Marking MacCurtain’s murder, 99 years on...

Lord Mayor of Cork Tomás MacCurtain who was murdered by the Royal Irish Constabulary on March 20, 1920, lying in state at City Hall Cork.
This week marked the 98th anniversary of the death of former Cork City Lord Mayor Tomás MacCurtain.

The Corkman was one of the martyrs of the Irish revolution, assassinated at home in front of his wife and son in 1920.

Mr MacCurtain was killed on his 36th birthday but packed enough into his short life that he is vividly remembered to this day and one of Cork city’s main streets is named in his honour.
He was born into a farming household in Mourneabbey in 1886, and in 1897 he and his family moved to Cork city where he became a pupil in the North Mon.

When he left school he went to he work as a Clerk for the City of Cork Steam Packet Company and also took a keen interest in Irish culture and music.
He joined the Gaelic League in 1901 and was the group’s secretary within a year.

It is said Mr MacCurtain loved Irish poetry, music and dancing, as well as being keenly interested in Irish history and archaeology. He met Eilish Walsh, who was a daughter of a Stonemason and also very active in the Gaelic League, and they married in June 1908.

They had six children, the first dying as an infant. Patrick, Siobhan, Sile, Maura, Eilish, and Thomas Jnr. They made their home at 40 Thomas Davis St, Blackpool, in the northern part of Cork City.
Mr MacCurtain is buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery on the Glasheen Road.