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Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas MacDonagh was born in a family of teachers on 1 February 1878 at Cloughjordan, County Tipperary. For a brief period he studied to be a priest, but soon Thomas MacDonagh followed his parents' footsteps and applied himself to teaching. He taught English, French and Latin in Kilkenny and Fermoy, County Cork, and became interested in the native Irish language.
MacDonagh joined the Gaelic League in 1901 and spent each year several months on the Aran Islands to learn Gaelic from the islanders. During one of these visits Thomas MacDonagh met Pádraic Pearse. Despite their different personalities, Pearse was quite introvert while MacDonagh was an easy going and sociable person, a close friendship emerged.
When Pádraic Pearse established the Scoil Éanna, or Saint Enda's School, in 1908 he asked Thomas MacDonagh to become a teacher. MacDonagh went to Dublin to accept this offer.
In the following years Thomas MacDonagh wrote several poets and stage plays and his home became the meetingplace of the literary circle. Among the visitors was Joseph Plunkett, with who Thomas MacDonagh edited The Irish Review, a magazine of Irish literature, art and science with contributions of the major writers and critics.
After his marriage with Muriel Gifford, the sister of Grace Gifford, the future wife of Joseph Plunkett, in 1912 he left Saint Enda's and took a less adventurous job at University College.
Thomas MacDonagh attended the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) in 1913 and soon became the director of training. Two years later he turned his back to the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). His friends Pádraic Pearse and Joseph Plunkett immediately introduced Thomas MacDonagh in the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and therewith in the planning of the Easter Rising.
Thomas MacDonagh, one of the signatories of the Poblacht Na h Éireann, was in command of the forces in Jacob's Biscuit Factory and in Stephens Green during the rising and was executed in Kilmainham Gaol on 3 May 1916.