Gen. Richard Mulcahy, Wikipedia Commons
Source: Library of Congress
No known restrictions on publication

Risteárd Ó Maolcatha/Richard Mulcahy (1886-1971). Born in Waterford, Mulcahy was one of eight children. As a young man he worked in the post office in Bantry and spent time learning Irish in Ballingeary, having been inspired to nationalism by Arthur Griffith’s United Irishmen. When in the village, he would stay at the home of Siobhán ‘An tSagairt’ Uí Chéilleachair, a local storyteller and Irish-speaker, and he referred to her home as his university. In later years he would make a point of visiting Ballingeary when in the area.

He was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League and later the Volunteers.

He was IRA Chief of Staff and a member of the first Dáil. He was pro-Treaty in the Civil War, siding with Michael Collins. He went on to hold numerous political positions in the new Free State from 1923.

Foinse/source: Dictionary of Irish Biography (Cambridge: CUP) [ar líne/online]: https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a6029&searchClicked=clicked&quickadvsearch=yes (ceadaithe/accessed 24/10/2020); P. Ó Caoimh, Richard Mulcahy: From the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace 1913-1924 (Dublin: IAP, 2019).

Follow