Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 9 May 2019

Tales from 1919: Ms Sheehy Skeffington’s Plea

    On the 1 May 1919 a Sinn Féin aerideacht or cultural gathering/ rally was fixed for Coachford. It was proclaimed as an illegal activity by the military authorities. The fixture was advertised by distributing small posters and in the press – the speakers announced being Mrs Hannah Sheehy Skeffington, Mr Terence McSwiney, MP, and Mr Liam de Róiste. The Brian Boru Pipers’ Band was also billed. It attracted a good deal of attention, for the village of Coachford, which was the centre of a populous and important area in Mid-Cork. It was on Saturday evening that the proclamation was served, and in a short space of time the organisers had to make other arrangements.

   The organisers decided to hold the aerideacht at Crookstown and at Clonmoyle, which is about five miles to the north of Coachford – Crookstown being about seven miles to the south. This change was conveyed to the public by word of mouth through the surrounding districts. Both were well attended. There were contingents on traps, cars, wagonettes and bicycles arriving from districts from Macroom, Ballyvourney, Canovee, Ovens, Srelane, Farran and Coachford. The Canovee Fife and Drum Band marched to the venues and added to the enjoyment of the general programme at the aerideacht of songs, dancing and recitations.

   Meanwhile the military and police made arrangements to deal with any attempt to ignore the proclamation. According to the Cork Examiner of the day, companies of soldiers fully armed and wearing trench helmets cycled to Coachford. For a good distance on the road they were almost in company with the wagonette conveying the Brian Boru Piper’s Band. However, Mrs Sheehy Skeffington and Mr McSwiney, accompanied by the Ms Muriel McSwiney, motored to Crookstown via a circuitous route arriving there about 3 o’clock. No attempt was made to hold a fixture in Coachford, where the military and police remained on duty during the day.

            During an interval in the proceedings at Crookstown Terence McSwiney, who first addressed the meeting in Irish, was received with cheers. With reference to Mrs Sheehy Skeffington, he detailed that she had made a big effort to be in Cork, and he extended to her on behalf of the crowd a hearty welcome noting –“she deserves that from them not only on account of her own great work for Ireland, but out of respect to her brave husband who gave his best services to Ireland while he lived, and who died in the vigour of life for Ireland’s sake”.

   Mrs Sheehy Skeffington, who was most cordially received, declared her pride in being able to call herself a Cork County woman, as she was born in Kanturk. On evading the military authorities, she noted; “we concentrated ourselves that if our meeting was proclaimed that we did not go home…the result is that you have two meetings, one in the north and the other in the south. That is the spirit I would recommend to all districts where meetings are proclaimed. If one is proclaimed, hold two; if two are proclaimed, hold four, then getting the military on the run keep them on the run”.

     Mrs Sheehy Skeffington congratulated the people of the districts on their wonderful organisation of the meeting and to see much of the population present. It was a long time she noted since she spoke, at a meeting unadorned by the presence of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). She commented that the movement in Cork is healthy and she hoped that it would continue; “Ireland at present and probably for some time to come will be living through very critical periods, and you will need every bit of the strength of our organisation. You must be on the alert and keep steadily in mind your objective”.

   Mrs Sheehy Skeffington charged that Ireland was kept in subjection to the British Empire mainly by a garrison of 12,000 Irishmen namely the RIC. She referred to the visit of the American delegates and the military display at the Mansion House after the sessions of Dáil Éireann. She noted that the people had to realise that “they were up against forces, which made their lot unsafe…Ireland had declared her self-determination by returning 73 members to Dáil Éireann for an Irish Republic”. She deemed that Ireland was suppressed by Great Britain more strongly than ever. She shared her experience of British militarism through recalling the raiding of her house in Dublin after the murder of her husband in Portobella Barracks.

