Part 1: The Undead: Commentary
Part 2: Alternative facts? Gerard Murphy’s ever deceasing Masons.
Part 3: The Undead: List
Part 1: The Undead: Commentary
Introduction:
What happened to the Protestant minority in County Cork during the Irish War of Independence and Civil War between 1919 and the end of 1923 has become a fiercely contested topic among Irish historians over the past twenty years. Since Peter Hart first claimed that something approaching ‘ethnic cleansing’ occurred, historians have been drawn to the topic like no other. This ‘Peter Hart war’ is finally coming to an end with new research showing that the extent of native Protestant migration (forced or otherwise) was far less than previously suggested and new examinations of the dead of the revolution showing that the number of Protestants killed was far less than previously claimed by Hart. One of the most controversial subsequent books is the 2010 Year of Disappearances by Dr. Gerard Murphy who claims that the IRA targeted Protestants living on the south side of Cork City and drove them out of the area, or killed them.[1] In particular, he identified thirty-two ‘missing masons’ (Freemasons) who could not be accounted for and who he claimed he most likely been shot.[2]
In 2014, I briefly, re-examined Gerard Murphy’s list of 32 individuals in ‘Appendix IX’ of the Year of Disappearances who were ‘struck off’ from the membership list of Cork Freemasons between 1920 and 1925.[3] I returned to the topic in 2017 as Irish Genealogy’s publication of civil records meant it was likely more information would be found.[4] Murphy believed ‘that the majority of these men probably disappeared’ as they were not in Cork after the revolution and their homes had been passed on to their wives or other people by 1924.[5] This was the core element of his ‘controversial thesis’ that this group were shot by the IRA.[6] He suggested that many of these men were held in ‘Sing Sing’ IRA prison in Knockraha before they were executed by Martin Corry and buried on his farmland.[7] Despite some impressive research and genuine achievements he presented little solid evidence to support much of this. This article shows what happened to twenty-four of the people on Murphy’s list and Murphy accepts the accuracy of the work.[8]
The evidence: analysis
A number of the struck-off lodge members were non-locals who had left Cork many years before. The most obvious example is Walter Corin who was the son-in-law of the governor of Cork prison, Thomas Andrews. Walter left Cork in 1907 to return to England with his new wife and died there in 1934.[9] Others are clearly military and were never local Corkonians such as Captain Mungo John Smith who was Scottish and fought in the First World War according to his war record in the National Archives at Kew.[10]
Secondly, the death and other records of some of the people on the list are readily available. Eric Fleeton, who was struck off, died in Sussex in 1971.[11] There is absolutely no doubt that his father Robert Fleeton Snr. (a member of Lodge 71 who is not on the list but who Murphy suggests was poisoned) died in 1923 and that his brother Robert Fleeton Jnr. died during the First World War. Equally, Robert Edward and Victor Henry Beecher both migrated to Canada after 1910. Both fought as Canadian soldiers in the First World War, returning to Canada in 1919. The rest of the family followed them in April 1923.[12]
A third group presents practically insurmountable difficulties for any researcher. Some give tantalising hints like Thomas C. Morgan who is described as a varnish maker on the file in the Masonic Hall in Cork. A man with the same name was a French Polisher in Belfast in the 1911 census but it has proved impossible on such flimsy evidence to make any judgement about his details other than he may have been in London in 1923.
One name on the list is the same name as that of a man abducted and killed by the IRA. This was a Francis Leo McMahon who was identified as a spy by Josephine Marchment Brown, the IRA spy in the office of British Intelligence in Cork. While Murphy, not unreasonably, claimed that this was Freemason Francis McMahon who lived in St. Lukes’s the pieces of the jigsaw never fitted together. Research by Dr. Andy Bielenberg has established from his marriage certificate, and the record of his wife’s compensation claim in late 1921, that he was Alphonsus Leo McMahon who went by the name of Francis.[13] This man was not a Protestant nor Freemason. Another, Henry A. Harris, may have been found drowned in Boulogne and a day or two later a note claiming to be from the IRA stated they had killed him. However, as the body found at Boulogne was never identified, there is no evidence of a link to Cork in the murder and the French police dismissed the note as a red herring.
We now know what happened to 24 of the 32 names on Murphy’s list, have probably identified another six and failed to find sufficiently usable or provable information about the other two. In fairness, the available records of 2010 could not have yielded all these results, but absence of evidence cannot be used to make unsubstantiated claims. This is why the evidence bar should be high. There is no doubt that the Cork City IRA kidnapped and shot far more people than either the West Cork or North Cork brigades. There is also no doubt that Protestants, like James and Fred Blemens, disappeared, but it was not without a trace as the IRA admitted their killing and their people went looking for them.[14] All of those killings had been known about previously so only his theory on the ‘missing masons’ could have broken major new ground. As it turned out it did not.
The argument should move on to what exactly happened to the actual disappeared. These include IRA members, mainly Roman Catholic civilians and Church of England military. There are many others who possibly disappeared peppering the archives and these also deserve analysis.[15] Enough time has been spent on Murphy’s thesis. However, before I do so I must respond to criticism from Murphy of the early version of this article.
Part 2 Alternative facts? Gerard Murphy’s ever deceasing ‘missing’ Masons.
Prologue
‘A month or two later I got another email from the same source [Barry Keane] to tell me that a Dr. Edward Hawkesworth, a Protestant originally from the Blackrock Road who died as a result of gunshots in the street in Cork in September had actually died from a heart attack. Needless to say, I removed both from my lists of dead victims, even though you could argue that Hawkesworth’s heart attack may have been brought on by the fact that he was fired at.[16]
The news report about the death of Dr. Edward Hawkesworth shows that he was not shot at, shot under, shot over, or shot near on the night he died at the junction of Grand Parade and Washington Street. Free State troops were searching people on the street but all the evidence is that he simply got a heart attack. There is not a shred of evidence that he was targeted for shooting by anyone, least of all the anti-treaty IRA. The only involvement of Free State soldiers was that they gave him first-aid and took him to the Mercy Hospital where he was pronounced dead. [17]
Introduction
While Murphy has apologised for suggesting that I was using ‘Alternative facts’ as the offensive bolg posts remain on the internet then I have no choice but to defend my reputation.
One of the final jobs an author gets to do is to approve the blurb for their book. This is designed as a hook to draw the reader in and publishers spend a lot of time getting this right. The blurb tells you what the author thinks is inside, and as the Year of Disappearances claims that in 1922 the Cork IRA had abducted and murdered a significant number of individuals whose deaths had been covered up by, among others, the minority Protestant community the blurb (see below) is important.
Unsurprisingly, the book attracted interest, and often incredulity, and Gerard Murphy has been robust in its defence. He has not had much choice as many of the reviews were deeply critical.[18] Sadly, in my opinion, much of that defence is contained in nasty, personalised, and often spiteful, blog posts and reviews. Certainly, after he questioned the honesty of my research and my motives in Massacre in West Cork and then was not man enough to admit his crass comment, apologise and move on, I consigned him to the group of people I do not need to know or take seriously. His blog post ‘Alternative facts’ about my analysis of his 32 Freemasons did not improve my opinion. [19] In the article Murphy suggested that far from showing that the majority of non-military Freemasons had either left Cork before 1922, or survived long after it, in 17 cases out of 32 this was not the case. Murphy conceded the other 15.[20]
By happy coincidence, I was literally in the process of updating my analysis of his list (28 March 2017) to include the release of the Irish Birth, Marriage and Death records (and other information gathered in recent years) when his new blogpost appeared. I had also planned an examination of Freemason records in the Cork City and County Archives to clarify and ‘tidy up’ the genealogical notes, if possible. During this process, the Freemason records concerning Lodge 71 were rediscovered in Dublin, which threw further light on the ‘disappeared’.[21] The results are presented in Part 3.
