Relief plaque, Séamus Murphy RHA, 'War of Independence memorial'

29 Mar 2021

Limestone and bronze: 'War of Independence memorial', 1947, relief, 221 cm × 323 cm

Ref: UCCHS.1948.007 © University College Cork

Designer: Somhairle Mac Cana ARCA (1901–1975)

Sculptor: Séamus Murphy RHA (1907–1975). 
Peter Murray, Séamus Murphy Catalogue No 213 (p19, p160 (photo), p182 (photo), p183). 

Provenance: The monument was commissioned by the Cork Gaol Memorial Committee, chaired by Mr P. Crofts. Both this relief and the grave monument were unveiled on Sunday, 11 July 1948 (advertisement, Cork Examiner, 10/07/1948, p6) by Eamon de Valéra TD. A report of the event was published in the Cork Examiner (12/07/1948, p5, with photos p3). More information about the grave, the County Gaol and the unveiling in 1948 is available here.

Conservation: 2017 by FMP Architects and Joe Costello (Stone Mad Ltd), stonemason.

The inscription in Irish lists the names of 18 men who died during the War of Independence, 13 of whom are buried in the gaol itself. The bronze frame is surmounted by the Irish Army crest. Located at the front of the former Men’s Gaol (previously called the County Gaol), Cork (Gaol Walk, UCC). 

The Irish Army badge was designed in 1913 by Eoin MacNeill, a founding member and chairman of the Irish Volunteers. The Free State Army adopted the badge for their new uniforms before the Irish Civil War in June 1922. The design of the badge is described in the Irish Defence Force Regulations 1962 (unrestricted). Article A9 (Dress): Irish Defence Forces. 1962.

The portico of the former Cork County Gaol is on the register of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) (Reg. No. 20866134).

Inscription

Left panel

Beidh iomrádh orthu imeasc a muintire cuimhneóidh an uile ghlún iad agus mórfaidh said a n-ainm

Pádraig Mac Piarais

Central panel

Airm poblachta na hÉireann

Briogáid 1 Corcaigh

Briogáid 2 Corcaigh

Briogáid 3 Tiobraid Árann

Briogáid Lár Luimnighe

Right panel

Go ndéine Dia grásta dá n-anam amen ag comrádh aithe in arm na poblachta a thóg an leacht so do bhuanu cuimhne na laoch 1947

Translation: “May God have mercy on their souls. Amen. It was their comrades in the army of the Republic, who erected this monument in 1947 in memory of the heroes”

Séamus Ó Murchadha ARHA [Séamus Murphy ARHA]

Sculptor

Séamus Murphy was born on 15 July 1907 at Greenhill, Burnfort, near Mallow, Co. Cork, but moved with his family to Cork city when he was very young. He received his early education in Cork. He then became an apprentice stone-carver at John A. O’Connell’s Art Marble Works, Watercourse Road, Blackpool, where he specialised in architectural and foliage carving. He was also attending the Crawford School of Art in Cork city centre at this time. In 1931 he was awarded the Gibson Bequest Scholarship and exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy exhibition. In 1932-33, he studied in Paris at the Académie Colarossi and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He returned home in 1934 and opened his studio at the Watercourse Road. Murphy was elected associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1944 and a decade later became a full member. In 1964 he was appointed RHA Professor of Sculpture and became a member of the Arts Council of Ireland in 1973. The National University of Ireland conferred him with an honorary LLD in 1969.

His exhibitions included: Salon de Printemps, Société des Artistes, 1933; a group exhibition at UCC in 1935; World Fair, New York, 1939; solo exhibition in Cork Public Library, 1956; joint exhibition with artist William Harrington, 1967; Adare, Co. Limerick, 1973; exhibited at ROSC ’75, Cork; as well as at the Royal Hibernian Academy. A retrospective exhibition was held in 1982 at the Crawford Municipal Gallery of Art, Cork, and at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, TCD. His memoir Stone Mad, first published in 1950, remains in print, and in 2013 was chosen as Cork’s Favourite Book.

Séamus Murphy married Maighread Higgins (daughter of sculptor Joseph Higgins (1885-1925) and Katherine Turnbull), with whom he had two daughters and one son. He died in Cork on 2 October 1975 and is buried in Rathcooney cemetery, north of Cork city.

The RTÉ website has several online films that feature Séamus Murphy:

‘Sculpting in Cork’ (1965)

‘Stone Mad’ (1969)

‘Working with stone’ (1973)

See also: ‘A home for sculpture in Cork’ (1967)

Sources

P. Coffey, 'The College and the Gaol', Cork University Record (Summer 1946), 17-18

Margaret Lantry, 'Mass grave a compelling element of UCC’s remarkable architectural heritage', "War of Independence: the darkest days": supplement to the Irish Examiner (26/3/2021), 5

Diarmuid MacCann, personal communication (email), 29 July 2021

Rebecca Minch, ‘Murphy, Séamus’, Dictionary of Irish Biography

Peter Murray (ed.), Séamus Murphy 1907-1975 Sculptor (Kinsale: Produced for the Crawford Gallery of Art by Gandon Editions, 2007), number 213 (p19, p160 (photo), p182 (photo), p183).

Gerry White, 'Tragedy of UCC patriot graves', The Holly Bough (Christmas 2020), 48-9

© University College Cork 2021