Frank Flood

Francis Xavier Flood (1 December 1901 – 14 March 1921), known as Frank Flood, was a 1st Lieutenant in the Dublin Active Service Brigade during the Irish War of Independence. He was executed by the British authorities in Mountjoy Prison and was one of the men commonly referred to as The Forgotten Ten.

Frank Flood
Signed photograph of Frank Flood
Born1 December 1901[1]
6 Emmet Street, Dublin
Died14 March 1921[2]
Mountjoy Prison, Dublin (aged 19)
NationalityIrish
OccupationUniversity student
Known forExecuted IRA volunteer : One of The Forgotten Ten

Background

Flood was the son of a policeman and the 1911 census lists the family living at 15 Emmet Street.[3] He was one of eight brothers, most of whom were heavily involved in the Independence movement.[4] He attended secondary school in O'Connell Schools, Dublin and won a scholarship to study engineering at University College Dublin where he was an active member of UCD's famous debating forum, the Literary and Historical Society.[5] He passed his first and second year engineering exams with distinction.[2] At the time of his arrest he was living with his family at 30 Summerhill Parade, Dublin.

Trial and execution

He was captured, together with Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Bernard Ryan and Dermot O'Sullivan while attacking a lorry-load of Dublin Metropolitan Police at Drumcondra on 21 January 1921.[6][7] All of the men were found in possession of arms and a grenade was discovered in Flood's pocket.[4] On 24 February 1921 Flood was charged by Court-martial, with high treason/levying war against the King, and was one of six men executed by hanging on 14 March 1921 in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin.[6] At nineteen years of age, he was the youngest of the six. His older brother Patrick was the only member of the family to make appearance on day of execution.

Legacy and re-interment
The Grave of nine of the Forgotten Ten in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

Flood was a close personal friend of Kevin Barry, and asked that he be buried as close as possible to him.[6] He had taken part in the September 1920 ambush during which Barry had been arrested and had been involved in the planning of several aborted attempts to rescue him.[5] Flood would remain buried at Mountjoy Prison, together with nine other executed members of the Irish Republican Army known as The Forgotten Ten, until he was given a state funeral and reburied at Glasnevin Cemetery on 14 October 2001 after an intense campaign led by the National Graves Association.[8]

Students of University College Dublin established the Frank Flood Shield, an annual debating competition, in his memory.[5] Flood and the other five men executed on 14 March 1921 are commemorated in Thomas MacGreevy's poem "The Six who were Hanged".[9]

The bridge over the River Tolka in Drumcondra at Millmount Avenue/Botanic Avenue was named Droichead Frank Flood on 14 March 2018.[10]

References and sources
Notes
  1. "Ireland Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958". FamilySearch. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. "SIX IRISHMEN DIE ON DUBLIN GALLOWS AS CROWDS PRAY; Relatives of the Condemned Men in the Throng Gathered Outside Mountjoy Prison. ALL CITY WORK SUSPENDED Guards Treat Mourners With Consideration and a Clash Is Averted. FEAR NOW OF REPRISALS Troops Fired On In Dublin Street at Night Return Shots and Kill Three" (PDF). The New York Times. March 15, 1921.
  3. "Census of Ireland 1901/1911". National Archives of Ireland. 2 April 1911. Retrieved 11 February 2017. Residents of a house 15.1 in Emmet Street (Mountjoy, Dublin)
  4. ""Down Into the Mire" - Part 4 of "The Forgotten Ten" - The Wild Geese Today". Thewildgeese.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  5. "Friendship till death: ThePost.ie". Archives.tcm.ie. October 14, 2001. Archived from the original on March 22, 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  6. "Department of the Taoiseach - Reinterment of 10 volunteers executed". Taoiseach.gov.ie. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  7. "Selton Hill". Dcu.ie. Archived from the original on 2007-03-28. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  8. "History". Nga.ie. Archived from the original on November 20, 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  9. Jenkins, Lee (Fall 1994). "Thomas McGreevy and the Pressure of Reality". The Thomas McGreevy Hypertext Chronology; University College Dublin. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  10. "Speech at the unveiling of Frank Flood Bridge, Drumcondra". Retrieved 2018-03-14.
Sources
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