#OnThisDay 1878 Francis Skeffington was born in Cavan. Skeffy was a writer & political activist who took his wife’s surname after marriage becoming Sheehy-Skeffington. He was executed during the Easter Rising despite having no involvement & being a pacifist. A British officer (Bowen-Colthurst mistook Skeff, who was trying to prevent people from looting, as a rabble rouser,) arrested him and shot him dead along with two other civilians the next morning. Bowen-Colthurst was found “guilty but insane” at a court-martial and was sent to Broadmoor prison where he spent less than two years there and was released on 21 January 1918. Skeffy’s wife Hannah refused any compensation from the British Government and travelled the world speaking of Britain’s actions in Ireland.
#Ireland #History
The Irish at War 