Pádraig Pearse

Born in Dublin to an English father and an Irish mother, Padraig Pearse was a teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Pearse joined the Gaelic League in its third year, in 1896, and between 1903 and 1909 served as editor of the League's journal, An Claidheamh Soluis. He held a degree in Modern Languages and a B.L. from the King's Inns. He worked as a teacher in various colleges until he and his brother Willie founded St Enda's in 1908, a bilingual secondary school for boys. Pearse published several didactic short story collections in Irish as well as poems, plays and political pamphlets. These include Poll an Piobaire (The Piper's Cave), 1905, Iosagan agus Sgealta Eile (Little Jesus and other Stories), 1907, and the play, An Rí (The King), which was produced in 1912. Pearse was a member both of the Irish Volunteers and of the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood, which he joined in 1913. As a member of the IRB's Supreme Council, and its secret Military Council,he was involved in the planning for a rising during the First World War. On Easter Monday, 24 April, 1916, members of the Irish Volunteers, led by Pearse, and of the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic from the steps of the General Post Office. The Rising was suppressed by the British military after six days of fighting, and Pearse as one of its fourteen leaders was court-martialled. He was shot at dawn on 3 May in the stonebreaker's yard in Kilmainham Jail.