- Joseph Mary Plunkett
Infobox Military Person
name= "Joseph Mary Plunkett"
born = birth date|1887|11|21|df=y
died = death date and age|1916|5|4|1887|11|21|df=y
placeofbirth=Dublin City ,Ireland
placeofdeath=Kilmainham Jail ,Dublin City ,Ireland
caption=
nickname=
allegiance=Irish Volunteers
serviceyears= 1913 – 1916
rank= Commandant-General
commands=
unit=
battles=Easter Rising
awards=
laterwork=Joseph Mary Plunkett (
21 November 1887 –4 May 1916 ) was an Irish nationalist, poet, journalist, and leader of the 1916Easter Rising . His father,George Noble Plunkett , was a papal count and curator of the National Museum. However his father's cousin,Horace Plunkett , was aProtestant Unionist who sought to reconcile both sides, but instead witnessed his own home burned down during theAnglo-Irish War .Born in
Dublin , at a young age Plunkett was stricken withtuberculosis , and spent part of his youth in the warmer climates of theMediterranean and northAfrica . He was educated by theJesuits atBelvedere College , in Dublin and later atStonyhurst College , inLancashire where he acquired some military knowledge from theOfficers' Training Corps .Throughout his life, Joseph Plunkett took an active interest in Irish heritage and the
Irish language , and also studiedEsperanto . Plunkett was one of the founders of the Irish Esperanto League. [ [http://esperanto.ie/english/PDF_files/short_history3.pdf "A Short History of the Esperanto Movement in Ireland"] ] He joined theGaelic League , and took on as a tutorThomas MacDonagh , with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. The two were both poets with an interest in theater, and both were early members of theIrish Volunteers , joining their provisional committee. Plunkett's interest in Irish nationalism spread throughout his family, notably to his younger brothers George and John, as well as his father, who allowed his property inKimmage , southDublin , to be used as a training camp for young men who wished to escape conscription inEngland duringWorld War I . Men there were instead trained to fight for Ireland.Sometime in 1915 Joseph Plunkett joined the
Irish Republican Brotherhood , and soon after was sent to Germany to meet withRoger Casement who was negotiating with the German government on behalf of Ireland. Casement's role as emissary was self-appointed, and as he was not a member of the IRB, that organization's leadership wished to have one of their own contact Germany to negotiate German aid for an uprising the following year. He was seeking (but not limiting himself to) a shipment of arms. Casement, on the other hand, spent most of his energies recruiting Irishprisoners of war in Germany to form a brigade to fight instead for Ireland. Most nationalists in Ireland saw this as a fruitless endeavor, and preferred to seek weapons. Plunkett successfully got a promise of a German arms shipment to coincide with the rising.Plunkett was one of the original members of the IRB Military Committee that was responsible for planning the rising, and it was largely his plan that was followed. As such he may be held partially responsible for the military disaster that ensued, though one should realize that in the circumstances any plan was bound to fail. Shortly before the rising was to begin, Plunkett was hospitalized following a turn for the worse in his health. He had an operation on his neck glands days before
Easter and had to struggle out of bed to take part in what was to follow. Still bandaged, he took his place in the General Post Office with several other of the rising's leaders such asPatrick Pearse and Tom Clarke, though his health prevented him from being terribly active. His energetic "aide de camp" was Michael Collins.Following the surrender Plunkett was held in
Kilmainham Gaol , and faced acourt martial . Hours before hisexecution by firing squad at the age of 28, he was married in the prison chapel to his sweetheartGrace Gifford , a Protestant convert to Catholicism, whose sister, Muriel, had years before also converted and married his best friendThomas MacDonagh , who was also executed for his role in theEaster Rising . The main railway station inWaterford City is named after him as is Joseph Plunkett tower inBallymun .External links
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4268 Joseph Plunkett's Gravesite]
* [http://unitedireland.tripod.com/id41.html Grace - By Seán and Frank O' Meara]
* [http://poetry.elcore.net/CatholicPoets/Plunkett/index.html The Poems of Joseph Mary Plunkett (1916)]References
Further reading
*Plunkett Dillon, Geraldine (edited Honor O Brolchain): All in the Blood (A. & A. Farmar)
*Gannon, Charles: Cathal Gannon - The Life and Times of a Dublin Craftsman (Lilliput Press ). [http://homepage.eircom.net/~cathalgannon]References
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