(Sinéad Mason, confidential typist to General Michael Collins, 24 August 1922. From the Private Collection of Thomas Gay)
I
n September 1922, he enlisted in the National Army at Portobello Barracks and took up the position of Staff Captain under Major Joseph McGrath in G.H.Q., Intelligence. He remained in close contact with General Michael Collins during this period in a personal and professional capacity.In March 1923 he was appointed to the Committee of Enquiry into Resignations and Dismissals from the Royal Irish Constabulary and his personal papers held in Military Archives contain forms connected with individual cases and Gay’s background investigations into same. In November 1923 he resigned from the National Army with the rank of Colonel and received his demobilisation papers on the 20th of December 1923. Gay returned to work as a Librarian within the Dublin library network and retired from working life as a fulltime Air Raids Precautions Officer for Dublin Corporation in 1948.
Letter of condolence from Charles Anderson, Library Association of Ireland, from Thomas Gay's Private Collection.
Throughout his working life and retirement, Gay maintained contact with his former I.R.A. and National Army comrades through the activities of the 1916-1921 Club and the Old I.R.A. Pensions Committee (Comhairle Pinsin na Sean-Oglach). His personal papers contain menu cards from veteran social events and many letters and photographs from friends, including Colonel Michael Joseph Costello documenting his travels in the United States of America (U.S.A.) during the army’s military mission to the U.S.A. in 1926. Gay’s lifelong interest in books and reading is also clear from the collection of book lists, publications and periodicals held in his private papers.