Josephine Marchment

Josephine McCoy was the youngest of ten children of Bridget McCoy (née O'Sullivan), from Bonane, County Kerry, and Henry James McCoy, a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) officer from Pallaskenry, County Limerick.{{cite book | title = Ambush at Central Park: When the IRA Came to New York | publisher = Fordham University Press | first = Mark | last = Bulik | date = 2023| page = 79 | doi = 10.2307/j.ctv35bfdvv.12 | jstor = j.ctv35bfdvv.12 | quote = born Mary Josephine McCoy on September 10, 1891, in Adare, County Limerick, the youngest of Henry and Bridget McCoy’s six surviving children }} Born in County Limerick,{{efn|name=fn1}} she was raised in Cork city.{{citation |url = https://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/en/online/exhibitions-online/no_longer_forgotten_cork_women_of_the_revolution.pdf | publisher = Cork City Libraries | work = Cork City Online Exhibitions | title = No Longer Forgotten: Cork Women of the Revolution | page = 6 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20230525225403/https://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/en/online/exhibitions-online/no_longer_forgotten_cork_women_of_the_revolution.pdf | archivedate = 25 May 2023}}

She moved to Wales in 1910, and married her first husband, Coleridge Marchment (alias Brown), in 1913.{{cite web|url = https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/0420/1026179-the-story-of-josephine-mccoy-the-ira-spy-in-the-british-barracks/ | via = rte.ie | first = John | last = Borgonovo | title = The story of Josephine McCoy, the IRA spy in the British barracks | date = 20 April 2022 | accessdate = 15 February 2025 }} She gave birth to their son Reggie in 1913, with a second son, Gerald, arriving in 1915. She returned to Ireland, possibly to Ballinlough in Cork, to "look after her recently widowed father" and obtained a clerical job in Victoria Barracks.{{cite web|url = https://www.echolive.ie/corklives/arid-40159770.html | website = The Echo | first = John | last = Dolan | title = TV show adoption plot has Cork roots | date = 19 January 2019 | accessdate = 15 February 2025 }} Her father died in 1917 and shortly afterwards her husband was killed, during the First World War, at Ypres.{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/life/the-mother-who-turned-ira-spy-to-save-her-son/28905265.html | work = Irish Independent | title = The mother who turned IRA spy to save her son | date = 25 November 2012 | first = Ailin | last = Quinlan }}

While she had brought her youngest son with her to Ireland, her parents-in-law refused requests to return her eldest son to her.{{cite web|url = https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40839767.html | website = Irish Examiner | title = Josephine O’Donoghue | date = 29 March 2022 | accessdate = 16 February 2025 }} Obliged to sue for custody, she "lost out in the English courts". In an operation, reportedly approved by Michael Collins, (and in return for passing on intelligence from the barracks) members of the Cork IRA kidnapped the boy in Wales and brought him back to Cork. Florence O'Donoghue, an IRA intelligence officer, was involved in this operation, which took place in late 1920. She married O'Donoghue in 1921.

Josephine Marchment worked as a typist in Victoria (latterly Collins) Barracks in Cork. She was later promoted to the head of civilian clerks and typists in the barracks and managed a staff of 25. With access to materials from the office of the British Army commander in Cork, General Peter Strickland,{{cite web|url = https://www.theirishwar.com/a-review-of-gerard-murphys-the-year-of-disappearances-niall-meehan-17th-november-2010/ | work = theirishwar.com | title = A review of Gerard Murphy’s The Year of Disappearances | first = Niall | last = Meehan | date = 17 November 2010 | accessdate = 16 February 2025 }} she became one of O'Donoghue's most important intelligence agents. Josephine Marchment Brown took the codename 'G', reputedly after her younger son.{{fact|date=February 2025}}

