Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 8 December 2022

Journeys to an Irish Free State: Birth of a Free State

On 6 December 1921 the Treaty between Ireland and Britain was signed by the Irish plenipotentiaries and the representatives of the British Government. The period fixed by the Treaty for a Provisional Government was for twelve months, and the necessary legislation was passed, which made Ireland self-governing. On 6 December 1922, the Provisional Government’s lease of life expired and the Irish Free State parliament came into being.

The Cork Examiner of the 6 December 1922 in its editorial recorded the importance of penning the story of the negotiations and the ensuing story that unfolded:

“When the story of the past year is in the future impartially recorded, it must be set down that prominent persons who placed justice above party, and sought to achieve peace on a basis of right, have suffered for their efforts in Ireland and in Britain. Possibly no great political change in the history of the world has been achieved without sacrifice, but honour in due course is given where honour is due. The proceedings today, if they follow the anticipated lines, will mean the launching of the Irish Free State – the achievement of Ireland’s domestic independence”.

            At the meeting on 6 December 1922, about one hundred Deputies attended the important Dáil Éireann meeting. In the course of his address, Chairman of the Provisional Government W T Cosgrave wished goodwill to the northern Ireland counties. He hoped that in his near future Northern Ireland would be part of the south of Ireland: “We are looking northwards with hope and confidence that whether now or very soon the people of that corner of Ireland will come in with the rest of the Irish Nation, and share its Government as well as the great prosperity and happiness which must certainly follow concord and union”.

           The Chairman title became President, which Cosgrave became. His ministers and speaker were re-elected amidst much enthusiasm. President Cosgrave announced the names of the thirty Senators for the new Seanad Éireann he had nominated. In addition, under the Irish Free State Act, a Governor General would be the King’s representative in Ireland. The initial holder of the post was former Irish Parliamentary Party MP Timothy Healy (1855-1931), who was declared at his home in Dublin’s Chapelizod.

            The Dictionary of Irish Biography records that Timothy or Tim was born in Bantry in 1855. He worked in England as a railway clerk. From 1878, he was based in London as a parliamentary correspondent for the Nation newspaper. He followed his family’s interest in Irish politics. His younger brother Maurice was a solicitor and MP for Cork City. His elder brother Thomas was a solicitor and Member of Parliament for North Wexford.

            Tim was arrested for his connection with the Land League. But in 1880, he was elected as MP for Wexford. In Westminster Tim became the key ‘go to’ person on the Irish land question. He produced the ‘Healy Clause’ of the Land Act of 1881, which secured tenant farmers’ agrarian improvements from rent increases levied by landlords. The clause made his name and work spread throughout Nationalist Ireland.  It even led to the winning of seats by the Irish Parliamentary Party in Protestant Ulster. Tim was called to the Bar in 1884 and in 1899became a member of the Queen’s Counsel.

            In the Irish Parliamentary Party, Tim’s working relationship with Charles Stewart Parnell was always up and down. He finally split from Parnell in 1886 when the Kitty O’Shea divorce broke into the public realm.

            Despite being a strong supporter of Home Rule, Tim did not follow the aspirations of Parnell’s successors in the Irish Parliamentary Party. After 1917 he supported Sinn Féin but promoted peaceful lines of arbitration.  In September 1917 he appeared as counsel for the family of the dead Sinn Féin hunger striker Thomas Ashe. He was one of a handful from the King’s Counsel to give legal services to members of Sinn Féin in different legal trials in both Ireland and England after the 1916 Rising. This involved representing those interned in 1916 in Frongoch internment camp in North Wales. 

            By 1922 and because of his representation and calling for peace work he was regarded as an “elder statesman” by the British and Irish governments. Both sides proposed him in 1922 as Governor-General of the new Irish Free State. The office of Governor-General was mostly ceremonial but many Nationalists considered the presence of the office as insulting to the principles of republicanism and an emblem of prolonged Irish involvement in the United Kingdom. The Irish Government diminished the role of the office over time and it was officially abolished on 11 December 1936.

Under the Irish Free State Tim Healy did not forget one of his pet projects back in West Cork. He had fought for many years to have something done to render a mountain pass between Cork and Kerry just north of Adrigole more passable for the area’s inhabitants.

