Anti-Treaty Soldier Patrick Murphy Jr.

Anti-Treaty Soldier Patrick Murphy Jr. (aged 24)

Date of death: 29 Jan. 1923

Sources: Death Certificate, 29 Jan. 1923; CE, 2 Feb. 1923; IRA Memorial, Donoughmore; http://irishvolunteers.org/ira-1-cork-brigadedonoughmore-cemetery-co-cork/ (accessed 3 Feb. 2018).

Note: According to the death notice for him appearing in the Cork Examiner, Patrick Murphy Jr died at his father’s residence at Parkanna near Grenagh on 31 January 1923. He was buried at Garrycloyne in the Blarney district on 2 February. He was the second son of the farmer Patrick Murphy Sr and his deceased wife Margaret. See CE, 2 Feb. 1923 (advance notice of burial). The young Murphy’s death certificate indicated that he had in fact died on 29 January at the young age of 24, and that the cause of death was tubercular meningitis. See Death Certificate, 29 Jan. 1923. It is likely that his taxing IRA service on the run was the most important factor in his loss of life; this must partly explain his commemoration on the IRA Memorial at Donoughmore. He had been a member of F Company of the Sixth Battalion of the Cork No. 1 Brigade.