Neil Plunkett Boyle
{{orphan|date=January 2025}}
{{Short description|Anti-Treaty IRA soldier (born 1898)}}{{Infobox military person
| name = Neil 'Plunkett' Boyle
| native_name = Niall 'Pluincéad' Ó Baoighill
| native_name_lang = ga
| image = Neil Plunkett Boyle.png
| birth_date = 1898
| death_date = {{Death date and age |1923|05|15|1898|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Lackenagh, County Donegal, Ireland
| death_place = Knocknadruce, County Wicklow, Irish Free State
| death_cause = Summary execution
| placeofburial = Kincasslagh graveyard
| nickname = Plunkett, Ned
| birth_name = Neil Boyle
| branch = {{ubl|Irish Republican Army {{small|(1919–1922)}}|Anti-Treaty IRA {{small|(1922–1923)}}}}
| branch_label = Paramilitaries
| rank = Commandant
| unit = {{ubl|B Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Scottish Brigade {{small|(1919–1922)}}|3rd Battalion, 2nd Dublin Brigade {{small|(1922–1923)}}{{Cite book |last=Dorney |first=John |title=The Civil War in Dublin: the fight for the Irish capital, 1922–1924 |publisher=Merrion Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781785370915 |pages=201}}}}
| battles = {{bullet list|Irish War of Independence|Irish Civil War}}
}}
Neil 'Plunkett' Boyle ({{Langx|ga|Niall Pluincéad Ó Baoighill}}; 1898 – 15 May 1923) was a commandant in the Anti-Treaty IRA from County Donegal.
Early life
Boyle was born in Lackenagh, near Burtonport, County Donegal, in 1898. His interest in Irish history, particularly Joseph Plunkett in the 1916 Easter Rising, gained him the nickname 'Plunkett'.{{Cite news |last=Doherty |first=Pearse |author-link=Pearse Doherty |date=29 June 2023 |title=Neil 'Plunkett' O'Boyle remembered by Irish republicans in Scotland |url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/28559 |access-date=25 November 2024 |work=An Phoblacht}}{{Cite news |last=Collins |first=Róise |date=14 May 2023 |title=Last man killed during Civil War to be remembered |url=https://donegalnews.com/last-man-killed-during-civil-war-remembered/ |access-date=25 November 2024 |work=Donegal News}} Boyle's father died when he was 19, and his mother was a devout Irish nationalist who influenced him greatly.
In 1919, aged 21, Boyle left his job on the Lough Swilly Railway after run-ins with the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) due to the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (IGTWU) position of refusing to carry British forces at the time. As a result of this, he moved to Newmains in Scotland to work in a coal mine in Stepps outside Glasgow.
Military career
While in Newmains, he joined B Company, 2nd Battalion, Scottish No. 1 Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In his role in the Scottish Brigade of the IRA, he was involved in procuring and transporting weapons to the IRA in Ireland. In 1920, he was apprehended by police and charged with possession of explosives, for which he was sentenced to five years penal servitude in Peterhead Prison. In 1922, he was released as part of an amnesty in the Anglo-Irish Treaty and returned to County Donegal.
Following the treaty, Boyle joined the Anti-Treaty IRA in the ensuing Irish Civil War. Several months after his return to Ireland, he was arrested again and imprisoned in an internment camp in Newbridge, County Kildare. He escaped from the camp in October 1922, using a sewage drain, and escaped to Dublin. In Dublin, Boyle was appointed commandant of the 3rd Battalion, Dublin No. 2 Brigade and took up duty in County Wicklow in November that year.
Death
Despite a ceasefire order in April 1923, Boyle and his flying column were surrounded at a safe house in Knocknadruce in the Wicklow Mountains by the National Army on 15 May 1923. While they were surrendering, Boyle was summarily executed, being the last member of the IRA to be killed during the civil war.{{Cite news |last=NicPhaidin |first=Michelle |date=2 March 2022 |title=Ceremony to take place to mark 100-year anniversary of Rosses Martyrs |url=https://www.donegallive.ie/news/west-donegal/756731/ceremony-to-take-place-to-mark-100-year-anniversary-of-rosses-martyrs.html |access-date=25 November 2024 |work=Donegal Live}} He is buried in Kincasslagh graveyard.
In 2022, a memorial was erected in Mullaghduff, County Donegal to commemorate the Anti-Treaty 'Rosses Martyrs', consist of him and three others (Owen Boyle and Captain Con Boyle of the IRA and Mary McBride of Cumann na mBan).
Further reading
- Commemoration of Centenary of Death of Neil “Plunkett” Boyle 15 May 1923 – 15 May 2023 – Pádraig O’Baoighill (translation by Maureen Phibbs), 2023{{Cite book |last=O’Baoighill |first=Pádraig |title=Commemoration of Centenary of Death of Neil 'Plunkett' Boyle : 15 May 1923 – 15 May 2023 |year=2023 |translator-last=Phibbs |translator-first=Maureen}}{{Cite web |date= |title=Holdings: Commemoration of centenary of death of Neil "Plunkett" Boyle 15 May 1923 – 15 May 2023. |url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000912550 |access-date=18 December 2024 |website=National Library of Ireland}}
- Óglach na Rosann: Niall Pluincéad Ó Baoighill – Pádraig O’Baoighill, 1996.{{Cite book |last=O’Baoighill |first=Pádraig |title=Óglach na Rosann: Niall Pluincéad Ó Baoighill |publisher=Coiscéim |year=1996 |oclc=32890890}}{{Cite web |title=Holdings: Óglach na Rosann |url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000023674 |access-date=18 December 2024 |website=National Library of Ireland|date=1994 }}
- The Rosses Martyrs, 2006.{{Cite book |title=The Rosses Martyrs |publisher=Abhaile Arís |year=2006}}{{Cite web |title=Holdings: The Rosses martyrs |url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000728935 |access-date=18 December 2024 |website=National Library of Ireland}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{IRA}}
{{ATIRA}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Neil Plunkett}}
Category:Irish republicans interned without trial
Category:Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members
Category:Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members
Category:People of the Irish War of Independence