This Custom House Man became a prisoner of the British on 25 May 1921. The following year he was being held by his former comrades in Mountjoy. There it is said he may have killed a Free State guard in an IRA attempted prison break. What a difference a year made in those momentous times. In another of life’s twists, Jim Goggins later worked in the Custom House.

Origins and Background

James Goggins was born on 5 November 1888 at Botanic Avenue, Drumcondra – at that time a village surrounded mostly by fields outside the Dublin city limits. His father John was a Bread Cart Driver originally from Co. Meath. His mother, Frances nee Martin, was a daughter of a local Dairy Proprietor. Jim was the youngest of three surviving children from four.

The family’s address was called 96 Lismore Cottages, Botanic Avenue in 1911. By then the father was an out-of-work Gardener, while Jim (aged 22) and his older brother Thomas were employed in the same trade in the Botanic Gardens. Jim continued to live at home and in 1917 became a member of F Coy, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade.

With Dublin Brigade, Tan and Civil War

Unfortunately no details of his IRA activities are known prior to his arrest at the Custom House on 25 May 1921. He was interned with his comrades in Kilmainham until December of that year. Like many of his fellow comrades, he signed a few autographs and drew a cartoon ‘selfie’.

Burning of Dublin Custom House 1921
Courtesy of Francis Lane.

Jim also appears in Cyril Daly‘s photo-album.

Burning of Dublin Custom House 1921
Courtesy of Kilmainham Gaol Museum

And he is also in two more photos taken in the Gaol.

Jim is on the left with Edward Lane (Courtesy of Kilmainham Gaol Museum and Misty Henn)
In this group shot, Jim is sitting 2nd from right between Cyril Daly and Charlie McCabe (Courtesy of Kilmainham Gaol Museum and Misty Henn).

The following year Goggins was among the minority of the 2nd Battalion who stayed with the IRA after the split over the Treaty. He was not in the Four Courts during the attack. But he did take part in the subsequent fighting in the city and was captured by National Army troops. He was among a large contingent of IRA delivered under military escort to Mountjoy Prison on 6 July. Jim’s short obituary says he took part in the major hunger-strike there over political status for Republican prisoners.

Mountjoy Shoot-out

At about 8.45 a.m. on 10 October 1922 an attempt to escape from the prison was made by some IRA prisoners held in C Wing. When an internal gate to the Circle (the junction point of the 4 wings) was opened for distribution of breakfasts, about a dozen IRA men, 3 or 4 of them armed, rushed it and overpowered the Military Police (M.P.) guard. Shots were fired resulting in the deaths of M.P. Privates James Gallagher of Burtonport, Co. Donegal and James Kearns, Tinahely, Co. Wicklow and the military sentry on the landing Private Thomas Gaffney from Fingal, north Co. Dublin. A second sentry, Private William Wilson a 1916 Mendicity veteran from Swords, north Co. Dublin, was badly wounded in the knee and later discharged from the army as medically unfit.

The sentries at the next gate opened fire when the prisoners approached. The Republicans were forced to withdraw and further shots were fired to keep them in their cells. At this stage IRA man Peadar Breslin, another 1916 veteran arrested on the surrender of the Four Courts, was fatally shot and fellow prisoner Sean Harbourne wounded. The IRA were locked back in their cells before being individually searched and put in the exercise yard. In a search of C Wing, 3 handguns, a small landmine, a Mills grenade and some ammunition was found. According to Paudie O’Keeffe, the Prison’s Deputy Military Governor, Dr. Andy Cooney, IRA O/C of C Wing, accepted responsibility for the escape attempt and was placed in solitary confinement.

Conor McHenry in Australia has done extensive research on the men of the Four Courts Garrison, one of whom was his uncle Joe McHenry. In the process he discovered from the Ernie O’Malley Papers that one of the armed Mountjoy prisoners who allegedly shot a sentry was Jim Goggins. He was not singled out and remained in captivity until the general release of Republicans in 1923.

Civilian Life

Jim went back home to resume his trade as a Gardener, working for a time again in the Botanic Gardens where his brother Thomas was still employed. Between the deaths of their father (1930) and mother (1934), Jim got married in Gloucester (now Sean MacDermott) Street Church on 21 October 1931 to Catherine ‘Kitty’ Clinton. The couple raised a family of six daughters and two sons on Botanic Avenue. A nice neighbourhood to grow up in – catching pinkeens and eels in the Tolka River, getting the fruity smell from the nearby Lemons Sweets factory and not far from the Botanic Gardens.

In later years Jim worked as a Messenger in the Custom House, which surely must have brought back old memories of his times as a young Volunteer. The memorial to his old 2nd Battalion pre-Truce comrades visible through the window of his office would have been a daily reminder should he have needed one. Hopefully there were more good recollections for him than bad.

James Goggins died at home aged 71 on 13 May 1960. He was survived by his widow Kitty – who lived till 1999 – and extended family. He was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, plot XK74.5, St. Patrick’s Section.

The Irish Press published an obituary.

A brief and deserved tribute

His part in the Struggle is fondly commemorated by his descendants, particularly his granddaughter, Commemoration Group member Marian, ‘Misty Henn’. We are delighted to join her in paying this small tribute to Custom House Fire Brigade Man James Goggins.

Fresh flowers on the well-kept Goggins family plot.

Des White