CELTIC
CORNER
In the last two Celtic
Corners, I felt the two most influential leaders of the Rebellion were James
Connolly and Padraic Pearse but just as important were the five additional
signers of the Proclamation and the nine other leaders all who were executed. These
brave men are:
Éamonn Ceannt: Born in Galway in
1881, prior to the Rising Ceannt was an employee of the Dublin Corporation. He
was a co-founder of the Irish Volunteers, partaking in the successful Howth
gun-running operation of 1914. His involvement in republican activities was
complemented by his interest in Irish culture, specifically Irish language and
history, although he was also an accomplished uileann piper .As the commander
of the Fourth Battalion of Irish Volunteers during the Rising, he took possession
of the South Dublin Union, precursor to the modern-day St. James’s Hospital. He
was executed on 8 May 1916.
Thomas James Clarke: Born on the Isle of
Wight in 1857, Clarke’s father was a soldier in the British army. During his
time in America as a young man, he joined Clann na nGael, later enduring
fifteen years of penal servitude for his role in a bombing campaign in London,
1883-1898. In 1907, having returned from a second sojourn in America, his links
with Clan na nGael in America copper-fastened his importance to the
revolutionary movement in Ireland. He held the post of Treasurer to the Irish
Republican Brotherhood, and was a member of the Supreme Council from 1915. The
first signatory of the Proclamation of Independence through deference to his
seniority, Clarke was with the group that occupied the G. P. O. He was executed
on 3 May 1916.
Seán MacDiarmada: Born in 1884 in
Leitrim, MacDiarmada emigrated to Glasgow in 1900, and from there to Belfast in
1902. A member of the Gaelic League, he was acquainted with Bulmer Hobson. He
joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1906 while still in Belfast, later
transferring to Dublin in 1908 where he assumed managerial responsibility for
the I. R. B. newspaper Irish Freedom in 1910. Although MacDiarmada was
afflicted with polio in 1912, he was appointed as a member of the provisional
committee of Irish Volunteers from 1913, and was subsequently drafted onto the
military committee of the I. R. B. in 1915. During the Rising MacDiarmada
served in the G. P. O. He was executed on 12 May 1916.
Thomas MacDonagh: A native of
Tipperary, born in 1878, MacDonagh spent the early part of his career as a
teacher. He moved to Dublin to study, and was the first teacher on the staff at
St. Enda’s, the school he helped to found with Patrick Pearse. MacDonagh was
well versed in literature, his enthusiasm and erudition earning him a position
in the English department at University College Dublin. His play When the
Dawn is Come was produced at the Abbey theatre. He was appointed director
of training for the Irish Volunteers in 1914, later joining the I. R. B.
MacDonagh was appointed to the I. R. B. military committee in 1916. He was
commander of the Second Battalion of Volunteers that occupied Jacob’s biscuit
factory and surrounding houses during the Rising. He was executed on 3 May
1916.
Joseph Mary Plunkett: Born 1887 in Dublin,
son of a papal count, Plunkett was initially educated in England, though he
returned to Ireland and graduated from U. C. D. in 1909. After his graduation
Plunkett spent two years travelling due to ill health, returning to Dublin in
1911. Plunkett shared MacDonagh’s enthusiasm for literature and was an editor
of the Irish Review. Along with MacDonagh and Edward Martyn, he helped
to establish an Irish national theatre. He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913,
subsequently gaining membership of the I. R. B. in 1914. Plunkett travelled to
Germany to meet Roger Casement in 1915. During the planning of the Rising,
Plunkett was appointed Director of Military Operations, with overall
responsibility for military strategy. Plunkett was one of those who were
stationed in the G. P. O. during the Rising. He married Grace Gifford while in
Kilmainham Gaol following the surrender and was executed on 4 May 1916.
