- Home
- Collections
- Atlas Resources for Schools
- Cork Fatality Register
- Mapping the Irish Revolution
- Mapping IRA Companies, July 1921-July 1922
- Mapping the Burning of Cork, 11-12 December 1920
- Martial Law, December 1920
- The IRA at War
- The Railway Workers’ Munitions Strike of 1920
- The Victory of Sinn Féin: The 1920 Local Elections
- The War of Words: Propaganda and Moral Force
- The IRA Offensive against the RIC, 1920
- De Valera’s American Tour, 1919-1920
- The British Reprisal Strategy and its Impact
- Cumann na mBan and the War of Independence
- The War Escalates, November 1920
- The War of Independence in Cork and Kerry
- The Story of 1916
- A 1916 Diary
- January 9-15 1916
- January 10-16, 1916
- January 17-23, 1916
- January 24-30, 1916
- February 1-6 1916
- February 7-14, 1916
- February 15-21, 1916
- February 22-27, 1916
- February 28-March 3, 1916
- March 6-13,1916
- March 14-20, 1916
- March 21-27 1916
- April 3-9, 1916
- April 10-16, 1916
- April 17-21,1916
- May 22-28 1916
- May 29-June 4 1916
- June 12-18 1916
- June 19-25 1916
- June 26-July 2 1916
- July 3-9 1916
- July 11-16 1916
- July 17-22 1916
- July 24-30 1916
- July 31- August 7,1916
- August 7-13 1916
- August 15-21 1916
- August 22-29 1916
- August 29-September 5 1916
- September 5-11, 1916
- September 12-18, 1916
- September 19-25, 1916
- September 26-October 2, 1916
- October 3-9, 1916
- October 10-16, 1916
- October 17-23, 1916
- October 24-31, 1916
- November 1-16, 1916
- November 7-13, 1916
- November 14-20, 1916
- November 21-27-1916
- November 28-December 4, 1916
- December 5-11, 1916
- December 12-19, 1916
- December 19-25, 1916
- December 26-January 3, 1916
- Cork's Historic Newspapers
- Feature Articles
- News and Events
- UCC's Civil War Centenary Programme
- Irish Civil War National Conference 15-18 June 2022
- Irish Civil War Fatalities Project
- Research Findings
- Explore the Fatalities Map
- Civil War Fatalities in Dublin
- Civil War Fatalities in Limerick
- Civil War Fatalities in Kerry
- Civil War Fatalities in Clare
- Civil War Fatalities in Cork
- Civil War Fatalities in the Northern Ireland
- Civil War Fatalities in Sligo
- Civil War Fatalities in Donegal
- Civil War Fatalities in Wexford
- Civil War Fatalities in Mayo
- Civil War Fatalities in Tipperary
- Military Archives National Army Fatalities Roll, 1922 – 1923
- Fatalities Index
- About the Project (home)
- The Irish Revolution (Main site)
1920-165
Civilian Michael J. Murphy
Civilian Michael J. Murphy (aged about 21) of 18 Tower Street, Cork city (SS. Peter and Paul’s Church, SS. Peter and Paul’s Place, Cork)
Date of incident: 8 Dec. 1920
Sources: II, 9, 11, 13 Dec. 1920; CE, 9, 10, 13, 14 Dec. 1920; FJ, 9 Dec. 1920; CCE, 11 Dec. 1920; Nenagh Guardian, 11 Dec. 1920; Military Inquests, WO 35/156/11 (TNA).
Note: Cork ‘was again the scene of wild excitement’ on Wednesday night, 8 December 1920, when there was much gunfire in different parts of the city by military lorries. Shortly after 9 p.m. shots were heard in the vicinity of SS. Peter and Paul Church, where a Triduum of Masses had just opened for members of the Young Men’s Society. When he was shot in the chest, Michael Murphy, a clerk, ‘was standing on the footway before the main door’ of the church. He had been attending the Triduum. Though rushed by ambulance to the North Infirmary, he was dead on arrival. See II, 9 Dec. 1920. Murphy had worked at the GPO in Cork in the telegraph department since the age of 14. He was studying for an exam of some kind. ‘He had no connection with any political association.’ See II, 13 Dec. 1920.
According to the Cork Examiner’s report, indiscriminate firing by soldiers had a fatal effect in the case of Murphy, shot dead just outside SS. Peter and Paul’s Church on 8 December: ‘There were in all about a half dozen [shots], and they were fired in Patrick Street just as the people were leaving SS. Peter and Paul’s Church. There was a wild stampede in the congested precincts of the church, and the terrified congregation rushed back into the church or took such shelter as immediately offered.’ While Murphy lay ‘writhing in agony’, Fr Timothy Cullinane, C.C., ‘anointed him on the steps of the church’. See CE, 9 Dec. 1920. The court of military inquiry concluded, however, that there ‘was no evidence before the court to show under what circumstances the shots [that had killed Murphy] were fired’. See CE, 14 Dec. 1920.
Newspaper sources commonly referred to this victim as Francis Murphy in error. His death notice appeared in the Cork Examiner of 10 December 1920, revealing that he had resided at 18 Tower Street, had been employed at the Cork General Post Office, and had recently transferred to the Telephone Exchange. Michael Murphy and his older brother John were the stepsons of Ellen and John Foran of 18 Tower Street in Cork; the Forans had two sons of their own in 1911. John Foran was then a local inspector of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.