Essay on the 1916 Easter Rising

There are seven signatures to the Irish proclamation of 1916. The first of these signatures belonged to a Fenian man named Thomas James ‘Tom’ Clarke. Clarke was strong in will and had the endurance to go into insurrection for sixty years of Fenianism. Clarke endured the age-long national struggle against British foreign rule for political, social, and religious servitude that ended in the realization of hope long deferred.[footnoteRef:0] Clarke served two martyrdoms in his lifetime, one in a prison cell for nearly sixteen years, and the second in Kilmainham Gaol where he was the second of many Irish rebels to be executed on 3 May 1916.[footnoteRef:1] To understand Clarke's representation in the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), one must know about the background of the IRB, Clarke himself, his relationships with fellow IRB members, allies, and foes, and lastly the decision-making and planning for the Easter Rising of 1916 in Dublin City in which Clarke played a major role in. If there is one quote that could sum up Tom Clarke's determination and loyalty to the IRB it would be from the former president of Ireland, Sean T O’ Kelly: ‘Clarke can truthfully be described as the man, above others, who made the Easter Rising.[footnoteRef:2] [0: ] [1: ] [2: ]

To understand the meaning and organization behind the IRB, one must go back to the Fenian Brotherhood which was named after the ancient Irish Warriors, Na Fianna. The Fenian brotherhood can be translated into many things but it more commonly means the ‘brotherhood of combatants’.[footnoteRef:3] Feminism was created because of the betrayal of an all-Ireland constitution and social movement at the hands of the British forces.[footnoteRef:4] The Fenians believed in the use of physical force to get their demands from the British empire. Fenianism was later the inspiration of the United Irishmen of the eighteenth century who wanted to establish a civil order governed by the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity by bloodshed. This can be remembered by the most violent nationalist rebellion ever to take place in Ireland in 1798 by the United Irishmen led by Theobald Wolfe Tone. After this rebellion, British forces became to understand this idea of ‘Fenianism’ and so in later years we know less about the more pragmatic motivations of the Fenian organizers which will be established into the IRB.[footnoteRef:5] In 1858, the IRB was set up but it was loosely organized through the activities of the young Ireland society and it was remembered to be a very complex web of association and allegiance. The supreme council of the IRB declared themselves the sole government of the Irish Republic by right but their activities were very limited until the 1880s.[footnoteRef:6] It was not until the phoenix park murders of 1882 that got the organization and determination of the IRB’s reinvention. The IRB declared that they were there to establish and maintain a free and independent government of Ireland and that ‘Irish Freedom’ was much more complex and multifaceted than simply the hatred of the British government.[footnoteRef:7] From the 1880s until the early 1900s, the IRB was mainly composed of lower-middle-class people, and one of the most important characters among them was Tom Clarke. [3: ] [4: ] [5: ] [6: ] [7: ]

It does not come as a surprise that Tom Clarke became a Fenian and later a member of the IRB as he was raised as a Roman Catholic and his father was a member of the church of Ireland in the era when Catholic discrimination was at an all-time high in Northern Ireland. At an early age, Clarke experienced firsthand the sectarian tension in Ulster as he attended St. Patricks National School in Dungannon county, Tyrone, in 1868. The experience of such a hostile atmosphere could have certainly been the spark to ignite the flame that lit Clarkes ‘youthful espousal of Fenianism’.[footnoteRef:8] Clarke became a member of the secret and banned IRB in 1878. It is remembered by William J. Kelly Sr. that in August 1880 a Hibernian demonstration was held in Dungannon and a riot broke out with members of the IRB opening fire on the police and it was believed that Clarke emigrated to America as a consequence of this.[footnoteRef:9] Hence in the same year, Clarke moved to the United States and he joined the Napper Tandy Branch of the Clan na Gael this was the place where he learned to blow up rocks on Staten Island in New York in his early twenties.[footnoteRef:10] In April 1883, Clarke was given a major role in a dynamiting mission where he was known to use the concealed name of ‘Henry Hammond Wilson.’[footnoteRef:11] Under this identity, Clarke was sent to England to blow up the London bridge and the house of parliament. In the process of this mission, Clarke was caught by British authorities with a case of explosive liquid materials, he was then tried and sentenced to penal servitude for life on 18 May 1883 at London’s Old Bailey.[footnoteRef:12] Internment was remembered by many men to be of vile conditions in these prisons. Clarke himself wrote about the ‘horrors of his convict cell that had buried ineffaceable memories into his soul’ which he states in his book, ‘Glimpses of An Irish Felon’s Prison Life.[footnoteRef:13] In his writings, it is clear to see that Clarke saw firsthand once again just how truly brutal the opposition forces were as he lay in a prison cell controlled by British forces. It would be true to state that this experience of hardship and torture each day gave Clarke an ever bigger lust for liberty and revenge.[footnoteRef:14] [8: ] [9: ] [10: ] [11: ] [12: ] [13: ] [14: ]

