Fenians, British Spies, and John F. Armstrong in Paris
August 3, 2016
Paris et ses environs: 1878. Photo Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Looking through Irish census returns from 1901 and 1911, I discovered that my great-great-great grandparents, Francis and Anne Leonard Armstrong, spoke both English and Irish. Some of their children did too.
I had never heard any family stories about John Francis Armstrong (1845-1893) speaking Irish. JF was the second of Francis and Anne’s nine children.
My mother and her siblings grew up in the home of their maternal grandmother, May Armstrong Casey Morrison (1870-1950). May was JF’s oldest child. I called my mother and asked if she knew anything about JF speaking Irish.
She paused a moment before answering, then slowly said, “No, I never heard that he spoke Irish, but he did speak French. He had to when he went to the Continent on business.”
Fenians in France
I had never heard any stories about JF traveling to continental Europe. But my mother was adamant that her grandmother had told her he traveled to France for the Irish independence movement.
It did make sense, though. Marie had already found evidence in the Parnell Commission Report (1890) that JF was a member of the Clan na Gael, the American counterpart to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. And the Clan’s European bank account was in Paris. It was certainly plausible that when JF traveled to Ireland, he may have also gone to Paris on Clan na Gael business.
An article in the Augusta Chronicle, published on May 4th 1919 mentioned JF’s trips to France. Twenty-five years after his death, the Chronicle reported that a chapter of the Friends of Irish Freedom had been established in Augusta in JF’s honor.
The article noted his work for Irish independence and that he had been followed by British spies when he traveled to Ireland and France.
The Parnell Commission Report
According to the Parnell Commission Report, British agents regularly tracked Irish nationalists in Ireland, France, and the US.
Much of the evidence presented in the report was based on testimony by Henri Le Caron, a prominent member of the Clan na Gael. Le Caron was, in fact, English-born Thomas Miller Beach, who had immigrated to the US during the American Civil War. He began spying on American Fenians for the British in 1865.
The February 10, 1889 edition of the Augusta Chronicle reported that when asked about Beach’s testimony: “Mr. Armstrong was pronounced in his denunciation of Beach (or Le Caron) and said if he had time to do so he would point out numerous inaccuracies in his testimony”.
One inaccuracy was Beach’s claim that JF had traveled to Ireland to meet with Charles Stewart Parnell in 1885. In an interview with JF published in the New York Times on March 6, 1886, he noted that he had left the US in January of 1886 and met with Parnell in Dublin in early February.
In the Shadows
It’s well documented in newspaper accounts that JF was a founding member of the Irish National League of America (INLA) and served on its Council of Seven, an advisory committee to the organization’s president. But his role in the Clan na Gael remains somewhat of a mystery.
He is referenced in the papers of Clan na Gael leader John Devoy at the National Library of Ireland. In addition, Marie has obtained a copy of a letter from the Devoy collection that JF wrote to him in 1883 after the formation of the INLA.
With JF’s travels to Ireland and England on INLA business, it’s likely that he also traveled to Paris on Clan na Gael business. But so far, we haven’t been able to track his movements in Europe through newspaper articles or passenger lists. This may be because the name John Armstrong was not uncommon at that time or that he traveled under a pseudonym.
References
“After Beach All ‘Round: Mr. John F. Armstrong Contradicts the Spy’s Testimony.” Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, GA), 10 February 1889, online archives, Genealogybank.com (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 13 March 2014), citing original p. 1.
“Talking It Over,” Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, GA), 4 May 1919, online archives, Genealogybank.com (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 1 July 2016), citing original p. 32.
“Irish Americans.” Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, IL), 29 April 1883, online archives, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 2014), citing original p. 9.
Devoy, John, “Report of Trial Committee appointed by United Brotherhood to try charges against Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland and D.C. Freeley,” John Devoy Papers (MS 18,019) collection at The National Library of Ireland, microfilm, no date. Also Hudson, Marie Van Sant, [private address] email, attached document containing information extracted from the Devoy Papers at the NLI to Tulie Wheeler Taylor, 2010; privately held by Tulie. —-Notes: This information was extracted from a document by John Devoy that states that John F. Armstrong of Georgia was called as a witness for Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland, and D.C. Feely, defendants against charges of corruption at the internal Clan na Gael trial in August and September of 1888 in Buffalo and New York. This information needs to be confirmed through further research.