Thomas Clarke was born in 1858 to a catholic mother and a father who was a member of the church of Ireland and a British soldier. When his father retired, the Clarke’s family moved to Duncannon, co. Tyrone. The sectarian tension that was taking place in that area combined with the desire to go against his father’s values probably influenced Clarke’s early fenianist ideas.
He later immigrated to America, where he joined Clann Na gael. In 1884 he was sentenced to prison by the British court for possessing explosives in London. When he was released, he returned to America where he worked for the nationalist journalist John Devoy. Clarke then became the assistant editor of the newspaper: the Gaelic American.
Clarke returned to Ireland just as the IRB were reforming. He helped found the organization's newspaper, Irish Freedom, and helped of Patrick Pearse to achieve promiminince as a nationalist. He was Elected as a member of both the supreme and military councils of the IRB. A nationalist to the end, he was one of the only members of the council who did not want to postpone the rising after the German guns were intercepted, nor did he want to surrender during the rising. Clarke was the first signatory on the proclamation of the Irish republic, and after the rebellion, He was one of the first three rebels to be executed in Kilmainham gaol. he was shot on 3 May 1916.
He later immigrated to America, where he joined Clann Na gael. In 1884 he was sentenced to prison by the British court for possessing explosives in London. When he was released, he returned to America where he worked for the nationalist journalist John Devoy. Clarke then became the assistant editor of the newspaper: the Gaelic American.
Clarke returned to Ireland just as the IRB were reforming. He helped found the organization's newspaper, Irish Freedom, and helped of Patrick Pearse to achieve promiminince as a nationalist. He was Elected as a member of both the supreme and military councils of the IRB. A nationalist to the end, he was one of the only members of the council who did not want to postpone the rising after the German guns were intercepted, nor did he want to surrender during the rising. Clarke was the first signatory on the proclamation of the Irish republic, and after the rebellion, He was one of the first three rebels to be executed in Kilmainham gaol. he was shot on 3 May 1916.
Sean Mac Diarmada
ReplyDelete"Sean MacDiarmada was one of the greatest of the Easter Week leaders. He was not a writer, though he did manage a newspaper. He was so quiet and unassuming that he tends to be forgotten. Yet he was one of the greatest Irishmen that ever lived.”
Sean Mac Diarmada first became involved in republicanism aged 18 shortly after returning from Glasgow. He joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians. They were considered custodians of Irish nationalism. He soon left and joined the Belfast section of the Gaelic league. It was here that he came into contact with the leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, Denis MacCullagh, Sean Mac Garry and Bulmer Hobson. Mac Diarmada's personal charm and sincerity, and his capacity for hard work, made him the obvious choice of the IRB to organise a further extension of republican formations, when they launched the Dungannon clubs about the beginning of the century.
When he moved to Dublin in 1908, he had a long involvement with Sinn Fein, the IRB and the Gaelic league. In 1910 he became a national organizer for the IRB and formed a close bond with Fenian Tom Clarke. Soon afterwards he was struck down with polio and forced to walk with a cane.
Mac Diarmada was one of the original members of the Irish Volunteers, and continued to work to bring that organization under IRB control. In May 1915 Mac Diarmada was arrested in Tuam, County Galway, under the Defense of the Realm Act for giving a speech against enlisting into the British Army.
Following his release in September 1915, he joined the secret Military Committee of the IRB, which was responsible for planning the rising. Mac Diarmada and Clarke are regarded as the two people most responsible for the rising going ahead. Due to his disability, Mac Diarmada took little part in the fighting of Easter week, but was stationed at the headquarters in the General Post Office, where he was second in command under James Connolly. He was the one who read Patrick Pearse’s letter of surrender out of the G.P.O Following the surrender, he nearly escaped execution by blending in with the large body of prisoners.However an Irish detective recognised him in the late evening and commented that he was “the most dangerous man after Clarke”. Sean MacDiarmada was executed on May 12, 1916, the same day as James Connolly. They were the last two to face the firing squad.