Jailbreak: Great Irish Republican Escapes, 1865–1983

Description

The IRA’s spectacular 1983 breakout from the Maze Prison was the biggest jailbreak in UK penal history. It was the culmination of a long and valiant tradition of escape bids by Irish republican prisoners, who saw it as their moral duty to escape, attempting to do so in increasingly daring and audacious ways.

Spanning the period 1865–1983, this collection features escapes on land, air and sea, including bomb blasts, tunnel escapes, mass breakouts and helicopter airlifts. Jailbreak is a fascinating chronicle, with each chapter featuring a history altering jailbreak, such as Éamon de Valera’s cunning rescue from Lincoln Jail in 1919, the ‘Greatest Escape’ of 112 anti -Treaty prisoners from Newbridge Barracks in 1922 and the epic helicopter airlift of IRA leaders from Mountjoy Prison in 1973.

In this hugely entertaining book, James Durney deftly records twenty-three action-packed factual accounts of daring rescues, incredible escape bids and jailbreaks that raised the morale of nationalist Ireland and defied the might of empires and governments.

CONTENTS
1. Politics and Ideals
2. Conspirators
3. Infamy
4. 1873–1917 Constitution
5. Members
6. Supreme Council
7. Infiltration
8. Principals: Hobson, Clarke, MacDermott
9. Guns and Plans
10. Disorganisation
11. Rising
12. Post Mortem
13. Reorganisation
14. Collins Emerges
15. Elections
16. 1917–22 Constitution
17. The Candidate
18. GHQ
19. 1918 Election
20. Killing
21. Relationships
22. Brugha
23. Truce
24. Talking
25. Three Days in December
26. Divides
27. 1922 Constitution
28. Civil War
29. 1923 Constitution
30. Mutiny
31. ‘That’s That’

Appendix I. Interviews
Appendix II. IRB Constitution 1869–73
Appendix III. 1894: Rules and Regulations
Appendix IV. IRB Constitution 1873–1917
Appendix V. IRB Constitution 1917–22
Appendix VI. IRB Constitution Amendments 1919–21
Appendix VII. IRB Constitution 1922
Appendix VIII. IRB Constitution 1923
Appendix IX. IRB Supreme Council Circular March 1921
Appendix X. Michael Collins’ Note of the March 1922 IRB Meeting with County Centres and Supreme Council Members on ‘The Post-Treaty Situation’
Appendix XI. IRB Supreme Council Members 1907–22
Appendix XII. IRB Members in Senior Positions 1916–22
Appendix XIII. IRB Participation in the 1916 Rising

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Durney is an award-winning author of over twenty books on Irish national and local history. He works at Kildare County Archives and Local Studies.