{{short description|Member of the Irish Republican Army}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Use Irish English|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Thomas Traynor | image = thomastraynor.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1882|05|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Tullow, County Carlow, Ireland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1921|04|25|1881|05|27|df=y}} | death_place = Mountjoy Jail, Dublin, Ireland | death_cause = Execution by hanging | resting_place = Glasnevin Cemetery | known_for = {{ubl|Executed IRA volunteer|One of The Forgotten Ten}} | module = {{infobox military person|embed=yes|allegiance={{flag|Irish Republic}}|branch={{ubl|Irish Volunteers|Irish Republican Army}}|battles={{ubl|Easter Rising|Irish War of Independence}}}} | occupation = Cobbler | nationality = }}
'''Thomas Traynor''' (27 May 1882 – 25 April 1921) was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) hanged in Mountjoy Prison during the Irish War of Independence.<ref name="taoiseach.gov.ie">{{cite web |year=2001 |title=Reinterment of 10 volunteers executed |url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=383&docID=511 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202182547/http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=383&docID=511 |archive-date=2 December 2007 |access-date=11 January 2017 |website=Department of the Taoiseach}}</ref>
==Background== Traynor was born on 27 May 1882 in Tullow, County Carlow, Ireland,<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Birth of Thomas N/R Traynor on 27 May 1882 |url=https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/transcript-civil/16cd0711553645?b=https%3A%2F%2Fcivilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie%2Fchurchrecords%2Fdetails-civil%2F16cd0711553645%3Fb%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fcivilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie%252Fchurchrecords%252Fcivil-perform-search.jsp%253Fnamefm%253DThomas%2526namel%253DTraynor%2526location%253D%2526yyfrom%253D1881%2526yyto%253D1883%2526type%253DB%2526submit%253DSearch |access-date=12 February 2025 |website=IrishGenealogy.ie |publisher=General Registrar's Office}}</ref> and was 38 at the time of his death.<ref name="taoiseach.gov.ie" /> He was an experienced soldier having been a member of the Boland's Mill garrison during the Easter Rising, 1916. After the Rising he was interned in Frongoch, Wakefield Jail and Mountjoy Jail where he shared a cell with Seán Mac Eoin.<ref name="taoiseach.gov.ie"/>
He worked as a boot maker and was married with ten children.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thorne |first=Kathleen |title=Echoes of Their Footsteps, The Irish Civil War 1922-1924 |publisher=Generation Organization |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-692-245-13-2 |location=Newberg, Oregon |pages=233}}</ref> At the time of his death the eldest was 18 years and the youngest 5 months.<ref name="taoiseach.gov.ie"/> The eldest son, Frank, represented Ireland at the 1928 Summer Olympics, competing as a bantamweight boxer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-sports.org/amateur-boxing-traynor-frank-results-identity-s21-c2-b4-o35-w46046.html%20-%2039k|title=Amateur Boxing - Frank Traynor|website=The-sports.org|access-date=15 April 2017}}</ref>
==Capture and execution== Traynor was captured during an ambush on Auxiliaries in Brunswick Street, Dublin, on 14 March 1921, and tried on 5 April at City Hall.<ref name="taoiseach.gov.ie"/> He was part of a party of IRA volunteers keeping watch outside a meeting at 144 Brunswick Street that included Seán MacBride. During the fight an IRA volunteer, Leo Fitzgerald, was killed, as were Constable James O'Farrell and Cadet Bernard Beard of the Dublin Metropolitan Police.<ref>''The Irish Times'', Monday, 25 April 1921.</ref> Traynor was reportedly badly beaten by members of the Igoe Gang before his hanging.<ref name="taoiseach.gov.ie"/>
Mark Grant-Sturgis, the Assistant Under-Secretary for Ireland, wrote:<blockquote>Traynor, captured red handed with an attacking party when Auxiliaries were killed in Brnswick Street, was executed this morning. I don't think they will make much fuss as there is no sort of 'alibi' business this time - nor is he the usual 'youth', dear to 'The Freeman', as he is over 40 and has a pack of children, the poor deluded idiot.<ref>{{cite book|page=162|title=The Last Days of Dublin Castle - The Diaries of Mark Sturgis|isbn=978-0-7165-2626-1|last1=Sturgis|first1=Mark|year=1999}}</ref></blockquote>
On the day following his death, Gilbert Potter, a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) District Inspector based in Cahir, County Tipperary, and being held for Traynor's safe treatment was executed in reprisal by members of the Third Tipperary Brigade.<ref>Thorne, pg233</ref> Another IRA volunteer, John Donnelly, captured with Traynor was sentenced to death but later reprieved by David Lloyd George following the truce in June 1921.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/4/5/59455729/no_11_-_march_2016.pdf|title=Diarmuid Lynch weekly|website=diarmuidlynch.weebly.com|access-date=15 April 2017}}</ref>
==Remembered in popular culture== *In 1965 a statue was erected to Traynor in his native town of Tullow.<ref name="Tullow">[http://www.tullowmuseum.com/413280731 Tullow Museum website], tullowmuseum.com; accessed 15 April 2017.</ref> *''The Ballad of Thomas Traynor'' was written in his memory.<ref name="Tullow"/>
==Reinterment== Traynor was one of a group of men hanged in Mountjoy Prison from 1920–21, commonly referred to as The Forgotten Ten. In 2001 he and the other nine, including Kevin Barry, were exhumed from their graves in the prison and given a full State Funeral. He is now buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in the capital city of Dublin.<ref> {{Cite news |last=Lavery |first=Brian |date=2001-10-15 |title=Irish Rebury 10 Republicans Hanged by British in 1920's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/15/world/irish-rebury-10-republicans-hanged-by-british-in-1920-s.html |access-date=2023-02-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} </ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traynor, Thomas}} Category:1882 births Category:1921 deaths Category:Activists from County Carlow Category:Executed people from County Carlow Category:Irish people executed for murdering police officers Category:Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Category:People convicted of murder by the British military Category:People from Tullow Category:The Forgotten Ten