A 1921 Constabulary Medal (Ireland) pair awarded to District Inspector J. Sugrue, Royal Irish Constabulary, for his valour and leadership during an 11 hour battle after a party of 14 policemen under his command had been ambushed by 50 Republicans at Maam, Co. Galway, on 23 April 1921

Constabulary Medal (Ireland), 2nd type, ‘Reward of Merit Royal Irish Constabulary’ (District Inspector James Sugrue 1921) lacking top silver riband bar; Visit to Ireland 1903 (S.. J. Sugrue. R.I.C.) lacking integral top shamrock riband bar; edge bruising, very fine (2) £2,800-£3,200

Royal Irish Constabulary Medal of Merit for Bravery granted 24 August 1921.

The original recommendation (jointly to District Inspector James Sugrue, Sergeants Thomas Walsh, John Gilmartin, and Patrick Hanley, and Constables John Boylan and Michael Ruttledge) states: ‘For pre-eminent valour and bravery on the occasion of an ambush at Maam, Co. Galway, on 23 April 1921. A party of fourteen police were on a cycling patrol at Kilmilkin, near Maam, when they were fired on by about 50 men from high ground near a house. The police at once took what cover they could and returned the fire. They were cut off from all assistance in a desolate mountainous country and most of them had to lie in a stream in order to get any cover at all, while the rebels had fired from positions carefully prepared on the sides of the mountain. The police could not retreat, as the only way was through a bog which would only lead to wild foothills, and they would not think of surrendering. Constable Boylan was killed after about two hours’ fighting and Sergeant Hanley was wounded twice. The police, however, steadily maintained their positions and inflicted several casualties upon the rebels. At last, after 11 hours, help, which had been fetched by Constable Ruttledge by dashing to a passing motor under a heavy fire- which wounded him- arrived from Galway and the rebels made off. A considerable quantity of arms, ammunition, and seditious literature was captured.
District Inspector Sugrue, who was in charge of the party which achieved this fine feat of arms, controlled the expenditure of ammunition so ably that the police had nearly half their supply still unused when help came.’

James Sugrue was born on 2 February 1871, and was appointed a Constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary on 2 February 1892. Allocated to Waterford, he was promoted Sergeant on 1 October 1900, and Head Constable on 19 December 1916. He was appointed District Inspector in Oughterard, Co. Galway, on 14 May 1920, and was awarded his Royal Irish Constabulary Medal of Merit for Bravery for his valour and bravery during the ambush at Maam on 23 April 1921, one of six medals awarded for this action. A more fuller account of the action was published in the Irish Times:

‘In an eleven hours’ fight, which took place yesterday in Maam Valley, Connemara, between a cycle patrol of fourteen R.I.C. constables, under a District Inspector, and what is described as a flying column of the I.R.A., Constable John Boylan, a native of County Leitrim, was shot dead, and Sergeant Hanley received two bullet wounds to the right leg, while Constable Ruttledge was wounded in the left forearm when going for assistance in a passing motor car seven hours after the engagement had started. The police believe that one attacker was killed and two wounded. The fight opened at dawn, and raged until 3:30 p.m. around the house of Mr. Patrick O’Malley, the member of Dail Eireann for the constituency of Connemara and Galway City. The police were under District Inspector Sugrue, of Oughterard, and they believe that the Republicans numbered fifty. They were apparently well armed with long-range Service rifles.

The police set out from Oughterard about 3:00 a.m. on Saturday for the purpose of searching the house of Mr. Patrick O’Malley. In order to escape detection, they went to the scene on bicycles. Cycling two deep, and twenty yards apart, they entered the Valley of Maam, which runs from Maam Cross to Leenane, at the break of day. The house of Mr. O’Malley stands three hundred yards from the main road, underneath a range of rock and heather-covered hills, and it is approached by a lane. As the patrol came near, they noticed smoke from the chimney, as if the inhabitants were astir, and the shutting and opening of doors was also observed. As they were about to enter the side road shots rang out. Sergeant Hanley threw himself from his machine, and took what cover he could find behind the stump of a tree. Here he found the fire so concentrated that he sought the more ample cover of a rick of turf. He was wounded almost in the first fusillade.

