Wreath laying ceremony marked last Cork fatality of 1923 linked to Civil War 

A CENTURY ago, on Christmas Day, 1923, the year’s last Cork fatality linked to the Civil War was laid to rest in the Republican plot in St Finbarr’s Cemetery.

The relatives of Lieutenant George Bourke held a wreath-laying ceremony on Friday December 22, at 2 pm at the Republican plot, St Finbarr’s Cemetery, to mark the centenary of his death. Family members were in attendance, along with members of the Phoenix Historical Society.

George Bourke was born at 93 Bandon Road in 1894, and he fought with the Volunteers in the War of Independence, taking the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War.

He was arrested by Free State forces in September 1922, and incarcerated in Newbridge, Co Kildare, where he embarked on a 15-day hunger strike in 1923, eventually being released due to ill health.

Lieutenant George Bourke of G Company, 2nd Batt, Cork No 1 Brigade of the Irish Republican Army, passed away from peritonitis on December 22, 1923 aged 29 and was buried on Christmas Day.

Despite poor weather on the day, large crowds attended his funeral and followed the hearse on its route along Barrack Street, Sullivan’s Quay, the South Mall, Washington Street and the Western Road, as the cortege was led by 20 men, marching in double file, followed by the MacCurtain Pipers Band.