Deaths during internment in the north in the 1940s

Around 400 men and women were imprisoned for political reasons by the northern government during 1938-50. Of that 400, at least twelve are believed to have died from illnesses and complications arising from the conditions of their imprisonment, a mortality rate of about 3%. Typically, to provide some level of deniability, the northern government released the prisoner when death was inevitable so that they didn’t die in prison.

In many of the cases, the prison conditions, diet, absence of either any meaningful medical care or even medical supplies to self-treat open wounds are believed to be the main contributing factor in the deaths. Given the age profile of the dead, men in their twenties to early forties, it is interesting to compare that 3% figure to the mortality rate of the British armed forces in the Second World War, which was 3.3%.

Of the dead, Jack Gaffney is buried in the Harbinson plot and listed on the County Antrim Memorial of the National Graves Association and is the only one who is usually listed among the IRA’s roll of honour for the period (along with others who died while in prison in England, Ireland and Isle of Man, names are not for those who died after release). The reaction to Gaffney’s death, including the large funeral also seems to have dictated the future strategy for managing terminally ill prisoners – basically, don’t let them die in custody.

Here is a provisional list of those who are said to have died due to conditions in the prisons in the north (Crumlin Road, Al Rawdah and Derry):

Jack Gaffney, died on the Al Rawdah prison ship in November 1940 (he received head injuries falling from a bunk that remained untreated).

Seán Dolan from Derry, who was released from Crumlin Road to die at home (25th October 1941)

Cathal Kerr (released from Crumlin Road)

J Rooney (released from Crumlin Road) 

Joe McGinley (name also given as John McGinley, released from Crumlin Road, 1943)

Seamus Keenan (released from Crumlin Road, 1943)

Bernard ‘Sean’ Curran (Crumlin Road, 1943 while terminally although Curran died just over a year later from the same illness in 1945)

Henry O’Kane (released from Crumlin Road while terminally ill)

Dickie Dunn

Tom Graham (died of pleurisy)

Mickey McErlean

Richard Magowan (died from TB, 1943)

The sources for the deaths ascribed to conditions in the prisons are a short list printed in United Irishman in December 1950 (first four above), contemporary statements given in Stormont (in which a figure of seven dead by 1943 was not challenged by the unionists), John McGuffin’s book Internment (he cites the figure of seven dead), Tarlach Ó hUid’s account on his internment in the 1940s, Faoi Ghlas, and Vincent McDowell’s obituary of Pat Donnelly (preserved in the Sean O’Mahony Papers in NLI).