Murphy’s Criticism
With the title Alternative Facts[22] being a clear reference to the lies and innuendo of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, his article begins by claiming that he never stated in the Year of Disappearances that Protestants were ‘ethnically cleansed’ from the south side of Cork and I am more than happy to say that he did not.[23] The essence of his argument however is contained in the blurb and I am sure the reader is intelligent enough to work it out for themselves. The blurb says,
‘Every spy who was shot in Cork was buried so that nothing was known about them. They just disappeared.’ These are the words of an IRA commander recalling the War of Independence in Cork city. The Year of Disappearances examines this claim and others like it. It uncovers a web of suspicion and paranoia that led to scores of men and boys being abducted from their homes before being executed as ‘enemies of the Republic’ and their bodies buried. While some of this took place during the War of Independence, most of it happened the following year, during the so-called ‘Cork Republic’. The net result was to change the demographic of the south-eastern corner of the city for ever, with hundreds of families fleeing and up to fifty individuals buried in unmarked graves in surrounding areas. Using a wide range of previously untapped sources, Murphy shines new light on one of the darker episodes of twentieth-century Irish history.
Gill & McMillan[24]
Just to restate the current position I have now established, with help from other historians, that 24 out of the 32 freemasons who ‘probably disappeared’ according to Murphy, did not. A further 2 leave insufficient traces in the records to make any judgement and the remaining 6 probably did not die in Cork in 1922.[25] Some of these are British military who left long before 1922 and others leave indecipherable addresses in the Dublin freemason records for after 1922. It is most improbable that they were disappeared by the Cork IRA.
I might argue one way or the other about where people should be placed between insufficient information, a probable identification and certainty. However, I refuse to get into daft arguments with anyone about whether my reading of evidence is more correct than theirs. If I make a mistake I fix it. If I get ahead of the evidence at times I am more than happy to correct it. If I draw conclusions, they are based on sourced evidence. I present the evidence and invite the reader to decide for themselves what it means. Otherwise, what is the point of writing factual research?
For the record, what I say about the subjects of Murphy’s main complaints is different to his interpretation.
1. William B. Beamish: I wrote ‘Though it does say William B. this is more likely [my emphasis] to be William Henry Beamish (Land Agent) who lived in Glounthane and had his office next to the Cork County Club on South Mall. If it is in fact [my emphasis] this man then he died in 1927 at Upton on Severn according to Burke’s Irish Families 1976’. Any fair reading of the entry would notice the heavy doubts contained within. Not so with Murphy who writes ‘He [Keane] states for instance that William B. Beamish is ‘more likely’ to have been William Henry Beamish of Glounthaune who died in England in 1927, rather than William B. Beamish who lived in the city and was an insurance agent. I guess if you change his initials he could have been anybody’. While Murphy presented no evidence to support his claim it turns out he was right. My recent research found a death record for William Bernard Beamish’s wife in Cork in 1936 and this lead in turn to William’s death certificate in 1926 (see below).
2. He also criticised me for suggesting probable death dates for William Highet and Frederick Leonard. I researched both of these men in detail. However, I was not able to state with absolute accuracy that either of the two individuals in the death records were definitely the men on the Freemason list or where they died until now. Both were not definite. I have now established beyond any doubt that Leonard died in 1954 and I am almost certain but not quite about Highet, simply by a process of elimination.
3. Equally, he points to an error in relation to John Cottrell (which I freely admit) but blithely sails past the fact that I say there is insufficient information about him which puts a very different interpretation on the entry and his critique. I thought I made it clear that the man who died in 1923 was Roman Catholic. I did not. However, as there is insufficient information how does anyone know what happened to the man? I do not and neither does Murphy. However, he does leave a trace in the records, (see below).
4. Finally, it can often be difficult to work out exactly what Murphy is claiming as his views appear to change with whatever article he is writing. For example, in his most recent article he states,
‘My thesis was that some of these may have disappeared in view of the claims made by Cork city IRA men such as Connie Neenan, Mick Murphy and others that members of the so-called Anti-Sinn Fein League supposed spies were picked up in ones and twos and shot and their bodies dumped. I never suggested that anything like all of them disappeared. In fact, I believed at the time, and still do, that the majority of them fled, or were forced to flee’.
Yet in the Year of Disappearances, of ‘the groups of Protestants taken in the Spring of 1922 by the Cork City IRA and shot’ he states ‘it is impossible to say at this stage who fled and who disappeared. I am of the view, however, that the majority of these men probably disappeared’ and that ‘when your fellow Masons begin to disappear you no longer want to remain a Freemason’, to explain the large number of resignations during those years.[26]
Murphy, who is a good researcher, only managed to find 5 of his 32 living elsewhere or having survived though he claims to have discovered many more.[27] Surprisingly, he did not publish this. Increasing the number to 24 is highly significant. He, I’m sure, will be anxious to find the remaining eight people and establish what happened to them. If he finds evidence to show that any Freemason on this list disappeared, or was murdered, I will be the first to accept it, but it has to be evidence.
Part 3: The Undead: the list
Definites in green: Probables in Blue: Insufficient information in pink
1. Eric Ralph Fleeton was born in on 24 August 1896 in Cork but his first name is mis-transcribed as Berick from his birth certificate. An E. R Fleeton attended one meeting of Lodge 71 in July 1920. An Eric Ralph Fleeton, engineer, married a Florence Mabel Sweetman in Dublin on 18 August 1920. He resigned from the Lodge on 31 October 1920. He was member 96. His father was Robert and a teacher according to the marriage certificate. Eric Ralph and Mabel Fleeton went to India according to the United Kingdom Ship Passenger departures lists and later returned. An Eric R J Fleeton was an elector in London in 1949 as was a Florence M. Fleeton who lived in the same house. Eric Ralph Fleeton (born on 24 August 1896) died in 1971 in Halisham, Sussex. His will states that he lived at 6, Westbourne Court, Cooden, Bexhill, Sussex. His wife Florence Mabel Fleeton died in 1987 in Sussex. There is no doubt that this man left Cork in 1920 and died many years later in Sussex.
a. Robert Theodore Osmund Fleeton Memorial: St. Nicholas Church Cork, Airman 3rd Class (75121, Royal Flying Corp, Recruit Depot. Killed 26 April 1917, aged 16. Son of Robert and Jeanie Eloise Fleeton of 1 Brookfield Villas, College Rd, Cork.
b. Robert Fleeton Snr. died in Cork on 1 June 1923 at the Victoria Hospital from ‘gastritis for 28 days’ which resulted in exhaustion from vomiting according to Nurse B. O’Driscoll who informed the registrar of his death on 13 June 1923. Murphy states that a Cork Examiner report of 6/6/1923 suggests that he was poisoned by the IRA. I have checked the Cork Examiner for 6/6/1923 and cannot find the reference to Fleeton but if Murphy can provide a page number this would help. Murphy P. 328
2. Nathaniel Todd attended meetings of Lodge 71 in 1919 and 1920 but is not on the attendance book held in Cork City & County Archives after that. The Lodge 71 Dues book in 1921 notes that he had left Cork and neither paid a subscription nor left a subsequent address. The dues book of 1924 states that he was deceased. He was number 53 on the membership list in that year. It is not stated how or where he died. There is no record of his death in the Irish or British records. He was the chief steward of the County Club on South Mall in 1921 according to Guy’s Directory. Also, according to Guy’s (published in January each year) he remained so in 1924 so presumably he either died after this date in that year or this is a mistake in Guys. See Murphy, p.282.
