Lee Enfield rifle, 1st Cork Brigade, IRA

Lee Enfield rifle, 1st Cork Brigade, IRA

This Lee Enfield rifle was part of armoury of B Company, 5^th Battalion, 1^st Cork Brigade of the IRA. This older model rifle has been heavily repaired - the stock and barrel is bound together to keep it in place. "T O’D Whitechurch" is scratched into the wooden butt, indicating the rifle belonged to a member of the Whitechurch and Carrignavar area battalion of the Cork Brigade.
Lee Enfield rifles were the standard issue rifle of the British Army, but were commonly held by the IRA, a number of whom were British military veterans of WWI. Many Lee Enfields had also been sold to Irish Volunteers before 1916 by British soldiers, who would then claim to have been robbed.  Many of these had been hidden after the 1916 Rising, and brought into use again during the War of Independence.