Phoenix Park murders

The Phoenix Park Killings were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park in Dublin on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Burke was the Permanent Undersecretary, the most senior Irish civil servant. The assassination was carried out by members of the rebel group Irish National Invincibles, a more radical breakway from the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

The Invincibles failed numerous times to kill Chief Secretary "Buckshot Forster" before he resigned his office in protest of the Kilmainham Treaty. The group then settled on a plan to kill the Permanent Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke at the Irish Office. Newly installed Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish, on the very day of his arrival to Ireland, was walking with Burke to the Viceregal Lodge, the "out of season" residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The first assassination was committed by Joe Brady, who stabbed Burke with a 12 inch knife, followed in short order by Tim Kelly, who stabbed Cavendish. Both men used surgical knives as it would be more quiet. Cavendish was not a target and his presence was happenstance. Thomas Myles, resident surgeon at the nearby Dr Steevens' Hospital, was summoned to render medical assistance to the victims.

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