Clodagh Finn: The woman who took the last known photo of Michael Collins

Agnes Hurley also reportedly was in possession of Michael Collins's blood-stained shirt collar from the ambush

Mim O'Donovan holding a photo and a portrait of her late aunt and photographer Agnes Hurley, the photographer who took photographs at Beal Na Blath the day after the death of Michael Collins and who reportedly was in possession of his blood-stained shirt collar. Picture: Denis Boyle

When Agnes Hurley fixed the viewfinder of her Brownie box camera on Michael Collins as he left Bandon, Co Cork, on August 22, 1922, she had no idea that he would be dead a few hours later.

The 18-year-old from nearby Mallowgaton already had a photographer’s instinct and brought her camera with her everywhere. “She carried it around with her like a person would a mobile phone today,” her niece Mim O’Donovan said.