He is a very difficult man to find. All that is certain is that he died as "Reginald Stephen Hathaway" in Irish GRO records. However on the release of the Pension application, we can see who he was - Reginald Walter Stenning alisa Reginald Hathaway Stenning, alias Walter Stephens, a 23 year old Englishman, a native of London. His pension application in name of Reginald Walter Stenning gives his address as 39 King Edward Street, Slough, Buckinghamshire
He came to Tralee some time during the War of Independence as a member of the East Lancashire regiment.
He deserted and joined the local I.R.A. And finally put in an application for an IRA Pension
1903 Feb 26 Born (from pension application) at 96 Oldfield Road, Willesden, Middlesex, England
1911 census has a REGINALD WALTER STENNING born 1903, living in Forest Gate, East Ham, Essex. His father is named as STENNINGS, WALTER STEVENS, b1879.
1903 Jan/Mar . Birth Hendon. Parents married in 1901 Edith Annie Holtom and Walter Steven(s) Stenning
1911 census at 52 Sherrard Road, Forest Gate,, West Ham
Living at 39 Edward St, Slough were. Thomas Edward Hall married Annie Florence Moore Phillips in 1903 in Brentford. Reginald Thomas Hall died in 1979 so it was not him
1920 Apr He joined the British Army East Lancs Regt
1921 End May. WS 1118. Around this time , a deserter from the British Army, who went by the name of Hathaway, arrived in Ballyheigue and was contacted by members of the Ballyheigue Company. A day or two later, a party of military on bicycles arrived in Ballyheigue looking for him. They did not find him. Michael Pierce decided to ambush the party if they came next day. The attacking party were of the Ballyheigue Company, assisted by William Dee, James Slattery and myself of Ballyduff Company. We took up positions on each side of the road at the old wireless station at Ballyheigue. In all, about twenty men awaited the coming of the military. We were armed with a few rifles but the majority of the men had shotguns. We waited all day but the military never turned up. Late that evening, the proposed attack was called off. Torn Kennelly, 0/C, Lixnaw Flynn & Column, which numbered twenty-four men, decided to attack a party of fifteen Tans who usually paraded from Ballyduff barracks to Cashen in extended formation, about three times a week. By this time, I, with four other members of Ballyduff Company, named William Creegan, William Dee, James Slattery and William Houlihan, were accepted on the Lixnaw Flying Column. The date chosen for the proposed attack was the 5th June, 1921. We took up positions on each side of the road at a place called Knopogue, in extended formation. About ten men were armed with rifles, the remainder, including myself, were armed with shotguns. We waited all day for the Tens to appear but they failed to put in an appearance. That evening, Kennelly called off the attack
He was refered to by the Irish as "Rudge" Hathaway. Which was presumably "Reg"
He became friendly with local republican leaders Edward Greaney and Aero Lyons. He remained a member of the I.R.A. after the truce and when the Civil war broke out he joined the Free State Army. However he quickly disappeared from barracks absconded with a rifle and a hundred rounds of ammunition in order to rejoin and rearm the I.R.A. He was captured during the surrender of Pierses Flying Column and signed a form undertaking not to take up arms against the Free State under the alias of Walter Stephens. He then went back to the Irregulars, claiming tht he was threatened with death if he did not.
1923 Apr 18. Timothy Lyons and 5 colleagues were trapped in Clashmealcon Caves in Kerry by Free State forces. After a shoot out in which they killed a couple of the Free State men there was an impasse. Two of the 6 IRA men died while trying to climb out in the dark. Lyons gave himself up, and was hauled up the cliff on a rope the "shot while trying to escape". After their surrender their hands were tied behind their backs before being set upon by the Free Staters. A Free State officer called Hancock singled out Rudge Hathaway and he was taken away. When he was returned he was near death. The remaining 3 (Hathaway, James Mc Enry and Edward Greaney) were taken to Tralee and executed on 25 April 1923. The Irish Civil War ended in a ceasefire 2 days later.
Another account is essentially the same and adds "At about 7 o’clock a car came up with an Officer. He looked at the prisoners and recognised one, Reginald Hathaway. The officer brought him to the cliffs edge where he received a savage beating. Lorries came for the prisoners at nightfall and their hands were tied and they were thrown in on the floor and brought to Tralee where they tried before a Military Tribunal. All three were found guilty and sentenced to death. James McEnery, Edward Greaney and Reginald Hathway were executed by firing squad at 8 o’clock on the morning of the 25th of April and buried in the prison yard. A year later they were reinterred in Raheala Graveyard, Ballyduff."
1923 Apr 25. Reginald Hathaway's execution is detailed on p377 of Tans, Terrors and Troubles by T Ryle Dwyer. He was shot by firing squad by the Free State Army on 25th April 1923 at 8am at Tralee.
He is buried in the republican plot at Rahela Graveyard Ballyduff, Co. Kerry.
1933 His parents apply for a pension from his death
It was an unsuccessful application under the Army Pensions Act, 1932 from Walter Stephen Stenning and Edith Stenning in respect of their son IRA Private Reginald Walter Stenning also known as Reginald Hathaway. The applications were unsuccessful as the applicants were deemed not to have been dependent on their son.
Reginald Walter Stenning was executed on 25 April 1923 at Tralee, County Kerry during the Civil War under the name of Reginald Hathaway. He had been convicted of having taken part in an attack on National Forces on 18 April 1923 at Clash, Ballyduff, County Kerry in which two members of the National Army were killed. He had taken part in the fighting at Clashmealcon Caves between National Army and IRA forces in which a number of casualties were incurred on both sides.
According to material on file Reginald Stenning had deserted from the British Army with which he had been serving in County Kerry and appears to have changed his name to avoid detection by the [British] authorities. It is unclear from the file exactly which unit of the British Army Reginald Stenning had served with. However his parents and others refer to him as having been a member of the Lancashire Regiment.
Walter Stephen Stenning states that his son had joined the British Army in 1920. He subsequently joined the IRA and served with them in County Kerry from about September 1922 until his death. It is stated on file that he been previously arrested and detained by the National Army at some time during his IRA service. File includes: original handwritten material submitted and signed by Walter Stephen Stenning and Edith Stenning in support of their applications; representations on behalf of the Stennings from Mary A. O'Donnell, Eamon Kissane T. D., Michael Sullivan and Eamon O' Connor; three original undated handwritten signed letters from E. Stenning to [Michael Sullivan] regarding her application; original signed handwritten reports dated 17 and 22 May 1937 from Eric A. Steer [Church of England] Vicar, Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, England, regarding the circumstances and means of the Stenning family and the degree of dependency of Edith Stenning on her son at the time of his death; and signed handwritten statement regarding Reginald Walter Stenning's service and death from J. McElligott.