Notable Persons involved in the 1916 Rising
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Thomas Ashe (Leader of the North County Dublin Volunteers in the Rising), Sentenced to Death; Sentence commuted to Penal servitude for life. Born in Kerry, Ashe was an active member of both the Irish Volunteers and the Gaelic League. During the rising, he led his command in an engagement with the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) Ashbourne in County Dublin, capturing four barracks and large quantities of arms and ammunition. After the surrender he was sentenced to death, but this was commuted and he was released from jail in 1917. Later that same year he was arrested again, this time for making 'speeches calculated to cause disaffection' and was sentenced to one year hard labour at Mountjoy Prison. He demanded, along with other Republicans in the jail, to be treated as a prisoner of war. When these demands were refused, the prisoners went on hunger strike. Thomas Ashe died 25 September, 1917, as a result of incorrectly administered forcible feeding. 30,000 people marched in his funeral procession, led by Irish Volunteers in uniform. |
Eamon Ceant Eamonn Ceannt was born in Glennamaddy, County Galway on 21 September 1881, but is raised and educated in Dublin as son of a constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). After finishing his study at the University College Eamonn Ceannt worked for the Treasury Department of the Dublin Corporation.
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Proclamation Signatory Executed: 8 May 1916 |
![]() Thomas Kent (Tomas Ceannt) Executed: 9 May 1916 |
Thomas Kent (Tomás Ceannt in Irish)(1865 – 9 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist executed following a gunfight with the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) on 22 April 1916.
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![]() (Tomas O Cleirigh) Born: 11 March 1857 Proclamation Signatory Executed: 3 May 1916 |
Thomas J. Clarke Born in the Isle of Wight to a Leitrim man and a Tipperary woman his parents eventually settled in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. Tom emigrated to America to find work at an early age, taking a position as an explosives operative during construction work on Staten Island.
At the request of the other leaders and as a sign of their respect, Tom Clarke was the first to sign the Easter Proclamation. He was the 'elder statesman' of the Republican movement, having served 15 hard years in an English jail for republican activities as a young man. His tobacco shop at 75A Great Britain Street in Dublin became the hotbed of revolutionary activity as he masterminded the reorganisation of the old disbanded IRB, or Irish Republican Brotherhood. He served in the GPO during Easter week, and was executed along with Patrick Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh on 3 May, 1916. |
![]() Con Colbert (Conchuir O Colbaird) Born: 1888 Executed: 8 May 1916 |
Con Colbert Cornelius Colbert was born in Athea in Co. Limerick. He was educated in North Richmond St Christian Brothers School after the family moved to Dublin. He secured a job in Kennedy's baker, Parnell Street. He became a pioneer of Fianna Eireann, (Irish National Boy Scott Movement), an organisation so close to his heart that he spent all of his spare time cycling from place to place encouraging people to set up a new sluagh. He joined the Irish Volunteers at its inception and was one of its first drill instructors. He was quickly appointed captain of F Company in the 4th Battalion, a position he held until the rising. Despite his youth, he was an inspiration, and became appointed to Volunteers Headquarters staff. In the years before 1916 he devoted his time to organising the men and boys who were to participate in this historic event. His wages were meagre but he spent almost every penny on the advancement of the movement. Pearse asked him to become a drill instructor at St. Enda's. In spite of his mounting commitments he agreed and when it was suggested that he be put on the payroll he declined and Pearse had to apologise and forget the idea.
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![]() James Connolly (Seamus O Conghaile) Born: 5 June 1868 Proclamation Signatory Executed: 12 May 1916 |
James Connolly
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Sean Connolly , (Irish Republican Army), Killed in Action at City Hall, Dublin, EasterMonday, 1916. Only a week before the rising, Sean Connolly of the Abbey Theatre was playing the lead role in James Connolly's new play 'Under Which Flag' in its first performance at Liberty Hall. The play was about an Irishman torn between serving in the Irish or the British army, and ended with Connolly raising a green flag and uttering the words 'Under this flag only will I serve. Under this flag, if need be, will I die.' During the rising, it was Connolly who lead the group that entered Dublin Castle, firing the first shot that killed a British soldier, Castle guard James O'Brien. Connolly's men moved from there to take up a position at City Hall, where Connolly himself was shot while attempting to hoist to the top of the City Hall dome the very same green flag that he had used in the play. The first to kill, he became the first of the Rebels to be killed in the Easter Uprising. |
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Edward Daly (Eamonn O Dalaigh) Executed: 4 May 1916 |
Edward Daly Edward "Ned" Daly (25 February 1891 – 4 May 1916) was commandant of Dublin's 1st battalion during the Easter Rising of 1916. He was the youngest man to hold that rank, and one of the youngest executed in the aftermath.
