Terence MacSwiney: The life and times of a Cork martyr

One of the leading republican activists of his generation and often remembered for the circumstances of his death, Terence MacSwiney’s life reveals a complex character, says Robert Hume

Terence James MacSwiney was born at 23 North Main St, Cork City, on March 28, 1879, the fourth of John and Mary MacSwiney’s nine children. One of his earliest memories is reciting poetry on Sunday afternoons: The more rebellious, the better his father liked it.