Death of MacSwiney marked at Brixton Prison

Terence MacSwiney had three funerals, the first of which was in London, and more than a century after the death in Brixton Prison of the then lord mayor of Cork after 74 days on hunger strike, the anniversary of his passing is marked every year.

Last weekend, 105 years after MacSwiney’s death, London’s Irish community gathered outside Brixton Prison for the commemoration ceremony.

After the murder of his predecessor and friend Tomás MacCurtain on March 20, 1920, Terence MacSwiney was elected lord mayor of Cork.

Arrested on August 12 for sedition, he immediately began a hunger strike and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Brixton Prison.

The then Evening Echo reported British soldiers, carrying rifles with fixed bayonets, had passed a jeering crowd “to arrest the Lord Mayor, who, it was generally known, was in the City Hall. Word came that he had successfully eluded the military, and the report undoubtedly subdued to a great extent the natural disposition. The rumour was, unfortunately, incorrect, for amongst the first arrests affected was the Lord Mayor.” 

The hunger strike gained global attention, and protests were held across the world, with four South American nation appealing to Pope Benedict XV to intervene.

Terence MacSwiney’s death, at the age of 41, on October 25, 1920, made international headlines and propelled the struggle for Irish freedom to the forefront of global politics.

He was given three funerals, the first in Southwark Cathedral in London, the second in Dublin, despite British authorities diverting his coffin to Cork, and the third in his native city. Tens of thousands of people attended each ceremony.

On Monday, November 1, 1920, the  Evening Echo reported that the lord mayor’s funeral had brought not just Cork, but much of the country, to a standstill.

“The last sad scenes in the funeral obsequies of Lord Mayor MacSwiney, the martyr of Brixton Prison, were enacted in Cork yesterday under circumstances that strikingly demonstrated the great esteem and respect in which he was held by all creeds and classes, and the profound grief that his tragic death produced.” 

On Sunday last, some 60 people gathered outside the walls of HMP Brixton.

The keynote speaker for the day’s proceedings was Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North-Central.

Mr Gould appealed to those living in London to support the campaign to build a new and united Ireland.

Citing the example of Terence MacSwiney, he offered solidarity to the people of Palestine.

Paying tribute to those Irishmen and women forced to leave Ireland in recent decades, Mr Gould said their sacrifice had not been forgotten back home.

One of the other speakers, Palestinian activist Samar Maquishi, spoke of “the unwavering support of the Irish people for the cause of Palestine”, saying: “Even if the whole world was quiet, the Irish won’t be silenced”.

The election of Catherine Connolly as Uachtarán na hÉireann was marked at the gathering, with praise for her support for extending the vote in presidential election to those in Northern Ireland.

The Proclamation was read, and music was provided by London-Irish balladeer Seán Brady, and Tom Lynch on the Uilleann Pipes.