De Valera- Jail Break

    There were iconic moments in the life of Eamon de Valera- soldier, politician and statesman which have been recounted and told through the years. Present in 1916 during the Rising, de Valera dominated much of the next five decades in Irish political life. One amazing story from the War of Independence relates to his escape from Lincoln Jail. In October 1950 the Evening Echo newspaper reported how de Valera had revisited the prison and the scene of his escape:

Mr. de Valera re-visited Lincoln Gaol to-day and told the Governor (Brigadier E. J. Paton-Walsh) how he and two fellow prisoners escaped on the night of February 3rd 1919 with a replica of the master key. The Press Association reports:

When he asked if he could see the present key he was told that since 1919 all the locks had been changed. The key which Mr de Valera used to open the doors was made in Ireland after he had picked up a key from the chaplain's table, and made an impression of it in wax from an altar candle. The key was smuggled back to him in a cake iced with plaster of Paris. With Mr-de Valera on his visit to-day was Mr. Fenner Brockway, Labour M.:P. for Eton and Slough who was a prisoner in the gaol at the time as a conscientious objector. When Mr. de Valera entered his old cell he was amused to read the description "Escapee" on the cell board of the present occupant. Mr. de Valera and Mr- Brockway described the escape route to the Governor, and afterwards went to the back of the gaol, where he found some rusted barbed wire. When he said it was probably part of the fortifications at the time he escaped, several members of his party took pieces as souvenirs.

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )