What happened to Charlie Dalton?

Charlie Dalton first volunteered at just fourteen years of age and, by seventeen, had become one of the youngest members of Michael Collins' infamous Squad, the intelligence unit tasked with eliminating British agents and informers during the War of Independence. While he often acted in an organizational capacity, directing others rather than carrying out killings himself, he did take part directly in several operations, most notably on Bloody Sunday in November 1920.

The Dalton brothers' paths diverged during the Civil War, in which they both served on the pro-Treaty side. Deeply troubled by and in disagreement with the execution of republican prisoners, many of whom had once been comrades in the struggle against Britain, Emmet resigned from his role in the National Army in December 1922. Charlie, however, remained in the National Army. He continued to serve for over a year after his brother's resignation, leaving only in 1924 following his involvement in the Irish Army Mutiny. The mutiny ultimately failed, though several points of contention were addressed, and Charlie was arrested and dismissed from military service along with many of the other officers involved.

Charlie's post-army life was far more difficult than that of his brother's — who had entered the film industry, and quite successfully so. Following his dismissal, Charlie struggled to find stable employment and appears to have drifted from job to job. In 1928, he married Teresa Morgan, and the following year published his memoir tiled "With the Dublin Brigade". It is one of the earliest first hand accounts of the Dublin IRA during the War of Independence and offers us a grasp into the experiences of not only Charlie himself, but many other young Irish men in Michael Collins' intelligence network.

Behind the memoir, however, was a man whose service in the IRA left profound psychological scars.

During the 1940s, Charlie spent almost three years in psychiatric hospitals, suffering with auditory and visual hallucinations, severe paranoia, and an overwhelming fear that people were watching him or coming to kill him. At times he believed he could see and hear men he had killed or had ordered others to kill. There were episodes in which he barricaded himself inside his home and hid beneath beds.

After his recovery, Charlie largely disappeared from public life. Unlike Emmet, who remained a familiar figure through documentaries, interviews, and public commemorations, Charlie faded into obscurity. He died, aged 70, in Dublin on January 22nd, 1974. The precise cause of his death has never been publicly recorded though it is fair to assume it was of natural causes.