Joseph McGarrity

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Joseph McGarrity (1874-1940) was born in Carrickmore, County Tyrone. He emigrated to the USA in 1892 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1893 until his death he was a leading member of the Clan na Gael organisation. He also was a successful businessman however his business went bust on three occasions, twice due to imbezzlement by his business partner. Arguably had he devoted less time to Irish affairs these misfortunes would not have occurred. McGarrity founded and ran a newspaper called the [[Irish Press from 1918-22 that supported the War of Independence in Ireland.

When Éamon de Valera arrived in the USA in 1919 they struck up an immediate rapport and McGarrity managed de Valera’s tour of the USA. He persuaded de Valera of the benefits of supporting him and the Philadelphia branch against the New York branch of the organisation centred on John Devoy and Judge Daniel Colohan. He became president of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. He christened his newborn son De Valera McGarrity.

He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and travelled to Dublin in 1922 and assisted the development of the Collins/de Valera Pact by bringing de Valera and Michael Collins together. He did not support the founding of Fianna Fáil and opposed the party’s entry into the Dáil. He finally fell out with de Valera in the 1930s and in 1939 supported the demand from Sean Russell for a bombing campaign in Britain which proved disastrous. He met Hermann Goering in 1939 to ask for aid for the IRA. He was a lifelong friend of fellow Carrickmore native and avid Republican, Dr Patrick McCartan. When he died in 1940 there was a mass held in the pro-cathedral in Dublin. McGarrity remained an unrepentant physical force republican all his life.

[edit] Sources

Tim Pat Coogan (1995) De Valera: Long Fellow, Long Shadow. Memoirs of Senator Joseph Connolly: A Founder of Modern Ireland, J.Anthony Gaughan (ed), 1996.