It is possible, but not provable, that he was working in a club in Londonderry as a Billiard Master, aged 22, in the 1911 census given his later occupation as the steward at the County Club, which had a billiard room, and the stated religion as Church of Ireland. This man had been born on 17 April 1888 to James (a plasterer) and Annie Todd (nee Martin), 140, Fortingale Street, Belfast. His brother William and sister Lucy were also living with his mother in 1901 but there is no sign of James. Annie’s death was witnessed by Nathaniel in 1904 and James died in 1910. If this is correct then Nathaniel would have been 21 when James died.
3. John Beecher lived at House 50, (No. 50) Quaker Road in 1911 along with Victor H. The other son, Robert, was not at home on census night. John Beecher was still living at 50, Quaker Road in 1921 but is no longer there by 1925. He would have been 63 by 1921, (Murphy P. 281, 282). His great grand-niece Pamela Black reports that ‘The boys Robert & Vic Beecher were my great uncles. The info. you have on them seems correct. John Beecher aged 63 living at 50, Quaker Road was their father. He followed the boys to Canada with the rest of his family on April 7, 1923 from Queenstown to Halifax.
4. Robert Edward Beecher (1892-1978) His obituary: Educator, school inspector, Born at Kilkenny, Ireland on 5 March 1892, he came to Canada in 1912 and worked as an accountant. During the First World War, he served with the 12th Field Ambulance of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, returning to Manitoba from overseas service in 1919. He then taught school at Wyndham then, from 1921 to 1925, was a member of the staff of Roblin Collegiate. From 1925 to 1929, he was the Principal of Cypress River School. In the latter year, he was appointed a School Inspector, based at Eriksdale. He moved to Neepawa in 1936 where he remained until retirement in 1956. On 26 December 1919, he married Marion Jean Jolliffe (?-1972) at Roblin. They had three children: Edward Ross Beecher, Mrs. K. C. Moir, and Pat Beecher. He was a member of the Masons (Neepawa Lodge). He died at Neepawa on 2 July 1978. Robert’s sign up papers in 1916 are available from the Canadian National Archives free online.
5. Victor Henry Beecher was born in Carlow where his father was stationed in 1895 and went to Canada in 1915 to join his brother. His sign up papers in 1916 are available on the Canadian Archives website. . He returned to Roblin, Manitoba Canada. His father gave Victor’s address at 261, Balmoral Street [illegible] as the person he was going to stay with when he immigrated to Canada in 1923. He died in 1994, aged 99, and is buried in British Columbia.
6. Walter Corrin He had moved to Surrey along with his wife by 1907. See also Thomas Andrew’s biographical note in Pike’s Contemporary Biographies available online from the Cork City Library for a cross-reference. On 12 November 1934, he died in a London nursing home, of cancer of the liver.
7. Robert Cassidy lived in house 8 on Merchants Quay in the 1911 census. He was a cycle agent at 8, Merchants Quay in 1913 according to Guys but no longer there in 1921 when the shop was owned by Wilkins who repaired Primus stoves (and whose daughter was used as a hostage in Black & Tan lorries). Robert, Frances, Isabella, Herbert and Louisa Cassidy (aged 8) are recorded in the 1911 census, living with their father Robert (Cycle Agent). He later lived at 10 Alverna, Mardyke, Cork from where his children Isabella, Frances (1923), Herbert (1924), and Louise/Louisa (1950) got married. He and Louise witnessed the marriage of Frances in September 1923. On their marriage certificates, he is recorded as an engineer or motor engineer and as there is no cross next to his name he is alive at the time of the marriage. The Lodge sent him a registered letter to this address seeking payment before striking him off in 1926. Louise/Louisa married Alfred (Alfie) Allen of Calshanure House, Ovens, Co. Cork in 1950 according to Burke's Irish Family Records. While Robert Cassidy lived in Dunkeld, Highfield Avenue, College Road, Cork according to Burke’s Peergae (online) this appears to be a mistake. There is no doubt that this is the same family and that Robert Cassidy survived the War of Independence and the ‘Year of Disappearances’.
8. Edward Collingwood Lithographer was in the 1901 Census along with his wife Georgina and their daughter Sophia living on Friars Walk. Edward was secretary of the Lodge but became a country member on 1 August 1908. He stops paying a subscription after 1911.[28] The family are recorded in Bristol in the 1911 Census. It is highly unlikely that there was more than one Edward Collingwood, Lithographer with the same family. While Gerard Murphy’s latest blogpost claims Collingwood died in Somerset in 1942 the record only says Edward J. so it is indeterminate. Georgina died in Bristol in 1926 according to the death records.
9. Thomas Bew, A Commercial Traveller called Thomas Elliot Bew was living in the Metropole Hotel according to the 1911 Census. He was Church of England and was born in England. Two daughters of a T. Elliot Bew, manufacturers agent, of 331 Ravenhill Road, Belfast (Margaret and Henrietta) were pronounced dead shortly after a premature birth on 19 December 1917. No information about the mother is given and there is no evidence of a marriage in Ireland. A commercial traveller called Thomas Bew got married in Cork to Sarah Cambridge of Clonakilty in St. Mary’s Shandon and the Wesley Chapel according to the marriage certificate on 7 June 1919. At the time, he was living in the Metropole Hotel and she was from George’s Street, Clonakilty. He is described as a bachelor. He them transferred to the Clonakilty Lodge before briefly returning to Cork. He paid a subscription to Lodge 71 in 1923 but again the Lodge wrote a registered letter to him at Homeville, Western Road seeking monies owed in 1925. He resigned from the Freemasons in Belfast around 1925 according to the surviving record. He did re-join later in Belfast so presumably he survived.
10. Henry A. Harris He left Ireland for Bristol in 1921 and is the subject of speculation by Murphy that he was killed by the Cork IRA at Boulogne in 1923. There is no evidence connecting the two facts. A note claimed to be from the IRA was delivered a couple of days after the body of an unknown man was taken from the water at Boulogne but connecting the dots in this case requires far too many dots.
11. Captain Mungo John Smith Royal Field Artillery. He joined the Royal Field Artillery in 1905 (London Gazette) and obviously returned to fight until the end of World War 1. He is recorded in the Lodge 95: Record of Payments book for 1918 with an address at Ballincollig Barracks which is crossed out and replaced with ‘anti-aircraft battery I. of W.’ which presumably is Isle of Wight. In 1920 his address on the Freemason’s files in Dublin is given as c/o a solicitor’s office in London.[29] His long service record is available at National Archives Kew (WO339/25483) and states that he was born on 26 May, 1886. Captain Smith was Scottish and his father was W. Smith who wrote for the Signet. The London Gazette announced on 23rd March, 1915, under the heading Royal Regiment of Artillery, ‘The under-mentioned to be temporary Lieutenants: Mungo John Smith’. I have confirmed from the file at Kew that this is the correct man and that he was stationed at Ballincollig in 1918. In January 1919 he was invalided out of the army at Nannan Auxiliary Hospital in Dolgelly, Wales to where he had been sent from Taunton by the War Office. He had been working for the Somerset Agricultural Service procuring supplies but had resigned due to illness. He was still suffering from shell-shock which was first diagnosed in 1917 and which also was the reason he was at Ballincollig. He married Frances Margaret Denton at Chrinside, Berwick on 15 May 1919 before shipping out to Victoria, Australia a week later. The marriage notice states he was from Shepparton (sic) Victoria and that he had been given light duties after injury at the front.[30] He bought out a lease in Shepperton for 51 acres on 7 June 1928 using a Discharged Soldiers Loan and it was finally paid off in 1951 according to the records.[31] He returned alone from 99, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh to Australia on 17 November 1927. He is recorded as a fruit grower and was 42.[32] He died in 1958 according to the Australian probate records.
