3-021-153 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Funeral procession of the late Hon. Thomas d'Arcy M'Gee, at Montreal, Canada, 1868. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. J. Inglis. 'The late atrocious crime of the Fenian conspirators in Canada...has aroused the sternest indignation. The Hon. Thomas D'Arcy M'Gee, who represented Montreal West in the House of Commons at Ottawa, was an Irishman of high personal character and of remarkable talents and accomplishments...[and] was most earnestly opposed to the Fenian conspiracy...The plot to murder him was...executed, in the basest and most cowardly manner, on the night of April 7, when Mr. M'Gee...was shot dead from behind, as he arrived at his lodgings, and at the moment when he stopped to put his latchkey in the door. The agent of this bloody deed was a person named James Whelan...[The] funeral...was a most impressive spectacle...The coffin was borne on a handsome funeral car, drawn by six horses...The streets...were lined by fourteen companies of volunteers, militia, and regulars...Many house-fronts were hung with black from the windows or roof...At the special recommendation of the Governor-General, it is proposed by the Parliament to grant a pension to the family of Mr. M'Gee, who is truly regarded as a martyr to the cause of loyalty'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.