Mural of moustachioed revolutionary to overlook Tralee Courthouse
The KerrymanThick curls and a debonair moustache with tips waxed to attention, this enduring image of Thomas Ashe will soon grace the first floor of a building beside Tralee’s courthouse.
Last month, Mikel Mato began a freehand outline of the Dingle revolutionary on the side of the Slatterys Travel building with a few quick, blue brushstrokes. Once complete, Ashe’s portrait will brighten the street that bears his name and gaze down upon the courthouse that, in his time, was an imperial symbol.
Ashe gave his life for Irish justice.
Ashe was a commander in the 1916 Easter Rising. His death by force feeding during a hunger strike at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin on September 25, 1917 galvanized resistance to British rule in Ireland.
“Thomas Ashe was a fantastic local hero,” said David Slattery, the director of Slatterys Travel, who commissioned mural. “He was a real renaissance man. He was a sportsman, an athlete, a politician and he was interested in Irish heritage, self-determination and an independent Ireland. Of course, there is a resonance between what he longed for and where he is.”
A monochrome photo from the 1910s is the inspiration for Mr Mato, who is known for his bright murals around Tralee. These include Antarctic explorer Tom Crean on Castle Street, and Napoleon crossing the alps and clutching a Guinness on Courthouse Lane.
Ashe Street, formerly known as Nelson Street, is one of the oldest in Tralee. Local business owners have expressed concern over its future amid plans to move the courts to a new complex on the Island of Geese. Intentions for the courthouse building are unknown.
Ashe was born on January 12, 1885 in Kinard, just east of Dingle. He was the seventh of ten children in a bilingual home where his father’s Irish scholarship attracted students to hear stories told by the family hearth.
This childhood hardened his lifelong battle against social injustice. At age 12, he watched four or five bailiffs approach a neighbour’s house to seize cattle for arrears of rent. Ashe sprinted ahead to warn the neighbour so neither cow nor calf could be found once the bailiffs arrived.
Ashe became a school principal in Lusk, North Dublin and got involved in the nationalist movement. In 1917, he was arrested for sedition. He demanded prisoner-of-war status, led a hunger strike and, five days later, died of force feeding by prison authorities.
His family remembered him for his love of hurling, fowling among bog and heather, and playing the bagpipes on the hillside above his farm.
“The neighbours all over the parish used to love to listen to the music and missed it greatly when he was dead,” his sister Nora recalled in 1952. “He had a beautiful voice, both for speaking and singing and a wonderful collection of ballads and songs.”
Slattery hopes the mural spurs interest in the dapper Gaeilgeoir. “Maybe his image isn’t as widely published but we’re very proud of him in Kerry,” said Mr Slattery.