54 Grand Parade

Patrick McNestry was a Dubliner who lodged at No.54 Grand Parade. He was a veteran of 1916 and was in Cork working as a silversmith for Egan's Jewelers. He was also a staff captain in the city's IRA.

McNestry was a member of the 1st Battalion F Company Dublin Brigade and fought in the Four Courts garrison during Easter Week 1916. The Phibsboro man was sentenced to death following the Rising but it was commuted to life and he was sent to Portland Prison. 

During his stint in the English prison McNestrys health declined. He was placed in solitary confinement when he was discovered trying to break through a wall in his cell. He was released in June 1917 and, as a Silversmith by trade, he was offered a position in Cork with Egan's Jewellers where proprietor Barry Egan was a Sinn Fein member on Cork Corporation.

 McNestry found lodgings at 54 Grand Parade, just a few doors down from Cork Sinn Fein HQ at No.56 and not far from his place of work at Egan's Jewellers at 32 Patrick Street. 

Early 20th Century photo of Grand Parade, No.54 is located just on the left.

The Cork City Library sits on the site today. 

McNestry was appointed Staff Captain of C Company 1st Battalion Cork No.1 Brigade. During the day he worked at Egan's on Patrick Street and at night he helped make bomb casings at Fords Motor Factory down the Marina. It was a clandestine operation carried out in the factory in the dead of night by factory workers who were in the IRA along with the help of others like McNestry. 

Egan's Jewellers before it fell victim to the Burning of Cork in December 1920.

Following it's destruction at the hands of the Crown Forces in December 1920 Egan's was rebuilt in 1925. It closed in the 1980s and today the site is clothes store Vero Moda.

McNestry's lodgings at No.54 Grand Parade were frequently raided by the authorities. His health never fully recovered from his time in Portland Prison and during one such raid he was sick in bed when he was dragged out and roughed up by police.

Part of the papers which make up McNestrys pension claim. This one detailing his activities.

In the Autumn of 1920 McNestrys health declined rapidly and he was taken from his lodgings to the Cork Fever Hospital at St Finbarrs on the Douglas Road. He lingered for 21 days before succumbing to death on the 16th of October at the age of 32. 

His sister Margaret wrote to Dublin Lord Mayor Alfie Byrne describing her brother's decline in a letter to back up her family's pension claim for the IRA captain: " a fever broke out in Cork city owing to the water mains. He took ill and died a week before Terence MacSwiney......he had a public funeral to the the Republican plot."

McNestrys death cert.

The McNestry family tried three times to claim a pension for their dead patriot but they were refused, even though a doctor and several comrades stated his poor health was rooted in the harsh treatment he endured in Portland Prison. Even though the McNestrys were denied a pension they were awarded two service medals from President Douglas Hyde in the 1940s.

Written statement by Piaras Beaslai to back up the McNestrys pension claim.

Staff Captain Patrick McNestry still lies in St Finbarrs Cemetery Republican Plot, the silversmith Dubliner who fought in 1916 and died in the prime of his revolutionary life. 

Leitrim Street - November 10 1922

It was a cold dark Friday evening when a skirmish broke out on Leitrim Street between Free Staters and Anti-Treaty IRA Volunteers. 

25 year old James Murphy from Walshes Avenue fought with the British Army in World War One and lost one arm in action. He was walking down Leitrim Street when he got caught in the crossfire between the two sides. He kept close to the wall of Murphy's Brewery and managed to duck in between the entrance gates.

Bullets whizzed around the street as James Murphy stood in by the gateway of the brewery but, a bullet pierced his abdomen and Mr Murphy fell dead at the gates of Murphy's brewery.

Then & now: the gates of Murphy's Lady's Well Brewery.

Barrack Street/South Gate Bridge - March 25 1922

Sergeant William Gloster was a Kerryman who served with the RIC in Cork city for many years. He was stationed at the College Road RIC Barracks and lived with his wife Eleanor and four children on St Brigid's Street, just off Barrack Street. 

The former RIC Barracks on College Road

St. Brigid's Street

Just before he retired in 1920 Sergeant Gloster had been stationed in the Elizabeth Fort Barracks on Barrack Street and he moved his family from St Brigid's Street to the living quarters in the fort.

The former RIC, and later Garda, Barracks inside Elizabeth Fort.

What it looks like today, open to the public:

Police inside the Elizabeth Fort Barracks. 

