Praise for 1916
“A timely and gripping novel…The historical characters are woven into a masterful plot.”
—The Irish Times
“An ideal introduction and road map to Irish history in this century. It is a gripping, entertaining, and heartwarming fictional love story wrapped around a carefully constructed historical framework in a fact-packed style that should make even historian-journalist Tim Pat Coogan proud.”
—The Roanoke Times
“In Llywelyn’s skilled hands the lives of the fictional and real-life characters mesh as miscalculations, misjudgments, and betrayal lead inexorably to the firing squad…1916 is an involving and enriching experience.”
—The Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
“We watch as a group of inexperienced, out-of-shape idealists grow into a spirited army that lost the battle of 1916, but set the tone for future resistance…. The fiery spirit of the Irish makes this book a shining example of how pride and passion can lead even humble men and women into moments of greatness.”
—The Hamilton Spectator (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
“Morgan Llywelyn’s meticulously researched historical novel…brings to life the characters and events of Easter 1916 as does no other work with which I am familiar…. The hopelessness of the situations, offset by the determination, idealism, and single-mindedness of the protagonists, is beautifully portrayed.”
—The Irish Emigrant Book Review
“She has succeeded in capturing and vivifying one of the most critical moments in Ireland’s troubled history. Her story, which blends fact with fancy, has moments of great poignancy; and throughout it is pervaded by a delicately rendered sadness.”
—Library Journal
“Llywelyn tells her tale with gusto and a respect for the facts; a good deal of both bizarre and somber history shines through the fictional fustian of its likable characters.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“[Ned’s] coming-of-age is complicated by his feelings of nationalism, the love of several women, and his rescue of a young orphan during a street battle. YAs will get caught up in the excitement of this epic novel and root for Ned as he tries to save his comrades and fights side by side with the woman he loves.”
—School Library Journal
“1916 is the most compelling novel of the Irish Troubles I’ve ever read. When you’ve finished this book—when you have experienced it from beginning to end, as I have—you will know the meaning of ‘a terrible beauty.’”
—Parke Godwin
THE PROCLAMATION OF
POBLACHT NA H EIREANN.
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE
IRISH REPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND.
IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.
Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.
We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of the Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty: six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exhaltation among the nations.
The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which has divided a minority from the majority in the past.
Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.
We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour, the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children top sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Signed on Behalf of the Provisional Government.
THOMAS J. CLARKE
SEAN Mac DIARMADA.
P. H. PEARSE.
JAMES CONNOLLY.
THOMAS MacDONAGH.
EAMONN CEANNT.
JOSEPH PLUNKETT
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For
Tom Doherty
O WISE MEN, RIDDLE ME THIS: WHAT IF THE DREAM COME
TRUE?
WHAT IF THE DREAM COME TRUE, AND IF MILLIONS UNBORN
SHALL DWELL
IN THE HOUSE THAT I SHAPED IN MY HEART, THE NOBLE
HOUSE OF MY THOUGHT?
LORD, I HAVE STAKED MY SOUL, I HAVE STAKED THE LIVES OF
MY KIN
ON THE TRUTH OF THY DREADFUL WORD, DO NOT REMEMBER
MY FAILURES,
BUT REMEMBER THIS MY FAITH.
PÁDRAIC PEARSE, 1915
Dramatis Personae
Major Fictional Characters
Edward Joseph Halloran (Ned)
Kathleen Halloran Campbell
Alexander Campbell
Síle Duffy
Henry Mooney
Father Paul O’Shaughnessy
Mary Cosgrave
Ursula Jervis (Precious)
Secondary Fictional Characters
Patrick Halloran and Theresa Daly Halloran, Ned’s parents
Francis Patrick Halloran, Ned’s older brother
Lucy and Eileen Halloran, Ned’s younger sisters
Aunt Norah Daly
Daniel Duffy
Thomas and Janey Devlin
Father Hagerty
Bridie Lynch
Louise Kearney
Mrs. Flanagan
Alderman and Mrs. Claffey
Eliza Goggins
Della Thornberry
Neville Grantham
Sister Concepta
Des and Ina Cahill
Historical Characters
(Those who were executed for their part in the Rising are shown in bold type.)
