Exiled forever to the other capital - Cork greats buried in Glasnevin

CORK, often hailed as the ‘real capital of Ireland,’ can boast its fair share of notable figures from Irish history.

Some of the county’s greatest political and revolutionary figures of the 20th century, however, lie not within the county borders, but in Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery.

The graves of some of the famed names buried in the cemetery, like Éamon de Valera, Jim Larkin, Luke Kelly, Christy Brown, and Countess Markievicz, can sometimes be difficult for visitors to locate.

This is not the case for the grave of Michael Collins (1890-1922), which is easily visible beside the visitor centre and many people come to Glasnevin just to see his. The cemetery, however, is a place where many other famous Cork people are buried. Names like the Fenian from Rosscarbery Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa (1831-1915); John Philpot Curran (1750-1817) the orator and lawyer from Newmarket; and Fr Francis Browne (1880-1960) the Jesuit priest and photographer from Cork who is best known for his photos taken on board RMS Titanic before she sank in 1912.

Glasnevin was established in 1832 as non-denominational by Daniel O’Connell and today covers 140 acres and is the final resting place for 1.5 million people.

Many in the cemetery lie in unmarked plots and their legacies lie undiscovered, waiting to be retold. Others, despite having headstones on their graves, have had their names and narratives fade from public memory.

In December of 2015 I applied for the position of tour guide in the cemetery as part of the ongoing Decade of Centenaries (2013-2023) and to my surprise Dublin Cemeteries Trust gave me the opportunity to tell visitors the stories of some of the most significant graves in the cemetery – a job I feel privileged to do, and one I continue to do to this day.

It has led me over the past four years to collect some of the lesser-told stories from the cemetery and to present them in my debut book So Once Was I.

The book is a personal one to me, independent of my role as a tour guide in Glasnevin. It all began as a ion project to keep myself busy during Covid-19 lockdowns. While deciding on who to include in the book, some stories stood out to me with links to Cork.

Florence Margaret Scroope was travelling on the mail ship the RMS Leinster on October 10, 1918. More than 500 souls were lost after the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat, fifteen miles from Dun Laoghaire.

She was born in Cork on July 12, 1871, to Henry Scroope, an ant from Tipperary, and Catherine (Kate) Hackett, a native of Cork city. Her mother’s father (Bartholomew Hackett) had been mayor and deputy lieutenant of Cork.

Florence’s body was later recovered and brought to the morgue in Dublin where her body lay unidentified until her family recognised a picture of her in the Evening Telegraph.

Florence was buried on the morning of October 21, 1918, in the South section. The plot had been purchased by the then Lord Mayor of Dublin to allow for the dignified burial of those not identified as a result of the sinking.

Gearóid O’Sullivan (1891-1948), a key figure in Ireland’s struggle for independence, was buried with military honours in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin on March 29, 1948. His coffin was draped in the same tricolour that had been used for Collins’ coffin in 1922.

Born in Skibbereen, as a young man he ed the Irish Volunteers and during the Easter Rising, at just 25 years of age (three months younger than Michael Collins), he was handed a folded-up Irish tricolour flag and instructed to go to the roof and raise it.

This was one of two flags flown above the GPO during the Rising; the second being the flag of the Irish Republic.

He became a particularly close friend to Michael Collins and his story has many parallels with that of the ‘Big Fella.’ Both were even meant to get married to the Kiernan sisters from Granard in Longford. Gearóid was to marry Maud, the sister of Kitty Kiernan, in a double wedding with Collins in October 1922.

Ultimately the wedding went ahead. Kitty Kiernan can be seen in wedding photographs in an all-black mourning dress.

Despite the parallels, it is Collins’ legacy that has assumed legendary status.

After the Rising, Gearóid moved through the ranks to significant military and political roles, including adjutant-general of the IRA and lieutenant-general of the National Army. O’Sullivan also served as a TD and held various legal and governmental positions.

His grave is next to Brendan Behan’s, visited by thousands visit each year.

George Coppinger Ashlin (1837-1921) was one of Cork’s best-known architects and designed a multitude of different churches and religious buildings, including Cork’s SS Peter and Paul Church, Cobh’s impressive cathedral, Clonakilty’s Church of the Immaculate Conception and the McCabe memorial in Glasnevin.

Ashlin was born on May 28, 1837, at a house called Carrigrenane in Little Island and was the third son of John Musson Ashlin, JP, of Rush Hill, Wandsworth in Surrey, and Dorinda Coppinger.

Ashlin worked closely with the famed Pugin family on different projects in Ireland. He is buried in the St Bridget’s section of the cemetery.

A.M. Sullivan (1830–84) was born on May 15, 1830, at Bantry, Co Cork, to a house painter Daniel Sullivan and Catherine Baylor.

His brother was the famous T.D. Sullivan who later became Lord Mayor of Dublin (1886– 88).

He worked as a clerk of famine relief works in the Skibbereen district (1845–57) and what he saw led him to become actively involved with the emerging Young Irelanders movement. He went on to become a prominent nationalist, politician, journalist and the sole proprietor of The Nation newspaper.

His grave is next to the steps down to Daniel O’Connell’s Vault and Tower.

In the same area of the cemetery where both Collins and Kitty Kiernan are buried you will also find the grave of a Dublin man with connections to Co Cork – Emmet Dalton (1898-1978).

His story is multifaceted, from decorated soldier in the First World War, to a high-ranking IRA man in the War of Independence, major general in the Irish Free State Army and film pioneer.

He is the man who sat beside Collins when he was killed at Béal na Bláth on August 22, 1922.

Much of the blame for Collins’ death was later unfairly placed on Dalton’s lap.

At his funeral, he was lowered into a plot metres away from Collins.

The National Collins22 Society, set up in 2002 to keep the memory of Collins alive, regularly places flowers on his graveside and in recent times has started incorporating Dalton’s grave into their weekly rituals in the cemetery.

Among the long list of famous names there are stories of many more waiting to be re-told in Glasnevin and the cemetery stands as a testament to the value of every individual’s story.

This article appeared in the 2024 Holly Bough.