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![]() Sean Hueston (Sean Mac Aodha) Born: 1891 Executed: 8 May 1916 |
Sean Hueston Seán Heuston (1891-1916) was born at 24 Lower Gloucester Street, Dublin, the son of John Heuston, a clerk, and Maria McDonald. He was educated to intermediate grade by the Christian Brothers at O’Connell’s Schools on North Richmond Street. At the age of seventeen he joined the Great Southern and Western Railway Company as a clerk and was stationed in Limerick for six years. He joined Fianna Éireann, the scouting club for boys revived by Bulmer Hobson and Countess Markievicz in August 1909. He organised an extremely active branch in Limerick which eventually had a membership of 250 boys. He devoted most of his spare time to the organisation: lecturing, drilling, marching and promoting a high level of proficiency in the boys under his command. In 1913 he was transferred to Dublin by the GSWR and assigned to the traffic manager’s office at Kingsbridge railway station (now Heuston station). He continued his work with Fianna Éireann where he met Con Colbert and Liam Mellows, both prominent in the organisation. He was given command of a branch in the north side of the city based in Hardwick Hall. He was promoted vice-commandant of the Dublin Brigade and also became director of training. Colbert and Patrick Pearse engaged him for Saint Enda’s, where he provided training in drill and musketry for the students. On the occasion of the landing of arms at Howth in July 1914, he led a contingent of Fianna, bringing a consignment of guns safely back to Dublin in a trek-cart. Heuston joined the Irish Volunteers soon after their formation in November 1913, eventually becoming a captain in Ned Daly’s 1st Battalion. He worked hard with his company, organising marches and field manoeuvres, fostering a spirit of commitment and camaraderie, and procuring arms and equipment by purchase and any other means at his disposal. On Easter Monday he was assigned command at the Mendicity Institution, a building on the south side of the river Liffey, to the west of the Four Courts where Daly and the 1st Battalion were based. Heuston’s function was to control the route between the Royal Barracks (later Collins Barracks, now the National Museum of Ireland) and the Four Courts for some hours so that Daly and the remainder of the 1st Battalion would have time to settle in. In the event, Heuston and his force of less than 30 men held out for over two days. Surrounded and in a hopeless situation, Heuston surrendered on Wednesday to save the lives of his men. Seán Heuston was tried by court-martial and sentenced to death. He was executed on 8 May. At twenty-five years and two months, he was the youngest of those executed. Between 3.45 and 4.05am on 8 May 1916, Sean Heuston was shot in the former stonebreakers yard at Kilmainham Prison. His remains were later buried in Arbour Lane Cemetery. He was unmarried. He was survived by his mother and his brother Michael, then a student for the priesthood at the Dominican Priory, Tallaght.
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![]() John MacBride (Sean Mac Giolla Bhride) Born: 7 May 1865 Executed: 5 May 1916 |
John MacBride Major John MacBride (sometimes mistranscribed as McBride) (7 May 1865 – 5 May 1916) was an Irish republican executed for his leading role in the 1916 Easter Rising.
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![]() (Sean Mac Diarmada) Born: 1884 Proclamation Signatory Executed: 12 May 1916 |
Sean MacDermott Sean MacDiarmada was born in Leitrim and in his youth worked as a gardener and tram conductor. Later, in Belfast, he was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood. In 1908 he was transferred to Dublin, where he developed a close personal and political friendship with Thomas Clarke.
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![]() Thomas MacDonagh (Tomas Ni Donnachada) Born: 1 February 1878 Proclamation Signatory Executed: 3 May 1916 |
Thomas MacDonagh Thomas MacDonagh (1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, poet, playwright, and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising.
For a complete bio, click here
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Eoin MacNeill, B.A. (President Irish Volunteers, Sentenced by Courtmartial to Penal Servitude for Life. The official leader of the Irish Volunteers was Eoin MacNeill, a distinguished academic and cofounder of the Gaelic League. He believed that the Volunteers should only resort to violence if the government threatened to disarm them, and upon being informed that an actual armed uprising was to take place over the Easter weekend, refused to sanction it. When he learned that, in fact, the British government was planning to disarm the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army after the holiday weekend, he agreed the rising should go ahead... but once again withdrew his support upon learning that Roger Casement, who was attempting to land a boatload of arms from Germany, had been captured by the British over the weekend. Concerned with the inevitable loss of life in what seemed a hopeless cause, MacNeill decided to do everything in his power to stop the armed rebellion and took out an ad in the Sunday Independent cancelling the scheduled 'manoeuvres'.