Meanwhile the assailants were seen leaving the house, and rushing for cover to the hills behind, which commanded a clear view of the road for a considerable distance. The road is bare and practically without cover, and the district is very sparsely inhabited. The police sought any cover that they could find, and some of them remained throughout the fight in the water of a brook. The Republican forces took up what are described as carefully prepared positions, mostly consisting of low walls and loopholed sod fences, about three hundred yards from the road and a thousand feet above the constabulary. Whilst they were getting into position, rapid musketry fire was opened by the police. it is believed that during this time the Republican casualties were sustained. The search party declare that they subsequently found blood stains on the hills. The manoeuvre of getting into position was executed with dash and rapidity, and the police then realised that they were practically pinned to the ground without adequate cover. Indeed, some of them had no cover at all, except for the fold in the ground, and without any practical means of retreat open to them, as the road on either side was within view of the attackers. They could only have retired through the open boggy marsh to the south-west, but whilst this would have taken them away from the attackers it would only have brought them to the foothills of the Maamturk Mountain. Accordingly, District inspector Sugrue called to his men to take what cover they could, conceal their bicycles, if possible, and only to act under his instructions, reserving their ammunition, only firing when directed. The patrol was widely separated, and word had to be passed from one pair of men to another. Directly that an opportunity offered, a policeman would take aim and fire three or four shots as ordered, and then lie flat on the ground or in the brook.

The opposing forces took every precaution to conceal their positions, and in this they were assisted by heavy showers of sleet and rain. When a shower obscured the landscape concentrated fire was opened from the hill. “The bullets whizzed all round us like hailstones: said a constable, “and ploughed the bog and the road while we lay there inactive, except for the occasional opportunity to fire, knowing that if night came without relief we were doomed. When the rain or hailstorm passed, the concentrated fire immediately ceased. Not a puff of smoke was to be seen on the hills to indicate the situation of the rebels, who then settled down to sniping until another shower or mist came to act as a natural smoke screen on the mountains above our heads.”

After about two hours’ fighting Constable Boylan, who was taking cover behind a low sod fence on the roadside, was hit in the neck. He died almost immediately, his last words to his companions being, “I am done. They have the range of the road exactly. Do the best you can.” Sergeant Hanley was twice wounded during the fight, both bullets entering the right leg, one below and one above the knee. So carefully was the road watched, and so close and accurate was the shooting at times, that none of his companions was able to go to his assistance. They could only shout him words of encouragement and cheer occasionally. During the long hours of the day the police maintained their positions.

At about noon a motor car came along the road. Constable Ruttledge, who was half immersed in water, where he was taking cover, crept forward and stopped the motor. Jumping on the running board, he commanded the driver to “drive like hell”. As the motor bounded forward a hail of bullets came from the hills, and the firing was continued as it passed along the road towards Maam. When the car had gone about a quarter of a mile from the scene of the fighting Constable Ruttledge was struck by a long range bullet. Nevertheless, he held on, and got to Maam, where he communicated with police headquarters in Galway.

The news of the engagement reached Galway about 2:30 p.m., and immediately the Divisional Commissioner, Mr. C. F. Cruise, got together a force of police and Auxiliaries in armoured cars, which included a new fast armoured car with Rolls-Royce engines, carrying a Vickers Maxim machine-gun. Before 4:00 p.m. the 35 miles between Galway and Kilmilkin had been covered. Flanking parties were rapidly destroyed, and fire was opened on the hills from the Maxim and two Lewis guns. Snipers left behind by the retreating Republicans then opened fire on the lorries. As an Auxiliary Cart went forward to attend to Sergeant Hanley, who was on the opposite side of the road from the hills, a bullet whizzed past his head. it was found that the police were in various positions along the road for a distance of about 200 yards. so carefully had they husbanded their ammunition that they had still nearly half of it left when the relieving party arrived. They greeted the reinforcements with a cheer, and as the Divisional Commissioner came amongst them they came to the “salute” as if they were on parade. They had been in a cramped position for several hours, and many of them were so stiff that they could hardly stand erect.’ (Irish Times, 25 April 1921 refers).

Sugrue was discharged to pension on the Disbandment of the Royal Irish Constabulary on 19 May 1922.