In the hopes of stopping Sinn Féin’s dramatic growth the British government introduced proportional representation for all local elections held in Ireland in 1920. But just as it did in the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin stormed the polls and were in a position to appoint a number of Lord Mayors when the new councils met on the 30th of January. In Cork, a respected member of the Gaelic League and a veteran of the Irish Volunteers, Tomás MacCurtin, was elected when the opposition failed to agree on a candidate but his tenure would be short lived. On the 20th of March 1920 MacCurtin was killed during a raid on his house by individuals with blackened faces. British authorities said it was the result of an internal feud in the IRA but evidence pointed to a murder squad set up within the RIC.
References:
Maurice Walsh - “G2: In Defence of Ireland”
T. Ryle Dwyer - “The Squad”
Tim Pat Coogan - “Michael Collins”
Moirin Chavasse - “Terence MacSwiney”
Irish Volunteers: Cork City and County - diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/corks...
Proportional Representation, Sligo - www.sligoarts.ie/media/Proport...
Local Government Elections - www.dail100.ie/en/long-reads/...
Cork County Council, minutes from 1920 - sp1ral.corkcity.ie/services/co...
The Killing of Lord Mayor Tomás MacCurtain - homepage.eircom.net/~corkcount...
Ireland’s Wars: The Murder of Tomás MacCurtain - neverfeltbetter.wordpress.com...
Bryan Fergus Molloy - www.bloodysunday.co.uk/castle-...
Alan Bell, shot Mar 1920 in Dublin - www.bloodysunday.co.uk/castle-...
Social Media:
Twitter: / theirishnation
Facebook: / theirishnationlives
Instagram: / theirishnationlives
Soundcloud: / theirishnationlives
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/t...
Main Sources:
Military Archives - www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie
Century Ireland - www.rte.ie/centuryireland
Diarmuid Lynch, Irish Revolutionary - diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/
Atlas of the Irish Revolution
Maurice Walsh - “Bitter Freedom”
Charles Townshend - "The Republic"
Michael Hopkinson - ”The Irish War of Independence”
Diarmuid Ferriter - “A Nation and not a Rabble”
Richard Abbot - “Police Casualties in Ireland 1919 - 1922”
Photos:
Military Archives
NLI Flickr account
Wiki Commons