commented on how well Kitty looked.83 The McGovern marriage broke up in 1925, and Helen ran a successful fish restaurant on Duke Street, Dublin, known as ‘The Dive’. One of her grandsons is the actor Barry McGovern,84 who happened to play the role of the Big Fellow’s great opponent, Éamon de Valera, in the 1991 RTÉ-BBC historical film, The Treaty.
Playing Soccer and Golf
Emmet Dalton loved football and he played with Bohemians after returning to Dublin from the Great War. He is said to have joined the club in 1919 and played for a season. According to author Ulick O’Connor, Dalton frequently played matches against British regiments behind the barbed wire that had been erected ‘to keep men of his kind from entering for purposes other than sport’.85 Said Ulick: ‘He told me they [the British] would not know you in your togs.’ He added that Dalton was a ‘great soccer player’. Ulick got to know Dalton well in the 1950s while interviewing him in connection with research for his biography of the poet, writer and surgeon Oliver St. John Gogarty.86 They would meet in the Shelbourne Hotel when Dalton made trips to Dublin from his home in London. Dalton and Gogarty had been good friends. Ulick said that during the War of Independence, Dalton played a part in bringing wounded IRA men to Gogarty’s house in Ely Place in Dublin for medical assistance.87 ‘Gogarty used to do operations on IRA men in trouble,’ said Ulick, adding that if Gogarty had been caught by the authorities he would have been in serious trouble.
Dalton was also to indulge his passion for golf. Having played the game in El Arish in the Sinai desert, he was eager to develop his skills in the greener pastures of Ireland after being demobilized. It is unclear when exactly he joined the Hermitage club in the Lucan area of County Dublin, which had been founded in 1905. Hermitage enjoys a magnificent location, an oasis of greenery and woodlands just a few miles from the city. The lands slope down to the River Liffey and there are panoramic views across the green river valley. Over the years the game of golf in general, and his membership of Hermitage in particular, would play a very important role in Dalton’s life. Dalton quickly achieved scratch status, and a golfing journalist who interviewed him in later years attributed his golfing skills partly to his ability as a marksman while in the military. The journalist wrote that ‘great accuracy with a rifle stood to him in his golf as it is his wonderful accurate “shooting” as the Yankees have it, that has brought him to scratch.’88 Dalton’s avid interest in sport probably provided him with a welcome outlet as he faced into a challenging period, during which he would work more closely with a demanding taskmaster, Michael Collins.
CHAPTER FOUR
Treaty Talks
Emmet Dalton’s revolutionary star was clearly in the ascendant. At one stage in 1921 there was some indication from republican leader Harry Boland that Dalton might be sent to America as a special emissary. Visiting Boston, Massachusetts in November that year, Boland described Dalton as, ‘one of the big men in the fight for Irish freedom’, who had proven his worth both on the field of battle and in assisting in the planning of the Anglo-Irish peace treaty.1
Michael Collins thought highly enough of Emmet Dalton’s abilities to entrust him with sensitive missions. Perhaps none was more important than the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, held between representatives of Dáil Éireann and British government cabinet ministers. The Irish delegation was faced with the unenviable task of trying to secure Irish independence, as well as preventing partition of the island. Michael Collins was tasked as a representative, while serving as Minister of Finance in the Dáil government and IRA Director of Intelligence. He would join his fellow delegates Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan, George Gavan Duffy and Robert Barton.
Later in life, Dalton said he never liked the idea of Collins travelling to London for the Treaty negotiations. The crown forces dearly wanted to get their hands on Collins during the Anglo-Irish War. Now the Big Fellow was emerging out of the shadows and into danger. Even within the IRA, many members did not know what he looked like. There was also the possibility that comrades of British personnel who had been killed on Collins’s orders might be tempted to take revenge – memories of Bloody Sunday were still raw. Dalton said fellow members of the GHQ staff were ‘gravely concerned’ over the safety of Michael Collins in England.2
Collins did not consider himself the right person to go to London as Dalton emphasized in later years. Dalton was present at a meeting of the General Headquarters Staff when Collins revealed that he had been selected. Collins was adamant that it was not his job or his place to go – he felt it would be more appropriate for Dáil President Éamon de Valera to go, and leave Collins to carry on the work he knew best.3 De Valera considered it more appropriate that he himself stay at home. Despite his misgivings, Collins ultimately agreed to go.
Dalton had his doubts as to whether there would be a successful outcome to the talks. There were also fears that should the Treaty negotiations break down while Collins was in London, ‘the entire Irish Army position would be jeopardised’. According to Dalton, he and Collins decided to place an aircraft in readiness should the talks break down and it proved necessary to fly Collins back to Ireland. Dalton set about formulating a plan.4
He contacted Waterford-born Jack McSweeney, who had been a pilot with 50 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during the Great War. As previously mentioned, Dalton had met McSweeeney while researching the Hotchkiss machine gun in the prelude to the Sean MacEoin rescue operation. Dalton also put out feelers through the Dublin Brigade. Fourth Battalion Commandant Sean Dowling recommended another former RFC pilot, Charles Russell. The Dublin native enjoyed a remarkable flying career, and became a pioneer of Irish aviation. Russell had served with 65 Squadron of the RFC in France during the Great War and was later an instructor in aerobatics. He had flown extensively in the United States and in Canada, where he carried out an aerial survey between Toronto and Niagara for the Canadian Electric Power Commission.5 Dalton had a long talk with McSweeney and Russell and, after being satisfied of their loyalty to the republican cause, he sent them to England to buy a suitable aircraft. Russell’s time as an aviator in Canada gave him a ‘cover’ story – he would purport to be procuring an aircraft for a Canadian forestry department.
The aircraft had to be suitable for carrying passengers and freight, and with an eye to future use by Irish armed forces, it also had to be suitable for military purposes, including bombing missions. The two young men spoke to representatives of a number of aircraft manufacturers, Avro & Co., Martinsyde & Co., Short Bros., Vickers Ltd., and De Havilland & Co.6
The type of aircraft they ultimately purchased was a Martinsyde Type A, Mark 2, four-seater bi-plane. This aircraft was powered by a Rolls Royce engine, had a range of 550 miles, a cruising speed of 100 miles per hour, and cost £2,600.7 The transaction occurred during the Treaty negotiations, and it was held on stand-by at Croydon Aerodrome, the gateway for international flights to and from London. Russell and McSweeney took several practice flights to familiarize themselves with the machine. When the aerodrome people became impatient at the delay in removing the aircraft from their facilities, Russell, after each practice flight, kept complaining of ‘right wing low’ or ‘left wing low’ or ‘unsatisfactory rudder’ by way of explaining the delay.8
Dalton showed his usual meticulous attention to detail in planning how the aircraft could land safely in the greater Dublin area if Collins had to make a quick getaway. It was proposed that Russell would be the pilot for the flight to Ireland, while McSweeney would be deployed at the landing ground to prepare the runway and arrange re-fuelling. The plane would fly from London, across the Irish Sea, and ultimately land at Leopardstown racecourse.9
Collins, of course, did not have to make an emergency getaway from London, but the aircraft did serve a useful purpose. It was taken to Baldonnel, near Dublin, the airfield chosen to be the base of the air division of the new National Army, and was the first
