Henry Joy McCracken (II)

DESCRIPTION: McCracken is betrayed for 50 pounds by Niblock. Why is there no song from 1798 to mark his hanging on High Street, Belfast? He is buried in Clifton Street cemetery with his sister Mary.
AUTHOR: Mrs Eileen Keaney (source: Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815)
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (written 1964, published _Ceol_ vol. 2, no. 1, according to Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815)
KEYWORDS: rebellion betrayal execution patriotic burial
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 17, 1798 - Henry Joy McCracken hanged in Belfast. (source: Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815 111, "Henry Joy McCracken" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Henry Joy McCracken (I)" (character of Henry Joy McCracken) and references there
NOTES [119 words]: For background on Henry Joy McCracken, one of the most admirable but perhaps not the most competent of the 1798 rebels, see the notes to "Henry Joy McCracken (I)." According to Terry Golway, For the Cause of Liberty, pp. 85, 87-88, his sister Mary Ann (1770?-1866) had tried to smuggle him out of the country before his death, but he was captured before arrangements were completed.
She kept on having ideas. She tried to come with him to the gallows. (Interestingly, he apparently gave no last speech.) After his hanging, she tried to have a doctor revive him., naturally without success. She then helped care for his illegitimate(?) daughter Maria. Mary Ann McCracken never married, and died in Maria's house. - RBW
File: Moyl111

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