Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 30 January 2020

Remembering 1920: Arise Lord Mayor Alderman Tomás MacCurtain

    On 30 January 1920, one hundred years ago, the scene was set for Alderman Tomás MacCurtain to be declared elected as Lord Mayor in the Council Chamber of the old Cork City Hall. As Tomás rose from his seat in the Chamber to go to the Lord Mayor’s chair, much of the general public present cheered him. The men waved their hats and caps and the women their handkerchiefs. “The Soldier’s Song” was called for, and others shouted; “Up Blackpool” and as the newly-elected Lord Mayor signed the declaration accepting the office, The Soldier’s Song was sung.

     The Cork Examiner outlines that Alderman MacCurtain signed the roll of office and on receiving the chain of office, the outgoing Lord Mayor, William F O’Connor addressed him, saying; “I congratulate you, and your party, on your election to this high office. I wish you a happy and prosperous year of office, and I trust that under your chairmanship, as first citizen, of Cork that the members of the Corporation shall strive unitedly in using their best efforts to advance our city’s interests and prosperity”.

     Addressing the members, Tomás said his first duty was to thank Councillor O’Connor for his kind remarks on the taking the chair. He also thanked the members of the Corporation for having unanimously elected him to the position. He also wished to avail of the opportunity to thank the people of his ward who elected him alderman with a huge vote on the day of the election.

    Tomás felt that in accepting the position of Lord Mayor he had a double duty to perform. Elected as he had been, as a Republican, he deemed his first duty would be to serve the principles of the Irish Republic. His next duty would be, as far as it were in his power, “to assist every party and every man and every citizen who had the interest of the country at heart in furthering the country’s interests, including local enterprises and especially the larger issue of the freedom of their country”. In carrying out his duties he denoted that every member, no matter to what party he or she belonged, would get every opportunity of putting forward any idea that he or she had in connection with the welfare of their city and their country.

    Tomás continued in his speech that there were certain things in connection with the administration of the Corporation in the past that should be forgotten about and other aspects that should be emulated going forward. He expected from the members of the new Corporation a “sacrifice of time and a sacrifice, perhaps, of personal interest”. He expected from every member, no matter to what party they belonged to, that no self-interest would be put before the interest of the community at large.

    Tomás recognised that his Sinn Féin party were very pleased at the result of the municipal elections. They were also pleased that certain minorities were represented in the Council, because they recognised that in every staple community they had minorities that were entitled to representation in the government of the affairs of the country. Their motto in the future would, in the first instance, be self-reliance and, in their normal business of the Corporation, efficiency and economy. He also referenced the importance of the Irish language: “The opening of their proceedings had been very auspicious for one thing that was very dear to his heart, as it was also dear to the heart of the Irish people and that was the Irish language”. He was delighted to hear it introduced into their proceedings. He hoped they would preserve that bi-lingual attitude in the Corporation proceedings until they had a Corporation in the future in which the business would only be completely conducted in the language of their country.

   The minutes of the meeting, which survive in Cork City and County Archives, describe that the next business was to fix the Lord Mayor’s salary, which was set at £500 for the year. It was also decided to hold the quarterly meetings of the Council on the second Friday of April, July and October 1920 at 7pm.

   The next business was to select three gentlemen qualified to fill the office of High Sheriff, so as to enable the Lord Lieutenant, to select out of the list the new High Sheriff. Sinn Féin Alderman Tadgh Barry said that that was a matter that deserved the very careful consideration of the Corporation. Sinn Féin had had a divided mind on the matter. He articulated that he had read the oath and stated – “it was an oath that no self-respecting Irishman could take”. They were not going to ask any Irishman to take it. It was a position created by what he described as “an alien Government in the country”; Tadgh continued “While in the past some people had been proud to take such a job, they would have nothing to do with such people in the future”. He moved and was successful that they do not fill the office, and that they leave it to Lord French to consider his own candidate.

   Alderman Liam de Róiste then proposed a resolution that the Council pledge their allegiance to Dáil Éireann. Councillor Terence MacSwiney seconded, and it was passed by majority. He said that the authority of the Council must be definitely subject to some allegiance and they had next to consider what was the properly constituted authority in this country. Election of members to various committees was held at the subsequent Council meeting.

Captions:

1033a. Lord Mayor Alderman Tomás MacCurtain on his mayoral election night, 30 January 1920 (source: Cork City Museum).

1033b. Members of Cork Corporation in the old Council Chamber of the old Cork City Hall, 30 January 1920 (source: Cork City Museum).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 16 January 2020

Remembering 1920: The Newly Elected Corporation

    One hundred years ago today, 16 January 1920, boxes of votes for the city’s six local electoral areas and for membership of Cork Corporation began to be counted in Cork City Hall. The election had taken place a day earlier on 15 January. A total of 160 candidates looked on with trepidation on their fate as the ballot boxes were being opened. Only one female, Summerhill North resident Miss Anne Sutton representing the Sinn Féin and Workers Transport grouping and standing in the north-east ward, was on the ballot paper (who was successful).

