Civilian Cornelius Francis Fitzpatrick

Civilian Cornelius Francis Fitzpatrick (aged 4) of The Square, Rosscarbery (Rosscarbery)

Date of incident: 31 March 1921

Sources: Death Certificate (Cork No. 6 Urban), 2 April 1921; CE, 4 April 1921; CC, 4 April 1921; FJ, 4 April 1921; II, 4 April 1921; CCE, 9 April, 15 Oct. 1921; II, 18 Oct. 1921; SS, 26 Nov. 1921; Irish Bulletin, 4:72 (30 April 1921); Military Inquests, WO 35/150/31 (TNA).

Note: Only 4 years old, Fitzpatrick was wounded in a bomb explosion in front of Rosscarbery RIC barracks on the day after the barracks attack. He died of peritonitis at the Mercy Hospital in Cork city on 2 April. His was ‘the third death in connection with the tragic bomb explosion that followed the Rosscarbery barrack attack’. See CE, 4 April 1921.

The Recorder of Cork awarded Mrs Fitzpatrick, the dead boy’s mother (the boy was her only child), a mere £100 in compensation in October 1921. At the same time the Recorder granted £500 to a man named O’Sullivan of Rosscarbery, who had also been wounded while standing near the ruins of the RIC barracks when the explosion occurred. See II, 18 Oct. 1921. The almost derisory compensation award made at Skibbereen quarter sessions to Mrs Fitzpatrick for the death of her little boy at the hands of a negligent RIC constable in Rosscarbery became the subject of bitter criticism, especially because the grant of £100 to her stood in contrast to the far higher awards being made to compensate relatives of members of the crown forces killed or seriously wounded by the IRA. See SS, 26 Nov. 1921.