St Finbarr's Cemetery, Glasheen Road

St Finbarr's Cemetery is the largest graveyard in Cork. It also holds the most Republican graves in the county, along with those who fought on 'the other side'.

St. Finbarr's Cemetery, 19th century. Catholic chapel on left, Protestant on right. 

First opened in the 1860s, the cemetery was one of the first in Ireland to be planned out in grid sections with footpaths. 

Two chapels in the cemetery were built using basalt rock from the Giants Causeway Co. Antrim. The left chapel Catholic, the right one Protestant and in it's first few decades that was how people were buried in St. Finbarr's - Catholics on the left, Protestants on the right! Over time that segregation faded and all demoninations were buried together. 

Catholic chapel on left, Protestant chapel on right.

Just inside the gates of the cemetery is the Cork Republican Plot. The first person buried there was Lord Mayor Tomas MacCurtain following his murder by the RIC in March 1920. 

The Republican Plot on a crisp Winter's morning 

The man behind the establishment of the Republican Plot was Fred Cronin. He was from the Lough area and was transport officer of 2nd Battalion Cork No.1 Brigade. 

The earliest known photo of the Republican Plot showing the graves of Lord Mayor's MacCurtain and MacSwiney.

 Cronin, who worked as an undertaker, proposed that the grave of the slain Lord Mayor should be given a prime position in the green space just inside the cemetery gates. From then on, that green space evolved into the Republican Plot.

Cumann na mBan members at the graves of the slain Lord Mayors.

 

Grave of Lord Mayor MacCurtain.

Paying their respects at the graves of MacCurtain and MacSwiney - Liam Mellows, Cathal Brugha, Maire MacSwiney and De Valera.

Previous to the Republican Plot, the only memorial in that green space was one marking the spot where the bones of monks from Gillabbey, near College Road, were buried. 

During the building  of houses in the College Road area in the late 19th century, the resting place of monks from the Gilabbey was unearthed. The bones were brought to St. Finbarr's Cemetery where they were buried under a stone memorial, built from stones from the long gone abbey.

The Republican Plot with the Gilabbey memorial in the background.

Burial of Lord Mayor MacSwiney, St Finbarrs Cemetery. 

Grave of Lord Mayor MacSwiney 1920.

Grave of Lord Mayor MacSwiney

During the War of Independence St Finbarrs Cemetery was used by the IRA to disappear spies and informers.

Graveyards across Ireland were regularly used in this way, because no one would suspect a freshly dug grave of a recently deceased person would also hold the remains of a person executed by the IRA.

One of those executed and secretly buried by the IRA in St Finbarrs Cemetery was John Sullivan Lynch, a former British soldier who fought in WWI and then worked as a clerk in the Lower Glanmire Rd railway station. Lynch shared lodgings with IRA volunteer Patrick O'Sullivan and it was discovered that he had made frequent visits to Victoria (now Collins) barracks where he informed the authorities about O'Sullivan's movements. 

Lynch was taken by the IRA to St Finbarrs Cemetery where he was executed and buried in a recently dug grave of a recently deceased person. Lynch remains there to this day, the only information is that his resting place is 20 yards away from the Republican Plot.

Outside the Republican Plot there are several graves of IRA and Cumann na mBan members scattered across the cemetery. 

The MacCurtain family plot is located towards the back of the cemetery.

MacCurtain family grave.

Buried in the MacCurtain plot is Thomas 'Corkie' Walsh, brother-in-law of Lord Mayor MacCurtain. 

Known as ''Corkie'' to his friends, he was an active member of the Irish Citizen Army and suffered ill-health while imprisoned following his role in the Easter Rising. Corkie Walsh died in 1918.

Located at the very back of the cemetery is the resting place of Maria Bowles. From a staunch Republican family in Clogheen on the northside of Cork, Maria gained fame following her arrest by crown forces in 1920. 

Grave of Maria Bowles.

Maria was just a teenager when crown forces raided her family farm. She took off across the fields carrying weapons, including a Lewis machine gun! When the soldiers caught her they were stunned to find the teenager wearing a suit of homemade steel armour - Cork's very own Ned Kelly! 

