Near the footpath on the extreme left of the cemetery you will find the resting place of the Wallace sisters.
Grave of the Wallace sisters.
Nora and Shelia Wallace ran a newsagents shop on St Augustine Street in Cork city which doubled as the IRA's intel centre.
The sisters spearheaded the Irish Citizen Army in Cork and during the War of Independence Shelia served as Staff Officer Cork IRA.
The Wallace sisters grave 2020.
Wallace grave February 2023.
Not all of the Republican graves in St Finbarr's are of those who served with the Cork No.1 Brigade. Patrick Corcoran fought with the famous 3rd West Cork Brigade.
Grave of West Cork IRA Volunteer Patrick Corcoran.
Patrick marched with the Irish Volunteers to Inchigeela from Dunmanway on Easter Sunday morning 1916 to mobilise for the uprising but, as we now know, the rising in Cork did not happen.
During the War of Independence and Civil War Corcoran was active with the IRA.
Patrick Corcoran's activities during the war.
John Whelton is another West Cork IRA man buried in St Finbarrs cemetery.
Whelton was involved in many actions across West Cork during the War of Independence, including attacks on Courtmacsherry and Timoleague barracks.
Margaret Buckley (nee Goulding) came from Winters Hill, off Sundays Well. She was involved in the burgeoning Republican movement in her native city before moving to Dublin following her marraige to Patrick Buckley in 1906.
She was involved in the trade union movement in Dublin and following the 1916 rising she joined Sinn Fein. Margaret Buckley was a judge in the Republican courts and during the Civil War she was jailed in Kilmainham by the Free State.
In 1937 Margaret Buckley became the first female president of Sinn Fein, a role she held until her retirement in 1950.
Belfastman Soirle MacCana joined the IRA in 1920 while a student at Belfast Academy of Art.
Grave of Soirle MacCana.
He was arrested in 1921 and sentenced to death. He spent 7 months on death row in Crumlin Prison before the truce saw an amnesty for prisoners and Soirle went back to his art studies.
In the 1930s Soirle was appointed head of Cork's Crawford College of Art.
Soirle MacCana headstone.
Midway in the cemetery is the grave of IRA Staff Officer Joseph Varian. The Varian family were steeped in the Republican tradition in Cork, going as far back as the Fenian times.
Grave of John Varian.
Grave of Nora and Jack Martin.
Jack Martin was an IRA Volunteer during the 1920s and O/C Cork no.1 Brigade in the 1930s. He married Nora O'Brien in 1927 and the pair were deeply involved in the Republican movement on Leeside with their friends Leslie Price and her husband Gen. Tom Barry.
Nora O'Brien ran the west Cork Bar on Parnell Place in the city. It was a popular haunt for republicans and during the war of independence it hosted the likes of De Valera and Michael Collins on separate occasions.
Nora was involved with the resistance movement from its early days. In the 1900s she joined Ignigh na heireann and in 1914 co-founded the Cork branch of Cumann na mban at a meeting in the city hall. During the war of independence she was leader of the Cumann na mban Active Service Unit in the city and chief intelligence officer.
Charles Browne was a member of the IRA Mid-Cork flying column during the War of Independence and Civil War.
Grave of Charles Browne
Browne assembled with the Irish Volunteers in Macroom on Easter weekend 1916. He was arrested and spent some months in jail.
During the War of Independence he took part in ambushes, raids and was captured and interned in 1921.
From Charles Browne pension application.
John Kenny was an IRA volunteer with A Company, commonly known as 'The College Company' due to it being based at College Road.
Grave of IRA Volunteer and later Garda Superintendent John Kenny.
Waterford man James Prendergast fought with the IRA in his own county and in Cork with H Company, 2nd Batt, Cork No.1 Brigade during the War of Independence.
Grave of James Prendergast.
Prendergast (centre wearing cap) with fellow IRA comrades in Waterford.
On the right near the rear of the cemetery is the resting place of Catherine and Jer Keating.
The Keating grave.
Jer was a member of the famous Phairs Cross Company while Catherine was active in Cumann na mBan.
Jer served as Intel Officer for the IRA second battalion.
At the back of the cemtery, on the left, is the grave of Cumann na mBan Captain Myra Crowley (nee O'Driscoll).
Grave of Captain Crowley.
Myra was a Bishopstown girl who joined Cumann na mBan in 1918. In her later years she recorded her memories of the 'tan days'. She recalled how Cumann na mBan would use the chapels in St. Finbarr's Cemetery:
''only drilling and some instruction in first-aid took place. Usually a man came from the city as our teacher....''