  Under the Irish Free State, Tim eventually succeeded in getting the then Minister for Local Government and Public Health, General Richard Mulcahy, to put the long-deferred project into execution. A sum of £7,000 was advanced for the purpose and work began in 1931. Making every allowance for the advance in engineering knowledge and skill and the up-to-date equipment, it was nevertheless a herculean task. A makeshift roadway existed as far as the point where the rise began, but from that onwards it was practically virgin country.

In 1932, the new road was accomplished. Works were continued down the other side for a distance of a mile and a half into County Kerry until contact was established with an existing road there. A magnificent wayside Calvary cross was unveiled in early June 1935. Made of marble, it is sheltered in a niche within a few yards the highest point of the roadway. It was the gift of a Cork City donor, who wished to remain anonymous.

Celebrating Cork (2022, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy is now available is now available in any good bookshop.

Captions:

1180a. Tim Healy, First Governor General of the Irish Free State, 1922 (picture: Library of Congress, USA).

1180b. Healy Pass, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 24 November 2022

Journeys to an Irish Free State: Commercial Optimism and New Connections

Contrasting against the escalating Civil War, the business community in Cork did what they could to manage the disruption. Indeed, an editorial in the Cork Examiner on 16 November 1922 highlights an actual revival and growth of trade with the city’s and region’s economy in the winter of 1922.

Wholesale houses of Cork during October and November 1922 witnessed their orders steadily increasing. Traders of county towns were gaining confidence in the protection afforded to property by the new Civic Guard. In addition, many traders of wholesale houses no longer went to England to make purchases due to the danger, difficulty, and cost of travel. They were content to send their orders to Cork. One of the effects of this was more employment being given to the factories – a welcome change from half-time to five days a week having taken place in some instances. For example, the manufacture of boots for the National Army troops gave much needed local employment in the boot factories of Cork. About £400,000 worth of boots were made annually in the country with the importation rate at six millions’ worth.

The Cork Examiner also focusses on other aspects, which combined to help the revival of industry in Cork. A greater number of the goods, previously carried to the country towns and to the city by rail, was conveyed by motor. It was not unusual to see hundreds of motor cars and lorries enter and depart from the city to places as far distant as Castletownbere, and districts equally remote.

The quays of Cork were busy spaces. Little steamers, sailing vessels and motor boats made their way regularly between the port and nearly all the sea coast towns of the south and west of the country. There was the large steamer of 150 tons side by side with the modest little schooner of fifteen tons. The Cork Examiner highlights that the names of the vessels were striking – St Brigid, St Michael, Alice, Young Dan.

However, car loads of goods were sometimes waiting in a queue on the quays for half the day, which added to waiting and ultimately the cost. In addition, for a horse and car to take a ton of goods to Macroom, a charge of £5 was made. The distance to Macroom by road had greatly increased due to the destruction of bridges during the Civil War. One had to get to the town in a roundabout way via Blackpool and Blarney. Road transport charges were expensive. Commercial travellers also had to pay high prices.

The Cork Examiner also highlighted that the principal retail houses of Cork were also optimistic. The extreme cold weather of the winter of 1922 compelled men and women to rush to the draper’s shops to spend some of their savings.

On the third week of November 1922, the annual general meeting of the Cork Chamber of Commerce also provided insights into the commercial world. In the annual report by its Honorary Secretary Mr M O’ Herlihy, and published in the Cork Examiner on 24 November 1922, it noted of commercial challenges; “The outbreak of Civil War, threatening our existence as a nation and as a commercial unit, has meant for our city a certain amount of isolation, which has lost for our merchants a big portion of our inland markets”.

Under the circumstances, the Chamber took the initiative in the formation of representatives of the city’s two Chambers of Commerce, Cork Employers’ Federation Ltd, and the County Cork Association of the Irish Farmers’ Union. The standing executive acted as a local advisory body to the Irish government. Representing the commercial community of the city, it dealt with all matters of the public interest such as the provision of transport facilities, the presentation of claims, commandeering etc. It has also acted in an advisory capacity on such matters as the administration and collection of income tax, road and motor licence duty.

Under the auspices of the Chamber and the Cork Industrial Development Association, in early 1922 a trade deputation visited Belgium first and then visited France to investigate the possibilities for the development of direct import and export trade between Ireland and the continent. The deputation was met by Count Gerard O’Kelly, Irish Consul, Belgium. The deputation visited the leading commercial magnates of Belgium and all the large factories in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Hall, Liege and Verviers.

