Hi Matthew
I suspect that what I have put together here is known to you already, but it may be of interest to somebody.
I found a mention of Patrick Brennan in a piece on his brother, Michael Brennan, contributed to the Dictionary of Irish Biography by James Quinn:
https://www.dib.ie/biography/brennan-michael-a0930:
…he [Michael Brennan] was appointed brigade adjutant in Clare; his brother Paddy was appointed brigadier. Without consulting Dublin, the Brennans developed a strategy of provoking the authorities into arresting Volunteers, who would then refuse to recognise British courts and hunger-strike for political status. After the election the three Brennans were arrested for illegal drilling and put their plan into operation. Sentenced to two years hard labour (12 July 1917), they were imprisoned in Cork and then Mountjoy, where they went on hunger strike until political status was granted on 20 September 1917. Michael was moved to Dundalk in November and after a brief hunger strike was released under the ‘cat and mouse’ act. Rearrested 26 February 1918, he was held at Dundalk and Belfast, where he was elected prison commandant.
Released 24 December 1918, he assumed command of the East Clare brigade. The original Clare brigade had been wracked by in-fighting among the Brennan, Barrett, and O'Donnell families, and in late 1918 GHQ divided the county into three brigades, allocating one to each family. The Brennans were unhappy with this arrangement, having sought command of a division controlling all three brigades, and Paddy resigned; he later became clerk to the Limerick board of guardians and Sinn Féin TD for Co. Clare (1921–3). (end of quote).
The December 6th, 2012, issue of
The Clare Champion has an interesting piece on a newly published book,
The Civic Guard Mutiny, by Brian McCarthy: see
https://clarechampion.ie/civic-guard-mu ... -new-book/. The author of the article takes this quote from the book:
“Prior to his appointment as Assistant Commissioner of the Civic Guard, Patrick Brennan had been a former IRA colonel commandant and brother to Michael and Austin Brennan, who between them effectively controlled the East Clare IRA battalion”.
The article goes on to say that, born in 1893, Brennan was the eldest child of a farmer from Meelick and by 1915, he had moved temporarily to work in London and had joined the IRB.
Here is a photo of Patrick Brennan, sitting on the left of De Valera:
https://clareherald.com/history/fact/un ... nis-92161/
A journal and autograph book that belonged to Patrick Brennan, while he was in Frongoch prisoner of war camp, Jun -Dec 1916, is held by Clare Museum.
https://limerick.com/news/meelick-mans- ... t-auction/.
The information on Paddy Brennan in “Houses and their occupiers in Lahinch, County Clare” may also be known to you already, Matthew - (see
https://clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/p ... houses.htm). The information was taken by the Local Studies Centre, Clare Library, from the Ennistymon Parish Magazine, by kind permission of the The Old Ennistymon Society. The section on the houses on Marine Parade and Ennistymon Road includes this piece on Paddy Brennan:
"Across this wide entrance was at one time the Marine Hotel and Ball Room run by the Collins sisters. In the 1940s it was leased to the Fitzgeralds of Kilkee and in the 1950s sold to the late Col. Paddy Brennan who changed its name to “The Gastoff” and made it into a large ground floor bar and lounge with limited guest accommodation upstairs. Later he sold it to Mt & Mrs O’Hanlon and in the late 1950s it was purchased by the then Lahinch Development Company for the purpose of building a Dance Hall and Cinema! Following support of Bord Failte, the Lahinch Golf Club and Clare County Council, the plan moved down to the present structure of Sea World and a new Prom and Car Park were built".(end of quote).
Sheila