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Before it was St Joseph's Cemetery it was Lilliput Botanical Gardens from 1809 to 1828. In 1830 the famous Apostle of Temperance Fr Theobald Mathew acquired the land and opened it as a catholic cemetery.
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The old cemetery on the south side of Cork holds the graves of those from all walks of life, from actors to athletes, to politicians and priests, it is also the resting place for many of those from the revolutionary era 1919-1923.
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Eugene O'Connell was a 27 year old married father of a young child who worked as a labourer and lived in a tenement dwelling on Broad Lane in Cork city. Like his father and brothers, Eugene joined the British army and fought with the Munster Fusiliers in WWI. By 1919 he was a Volunteer with the IRA First Cork Brigade and on a dark November night in 1920 he was gunned down.
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Grave of Eugene O'Connell a st Joseph's Cemetery
On the night of November 17th and into the early hours of November 18th 1920, masked RIC Auxiliaries ran amok in the Broad Lane area shooting and throwing grenades. When they entered Eugene's dwelling they shot him dead infront of his wife and small child.
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St Joseph's on a spring morning
William Pa O'Flynn from Whites Cross was only 18 years old when he died in an accident in October 1921.
The grave of William O'Flynn
Young O'Flynn was a section commander with signals unit Cork no.1 Brigade.
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Liam de Roiste was born in Fountainstown and was a founding member of the Cork branch of the Gaelic League in 1899. He became vice chair of Cork Sinn Fein at its Inception in 1906. He was also one of the first members of the Cork branch of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and in 1916 marched to Macroom on Easter Sunday with other Irish Volunteers for the rising that never took place in Cork.
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Liam de Roiste grave at St Joseph's
In 1918 de Roiste was elected a Sinn Fein TD for Cork city in that years historic general election.
In April 1921 de Roiste's home at Janesville, Sundays Well, was raided by Black and Tans. De Roiste was not there at the time, he was staying elsewhere for fear of arrest, but a family friend from West Cork Fr James O'Callaghan was staying there and he was shot dead by the tans.
De Roiste took the Pro-Treaty side during the Irish Civil War. In the years after he was a member of Cumann na nGaedheal and served on Cork City Corporation.
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De Roiste turned exceptionally right wing during the 1930s where he supported the blueshirts, the newly formed Fine Gael party and was active in his support for the fascist dictator General Franco. He was involved in the Irish Christian Front from 1936-37 which sent support to Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War.
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De Roiste's grave is located near Fr Mathews grave.
During the 1940s de Roiste supported the Nazis and lent his support to the anti-Semitic Irish language party Ailtiri na hAisèirghe. He was elected a councillor for the conservative Cork Civic Party but, retired from politics in 1950. He died from lung cancer on may 15th 1959.
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St Joseph's on an autumn day
Daniel O'Regan was an IRA volunteer with F Company 2nd Battalion First Cork Brigade. He was part of the city's active service unit who was involved in many actions across the city during the war of independence.
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O'Regan marched with the Cork city Irish Volunteers to Macroom during Easter weekend 1916 for the planned instruction in Cork,which never took place.
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In 1921 O'Regan was arrested and spent six months in Spike Island prison island. He fought with the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Civil War and was arrested in August 1922. He later emigrated to the USA but later returned to his native Cork.
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Daniel Corkery was born on St Valentines Day 1878 at Gardiners Hill on the Northside of Cork city.
He became an important cultural nationalist on Leeside during the Gaelic revival. He penned plays and novels and painted water colours.
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Grave of Daniel Corkery in St Joseph's , sculpted by Seamus Murphy.
Corkery and his good friend Terence MacSwiney were one of the co-founders of the Cork Dramatic Society.
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Members and actors of the Cork Dramatic Society, Corkery seated front row on the right. MacSwiney seated in middle.
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Corkery lived at The Lough and many influential figures from the revolutionary era visited his home there, including Padraig Pearse in 1913.
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Corkery was a teacher at St Patrick's school on the Northside if Cork where his pupils included the writer Frank O'Connor and artist Seamus Murphy. He resigned from his teaching post in 1918 when he was denied head mastership due to his republican politics.
He went on to become a travelling Irish language teacher and penned many articles and novels. When Sinn Fein approached him in 1918 to stand as a candidate for that years general election he politely declined as he felt he was not suited to political life. He suffered from a lame leg since childhood and walked with a limp, aided with a cane, and this disability prevented him from taking an active role with the IRA during the war of independence but, he was able to support the republican movement through non lethal methods.
St Joseph's on a summer's day
James Linehan from Coleys Lane, off Shandon Street, joined the Irish Volunteers in 1917. He worked as a porter in the Mercy Hospital and collected information on British forces who used the hospital.
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Grave of James Linehan at St Joseph's Cemetery
During the civil war James was arrested by Free State forces in February 1923 and imprisoned in Cork City Gaol. He was injured during an escape attempt when a window frame fell on him. After a few months in hospital he was transferred to Newbridge internment camp in Kildare until he was released in 1923.
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Grave of William Horan at St Joseph's
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William Horan joined the Irish Volunteers at its Inception and was resident caretaker of the Volunteer Hall at Sheares Street. He was there during the chaotic week of Easter 1916 and a year later in 1917 William and his family were forcefully evicted by British soldiers during a raid on the premises. He then relocated to the Thomas Ashe Hall at Fr Mathews Quay where he was resident caretaker until his death in 1918.
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On a summer's night in 1921 a young seamstress was murdered as she sat by the window in her home at Frenchs Quay, Cork city.
Josie Scannell was just 19 years old when a bullet from the gun of a Black and Tan was fired from the street outside.
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The grave of Josie Scannell at St Joseph's
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The IRA had attacked the RIC barracks on Tuckey Street on that Summer evening and those inside the barracks returned fire before then chasing the IRA party up South Main Street and over South Gate Bridge firing their weapons wildly. A number of innocent passer bys were hit by bullets but survived. The unfortunate Josie Scannell did not survive the bullet which came crashing into her home.
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H Company of the 1st Battalion of the Cork No.1 Brigade was based in the western suburbs of the city and this was the company Timothy Linehan fought with during the War of Independence.
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Grave of Timothy Linehan at St Joseph's
The MacSwiney family grave cane be found towards the back of the cemetery. While Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney lies in the Republican plot in St Finbarrs Cemetery, his siblings lie in St Joseph's.
The MacSwiney grave
Sean MacSwiney emigrated to Canada where in 1914 he was arrested for his role as an anti-conscription activist. He returned to his native city where he served as an officer in the IRA Cork No.1 brigade during the war of independence.
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Sean (front left) shouldering the coffin of his brother Terence MacSwiney in 1920.
Sean was elected as a Cork Sinn Fein TD in 1921 for the 2nd Dail Eireann. He was arrested by crown forces that same year and went to Spike Island from where he escaped.
During the civil war Sean deserved on the Anti-Treaty IRA executive until he was arrested in the winter of 1923. In 1933 he was elected to Cork Corporation as an independent Republican and in 1936 he was imprisoned by the Fianna Fail government in Arbour Hill with Tòmas Og MacCurtain.
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