1916 Portraits and Lives

Augustine Birrell, chief secretary for Ireland, was born 19 January 1850 near Liverpool, son of Charles Birrell, Baptist minister, and Harriet Jane Birrell (née Grey), of Edinburgh. A legacy enabled him to study law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating BA (1872). He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple (1875) and took silk in 1895. He was Quain professor of law at University College, London (1896–9). His talents were, however, as much literary as legal, and while developing a strong practice at the bar he also became a noted essayist and bibliophile.

Birrell was elected as MP...

Winifred (‘Winnie’) Carney, trade unionist, feminist, and republican, was born Maria Winifred Carney on 4 December 1887 at Fisher’s Hill, Bangor, Co. Down, youngest child among three sons and three daughters of Alfred Carney, commercial traveller, and Sarah Carney (née Cassidy; d. 1933). Her father was a Protestant and her mother a Catholic; the children were reared as Catholics. After her birth her parents moved to Belfast and separ ated during her childhood. Her father went to London and little more was heard from him; her mother supported the family by running a sweetshop on the Falls Road. Winifred was...

Roger David Casement, humanitarian and Irish nationalist, was born 1 September 1864 in Sandycove, near Dublin, youngest child among one daughter and three sons of Roger Casement, retired army officer, and Anne Casement (née Jephson). He was brought up as a member of the Church of Ireland, although his Catholic mother arranged for her children to be baptised secretly in her own faith. After her death (1873) the family moved to Co. Antrim, where Roger was educated in the Ballymena diocesan school. When his father died (1877) the children were left in straitened circumstances and became wards in chancery. Roger...

Éamonn Ceannt, revolutionary and Irish Irelander, was born Edward Thomas Kent on 21 September 1881 in Ballymoe, Glenamaddy, Co. Galway, sixth among seven children (six boys and a girl) of James Kent (1841– 1912), RIC constable originally of Co. Tipperary, and his wife Johanna (née Galwey) (d. 1895) of Co. Cork. In 1883 James Kent was transferred to Ardee, Co. Louth, where Edward attended the De La Salle national school. He was a shy and studious boy, who enjoyed fishing, birdwatching and long walks in the countryside. After five years in Ardee, the family moved to Drogheda, where Edward attended...

Thomas James (‘Tom’) Clarke, revolutionary, was born 11 March 1858 in Hurst Castle, Isle of Wight, eldest child among two sons and two daughters of James Clarke (b. 1830) of Carrigallen, Co. Leitrim, bombardier in the Royal Artillery, and Mary Clarke (née Palmer) of Clogheen, Co. Tipperary. His father was an Anglican and his mother a Catholic, and Thomas was baptised a Catholic. In April 1859 James Clarke was posted to South Africa and took his family. In 1867 he was sent to Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, and quit the army on 26 December 1868 with the rank of sergeant. Thomas...

Cornelius (‘Con’) Colbert, republican revolutionary and soldier, was born 19 October 1888 in Moanlena, Castlemahon, Newcastlewest, Co. Limerick, son of Michael Colbert, small farmer, native of Athea, Co. Limerick, and Honora Colbert (née MacDermott), originally of Cooraclare, Co. Clare. His family on both sides had a tradition of Fenian and nationalist activity. When he was about three the family moved to Athea, where they resided in Galeview House, and his father farmed part of the old Colbert lands at Templeathea. He attended Athea national school, save for a brief period when, while living with relatives in Ballysteen, he attended Kilcolman...

John Colthurst Bowen-Colthurst, army officer and murderer, was born John Colthurst Bowen in Cork on 12 August 1880, eldest son of Robert Walter Travers Bowen JP (who changed the family name to Bowen-Colthurst in 1882 to meet the terms of a relative’s will) and his wife, Georgina (née Greer). He was a cousin of the novelist Elizabeth Bowen and his mother approached Bowen’s father for legal assistance when her son faced court martial in 1916. Bowen-Colthurst was educated in Germany, at Haileybury School in Hertford (1894–8), and at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (1898–9), where he came second in his...

