A celebration of one of the Yeats Country's most distinguished but forgotten sons will take place in Sligo City Hall this evening.
William Bourke Cockran, who emigrated to the US aged 17, was a six-term congressman, a renowned orator, lawyer, a confidante to three US presidents, a mentor to Winston Churchill and a key player in Irish and American politics.
Keville Burns of the Sligo Field Club said Cockran was "an architect in Ireland's new path to freedom" and one of the leading US Catholic laymen in the early 20th century.
Born in Carrowkeel in Co Sligo in 1854, Cockran became the first person to receive the Freedom of Sligo Borough in 1903, but his name was never etched in City Hall.
However, this will change as his name is to join others who were bestowed with the same honour ahead of the opening of an exhibition and conference on his life in the historic building.
Sligo Field Club member Leo Leydon said tonight's event is a celebration of Cockran's life and a recovery of his memory after 120 years.
Historian Dr Fióna Gallagher said Cockran learned his oratory skills from Isaac Butt, the founder of the Home Rule Party, who encouraged him to study law.
Dr Gallagher said he was a pacifist who advocated for free trade and was a believer of trade unionism, human rights and anti-imperialism.
She said: "William Burke Cockran is probably one of the greatest Irishmen who has been forgotten, at least in his native land."
She said Cockran become "an important lawyer in the gilded age of New York", adding that he was a confidante of "many prominent figures including Mark Twain, Joseph Pulitzer, Thomas Eddison".
"He was at the heart of the Irish-American machine in the US during that period," she said.
"His heart remained at the cause of Irish independence and he never stopped advocating for this in the United States," she added.
Dr Gallagher said: "I remember him as a statesman.
"He had an incredible ability to move fluidly amongst the international set from the emperors of Japan and China through to the House of Commons to negotiating in New York Tammany Hall.
"Unfortunately, he died a relatively young man, but not before the foundation of the Irish Free State."
She added that Cockran, who died in 1923, was one of a "handful of wealthy and responsible Irish Americans" funding the Irish Parliamentary Party before 1916.
He led the New York Bond Certificate drive when Éamon de Valera visited New York in 1919 to fundraise for the new Dáil.
When De Valera was made a Freeman of New York in 1920, Cockran introduced him as the "President of the Irish Republic" when De Valera was bestowed with the honour.
He contributed to the Gaelic League, the Irish Industrial Revival, the Land League, the home rule movement and the Irish literary movement.
Despite his political differences with Winston Churchill, he mentored the British politician in oration.
Churchill wrote of the strong impression "which this remarkable man, made upon my untutored mind".
"I have never seen his like, or in some respects his equal … he was my model - I learned from him how to hold thousands in thrall," Churchill said.
Mr Burns of the Sligo Field Club said when WB Yeats returned from the US in 1904, George Moore, a friend of Yeats, wrote to Lady Gregory that Willie Yeats went to America and William Butler Yeats the orator came home - such was Corkran's influence.
The Life Story of William Bourke Cockran Champion of Liberty opens at Sligo City Hall.
Dr Gallagher said the exhibition aims to spread the word of Cockran's achievements, legacy and story in the northwest and beyond.
The Sligo Field Society plans to bring the exhibition to New York next year when the US celebrates 250 years since the declaration of its independence.
