IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY FRANK AIKEN PART ONE OF SIX

Frank Aiken was born in Armagh in 1898. He was politically and militarily active from a young age, joining the Irish Volunteers at sixteen, and within a few years becoming Chairman of the Armagh Comhairle Ceanntair of Sinn Féin and elected onto Armagh County Council. During the War of Independence, he commanded the Fourth Northern Division of the IRA. The split over the Anglo-Irish Treaty left Aiken ultimately aligned with the Anti-Treaty side in spite of personal efforts to prevent division and civil war. He succeeded Liam Lynch as Chief of Staff of the IRA in March 1923 and issued the cease fire and dump arms orders on 24 May 1923 that effectively ended the Civil War. Aiken, operating from the south Armagh/north Louth area, was one of the most effective IRA commanders in Ulster during the conflict.

He was first elected to the Dáil as a Sinn Féin candidate in the Louth constituency in 1923, continuing to be re-elected for Fianna Fáil at every election until his retirement from politics fifty years later. He entered the first Fianna Fáil government as Minister for Defence (1932--9), later becoming Minister for the Coordination of Defensive Measures (1939--45) with responsibility for overseeing Ireland's national defence and neutral position during the Second World War.

Aiken received many decorations and honours, including honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland and University College Dublin. He was also a lifelong supporter of the Irish language. His son ran unsuccessfully in the 1987 and 1989 general elections for the Progressive Democrats. His wife died in a road accident in 1978.Frank Aiken died on 18 May 1983 in Dublin from natural causes at the age of 85. He was buried with full State honours in his native Camlough, County Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Anglo-Irish Treaty
• Ireland
• Republic Of Ireland
• Northern Ireland
• Dublin