Search for Kilcullen connections of 1922 executed man

Mario Corrigan, the Curragh prison 1922, and six of the seven executed.

When seven young men were executed in the Curragh Camp in December 1922, one of them had Kilcullen connections, writes Brian Byrne.

Mario Corrigan of the Kildare Decade of Commemorations is seeking a photograph or any other information on a Patrick Bagnell or Bagnall who was one of the seven. 

They were among a group of ten men arrested on 13 December 1922 by the Free State troops who were stationed at the Curragh, and were shot dead six days later. It was the biggest single execution of the Civil War.

Patrick was 19 at the time, with an address at Fair Green, Kildare. According to research carried out by Mario Corrigan, the young man’s grandparents Patrick Bagnell and Ellen Molloy or Mulloy lived in Kilcullen, and both died here. Their son, also Patrick, married a Mary Dunne (nee Coleman) from Kildare and they lived in Kildare.

The other men executed were Stephen White (18) Abbey St, Kildare; Joseph Johnston (18) Station Rd, Kildare; Patrick Mangan (22), Fair Green, Kildare; Patrick Nolan (34), Rathbride, Kildare; Brian Moore (37), Rathbride, Kildare (Leader of the column); and James O’Connor (24), Bansha, Co Tipperary. There are photos in existence of these six, but none of Patrick. Mario Corrigan is hoping that maybe something like a memoriam card may have been kept by members of his family. 

Another reason for Mario’s search is that there will be a number of commemoration events related to the executions and it would be nice to have some members of the families along to them. 

More information on the background to the executions is available here. Mario can be contacted at mariocorrigan@gmail.com.

(EDITOR NOTE: Before I’m inundated with emails, I HAVE checked with Julie O'Donoghue in the Library, and these Bagnells are not related to her family.)

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