Plaque on the site of the former home of Mary Bowles.

On the right of the cemetery is the grave of Florrie O'Donoghue and his wife Josephine McCoy.

Florrie O'Donoghue 1922

O'Donoghue played a vital role in the Cork IRA during the War of Independence as head of intelligence. Florrie built an intel network to rival the one Michael Collins created in Dublin. 

Grave of Florrie and Josephine.

Josephine was working as a typist in Victoria Barracks Cork when she became a spy for the IRA. She was a WWI widow with two sons. She lost custody of her eldest son to her Welsh in-laws and asked the Cork Brigade for their help to bring her son back from Wales, which they sucesfully did!

The O'Donoghue grave, on the right.

A new development on the South Douglas Road named after Josephine.

Florrie O'Donoghue headed the operation to bring Josephine's son back to Cork. He struck up a romance with Josephine and the two married in 1921.

Grave of Florrie and Josephine.

Located directly at the rear of the Republican Plot is the grave of Leslie Price and her husband Tom Barry. 

Grave of Tom & Leslie.

General Tom Barry was born in  Kerry, the son of an RIC man but, he is forever linked with the Republican cause in West Cork. 

When he returned from WWI (where he saw action in modern day Iraq with the British Army) Tom Barry joined the IRA and became one of the best ( if not THE best) leader during the revolution. 

Burial of Gen. Tom Barry

Leslie was born in Dublin and was a Cumann na mBan courier in the GPO during  Easter Week 1916. She became Cumann na mBan Director of Organisation during the War of Independence and went to West Cork where she met local IRA leader Charlie Hurley. They were engaged to be married but, on the morning of the Battle of Crossbarry, Hurley was killed in a gun fight with crown forces.

Leslie later married Tom and the two remained unrepentant republicans for the rest of their lives and were familiar fixtures at commemorations across the county. 

Leslie and Tom in later years.

 Riobard Langford, founder of Lee Press, South Terrace Cork city,  was on armed duty at the Irish Volunteer Hall on Sheares Street during Easter week 1916. During the War of Independence he served as Captain A Company 1st Batt Cork No.1  Brigade and operated the Cork IRA printing press. 

Riobard pictured with The Cork Volunteers.

Riobard was arrested in 1921 and interned on Spike Island. During the Civil War he was in charge of the Republican printing press in Cork. 

Grave of Riobard Langford. 

The resting place of Free State Captain Jeremiah Joseph Dennehy is not marked. He died the day after St Patrick's Day 1924 from influenza. The illness was rife among Free State troops stationed in Cork city during late 1923 and into early 1924. 

The unmarked grave of Captain Dennehy.

 26 year old Captain Dennehy was an IRA veteran of the War of Independence. In February 1921 he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years penal servitude but, not before he was subjected to a bad beaten by British troops which almost killed him. 

He served time on Bere Island Internment Camp and Spike Island prison before he was released after the Truce in the summer of 1921. He joined the Free State army in May 1922 but fell ill with influenza in September 1923 and was discharged. Captain Dennehy's brother Thomas was killed by British troops in March 1921 at Ballycannon and is buried in the Republican Plot in the cemetery.

A large limestone rock marks the the grave of Michael Waldron, member of the Irish Volunteers in Cork City and later Garda Siochana.

Grave of Michael Waldron.

Charles Meaney first joined Na Fianna Eireann in 1916 before joining the IRA during the War of Independence, serving as O/C of H Company 2nd Batt Cork No.1 Brigade.  He was jailed in Cork Gaol and Curragh Internment Camp.

Grave of Charles Meaney.

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.

Grave of Margaret Buckley.

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. 

Grave of former Sinn Fein president Margaret Buckley

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.

.

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.

Private James Harvey of the Free State army was a native of Dublin who took ill and died while based in Cork in 1924. 

Burial place of Private Harvey, now O'Callaghan family plot. 

The 36 year old soldier died May 30th 1924 from malignant disease of the stomach. He served as a member of the salvage corps. 

