Séamus Burke

Séamus Aloysius Burke (sometimes spelt Bourke) (15 June 1893 – 10 June 1967) was an Irish barrister and politician who served as Minister of State at the Department of Finance from 1927 to 1932 and Minister for Local Government and Public Health from 1924 to 1927. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1938.

Early life Burke was born on 15 June 1893 at Newgrove House, Rathnavogue near Roscrea, County Tipperary. He was the eldest son of Tobias Henry Burke, a farmer originally from Burlington, Borrisoleigh, and Bridget Agnes Quinlan, daughter of Patrick Quinlan of Cummer, Kilcommon. In 1905 the Burke family emigrated to the United States, settling in New York, where his father Tobias had inherited property. During his childhood, two of Burkers older brothers died of scarlatina. The Burkes returned to Ireland in 1908 and acquired Rockforest, also in County Tipperary.

Burke became an American citizen during his time in New York and was educated at Fordham University in New York, Clongowes Wood College, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and entered the King's Inns in 1913.

Career Although Burke was called to the bar in 1916, he chose to focus on politics instead of pursuing a legal career. Burke joined the Irish Volunteers in Dublin and became a Sinn Féin organiser and Volunteer drill instructor in Tipperary. After being arrested for illegal drilling in 1918 and refusing to recognise the court, he was imprisoned in Belfast for four months. Later that year, he was elected unopposed to represent mid-Tipperary for Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election as a Sinn Féin TD for Tipperary Mid. Dubbed "the most hunted man in Ireland" by the Irish Independent, Burke was smuggled to the US in November 1918 as a stoker aboard the RMS Aquitania. In New York and Ohio Burke was the director of the loan campaign, for which he is said to have collected over a million dollars. In early 1922 Burke was also the only Tipperary TD to support the Anglo-Irish Treaty in the Dáil.

Personal life In 1929 Burke married Zenaide Bashkiroff, the eldest daughter of Captain Alexis Bashkiroff, a gentleman of the chamber to Tsar Nicholas II, and Zenaide Soumarokoff-Elston, the daughter of Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston. escutcheon = Or a cross Gules in the first quarter a dexter hand couped at the wrist Sable. crest = On a wreath of the colours a cat-a-mountain sejant guardant Sable collared and chained Or. mantling = Gyles doubled Argent. motto = A Cruce Semper Salus ('From the Cross, Always Salvation')