Joseph McKelvey Sculpture
The Joseph McKelvey Sculpture was created by artist John Gillespie. It can be found in the centre of Doochary village, to the left of The Ice House.
Joseph McKelvey’s Doochary Roots
Born 17th June 1898, Stewartstown, Tyrone. Executed December 8th, 1922.
Joseph’s father, Patrick McKelvey, was a native of Doochary village and worked in the Royal Irish Constabulary. His home-place is yards from the McKelvey memorial in the village.
Commandant General Joseph McKelvey, Óglaigh na hÉireann
Joseph McKelvey was a fluent Irish speaker who had a keen interest in Irish culture and sports. He was a founder member of the GAA’s O’Donovan Rossa Club in West Belfast in 1916. He studied as an accountant, working for a time in the Income Tax Office in Belfast, but was expelled from his job by Loyalist intimidation.
He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Irish Volunteers. He was active in the Irish War of Independence from 1919-1921, commanding the IRA’s 1st Belfast Battalion. He and other Volunteers burned the Belfast tax office in Customs House and two other Income Tax Offices in July 1920. In March 1921, he was appointed Commander of the Third Northern Division responsible for Belfast, Counties Antrim and Down. He, alone amongst the Belfast leadership, rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by Michael Collins. He left his Belfast command and joined the Anti-Treaty forces in Dublin and was elected as the IRA’s Chief of Staff Executive in March 1922.
McKelvey was keenly aware of his Doochary roots. Others that fought alongside him, such as Donegal native Captain Manus O’Boyle, referred to him as ‘a Donegal man’.
In April 1922, he helped command the occupation of the Four Courts in defiance of the new Irish Free State. After two days of intense fighting, in which the building was shelled, McKelvey was captured and imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin and held for five months.
On December 8th 1922 at 9am, he was executed in retaliation for the shooting of TD Sean Hales. McKelvey was killed by firing squad along with three other Anti-Treaty Republicans: Liam Mellows, Rory O’Connor and Richard Barrett. McKelvey was not killed immediately by the first volley of shots and had to be shot again. McKelvey, at only 23 years of age, was a well-respected leader by both sides and his execution was taken very badly. He was buried in Mountjoy, but later was re-interned in the Republican plot in Milltown cemetery. His grave is yards from his father Patrick’s.