            To her Sinn Féin had shown that even prisons could not keep Irish men or women locked up when they made up their minds. They had also shown that Ireland was an international question and England would learn that firm governance in Ireland is a policy that will not pay in the long run; she commented that “England no longer had the ear of the world exclusively. The voice of Ireland is today heard everywhere – in Paris, America, Russia and elsewhere”.

Ms Hannah Sheehy Skeffington, Mr Terence McSwiney and party then motored by a long route to Clonmoyle to address a meeting there.

May Walking Tours with Kieran:

Sunday 12 May 2019, Stories from Blackrock and Mahon, meet at entrance to Blackrock Castle, 2.30pm, (free, 2 hours, finishes near railway line walk, Blackrock Road).

Saturday 19 May 2019, Douglas and its History, meet in the carpark of Douglas Community Centre, 11am (free, duration: two hours, circuit of village, finishes nearby).

Captions:

996a. Castlemore, Crookstown, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

996b. Hannah Sheehy Skeffington, 1916 (picture: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 2 May 2019

Tales from 1919: The American Commissioners Arrive

     On 7 May 1919, Peace Terms were handed to Germany. Fifteen days were granted for consideration. Any counter proposals were to be submitted in writing. German representatives denied responsibility for the war, which they believed was the result of the “imperialistic spirit of all the nations”. They were quite willing to conclude peace in accordance with America President’s Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points, and on that basis, Germany had agreed to cease hostilities.

   On the same day 7 May 1919 different functions took place in Cork in connection with the welcome accorded to members of the American Commission on Irish Independence, Messrs Edward F Dunne and Michael J Ryan. The delegates had been well received in Dublin and Belfast. It was hoped that one of the results of the visit of the American delegates to this country was that America would back Ireland in her demand for freedom during the agreement on the Peace Terms.

   Sinn Féin held that the Irish should be on Woodrow Wilson’s list of peoples who could win freedom from the peace settlement and that he would support the presence of an Irish delegation in the peace negotiations in Paris. In the first four months of 1919, Woodrow Wilson did detail to the press that he had twice talked with Lloyd George about the Irish situation and that he had pushed upon him the significance of an early settlement, with which Lloyd George agreed. An Irish settlement was deemed crucial to future US-British relations.

   In addition, Woodrow’s American Commission on Irish Independence arose in spring 1919 from a 1918 New York City meeting between representatives of the just-concluded Irish Race Convention and President Woodrow Wilson. To reinforce the cause of Irish self-government at the post-war peace conference Convention leaders selected a three-member delegation to journey to Paris.

   The Commission comprised three prominent Irish-Americans – Frank P Walsh, Michael J Ryan and Edward F Dunne came to Ireland for 11 days in late April and early May. Messrs Ryan and Dunne came to Cork. Mr Ryan was a lawyer and former judge. He had served as Chicago mayor, then Illinois governor. Mr Dunne was a former Philadelphia city solicitor and public service commissioner; he had been president of the United Irish League of America.

    On 7 May 1919, the commissioners arrived at Glanmire Station (now Kent Station) on the early morning train from Dublin. On the platform the Lord Mayor William O’Connor accompanied by the City High Sheriff, the Town Clerk, and attended by bis mace and sword bearers awaited to give them a civic reception. The Church was represented by Bishop Cohalan and a number of priests, secular and regular. There was also a large attendance of members of the Corporation, the Harbour Board, including the Chairman. The Irish Volunteers’ Pipers Band took up a position at the booking office end of the platform, and the brass and reed band of the Greenmount Industrial School towards the tunnel end. When the train steamed in both bands struck up “Let Erin Remember”.

    Messrs Dunne and Ryan were accompanied by several members of Dáil Éireann—Richard Mulcahy, David Kent, William Cosgrave, Thomas Hunter, Terence McSwiney and Liam de Róiste. Subsequently they were conveyed to the carriages and motors in the station yard. The route to Cork City Hall was lined with people, and from a few shops the tricolour and American flag were flown. The balustrades of St Patrick’s Bridge were spanned with the tricolour, which with the American Bag was hoisted over the City Hall.

