Now rise up DJ Allman, arise and tell me true

Who fought at Headford Station that day along with you?

Who stood out on that platform board, who fired that signal gun?

Who fought to free old Ireland with you my darling son?

--…

On top of roof and window,

Those boys stood up to fight,

‘Til the burning of the cottage

And no escape in sight.…

Late on Christmas night 1920, Irish Volunteers John Leen (24) and Maurice Reidy (25) stealthily made their way to the home of John Byrne, the creamery manager in Ballymacelligott, County Kerry. The cottage had been raided…

On the cool, pleasant night of St. Stephens day, December 26, 1920, over two hundred men and women were dancing, eating and enjoying themselves at Caherguillamore House, three miles northeast of Bruff, in County Limerick. The Martin brothers from Bruff were…

Shortly after the death of Martin McGuinness, I listened to a radio discussion about the Provisional IRA and its origins. Among the contributors was Ruth Dudley Edwards, the self-professed revisionist historian. At one stage in the programme, I heard her say, “I…

If you ever drive down the south side of the beautiful and scenic Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry, as I did with my wife, brother and sister-in-law last June (and everyone should, at least one in their lives), you will pass through the small village of Lispole…

Two months after the ambush at the Burgery, on the 18th of May, the body of Pat Keating was disinterred for burial in Kilrossanty, at the request of his family.

Above: In the front, left to right,…

The authorities took Hickey’s remains to the barracks of the Royal Irish Constabulary, in Dungarvan, where the body of Sean Fitzgerald lay. He was duly conveyed, on Tuesday the 22nd, to the new section of the cemetery at St.…

Flushing, N.Y. -- One of today’s speakers called the July 4, 1940 bomb explosion at the New York World’s Fair a first act in the war that was coming to our shores. The bomb rocked the entire city with sensational banner headlines, if only for a brief time. By the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 18 months later, the two deaths that resulted from the Fair bombing became even more difficult to sort from casualty lists that eventually numbered in the…

Éamon de Valera is a man that has enjoyed iconic status in the Irish history books for more reasons than being one of the Leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. He was born in New York in 1882 to a Irish mother and a…

Joseph Mary Plunkett (Seosamh Máire Pluincéid) is one of the least known leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. He…

James Connolly (Séamas Ó Conghaile) is one of the handful of men who share the dubious honour of being placed in the iconic status categories in the Irish history books based on his involvement in the Easter Rising 1916 as well as his role in…

Pádraig Pearse (Patrick Henry Pearse) is one only a handful of men who have  enjoyed the dubious honour of becoming an iconic status in Irish History  books based on his role in the 1916 Easter Rising.  He was…

Michael Mallin was born in 1874 in the Liberty tenements Dublin.  He was a son of a carpenter, but his early days living in Dublin elude historians.  It is, therefore, his teenage…

Sean Connolly was born in Sandymount, Dublin in 1883.  His family had been driven off their land during the Land League era.  Connolly and all his siblings were steeped in nationalism and all that Fenianism…

Michael O'Hanrahan (Micheál Ó hAnnrachain, 1877 – 4 May 1916) is another one of the 1916 Leaders who is not universally  known.  He was born in New Ross, County Wexford to Richard and Mary O’Hanrahan (nee Williams).  He had a brother, Henry, and a sister, Eily.  His father was heavily involved in the 1867 Fenian Rising.  Michael's family moved to County Carlow when he was a young…

Tomás Mac Donnchadha, or Thomas MacDonagh (1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916), was born in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, to Joseph and Mary…

Edward "Ned Daly" is one of the 1916 Easter Rising leaders less known for his role as Commandant in the Irish Military Brotherhood.  Out of a family of ten children, he was the only…

Liam Mac Piarais (William "Willie" Pearse) was born on the 15th of November in 1881 and was the younger brother Patrick Pearse, the well documented iconic figure of the 1916 Easter Rising.  It has…