Draft:Thomas D. Huckerby
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Thomas D. Huckerby | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Darrell Huckerby 5 January, 1901 |
| Died | 12 October, 1921 (aged 20) |
| Cause of death | Jaundice |
| Other names |
|
| Years active | July – December 1920 |
| Parents |
|
| Allegiance | Royal Irish Constabulary |
| Details | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Location(s) | County Limerick |
| Killed | 2–5 |
| Injured | 1~ |
| Weapon | Webley RIC Revolver |
Thomas Darrell Huckerby (5 January 1901 – 12 October 1921) was a RIC auxiliary constable, who is responsible for the killing of two to five Irish civilians during a five-month period in 1920 in County Limerick during the Irish War of Independence.
Personal Life[edit]
On 5 January 1901 Thomas Darrell Huckerby was born in Kingstown, Saint Vincent which was then a part of the British West Indies. Huckerby was the second of twelve children born to Thomas and Mildred Huckerby.[1][2]
Thomas Huckerby was born in July 1869 in Burton upon Trent he was the son of Francis and Mary Huckerby, and was a Wesleyan minister becoming one in 1894, who went to St. Vincent on a missionary. Huckerby was also an amateur archaeologist and anthropologist who studied several sites on St. Vincent, and collected several artifacts which are now displayed at the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City, he also document and studied several petroglyphs in St Vincent.[3][4] On 11 November 1927 he would die at 58 years of age in Kingstown, St. Vincent.[1][5]
Mildred Mary Horne (Darrell) Huckerby was born on 24 January 1879, in Kingstown,. She was the daughter of Rev. James Horne Darrell, chairman of the St. Vincent district and Rebecca Mary (Lightbourne) Darrell.[6] On 29 June 1977 she would die at 98 year of age in Half Way Tree, Jamaica.[6][7]
Sometime after Huckerby was born his family moved to St. George's, Grenada. In 1915 Huckerby would enlist in the British West Indian Volunteer Force.[2] On 29 September 1918, they would move to Dawley in the United Kingdom. Not long after they moved to the UK he would add his mothers maiden name, Darrell, to his name. About a month later he would enlist in the Royal Naval Reserve, and would leave in March 1919; on 2 September 1919 he would enlist in the Royal Air Force, but on 13 December, he would be honorably discharged due him being physically unfit. Huckerby would join the Royal Irish Constabulary on 30 April 1920.[1][6]
On 12 October 1921, at 20-years-old Thomas Darrell Huckerby would pass away from jaundice, in London.[1]
Irish War of Independence[edit]
On 7 July 1920, Huckerby would first be posted in Foynes, in County Limerick, during the first month of his deployment he shot a man named Reidy in the leg in Shanagolden.[1][8]
John Hynes shooting[edit]
On 25 August 1920, Huckerby and another constable William Hall were at a dispensary in Shanagolden, when were approached by eight armed IRA volunteers led by Timothy Madigan, and they demanded the two constables to give them their weapons, but upon finding out the two constables were unarmed, they were stripped of their uniforms which were burnt, and told to go back to barracks in Foynes. Later that night two Black and Tan lorries, came back to the village, and the Black and Tans including Huckerby burnt down several buildings, including the creamery, they had also forced a group of men playing cards to strip and walk home similarly to how Huckerby and Hall were.[1]
In the early morning of 26 August, a constable shot and killed a elderly man John Hynes (60) in a field, who was walking home from a pub. The constables all claimed Huckerby was the one who shot and killed Hynes, and this caused him to be reposted to Abbeyfeale.[1][2]
Abbeyfeale Murders[edit]
In the days after the killing of Hynes, IRA commander Sean Finn would pass an order for Huckerby to be killed, marking him for the death, for the killing of Hynes.[2] On 19 September 1920, Finn would order his brigade to ambush a RIC patrol that Huckerby was routinely apart of, that night 50 men led by Sean Finn waited at a cross-roads near Mountmahon, and as they were waiting for Finn's order to shoot, one of them accidently broke a tree branch one of the constables John O'Mahony crossed over to investigate and was shot dead by the company's captain. The nine other constables then successfully fled to a nearby church. They later learned Huckerby was not in the patrol that night.[1][2][8]
On the night of 19/20 September Black and Tans burnt down several buildings in Abbeyfeale in reprisal for the ambush.[8][9]
Later on 20 September two friends, Patrick 'Pat' Hartnett (24), postman who was just leaving home and Jeremiah Healy (18), a blacksmith's apprentice who just left his place of enployment, who worked their and were walking along Killarney Road in Abbeyfeale, as earlier Hartnett had found a dead horse that had been shot, and wanted to show Healy, Huckerby watched the two men from the barracks doors and then began to follow them for a short distance out of town he stopped the two and took them to a field and around 7 pm shot Hartnett and Healy in the head and left their bodies in a field just outside of Abbeyfeale. Huckerby was then transferred to Limerick a few hours later, because of this.[1][2][10][11][12]
Grange Cross shootings[edit]
On 24 July 1920, the IRA led by William Barrett ambushed three RIC constables on Henry Street in Limerick, constable William and Albert Jones were injured, but constable Walter Oakley died from this injuries on August 2. On 17 August, two ex-servicemen James O'Neill and Patrick Blake were arrested for Oakley's murder.[13]
On 19 November 1920, at their trial that was held in Dublin, James and Patrick were court martialed for Oakley's murder, when they found no evidence linking the three men to the IRA, after the trial concluded, Patrick and his brother Michael got a taxi and James got on a bus. While they were at a junction the three noticed a yellow car was following them, and a little while later they were stopped at a roadblock at the Pallasgreen RIC barracks but were allowed to continue shortly after, Patrick who was in the passenger seat of the taxi decided to switch places with who was in the back Michael, because he was felling cold. As they were approaching Grange Cross, they were stopped by two cars including the same yellow car. Two constables then approached the taxi and fired into the passenger seat killing Michael, a number of other constables then got onto the bus and forced James off, they took him to a nearby railway bridge and tied a scarf around his eyes and shot him several times.[13][14] Huckerby was moved to Cork after this.[8]
Over a month after the Grange Cross shootings on 26 December 1920, Huckerby would resign from the RIC, due to pending disciplinary charges and would move into a police hostel in London.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Thomas DS Huckerby". theauxiliaries.com. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ a b c d e f "'A Fiend in Human Shape'? The Life and Crimes of Thomas D. Huckerby – The Irish Story". Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ Huckerby, Thomas (1914). Petroglyphs of Saint Vincent, British West Indies (6th ed.). National Museum of the American Indian. p. 32.
- ^ "Thomas Huckerby (1869 – 1927)". Family Search. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Thomas Huckerby". www.wikitree.com. 1869. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ a b c "Mildred (Darrell) Huckerby (1879-)". www.wikitree.com. 24 January 1879. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Mildred Mary Darrell". Family Search. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ a b c d Collins, James J. (1955-10-05). "Bureau of Military History, 1913-21" (PDF). Military Archives. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Maurice J. Wolfe (1884-1973)". Brendan Wolfe. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ Designs, Avalanche. "Abbeyfeale History | Welcome to AbbeyFeale". Abbeyfeale.ie. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Abbeyfeale murders - 19 Sep 1920". theauxiliaries.com. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Planning underway for commemoration of murdered Abbeyfeale men". Irish Independent. 2020-03-07. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ a b O'Regan, Donal (2020-12-20). "Commemoration of two innocent Limerick men murdered by Black and Tans in Boher". www.limerickleader.ie. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Murders and reprisals. (Hansard, 1 December 1920)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2024-06-07.