12. John Moore Friars Street Cork: Left home and disappeared in March 1921. He was probably suffering from dementia. There is no evidence whatsoever that he was either a Freemason or shot by the IRA. As the freemason of the same name, who was an accountant, sat his Grand Lodge examinations in October 1921 then there is clear evidence that he was alive a full eight months after his supposed abduction by the IRA. A J.F. Moore signed the Concord 71 register of attendance on 29 October 1921 so unless there are two of them this is the same man.[33]
13. Francis Leo McMahon Victoria Road: This has been the most contested of all the supposed deaths on the list. In the end, solving the riddle comes down to publishing the information on the internet and a simple name change. There is no doubt that a Francis McMahon was shot and secretly buried by the IRA in May 1921 because they say they did it. Gerard Murphy decided that this man was either Francis Mc Mahon or his son Francis Victor Mc Mahon, both Protestant, who lived in St. Luke’s Cross. This was not an unreasonable assumption but it was always difficult to fit all the pieces of the jigsaw together as there was no direct evidence. Research by Dr. Andy Bielenberg of UCC has definitively established that this was Alphonsus Leo McMahon who married Mary Cronin of 6, Woodland View, Western Road. Cork in 1920.[34] His wife made a compensation claim from 6, Woodland View, according to the Cork Examiner report in late 1921. So, as it turns out the person shot by the IRA was not a freemason due to the fact that as a Roman Catholic he could not have joined the order.
Furthermore, an F. McMahon is recorded as living at the St. Luke’s address in 1920, 1921 and 1922 in Purcell’s Cork Almanac which is after the supposed abduction. The name appears in Guy’s Almanac in 1925 at that address. It has also been established that Francis Victor McMahon was still a member of the Freemasons in 1924 (from the same record that Murphy had studied) and that Francis Mc Mahon senior died in Lancashire in 1925 with probate going to his wife Mary. Lodge 71 wrote to Francis V. McMahon in London in 1925 seeking payment.[35]
14. John R. Hennessy: The only Church of Ireland Hennessy family in Cork lived at 14, Friars Walk. According to the 1911 census John and Alfred (see number 15) are described as an accountant and a coppersmith but on the Freemasons’ list they are described as an accountant and engineer. John was born a year after Alfred on 17 September 1890 at 2, Coach Street and died in Surrey in 1974. John Reeves Hennessy and Alfred Hennessy are recorded in both the 1901 and 1911 censes and had 8 brothers and sisters. They were living on Coach Street in 1901 and Friars Walk in 1911. Gerard Murphy noted in his latest blog post that John Reeves Hennessy who was born on 17 September 1890 died in 1975 in Surrey.
15. Alfred Hennessy This is the brother of John Reeves Hennessy both of whom are recorded in both 1901 and 1911 censes. They were living on Coach Street in 1901 and Friars Walk in 1911. Alfred was a coppersmith in the Dockyard and John was an engine fitter which suggests the family were connected with the British Navy as does the fact that their father William may have born in India. William died in 1912 Hennessy—On the 23rd Dec. 1912, at his residence, 14 Friar's Walk, of pneumonia, William, eldest son of the late Bryan Hennessy, aged 51 years. Funeral on Christmas morning, at 9.15 sharp, for Douglas. Alfred Hennessy married Anne Glasson in 1917 and their third child John was born in 1921. There are various newspaper entries for the Hennessy’s at Friar’s Walk after 1922 but none for Alfred. In 1925 a registered letter was sent to Alfred Hennessy, who had been recorded as a member and paid a subscription as late as 1923. The address was Carrignafoy which is Cobh/Queenstown, Cork where his wife’s family still lived at 8, Harbour Row. However, when Sarah Hennessy (who was their mother) died at 14, Friar’s Walk on 6 July 1932 the witness was Alfred Hennessy (her son) according to her death certificate. An A. Hennessy was the occupier of 14, Friars Walk according to Guy’s Almanac in 1945 and this may well be another family member from the records of an eviction case around that time. However, there can be no doubt that Alfred Hennessy survived the Year of Disappearances by at least ten years.
16. Archibald Phillips Army Staff Sergeant Royal Army Service Corps I have established from his military Service Pension records available on Ancestry.co.uk that this man is Archibald Phillips who was born in Cork in 1876 and who died in 1927 having retired from the Royal Army Service Corps to 103, North Main Street, Youghal in January 1920. He married Sarah Doyle in Cork in 1905 and then moved to Dublin and Belfast where other children were born. He and Sarah are buried in St.Mary’s Church, Youghal along with their daughter Lydia who passed away in 1904.
17. George Storey (sic) Lieutenant Royal Dublin Fusiliers This is either a misreading of the original text by Murphy or a misprint in his book. The Freemason records show that the second name is actually Stoney. This was in fact Lieutenant George A. Stoney of the Dublin Fusiliers who fought in and survived the first assault at Gallipoli.[36] George Arthur Stoney was born in Goleen, Schull, Co. Cork, where his father was rector, on 3 April 1887 to Gertrude (nee Carter) according to the Irish Birth records. George Arthur Stoney Lieutenant of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers 8 (?) Battalion stationed at Victoria Barracks married Emily Sargent Smith at Holy Trinity Church in Killiney, Co. Dublin on 14 August 1917. His father was James Johnstone Stoney, Clerk in Holy Orders and her father was John Saunder (?) Smith, Bank Manager.[37] He is recorded as member 40 in 1924 in the Lodge 71 Dues book but there is no evidence that he took any part in the Freemasons in Cork that year. The book records his name as George A. Stoney and it shows that the Lodge wrote to him by registered letter to an address at 9, Ashbarnum (sic) Gardens Upminster, Essex on 25 March 1925 presumably about his mounting arrears. He may have paid something in 1923 but it is unclear from the surviving evidence. His medal card is available at the National Archives Kew (WO 372/19/76126). The family is recorded in Burke’s Irish Family Records (1976) and it states that George Arthur Stoney died 8 June 1965. His will states that he lived at 59, St. Andrews Road, Exmouth, Devon and his effects were given to Evelyn Mary Gertrude Stoney (Spinster) who was his daughter.[38]
18. Charles Wolfe Merchant According to Murphy (p. 281) this man was struck off the list of Freemasons in 1922. He was a Pawnbroker. Charles Wolfe died in 1955. His youngest son Charles William Wolfe was the Dean of Cashel and Emly between 1963 and 1971. His family history is available on the internet and maintained by Gary Achenson. In correspondence with me his great-grandson Gary Achenson writes 'I have a few pieces of information on Charles William Wolfe. Firstly, his wife Martha Rose died in Cork in 1934. Guy's Directory for 1945 has the pawnbroking business at 16 Lavitts Quay, trading still under Charles' late father's name - A. Wolfe & Co. (My Great-Great Grandfather Abraham Jennings Wolfe-1840-1888). The Irish Times has Charles' death notice - "WOLFE - July 27 1955, at a Dublin nursing home, Charles William Wolfe, late of Cork and Termonfeckin. Funeral strictly private." By the 1950s all his children and their families had left Cork. Most were living in Dublin so if Charles needed care late in life, it makes sense that he would have been moved there. He retired to Termonfeckin and is buried there in St Fechin's churchyard according to the local history society View on www.termonfeckinhis... His gravestone reads "WOLFE Charles William Wolfe who died July 26th 1955 aged 79 years. Peace perfect peace. (Originally from London, Charles Wolfe lived his later years in Termonfeckin in a house adjacent to Colm Patton’s pub.) (506).[39]