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After serving fifteen and a half years in Pentonville Prison, Clarke served his sentence and was released in 1898. When he left prison, he came out ‘unchanged with a will of steel and his purpose unchanged.’[footnoteRef:15] The first person Clarke went to see after leaving prison was the Mayor of Limerick at the time, John Daly. John Daly was one of his cellmates in Pentonville prison and the same man who swore him into the IRB many years before.[footnoteRef:16] Clarke also made visits to his hometown Dungannon on several occasions. He took it upon himself to be the instrumental force in reorganizing the IRB in the county Tyrone area.[footnoteRef:17] That same year, he traveled back to America with John Daly’s niece, Kathleen, and married her in New York.[footnoteRef:18] It might be ideal to mention that Clarke did not speak Irish but his legacy was preserved by his wife Kathleen in later years as she was a gaeilgeoir.[footnoteRef:19] On his return, Clarke was now described as a ‘neutralized American’ and he was happy to leave Ireland behind him once more especially with the approach of WWI as he believed this would make any rebellion against England impossible.[footnoteRef:20] In 1903 after a few years of living in America, Clarke became the secretary to the veteran physical force nationalist journal and also the chief assistant editor and manager for the exiled nationalist newspaper called the ‘Gaelic American’ created by John Devoy.[footnoteRef:21] Devoy was head of the Irish Republican movement in America and the chief secretary for Clan na Gael.[footnoteRef:22] Clarke and Devoy represented the long-term personification of the Fenian tradition in Ireland and America and always believed in physical force republicanism.[footnoteRef:23] This led both men to be heavily involved in the resistance to the Anglo-American alliance in the US, especially in 1905, and wrote heavily against this in the newspaper.[footnoteRef:24] Clarke and Devoy would keep in contact throughout the rest of Clarke’s life. They would keep in contact throughout the years even when Clarke returned to Ireland by writing letters in which Clarke would refer to Devoy as ‘Dear uncle.[footnoteRef:25] Devoy was Clarke's most important link to the US, especially in the planning of the Easter Rising in 1916.[footnoteRef:26] Devoy played a major part in Clarke's life and to speak about Clarke you must talk about his comrades and the relationships that were made. [15: ] [16: ] [17: ] [18: ] [19: ] [20: ] [21: ] [22: ] [23: ] [24: ] [25: ] [26: ]

