The "Irish Rebel" in question was Terence MacSweeney (Traolach MacSuibne), Lord Mayor of Cork, who died after some seventy days on hunger strike in Brixton Prison in ?1920; he was a political prisoner, not a "common criminal". Another Lord Mayor of Cork at the time, Thomas MacCurtain, was shot at his home by the notorious "Black and Tans", who also burnt about a third of the city. The "Tans" were composed of the sweepings of British military prisons, commanded by regular army officers (tho', as Churchill said, "the better class of officer refused to serve in them"). A contemporary French satirical cartoon shows several figures, among whom Lloyd George is still recognisable to modern eyes, grouped around the bed where MacSweeney lies, with the caption "Il est plus grand que nous".