Frank Lawless was born on the 10th of October 1870, into an ardently Nationalist family at Saucerstown’s, North County Dublin. As a young man, Lawless became politically active in the Nationalist movement and was a member of numerous organisations, including the Irish Republican Brotherhood, GAA and Gaelic League. He was Head Centre for the IRB in Swords and was also an early member of Sinn Féin. In 1911, he set up a paramilitary training camp for the young Na Fianna members in the Fingal area at the Lawless family farm in Saucerstown. Lawless was also central to the establishment of the Irish Volunteers, and in 1914, he helped set up numerous branches of what would eventually become the 5th 'Fingal' Battlion, Dublin Brigade.

Lawless became an officer in the Headquarters staff of the Battalion and acted as Quartermaster, a role at which he excelled, even before the landing of rifles and ammunition at Howth on July 26th, 1914. He acquired arms from a verity of sources and channeled them into the battalion's armoury. He also continued to arrange training camps and firing ranges at his home in Saucerstown and organised the logistical support for exercises elsewhere. His network of contacts, together with his practical approach to problem solving, was critical to the mobility and success of the 5th Battalion before and during the 1916 Easter Rising. Early in Holy week 1916, Frank arranged a consignment of supplies from the Kimmage Garrison to augment the existing stores of the Fingal Volunteers. They consisted of approximately 20 shotguns and 5000 modified slug and buckshot cartridges, as well as sixty pounds of Gelignite, detonators, fuse cord, field dressings and other medical supplies. 

Prior to the Rising, Frank was one of a select few who knew an insurrection was planned for Easter Sunday. After reading Eoin McNeill's countermanding order in the Irish Independent on Easter Sunday, he and fellow officer Dr Richard Hayes drove to Dublin and sought clarification from Liberty Hall, before returning to North County Dublin with the news. Early on Easter Monday morning, Frank's sister Mary Lawless, a Cumann na mBan courier, arrived at Saucerstown with an order from Pádraig Pearse to ‘’Strike at One O’Clock today’’. Frank lost no time in relaying the orders and reassembling the logistical support needed to go into battle. He arrived at Knocksedan Bridge, bringing with him a horse and cart, as well as Dr Hayes Morris Oxford car, laden with additional arms, ammunition, food and equipment. 

Throughout the Rising, Frank kept the battalion mobile and supplied with rations and other essentials, including saws, axes and crowbars to cut telegraph poles and render captured barracks telecommunications equipment useless. He also strengthened the transport section, following the battle at Swords, with a commandeered Ford model T truck driven by Volunteer Paddy Grant. Following the decision to move against the Garristown RIC barracks, Frank’s extensive knowledge of the twisting roads and byways of North County Dublin and South East Meath proved invaluable. The 5th Battalion, largely guided by his familiarity with the region, captured Garristown barracks and eventually pitched camp at Borranstown. While at camp, he and the battalion staff decided to strike at the Midland Great Western railway near Batterstown the following day. 

On the 28th of April, Frank's 4th Section remained at the camp near Borranstown to secure their position, before receiving orders to reinforce the other companies already in action at Ashbourne. He arrived with his section and was directed to take up a position to the rear of the RIC convoy by Richard Mulcahy. An intense gun battle ensued as his unit moved to engage the RIC in the tangled hedge groves. In the course of the engagement, Lawless killed RIC District Inspector Harry Smyth after he had climbed onto an embankment at the side of the road, trying to encourage his men to attack the Volunteers. Smyth fired at Lawless but missed, his shot instead killing Volunteer Jack Crenigan, and in the same moment, Frank shot and killed Inspector Smyth. Frank was traumatised by young Crenigan’s death, as he had worked on the Lawless farm for many years, attending school together with Joseph Lawless, Frank's son. 

Following the Battle of Ashbourne, and the 5th Battalion's reluctant surrender at Newbarn, Lawless was detained at Richmond Barracks and was initially sentenced to death, before it being commuted to ten years penal servitude. He was imprisoned at Lewes Prison in England and was released in the general amnesty called by Prime Minister Lloyd George in June of 1917. He was later rearrested in connection with the "German Plot", and was sent to Usk Prison before he was paroled to take part in the 1918 election.

Having won a seat in the 1918 election, he abstained from Westminster and would instead take his seat at the First Dáil in 1919. During the War of Independence, Lawless was interned in Ballykinlar Camp and was later re-elected to the Second Dáil. Lawless voted in favour of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in January 1922, but died tragically aged 51, only three months later on the 17th of April, as the result of a pony and trap accident in which he suffered a fractured skull. He was buried with full military honours at Killossery Cemetery, Rolestown, North County Dublin. The funeral was one of the last occasions at which Michael Collins, Eamonn De Valera, Arthur Griffith and many who later fought on opposite side during the Civil War would stand together.

- Written by historian Tóla Collier, who features in Fingal's Finest. For more information, please visit the Battle of Ashbourne Centenary Committee webpage.