Murder of Canon Magner and Tadgh Crowley

Monument at the site of the double shooting at Ballyhalwick, one mile east of Dunmanway.

The British Auxiliary forces responsible for the burning of Cork city, those of 'K' company, were moved to Dunmanway, in the west of the county, just days after their rampage of destruction. Under Colonel Latimer, they established their barracks at the workhouse in the town. This was just two weeks after the Kilmichael ambush, where a company of their colleagues were wiped out by Tom Barry's West Cork Flying Column.

The auxiliaries and also black and tans (who were based in the local RIC barracks) declared their intention of seeking revenge for the defeat at Kilmichael. At 11.30 on the morning of December 15th., 1920 a group of more than twenty Auxiliaries came into contact with Canon Thomas Magner, an elderly man in poor health, who was walking along the main road about a mile on the Cork side of the town. With him was one of his parishioners, twenty three years old Tadgh Crowley. As the commanding officer and the rest of the group looked on, an auxiliary named Hart drew his gun and shot the two men in cold blood. Their bodies were pushed into a drain at the side of the road. At a subsequent investigation, one of the reasons given for his murder was that he refused to have the parish church bells tolled after the deaths at Kilmichael, when ordered to do so by the British.

The brutal act provoked widespread outrage while highlighing the unsavoury actions of the so called 'cadets' of the auxiliary forces in Ireland. The incident was also probably one of the contributing factors towards the instigation of later peace negotiations.

Ironically, the deaths of Canon Magner and Tadgh Crowley more than likely saved the town of Dunmanway from severe reprisals from British forces in the aftermath of the Kilmichael ambush. The two victims were known locally for some time afterwards as 'The Saviours of Dunmanway'