Francis Sheehy Skeffington, a pacifist, was murdered by the British forces on 26th April 1916 after being apprehended whilst trying to stop looting during the Easter Uprising. He was a friend and schoolmate of James Joyce and the real-life model for a character in Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
@bullivant
Skeffington was shot multiple times and then buried in quicklime (to dissolve his body and thus hide the crime.)
The British officer responsible for those crimes was “retired” to (I believe) British Columbia with a pension and completely escaped responsibility.
The "McCann" whom Stephen recalls owing one guinea in Nestor is apparently the "MacCann" with whom Stephen spars in part 5 of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who in turn is the McCann called "Phil" in Stephen Hero. This character was based, as you say, on a real-life university friend named Francis Skeffington.
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