Gravestone of Offaly's first Civil War fatality restored following historian's appeal

THE gravestone of the first fatality in the Civil War in Offaly has been restored following an appeal by a local historian.

Last year Dr Philip McConway called on Ulster Bank to restore the headstone of its Tullamore branch manager, Thomas Mitchell who was killed by anti-Treaty IRA forces when he confronted them during an armed raid on the bank on Monday, July 3 1922.

The gravestone has now been restored by Dublin based company, Pmac.

Ulster Bank's parent company, the NatWest Group declined Dr McConway's suggestion for further conservation work on the inscription to enhance its legibility.

The historian said the restoration work highlights the wider issue of unmarked graves of individuals killed in Offaly during the revolutionary period. 

“Patrick Lynch, the National Army soldier mortally wounded at the Raheen ambush (January 1923), is buried in an unmarked grave in Croghan Hill Cemetery. Mitchell is fortunate to have a headstone,” commented Dr McConway.

On the day of Mitchell's death in 1922 an IRA unit drove up in a Crossley tender to the Ulster Bank in Tullamore. Mitchell, standing outside the counter, observed an estimated 15 Volunteers, wearing overcoats, enter.

Dr McConway, in a feature article published in the Tribune last year, wrote: "He (Mitchell) walked to his office desk and grabbed a revolver from the drawer. He then confronted the IRA and pointed his revolver at them. Without hesitation Timothy Buckley (the IRA's unit's commander), armed with a rifle, shot Mitchell beneath the heart. Dr George A. Moorhead was summoned. Arriving swiftly, the doctor examined the unconscious Mitchell who died in two minutes.

The bank janitor and other employees carried the corpse upstairs to rooms inhabited by Mitchell. The IRA then ordered the staff to put their "hands up" and removed them to the street. The vicinity of the bank was cordoned off by the IRA. Hundreds of people witnessed the raid from a distance. Fr Thomas O'Keefe remonstrated with the IRA who ignored him.

Cleaning work on Mitchell's headstone revealed the name of the sculptor as Kennedy, whom Dr McConway believes was William Kennedy.

Dr McConway's research has found that Kennedy was a stone and monumental sculptor who operated a thriving limestone quarry on the Arden road with up to 30 employees. 

The King's County Chronicle  (19 July,1883) reported he was "one of the ablest practical stonecutters in Ireland."

He sculpted the monument in Glasnevin Cemetery over the grave of the Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke who was assassinated in the Phoenix Park in 1882. The same newspaper noted the monument "reflects the highest credit on Mr Kennedy and the King's County Chronicle", outlined Dr McConway.

A native of Edenderry, Kennedy resided in Tullamore for over 30 years. Charismatic, efficient, sincere, an indefatigable and fervent patriot, he encouraged industrial development in the town.

He was elected to Tullamore Urban Council. A member of the Gaelic League, he promoted the Irish language.

He was secretary of the United Irish League’s local branch and a member of Cumann na nGaedheal, a front organisation for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Tullamore.

He was the IRB leader, or centre, in the town and inducted Peadar Bracken into the secret society in 1904. Bracken subsequently fought in the 1916 Rising. Local IRB members Patrick Egan, the then centre, and Edward O’Brennan, sub-centre, were involved in the fatal raid on the Ulster Bank in 1922.

Of strong physique, Kennedy was also active in the GAA and was president of the local hurling club. He died from pneumonia in 1910, aged 64 years, and is buried in Durrow Cemetery.