Joseph Plunkett Seosamh Pluincéid | |
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| Born | (1887-12-21)21 December 1887 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 4 May 1916(1916-05-04) (aged 28) Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Buried | Arbour Hill Prison, Dublin |
| Allegiance | Irish Volunteers Irish Republican Brotherhood |
| Years of service | 1913–1916 |
| Rank | Commandant[1] |
| Unit | Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers |
| Commands | General Post Office, Dublin |
| Battles / wars | Easter Rising |
| Spouse(s) | Grace Gifford (m. 4 May 1916) |
Joseph Mary Plunkett (Irish:Seosamh Máire Pluincéid; 21 November 1887 – 4 May 1916) was anIrish republican, poet and journalist. As a leader of the 1916Easter Rising, he was one of the seven signatories to theProclamation of the Irish Republic. Plunkett marriedGrace Gifford in 1916, seven hours before his execution.
Plunkett was born at 26 Upper Fitzwilliam Street in one ofDublin's most affluent districts.[2] Both his parents came from wealthy backgrounds,[3] and his father,George Noble Plunkett, had been made apapal count.[4]
Plunkett contractedtuberculosis (TB) at a young age and spent part of his youth in the warmer climates of theMediterranean andNorth Africa. He spent time inAlgiers where he studiedArabic literature andlanguage and composed poetry in Arabic.[5] He was educated at theCatholic University School (CUS) and by theJesuits atBelvedere College in Dublin and later atStonyhurst College, inLancashire, England where he acquired some military knowledge from theOfficers' Training Corps. Throughout his life, Joseph Plunkett took an active interest in Irish heritage and theIrish language, and also studiedEsperanto. Plunkett was one of the founders of the Irish Esperanto Association in 1907.[6] He joined theGaelic League and began studying withThomas MacDonagh, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. The two were both poets with an interest in theatre, and both were early members of theIrish Volunteers, joining their provisional committee. Plunkett's interest in Irish nationalism spread throughout his family, notably to his younger brothers George and John, as well as his father, who allowed his property inKimmage, southDublin, to be used as a training camp for young men who wished to escape conscription in Britain during theFirst World War.
Sometime in 1915, Joseph Plunkett joined theIrish Republican Brotherhood and soon after was sent to Germany to meet withRoger Casement, who was negotiating with the German government on behalf of Ireland. Casement's role as emissary was self-appointed, and, as he was not a member of the IRB, that organisation's leadership wished to have one of their own contact Germany to negotiate German aid for an uprising the following year. He was seeking (but not limiting himself to) a shipment of arms. Casement, on the other hand, spent most of his energies recruiting Irishprisoners of war in Germany to form a brigade to fight instead for Ireland. Some nationalists in Ireland saw this as a fruitless endeavour and preferred to seek weapons. Plunkett successfully got a promise of a German arms shipment to coincide with the Rising.
According toErnest Blythe, Plunkett's republicanism did not prevent him from suggesting, at a briefing of Irish Volunteer organisers in January 1915, that in certain circumstances it would be in Irish interests for a German Catholic prince to be crownedking of Ireland, nor did anyone present object.[7] During theEaster Rising, Plunkett andPatrick Pearse argued in a conversation withDesmond Fitzgerald that it would be beneficial forPrince Joachim of Prussia to be crowned king.[8]
Plunkett was one of the original members of the IRB Military Committee that was responsible for planning the Easter Rising, and it was largely his plan that was followed. Shortly before the rising was to begin, Plunkett was hospitalised following a turn for the worse in his health. He had an operation on his neck glands (probablygoiter[citation needed]) days before Easter and had to struggle out of bed to take part in what was to follow. Still bandaged, he took his place in theGeneral Post Office with several other of the rising's leaders such as Patrick Pearse andTom Clarke, though his health prevented him from being active.
Margaret Skinnider recalls that during Easter Week he was "pale and weak" and "looked like death".[9]
Hisaide de camp andbodyguard was the then 25-year-oldMichael Collins.
Following the surrender, Plunkett was held inKilmainham Gaol, and faced acourt martial. Just after the rising on the 3rd of May, Thomas McDonagh was executed and Grace received news that Joseph was to be executed the following morning. Grace purchased a ring from a jeweller in Dublin and persuaded a priest to let her marry Joseph before his execution. Grace and Joseph were married in the prison chapel in Kilmainham jail, just hours before his death. There were only two witnesses (guards John Smith and John Lockerby) in addition to the priest. Grace was awoken at 2 am and taken back to the jail where they had their final meeting. With a guard counting down the 15 minutes they had together, Joseph was executed soon after along with the other 13 leaders.
His brothersGeorge Oliver Plunkett and Jack Plunkett joined him in theEaster Rising and later became importantIRA men. His father's cousin,Horace Plunkett, was aProtestant andunionist who sought to reconcile unionists and nationalists. Horace Plunkett's home was burned down by theAnti-Treaty IRA during theCivil War.
Plunkett named his sister,Geraldine, the literary executor of his will. She published a volume of his poetry a month after his execution in June 1916.[10]
The main railway station inWaterford City is named after him as was Joseph Plunkett Tower inBallymun which has since been demolished. Plunkett barracks in theCurragh Camp, County Kildare is also named after him.
The Irish ballad "Grace", written by Seán and Frank O'Meara, is a monologue of Plunkett expressing his love to Grace and his love for the cause of Irish independence in the small hours before his execution.[11] The ballad has been notably covered byJim McCann.[12]
He is also mentioned in the Irish rebel song "Seán South of Garryowen".
American composerFlorence Turner-Maley used Plunkett's text in her song "I See Him Everywhere."[13]
His religious poem "I See His Blood upon the Rose" is well-known in Ireland.[14][15]
Works by or aboutJoseph Mary Plunkett atWikisource
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