12 French's Quay - June 23 1921

It was a warm June evening when 19 year old Josephine Scannell was sitting by the window in No. 12 French's Quay. The young seamstress was sowing some garments when a bullet came crashing through the glass from the street outside and ended her life. 

Frenchs Quay 1900s

It was a chaotic evening in the city. Shandon Street and Tuckey Street RIC Barracks were attacked by members of the First Cork Brigade. Up to 30 IRA Volunteers fired shots and flung tin can bombs at the barracks in a drive by attack. As they retreated towards South Gate Bridge after attacking Tuckey Street Barracks, they were pursued by a number of raging Auxileries who fired indiscriminately, injuring civilians and ultimately killing one. 

                                              French's Quay in the early 20th Century.


Among those injured that evening were Mrs O'Connor and her one year old daughter and 12 year old daughter. Five year old Hugh Murray and Denis Lenihan were also caught up in the deadly street fighting but all survived.

Josephine, or Josie as she was better known, was one of five children and following her death, Josie's parents received £1,000 compensation. Her funeral to St Joseph's cemetery attracted hundreds of mourners. The tragic death of the 19 year old seamstress demonstrated that whether it be on the street or in the home, nowhere was safe during those turbulent times in Cork.

French's Quay in modern times.

Josie's grave in St Joesphs, Ballyphehane. 

26 Evergreen Street

Sean O'Hegarty, O/C of the First Cork Brigade, was born at 26 Evergreen Street on March 21st 1881. General Tom Barry described him as: "responsible more than any other individual for the aggressive and militant activities which placed Cork No.1 Brigade amongst the leading Brigades in Ireland." 

                                                Birthplace of Sean O'Hegarty.



Sean was born into a family of freedom fighters. His father John was a Fenian, his brother Patrick Sarsfield was an IRB man and his other brother Ned was an engineer of the First Cork Brigade. When Sean's father died from consumption on Christmas day 1888 the family were plunged into poverty but, the matriarch of the family, Katherine, pawned her jewellery and worked scrubbing floors in big houses to make sure her children received an education and a decent living. This determination would shine through in Sean during the testing years of revolution.

Sean O'Hegarty in later years.

Sean went to school at the North Mon and after his school days he got a job in Cork Post Office. In 1905 he joined the Celtic Literary Society, a nationalist society founded by Terence MacSwiney, and a year later he joined the IRB. 

In 1907 he co-founded the O'Growney Branch of the Gaelic League and in 1910 was chairman of Cork Sinn Fein. In February 1912 Sean married fellow Gaelic Leaguer and Republican activist Maghdalen Ni Laoghaire. In 1916 Sean was Commandant of the Irish Volunteers in Ballingeary and Bandon and had gathered his men for action but, of course the rising in the rebel county was aborted at the last minute. Of course, with all this activity under his belt, Sean was a marked man in the eyes of the occupier and he lost his job at the post office when he was ordered by the authorities to leave Cork.

Sean's banishment would not last long and he was back in the rebel county in 1917 where he got employment as a storekeeper at Cork Workhouse. On Armistice Day 1918 he organised the successful rescue of Donnchadha MacNeilus from Cork County Gaol. MacNeilus was a Donegal man but a member of the Cork Volunteers who found himself facing the gallows after shooting a constable during a raid on his lodgings on Leitrim Street. The constable was lingering for days in hospital with a gunshot wound to his face but, Sean wasn't taking any chances, if the constable died MacNeilus was sure to hang, so he organised the breakout of the Donegal man from Cork Gaol. In the end, the constable survived!

Cork Workhouse.

In the months leading up to the War of Independence Sean was leading a vast arms collecting campaign. By 1920 he had become O/C of the First Cork Brigade, he enforced a high degree of discipline in his men which marked out the Cork Brigade as one of the most feared and respected in the land. In August 1920 Sean was one of many high ranking Republican figures arrested in Cork City Hall, along with Liam Lynch and Lord Mayor MacSwiney. Sean and Lynch gave false names and adresses and were later released. If only the Brits knew who they had let slip through their net! Unfortunately for MacSwiney he was too well known and he was sent to Brixton Prison where he would die on hunger strike. 

On the 25th of February 1921 Sean led a Flying Column consisting of 60 freedom fighters to a mountainy spot on the Cork - Killarney road. What played out would go down in local lore as The Battle of Coolavokig. 

The battle site at Coolavokig, or as it is also known as Coolnacaheragh.

Sean led his men in ambushing 8 lorry loads of enemy soldiers. The 8 lorries consisted of 100 soldiers but with leadership and displine, the 60 volunteers of the IRA Flying Column put up a fight which lasted almost 4 hours. 

It wasn't an easy fight, the British soldiers carried with them civilians, what we would term today as human shields, but none were casualties that day and in fact the IRA counted no casualties on their side but many on the enemy side. When 40 British lorries were spotted coming over the horizon Sean called a halt to the hours long battle and retreated his men.

The monument many of us pass on the way to or from Kerry, marking the spot of the ambush.

Sean at Coolavokig ambush site, July 1962. 

As O/C of the First Cork Brigade Sean oversaw the rooting out of informers. Like many a lost rebellion that had passed before, informers had been the foundation of such failures, so when the Cork IRA set out to win the war for freedom they did so with the determination to overcome that most Irish of downfalls - the informer.

After the truce an uneasy relationship developed between Sean and somecif his comrades. He knew peace would not last, that the IRA would need to be ready for a resumption of war and in March he oversaw the arms raid on the British ship the Upnor at Cork harbour. 

In May 1922 Sean addressed the Dail on unity within the Republican movement. By then he had seen a viscious split tearing republicans apart and he tried to repair it but, when Civil War broke out he took neither side.  Sean, along with his Cork brigade comrade Florrie O'Donoghue founded the Neutral IRA. 

