On 21st Nov 1921, 13 members of the British Secret Service were executed in Dublin by the IRA. This lead directly to “Bloody Sunday” in which British soldiers opened fire at a match in Croke Park and killed 14 persons.
What people might not know is that one of the British spies was a Castlebar native, a Captain Paddy MacCormack from Main Street, Castlebar.
He was the only son of Kate MacCormack who owned the Commercial House, a large drapery and millinery store. This establishment changed hands and was remodelled several times and nowadays, a portion of it is owned by the Parson’s family and a portion by the Quinn family in Main Street.
MacCormack was first a noted amateur jockey and then later qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon. When his parents died, the business was sold and he left the town to enlist at the outbreak of the Great War in 1914.
Nothing was heard of him again until details of the shootings in Dublin reached the town. Townsfolk was shocked that he had been one of the chief English spies as he had played a prominent part in the social life of Castlebar and had appeared regularly at many local entertainments in the Town Hall.