James Connolly, socialist and revolutionary leader, was born in Cowgate, Edinburgh, on 5 June 1868, the youngest in a family of three boys. Hisfather, John Connolly, and his mother, Mary McGinn, were both bornin Ireland in 1833, possibly in Co. Monaghan, and emigrated to Scotland. From their marriage in St Patrick’s parish, Cowgate, in 1856, they lived among the Irish immigrant community in that slum quarter of Edinburgh where John worked as a manure carter for the city council. Mary was a domestic servant who died at the age of fifty-eight in 1891; her husband survived her by nine years...

Sean Connolly, actor, trade unionist, and republican, was born 12 April 1882 at 10 Seafort Avenue, Sandymount, Dublin, third child and eldest son among eight daughters and eight sons of Michael Connolly, seaman, and Mary Connolly (née Ellis). When his father ceased seafaring to work on the Dublin docks, the family moved to the northside city centre, firstly to Bella Street, where his mother practiced midwifery and ran a groundfloor shop in their home, secondly to Gloucester Street (latterly Sean MacDermott Street). Educated at North William Street national school and St Joseph’s CBS, Fairview, he entered Eason’s stationers as a...

Edward Daly, republican, was born 28 February 1891 at 26 Frederick Street, Limerick city, the only son and youngest among ten children of Edward Daly (1848–90), Fenian and wood-measurer, and Catherine Daly (née O’Mara), dressmaker. An uncle, John Daly, had acted as national organiser for the IRB until imprisoned in 1884. Edward’s sister Kathleen married the IRB leader Tom Clarke. The family endured some financial insecurity in his infancy until provided for by another uncle, James Daly, an emigrant returned from Australia in great prosperity. His upbringing was profoundly coloured by the Fenian nationalism of mother, aunt, and sisters, praying...

Helen Ruth (‘Nellie’) Gifford Donnelly, republican activist, was born 9 November 1880 at 26 Cabra Parade, Phibsborough, Dublin, fifth child and second eldest daughter among six daughters and six sons of Frederick Gifford (1835/6–1917), a well-to-do solicitor, and Isabella Julia Gifford (née Burton; 1847/8–1932). Her father, a Catholic, reared by maternal aunts in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, after his mother died at his birth, was probably the illegitimate son of a father who left anonymous instructions regarding his education for the law, which was financed by the solicitors’ benevolent fund. Commencing practice c. 1877, he had offices at 5...

Sir Ivor Churchill Guest, 3rd baronet and 1st Viscount Wimborne, lord lieutenant of Ireland (1915–18), was born 16 January 1873 in London, eldest of five sons of Sir Ivor Bertie Guest (1835–1914), 1st Baron Wimborne, and his wife, Cornelia Henrietta Maria, eldest daughter of John Winston Spencer Churchill, 7th duke of Marlborough. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not graduate. As captain and honorary major in the Dorset Imperial Yeomanry, he saw service in the Boer war. After unsuccessfully contesting Plymouth as a Conservative in 1898, he was returned unopposed for that constituency...

Seán (John J.) Heuston, revolutionary, was born 21 February 1891 in Dublin, the son of John Heuston, clerk, and Maria Heuston (née McDonald) of 24 Lower Gloucester Street. Educated locally by the Christian Brothers, he did well in the intermediate examination and in 1908 began working for the Great Southern and Western Railway Company (GSWR) as a clerk and was posted to Limerick. In 1910 he joined Na Fianna Éireann, the republican boy scout movement, and helped build up a Fianna troop in Limerick of over 250 boys. Transferring to Dublin in 1913 with the GSWR, he continued to work...

(John) Bulmer Hobson, nationalist, was born 14 January 1883 at 5 Magdala Street, Belfast, the son of Benjamin Hobson, a grocer who was from a Quaker family established in Ireland since the time of Oliver Cromwell, and his wife, Mary Ann Bulmer, a Yorkshire radical.

