Madge Clifford

Margaret Mary Clifford (later Comer; 1896–20 April 1982)^[1][2] in Tralee, County Kerry, was an Irish republican and senior figure in Cumann na mBan, of which organisation she became quartermaster with the rank of brigadier general during the Irish Civil War. She joined Cumann na mBan at its inception in 1914 and was involved in the nationalist struggle from then onwards. She took the anti-treaty side in the civil war.

Clifford was born in Ballybane, Firies, Co Kerry,^[3] one of nine children to Jeremiah Clifford, a farmer, and Mary Brosnan. Both her parents were involved in Land League and her mother had participated in the Castlefarm incident and its aftermath. Clifford attended Knockaderry National School, Farranfore, then went to Presentation Girls Secondary School. She qualified as a typist, having attended a secretarial school in Tralee.

Clifford was one of the few women to gather, along with Irish Volunteers from all over Kerry, at the Rink Volunteer Hall in Tralee on Easter Saturday 1916 to await the planned arrival of weapons, procured from Germany by Roger Casement, on the ship Aud.^[4] She came to Dublin in 1917 and joined the central branch (Parnell Square) of Cumann na mBan.^[5] She was at the headquarters of Sinn Féin in Harcourt Street when the results of the 1918 election came in.

Clifford assisted Michael Collins and Harry Boland at GHQ and brought letters to and from there to captives in Mountjoy Prison.^[5] Clifford later pointed out some of the British agents to be killed by the IRA on Bloody Sunday.

She was known to Austin Stack from her Tralee days and he asked her to be his private secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Her work included the setting-up of the Republican Courts. After that department was shut down in February 1922 she continued to work from the Sinn Féin offices in Suffolk Street.

Clifford was one of five women in the Four Courts on 28 June 1922 and was working on a proclamation with Liam Mellows when the first shells from Free State forces landed near them. Opposed to the Anglo Irish Treaty, Clifford was taken prisoner twice by Free State forces and escaped on each occasion. She soon became full-time secretary and "adjutant" to IRA assistant chief of staff Ernie O'Malley.^[5] Following the latter's arrest on 4 November 1922 she was asked by Éamon de Valera to serve as secretary to IRA chief of staff Liam Lynch at GHQ in the Tower House, Finglas, north Dublin. From then until the end of March 1923 she was a constant presence in this large building that was home to the Fitzgerald family, prosperous Dublin merchants who were sympathetic to the republican cause. When Lynch and his small staff arrived, secret rooms and hiding places were constructed and the building became a fully functioning military command centre. After the death of Lynch in April 1923 Clifford was essentially secretary to the Republican government until the end of the civil war less than two months later.

Fellow republican Todd Andrews admired Clifford whom he felt was as "well informed about every detail of the IRA as O'Malley himself".^[6]

While canvassing with Maud Gonne and Constance Markievicz in Rathdowney, County Laois, for a by-election in 1925 she met local doctor John Joseph "Jack" Comer, originally from Williamstown, Co. Galway. He had been medical officer to the IRA's 3rd Southern Division and was one of the last civil war prisoners to be released in 1924. They were married later in 1925 and had eight children: daughters Biddy, Fin, Maureen, Uná, Dodie and Norrie and sons Simon and Jerry.^[7] The family lived in Fairy Hill, Rathdowney. Jack Comer went into private medical practice due to being prevented from working for the state on account of his republican views.

Clifford assisted republican Florrie O'Donoghue with dates for his biography of Lynch published in 1954. She held traditional republican views against partition and remained in contact with old comrades. She supported later republican campaigns in the Six Counties.

She returned to Kerry after her husband retired and is buried in the Clifford family tomb in Aglish, Firies, Co Kerry.

Clifford's grandson is Kerry author and historian Dr Tim Horgan.^[8][9]