Last photos of Collins brought to UCC Roadshow
Mim O’Donovan with a photograph of Michael Collins as he departed for Béal na Bláth and a portrait of her aunt Agnes Hurley, who took the picture of Collins. (Image by Denis Boyle)
Mim O’Donovan with a photograph of Michael Collins as he departed for Béal na Bláth and a portrait of her aunt Agnes Hurley, who took the picture of Collins. (Image by Denis Boyle)
One of the two photos shows Collins in a touring car outside a hotel in Bandon hours before his death, while the second photo captures the scene at Béal na Bláth on August 23, 1922 the day after the ambush. It shows what historians believe to have been Collins’s shirt collar on the road.
The photos were taken by the then 18 year old Agnes Hurley. Ms Hurley took hundreds of photos over a 20 year period and each one of them was dated on the back. The photos are held now by Ms Hurley’s niece, Mim O’Donovan who brought them to the UCC Roadshow.
Gabriel Doherty, a lecturer in modern Irish History in UCC said the Roadshow was designed to bring history to the people. “We did this for the fun of looking at history in the raw – to see the basic material with which history is constructed. But we also hoped to find material that would shed new light on historical matters, be they local or national. And that is just what happened. I haven’t come across any photo of Béal na Bláth ambush site the following day, let alone one that shows an artefact from Collins left there.”
Cork city and county archivist Brian Magee described the find as “extraordinary.” The photos will be scanned and archived to form part of the public record of a crucial period in Irish history.
Almost 200 people turned up with items of interest from the period 1912-1923. Their documents offered greater insight into the period ahead of a series of commemorative events beginning next year to mark the centenary of the 1913 lockout.
Follow the coverage online:
Irish Examiner: ‘Extraordinary’ Collins photographs unearthed’ - http://tinyurl.com/bomeku4
Irish Times: ‘Photographs depicting Collins in hours before death on show’ - http://tinyurl.com/cxzz6hm
Irish Independent: ‘Photo of Michael Collins just hours before his death discovered in attic’ - http://tinyurl.com/cp8pfkk
Southern Star: ‘Hugely significant photos of Michael Collins unearthed’ - http://tinyurl.com/d7zl6uu