When the Civil War broke out, Myra's Cumann na mBan branch went with the Free State and she was part of a Cork Cumann na mBan contingent to march in the funeral of Michael Collins in Dublin. She recalled:
''We travelled to Dublin in a boat chartered by Cork Corporation and had a section to ourselves in the cortege.''
Myra was 102 years old when she died in 1990.
On the right, heading to the back of the cemetery, is the grave of James O'Leary. James, from Ballinadee, was a volunteer with the third West Cork Brigade.
At the back of the cemetery is the grave of William and Margaret Neenan.
The Neenan grave.
William Neenan was part of the Phairs Cross Company led by his brother Connie. Margaret was active in Cumann na mBan. Her father Steva Riordan was a famous player with the Blackrock Hurling Club and a Sinn Fein member of Cork Corporation.
Sean Lucey was Captain D Company and member of the Cork Brigade active service unit. His wife Maighread Lucey came from the staunch Republican family, Murray's of Blarney Street.
She was well known for her typing skills and as a Cumann na mBan member she typed secret dispatches for IRA HQ.
Grave of Mr and Mrs Lucey
The Volunteer Pipe Band played a vital role in the cultural life of Republican Cork and many of it's former members lie in St Finbarr's Cemetery, such as Pipe Major John Mulcahy.
Grave of John Mulcahy.
Tom Kelleher was Commandant of the famed Third West Cork Brigade. With Tom Barry's Flying Column he took part in many engagements, such as the Battle of Crossbarry and the Upton Ambush.
Grave of Commandant Kelleher.
Comandant Kelleher
Kelleher remained a staunch Republican all his life. In the years before his death he supported the H-Block Hunger Strikers.
Robert Monteith came ashore at Banna Strand with Roger Casement in 1916, his brother Richard Monteith lies in St Finbarrs Cemetery.
Grave of Richard Monteith.
The Monteith's came from Wicklow and Richard, known better to family and friends as Dick, was close to his younger brother Robert. When Dick joined the British Army, Robert followed him.
Robert Monteith fled to the US after 1916 where he continued to assist the Irish struggle via Clan na Gael. He worked for the Ford motor company and died in Michigan in 1956.
Michael Carey from 98 Street, near Phairs Cross Bandon Road, was Quarter-Master of the Phairs Cross Company.
He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1917 and took part in many activities across Cork city and county during the War of Independence. He was imprisoned in Cork Gaol duirng the Civil War and later The Curragh internment camp untill 1924.
Grave of Michael Carey.
Carey lists his activities for the Military Pensions Board.
James Hurley fought with the IRA in Wales where there was an active column in Swansea which linked up with the Cork Brigade.
Grave of James Hurley
James Cashman fought with A Company 1st Battlion. He was involved in many actions including the Glanmire Ambush.
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Grave of Jim Cashman.
Patrick McGrath, known as Pa, was a Volunteer with C Company, 2nd Battalion Cork no.1 Brigade. In his later years he was a Fianna Fail TD and Cork Lord Mayor,.
Grave of Pa McGrath.
A Blacksmith by trade, Pa McGrath took part in many actions with the IRA across the city. In later years he served as head of the Old IRA Mens Association.
Pa McGrath working at his forge on Morgan Street in the city centre.
Lord Mayor McGrath welcoming Laurel & Hardy to Cork city hall.
Cobh man Tom Waters first joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914. He fought with the IRA during the War of Independence not only in Cork but in Tipperary and Belfast too.
In 1921 he was shot in the leg and captured by the Black & Tans in Tipperary. It was an injury which affected Waters for the rest of his life.
During the Civil War he served with the Free State Coastal & Marine service.
Charles Byrd was born just as the Irish War of Independence was about to begin. He was a member of the IRA during the 1940s.
The grave of Sean and Geraldine Neeson is located in a part of cemetery known as 'Muscians Corner.' Sean was a native of Belfast where he was one of the founders of the Irish Volunteers there. When he moved to Cork city in 1918 he became an Intel Officer for the Cork No.1 Brigade. During the Civl War he was jailed by the Free State.
Geraldine and Sean shortly after their wedding in 1925.
In 1927 Sean became director of Radio Eireann. He also became a highly regarded lecturer in the music department at UCC.
Geraldine Neeson (nee O'Sullivan) came from a Cork merchant family. She was a well respected concert pianist and well known in the Irish arts scene. She was also a member of Cumann na mBan and was Muriel Murphy's bridesmaid for her wedding to Terence MacSwiney in 1917.
Geraldine on the left behind Terence MacSwiney, with MacSwiney sisters and best man Richard Mulcahy on far right.
Jackie Fitzgerald served with the IRA 1st Battalion in Cork city during the War of Independence as company engineer.
