No Ordinary Women

No Ordinary Women

Author: Sinéad McCoole

Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780299195007

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"Constance Markievicz had some advice for women activists: 'Leave your jewels in the bank, and buy a revolver.' Most of the women who became involved in the fight for Ireland's freedom did not have jewels to swap for guns, but the change in their circumstances and lives would be just as radical. Setting aside their roles as dutiful daughters, wives, and mothers, they became dispatch carriers, gunrunners, spies. Guns in hand, they fought alongside their male comrades in arms, displaying a courage and resolution that astonished and sometimes offended public opinion of the time." "What they were doing was considered 'unladylike and disreputable' - a notion that explains why their stories became hidden histories; in many cases families were unaware that their great-aunts and grannies had prison records." "But the evidence is there in their prison diaries and autograph books, in the graffiti that remain on the walls of Kilmainham Gaol, and in the archive lists of women prisoners of 1916, the War of Independence, and the Civil War. From this wealth of material and interviews with survivors, Sinead McCoole has produced a portrait of the girls and women whose indomitable spirit overcame hunger strikes, harsh prison conditions, and the tragedy of huge personal loss."--BOOK JACKET.


James Connolly

James Connolly

Author: Austen Morgan

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780719029585

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Secret Court Martial Records

Secret Court Martial Records

Author: Brian Barton

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2010-03-23

Total Pages: 511

ISBN-13: 0750959053

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Following the suppression of the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916, the British Army court-martialled almost 200 prisoners. Around ninety of them received death sentences, but the death penalty was confirmed only for the fifteen men considered to be the leaders. All fifteen were executed. Until 1999, official British records of these fifteen trials were kept a close secret, and in 2001 further material was released, including the trial of Countess Markievicz and important evidence about the shoot to kill tactics used by the British Army. These records, the subject of heated speculation and propaganda for over eighty years, are clearly presented in this important new edition of From Behind a Closed Door, containing previously unpublished material from archive sources, such as the Bureau of Military History witness statements. The complete transcripts are all revealed, together with fascinating photographs of the Rising, the fifteen leaders and the key British players. Brian Barton incisive commentary explains the context of the trials and the motivations of the leaders, providing an invaluable insight into what went on behind closed doors at a defining moment in Irish history.


Big Fellow, Long Fellow. A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera

Big Fellow, Long Fellow. A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera

Author: T. Ryle Dwyer

Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd

Published: 2006-09-12

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0717157466

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Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera were the two most charismatic leaders of the Irish revolution. This joint biography looks first at their very different upbringings and early careers. Both fought in the 1916 Easter Rising , although it is almost certain they did not meet during that tumultuous week. Their first encounter came when Collins had been released from jail after the rising but de Valera was still inside. Collins was one of those who wanted to run a Sinn Féin candidate in the Longford by-election of 1917. De Valera and other leaders opposed this initiative but the Collins group went ahead anyway and the candidate won narrowly. The incident typified the relationship between the two men: they were vastly different in temperament and style. But it was precisely in their differences and contradictions that their fascination lay. De Valera, the political pragmatist, hoped to secure independence through political agitation, whereas the ambitious Collins, with his restless temperament and boundless energy, was an impassioned patriot who believed in terror and assassination. T. Ryle Dwyer examines the years, 1917-22 through the twists and turns of their careers. In an epilogue, he considers the legacy of Collins on de Valera's political life.


Executed for Ireland:The Patrick Moran Story

Executed for Ireland:The Patrick Moran Story

Author: May Moran

Publisher: Mercier Press Ltd

Published: 2010-07-01

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1781171173

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Born in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, Patrick Moran lived most of his adult life in Dublin where he took an active part in the GAA, the Gaelic League, the Trade Unions and the Irish Volunteers. He was an active participant in the 1916 Rising and was deported to England after the surrender. On his return in August 1916 he renewed his interest in football and hurling, became a founder member of the Grocers, Vintners and Allied Trades Assistants and he helped to reorganise the Volunteers in Dublin and in his native Roscommon. He was arrested following the assassinations of British Intelligence Officers in Dublin on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920, and was finally charged and convicted by a court martial for the murder of Lieutenants Ames and Bennett. He was executed by hanging in March 1921 amid calls from civil and religious leaders for the King of England to exercise the Prerogative of Mercy in an upsurge of overwhelming belief that he was innocent. But was he?


