Light is shed on identity of Terence MacSwiney’s mystery comrades

JOHN Connolly, 72, was ten years old when he laid eyes on the photograph of Terence MacSwiney’s comrades, which was published last week in the Irish Examiner.

One of the men was his father, Bill, a member of the Old IRA who fought in the War of Independence. We brought the photo to light in order to ascertain the names of those believed to be the pallbearers at the funeral of the former Lord Mayor of Cork who died in 1920 on hunger strike in Brixton prison in Britain.

In fact, the eight men never even attended MacSwiney’s funeral because they were in prison in England. “They had been sent over to bring MacSwiney’s body back to Ireland,” explains John.

“When they arrived in Liverpool they were arrested as members of an illegal organisation and sentenced to two years in jail. They each served 14 months in Parkhurst Prison and the photo was taken in Dublin shortly after their release.”

John learned this from contemporaries of his father, along with written accounts of what happened in the aftermath of MacSwiney’s death on hunger strike. “My father would never talk about it to me,” he says. “I remember when I first came across the photograph that my mother put her finger to her lips and told me never to talk about it. It was a secret. Even in later life he refused to apply for a Government pension as a War of Independence volunteer, even though we could have done with it. He just felt he had been doing his duty.”

John, from Glasheen in Cork, remembers his mother’s abiding concern that his father would – literally – go to Hell, not for his Old IRA activities but for his steadfast refusal to attend Mass in the wake of the Catholic Church’s denunciation of active Republicans.

“Bishop Cohalan excommunicated lots of IRA members so my father did not attend Mass in protest. My mother was very upset by this but it took him more than 20 years before he came round and started going again. I remember the first time he did was with me. We went to the Missions and then he went to confession. I was in my 30s at the time.”

Another reader who was intrigued by the photo is Michael Larkin, from Kilbrittain, a distant cousin of another of the men, Jerry Mullins. “He was chosen to be part of the honour guard to bring MacSwiney’s body home. The eight men were arrested in England because they were wearing IRA uniforms underneath their trench coats. I think they were released as part of the Treaty in 1922.”

Kieran O’Callaghan, from Béal na MBláth, Co Cork, sent us a very similar photograph of the men which we publish today. “They were pallbearers at the funeral of another Cork Lord Mayor, Tomás MacCurtain, who was assassinated in 1920 by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Mary Harrington emailed us to say that her granduncle, Patrick O'Donoghue carried the coffin of Terence MacSwiney, but was not in the photograph we published. However, his action had a tragic consequence, says Mary. “He was blown up by the Black And Tans on the 20th of November, when standing in Grand Parade. We think he was picked out as a result of being a marked man for taking part in the funeral.”

The issue was first brought to our attention by Siobhán Patricia Mulcahy, granddaughter of one of men, Jerry Canty of Father Matthew Road, Cork. “I have had people ringing me all day,” she says. “There has been huge interest. I remember my grandfather telling me about those days when I was only seven or eight years old, but nearby adults would usually tell him to shut up.”

Ms Mulcahy adds: “I also heard that one of the men escaped from jail dressed as a priest but I have not been able to confirm this.”

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