Dr Leon Moreau, managing director of the Compagnie Ultramarine de Commerce, visited Cork and delivered an illustrated lecture at the Pavilion cinema on Belgo-Irish trade.

Mr Leopold H Kerney, the Irish Consul based in Paris, made two visits to Cork during the year, and interviewed the directors and managers of local firms interested in promoting direct trade with the Continent. Mr Kerney successfully urged on French traders the necessity of linking up Brest and Cork, by running a direct passenger-cargo service between the two ports. There was also a Compagnie France-Irlande of which share capital could be bought.

In October 1922, Mr Kerney and twenty others came to sell their manufactures and products, others came to buy the products of Ireland and to transact merchanting by direct methods.

One of the key drivers to search for new markets was Mr John O’Callaghan Foley, President of Cork Chamber of Commerce. He noted of the French support at the annual general meeting in mid-November 1922; “I may say the French people were the first to recognise and were quite enthusiastic about it that Ireland dropped out of the United Kingdom, and they were anxious to secure some business here, and come and transact business with the people they have so much in common with”.

John was a member of the Council of the Cork Industrial Development Association and held directorships at Messrs Dowdall and Company Ltd, John Daly and Company, Ltd and the Victoria Hotel Company Ltd. He openly had interests in the development of direct foreign trade for companies such as the Canadian Government Merchant Marine, Moore and MacCormack Company Ltd, New York, Michael Murphy Ltd, Dublin and Cork, Societé De Navigation, France-Irlande, Brest, France. John was also a member of the Governing Body of University College, Cork.

Caption:

1178a. John O’Callaghan Foley, President of Cork Chamber of Commerce 1922 (source: National Library of Ireland, Dublin).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 17 November 2022

Journeys to an Irish Free State: Questions of Sanitation

Across October and November 1922, there were regular debates in the press commenting on the condition of internees in Cork’s gaols – namely the City Gaol and County Gaol. During the Civil War it is estimated that over 14,000 men were interned by the Irish Free State in gaols across the country. Due to such a large number, public pressure for release for such prisoners and calls for lessening the internee population in such confined cell spaces were common place.

On 10 October 1922 at the meeting of the public health committee of the Cork Corporation Alderman Seán O’Sullivan presided. The Cork Examiner recorded that Councillor Gamble asked if it were known that there had been an outbreak of diphtheria in the County Gaol, and that some of the prisoners had been conveyed to the Fever Hospital. The outbreak, he was informed, was due to bad sanitary arrangements. He continued to ask what was the role of Dr O’Donovan, who was in charge of the health of the city, in remedying the sanitary conditions.

Mr William Ellis, Deputy Lord Mayor, noted that he had called attention to the sanitation and Councillor Barry Egan and himself had already gone to the military authorities. They were received by General Emmet Dalton who told them that Dr Donovan would get permission to visit the gaol. However, when a letter was forwarded to Dr Donovan, the doctor noted apprehensively that the matter was outside his locational jurisdiction that the County Gaol fell in the jurisdiction of the Cork Rural District Council.

Deputy Lord Mayor, William Ellis, then relayed that he had immediately got onto public health committee of the district council. However, they noted that they had no control whatever over the public healthy practicalities within the County Gaol. They had though sent their Medical Doctor of Public Health, Dr D Gleeson, to express their concerns to General Dalton.

The Deputy Lord Mayor in his concluding remarks noted: “Where the lives of five or 600 men are involved they could not stand by professional etiquette or red-tapeism. I understand however, that the doctor has no power to go into the gaol, but they should take whatever action was possible to safeguard the health of citizens”.

On 14 October 1922, at the Cork Rural District Council Mr Micheál Ó Cuill, Chairman, presided and raised the sanitation issue at the County Gaol. The Cork Examiner detailed that the engineer that was present reported that many complaints had been made to him has to the existence of a very bad stench in the vicinity of the bridge near the gaol. During investigation he found that this was due to two damaged openings to the sewer. These acted as outlets when the sewer was over charged, discharging the excess sewage into the river. This took place during heavy rain.