Aloysius, Father. Capuchin priest
Asquith, Herbert Henry. Prime Minister of Great Britain, 1908–1916
Astor, Vincent. American millionaire whose father, John Jacob Astor, died aboard the Titanic
Beauchamp, Robert H. Dublin solicitor
Birrell, Augustine. Chief Secretary for Ireland
Bowen-Colthurst, Captain J. C. British army officer at Portobello Barracks
Burke, Frank. Student at Saint Enda’s who became its last headmaster
Brugha, Cathal (Charles Burgess). Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1874. Second-in-command to Eamonn Ceannt at the South Dublin Union. Killed in 1922 during the Irish Civil War.
Carson, Sir Edward. Leader of the Irish Unionist Party
Carney, Winifred. James Connolly’s secretary
Casement, Sir Roger (1864–1916). Born in County Dublin, Ireland. Former British consul; gained an international reputation as an investigator of human rights abuses. Treasurer of the Irish National Volunteers.
Ceannt, Eamonn (Edmund Kent) (1881–1916). Born in County Galway, Ireland. Musician; clerk with Dublin Corporation. Member of the Military Council, IRB. Director of Communications, Irish Volunteers, and Commandant of the Fourth Battalion, Dublin Brigade.
Clarke, Kathleen Daly. Tom Clarke’s wife, member of Cumann na mBan
Clarke, Thomas James (1857–1916). Born on Isle of Wight, grew up in Dublin. Emigrated to America in 1880. In New York joined Clan na Gael, was arrested on a mission to England, served fifteen years in prison. Returned to Ireland in 1907. Member of the Supreme Council, IRB; and of the Military Council, IRB.
Colbert, Con (1893–1916). Born in Limerick, Ireland. Organizer of the Saint Enda’s branch of the Fianna. Assigned as Pádraic Pearse’s bodyguard during the Rising.
Collins, Michael (1890–1922). Born in County Cork, Ireland. Aide-decamp to Joseph Plunkett during the Rising. Commander-in-Chief of the Free State Army during the Irish Civil War.
Colum, Pádraic. Writer, poet, and folklorist
Connolly, James (1870–1916). Born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Socialist, labor leader, and journalist. Spent seven years in America studying the trade union movement. Commandant-General of the Dublin Forces during the Rising.
Daly, Edward (1891–1916). Born in County Limerick, Ireland. Kathleen Clarke’s brother, Commandant of the First Battalion, Dublin Brigade.
de Valera, Eamon (1882–1975). Born in New York of a Spanish father and an Irish mother. Grew up in Ireland. Mathematician and teacher. Commandant of the Third Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. Became President of the Irish Free State in 1932.
Devoy, John. Leader of Clan na Gael in the United States
Dillon, John. Nationalist Member of Parliament
Flanagan, Father. Curate of the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin
Franklin, A. S. Vice President of the White Star Line
Fitzgerald, Desmond. Member of Headquarters Company in the G.P.O.
Friend, Major-General Lovick Bransby. Commanding officer of British forces in Ireland, 1914–1916
Gifford, Grace. Artist; Joseph Plunkett’s fiancée
Green, Alice Stopford. Historian; widow of J. R. Green, author of the Short History of the English People
Grenan, Julia. Nurse in the G.P.O.
Griffith, Arthur (1871–1922). Journalist and publisher of Sinn Féin
Guest, Ivor Churchill. Baron Wimborne, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the Rising
Hanrahan, Michael (d. 1916). Quartermaster-General of the Irish Volunteers
Heuston, Seán (1897–1916). Captain of Na Fianna Eireann; Company Leader, D Company, First Battalion, Dublin Brigade
Hobson, Bulmer. Secretary of the Irish National Volunteers
Hyde, Douglas (1860–1949). Co-founder of the Gaelic League
Joyce, Brian. Former student at Saint Enda’s who fought in the Rising
Kelly, Tom. Alderman of Dublin
Kent, Thomas (d. 1916). Officer with the Volunteers in County Cork
Kitchener, Horatio Herbert. First Earl, British Secretary of State for War
Larkin, James (1876–1947). Founder of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union
Little, Patrick J. Editor of New Ireland
Lowe, Brigadier-General W. H. M. Accepted Pearse’s surrender.
Lynn, Kathleen Florence. Physician; medical officer for the Citizen Army. One of the first women in Ireland to take a degree in medicine.