19. Fredrick W. D. Leonard was the only member of Lodge 8 not accounted for by Gerard Murphy. He was not a member of the supposedly targeted Lodge 71. This is, in fact, William Frederick Devereaux Leonard who was an officer of HM Customs and Excise living in Monkstown, Co. Cork in 1911 along with his wife and a servant. He was born in Bandon in 1883 and this is confirmed by his birth and marriage certificates which establishes his father as Alfred Richard on both documents. According to his marriage certificate he was living at Queenstown when he married Eileen Eva Julian in St. Luke’s Church in Cork on 28 October 1910. He was still in his post according to Guys Almanac in 1921 so presumably would have left when the British did as a member of His Majesty’s Customs & Excise. His daughter, who was born in Cork on 25 March 1914, married into the Peerage in 1948 according to the Peerage.com and she died in 2003.[40] I have now confirmed that he died in Bristol in 1954.[41] He gave his name as William Fredrick Devereaux Leonard when he joined St. Patrick’s Lodge 8 on 10 February 1920 according to the Lodge Declarations Book held in the Cork City and County Archives. He was living in Maglin, Ballincollig at the time. He attended only two meetings of the lodge: on 13 April 1920 and on 8 February 1921.[42] Fredrick W. D. Leonard (W. F. D. is crossed out) who is recorded in the main Freemason records is the same person as he joined the same lodge on the same day.[43]
20. Edward G. Owens. I have confirmed from the Freemason records in the Cork City & County Archive that the Worshipful Master of Lodge 95 beginning in January 1915 was actually Edward W. Owens and not Edward G. Owens as transcribed by Gerard Murphy in The Year of Disappearances. According to the Register of members & payments for the Lodge Edward W. Owens lived at ‘Myrtleville’ Southern Road, Cork.[44] Edward W. Owens is recorded as living on Southern Road throughout this period and he was a bank clerk and a member of the Church of Ireland in the 1911 census. In 1901, he had been a commercial clerk in a Brass foundry while still living on Southern Road. Edward W. Owens died in 1945 and was living in the same house on Southern Road. He stops attending the Lodge on 1 November 1921 after a long gap back to 4 January 1916.
21. William B. Beamish: Gerard Murphy correctly identified William B. Beamish as William Bernard Beamish without supporting evidence other than he was an insurance agent on the South Mall. William Henry Beamish was also a member of Lodge 71 with an office on South Mall and also involved in the insurance business. It appeared tentatively to me more likely that this might be the individual. If it was then he had survived but I was doubtful of this interpretation and as it turns out it was incorrect. William Bernard Beamish attended meetings of Lodge 95 as a visitor from Lodge 71 on 15 November 1915, 4 January 1916 and 1 Jan 1919 according to the attendance register, which he signed, so there is no doubt that this is the correct individual. Yet, he is not recorded as attending any meetings of Lodge 71 during this period. I have now established, beyond doubt, that William Bernard Beamish died in Skibbereen on 8 April 1926 as reported in his death notice in the Cork Examiner on 10 April 1926. According to the Southern Star of 10 April 1926 he had been visiting his brother and sister when he took ill. He funeral service was in the Methodist Church and he was buried in the family plot in Aughadown. His death certificate misleadingly states that he was a farmer but the Southern Star (P.5: The late Mr. Beamish) states that ‘he held a very responsible position in the Insurance business in Cork City’. His wife’s death certificate also states he was an insurance agent. His wife Martha died on 7 July 1936 and her death notice in the Cork Examiner on 8 July states the funeral service was in St. Peters and that she lived on Church Lane. According to the death notice her husband William Bernard was ‘late of Skibbereen’. As she left a will then it is possible that there is also a will or administration papers for him but there is no record of this either. The family can be found in the 1911 census.[45]
22. Stanley Hunt: He is misnamed in the Irish 1911 census as Stanley Hand. He definitely lived on the ‘Old’ Blackrock Road and was the manager of McMullen’s Mills. He was born in Gloucester in England but this is also mis-transcribed in their online census. He was on a spy-list in Florrie O’Donoghue’s papers according to Murphy (p.282). Guy's Almanac shows that he lived at number 2 Hillsboro Place and the census shows had married Edith less than a year before the census of 1911. She was also English. Ten years earlier he was living with the McLennon family in Alpine Terrace near Victoria Barracks. Stanley Alfred Hunt married an Edith Hooper in Dursley Gloucester in 1911 according to the UK Birth, Deaths and Marriages records. Stanley A. Hunt joined the Freemasons Concord Lodge on 2.2.1910 and resigned in 1913 according to the Freemason records in Dublin. He must have re-joined as he was a Junior Deacon of the Lodge in 1921 and is recorded as a member of the committee in that year. He is member 6 in 1921, 5 in 1922 and 5 in 1923 but appears to have paid little or nothing from 1921. The Lodge sent him a registered letter in February 1925 to Stanley A. Hunt, ----ulum Road, H-ch--, in Hertfordshire.[46] However, I have now confirmed that administration of his estate was granted to his wife Edith Madeline Hunt of 26, Verulam Road Hitchin Hertfordshire, on 22 March 1932 after his death on 12 February 1932. He left effects of £1,084 15s.[47]
23. John J. Carson: Navy Chief Petty Officer: The Dues book for 1916 records John James Carson as member 76 and in 1917 as member 75. In both years, he is exempt from dues [due to active service]. He is still recorded as a member in 1920 but there is no evidence that he was paying a subscription. Patrick Johnson has supplied information from Irish Genealogy which identifies this man. On 30th August 1915 John James Carson married Grace Eva Hill at Queenstown. He was a Chief Petty Officer Royal Navy. He is mis-transcribed as Carton on Irish Genealogy. Extraordinarily, he also appears in the 1911 census (something I missed) and he was Church of Ireland. He was born in Roscommon according to the 1911 census. Eva Grace Hill was one of William Hill’s ten surviving children living in Loughbeg or Ringaskiddy DED in 1911. John James was 26 in 1911 and Eva was 23. His birth record has not been found but his brothers and sisters are recorded and his father is identifiable as Joseph Carson, Sergeant RIC, in Strokestown, Co. Roscommon. Grace was born in Clonakilty on 15 December 1886 to William and Mary Hill. William was in the Coastguard. John James and Grace E. Carson are recorded in the UK 1939 register at 10 Napier Street, Plymouth C.B., Devon, England, Grace E Carson 15 Dec 1886 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married, John J Carson 31 May 1883 Male Chief Officer PCS Rm Retired Married. According to Patrick Johnson he died in 1964. This is confirmed by his will recorded in 1965. He died on 8 June 1964 and his effects were left to his wife Grace Eva of 10 Napier Street, Stoke, Plymouth. He left £223. She died in summer 1973 according to UK Birth, Deaths and Marriages. His naval records are available at the UK National Archives. It confirms his birth date and its location.[48]
24. Lewis B. Jordan Lieutenant of Payments Army: Captain Lewis Ben Jordan Army Payments Department joined up in 1917 and served until 1920. NAK WO 374/38618. Lewis Ben Jordan National Archive Kew Record . The name recorded in 1917 on the Lodge 71 records is Lewis Ben Jordan (Member 89) and the same in 1918, (Member 86). As a member of the military he was exempt from payment. I have established from his long service file that he served in the Army Payments department in Cork until 6 December 1917 when he was involved in a brawl with another lieutenant. Jordan, who apparently hated Cork, was described as being of violent temper and his superior suggested that he be moved out for the public good. That is what happened. The file at Kew also shows that he was invalided out of active service due to ‘nerves’ on 21 December 1918 and his address was given as Victoria House, Queen’s Road, Teddington, London. He was finally discharged from the army, while living at the Carlyle Club, Piccadilly on 6 April 1920. According to his discharge papers he had been born in 1870. This birthdate allows us to confirm that he died in Surrey 14, August 1939, aged 69, according to the BMD records of Lewis B. Jordan death record on Ancestry.co.uk and the will of Lewis Benjamin Jordan was probated the same year. This man had been living in Wilbury, Ferring Lane, Ferring, Worthing. Lest there is any doubt his effects were left to his widow Florence Kate Jordan.