   At Cork City Hall, which was crowded, the meeting was addressed briefly by the Lord Mayor and Messrs Dunne and Ryan. Michael J Ryan stated that the delegates had come to Ireland, not as Irish-Americans, but as Americans, and that they spoke not only for the Irish in the United States, but for all America; “The distinction adds to the weight and importance and influence that they wield, as the voice of all America attuned in harmony with the Irish demands for freedom must necessarily carry farther than that of Irish-Americans only”. He placed emphasis on the point that a large section of the British Press to him seemed disposed to regard the mission to Paris as being solely due to the efforts of Irishmen in the United States.

    Edward F Dunne noted that he had seen realised in America, a Republican form of Government based upon the consent of the governed, and naturally he sympathised with peoples aspiring to the same conditions with which the Americans were blessed. It was the most prosperous and he believed the most contented Government on earth. He would like to see nations of like character established throughout the world. America, he declared, did not enter the war until they were convinced that the fate of the democracy of the world was at stake.

   Subsequent to the speeches the visitors and party were entertained by the Lord Mayor in his office and the visitor’s book was signed. Cork had impressed the members of the Commission. However, wider political wrangling between the US and Britain – prompted by international concerns and personal annoyances appearing in early summer 1919 led to a reversal on Woodrow’s Wilson’s policy of intervention in the domestic affairs of Britain.

May Walking Tours with Kieran:

Bank Holiday Monday 6 May 2019, Ballintemple Historical Walking Tour; meet in old Ballintemple graveyard, Templehill, opposite O’Connor’s Funeral Home, 2.30pm (free, duration: 2 hours, finishes on Blackrock Road).

Sunday 12 May 2019, Stories from Blackrock and Mahon, meet at entrance to Blackrock Castle, 2.30pm, (free, 2 hours, finishes near railway line walk, Blackrock Road).

Saturday 19 May 2019, Douglas and its History, meet in the carpark of Douglas Community Centre, 11am (free, duration: two hours, circuit of village, finishes nearby).

Captions:

995a. US President Woodrow Wilson, 1919 (source: Cork City Library)

995b. Edward F Dunne, member of American Commission on Irish Independence 1919 (source: Cork City Library)

995c. Michael J Ryan, member of American Commission on Irish Independence 1919 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 25 April 2019

Tales from 1919: A Bomb Factory Explosion

    On the morning of 28 April 1919, the site of a Volunteer secret bomb making factory at 33 Grattan Street was rocked by an explosion. It was the location of a three-storey tenement house and of a boot shop run by Andrew Ahern on the ground floor. Michael Tobin, aged about 26 of 15 Batchelor’s Quay, died at the Mercy Hospital on 20 May 1919 as a result of serious burns and shock sustained in an explosion. The wounded Volunteers were Captain Richard Murphy, Quartermaster Seán O’Connell, Paddy Varian, Timothy Hegarty and Jeremiah Downey. Miss C (Bessie) Moore of Anne Street was the wounded Cumann na mBan member. At this facility haversacks were made, gunpowder was ground, and bombs were assembled.

   On 21 May 1919, an inquest was held at the Mercy Hospital where Coroner William Murphy outlined the circumstances of death of Michael Tobin. The results were published in the Cork Examiner. The police authorities and the next of kin’s solicitor appeared. Drs Crosbie and J B O’Regan were present on behalf of the Mercy Hospital medical staff. A jury was also sworn in. Timothy Ring, of the fire station at Grattan Street, was sworn in. He related that he was on duty next to 33 Grattan Street and at about 8pm he heard the crash of glass and an explosion about 50 yards away. He observed that four or five men passing by seemed to be thrown to the other side as a result of the explosion. He at once rang up headquarters, and having notified them, took a fire reel to the scene of the explosion. He saw through the smoke four or five men, one of whom seemed to have his clothing on fire.