Roger Casement: Born in 1864 in
Dublin, Casement was knighted for his services to the British consulate. He
campaigned tirelessly to expose the cruelty inflicted on native workers in the
Belgian Congo in 1904, and again in Brazil from 1911-1912, causing an
international sensation with his reportage. Casement had become a member of the
Gaelic League in 1904, beginning at that time to write nationalist articles
under the pseudonym ‘Seán Bhean Bhocht’. He retired from the British consular
service in 1913, after which he joined the Irish Volunteers. Casement was dispatched
to Germany on account of his experience to raise an Irish Brigade from Irish
prisoners of war. He was captured in Kerry in 1916 on Good Friday having
returned to Ireland in a German U-Boat. Casement was imprisoned in Pentonville
Gaol in London, where he was tried on charges of High Treason. He was hanged on
3 August 1916, the only leader of the Rising to be executed outside of Ireland.
Con Colbert: Born in 1888,
Colbert was a native of Limerick. Prior to the Easter Rising he had been an
active member of the republican movement, joining both Fianna Éireann and the
Irish Volunteers. A dedicated pioneer, Colbert was known not to drink or smoke.
As the captain of F Company of the Fourth Battalion, Colbert was in command at
the Marrowbone Lane distillery when it was surrendered on Sunday, 30 April
1916. His execution took place on 8 May 1916.
Edward Daly: Born in Limerick in
1891, Daly’s family had a history of republican activity; his uncle John Daly
had taken part in the rebellion of 1867. Edward Daly led the First Battalion
during the Rising, which raided the Bridewell and Linenhall Barracks,
eventually seizing control of the Four Courts. A close friend of Tom Clarke,
their ties were made even stronger by the marriage of Clarke to Daly’s sister.
Daly was executed on 4 May 1916.
Seán Heuston: Born in 1891, he was
responsible for the organization of Fianna Éireann in Limerick. Along with
Con Colbert, Heuston was involved in the education of the schoolboys at Scoil
Éanna, organizing drill and musketry exercises. A section of the First
Battalion of the Volunteers, under the leadership of Heuston, occupied the
Mendicity Institute on south of the Liffey, holding out there for two days. He
was executed on 8 May 1916. Heuston Railway station in Dublin is named after
him.
Thomas Kent: Born in 1865, Kent
was arrested at his home in Castlelyons, Co. Cork following a raid by the Royal
Irish Constabulary on 22 April 1916, during which his brother Richard was
fatally wounded. It had been his intention to travel to Dublin to participate
in the Rising, but when the mobilization order for the Irish Volunteers was
cancelled on Easter Sunday he assumed that the Rising had been postponed,
leading him to stay at home. He was executed at Cork Detention Barracks on 9
May 1916 following a court martial. In 1966 the railway station in Cork was
renamed Kent Station in his honor.
John MacBride: Born in Mayo in
1865. Although he initially trained as a doctor, MacBride abandoned that
profession in favor of work with a chemist. He travelled to America in 1896 to
further the aims of the I. R. B., thereafter travelling to South Africa where
he raised the Irish Transvaal Brigade during the Second Boer War. MacBride
married the Irish nationalist Maude Gonne in 1903. He was not a member of the
Irish Volunteers, but upon the beginning of the Rising he offered his services
to Thomas MacDonagh, and was at Jacob’s biscuit factory when that post was
surrendered on Sunday, 30 April 1916. He was executed on 5 May 1916.
Michael Mallin: A silk weaver by
trade, Mallin was born in Dublin in 1874. Along with Countess Markievicz, he
commanded a small contingent of the Irish Citizen Army, of which he was Chief
of Staff, taking possession of St. Stephen’s Green and the Royal College of
Surgeons. He was executed on 8 May 1916.
Michael O’Hanrahan: Born in Wexford in
1877. As a young man, O’Hanrahan showed great promise as a writer, becoming
heavily involved in the promotion of the Irish language. He founded the first
Carlow branch of the Gaelic League, and published two novels, A Swordsman of
the Brigade and When the Norman Came. Like many of the other
executed leaders, he joined the Irish Volunteers from their inception, and was
second in command to Thomas MacDonagh at Jacob’s biscuit factory during the
Rising, although this position was largely usurped by the arrival of John
MacBride. His execution took place on 4 May 1916.
William Pearse: Born in 1881 in
Dublin. The younger brother of Patrick, William shared his brother’s passion
for an independent Ireland. He assisted Patrick in running St. Enda’s. The two
brothers were extremely close, and fought alongside each other in the G. P. O.
William was executed on 4 May 1916. Pearse railway station on Westland Row in
Dublin was re-named in honor of the two brothers in 1966.
“The fools the fools the fools
They have left us our Fenian dead
And while Ireland holds these graves
Padraic Pearse
Frank Darcy
