Who ordered Harry Boland to be shot

barrylyons

Has anyone got any insights on the Shooting of Harry Boland,
Some say he knew to much about what Collins had been up to , The reason He was in skerries was to get a fishing boat to England ,ect

Cardinal Richelieu

Interested in this topic too, who was the friend who was arrested with him?

barrylyons

Joseph griffin was with him..... Was also with him in the GPO 1916

August; MR.Harry Boland, T.D. died on Tuesday night last at 9 o'clock in St.Vincents Hospital, Dublin from injuries sustained following a shooting on Monday at the Grand Hotel in Skerries.August; MR.Harry Boland, T.D. died on Tuesday night last at 9 o'clock in St.Vincents Hospital, Dublin from injuries sustained following a shooting on Monday at the Grand Hotel in Skerries.
One of Mr.de Valera's prominent anti-Treaty supporters, Boland had checked in to the Grand Hotel on the Sunday evening. Although out of the limelight for some time past, Boland's presence in Skerries did attract attention and on the foot of information received, a party of National Troops, it would appear, set out from Balbriggan in the early hours of Monday morning, went to the Grand Hoel and proceeded to arrest Mr.Boland who struggled and in attempting to possess himself with one of his captors' guns and was shot in the struggle.
In an interview with one of the troops our reporter gleaned the following details:
'Mr.Boland was wanted and we went to the hotel and two or three of us entered his room. He was in bed. We wakened him and he got up out of bed and partly dressed himself. He had no gun.
Suddenly he turned and rushed to tackle one of our fellows for his gun. A shot was fired over his head to desist bu he continued to struggle and almost had the gun when a second shot was fired and Mr.Boland was wounded.'
The bullet, we are informed, entered his right side about the ribs, passed through his body and came out through his left side causing very serious injuries. Medical and spiritual aid were called for and the T.D. was brought to a Dublin hospital.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT
The following official bulletin was issued by G.H.Q., Irish Army on last Monday:
'Early this morning a small party of troops entered the Grand Hotel to place Mr.H.Boland T.D., under arrest. Mr.Boland had been actively engaged in the irregular campaign. When accosted in his bedroom he made an unsuccessful attempt to seize a gun from one of the troops and then rushed out to the door. After firing two shots at random and calling on Mr.Boland to halt, it was found necessary to fire a third shot to prevent an escape.
Mr.Boland was wounded and removed to hospital. A man giving his name as John J.Murphy with residence at 3 Castlewod Avenue, Ranelagh, who was found with Mr.Boland, was taken prisoner. Subsequently he was identified as Joseph Griffin, an active irregular, belonging to Dublin.'

jonniebgood1

Thomas MacGreevy's account seems to agree partly with this

Boland had sought to be a peacemaker between the two factions, the 'official' Free State government organized in accordance with the Anglo-Irish Treaty that ended the Irish War for Independence, and the mutinous elements of the old Irish Republican Army. ( Lawlor 187) His death, as MacGreevy implies in his article, was perhaps the result of overzealousness on the part of Free State authorities. MacGreevy stresses that Boland was unarmed at the time of his arrest, ( MacGreevy 249) a subtle reference to the legal maneuvering of the Free State government. Rebel leaders were arrested and, in some cases, executed, not for treason or mutiny, but rather for illegal possession of arms, as minor as a revolver in Erskine Childers's case. ( Lawlor 212)