As this day ends let all the unrepentant Irish Republicans lift a glass

[The Lone Liberal]

To these heroes of 1916, who gave all for the dream of a free Ireland.


Thomas Clarke was the first, and oldest, signer of the Proclamation. As a veteran revolutionary he had spent 15 years in English jails. From 1910, he had been editor of the anti-British journal Irish Freedom. He was executed on 3 May.

Sean MacDiarmada, manager of Clarke's journal Irish Freedom, was one of the signers of the Proclamation largely responsible for the expansion of the IRB throughout Ireland in the years before the Easter Rising. He was executed on 12 May.

Thomas MacDonagh, educated at University College Dublin, was among the intellectual signers of the Proclamation. He was a reknowned Gaelic scholar, editor of the Irish Review and a teacher at Pearse's St. Enda's College. MacDonagh was executed on 3 May.

Eamonn Ceannt was the musician among the signers of the Proclamation and led the action at the South Dublin Union. He was executed on 8 May.

James Connolly was a socialist, quite active in the Labour movement in the early 1900s, and the author of several pieces of revolutionary literature. He signed the Proclamation and was the commander of the Dublin forces in the Rising and fought in the GPO. His wounds were so severe that he was strapped into a chair for his execution on 12 May.

Joseph Mary Plunkett was the editor of the Irish Review. He married Grace Gifford shortly before his execution on 4 May.

John MacBride was not involved in planning the Easter Rising but was executed on 5 May.

William (Willie) Pearse was Padraic Pearse's loyal younger brother. A sculptor, actor and stage manager, he fought with his brother at the GPO and was executed on 4 May.

Edward (Ned) Daly was the Commandant at the Four Courts and from a family with a tradition of supporting revolution. His father had been in the Fenian Rising in 1867; his uncle had spent 12 years in English jails for his activities; and Thomas Clarke was his brother-in-law. Daly was executed on 4 May.

Michael Mallin was a leader in the Irish Citizens Army and fought at St. Stephen's Green with the Countess Markiewicz. He was executed on 8 May.

Cornelius (Conn) Colbert commanded the garrison at Watkin's Brewery. He was executed on 8 May.

Sean Heuston commanded the Irish Volunteers at Mendicity Institution. He was executed on 8 May.

Michael O'Hanrahan was a novelist with a long family tradition of participation in revolutionary activities. He fought at Jacob's factory and was executed on 4 May.

Padraic Pearse signed and read the Proclamation as President of the Provisional Government of Ireland and Commander-in-Chief of the Republican Forces. Pearse started out not as a revolutionary but as a promoter of Irish language and culture. His bilingual school, St. Enda's College was revolutionary in its own way. A poet, his poem "Mother", written in the hours before his execution on 3 May, captures the feeling of the Easter Rising.

And a special cup for Bobby Sands.

[JohnKleeb]

1. sure thing

:toast: to the fallen. Let us have a united Ireland.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. And another jar for Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa.

Another hero of 1916, though he died before that.

:toast:

[SiobhanClancy]

3. I'll raise a glass to their memories anytime...

:toast:
Also a special toast to my kinsman Michael Collins.

Tiocfaidh Ar La

[The Lone Liberal]

4. I stood in on the murder ground of that cold gray prison

And wept.

[SiobhanClancy]

I did too...

and I wondered how anyone with a heart could help but weep there.

[mmm]

5. I'll raise a pint to that!

[alittlelark]

6. a pint raised to them!!!!

My Nana would be proud(100% Irish). She chose the right time to go........4 days before 9-11 (At 92, mind ya). That's why I was in the air on sept 11. Nana insisted, through all the scotch, that the Muslims and Jews were fighting their war on our soil. She died at just the right time. I reallllllly miss her.

:toast: :beer: :beer:

Happy St Patties day NANA!!!!!:pals: :cry:

[SiobhanClancy]

7. The Proclamation....

in case anyone wants to read it.


POBLACHT NA H EIREANN
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND

IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN:

In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.


Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.


We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the last three hundred years they have asserted it to arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.


The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.


Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.


We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God. Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, in humanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Signed on Behalf of the Provisional Government.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. One hell of a bit of writing.

Thanks, Siobhan.

[The Lone Liberal]

10. A copy of that hangs in my office.

"In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called."

Words to remember.

[dflprincess]

8. The poem Padraic Pearse wrote for his mother before

he and Will were executed

'The Mother'

I do not grudge them: Lord, I do not grudge
My two strong sons that I have seen go out
To break their strength and die, they and a few,
In bloody protest for a glorious thing,
They shall be spoken of among their people,
The generations shall remember them,
And call them blessed;
But I will speak their names to my own heart
In the long nights;
The little names that were familiar once
Round my dead hearth.
Lord, thou art hard on mothers:
We suffer in their coming and their going;
And tho' I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow--And yet I have my joy:
My sons were faithful, and they fought.

-- Padraic H. Pearse

I remember hearing Rose Kennedy recite this once.

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. Unrepentant Fenian Bastard!

I am! I am! LOL.

Disclaimer: My parents were married nearly 15 years before I was born. This is not to cast aspersions on them.

http://www.seanchai.com/t_b.htm#UFBshirt

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

12. Let's remember these fine Irish.

They are a part of my heritage :toast:

[nemo137]

13. Also to Sir Roger Casement

hell of a man. exposed brutality (the real life kurtzes) in thecongo and the amazon, and then organized, bought arms, and sought support of a free Ireland. The british knighted him for the first and hanged him for the second.

[maveric]

14. I take it that you are not a Michael Collins fan.

He was also executed, but by his own people.(DeValara)