   Head Constable William Butler on Corn Market Street went to the house and made an examination of the scene and found a quantity of chemicals and explosives, such as gelignite, and chemicals for making percussion caps and gunpowder were there. The ceiling and walls of the inner room were burned and black, and the glass blown out of the back window.

   Dr J B Regan, house surgeon, stated that the deceased, Michael Tobin, on his admission to the Mercy Hospital was extensively burned over the face, arms, and legs, and was suffering from shock. He died at 1.15pm from heart failure, from burns, shock and sepsis.

   Seeking out further bomb making facilities and ammunition hoarding, early in the morning of 12 May 1919, a force of 10 police and a detachment of 30 military under the direction of Head Constable William Butler carried out a number of wholesale raids for arms and ammunitions in various parts of the city. Four arrests were made in the course of the raids. In all eleven houses were searched in the southern police side of the city, and about the same number in the northern district. In some instances, the police were accompanied by the military with full military equipment, including a supply of trench implements. In most instances, the raids were conducted without opposition or incident, but in some cases, there was a good deal of booing and jeering at the police. In at least one instance stones were thrown at the search parties but nobody was injured. The raids began at 8am and continued well into the afternoon. In the Southern Police District amongst the houses searched were those of Jeremiah and Michael O’Sullivan, father and son, residing in Kyle Street, and Jeremiah Hurley and Cornelius Hurley, brothers, living at 62 St Mary’s Terrace, Greenmount. They were placed under arrest for possessing several rounds of ammunition and military equipment. At 9pm the prisoners were conveyed from the Bridewell to the Cork Male Prison. The four men were to be court-martialled.

   In the city centre, the search for arms also took place in houses in Peter Street, Grattan Street, Paul Street, Hanover Street, Anne Street, Merchant’s Quay, Douglas Street and Evergreen Buildings. In the northern district housing was searched in Blackpool, Blarney Street, Shandon Street, Pope’s Quay, Leitrim Street and the Lower Road.

   At 11pm on 16 May 1919, a party of about half a dozen men entered the North Infirmary and took it upon themselves to remove Timothy Hegarty, a young man who was detained in the institution since Monday 5 May. According to interviews archived on the Bureau of Military History, his fellow injured Volunteers had been brought out and hid by fellow Volunteers in the closing two days of April. On this 16 May occasion the party of men did not wear any disguise. When challenged by staff as to their activity, they replied by producing revolvers but did not intimate any further.

   The two resident doctors, Dr Sheehan and Dr Galvin, were engaged in the female ward above the one in which Timothy Hegarty was. On the ground floor was Resident Student Mr Walsh in the pharmacy, which was closed off from the extern hospital by a locked door. Hearing commotion in the extern he opened the door and was met by the party of men. The student protested against their behaviour and went to inform the doctors. Dr Galvin arrived and warned about the health risks of removing Timothy. One of the party of men asked him to stand aside. Subsequently the men pushed on and went into the ward where Timothy Hegarty was and dressed him a in a big coat, boots and a cap on. On leaving they apologised to the night nurse on duty and to Dr Galvin. They left the scene in a covered-in car. Two were left behind to make sure no telephones were used to alert the police. One of those who left even returned later to get a watch that Timothy had left behind and a book he had lent to another patient in the ward a few days previously.

May Walking Tours with Kieran:

Bank Holiday Monday 6 May 2019, Ballintemple Historical Walking Tour; meet in old Ballintemple graveyard, Templehill, opposite O’Connor’s Funeral Home, 2.30pm (free, duration: 2 hours, finishes on Blackrock Road).

Sunday 12 May 2019, Stories from Blackrock and Mahon, meet at entrance to Blackrock Castle, 2.30pm, (free, 2 hours, finishes near railway line walk, Blackrock Road).

Saturday 19 May 2019, Douglas and its History, meet in the carpark of Douglas Community Centre, 11am (free, duration: two hours, circuit of village, finishes nearby).

Captions:

994a. Grattan Street, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

994b. Mercy Hospital, former Mansion House, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)