Father Murphy and the heretics. Father Michael Murphy assuring the rebels they couldn't be killed by English army fire as they were "heretic bullets". Battle of Arklow, 9 June 1798
Fr. Michael Murphy (c. 1767 – 9 June 1798) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and United Irishmen leader during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. His birthplace in Ireland is indeterminate, as various locations such as Ballinoulart, Castleannesley or in Kilnew, County Wexford are documented possibilities. He was ordained a priest in 1785 at Wexford after completing hedge school in Oulart. His first parish was at Ballycanew, after a vacation in France. Murphy joined the Rebellion on 27 May 1798 following the vandalism of his church by Crown yeomen, despite a mostly pacifist stance by the church leadership. Murphy proceeded towards battle at Gorey, Kilthomas Hill, then Ballyorril Hill where he met with fellow priest Fr. John Murphy of Boolavogue. Murphy was attacking a gun position on horseback at the Battle of Arklow on 9 June 1798 when he was killed by gunfire. His graveyard is at Castle Ellis Illustration by George Cruikshank (1792 - 1878) from History of the Irish rebellion published 1887. The rebellion was brutally repressed by The British, who carried out many killings of civilians and collective punishment of entire communities, actions which would probably today be viewed as war crimes. The British however saw themselves as the victims of the traitorous Irish, and newspapers of the day invariably portrayed the Irish as murderous savages, while the British army and their Protestant allies were portrayed as underdogs and victims. George Cruikshank was fiercely patriotic, and his illustrations invariably portrayed the rebels as mobs of subhuman brutes, whilst the British were portrayed as upstanding defenders of law and order. His illustrations should therefore probably -despite their artistic merit- be viewed as British propaganda.
Size: 3483px × 2421px
Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1790s, 18th, 9, 1798, arklow, art, banner, battle, british, bullets, caricatures, catholic, cavalry, century, charge, church, crown, cruikshank, death, england, engraving, father, flag, fr., george, heretic, history, illustration, image, infantry, insurrection, ireland, irish, irishmen, june, killed, leader, liberty, michael, murphy, picture, political, priest, propaganda, racist, rebellion, roman, shared, united, uprising, vandalised, wexford, yeomen
