Seán O'Hegarty
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Seán O'Hegarty was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army in Cork during the Irish War of Independence and served as O/C of the Cork No.1 Brigade of the IRA after the deaths of Tomás Mac Curtain and Terence McSwiney.
Born in Cork on 21st March 1881 O'Hegarty came from a family with strong nationalist roots. His upbringing was steeped in Irish culture and he was a supporter of the Irish language, music and Gaelic games. He joined the Gaelic League and followed his brother Patrick into the Gaelic League and eventually the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
His true talents as an organiser and soldier were to emerge during the War of Independence when he commanded many of the No.1 Brigade's attacks on British forces in Ireland.
While he strongly opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 he took a neutral role early in the Irish Civil War and tried to avert hostilities breaking out into fullscale civil war.
He died on 31st May 1963 and is buried at Kilmurry Cemetery, near Macroom, Co. Cork.
- Seán O'Hegarty - O/C First Cork Brigade Irish Republican Army, by Kevin Girvin, Millstreet, Co. Cork, 2007. ISBN- 1 903497 30 2