In addition, the engineer noted that the Corporation of Cork were responsible for the upkeep of the stone weir at the waterworks upstream. Until the gaps in the weir were made good practically all the water would continue to flow down the north channel leaving the south channel as an open sewer not being flushed out by the river.

At the meeting a notification of three cases of diphtheria in the County Gaol were highlighted. The Medical Officer of Health of the Rural District Council Dr Gleeson visited the gaol and had a personal interview with Commandant Scott. The patients suspected of having diphtheria were removed to the Fever Hospital and the cells in which they were confined or disinfected under the supervision of the Medical Officer of the National Army forces, Dr Kelly.

At the meeting of the Council of Cork Corporation on 10 November 1922, Alderman O’Sullivan presided. The Cork Examiner reported that the Town Clerk read the following letter: “W. Ellis, Esq, Deputy Lord Mayor, Cork. A Chara, I am directed to inform you that a deputation of ladies from the Republican Prisoners’ Relatives Committee intend to lay before the Corporation at its meeting this evening the treatment of prisoners in Cork gaols at present, and as to the sanitary conditions there, with a view to requesting the Corporation to appoint a committee to investigate these and other facts forthwith. I am also directed to ask you to be so good as to allow the deputation to lay its facts briefly before the Corporation under your privilege”.

When the deputation arrived, Miss O’Mahony, who spoke for the delegation, said that apart from the “sufferings of the men” they felt that unless drastic action was taken by the Corporation an epidemic of disease would break out in the city, and then the Corporation would have to bear the responsibility. She deemed that the sanitary conditions were appalling – “the dirt of the place was indescribable, and clothes were in an unspeakable condition”.

The delegation proposed that the Corporation of Cork appoint a committee to inquire into the conditions at the gaol, and demand permission from the military authorities to enter the gaol and see the conditions for themselves;

“Such an investigation would relieve the anxiety of the relatives and friends of the prisoners. A good many persons didn’t know whether their relatives who had been arrested were alive or not. An agitation had gone on in Dublin, but the Provisional Government had so far refused the demand for an investigation. If all was well with the prisoners, there should be no hesitation about allowing a committee to carry out an inspection”.

The proposal was carried a committee of seven councillors were tasked with approaching General Emmet Dalton.

Caption:

1177a. Cork County Gaol adjacent UCC, c.1920; it is now the site of the Kane Science Building. Only the entrance portico has survived (source: Cork City Library).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 10 November 2022

Journeys to an Irish Free State: Mary MacSwiney’s Hunger Strike

November 1922 coincided with the hunger strike of Mary MacSwiney as part of her continued protest at the Treaty and as her part in the Irish Civil War. After Mary’s re-election to Dáil Éireann in June 1922 she abstained from the political institution. She fought the Irish Civil War making regular speeches in the public realm but remained in a non-combatant role.

On 4 November 1922, Mary was arrested at the home of Nell Ryan at 40 Herbert Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin. Her premises were raided by National Army soldiers. She was interned at Mountjoy Gaol where she immediately went on hunger strike. At once Mary’s national political presence attracted attention. The gaol doctor, Dr O’Connor, asked for a waterbed for her comfort. Nevertheless, during the hunger strike Mary refused doctor visits. Just outside the prison walls Cumann na mBan members held vigils demonstrating against Mary’s internment and the internment of others like her.

The Cork Examiner reported on 9 November 1922: “Dublin, Wednesday 8 December 1922 – Miss Mary MacSwiney, sister of Terence MacSwiney, late Lord Mayor of Cork, entered today on her fifth day of hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison. She has been joined since Monday in the hunger strike by four other prisoners, Madame O’Rahilly, widow of the [Michael Joseph] The O’Rahilly, Mrs Humphries his sister and her daughter, Sheila, and Miss Honor Murphy”.

In connection with messages of protest received by President WT Cosgrave of the Irish Provisional Government from the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic referring to the arrest and detention in prison of Miss Mary MacSwiney, TD, the Government Publicity Department issued a statement in the evening of 3 November. President Cosgrave wrote about returning with General Richard Mulcahy from a tour of the Dublin hospitals where he had visited seriously injured soldiers of the National Army and his thoughts upon such suffering;

“Deaths and sufferings, and a daily toll of further deaths and sufferings, are the direct consequences of the doings of people who formerly were, and still claim to be, political leaders, the consequence of the action which Mr De Valera has described as Rory O’Connor’s unfortunate repudiation of the Dáil, which I (De Valera) was so foolish as to defend”.