25. Walter Roberts is recorded as a dentist on the Freemason register. A Walter Roberts Mechanical Dentist, aged 18, was living on Bloomfield Avenue Wood Quay Dublin in 1911 according to the census. How many Church of Ireland dentists called Walter Roberts were in Ireland in this period? The answer unsurprisingly is one of any religion. Is it wildly speculative to suggest that this is the same person? However, there is not enough evidence to confirm that this is the same person or what exactly happened to him. He was certainly a full member of Lodge 71 up to 1920 but does not attend meetings or pay a subscription after that. He was ‘written off A/Cs 31/12/21’. The Lodge 71 records also show that they wrote to him by registered post to 33, Foyle Street, Londonderry, on 3/1/22 which presumably means that he was both alive and not in Cork on this date. They also state in the Dues book ‘name released to Dublin, Registered Letter’. As yet I have failed to establish if he was at that address or in Derry but it was a dental practice. Incidentally, a Walter Roberts who was a dentist died in the [Protestant] Meath Hospital Dublin of cardiac arrest in 1934, aged 41, according to Irish Genealogy. The 18-year old Walter Roberts of 1911 would have been 41 in 1934 but without an address we cannot confirm that this is the same man as in the Freemason records.[49]
26. John Cottrell: Accountant See also Murphy P.282. A J. Cottrell attended Lodge 95 as a visitor from Lodge 71 on 26 November 1918 and 7 January 1919. He does not appear to have attended his own lodge (at least not regularly). A John Cotttrell, accountant was living with his father at Kilreendowney (Ballyphehane) Cork in 1901. This man was born on 27 June 1883 to Dowling and Anne (Regan) Cottrell of Friars’ Walk. On 12 April 1910 John Cottrell of Lower Friars’ Walk married Mary Daly of 2, Anne Ville, Friars’ Walk in St. Nicholas Parish Church. The witnesses were Thomas Cottrell, Lucy Cottrell, Richard Morgan and Dolly Morgan who were cousins of the Cottrellls. The family is recorded in the 1911 census living at Friar’s Walk, in house 41. The Lodge 71 Dues book in 1920 states that John Cottrell had left Cork and left no forwarding address. He was member 53 on the 1920 list. If this is the case then he was not in Cork during the Year of Disappearances, unless he returned, of which there is no evidence. A John Cottrell is recorded as having died in the second quarter of 1923 in Cork but this is not this man as he was a Roman Catholic solicitor who died of heart failure. There is no other record of him from 1911 onwards in any of the other sources so there remains insufficient information about him to form an opinion.
27. Edward Sparks: Naval Police Sergeant: Edward Sparks was a full member of Lodge 71 in 1905 but he became a country member of the lodge in August 1906. He remained a country member and paid his dues until 1909 after which he is not recorded. It is possible that Henry Edward Sparks of the Quartermasters section who was interned in Holland during the First World War is this man. There is no other Edward Sparks in the Navy who fits the bill. There is no evidence whatsoever that he was in Cork after 1906 and certainly no evidence that he was murdered in the city in 1922.
28. William Highet Engineer: William Highet was a member of Lodge 71 for a short period in 1913. A note in the dues book states that he was resident in Gordons Terrace, Richmond Hill where his father John Highet, who was a plumber, died in 1911.[50] John’s death was witnessed by his son-in-law David Ross of Tweedmount, Blarney.[51] John was originally from Ayr, Scotland according to the 1901 census. His son John, also a plumber, lived in 4, Marlboro Street and this has caused confusion in tracing him.[52] Both families are recorded in the 1911 census. William was born in 1877 on 10 July and his mother’s name is recorded as Mary (nee Marret). She died in 1936 at 2, Toureen Villas, Passage West (Pembroke) on 18 April. John H. McRitchie, her grandson, witnessed the death. She was 95. His sisters included Eleanor (Nellie), Mary and Madge who married James Logan, David Ross, James McRitchie and George Atkins respectively. According to the 1901 census he had a brother called Campbell who was born in Cork in 1884. There is a record that Campbell owned a car in 1911 and a full detailed record of his service in the Canadian Engineers during the First World War which confirms his mother’s address and claims his place of birth as Ayr in Scotland which is incorrect.[53] William witnessed the marriage of his sister Mary at home in 33, [Gordon’s Terrace] Richmond Hill in 1902. The marriage was in the Presbyterian Rite. Madge also married in the Presbyterian Rite in 1899 as did Eleanor in 1907. There is no doubt that the family was Presbyterian. It was rare to have Presbyterian members in the Cork Lodges where the vast majority were Protestant Episcopalian. According to the former minister of Cork Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church, John Faris, there was and is no bar on Presbyterians joining freemasonry. Therefore the lack of minor Protestants septs in the Freemasons is probably a function of their small numbers.
According to the Freemason register in Dublin William re-joined the Cork 71 branch in 1921 but no record of this has been found either in the dues book, the minute book or in the attendance book (held at Cork). There is no other record of his comings and goings in 1921 so it is not possible to say, with certainty, what happened to him other than he was born in Cork and left in 1913.He may have been in the navy, or possibly a railway engineer like his brother-in-law James Thompson.
29. Thomas J. Benson: Shop Assistant: Insufficient information: Affiliated 11/12/1918 to Lodge 71 and does not appear to attend any meetings after that. He was member 104. This is likely to be Thomas James Benson of Tralee whose father John had been a member of the Tralee lodge and who died in 1913. John had been a draper. Thomas J. was originally a member of Clonakilty Lodge and moved to Birr in August 1915. He moved on from Lodge 163 which is St Brendan’s Lodge in Birr to Cork and joined Lodge 71. On all three occasions he is recorded as a clerk or shop assistant. He went to Cork on 11 June 1917. The Birr records say he resigned in 1918 but this may only be his resignation from Birr. What evidence is there that he was even in Cork after the end of 1918? Little or none. Was he murdered and disappeared in 1922? Even though he was struck off in 1926 from Concord Lodge (71) it he was restored in 1931 but the record does not say to which lodge. As he was restored in 1931 then he cannot have disappeared in 1922.[54] His Freemason record in Dublin states that he left Lodge 71 along with Thomas E. Graham for Lodge 329 (Coronation:1911) in 1918 but while Graham is recorded as joining the lodge Benson is not. While I may be 90% certain I am not definite.