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![]() Michael Mallin (Micheal O Meallain) Born: 1874 Executed: 8 May 1916 |
Michael Mallin Little is known about Michael Mallin. He was born in Dublin in 1874 and earned a living as silk weaver and shop owner. In 1909 Michael Mallin became Secretary of the Silk Weavers Union. The shop went out of business in 1913. Michael Mallin found a new job in the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) as band instructor. Michael drew James Connelly's attention when these bands were included in the Irish Citizens Army (ICA) and he became drill instructor. At the time of the Easter Rising Michael Mallin was the second in command of the Irish Citizens Army (ICA).
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Michael O' Hanrahan (Micheal O Hannrachain) Born: 17 March 1877 Executed: 4 May 1916 (Author of "The Swordsman of the Brigade," etc.), Executed in Kilmainham Prison, May 4th, 1916. Michael O'Hanrahan was born in New Ross, County Wexford. A member of the Gaelic League and Quartermaster of the Irish Volunteers, during the rising he served as Thomas MacDonagh's second in command at Jacob's factory. After the surrender he was taken to Kilmainham and executed along with Joseph Plunkett, Edward Daly and Willie Pearse. In his final hours he asked to make a will in which he bequeathed the copyright to his novel 'A Swordsman of the Brigade'. The book was published posthumously. |
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The O'Rahilly Michael O'Rahilly was the first of the actual leaders of the Rebellion to die and the only one killed in action. Although a founding member of the Irish Volunteers who believed that armed revolt was the only way to end British rule in Ireland, he opposed the timing of the Easter Rising but felt honour bound to participate once it had started, deciding that 'having helped to wind the clock he must come to hear it strike'. When fires in the GPO became unbearable, The O'Rahilly led a group in a charge up Moore Street and got as far as the corner of Ridley Road and Moore Lane when he was shot. Crawling to a nearby doorway he had time to write a final note to his wife Hannah, who he left behind, along with three sons. 'It was a good fight anyhow,' he said. |
Patrick Henry Pearse (Pádraic Anraí Mac Pharais) Born: 10 November 1879 Proclamation Signatory Executed: 3 May 1916 |
Padraig Pearse In November 1913 Pearse was invited to the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers, formed to enforce the implementation of Westminster's Home Rule Act in the face of opposition from the Ulster Volunteers. The bill had just failed to pass the House of Lords at the third effort, but the diminished power of the Lords under the Parliament Act meant that the bill was only to be delayed.
For more info on Padraig Pearse, click here. |
Willie Pearse William James Pearse was born in 1881 as the younger brother of Pádraic Pearse. The two brothers developed a close, but somewhat unbalanced, friendship in which William was completely devoted to Pádraic. In this respect the brothers Pearse can be compared with the Emmet brothers Thomas and Robert.
Initially William Willie Pearse followed in his father's, a monumental sculptor, footsteps and was educated at the Dublin School of Arts and in Paris.
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William Pearse (Liam Mac Pharais) Born: 15 November 1881 Executed: 4 May 1916 |
Joseph Mary Plunkett ( Joseph O Pluingcead) Born: 21 November 1887 Proclamation Signatory Executed: 4 May 1916 |
Joseph Mary Plunkett A keen scholar and the son of a papal count, Joseph Plunkett had the benefit of close ties with the literary world, and has left us with some inciteful poetry.
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Francis Sheehy-Skeffington Arrested on Easter Tuesday, 1916, and Shot without trial at Portobello Barracks, April 26th. One of the most senseless tragedies of the Easter Rebellion involved this well-known pacifist writer who took no part in the rising. An ardent supporter of women's rights and a bit of an 'eccentric', Skeffington was arrested along with two other civilians, taken to Portobello Barracks and shortly thereafter shot by firing squad. The orders were given by a mentally unstable British officer, Captain Bowen-Colthurst, who was carrying on his own private campaign against the 'Sinn Feiners'. At first the British tried to cover up Colthurst's actions but continued protests led to his formal court-martial on June 6th. He was found guilty but insane and incarcerated in Broadmoor Criminal Asylum. Colthurst spent 20 months there, then emigrated to Canada to retire on a military pension.
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Eamon de Valera (center) with other anti-treaty members the Dail Eireann during the treaty debates. By walking out of the Dail, de Valera made Civil War inevitable. |
Source: http://islandireland.com/Pages/history/archives/postcards