Cork schoolgirl's class history project becomes RTÉ documentary

A composite image showing history project author and Donoughmore student, Saoirse Ní Shiocháin, the house in which Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith was held in Donoughmore and a posthumous portrait of Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith who was executed after his capture in 1921.

What began life as a Cork schoolgirl's class history project has now become the latest podcast from RTÉ's award winning "Doc on One" series.

Having overheard stories about the central role of her own Parish in the capture and execution of a British army officer during the War of Independence in Cork in 1921, Saoirse Ní Shiocháin decided to delve into the story a little deeper.

When her school project was completed in 2018 it told the very human and tragic story of Welsh Fussilier Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith who was executed by local IRA men in the Cork townland of Donoughmore.

Compton-Smith was captured in Blarney following an ill-fated decision to leave his barracks and venture out alone to meet - it is suggested - a local nurse with whom it is suggested he was having an affair.

Selected as the winner of the Department of Education/UCC Decade of Centenaries Schools History project in 2018 the story highlighted, in particular, local recollections of the incident and a number of letters written by the art loving soldier before his final execution near a house in Barrahaurin, Donoughmore.

The house in Barrahaurin, Donoughmore, where Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith was held for the last eleven days of his life. Picture: Saoirse Sheehan

In the letters, written over 11 days of captivity, the decorated soldier - who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (GSO) for ‘conspicuous gallantry’ during World War 1 - not only expressed his undying love for his wife and daughter but also revealed a growing respect for his IRA captors who he said "are doing what they earnestly believe to be right."

He also appeals to his men in barracks not to seek reprisals and said that he would die like a soldier "with a laugh and forgiveness" and  hoped his death would "lessen rather than increase the bitterness which exists between England and Ireland."

Now Saoirse's project has been brought to life by the RTÉ 'Doc on One' team.

Using actors and fresh interviews with local historians and descendants of men and women who were directly involved in the incident - from England to Donoughmore - the RTÉ radio documentary is certain to bring this very human story to a whole new audience at home and abroad.

Friendship

Perhaps most poignantly the documentary - which is narrated by Saoirse herself - reveals a growing friendship between herself and the grand-son of Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith, Rupert Peploe.

A friendship bolstered, she reveals, by her and Rupert's shared love of the fiddle and Irish traditional music.

Reacting to the documentary's release Saoirse - who is studying music at University College Cork and is a keen gaelic footballer with Donoughmore Ladies - revealed how delighted she was with the latest chapter in the story.

"When I started doing my school project in Gaelcholáiste Choilm I thought it was about something that was really only of local interest ... but the deeper I got into it I began to realise, with help from my history teacher, Mr David Costello, that ... what happened in Donoughmore in 1921 was not just a small local event.

"Then working with Ronan Kelly from RTÉ in making the documentary was a great experience. He ... had really imaginative ideas about linking the past with the present. He interviewed local people like Matt Healy, Maurice Brew and Paddy Looney, whose families were connected with the IRA and who had lots of stories about Compton-Smith.

"It was also Ronan’s idea to get myself and Rupert Peploe, Compton-Smith’s grandson, to play the fiddle together, and to get Rupert singing with Joe Twomey. We know that Compton-Smith joined in a singsong with his captors while he was a prisoner, singing rebel songs. It was a wonderful idea to recreate a little of that event in the documentary."

Saoirse went on to say she was delighted the documentary would shed more light on the story and those who fought for Irish freedom 100 years ago.

"I think someone will make a great movie ... about what happened in Donoughmore in 1921. It is a great story which has everything in it, including respect, bravery, love, deceit and the tragedy ... of all of the families involved."

But how does Saoirse feel about the man at the center of her story.

"I still don’t know how I really feel about Major Compton-Smith. He was the enemy of the Irish people at the time, but he seems to have been a very nice character. Even his captors in Donoughmore liked him. And he certainly went to his death very bravely, and his letters show that he bore no ill-will to the local IRA.

"But, on the other hand, the evidence seems to indicate that he was being untrue to his wife and little daughter. I suppose we are all flawed in our own ways, and he was no different to the rest of us."

An image of Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith in uniform. Picture: Lives of the First World War

So what does she feel would be a fitting conclusion to her chapter of the story.

"Hopefully his grandson, Rupert, will come to Donoghmoure and the two of us can play a few tunes together in Pat Barry’s pub. Believe it or not, he play’s Irish traditional music!"

* "I Am To Be Shot" is due to be aired on RTÉ Radio 1 this Sunday at 6pm. The documentary is already available to listen as a podcast on the RTÉ website and various other podcast hosting providers.

Extracts from Major Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith's final letters 

"I should like my death to lessen rather than increase the bitterness which exists between England and Ireland … My cigarette case I leave to the mess. I … shall die with it in my pocket."

"My own darling wife, yours humbly will die with your name on his lips, your face before my eyes, and he will die like an Englishman and a soldier ... I leave my watch to the officer who is executing me, because I believe him to be a gentleman, and to mark the fact that I bear him no malice for carrying out what he believes to be his duty."