|
Patrick Henry Pearse 1879-1916
Patrick Pearse was born and died in Dublin, Ireland.
His aim was the end of all British rule
over Ireland and an independent Irish Republic.
Pearse and like-minded Irish
nationalists organized themselves in the Irish Republican
Brotherhood, also called Fenian Brotherhood. Money and weapons
were obtained from the Germans, who equally disliked the British,
especially while
World War
One was being fought.
When in 1915 a fellow Fenian died in
exile, Pearse took the opportunity to deliver his
Ireland Unfree Shall Never Be at Peace speech at the
funeral.
It was the funeral of Jeremiah
O'Donovan, also called O'Donovan Rossa, who was born in 1831, exiled
to the U.S. in 1871, and who had died at Staten Island on June 29, 1915.
O'Donovan's widow arranged for his body
to return to Dublin, Ireland, and the city made preparations on a
scale not unlike a state burial.
On August 1, 1915, at Glasnevin Cemetery
in Dublin, a record crowd of 70,000 people paid their last respects.
On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, began
what was later called the Easter Rising, or the
Easter Rebellion of 1916,
in which Pearse was the main leader.
On that first day of the rebellion, a
Irish Republic was proclaimed by the rebels.
On April 29, 1916, the revolutionaries
were overwhelmed by the British. Pearse, together with 14 other men,
were executed on May 3, 1916.
More History
|
