He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, serving in the GPO garrison during the 1916 Easter Rising; British troops, believing him dead, used his body as a sandbag on their Gloucester Street barricade. He was imprisoned at Frongoch internment camp, and was released in December 1916; becoming second-in-command to Oscar Traynor in F Company, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade IRA.[2] Colley served as Brigade Adjutant, Dublin Brigade IRA in 1920-1921 period was prominent in the attack on The Custom House on 25 May 1921.[3] Opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he took the anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War and was involved in the planning and organnising of IRA operations against National forces. He was arrested by National forces on 09 August 1922, interned at Newbridge, County Kildare, where he went on hunger strike and was released in March 1923.[2] Colley later applied to the Irish government for a service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934 and was awarded 12 and 1/18 years service in 1937 at Grade C for his service with the Irish Volunteers and the IRA between 1 April 1916 and 30 September 1923. [4]
He married Christina Nugent on 14 October 1918, and they had five daughters and two sons.[2] One of his sons, George Colley, was elected to the Dáil for the same constituency at the 1961 general election and went on to hold several cabinet positions, including those of Minister for Finance and Tánaiste. He was defeated in the 1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election, by the man who unseated his father, Charles Haughey.[5]
Harry Colley died on 18 January 1972 and was buried with full military honours in the republican plot at Glasnevin Cemetery.
^See Colley's successful application for a military service pension under the Military Service Pensions Act, 1934. Available online at Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection - http://mspcsearch.militaryarchives.ie/search.aspx?formtype=advanced. Reference number MSP34REF20060