Hobson’s father was a Gladstonean home ruler. His mother was active in the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club (lecturing on archaeology) and the suffragette movement. Her friends included Ada MacNeill, a member of the Gaelic League, who maintained a lifelong connection with Hobson. (He later mistakenly claimed that MacNeill was the fiancée of Roger Casement.) Mary...

Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone, soldier, DMP commissioner, and sportsman, was born at Kingstown, Co. Dublin, the eldest son of Robert Johnstone (1806–85), QC and county court judge, of Laputa, Co. Donegal, and his wife Doris (née Tivy). In 1838 a member of the Johnstone family had married into the Edgeworth family of Kilshrewley, Co. Longford (not the Edgeworths of Edgeworthstown), and subsequently some family members had taken the name Edgeworth-Johnstone. Educated at St Columba’s College, Walter entered TCD in 1880, graduating BA in 1884. He played rugby and cricket for TCD, and played once for Ireland at rugby in 1884. After...

Thomas Kent (Ceannt), farmer, land agitator, and nationalist revolutionary, was born 29 August 1865 in Bawnard House, Castlelyons, near Fermoy, Co. Cork, fourth among seven sons and two daughters of David Kent, a substantial farmer (leasing 200 acres), and Mary Kent (née Rice). He received a national school education locally, and worked on his father’s farm, until being sent at age nineteen to Boston to join two brothers who had emigrated previously. There he worked with a Catholic publishing and church furnishing firm, and participated in Irish cultural activities. Returning to Cork in 1889/90, he immediately became actively involved in...

Kathleen Lynn, medical practitioner and political activist, was born 28 January 1874 in Mullafarry, near Cong, Co. Mayo, second oldest of three daughters and one son of Robert Lynn, Church of Ireland clergyman, and Catherine Lynn (née Wynne) of Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo. Despite aristocratic relations and a comfortable upbringing, her professional career was primarily concerned with the less well-off. Lynn’s Mayo childhood, where poverty coincided with land agitation, may have motivated her to seek political and pragmatic solutions to socio-economic deprivation. After education in Manchester and Düsseldorf, she attended Alexandra College, Dublin. She graduated from Cecilia Street (the Catholic University...

John MacBride, officer in the Boer army and republican, was born 7 May 1865 at Westport, Co. Mayo, the youngest of the five sons of Patrick MacBride and his wife, Honoria (née Gill), shopkeepers in the town. MacBride was educated at the Christian Brothers’ school in Westport and at St Malachy’s College, Belfast. A small, wiry, red-headed man, with grey eyes and a long nose, ‘Foxy Jack’ MacBride worked as a young man in a draper’s shop in Castlerea, Co, Roscommon; he also involved himself in the GAA and the IRB in Mayo. When he moved to Dublin, to...

Seán Mac Diarmada (MacDermott), republican revolutionary, was born John Joseph McDermott in January 1883 (baptised 29 January) in Corranmore (Laghty Barr), Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim, eighth child and third son among five sons and five daughters of Donald McDermott (d. 1913), a small farmer and carpenter, and Mary McDermott (née McMorrow) (d. 1892), native of the nearby townland of Ardmoneen (Loughros Barr). Educated at Corracloona national school, he studied by correspondence course for a king’s scholarship to train as a teacher, but twice failed the examination owing to deficiency at mathematics. After working briefly and unhappily as a gardener in Edinburgh...

Thomas MacDonagh, teacher, writer, and republican revolutionary, was born 1 February 1878 in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary, third child and eldest son among six surviving children (four sons and two daughters; three elder children had died in infancy) of Joseph MacDonagh (1834–94), native of Co. Roscommon, and Mary MacDonagh (née Parker), Dublin native of English parentage (her father had moved to Dublin to become compositor in Greek for Trinity College Press); both were national school teachers. His father (who claimed descent from the medieval Mac Donnchadha clan of Ballymote castle, Co. Sligo), the son of a small farmer, received through...

