Thos Whelan + Patrick Moran? March 1921
Image by National Library of Ireland on The Commons
The catalogue detail for this entry notes this as "[Patrick Moran?] (left), holding pipe, and Thomas Whelan, shaking hands and smiling, with British officer in background. Patrick Moran and Thomas Whelan were executed 14th March 1921". This should provide most of what we want to know about this photo; but on this stream you never know what might be uncovered by our Photo Detectives!
And our Photo Detectives didn’t disappoint. Based on a similar image (which was sold at auction in 2014), we have been able to map this image to Mountjoy Prison, and have apparent confirmation that the uniformed man was an Auxillary RIC officer. The two condemned (but seemingly high-spirited) men are Thomas Whelan and Patrick Moran, who had been found guilty (in less than solid circumstances) of alleged participation in the events of Bloody Sunday. The men (two of the ‘forgotten ten‘) are likely pictured in the days before their execution on 14 March 1921.
[Futher update: DaithiDePaor advises that South Dublin Libraries hold materials identifying the guard as a man named Lester Collins]
Photographers: Various
Collection: Irish Political Figures Photographic Collection
Date: c.13 March 1921
NLI Ref: NPA POLF263
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
