Online Exhibition | Terence MacSwiney, “a patriot of plain men”
Portrait of Terence MacSwiney, Irish Political Figures Photographic Collection, c. 1918 (NPA POLF187)
Terence MacSwiney, “a patriot of plain men” explores the story of Terence MacSwiney, a playwright and ardent republican, and a leading member of the Irish Volunteers and the IRA in Cork.
MacSwiney had been arrested and interned or imprisoned many times, but following his arrest in August 1920 he went on hunger strike.
Artefacts from the collections of the National Library of Ireland reveal how MacSwiney’s slow death was a terrible personal tragedy for his family, and a critical event in the War of Independence. It was also a powerful international propaganda coup for the cause of Irish independence, and a moral and political nightmare for the British government.
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