Eoin (John) MacNeill, Gaelic scholar and nationalist politician, was born 15 May 1867 in Glenarm, Co. Antrim, sixth of eight children of Archibald MacNeill, baker, sailor and merchant, and his wife Rosetta (née Macauley).

MacNeill was profoundly influenced by his upbringing in the Glens of Antrim, a Catholic enclave which still retained some Irish-language traditions and was to become a major focus for Ulster-based Gaelic revivalists (especially in the period before the Great War). The fact that local Protestants shared with Catholics a veneration for St Patrick based on his association with Slemish, the existence of a few Irish-speaking Presbyterians...

Peter Paul (‘Peadar’) Macken, trade unionist and revolutionary, was born 29 June 1878 at 13 Nassau Place (now part of the Setanta building, Nassau Street), Dublin, youngest of three children of George Macken, house painter, and Anne Macken (née Shanahan) (d. 1901), both of whom were originally from Portarlington, Queen’s Co. (Laois). He had two older sisters. His father was a strong nationalist and treasurer of the Regular Operative House Painters’ Trade Union, and president of its successor, the Dublin Metropolitan House Painters’ Trade Union (DMHPTU). Educated at CBS, Westland Row, where he was a contemporary of Patrick Pearse, Peter...

Michael Thomas Mallin, trade unionist and revolutionary, was born 1 December 1874 at Ward’s Hill in the Liberties in Dublin, the eldest of six surviving children (four boys and two girls) of John Mallin, a boatwright and carpenter, and his wife Sarah (née Dowling), a silk winder. He was educated at Denmark Street national school, Dublin, and on 21 October 1889 joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers (in which his uncle James Dowling was a pay sergeant) as a drummer boy, enlisting for twelve years, and was stationed at the Curragh. On 1 June 1891 he was promoted to drummer (the...

Constance Georgine Markievicz, Countess Markievicz, republican and labour activist, was born 4 February 1868 at Buckingham Gate, London, eldest of the three daughters and two sons of Sir Henry Gore-Booth of Lissadell, Co. Sligo, philanthropist and explorer, and Georgina Mary Gore-Booth (née Hill) of Tickhill Castle, Yorkshire. She was taken to the family house at Lisadell as an infant, and retained a strong attachment to the west of Ireland despite her frequent sojourns in Dublin and abroad.

She was born into a life of privilege. Descended from seventeenthcentury planters, the Gore-Booths were leading landowners who entertained lavishly at Lissadell, and...

Sir John Grenfell Maxwell, soldier, was born 12 July 1859 at Aigburth, Liverpool, second son of Robert Maxwell, merchant, and his wife, Maria Emma Maxwell, daughter of Vice-Admiral John Pascoe Grenfell. He was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst (1878–9), and commissioned into the 42nd foot (the Black Watch) in 1879. Nicknamed ‘Conky’ because of his large nose, Maxwell spent most of his military career in Egypt. He served during the 1882 Egyptian war, and in the Gordon relief expedition of 1884–5. He was on the staff of his cousin General Sir Francis Grenfell...

Helena Molony, actress, republican, trade unionist, and feminist, was born 15 January 1883 at 8 Coles Lane, off Henry Street, Dublin, the younger of one daughter and one son of Michael Moloney, grocer, of that address, and Catherine Moloney (née McGrath). Orphaned at an early age, she had an unhappy relationship with her stepmother, whom her father had married shortly before his death. Helena probably received a Catholic secondary-school education. Throughout adult life she styled her surname ‘Molony’, though some sources erroneously employ the spelling ‘Moloney’. Self-described in reminiscence as ‘a young girl dreaming about Ireland’ (Fox (1935), 120), she...

Sir Matthew Nathan, soldier and administrator, was born 3 January 1862, second son among nine children of Jonah Nathan and Miriam Nathan (née Jacobs) of London. Both his parents were Jewish; his father—of German origin and a partner in the paper-making firm of Thomas de la Rue—had one son from a previous marriage. Miriam Nathan, 25 years younger than Jonah, exercised a substantial influence on her children’s education (they were tutored at home) and their careers. Nathan was commissioned in the Royal Engineers (1880), with an outstanding record as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After...

