After enduring a long, slow and tortuous death over the preceding 74 days, Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Teachta Dála for the Mid-Cork Constituency of the 1st Dáil Éireann and OC of the Cork No.1 Brigade of the IRA, finally achieved his freedom, as he said he would at the outset of his ordeal on foot of the two-year sentence he received at his court martial in Cork on August 16th, 1920, for having "seditious" documents.
'… I shall be free, alive or dead, within a month'.
However the Dublin Castle authorities, only too aware of the world-wide impact of his hunger-strike, were fearful of the galvanising affect that another funeral, such as happened in 1915 with the grand spectacle of the funeral of O' Donovan Rossa, might have on the population of Dublin and Ireland.
In accordance with Terence's wishes the family demanded the body once an inquest had been conducted.
The authorities thus had to endure the huge crowds that filed past the body lying in state in Southwark Cathedral overnight followed by a huge funeral procession through London with the hearse flanked by uniformed IRA members.
To prevent a repeat of this happening in Dublin the British authorities violently stole the body from the funeral party at Holyhead in Wales and transported it, against the family's wishes, by steamer, The Rathmore, to Cork. In protest the funeral party carried on as originally planned and went directly to Dublin where, without a body, requiem Mass was held followed by a funeral procession through the capital city in which a day of mourning was being observed.
Meanwhile the steamer carrying the body of Terence MacSwiney had arrived at Queenstown (Cobh) but no one there would dare accept the cargo without the permission of the family from which it had been stolen. The British had no other recourse but to further convey the coffin nearer to Cork; landing it later on that day at Custom House Quay by means of a tugboat. However even there no one would receive the coffin. It was only later on that night that the MacSwiney family, only recently returned from Dublin, finally retook possession of their brother's body, again in the intimidating presence of a large contingent of British soldiers and RIC Auxiliaries.
The emaciated face of Terence MacSwiney, in a photograph published by a French newspaper under the heading: 'The Lord Mayor of Cork Two Days Before His Death'. Photo Credit: UCD Archives)
Image | 'The funeral of Terence MacSwiney (1879-1920), Cathedral of St George's Cathedral, Souhwark, John Lavery painted the scene with a beam of sunlight shining on the coffin
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