Biography

Darcy was a native of Donaghpatrick, Headford

Headford

Headford is a town in County Galway, located 26 km north of Galway city in the west of Ireland. The N84 national secondary route from Galway to Castlebar passes through the town. The R333 road travels from Headford to Tuam. There are many other 'boreens' and third-class roads on the...

, County Galway

County Galway

County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

, and was Officer Commanding of the third battalion, which made up Cloneen, Claren and Caherlistrane. His brigade was an independent one which liased with that of Michael Newell in Castlegar. Both brigades participated in the ambushs at Kilroe barracks and Headford, in April 1921.

Darcy was captured at Oranmore

Oranmore

Oranmore is a village in County Galway on the outskirts of Galway city in Ireland. With its major housing developments, Oranmore is rapidly becoming a part of Galway's commuter or suburban belt...

 railway station by the Black and Tans

Black and Tans

The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...

. After two days imprisonment, he was identified by members of the Headford Royal Irish Constabulary

Royal Irish Constabulary

The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...

. Later that night he was shot by the Black and Tans; his body was tied to the back of a lorry and pulled behind as it drove from Oranmore to Roscam, where it was thrown into the wood at Merlin Park.