Prized Fenian artefacts donated to town museum

MILLSTREET Museum Society was delighted to accept artefacts from Cork Fenian Captain Timothy Deasy, from Clonakilty, following a civic presentation hosted by County Mayor Cllr Seamus McGrath.

Clonakilty born Captain Deasy emerged as a key figure within the Irish Republican Brotherhood, including the Fenian invasion of Canada by the Irish Republican Army. He subsequently commanded a battalion of Fenian troops at Millstreet during the Fenian Rising of 1867, and was the Fenian’s military commander for both Manchester and Liverpool as well as Chief-of-Staff to Colonel Thomas P. Kelly, Commander-in- Chief of the IRB/Fenian Brotherhood.

On September 11, 1867, Colonel Kelly and Captain Deasy were the central figures rescued from the British authorities in Manchester. great grandnephew of Captain Deasy, New York based Robert Bateman together with his wife Camille, visited the office of the Mayor of County Cork, Cllr. Séamus McGrath and made a presentation in light of the forthcoming 150th anniversary in 2017, of the Smashing of the Van and Manchester Martyrs’ execution.

Cork County Council and Millstreet Museum is delighted to remember Captain Deasy on accepting a medal, a framed and engraved picture of Captain Deasy in his United States Army Dress Uniform; a Resolution in Honor of Captain Deasy from the City of Lawrence City Council, a citation in his Honor from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a sketch of the Fenian Invasion of Canada in June 1866.

County Mayor Cllr. Séamus McGrath highlighted the importance of sharing and promoting our Irish - American heritage, of which Captain Timothy Deasy was central.

“The people of Cork and indeed Millstreet will be most grateful to have this wonderful heritage in the Museum,” he said.