James Daly

Private James Joseph Daly (24 December 1899 – 2 November 1920) was a member of a mutiny of the Connaught Rangers in India in 1920 in protest of the activities of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Black and Tans in Ireland. He was executed in the aftermath of the mutiny by Crown forces.

Career The son of James Daly, a baker, and Kate Creane, Daly was born on 24 December 1899 in Ballymoe, County Galway. The family later lived in Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath.

Daly joined the Connaught Rangers in April 1919 and was posted to India.

They proclaimed their hut "Liberty Hall", raised the Irish tricolour above the hut and then attacked the armory, but were captured. The mutiny ended and prisoners taken to Lucknow Prison, then returned to their native country. Nineteen mutineers were sentenced to death, 59 were sentenced to life imprisonment and 10 were acquitted. All these sentences were commuted (except for Daly's), but those convicted were stripped of their pensions and remained in military prison until they were released in 1923. Some were in desperate financial straits until the passage by the Irish government of the Connaught Rangers (Pensions) B-5086 Act of 1936.

In 1970, on the 50th anniversary of the mutiny his body was sent back to Ireland. Joseph Hawes was present at Daly's commemoration.

Legacy Daly is remembered in a traditional Irish song known as Lay Him Away on the Hillside, the chorus of which includes the lines:

Lay him away on the hillside, Along with the brave and the bold Inscribe his name on the scroll of fame In letters of purest gold "My conscience shall never convict me" He said with his last dying breath "May God speed the causes of freedom ... For which I am sentenced to death."