Myles Joseph McGrane (1904-1977)

My third great grandparents, Myles McGrane and Margaret Doyle, had at least twelve children, seven of whom survived childhood and got married. Six had children of their own and all six named a son in honour of their father:

• Myles Byrne (1873-1928), first son of Francis Byrne and Margaret McGrane (my great-granduncle);
• Myles McGrane (1888-1892), first son of Francis McGrane and his first wife Margaret Byrne;
• Myles Joseph McGrane (1904-1977), first son of Francis McGrane and his second wife Mary Fay;
• Myles O’Daly (1882-1968), second son of Richard Daly and Sarah Jane McGrane;
• Myles Jackson (1892-1897), fourth son of Benjamin Jackson and Mary Anne McGrane;
• Myles McDonnell (1899-1918), second son of Peter McDonnell and Catherine McGrane;
• Myles Vickers (1900-1970), second son of James Vickers and Alice McGrane.

In a previous post, I shared photographs of Myles Byrne and his wife Elizabeth, as displayed on their Memorial Card. And, Myles Vickers’ bizarre involvement in a court case in Dublin has also been discussed. So today, I’d like to tell you a little about Myles Joseph McGrane, the son of Francis McGrane with his second wife Mary Fay.

According to the register of his birth, Myles Joseph was born at 25 Lower Jane Place, Dublin, on 26 February 1904. He grew up in a large family of five older half-siblings, Elizabeth, Francis, Maggie, Maryanne and Thomas and two younger brothers, James and Michael. 

Still a boy, Myles took part in the Irish War of Independence. Some years ago, the medals awarded to him, for his part in the struggle, came up for sale at an auction in Dublin, and a photograph of them appeared in an online catalogue.

‘Irish Independence’ medals awarded to Myles Joseph McGrane

• In 1941, Myles was awarded the Service Medal 1917-21’ (first on the left), better known as the ‘Black and Tan medal’ due to the colour of the ribbon. Myles’ medal featured the additional ‘Comrac’ bar, indicating that, despite his youth, Myles was an armed member of the Old-IRA. The ‘Comrac’ bar was only added to the medals of those who actively participated in armed service, during the War of Independence. 

• In 1971, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the War of Independence, the Department of Defence issued the ‘Truce Commemorative Medal’. This became better known as the Survivors Medal as it was issued to surviving veterans of the War of Independence, who had already received the Black and Tan medal. 

• Myles was also awarded the ‘Na Fianna Eireann Golden Jubilee Medal’ (far right in the photograph), which was issued in 1959, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of The Fianna. The Fianna was an Irish nationalist youth organisation.

After Independence was granted, when Myles was just eighteen years old, he became a sergeant in the Irish Free State Army, thus siding with Michael Collins on the Treaty side of the Irish civil war.

Myles McGrane, Irish Army Census, 1922, Gormanston, Co. Meath
(Click on image to enlarge) 

He attested at Gormanston in Co. Meath in September 1922. He was stationed there, with the Second Eastern Division, when the Irish Army census was taken that November. He still lived with his parents at the time, at their home in Upper Oriel St, Dublin, and he named his mother, Mrs Mary McGrane, as his next-of-kin.

After the civil war, when things quietened down in Dublin, Myles became a motor driver. On 26 September 1928, he married Ellen (Nellie) Fairclough, from Clonliffe Gardens, Dublin and they raised their family at Ellenfield Road in Whitehall. Sadly, Myles and Nellie lost a seven-year-old son, Gerrard, to measles in June 1942.

Myles died, aged seventy-four years, on 28 June 1977. His wife died ten years later, on 26 February 1987. The couple share a grave at St Fintan’s Cemetery, in Sutton, Co. Dublin.

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© Black Raven Genealogy