Thomas MacDonagh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1878-02-01)1 February 1878 Cloughjordan,County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 3 May 1916(1916-05-03) (aged 38) Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Allegiance | Irish Volunteers |
| Years of service | 1913–1916 |
| Rank | Commandant |
| Commands | 2nd Battalion |
| Battles / wars | Easter Rising |
| Spouse(s) | Muriel Gifford |
| Children |
|
Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh (Irish:Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of theEaster Rising of 1916, a signatory of theProclamation of the Irish Republic and Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade of theIrish Volunteers, which fought inJacob's biscuit factory. He was executed for his part in the Rising at the age of thirty-eight.
MacDonagh was assistant headmaster atSt. Enda's School, Scoil Éanna, andlecturer in English atUniversity College Dublin. He was a member of theGaelic League, where he befriendedPatrick Pearse andEoin MacNeill. He was a founding member of theIrish Volunteers with MacNeill and Pearse. He wrote poetry and plays. His play,When the Dawn is Come, was produced by theAbbey Theatre in 1908. Other plays includeMetempsychosis, 1912 andPagans, 1915, both produced by the Irish Theatre Company.
He was bornCloughjordan,County Tipperary, to Joseph McDonagh, a schoolmaster, and Mary Parker. He grew up in a household filled with music, poetry and learning and was instilled with a love of bothEnglish andIrish culture from a young age.[citation needed] His brothers included futureSinn Féin politician,Joseph, and film directorJohn.
Both his parents were teachers;[1] who strongly emphasised education. MacDonagh attendedRockwell College.[2] While there MacDonagh spent several years as a scholastic, sometimes a preparation for a missionary career, however, after a few years he realised that it wasn't the life for him, and left.[3] Very soon after, he published his first book of poems,Through the Ivory Gate, in 1902.[4] He taught inSt Kieran's College in Kilkenny and from 1903 he was employed as a professor of French, English and Latin atSt. Colman's College,Fermoy, County Cork, where he also formed a branch of theGaelic League. While in Fermoy, MacDonagh was one of the founding members ofASTI, the secondary teachers trade union which was formed in the Fermoy College in 1908.[5] He moved toDublin, soon establishing strong friendships with such men asEoin MacNeill andPatrick Pearse.
His friendship with Pearse and his love of Irish led him to join the staff of Pearse's bilingualSt. Enda's School upon its establishment in 1908, taking the role of French and English teacher and Assistant Headmaster. He was one of the founders of the teachers' trade union ASTI (Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland). MacDonagh was essential to the school's early success, on his marriage he took the position of lecturer in English at theNational University, while continuing to support St Enda's. MacDonagh remained devoted to theIrish language, and in 1910 he became tutor to a younger member of theGaelic League,Joseph Plunkett. The two were both poets with an interest in the Irish Theatre and formed a lifelong friendship.
On 3 January 1912 he marriedMuriel Gifford[6] (a member of theChurch of Ireland, though neither she nor he was a churchgoer); their son,Donagh, was born that November, and their daughter, Barbara, in March 1915. Muriel's sister,Grace Gifford, was to marryJoseph Mary Plunkett hours before his execution in 1916.
MacDonagh was a member of theIrish Women's Franchise League.[7] He supported the strikers during theDublin lockout and was a member of the "Industrial Peace Committee" alongside Joseph Plunkett, whose stated aim was to achieve a fair outcome to the dispute.[8]
In 1913 both MacDonagh and Plunkett attended the inaugural meeting of theIrish Volunteers and joined its Provisional Committee. MacDonagh was later appointed Commandant of Dublin's 2nd Battalion and eventually made commandant of the entire Dublin Brigade. Although originally a pure constitutionalist, through his dealings with men such as Pearse, Plunkett, andSeán Mac Diarmada, and through the increasing militarisation ofEurope in the onset ofWorld War I, MacDonagh developed strongerrepublican beliefs, joining theIrish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), probably during the summer of 1915. Around this timeTom Clarke asked him to plan the grandiose funeral ofJeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, which was a resounding propaganda success, largely due to thegraveside oration delivered by Pearse.
