Easter Rising Stories

ON THIS DAY

28 October

1920. MacSwiney’s coffin goes through London

The procession toward Euston, 28 October 1920.

Terence MacSwiney had died in Brixton at 5.40 a.m. on 25 October. About 30,000 people filed past the coffin at St George’s Cathedral, Southwark. On the morning of 28 October a Requiem Mass was said. Bishop William Cotter of Portsmouth celebrated. Bishop Peter Amigo of Southwark, Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne and Archbishop Anselm Kenealy of Simla were there.

The cortege then walked to Euston. It ran more than a mile. Irish Self-Determination League branches from London and Liverpool, Cumann na mBan and an IRA guard of honour took part. Diarmuid Lynch later told the Bureau of Military History that he took four IRA men by taxi to the cathedral and walked with them to the station. A receipt among the Art O’Brien papers records the remains leaving Euston at 6.20 p.m., billed for Cork via Kingstown. At Holyhead the coffin was put on the Rathmore and sent straight to Cork. Dublin was refused.

Symbolic funerals were held in Boston, Chicago, Manchester, Newcastle and Melbourne.

1920. Ambush at Thomastown

The same morning the No. 1 Flying Column of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade, under Dinny Lacey, fired on a lorry of the Northamptonshire Regiment on the Cashel–Tipperary road just west of Thomastown, near Golden. The column had blocked the road with a cart. The lorry was bound from Templemore to the Ballyglass rifle range. Later republican statements spoke of five or six soldiers killed. Named dead are three: Lance Corporal William Hobbs, Private Frank Shortt and Private Thomas Crummey. Others were wounded. One Volunteer, Michael Fitzpatrick of Tipperary town, was hit in the leg. Crummey had ties to the Nenagh district.

1920. Kevin Barry swears his statement

Kevin Barry. The declaration is his account, sworn four days before he was hanged.

In Mountjoy, Kevin Barry made a statutory declaration before Myles Keogh, JP. He said that after the Monk’s Bakery raid on 20 September he had been questioned for names, forced to the floor, had his arm twisted, and been threatened with a bayonet. Those are his allegations. They are not independently proved here. The paper exists. He signed with a cross; his right arm was in a sling. He also recorded that a court-martial officer had read the confirmed sentence the night before: hanging on Monday, 1 November.

London. Tipperary. Mountjoy. Same day.

References

Century Ireland, ‘World pays tribute to MacSwiney as funeral brings Cork to a standstill’. London procession 28 October; Requiem; Mannix; Holyhead to Cork on the Rathmore. rte.ie/centuryireland/…/world-pays-tribute-to-macswiney

Townshend, C. (2020) ‘The three funerals of Terence MacSwiney’, The Irish Times, 17 October. 30,000 at Southwark; Mass 28 October; Euston; Dublin refused. irishtimes.com/…/the-three-funerals-of-terence-macswiney-1.4387267

Bureau of Military History. Search Diarmuid Lynch: militaryarchives.ie/…/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921. Lynch’s statement records the IRA guard of honour from Southwark to Euston.

Connors, J. (2020) ‘Centenary of Ambush at Thomastown’, Tipperary Live. Hobbs, Shortt and Crummey named; Northamptonshire Regiment; Lacey’s column. tipperarylive.ie/…/centenary-of-ambush-at-thomastown-8020526

University College Dublin, ‘Kevin Barry and His Time’. Declaration 28 October; execution 1 November. ucd.ie/library/exhibitions/barry. Photostat also on Google Arts & Culture.

UCD Archives, Terence MacSwiney Papers P48b, descriptive catalogue. London wreaths and clergy lists. ucd.ie/archives