Pierce McCan

Pierce McCan (2 August 1882 – 6 March 1919) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.

McCan was born at Prospect Lodge, Ballyanne Desmesne, County Wexford, the son of Francis McCan, a land agent, and Jane Power. He was nephew of Patrick Joseph Power, MP for East Waterford from 1885 to 1913. He attended Clongowes Wood College. He resided at Ballyowen House, Dualla, Cashel, County Tipperary, was an "extensive farmer" and was a member of the Tipperary Hunt.

He was a founder member of Sinn Féin in 1905. He joined the Gaelic League in 1909 and was a member of the Irish Volunteers from 1914 onward.

After more than 2,000 German and Austrian prisoners were imprisoned at Richmond Barracks, Templemore following the first battles of World War I in 1914, he plotted to engineer a mass escape but was thwarted when the prisoners were removed to Leigh, Lancashire in 1915. He was interned in 1916 after the Easter Rising for several months in Richmond Barracks, Dublin, and Knutsford, England. In May 1918, he was arrested under the German Plot and detained in Gloucester Jail.

McCan was president of the East Tipperary executive of Sinn Féin. While incarcerated, he elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the East Tipperary constituency at the 1918 general election.

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