ICA officer recalls Lockout

John Hanratty was an oven hand at Jacob’s biscuit factory and on the local union branch committee. He was an officer in the Irish Citizen Army and became Commandant during the Civil War. This brief Witness Statement conveys something of the atmosphere in the early days of the union, the Lockout and formation of the ICA.

Unfortunately, the narrow remit of the Bureau of Military History means that most of the space is taken up with the minutiae of the Easter Rising.

One intriguing figure who appears in Hanratty’s recollections and in many other Witness Statements is Robert de Coeur, ICA officer, union activist and founder of the Fintan Lawlor Pipe Band. Unfortunately he died before he could give his testament to the Bureau, or anyone else.

http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0096.pdf