The Cairo Gang Photo

The so called "Cairo Gang" photo comes in fact in two varieties, one with the Getty Image Archives (top print) and is credited to a Sean Sexton, and another attributed to the Piaris Beaslai collection at NLI (bottom print). Beaslai was a cousin of Lily Merin (or Mernin), one of Michael Collins' moles in Dublin Castle, who passed much useful information to Collins. He was also, worringly from the point of view of spin, IRA Director of Publicity

The Cairo Gang never existed as such. The much heralded photo has been mis-label "The Cairo Gang" by later pundits. It, is in fact labeled by the IRA at the time as "The Special Gang". The IRA also have the names of the men on the photo and it is clear that the group comprises men from F Coy of ADRIC who were used for "special" photo shoots, like the Battle of Vico Road . They were not intelligence agents

The Cairo Gang was supposed to be a group of British Intelligence agents in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence with a brief to conduct intelligence operations against members of the Irish Republican Army. I eventually discovered that the term "Cairo Gang" has not actually been used anywhere prior to 1958, and the first mention in an Irish newspaper is 1962 (using Google ngrams). So unless anyone can find a contemporary reference to it in the War of Independence, the conclusion is that it was never actually used in 1920.

I used "Dublin" as a control, one can see the number of mentions fairly uniform since 1910. But when you use "Cairo Gang" the earliest mentions are in late 1950s

Thoms Dublin Directory 1921

The British seemed to have frequented 2 cafes in the Grafton St area

Cairo Cafe (Cairo Café was 59 Grafton Street five doors from the corner of South King St in the building now occupied by Sisley)

Kidds Back (Kidds was where the Berni Inn is today in Nassau St or the Porterhouse pub at 46 Nassau street and had a back entrance through Adam court leading to Grafton street, and it was Jammet's Restaurant before that.

There is no findable mention of "Cairo Gang" in books or documents of the 1919-1922 period. The earliest reference found so far is 1958. The term has been cut and pasted ever since.

Nelligan in the Spy in the Castle makes no mention of the Cairo Gang.

Dan Breen in My fight for Irish freedom refers to Murder Gang

Rex Taylor “Michael Collins” Four Square Books 1958 “In Cairo sixteen officers were chosen for a special task ….. The Cairo group travelled under assumed names and arrived in Dublin singly on different dates. They were in plain clothes and posing as commercial travellers….rented flats in Pembroke street and Mount Street.

“In Cairo sixteen officers were chosen for a special task ….. The Cairo group travelled under assumed names and arrived in Dublin singly on different dates. They were in plain clothes and posing as commercial travellers….rented flats in Pembroke street and Mount Street. The Black & Tans by Richard Bennet, Four square 1959 talks of British Intelligence officers and “hush hush men“ but makes no mention of Cairo gang.

talks of British Intelligence officers and “hush hush men“ but makes no mention of Cairo gang. Cairo Gang is referred to in Collins by James Gleeson 1962

Bloody Sunday by James Gleeson, London, Peter Davies, 1962 does not mention Cairo Gang by name

T Ryle Dwyer “Michael Collins and the treaty” 1981 Mentions Cairo Gang having been responsible for killing Thomas MacCurtain in Cork

Michael Collins and the Brotherhood by Vincent McDowell 1997says They were not to go near the Castle but to report to Colonel Ormonde Winter daily at either the Cairo café or Kidds restaurant, they called themselves the Cairo group – the Squad called them the Cairo gang

It may have been taken in the narrow alley in centre bottom of the above overhead shot

The collection of material held in Dublin, Military Archives (The Bureau of Military History) and contained in a scrapbook compiled by I.R.A.intelligence,1919-21,including intelligence in Collins papers on, special gang " F"coy aux div, giving names to the numbers in the in the photo.