Full Name: Francis Leo Waldron, known as Leo

Address: 542 North Circular Road

Unit: C Coy, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade.

Born: 5 August 1900 at 180 Guinness Trust Buildings, Bride Street.

Parents: John Arthur Waldron (a Porter) and Margaret, originally Fleming.

Siblings: One younger surviving sister, Mary Agnes.

Military Service: His War of Independence activities ended with his arrest at the Custom House and internment in Kilmainham.

Burning of Dublin Custom House 1921
In Kilmainham autograph book (Kilmainham Gaol Museum)

No details of Civil War service found but he is listed as a member of C Coy on the Second Critical Date, 1 July 1922. It has been confirmed thanks to Kilmainham Gaol Museum that Leo was an anti-Treaty man, jailed in Maryborough (now Portlaoise) Jail during 1922 and released the following year.

Burning of Dublin Custom House 1921
Christmas Card sent to Leo by a friend, Lily Wogan (Kilmainham Gaol Museum).

Personal Life: In 1927 Leo became a metalwork and maths teacher at Navan Vocational School, Co Meath. He married Mary Agnes Christina (Molly) Roche at St Kevin’s Church, Harrington Street on 14 August 1930. They raised a family in Co. Meath. He worked as Engineering (maths and metalwork) teacher at Navan Technical School for over 30 years until his retirement in 1965. Leo died suddenly on 4 May 1968 aged 67 at his home, 1 McDermott Villas, Navan. A married Vocational Teacher (retired), Meath Vocational Education Committee. Formerly of C Coy, 2nd Battalion Old IRA, founder of Navan Branch, Irish Catholic Boy Scouts and active with the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Buried in St Mary’s Cemetery, Navan. An obituary was published in the Meath Chronicle newspaper. Votes of sympathy were passed by several local bodies and the Old IRA Association, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade. His widow Molly passed away in 1972.

Burning of Dublin Custom House 1921

Relatives: Leo and Molly had three children – Raphael (RIP), Pauline and Frances (RIP). Grandchildren John, Gerard and Mary.

Burning of Dublin Custom House 1921
Leo among comrades (scanned from Revolution in Dublin by Liz Gillis). We have since discovered Stephen O’Neill was really Jim Foley; and Paddy McAleese came from an unusual translation of Paddy Swanzy‘s name.

Des White