Read on Twitter
A thread about this day in Cork 100 years ago. #histedchatie #Cork1920 @Fiona_Forde_Irl @NorthMonHistory @corkcitycouncil @johnger60 @MacSwineyCCLdn @history_matters @corkarchives @corkbeo @KilmurryHistori @OpinionLine96 @IrishHistoryPod @Corkcoco @market1788 @MylesDungan1
On 12 August 1920, a meeting of the Cork No. 1 Brigade of IRA was scheduled for City Hall. On same night, a local meeting of IRB officers & a Republican Court were due to take place at same venue. Thus City Hall was teeming with some of the most wanted men in Ireland.
On afternoon of 12 August, Donal O'Callaghan chaired a meeting of @Corkcoco in the Courthouse. At 4:15, Liam Deasy informed O'Callaghan that the British were aware of the activities in City Hall planned for that night & a raid was likely.
O'Callaghan promised that once @Corkcoco meeting was over, he would inform the relevant parties. He left the Courthouse at 6:00pm but came back an hour later and told Deasy that he had not sounded the alarm (according to Deasy's subsequent statement to IRB inquiry).
O'Callaghan set out again for City Hall at 7:00pm but, as he approached, he saw that RIC officers had the Municipal Building surrounded. Terence MacSwiney was arrested and sent to Brixton Prison where he died on hunger strike. He was replaced as Lord Mayor by Donal O'Callaghan.
Why did Donal O'Callaghan not sound the alarm and warn Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney? What did he do during that fateful hour, 6:00-7:00pm when he apparently set out for City Hall to warn MacSwiney?
The statement by Liam Deasy is here. We will probably never solve the mystery of why O'Callaghan did not warn MacSwiney. Was it a major turning point in Cork and Irish history?
'Forgotten Lord Mayor: Donal Óg O'Callaghan, 1920-1924' is due to be published on 4 November 2020, marking 100 years since his election as Lord Mayor, in succession to Terence MacSwiney.
#ForgottenLordMayor
#ForgottenLordMayor