30. Fredrick J. Moffett: Clerk: Insufficient information: Frederick James Moffitt (sic) was Lodge member 93 in 1918 and is recorded again in 1919. In April 1920, he became a country member, and it is at this point that his arrears begin.[55] From the example of the other country members this usually meant they were not in the city and there is no evidence that he was in Cork after this date. However, Frederick J. Moffat, aged 25 and a Presbyterian who is a traveller for The Leinster Directory is recorded in Monck Street, Wexford as a boarder. By 1902, a James Moffett married a Jane Bartley in Navan and the family are recorded as having two children in the 1911 census where they lived in part of House 7 on Friars Walk in Cork. His occupation was Advertising amasser. His son Colin Campbell’s birth certificate states that they were living in 25, Maymount Terrace which was owned by Patrick Murphy who also lived there. On this document he is recorded as a commercial traveller In 1943 Jane Moffett died in Dublin and her death was witnessed by her husband F. J. Moffett Advertising agent. There is no record of his death but his son Alan died in 1980. It is tempting to say that this is definitely Frederick James Moffitt, the Freemason, but without confirming the address when he signed up to the Freemasons in 1918 we cannot be definitive.
31. Thomas C. Morgan: Varnish Maker. There was a Thomas Morgan who was a French Polisher living in Antrim but there is no way of connecting one with the other. However, he and Stanley both paid dues to the Lodge in 1923 but not before or after. This is after the Year of Disappearances of 1922 but still in the revolutionary period so this cannot be regarded as proof that he survived. The Lodge wrote a registered letter to him in London on 24 April 1924 at Keydone (?) Road, Forest Gate, London seeking payment. Is this evidence that he left Cork and moved to London? There is also a Thomas C. Morgan, Varnish Maker, is recorded in Barking Metropolitan Borough on the 1939 register aged 68 at 75, Lyndhurst Gardens and he is recorded in Birmingham in 1911. Does any of this mean that any of these men are the same? I think it might, others will no doubt disagree. Again, there is no evidence that he was in Cork in 1922.[56]
32. Stanley Morgan: Varnish Maker: Insufficient information: Joined Lodge 71 in 1919. in 1923, see Thomas Morgan above.
[1] Murphy G., 2010, The Year of Disappearances: Political killings in Cork 1921-1922, Dublin, Gill and McMillan
[2] Ibid. Pp. 278-284
[3] The initial examination was conducted over a few hours to establish whether the individual was killed, survived or there was any information which suggested they had left Cork before the Year of Disappearances. This original article suggested Stanley Hunt, Francis McMahon and John Cottrell had been killed. The evidence now shows this was incorrect in two cases and probably incorrect in the third.
[4] Irish Genealogy.ie https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32&Itemid=117 accessed 16 June 2017
[5] Murphy G., 2010, The Year of Disappearances p. 281
[6] See Murphy G., ‘Sing Sing’, Year of Disappearances, blogpost where he discusses ‘the melee of controversy which followed the publication of my book’.
[7] Murphy G., 2010, The Year of Disappearances pp. 278-285
[8] Gerard Murphy, The Year of Disappearances, ‘Barry Keane and the Freemasons: A Note of Congratulations’.
http://year-of-disappearances.blogspot.ie/2017/ accessed 01 December 2017
[9] Also spelled Corrin; There was a complete biography of the painter on the internet; see Hector Doyle, Walter Charles Corin (1873-1934), http://hector.davie.ch/corin/Corin_Q.html accessed 16, June 2107
[10] National Archives Kew, Captain Mungo John Smith. Royal Field Artillery, WO 339/25483
[11] See Irish Genealogy for his marriage certificate: Ancestry.com for the London electoral rolls and UK Free Birth Marriage & Death records to trace this man’s death.
[12] Manitoba Historical Society, Memorable Manitobans: Robert Edward Beecher (1892-1978) http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/beecher_re.shtml accessed 16 June 2017; email from Pamela Black to author 19 July 2014
[13] Dr Andy Bielenberg, UCC, and Professor Emeritus James S. Donnelly, Jr, UW-Madison Cork’s War of Independence Fatality Register http://theirishrevolution.ie/cork-fatality-register/#.WU-AZoWcHIU accessed 16 June 2017; Andy Bielenberg: ‘Gerard Murphy, disappearing Freemasons and the limits of ideological revisionism’, History Ireland, September/October 2017, Vol 25, No. 4 pp. 14-17.
[14] Barry Keane, Cork’s Revolutionary Dead, Pp. 58-61 Cork, Mercier, 2017
[15] However, publishing lists without any context is a waste of time. For example, Murphy’s November 2014 list of people who disappeared includes 15 individuals whose bodies were found and reburied shortly after the War of Independence and Civil War ended. He also includes the Hornibrook family in Cork Number 1 Brigade when it is known that they were killed and secretly buried by the Cork Number 3 Brigade. Equally, the first person on his Cork Number 1 list (James Gordon) was identified as a ‘Black & Tan’ who had just left the force which stretches the definition of civilian just a bit. Finally, of the 22 civilians he lists as missing in Cork Number 1 Brigade area, a tiny minority happened during his ‘Year of Disappearances’ in 1922.
[16] Gerard Murphy, The Year of Disappearances, ‘Cork Spy Files 2: When is a Protestant not a Protestant?’ http://year-of-disappearances.blogspot.ie/2016/11/whenis-protestant-not-protestant-1.html accessed 10 June 2017
[17] Cork Examiner, 8 September 1922, Page 5, Col. 1
[18] Dr Eugenio Biagini, Reviews in History, http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1053; Padraig Ó Ruairc The Irish Story, http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/03/09/book-review-the-year-of-disappearances-political-killings-in-cork-1921-1922/#.WOyr34WcHIU ; David Fitzpatrick, Dublin Review of Books, http://www.drb.ie/essays/history-in-a-hurry for examples
[19] Gerard Murphy, Alternative facts http://year-of-disappearances.blogspot.co.uk/
[20] As he also confirmed another 2, Edward Collingwood and John Reeves Hennessy, had died in England long after 1922 this brought the number conceded to 17.
[21] I would like to thank Ms. Rebecca Hayes, of the Grand Lodge of Antient, Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland, Molesworth Street, Dublin for her assistance and courtesy in tracing these records and making them available. I would also like to thank Dr. David Butler, Geography Department, UCC and archivist of the Munster Freemasons for allowing access to these records, and those in CCCA, and for his kind assistance. I would also like to thank Dr. Andy Bielenberg for supplying information on Francis McMahon and John Moore. Finally, I would like to thank the staff of Cork City & County Archives for their assistance in accessing the records held there. See also Andy Bielenberg: ‘Gerard Murphy, disappearing Freemasons and the limits of ideological revisionism’, History Ireland, September/October 2017, Vol 25, No. 4, Pp. 14-17.
[22] For a discussion of the meaning of ‘Alternative Facts’ see CNN Dear team Trump,’ alternative facts' are lies http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/22/opinions/alternative-facts-lies-obeidallah-opinion/index.html 23 January 2017 accessed 10 June 2017. Intentionally, or otherwise, he is suggesting that I am spreading falsehoods.
[23] Murphy G. ‘Year of Disappearances’ p. 325. The relevant quote is ‘The aim of the final sections of this book is to look at what happened to Cork Protestants during 1922, which changed them from largely irrelevant players in the fight for independence to having to flee in large numbers in fear of their lives’. And, in a conscious or unconscious homage to the late Peter Hart, ‘The ghost-like evacuation of these areas of Cork is the biggest single displacement of a city’s population anywhere in the British Isles since the seventeenth century’ which it was not. In fairness to Murphy he does point out that most of the leaving Protestants were replaced by others of the same faiths. It is not explained why the IRA were murdering certain Protestants and allowing other Protestants to occupy the empty houses.
