The bridge at Knocksedan where the 1916 volunteers met and inset Michael Collins and right, Sr Eithne Lawless, his secretary, and later who became a nun with with Mary and Freda Heron from the Malahide Road, Swords.

THE Lawless home at Saucerstown fell silent as the body of John Crenigan was carried in to the family home. Locals had gathered when they heard word of the death of Crenigan, a young man who had ventured out into battle at Ashbourne with Thomas Ashe and the rest.He had worked at Saucerstown so it was fitting he should return there for the last time.

THE Lawless home at Saucerstown fell silent as the body of John Crenigan was carried in to the family home. Locals had gathered when they heard word of the death of Crenigan, a young man who had ventured out into battle at Ashbourne with Thomas Ashe and the rest.

He had worked at Saucerstown so it was fitting he should return there for the last time.

Many of the woman, who had been Cumann na mBan, mourned the young man and it was left to Evelyn Lawless, daughter of Ashbourne leader Frank, to lay him out, a task she performed expertly.

In many ways life changed after that for Evelyn Lawless.

Reports suggest that her interest in the cause of Irish freedom was inspired by her aunt Mary. With her sister Kathleen, Evelyn would attend lectures and training with the Cumann na mBan in the Central Branch in Parnell Square.

The Easter Week of 1916 saw the unit thrust into action with the women destined to play a leading role.

They fed the men at Saucerstown on Easter Sunday and on their return from battle shared in their disappointment that they might have been successful but the rising on the whole had failed. Many of the fighters were arrested and sent off to jail in Britain.

But the spirit that had consumed Evelyn did not diminish. As the men arrived home again in the following months, she was asked to play her part – as a trusted friend of Michael Collins.

He was part of the National Aid Association which set about helping former prisoners and dependents. But he was also organising – or reorganising – the volunteers.

This he did with the assistance of just a few close comrades – Evelyn was one with and her father Frank and brother Joe.

Frank was prominent in the Sinn Fein movement as well as the GAA and the Gaelic League. Indeed, the main GAA park in Fingal at Swords is named Lawless Memorial Park.

He was second in command to Thomas Ashe at Ashbourne, a battle in which two of his sons also took part. He was afterwards arrested and sentenced to death, the sentence being commuted to 10 years penal servitude.

In 1917 he was released under the general amnesty.

He was arrested secondly in connection with the ‘German Plot’ and while in prison in 1918 was elected TD for North Dublin, defeating the outgoing MP, Mr.J.J.Clancy K.C.

Collins knew the Lawless family well and Evelyn took up a role with him as secretary, working out of Harcourt St.

Her brother Col Joe Lawless ran a garage in Parnell St, under which was a bomb factory. He would drive for Collins whenever called upon.

Capt Colum Lawless, Evelyn’s nephew, has studied the family history and recalls one occasion which showed the trust Collins had in his father (Col Joe) and Evelyn.

Dan Breen had been called to Dublin to undertake a special task for Collins in late 1919. He was with another man when they were surrounded by members of the British Army in Drumcondra at 2am in the morning.

They made a run for it but hopping over a wall, Breen fell onto the roof of a glasshouse and was badly injured. The volunteers couldn’t afford to have him captured so the call went out for Joe and Evelyn to get to Drumcondra and take Breen to the Mater which they did, smuggling him in under cover.

Evelyn began to see all sides of the campaign, from the growing influence of the ‘G’ men and intelligence services to the hardship on the streets of the city.

‘I think the whole thing had a profound impact on her. Towards the end of 1919 she decided to leave Collins and join the convent of Charity and Refuge in Sean McDermott St,’ Colum states.

It was an enclosed order at the time and Evelyn adjusted to life there, although was often visited by family members as the years passed.

‘She was a big woman and I recall as a kid of six or seven her lifting me up. She was a very bubbly character and full of life.’

But she rarely spoke of Collins or the rest but, with her medals proudly on display, was delighted with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the rising in 1916.

But her health had begun to fail. She got her first stroke in the 50s and then had a few minor ones after that, her speech impaired in later life.

‘We would go and bring her out for dinner and whatever but whenever I’d mention Dev she’d start to boil, you could see it in her face. Her mind was perfect but with her speech gone, she must have got very frustrated,’ Colum states.

She passed away in the early 1970s, just a few years after Col Joseph Lawless.

‘Even though she was in the convent she still had a major network of friends in the political world and whenever she needed anything they’d help,’ Colum concludes.

Frank Lawless died on April 16,1922 at the age of 51. On that Saturday evening he was driving a horse and trap with his son Colm down Tone Hill near his home at Saucerstown, Swords when the animal took fright. It headed over a ditch and while Colm Lawless jumped for cover, his father suffered a fractured skull in the incident. He died the following day in a private hospital in Upper Pembroke St.