Frank Teeling
Encyclopedia
Francis 'Frank' Teeling was a member of the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 and one of Michael Collins
Michael Collins (Irish leader)
Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...

' Squad who took part in the assassinations of members of the Cairo Gang
Cairo Gang
The Cairo Gang was a group of British Intelligence agents who were sent to Dublin during the Anglo-Irish War to conduct intelligence operations against prominent members of the Irish Republican Army...

 on Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1920)
Bloody Sunday was a day of violence in Dublin on 21 November 1920, during the Irish War of Independence. In total, 31 people were killed – fourteen British, fourteen Irish civilians and three republican prisoners....

.

Background

Teeling was a native of Dublin. Both the 1901 and 1911 censuses lists him as living at 7 Jane Place Upper. He was one of ten children born to Christopher and Sarah Teeling of whom only four survived childhood. The 1901 census also lists three children born to Sarah Teeling from a previous marriage.

Bloody Sunday

On 21 November 1920 Teeling was one of a group of IRA men who entered 22 Lower Mount Street to assassinate Lieutenant Angliss, alias McMahon, and Lieutenant Peel. Angliss was shot dead in his bed while Peel, hearing the shots, blocked his bedroom door and survived. When members of Fianna Éireann
Fianna Éireann
The name Fianna Éireann , also written Fianna na hÉireann and Na Fianna Éireann , has been used by various Irish republican youth movements throughout the 20th and 21st centuries...

 on lookout reported that Auxiliaries
Auxiliary Division
The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary , generally known as the Auxiliaries or Auxies, was a paramilitary organization within the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence....

 were approaching the house, the unit of Volunteers split up into two groups. One left by the front door, the other left by the laneway at the back of the house. Teeling was wounded in a gun battle with the Auxiliaries in the laneway and arrested.

Teeling was the only Bloody Sunday participant to be captured at the scene. In January 1921 he was court martialled, sentenced to hang and held at Kilmainham Gaol
Kilmainham Gaol
Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison, located in Kilmainham in Dublin, which is now a museum. It has been run since the mid-1980s by the Office of Public Works , an Irish Government agency...

.

On the night of the 21 February he escaped from Kilmainham along with Ernie O'Malley
Ernie O'Malley
Ernie O'Malley was an Irish Republican Army officer during the Irish War of Independence and a commander of the anti-treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War. O'Malley wrote three books, On Another Man's Wound, The Singing Flame, and Raids and Rallies. The first describes his early life and role in...

 and Simon Donnelly
Simon Donnelly (Irish Republican)
Simon Donnelly was a member of the Irish Republican Army and a founder member of both Córas na Poblachta and Clann na Poblachta....

.

Civil War

Although Teeling was made a Lieutenant in the army of the newly founded Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...

 his behaviour and escalating alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

 became a cause for concern. He had become an embarrassment to the army, but his record of service during the War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

 made it awkward to publicly discredit him or discharge him. The commander-in-chief of the National Army complained that Teeling had been "publicly misconducting" himself and "bringing serious discredit on us". Plans were made to give him a sum of money in order to encourage him to emigrate to Australia. On 19 March 1923 the Department of Finance
Department of Finance (Ireland)
The Department of Finance is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Finance and is assisted by one Minister of State....

 made out a cheque to Teeling for the sum of £250. The money was apparently to be drawn down from funds authorised by the Free State cabinet for use by the Secret Service.

However, on 27 March, Teeling shot and killed William Johnson, a member of the Citizens' Defence Force
Citizens' Defence Force
The Citizens' Defence Force was a unit of former British Army soldiers and Irish Volunteers organised by Ireland as a semi-secret group of about 100 operatives. It was financed from the Secret Service budget to mount foot patrols and gather intelligence, and was eventually absorbed into the CID ....

. It seems a drunk Teeling objected to the fact that Johnson had brought a bag of tomatoes into the bar at the Theatre Royal and shot him dead in the ensuing altercation.

At his trial Teeling claimed he had acted in self-defence, citing the fact that Johnson had also drawn his gun. The jury found him guilty of manslaughter and recommended clemency "on account of the state of his
mind". Teeling was imprisoned for eighteen months.

Later life

Teeling remained in Ireland, continuing to live at Jane Place Upper. He was imprisoned on at least one further occasion in 1931. He died in January 1976.
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