Pension application from Mrs Harvey

Private Harvey was of the Presbyterian faith and from Portobello , Dublin. His wife Mary was unsuccessful in her application for a gratuity or a widows pension due to her husband's death occuring outside the scope of military service. 

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 was from Falls Road, West Belfast and joined Na Fianna Eireann in 1910. In 1913 he joined the Irish Volunteers. He was sworn into the IRB in 1915 and was a guard of honour at the funeral of Fenian O'Donovan Rossa that same year.

 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. 

Captain McAlister

During the War of Independence McAlister fought with the 1st Battalion Belfast Brigade and served in the IRA HQ Department of Organisation.

In 1923 he joined the Free State Army. He retired with the rank of Captain in 1946.

Grave of Captain McAlister

Captain McAlister's wife Mary Ellen, better known as Nellie, was from Ballygomartin Co. Antrim. She joined Cumann na mBan in 1917 and met her husband through the War of Independence. She became the first lady chair of O.N.E Cork branch (Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen Ireland) 

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 built to house RIC men who worked at nearby Cat Fort and Elizbeth Fort. 

RIC Srgt. Leddy

RIC Sergt. Quirke

RIC Brennan

Overlooking the Republican Plot, the grave of RIC Sergt John O'Brien from Lehenaghmore Togher, died 1953. 

Grave RIC Constable James O'Brien who died in 1956

 

Keysers Hill - September 3 1922

 

Jeremiah Coleman was a 34 year old native of Balinhassig. He worked in the city as a delivery man and lodged at  Georges Quay. He left on the morning of September 2nd 1922 with a cart load of various goods destined for Crookstown. He was very busy since the start of the Civl War in June as many railroads were damaged in the conflict and the delivery of everyday goods depended on the likes of Mr Coleman with his humble horse and cart. 

Georges Quay.

As dawn broke on the morning after Mr Coleman left for Crookstown, his horse and cart pulled into its stable at the top of Keysers Hill, near Elizabeth Fort on Barrack Street. Upon the cart was the slumped over body of Jeremiah Coleman. He had been shot twice in the back, somewhere on his return journey to the city and had died before his faithful horse could bring him back to the city. 

It is regarded that the unfortunate delivery man may have stumbled into an ambush and got caught in crossfire. Other reports speculate he was intentionally shot as a means of interrupting the everyday commerce of the fledgling Free State.

Barrack Street, looking at Elizabeth Fort, the top of Keysers Hill to the right of the main gate. 

Washington Street - January 5 1923

 

32 year old Robert Finbarr Tobin was walking with his wife Josephine along Washington Street on the night of  January 5th 1923. They stopped by a fruit shop near the court house and purchased some fruit.

St Marys Villas, near the Erinville Hospital, Western Rd, home of Mr and Mrs Tobin. 

As Mr and Mrs Tobin left the shop and turned from Washington Street onto Courthouse Street, three men on the street with revolvers fired 8 bullets at Mr Tobin.

The route Mr & Mrs Tobin walked from Washington St, to Courthouse St, the scene of his shooting. 

A priest from the nearby St Francis Church heard the gun fire and screams from Mrs Tobin. He rushed out from the church and gave the last rites to the dying man.

Cork Courthouse Washington St. early 20th Century.

Mr Tobin had fought with the British Army in WWI. In 1919 he and his wife moved to Cork City where he worked in the City Pensions Office. In September 1922 he joined the transport corps of the Free State Army but it was only for five weeks before he went back to work at the pensions office.

No one claimed his murder even though many considered the Anti-Treaty IRA were responsible. 

Fair Hill - December 10 1922

 

It was 2 o'clock on the morning of December 10th 1922 when the Malones were woken from their sleep by loud knocking on the door of their home on Gerald Griffin Avenue. 

Two armed men wearing Free State overcoats told James Malone to get dressed and accompany them to nearby Fair Hill.

Today - Gerald Griffin Avenue.

