STAFF DUTIES - APPOINTMENTS & DISCHARGES MEMO No 13

SB. 54pp This official document, dated 6th March 1924, lists the names of 898 officers being demobilised from the Irish Defence Forces on 7th March 1924 and a further 33 who resigned, effective from the same day. The details given in each case include name and rank and the unit in which the officer was serving at the time, and in many cases, the appointment held. This action was the result of the decision to reduce the strength of the force (marine, coastal and army) from the May 1923 figure of 55,000 to 31,300 by January 1924. Many officers bitterly resented being demobilised and a number of them at the Curragh refused to accept their papers and were charged for insubordination, court-martialled and sentenced to dismissal. A technical slip-up meant the sentence could not be confirmed but before a re-trial could be held the officers concerned had been persuaded to accept. Some officers who were not earmarked for demob took leave of the army in their own way. Over fifty made off with arms and ammunition and almost the same number resigned - including three major generals and five colonels. This was a very turbulent period in the history of the newly formed independent Irish Free State, which had just emerged from the bitter Irish Civil War of 1922-23, and needed to reduce its armed forces. The 898 in this list are those who acceptd their papers without protest; those with asterisks against their names resigned. At the end are seven names, officers dismissed the service for the reasons given.…