.jpg)
Though credited as one of the Easter Rising's seven leaders, MacDonagh was a late addition to that group. He didn't join the secret Military Council that planned the rising until April 1916, weeks before the rising took place. The reason for his admittance at such a late date is uncertain. Still a relative newcomer to the IRB, men such as Clarke may have been hesitant to elevate him to such a high position too soon, which raises the question as to why he should be admitted at all. His close ties to Pearse and Plunkett may have been the cause, as well as his position as commandant of the Dublin Brigade (though his position as such would later be superseded byJames Connolly as commandant-general of the Dublin division). Nevertheless, MacDonagh was a signatory of theProclamation of the Republic.
During the rising, MacDonagh's battalion was stationed at the massive complex of Jacob's Biscuit Factory. On the way to this destination the battalion encountered the veteranFenian,John MacBride, who on the spot joined the battalion as second-in-command, and in fact took over part of the command throughout Easter Week, although he had had no prior knowledge and was in the area by accident. MacDonagh's original second in command wasMichael O'Hanrahan.[9]
As it was, despite MacDonagh's rank and the fact that he commanded one of the strongest battalions, they saw little fighting, as theBritish Army avoided the factory as they established positions in central Dublin. MacDonagh received the order to surrender on 30 April, though his entire battalion was fully prepared to continue the engagement. Following the surrender, MacDonagh wascourt martialled, andexecuted by firing squad on 3 May 1916, aged thirty-eight. He was the 3rd signatory of the Proclamation to be shot. It is said that as he was taken from his cell to be executed he whistled.[10]
His widow, Muriel, died of heart failure while swimming in Skerries, County Dublin on 9 July 1917; his sonDonagh MacDonagh became a judge, and was also a prominent poet, Broadway playwright,[11] songwriter and broadcaster, a central member of the Irish literary revival of the 1940s/1960s. He married Nuala Smyth and they had four children. His daughter Barbara married the actorLiam Redmond and they had four children. During the 1950s and 1960s, she wrote many scripts for Radio Éireann, the Irish national radio broadcaster, using her husband's more famous name.
MacDonagh was generally credited with being one of the most gregarious and personable of the Rising's leaders.Geraldine Plunkett Dillon, a sister ofJoseph Plunkett gives a contemporary description of him in her bookAll in the Blood: "As soon as Tomás came into our house everyone was a friend of his. He had a pleasant, intelligent face and was always smiling, and you had the impression that he was always thinking about what you were saying." In Mary Colum'sLife and the Dream, she writes of hearing about the Rising from America, where she was living with her husband,Pádraic Colum, remembering Tomás MacDonagh saying to her: "This country will be one entire slum unless we get into action, in spite of our literary movements and Gaelic Leagues it is going down and down. There is no life or heart left in the country."
A prominent figure in the Dublin literary world, he was commemorated in several poems byW.B. Yeats. Yeats most famous nationalist poemEaster 1916 makes anallusion to MacDonagh as a friend of Pearse: "This other his helper and friend/ Was coming into his force/ He might have won fame in the end/ So sensitive his nature seemed/ So daring and sweet his thought".[12] His friendFrancis Ledwidge'sLament for Thomas MacDonagh also commemorates him. In a poem rich with allegory –the Dark Cow (Irish:Bó Orann) is an 18th-century symbol of Ireland, for instance – Ledwidge wrote:
'He shall not hear thebittern cry
In the wild sky, where he is lain,
Nor voices of the sweeter birds
Above the wailing of the rain
Nor shall he know when loud March blows
Thro’ slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upsetdaffodil.
But when the Dark Cow leaves themoor
Andpastures poor with greedy weeds,
Perhaps he'll hear herlow at morn,
Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.
Thomas MacDonagh Tower inBallymun, Dublin, which was built in the 1960s and demolished in June 2005, was named after him. MacDonagh had taught in St Kieran's College,Kilkenny City during the early years of his career, whereMacDonagh Railway Station was named in his memory, as was the MacDonagh Junction shopping centre.
The Thomas MacDonagh Heritage Centre in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary was opened in 2013. The centre houses the town library and exhibition space.[13][14] An annual Thomas MacDonagh Summer School takes place in Cloughjordan over the May bank holiday weekend.[15]
Gaelic Athletic Association clubs and grounds named after MacDonagh have been established inCounty Tipperary (Kilruane,Nenagh and a North Tipperaryamalgamation).
The McDonagh Barracks group of buildings represents one of the largest individual components of theCurragh Camp in Kildare. The nearbypitch & putt also bears his name.[16]
As MacDonough was a founding member, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) awards the 'Thomas MacDonough Medal' for "extraordinary service to the union by members".[17]
His works include:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
