Frank Teeling

 

Wounded and captured at Lower Mount Street murder of Angliss

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Teeling

eeling was a native of Dublin. The 1911 census lists him as living at 7 Jane Place Upper. He was one of ten children born to Christopher and Sarah Teeling of whom only four survived childhood

On 21 November 1920 Teeling was one of a group of IRA men who entered 22 Lower Mount Street to assassinate Lieutenant Angliss, alias McMahon, and Lieutenant Peel. Angliss was shot dead in his bed while Peel, hearing the shots, blocked his bedroom door and survived. When members of Fianna Éireann on lookout reported that Auxiliaries were approaching the house, the unit of Volunteers split up into two groups. One left by the front door, the other left by the laneway at the back of the house. Teeling was wounded in a gun battle with the Auxiliaries in the laneway and arrested.

Teeling was the only Bloody Sunday participant to be captured at the scene. In January 1921 he was court martialled, sentenced to hang and held at Kilmainham Jail.

On the night of the 21 February he escaped from Kilmainham along with Ernie O'Malley and Simon Donnelly.

Although Frank Teeling was made a Lieutenant in the army of the newly founded Irish Free State his behaviour and escalating drink problem became a cause for concern. He had become an embarrassment to the army, but his record of service during the War of Independence made it awkward to publicly discredit him or discharge him. The commander-in-chief of the National Army complained that Teeling had been "publicly misconducting" himself and "bringing serious discredit on us". Plans were made to give him a sum of money in order to encourage him to emigrate to Australia. On 19 March 1923 the Department of Finance made out a cheque to Teeling for the sum of £250. The money was apparently to be drawn down from funds authorised by the Free State cabinet for use by the Secret Service.

However, on 27 March, Teeling shot and killed William Johnson, a member of the Citizens' Defence Force. It seems a drunk Teeling objected to the fact that Johnson had brought a bag of tomatoes into the bar at the Theatre Royal and shot him dead in the ensuing altercation.

At his trial Teeling claimed he had acted in self-defence, citing the fact that Johnson had also drawn his gun. The jury found him guilty of manslaughter and recommended clemency "on account of the state of his mind". Teeling was imprisoned for eighteen months.

Teeling remained in Ireland, continuing to live at Jane Place Upper. He was imprisoned on at least one further occasion in 1931. He died in January 1976.

 

Angliss