1 Cobh 1916 Commemoration Committee– Centenary of name change 2020 FOREWARD Taken in isolation the decision of Queenstown Urban no coincidence that ports such as Cobh and Dún Laoghaire District Council to resurrect the older name of the town and (Kingstown) - strategic points of entry and exit for humans substitute it in place of the English title might be seen to be a and cargo alike, and gateways to the wider world - accounted matter of passing, marginal, and purely local interest. Given for a high proportion of same. To turn back the tide and rein- that a guerrilla war and a political separatist campaign was state the indigenous names of these places was, therefore, all underway in the locality, in the county and in the country, the more resonant of the changes sweeping the land in the this action was something that could have been, and no doubt Summer of 1920. in some quarters was, overlooked in favour of the more obvi- But it was not just the Gaelic revivalist aspect of this renam- ous, headline-making development. But the ac- ing project that needs to be remembered but also its republi- tion was noteworthy, for many reasons – not the least of can one. The deed was done by the newly elected majority on which was the location itself. The port of Queenstown was the UDC, the composition of which reflected the further and the site of many of the darker episodes in recent Anglo-Irish, widespread electoral endorsement of the republican separatist indeed world, history. This was, above all, the point of depar- campaign in 1920. It was a practical attempt to realise in con- ture for the New World of the many tens (indeed hundreds) crete form Pearse’s phrase that the future Ireland should seek of thousands of emigrants who left Ireland from the 1840s to be not gaelic merely but free as well, and not free merely onwards – with the exodus of so many famine-era native sons but gaelic as well. This was a formidably difficult goal, and it and daughters in coffin ships merely the most notorious as- would, of course, be an ill-informed man or woman who sug- pects of a trend that had dealt a demographic, cultural and gests that either aim has been realised to date. But if there is social body blow to many parts of the country. More recently ever a time to take up the baton on the journey to that cele- this had been the last opportunity for those on board the brated destination, it is surely now, in this the centenary year maiden voyage of Titanic to disembark before the ship sailed of the renaming, and the committee that has produced this into its own rendezvous with death in the North Atlantic, publication therefore deserves immense praise in setting forth while more recently still it was one of the principal focal something not just invaluable but timely as well, and not just points for the attempted rescue of those on board the Lusita- timely but invaluable as well. nia, which was torpedoed and sunk with massive loss of life But Gaelic and republican as the renaming process was, the only a few miles offshore. deed was more: it was also emphatically democratic. The This was, then, no town, no workaday port, but a site whose elections that had produced the republican majority on the name in English conjured up disturbing images indeed. But it council were conducted on a much wider franchise than had was not primarily, or even merely, for the negative reason of been the case in previous similar elections, and the outcome banishing unwholesome memories that the action was taken. was, therefore, more satisfactory from the point of view of Rather, and much more importantly, it was done as a result of producing a council reflective of the will of the people of the thoroughly positive motives. This was, after all, an authentic town. Its royalist English designation had been an elitist act, act of the gaelic revival, a conscious attempt to reverse the but the process of reverting to an Irish form was populist in pattern of centuries, and to aim a linguistic dagger at the the best sense, of reflecting the popular will. heart of Britain’s strategic interest on the island of Ireland. To return to our beginning, the adoption of the name of Cobh The history of Irish place names is, of course, a large and in the Summer of 1920 was on the surface indeed a small extraordinarily fascinating study in itself. All that it is neces- symbolic gesture, easily passed over at the time. But it was a sary to note here is that the process of anglicising them for gesture, utterly democratic, thoroughly republican, and em- most of the island represented at best a half-way house, with phatically gaelic in nature. For these reasons, and more, its truly English names (such as Queenstown) conspicuous