The Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade release the names and hometowns of forty members killed in action from what is today known as the Connolly Column, made up of Irish volunteers from around the globe, fighting with the International Brigades in Spain as of May, 1938.

‘Forty Irishmen in Spanish Casualty List’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 15 No. 129. May 30, 1938.

Prominent Republican Among Honored Dead of Int’l Brigade

The names of 40 Irishmen killed fighting for Loyalist Spain in the Irish unit of the International Brigades were today released by the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The Irish unit is attached to the famous Lincoln Brigade.

The list includes many men who were prominent in Irish Republican circles. Peter Daly of County Wexford, twice wounded in action, fell for the third and last time while leading the 16th Battalion. The well-known Republicans, Christopher “Kit” Conway, Tipperary; Hugh Bonar, Donegal, and the former Christian brother teacher, Esomoun McCarthy were among the others.

James Prendergast, official representative of the Irish section of the 15th International Brigades in Dublin, informed the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade that Major Frank Ryan had been captured by the fascists during the recent drive in Catalonia. Ryan formerly an adjutant-general in the Irish Republican army, and editor of the Irish newspaper, “An Phoblacht,” was the commanding officer of the Irish unit.

After being wounded on the Cordoba front in December, 1936, he went back to Ireland. With his wounded arm still in a sling, he returned to Spain in time to participate in the Brunete offensive in July, 1937. He was wounded again before being captured.

The list of Irishmen who were killed follows: J. O’Shea, Waterford; Thomas Morris, Boston, U.S.A.; the Reverend R. Hilliard, Killarney, Co. Kerry; James Woulffe, Limerick; T. Patton, Achill, Co. Mayo; Michael Russell, Ennis, Co. Clare; W.H. Fox, Dublin; William Barry, Dublin; James Foley, Dublin; John Scott, Liverpool; Thomas Morris, Liverpool; David Walsh, Ballina, Co. Mayo; Ben Murray, Armagh, Joseph Kelly, New York, U.S.A.: Samuel Lee, Dublin; Frank O’Brien, Louth; Patrick Glackan, Donegal; Stuart “Pat” O’Neill, Vancouver, Canada; Charles Donnelly, Dublin; Michael Nolan, Dublin; William Beathe, Belfast; Michael Kelly, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway; William Tumlison, Belfast; Tommy Woods, Dublin; James Meehan, Galway; William Henry, Belfast; Michael May, Dublin; Anthony Fox, Dublin; Maurice Quinlan, Waterford; Denis Coady, Dublin; Leo Greene, Dublin; Thomas T. O’Brien, Dublin; Frank Conroy, Dublin.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://archive.org/download/per_daily-worker_daily-worker_1938-05-30_15_129/per_daily-worker_daily-worker_1938-05-30_15_129.pdf