Jasper Wolfe of Skibbereen

Stories are still told about the clever, convivial, hard-drinking and fearless Jasper Wolfe in west Cork. He led a remarkable and dangerous existence in the turbulent early years of the twentieth century. Not represented in any of the writings about this period in Irish history, his story gives a fresh perspective on the political struggles of the time. Born in 1872, a Methodist shopkeeper’s son, he became a highly successful solicitor in Skibbereen. Soon he had ‘all West Cork for a client’. A strong supporter of Home Rule, he gave an acclaimed speech at a rally in London in 1912 to launch the Irish Protestant Home Rule Movement, upstaging George Bernard Shaw and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who also spoke. After Easter 1916 Jasper was appointed Crown Solicitor for the City and West Riding of Cork, and put the Crown case at the inquest into the murder of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Tomas MacCurtain. He was soon a top target for the IRA. In an astonishing twist of fortune, having been three times sentenced to death by the IRA, he subsequently became a defence lawyer for anti-Treaty Republicans after the Civil War. In 1927 he was elected to the Dail as an Independent candidate and topped the poll in his next election. Greatly admired in legal circles, he was elected president of the Law Society of Ireland in 1940 - Ireland’s top honour for solicitors. Cherished for the stories his exploits generated, he stood for an Ireland at peace and at ease with itself.