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Leaders of 1916
The Leaders of 1916 still stir the imagination of many Irish and Irish descendants. Ironically they earned this respect after they had been executed.
Although the average Irish schoolchild will have no problem to rattle off a list consisting of fourteen man commonly known as the Leaders of 1916 we have to make a subtle distinction.
First of all not all the men executed in Kilmainham Gaol between 3 and 12 May 1916 were actual leading figures of the Easter Rising. William Pearse for example was by no means a leader, he just refused to leave his brother's side, and Edward Daly pleaded as defence that he was following orders. The real leaders were the seven men who formed the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and signed the Poblacht na hÉireann, or the declaration of the Irish Republic.
Secondly Kilmainham Gaol was not the only execution location. Thomas Kent undisputedly belongs to the Easter Martyrs although he was executed in the Cork Detention Barracks. Whether of not Sir Roger Casement, who was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London on 3 August 1916, must be included is questionable. Despite his brief collaboration with Joseph Plunkett he was not connected to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
| Patrick Henry Pearse (Pádraic Anraí Mac Pharais) Born: 10 November 1879 Signatory: Yes Executed: 3 May 1916 | Thomas MacDonagh (Tomas Ni Donnachada) Born: 1 February 1878 Signatory: Yes Executed: 3 May 1916 |
| Thomas James Clarke (Tomas O Cleirigh) Born: 11 March 1857 Signatory: Yes Executed: 3 May 1916 | Joseph Mary Plunkett (Joseph O Pluingcead) Born: 21 November 1887 Signatory: Yes Executed: 4 May 1916 |
| Edward Daly (Eamonn O Dalaigh) Born: 25 February 1891 Signatory: No Executed: 4 May 1916 | Michael O'Hanrahan (Micheal O Hannrachain) Born: 17 March 1877 Signatory: No Executed: 4 May 1916 |
| William Pearse (Liam Mac Pharais) Born: 15 November 1881 Signatory: No Executed: 4 May 1916 | John MacBride (Sean Mac Giolla Bhride) Born: 7 May 1865 Signatory: No Executed: 5 May 1916 |
| Con Colbert (Conchuir O Colbaird) Born: 1888 Signatory: No Executed: 8 May 1916 | Eamon Kent (Eamonn Ceannt) Born: 21 September 1881 Signatory: Yes Executed: 8 May 1916 |
| Michael Mallin (Micheal O Meallain) Born: 1874 Signatory: No Executed: 8 May 1916 | Sean Hueston (Sean Mac Aodha) Born: 1891 Signatory: No Executed: 8 May 1916 |
| Thomas Kent (Tomas Ceannt) Born: Signatory: No Executed: 9 May 1916 | James Connolly (Seamus O Conghaile) Born: 5 June 1868 Signatory: Yes Executed: 12 May 1916 |
| Sean MacDermott (Sean Mac Diarmada) Born: 1884 Signatory: Yes Executed: 12 May 1916 |
Arbour Hill Cemetery
(authors collection)
The courses of life and the personalities of the fifteen men are completely different from one another. On Easter 1916 the lives of the diplomat and the swaggerer, the poet and the soldier, the initiator and the follower, and the commander and the teacher entwined when they dared to engage the powerful British empire.
All and all about 90 men faced court-marshal and were condemned for their participation in the Easter Rising, from which 75, including Eamonn de Valera, were reprieved. From the remaining one man, Thomas Kent, was executed in the Cork Detension Barracks on 9 May 1916 and 14 were shot by firing squad in the former stone breakers yard of Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol. The bodies of the men executed in Dublin were not handed over to their loved ones. Instead the remains were buried in quick lime on the Arbour Hill Cemetery.
The song Blood Stained Bandage is a tribute to these men.