In Search of Thomas Sheahan

This book examines radical political activity in Cork during the crucial decades of the 1820s and 1830s by excavating the political career of Thomas Sheahan, a local radical who played a key role in the politicisation of the city s tradesmen. Sheahan was one of hundreds of local leaders who built the movements for Catholic emancipation and Repeal but he differed from most in that his central objective was the elimination of economic destitution rather than the elevation of liberalism or the Catholic middle class. He was instrumental in establishing the Cork Trades Association that threatened to divide the O Connellite movement which had hitherto been completely dominated by the entirely middle-class Chamber of Commerce faction. Indeed, this study serves to emphasise the dangers of viewing O Connellism as a homogeneous and cohesive movement untroubled by class interests.