In the early hours of 20th March 1920, members of the British Crown Forces, their faces painted black, burst through the doors of 40 Thomas Davis Street in Blackpool, Cork and assassinated Tomas MacCurtain the Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland.
Eight days later his close and loyal friend Terence MacSwiney was elected unopposed as the Lord Mayor of Cork. It was a time of great upheaval, of violence, of plots, of assassinations, of spying, in the war of independence in Ireland.
Just over four months into MacSwiney's tenure as Mayor, the British Army 6th Division based in Victoria Barracks, Cork, raided his offices in Cork City Hall. MacSwiney was arrested and immediately started a hunger strike in protest at his arrest. He was put on trial four days later, and the judges were senior officers of The Essex and the Hampshire Regiments.
He was charged with possession of a code which gave him access to a document belonging to local British controlled the RIC, and a document which acknowledged the first Irish Parliament's authority, which would cause disaffection to King George V. MacSwiney was sentenced to two years imprisonment. The next day on a British Navy sloop, the Lord Mayor of Cork departed his home town for the last time.
On the day of his court martial MacSwiney stated "I would be free or dead within a month will be fulfilled. In that event, the British Government can boast of having killed two Lord Mayors of Cork within six months, an achievement without parallel in the history of oppression. I am prepared to die".
MacSwiney was taken to HMP Brixton, as Dave Hennigan's book takes us on a seventy-four day journey with MacSwiney, his family, and the British Government, as he deteriorates and slowly reaches the end of his life.
As events unfold we discover MacSwiney is a headstrong, brave, loyal man of faith and integrity. Readers may speculate over how a person can be willing to leave spouse, child, friends and family for his dream, a dream of a Republic of Ireland free of British rule.
The book outlines the amazing impact of MacSwiney's case and fight for justice on communities across the world. Here in Salford, on 27th August 1920, a joint meeting of the Manchester and Salford Labour Party, and Manchester and Salford Trades Council, passed a resolution demanding an immediate release 'in the interests of humanity and peace' and put on record their disgust at the Government's treatment of the prisoner dying in Brixton gaol.
The following day at a meeting in Merchants restaurant on Oldham Street, a gathering of Mancunians and Salfordians, including William Mellor, Secretary of the Manchester and Salford Trades and Labour Council and Dr Catherine Chisholm, Consultant at Hope Hospital and Chair of the Women's International League, signed a telegram pleading with King George V to use his royal prerogative.
The Catalan Trade Unions in Barcelona petitioned Prime Minister Lloyd George to free the Lord Mayor of Cork. In New York, British liners and cargo vessels were paralysed as American seamen of all racial groups refused to touch the ships whilst MacSwiney was in prison. In Paris the media kept up a daily report of MacSwiney's condition, even during intervals in cinemas and theatres. In Madrid, the leading newspaper commented "Yesterday he was unknown outside Ireland. Today the whole world is familiar with his name".
MacSwiney died on 27th October 1920 on the 74th day of his hunger strike. On his death thousands of Mancunians and Salfordians marched behind a hearse containing an empty coffin, from Stevenson Square to Moston cemetery. Huge demonstrations against British treatment of MacSwiney took place in New York, Philadelphia Chicago, New Jersey, Melbourne and Barcelona.
MacSwiney's sacrifice served as a spur to those seeking independence and change and he has been acknowledged as an influence on their work by Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Ho Chi Min and Zviad Gumaskhurdia, leader of the Georgian Independence Movement who quoted MacSwiney's mantra "It is not those who can inflict the most, but those who can suffer the most who will conquer".
Dave Hannigan's book is a readable account of the intensely human story of how an extraordinary man one hundred years ago was prepared to starve himself to death against the might of an empire, whilst carrying the support of people in Salford and across the globe. As the book documents each day of a 74 day hunger strike it can be rather repetitive but it is a fascinating read and one which is never taught in our schools.
Terence MacSwiney: The Hunger Strike That Rocked an Empire
By Dave Hannigan is out now in paperback £15.70 at Blackwells – click here
Review by Peter Fisher
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