   On 15 January, booths opened at 8am and closed at 8pm., after which the ballot boxes were taken to the City Hall, where the votes were counted. On Friday morning 16 January two trained staff groups counted the votes and two electoral areas were counted simultaneously. There were six groupings for the public to vote for – the  conjoined Sinn Féin and Transport Workers (30 seats won), Irish Parliamentary Party/ Irish Nationalist members (14 seats won), the Cork Rate Payer’s Association/ Commercial (4 seats won), Labour (3 seats won), Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers (2 seats won), and Independents (3 seats won). At the time the term of office was set at three years. The Sinn Féin and Transport Workers grouping had a clear majority of 30 seats out of 56. They also had great success in Waterford and Limerick.

   The first meeting of the newly elected Cork Corporation was to take place on Friday 30 January. At this meeting the principal business was to elect a Lord Mayor for the ensuing twelve months, to fix the salary of that office, to give three names for submission to the Lord Lieutenant of persons suitable for the office of City High Sheriff, and to set the dates and hours of quarterly meetings. In addition to the election of members to the several Corporation committees, the Council were to elect five of its number to the Cork Harbour Board. Three members of the old Council who were on the Harbour Board ceased to be members thereof when they ceased to be members of the Corporation.

    The Sinn Féin and Transport Workers grouping in the Corporation had a working majority over all other groupings. One of their number was in gaol, Alderman Frederick Murray, and J J Walsh MP was on the run from policing authorities. This, however, was not to affect considerably their power to control the Council’s work. Both the Sinn Féin and the Transport Workers groupings held separate private meetings when their agendas were discussed and agreed upon.

   Tracking the various meetings through the Cork Examiner, with one week to go, the selection of the name for the Lord Mayoralty had not been made, but J J Walsh, MP was being considered as the front runner. However, as he was on the run from policing authorities there were several challenges with his nomination. The point though was argued by some members of the Sinn Féin and the Transport Workers in favour of his election, as any future potential arresting of a Lord Mayor of the city would place the policing authorities in an awkward political position. Nevertheless, the Mayoralty position was offered to Tomás MacCurtain, the well-respected brigade commander of Cork no.1 Batallion within the IRA (since 1918). He has been active on the ground since his Irish Volunteer days and had spent several months in Frongoch prison. His family were also well-known manufacturers in Blackpool.

   On 31 January 1920 as early as 11.30am the gallery and available seats within the Council Chamber of the old City Hall were comfortably filled. Soon the place was absolutely packed with people. There were some clergymen present, and it was noted in the press for the first time in the history of such a meeting that a large number of women were present. Admission was by ticket and these were checked by firemen at the main entrance outside of which many people gathered.

   The first members of the Corporation to take their place in the council chamber were Messrs M J O’Callaghan (Independent), Daniel Gamble (Irish Parliamentary Party), and Daniel Horgan (Irish Parliamentary Party). Some minutes after, about 11.45am, the Sinn Féin members came in together, and were received with loud cheer with a special hearty welcome been given to Alderman Tomás MacCurtain, the selected of their party for the chair. A few minutes before 12noon the outgoing Lord Mayor William F O’Connor took the chair.

    At noon the Town Clerk called the roll, and 51 members answered out of the 56. The Sinn Féin Party gave their reply in Irish, answering ‘anseo’. When the name of Alderman Frederick Murray was called, Councillor O’Cuill said in Irish that he was in prison, and again, when Alderman J J Walsh’s name was called, he said in Irish, “Ta sé ar siúl” or in English he was “on the run”. Those remarks were given a sympathetic cheer. Immediately further cheers signalled the approval of the public present for the motion, spoken to in Irish by Councillor O’Cuill, proposing that Alderman Tomás MacCurtain to be Lord Mayor for the coming year. The motion was seconded by Councillor MacSwiney, MP, who also spoke in Irish.

   The Chairman asked: “Is there any other candidates?”. He declared Alderman MacCurtain unanimously elected (more in the next few weeks).

Have you a family member who was one of the original 56 councillors elected in 1920 or who appear on the famous roll of honour in Cork City Hall outside the Council Chamber (see picture), give me a shout with some more information at 0876553389 or email info@kieranmccarthy.ie. Many of the names have never been researched in any depth and much information has been diluted on their background and general context.

Caption:

Roll of Honour, Members of the First Council to have a Republican majority in the City Borough of Cork, 1920-1924, on display outside the Council Chambers of the present day Cork City Hall. The names also include those who were elected through by-election – an extra 12 names – within the electoral period of four years (picture: Kieran McCarthy).