Just after 1 o'clock on the afternoon of the 25th of March 1922 the retired RIC Sergeant was walking down the Grand Parade. He turned down Old Post Office Lane heading towards South Main Street.

Old Post Office Lane (no longer in use) connected Grand Parade with South Main Street.

 Sgt Gloster then made it over South Gate Bridge and just as he stepped off the footpath to walk up towards Barrack Street a number of young men who were sitting on the wall near the bridge drew guns and fired at him.

The scene of Sgt Glosters shooting. As he stepped off the path, gunmen sitting on the wall behind drew their guns and shot him. 

One bullet hit Glosters head, three more entered his body. The gunmen fled the scene as firemen from the nearby Sullivan's Quay Fire Station came to the aid of Sergeant Gloster and brought him to the Mercy Hospital but the 54 year old Kerryman was already dead.

South Gate Bridge

The funeral of Sgt Gloster took place at St Finbarres Cathedral Cork before his remains were brought back to his native Kerry and he was buried at the old Molahiffe Graveyard near Farranfore.

Molahiffe Graveyard

Then & now: The bottom of Barrack Street, at the South Gate Bridge - the scene of Sergeant Gloster's shooting.

The shooting caused shock in the area as he was considered well liked and apparently even aided local Republicans by warning them of impending raids. The shooting of Sergeant Gloster was condemned by the Cork IRA. 

This was a volatile time as the Civil War was brewing. The transition from British rule to Free State rule was occuring  and in between these cracks  a breakdown in discipline seeped in. Locally it was suggested the killing of Sergent Gloster was carried out by reckless youths who shot him in the wrong.

Lee Road - February 17 1922

On the 16th of February Lieutenant Henry Genochio left his billet at Alexandra Place, St Lukes, shortly after 5pm and headed in the direction of Patrick Street. This British military officer was in his civvies and carrying a revolver and identity card. Just after 9pm he was approached by two members of the Irish Republican Police on Patrick Street and he was arrested. 

Alexandra Place, St Luke's, on the north side of the city.

24 year old Genochio was born in Wandsworth and a graduate of Sandhurst military academy. In 1918 he was sent to serve in France at the tail end of the Great War. In 1920 he was sent to Limerick as an intelligence officer where he was involved in the Cahirguillamore raid which resulted in the deaths of five IRA Volunteers.

Cork District Lunatic Asylum

Genochio was taken to the Lunatic Asylum on the Lee Road (Our Lady's Hospital)  which was being used as a prison by the Republican Police. This was a precarious time as the War of Independence had just ended and the Civil War was brewing. It was a period of transition between the British and the Provisional Free State Government and in between there were old scores to be settled. 

Irish Independent February 18 1922

The British military did not report Genochio missing until the following day but, by then he had already died. At 11am February 17th, Genochio was shot some 200 yards from the entrance gates to the asylum. According to the IRP he was shot in the back by sentries as he tried to escape. 

Genochio was shot dead 200 yards to the right of the main gates. Presumably he was making a dash back towards his billet at St Lukes.

The Provisional Government declared that Genochio was arrested because he had stolen jewellery but those accusations were retracted in 1924 and the reason behind his arrest and subsequent death may lie with his previous activities in Limerick. He was buried in Streatham Cemetery London where his grave marker tells of his demise on the Lee Road. 

House of Commons debate.

Lavitts Quay - January 25 1921

It was a wet and cold January day when 73 year old Francis Barnane was walking along Lavitts Quay. As he came to the junction of Lavitts Quay and Patrick's Street  he stepped off the footpath to cross the city's main thoroughfare when a British military lorry came around the corner and knocked him down.

               The corner of Lavitts Quay and Patrick's Street where Mr Barnane was killed, an early 20th century photo and the area today.



Francis Barnane was known better to his family and friends as Florrie and was a coal porter who came from 21 Cathedral Walk. The driver of the military lorry which knocked him down was Constable Murphy. He was coming from Bandon and heading for Union Quay RIC Barracks.

                       Cathedral Walk on the north side of the city where Mr Barnane lived.




Constable Murphy would later claim he was unable to stop as the wheels of his vehicle skidded on the muddy street, on what was a wet and dreary Winters day in Cork city. Mr Barnane was struck by the mud guard of the lorry and was taken to the north infirmary where he died at 3am the following morning. 

A fleet of British military vehicles which were a common and most dreaded sight on the roads of Ireland. Mr Barnane was struck by a vehicle similar to the ones seen in this photo.