Walter L. Cole

Infobox Politician
name = Walter L. Cole
nationality = Irish
width = 185px


caption = Cole (right) with Arthur Griffith (left)
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office2 = Teachta Dála for Cavan
term_start2 = 9 September 1922
term_end2 = 9 August 1923
predecessor2 =
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spouse =
religion =
residence = Mountjoy Square, Dublin
children =
alma_mater =
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term_start3 =
term_end3 =
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birth_date =
birth_place =
death_date = 26 April 1943
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constituency3 =
party = Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty) Cumann na nGaedhael

Walter Leonard Cole (died 26 April 1943) was an Irish merchant and politician in the early twentieth century. Prior to the foundation of the Irish Free State, he was an alderman for a period.Citation
title = Civilians arrested By Military in Dublin
newspaper = The Irish Times
year = 1920
date = 18 September 1920
accessdate = 2008-09-06
format = Fee required
url = http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/wit/1920/0918/Pg003.html#Ar00306:69946C6C648270F3E072D3F675741F7754356D146C6EF4827373D27623E86F948A7284A36EB3D27293E86AE48A6F2 ] An active republican, he was a founding director of the Sinn Féin Printing & Publishing Company. He was arrested by the military at his home at No. 3 Mountjoy Square in 1920.

As a well-off supporter of the underground Irish republican movement in the early twentieth century, his house on Mountjoy Square seems to have been a regular meeting place for senior figures within that movement. The notes of Seamus Reader, an Irish Volunteer from Glasgow, record a meeting in January 1916 at Cole's housecquote
Shortly after 5pm on the 2nd, January 1916, I went to Cole's house, Mountjoy Square, Dublin, where, while waiting in the kitchen for tea, I jotted my coded notes for my report to Scotland. I then went to the room where I met Tom Clarke, Sean McDermott, J Connolly, P Pearse and McDonagh.cite web
title=Volunteers from Scotland and the 1916 Rising
first=Seamus
last=Reader
year=1916
url=http://www.rsfglasgow.com/10.html] all of whom were signatories to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and all of whom were executed the following May, as leaders of the Easter Rising.

Cole is also documented as having hosted provisional Dáil meetings at his home cite book
last = Heagney
first = John
year = 2006
chapter = 3
title = The Georgian Squares of Dublin
publisher = Four Courts Press
url = http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/product.php?intProductID=268] cite book
last=McCracken
title=Representative Government in Ireland: A Study of Dáil Éireann 1919-48
first=J. L.
year=1958
asin=B0006D7GSU
publisher=Oxford University Press
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NB80AAAAIAAJ&q=Dáil+Éireann+Mountjoy+Square&dq=Dáil+Éireann+Mountjoy+Square&lr=&pgis=1] , that organisation having been driven underground in September 1919.

After the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the foundation of the Irish free state, he was elected a Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) to the 3rd Dáil Éireann for Cavan at the 1922 general election.cite web
title = Dáil Members Database
publisher = Houses of the Oireachtas
url = http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=3&disp=mem
accessdate = 2008-09-06] The "Pro-Treaty" prefix relates to his position in the Irish Civil War. He stood as a Cumann na nGaedhael candidate at the 1923 general election but lost his seat. He unsuccessfully ran for election to Seanad Éireann in 1925.Citation
title = Mr. Walter Leonard Cole, 3 Mountjoy Square
newspaper = The Irish Times
year = 1925
date = 12 September 1925
accessdate = 2008-09-06
format = Fee required
url = http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1925/0912/Pg007.html#Ar00714:826CD2859CEE7B5CED7F7D0274BCED7A2D02 ] . He was later a commissioner for Mountjoy Square.Citation
title = Mountjoy Square for the Public
newspaper = The Irish Times
year = 1938
date = 8 March 1938
accessdate = 2008-09-06
format = Fee required
url = http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1938/0308/Pg009.html#Ar00903:8E0D1C91DD36927D1C94CD369A095B9B79889B4959A37985908AB5942ACF965BA599EBBF92FC4D968C678D1C7490CC8E8 ]

References

*Oireachtas-database|1=http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=3&MemberID=192&ConstID=21

External links

* [http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1110 Walter L. Cole's electoral history] (ElectionsIreland.org)
* [http://www.ucd.ie/archives/html/collections/cole-walter.html UCD Archives] collection of Cole's papers.