“Mr De Valera, Miss MacSwiney, and their associates, far from wishing to make amends for what they refer to as their ‘foolishness’, show that they intend to go on being foolish, even at the terrible cost of Irish blood and suffering. They are responsible for the shedding of blood in Ireland, and for its continuance cannot themselves claim immunity. We, on whom the Irish people have placed the responsibility of asserting their authority, will not allow the discharge of that duty to the nation to be hampered by the consideration of any individuals, be they whom they may”.

At a Cork Harbour Board meeting in mid-November 1922 the chairman received a delegation of ladies (Mrs Sheehan, Mrs K Riordan, and Miss Sheehan) who read a document asking for the release of Mary MacSwiney; “We the constituents of Miss MacSwiney ask the Provisional Government, as an not of chivalry, to forthwith release Miss MacSwiney, hoping by this kindly act to alleviate bitterness between Irishmen will help towards the cessation of fratricidal strife, which is slowly destroying our country”.

Continuing the Chairman said he appreciated the manner in which the document had been worded. He described it as having no party bitterness in it, and he hoped that as they were celebrating the second anniversary of Terence MacSwiney’s death, which had evoked such world-wide admiration, he hoped the Government would act on it.

Board member and member of Cork Corporation Sir John Scott, in proposing the adoption of the resolution, said that there were times in the “affairs of men and women when politics had to be put aside”, and he thought that was one of them. He regretted that Miss MacSwiney had been arrested, because he thought that action was an “error of judgment”, and he had no hesitation in asking that she be released Mr Barry Egan seconded.

Mr T J Murphy wished to be associated with the request. He noted that Miss MacSwiney was a member of their Board and TD for the city, and he did not think it would hurt the Provisional Government to grant her release. He thought, in fact, it would be much better for the Provisional Government if they did so. Mr O’Brien also supported the resolution. He did not think it would serve any patriotic purpose to keep Miss MacSwiney in prison. The Chairman said he supposed there was no objection whatever to passing the resolution. The motion was formally passed and the deputation withdrew.

Members of Cork Corporation also called for Mary’s release as well as the Cork Worker’s Council. In addition on the twentieth day of the hunger strike, Mary’s sister Annie MacSwiney, who had been fasting outside the gaol for a week, was removed in a very weak state to a private nursing home in Eccles Street, Dublin. Annie was determined to fast until she was admitted to the gaol to see her sister.

Beyond the twentieth day of Mary’s hunger strike, her condition was grave and she was given the Last Rites by a Roman Catholic priest. On the 24^th day though the Government were not prepared to let hunger strikers die, and she was released.

In early April 1923 Mary was arrested again and taken to Kilmainham Gaol and was released after 19 days of hunger strike.

Caption:

1176a. Mary MacSwiney TD, 1921 (Source: Houses of the Oireachtas Archive).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 27 October 2022

Journeys to a Free State: Quests by the Trade Union Movement

During October and November 1922, the Cork and District Trade and Labour Council came to the forefront of promoting peace plus endeavoured to champion local industry. With regard to peace, on 26 October 1922, at a meeting of the Council, Mr George Nason, Chairman, presided, and praised the peace seeking work of their Honorary President, Fr Thomas Dowling, had, for some time past, been very busy in an endeavour to bring about peace in the country.

Fr Dowling’s obituary in the Cork Examiner on 9 January 1951 highlights that he was a native of Kilkenny, where he was born in 1874. He entered the Capuchin Order in his native city at the age of sixteen and was ordained in the Capuchin Church in Kilkenny in December 1896. He arrived shortly afterwards to Holy Trinity Church in Cork.

During the Great War 1914-1918 the cost of ordinary commodities rose considerably in Cork City. As a result, the interplay between rising costs and wages began to affect the economy. Wages could not match prices so strikes were called. Fr Thomas, who had studied social reform, threw himself wholeheartedly into the work of mediation and arbitration in 1918 between employers and trade unions. Fr Thomas clocked up notable accolades. The Freedom of Cork City was conferred upon him in June 1918. The Senate of the National University of Ireland paid tribute in 1920 by conferring on him the honorary degree of LL.D. A physical recognition for his general services for the Cork Trade Unions exists in a stained-glass window, to his memory in Holy Trinity Church.

