The Phoenix Park Murders, Dublin, 6th May 1882

• Name - Lord Frederick Cavendish & Thomas Henry Burke
• Occupation - Chief Secretary of Ireland & Permanent Undersecretary of Ireland
• Assassins -  The Irish Invincibles (Brady, Kelly, McCaffrey, Curley & Fagan)
• Assassination Method - Stabbed with surgical knives
• Place of Death - Chesterfield Avenue, Phoenix Park, Dublin

The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park in Dublin on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Burke was the Permanent Undersecretary, the most senior Irish civil servant. The assassination was carried out by members of the rebel group Irish National Invincibles, a more radical breakaway from the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

Murders

The Invincibles failed numerous times to kill Chief Secretary "Buckshot" Forster before he resigned his office in protest at the Kilmainham Treaty. The group then settled on a plan to kill the Permanent Under-Secretary Thomas Henry Burke at the Irish Office. Newly installed Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish, on the very day of his arrival to Ireland, was walking with Burke to the Viceregal Lodge, the "out of season" residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The first assassination was committed by Joe Brady, who stabbed Burke with a 12-inch knife, followed in short order by Tim Kelly, who stabbed Cavendish. Both men used surgical knives, in order to avoid making a lot of noise while carrying out the killings. Cavendish was not a target and his presence was happenstance. Thomas Myles, resident surgeon at the nearby Dr Steevens' Hospital, was summoned to render medical assistance to the victims.

The Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Spencer, described hearing screams before witnessing a man running to the Lodge grounds shouting "Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke are killed." The assailants were driven away in a cab by James Fitzharris (nicknamed "Skin the Goat") who served as a getaway driver.

Crowds gather at the murder scene

Investigation

The hunt for the perpetrators was led by Superintendent John Mallon, a Catholic who came from Armagh. Mallon had a pretty shrewd idea of who was involved. He suspected a number of former Fenian activists. A large number of suspects were arrested and kept in prison by claiming they were connected with other crimes. By playing off one suspect against another Mallon got several of them to reveal what they knew.

The Invincibles' leader James Carey, Michael Kavanagh and Joe Hanlon agreed to testify against the others. Joe Brady, Michael Fagan, Thomas Caffrey, Dan Curley and Tim Kelly were convicted of the murder, and were hanged by William Marwood in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin between 14 May and 9 June 1883. Others, convicted as accessories to the crime, were sentenced to serve long prison terms. The getaway driver, James Fitzharris (nicknamed "Skin the Goat") was acquitted of murder but retried as an accessory and convicted.

Only the case of Tim Kelly gave any real difficulty. He was nineteen and generally said to look much younger, and by referring to him as "a child" his defence counsel created enough unease for two juries to disagree. Only after an unprecedented third trial was he found guilty.

THE TRIALS IN DUBLIN

 Dublin, Jan. 20, 1883.