Grave of Florrie O'Donoghue, St Finbarrs Cemetery.

Bust of Sean at Crawford Art Gallery, Cork city.

In the 1930s Sean began a campaign to have excommunication orders against IRA members lifted. In 1954 he chaired the committee to repatriate the remains of Fr Dominic O'Connor OFM Cap and Fr Albert Biddy OFM Cap. The two priests were more or less the Chaplin's of the Republican Army who had died in exile. Fr Albert died in 1925 and Fr Dominic died in 1935 but thanks to the stewardship of Sean O'Hegarty the two patriot priests were finally brought home to rest in their native soil in the summer of 1958. 

Fr Albert & Fr Dominic.

In 1960 Sean chaired another committee, this time it was one to raise a memorial at the Republican Plot in St Finbarrs Cemetery. Three years later on St Patrick's day 1963, the tall stone monument was unveiled by Eamon de Valera in the cemetery. 

The memorial at St Finbarrs Cemetery.

Just months after the memorial was unveiled at St Finbarrs Cemetery Sean would depart this world. The O/C of the First Cork Brigade drew his last breath at the Bon Secour Hospital in Cork on May 31st 1963. His remains were brought to Kilmurry Cemetery where he was laid to rest alongside his wife, with full military honours. 

Plaque at the gates of the historic Kilmurry Graveyard & the O'Hegarty gravestone.

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Custom House Quay - December 1 1920

On the 30th of November 1920 sailor Carl Johansen left his ship and never returned.
Johansen was a 25 year old Norwegian sailor onboard SS Tonjar, a cargo ship which had docked at Custom House Quay.

 Johansen and some of his fellow sailors were out exploring Cork, drinking and meeting the local talent, but they did so during a dangerous time in the city. 

                                                    Custom House Quay back then.



In the Winter of 1920 Cork city was cloaked in intense fear. Black & Tans ran amok , RIC Auxiliaries rampaged and British Soldiers laid waste. It was under this reign of terror that the young Norwegian, like many others before and after him, lost his life in Cork city. 

It was just after 4am on December 1st when Johansen and two of his fellow sailors were making their way back to their ship. That night there was general chaos in Cork city as British forces went on a spree of drinking, looting and arson. They also shot at anything that moved.  

                                          Report from the Dublin Evening Herald.



Unfortunately for Johansen a group of Auxies were on Custom House Quay. They shot at the three sailors just yards from their ship. The three shot sailors were taken to the South Infirmary where Johansen succumbed to the bullet fired into his back, his fellow sailors were injured but survived.

               Custom House Quay today, which has been marked for redevelopment.

Cove Street / Barrack Street - October 8 1920

It was quarter to nine on a Friday morning in October as men and women were on their way to work, boys and girls were on their way to school. This would be a normal scene playing out in a normal place and time but, this was Cork city in 1920 - a time of war and a place of fear.

A lorry of British soldiers from the Hampshire Regiment was making it's way up Cove Street and as it came to the junction at the bottom of Barrack Street to turn up for it's destination - Elizabeth Fort, the driver found his route blocked by an abandoned cart. Just then, Commandant Michael Murphy of the 2nd battalion Cork No. 1 Brigade IRA flung a tin can bomb at the lorry, thus signalling the start of 15 minutes of fierce fighting at the bottom of Barracka.

The black & white photo shows the bottom of Barrack Street in the 1940s/50s, it would have been similar looking in 1920. The red line indicates the route of the lorry, coming out of Cove Street and heading up the hill.



Commandant Murphy was accompanied by Kerryman Captain Tadgh O'Sullivan while positioned in a derelict building at the corner of Cove street/Barrack street were a number of volunteers who hurled bombs and rained bullets down on the Hampshires. 

Civilians got caught up in the fierce firefighting and although none were killed some received wounds. 25 year old Thomas Madden was on his way to work at Woodford Bourne when he was hit by shrapnel, as was 36 year old Denis Buckley who managed to crawl into the safety of a nearby public house. 27 year old Kate Fitzgerald was hit by shrapnel and bullets while Jer Linehan was hit by three bullets. It was a miracle all survived.

The Times reported that 'civilians' had attacked the lorry - An example of the London press painting all Irish as "terrorists".



The driver of the lorry somehow managed to manoeuvre up the hill and into the safety behind the walls of Elizabeth Fort, but not without a casualty. As another bomb landed into the lorry 17 year old Private John Gordon Squibb picked it up and was going to throw it back when it exploded. His hand was blown clean off and it was later found on a footpath, while flesh and bullet holes dotted the buildings that lined the bottom of Barrack Street.

                                                Burial of record Private Squibb




Private Squibb died from his injuries later that evening. His remains were sent back to his native Isle of Wight for burial. He was the lone fatality that morning, the rest of the Hampshires suffered non fatal injuries while none were repoteted from the Cork Brigade. 

Hosfords Bakery, South Terrace, the weapons used in the Barrack Street Ambush were stored here. Hosfords played host to one of a number of IRA arms dumps across the city.

Today - it is a car dealership.

The attack ended when the 20 or so volunteers led by Commandant Murphy ran towards Douglas Street and disappeared in waiting getaway cars. The attack in the area left locals fearing a reprisal. That evening, the words " Revenge Tonight" were scratched into the wall at South Gate Bridge. The Sullivan's Quay school closed for a few days and many locals packed their things and headed for temporary safety with friends and relatives far from Barrack Street. 

South Gate Bridge.

Later that night the first attempt to burn Cork city occurred. Enraged auxies, tans and British soldiers fire bombed a portion of Cork City Hall. They did not exceed in doing what they intended to do but, it would not take long before they would. Just two months later the Burning of Cork City took place.