Wikipedia

Tomás Mac Curtain

Tomás Mac Curtain (20 March 1884 – 20 March 1920) was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. He was active with the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Irish Volunteers, and led the Volunteers during the Easter Rising in Cork. He was also elected and served as the Lord Mayor of Cork until his assassination by the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1920.

Tomás Mac Curtain
Born(1884-03-20)20 March 1884
Mourne Abbey, Ireland
Died20 March 1920(1920-03-20) (aged 36)
Cork, Ireland
OccupationLord Mayor of Cork
Known forSinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork (assassinated)
Military career
AllegianceIrish Republic
Service
Service years
1913–1920
Rank
Commandant
Commands
  • Commander, Cork Brigade, Irish Volunteers
  • Commander, No.1 Cork Brigade, IRA
Conflicts

Background

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Tomás Mac Curtain was born at Ballyknockane, Mourne Abbey, County Cork, on 20 March 1884, the son of Patrick Curtin, a farmer, and Julia Sheehan.[1] He attended Burnfort National School. In 1897 the family moved to Cork City, where he attended the North Monastery School.[2]

Mac Curtain, as he would later be known, was active in a number of cultural and political movements beginning around the turn of the 20th century. He joined the Blackpool, Cork branch of Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League), becoming its secretary in 1902.[3] He had interests in music, poetry, history, archaeology and Irish history.[citation needed] He worked as a clerk in his early career and taught Irish in his free time.

He met Elizabeth Walsh (Eibhlís Breathnach) at a Gaelic League meeting and they married on 28 June 1908.[4] They had six children, five of whom survived into adulthood. The family lived over 40 Thomas Davis Street, where Mac Curtain ran a small clothing and rainwear factory.[5]

Revolutionary career

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Mac Curtain joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1906, Sinn Féin in 1907, Fianna Éireann in 1911, and the Irish Volunteers in 1913. He remained with the Volunteers after the split, becoming the Commandant of the 1st (Cork City) Battalion and later commander of the Cork Brigade.[3][5][6]

On Easter Sunday 1916, over 1,000 men of the Cork Brigade of the Irish Volunteers mobilised and took up their assigned positions across Cork City and County.[7] After multiple contradictory orders including MacNeill's countermanding order, later that evening Mac Curtain decided that he and his deputy Terence MacSwiney would travel across rural Cork to stand down his men. By the time he arrived back in Volunteer Headquarters on Sheares Street late on Easter Monday, he heard that the Rising had been in progress in Dublin for several hours. With only the city Volunteers available and British forces alerted, the Volunteers barricaded themselves into their headquarters.[5][8][9][10]

A tense stand-off ensued as British forces surrounded the Volunteer's hall. After a few days, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Thomas C Butterfield, and Bishop of Cork, Daniel Cohalan negotiated an agreement with Captain F. W. Dickie, aide-de-camp to Brigadier General W. F. H. Stafford, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) in Cork, that on the following Monday 1st May, the Volunteers would surrender their arms to the Lord Mayor for safekeeping and be allowed to go home. However, on Tuesday the British authorities seized the weapons and began arresting Volunteers.[5][8][9][10]

Mac Curtain was arrested at his home on 11 May and jailed in various gaols in Britain until his release in December. After his release, two inquiries, one by the IRB and one by the Irish Volunteers, were held to review the failure of the Cork Brigade during the Rising. Both inquiries found no blame on Mac Curtain considering the multiple contradictory orders he received, however events of Easter week weighted heavily on him. By 1919, the Cork Brigade had expanded to twenty battalions, which was too big, and it was split into three brigades. Mac Curtain became commander of No.1 Brigade, which covered the city and middle of the county.[5][8][9][11]

Assassination

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A memorial outside Cork City Hall which reads 'Tomás Mac Curtain 1884-1920 Ardmhéara Chorcaí 30 Eanáir- 20 Márta 1920'

While Mac Curtain continued his activities for both the Volunteers and Sinn Féin, he left the IRB considering it no longer necessary. However, this caused disputes with his vice-commandant, Sean O'Hegarty, who remained a senior commander in the IRB, preferred more aggressive attacks on the British, and also blamed Mac Curtain for the failure of 1916. However O'Hegarty's attacks on the Royal Irish Constabulary also caused retaliations. In the January 1920 local elections, Mac Curtain was elected Alderman in the Blackpool electoral area to Cork Corporation, and later elected Lord Mayor of Cork by his fellow councillors.[6][8]

