Mitchell and Agnew disappeared Nov 1920 at Macroom

[mhifle]

Hi,

It has 815 British Army other ranks commissioned into the Indian Army during the First World War.

Regards Mark

[corisande]

I have tried a post on the Cork sub-forum on RootsChat, which can be a useful source of "on te ground" information, particularly from the IRA point of view, but nothing has come up

For whatever reason both the British and the IRA seem happy to forget these two men

[mhifle]

Hi,

Due to the heavy loss of British officers in the Indian Army there was a call in 1917 for officers to volunteer to serve in the Indian Army.

Maybe he had served with the 1st Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in Mesopotamia?

From The Long, Long Trail: The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 1st Battalion

August 1914 : in Ahmednagar, India. Attached to 17th Indian Brigade of 6th (Poona) Division, Indian Army.

27 November 1914 : moved to Mesopotamia.

29 April 1916 : Bn captured after surrender of garrison at Kut-el-Amara. A Provisional Bn was formed from the reinforcements and details who were not captured, which was attached to 28th Indian Brigade, 6th Poona Division. This Provisional Bn was renamed 1st Bn on 6 July 1916.

19 October 1917 : transferred to 50th Indian Brigade in 15th Indian Division. Remained in Mesopotamia throughout the war.

Regards Mark

[corisande]

Yes, I agree, it seems probable that he served some time in a war zone where he mixed with Indian Army/Army of India. I have not established where he did search

I have just now been reading a contemporary account of C Coy in Macroom, where the writer (a member of C Coy) says that the two IOs disappeared a few days apart - rather than at the same time as in the newspaper report of the compensation claim

The first IO (whom I think was probably Mitchell) went out on a mission and did not return. They realised he was probably dead after he had been missing 3 days, and appointed another IO (probably Agnew), who went missing presumed dead after a few more days. They then had a new IO sent from Dublin, who was a "man of experience", but kept alive by never going out too much to get information!

The first man (as I say probably Mitchell) claimed that he was an "ex Scotland Yard" man. You can debate whether he would have said this if he had been working for Basil Thompson in Ireland. But the writer does dwell on the CID/Scotland Yard connection, an certainly is not a mistake in what he believed.

[mhifle]

Hi,

I have been looking at men being transfered into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and I have found the service no.38002 issued to someone transferred

on 14 July 1917. Which might indicate a transfer date for Lionel Mitchell.

Regards Mark

[corisande]

Good bit of detective work there

Do you have the battalion that 38002 joined in Royal Berks - if it was a draft, they would all have gone the same place ?

[mhifle]

Hi,

It looks like a Draft transferred from the 3rd I.B.D. to the Royal Berkshire Regiment 14 July 1917 and posted to 2/4th Bn Royal Berkshire Regiment 15 July 1917. The man involved had arrived at the I.B.D. 27 June 1917.

Regards Mark

[corisande]

Thanks Mark, you are a fund of useful information.

Looks as if 2/4 Berks were in France. But his DCM citation does not give any clue of his whereabouts

But I might get something from the Berks as to where it was.

[mhifle]

Hi,

I have found a Private Albert Wesley Sharp no.28365 5th Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry transferred via the I.B.D to 2/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment

with new no.38016 on 20 July 1917.

Regards Mark

[mhifle]

Hi,

I came across this website dealing activities in the area in 1920.

Regards Mark

Macroom

We now received information that secret service men were to visit the area and a guard was mounted at the Pass of Keimaneigh for almost a month. One suspect was captured and held prisoner for a few days. However he proved innocent. He was a British Magistrate named Brady who was touring Ireland on a motor-bike. He was well treated and was released unharmed. The company had now acquired a motor-bike which proved invaluable for delivering dispatches and conveying officers to meetings etc.

