Our trail started on the south side of Wolfe Tone Square. Our attention was drawn to a plaque on the side-wall of the Bank of Ireland.
Tim Healy's father was Postmaster in Bantry. He r eceived his education in the school in front of the Roman Catholic church. His maternal Grandmother, Kitty Baylor, taught the girls and Mr. Sweeney taught the boys.
Tim Healy was born on 17th May 1855. When Tim was 4 years old, his mother died giving birth to twins, one of whom was Maurice, the brother he loved so much, the other infant died. All his life Tim remembered the sight of the coffins of his mother and his baby brother on that rainy day when they were taken from his home. His father wrapped up a lock of his wife's hair and her wedding ring in a paper on which he wrote:
"A better wife God never gave to man"
In 1887 Tim Healy had a 10ft. Celtic Cross erected at the Abbey Cemetery, Bantry, in memory of the many locals who were buried there in a mass burial grave. Ten MPs from Bantry, known as the Bantry Band, sat in the Commons at the same time. Tim Healy was the most famous MP and he later became First Governor-General of the Irish Free State.
Working for Ireland's cause
In 1872, at the age of 17 (he had spent some time in Dublin with his uncle, T.D. Sullivan) he went to Manchester looking for work. He wasn't in England long when he got involved with other Irishmen in organisations working for Ireland's cause. At 18 he was Secretary of the Home Rule Association as well as the Irish Literary Society. Tim had a great admiration for Charles Stewart Parnell and was influenced by him. In 1878 Tim Healy got a job in London as Parliamentary correspondent to the Nation. He went to America in 1880, got a great reception everywhere and collected £40,000.
Return to Ireland
Later that year he returned to Ireland. He attended a meeting in Bantry, which he had not visited since he left in 1862. He spoke out against the treatment of a farmer named McGrath of Lahern, whose rent had been raised from £60 to £105. As he was unable to pay, he was evicted. He sheltered with his family under an upturned boat on the seashore and there he died from exposure.
He received the Last Rites of the Church in pouring rain under the Priest's umbrella. His wife, her sister and his children, one after another, took over his house, but they all were arrested and sent to jail. For condemning the treatment of this poor farmer, Tim Healy was arrested and returned for trial
Healy Arrested
On 3rd December 1880, he wrote from Roches Hotel in Glengarriff to 'The Times" and he complained about the conditions of the local people, who were living on the verge of starvation "in places in which we would not keep our cattle". He said he was not well off but he would offer Lord Bantry or his Agent £1,000 if either of them would live a week in one of these poor devil's places and feed as these people did. Later in 1880 he was tried as a 'White Boy' (The White Boys were Irish rebels who raided for arms by night) because of the speech which he made in Bantry. He was found not guilty.
Called to the Bar
In 1880 he was also elected M.P. for Wexford and he took his seat in the House of Commons in January 1881. In 1882 he married the eldest daughter of T.D. Sullivan. He was called to the Irish Bar in November of 1884. He had his first court case in December of 1884. Tim Healy fell out with Parnell in 1886 over the Galway by-election. He publicly critized Parnell because of his friendship with Katherine O'Shea (a divorcee).
Tim Healy died on 26th March 1931 and he is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. He had 3 sons and 3 daughters - Joseph, Paul, Timothy Maurice, Elizabeth Catherine, Meave Mary and Erina.