Augustine Mary Moore Stack(7 December 1879 – 27 April 1929) was anIrish republicanand politician who served asMinister for Home Affairsfrom 1921 to 1922. He was aTeachta Dála(TD) from 1918 to 1927.[1]
Austin Stack | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Minister for Home Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 22 August 1921 – 9 January 1922 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Éamon de Valera | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Arthur Griffith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Eamonn Duggan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teachta Dála | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office August 1923–June 1927 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Kerry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office May 1921–August 1923 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Kerry–Limerick West | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office December 1918–May 1921 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Kerry West | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Augustine Mary Moore Stack 7 December 1879 Tralee,County Kerry,Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 27 April 1929(aged 49) Dublin,Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Sinn Féin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Winifred Cassidy (m. 1925) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1916–1922 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Battles/wars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Early life
editStack was born in Ballymullen,Tralee,County Kerry,to William Stack, an attorney's clerk, and Nanette O'Neill.[2][3]He was educated at theChristian BrothersSchool in Tralee.[4]At the age of fourteen, he left school and became a clerk in a solicitor's office. A giftedGaelic footballer,he captained theKerryteam toAll-Irelandvictory in 1904. He also served as President of the KerryGaelic Athletic AssociationCounty Board.
Activism
editHe became politically active in 1908 when he joined theIrish Republican Brotherhood.In 1916, as commandant of the Kerry Brigade of theIrish Volunteers,he made preparations for the landing of arms byRoger Casement.He was made aware that Casement was arrested on Easter Saturday and was being held in Tralee. He made no attempt to rescue him fromBallymullen Barracks.
Stack was arrested and sentenced to death for his involvement in the Rising; however, this was later commuted topenal servitudefor life. Imprisoned atHM Prison DartmoorStack was in the company of senior leaders of the rebellion:Éamon de Valera,Harry BolandandThomas Ashe.Stack was a leader of Irish Republican prisoners and led severalhunger strikesas resistance to being treated as criminals[5]He was released under general amnesty in June 1917 and was elected as an abstentionistSinn FéinMPforKerry Westat the1918 Westminster election,becoming amember of the 1st Dáil.He was elected unopposed as an abstentionist member of theHouse of Commons of Southern Irelandand amember of the 2nd Dáilas a Sinn FéinTDforKerry–Limerick Westat the1921 elections.[6]
Stack, as part of his role asMinister for Home Affairs,was responsible for the creation and administration of theDáil Courts.[7]These were courts run by IRA in parallel and opposition to the judicial system being run by the British government. The IRA and Sinn Féin was highly successful in both getting the civilian population of Ireland to use the courts and accept their rulings. The success of this initiative gave Sinn Féin a large boost in legitimacy and supported their goals in creating a "counter-state" within Ireland as part of their overarching goals in the War of Independence.[8][9]Frank O'Connor,later a republican colleague in the civil war, considered him a failure as home affairs minister for an unrealistic attitude to overseeing a ministry in constrained circumstances – a complaint many of his cabinet colleagues made.[10]
He opposed theAnglo-Irish Treatyof 1921 and took part in the subsequentCivil War,acting as deputy chief of staff for anti treaty leaderFrank Aiken.[11]He was captured on 14 April 1923 and went on hunger strike for forty-one days before being released along with approximately 15,000 Sinn Fein and IRA prisoners in July 1924.[12](see:1923 Irish hunger strikes).
Dáil
editHe was elected to theThird Dáilat the1922 general electionand subsequent elections as anAnti-Treaty Sinn FéinTD for theKerry constituency.WhenÉamon de ValerafoundedFianna Fáilin 1926, Stack remained with Sinn Féin being re-elected to the Dáil at theJune 1927 general election.He did not contest theSeptember 1927 general election.
Personal life
editIn 1925, he married Winifred (Una) Gordon, née Cassidy (died 1950),[13]the widow of aRoyal Irish Constabularydistrict inspector, Patrick Gordon (1870–1912).[14]
Stack's health never recovered after hishunger strikeand he died in aDublinhospital on 27 April 1929, aged 49.
Honours
editAt the time of his death a pamphlet was issued to commemorate his dedication to the cause of Irish freedom: "...Austin Stack, a man who bore and dared and suffered, remaining through it all and at the worst, the captain of his own soul...The force of England, of the English Slave State, might try coercion, as they did in many times. It made no difference. He went his way, suffered their will, and stood his ground doggedly, smiling now and again. His determination out-stood theirs because it had a deeper foundation and a higher aim. Compromise, submission, the slave marks, did not and could not exist for him as touching himself, or the Cause for which he worked and fought, lived and died."[15]
Austin Stack Parkin his home town of Tralee, one of the Gaelic Athletic Association's stadiums, is named in his honour, as is theAustin Stacks GAAHurlingandGaelic footballclub.
References
edit- ^"Austin Stack".Oireachtas Members Database.Archivedfrom the original on 8 November 2018.Retrieved6 January2010.
- ^"Baptismal record".IrishGenealogy.ie.Retrieved27 April2017.
- ^"General Registrar's Office".IrishGenealogy.ie.Archivedfrom the original on 22 September 2021.Retrieved27 April2017.
- ^Gaughan, J. Anthony."Stack, Austin".Dictionary of Irish Biography.Retrieved8 January2022.
- ^Macardle, Dorothy (1965).The Irish Republic.New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 202, 229.
- ^"Austin Stack".ElectionsIreland.org.Archivedfrom the original on 22 February 2011.Retrieved6 January2010.
- ^Macardle, p. 503
- ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 24 April 2018.Retrieved5 January2019.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^"Revolutionary Justice - the Dáil Eireann Courts".24 January 2013.Archivedfrom the original on 6 January 2019.Retrieved5 January2019.
- ^Frank O'Connor (1966),The Big Fellow(Dublin, Clonmore & Reynolds), pp. 89–90
- ^Macardle, pp. 578, 748.
- ^Coogan, Tim (2002).The IRA.New York: St. Martins Press. p. 39.ISBN0-312-29416-6.
- ^"General Registrar's Office".IrishGenealogy.ie.Archivedfrom the original on 22 September 2021.Retrieved27 April2017.
- ^"Helen's Family Trees - GORDON - gor07.htm".helensfamilytrees.Archivedfrom the original on 27 April 2017.Retrieved27 April2017.
- ^Coogan, p. 219-220
External links
edit- ..Dublin:Alexander Thom and Son Ltd.1923. p.– viaWikisource.