Corkery, Daniel (1883–1961), revolutionist and politician, was born 20 September 1883 into small farming stock in Clondrohid parish, near Macroom, Co. Cork, youngest of two sons and one daughter of James Corkery and Johanna Corkery (née Buckley). Educated at Macroom national school, he was widely read in history and literature, in the tradition of his generation. His basic livelihood was shopkeeping (grocery, flour, and meal); his shop, destroyed by crown forces (Auxiliaries) in April 1921, was thereafter rebuilt and a going concern until his death.
He joined the IRB in the early 1900s and the National Volunteers in 1914, being elected an officer. He was a founding member (October 1915) of the Irish Volunteers in the Macroom area, and CO of the Volunteers parading in Macroom on Easter Sunday 1916 before news of the countermanding order was received. Interned in Cork, Dublin, Wakefield, and Frongoch, he was released at the end of July 1916. He then reorganised the local volunteers and was reinterned, this time in Dundalk gaol, for six weeks. During the war of independence he was OC 7th Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade, subsequently OC 7th Bn flying column. In the civil war he fought on the anti-treaty side, and was captured and interned in the Curragh and Mountjoy; he was granted a one-day parole for his wife's funeral (July 1923), participated in a general hunger strike for twenty-eight days, and was released in 1924.
Elected unopposed in July 1921 to the second dáil as a Sinn Féin TD for the eight-seat constituency of Cork Mid, North, South, South-East, and West, six months later he made a short speech against the treaty. Reelected for the same constituency in the pact election of June 1922, he was elected for Cork North (August 1923) while in gaol. He headed the poll in Cork North in June 1927, when he stood as an independent republican candidate, and again came top when he stood for Fianna Fáil in the September 1927 general election. His delay in giving allegiance to the new party indicated an interesting independence of mind. He lost his seat in 1932 but regained it in 1933. In 1937, after changes in constituency boundaries, he failed to be elected for Cork West. He was a Fianna Fáil member of Seanad Éireann for the industrial and commercial panel between 1938 and 1944, and a member of Macroom urban district council from the 1920s to his death (23 April 1961).
A successful senior footballer, he won county championship medals for Macroom from 1909 to 1913 and played on the Cork county team that won the Munster title in 1907. After the civil war he was active in Macroom GAA, which helped to reconcile old comrades. A dedicated gardener, he was instrumental in promoting afforestation in his constituency, setting up Mallow sugar factory, and implementing the home-grown-tomato policy of the 1930s. He also helped to found and promote the Irish Press. In 1915 he married Mary Murphy (21 November 1884–7 July 1923); they had two sons and one daughter. In 1929 he married his wife's first cousin Madge, who died in 1930. He is sometimes confused with Daniel Corkery (qv) (1878–1964) (qv), writer and academic.