Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 5 November 2020

Remembering 1920: Terence MacSwiney’s Funeral

The SS Rathmore ploughed her way across the Irish Sea bringing back to Ireland the coffin containing the Lord Mayor’s body. During Thursday night, 28 October 1920, the mortal remains of Terence MacSwiney returned to Ireland surrounded not by friends, but by British soldiers.

The remains of the Lord Mayor of Cork arrived off Deep Water Quay, Cobh, at 1.45pm on Friday 29 October. The SS Rathmore was met inside the harbour by the Admiralty tug Hellespont. The moment the vessel was sighted, the population of Cobh gathered along the Beach, and when the SS Rathmore reached its berth hundreds of people awaited it. But nobody would take charge of the remains. The people were only complying with the wishes ofthe relatives.

So, the SS Rathmore remained beside the quay – the space full of armed men. These included Black and Tans, London Metropolitan Police, and a strong force of RIC Auxiliaries. They stood grimly on the deck. Soon after deck hands unloosed the ropes around the coffin, which was covered with sail cloth and the coffin and wreaths were transferred to Mary Tavy, an Admiralty tug. The tug, flying a black flag, moved up the river for Cork. Whilst leaving the quays of Cobh, the Bishop asked the crowd to kneel to pray whilst the bells of the Cathedral tolled.

At 4.15pm, the tug arrived at the Custom House Quay. Again, every advantage spot was taken and the crowd densely packed. Again no one chose to receive the body. It was over two hours later that the special train from Dublin conveying the relatives of the deceased Lord Mayor arrived at the Glanmire Terminus, and were driven to City Hall, the wreaths, which accompanied them, being conveyed in the Corporation ambulances. Soon after the auxiliary police removed the body from the tug and placed it on the quay.

At 9.30pm the body was carried into the City Hall on the shoulders of Volunteers, being preceded by clergymen, who recited prayers. Volunteers also preceded the coffin and they carried wreaths. The remains of the Lord Mayor lay in state in City Hall the following day, Saturday 30 October and the ensuing Sunday morning. Notwithstanding the extreme inclement rain a continuous stream of mourners flowed towards the City Hall, where the remains lay in state in a coffin with a glass lid on a catafalque in the large chamber of Cork’s City Hall. A guard of honour of six IRA men was placed standing solemnly to attention around the coffin. These were relieved at two-hour intervals during daylight, but during the night, with curfew in force, they had to remain overnight in the City Hall.

Touching scenes were to be seen as the transfer of the remains from the City Hall to the North Cathedral preparatory to the funeral on 31 October 1920. As early as 8am large crowds packed around the vicinity of City Hall. So large was the crowd that the volunteers had to draw a cordon, which extended from Parnell Bridge to Clontarf Bridge and only those with admission papers were permitted to enter. Major General Strickland had issued a proclamation prohibiting any demonstration or any procession in formation at MacSwiney’s funeral. But the proclamation was ignored.

The coffin was taken from City Hall and was enveloped in the Republican flag. It was shouldered, and on each side marched the Volunteer Guard of Honour. Immediately behind marched the MacSwiney brothers, Peter and Seán, with members of Dáil Éireann such as Arthur Griffith and the Republican Government, senior officers from General Headquarters, IRA, and his colleagues on the Cork Corporation. Heading the Volunteer columns was A-Company, 2nd Battalion – MacSwiney’s own – from University College, Cork.

At the North Cathedral, an enormous assemblage had gathered. The coffin was covered with the Republican Flag once more and Terence’s uniform hat. At midday mass Requiem Mass began led by Bishop Daniel Cohalan and Archbishop of Cashel John Harty and a large number of clergy. Owing to military restrictions, the number of mourners, public bodies had to be strictly curtailed, and Volunteers numbering over 200 tried to keep order in the vicinity of the Cathedral.

After the High Mass, the coffin was shouldered to St Finbarr’s Cemetery by relays of Volunteers, which was followed by relatives, members of Dáil Éireann, corporation bodies, Sinn Féin organisations, University professors wearing Academic robes, Trade and Labour bodies, and other bodies. Each side of the cortege walked Volunteers, each bearing a wreath. Other volunteers were tasked to keep the public on footpaths and to maintain minimum crowds. Other armoured cars and lorries loaded with Black and Tans joined at intervals, flanking the marching IRA men an along the funeral route.

As the Gaol Cross was reached, the salute “eyes left” was given to MacSwiney’s heroic fellow-strikers still in the death throes of hunger in the hospital of Cork’s grim prison a nod to the deaths of Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy.

At St Finbarr’s Cemetery, Terence’s grave was adjoining that of the late Lord Mayor Tomás MacCurtain and not more than a few yards from the burial spot of Joseph Murphy, the recently deceased hunger striker from Cork Gaol. The final absolution was given by Bishop Cohalan and a short address delivered by Arthur Griffith TD.

The wreaths were then laid on the newly-made grave, and so numerous were these floral tributes that they covered the whole of the Republican Plot. A Volunteer bugler sounded the Last Post and as a final and fitting tribute to the memory to Terence, seven volunteers then fired three rounds from revolvers over the grave. British armour and lorries were still below at the Old Ballincollig Crossroads within sight and sound, but they made no attempt to interfere. The thousands of people who had collected in the vicinity of the graveyard were then permitted to pass in the view the grave and passed out immediately using another gate. People continued to visit the grave until darkness had fallen.

Captions:

1073a. Coffin of Terence MacSwiney being taken from the North Cathedral, 31 October 1920 (source: Cork Public Museum).

1073b. Section from one side of Terence MacSwiney’s memorial card 1920 (source: Cork City Library).

