Charles McGuinness

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Charles McGuinness
McGuinness, c. 1922
Other name(s)	"Charles T. Hennessey"
Nickname(s)	"Charlie", "Nomad", "Night-Hawk"
Born	(1893-05-06)6 May 1893
Died	7 December 1947(1947-12-07) (aged 54) Ballymoney Strand near Gorey, County Wexford, Ireland
Allegiance	United Kingdom South Africa Irish Republic Second Spanish Republic Irish Free State
Service / branch	British Navy South African Army Irish Republican Army Anti-Treaty IRA International Brigades Irish Naval Service
Rank	Commanding Officer of the 3rd Battalion of the Northern IRA (1921) Chief Petty Officer (Irish Naval Service)
Battles / wars	World War I East African campaign War of Irish Independence Irish Civil War Spanish Civil War

Charles John 'Nomad' McGuinness (6 March 1893 – 7 December 1947) was an Irish adventurer supposed to have been involved with a myriad of acts of patriotism and nomadic impulses. Due to a habitual trait of embellishing his own life story mixed with his genuine wanderlust and actual achievements, discerning what is and is not accurate about McGuinness' life has been a challenge for historians. In a 1934 autobiography, McGuinness summarised himself as an "Irish Sailor, Soldier, Pearl-fisher, Pirate, Gun-runner, Rum-runner, Rebel and Antarctic Explorer". Writing for the Irish Independent, Irish historian Breandán Mac Suibhne remarked that "bush-fighter, big-game hunter, hobo, jail-breaker, radio broadcaster, set-maker in Hollywood, construction worker on Long Island, journalist, author of children's literature and internee" could also be reasonably added to that list.^[1]

Primarily a sailor over the course of his life, McGuinness served in several militaries over the course of his life. During the Irish revolutionary period, McGuinness aided the Irish Republican Army by running guns from Germany across the sea. Thereafter McGuinness variously spent time living and working in the United States and Soviet Russia, briefly involved himself in the Spanish Civil War, before return to Ireland for the World War II period. In 1942 he was found guilty while serving as part of the Irish Naval Service of attempting to collaborate with Germany. He is believed to have drowned at sea in 1947.