JOHN DEVOY FUNERAL COMMITTEE, May-June 1929.

Minutes of Committee, circa 50 pp manuscript in an exercise book, with original funeral badge for American Irish Committee, featuring miniature...

JOHN DEVOY FUNERAL COMMITTEE, May-June 1929.

Minutes of Committee, circa 50 pp manuscript in an exercise book, with original funeral badge for American Irish Committee, featuring miniature American and Irish flags and a portrait of Devoy.

John Devoy, described as the greatest of the Fenians, was born in Co. Kildare but lived for most of his life in the United States, where he ran Clan-na-Gael (the American branch of the IRB) and organised tirelessly for an Irish Republic. He had expressed a wish to be buried in Glasnevin, and when he died in 1929, another veteran Fenian, Dr. Mark Ryan, summoned a Committee to make arrangements for his funeral, of which these are the Minutes.

It was intended that the funeral should be a national occasion, non-partisan and inclusive, but predictably, given the times, there were differences about how this should be implemented, and eventually there was a split, with Mrs. Kathleen Clarke (widow of Tom, and a member of Fianna Fail) and others withdrawing from the Committee. For those who may be interested, the details are in this notebook.

The original members of the Committee included Dr. Mark Ryan, Senator Mrs. Clarke, Senator T. Farren, Alderman William OBrien, Dr. Patrick MacCartan, Senator Sean Milroy, D[iarmaid] OHegarty, Seamus Murphy [possibly the sculptor], Sean Collins, Peadar Devoy, Sean MacGarry, Liam Tobin, Michael Staines, Colonel Joseph OReilly, with Piaras Beaslai as Secretary. The minutes are generally signed by S. Ó Murchadha.

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Provenance: Collection of M.W. OReilly, see his biography above.

 

 

 

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