Among the documents intercepted at the barracks was a letter from George Bernard O'Connor (of Rochestown) which reportedly included information on the movements of IRA members in the area.{{cite web|url = https://www.ucc.ie/en/theirishrevolution/collections/cork-fatality-register/register-index/1921-324/ | publisher = University College Cork | website = ucc.ie | title = The Irish Revolution Collection - Cork Fatality Register - Civilian Major George Bernard O'Connor, J.P. | quote = O'Connor, apparently wrote to [..] the British Army's 6th Division intelligence officer in Victoria Barracks, Cork, revealing that prominent IRA fugitives were passing through the outskirts of Cork city each night [..] This document was intercepted by Josephine Marchment Brown [..] This evidence ultimately sealed O'Connor's fate }} This letter, considered by Florence O'Donoghue to be "clear cut [evidence] of informing", resulted in O'Connor being shot dead by the IRA. Some sources, heavily disputed by others,{{cite web|url = https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/yourview/arid-30994886.html | work = Irish Examiner | first = John | last = Borgonovo | title = Letters to the Editor: No wide-scale killings of civilians by Cork City IRA | date = 20 April 2020 | accessdate = 16 February 2025 }} have "speculated that her espionage may have led to the deaths of some of her neighbours".

While other civilians, suspected of leaking information, were dismissed from their roles at Victoria Barracks, Josephine Marchment Brown continued to work at the barracks until the truce in July 1921.

Josephine and second her husband, Florence O'Donoghue, lived at Loughlene, Eglantine Park off the Douglas Road in Cork, with their two sons and two daughters, and her two sons from her first marriage.

In her Military Service Pension application, submitted in the name Josephine O'Donoghue in 1939, she lists Seán O'Hegarty and Terence MacSwiney as the "officers commanding" of the IRA unit (Cork No. 1 Brigade) she worked with.{{citation | first = Josephine | last = O'Donoghue | title = MSP34REF55794 - Military Service Pension Application | date = 1939 | via = militaryarchives.ie |url = http://mspcsearch.militaryarchives.ie/docs/files//PDF_Pensions/R5/MSP34REF55794%20Josephine%20O'Donoghue/MSP34REF55794%20Josephine%20O'Donoghue.pdf }} The application included references from O'Hegarty, Liam Tobin, Joseph O'Connor and Tom Barry.

She died in 1966. Her husband Florence, who had remained neutral during the Irish Civil War, died in December 1967 at the Mercy Hospital, Cork.

A play, written by Gerry White and titled The Soldier and the Spy, is based on the life of Josephine Marchment and Florence O'Donoghue.{{cite web|url = https://www.purecork.ie/whats-on/11165022/the-soldier-and-the-spy-the-story-of-florence-odonoghue-and-josephine-marchmen | website = purecork.ie | title = The Soldier and The Spy: The Story Of Florence O'Donoghue and Josephine Marchment | date = March 2024 | accessdate = 16 February 2025 }} A plotline in the RTÉ mini-series Resistance is also partly based on Marchment's life. In a 2012 TG4 docu-series, Am an Ghátair,{{cite web|url = https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2012/1107/441353-amangathair/ | website = rte.ie | title = War of Independence series for TG4 | date = 7 November 2012 | accessdate = 16 February 2025 }} Marchment is played by Elva Trill.{{Cite av media | date = 22 November 2021 |time=7:00 |title=Elva Trill - Interview with the Irish actor and singer at The Ten Bells Pub, Spitalfields |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaQz84NPxzU&t=7m |access-date=15 February 2025 | work = London beyond time and place |via = YouTube }}

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{{efn|name=fn1|While some sources suggest she was born in Kerry, other sources (including the 1901 census record for the McCoy family){{sfn|1901 Census}} list Limerick as the place of birth of Mary Josephine McCoy }}

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• {{cite book | first1 = Dan | last1 = Harvey | first2 = Gerry | last2 = White | title = The Barracks: A History of Victoria/Collins Barracks, Cork | date = 1997 | isbn = 9781856351942 | pages = 80, 81}}
• {{cite book | editor-first = John | editor-last = Borgonovo | title = Florence and Josephine O'Donoghue's War of Independence: A Destiny That Shapes Our Ends | date = 2006 | isbn = 9780716533719 }}
• {{cite web|url = https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-census/census-record/?census_year=1901&surname__icontains=mccoy&county=Cork&id=5816512 | title = 1901 Census Record - McCoy, Mary Josephine - 11 Copley Place, Copley Street, Cork Urban No. 5 | via = nationalarchives.ie | ref = {{harvid|1901 Census}} }}

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Category:1966 deaths

Category:Spies during the Irish War of Independence

Category:Women in war in Ireland

Category:Women in war 1900–1945

Category:Female wartime spies