Seán South (Irish: Seán Sabhat; 1929–1 January 1957) was the leader of an IRA military column fatally wounded during an attempt to storm a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland on New Year's Day, 1957 during the border campaign of 1956–1962. The raid by 14 men was a complete failure, with two mines intended to breach the barracks defences failing to explode, thus allowing time for defensive fire to kill two of the attackers, South and Fergal O'Hanlon. Another four were wounded. The truck containing the raiders had pulled up outside the wrong house. It is best remembered by the songs it gave rise to:
- Sean South of Garryowen, written by Seán Costello (a fellow Limerickman) and made famous by the Wolfe Tones. The popularity of this song has led to the misconception that South was from Garryowen, an area of Limerick city. In fact, this was poetic licence on Costello's part - South was actually from O'Connell Avenue, where his family owned a pub, which is still extant.;
- Dominic Behan's 1961 song The Patriot Game commemorating the other fatality, Fergal O'Hanlon.
South was 27-years-old at the time of his death, and had been a clerk before he engaged in paramilitary activities. South was a member of An Rialt (the Irish-speaking chapter of the Legion of Mary).[1] He had received some military training as a member of the Irish army reserve, the FCA (An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil or Local Defence Force). The only widely available photograph of him shows him in his FCA uniform. South was buried in Limerick. His death evoked sympathy for militant republicanism in the Republic of Ireland.
Footnotes
- ^ Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn (1987). The Provisional IRA. Corgi Books, p. 42. ISBN 0-552-13337-X.
Sources
- The Secret Army: A History of The IRA. 1916-1979, J. Bowyer Bell, Gill and MacMillan, Dublin, 1980.
- The I.R.A., Tim Pat Coogan, Harper Collins, London 1995.