MacBride, John (1865–1916). Born in County Mayo; husband of Maud Gonne; second-in-command to Thomas MacDonagh at Jacob’s Factory; father of Seán MacBride, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.
MacCarthy, Rev. Eugene. Prison chaplain at Kilmainham
Mac Diarmada, Seán (Seán MacDermott) (1884–1916). Born in County Leitrim, Ireland. National Organizer for Irish Republican Brotherhood. Member of the Military Council, IRB.
MacDonagh, Thomas (1878–1916). Born in County Tipperary, Ireland. Poet, university professor, editor of the Irish Review. Became a member of the Military Council, IRB. Commandant of the Second Battalion, Dublin Brigade.
MacDonnell, Thomas. Music and Dancing Master at Saint Enda’s
MacNeill, Eoin (1867–1945). Co-founder of the Gaelic League; university lecturer and historian. President and Chief of Staff of the Irish National Volunteers.
MacRory, Michael. Head gardener at Saint Enda’s
Mahony, Lieutenant. British surgeon who helped in the G.P.O.
Markievicz, Constance (1868–1927). Daughter of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, Baronet. Wife of Count Casimir Markievicz. Co-founder with Bulmer Hobson of Na Fianna Eireann. Member of Cumann na mBan and the Citizen Army. Second-in-command to Michael Mallin in Saint Stephen’s Green. Later, while in an English prison, became the first woman to win election to the British Parliament although she never took her seat there. Subsequently served in the new Irish Parliament as the world’s first Minister of Labor.
Martyn, Edward. Playwright
Maxwell, General Sir John Grenfell. Commander-in-Chief of British forces in Ireland in 1916
Nathan, Sir Matthew. Under-Secretary for Ireland
Norway, Arthur. Postmaster-General of Ireland and father of novelist Nevil Shute, author of On the Beach
O’Brien, Lucius. Lord Inchiquin
O’Farrell, Elizabeth. Nurse in the G.P.O. who carried the surrender message
O’Grady, Standish. Novelist
O’Kelly, Seán T. (1882–1966). Aide-de-camp to Pádraic Pearse during the Rising, subsequently envoy to Paris Peace Conference to promote recognition of Irish independence. President of Ireland 1945–1959.
O’Rahilly, Michael Joseph—“The O’Rahilly” (1875–1916). Born in County Kerry, Ireland. Emigrated to America, returned to Ireland in 1909. Member of the Gaelic League central executive. Director of Arms for the Irish Volunteers.
Otter, Richard. Merchant from Liverpool who died on the Titanic
Pearse, Margaret Brady. Pádraic Pearse’s mother
Pearse, Margaret and Mary Brigid. Sisters of Pádraic
Pearse, Pádraic (Patrick Henry Pearse) (1879–1916). Born in Dublin, Ireland. Headmaster of Saint Enda’s. Writer, editor, poet, playwright, educationalist. Degree in Law from University College, Dublin, and King’s Inns; practiced briefly as a barrister. Member of the Military Council, IRB. Commander-in-Chief during the Rising.
Pearse, William James (1881–1916). Born in Dublin, Ireland. Art and Drawing Master at Saint Enda’s. Noted sculptor; obtained a Distinction from the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin.
Plunkett, George Noble. Hereditary papal count, Director of the Museum of Science and Art, father of Joseph Plunkett
Plunkett, George and Jack. Brothers of Joseph Plunkett
Plunkett, Geraldine and Philomena. Sisters of Joseph Plunkett
Plunkett, Joseph M
ary (1887–1916). Born in Dublin, Ireland. Poet, co-founder of the Irish Theatre with Edward Martyn, editor of the Irish Review. Member of the Military Council, IRB. Director of Military Operations during the Rising.
Redmond, John. Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party
Rossa, Jeremiah O’Donovan (1831–1915). Fenian
Ryan, Desmond (1893–1964). Former Saint Enda’s student and secretary to Patrick Pearse. Journalist and historian who subsequently wrote a number of books dealing with the Irish struggle for independence.
Sheehy-Skeffington, Francis (1878–1916). Socialist, pacifist, feminist. Registrar of University College, Dublin.
Walsh, William F. Archbishop of Dublin
Yeats, William Butler. Poet and playwright, later winner of Nobel Prize for Literature
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one