Visual Guide: How the newspapers reported Terence MacSwiney’s death

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, died on 25 October 1920 in Brixton Prison, after 74 days on hunger strike. His death dominated headlines through Ireland, the UK and abroad. Read the news report on his death here. 

Irish Independent: Ireland’s top selling newspaper at the time gives over most of its pages to the death of the Lord Mayor. They border every column throughout the paper with black lines, a stylistic choice papers often made to signify an important death. 

 

Freeman’s Journal: A classically nationalist newspaper, the Freeman’s Journal takes a similar approach to the Independent. They also give over their front page to carry an image of MacSwiney. 

 

Cork Examiner: A similar approach again from the Cork Lord Mayor’s local newspaper. 

Irish Times: A more muted approad in comparison from the southern-unionist Irish Times. They give the news of his death an editorial and a prominent news column.

Belfast Newsletter: Notable for their lack of coverage of the death, the unionist Belfast-based paper only mentions the death once in their edition, in a short article combined with the death of other hunger striker Joseph Murphy. 

New York Times: In contrast to the above, the American newspaper the New York Times features the death of MacSwiney as their main story.

Manchester Guardian: The British newspaper prints a photo of Terence and his wife Muriel, along with coverage on their news page.

Illustrated papers: Left: The Illustrated London News from 30 October 1920. Right: Le Petit Journal, 19 September 1920. Both papers feature an image of Terence MacSwiney on their covers. France’s Le Petit Journal’s cover dates from several weeks before MacSwiney’s death, showing how prominent the news coverage was of his hunger strike.