Fitzgerald details his exploits during the war.
James Carroll fought with the IRA C Company in the city.
William Coughlan came from a Republican family on Bandon Road. His sister Madge was in Cumann na mBan while his brother Charles was a Sinn Fein member of the Cork Corporation. The Coughlans were part of the famous Phairs Cross Company, one of the most active IRA comapanies in Cork which was based in the city's southside.
Grave of William Coughlan.
Grave of Charles Coughlan
Bob Spillane came from the Bandon Road area of the southside of Cork city and like his brother William was a member of the local IRA Phairs Cross Company. Unlike his brother William, Bob survived the war.
William Spillane died fighting against Free State forces in Limerick in 1922. He is buried in the Republican Plot.
Grave of Lieut. Bob Spillane.
Denis Fitzgibbon fought with the IRA during the War of Independence, then with the Free State side in the Civil War.
Sean French from Cork city was a chemist and active Republican during the War of Independence. As a Sinn Fein member of Cork Corporation he was deputy Lord Mayor in 1920.
Cork Sinn Fein executive 1920
During the Civil War he was interned by the Free State. In the 1920s and early 30s he served as Lord Mayor 9 times. From 1927 - 32 French served as Fianna Fail TD. He was one of the founding members of the party in Cork when it was orginally established as a Republican party.
Sean French, in mayoral robes, with De Valera at the opening of the re-built Cork City Hall 1936.
French suffered from ill health throughout the 1930s and died in 1937 at the North Infirmary Hospital.
Grave of Sean French.
The grave marker of Republican and GAA legend Jim Barry.
Daniel 'Sandow' O'Donovan was a leading officer with the Cork no.1 Brigade.
During the War of Independence he was involved in almost every raid, ambush and attack in the city and outskirts. During the Civil War he remained with the Republican side which saw the Free State authorities place a bounty on his capture.
Like many other Anti-Treaty IRA men such as Dan Breen, Sandow fled to the United States in 1924. He returned in the 1930s living the rest of his life in his native Cork.
Sandow in his later years.
Sandow's brother John fought in WWI with the Munster Fusiliers. He was gassed at Ypres and captured. He saw out the rest of the war in poor health in a POW camp. When he returned home he joined his brother in the ranks of the IRA.
Sandow's sister Kathleen, better known as Kit, spent time in the United States as a nurse before returning home where she joined Cumann na mBan , bringing with her her nursing skills. In 1935 she took over the family grocery shop on the Old Youghal Road on the northside of Cork city.
Frank Busteed was involved in many actions with the Cork No.1 Brigade during the War of Independence and was an integral part of inteligence gathering in Cork city.
The Busteed grave.
Frank opposed the treaty and left Ireland for America after the Civil War.
He retruned to his native Cork in 1935, got involved with the early years of Fianna Fail and during the years of WWII he was commissioned to the Irish Army.
Charles McAlister joined Na Fianna Eireann in his native Belfast in 1913. In 1916 he mobilised in Tyrone for the Easter Rising and travelled to Dublin. He arrived in the capital for the tailend of the rising.
During the War of Independence McAlister served in IRA HQ Department of Organisation.
Grave of Cpt McAlister
Raymond Hurley fought with the IRA based mostly around the northside of the River Lee.
grave of IRA Vol. Hurley
Grave of Martin Hennessy West Cork IRA.
There are also many graves of those from 'the other side' of the conflict dotted around St Finbarr's Cemetery.
Daniel Maunsell was a native of Tralee but served as head of the RIC barracks in Inchigeela, West Cork.
Maunsell family grave at St Finbarrs
Inchigeela IRA battalion commander Dr Patrick O'Sullivan recalled:
''Srgt Daniel Maunsell was considered to be the greatest threat to the local volunteers and to the local public at large. He was warned on several occasions to scale down his anti-Irish activities but to no avail. On 21 August 1920 he was shot dead at the door of Creedons Hotel, Inchigeela village.''
Directly across from the Republican Plot lies the grave of RIC Sergeant Con Cren, brother of famous explorer Tom Crean.
Crean grave in St Finbarrs
Crean was shot dead in an ambush near Upton in 1920. Previously based in King St RIC Barracks - now known as McCurtain Street, he was moved to Innishannon where his pursuit of local IRA Volunteers resulted in his death.
RIC Sergant Walsh
RIC Sergent Michael Leddy resided at Annmount, Friars Walk, which was an enclave of houses specially built to house RIC men who worked at nearby Cat Fort and Elizbeth Fort.
RIC Srgt. Leddy
RIC Sergt. Quirke
RIC Brennan