When Clarke came back to Ireland in 1907, he settled in Dublin with his wife and ran two newsagent and tobacconist shops on Annes Street and Parnell Street, and also established a new newspaper called ‘Irish Freedom’. These shops, especially the store on Parnell Street turned out to be the most popular stop for informal meetings for Fenians visiting Dublin at the time. Thus, Clarke allied himself with men who held the same beliefs as him. Some of these men included Denis McCullough, Sean McDermott, and Bulmer Hobber.[footnoteRef:27] Clarke became specifically close with McDermott, a man who would sign on Irish Volunteers (IV). They worked together in this enrollment of IV members, as Clarke would give advice to men to join the IV instead of the Irish Citizen Army. The two men also ran the IRB’s newspaper, ‘De Facto.’[footnoteRef:28] By 1914, the IV had 180,000 members. One of these members, Robert Monteith who later became a drill instructor for the IV was influenced by Clarke’s advice and he was even sent to Germany to prepare for the landing of German arms to Kerry by Clarke in the autumn of 1915.[footnoteRef:29] In the same year, the military council was set up to plan the Easter Rising, and the men in this council were McDermott, Pearse, Plunkett, Ceant, Connolly, and of course Clarke himself.[footnoteRef:30] Around this time, Clarke was immersed in the IRB which was undergoing a substantial rejuvenation under the guidance of younger men. Clark took on a particular kinship with one of the younger men named Hobson. Clarke would later break links with Hobson after 1914. John Redmond of the Irish Paramilitary Party was demanding that his nominees be accepted into the provisional committee of the Volunteers. Hobson voted for this while Clarke was completely opposed to Redmond's takeover of the IV’s provisional committee.[footnoteRef:31] The two men never spoke again and this really shows what kind of a man Clarke was, he was inflexible and disciplined with his friendships.[footnoteRef:32] Clarke also expressed nervous feelings about Countess Markievicz who was involved in 1916 rising and would later go on to be the first woman elected to parliament. Clarke remembered saying the Markevics were ‘too talkative and cannot keep a secret and he believed Connolly trusted her with too much information and she should be left out of meetings.[footnoteRef:33] During the Easter Rising on Palm Sunday, Connolly, Mallin, O’Reilly, and Markievicz packed into Beresford place in Liberty Hall and rose the tri-color and it is remembered that Clarke was less enthusiastic at this ‘useless act of provocation’.[footnoteRef:34] Despite Clarke's distrust of Markevics and his disapproval of some of his comrade's actions, he did respect and admire them. In 1915, Clarke gave the money to pay for the grave and funeral of Jeremiah Rossa O'Donovan who was a member of the IRB and also played a part in the dynamiting missions. It was presumed that Clarke also asked Padraig Pearse to deliver the funeral oration which was one of his famous speeches with the climatic closing words: ‘Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.’[footnoteRef:35] All of these friendships and relationships are essential to understanding Clarke's role in the IRB and the Easter Rising which will be discussed next. [27: ] [28: ] [29: ] [30: ] [31: ] [32: ] [33: ] [34: ] [35: ]

