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Terence MacSwiney—martyrdom, civil resistance & the Irish Revolution

Published in Hedge School Recordings, Podcasts, Revolutionary Period 1912-23

This podcast is part of the History Ireland Hedge School programme supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.

Terence MacSwiney—martyrdom, civil resistance & the Irish Revolution On 25 October 1920, after 74 days on hunger strike, Terence MacSwiney, lord mayor of Cork, died in Brixton Prison. His death not only evoked huge sympathy within Ireland but was also a turning point in the mobilisation of Irish nationalism abroad. In addition, his martyrdom inspired anti-colonial struggles throughout the world, particularly in India. Listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham discuss these and related questions, in particular the relationship between passive, civil and physical resistance, with Dr John Borgonovo, Dr Sarah-Ann Buckley, Dr Kate O’Malleyand Dr Pádraig Yeates.

Photo:
Terence MacSwiney on the day of his wedding to Muriel Murphy in Bromyard, Herefordshire, where he had been interned after the 1916 Rising prior to his release in June 1917. Standing (left to right) are sisters Mary and Annie, Capuchin friar Fr Augustine Hayden OFM, bridesmaid Geraldine O’Sullivan and best man Richard Mulcahy. (Cork Public Museum)

On this Day

April 25

1922 Commandant O’Neill, 3rd Cork Brigade IRA, was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area over the following four days.
1920 RIC Sergeant Cornelius Crean, brother of the explorer Tom Crean, was killed by the IRA in an ambush near Upton, Co. Cork.
1870 Daniel Maclise (64), history and portrait painter who worked for most of his life in London, died.
1719 The life and strange adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was published.
1819 Vere Foster, philanthropist and educationist, born in Copenhagen, where his Irish-born father was British minister.
1987 Lord Justice Gibson and his wife were killed by an IRA bomb as they crossed the border south of Newry, Co. Down.
1917 Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer, born in Newport News, Virginia.
1922 Commandant O’Neill of the third Cork Brigade IRA was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area between 26 and 29 April.
1915 During the First World War, Allied troops landed on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula. The disastrous Gallipoli campaign, ending in January 1916, cost 46,000 Allied lives, including over 2,295 Irishmen.

Terence MacSwiney—martyrdom, civil resistance & the Irish Revolution

Personal Histories

On this Day

April 25