Military Service Pension Collection – applications from members of Moygownagh Company IRA, Co, Mayo

The aim of the State centenary commemoration programme for the years from 2021 – 2023 is to ensure that this complex period in our history, including the Struggle for Independence, the Civil War, the Foundation of the State and Partition, is remembered appropriately, proportionately, respectfully and with sensitivity. A specific key objective of the initiative is to promote a deeper understanding of the significant events that took place during this period and recognise that the shared historical experience of those years gave rise to very different narratives and memories. Under that guidance, as part of the decade of centenaries commemoration, St. Cormac’s Society have published transcripts from the Military Service Pension Collection, from claims of IRA volunteers, of a local Company in North Mayo.

Military Service Pension Collection – applications from IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY members of Moygownagh ‘C’ Company, Co, Mayo, 1917-23.

We have compiled the transcribed extracts from files of correspondence relating to the members of Moygownagh ‘C’ Company, IRA, of the 3rd Battalion (Ballycastle), 2nd Brigade (North Mayo) - 4th Western Division, 1916-23, who applied for Military Service Pensions / Service Certificates / Service Medals - as released by the Military Archives (Dublin), up to the tenth release (May 2021).

These files contain details of the activities of the IRA volunteers of Moygownagh ‘C’ company, from the Irish War of Independence to the Civil War, in their later attempts to claim Military Service Pensions, Special Allowances or Service Medals - based on their service records. Read the words of these veterans, with those of their comrades and of the replying civil officials - within an understanding of their context and compilation - as they shed light on the heretofore undocumented experiences of the Volunteers of the local Irish Revolution.

Transcribed from the Military Service Pension Collection 1916-23 (July 2021). Published by St Cormac’s Society with the kind permission of Military Archives (Ireland), under the Mayo Decade of Centenaries Grant Scheme 2021, administered by Mayo County Council - Mayo County Library.

Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the

Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative.