Some time after the outbreak of the Civil War at the end of June 1922, Arthur Griffith began to feel unwell. He had been working more or less non stop since negotiating the Treaty which was ratified the previous January. As its terms were not widely accepted, he spent the time since defending it. After the general election of June 16th, in which he was elected for Cavan, Griffith attended forty-one of the forty-two provisional government meetings which took place in the week between 23 June and 30 July.

His strong and vigorous constitution was debilitated by the heavy burden of official responsibilities and great anxieties consequent on the tragic happenings of the last six weeks and only under the persuasion of his own relatives and personal friends died he consent to go into the Private Nursing Home, 96 Lower Lesson Street, where the past fortnight he had been under treatment, leaving it only for brief itrevals to go to his office in Merrion Street.

Freeman’s Journal 14 August 1922

After contracting influenza along with tonsillitis, he remaining working, and even began to show signs of improving. But on the morning of 12th August he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died. He was only 51.

After he entered the nursing home he was attended to by Dr. St John Gogarty, who released a medical statement after his passing

Funeral

A pall of melancholy seemed to hang over the whole town. The funeral and the empty grave were the thoughts on all minds.

Weekly Freeman’s Journal 19 August 1922

Sources

Freeman’s Journal 14 August 1922

https://www.dib.ie/biography/griffith-arthur-joseph-a3644 Contributed by Michael Laffan

Weekly Freeman’s Journal 19 August 1922