Shane MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, has revealed on social media that her late husband’s rifle from the 1916 Easter Rising has disappeared and is suspected to have been stolen. The firearm was a Lee–Enfield 303 that was a 60th birthday present from singer-songwriter Glen Hansard and was used in the takeover of the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin during the Easter Rising. Speaking to The Guardian, Clarke stated that she would like the rifle returned immediately – no questions asked. She only discovered that the gun was missing earlier this week and hasn’t a clue how long it has been gone.
“The thing about Shane is that he wasn’t materialistic. The only things he ever bought really were records. He didn’t have many possessions. He had his crucifix and rosary beads and statues of the Virgin Mary, other than that he didn’t have possessions that were precious to him,” remarked Clarke in The Guardian. “But the gun meant so much to him. I wasn’t entirely easy about having it in the house, but I definitely want it back. It’s probably the grief, where any physical thing that has an attachment to your loved one you hold on to – because you want to hold on to them.”
Having previously shared the news of the disappearance on Twitter, Clarke announced that it had now turned into a real treasure hunt to find the item, with numerous people working to track it down. It has also been noted that Clarke would be willing to exchange a copy of MacGowan’s unpublished memoirs for the return of the rifle.
MacGowan passed away last year from pneumonia at the age of 65, following a diagnosis of encephalitis and a long period of declining health. MacGowan was known as one of the most important figures of Britain’s Irish music scene in the 1980s, and the frontman of The Pogues, a band infamous for their raucous performances and their fusing of traditional Irish music with punk rock.
In other news, Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson has previously shared details of a time when MacGowan requested an apple from their rider, which he later used to smoke crack, for their fans
Read the full article on NME here: Read More