The trial of the prisoners charged with conspiracy to murder was begun this afternoon. Some startling evidence was produced. The first witness produced by the crown was Robert Farrell, one of the men arrested. He apparently made up his mind to give away all he knew of the murders. He is an ugly-looking brute, short, with a stubby red beard, narrow forehead, light eyes, tow hair, and an uneasy manner. He was apparently much excited. His testimony tends to implicate Daniel Curley, the two Hanlon brothers, the Mulette brothers, Timothy Kelly, the Carey brothers, and Daniel Delaney, the chief conspirators, and the other arrested men as less important Instruments. Farrell stated that there was in existence a Fenian brotherhood and that he had been connected with it the past seven years. His first connection with attempts at assassination occurred eighteen months ago. when Curley directed him to wait for Secretary Forster's carriage on a certain bridge and stop it. Curley said that Kelly and Brady would do the rest of the business. He was prevented from stopping the carriage by the unexpected presence of a policeman on the bridge. Curley gave him a revolver and a little money. Afterwards, Curley directed him to wait in John Street, where Secretary Forster’s carriage would come, preceded by a cab drawn by a white horse. The latter came, but Secretary Forster went another way, otherwise, Forster would have been attacked then. Farrell says: “I saw James Carey several times about then. I know him to be connected with the secret council. On the day of the Phoenix Park murders, I met Lawrence Hanlon, who asked me at what time 1 would finish the work that, day. I replied, ‘At 7.30.’ Hanlon said, ‘Too late.'’ ” Witness here mentioned, that the inner circle of the Fenian brotherhood was known as “Assassination Circle.” All the prisoners laughed in concert at this. On the night of the Phoenix Park murder, Delaney asked the witness if he had heard anything. The witness replied “No.” Delaney said he would hear very soon. Delaney said that Hanlon had previously declared, “ I have my mark before me.” The witness testified next as to the attempted murder of Field and Banctt, and the foreman of the jury of the Hines case, who was not attacked. Barnett had a business in Westland Row. He lives in Kingstown. He was to have been attacked the same night as Denis Field, by the station where he took the train for home. It was the custom of the brotherhood to put the victim’s name in an envelope, and send it to the men selected to do the job’ Witness was assigned the task of standing by the station to shoot the police if they interfered. Subsequently, he was told by Hanlon about the Field attack. Kelly walked in front of Field, and Brady behind. When in front of Field’s house, Brady threw his arm around Field’s neck, and Kelly attacked him from the front. Field struck out with an umbrella. Brady knocked him down and stabbed him eleven times while on the ground. Alt then sprang on the car, which was driven by a man named Kavanagh. Kelly lost his hat when getting on the car. During the presentation of this evidence, the prisoners appeared unconcerned. Carey is a tall, powerful man, with a low, narrow forehead, grey eyes, thick brown hair and beard, and a prominent nose and tanned skin. His forehead was wrinkled with anxiety. Brady, who has a full face, a pale skin, flat nose, grey eyes, and a heavy body, and who spent much of the time with his back to the judge, leaning on the rail of the dock, with a broad grin on his face, flushed slightly when the witness alluded to his share In the Field affair. One or two of the prisoners are mere boys. Some of them seemed frightened by the testimony. All laughed aloud in concert several times. Once a big, red-whiskered man said: “ You’re a liar! ” to the witness.

THE MURDER LEAGUE IN IRELAND - EXAMINATION AT KILMAINHAM OF THE PRISONERS CHARGED WITH THE PHOENIX PARK MURDERS

The Graphic, Feb. 10, 1883 

1. John Fitzsimons, who found the knives in Carey's loft.

2. George Godden, Park Ranger, who identified Brady as being on the car which he had seen driving off immediately after the murder

3. Stephen Hands, who identified Brady and O'Brien as waiting with the car on the evening of the murder.

4. Sarah Hands

5. Dr Webb (Q.C.), the leading counsel for the prisoners

6. The Prisoners in the Dock; a. James Carey b. Peter Carey c. Edward O'Brien d. Timothy Kelly e. Joseph Brady f. Peter Doyle g. Laurence Hanlon h. Edward McCaffrey

''The prisoners knew they were dead men when Carey entered the court''

Carey giving evidence against Brady, Kelly and Curley

Implications

Charles Stewart Parnell's policy of allying his party to Gladstone's Liberal Party in 1886 to enable Home Rule was also ultimately defeated by the murders. Gladstone's Minister Lord Hartington was the elder brother of Lord Frederick Cavendish. Infuriated by the manner of his brother's early death, Hartington split with Gladstone on the Home Rule bills of 1886 and 1893 and led the breakaway Liberal Unionist Association which allied itself to Lord Salisbury's conservative governments. In the ensuing 1886 general election the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists swept the board. This delayed Home Rule by 28 years, until the Third Irish Home Rule Bill which was passed technically in 1914, but which was never effected.

Reaction

Charles Stewart Parnell made a speech condemning the murders in 1882. This increased his already huge popularity in both Britain and Ireland. He had just enabled some reforms under the Kilmainham Treaty four days before the murders. Parnell's reputation increased in Ireland, being seen as a more moderate reformer who would never excuse such tactics.

In March 1887, The Times printed letters purportedly from Parnell claiming sympathy with the murderers and that his public denunciation of them was insincere. It emerged that the letters were forgeries written by journalist Richard Pigott, and Parnell was personally vindicated by the Parnell Commission in 1888–89.

Patrick O'Donnell (left), assasinated James Carey (right)
on board S.S. Melrose, July 29 1883.

Aftermath

James Carey was shot dead on board Melrose Castle off Cape Town, South Africa, on 29 July 1883, by Donegal man Patrick O'Donnell, for giving evidence against his former comrades. O'Donnell was apprehended and escorted back to London, where he was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and hanged on 17 December 1883.

Cavendish is laid to rest at Edensor, near Chatsworth

Funeral of Burke at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin