Michael Noyk
Michael Noyk was a solicitor and Irish republican politician. Noyk was born in Telšiai, Lithuania, the son of a Jewish couple, Isaac Noyk and Esther Chana Raivid. The family emigrated when Michael was one year old. He was educated at The High School, Dublin and entered Trinity College Dublin as a sizar in Hebrew before winning a classics scholarship and graduating in 1907. Shortly afterwards he worked as a solicitor. Noyk befriended Arthur Griffith and through him, he became highly sympathetic to the cause of Irish republicanism. He was Griffith's personal solicitor until his death. He joined Sinn Féin shortly after the Easter Rising and was responsible for defending a number of Irish Republican Army prisoners including Sean MacEoin, Thomas Whelan, Patrick Moran,James Boyce and Frank Teeling. In the 1917 Clare East by-election he was a prominent worker for Éamon de Valera, and in the 1918 general election he was the election agent for Constance Markievicz and Seán T. O'Kelly. During the Irish War of Independence Noyk was a high-level official and adviser with the Department of Finance which was then headed by Michael Collins. Noyk also participated in Dáil Courts held in Dublin. He was responsible for the procurement of offices at 22 Mary Street in Dublin where the First Dáil's Department of Finance was located during the war.
He married Mabel Stein with whom he had four children, and lived for many years on Wellington Road, Dublin. He died in London, England, on the 22 October 1966. He was given a full military funeral by the IRA's Dublin Brigade.
