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1920 Cork hunger strike
The 1920 Cork hunger strike occurred in late 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, when 65 men interned without trial in Cork County Gaol went on hunger strike, demanding release from prison, and reinstatement of their status as political prisoners. Beginning on 11 August 1920, they were joined the following day by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney. A week into the hunger strike, all but 11 of the hunger strikers were released or deported to prison in England, with MacSwiney being among the latter.
After the death of Thomas Ashe on hunger strike (25 September 1917) Irish Republicans prisoners carried out several hunger strikes with their demands being granted. In late 1920, British authorities then decided to resist the hunger strike tactic and warned that there would be no further concessions to the men on strike in Cork jail. Michael Fitzgerald died after 68 days, while Joe Murphy died after 79 days. The nine surviving hunger strikers – Michael Burke, John Crowley, Peter Crowley, Seán Hennessy, Joseph Kenny, Thomas O'Donovan, Michael O'Reilly, John Power, and Christopher Upton – continued on for 94 days, ending their fast on 12 November 1920, following orders from Arthur Griffith.
This hunger strike drew worldwide attention and sympathy to the cause of Irish independence. The nine survivors of the 1920 Cork hunger strike hold the Guinness World Record for the longest hunger strike in history, in which no food was consumed, whether as a result of force-feeding or otherwise.
On 11 August 1920, just over 60 men in Cork County Gaol went on hunger strike, demanding that the status of political prisoners be granted to them, and that they be released from prison. Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, was, around the same time, charged with possession of "seditious articles and documents", before being imprisoned in Cork with a two-year sentence.
On 12 August, MacSwiney joined the others on strike. In an attempt to break it up, the majority of the men on strike in Cork, including MacSwiney, were sent to various prisons across Britain, including Brixton and Winchester. The British authorities hoped that this would serve to demoralise the prisoners in Cork and bring about the strike's end. Eleven men remained on strike in Cork: Peter and John Crowley, Christopher Upton, and Michael O'Reilly, as well as Joseph Kenny of Grenagh, Cork, Seán Hennessy of Limerick City, Michael Burke of Foulkstown, Tipperary, John Power of Rosegreen, Tipperary, Thomas O'Donovan of Emly, Limerick, Michael Fitzgerald of Fermoy, and Joseph Murphy of Cork City.
Documentation, published in The Nine Survivors (2021), indicates that nine days into the strike, JJ Kinsella, the prison's chief medical officer, warned that "an appalling incident is imminent", and called on the British government to intervene and release the hunger strikers. It was however decided, early on, that the government would take an approach of ignoring the strikers' demands, out of fear that to do otherwise would undermine the judicial system and serve as a morale boost to the IRA. This was the view expressed by Andrew Bonar Law, who was deputising at Westminster due to Prime Minister David Lloyd George being on holiday. Lloyd George returned two weeks into the strike, and repeated Bonar Law's decision that the hunger strikers' demands would not be met. This was despite a personal request from King George V to release them, as well as criticism from Winston Churchill, who was Secretary of State for War at the time.
Public opinion across Ireland was largely in support of the hunger strike, and, at three points throughout the strike, on 24 August, 22 September, and 15 October, the workers of Cork City, as part of an action organised by the Cork Civic and Labour Council, did not attend work, so as to allow themselves to go to Masses being held for the strikers. There were also near-constant vigils held by members of the public and relatives of the hunger strikers outside of Cork Gaol. As the historian Gabriel Doherty put it in his article on the hunger strike: "over the course of the strike a truly staggering number of Masses for their intentions were sponsored by practically every firm, every residential area, and every public body and private organisation in Cork (and many well beyond)".
Religion played a role in the hunger strike's success, due to the backing the strike received from the Catholic hierarchy, both in Ireland and abroad. While it was denounced by some priests, mainly in England, as leading to suicide and therefore a sin, the majority of the clergy in Ireland threw their support behind it, portraying the strikers as soldiers willing to fight and die for their country. On a trip to Cork, Archbishop Spence of Adelaide, Australia, criticised the response of the British government to the hunger strike.