by centenary deserves to be not just marked, but celebrated. their rarity, and transliterations of the Gaelic form the general Dr Gabriel Doherty rule. But these exceptions, these truly English names, by be- UCC History Department ing rare, had a significance beyond their number, and it was 2 Cobh 1916 Commemoration Committee– Centenary of name change 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The completion of this project would not have been possible without the support of many individuals and organisations. Many thanks to all Committee members for their hard work and contribution to the various articles contained within and to Doctor Gabriel Doherty of UCC for his foreword. Thanks to Author and Historian Anne McSweeney for her fascinat- ing piece and for resurrecting a very old Poem, Lament for Cobh. To Claire Stack of CHIP thank you for invaluable infor- mation on James Ahern, including the aftermath of Clonmult and the burials. Also, to Brian Ahern for his assistance. We continue to receive tremendous support from various businesses in Cobh, for which we are most grateful. None of the projects we have completed would have succeeded without the generous contribution of Cobh LEA, Councilors, Town Clerk Paraig Lynch, Robert O Sullivan and the Engineering Department. Financial support for this publication was pro- vided by Conor Nelligan and Cork County Council Heritage. Conor has supported and encouraged us in every way and his help is most appreciated. A publication like this is not easy to bring to fruition. Many, many thanks to Angela McCarthy who designed, arranged and edited this publication for printing. Paul O Sullivan, Secretary, Cobh 1916 Centenary Commemo- ration Committee. Chairperson Kieran McCarthy. Vice Chair Jim Halligan, Treasurer Hylton Richards, John Hennessy, Colin Barry. 3 Cobh 1916 Commemoration Committee– Centenary of name change 2020 RE-NAMING OF COBH STREETS - CONTINENTAL RED REPUBLICANISM! By Anne McSweeney On 1 March 1922, a very annoyed 78 year old James Cole- James Colman FRSAI, was born to Thomas and Hannah man of 2 Rosehill Terrace, Cobh, penned a letter to the Cork Coleman neé Mahony in the Cove of Cork and was chris- Examiner in protest at the proposed renaming of certain tened at Cove Parish Chapel 15 September 1844; 5 years Cobh streets, in honour of Irish Martyrs, Wolfe Tone; Pat- before the name of the town was changed to Queenstown, in rick Pearse; Roger Casement and Michael O’Reilly, com- honour of Queen Victoria. monly known as The O’Rahilly: At an early age he became interested in history and went on “These ancient local landmarks, those clues to the past histo- to join the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society at its ry of the town, of which Cobh Urban District Councillors inception, acting as Secretary and Editor for a considerable have not the slightest knowledge, are to be swept away in length of time. He was also a Member of the Royal Society favour of men who never had any connection with the town, of Antiquaries Ireland. Over many years he contributed an As this sort of thing is usually the work of Continental Red impressive number of articles to the CHAS Journal; all well- Republicans, I trust you will kindly permit me as a native, a researched and informative. ratepayer and householder of the town to protest against James served in Her Majesty’s Customs Service, Southamp- these unnecessary and uncalled-for changes being made ton, from 1865 to 1904. A fact that he was enormously here.” proud of and went to great pains to let people know about An avid reader of the Cork Examiner, and equally annoyed his position! On retirement, James Coleman, a bachelor, re- Philip O’Neill from Ticknock, Cobh, responded: turned to his family home 2 Rose Hill Terrace where his sis- ter Mary had remained, unmarried. Their brother Michael, a “I fail to see how the changing of a few street names to that Post Office Official had died in 1910. Mary died in 1933 of those who gave their lives for Irish Freedom, can be leaving James alone. He died 14 February 1938 at the ad- classed as Continental Red Republicanism. The changing of vanced age of 94; having recorded a wealth of historical and the name of Clifton Place to Canon O’Leary Place, surely archaeological treasures for our use and benefit. cannot be classed as such. This decision has not been forced upon the Council by one or two men. At the local Cumann Saint Valentine’s Day! What could be more fitting for Sinn Fein, some three or four years ago, I drafted a resolu- Cobh’s grand old man of history, than to die on the feast tion for the Ard Fheis to the effect that naming all streets, day of a widely recognised third century Roman Saint.