Collection OHS31 - O'Brennan Family Papers

Postcard from F. J. Bigger to Séamus Ó Braonáin Postcard from Séamus Ó Braonáin at Irish Volunteer Camp in Galbally to his wife, Máiréad Postcard from Séamus Ó Braonáin at Irish Volunteer Camp in Ballylanders to his wife, Máiréad Photograph of Tullamore Pipers Band 1916 Photograph of Irish Volunteers, Tullamore, 1914 Charge Sheet relating to the Tullamore Incident
Open original Digital object

Identity area

Reference code

IE OH OHS31

Title

O'Brennan Family Papers

Date(s)

  • 1911-2015 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

1 box

Context area

Name of creator

(1886-1968)

Biographical history

Séamus O’ Brennan was born James Michael Brennan in Daingean, Co. Offaly c. 1886. He was educated in Daingean NS and the old CBS Tullamore. He worked in the GPO from 1903 and soon after joined the Keating branch of the Gaelic League and the Geraldine Football Club with two others, but after six months’ probation all three lost their jobs, obviously for their patriotic tendencies. He returned to Tullamore where he worked as a clerk in P. & H. Egan’s. He helped form the Tullamore Pipers’ Band in 1911 and was a key member of the Tullamore Volunteers in 1914. He went on the run with Peadar Bracken following the shooting of Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Sergeant Ahearn who had attempted to disarm them on 20 March 1916 (the Tullamore Incident). In his military pension application, Brennan states that on Good Friday he was sent by PH Pearse to Tullamore. Following the Easter Rising he was interned until June 1916. He joined F Company, First Battalion, Irish Volunteers upon reorganisation. During the War of Independence he acquired a number of arms for the IRA before being arrested again in November 1920 and interned in Ballykinlar until December 1921. In 1922 he married Miss May Margaret Doody, daughter of James T. Doody, Tullamore. He was a personal friend of de Valera since the 1917 Ennis election and for a time served him as a bodyguard. President de Valera and old comrades were among those who attended the funeral in 1968.

Name of creator

(1894-1976)

Biographical history

Alo O'Brennan, Cormac St, Tullamore was a member of a strongly republican family. He served a month in jail for nationalist activity and the family home in Church St, Tullamore, was raided on a number of occasions. He was manager of the employment exchange in Tullamore from the late 1920s until 1974. Leading member of Irish National Forresters and a former Chief Ranger, he was a founder member of Tullamore Pipe Band in 1911. He died in 1976 aged 82.

Name of creator

(1905-1984)

Biographical history

Maura O'Brennan, of Cormac Street, Tullamore, spent her early years in Wexford. She came to Tullamore in the early 1920s and was a member of the teaching staff of the convent national school, and except for a brief period in Mucklagh spent all of her teaching career in Tullamore. She married Alyosius O'Brennan in {??]. She was a founding member of Tullamore Guild ICA, and appeared as a guest of honour at the ICA 25th anniversary party in the Bridge House in May 1984. She died in July of that year, aged 79.

Name of creator

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Repository

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Content and structure area

Scope and content

Material relating to Tullamore Incident, March 1916 and the 1916 Rising from the family of Séamus O'Brennan and his brother Alo O' Brennan. Contains postcards, photographs, contemporary newspapers (1916-1917), memoirs, and commemorative newspapers (1966).

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Accruals

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Conditions governing access

Available by appointment only. Fragile items may not be produced.

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Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Offaly County Archives Service, IE OCAS P77 O'Brennan Papers

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Dates of creation revision deletion

January 2016

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Archivist's note

Created by Lisa Shortall

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