James Connolly, A Full Life

James Connolly, A Full Life

Author: Donal Nevin

Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd

Published: 2005-08-30

Total Pages: 1099

ISBN-13: 071716277X

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'Hasn't it been a full life, Lillie, and isn't this a good end?', were James Connolly's last words to his wife in Dublin Castle in the early hours of 12 May 1916 just before his execution for his part in leading the Easter Rising. James Connolly, the son of Irish immigrants, was born in Edinburgh. The first fourteen years of his life were spent in Edinburgh and the next seven years in the King's Liverpool Regiment in Ireland. In 1889, he returned to Edinburgh where he was a socialist activist and organiser for seven years. In 1896, at the age of 28, he was invited to Dublin as socialist organiser, founding the Irish Republican Socialist Party and editing The Workers' Republic. Connolly spent seven years in America between 1903 and 1910, returning to Ireland in 1910 as organiser of the Socialist Party of Ireland. Connolly was appointed Ulster Organiser of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union by James Larkin, succeeding him as acting general secretary in October 1914. As Commander of the Irish Citizen Army, Connolly joined with leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in the Easter Rising in 1916, becoming Commandant-General of the Dublin Division of the Army of the Republic and Vice-President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic. For their part in the Easter Rising, Connolly and thirteen of his fellow revolutionaries were executed in Kilmainham Gaol by the British government. Connolly, the last to be executed, was wounded in the Rising and had to be strapped to a chair to face the firing squad. This biography deals with Connolly's activities as soldier, agitator, propagandist, orator, socialist organiser, pamphleteer, trade union leader, insurgent, and traces the evolution of his political thinking as social democrat, revolutionist, syndicalist, revolutionary socialist, insurrectionist. It is based largely on Connolly's prolific writings in twenty-seven journals in Scotland, England, Ireland, France and America, and some 200 letters which are particularly revealing of his relationships with colleagues. James Connolly is the very best survey of Connolly's remarkable life and times. James Connolly, A Full Life: Table of Contents Preface by Des Geraghty - PART I Edinburgh 1868–1882 - PART II Ireland 1882–1889 - PART III Edinburgh 1889–1896: Social Democrat - PART IV Dublin 1890–1903: Revolutionist - PART V America 1903–1910: Syndicalist - PART VI Writings - PART VII Ireland 1910–1916 The Red and the Green: Revolutionary Socialist–Insurrectionist - PART VIII Revolutionary Thinker - APPENDICES


Dublin Burning: The Easter Rising From Behind the Barricades

Dublin Burning: The Easter Rising From Behind the Barricades

Author: W.J. Brennan-Whitmore

Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd

Published: 2013-09-06

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0717159280

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Dublin Burning is a vivid, clear-eyed account of the 1916 Rising and is the most complete account we have from a senior participant. No other senior Volunteer figure has left a similar memoir of Easter Week. Commandant W.J. Brennan-Whitmore was officer commanding the Volunteer position at the head of North Earl Street, an outworking of the GPO garrison. Its purpose was to delay and frustrate any attempt by the British to deploy reinforcements coming from Amiens Street railway station (now Connolly). Commandant Brennan-Whitmore and his men held this position for over seventy-two hours until forced out by British artillery. He and his troops attempted to retreat northwards through the slums, hoping to reach the safety of the suburbs. But he and his men were not Dubliners and were unfamiliar with the city. They were captured in a tenement where they had taken refuge and were interned in Frongoch in Wales until 1917. Brennan-Whitmore's book is a unique document, one of the most valuable accounts of the Rising available to us.


The Donegal Awakening

The Donegal Awakening

Author: Liam Ó Duibhir

Publisher: Mercier Press Ltd

Published: 2009-06-14

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1781170010

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In this new book, Liam Ó Duibhir charts the struggle for independence, both militarily and politically, in Donegal from before the events of Easter 1916 until the truce in 1921.Donegal has long been seen as one of the quietest counties during the War of Independence but this reputation belies an intriguing story of how republican sentiment grew in the county. From the first mention of Sinn Féin, through the conscription crisis and the success of the 1918 elections, Ó Duibhir charts the rise of the new political leadership in Donegal and how they built their own system of justice and local government.Alongside the practical politics, he also highlights the role of the IRB and the activities of the volunteers in resisting and thwarting the British efforts to retain control and impose order. Featuring new information and a fresh look at events of the period, The Donegal Awakening offers an updated account of this crucial period.