycross RC church, Dundrum. See mar cert from here.

Plaque to Bridie Clyne, Roosky bridge (over the Shannon). See street view.
Image from Shannonside FM article, 31 Aug 2023.
Plaque unveiled in 2018. See Leitrim Observer, 2 Aug 2018.

Sources yet to be consulted

The Jangle Of The Keys, Margaret Buckley, 1938. (Republican women prisoners in 1922 and 1923.)
Sinead McCoole has an unpublished account by Bridie Clyne of her political activities in 1919-1926.

The novel Under an Irish Sky (2023) by Nicola Kearns.
- Article in The Argus, Dundalk, 22 July 2023, says this novel is inspired by the life of Nicola Kearns' female revolutionary relations. Also notes she made contact with Bridie Clyne's family and used her life as part inspiration for the novel.