Thomas St George McCarthy from Bansha died on this day in 1943. He was one of the founding members of the GAA, being present at the Association’s inaugural meeting at Hayes’ Hotel in Thurles on 1st November 1884.
However, due to a ban the GAA later introduced prohibiting their members from serving with the RIC, he was largely airbrushed from history until 2009 when a granite memorial acknowledging his contribution to the GAA was unveiled by his previously unmarked graveside at Deansgrange cemetery in Dublin.
Thomas St. George McCarthy was born in Bansha on 9th June 1862, the son of an RIC County Inspector from Tralee. Thomas was educated at Tipperary Grammar School in Tipp Town and was an enthusiastic cricket and rugby player. Indeed, he went on to win a cap for the Irish rugby team when he lined out against Wales 28 January 1882.
In 1879, Thomas went to Dublin where he attended Michael Cusack’s Civil Service Academy, a cramming school in Gardiner’s Place which specialised in preparing young men for entry examinations into the RIC, as well as the army and navy, Trinity College, and medical and law schools. Cusack and McCarthy struck up a friendship and the young Bansha man took first place in the RIC cadetship examinations. In January 1883, he was transferred to Templemore as 3rd Class District Inspector.
There is some debate as to why exactly he was present at the founding of the GAA in November 1884. Some say that as a member of the RIC, he must have been a British spy, not least since his father was now one of Tipperary’s Residential Magistrates. Others say he was there simply because he was a sporting fanatic, and wanted to support anything that promoted sport amongst young people. It’s also possible he was there to support his friend Michael Cusack, or even that he happened to be in Thurles on the day and ran into the organisers and decided to take a seat. In any case, there is no record of McCarthy saying anything at the meeting.
As the GAA ‘spread like a prairie fire across the island’ in the following years, McCarthy was to be the only one of the seven founders to be excluded from honoured memory. The reason is very simple. The GAA soon prohibited any of its members serving with either the RIC or the British army. As a policeman, McCarthy was immediately affected. Known as Rule 21, the ‘ban’ stayed in place until 2001.
As a police officer, McCarthy moved around a lot. He was transferred to Fermanagh, Derry, Dundalk and Limerick amongst other places, before settling in Ranelagh, Dublin in later life where he regularly attended games at Lansdowne Road and Croke Park.
In 1934, the year the GAA celebrated its golden jubilee, it never recognised the fact that McCarthy had been a founding member and indeed that he was, at that point, the only founding member still alive. He died in Dublin on this day in 1943 and was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave at Deansgrange Cemetery.
Renowned RIC historian Jim Herlihy subsequently located the grave and set in motion the idea of rehabilitating McCarthy’s memory. On the morning of 18 November 2009, a granite commemorative stone was unveiled by McCarthy’s grave at a ceremony attended by PSNI Chief Superintendent Gerry O’Callaghan, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy and GAA President Christy Cooney.
Sources:
https://www.tipperarylive.ie/news/home/661009/bansha-man-thomas-st-george-mccarthy-the-only-gaa-founder-excluded-from-honoured-memory.html
https://www.independent.ie/news/murphy-pays-tribute-to-gaa-founder/26583584.html
https://www.dib.ie/biography/maccarthy-thomas-st-george-a5585
https://turtlebunbury.com/document/thomas-st-george-maccarthy-1862-1943/
