A provincial coastal town, Wexford had a strong seafaring tradition, its quayside having established trade links with Britain and a railway that connected the town to Dublin. Besides having its own distillery and flour mills, it was a busy trade town with regular agricultural markets, thus ensuring a high level of commercial activity. But the … Read more
20 January: Larkin arrives from Liverpool. End April: Police reports suggest that Larkin has recruited 2,978 dockers. 26 April: Sam Kelly dismisses union men on his coal quay. All strike. 6 May: Dockers walk out at the Belfast Steamship Co. (BSC), and when they seek to return on Larkin’s advice they are locked out. 8 … Read more
Murphy’s later years were mainly spent in combating partition and conscription. The redoubtable lord mayor of Dublin (1917–24) Laurence O’Neill, a supporter of Larkin, described Murphy as the outstanding personality of the National Convention of 1917. He knew what was at stake and bent all his ability to bring unionists and nationalists together in a … Read more
William Martin Murphy was born near Castletownbere, Co. Cork, on 6 January 1845, the only child of Denis Murphy, building contractor, and his wife, Mary Anne Martin. The next year the family and business moved to Bantry. When William was four years of age his mother died. He retained, nevertheless, happy memories of Bantry. He … Read more
Since his release from Sing Sing, Big Jim had been thinking of a commercial deal with Moscow. A sinecure in a Soviet-backed cooperative in Dublin or a Soviet–Irish shipping line would allow him to survive comfortably in Ireland as a freelance agitator. The Soviets were very interested, provided that Jim would lead an Irish communist … Read more