Harry Boland (27 April 1887 – 2 August 1922) was a Sinn Fein TD from Mayo South-Roscommon South from 14 December 1918 to 2 August 1922 and a leader of the anti-Anglo-Irish Treaty faction during the Irish Civil War.
Biography[]
Boland at the Battle of Dublin
Harry Boland was born in Phibsborough, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland on 27 April 1887, the son of an Irish Republican Brotherhood member and the brother of Gerald Boland. Boland joined the Fenians in 1904 and fought with the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising of 1916. In 1918, as a Sinn Fein member, Boland was elected to Parliament to represent South Roscommon, but he withdrew to sit in the newly-proclaimed Dail Eireann. Eamon de Valera named him as special envoy to the United States to keep him away from his close friend Michael Collins, as De Valera feared that Collins and Boland would team up to lead the revolution against the British themselves as he headed to gain US recognition of Ireland's independence. Boland would return with De Valera, raising some funds for the Irish Republican Army, but ultimately failing to acquire US recognition. Boland came to be a supporter of De Valera when the issue of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty arose, betraying Collins and leaving the Dail with De Valera and his supporters. In 1922, the soldiers of the Irish Free State attempted to arrest him at the Skerries Grand Hotel in Dublin after the Battle of Dublin, which he attempted to flee. However, he was shot dead in his hotel room, and Collins mourned the death of his old friend.