George Nason commented that Fr Thomas was leaving no stone unturned to bring about peace, and he asked the delegates, to pass a resolution showing that the workers of Cork were with him in his good work. Proposing the motion, Mr Weldon said they heartily welcomed the efforts of Fr Thomas, and felt proud that these efforts emanated through him as a representative of Labour. Mr Weldon proposed the following resolution:

“We, the Workers’ Council of Cork, gladly welcome the news of the efforts for peace that have reached us. We appeal to all concerned to submerge all personal feelings in an effort to save our loved country from the ruin that threatens it. The stagnation of industry is causing appalling suffering, to thousands in our midst, and on their behalf we strongly appeal. We congratulate our beloved Honorary President, Very Rev. Dr. Thomas on his patriotic efforts to end the present deplorable position in the country, and feel sure that if any man could effect a settlement he will do so”.

Mr Matheson seconded. The resolution was passed unanimously. Miss Buckley of the Women’s Workers’ Union), supported the motion and called for peace; “If we do not take a stand now and put an end to this awful tragedy we cannot expect other people to do it for them…I hope that this peace would be a lasting peace, and not one calculated to give breathing space to either side”.

Apart from promoting peace, the Cork District Trades and Labour Council objected strongly through a campaign to lessen the wholesale importation of goods, which could be very easily manufactured locally. They liased closely with the Executive Council of the Cork Industrial Development Association. They asked the Association to appoint a deputation to interview the manager of the Cork Clothing Factory for the purpose of discussing ways and means to avoid the importation of ready-made clothing. As a result of the interview, it was discovered that in the purchase of ready-mades the public still regarded price as the chief determining factor. Indeed the workers and housekeepers when purchasing ready-made garments rarely enquired as to whether such garments were made in Ireland or were made up of Irish material.

It was demonstrated to the members of the deputation of the Cork Industrial Association that in the case of two to three garment articles of Leeds and Cork manufacturersthat although the Leeds product was a few shillings cheaper in price, the Cork product had wearing properties of three times the duration of the corresponding English ready-made suit. However, the material of the all-Irish ready-made very much excelled the material and finish of the corresponding English ready-mades.

The Cork Industrial Development Association were quick to note that in purchasing a ready-made suit turned out in Leeds that Cork workers were keeping English woollen mills in operation and English workers in constant employment.Whilst on the other hand the Association argued that they were helping to close up Irish woollen mills and to disemploy Irish factory hands in clothing establishments.

Under these circumstances it was decided to circularise all the trade unions in Cork asking the officials of same to circularise all their members a request that when purchases were being made that Irish goods should be given preference. Where there was a marked discrepancy in prices as compared with those of foreign make, the Cork Industrial Development Association was prepared to investigate the reasons and to take up all cases.

Coupled with the promotion of Irish goods, the Association approved of the formation of the Cork Animated Advertising Agency at St Patrick’s Street, Cork and several “Irish manufacturers of good standing” availed of the medium of advertising offered through the Agency. The Association was satisfied that the advertisements inserted in the publication of the Agency would be in the interest of Irish industry.

Caption:

1174a. Fr Thomas Dowling, on the left, c.1924 from The Irish Capuchins, Record of a Century, 1885-1985 (source: Cork City Library).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 20 October 2022

Journeys to a Free State: Skirmishes on the Streets

Whereby September 1922 coincided with offensive and randomly located rifle fire by Anti Treaty IRA volunteers on the National Army troops, October 1922 coincided with a step up in the type of weapon used especially using hand grenades. The Mills grenade was a traditional design; a grooved cast iron “pineapple” with a central striker held by a close hand lever and secured with a pin. The casing was grooved to make it simpler to grip. The Mills type was a defensive grenade to be thrown from behind cover at a focus in the open, wounding with fragmentation.  

However, story after story, which appears in the Cork Examiner tells of warning shots more so than anything else by the IRA. However, they still shocked the general population, who tried to go about their daily business and found themselves part of tit-for-tat skirmishes on Cork City’s main streets.

            A bombing of National Army troops occurred in Cork on 19 October 1922. Since the closing down of the railways owing to the destruction of local and regional bridges, a military guard was placed on duty in each station to prevent damage to rolling stock and railway property generally.

