深夜亚洲福利久久

The Corkman who fired the first shot of 1916

25 Feb 2018

Thomas Walsh of the Irish Citizen Army will be remembered at a ceremony in his native city next weekend, writes Niall Murray

A memorial to Thomas 鈥淐orkie鈥� Walsh will be unveiled on Sunday in the same graveyard as his better-known brother-in-law, the city鈥檚 first republican Lord Mayor, Tom谩s MacCurtain.

As a mason who served his apprenticeship in his native city before moving to Dublin, the monument to Walsh is being erected by a committee formed from the Cork Masons Historical Society in conjunction with the MacCurtain and Walsh families.

He had only been in Dublin around a year before he joined James Connolly鈥檚 Irish Citizen Army in 1915.

It was while manning a freshly-erected barricade in the earliest stages of the Rising on Easter Monday 1916 that Walsh was recognised by a group of friends.

In order to stop them mocking him with his 鈥淐orkie鈥� nickname and kicking his barricade close to the GPO, he fired a shot in the air to get rid of them before any shots had been fired in anger.

The story recounted by Fionnuala MacCurtain in her book about her own grandfather Tom谩s was seen by Cork Masons Historical Society officer Jim Fahy.

鈥淚 had never heard about him before but when I read this I went looking through our records to find out more, and got in contact with counterparts in Dublin,鈥� he explained.

鈥淚t was arising from that, and through contact with the family, that we decided to do something to mark the centenary of his death in 1918,鈥� said Mr Fahy.

Thomas Walsh had been in the Cork branch of the Ancient Guild of Incorporated Brick, Block and Stone Mason鈥檚 Society, and became a member in Dublin when he moved. The Dublin branch sent money to his sisters back in Cork while he was detained in an English jail, and later at the Frongoch prison camp in Wales, following the Rising.

He had been captured along with other Citizen Army members fighting out of City Hall on the Tuesday of the Rising. Like many other participants, he was sentenced to death, but had that commuted to 10 years penal servitude.

He was released along with many others after a few months, returning to his lodgings in Cuffe Street near the Bricklayers鈥� Hall. But he died of cardiac failure and pneumonia less than two years later, after being brought from his lodgings to St Vincent鈥檚 Hospital on March 2, 1918.

Huge crowds turned out for his funeral in Cork, where local Irish Volunteers fired a volley over his grave at St Finbarr鈥檚 Cemetery. The funeral was the subject of a photograph and report seen by readers of the Cork Examiner on the same morning that news broke of the death of Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond.

The Volunteers in Cork were under the command of Tom谩s MacCurtain whose wife Liz was one of the chief mourners, as Corkie Walsh was her brother. The couple met through the Irish-Ireland movement and meetings of the Gaelic League in Cork鈥檚 Blackpool suburb, but Tom谩s would be shot dead by police at their home there just over two years later as the city became a violent epicentre of the War of Independence.

The couple鈥檚 grand-daughter Fionnuala MacCurtain said that people do not always realise that the Irish cultural leanings of the family were more from Tom谩s鈥檚 side, whereas it was her grandmother鈥檚 Walsh family had a stronger Fenian background. Many had been involved in the 1867 Fenian Rising, some having to go to the United States afterwards, influences that might have been a factor in Thomas Walsh鈥檚 participation in the Irish Citizen Army.

The limestone memorial at his grave, carved by local mason Tom McCarthy, features the Irish Citizen Army鈥檚 Starry Plough emblem. Along with Deputy Lord Mayor Fergal Dennehy, the graveside unveiling at 1pm on Sunday will be addressed by James Connolly Heron, great-grandson of Irish Citizen Army leader and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation James Connolly.

A lecture by local historian Luke Dineen, who has been researching the life of Thomas 鈥楥orkie鈥� Walsh is open to the public on Saturday night at the Carpenters Hall on Cork鈥檚 Fr Mathew Quay.

This article was first published in the  on 26 February 2018