Richard O’Carroll, trade unionist and revolutionary nationalist, was probably the ‘Richard Carroll’ born 29 February 1876 at 6 Hanover Square, near the north quays, Dublin, son of Richard Carroll, labourer, of that address, and Mary Carroll (née Keogh). A bricklayer by trade, in 1906 (on the crest of a rank-and-file revolt following a divisive lockout of Dublin bricklayers the preceding year) he was elected general secretary of the Ancient Guild of Incorporated Brick and Stonelayers Trade Union. Instilling the body with a renewed vitality, he rebuilt its strength and extended its organisation beyond the Dublin region; by 1913 he had...

Elizabeth O’Farrell, republican and nurse, was born at 42 City Quay, Dublin, the youngest of two daughters of Christopher Farrell, a dock labourer, and his wife Margaret, a housekeeper. She was educated locally by the Sisters of Mercy. The 1911 census recorded her as living at 17 Hastings Street, Ringsend, with her married sister and widowed mother. As a child she formed a lifelong friendship with Julia (Sighle, Sheila) Grenan (1884–1972), the second of three children (two boys and a girl) of Patrick Grenan, a joiner; the Grenans lived in Lombard Street, near Elizabeth’s childhood home. Julia was also...

Michael O’Hanrahan (Micheál Ó hAnnracháin), nationalist, journalist, and author, was born 16 January 1877 in New Ross, Co. Wexford, one of six sons and three daughters of Richard O’Hanrahan, a cork cutter, and Mary O’Hanrahan (née Williams), both of New Ross. The family were of known Fenian tendencies; his father had supposedly taken part in the 1867 rising. When Michael was young, the family moved to Carlow town, where they lived at 91 Tullow Street. He was educated at Carlow CBS, then attended Carlow College Academy. Joining the Gaelic League in 1898, he founded its first branch in Carlow, becoming...

Michael Joseph O’Rahilly (‘The O’Rahilly’), nationalist and journalist, was born at Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, on 22 April 1875, third child and only son of Richard Rahilly, businessman and magistrate, and his wife Ellen (née Mangan); his father claimed collateral descent from the poet Aodhagan Ó Rathaille, his mother from James Clarence Mangan. He was related to the McEllistrim Fianna Fáil political dynasty.

The young Michael Rahilly was educated at Ballylongford girls’ national school (1880–82), Ballylongford boys’ national school (1882–9), learning Irish after school hours, and Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare (1890–93); he started to study medicine at...

Patrick Henry Pearse, writer, educationalist, and revolutionary, was born 10 November 1879 at the family home, 27 Great Brunswick Street (latterly Pearse Street), Dublin, the elder son and second of the four child-ren of James Pearse, stone carver and monumental sculptor, originally of London, and his second wife, Margaret, a shop assistant, daughter of Patrick Brady, coal factor, of Dublin.

He was educated at Mrs Murphy’s private school (1887–91), and the CBS, Westland Row (1891–6). Already convinced of the centrality of the Irish language to a distinctive Irish identity, he joined the Gaelic League in 1896. His father’s...

William (‘Willie’) Pearse, revolutionary and sculptor, was born 15 November 1881 at 27 Great Brunswick Street (Pearse Street), Dublin, second son among two sons and two daughters of James Pearse, a monumental sculptor originally from London, and his second wife, Margaret Pearse (née Brady), a shop assistant from Dublin. From childhood Willie was devoted to his older brother, Patrick. In 1891 the Pearse brothers entered CBS, Westland Row. Willie possessed limited academic ability and was frequently physically chastised in school, contributing to his brother’s distaste for corporal punishment. He was considered artistic-ally talented, however, and natural heir to the family...