At the Cork-Bandon Railway terminus on Albert Quay, a party of 49 men were placed on duty. There were stationed at various points in the yard, but the greater number remained in the centre. At 1.15pm, an IRA volunteer came over a new bridge connecting Rockboro Road with Anglesea Street, and which ran immediately underneath the South Infirmary church and wards. After he arrived about the centre of the bridge, he flung four hand grenades in quick succession at the sentry on duty underneath. At the time, the sentry was in the engine shed, but this was not observed by the bomb-thrower.

Of the four grenades thrown only one exploded, and this was outside the shed inside, where the sentry was. The other three remained where they fell. The explosion of the single bomb while it caused consternation, fortunately did no damage, and no one was injured. The troops in other parts of the yard observed a man running towards Rockboro Road, and shots were fired at him. He, however escaped, jumping up the three steps leading from the bridge to Rockboro Road, where he had the shelter of the houses. The three unexploded grenades, which were fired at the sentry lay unexploded and were rendered harmless.

On 21 October 1922 at about 1pm a three ton lorry, containing National Army troops, was coming through St Patrick’s Street from a westerly direction, and when it had arrived in the vicinity of Messrs Thompson’s and Messrs Lipton’s, a bomb was thrown at it. It rolled a short distance after it landed before it exploded. The bomb damaged the premises of Messrs Whelan and French.

A small pony cart, which was in the vicinity at the time, was damaged. A boy named William Hornibrook was unfortunate. When the bomb was thrown, the lorry, in an endeavour to get away, struck into William’s small pony cart. The animal bolted and William’s cart was smashed into small pieces. The pony though escaped uninjured.

Others who were in the street at the times also suffered, though their injuries were fortunately of a minor nature. John O’Leary, an employee of the Macroom Railway Company, sustained an injury to the head, and he and the William – the boy – were removed to the Mercy Hospital. John has mild bruising and William suffered from shock.

The National Army troops were soon on the scene and the locality was searched, but no arrests were made. Another live grenade was found on Paul Street, which suggested that the perpetrator of the bomb escaped that way and got rid of the bomb through fear of being held up. A short time later the tram service, which was held up resumed its business.

On 22 October, at about 8.30am two lorries in convoy was on its way towards the County Gaol. When it reached the Grand Parade, it was fired on near Woodford Bourne. Several volleys were discharged from the shelter of crowds, but the troops suffered no casualties. The officer-in-charge within the National Army gave the order to his men to fire in the air, which dispersed the assailants and the general crowd very quickly. A little girl named Ms O’Donovan, aged about 13 years, was hit in the knee by some splinters. She was treated by Dr Joseph Dalton in the Mercy Hospital.  About the same time snipers opened fire on several of the city’s posts, particularly at the Custom House, but return fire silenced any further hostilities.

On 30 October 1922, at 12.15pm, there was another street attack on St Patrick’s Street. The throughfare was crowded at the time.  A private touring car containing three or four of the National Army was passing through the street towards the Grand Parade. They just reached Fr Mathew Statue when the attack was made.

Two bombs of the Mills’ type grenade were thrown. One was a number nine and the other number five – the number nine bomb being the larger of the two. One of the bombs struck the wooden pavement in a line with the Irish Lace House, while the second lodged on the opposite side of the street in the direction of Messrs Evans establishment. The large size bomb hit the iron work of a passing tram car – the fragments of the bomb entering the windows of the establishments of Messrs Dowden’s and Piggott’s and those of the Irish Lace House.

The passengers in the tram car were naturally terrified. One of the female occupants fainted and had to be assisted out of the car, which was not damaged to any material extent. Another female had a lucky escape when she had the heel of her boot blown completely off by a splinter of a bomb. Again, National Army troops arrived on the scene, nearby houses were searched but again no arrests were made.

Caption:

1172a. St Patrick’s Street, c.1920 from Cork City Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 13 October 2022

Journeys to a Free State: The Gaol Shooting

On Thursday night 21 September 1922, thirty-nine anti-Treaty IRA men made their escape from Cork County Gaol off Western Road. Of these two were recaptured near Ballinhassig the following day, but of the remaining in the ensuing days after their escape there was no trace.