On 19 March 1920, O'Hegarty's men killed off-duty policeman Constable Joseph Murtagh.[12] Very early the following morning several disguised men, later found to be RIC policemen, entered Mac Curtain's bedroom and shot him dead in front of his wife.[13] The coroner's inquest passed a verdict of wilful murder against British Prime Minister Lloyd George, the Lord Lieutenant Lord French and members of the RIC, including District Inspector Oswald Swanzy.[5][6][14][15][16]

The IRA sought out Mac Curtain's killers and in May, Sergeant Garvey and Constable Harrington were shot dead.[17] Michael Collins used his intelligence assets to find Swanzy in Lisburn, County Antrim where he had been transferred. On 22 August 1920, Swanzy was shot dead by IRA men while leaving a church, with the first shot was fired from Mac Curtain's own revolver.[18] His death resulted in an organised pogrom against local Catholics, as every Catholic business was burnt to the ground, and hundreds of Catholics fled in fear of their lives.[15][19][20][21]

Mac Curtain is buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork.[22][23]

MacCurtain Street in the centre of Cork City is named after him.[24]

Tomás Óg Mac Curtain

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Mac Curtain's son, Tomás Óg (1915–1994) was a member of Anti-Treaty IRA.[25] In 1935, while armed, he was arrested by unarmed Garda Patrick Malone, who received the Silver Scott Medal for bravery.[26] In 1940, Tomás Óg, on being approached by three Gardaí, fired his revolver at Detective John Roche, who later died. Tomás Óg was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he was released after serving only seven years. He later served on the IRA Executive during the Border Campaign.[27]

References

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  1. ↑ "GRO Birth Record" (PDF). irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  2. ↑ "Council celebrates 200th anniversary of North Monastery school's founding". Irish Times. 7 April 2011. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 R F Foster (2014). Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923. Penguin. ISBN 9780241954249.
  4. ↑ "GRO Marriage Record" (PDF). irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Maume, Patrick. "MacCurtain, Tomás". Retrieved 30 April 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 "Suffering The Most". corkcity.ie. Retrieved 30 April 2026.
  7. ↑ Comerford, Marie (2021). On Dangerous Ground A Memoir of the Irish Revolution. Dublin: Lilliput Press. p. 136. ISBN 9781843518198.
  8. 1 2 3 4 White, Gerry; O’Shea, Brendan (2007). "Easter 1916 in Cork – Order, Counter-Order, and Disorder" (PDF). Defence Forces Review: 63–64. Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 White, Gerry (21 March 2016). "The standoff on Sheares St: Cork's 'Pain of Easter Week'". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Exhibitions at Cork Public Museum 2006 - 1916 Exhibition". Cork City Council. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012.
  11. ↑ "The Republican Forces". corkcity.ie. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "GRO Death Record" (PDF). irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "GRO Death Record" (PDF). irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  14. ↑ Coogan, Tim Pat (1991). Michael Collins. Arrow Books. pp. 123–24. ISBN 0-09-968580-9.
  15. 1 2 O'Kelly, Emer (24 August 2008). "When the killing starts do you defend God or family?". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  16. ↑ "Remembering 1920: The murder of Tomás MacCurtain". corkindependent.com. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  17. ↑ "GRO Death Record" (PDF). irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  18. ↑ "GRO Death Record" (PDF). irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  19. ↑ Coogan, Tim Pat (1991). Michael Collins. Arrow Books. pp. 149. ISBN 0-09-968580-9.
  20. ↑ "Reprisals against Catholics in Lisburn and environs, July–August 1920". historyireland.com. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  21. ↑ "Exhibition: The Swanzy Riots, 1920". lisburnmusuem.com. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
  22. ↑ "How the funeral of Tomás MacCurtain was reported in the Irish Examiner on March 21, 1920". irishexaminer.com. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  23. ↑ "The funeral of Tomás MacCurtain". corkindependent.com. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  24. ↑ "Sráid Mhic Curtáin/MacCurtain Street".
  25. ↑ Cronin, Seán. Frank Ryan, pg. 178, Repsol-Skellig, 1980; ISBN 0-86064-018-3
  26. ↑ "The Scott Medal for Bravery". Irish Medals. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  27. ↑ Burke, Edward (1 September 2018). An Army of Tribes: British Army Cohesion, Deviancy and Murder in Northern Ireland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781786948632. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2020 – via Google Books.

Bibliography

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  • Fitzpatrick, David, Harry Boland's Irish Revolution (Cork 2003)
  • Harrington, Michael, The Munster Republic: The Civil War in North Cork (Cork 2009)
  • Irish Labour and Trade Union Congress, Who burnt Cork City? A Tale of Arson, Loot and Murder: The Evidence of over seventy Witnesses (Dublin 1921)
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