Civilian Joseph Cotter

Civilian Joseph Cotter (aged about 29) of [99 Hibernian Buildings], Cork city (Boreenmanna, Cork city)

Date of incident: 13 Oct. 1920

Sources: Death Certificate, 13 Oct. 1920; CE, 16 Oct. 1920.

Note: Cotter’s body was discovered on 15 October 1920 in a disused quarry in the eastern suburbs of Cork city between the Ballinlough and Boreenmanna Roads; he had been missing for two days. He had several wounds on his face, head, and neck. After the onset of curfew on 13 October, a soldier had fired a shot at residents, and Cotter may have run to the vicinity of the quarry in order to avoid curfew patrols. Aged about 29, he worked as a clerk for the Army Service Corps in Victoria Barracks.  He was an ex-soldier.  (Thanks to Jean Prendergast for this information.)  See CE, 16, 18 Oct. 1920. Evidence given at a subsequent military court of inquiry and submitted to the coroner indicated that Cotter had suffered a fracture at the base of his skull after falling accidentally over the edge of the quarry, and that the place of death was Boreenmanna. See Death Certificate, 13 Oct. 1920. On balance the evidence points to death by misadventure.

Joseph Cotter was one of the seven living children (eleven born) of the widowed Margaret Cotter. Of the five children who resided with her in 1911, two daughters were bookstall clerks and a third daughter was a dressmaker; one resident son was a printer/compositor, and the other—Joseph Cotter—was listed as a clerk. He and his family were Catholics.