LYNN — An event highlighting shared history between Lynn and Ireland was held Thursday night at the Ancient Order of the Hibernians (AOH) Hall, which featured a focus on a former city resident who died in prison in Cork, Ireland, in 1920 after a 76-day hunger strike during the Irish War for Independence.
The event, hosted by AOH, was booked as a visit from Martin Ferris, a member of Parliament representing Kerry and former Provisional Irish Republican Army Volunteer, who was scheduled to discuss and present a copy of his book, “Ireland’s Hunger for Justice” to Mayor Thomas M. McGee.
But due to issues with his visa, Ferris was in Ireland and could not attend the event — his daughter, Toireasa Ferris, who has served as Kerry County Councillor for Tralee since 2003, appeared in his place, speaking about the book and her father’s own hunger strike.
The book is the story of how 22 Irish Republicans over the past 100 years, in the ultimate protest action of the Hunger Strike, fasted to their death in the cause of Irish freedom — one of the stories is that of volunteer Joseph Patrick Murphy, who died in the hunger strike on Oct. 25, 1920.
The life of Murphy, who was born in Lynn and whose father was a shoemaker in the city, changed dramatically when he, along with many of his friends, joined the local company of the Irish Republican Army in the early stages of the War for Independence from the British.
Following a raid on his home the night of July 15, 1920, he was arrested and imprisoned at Cork County Jail. Two months later, he joined a group of Cork republicans who embarked on a hunger strike. The protest garnered mass public sympathy, but after 76 days, Murphy died at the age of 24.
But his death was overshadowed, as it occurred only a few hours after that of Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney in Brixton Prison in England, who died after a 74-day hunger strike, and whose death brought international attention to him and the Irish struggle for independence.
“I think the history of Lynn, we have a really rich history, and the history of Ireland has a really rich history and so to see this connection between the city of Lynn and some really big events that happened during the Irish struggle for independence that ended up with the Republic being established and seeing someone who was born here in the city of Lynn being a big part of that … is really a unique opportunity to make those connections,” McGee said.
Toireasa Ferris said the strike showed the level of conviction Murphy had for wanting to see an Ireland where everyone was treated equally.
“If I were from Lynn, I would be exceptionally proud that this is the type of person you can claim,” she said.
She spoke of her own father’s 47-day hunger strike while he was a political prisoner in 1977, which caused him to lose his vision and left him unable to communicate. She detailed the brutality her father endured while imprisoned to give an overview of the conditions Irish Republicans faced at the hands of the Irish government, while fighting to a create an Ireland that is just and fair for all of its citizens.
The mayor presented Ferris with Murphy’s birth certificate.
The event also featured another Lynn-Ireland connection, as the city continues to highlight the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ birth. Douglass lived in Lynn from 1841 to 1848. Also discussed during the event was a new book from Tom Dalton: Frederick Douglass: the Lynn Years 1841-1848.
While Douglass was in Lynn, he wrote his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, and afterward, did a traveling speaking tour in Ireland to escape backlash from publishing the book, which detailed crimes from slave owners, Dalton said.
Dalton said Douglass traveled to Ireland with former Lynn Mayor James Buffum and spent four months speaking to a tremendous reception from crowds. Douglass was born a slave and escaped slavery at age 20 in 1838, saw Ireland as an eye-opener, which changed his life in many ways.
“He was amazed at how he was treated by people,” Dalton said. “He was treated as an equal for the first time in his life.”
McGee said there are links between the civil rights movement and the Irish struggle for independence — he said the African Americans’ struggle for freedom was something that the people in Ireland really embraced.
“It was from the example from this country that Irish people decided to stand up for our rights,” said Ferris.
