Bill Quirke was born in Clonmel in 1894 and was involved with the Tipperary No 3 Brigade IRA.  In 1921 he was imprisoned on Spike Island in Cork Harbour by the British forces. He and seven others managed to make an escape from this very safe prison. Quirke took the republican side in the Civil War. There is a story that one day he came face to face with Larry Clancy, a neighbour who was on the pro-treaty side. Both of them were armed. Bill is alleged to have defused what might have been a serious situation by saying, “Larry, if I shoot you or you shoot me, there is not much in that for either of us, so why don’t we both have sense and go home?” For a period in the 1920s he went to America. Returning to Ireland he became involved in his family’s auctioneering business. In 1932 he became a senator, a position he led until his death in 1955. He served as Leader of the House. He was a pioneer in the development of the Irish bogs and was at an early stage a director of the Turf Development Board. He was also a member of the Agricultural Credit Corporation and of the Racing Board.  In 1936 he moved to Ringlestown. He revived the Tara Harriers and became Master.  He served two terms as Mayor of Clonmel in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The family lived in Dublin for a period. Senator Quirke died from a seizure on 5th March 1955 while taking part in the Ward Union Hunt at Garristown. The President Sean T. O’Kelly and the Taoiseach Eamon de Valera attended the funeral.