Mary (Máire, Marie) Perolz, republican and trade unionist, was born 7 May 1874 in Market Alley, Limerick city, daughter of Richard Perolz, a Dublin-born, Protestant printer of French Huguenot origin, and Bridget Perolz (née Carter), a Catholic. The family moved to Tralee, Co. Kerry, and then to Cork city, where her father worked on theCork Examiner. Reared a Catholic, Mary was educated by the Mercy sisters in Tralee, and the Presentation sisters in Cork and in Dublin, where she completed her schooling at George’s Hill Convent. Strongly nationalist under the influence of the Presentation nuns, she joined the Gaelic...

Joseph Mary Plunkett, poet, journalist, and revolutionary, was born 21 November 1887 at 26 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, second child and eldest son among three sons and four daughters of George Noble Plunkett (1851–1948), man of letters, barrister, art historian, nationalist, and papal count, and Mary Josephine Plunkett (née Cranny) (1858–1944). Born into the Catholic branch of a family prominent in Ireland for some six centuries—the martyred bishop Oliver Plunkett, co-operativist Sir Horace Plunkett, and writer Lord Dunsany were all noteworthy kinsmen—Plunkett enjoyed the most moneyed background of the eventual leaders of the 1916 rebellion. His...

John Edward Redmond, Parnellite and leader of the Irish parliamentary party (1900–18), was born 1 September 1856 in Dublin, third child among two daughters and two sons of William Archer Redmond, a member of a Catholic gentry family in Co. Wexford, and Mary Redmond (née Hoey), who belonged to a Protestant and unionist family from Co. Wicklow. He lived for part of his youth in Ballytrent House, near Rosslare, Co. Wexford. His great-uncle John Edward Redmond had been MP for Wexford borough (1859–65), and his father held the same seat (1872–80). Politics was in his blood. As...

Desmond Ryan, journalist, historian and republican socialist, was born 27 August 1893 in Dulwich, London, one of at least two children of William Patrick Ryan, journalist and radical, native of Templemore, Co. Tipperary, and Elizabeth Ryan (née Boyd). The family moved to Navan, Co. Meath, in 1906 during his father’s brief and controversial editorship of theIrish Peasant, and lived thereafter in Dublin. Educated initially at Christian Brothers’ schools in Dulwich and Westland Row, Dublin, Desmond was deeply influenced by his father’s literary interests and courageous espousal of a post-Parnellite, anticlerical, pro-labour brand of nationalism. He was one of...

Francis Shaw, Jesuit priest, Celtic scholar and historical polemicist, was born 26 March 1907 in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, the fourth child among four sons and two daughters of Patrick Walter Shaw (1872–1940), merchant, and his wife Mary ‘Minnie’ (née Galligan). The Shaws were a leading Mullingar business dynasty; Patrick Walter Shaw owned several premises in the town (and a number of racehorses) and sat on a number of public bodies, including Mullingar town commissioners and Westmeath County Council; he chaired Westmeath County Board of Health. In local politics, the Shaw family formed a distinctive faction independent of both the...

Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, radical, was born Francis Skeffington on 23 December 1878, in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan, only child of Joseph Bartholomew Skeffington, inspector of schools, and his wife Rose (née Magorian). He was brought up in Downpatrick, Co. Down. Educated privately by his father, he was emotionally closer to his mother, who came from a poor farming family and was eighteen years older than the forceful husband whose condescension she endured. J. B. Skeffington believed education, logic and discipline solved all problems, and his son brought these characteristics into conflict with some of his father’s beliefs. From the time he was...

Margaret Skinnider, republican, teacher, and trade unionist, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to immigrant parents from Co. Monaghan. Qualifying as a teacher at Craiglockhart, she taught mathematics in Glasgow’s Hillhead district. Active in the women’s suffrage movement, she joined the Glasgow branches of both the Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan (c. 1914). At the outbreak of the first world war, she joined a women’s rifle club, becoming an expert shot. Invited to Dublin at Christmas 1915 by Countess Markievicz, who had heard of her Glasgow activities, she smuggled detonators concealed in her hat, then tested them with Markievicz in...