Nearly a Che Guevera style to this poster of the rebel hero Sean South from Garryowen in the heart of Limerick City.
Origins : Limerick. Dimensions : 54cm x 42cm Glazed
Sean South (
c. 1928 – 1 January 1957)
was a member of an
IRA military column led by
Sean Garland on a raid against a
Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in
Brookeborough,
County Fermanagh,
Northern Ireland, on
New Year's Day 1957.
South, along with
Fergal O'Hanlon, died of wounds sustained during the raid.
Early life
Seán South was born in
Limerick where he was educated at Sexton Street
Christian Brothers School, later working as a clerk in a local wood-importing company called McMahon's. He was a member of a number of organisations, including
Clann na Poblachta,
Sinn Féin, the
Gaelic League and the
Legion of Mary. In Limerick he founded the local branch of
Maria Duce, a social
Roman Catholic organisation, where he also edited both
An Gath and
An Giolla.
He had received military training as a lieutenant of the Irish
army reserve, the Local Defence Force (LDF), which would later become
An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (the FCA), before he became a volunteer in the
Irish Republican Army.
Being a member of An Réalt (the Irish-speaking chapter of the Legion of Mary),
South was a devout Catholic and a conservative, even by the standards of the day.
It was at a meeting of An Réalt that he met his only serious girlfriend, Máire de Paor. She was a schoolteacher from Limerick, and was a great lover of the Irish language.
He was also a member of the
Knights of Columbanus.
In 1949, South wrote a series of letters to his local newspaper, the
Limerick Leader. These letters condemned
Hollywood films for what South regarded as their immoral messages. South accused these films of promoting a "stream of insidious propaganda which proceeds from
Judeo-Masonic controlled sources, and which warps and corrupts the minds of our youth."
South also claimed that the American film industry was controlled by "Jewish and Masonic executives dictating to
Communist rank and file."
In his letters, South also denounced Irish
trade unions, and praised the activities of Senator
Joseph McCarthy in the United States.
Death
On New Year's Day 1957, 14 IRA volunteers crossed the border into
County Fermanaghto launch an attack on a joint
RUC/
B Specials barracks in
Brookeborough. During the attack a number of volunteers were injured, two fatally. South and
Fergal O'Hanlon died of their wounds as they were making their escape. Their bodies were brought into an old sandstone barn by their comrades. The stone from the barn was used to build a memorial at the site.
A young Catholic constable, John Scalley, was killed in the ensuing gun battle between the IRA unit and the RUC.
Commemoration
The attack on the barracks inspired two popular rebel songs: ‘Seán South of Garryowen' and ‘The Patriot Game '.