Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry


Each one of our party was armed with a revolver. We were only about five minutes in position when the patrol returned, still in the same order as I had seen it earlier. Hurley judged his shot to perfection, and at once all of us opened fire. The patrol was taken completely by surprise and, in a comparatively short time, the attack was over. Some of the Tans did fire back at us, and there were a few narrow escapes on our side. Jim McCarthy of Midleton, although not a member of the column, took part in the attack, and was wounded in the wrist. Otherwise, we escaped unscathed. But what of the patrol? Constable Mullins was shot dead, and about six other Tans wounded, some of whom died later from their wounds. Some of the patrol threw their rifles on the street and ran away. ‘Gordie’ escaped uninjured, and somehow I was glad of this, as I still think he was not of an evil nature. Two of the Black and Tans were lying on the footpath near me, bleeding profusely. Sergeant Moloney of the Midleton R.I.C. had been sent earlier to the house of a British ex-officer, to collect the latter's uniform. The sergeant was returning to barracks with the uniform, and as his return coincided with the attack, he came under our fire, was shot in the foot, and dropped the uniform convenient to where I was, and only a few yards from one of the wounded Black and Tans. I knelt down beside the Tan and spoke to him. He told me his name, which I have now forgotten. He then offered me his wallet. I took it from his hand and put it back in the breast pocket of his tunic, and told him I was doing so. I then got the uniform which Sergeant Maloney had dropped, folded it and placed it under the Tan's head. The poor fellow lost a lot of blood, and I expect he was one of those who eventually died of wounds. I cannot say with any certainty now what number of rifles and revolvers we captured that night. This attack took place only a few hundred yards from the R.I.C. barracks and about five hundred yards from the military post. The whole affair lasted about twenty minutes. All the boys were in great form, but I recall having mixed feelings, due to my so-intimate contact with the wounded Black and Tan. Official reprisals followed in Midleton within a day or so, houses of some prominent citizens, including those of Edward Carey and John O'Shea, being wrecked by military and Black and Tans.’


Dray died of his wounds on 31 December 1920. The close-quarter slaughter in the centre of Midleton led to the first officially sanctioned reprisals carried out by the British during the Anglo-Irish War. Brigadier-General Higginson, the military commander of the area, had leaflets distributed (one of which survives in the National Museum of Ireland) informing residents that, because they had not reported this attack to the authorities, seven buildings would be destroyed. Those targeted included the houses of John O’Shea, Paul McCarthy and Edmond Carey, all on Main Street, Midleton. An extraordinary film clip of British Pathe News survives (Reprisals by Order 1921 refers). It was taken immediately after the reprisals. It shows Main Street, the shopfronts and doorways where the I.R.A. gunmen hid, four armed R.I.C. Constables, an apparently unarmed old R.I.C. Sergeant, and the property damage inflicted. Unofficial reprisals had occurred elsewhere in 1920, with the authorities either disavowing them, disputing who was responsible or turning a blind eye. From this point on, official reprisals became a regular element of British political and military policy in Ireland.


On 16 May 1921, Dray’s mother wrote to the military authorities asking to be sent ‘the medals which are due to my son, Ernest Dray, who was killed in Ireland last December.’


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