31 October 2020, “Cllr McCarthy said that he was calling for more building inspectors to be brought in to assess buildings in the city, and said that a root- and-branch analysis of the buildings on South Main Street and North Main Street was needed to prevent further incidents”, City’s dereliction crisis: Call for action after surge of damaged building, incidents,https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/Citys-dereliction-crisis-Call-for-action-after-surge-of-damaged-building-incidents-f755e620-dc02-4ece-b751-340aac38ace4-ds

30 October 2020, “Independent councillor and historian Kieran McCarthy said it was the end of an era for the club and that “great credit is due to those that kept it alive and at the heart of community life for so many decades”. The end of an era’: Fr O’Leary Memorial Boys Club in Shandon closes its doors for the last time, https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/The-end-of-an-era-Fr-OLeary-Memorial-Boys-Club-in-Shandon-closes-its-doors-for-the-last-time-a97b6eef-bded-4f0d-a9ad-01cac143a568-ds

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 29 October 2020

Remembering 1920: Terence MacSwiney’s Return to Cork

Once St George’s Cathedral at Southwark, London opened its doors on Thursday 28 October, tens of thousands flocked in to see Terence MacSwiney’s body. Many were Irish or of Irish extraction. Mass was fixed for 11am, which was a ticketed affair. Police had to link arms to prevent those with no tickets from pushing their way in. Six men wearing long coats presented tickets to the policemen and once inside took their coats off to reveal that the green unformed members of the IRA. They replaced their colleagues as the honour guard by the coffin. Muriel was too sick to attend or to travel back to Ireland. Two of Terence’s sisters Margaret and Kit (both nuns) did not make it from America or Tokyo respectively.

After the Requiem, the procession of the coffin on the horse-drawn hearse, which was almost a mile long – began for Euston Station. Terence’s two brothers and two sisters reached Euston Station at 4.30pm. On arrival at the station, the siblings were informed the train was due to leave at 4.45pm. They had arranged to travel by the 6.20pm train. After they had accompanied Terry’s body to a good’s carriage van they hurried down the platform to their carriage. Without notice, the train changed to be a special train to leave at 6pm. The train was also crowded with police in every carriage.

A train guard came to family friend Art O’Brien and said the police Inspector wished to speak to him. The inspector was looking for Muriel and noted that he had a communication for her but could not make it until they had passed Crewe.

Soon after Crewe the Inspector visited the MacSwiney delegation again and gave a letter from Chief Secretary for Ireland Thomas Hamar-Greenwood, addressed to Muriel. Opening it they found a copy of a letter addressed to the Press to the effect that, owing to a possibility of trouble, the Government had ordered that the remains should go straight to Cork. They were utterly taken aback and began to lecture them on their duty to the dead and the sacredness of the dead. The family noted that the Lady Mayoress was in London and they could take no decision without consulting her, and that the coffin should remain in Holyhead while someone went back to lay the facts before her. The request was turned down and the transport of the body continued to the English coast bound for Cork.

The train reached Holyhead, about midnight. The family had arranged that all should go at once to the van where Terry’s body lay. The train stopped at the town station, and it was there the SS Kenmare, was immediately waiting to depart. Family friend Art O’Brien produced the contract of the railway to take Terence’s body via Kingstown, to Cork, and he ordered them to carry it out. The stationmaster said he would go to the telephone, but the police inspector had a talk with him and said it was a Government order, that he should not carry out the contract.

Subsequently the family joined hands around the coffin but the door near the coffin was opened and railwaymen came in and took away the wreaths, while police and Black and Tans and ordinary military lined the platform. The family did not try to prevent them taking the wreaths. The railwaymen came towards the coffin and, almost in unison, they all said: “Don’t dare touch that coffin, we forbid you to touch it”. On that, they all left the van and said to the police: “We are forbidden to touch the coffin”. On that, the police rushed forward, pushed the family to one side and away from the coffin and surrounded it. The coffin was lifted out of the van and onto the steamer, the HMS Rathmore leaving the family on the quayside looking on.

The MacSwiney family were forced to get the train for Holyhead and get a separate steamer there. The journey to Dún Laoghaire was quiet. On Friday 29 October they assisted at High Mass for Terence in Dublin without the coffin present. After the Mass, the family delegation went in funeral procession behind the empty hearse that Terence’s body should have lain in to Kingsbridge. They left for by train for Cork at 2pm.

Meanwhile back in Cork, within four hours of Terence’s death, large written notices were erected outside the Offices of the Cork Examiner and Cork City Hall, which caused a thrill of sorrow throughout the city. By mid-morning the streets of Cork were filled with people who wore Republican rosettes with black crepe. The Municipal and Harbour Board flags flew at half-mast, and most of the city’s establishments had their premises partly shuttered. Most of the ships in the harbour had their flags at half-mast. All public functions were cancelled, and theatres and other such amusement spaces closed.

A special meeting of Cork Corporation was convened where councillors expressed their condolences and raw emotion at losing the City’s Lord Mayor. The Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Donal Óg O’Callaghan issued the following statement, decrying that despite Terence’s death, the merit of Republicanism will still linger and pass on:

“In the short interval since his imprisonment, while I have been temporarily taking his place, I have received notices of official origin threatening me with a similar end. The only message that I on behalf of the Republicans of Cork give today over the corpse of the late Lord Mayor is that Cork has definitely not yielded its allegiance to the Republic, that the people of Cork will continue that allegiance unswervingly and that those of us who man the Municipal Council will attempt as far as us lies to follow the noble and glorious lead of the two martyred Republican Magistrates. The Republican hold on the Municipal Chair of Cork ceases only when the last Republican in Cork has followed Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney into the Grave. Death will not terrorise us”.

Captions:

1072a. Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney, Spring–Summer 1920 (source: Cork City Library).

1072b. Invite to funeral of Terence MacSwiney at Southwark Cathedral, London 28 October 1920 (Cork Public Museum).