Thurles Information

“A Badly Wanted Man: The Story of Sean Hogan” by Tom Hurley.

Sean Hogan (1921)

There will no doubt be much interest generated in the Premier County and further afield in an upcoming four-part documentary due to be aired on Tipp Mid West Radio, which investigates the life of IRA freedom fighter Sean Hogan, a native of Stokaun, Greenane, situated just outside of Tipperary Town, in Co. Tipperary.

Sean Hogan first gained notoriety as a teenager from his role in the Soloheadbeg and Knocklong engagements of 1919. He went on to become one of the most wanted men in the British Empire for the duration of this Irish revolutionary period. Hogan together with Dan Breen, Sean Treacy and Seamus Robinson made up what was known as “The Big Four”, and participated in numerous other IRA engagements, which will be highlighted in this radio broadcast.

When the civil war ended in 1923 Sean Hogan did his best to re-adjust to some sort of normal life, but at times down through the years found this exceedingly difficult to achieve. Possible reasons for this are examined in detail in these broadcasts, along with a look at his time spent in America; jail; later family life; vices, and the circumstances behind his death in 1968.

The programmes, which chronicle his whole life, also reflect on the reasons behind his move to live to the Leinster area; querying why he never in later years provided a written account of his revolutionary activities, as did so many of his former comrades. These radio broadcasts will conclude with a look at his legacy and how he is regarded in his native county today.

His life story is investigated and revealed through incorporating material taken from newspaper accounts; parish records; census records, together with genealogical documentation and  interviews recorded in his native county and further afield.

Contributors to the programmes include his son Sean Hogan (Jnr); his grandson Treacy Hogan; historians John Connors (Borrisoleigh), Tom Toomey (Limerick) and Sean Hogan (Puckane). There are also interviews with Aileen Sweeney (a descendant of one of the RIC men killed at Soloheadbeg); Anne Power (Tipperary Town); Cormac O’Malley (son of Ernie O’Malley) and Micheál Martin (Cork).

Overall there is a lot of new information contained in these programmes and light is shed on the lasting effects that involvement in the independence struggle had on many of the leading participants.

The four-part documentary entitled “A Badly Wanted Man: The Story of Sean Hogan” by Tom Hurley will be aired at 11.05am on May 16th, 17th, 18th & 19th on Tipp Mid West Radio.

The programmes can also be heard on www.tippmidwestradio.com (Listen Live).

Sean Hogan

Borrisoleigh Historical Society: Delia Ryan reports.

Local man, John Connors of Rathmoy will be the guest speaker at the next series of history lectures presented by the Borrisoleigh Historical Society on Tuesday, December 2nd 2014, beginning at 8.00 pm in the Community Centre, Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary.

John has researched extensively on the life of Tipperary man, Sean Hogan, (13 May 1901 – 24 December 1968) who was rescued on May 12th 1919 from a train at Knocklong, by his more famous IRA comrades, Sean Treacy, Séamus Robinson, Séan Lynch, Dan Breen and four other men from the IRA East Limerick Brigade.

Some of these rescuers later relocated to Dublin and undertook a range of missions under the direction of the Dublin leadership. Some of these missions were in association with a unit known as ‘The Squad,’ originally nicknamed the “Twelve Apostles,” founded by Michael Collins to counter the British intelligence efforts during the Irish War of Independence, mainly by means of assassination.

Although not yet fully eighteen years of age, Sean Hogan was one of the most wanted men in the British Empire, following the Soloheadbeg attack on January 21st 1919, in which two RIC men were killed.

This daring and deadly rescue (two RIC escorts were shot dead there also) had its origins adjacent to Borrisoleigh parish, as Hogan had been captured at Meagher’s of Annfield, by RIC Sergeant Peter Wallace from Roskeen, in an early Monday morning raid.

While many may be aware of this famous and significant event, few will know about the life of the young man who entered the history books from the Soloheadbeg and Knocklong episodes. As well as bringing us a reprise of these more famous events, John Connors will fill the gap about the further periods of Hogan’s early life and his active IRA service in both Dublin and Tipperary, as well as what became of him after the troubled times, with his well-illustrated lecture.

The lecture will be introduced by Puckane historian Sean Hogan, latter author of the much acclaimed “The Black and Tans in North Tipperary – Policing, Revolution and War – 1913 -1922”.