Ernie O'Malley (1897-1957) was born in Castlebar , County Mayo , Ireland . He is best known as a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army during the Anglo-Irish War and took the anti- Treaty side in the Irish Civil War . He wrote two books, On Another Man's Wound and The Singing Flame . The first describes O'Malley's role in the Anglo-Irish War and his life previous to it. The second covers the civil war. The literary quality of these books and O'Malley's bohemian career after the political conflicts distinguish him from other IRA men who also penned memoirs of the times.

Black and Tan War
After the rising, O'Malley became deeply involved in Irish republican separatist activism, a fact he had to hide from his family, who had close ties to the establishment. A brother was a British officer.

He left his studies and worked as a full-time organiser for the IRA from 1918 on, work that brought him to almost every corner of Ireland. On one occasion he attended a semi-public meeting of the Ulster Volunteer Force in County Tyrone for intelligence purposes, and lamented that such able men were opposed to his ideals.

The itinerant nature of O'Malley's work, although he was officially attached to IRA GHQ, involved him in IRA operations throughout the country once the Anglo-Irish War got under way. In February 1920, he and Eoin O'Duffy led an IRA attack on the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Ballytrain, County Monaghan, and were successful in taking it over. This was the first capture of an RIC barracks in the war.

In September, he and Liam Lynch led the 2nd County Cork Brigade in the only capture of a British army barracks in the conflict, in Mallow . They left with a haul of rifles, two Hotchkiss machine-guns and ammunition. The officers and soldiers later sacked the town, burning the town hall and the creamery, and ironically were only brought under control by members of the Auxiliary Division .

He was captured by the British in Kilkenny in December, 1920, in possession of a handgun. Much to his disgust, he had failed to destroy his notes, which contained the names of all the members of the 7th West Kilkenny Brigade, all of whom were subsequently arrested.

Having undergone several beatings in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, and in severe danger of execution, he escaped two months later, through the aid of a sympathetic prison officer. O'Malley then became a senior staff officer in command of the IRA's Second Southern Division in Munster , attached to units in County Tipperary .

His writings describe the often-vicious guerilla warfare fought in the martial law area in the south of Ireland. On several occasions, O'Malley ordered the killing of captured British soldiers in reprisal for Army killings of IRA prisoners. In all his field activities he displayed substantial courage and was wounded several times.

Civil War
O'Malley objected to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that formally ended the War of Independence, as he opposed any settlement that fell short of an independent Irish Republic, particularly one backed up by British threats of restarting hostilities. He was one of the anti-Treaty IRA officers who occupied the Four Courts in Dublin, an event that helped to spark the Irish Civil War , and held the position of assistant chief of staff in the anti-treaty forces there.

O'Malley surrendered to the Free State forces after two day's bombardment of the Four Courts but escaped captivity and travelled via the Wicklow Mountains to Blessington then county Wexford and finally County Carlow . This was probably fortunate for him, as four of the other Four Courts leaders were later executed . Thereafter, he was appointed commander of the anti-Treaty forces in the provinces of Ulster and Leinster , and lived a clandestine existence in Dublin.

In October, 1922, he went to Dundalk and met with Frank Aiken commander of Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army and Dr. Padraig Quinn (quartermaster general) to review plans for another attack on the Dundalk to free IRA soldiers from the Dundalk jail. While Aiken's men did manage to free the prisoners, they were unable to hold Dundalk and dispersed after the operation was over. This type of incident is reflective of O'Malley's frustration at the defensive strategy of Liam Lynch , chief of staff of the anti-treaty forces, which allowed the "Free Staters" ( Irish Free State army) to build up their strength in preparation for a gradual take-over of areas of the country dominated by the Irregulars . O'Malley expressed the view in his memoir, "The Singing Flame", that the Anti-Treaty side needed to fight conventional warfare, as opposed to guerrilla warfare, if they were to win the civil war.

He was captured again, this time for good, after a shoot-out with Free State troops in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin city on 4 November 1922 . O'Malley was severely wounded in the incident, being hit over twenty times (three bullets remained lodged in his back for the remainder of his life). A Free State soldier was also killed in the incident.

Only the actions of the surgeon who attended to O'Malley, who overstated the seriousness of the prisoner's wounds, prevented O'Malley from being executed by the Free State -whose policy by that time was to execute Anti-Treaty fighters captured in possession of weapons. It may also have been too much of a risk on the part of the Irish Free State to put to death an undisputed hero of the recent struggle against the British, although O'Malley feared that he was often only hours from execution.

In 1928, he toured the USA on behalf of Éamon de Valera raising funds for the establishment of the new Irish Republican newspaper the Irish Press . He was later granted a pension by the Fianna Fáil government as a combatant in the Irish War of Independence.

O'Malley was fundamentally a revolutionary gunman who led by example. His political ideas were somewhat vague, apart from an absolute commitment to full Irish independence. He largely eschewed politics after the civil war, describing himself as "a soldier" who "had fought and killed the enemies of my nation".

Sighle Humphreys was born in Limerick in 1899. The family background was uncompromisingly nationalist. Sighle's two brothers, Emmet and Dick both attending Pearse's school, St Enda's , and Dick served in the GPO with his uncle in 1916. They took the anti-Treaty position and the family home at 36 Ailesbury Road was the object of regular raids by government forces, the most significant involving the wounding and arrest of Ernie O'Malley in November 1922.

Sighle own political involvement was centred on Cumann na mBan of which she was variously secretary, director of publicity and national vice-president. She maintained her republican convictions throughout her life, continuing her involvement with Cumann na mBan, contributing significantly to republican causes throughout the 1930s, and supporting political prisoners' rights organisations until her death.