Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Keash UIL Banner

Remember the banner from Keash, Co Sligo I mentioned a few weeks ago? It was sold at Whyte's Auction last Saturday and fetched 7,700 Euro just short of the lower end of the estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 Euro. I hope it has gone to a museum or gallery which will have it on display.

I'm sending an email to Whytes mentioning that I'm writing a book on the period and might like to use a picture of the banner as an illustration.

Alec McCabe, teacher, Sinn Féin TD 1918-1923 and founder of the Educational Building Society (EBS) was a Keash man and although a member of the IRB no doubt marched behind this banner before the rise of Sinn Féin. Here he is in the 1911 Census living with his mother who was also a teacher. His father is presumably dead. Quite a number of nationalist leaders of that period seem to have been eldest sons whose fathers were dead.

No comments: