Papers shed light on MacSwiney’s final days

HARROWING medical records detailing the last days of former Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, are included in a vast collection of British government papers which will be handed over the people of Cork today.

The 1,000-plus British Home Office files show the global interest in MacSwiney's hunger strike which resulted in his death in Brixton Prison, London, on October 25, 1920.

Newspaper clippings in the files also show how MacSwiney's death won favourable publicity for the Irish struggle for independence.