On Wednesday, November 10th Black and Tans again raided Ballingeary. Twenty two year old Christopher Lucey (Section Commander, B. Company, 1st Battalion, Cork City) and late of Pembroke Street, had been on the run in the area all Summer and Autumn. He slept in a "béilic" south of the road, at Túirín Dubh but had his meals in Twomey's of Túirín Dubh. He spotted the approaching lorries and ran to the Twomey house to warn his companions. They had already left and when he ran from the rear of the house, he failed to follow the pre-arranged and often proved escape route. He came under heavy fire and was shot while crossing open ground near Carrig. He was unarmed.

When the Tans returned to Macroom they entered the Market Bar and began to celebrate. They were toasting one man in particular and he described in detail how he had taken aim and fired the fatal shot. The barman, an ex R.I.C. man named Vaughan was able to identify him and he informed the Macroom volunteers. All companies were notified about this man and some time later he was again identified by volunteers in Cork City, when he signed his name to a docket, while ordering military stores. When he returned to collect his order he was taken prisoner and executed.

[corisande]

That is a very nice find. Keep me going for a couple of days on the trail to find out what really happened to Agnew and Mitchell

I'll go through it and try to separate the truth from the spin on that IRA account and from the Auxiliary man's accounts of what was happening

The auxiliary talks about inflicting their first casualty on a raid near the Kerry border. The auxiliaries fired a few shots "out of effective revolver range" and by chance one of the IRA men was hit. "The man who fired the fatal shot received several warnings that he was marked but would soon get what was coming to him. As far as I know he is still alive"

I suspect that it is the same incident written from the two viewpoints, but it will take me a while to be sure.

[corisande]

Having looked at the detail, my feeling is that the two events are connected. If you look at the sequence of events, it seems to be

1. Agnew and Mitchell of C Coy ADRIC in Macroom are captured by IRA. Difficult to be certain of dates, but probably before 10 Nov 1920

2. James Lehane was shot by Auxiliaries in a nearby village between 20 Oct and 1 Nov (differing dates on different accounts)

3. Lucey, the IRA man, shot by C Coy from Macroom on 10 Nov

4. Agnew and Mitchell shot in captivity by the IRA. Bodies buried and never found.

5. The ADRIC man who shot Lucey was never himself shot by the IRA according to the ADRICs man's account.

6 A Number of accounts say Lehane's killer was T/Cadet Gutherie who was among the Auxiliaries shot at Kilmichael

7. The Kilmichael ambush with 16 ADRIC deaths from C coy at Macroom was 28 Nov 1920

[edit]I have added Lehane's death [/edit]

[corisande]

Strange how Mitchell and Agnew are written out of (or probably more correctly, not written into) history.

This fairly lengthy paper written in 2005, goes into great depth on the events surrounding the Kilmichael Ambush and the ambush itself (it is not my intention in this thread to discuss the events of Kilmichael itself) - but does not mention Mitchel and Agnew.

It discusses both Lehane and Lucey, but not Agnew and Mitchel.

I have ordered the O'Suilleabhain book Where Mountainey Men have Sown which is referred to in that article and which looks interesting

[mhifle]

Hi,

In 'Tudor's Toughs' by Ernest McCall it states:

On 15 November 1920 Auxiliary Cadets Bertram Agnew, DSC., RIC No 72842, ADRIC No 370 and Lionel Mitchell, DCM, RIC No 72848, ADRIC No 298, both Intelligence Officers were kidnapped in Macroom, County Cork and were later interrogated and killed. Both Auxiliary Cadets were attached to 'C' Company, Macroom and it is not known if the IRA gang that kidnapped them were aware of the Auxiliaries status. The report on the funeral states that the Auxiliaries who were part of the funeral cortege wore the white cross of Saint Andrew on their Balmoral bonnets.* This Company flash belonged to 'G' Company.

*: Belfast Telegraph (1920-1922), various newspaper reports regarding the ADRIC.

I can't work out whose funeral it was if no bodies were recovered?

Regards Mark

[corisande]

I can't work out whose funeral it was if no bodies were recovered?

