Easter Rising Stories

24th October

ON THIS DAY

24 October

1920. Terence MacSwiney’s last full day

Terence MacSwiney

Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork.

By 24 October 1920 Terence MacSwiney had refused food in Brixton Prison for more than ten weeks. He had been arrested in Cork on 12 August while chairing a republican court in City Hall, sentenced on 16 August to two years, and moved to London. He stopped eating at once. The Dictionary of Irish Biography records that death had been expected within a month; that the world’s press stayed with the case; and that some British unionists, and King George V in private, favoured release. The government refused. It judged that release would break the morale of the security forces.

Michael Fitzgerald had died in Cork Gaol on 17 October after 67 days. Joseph Murphy was still fasting there. Thomas Ashe’s death after forcible feeding in 1917 stood behind the decision not to repeat that method as policy. Fr Dominic O’Connor said Mass at the cell. Mary and Annie MacSwiney kept the vigil. Muriel MacSwiney was there too. The DIB life of Muriel records that she privately asked republican leaders to end the strike while supporting her husband in public.

In January 1921 Desmond FitzGerald told the Dáil that the hunger strike had drawn more foreign press than any other Irish story of 1920, more than Bloody Sunday or the burning of Cork.

He died the next morning, 25 October, at 5.40 a.m., with his brother Seán and Fr Dominic at the bed. Seventy-four days.

tems:flex-start;flex-wrap:wrap;margin:0 0 22px”>
Muriel MacSwiney

Muriel MacSwiney, 1920.

1920. The road at Moneygold is prepared

<div style="display:flex;gap:20px;align-i

The same night, in north Sligo, volunteers of the North Sligo IRA dug in at Moneygold, near Ahamlish cemetery on the Cliffoney–Grange road. Local reconstruction names Liam Pilkington, Seamus Devins and Andrew Conway among those in charge. Thirty to forty men worked with picks and spades. A cart at Magherow had been damaged so that the damage would be reported to Cliffoney barracks. The point was to bring an RIC patrol south through the prepared ground.

The patrol left at about 11 a.m. the next day: nine men on bicycles under Sergeant Patrick Perry. Constable Patrick Laffey was among them. The shooting belongs to 25 October.

References

Maume, P. (2009) ‘MacSwiney, Terence James’, Dictionary of Irish Biography. Arrest 12 August 1920; sentence 16 August; death 25 October, 74 days. George V privately favoured mercy.

DIB (2009) ‘MacSwiney, Muriel Frances’. Private attempt to have the strike ended.

Century Ireland, ‘Terence MacSwiney dies after 74 days on hunger strike’. Death 5.40 a.m., 25 October; Seán MacSwiney and Fr Dominic O’Connor present.

O’Keeffe, H. (2020) ‘Hunger Strikes and the War of Independence’, RTÉ History. FitzGerald to the Dáil, January 1921, on foreign coverage.

McGowan, J., and local reconstructions of the Moneygold ambush, 25 October 1920. Positions dug on the night of 24 October; patrol under Sergeant Perry left Cliffoney about 11 a.m. on the 25th.

Leave a comment