Cork patriot's shaving kit brought home for museum exhibition

The Lord Mayor of Cork has brought home to the city a small shaving kit taken from the body of a Ballincollig patriot shot by Crown Forces during the War of Independence.

At a small event in Cork Public Museum on Thursday afternoon, the Lord Mayor, Councillor Kieran McCarthy, welcomed the family of Commandant Leo Murphy to an event marking the return to Cork of Commandant Murphy’s shaving kit.

Walter ‘Leo’ Murphy was born in The White Horse public house in Ballincollig in 1901.

He was targeted by Crown Forces for his role as Commander of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade, and for his involvement in numerous notable IRA activities in the area.

He was shot and killed by soldiers from the Manchester Regiment during a surprise raid on a secret IRA meeting at O’Donovan’s Pub, now O’Shea’s, in Waterfall, on June 27, 1921.

As Murphy lay dead at the side of the road, his pockets were searched, and the contents kept as ‘souvenirs of war’.

One of the items removed, a small personal shaving kit used by Murphy while on the run, ended up on display in the Manchester Regiment Museum in the town hall of Ashton-under-Lyne, in Tameside, Greater Manchester.

When the museum closed, its collection passed to the Portland Basin Museum in Tameside, and last year, Cork Museum curator Dan Breen arranged with his counterpart there the loan of the shaving kit for display in Cork.

In January, Mr McCarthy travelled to Tameside in January to officially receive the shaving kit and bring it home to Cork.

On Thursday, Mr McCarthy said that from his early days in Na Fianna, Leo Murphy’s story had been one of courage and resilience.

“His promotion to quarter master of the 3rd Battalion by the age of nineteen in 1920, is an indication of his leadership qualities and the high esteem in which he was held by all within the Cork IRA.

“Our commemoration of his life and times in our time shines a spotlight on his leadership and sacrifice,” he said.

Mr Breen said the return of the shaving kit to Cork brought closure to one chapter of Irish War of Independence and it also highlighted the complex history shared by the cities of Cork and Manchester.