Yes, I have read that, and it was double dutch to me. If Ernest McCall, the author of the book, drops by here, which he does from time to time, perhaps he could clarify . Or did anyone comes across an actual reference to a funeral.

I am working on a local line on the bodies of the men, via a local historian who "knows a man" sort of thing. There is not a high chance of success, but enough to keep me pursuing it.

When one looks at the bodies that were returned later in this area (the 4 intelligence men shot at Kilgobnet) and at the later repatriation in the other direction (Casement in particular), the non-repatriation of the bodies of Mitchel and Agnew is strange.

I would guess that there is a remote possibility that it was done discretely and with no publicity some time ago.

With Agnew's background it is virtually impossible to fine a descendent (I did find an indirect one, but they were not interested). I found one of Mitchel's but cannot get a reply.

The Kilgobnet murders notes here , on the surface seem similar (intelligence men, kidnapped near Macroom, shot, bodies buried, but returned in Dec 1923). So why were these two not returned, and indeed why does the British Government not seem to have pursued the matter.

[mhifle]

Hi,

They are on the list of missing as of 1 July 1921 printed in the Irish Times 22 Aug 1921

Regards Mark

[corisande]

Thanks Mark

That is a useful list for me.

It is RIC and ADRIC only, so does not include British Army serving soldiers (and Kilgobnet murders were of 4 soldiers abducted on 28th of April 1922, bodies given up in Dec 1923)

Looking at the ADRIC men on that Irish Times list above, Guthrie's body was buried secretely in a bog at Annahala. His body remained there until 1926 when it was disinterred and buried at Inchigeelagh Churchyard, Co Cork. The date on Irish Times list is wrong, he disappeared after Kilmichael on 28 Nov 1920.

Agnew and Mitchell are still missing

The last ADRIC named as missing is Leonard French (the Irish Times misreports him as Trench). I have not done an in depth study of his case, but as far as I can see, his body has not yet been recovered.

[mhifle]

Hi,

Here are the other two parts of the article.

Regards Mark

[corisande]

Thanks Mark

It is difficult to know whether the British Government conveniently "forgot" about any missing men after Independence, or whether they were working away behind the scenes not wishing to provoke further problems.

Certainly Mitchel and Agnew seem forgotten, and nothing seems to emanate from the British Government in later years.

[Stanley_C_Jenkins]

Have just checked Lional Mitchell's Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry records, which say that he was educated at the County School, Wolverton and joined the 3rd Reserve Bn, transferring, as corporal, to the 5th Bn in France & Flanders. There is also a reference to him joining the 15th Artists Rifles after service with the Berkshire Regiment.

[corisande]

Thanks, I have added that to Mitchell's page

Odd really that his parents appear to have let he matter drop, and I still have not managed to progress the story at all.

[Stanley_C_Jenkins]

I don't understand how the Artists Rifles fits-in to the overall picture. They later became associated with special forces - but could this have been the case as early as the 1920s?

[corisande]

I don't understand how the Artists Rifles fits-in to the overall picture

That is an interesting point, passed me by on initial reading.

Certainly Mitchell and Agnew were Intelligence Officers in ADRIC. But although I have the reference to Mitchell relinquishing his commission and joining ADRIC, experience has taught me that he could well have got a "Special Appointment" and resumed British Army service.

These Special Appoints are quite difficult to find in LG as time progressed. The British were extremely stupid in early to mid 1920 and made the names of Intelligence men very easy to spot in LG. I have been able to relatively easily identify large numbers of officers as undercover intelligence. However by late summer when Mitchell would have got this appointment (assuming he got it) they are very difficult to find.

[Stanley_C_Jenkins]

Could he have retained a TA commission in the Artist's Rifles while serving with the RICAD?

[corisande]

Could he still have retained a Territorial commission in Artist Rifles? I have no idea, hopefully a passing expert here can tell us.

LG entry says

1920 Aug 17. R. Berks. R. Temp. Lt. L. R. Mitchell relinquishes his commission on completion of service, and retains the rank of Lt.