The Cork Examiner recalls that the men got away by means of a tunnel, or rather a disused ventilation shaft. Becoming aware of the existence of this shaft, the men confined in one cell dug their way down until they met with the shaft, and then broke into the narrow passage. A man was sent down to explore and came back with the news that the tunnel was just passable and led out through a larger shaft beyond the gaol premises.

One by one then, the 39 prisoners who had access to this particular portion of the gaol went into the cell and down the narrow hole at the back, through the shaft, and up through a manhole in the centre of the road outside the gaol walls. As each man made his way out, he quickly disappeared. It was not until a considerable time afterwards that the escape was discovered, but by then the men had got clear away.

Following the escape of thirty-nine prisoners, the remaining colleagues interned there rioted on Sunday, 24 September 1922. The Cork Examiner records that circa 435 IRA volunteers went on strike while on the parade ground at 7am on the 24^th. Having previously been on hunger strike, they refused to go into their cells when the time had arrived for doing so, and the National Army guards were obliged to use force in order to get them to comply with the regulations. They still refused, and the guards forced them from the recreation ground with the butts of their rifles.

The prisoners on reaching the cells smashed the doors, and refused to enter, and continued the disturbance which they had initiated on the parade ground. After some hours, during which every effort was made to induce the prisoners to desist from their conduct, the guards gave them a quarter of an hour in which to return to their cells. They still refused to obey, and an extra five minutes was give as a warning to back down. When the five minutes expired the prisoners still made no attempt to obey. The guard then fired one volley, and two of the prisoners were hit, both being seriously wounded. One of them, Lismore born but Cork based Volunteer Patrick Mangan Junior, died on the following day at the Mercy Hospital.

A military inquiry was held by the National Army. The inquiry found that Patrick Mangan met his death as the result of a rifle shot fired by a sentry “in the execution of his duty”, and that the officer, who gave the order to fire was justified, as the prisoners had sufficient warnings and ample time to comply with the order to return to their cells.

Commandant of the Gaol Mr Scott, being sworn in, noted that on the night of 23 September he received a deputation from Mr Carey, who introduced himself the Commandant of the Prisoners, at 10.30pm. He handed Commandant Scott a list of demands, and informed him if they were not granted the prisoners would go on hunger-strike the following morning at 7 am if demands were not met – (1) the cell doors and yard doors should open from 7am to 9pm; (2) there should be free communication between and all wings; (3) parcels, letters in and out should be allowed; and (4) there should also be a supply of mattresses, blankets,  mugs, plates, knives and forks.

Regarding requests no.s 1, 2, and 3, Commandant Scott informed the inquest that he had instructions from Headquarters, owing to the taking of advantage of privileges previously given, that all privileges were withdrawn, except exercise two hours a day – one  hour in the forenoon and one hour each afternoon. Privileges would be renewed at a later date, when according to Scott the prisoners became “amenable to discipline”. As regards request no.4, Scott deemed that the prisoners had a sufficient supply of blankets and mugs, and as regards bedding and equipment in general, he argued they were better equipped than his own men.

The tension between prison guards and prisoners was highly charged. The prisoners were boisterous all through the night, and after Mass next morning refused breakfast, except a handful of men. Commandant Scott allowed them out between 8am and 11am but was unable to get them to return them to their cells. Scott detailed that he ordered a party of soldiers to fire over the prisoners’ heads at the wall. After cautioning the prisoners that he intended firing, he ordered fire. The deceased, Patrick Mangan Junior, further desisted any order to leave. He was fired at. A priest and doctor immediately went to attend to him and he was removed to hospital as soon as possible, but was declared dead.

Chaos continued to reign in the weeks that ensued. About 8pm on 6 October 1922 there was an attack on the Cork County Gaol, apparently from the western side. The sniping was replied to by the guard with equal vigour. People in the district quickly moved within doors, and many who were going to evening devotions at St Finbarr’s West or The Lough Church, returned to their homes. The shots came apparently from the area directly west of the Gaol Walk. No casualties were sustained.

The guards, both inside and outside the Gaol, was promptly supplemented, and searches and investigations were immediately began, with the result that a number of arrests were made.

About the same time a small party of National Army troops were fired on at the Mardyke Walk near the entrance to Fitzgerald’s Park. Only a few shots were fired, and no damage was done.

Caption:

1171a. Remnants of Cork County Gaol, off Western Road, Cork, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).