Michael Fitzgerald also known as Mick Fitzgerald, (December 1881 – 17 October 1920) was an Irish militant and Republican activist who was among the first members of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

and played a significant role in organising it. He rose to the rank of Commandant, Officer Commanding (OC) in the First Battalion, Cork Number 2 Brigade. He died during the 1920 Cork hunger strike at Cork Gaol. Fitzgerald led 65 men in the hunger strike which was in protest at their detention without being either charged or convicted of any crime. The hunger strike is credited with bringing additional world-wide attention to the Irish cause for independence.

Early life

Born in Ballyoran,

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,700 people. It is located in the barony (Ir ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Fitzgerald was educated at the Christian Brothers school in the town and subsequently found work as a mill worker in the locality. He joined the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers (), also known as the Irish Volunteer Force or the Irish Volunteer Army, was a paramilitary organisation established in 1913 by nationalists and republicans in Ireland. It was ostensibly formed in response to the format ...

in 1914 and was involved in building the local organisation – which later became the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He rose to the rank of Battalion Commandant, 1st Battalion, Cork No.2 Brigade.Cork Jail Memorial Souvenir (pamphlet), 1948, Cló na Laoí (The Lee Press), Cork.Peter Hart. Rebel Cork's Fighting Story. 1916-21. Told by the Men Who Made It. Edited by Peter Hart. Mercier Press, Cork 2009. Pages 117-120.

IRA activities

On Easter Sunday 20 April 1919, Michael Fitzgerald led a small group of IRA volunteers who captured the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

barracks at

Araglin Araglin (), also known as Araglen, is a village on the border between counties County Cork, Cork, County Tipperary, Tipperary and County Waterford, Waterford in Ireland. It is approximately 17 km east of Fermoy, Fermoy, County Cork, 8 km south o ...

on the border with

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to three months imprisonment at Cork Gaol. Fitzgerald was released from prison in August 1919 and immediately returned to active IRA duty. He was involved in the holding up of a party of

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

troops at the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

church in Fermoy. The troops were disarmed and one of them was killed.Arrested and held on remand, Mick Fitzgerald felt that the only chance he had for release was via a hunger strike.

1920 hunger strike

Michael Fitzgerald, along with Terence MacSwiney and nine other IRA volunteers, were arrested on 8 August 1920. On 11 August 1920, MacSwiney began a hunger strike in Brixton Gaol. Fitzgerald and the other nine volunteers at Cork Gaol joined the strike. Twenty-four-year-old Fitzgerald was the first to die on 17 October 1920 as a result of his sixty seven day fast. Days before his death, the authorities refused Fitzgerald permission to marry his fiancée. O'Halpin, Eunan & Ó Corráin, Daithí (2020), ''The Dead of the Irish Revolution'', Yale University Press, 2020. p. 196 He was followed by Joe Murphy and Terence McSwiney. Their deaths are credited with bringing world-wide attention to the Irish cause for independence and occurred before the largest hunger strike in Irish history - the

1923 Irish Hunger Strikes In October 1923 mass hunger strikes were undertaken by Irish republican prisoners protesting the continuation of their internment without trial. The Irish Civil War had ended six months earlier yet the newly formed Provisional Government of the Iri ...

Gravesite

Michael Fitzgerald is buried at Kilcrumper Cemetery, on the outskirts of Fermoy. A road was also named after him in Togher, Cork. Also buried in the Republican Plot in Fermoy is Liam Lynch, who was killed by Free State troops in April 1923. His last wish was to be buried with his friend and comrade, Mick Fitzgerald. During a November 2008 visit to Fermoy, County Cork, then

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

vice-president Pat Doherty laid a wreath at Fitzgerald's grave. In a speech, he compared Fitzgerald's sacrifice to that of the 1981 hunger strikers.

References

External links