[24] Gill & McMillan publishers of The Year of Disappearances.
[25] I did not make clear that John Cottrell who died in 1923 was Roman Catholic and have corrected it. While there may have been an unintended implication that this was the same person in the original phrasing of the post I am more than happy to say that it was not.
[26] Year of Disappearances, P. 278, P. 281 and P. 282 for the three quotes in this sentence.
[28] Freemason Bye-Laws: Non-dining or Country Membership Any member who, for reasons acceptable to the Lodge, is not in a position to enjoy the privileges of the Lodge regularly may on written application to the Secretary and by resolution of the Lodge be considered a non-dining or country member and shall pay a subscription annually in advance on 1st ___________________ of such less amount than that provided for in By-Law No. 6 as the Lodge shall from time to time decide by resolution after notice on the summons at the previous regular meeting. When attending the Lodge and dining such member shall pay the current visitor’s fee.
[29] CCCA U645/7 Attendance Register Hibernian Lodge 95; CCCA U645/16 Attendance Dues Hibernian Lodge 95
[30] The Berwick Advertiser 23, May 1919 P.2 & 30, May 1919, P.3
[31] BATTLE TO FARM WWI Soldier Settlement records in Victoria BATTLE TO FARM WWI Soldier Settlement records in Victoria, Mungo John Smith, http://soldiersettlement.prov.vic.gov.au/soldiers/5104-12-smith-mungo-john/ accessed 7 July 2017.
[32] Findmypast, Passenger Lists leaving the UK 1890-1960 http://search.findmypast.ie/record?id=tna%2fbt27%2f1170%2f00%2f0083%2fp%2f0001f&parentid=tna%2fbt27%2f1170000083%2f00221 accessed 6 July 2017
[33] CCCA Freemason Concord Lodge 71 Register of Attendance
[34] Email from Dr. Bielenberg to author 18 May 2017; See also Andy Bielenberg: ‘Gerard Murphy, disappearing Freemasons and the limits of ideological revisionism’, op cit.; Irish Genealogy, https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1920/09264/5353827.pdf
[35] Cork City Library, Cork Past & Present.ie, Places, Street Directories, http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/streetandtradedirectories/ accessed 19 June 2016; Lodge 71 Records Freemason Archives, Dublin; Andy Bielenberg & James Donnelly ‘Cork’s war of independence fatality register , See also http://theirishrevolution.ie/1921-251/#.WnwdT0x2vIU
[36] Gallipoli Association, website http://www.gallipoli-association.org/on-this-day/april/26/ accessed 19 June 2016.
[37] Both his parents were dead by the time of his marriage. http://historicgraves.com/church-ireland-graveyard-goleen/co-goci-0075/grave accessed 19 June 2017; I would like to thank Liam Dodd of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association for his help in researching this man.
[38] UK GOV Wills Index https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Stoney&yearOfDeath=1965&page=2#calendar accessed 19 June 2017.
[39] Email from Gary Achenson October 29th 2014
[40] Hodkinson family The Peerage.com http://www.thepeerage.com/p60950.htm#i609491 The issue here was not establishing that William Fredrick Deveraux Leonard lived in Cork but if Frederick was William. As it has now been established that this was one and the same person it is no longer an issue.
[41] UK, Free Births, Marriages & Deaths https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?scan=1&r=209306756:8994&d=bmd_1494280030 accessed 23 May 2017;
[42] CCCA U648 Declarations Book St Patrick’s Lodge No. 8. My thanks to Dr. David Butler for access to this information.
[43] Frederick W.D. Leonard St. Patrick’s Lodge 8 Entered Apprentice Degree – 10/2/1920 Fellow Craft Degree – 9/3/1920 Master Mason Degree – 13/4/1920 Certificate issued – 18/7/1921. My thanks to Rebecca Hayes from Irish Freemasons for this information
[44] CCCA U645/7 Attendance Register Hibernian Lodge 95; CCCA U645/16 Attendance Dues Hibernian Lodge 95
[45] Establishing the death of William Bernard Beamish is a classic example of how genealogical research is conducted these days. It begins with the 1911 census which identifies the family and runs into a dead-end if you research William Bernard. However, his wife Martha produces a death certificate and in this she is recorded as being the wife of an insurance agent. This makes it more likely that this is the right family. Her death notice mentions Skibbereen so another search of Irish Genealogy produces two possibilities. One is too old and the other is around the correct age. However, this man is recorded as a farmer. Most researchers would stop at this point but experience shows that many of the details can be wrong. It is essential to check the death notice and this mentioned William Bernard. Knowing that local papers usually carried an obituary or report of the funeral then checking the Southern Star yields the confirmation that this is the correct person. Without the internet and the online sites it would be impossible to follow this trail.
[46] Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland, Molesworth Street, Dublin: Lodge 71 Minute book and Dues book
[47] Ancestry.Co.Uk UK Births Marriages and Deaths http://wiz2.ancestry.co.uk/Records/LIHP_Reg~Records/a29e3878-ed74-4b50-a1c0-5d574978f1d1#/ImageView accessed 19 June 2017; National Archives of Ireland Census 1911 http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001886533/ www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000510927/ accessed 19 June 2017Gov.UK Find a will https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=hunt&yearOfDeath=1932&page=6#calendar accessed 19 June 2017.
[48] NAK, John James Carson, born 31 May 1883, Elphil (sic) [Elphin] , Co. Roscommon, ADM 188/363/208172
[49] I try to leave out a person’s religion except where it is necessary. Here it is necessary to note the Meath & Adelaide was a Protestant hospital. Today it has been incorporated as part of Tallaght hospital; History of the Adelaide and Meath hospitals http://www.ageandknowledge.ie/arhchx.html accessed 22 May 2017.
[50] Without the publication of the Irish Birth, Marriage and Death certificates online it would be difficult and expensive to complete this research at this level of detail. John Highet plumber is also recorded in Weir Street, Bandon in 1888 so presumably he moved to Cork from there.
[51] See marriage certificate and Gabriel, Brian (online) ‘Blarney Temperance Hall in the 1930’s’,
http://blarneyhistory.ie/articles/blarney-temperance-hall-in-the-1930s/ accessed 17 July 2017
[52] Strattan’s Directory (1892) http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/strattensdublincorkandsouthofireland/commercialcork/Strattens_Cork_pp208-212.pdf
[53] “Ireland Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FBHQ-PZN : 4 December 2014), BIRTHS entry for Campbell Highet; citing Cork, Jul - Sep 1884, vol. 5, p. 109, General Registry, Custom House, Dublin; FHL microfilm 101,060; The Irish Motor Directory and Motor Annual 1911-1912 http://lurgan-ancestry.co.uk/index.php/motor-directory-for-borough-of-cork-1911-12/ ; Canadian World War Records, https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B4337-S044
[54] Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Ireland, Volume 1 (1900-1923) https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/60904/43991_3082375_0001-00428?pid=41575&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D60904%26h%3D41575%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DAtb30%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Atb30&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=43991_3082375_0001-00428
[55] There is a separate section at the back of the Dues book where the country member’s subscriptions are recorded.
[56] Ancestry.Co.UK The 1939 England and Wales https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61596/TNA_R39_1051_1051G_017?pid=12171010&treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Atb46&_phstart=successSource#?imageId=TNA_R39_1051_1051G_017