34 year old Malone was an ex-soldier with the British Army. During the War of Independence he helped the IRA with military drilling and firearms practise. He lived at Gerald Griffin Avenue with his sisters and brother. One brother was interned in the Curragh as an IRA POW at the time. 

Today - the bottom of Fair Hill.

Just weeks before he was taken from his home, Mr Malone was arrested by Free State forces but later released. Following this he became very anxious and worried  and his siblings noticed the change in their brother. The night the two armed men called to the doorMalone turned to his sister and told her 'You will not see me again, they are going to shoot me.'

The two armed men took Malone to the bottom of Fair Hill where other men were waiting. There they shot James Malone five times.  His family claimed the Free State had killed their brother while a military statement claimed he was shot by the IRA as an informer.

Today - Fair Hill. (Photo by Frank Brady.)

Strawberry Hill - November 18 1922

 

Daniel O'Meara was a 30 year old milkman from Model Cottages in Bishopstown. He delivered milk on a pony and cart for Corcoran's of Leemount House. 

As he finished his rounds on the morning of November 18th 1922 Mr O'Meara was heading up Strawberry Hill when a Free State sentry at the nearby Cork City Gaol shot him. 

Strawberry Hill, the jail on the left. 

The sentry who fired the shot stated that he called on the milkman to halt and when he was ignored he fired his weapon. 

Looking down Strawberry Hill, Cork City Gaol off the road to the left.

 

Daniel O'Meara was still alive when he was taken to the Mercy Hospital and was able to make a statement where he claimed he did not hear the sentry due to the clatter of empty milk churns on his cart. 

Cork City Gaol seen from Strawberry Hill

A military court exonerated the sentry. The unfortunate milkman died ten days after he was shot. 

Grand Parade/South Mall - September 5 1922

 

On the evening of September 5th 1922 a flat bed Free State military lorry was part of a convoy which was making it's way from Clonakilty to Cork City. The convoy was carrying stores and when they made their way into the city and trundled down the Grand Parade tragedy struck.

Free State forces in Cork city 1922.

As the convoy turned the corner from Grand Parade onto South Mall the occupants of one of the lorry's were thrown from the vehicle. One of them, 17 year old Private John Harford fractured his skull and died instantly. 

Today - the scene of the accident at the corner of Grand Parade/South Mall

Harford was sitting on a drum at the rear of the flat bed lorry. He was thrown from it as the vehicle rounded the corner. The others thrown onto the road from the lorry suffered injuries but survived. The incident was declared an accident and the driver was cleared of any wrong doing. 

The corner of Grand Parade South Mall, early 20th Century. 

John Harford came from 77 St Peters Terrace, Howth, Dublin. Before joining the Free State Army he was a merchant sailor. One of seven siblings, his widowed mother recieved a gratuity of £100 following his death in Cork City. 

Home to John Horgan in Howth, Dublin. 

Warrens Lane, Bandon Road - November 25 1922

 

Today Warrens Lane is a gated laneway connecting Bandon Road with Noonans Road but over 100 years ago this laneway was a cluster of little houses and at No.32 a tragic incident occured there on a Winters night in 1922. 

The now gated Warrens Lane, also known as Warrens Court, located near the top of Bandon Road opposite the Post Office. 

It was Saturday night in November 1922 and 28 year old Free State soldier John Delaney left his military patrol in the city without permission. He headed up Barrack Street, up to his home patch on Bandon Road. Delaney arrived at the door of his home where his widowed mother and brothers were living at No.32 Warrens Lane. 

Warrens Lane from Noonans Road

John flung his arms around his mother in an embrace and asked for a cup of tea. He was carrying a rifle and when he saw his brothers Thomas and James he began showing off with the deadly weapon. 

While messing about with his rifle John Delaney accidentally pulled the trigger and a bullet hit his older brother James in his head, killing him instantly. 

John was arrested and court martialed. His family would later claim that John was a rather excitable character and on the night of the tragic incident on Warrens Lane he was highly strung. His widowed mother had previously raised concerns when her son joined the Free State Army due to his volatile nature but, her worries were dismissed.