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)
On 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)
Yes I have gone poster free; the public backlash against the use of posters in the south east local electoral area of Cork City is vast- especially after the recent blitzing of large posters in the area. I have a keen interest in promoting the environment and heritage in the city. It is wrong on so many levels to plaster pole after pole with posters, especially with the same image.
To those asking about if I am still running because they don’t see my poster – I am v much in the race in this local election in the south east local electoral area of Cork City – my interests, work and manifesto are attached – my canvass reaches week 15 this week. I won’t get to each of the 20,000 houses but certainly I am daily trying to break down the various districts.
V well done to all our finalists of McCarthy’s Community Talent Competition at the Firkin Crane, Shandon last evening (Saturday 4 May); thanks to Red Sandstone varied Productions, our hosts, mentors, judges and all the stage crew!
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)
Douglas Road Cllr Kieran McCarthy invites all Cork young people to participate in the tenth year of McCarthy’s ‘Make a Model Boat Project’. All interested must make a model boat at home from recycled materials and bring it along for judging to the Lough on Thursday 16 May 2019, 6.30pm. The event is being run in association with Meitheal Mara and the Cork Harbour Festival. There are three categories, two for primary and one for secondary students. The theme is ‘Stories of Cork’, which is open to interpretation. There are prizes for best models and the event is free to enter. Cllr McCarthy, who is heading up the event, noted “The project is ten years old this year and over the years, all of the participants have been very creative and innovative. This youth project complements the Discover Cork Schools’ Heritage Project and McCarthy’s Community Talent Competition”. In addition, Cllr McCarthy emphasises that places like the Lough are an important part of Cork’s natural and amenity heritage. For further information and to take part, please sign up at www.corkharbourfestival.com.
The Cork Harbour Festival (1-9 June) will bring together the City, County and Harbour agencies and authorities. It connects our city and coastal communities. Combining the Ocean to City Race and Cork Harbour Open Day, there are over 50 different events in the festival for people to enjoy – both on land and on water. The festival begins Saturday 1 June, with the 28km flagship race Ocean to City – An Rás Mór. Join thousands of other visitors and watch the hundreds of participants race from Crosshaven to Blackrock to Cork City in a spectacular flotilla. Cllr McCarthy noted: “During the festival week embark on a journey to explore the beautiful Cork Harbour – from Douglas Estuary to Roches Point – and enjoy free harbour tours, sailing tasters, open days at heritage sites, and lots more; we need to link the city and areas like Blackrock and the Marina, Douglas estuary and the harbour more through branding and tourism. The geography and history of the second largest natural harbour in the world creates an enormous treasure trove, which we need to harness, celebrate and mind”.