Leading up to the 1916 Easter Rising, Clarke was still the main contact with Clan na Gael in the US and this enabled him to receive funding for the Irish venture to get independence from Britain. With this, Clake also became the number one enemy for Dublin castle and he had the biggest file there, with his name outlined in red.[footnoteRef:36] Throughout 1912 and 1914 Clarke was able to supply his hometown of Dungannon with a number of rifles send from the US. [footnoteRef:37] This shows a major bond between the Clan Na Gael in the US and the IRB in Ireland which was valuable when it comes to the Easter Rising.[footnoteRef:38] Behind all of this, the Home Rule Crisis/Ulster crisis caused more funding for the Irish volunteers but Clarke was greatly opposed to this as he did not believe in Home Rule in Ireland.[footnoteRef:39] From there on in 1913 Clarke was elected a member of the IRB’s supreme council and later in 1915, just before the rising he was elected a member of the IRB’S military council.[footnoteRef:40] On the fourth of August 1914, England Declared war on Germany while in Dublin Clarke, McDermott, Kathleen Clarke and Ned Daly began hugging as they celebrated the idea of ‘England's war, Ireland’s opportunity.’[footnoteRef:41] After the announcement of war, Clarke, now in the supreme council of the IRB, proposed a rising for 1916 with the newly recruited two-thousand IRB men.[footnoteRef:42] Clarke told Plunkett that the rising would commence on the twenty-third of April which was Easter Sunday. Clarke wanted a rising in Dublin before WWI ended as it would be easier to establish a republic with Britain already preoccupied.[footnoteRef:43] The IRB made a formal decision to revolt when the war in Britain was happening thus the IRB military was set up and they began the planning for the Easter Rising.[footnoteRef:44] This was a good time to rule out unloyal members as the Redmond split caused many men to join the British army, while an estimated eleven thousand republican men stayed in Ireland and supported Eoin MacNeill who was the IRB chief.[footnoteRef:45] MacNeil also agreed to the rising if it was done by ‘defensive action only’ and under his military orders but Clarke and Mcdermott decided to go against this and believed the I.V should take orders from Clarke and not McNeil.[footnoteRef:46] It was decided that McNeil would report to Clarke and Clarke decided to co-opt McDonagh on the military council. During the whole period of 1916, the IRB members were very much dependent on Germany far too much for arms to begin the rising which led to growing confusion in Ireland.[footnoteRef:47] After the failure of the Germany boat, the Aud to arrive in Kerry with the essential weapons needed for the rising, Clarke was the only member of the military council who still remained opposed to any postponements of the rising other than the original plan of the rising to happen on Easter Sunday.[footnoteRef:48] In the diary of Sir Roger Casement, he told John McGoey to tell Clarke to stop the rising until the other weapons arrived but Clarke did not listen and so the rising went ahead on Monday, the twenty-fourth of April.[footnoteRef:49] It is important to establish that in contrast to the war of independence from 1919 to 1921, the violence of the rising was largely impersonal and devoid of hatred.[footnoteRef:50] Clarke was based in the General Post Office throughout the rising and later opposed the surrender which other IRB members agreed on and Pearse finally did after a week of violence.[footnoteRef:51] [36: ] [37: ] [38: ] [39: ] [40: ] [41: ] [42: ] [43: ] [44: ] [45: ] [46: ] [47: ] [48: ] [49: ] [50: ] [51: ]

In conclusion, Tom Clarke was one of the most important figures in the IRB in the nineteenth and twentieth century. He was linked between the US and Ireland throughout the years of his membership in the IRB. Clarke must be given credit for reviving the IRB and bringing new ideas to the new generation of Irish patriots.[footnoteRef:52] He also played a big part in introducing new recruits into the IRB and selecting men to take the roles of leaders. His role in the IRB was one of importance as he struggled his whole life for the hope that one day Ireland would be free to rule as a republic without the interruption of Britain. Clarke might have been a thin, pale man who was prematurely aged by his prison sentence but his ‘conspiratorial dedication to physical force personified’ the old Fenian Tom Clarke.[footnoteRef:53] [52: ] [53: ]

Bibliography

1. Bell, J.Bowyer, The Secret Army: A History of the I.R.A., 1916-1970 (London, 1972).
2. Connell, Joseph,‘Countdown to 2016: Thomas Clarke returns to Dublin’ in History Ireland, 20(2012), pp 66-66.
3. De Rosa, Peter, Rebels The Irish Rising of 1916 (New York, 1990).
4. Doerries, Reinhard R., Prelude to the Easter Rising: Sir Roger Casement in Imperial Germany (London, 2000).
5. Fitzpatrick, David, Terror in Ireland, 1916-1923 (Dublin, 2012).
6. Kelly, William, J. (Military Archives (M.A.), Bureau of Military History (B.M.H.), Witness Statement (WS) 893), p.1.
7. O’ Brien, William, (Military Archives (M.A.), Bureau of Military History (B.M.H.), Witness Statement (WS) 1,766), p.74.
8. O’ Kelly, Sean T (Military Archives (M.A.), Bureau of Military History (B.M.H.), Witness Statement (WS) 1,765), pp 45-208.
9. Hopkinson, Michael. “Clarke, Thomas James [Tom] (1858-1916), Fenian Organizer.” Dictionary of National Biography, 23 Sept. 2004. Web.
10. Kelly, M, et al. ‘The Fenian Ideal and Irish Nationalism, 1882-1916.’ in Historical Journal, vol. 51, no. 3, 1 Sept. 2008, pp. 793–809.
11. Ryan, Desmond, ‘Stephens, Devoy and Tom Clarke’ in University Review, 1(1967), pp 46-55.