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1920 Cork hunger strike
The 1920 Cork hunger strike occurred in late 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, when 65 men interned without trial in Cork County Gaol went on hunger strike, demanding release from prison, and reinstatement of their status as political prisoners. Beginning on 11 August 1920, they were joined the following day by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney. A week into the hunger strike, all but 11 of the hunger strikers were released or deported to prison in England, with MacSwiney being among the latter.
After the death of Thomas Ashe on hunger strike (25 September 1917) Irish Republicans prisoners carried out several hunger strikes with their demands being granted. In late 1920, British authorities then decided to resist the hunger strike tactic and warned that there would be no further concessions to the men on strike in Cork jail. Michael Fitzgerald died after 68 days, while Joe Murphy died after 79 days. The nine surviving hunger strikers – Michael Burke, John Crowley, Peter Crowley, Seán Hennessy, Joseph Kenny, Thomas O'Donovan, Michael O'Reilly, John Power, and Christopher Upton – continued on for 94 days, ending their fast on 12 November 1920, following orders from Arthur Griffith.
This hunger strike drew worldwide attention and sympathy to the cause of Irish independence. The nine survivors of the 1920 Cork hunger strike hold the Guinness World Record for the longest hunger strike in history, in which no food was consumed, whether as a result of force-feeding or otherwise.
On 11 August 1920, just over 60 men in Cork County Gaol went on hunger strike, demanding that the status of political prisoners be granted to them, and that they be released from prison. Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, was, around the same time, charged with possession of "seditious articles and documents", before being imprisoned in Cork with a two-year sentence.
On 12 August, MacSwiney joined the others on strike. In an attempt to break it up, the majority of the men on strike in Cork, including MacSwiney, were sent to various prisons across Britain, including Brixton and Winchester. The British authorities hoped that this would serve to demoralise the prisoners in Cork and bring about the strike's end. Eleven men remained on strike in Cork: Peter and John Crowley, Christopher Upton, and Michael O'Reilly, as well as Joseph Kenny of Grenagh, Cork, Seán Hennessy of Limerick City, Michael Burke of Foulkstown, Tipperary, John Power of Rosegreen, Tipperary, Thomas O'Donovan of Emly, Limerick, Michael Fitzgerald of Fermoy, and Joseph Murphy of Cork City.
Documentation, published in The Nine Survivors (2021), indicates that nine days into the strike, JJ Kinsella, the prison's chief medical officer, warned that "an appalling incident is imminent", and called on the British government to intervene and release the hunger strikers. It was however decided, early on, that the government would take an approach of ignoring the strikers' demands, out of fear that to do otherwise would undermine the judicial system and serve as a morale boost to the IRA. This was the view expressed by Andrew Bonar Law, who was deputising at Westminster due to Prime Minister David Lloyd George being on holiday. Lloyd George returned two weeks into the strike, and repeated Bonar Law's decision that the hunger strikers' demands would not be met. This was despite a personal request from King George V to release them, as well as criticism from Winston Churchill, who was Secretary of State for War at the time.
Public opinion across Ireland was largely in support of the hunger strike, and, at three points throughout the strike, on 24 August, 22 September, and 15 October, the workers of Cork City, as part of an action organised by the Cork Civic and Labour Council, did not attend work, so as to allow themselves to go to Masses being held for the strikers. There were also near-constant vigils held by members of the public and relatives of the hunger strikers outside of Cork Gaol. As the historian Gabriel Doherty put it in his article on the hunger strike: "over the course of the strike a truly staggering number of Masses for their intentions were sponsored by practically every firm, every residential area, and every public body and private organisation in Cork (and many well beyond)".
Religion played a role in the hunger strike's success, due to the backing the strike received from the Catholic hierarchy, both in Ireland and abroad. While it was denounced by some priests, mainly in England, as leading to suicide and therefore a sin, the majority of the clergy in Ireland threw their support behind it, portraying the strikers as soldiers willing to fight and die for their country. On a trip to Cork, Archbishop Spence of Adelaide, Australia, criticised the response of the British government to the hunger strike.